When pro wrestling is great it is pretty fucking great.
Going in I fully expected Kento to win to continue his run before losing to the winner of the carnival. I would have loved SUWAMA to win but didn’t believe it would happen but from the moment the intro video started I thought he could win and wanted to believe he would.
The intro package and most of the match was built around getting you to want SUWAMA to win so that the crowd was gagging for him to end kentos reign by the end. It was brilliant storytelling even within a vaccum of the match.
It was not perfect as Kento still did his annoying outside the ring brawling that has blighted so many of his matches in this run and made it tedious at times. They did play on that a bit as SUWAMA did have a reversal planned for one of Kento’s round the corner post attacks.
I would have liked a bit more intensity throughout the whole match from SUWAMA as he was good throughout but after the opening exchange he did seem to slow down a bit in his chase of Kento it did hurt the match a bit and created a lull in there.
Kento was good as an arrogant prick and always seemed to have something left in him, an opening for a blackout knee that you always felt was coming.
The finish stretch was expertly worked. They built it right to the point where after Kento kicked out of the first backdrop and then managed to get a blackout in it felt like just a matter of time until Kento won. The massive dropkick that SUWAMA landed right after that made me leap out of my chair and punch the air. I am usually very subdued when watching wrestling but this was timed so perfectly. The onslaught of backdrops that followed then the three count and I couldn’t believe it happened. A really great match that told a brilliant story with only a couple of hiccups when the intensity went down for a short while. But other than that this was excellent ****1/2
Korakuen Ramblings 