Evolution of Takuya Nomura

Evolution of Takuya Nomura

Takuya Nomura first caught my attention in his 5/12 D-RIZE tag match against Aoki & Sato. He showed a lot of potential at the outset but lost some of his confidence after Sato bullies him. Upon reviewing some of his matches from the past month or so, you can definitely see an evolution of confidence as he begins to find his comfort zone as a ground-and-pound wrestler. For only having debuted in April of this year, Nomura has a promising future. 

Takuya Nomura & Yasufumi Nakanoue vs. Hideki Suzuki & Atsushi Maruyama

 (BJW, 6/20/16)

Nomura and Maruyama are more supporting characters for the heated feud between Suzuki and Nakanoue, which rears it beautifully ugly head midway through the match. Nomura and Suzuki get in a bit of groundwork before Nakanoue gets the tag and immediately goes after the departing Suzuki, elbowing him off the apron. But Suzuki manages to keep his cool. Nomura and Suzuki get one more exchange, in which Suzuki forcefully wrenches the arm and takes him down to the mat. When Nakanoue and Suzuki square off in the ring, Suzuki finally lets loose and we get some awesome, pissy strikes. As the fight spills to the outside, I find myself paying more attention to the brawl then what's happening inside the ring between Nomura and Maruyama. In fact, they also seem a bit distracted by what's going on. Maruyama pins Nomura after a buzzsaw kick but Suzuki and Nakanoue still go at it until they're finally pulled apart. You're in this for the Suzuki/Nakanoue encounter but on a whole, decent tag action and work from Nomura. 

Takuya Nomura vs. Hideki Suzuki (BJW, 6/29/16)

This was a fun little tango with Suzuki. Nomura is still a little green and at times, looks lost when working the mat with Suzuki, but his fire and intensity is great. Suzuki plays more of a defensive role here as Nomura comes at him early with slaps. There’s a nice counter by Suzuki out of the rear waistlock but when he encourages Nomura to work the mat with him, Nomura responds with a leaping double stop. There’s a fun spot as Nomura slaps his way out of a leglock and a little later, he counters a European uppercut with an armbar takedown. I like that he stays on top of Suzuki, going right back to the armbar after Suzuki kicks out of a PK. After wearing Nomura down with a killer crab hold, Suzuki hits a big backbreaker for the win.

Takuya Nomura vs. Hideki Suzuki (BJW, 7/9/16)

In his follow-up match with Suzuki, Nomura is fiery and super confident; a constant thorn in Suzuki’s side. He doesn’t let up, persistently slipping through Suzuki’s fingers, who again, works more of a cautious defense. Nomura’s mat and counter work continues to improve. He again tries to hard slap his way out of a leglock and smoothly gets to a front neck chancery on Suzuki. There’s an awkward moment as Suzuki rolls through to a front mount but doesn’t do anything and Nomura escapes. In a great spot, Nomura easily counters a European uppercut with a backslide and fires off a PK, a suplex, and a second PK. Eventually, Suzuki catches him with a backbreaker, and after wearing him down with a crab hold/single leg crab, Suzuki hits a big double arm suplex for the win. Nomura will only get better and better, and 2017 could be a very interesting year for him.