[2016-10-31-BJW] Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato

[superkix]

This was the best opener I've seen all year, condensed and brutal, with a red hot crowd. They didn't waste any of time they were given, going full steam right out of the gate. Okabayashi hits Ishikawa so hard with a shoulderblock, his mouthpiece flies out. In addition to dealing it out, Strong BJ really know how to sell a beating, especially Sekimoto, who took the brunt of the punishment with some nasty headbutts, elbows, and kicks. Love the spot where Sekimoto is taking elbow shots from Sato and just hauls back and levels him with a short-arm lariat. This match also had one of the best colliding lariats spots I've seen in recent memory and some fun, hard-hitting double teams. Can't ask for a better way to kick off the show then letting these four guys go out there and beat the snot out of each other. Classic BJ.

[WingedEagle]

This was a tremendous match. They maintained an incredible pace while also selling just about everything along the way save for a couple spots where Yuji in particular would pop up for a no sell that absolutely popped the crowd. We're not there yet, but at this point Yuji will have to be pushed off my Most Outstanding ballot come WON award season. He gets major bonus points for bring out the best in Daisuke who can be prone to consistent no selling but falls in line when they tag together. Hell of a match that for my money was better than the more heralded finals that closed the show.

 

By the way -- Shuji Ishikawa is incredible .

 

****

[KB8]

BEEEEEEEF. Pretty awesome potato-fest sprint. Big Japan is all about the lumpiness these days. Everybody just leathers each other. There were so many "fucking hell I can't believe he did that" moments in this where someone would crowbar someone else as hard as humanly possible. Ishikawa headbutted Okabayashi clean in the face and Okabayashi shoulderblocked him so hard his own gumshield flew out. I'm surprised Sekimoto still had any basic motor functions left after this. He's sort of terrible when his more annoying habits are indulged, and he has awful facial expressions, like he's having a stroke rather than communicating whatever he's trying to communicate, but he's a beefy wee tank who hits hard and gets hit harder. Ishikawa and Sato completely murdered him and it made for an awesome little heat segment. Okabayashi has lots of fans at this point and I'm still kind of whatever on him, but as has been mentioned he will fucking blooter a guy up and down the place and he was a rocking hot tag. There was one iffy no-sell bit towards the end, but it was the only part that I could've done without and even then they went right back to pummelling each other.

 

Over the last week or so I've watched a fair bit of Big Japan from the last couple years, and in the absence of any shoot style it's probably the one promotion in Japan I could see myself following week to week at this point. Probably not entire shows, but there's a solid handful of guys there that I like a lot.

[superkix]

Yeah, agreed. The Strong Division is at the top of my list when it comes to modern Japanese wrestling I enjoy.