The rivalry between these two is one of the best in New Japan and going into a match, you already know what to expect: stiff strikes, bouts of no selling, pissing contests, and tons of suplexes. You see it plenty these days but no one can pull it off quite as well as Shibata and Ishii. After a pedestrian opening, with Ishii saying "fuck you" to Shibata's armwork and going straight to the strikes, the match picks up once the enmity kicks in. Like an angsty Shibata walking over and punting Ishii back or Ishii repeatedly chopping Shibata in the throat against Red Shoes' wishes. It wouldn't be a Shibata/Ishii match with a minute-long elbow exchange, with Ishii's nose getting busted open in the process.
I loved the spot with Shibata popping up after the lariat like a zombie only for Ishii to lariat him back down. This time, we get the Indian-style slap off, with Shibata really laying into Ishii once they've made it back to their feet. After they trade suplexes, Ishii catches a PK attempt and what what...armbar takedown! Ishii's selling in this match is terrific (no surprise there), especially toward the end as he's fighting the sleeper attempts, fading into the PK, with Shibata going right back to the sleeper to win in dominant fashion, and Ishii still not wanting to give up the fight as he crawls toward the victor. Awesome stuff. I think it's right up there with last year's battles, thanks to the strong second half, and I may have even liked it more than their WK match. We'll see upon rewatch later in the year. Definitely the best match of the New Japan Cup.
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