[2011-01-16-ACW-Guilty By Association] Dingo vs Akira Tozawa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Previously at PWO:

 

Dingo vs Akira Tozawa (ACW 01/16/11)

I have never even heard of either guy, or this indy for that matter. But I like the dark and seedy atmosphere quite a bit. This was an excellent match made even better by an awesome crowd. Dingo accidentally chops the ringpost at one point, which leads to Tozawa doing some cool work on Dingo's hand and arm, including a great chairshot after a ref distraction. But live by the sword and die by the sword, as Tozawa's momentum is halted when Dingo catches him with a chairshot as he's about to do a tope. Dingo doesn't really have much flash in his offense, but that's pretty cool in this setting, and he knows how to use the stuff he can do really well. The rapid dropping of knees on Tozawa's chest was great, and he worked holds with hidden chokes which was pretty cool. They built a really hot final stretch that really wasn't based on 2.9 nearfall overkill as much as it was constant shifts in momentum where it was hard to tell who was going to be able to do enough to keep the other guy down long enough to win. It's like they have taken some of the wrestling norms of the past decade that drive me crazy and trimmed the fat. They still capture the parts that work for modern crowds without getting drowned in the excess.

I'm the first to admit that I'm probably overrating this in some ways. There is seriously nothing I can point to that put the match over the top. Yet somehow, it got there. What I liked about this was that they weren't working tribute-style to a previous era in a way that isn't as good as the people performing in that previous era, which is what I feared a lot of the indy stuff in 2011 might be. This was something new and fresh that I really liked. There was nothing spectacular about any individual part of this match -- the offense or the selling or the match layout. But taken all together, it really works because they were good opponents for each other and what they do is executed so well.