Time limit draws can be tiresome. The pacing can be off, there's often a lot of needless filler to eat up minutes and the action can feel subdued. Not here though. All four guys put their bodies through hell and back for the duration of the match. Uber-stiff and brutal at times, it was well-paced and organic, sometimes feeling a little too real, as both Sato and Okabayashi get busted open the hard way. Things got a little chaotic and messy at times, but it never got out of control and they always reeled the action back in. I liked the early struggle by Sato with the cross armbreaker and Sekimoto trying to power out to his feet, forcing Sato to re-think his strategy and attack the leg.
Okabayashi was a beast in this and the strike exchanges between he, Sato and Ishikawa were nuts -- those Sato elbow shots were especially nasty. There's one point in particular where Okabayashi blocks Ishikawa's headbutt with his hand and then nearly lariats him out of his boot. But Ishikawa would exact his revenge toward the end of the match hitting one of the gnarliest headbutts on Okabayashi I've seen.
Sekimoto did a great job selling the beat down Twin Towers issued out. No matter how hard he fought back, they kept swatting him back down. At one point, they block his double lariat attempt and pound him with stereo headbutts. There's two different lay out spots with all four men but they didn't necessarily feel shoehorned it, more like a steady build toward the bomb fests. By end of this thing, Sato and Okabayashi are on wobbly knees slugging it out in desperation. Okabayashi hits one final powerful lariat, trying in vain to get the pin over and over again before the time limit expires. What a tag team match and a modern strong style classic!
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