NJPW New Japan Cup 2020 - Day 7: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
This had the always-charming dynamic of a Junior Heavyweight taking on an actual Heavyweight, and the best bits of the match were easily centered around that said dynamic. Stuff like the opening minutes with Ishii just easily bullying Hiromu around, and then later on shutting him off with his strikes & Hiromu trying his best to catch Ishii with ANYTHING -- legit pretty awesome stuff! Sadly in-between that stuff, this drifted into "more of the same", aka generic NJPW stuff of strikes galore & forgettable bombs. Overall when it comes to my enjoyment levels of the bout, like mentioned, I REALLY enjoyed some of the moments, but for the most part, it just felt extremely uninspired & generic w/ the usual by both guys. **1/4
NJPW New Japan Cup 2020 - Day 8: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
A good match for sure, and a BIG upgrade from their previous tournament matches against Ishii & Nagata. I really enjoyed all the bits with Okada being on top; he was effortlessly smug/cocky -- meaning he didn't have to do anything flashy to convey that, because of who HE is & who his opponent here was. It added a lot to his control periods I thought. Hiromu was a pretty solid underdog, even though I do think he got a bit too much offense in for my liking, as I did lose interest a few times when he was on a big offense run a couple of times. Still a rock-solid, good match though, with a very nice beginning & a great ending. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment