KENTA & Kota Ibushi vs Katsuhiko Nakajima & Naomichi Marufuji
09/14/2008
Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan
(reviewed 03/07/2024) This isn’t awful or anything—for a thirty minute draw with an additional five minute sudden death overtime in Differ Ariake of all places it really flies by—but boy is it a striking illustration of the branching paths wrestling has taken over the years. What I’m talking about is what these wrestlers do and don’t emphasize in their matches. Guys like Ibushi and Marufuji never look so good as when they’re doing nothing, as all their focus and finesse is poured into weightless reversal dances that lead nowhere much in the end. Their emphasis is in what they could be pulling off but don’t manage to. Conversely KENTA and Nakajima put their all into lung-crushing kicks that land with pinpoint precision, moves that feel like they’re leaving an impression (sometimes literally) even if they’re not exactly immediate match-winners. Everything all four of these guys do in the ring is intentional but thanks to differing ambitions and aesthetics, that intention is pointed in different directions, whether in actually accomplishing something—kicking someone really fucking hard, say—or deliberately doing otherwise. The moves Marufuji does do, whether it’s floaty flying elbows or apron brainbusters where he can’t even get stick insect Ibushi vertical, have no physical impact (and therefore little narrative impact) on top of lacking the personal investment of his eighteen-step reversal sequences. He simply doesn’t have the desire to do anything else. He’s sleepwalking through 80% of this match. While Ibushi’s generally better with the mechanical execution of moves than Marufuji is—and it’s genuinely thrilling to see some of his highflying stuff again after years of him as a heavyweight—he’s still too prone to phony playacting and comedy moves done earnestly to be enjoyable at all. (Doing this Nakajima series and being reintroduced to his awful double jump feint moonsault has felt like somehow contracting chickenpox a second time. I thought I was through with this shit!) I have my issues with KENTA and Nakajima both but at least they’re delivering on honest to god wrestling moves that look like they might actually hurt somebody. Wish people still did those.
Brock Hates Wrestling 