Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW - 8/8/2019)
Aug 12, 2019 18:18:47 GMT -5
Post by Cap on Aug 12, 2019 18:18:47 GMT -5
I am advocate for anything that constitutes the very best of a given style or an approach. I am - generally speaking - less interested in "what you do" and more interested in "how well you do it". With that in mind, this match deserves a nomination on two grounds of greatness: being a great NJPW match and being a great fighting-spirit clash.
I am not a big fan of reducing modern NJPW to a caricature, but watching the G1 start to finish this year has definitely highlighted that NJPW has a lot of "stuff" going on in the matches. This match has a lot of that. It has the kick outs. It has the moves. It has the reverses and the exchanges and all the wrestling you could ever want. Where this match excelled is in how it is put together. They escalation here is on point. It doesn't peak to early. They keep finding ways to build, which seems virtually impossible. They did it with timing really. Take for example what was one of the best kickouts I have ever seen. Ishii kicks out with a full blown 2.9999999 and didn't give away the game by staring at the ref's hand, which is a little bit of a pet peeve of mine.
While not unrelated, I think its important to see this within the context and history of those intense fighting spirit matches. I wouldn't say the selling is non-existent here. In fact I would say it is really good for the genre of the match. However, most of the selling comes in the form of subtly and finally giving in to massive pressure. Honestly, this sort of thing isn't always my style, especially watched within the context of a universe of more traditional wrestlers, but this felt organic as part of both men's journey to this point, fighting more for pride than anything else and really making when they did break to the other man's offense mean a great deal.
As of this writing, I have still not watched the last A block night before the final, but this is pretty easily my favorite match of the tournament. Phenomenal action with a deceptively compelling layer of storytelling.
