| 1 | 09.12.2022 | Ma Stump Puller | 5.0 | This is definitely a interesting match: it's just right after Sayama made his big return to NJPW, so he goes against his old Tiger Hunter buddy in a round-based showing. Now obviously for a late-stage Tiger Mask match, you get a lot of showy spots to get over his big return, and he does them REALLY quite well: this was when Sayama was in relatively good shape and hadn't slacked off like he'll do in later years due to a apparently very crippling sweet tooth, so he could still move around smoothly and he really gets to show off as a result. It's definitely linked with nostalgia for a format, having minutes back to back dedicated to "do you remember this spot" stuff. I'm kinda glad of that though because Kobayashi by this point was frankly rather washed, namely due to combination of age and his cancer having taken a fair bit out of his sails: he also just wasn't a very good heavyweight in general despite some decent showings here and there. He didn't do a lot here and mostly bumped and sold with occasional offence that didn't look great. This also has a weird blend between shoot-style and pro, so we get them flying off the ropes and then trying for takedowns for the next bit. Kobayashi is really ropey for the shoot-style stuff and he mostly stays out of any serious attempts at it bar a Kimura attempt. This was almost Backlund-lite in how Sayama just bitches out his opponent here, eats him up with occasional moments to sell for a bit before getting right back into knocking him around. Much like Backlund, the only thing that hurts Sayama here is his ego: he tries for a diving headbutt from one end of the ring to another, but Kobayashi dodges and lands his signature kick + Fisherman's Suplex for the big near fall. The finish is a bit weird as the Tiger Suplex is negated by running into the ropes, but then they just reset and Mask takes his opponent down, going into full mount for two slaps before he verbally submits. It's in that weird bubble of half Super Tiger, half traditional NJPW Tiger Mask stuff that does hurt this immensely; it doesn't help that a lot of it is just Kobayashi bumping for signature spots over and over again. It's fine for a throwback match but it's uber-one sided and doesn't even pretend otherwise. |
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