I watched this match a few weeks ago, really liked it, re-watched this match last night, loved it. I mean, it's bati-bati in Big Japan, with Abe putting on one of his best singles performances to date and, at times, overshadowing Nomura. Abe's awareness shines through early on, as he rolls through the snapmare to prevent the typical "I kick your back" spot that he did to Nomura. Loved that. His strategy is simple: keep Nomura on the ground. That's arguably Nomura's weak spot, his matwork, and Abe's able to stay on his leg, taking him to the ropes a couple of times. Nomura will get in a slap or a kick here, and he's able to catch an Abe kick and plant him with the capture suplex before going into the armbar. But just as Nomura starts heating up his strikes, Abe counters with a beautiful legscrew. In the last few minutes, they start laying in the hard strikes -- the punches, kicks, slaps, elbows -- both showing exhaustion as they stumble around the ring, lunging into their strikes. Very cool match worked in a style that is rarely worked these days.

Man this was incredible. 12 minutes of INTENSE wrestling. No wasted motion, two people wanting to win and doing their everything to get on top. Stiff as fuck in part, some dope fucking counters and a crowd that's really engaged

I guess I need to start seeking out Fuminori Abe matches cuz shit, this was great. His selling is of Nomura's strikes, even before we get into the wobbly-legged section of the match is terrific; I loved his counters - there's a truly top level dragon screw involved, and his counter elbow hits too; his spinning jump kicks are great. I already knew Nomura was good, and him in a setting where he's slightly bigger and can afford to be kind of a dick is really good for him.

Jmare007 picked this match for me for Secret Santo. Abe is invading BJW from Pro Wrestling BASARA (which is apparently a DDT spinoff), and his work is appropriately heelish. He takes cheap shots, refuses to observe rope breaks, even throws punches with a closed fist. The bulk of the match is a bit too mat-based for my tastes, although Abe keeps things interesting with his dickishness. His double foot stomp onto Nomura's face is a genuine holy-shit spot that unfortunately is pretty much no-sold. Things pick up for me once they start focusing on stand-up strike exchanges. Both guys have no problem really laying it in, and they do a fine job of selling damage and exhaustion. Abe gets the win with a combination octopus hold/kimura that I expect Zack Sabre Jr. to bust out at some point in the future if he hasn't already. Fun match overall. Someone whose tolerance for shoot-style matwork is greater than my own would probably get more out of it.