Minoru Suzuki is a man that haunts my sleep, but he brings a true presence to the ring that you simply can't teach. He is intensity personified. Up until this point, the New Japan audience hadn't really taken to AJ Styles. His association with Bullet Club didn't help, but he hadn't yet gained the respect of the crowd. This was the match that changed all of that for Styles. Some 20 minutes in length, this was the best match of the incredible 2014 G1 Climax and arguably the best professional wrestling match in 2014. Even the entrances are fantastic, with Suzuki in particular a picture of intensity. They start outside the ring early, Suzuki attempting to throw AJ into the barricade only for Styles to jump over and springboard back towards Minoru. The story of the match revolves around Suzuki trying to lock one of his various submissions on AJ, and Styles putting in a selling performance that should be the feature track on a 'How To Do Professional Wrestling Right' DVD. One particularly beautiful moment sees AJ give Suzuki the Bullet Club gesture, only for Minoru to grab AJ's finger and try to snap it. Finger-work will always get points from me. After some outside interference from the factions of both men AJ is able to hit the Styles Clash for the win, putting an end to a truly sensation contest. https://vimeo.com/102825529
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
