2014 Ongoing Match of the Year List

16. Tomohiro Iishi v. Kota Ibushi NJPW 5/25

PAS: Very good match, easily the best thing from Japan so far this year. It has some expected New Japan flaws, one count kick outs, forearm exchanges, maybe a near fall or two too many. However there was a ton to love here Ibushi is the best of the New Japan pretty boys, his highspots are truly spectacular and he is actually willing to land his stuff with authority. Ishii is the modern day heir to asskickers like Tenryu and Choshu, but Ibushi actually hangs with him including splitting Iishi open with a barfight sneak headbutt. The blood really added to this match as it made Iishi feel vulnerable, like all of Ibushi's flashy stuff might actually fell this tank. I loved Ishii making Ibushi pay for his high risk stuff, that top rope clothesline was pretty great. This isn't my style of match, but this feels like about the best of that style

ER: I really liked how most of the times Ibushi went up top it backfired on him, getting brutally clotheslined inside out, getting dumped on his head with a powerbomb after trying a rana, taking a big vertical suplex after getting caught. But then he would start to gain an advantage by actually going toe to toe with the brick powerhouse Ishii. As Phil mentioned, I really loved Ibushi tossing out the Rush-style thrust headbutt. I didn't see that kind of viciousness coming out of Ibushi, and within the story of the match I'm sure Ishii didn't see it either. I was afraid we'd just get meaningless "Ishii's chops vs. Ibushi's kicks" exchanges, with both men properly taking turns, puffing out their chests and repeating too many times. We did get strike exchanges, but they were more interesting, with hard slaps devolving into nasty palm strikes, including Ibushi smashing Ishii with a nasty shot to the eye. Ibushi really surprised me here with his bouts of viciousness, especially surprising was how nice his clothesline from a stationary position was. Most heavyweights couldn't break out a finer one with a running start, so seeing Ibushi put everything into his while standing right in front of Ishii was impressive. Ishii was his usual stockade ass beater, and in the end this never devolved the way these matches usually do for me, and it was a real fun 20 minutes.


2014 MASTER LIST