Suzu Suzuki vs. Tomoka Inaba
The battle of the 3 year prospects. Suzu Suzuki is more considered a prodigy due to her pushes in Ice Ribbon and then Stardom while Inaba is in JTO, undoubtedly set for the same route as Maika once she gets the call. This seems like a good test for her. But now can she deliver?
This started off typically: elbows into a headscissors standoff spot. One thing I like about Suzu Suzuki is that she’s expressive. And not in the exaggerated sort of way that comes across when someone hasn’t got a personality tries to show they have. Plus her striking seemed more credible than Inaba’s, who had a little gimmick going but was a little too hesitant to lay it in, or so it seems. Suzu seems fine planting her boot in someone’s face. Inaba found an opening to exploit through Suzu’s injured shoulder and applied a fujiwara armbar but Suzu came back with a forearm strike. They run through some awkward strike exchanges before ending on a suplex no sell sequence. Inaba has some decent offence, like her strikes to the stomach and liver but the rest seems to be still awkward. And that comes off in some of the bigger spots of the match where the flow is off, such as the bit where she runs the ropes, stops to kick in an obvious way, which Suzu ducks and has to awkwardly sit herself back up so Inaba can kick her from behind. Those parts don’t work for me either. But there isn’t much to complain about. There is some effort into the match and the crowd gets behind it but the quality didn’t exactly shine through ultimately. ***
Suzuki-gun (DOUKI & Minoru Suzuki) vs. UNCHAIN (Jun Kasai & Tomoaki Honma)
This was a very good way to utilise Minoru Suzuki and Tomoaki Homna at this stage of their careers. Use the smoke and mirrors effect of blood and deathmatch spots to add a little spice to them. Honma wrestled for Big Japan for years so it’s not exactly new territory but Suzuki hasn’t been cut open often. Maybe a bloody nose here or there, and certainly never with a fork or any other sharp object. This is fun like most Jun Kasai matches and this has his fingerprints all over it with guest appearances from the rest of it. And while it went on a little too long, this was very entertaining. Shame they can’t have a finish of this match (A bloody Suuzki choking out a bloody Honma) in New Japan. ***1/2
NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Title Last Man Standing Lumberjack Match: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Taichi
A match of two halves. The first half was marred by the worst part of the stipulation, filled with no drama pin attempts that ruin any resemblance of psychology that wrestling, for the most part, gives towards pins. Within minutes several 3-counts take place which wouldn’t happen in any other setting other than maybe an iron man match (a bad one, think Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler) or a two out of three falls match that has no time given to it. Which brings me to a random thought: lucha libre might be able to successfully do this match and bring it to its full potential because the idea of a pinfall taking place within seconds or minutes of the opening bell has long been established within the style, (another win for lucha!). But the second half was able to bring the best of the style. The 10 count aspect of the match was truly very strong and dripped with real drama and real struggle from those involved. Taichi’s performance in the closing stretch was genuinely amazing and Shingo is the perfect wrestler to be alongside that, supplementing that. The rest of the match is a cold stretch of bad wrestling psychology at its worst though. Am I being too strict? Yes, I would say so but I have my process and it’s unbending. The rest of the match was too much of a treat for any sort of dismissal and it ultimately overrides the aspect of the match that I can’t accept. ***3/4
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