AKIRA vs Yoshihashi, BOSJ 30/5/10
Yoshihashi is a guy who’s gained something of a following as his rise up the card coincided with New Japan’s expansion to Western audiences, but personally I’ve always seen him as mediocre. Here he is a black trunks rookie getting carried by our wiley veteran. One thing I have learned rewatching these matches is that AKIRA hates kneecaps. He must destroy them. Yoshihashi has some young lion gusto but AKIRA completely schools him on the ground, stretching him out and tying him in submissions. However he does survive long enough to find an opening and pay AKIRA back in kind with some leg attacks of his own with a sense of urgency. Yoshihashi winning was definitely an upset and a nice rub for the kid, and the finishing rub-crunching swanton would have made Jeff Hardy proud. Has Grown Man Yoshihashi had a singles match as good as this?
Yuki Ishikawa vs AKIRA, Kana Pro 17/6/12
Really interesting clash of hybrid styles. Both guys are obviously very technically skilled but there’s a difference between BatttlARTS and New Japan. This starts very much an Ishikawa match and slowly becomes more of an AKIRA match as it progresses, but it’s all quality. A lot of the way through is entirely on the ground, and there’s plenty of struggle for holds and counters. When AKIRA goes up to the top for a spot, Ishikawa cool-y rolls out the way and taunts him, only to get a dropkick to the face for his trouble. Great finishing sequences as AKIRA hits the belly flop splash but can’t finish due to the pain in his arm, Ishikawa ever the master of snatching a guy in hold tries to capitalise only for AKIRA to catch a counter-attack. This was just as much as that pairing looks on paper.
TAJIRI vs AKIRA, WNC 27/12/12
TAJIRI is another guy who had a late career resurgence in his veteran years by relying on grappling and ring smarts, so these two are a great fit together. There’s plenty of solid grappling and struggle, but it’s actually who takes charge of most of the match. He focuses on AKIRA’s arm and picks it apart with a bunch of interesting and varied attacks. The smart arm-work and TAJIRI’s kicks make for a great prolonged heat section, and AKIRA’s selling is top tier. He has to rely on enziguris and headbutts and ends up busting himself open in the process, which just further puts over the struggle and grit of the match. He has to get fired up deep in the match and switch his strategy up. Both guys were still agile and doing high spots, but considering they were in their 40s and not working at the pace of juniors in their prime, this is a great example of 2 vets having a really compelling match using their wrestling IQ and cleverness rather than their athleticism. TAJIRI was on a roll with his WNC promotion at this time and this match is a notch in both men’s belts.
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