LogFAQs > #949537774

Eddv posted...

I was taken aback by just how quickly this one becames a grapplefest. Grappling always looks so intimate. Matwork this feels so foreign at this point - like for as much as we praise it when ZSJ and Bryan do it - its a novelty. Its not the bulk of the work of the match. So this was an interesting throwback in that way.

Vader gasses out repeatedly in this match too, which I would say is the main thing that holds it back but Takada is a fucking master of this craft. There's one point though where Takada basically puts HIMSELF in a headscissor which I sort of laughed at.

I have to comment though that SURROUNDED by high quality mat work like this, a spot like the Powerbomb just JUMPS off the page. Perhaps it was simply on the mind after this weeks Dynamite where cage did like 10 or 11 powerbombs to Darby Allin but really sometimes less is more with this stuff.

Takada trying like hell to take the advantage and repeatedly getting mauled by the bear that was Vader made for a great match story - even as the crowd came life eating up every single hope spot.

I also have to comment that the ten count thing was done right and done well here - I like it a lot because it produces a winner that actually wins the match. No banana peels here.

Anyway this was pretty awesome.

In a way, I think Vader getting blown up at times helped the story of the match. And I'm not just saying that as a Vader fan. Takada is a ****ing machine and it's to his benefit to keep the match going as long as he can. Vader, however, is a great big bear of a man who only needs to get that one, good shot in and it's done. Vader getting tired at points was likely legit (350+ lbs. is a lot of weight to be moving around like he does) but I think they worked the match well enough to not make it a deterrence like some other matches where a guy gasses early. Plus, when he needed a moment to explode at Takada, he still did well.

But the powerbomb spot here is what every wrestling fan needs to see. Takada doing everything he can to not get powerbombed was cool but the real interesting bit is how the second Vader hit it, everyone in the building knew the match was over. Vader, the ref, the audience, and even Takada himself. The last minute of him struggling to even stand is like something out of Rocky, it's a last act of defiance against the man who just beat him. You don't get this sort of moment anymore in wrestling so it's a treat to see it happen.