Posted September 25, 20178 yr comment_5815074 Zack Sabre Junior fits the New Japan main event style a lot better than so many of its homegrown talent. He actually can do a slow build match as he has such interesting and varied matwork and grappling skills that I don't feel like the first half of the match was just killing time. The match is 30 minutes and didn't feel that long at all. You can split the 'technical' section of this match in two. The first act is ZSJ imposing his technical superiority over Tanahashi, has the odd setback for overall everything Tanahashi does he has a counter for, the reversing Japanese chokeholds were nicely inventive. Then the second act is Zack moving to attack Tana's injured bicep which up to this point he'd left untouched. This is all excellent until Tana gets a comeback going, managing to cleverly reverse one of Zack's unique submissions into a Texas Cloverleath. And unfortunately we get more stupid Suzuki Gun interference that was totally out of place in this kind of match. Minoru Suzuki and Taka Michinoku storm the place with a totally implausible referee distraction before Michael Elgin fights then off with one of the most unconvincing brawls to the back I've ever seen. After that unwelcome interruption we get back to the match although I've lost track of what was happening with all that distraction, but the finishing streak was quite well done. **** was looking like a classic before Suzuki Gun had to turn up.
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