YAMATO vs. Jushin Liger from NJPW’s Best Of The Super Juniors 2009

 

Recap from Lee:

I’m standing here with my yamato spiriiiit! Dragon Gate star YAMATO took part in the 2009 edition of New Japan’s annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament,  which is to my knowledge, the only time he has appeared in NJPW. Heel YAMATO gets the jump on Liger during the ring introductions. Liger fights back with a kick and some chops. YAMATO mocks him and gets slapped for it, before being lariated to the outside. He regains control there though, throwing Liger into the railing then beating him down. YAMATO brings Liger back in the ring and continues the beat down. He tells the ref to shut up. Liger comes back with a backbreaker, and he then hit a powerbomb. Liger sets him up in the corner and delivers a superplex, which gets a two count. Back on their feet, YAMATO hits a boot to the face and then locks in a sleeper hold! After a while, YAMATO gets bored of trying to choke him out, and he randomly spits at the ref.  YAMATO then hoists Liger up for Galleria. Drops him on his head! Casual cover for one! Two! Three!

Winner: YAMATO

 

Lee’s thoughts: Some days I forget how amazing YAMATO was as a heel. His style was so awesome, he just swaggered in, choked people out/dropped them on their head (or both) then swaggered out. Kudos to Liger for putting him over so decisively as well, even going out on the stretcher. Short but very entertaining match for me, I’m admittedly a massive YAMATO fan though so you may not get as much of a kick out of it if you aren’t that way inclined.