10 Live Observations From NJPW’s FIRST EVER UK Tour
3. Age Before Beauty
A bruising battle for the ages (in spite of theirs), Tomohiro Ishii's British Heavyweight Championship loss to Minoru Suzuki had the challenge of delivering a contest at very least on par with the utterly incredible effort that preceded it. For them to even generate debate reflects their truly remarkable war, with Suzuki in particularly rare form for a man now north of a half-century.
It was as Suzuki and Ishii literally put their heads together in exhaustion that the mind wandered ever-so-briefly to The Undertaker's short shift at WrestleMania 34 earlier this year. The three men have all travelled hugely different paths of course, but it was hard not to marvel at Champion (42) and Challenger (50) going a breathless 20 minutes in front of 3000 awestruck and vociferous observers as a contrast to the 'Show Of Shows' comedy squash that still housed a botch within its trim three minute run-time.
The sound of slaps and forearms connecting with cheeks and shoulders respectively dissolved the comparison - the enchanting encounter was simply to rich to neglect with such poor recollections.