By: Craig William, ProWrestlingMusings.com
A lot has been said about New Japan Pro Wrestling since its post-lockdown return, and our staff’s feelings have been neatly summarized by Mavs Gillis in this inaugural issue of Monthly Puroresu. But from my vantage point, the hotly anticipated New Japan Cup series was totally blighted by lengthy matches with heavy interference and one too many ‘Moneyclip’ Cobra Clutches. Of course, there were diamonds in the rough like Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata and SHO vs. Shingo Takagi, but many fans were vociferous about the tactics displayed by the likes of Taichi and Okada — and, especially, EVIL.
Then came Dominion, which featured a 38-minute brawler by Tetsuya Naito versus the aforementioned EVIL. A main event of this length is a commitment, although fans will happily watch if it’s in a New Japan ring; they have a reputation of being 4+ star quality wrestling matches. The double championship switch to EVIL did not meet that criteria. It left fans wondering what had happened to New Japan.
With that being said, many skipped out on Sengoku Lord, which was the first big New Japan event I’ve personally missed in perhaps two years. EVIL, of course, retained his titles against former faction mate Hiromu Takahashi. Suffice it to say I went into Summer Struggle hoping for a return to the puroresu style I love, albeit with trepidation. The stage was set for an epic rematch, after all.
And it was here under the bright lights of Jingu Stadium that Naito shocked and delighted by recapturing double gold. It was a match of epic proportions which superseded their Dominion bout in just about every way. Here are some statistics that illustrate my point.
This match really shone the floodlights on the gaps and flaws in EVIL’s games. The newest member of Bullet Club committed 23 fouls in this match but only completed 18 manoeuvres offensively. After a year of collecting statistics on wrestling matches, I have never seen a wrestler complete less offensive moves than illegal moves in a wrestling match.
Add this to the fact it happened in a New Japan main event for the world’s most prestigious wrestling championship In terms of Naito’s statistics, he utilised over 75% of the total legal offence in this match, with double figures for grapple use, 9 more reversals than his opponent and utilized a reversal rate of 58%.
To make this victory even sweeter, Naito set the record holder for most IWGP Intercontinental Championship wins. Now it’s a matter of defending it, as he still sits behind Shinsuke Nakamura in terms of accumulative days in possession of the belt. Hopefully Naito can now move on from EVIL and have some proper competitive wrestling matches again! Against whom, that remains to be seen. But we can all enjoy Summer a little more now that IWGP championship history has been corrected, as we wait for Naito to face a more worthy opponent than the back-stabbing EVIL.
This article first appeared in Monthly Puroresu Issue #1
Date:
September 21, 2020
Category:
The Midcard