Word on the street is that KENTA had a workout with the WWE at their performance center. It doesn't seem like much will come of it, other than spreading news that nothing will come of it, but it does give me a reason to review his most recent NOAH title match. Not that I want this to be KENTA: The Blog, but one more won't kill me. That said, let's get to the match.
GHC Heavyweight Title - KENTA (c) vs. Takeshi Morishima
KENTA is the reigning GHC Heavyweight champ coming into this match. He's going on almost a year now after dethroning Morishima in late January 2013. A video package before the match shows some of the battles these two have had and refers to Morishima as a "High Tention Monster." Sic, guys, absolutely sic.
Neither guy is in much of a hurry to start this one. They tie up on the first approach and the much bigger Morishimi easily backs KENTA up. KENTA shoots Morishima into the ropes and a shoulderblock floors the smaller man. KENTA rolls over into the corner, clearly rethinking his strategy right now.
They start a forearm and strike exchange. KENTA gets the worst of it to start, but a string of hard kicks to the chest finally put Morishima on his back. Headscissors are squeezing Morishima until a rope break. KENTA gets a few stomps in before the big guy rolls out. He tries to get back in, KENTA kicks him again while he's in the ropes. Another set of forearms sends Morishima packing.
KENTA whips Morishima into the barricade, but Morishima takes the lead after a shoulder block moments later. Morishima body slams KENTA once they're back in the ring and follows up with a big splash. Love me some big man offense. KENTA rolls out of the ring. People do that a lot more than you realize, until you start breaking matches down. Morishima follows him out there and gives KENTA a suplex before taking it back in the ring.
Morishima bludgeons KENTA with his big paws. He's laying it in for a couple minutes until KENTA tries to fight back with some forearms. Morishima locks in an abdominal stretch. He pulls up KENTA's other leg for added effect, but he only gets a two count on the post-break pin.
KENTA and Morishima battle for a suplex. KENTA finally wins that struggle. Morishima isn't down long and it takes a KENTA leg lariat to put Morishima down for any length. KENTA uses those precious moments to climb the turnbuckle and hit a flying clothesline. Morishima's down again, so a KENTA STF inflicts some more pain. Morishima gets Irish whipped to the ropes. KENTA goes for a body slam. Nothing doing, he's not big enough to lift Morishima. KENTA hits the ropes with a full head of steam and Morishima counters with a butt bump. KENTA's down now, Morishima's up on the ropes, and he shoots KENTA across the ring with a missile drop kick once KENTA got back up.
KENTA looks the worse for wear thus far. Morishima's eating some forearms and kicks, sure, but he looks unstoppable. KENTA can only slow him down momentarily, which he's doing again with a dropkick to the corner. KENTA sprints back to the opposite corner and does another on the now sitting Morishima. The crowd's chanting for KENTA after a knee drop from upstairs. He tries to lift Morishima, but Morishima's still too damn big. KENTA springboards in from the apron; Morishima counters it straight into a slam.
Both are slow to get up, though Morishima is definitely looking better. He waits for KENTA to rise before hitting the ropes and lariating KENTA with his thick right arm. The ref counts the pin, but only gets two. Morishima gets KENTA to his feet, looking for a backdrop driver, and KENTA grabs the top rope for leverage. Morishima yanks him away, tries again, and KENTA counters with a headlock takedown into a failed pin attempt. Morishima rushes at KENTA, who lifts him up on his shoulders. He goes for a Go 2 Sleep, but barely connects, mostly hitting Morishima's arm. It gets a two count, which was probably more than it deserved.
Morishima again bounces of the ropes. This time KENTA uses his moment properly and gets the powerslam on his second attempt. KENTA springs up and starts to wail away with stiff kicks to the head. The third has Morishima on his back. KENTA only gets two. The crowd's not buying these finishes so far, nor am I.
KENTA hoists Morishima up on his shoulders again. He hits a second Go 2 Sleep and this one connects much more cleanly. He makes the cover, the ref counts, and this one is still going on. Only a two count.
KENTA's fired up. He takes Morishima by the hair, pulling him to his feet. Morishima springs into action and finally hits his backdrop driver. Both guys are down. Morishima rolls an arm onto KENTA, good for a two count of his own. Morishima wants another back drop driver. KENTA jerks him down to the mat and hustles into a LeBell lock in the middle of the mat. Morishima's a huge guy and he uses all his strength to haul the both of them towards the ropes, just close enough to get a foot on it.
KENTA hits a running knee to Morishima's back as he tries to stand. He hits the ropes again and Morishima flails wildly with a lariat meant for a much taller man. KENTA hits the other side, Morishima again misses badly on a lariat. KENTA hits the ropes a third time without breaking his momentum. He leaps for a busaiku knee and Morishima crushes him in midair with a third lariat attempt. Morishima smashes him with another lariat. KENTA gets his shoulder up just in time on the pin.
Morishima tries to kick KENTA to the side but it's blocked. KENTA tees off on Morishima with a dozen hard right-handed slaps. KENTA loads up too much on the last one, letting Morishima block it. Morishima clubs KENTA's neck with another lariat, though both are standing. Morishima brainbuster's KENTA and goes for the pin. 1-2-nope, only 2. The crowd really heated up and so have I. I bought into that as the end, but we're getting bonus action now.
Morishima hits the ropes one more and lands the hardest lariat yet. KENTA's neck is going to feel like hell. It's still not enough, KENTA gets a shoulder up once more. Morishima isn't going to let the momentum change. He's got KENTA by the waist the instant he's up. BIG backdrop driver. This this one is OVER. It took 20 minutes and a hell of a lot of offense, but Morishima finished him off.
Match rating: ***. It's an entertaining but not great match. A lot of the near falls were dead until the very end. Oddly, the last one also came across as overkill because Morishima just about murdered KENTA with that lariat. Luckily it only took an additional backdrop driver all of four seconds later to end it, so the kept the match from dragging on. KENTA's offense is credible enough that it looks like it would hurt Morishima, but Morishima did a fine job at only bumping on the right moments, rather then bouncing around in there for a considerably smaller man. I'm a sucker for Big Man vs. Little Man, especially when the big guy is too much to overcome. Give this one a watch.
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