NJPW NEW JAPAN CUP 2020 - DAY 5
Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii
In the early going, I was about to say that the empty arena setting that was forced upon them actually gave the Ishii vs. Makabe match-up some much needed new life, but the reality is that by the end, it was exactly as boring & uninspiring as I'd expect + it even managed to drag pretty badly, which is quite something when it was a sub-15 min match. *3/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata
One of my favorite Okada matches, and maybe even more importantly, one of my absolute favorite Okada PERFORMANCES is his 2017 G1 match vs. Satoshi Kojima. He was the perfect cocky young brat ace in that match, and looking at this match on paper, I thought it had some similar potential, but sadly the execution was far from the greatness of that said match vs. Cozy. Okada & Nagata essentially had the exact same match they would have in front of the fans, making sure that the action didn't translate well into this empty arena setting, and even if this would've had the fans there, it still felt like a very lackluster Okada performance. He didn't show much swagger at all, and instead gave a very robotic feeling performance all around. Not that Nagata was much better at all, but I do think this match was always in the hands of Okada & his performance -- at least when it came down to my enjoyment of it. Oh well. At least I can appreciate the different finish. *
New Japan Shit Wrestling
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