Thursday, March 10, 2016

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito (NJPW, 3/4/16)

Easily the best Nahito match of the year. He's the perfect heel dick weasel here, consistently cutting off and countering Ishii's attacks. He spits in Ishii's face, Ishii's like 'what the fuck?!', and the shit-eating grin on Naito's face just goads Ishii into falling for his trap. It builds the anticipation for when Ishii finally gets his hands on Naito. Naito wears him down Randy Orton-style and as Ishii tries for a scoop slam, Naito worms out and reverse DDTs him. Ishii gives Naito the spit treatment and Naito freaks. The apron lariat is the big turning point for this match, as the crowd explodes and Naito is slumped all dead-like on the apron. Great sell. There is a bit of disjointedness here and there, and they fuck up the Destino counter spot near the end, which sucks, but Ishii rectifies that by hitting a Emerald Flowsion! The second half of the match skips joyfully into overkill land but it's really fun and exciting to watch. There's a point where Ishii ducks and catches Naito after a flying forearm attempt and just dumps him with a release German suplex. Ishii does a pretty good job of selling the exhaustion of impact-after-impact, at times reaching for his non-taped shoulder. I love his Bas Rutten-style shotgun elbows. Some big nearfalls and a great finish, with Naito countering the brainbuster attempt with the Destino. Other than a couple of minor hiccups, this was a great, smartly worked match, with Naito really embracing his heel dick character and letting it translate into his performance, and Ishii continuing to build a strong resume for 2016's MVP. 

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