Fuminori Abe vs. Koji Iwamoto for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, from All Japan New Year Wars 2021 Night Three

I guess I’m the weird one because I thought it was excellent. It’s been criticized for not stepping up in intensity down the stretch, but while that might have been the easy route to high marks, it would have clashed with the story being told. These are good friends looking to either get or keep the gold, with Abe sustaining an advantage thanks to (FOR ONCE) early limbwork paying off and Iwamoto trying to escape with his belt by hitting a flash KO, and going for head-dropping crowd-pleasing bonkers action would have been a poor fit. Dark horse MOTY candidate.

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