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Hideki Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Match

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Average rating based on the displayed comments: 5.89
itguy101 wrote on 15.09.2023:
[5.0] "These are two legends in the ring with great grappling skills. Some of the initial flurries were a bit impressive but overall this match was a bit of a chore. Considering my expectations going into this, I really did want a bit more from these two to freshen up the UWF format."
deesforta wrote on 12.09.2023:
[6.0] "I'm not a huge fan of UWF matches but found this one tolerable. They used it to showcase a nice display of grappling and submission work, with some sudden quick strikes. Sakuraba got to do what he does best, though not quite at a very high level, and Hideki did well."
Sebastian V wrote on 07.02.2023:
[5.0] "Auch wenn man die technischen Fähigkeiten schon sehen konnte muss ich sagen, dass das Match für mich nicht so geklickt hat und sich irgendwie zäh anfühlte. Es war solide aber mehr auch nicht für mich, weswegen ich 5 Punkte für angemessen halte."
Zero wrote on 01.02.2023:
[8.0] "There really isn't much to be said. Either you can appreciate this match and style or you don't. I personally liked it a lot and thought it was pretty clearly the best match of the show. Sakuraba is clearly on his last legs but Hideki is the perfect opponent. I also thought the finish was very surprising."
CFOS wrote on 30.01.2023:
[7.0] "NOAH Great Muta Final "Bye-Bye" : As expected, it was a good match. There was a bit of sneaky strikes but most of the time there was some really good grappling stuff. The moments where Saku locked the submissions were awesome. Good comebacks from Hideki. Awesome finish too. (***1/2)"
denierstragedies wrote on 30.01.2023:
[6.0] "I usually prefer a UWF style match when there's more strikes and tension involved, as some people have mentioned this just comes off as a showcase informing people that these two can technically grapple and use submissions, and anyone who's anyone already knows Kazushi bloody Sakuraba can do that. Definitely could have been better I think, 6/10."
Chrone wrote on 24.01.2023:
[6.0] "I love both these lads but unfortunately did not do more than satisfy, not the most tense encounter either man has ever had and the battle wounds and years of hard living are showing on Saku these days unfortunately"
EvanCallaway wrote on 24.01.2023:
[8.0] "I'm a sucker for this kind of match. Love how realistic these guys can make these look. Suzuki's selling is from out of this world. This was a masterclass in terms of catch wrestling exhibitions, a real tribute to martial arts."
SZ1989 wrote on 23.01.2023:
[8.0] "A nice little grappling match between two very knowledgeable practitioners in catch wrestling. Sakuraba isn't as fast as he used to be, but they still had some nice counterwork here and Suzuki was a great dance partner for him. Nothing too flashy and the sudden finish caught me off-guard, but still very serviceable if you enjoy this type of wrestling. ****"
Jetlag wrote on 23.01.2023:
[2.0] "Boring match where only Sakuraba really tried anything. Suzuki tried to use his size but was mostly just hogging the mat and being a slug. The one cool thing was Suzuki doing a Volk Han-like armbar counter. I am annoyed Sakuraba is stuck working boring guys in NOAH in the last few years of his career because I'm sure he'd set the house on fire if they let him wrestle White Moriyama on a HEAT UP show or something."
Codebreaker wrote on 23.01.2023:
[4.0] "Altherren Grappling der leider langweiligen Sorte. Beide liegen halt aufeinander und versuchen die 10 Minuten rum zu bekommen. **"
JUmbo Akiyama wrote on 23.01.2023:
[3.0] "BOring, uninteresting and strange. I love good grappling fights but Sakuraba and Hideki didn't entertained me, just show us fthat they can fight in MMA style, thanks, we know."
Ma Stump Puller wrote on 22.01.2023:
[5.0] "The Funaki/Sakuraba match was pretty pants, so I wanted to see if Suzuki could get anything better out of the admittedly washed Sakuraba. Now this was always going to be a grapplefuck style match, but those can be interesting with the right pacing and whatnot behind them. This wasn't really it for most of the match: they spent a lot of time just kinda fumbling around with Saku basically laying down and letting Suzuki try for stuff before they stood up again, mostly to bait Suzuki into slow takedowns so Saku could sprawl and counter. A lot of this was surely fine in terms of intelligent mat work, but the work itself wasn't the most interesting and with Saku's age, it just wasn't fast enough to be very convincing for the most part, with Suzuki almost having to fall into his traps as opposed to believing that Saku actually caught him. Suzuki gets some moments of shine but they all feel a bit rushed. His defence was solid as he tried to keep Saku's arms mostly to themselves, with occasional problems when his aggressive pushes allowed openings for submissions. It was kinda weird Suzuki never tried for any toe-holds given Saku mostly kept that aspect of his mat-game mostly unprotected but eh I guess. Second half of the match has them mostly battle for Achilles Tendon holds a good bit, with Suzuki adding in some real nasty stuff by trying to crank Saku's hand to death with leverage before trying to wangle it under his leg, but it comes as quickly as it leaves. Suzuki basically gives Saku the chance to do a cross armbreaker in side mount and he does, but we get a rope escape. Suzuki slaps on a Grovit to counter a weak takedown but then loses the hold when he tries to turn it into a shoulder crank on the mat. The finish was immensely flaccid as Saku lays on the mat as Suzuki helpfully crawls up to get arm-triangled again, he powers Saku up into a powerbomb position a-la the PRIDE Rampage fight and they touch the ropes, but then the ref doesn't do anything as they fall back down and Suzuki has to tap out. This probably would be fine if your standards for catch-work were particularly low/you aren't that interested in realism, but this was really not that solid in terms of pacing and making the match interesting: bar one or two moments a lot of this is just wangling, and not good wangling like Funaki/Shamrock or something fun like that, just really lazy grappling. Suzuki was game I think, but Saku gassed up hard midway though so the pace got even slower as a result. There's elements of interesting work here that might interest you but for me it just felt really boring as a whole, and the finish was the wrestling equivalent of a wet fart."
Black Mass With Love wrote on 22.01.2023:
[4.0] "A boring match without any beginning, follow-up and ending. Just a demonstration of grappling skills and nothing more. I like grappling, but only when it's interesting. This match wasn't, and this is the only one match on the show that I didn't like at all. The result is rather unexpected. It was also unexpected to see Suzuki with hair."
killowenskill wrote on 22.01.2023:
[6.0] "Not my type of match. As for Sakuraba and Suzuki, they involve me in 30-40% of cases, but it was not bad and tense, the audience liked it and they reacted to particularly spectacular moments. Not a fan, but not bad (***)."
BUIOOMEGA wrote on 22.01.2023:
[7.0] "A match with those MMA style, like Thatcher before too. A good fight, nothing so incredible but more than sufficient for sure."
SquilliamFancyson wrote on 22.01.2023:
[8.0] "It was exactly what I thought it was going to be- vicious, violent, shoot-style grappling. Catch wrestling for life"
SpikeWithGlasses wrote on 22.01.2023:
[8.0] "MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba and one of the greatest technical(? ) wrestlers currently, two students of Billy Robinson, this match was about what you'd expect, which means it was very good, there's nothing I could say past "good grappling" cause really, it was very much grappling, very good one, match lived up to my expectations."