Post by concrete1992 on Sept 4, 2019 6:15:36 GMT -5
Sakaguchi is Sakaguchi is Sakaguchi. He is still the stiff as all get out MMA fighter that we all love. In a year where folks are getting gobbled up and with a lack of compelling promotions that would produce candidates all around the card, old faithfuls like Sakaguchi stand a good chance of continuing to rise up the board by process of elimination. I am never going to be the guy who watches ALL the matches but someone that samples matches from all around trying to get a READ. So my thoughts on Sakaguchi (or anyone's year) is a snapshot of right now and not a complete and accurate analysis.
That out of the way I think the Ueno from 8/10 and Endo match from 6/2 are good points of reference fo Sakaguchi. In the later match, he essentially just does his thing. Throws out stiff kicks and rolling subs. Problem is, Endo doesn't have the ability to start throwing dynamite and he can't hit the mat to do any fun sequences. Throwing heaters is good enough most of the time. It likely gets him into the top 50 even if he only wrestles supporting roles in tags where his entire purpose is to throw nasty kicks to the chest and back of the opposition. Then you have matches like the Ueno one and you start to wonder "man, if he has a few of these, maybe top 25???". Short match with someone that doesn't have the skill to do what Sakaguchi does, but willing to feed Sakaguchi material to work with. That match feels so reactionary in the sense that each moment feels like a response to what the other is presenting. That's the best wrestling and something Sakaguchi seems to fair better at than more "pro wrestling-y" affairs.
Though I do wish that there was a better shoot style system in Japan as Sakaguchi doing that for six matches a year and DDT being his "and other stuff" portion of his resume would make him like a top 10 guy probably.
That out of the way I think the Ueno from 8/10 and Endo match from 6/2 are good points of reference fo Sakaguchi. In the later match, he essentially just does his thing. Throws out stiff kicks and rolling subs. Problem is, Endo doesn't have the ability to start throwing dynamite and he can't hit the mat to do any fun sequences. Throwing heaters is good enough most of the time. It likely gets him into the top 50 even if he only wrestles supporting roles in tags where his entire purpose is to throw nasty kicks to the chest and back of the opposition. Then you have matches like the Ueno one and you start to wonder "man, if he has a few of these, maybe top 25???". Short match with someone that doesn't have the skill to do what Sakaguchi does, but willing to feed Sakaguchi material to work with. That match feels so reactionary in the sense that each moment feels like a response to what the other is presenting. That's the best wrestling and something Sakaguchi seems to fair better at than more "pro wrestling-y" affairs.
Though I do wish that there was a better shoot style system in Japan as Sakaguchi doing that for six matches a year and DDT being his "and other stuff" portion of his resume would make him like a top 10 guy probably.