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NBIceman posted...

Iceman's Match Recommendation (Week 2)
Katsuyori Shibata vs Kota Ibushi
NJPW, G1 Climax 25 - July 29, 2015
Match Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Hs411W7UA?from=search&seid=16498732861684611450
NJPW World Link: https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00333_7_07#

I had two matches in consideration for this week, and the other one was posted by Bidoof. Glad to end up with an easy decision after all!

Part of me wanted to stay away from relatively recent NJPW stuff since I figure most everyone has seen it, but 2015 probably predates the point where the company really exploded with wrestling fans enough that I imagine this match is still a fresh one to at least a couple sets of eyes here. Really, it flew a little bit under the radar even when it happened - there was a lot of high-end stuff in G1 25 just like there is every year and neither competitor was ever a threat to win the block.

This is the only singles match these two ever had, and though they couldn't have known that then, they sure worked like they had nothing to leave on the table for the future. It's not long, but they pack a lot in, kicking the absolute hell out of each other in the exact manner you'd expect out of the two. I mentioned in my review of WALTER/Thatcher from Week 1 that Thatcher always seems to have a particular plan. Conversely, this is two guys who never have a plan at all, at least beyond "hit the other guy until they fall down." And that's the kind of thing that makes for an awesome G1 offering.

Anyway, I went 4.75 stars on this when it happened, and I can pinpoint the exact spot that kept me from the full five. I'll be curious to see if anyone else nitpicks the same spot the way I do.

EDIT: Oh, and in what will accidentally complete the circle between our three hosts, my vote goes to WALTER/Thatcher from last week.

I don't believe I ever watched this but if I did I had no memory of it while watching this time.

So as I was watching this, I had wondered if these two had bad a pre existing issue because the two seemed to be pursuing wildly different goals in this bout. Shibata seems to be pissed off he has to share a ring with a clown like Ibushi. He seeks to, pretty much from the word go, completely emasculate the guy. He wants to prove he's bad and that Ibushi isn't. And he doesn't seem to like that the crowd is into Ibushi. Ibushi is just like here to win a match until about 8 minutes in where he decides Shibata is pissing him off.

Conversely Shibata seems pissed off from the very moment they had kinda cheesy kick sword fight to start the match.

These guys kick the unholy hell out of one another and as things go on I realized that Shibatas goal was to embarrass Ibushi. He beats the shit out of him on the guard rail and Ibushi is selling like death and rather than go for the countout and points he goes and gets Ibushi to keep trying to embarrass him. This dynamic reaches its peak where Ibushi gets some offens, whips Shibata into the corner and does a running drop kick to the face and Shibata when he goes on offense makes a point of repeating the spot but louder as a big fuck you.

And then Shibata decides he wants to tap this clown out and goes for a submission at the end of every victorious exchange of blows - and make no mistake Shibata wins most of them .

This comes to a head at the finish where he goes for the sleeper again...gets pissed off Ibushi isn't passing out and so just kicks him in the fucking head.

Ultimately Ibushi's lack of psychology or plan or emotion holds this back for me (as it does frankly in a lot of Ibushi matches) but Shibata was firing on every single cylinder here. Awesome stuff. 4.25.

Really a lot like the Sasaki match but less cerebral and faster/better work.

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Board 8's Voice of Reason
https://imgur.com/AWY4xHy