About… Ren Narita vs Tomohiro Ishii
1st Round of the NJPW World Television Championship Tournament. NJPW Battle Autumn Day 9. Korakuen Hall. 700 Tickets Sold. October 26th 2022. 14 Minutes.
It usually takes a really special match that makes me write hours after it happenned specially in this format because my AEW reviews are usually a review of the complete show wether is Dynamite or a PPV.
This match shouldn´t have been that awesome, it shouldn´t have left me in complete awe on how well the pieces fall into place. It just should have been a high level NJPW match that I add to my MOTY list and think about it as just other great physical match with great sequences but when the match ended it wasn´t only that, it represented something, is a reward and a really pleasant surprise.
This match didn´t had a huge build and is for an horrible belt, is just placed there to be a banger and to move on like the usual tournaments NJPW does (Specially in the pandemic era) but this felt different, for the history of Narita before becoming a full blown NJPW main roster wrestler as well as the history of his trainer and the history the said trainer share with Narita´s opponent, the legendary Tomohiro Ishii.
As you know I went back to watch wrestling in early 2020 and I couldn´t see Shibata as an active wrestler but reading reviews and watching his matches it was definately a generational top wrestler with a certain style often imitated but never duplicated, his match vs Okada in 2017 was one of the best matches in history in my opinion and for the majority of pro wrestling fans too, but was also his last match. Nostalgia in wrestling always works and it usually draws a lot of money but Ren Narita doesn´t feel as a nostalgia act neither a cosplayer, it actually felt refreshing and a way to continue Shibata´s legacy in the ring but without loosing his personality and just the right amount of different things too feel refreshing. If I could compare what I feel in this match with a movie is Creed (2015) directed by Ryan Coogler.
Creed was a sequel to the legendary Rocky saga but with a new main character that was gonna be the son of the late great Apollo Creed, and listen, my hopes for this movie weren´t high because even the sequels of Rocky had some stinkers and during an era of a ridiculous amount of remakes and reboots was easy to not be positive.
Creed not only was an excelent movie but shared a lot of elements and fan service but at the same time it had his own vibe, it took all the best of Rocky and mixed it with great new elements that made it something of his own.
The critics consensus in Rotten Tomatoes put it better: “Creed brings the Rocky franchise off the mat for a surprisingly effective seventh round that extends the boxer’s saga in interesting new directions while staying true to its classic predecessors’ roots.”
Narita has the trunks, the boots and even the hairstyle of Shibata, he wrestles like him but he adds the right amount of not only moves but facials and overall attitude to be his own persona and this things are elements that add fuel to the excitement of watching him making his own path always with Shibata´s teachings in NJPW. Like Rocky Balboa did with Adonis Creed in the 2015 film.
Ren Narita vs Tomohiro Ishii not only was a great match, it truly felt like it was a reward not only for Narita´s hard work after the excruciating process of the NJPW Young Lion system, not only for Shibata too see the representation of his style of wrestling been so well done by his trainee but to the fans watching at home too see something nostalgic but as well as new, refreshing and exciting.
Shibata might not have been an IWGP Champion and couldn´t enjoy the rewards of an all time performance in an undisputed classic match but hopefully we can see his student reaching those highs that Shibata couldn´t achieve.
Rating of the match: 4.75 stars
