This was easily Takeshita's strongest performance of the year, and the best KO-D Openweight Title match of 2016. Even though you didn't have the strong sense Miyamoto was going to win this thing, he sure gave Takeshita hell, smartly working the leg with Takeshita doing a good job of keeping it relevant. Even during questionable offensive runs, only one of which came to mind, he still acknowledges the bum leg. Miyamoto's leg-focused attacks looked crisp and effective, from the initial chopping down of Takeshita with dropkicks to simple things, like an elbow drop to the back of the knee. After Takeshita escapes the calf hold, we get some big offense, including a dragon suplex, a German suplex hold counter, and a desperate out-of-nowhere Fire Thunder Driver from Miyamoto. But when he goes for the moonsault, Takeshita sacrifices his bad leg to block it. The final elbow battle was fun. Miyamoto gets a shot in that knocks Takeshita down but he half mad-dogs, half collapses into Miyamoto's elbows in a great moment, before accessing his crazy elbow side. There's a couple of counters and pin attempts before Takeshita ends up hitting a beautiful roll-through German suplex hold for the win. Really fun match, thanks to the focused legwork from Miyamoto, the competent selling of Takeshita, and some big main event-style offense.
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