Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Zack Sabre Jr. from Revolution Pro 2014

Recap from TJ Hawke:

Nakamura was VERY over. The commentators mention that this is a NJPW/NOAH battle, which I didn’t even think of. Zack won a mat exchange. Naka then wanted a handshake. Zack didn’t trust him, but he then turned his back to Naka. The fatal mistake. Naka cut Zack off and then worked him over. Zack came back after a big kick. Zack got the cross armbreaker, but Naka got to the ropes. Naka came right back though. Zack hit a bridging dragon suplex for a nearfall. Sabre got a hold on Naka’s left arm. Naka escaped and hit the backstabber/funplex combo. They traded cross armbreaker attempts. Zack hit a Penalty Kick and then managed to finally apply the cross armbreaker. Naka got his hands back together though. Naka hit a very short-range Boma Ye: 1…NO! Naka reversed a cross armbreaker and hit a diving Boma Ye. BOMA YE: 1…2…3!

This reminded me a lot of Nakamura’s match with Kevin Steen back in May of this year. Nakamura might be the ideal NJPW wrestler to do indie shows in England or the US. He’s charismatic as all hell, and he doesn’t require a ton of time to put together a fun match. These two just hit each other hard and put together some cool sequences for 10-15 minutes. I found it to be quite fun and perfectly satisfying.

Match Rating: ***1/2