By: Craig William, ProWrestlingMusings.com
This match was the semi-main event of the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 15, and the first time an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match has been featured this high up the card at the Tokyo Dome. The reason New Japan finally placed the Juniors so high up the card? Hiromu Takahashi.
Despite being a uniquely compelling wrestler, the last two years have underscored Hiromu’s burgeoning legend. After one of the longest years in memory, it’s hard to recall that 12 months ago Takahashi had just returned to in-ring action from a serious neck injury in what would go down as a classic match against Will Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom 14.
In this year’s bout, the statistics from Hiromu Takahashi vs. Taiji Ishimori are fascinating. Hiromu won with little over a quarter of the total match offense. He also did so by giving up a deficit of 46 strikes, 5 fewer strikedowns and even endured over two minutes of Ishimori submission holds. Taiji Ishimori’s dominance is underscored by his 51% reversal rate, meaning that he reversed just over half the o fensive maneuvers levied at him by his opponent.
Taking that into account, Hiromu’s offensive performance was just as impressive. Winning any match with a quarter of the o fense is noteworthy but, in this case, it makes sense since Takahashi had to vanquish El Phantasmo one night earlier to even make it to the Jr. Heavyweight Championship match! Add that he performed few high-risk maneuvers, clocked no submission time and put in more grapples than strikes, and you have an unusual recipe for victory. Chalk it up to his “fighting spirit,” and his ability to take a high amount of punishment.
Statistically this match was pretty even until the 15-minute mark, with Ishimori maintaining a slight advantage via his striking and reversal expertise. A ter Ishimori won a back-and-forth strike battle, Hiromu seemed to throw caution to the wind in a bizarre and ultimately unsuccessful fire-up attempt.
Ishimori lured Takahashi again and again his opponent kept coming back for more. Ultimately Ishimori hit Takahashi with 36 strikes, two grapples and a 61-second submission without reply – including a five-minute period of utter dominance without any reply.
With all that being said, how on Earth did Hiromu Takahashi leave the Tokyo Dome with the championship after having to wrestle twice in two days and taking such a beating? It is possible that what seemed to be a fire-up attempt was actually a last- ditch, rope-a-dope effort that lulled Ishimori into a false sense of security. A reversal rate of 51% is almost unheard of, a true counter-wrestler statistic.
To defeat counter-wrestler brilliance, Hiromu was true to his unorthodox style and chose to give Ishimori nothing to counter! Nobody but Hiromu could have come up with such a brilliant gameplan, and the result was a resounding victory and the start of his reign of supremacy atop the Jr. Heavyweight division in New Japan. It le t fans on the edges of their seats, and the “Ticking Timebomb” has now set himself up for the biggest year of his career as one of the hottest wrestlers on the planet.
This article first appeared in Monthly Puroresu Issue #3
Date:
January 20, 2021
Category:
The Midcard