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[2018-04-01-NJPW] Zack Sabre Jr vs Kazuchika Okada


Maciej

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Sabre is killing it this year., and this is wonderfully laid out. Okada isn’t that good on the mat, but that’s fine, because he doesn’t have to be. He gets some holds in, which makes sense with his lucha training, but Sabre mostly dominating him while he screams in pain is what’s supposed to happen, and boy does it. Sabre knows it’s gonna happen, too, escaping anything with arrogant ease. Just like in the Tanahashi/Sabre final, this is built around the fact that Sabre can control the mat and counter most things (that first dropkick counter whooooo), but the size advantage is such that it makes sense that a few big moves can finish him. And Zack is cocky enough to occasionally get into striking exchanges to set up those openings. He sells the hell out of a big DDT, too, going to his neck and shoulders constantly in the second half of the match and eventually not being able to completely lock things in at the end. Great stuff, and it might not even be my 2nd favorite Zack Sabre Jr. match of the past few weeks.

 

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This was the best of Sabre and the worst of Sabre in the same match, it was more good than bad though. I give full credit to him for making the first 17 minutes interesting enough to grab my attention. At this point is very hard for me to stay engaged for so long in New Japan main events because I know the first half barely means anything - just like NOAH's big matches in the late 2000's-early 2010' - but in this case I was thoroughly entertained by the ZBJ show of "look how many cool shit/counters I can do". I also liked the little things he did like Okada copying a reversal Sabre did early and Zack having a counter to that because he's the one that knows how that shit works, or him desperately trying to avoid Okada from getting to the ropes a couple of times. I also give full credit to Zack for having Sumo Hall buying into his late submissions AND pinfalls, I knew there was no way he was winning but the crowd did and that's all that matters to me.

Now, onto the bad. Once again I came out of a ZSJ match thinking he was more interested in showing off than winning the match - and the biggest fucking price of the company - every time he locked in a submission that look painful enough on a body part (and was sold by Okada as such) he focused a little bit on it but then went back on doing different shit to other parts of the body. I get his gimmick is that he can submit you at any time with a variety of moves, but it's frustrating to watch him pass on the opportunity to establish control and dominate his opponent by obliterating a body part when he has a clear opportunity to do it. There were like three times he had Okada basically dead and he just looked at the crowd or taunted Okada, there was no urgency by him in those instances. I also thought the "reset" part of the match, when Okada just grew tired of grappling around and taunted Zack to a strike exchange, was very weak. Why would Sabre go with it when he was clearly getting the best of the champ before? Okada didn't have to do anything special to change the dynamic of the match. The second half was more about strikes and ZBJ countering everything Okada threw at him - also didn't like how after stretching the fuck out of Okada and hitting him hard, all the champ needed to down the challenger was 1 or 2 strikes -, which was fun to watch by the way, it just didn't make much sense to me considering what happened in the first 20 minutes or so. Ending felt undeserved as most of Okada's defenses.

All in all, a VERY fun match that once again went too long for no damn reason but at least it was entertaining throughout most of it. It just didn't have the depth or story to become the GREAT match it could've been imo.

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First of all, can we talk about that pre-match hype video where they linked ZSJ's submission style to Fujiwara & Fujinami?! So awesome! The match itself was crafted in very compelling fashion; Okada wants to challenge ZSJ on the mat to see what the hype is all about & quickly he finds out that it was probably the wrong move to make. ZSJ outgrapples him & works all over him, as he did to everyone during his New Japan Cup run leading up to this match. Okada gets some brief comebacks in, but Zack has counters for pretty much everything. Okada refuses to give up though, and in the finishing stretch he makes the usual Okada Superman deal where he wins the match after getting his shit kicked in for 30 minutes. That sounds negative when I put it that way, and it's certainly starting to annoy me a little bit, but yeah overall a fantastic match. The 2nd best title defense of Okada's reign. ZSJ's the fucking man. ****1/4

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ZSJ submission work is just wonderful. He's does something that I haven't seen before in most of his big matches. He was put over in a big way here, with any nasty submission feeling like Okada's reign was in jeopardy. That dropkick counter was awe-inspiring. My only gripe with this is hat Sabre no-sold the Tombstone. Looked hokey as hell.

 

Deep down I knew that Sabre had little chance at winning this, but they managed to craft a match where numerous times I thought "Just maybe he might get him here". You know you've got a good match on your hands when that happens.

 

★★★★¼

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I did not think this match was very good. Sabre's matwork was didn't have any legitimacy or urgency, nor did it have any special aesthetic appeal in its complexity. He was just putting on hold after hold and then releasing it and none of it mattered or led to anything, it wasn't even goofy enough to amuse me in that way. Okada is a worthless defensive wrestler, and Sabre didn't go the Minori Suzuki route of milking holds, so we got an ugly version of what it'd look like if prowres grappling was real and a one stripe white belt was desperately trying to tap someone coming in to the gym. Meanwhile Okada looked like a barely trained indy doofus with his stupid pants, inability to do a proper wristlock and even botching moves he usually hits clean like the Dropkick and the Rainmaker. The match was interesting for about one minute where they danced around in counters before the finish. Maybe if New Japan brought in Negro Navarro he could get a three star match out of Okada.

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I liked this match a lot. My one issue was too much of an Okada match in the first half and that took away from what Sabre was trying to do later. Sabre is best when he puts money in the bank early on and come draw on that later to get the crowd to bite on submission teases. I didn't think he got quite enough of a chance to make those early deposits for me to feel like Okada was in real danger later. Even with that I thought this was really well done. Two of the absolute best out there having a great wrestle.

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...a one stripe white belt was desperately trying to tap someone coming in to the gym.

I brought this up once and got popped on on here, but I agree.

 

A lot of ZSJ's grappling is very poor and he could definitely benefit from some BJJ or aikido (if he really wants to go the joint manipulation route) classes or even attending some of those Timothy Thatcher Catch seminars he's done in Germany.

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I dunno. This was okay. Lots of cool individual moments, but as a whole this felt like a chore to sit through. Just awfully slow at times "now I'm waiting for you to stand up, now I kick you then wander around a little" and so on, so there was never any real urgency. Some of the spots looked weak, and Zack still moves goofy. I did like Zack's game and his reversals looked ultra slick, and he deserves some credit for making the crowd care about things like twisting the leg (of course Okada no sells all that, so fuck him). Also, what on earth was that transition that lead to Zack doing the Toby Imada spot? Zack eating that sick piledriver followed by the noodle armed lariat was a funny finish. Okada's still an embarassment, don't compare his CHIKARA holds to T2P.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Finally got through this after two failed attempts (aka sleep) and it was a chore that. at times, felt never-ending. I'll echo some of the same negative sentiments about the match, including Okada's weak defense and ZSJ's tendency to just go through holds without giving them any meaning. He's just not very believable -- although, admittedly, some of ZSJ's counters were clever and I like how he always tries to keep Okada from reaching the ropes. He also did a good job of keeping the crowd invested in the submissions and spoiling a lot of Okada's signature spots. But that finish was super weak and it's becoming harder for me to pay attention to 30+ minute NJPW main events.

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Really liked this match a lot although I get the criticisms that it went too long. That being said, I thought the opening wasn't quite as slow or inconsequential as the Okada/SANADA match was. Okada tries to beat Sabre at his own game and plays up his lucha training by busting out a few new subs. After realizing he's no match for Sabre on the ground, Okada tries to go back to his bread and butter only to learn that Sabre has a counter for damn near everything. This was a great continuation of Sabre's NJ Cup run where he always had an answer for every big move his opponent tried to put him away with. Although I knew Sabre had no chance of winning, they did a tremendous job getting me to bite on some of the reversals and nearfalls. Even if Okada is booked like Superman, I'm not sure there's anyone who sells peril or being on the verge of defeat as well as he does.

 

It probably helped that I'm big fans of both guys, but I thought this was a great main event match that was maybe just a tad too long. ****1/2.

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  • GSR changed the title to [2018-04-01-NJPW] Zack Sabre Jr vs Kazuchika Okada

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