It’s always a blast to see Shingo Takagi outside of Dragon Gate at this point, and doubly so to see him working the traditionally fun springtime outdoor ZERO1 show.
In a year full of great dudes rock classics, this is one of the most purely fun ones.
It’s an outsider match on a show that is non-canon even by ZERO1’s remarkably lax standards, it’s just two guys going out and throwing fireworks at each other in a parking lot. Most of it rules. Masato Tanaka just HAS to shove in the table splash on the floor spot because he no longer knows how to have a match without it, and Shingo occasionally has to look dumber than usual waiting for a thing or two to happen. For the most part though, it’s just awesome. They hit each other super hard, and Takagi is a force of god damned nature. Tanaka is losing it at this point, but still has just enough to be able to fit perfectly into a Shingo Takagi bombfest, and there are few better things on a “pick one at random” level than a Shingo Takagi bombfest.
Far from the best either can do or the best either can do in this style, but an exceedingly fun little altercation all the same. Dudes really do just rock sometimes and that’s all there is to it.
HANDWERK 