A very well regarded little match, for good reason.
It isn’t quite the epic that their 2004 clash was, but it does rule. They simply cannot do that match again now that KENTA’s six and a half years more established, and Takayama and the world should see him coming. Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same spot, especially when they’re both older and more and more banged up. Takayama in particular, as discussed previously, is basically Andre the Giant. He’s a force of nature that is simply going to catch up with you sooner or later. He relies on the fact that someone’s going to have to come in and get close to beat him and simply doesn’t move a lot any more because of that. KENTA reads his lack of mobility as an invitation and charges RIGHT in.
Naturally, he gets rocked over and over again. It’s not because of NOAH doing the “juniors weak!” stuff or anything at all, KENTA is past that, it’s just sort of how this physically works. KENTA is shorter and he has a much smaller reach. He has to move in closer to land shots and Takayama doesn’t. This works for all the same reasons that Takayama vs. Sugiura always worked, just without quite the punch to it because this relationship has almost always been an adversarial one. KENTA slowly is able to get more and more in, and replicates Sugiura’s success in the close up exchanges in July through faster hand speed. He can’t hurl Takayama around like the Big Boss so he goes big with double stomps and more flying than he’s used in a while. He goes especially big with one of the nuttier spots in NOAH’s recent history.
This also inadvertently repeats another wonderful little thing from Takayama vs. Sugiura, when Takayama goes to a headbutt to stall the buzzsaw that’s starting to devour him, and winds up only busting himself open. Like with the man who’s always had his number, KENTA reads it correctly and starts to really unload. He’s able to land a German Suplex on the big guy when he couldn’t lift him before and can generally do much more with the combinations now. Unfortunately, Takayama can get him away from kicks, and into throwing hands. KENTA tries to repeat what’s worked and trades straight punches with Takayama, but this time he fails and Takayama can catch him. His arms are literally too short to box with God. Takayama rocks him, and after that, the Everest German beats KENTA.
As usual, NOAH has a chance and goes the safest route. The sort of incrementalism that drives them into the ground, even if they refuse to actually die, making the elevation of Sugiura the previous year such a wonderful surprise. In 2011, NOAH remembers who they are as a company, sadly, so while the matches are great, the decisions get worse again. This is among the only things they did correctly in 2011 though, the beginning of a process of finally legitimizing KENTA as a heavyweight. NOAH being NOAH, they still wind up taking two years to do something as simple as elevating their most exciting and arguably most popular wrestler to the heavyweight title, but this is a good start. You can’t get lightning in a bottle twice, but this is still a hell of a sequel.
HANDWERK 