IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP- Kazuchika Okada(C) vs Kenny Omega - NJPW Dominion 6.9 (2 out of 3 falls, No Time Limit)
Note: This is a rather poor translation of the Kenny vs Okada match review I wrote for my review of the whole Dominion PPV. You can read it if your spanish is good. This is also my first entry written in english, expect more of these.
I regret even thinking about writing this review knowing that I would get to the part where I had to review Omega vs Okada IV.
Let's see, where do I begin. We ALL knew that the match would be very long. We ALL knew that it would full of melodramatic moments. And we ALL knew that the the match would be full of over-epicness/unique dramastism/final battle feel. So that's ehy I went to this match with that on mind, which I didn't have for the previous year Dominion match, maybe one of the reasons I dislike it so much. Kenny's entrance starts with a video package that resume he whole BC schism story, so early and we already have shojo melodrama (Kota in white as Omega's guardian angel was really sweet tho). The match starts and for about 15 minutes they do their most basic match. Ok, it has its logic, they know that this will be a really long match and that they have to save some energy and think twice what they are gonna do. Ok, everything's good, they keep their better weapons but Kenny is dominating on a relatively entertaining way. Around the 20-30 minutes the match takes the rhytm of a regular NJPW main event, rhytm that Okada cuts with a cradle outta nowhere and surprisingly takes the lead. Brilliant, Okada makes Omega pay his rush and now he has to beat twice the most resilient man on modern wrestling. First fall, Omega feels the emotional shock and Okada takes control, he slows down Omega and without his explosiveness he's just another geek. It's a great idea to make the match move forward, if not for the fact that it's boring as hell and that it feels like total filler. But hey, the finish is really conclusive and satisfying, Kenny overcomes Okada's control, poisoned rana on the floor, V-Trigger, Katayoku no Tenshi and Kenny has tied the score. It's rare seeing how those heavy spots that NJPW uses as transitions looking as letal as that, which only makes the finish of the second fall more satisfying. Kenny rushes again, and eats a Rainmaker just at the beggining of the third fall. Now they have endured the smae amount o damage. Again, brilliant. The rest of the third fall it's totally what you would expect from these two. Exchanges with their most characteristics strikes, spectacular MOVES done on the most dramatic ways, both selling inhuman exhaustion but with enough pride to keep fighting until the end, some weird spot (like the Rainmaker with zero strenght) that works because of Okada´s aura and type of match, etc. Kenny emerges victorious of the final exchanges and finally, climbs the unreachable mountain. He beats Okada and becomes IWGP Heavyweight champion. Satisfying finish that must have made tear up the really manly NJPW audience.
I wrote a shit ton and made it sound like a piece of art, right? Well nope, the match has a bunch of notable mistakes. The second fall is mostly sleep-inducing, but it's justified on the story they were telling. I know I said that I had the kind of match I was going to see on mind, but anyway the abuse of their heaviest spots annoys me. Okada's spinning tombstone is supposed to be his best weapon after the Rainmaker and here it was just another move, used on a good amount times without meaning anything on any of them. The Phoenix Plash that means so much for Kenny's story could have been used to nail the second fall, but he misses and it's not touched as a point of his story again. And as usually on New Japan main events, there's ten unnecesary minutes of nearfalls and big moves.
But I liked it, a lot. And to my own surprise, because I was sure that I was going to hate the match and a part of me was looking at any detail I didn't like. 70 minutes of wrestling sound like a torture regardless of who is in charge, but Okada and Omega didn't only make them bearable, they kept me and their audience hooked in from the beggining to the end. They touch all the key points of their rivalry, like the power of the Katayoku no Tenshi as a finisher or the table. They create an atmosphere of drama so unique and tense, atmosphere that I doubt any other pair in the world can create. It's far from the best match ever, hell I don't even think it's better than Gargano vs Almas, but to me it's good wrestling. I don't know if it will survive the test of time, but I'm sure it's worth ever single one of the 70 minutes it lasts.
Special snowflakes: ****
Let's see, where do I begin. We ALL knew that the match would be very long. We ALL knew that it would full of melodramatic moments. And we ALL knew that the the match would be full of over-epicness/unique dramastism/final battle feel. So that's ehy I went to this match with that on mind, which I didn't have for the previous year Dominion match, maybe one of the reasons I dislike it so much. Kenny's entrance starts with a video package that resume he whole BC schism story, so early and we already have shojo melodrama (Kota in white as Omega's guardian angel was really sweet tho). The match starts and for about 15 minutes they do their most basic match. Ok, it has its logic, they know that this will be a really long match and that they have to save some energy and think twice what they are gonna do. Ok, everything's good, they keep their better weapons but Kenny is dominating on a relatively entertaining way. Around the 20-30 minutes the match takes the rhytm of a regular NJPW main event, rhytm that Okada cuts with a cradle outta nowhere and surprisingly takes the lead. Brilliant, Okada makes Omega pay his rush and now he has to beat twice the most resilient man on modern wrestling. First fall, Omega feels the emotional shock and Okada takes control, he slows down Omega and without his explosiveness he's just another geek. It's a great idea to make the match move forward, if not for the fact that it's boring as hell and that it feels like total filler. But hey, the finish is really conclusive and satisfying, Kenny overcomes Okada's control, poisoned rana on the floor, V-Trigger, Katayoku no Tenshi and Kenny has tied the score. It's rare seeing how those heavy spots that NJPW uses as transitions looking as letal as that, which only makes the finish of the second fall more satisfying. Kenny rushes again, and eats a Rainmaker just at the beggining of the third fall. Now they have endured the smae amount o damage. Again, brilliant. The rest of the third fall it's totally what you would expect from these two. Exchanges with their most characteristics strikes, spectacular MOVES done on the most dramatic ways, both selling inhuman exhaustion but with enough pride to keep fighting until the end, some weird spot (like the Rainmaker with zero strenght) that works because of Okada´s aura and type of match, etc. Kenny emerges victorious of the final exchanges and finally, climbs the unreachable mountain. He beats Okada and becomes IWGP Heavyweight champion. Satisfying finish that must have made tear up the really manly NJPW audience.
I wrote a shit ton and made it sound like a piece of art, right? Well nope, the match has a bunch of notable mistakes. The second fall is mostly sleep-inducing, but it's justified on the story they were telling. I know I said that I had the kind of match I was going to see on mind, but anyway the abuse of their heaviest spots annoys me. Okada's spinning tombstone is supposed to be his best weapon after the Rainmaker and here it was just another move, used on a good amount times without meaning anything on any of them. The Phoenix Plash that means so much for Kenny's story could have been used to nail the second fall, but he misses and it's not touched as a point of his story again. And as usually on New Japan main events, there's ten unnecesary minutes of nearfalls and big moves.
But I liked it, a lot. And to my own surprise, because I was sure that I was going to hate the match and a part of me was looking at any detail I didn't like. 70 minutes of wrestling sound like a torture regardless of who is in charge, but Okada and Omega didn't only make them bearable, they kept me and their audience hooked in from the beggining to the end. They touch all the key points of their rivalry, like the power of the Katayoku no Tenshi as a finisher or the table. They create an atmosphere of drama so unique and tense, atmosphere that I doubt any other pair in the world can create. It's far from the best match ever, hell I don't even think it's better than Gargano vs Almas, but to me it's good wrestling. I don't know if it will survive the test of time, but I'm sure it's worth ever single one of the 70 minutes it lasts.
Special snowflakes: ****
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