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Post by Cap on Jul 18, 2019 15:30:15 GMT -5
Another guy who is not everyone's cup of tea, but my god I think he is good. He one of those guys that if I had to bet my life on having a great match on any given night, i'd put money on him. HE works well with everyone and can adapt his style. I'd love to hear what people's favorite ZSJ matches are because I bet there is a range of them.
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Post by bossrock on Jul 21, 2019 16:51:48 GMT -5
I've really only seen his stuff from the last few years, but he's consistently ranked in the top 10 of my "best of year" lists. Maybe it's just because mat-heavy technical wrestling isn't always my cup of tea, but I don't really get a lot of the criticisms thrown his way. I understand he sometimes does submissions that aren't set up to be potential match-enders and he comes off as a bit of a show-off, but I honestly like that. He thrives as the cocky heel with the "look at me!" attitude. And I tend to look at this submissions over the course of the match as his way of breaking down opponents so thoroughly that by the time he latches on that last submission, they have no choice but to tap.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 27, 2021 8:51:54 GMT -5
His NJPW run has been fantastic. Before that, everyone talked about him as one of the best ever but his matwork and character work was dull as fuck, but since 2017 my god has this guy improved. He's one of the best in the world right now, no doubt. I don't know if he's the best promo, but definitely my favourite. And he's able to put himself over in different roles (cocky, vicious, outsmarted, underdog, in single pushes, tags and multitags, comedy, outwrestled...) despite always retaining his essence, he has develop a strong charisma. His formula also brings a lot of fresh air to NJPW's current in ring product, and he's been able to carry some limited and/or boring wrestlers like EVIL, SANADA and Fale thanks to it. This guy is a treasure and he's only 33 years old, I think his true peak is still to come. In ten years he should be a clear contender for a top 100 GWE.
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Post by Cap on Jan 27, 2021 10:05:16 GMT -5
This is crazy. I was just thinking about ZSJ the other day. I totally agree with you on this, but I also have a sort of opposite reaction to his career flow. I have been a pretty big fan for a while and think he was pretty good (though I understand the bland argument) pre 2017. However, I have sort of lost track of him in the past two years because I cherrypick NJPW so heavily. I have zero doubt that he is awesome. I just don't see him that much. I do think he is pretty unique while being able to work with just about anyone. That means that might be just the guy to lean on in terms of injecting some life and variety into NJPW more broadly. I know matches for matches sake isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Sabre is on a very short list of guys that I am pretty sure can just go have a good to great match with anyone in the world and make it look effortless.
His rivalry with walter is still my favorite pairing for either man.
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 27, 2021 10:27:44 GMT -5
Hahaha that's awesome. I wanted to talk about him because he has won gaijin of they year and tag team of the year in I don't know which japanese magazine ir something like that. Dude's fun as hell to watch, and I wonder how do you guys think about him.
If you can recommend me some of his first half of the decade best matches, that'd be great. Maybe I need to rewatch stuff. The Naka match was good (not as good as it could have been in 2017 for example), I remember a Tommy End BOLA match that was kinda cool, and I like the Hero series, but I struggle to remember something truly great in those years.
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Post by kas on Jan 27, 2021 13:33:08 GMT -5
Any match with Roderick Strong in 2015, those two were magic together.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2021 23:09:20 GMT -5
I enjoyed his matches against Tim Thatcher, not sure which is pick of the bunch but I saw EVOLVE 47 first.
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Post by Cap on Jan 28, 2021 8:16:35 GMT -5
I know you only asked for the first half of the decade, but I went to 2017. I'm not sure all of these constitute "truly great", but they are all matches I count as "very good" or better.
vs Devitt - 5/18/14
vs Strong - 4/3/15 (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)
vs Ospreay 5/25/15
vs Strong - 7/10/15
vs Styles 1/16/16
w Callihan vs Hero and End 1/22/16
vs Hero 4/2/16
vs Hero 5/6/16
vs Gresham 6/26/16
vs Gresham 7/17/16
vs Gresham 7/30/16
vs Hero 1/28/17
vs Thatcher 2/25/17
vs Elgin 5/6/17
vs Thatcher 7/18/17
vs Walter 10/21/17
There is some really good stuff from 2018 as well. To put it another way I would recommend anything between Sabre and Walter, Hero, Gresham or Strong. He had a few good ones with Ospreay early because I think he brought out the best in him (I think Ospreay turned a corner a few years ago - before that I was real luke warm on him). He also has some good ones vs Riddle, but the best version of that comes from mania weekend in 2018.
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