King Of Short Style

Shinsuke Nakamura VS Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 7/4/2004

JJZ: I picked this match to change it up a little. Shorter match with a ton of heat and a great crowd. When the match started I thought it was gonna go one way then it took a right turn and never looked back. This seemed to be a feud building match and if so they put my ass in the seat because I'll be searching for more of their matches.

CJD: I liked how this didn't follow a linear path. It reminded me of a modern NJPW interpretation of Abdullah or Shiek matches, but organic and interesting unlike Togi Makabe matches. Sometimes it's good to break up the narrative people expect to get them to pay a little more attention. I also like how we put the belt on Nakamura and played two matches from before he hit his peak. Nakamura had it from early on, he just didn't put it all together until later.

Jungle Sugi

Takashi Sugiura/Go Shiozaki VS Shinsuke Nakamura/Milano Collection AT - NOAH 3/1/2009

CJD: With how high profile of a match this is and how unusual big interpromotional matches between NJPW and NOAH are I have to think you've seen this one before. You may have even played it for me. Either way, if I've seen it before, I remembered nothing about it, and god damn did it deliver on absolutely everything I could want out of a match like this. This is also the era of Sugiura where you got me to turn the corner on him so it's a fitting choice for me. This has great character work and big moments, good surly violent Japanese heavyweight wrestling, and a heaping spoonful of honest to god heat. My kinda match.

JJZ: So happy you picked this. I can't believe I never saw it before. Seeing NOAH in '09 packing them in is great. I look at Sugiura and Go and can't believe they weren't able to keep attendance up. I know a lot more goes into NOAH's struggles than that but I always thought they had the talent to overcome. Nakamura in shorts feels like a totally different wrestler. Slaps and chokes and punches and stiffness mixed in with solid tag team wrestling. I forgot how stiff Go's chops were. MCAT plays his role well, the split drop down with Go eating shit made me lol. Solid falsies and a great finish made this match.