[1989-07-24-UWF] Nobuhiko Takada vs Shigeo Miyato

[GOTNW]

I would usually watch something like this, go "fucking amazing" and leave my match analysis at that but I can't really do that here. Miyato attacks Takada from the beginning, he doesn't exactly rush him at the bell like you'd see at the all time classic Funaki/Nakano match from the same show but he's the one initiating attacks. It's easy to imagine Miyato was pissed a pretty boy with a baseball background was pushed so hard based on his height and how well a magazine with his nudes would sell (yes they are a real thing. I come across a lot of weird stuff on the interwebs). The problem Miyato has here is that, whatever he does, he's fucked. He can't really win. The size difference isn't such that he couldn't realistically put Takada in peril but if he tries to battle him in stand-up he'll get his head kicked off and if he tries to take him down Takada will just power out of it. I'm really glad they followed the narrative I though up in my head, only Takada shoot kicked Miyato in the head as soon as he got out of his takedown and from then onwards this one picked up the pace. Don't think there'd be much use of me doing a play by play of everything that happened and explaining why it ruled, I will note that Miyato's selling further impressed me, he understood his role very well and made it very easy for the crowd to get behind him.

[Microstatistics]

Fantastic match to the point I thought it was almost as good as Funaki vs. Nakano. Really good selling from Miyato and I liked how his strikes lost their power at the end because of how drained he was. Takada was vicious throughout but I thought he was really selfless and gave Miyato a lot of the offence.

[Childs]

I popped this in after reading these two reviews and have to say, I'm puzzled as to what got you guys so excited. It was a fine little match with some nice touches from Miyato, like the slaps he threw at Takada's chest when he was stuck in the leg lock. His big flurry before the finish looked good and popped the crowd. And I liked the way both guys threw nasty kicks right after breaking holds. But as is often the case with Takada, the submission attempts weren't very dynamic, so even in an 11-minute match, there were dead periods. Don't get me wrong, the match was the right length and achieved what it was supposed to achieve. But great? On a card with Funaki-Nakano and Yamazaki-Fujiwara? Didn't see it.

[Microstatistics]

I don't know I thought this had practically no down time at all and the submission stuff worked because of Miyato's selling. Watching the 5/88 match just added to the story of this for me, because it showed Miyato's growth. In that match he got almost no (non-kick based) offence at all but in this he is going toe to toe with Takada at various points and has the crowd more invested.

[G. Badger]

There was little doubt as to who was going to win this one. Takada must have had 20 lbs. and 6 inches on Miyato. Still, that didn't shake him from throwing some mean kicks at Takada. Nobuhiko in turn threw some nice ones at him but, was flat footed during much of the match. What's crazy is that this match was much closer to the near-squashes that he would put Yamazaki through in UWFi. It really makes doing that asinine...I mean he couldn't do what Maeda did for him. Anyhow, this was better than the first match on the card but only in the sense that Miyato was out there to work where Takada was loafing. As it seems opinions vary, I recommend checking this out for yourself.