Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe vs. Hikaru Sato & Takuya Wada (AJPW, 8/11/19)

Another dope Astronauts match with plenty to love on. Abe getting caught with the open hand early from Sato and his staggered sell, the intensity of the Nomura/Wada exchanges, which lead to nasty slaps and corner headbutts. And Wada's Northern lights suplex is snappy as hell. Loved Sato going nuts on Nomura with the ground-and-pound, and then Nomura German suplexing Sato as he's reaching out for the tag. Another cool spot came with Abe catching the double wrist-lock off the German suplex hold by Wada, slickly keeping it cinched in through Wada's struggled efforts. Abe's so smooth -- loved his set up to the cross kneebar on Sato before turning that into a legtrap German l. Fun mix of shoot-style and pro-wrestling with a motivated Sato turning up the heat and Abe getting plenty of time to shine. Abe and Nomura are a blast - a bit like modern day Fujiwara and Maeda. Same energy.