This is one of those big title match-ups in which the viewing experience would've been greatly enhanced had the end result not been spoiled. Nevertheless, if you've managed to stay spoiler-free somehow or if not, you're in for a treat. This is the Big Dog at his best and while Kento Miyahara is the same "ace" Kento we've all grown to love, with his convenient comebacks and shoehorned spots, his facial expressions are some of the best I've seen from him as Ishikawa dishes out the punishment. Ishikawa cuts off Kento's momentum early on, catching him off the apron and ramming him into the ring post. He goes to work on Kento's back, scoop slamming him onto the apron, double stomping him, even putting him in my favorite submission hold, the Texas Cloverleaf! Miyahara's in-the-moment selling is always good but when he's on offense, it can be a lapse in and out. Miyahara delivers a ton of Blackout knees in this, including one on the apron.
The match really hits its peak down the home stretch, when Kento goes for another Blackout and Ishikawa ducks it, dumping him with the release dragon suplex and hitting the running knee for a nearfall. Shuji's able to hit the Fire Thunder Driver for two but Kento counters the Splash Mountain Bomb with a rana and connects with back-to-front Blackouts, followed by the stalling German suplex hold for two. He tries to trap Ishikawa's arms for the shutdown German and even as Ishikawa fights to break out, Kento still has control of the arms, forcing Shuji to fight harder. When he breaks out, he hits a couple of knees and the Splash Mountain Bomb but the champ still kicks out! Kento's able to hit one last desperation Blackout but when he tries for the coup de grace, Ishikawa counters with another Fire Thunder Driver and puts the ace down with the Giant Slam. A well-deserved win for the Big Dog and it will be interesting to see if Miyahara can regain the title in the coming months or if Ishikawa gets a nice, lengthy reign with some fresh defenses.
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