Katsuyori Shibata & KUSHIDA vs. Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger (4/27/16)

Another awesome tag, another awesome build to Dontanku. They built upon their last match, which was a more structured, smartly worked tag, by injecting the HATE into this. This felt personal. The veterans are pissed off but so is Shibata, and he sucks up most of the crowd’s energy. He and KUSHIDA get the early jump and Nagata ain’t got time to get his t-shirt(s) off. So Shibata uses it against him with his chinlock. He mocks Nagata with the saluting leglock. But that only leads to the vets getting revenge. Lots of elbows thrown on the outside, Liger cracking Kushida’s knee with a chair. Liger’s a great leg bully here and KUSHIDA does a solid job selling, desperately clinging to the ref to escape the leglock. When KUSHIDA comes in later off the fresh tag, he sells the tilt-a-whirl landing,  keeping the work relevant. A nice and easily overlooked nuance.

Nagata and Liger are such a fun pairing.  After some more rudo chairshots, Liger puts KUSHIDA back in the leglock and Nagata just stands there vigilant by his side. I liked how Shibata so calmly avoids Nagata’s apron attacks. Lots of friendly hate between these two. I mean, Nagata eyefucks Shibata so hard he trips over KUSHIDA during the single leg crab. Shibata’s snappy kicks in the corner were cringy, capping them off with a sliding kick and the hesitation dropkick. Nagata sells Shibata’s offense so well, especially during the elbow exchange, and his knee strikes looked extra stiff. The traded suplexes were a great exclamation point to their happy little exchange. In the end, the Shelley Clutch finish came by surprise but it’s the logical finish, building off their last tag and heading into Dontaku. Great tag team wrestling, and not just a repeat of their last tag but a new, hateful facet. 

Katsuyori Shibata & KUSHIDA vs. Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger (NJPW, 4/23/16)

Fantastic build for Dontaku and one of the better tag matches I’ve seen this year. Emotions were high between Shibata and Nagata, and their heated exchanges brought the right amount of impact to wet your whistle for their NEVER title match. Arm killer KUSHIDA was excellent, and the submission work on Liger played well into the story, with Shibata picking up where KUSHIDA leaves off. They work really well together as a unit, complimenting each others' style where Shibata brings the stiffness and KUSHIDA works the mat. Of course, Nagata and Liger are a fun pairing, with Liger playing the downtrodden veteran.

Nagata and Shibata open a little nice tussle for leg control, where he sees Nagata bust out a flurry of baby knees and Shibata getting pissed after Nagata reverses the leglock. Lots of angry elbows from Shibata. We get a taste of the impending Dontaku strike fest and Shibata is all fired up, no selling the Exploder (because that's just what people do) and connecting with an STO.  KUSHIDA and Liger get to show off their lucha-inspired skillz, and KUSHIDA gets busy with the arm work. Liger capitalizes off a missed standing moonsault and locks in the Kimura but KUSHIDA is able to reassert the arm control, first with a cross armbreaker and then transitioning to the Hoverboard Lock to prevent Liger's escape. Shibata does a good job at keeping Nagata stretched and at bay while KUSHIDA brings Liger to the middle of the ring. Even when Nagata breaks up the hold, KUSHIDA goes right back to work on the arm like a pitbull. Liger finds an opening on an over-the-shoulder armbreaker attempt, picking up the flash pin victory off a backslide. Great stage-setting finish and I'm stoked more than ever for Dontaku. 

Kento Miyahara vs. Naoya Nomura (AJPW, 4/16/16)

A fun, competitive pairing of Miyahara's energetic aggression and Nomura's spirited won't die attitude. You can see it from the outset as he rushes headlong into a boot from Miyahara, who promptly dispatches him out of the ring as if he can't be bothered. So Nomura rethinks his strategy. After he ties Miyahara in the ropes, he pops off a nasty elbow as if to say...you will be bothered, bitch. The action spills out of the ring, where we get flying elbow butts and floor scoop slams. Miyahara bullies him awhile back inside, and when Nomura shows retaliation, Miyahara responds with a backbreaker and the dreaded crab hold. Even when Nomura gets a little spurt of offense, Miyahara does a good job of neutralizing the situation, putting him back in the crab hold with a little added punishment before cranking in the single leg crab (all day). I loved Nomura's roll-through spear and a second spear gets him a nearfall. He shows a lot of fight during the finishing stretch, and we see the champ sort of snap and elbow him repeatedly. Miyahara stalks him for the running knee to the back of the head, hits a follow-up brainbuster but Nomura survives it! But another running knee is enough to put him away for good. I enjoyed this more than the Sekimoto/Akiyama match from the same show. 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW, 8/8/93)

Two of my favorites doing what they do best. Hase is definitely one of the most under-appreciated guys out there, not only rocking the mullet but the 'stache as well. They grapple a bit, fighting over control of the wrist, and when Fujiwara can't maintain it, he gets frustrated and strikes Hase. There's a lot of things to love about this match. The way Hase pulls a trick from Fujiwara's playbook, grinding the forearm and elbow into his face. The grin on Fujiwara's face after tying Hase up in the corner. The time out requests. Fujiwara's busted open head from a comedy spot. At one point, Hase hurts himself trying to headbutt Fujiwara and Fujiwara gives a little strut for good measure. The counterwork was top notch and I loved how Fujiwara kept going back to the armbar in the end, transitioning out of the German suplex hold and then countering the uranage with the armbar takedown. But Hase's counters out of the standing armbar with a beautiful dragon suplex hold for the three count. This match has a little bit of everything, which makes it so much fun to watch. Check it out. 

American Dragon vs. Low-Ki (JAPW, 6/7/02)

This felt like an American indy homage to BattlARTS, with some whacky lucha-esque submissions from the "American Dragon" Bryan Danielson. This was Danielson at his best, fully aware, and in his primal element. His ground game is so organic and fluid, in the sort of spontaneous, uber-aggressive way in which he can counter/reverse into something painful-looking. There weren't really any glitzy submissions for the sake of glitz, as guys like ZSJ are prone to do. Everything looked like it hurt, and Danielson's strategy was clearly to try and snap Low-Ki like a twig in the middle. Like the way he made a simple side headlock look deadly, and the smart way he kept moving his legs and maneuvering Low-Ki away from the ropes. There are tons of little nuances throughout -- like the nose counter, or the supplemental kicks or knees to the submission. 

 Low-Ki can't quite hang in this department but in a frustrated way, he acknowledges shortcoming and has to rely more and more on his striking ability. At one point, Danielson unloads on Low-Ki with slaps, and Low-Ki snaps off a high kick to the head for the takedown. Oh, but Danielson hangouts perfectly in that department. Some of his crossface strikes looked especially vicious. When Low-Ki was working the submissions, he was after Danielson's arm and found ways to keep going back to it, slowly building to the sudden counter finish. They traded submission finishers, as was the trend circa 2000s.

The match could've done away with the out-ring action, as it didn't really add anything to the story -- other than Low-Ki's mild frustration over being outwrestled. But there wasn't any fire to it and Danielson's chops looked a lot more painful than anything Low-Ki did outside. The finish was also on the weaker end. I mean, I loved that Danielson dumped out a bunch of suplexes leading to the Cattle Mutilation. But after Low-Ki fights out of it, there's sort of a disconnect from what was built before. There's a sloppy irish whip reversal, Danielson battling out of the Ki-Krusher and then the hanging armbar from Low-Ki, to which Danielson quickly taps. It was like a late injection of American indie-ism into the ass of this match. Minor criticisms aside, this was one of the better U.S. matches in the early 2000s. A meaningful grapplefuck and a great showcase of Danielson's aggressive submission style. Oh, and Low-Ki as Low-Ki, selling Danielson's submissions by just bending a certain way. 

Hideki Suzuki vs. Kohei Sato (Z1, 3/27/16)

Hideki Suzuki works the arm like a full-time job. He cranks away, armwhips, stomps it, knees it, methodically destroying it with holds and strikes. Suzuki keeps cutting off Sato's offensive rebuttals, continuing to focus his efforts on working the shit out of Sato's poor arm. And Sato sells it pretty well, eventually switching to kicks after failing to use the arm to strike. But when he tries for a piledriver, Suzuki takes him right back down to the mat with an armbar. Suzuki throws a couple of suplexes, Sato gets a quick German suplex hold off of a Suzuki European uppercut. Suzuki tries to strike with Sato and Sato responds with headbutts and a big elbow strike. A piledriver and follow-up German suplex hold were enough to get the win. Loved the armwork by Suzuki but the finish was definitely anti-climatic. I would've liked to have seen the arm work play a bigger role in the end, as it took up 3/4's of the match. The double arm suplex wasn't sold as the potential "Game Over" finish like it has been in his last few matches, and for having been in control for most of the match, Suzuki seemed a little too easy to put away in the end as defending champ. Solid 3/4's but the finish leaves a lot to be desired.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn (NXT, 4/1/16)

This is American puroresu. Tons of emotion, a molten hot crowd, great selling, blood (but not too much), stiff strikes, head droppery. I can't think of a better showcase for Nakamura's debut, and although I was skeptical of Zayn being the man to do the job, Zayn couldn't have been more perfect. He held his own in the striking and slapping department. That elbow battle was something out of an Ishii match, and when Nakamura was hung up in the ropes, Zayn just kicking at him was so great. And man, that Blue Thunder Driver nearfall was so well-timed. Nakamura didn't look like he was holding back either. His shots sounded loud and hurty, and while he missed with that top rope Boma Ye, that final lights out kick looked solid. It's hard to believe we live in a world where Nakamura is wrestling in a WWE ring and Kota Ibushi is watching from ringside. Easily the best WWE match I've seen in a long while. Not a flawless match -- there were a few minor missteps -- but for in-ring debut, a pretty damn awesome exhibition of talent on both sides. The atmosphere was insane. WrestleMania is going to have a hard time following this up.