A Bunch Of: Yoshihiro Takayama

Been catching up on All Japan. Takayama is a guy I really like. If you read this blog a lot, you'll notice I often talk more about things like selling and facials more than moves and spots. The essence of enjoying Takayama is in his facials. He has a fairly gnarly face to start with, but he conveys a an awful lot of discomfort and hurting with just the curl of a lip. Also, I like that he's lumbering. He's one of the biggest guys in Japanese pro-wrestling, so I find it credible that a physically limited guy is still such a threat.

The story of a good Takayama match is all about how his oppenents combat the size. The Takayama-Muto match from April is a great example of this. Muto has his established, repetitive moveset, which targets the legs of his opponent. Against Takayama, such a moveset makes a lot of sense, and with really great selling, you get a simple match based around Muto's relentlessly targetting the legs whilst Takayama, perversely, fights from below before his legs finally give out. You could argue that the match lacks a certain drama, and I wouldn't outright disagree. It still remains a well executed and coherent story.

First thing I watched was the Suzuki and Takayama vs. Suwama and Kono from 26th of July. This tag was part of the build towards Suwama's title shot in August. I didn't really like this. Firstly, the opening half is predominantly Suzuki and Kono trading leg locks in the ring, whilst Takayama and Suwama brawl a little lethargically around Korakuen. I wasn't really feeling the animosity that the build to a showdown should generate. In the latter stages it almost felt like Suzuki and Takayama were doing all they could to make Suwama's strikes and lariats look deadly, which is commendable. Suwama could just hit harder though.

This led to the title match from August 30th. The start to this is slow, and not in a good way (feeling out, looking for an opening) but like they were going at two thirds speed. There's some sloppy work early on as well - the back body drop looked awful. It got better when Takayama took control - his knee strikes, low drop kicks and apron strike combos looked good. I don't like how Takayama's selling was almost too much for the relative weakness of much of Suwama's early stuff, while Suwama does by Takayama's significantly stiffer offence. The last six or seven minutes were great, however, filled with some nice spots (the suplex off the the top that almost landed Takayama on his head) and of course the massively violent final exchange - both guys punching each other in the face, and a headbutt that sounded like two concrete blocks slamming together. A little disturbing, given the hardway bleeding and Takayama's own medical history, but for sheer violence, it was quite amazing. At the same time, the finish felt like they went 'right, now we go', which while great self-contained, actually serves to emphasise how underwhelming the first twenty minutes are. The biggest problem with the middle was that Suwama was working as an equal in terms of power and impact, without the moveset or the epic heavyweight fatigue selling a twenty five minute match of that style should involve,

Takayama vs. Kojima from September 26th was so much better. Takayama's got a cockiness early on - the bit where he carefully lines up the chest slap so he could pull back on the armbreaker was great. His face said 'I can hit you whenever I'm ready'. Simple psychology with Koji targetting the head, either because of the historic injury, or the end of the Suwama match. The finish isn't brutal like the Suwama match, nor is it the most creative thing you've ever seen, but it works well enough, with Kojima sticking with his lariat until it gets three. Kojima selling an self-inflicted injured arm as a result was a nice touch. I loved Takayama's facial reaction of disbelief to the kickout of the German. Sense of cumulative damage was well done here, and the crowd, especially after the German kickout, were really into the idea of a title change and made this feel like an Event. Much shorter, more consistently impactful, and a well told story make this a success.