I think Sabre's best when he has someone physically strong to work against; his mat stuff looks much better with resistance. He gets that from Ibushi here, even early on the mat he has to really yank his arms to get him into place. Throughout the match, how good Ibushi is makes Sabre seem even more impressive. I've seen a moonsault into a hold of some sort a billion times, but Ibushi is so incredibly fast in going up for that moonsault, that getting the counter in feels more special. The intensity as they get more and more desperate to get their big moves and holds in at the end is great, and I'll be shocked if this isn't one of my very fav matches in Japan this year.

This was fantastic. Kota's throwing all the hard strikes while Zack's trying to close the distance and grapple him into submission, you feel the conflict as both are trying to force the other into wrestling their kind of match. Just generally these are two guys who're good at avoiding over-doing spots and they combine excellently to make a thrilling match where even though I'm familiar with both of them I don't know what move/counter they're gonna pull out next. Feels like a really close-fought battle where they both know one genius move/slip up will decide it, it's so tense. This was the best match of the tournament.

 

****1/2