Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Upside, Inside Out


Ricky Marvin VS Katsuhiko Nakajima - NOAH GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship Decision Match 11/27/2011

JJZ: Soooooooo, I love Nakajima. And to be blunt. I wanted to watch a Nakajima match. So here we are. Then I found out the history behind the match and I was like here we fucking go! So where we are going CJD is to a vacant GHC junior heavyweight title match that both men vacated. Nakajima had to get emergency surgery in September of 2011 for acute appendicitis and was forced to drop the belt. Ricky defeated Satoshi Kajiwara for the title in October but vacated the belt until he could face Nakajima so he could be crowned the rightful champion. So this brings us to November 2011 and to Nakajima's MC Hammer pants. I'm not going to X and O this match but more give you my emotions while watching it. I found myself saying jesus christ while smiling and touching my head on several occasions. Both wrestlers literally kicked each other so hard I found myself clutching my own chest. I thought to myself at one point could NOAH be considered the greatest promotion ever when they were in there hey day? I then thought have I seen this before? Not because anything was familiar but because how did this go under my radar. If you've seen this before then I know you'll enjoy it more the second time. If you haven't then you're welcome.

CJD: I have not, so thank you! I love the backstory and the angle of Marvin vacating the title to challenge the man who never lost it. I'm not going to lie though, when Nakajima started to viciously attack Marvin's leg I groaned inside. Because while Ricky might be a CJD guy capable of creative nuance, amazing technical sequences, and breath taking impactful high flying... long term selling is not always his strong suit. Luckily this match was vicious indeed and spectacular enough that it made it easy to look past the iffy legwork. Two phrases we've said out loud watching wrestling together many many times over are "Sell the leg!" and "Bridges are hard." Well both statements apply to this match. I really dug watching Marvin in these big opportunity singles matches back to back. He always brings a ton of life and energy into the ring and we'll take all of that you've got Ricky.

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