[2017-08-20-DDT] Akito vs Daisuke Sasaki

You know, I’m all for weapons-based dueling limbwork and I think for the most part, it worked here, with some pretty gnarly spots (that diving elbow drop from the top of the ladder to the outside). You had Sasaki targeting Akito’s neck to set up the crossface, doing crazy things like the Russian legsweep onto a ladder with a wooden block across Akito’s throat and ultimately, winning the match with the chair-assisted crossface hold. You had Akito doing his leg-based thing, blasting Sasaki’s knee with a chair while he’s hung up in the ladder and using a ton of kneebreaker variations. Really liked his double kneebreaker counter to the early crossface attempt. At times, Akito’s selling was terrific but Sasaki’s selling was definitely more miss than hit here, and between that and the near dead crowd atmosphere, this match didn’t reach the same level as Sasaki’s defense against Togo earlier in the year.