You know that one player of your team that was supposed to be the next big thing, had a really disappointing initial run on the big stage, and was then was given another chance to play a significant role before finally delivering in spades on that promise that he showed? That feeling is so indescribably incredible. I doubt many of you will get this reference since it’s a cricket one, but the Indian captain right now is exactly that, and it’s been one month since we won a world cup under him. Yuya Uemura for a long while was hailed as one of the best young boys NJPW had ever seen. Many people, including me, had high hopes for him during his run as a young lion but his return to NJPW was disappointing for so much of this year.
Enter the G1 climax. Yuya had a couple of breakout performances against Finlay and Goto heading into the match with Takeshita, so I was excited for this. It was sensational. Such an incredible display of the potential I saw in the young lion years ago. So much intensity and focus in this performance that left me stunned. He was so great here, taking care of the little things and being almost Yoshinari Ogawa-esque when he would roll through with Takeshita on the mat to keep a hold of the wristlock whenever Soup tried to escape. The moment where he’s trying to lock in the armbar on the right arm and waits long enough for Take to put all his effort in defending it before immediately switching to the left one is right out of the playbook of Kiyoshi Tamura. The guy is working in all the ways that appeal to my tastes!
The real strength of this match is how it was laid out. The escalation is sensational. All the big spots centered around Takeshita’s arm and sprinkled throughout so well not only for Yuya’s work on it but also for when Takeshita would be clobbering him, like when he cut off the plancha with big elbow strikes. It’s there to stop the deadbolt but I love the coincidental continuity from the Tanaka vs Takeshita match last week where Take’s elbow was built-up as a killshot so Yuya works to take out the killing power from it. He works on the left arm early on and waits for Soup to make the big mistake of inadvertently smashing his right arm into the ring post as he really hits home the idea of his awareness of his surroundings. It’s as smart of a performance as it is intense.
To Takeshita’s credit, he works well to counter Yuya’s underdog fire by just smacking the shit out of him at multiple points. He’s not exactly redefining the selling game here either but he does well enough to aid Yuya’s armwork and make it mean something. They never deviate too far away from the mission statement and when the bomb trading happens it’s extremely well earned. The finishing stretch fucking rocks where they really commit to the idea of how hurt Soup’s arms had become to this point. He goes for the headbutts in an incredible struggle for the deadbolt suplex as Yuya rushes him into the corner and nails it for the win.
I thought the greatest achievement of this match of how it woke up a crowd that had been dead for the entire show. Yuya isn’t exactly extremely flashy but in three matches he has already showed that he far ahead of his peers in the company when it comes to structuring his matches. He uses his influences to great effect, because, unlike a Shota or Callum, he isn’t just copying aspects, he’s integrating them into his gameplan in such a manner that it makes sense. That’s really all I ask for. The armdrags, the dragon suplex and High Fly Flow from Tanahashi etc. Remarkable stuff and one of my favourite things in wrestling all year. Yuya Uemura is back.
