Anonymous
9/10/2025, 9:35:00 PM
No.18789344
>>18789337
>For a wrestler with only about three years of experience to be able to pull that off—that’s already pretty amazing. (But since he’s a heel, I won’t go out of my way to praise him like this on social media or in public.) It takes both match experience and natural talent. You need quick thinking and sharp instincts. (Again, something I wouldn’t openly say.) That’s an area I consider one of my strengths as well, so I thought I’d enjoy leaning into it. And I figured many fans would also enjoy that kind of subtle battle. I imagine even TAJIRI-san, who’s a big fan of OZAWA, probably enjoys that part too (lol).
>Normally, I don’t think too much in advance about specific moves during a match, but there was one thing I definitely wanted to try. It was this: to take his high missile kick, counter it by sliding sideways, and turn it into something like a backdrop hold. You see lots of wrestlers counter a missile kick or dropkick by turning it into something like a powerbomb, but I’ve never seen anyone counter with a backdrop—and from there, maybe even bridge straight into a hold. I’d never actually practiced this before—not even once. As I was weaving things like that into the match, he suddenly launched his own surprise attack. I had predicted he might go for a Shiranui or even the Shiranui Kai. But what he pulled out instead was a La Quebrada over the guardrail.
>Some of you may know this, but back in the day, in my match against KENTA, when I used that move, I smashed my throat against the fence and was rushed to the hospital afterward. The diagnosis was something I had never heard before: “throat contusion.” The doctor told me, “If you had hit your Adam’s apple, it would’ve cracked, air would’ve leaked out, and you would’ve died.” That stuck with me. To be honest, it’s a trauma. It was even featured once on Nippon TV’s Shinsoi Hanashi (“Deep Stories”) program (though I don’t think the footage exists anymore. Someday, I’ll write about that too).
>For a wrestler with only about three years of experience to be able to pull that off—that’s already pretty amazing. (But since he’s a heel, I won’t go out of my way to praise him like this on social media or in public.) It takes both match experience and natural talent. You need quick thinking and sharp instincts. (Again, something I wouldn’t openly say.) That’s an area I consider one of my strengths as well, so I thought I’d enjoy leaning into it. And I figured many fans would also enjoy that kind of subtle battle. I imagine even TAJIRI-san, who’s a big fan of OZAWA, probably enjoys that part too (lol).
>Normally, I don’t think too much in advance about specific moves during a match, but there was one thing I definitely wanted to try. It was this: to take his high missile kick, counter it by sliding sideways, and turn it into something like a backdrop hold. You see lots of wrestlers counter a missile kick or dropkick by turning it into something like a powerbomb, but I’ve never seen anyone counter with a backdrop—and from there, maybe even bridge straight into a hold. I’d never actually practiced this before—not even once. As I was weaving things like that into the match, he suddenly launched his own surprise attack. I had predicted he might go for a Shiranui or even the Shiranui Kai. But what he pulled out instead was a La Quebrada over the guardrail.
>Some of you may know this, but back in the day, in my match against KENTA, when I used that move, I smashed my throat against the fence and was rushed to the hospital afterward. The diagnosis was something I had never heard before: “throat contusion.” The doctor told me, “If you had hit your Adam’s apple, it would’ve cracked, air would’ve leaked out, and you would’ve died.” That stuck with me. To be honest, it’s a trauma. It was even featured once on Nippon TV’s Shinsoi Hanashi (“Deep Stories”) program (though I don’t think the footage exists anymore. Someday, I’ll write about that too).