Posted January 5, 20196 yr comment_5874735 Kota Ibushi defends the NEVER Openweight Title at the Tokyo Dome. Talk about it here
January 5, 20196 yr comment_5874744 These two brought the flippy stuff, sequences w/ shitload of counters & the hard hits (maybe even too hard in the finish). My personal favorite moments were Ibushi’s killer moments on the offense - in particular the Boma Ye spot was absolutely terrific. Some questionable selling, but that was to be expected, and it was nothing offensive. Could’ve done without the “dramatic” bits of Ospreay staring Ibushi when he had him on the tree of woe & then the same thing they did at that one Road To show w/ Ibushi being SHOCKED by Ospreay landing on his feet. But hey, they be telling stories™. Good match. ***
January 6, 20196 yr comment_5874786 It was a match between Will Ospreay and Kota Ibushi of all god damned people. Of course this was going to be nuts. Most interesting was the match structure as everyone expected an extreme athletic contest, these guys just beat the piss out of each other instead. Unfortunately this led to Ibushi suffering a concussion which made the finish feel a bit weird, but incredible stuff nonetheless, ****3/4.
January 6, 20196 yr comment_5874837 A much more violent match than I would have expected between these two. We still got plenty of flips and crazy moves, but there was a lot of intensity in everything they did, particularly with Will throwing kicks at Ibushi in the Tree of Woe. I agree with ShittyLittleBoots that the dramatic stuff was a bit overdone, but thankfully they didn't take up too much of the match. This match was unfortunately marred by Ibushi getting concussed and yet they still went with the normal finish of the Stormbreaker which was irresponsible and stupid. Still, everything before that was really good even if I felt they could have done even more. ****1/4.
January 7, 20196 yr comment_5874904 It was a bold move to have this open the main card and it paid off. This wasn't a total spotfest. I was worried they would throw things like psychology and selling out the window and just try to top Ospreay vs Ricochet, but thankfully I was proven wrong. This was a very violent affair, with some (slightly hammy) melodrama to boot. Ospreay might have some cheesy facial expressions and takes things too far, but he's a hell of a talent. ★★★★¼
January 14, 20196 yr comment_5875901 Two viewings of this now, and it really holds up as one hell of a match. The flippy stuff was to be expected but I wasn't expecting the level of hard-hitting violence that was present and it definitely took things to the next level. Great match, and enters my pantheon of some of the best opening matches of all time, along with Rey vs Angle from Summerslam 02 and Bryan vs HHH from Mania 30, among others.
January 14Jan 14 comment_6027075 I remember I wasn't a fan when it originally happened, but it's actually pretty good. Still not a fan of the dancing around flippy stuff, but once they got going it was REAL good. Loved the violence and they didn't go into overkill. Definitely recommend. ***3/4
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