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.
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