What a match. Awesome performances from both men. Tons of drama, tons of arm brutality, Minoru Suzuki being the best heel in the world, and Baby Naka summoning up the fighting spirit of his ancestors to win this thing. Even from the get go, we see the hesitancy of Nakajima to lock up with mean-spirited ground-and-pounder Suzuki. I don't blame him. The ring awareness of Suzuki was so fun to watch. In the initial arm struggle, Suzuki slickly slips out (five times fast) of a side headlock and gets control of Nakajima's arm. The Fujiwara armbar takedown out of the brainbuster attempt, the complete control over Nakajima as he tries to roll through. He just wrecks poor Naka's arm with that cross armbreaker and when you think Nakajima has a way out, Suzuki slams that escape hatch shut. He's a complete dick in this match. He bails early to fix his hair and fuck around. He bullies Nakajima on the outside and gives the referee shit but props to the ref, who really controlled this match. That corner tarantula-style armbar was pretty gnarly. The sympathetic Baby Naka and his never-say-die attitude was the perfect contrast to Suzuki's bully. He attacks Suzuki until it hurts (literally). Those kicks to the chest were brutal. Suzuki wanted to break his arm and Nakajima sold it like he did. After the sleeper hold, Suzuki can't even stand him up for the Gotch-style piledriver. But after Nakajima fights out of it, he makes his sudden and triumphant comeback, knowing he can only defeat Suzuki with those big kicks. After three thrust kicks, a pele kick, and a PK, Nakajima puts Suzuki away with the brainbuster. The ending was a bit of a surprise but it sold Nakajima's brainbuster as the killer "Game Over" screen. Very minor drag time for a 25:00 match -- very little that didn't add to the compelling story being told. One of my favorite matches of the year so far, an easy MOTY contender.
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