We’ve a homage to Battlarts as the Astronauts collided in a match that exceeded expectations.
This one’s live from Shinjuku-FACE in Tokyo, in front of a crowd of 452. The official stream is archived on Wrestle-Universe.com…
Takuya Nomura vs. Fuminori Abe
This was the main event – the Astronauts up against each other, and the reason why this show got my eyeballs.
Things headed to the mat early on as Abe worked a hammerlock on Nomura… who countered out with a snap headlock takedown. Abe just throws a fist to Nomura’s head to try and break the hold… prompting Nomura to return the favour, and you know just 90 seconds in you’re in for some good stuff.
Abe looks to bite Nomura’s nipple to get himself free, before a punch to the head left Nomura on his haunches. Not taking any of that shit, Nomura swipes at Abe, who returned that favour before opting to take things back to ground, only for Nomura to get up, snapmare Abe, and punt him in the back. It’s the sounds that do it for me here.
There’s another solid kick to the midsection as Abe was sent outside… returning at the count of eight to try and get some revenge. Faking out a punch just got Abe elbowed, but he’s back with a palm strike before Nomura dished out another kicking, followed up with some stomps in the corner to lead to a standing ten-count. Of course, Abe beats it, and quickly finds a way in as he rolled Nomura down into a leg lock… which Nomura tried to counter in kind.
Another fist to the head from Abe looks to stop it, but Nomura grabs a heel hook… which Abe tries to break up by… erm… shoving a finger up Nomura’s crack, before grabbing the ropes. Back on his feet, Abe just cracks Nomura with a headbutt, leading to Nomura to retaliate with some blistering kicks and another heel hook.
This time, Nomura rolls it into a half crab, then into an ankle lock as Abe got the ropes once more. Kicks and knees from Nomura lead to a snap Dragon screw in return, taking Nomura into the corner for a spinning kick to the gut, while a snapmare and a kick to the back saw Abe begin to get some receipts for earlier.
Abe keeps breaking the ref’s standing ten-counts so he could punt Nomura some more, with the ferocity seemingly hurting Abe as much as it did Nomura… so he balled his fist and punched Nomura in the head once more. Fed up of being a punching bag, Nomura hits back with an Exploder, then tried for a rear naked choke… then a chicken wing as he looked for a stoppage, only for Abe to go for the hair in a bid to free himself.
The rear naked choke’s kept on as Abe ends up in the ropes once more, so Nomura took the opportunity to threw in a few more kicks as Abe was on his back. Enough kicks to have Abe covering up as referee Marty Asami separated them in order to start another standing ten-count. Abe beats it, but gets beaten again with elbows in the corner, to which he responded with more balled fists, including one to the damned jaw.
Nomura hits back in kind, as the cheeky shots got more venomous, including a palm strike to Abe in the corner. Abe swings with a punch, but it’s ducked as Nomura countered back with a full nelson… then put it back on as Abe tried to fight out. As ever, Abe punches free, prompting Nomura to try and squeeze him out with a front facelock… only for Abe to slip out and… THWACK.
More balled fists to the head lead to back-and-forth headbutts between the two, but Abe seems to have a second wind, walking through Nomura’s elbows and palm strikes, almost laughing them off. Nomura finds a big elbow after he’d been headbutted again, before a dropkick out of nowhere caught Nomura off guard.
Returning, Nomura slaps away an Irabu punch to hit a German suplex, before diving in with a headbutt as Abe got that punch in at the second time of asking. Another headbutt from Abe keeps Nomura on the deck, as we’re back to the balled fists from Abe… then Nomura, as what was good for the goose truly was good for the gander.
Nomura mounts Abe and fires off some elbows on his bloodied tag partner, and somehow the strikes only get louder and harder from there as Abe ragdolls Nomura with some hard elbows. A head kick takes Nomura back down for another crack at the standing ten-count, with another kick wiping out Nomura as he tried to get back up. A short-range knee has the same effect as Abe was hell-bent on getting that KO… before he got caught in a Fujiwara armbar as he looked to change tact.
Nomura rolls with Abe to turn it into a cross armbreaker, but Abe’s able to wriggle into the ropes. Staying on his man, Nomura chains together a German suplex with a Dragon suplex, only for the roles to reverse as Abe was finding his big bombs having no effect, while Nomura wiped him out with a clothesline.
Abe barely beats the ten count, but catches a head kick and took down Nomura ahead of a German suplex. Another Irabu punch lands cleanly, as Abe then goes in for the manjigatame… which Nomura pushes out of as he came back with a half crab. Dragging Abe from the ropes buys Nomura more time, but Abe rolls free and switches back in with a heel hook. Nomura’s palm strikes fail to break the grip, and he’s left with no choice but to tap.
Result: Fuminori Abe submitted Takuya Nomura in 19:18 (*****)
Wrestling is a fine balance of violence and technique. If you’re all about the violence, it can look sloppy and unrefined. If you put all your eggs in the technique basket, it can look unconvincing. When the balance is right… it’s beautiful. Or, as the kids say, THIS.