[2016-05-03-NJPW-Wrestling Dontaku] Katsuyori Shibata vs Yuji Nagata

[GOTNW]

Very strong match and more reminiscent of something Koji Kanemoto would do than the self conscious dick measuring contests I've come to hate. The early faux shoot matwork was way more interesting than watching more pointless headlocks. The overreliance on cut offs after rope running and the lack of lengthier control segments prevented this from being better. I did like a lot of it, particularly Shibata's dominance in the middle and the way he kicked Nagata around and Nagata brutal comeback with devastating kicks and knees, prolonging those and finishing the match with them would've been much better than doing finisher stealing. I'm not crazy over suplex no sell spots but I did love the one here mostly due to Shibata actually countering Nagata's Exploder and just drilling him with an STO. The match also didn't overstay its welcome which I appreciate, I'm sure many would have preffered them doing more but this way I'm actually looking forward to the rematch. ***1/2