This was for KUSHIDA’s IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
Despite one really bad looking botch, this was a great match and one of the best contests for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in #OneFour history. (Admittedly, that’s not the biggest compliment in the world given how few of those matches have turned out to be all that compelling or good.)
They came out hot trying to kill each other. Kamaitachi got control in one of the most emphatic ways possible via a sunset flip powerbomb to the floor. KUSHIDA fought back. Kamaitachi almost killed himself and KUSHIDA with an attempted diving ‘rana to the floor.
KUSHIDA finally was able to make a substantial comeback once he caught Kamaitachi with a cross armbreaker on the floor. Those spots are labored as fuck, but this one at least carried huge significance for the match.
The match then became about KUSHIDA trying to submit Kamaitachi with the kimura over and over again before Kamaitachi was able to put him away. This made for great wrestling strategy for KUSHIDA and for dramatic in-ring storytelling.
KUSHIDA failed in his quest, as one of Kamaitachi’s brutal movez finally put him away. This was bloody fantastic. They should wait a long time to go back to the rematch or just move KUSHIDA to the NEVER division. This is a matchup that is special enough that you cannot waste it on just filling out B-PPV cards. (****)
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