5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (March 15)
4. NECK STURF
The landscape of puroresu changed following the tragic passing of Mitsuharu Misawa in 2009; the psychotic, neck-first bumps he and his Four Pillars brethren introduced to the art largely disappeared, for obvious reasons. In spite of the awful cautionary tale that is his legacy, in recent years, the modern generation is not so much flirting with danger as going full Jerry Lawler.
In the first round of the New Japan Cup, Tetsuya Naito and Kota Ibushi crafted an absolutely insane match, one that did tell a story—only, the story was pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty f*cking dumb.
“Whomever breaks their neck first, loses!”
Top-rope neckbreakers…to the apron! Tombstone piledrivers…to the apron! The Tiger Driver ’91, a move Misawa himself only ever used when confronted with the sternest of challenges!
Ibushi gets lost in every airport he’s ever been in, so we know what he’s like. All we know of Tetsuya Naito’s mental faculties is that which is loosely translated on New Japan World. We think of him as a performer clever enough to reinvent himself from 2016 Roman Reigns to 1998 The Rock, but on this evidence, somebody needs to have a word. We can’t make head nor tail of his tweets, but maybe he’s out there on Twitter telling grieving would-be puro starlets that they just haven't got it in them to make it.
A plea: you guys are absolutely incredible. Incredible pro wrestlers. Don’t do a match like this ever again, even if you are encouraged by the huge critical acclaim it generated.
****3/4.