KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita © vs. Tetsuya Endo

 

Neither of these guys are interesting characters, but they were working very hard to captivate the Sumo Hall crowd, trading stiff offense and taking hard bumps. It's like watching two Hirooki Goto's go at it. The match was based around mutual neck work, and I thought they did a swell job of selling the damage. The middle finger spot would have worked better for Endo, given his role in the match (working underneath). But that is only a minor complaint. Good match! ****

This match had its moments and I thought Takeshita’s performance was really great, especially toward the end, but Endo did a good job of centering his offense on Takeshita’s neck and bringing the focus back at various points in the match. I liked the viciousness of it early on and Takeshita’s selling was great for the most part, with him not being able to fully strike back at Endo. However, the backwork on Endo was conveniently ignored in favor of his glitzier offense, some of which didn't quite hit the mark. Some believable nearfalls toward the end and hard-hitting bombs from Takeshita building to the finish. Pretty good match.