[2017-02-11-NJPW-New Beginning in Osaka] Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee

[ShittyLittleBoots]

An absolutely wild match. These 2 always go balls to the walls when they face each other - and this match was no different, they put on one helluva spotfest which was filled w/ some sick, dangerous looking spots. My favorite spot of the whole match was when Hiromu started slapping Lee, and then Lee busted out a sick looking Armbar. They probably went on a bit too long for my taste, I would've preferred if it had gone just a tad bit shorter, but it was still a very good match. ***1/2

[bradhindsight]

Absolutely insane. It's almost impossible to recite from memory all the dangerous spots here, but these guys nailed it. Diving sunset powerbomb to the outside was so fast. Lee's running rana to Takahashi outside on the apron. The huge senton into the guardrail. We even get the mask pull off and get a decent glimpse for half a second at Dragon Lee. The ref piece with that was weird, really my only minor nitpick.Elevated reversal of the powerbomb into a destroyer was fantastic. Real destroyer was super crisp and natural to set up the Timebomb finish. Whew, best match on the show for me - ****3/4.

 

Edit: thanks to Chikara it just dawned on me that the ref bump was to cover for the "Mask pull off = DQ" lucha rule (maybe)

[SmartMark15]

From the 2017 MOTY Thread:

 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE TWO? There's like ten floor bumps in this match, three of them in the first three minutes or so. This is just escalating insanity that would be a gross indy spotfest if not for the feeling of actual struggle and competition between the two as well as some extended bouts of selling both in and out of the ring. Lee probably has the best tope suicida in the business, guy shoots out like a bullet. You can feel the force of it.

****1/2