Masaaki Mochizuki vs TAKA Michinoku (DG - 07/03/2005)
Jul 22, 2022 11:47:28 GMT -5
Post by makaiclub on Jul 22, 2022 11:47:28 GMT -5
Open The Dream Gate Title Match: Masaaki Mochizuki (c) vs. TAKA Michinoku - Dragon Gate Pro-Wrestling Festival In Kobe 2005 - 03/07/2005
Taka Michinoku is actually younger than Mochizuki by four years but Mochizuki took to the lucharesu style much later, as he came from a much different background. That overlap makes for an interesting dynamic than just old school vs new school. They are peers in the normal sense but that difference in worlds is still prevalent. Taka wrestles a trickier, technical style while Mochizuki throws strikes but the idea is style the same - isolate a body part. Mochizuki goes for the arm with kicks to the biceps, which hurts like you couldn’t believe, and Taka attacks the knee. The grappling was solid. Taka wrenches the knee at an angle with the smug look on his face while Mochizuki pulls at the arms to alleviate pressure. Taka transitions into the prison lock, where he further teases Mochizuki before applying the ankle lock/knee bar. Mochizuki does a great job of not only selling the hold but trying to escape each hold. The match is more grounded than you’d expect considering the prior match but the match works all the same. Plus it makes the bigger spots of the match - Mochizuki countering Taka’s springboard something with Sankakugeri - all the more better. The match progressed in a smart way as well. Mochizuki started to get the better of Taka’s submissions a bit more, countering them more and more, then applying his own. The closing stretch had a bit of everything. Taka goes to the air for the first time of the match, Mochizuki throws a bunch of desperate kicks and Taka goes for the Just Facelock that he used to beat Susumu Yokosuka to get the title match. The finish comes suddenly after Taka fails to cover Mochizuki after the Michinoku Driver and gets caught with some head kicks. While it wasn’t a dramatic close to the match, the finish was effective enough. My only gripe for the match was the lack of the long term selling of the leg by Mochizuki. Although with a strike heavy wrestler like Mochizuki, that sort of selling isn’t a real factor in most cases. Instead the story of the match drives everything and what becomes important is his comeback, and that certainly delivers. ****1/4
Taka Michinoku is actually younger than Mochizuki by four years but Mochizuki took to the lucharesu style much later, as he came from a much different background. That overlap makes for an interesting dynamic than just old school vs new school. They are peers in the normal sense but that difference in worlds is still prevalent. Taka wrestles a trickier, technical style while Mochizuki throws strikes but the idea is style the same - isolate a body part. Mochizuki goes for the arm with kicks to the biceps, which hurts like you couldn’t believe, and Taka attacks the knee. The grappling was solid. Taka wrenches the knee at an angle with the smug look on his face while Mochizuki pulls at the arms to alleviate pressure. Taka transitions into the prison lock, where he further teases Mochizuki before applying the ankle lock/knee bar. Mochizuki does a great job of not only selling the hold but trying to escape each hold. The match is more grounded than you’d expect considering the prior match but the match works all the same. Plus it makes the bigger spots of the match - Mochizuki countering Taka’s springboard something with Sankakugeri - all the more better. The match progressed in a smart way as well. Mochizuki started to get the better of Taka’s submissions a bit more, countering them more and more, then applying his own. The closing stretch had a bit of everything. Taka goes to the air for the first time of the match, Mochizuki throws a bunch of desperate kicks and Taka goes for the Just Facelock that he used to beat Susumu Yokosuka to get the title match. The finish comes suddenly after Taka fails to cover Mochizuki after the Michinoku Driver and gets caught with some head kicks. While it wasn’t a dramatic close to the match, the finish was effective enough. My only gripe for the match was the lack of the long term selling of the leg by Mochizuki. Although with a strike heavy wrestler like Mochizuki, that sort of selling isn’t a real factor in most cases. Instead the story of the match drives everything and what becomes important is his comeback, and that certainly delivers. ****1/4
