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[2012-08-26-AJPW] Jun Akiyama vs Masakatsu Funaki


Superstar Sleeze

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AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jun Akiyama vs Masakatsu Funaki - AJPW 8/26/12

 

This is the famous sub 5 minute sprint from these two. Loved it! Very ballsy! Akiyama gets a knee to the head early and he pounces. He wants to exploit this advantage and win this match in short fashion. Funaki has some counterwrestling tricks like an armbar and legbar, but Akiyama is coming full steam ahead with the knees to the head. Nice struggle on Exploder. Coming out of the legbar, Funaki rifles the leg with a kick and then knocks Akiyama out cold with a head kick. Hits a shoulderbreaker to win the match. Great sprint! Akiyama saw an opening and tried to accelerate, but when that happens you leave yourself open for a quick counterattack and that's what happened here. ****

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  • 1 year later...

An interesting observation on how Funaki works this type of matches (which he’s relied on quite a lot structurally) is that it’s really not that different from his usualy pro-style-patiently, calm and collected, but ready to explode at any time. It’s laid out pretty simply-some classic title match dick measuring in the beginning wherein Funaki asserts his dominance by shoving Akiyama onto the ropes by pushing his forearm onto Akiyama’s face, their hands are tangled up in what looks like a one-handed precursor for a test of strength and as they’re about to enter it Funaki ducks, looking to avoid it but eats a big knee (which was an incredible set-up for a spot where you’ll usually see someone attempts a double leg they never do out of character on the basis of the spot just being so cool looking it’ll work) and the sprint finally starts, as we get a battle of knees and Exploders and kicks and flash submissions. and right when Funaki starts working over Akiyama’s leg and you get flashbacks to the 20-30 minute where legwork was a major focus Akiyama gets desperate and makes the mistake of entering a strike exchange with Funaki where he suffers the same fate Funaki did at the hands of Bas Rutten. ***1/2

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  • GSR changed the title to [2012-08-26-AJPW] Jun Akiyama vs Masakatsu Funaki
  • 3 years later...

Oh dang, fantastic match in a tidy little box. Like a heavyweight title fight that stops in the 2nd round after a couple knockdowns. Akiyama's offense looks so heavy, Funaki gets right back at him with those strong kicks and I actually love the ending strike exchange because they don't dwell on it. Akiyama gets in too deep, gets rocked, Funaki sees his opening and ends it. ****

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