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Post by tactician on Jan 20, 2024 2:40:42 GMT -5
Kinda surreal knowing now that this is essentially Okada’s final big NJPW match. I think it’s great, too many interesting moments and overall cohesion with a theme, despite kind of petering out a bit at the end.
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Post by microstatistics on Apr 10, 2024 20:01:39 GMT -5
The first 80% or so would stand alone as a genuinely great match. A really neat story here with the victor of the first encounter being the one with the vendetta due to the sustained injuries while the guy who had to win at all costs was cool and collected for the most part. Moreover, there were lots of high-end elements on display: cool opening matwork, compelling arm vs. eye psychology, consistent selling, strong transitions, a genuine aura of viciousness and malice. Regrettably, I thought they fumbled it in the last 5 min and simply lost the plot, knocking this out of top tier contention. I am all for a decisive finish that curtails the "epic" back-and-forth stretch but this wasn't that. It was just generic main event wrestling with little purpose or organization, entirely removed from the focused work they had just done. Still don't love the final stretch but the bold portion is a little harsh. Okada powering his way through adversity was a recurring theme across the match so that, coupled with the fact that this ended up being his final big match at the company (as noted above), provides enough weight to the finishing sequences. I recently bumped this up to the upper echelon (marginally but still) because the rest more or less holds up. |
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Post by enviousstupid on Apr 14, 2024 5:53:20 GMT -5
I liked the big heat with Bryan going after the arm so much. It reminded me of the big Inoki/Vader match in 96 with the gaijin giving the golden boy hell. Though I think it lacks something when they go into a more standard finishing stretch. Bryan hardly selling the eye late in the match kept nagging me, especially after how acute his selling was from the dropkick early. Also didn't care for the Yes bit - thought it took away from the story at hand. Maybe it did something for those who're Dragonpilled but I just found it needlessly indulgent from a guy who should know better. Okada collapsing after the elbow drop was awesome; among the best Okada sells I can remember. Probably better than their first given how much of it was worked like an exhibition to me.
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Post by gramsci on Apr 14, 2024 7:45:50 GMT -5
The eye selling was the thing that stood out the most for me in this match. I think it was a Misawa-level selling performance, Danielson even fell to the mat because he felt dizzy after Okada removed his patch and attacked his orbital bone.
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Post by fxnj on Apr 14, 2024 17:11:54 GMT -5
Good stuff, though I still felt a little something missing for this to be as good as it’s been hyped. I was most impressed by Bryan somehow making Okada’s usually dull opening grappling entertaining and how that led to the dueling limb work. Also great seeing Okada get popped with a knee attempting one of those lame moves where he tried running in from the other side of the arena. You’d still have to be hella recency bias to compare Bryan’s performance to Misawa. My instinct was to blame Okada on holding this back, who continues to be the blandest wrestler I’ve ever seen called great. Okada walking in slow motion over to Danielson and lightly brushing his boot against Bryan’s face is a far cry from Taue viciously grinding away his forearm Misawa’s orbital bone. Maybe there is some blame on Bryan, though. Him selling the orbital after the first rainmaker would have been a low hanging fruit that felt weird seeing them not go for. That aside, Bryan has done something very respectable getting an Okada match that I can enjoy without skipping the first 15 minutes.
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