Jom's GLEAT Reviews: Soma Watanabe vs. Yu Iizuka (04/08/21)

       (Written by Jom)

    There haven't been many changes in GLEAT itself recently, but the GLEAT boys are getting out and about a lot more. They've had recent victories in Zero1 and JTO, and have planned appearances at many shows going forward, including GPS, ONLY WE, HEAT-UP, and most excitingly Hard Hit. While the appearances at Hard Hit will probably lead to some great shoot-style matches, today we're going back to focusing on the other side of GLEAT with their pro-wres rules tournament.

Soma Watanabe vs. Yu Iizuka

    The last time these two faced off was under UWFi rules, and in that match Iizuka was decidedly the better man. However, this match is under pro-wres rules, and Watanabe has shown himself to be most likely the best in this ruleset. This match went pretty much how you would expect it. Both guys are solid at normal pro wrestling, but while Iizuka definitely fits more in the UWFi scene, Watanabe is an actual prodigy at juniors wrestling. Notably, he has some of the best forearm attacks in all of pro wrestling, with his inner springboard, rolling thunder, and phenomenal style forearms all having a great hesitation to them making it look like he's floating for a second. Watanabe might also have the best missile dropkick too. In general, if Watanabe is off the ground, it almost always ends up being great. He even busts out some new stuff here, most notably a great koppo kick. If he can pull that out again in his UWFi matches that would be sweet. Iizuka isn't a slouch either, laying in some hard kicks including one from the apron a la Fujita "Jr." Hayato. Honestly though, I keep saying he fits more in UWFi rules for a reason. He's fine here, but he somewhat lacks the intensity he had inside a shoot parameter. The end came when Watanabe was finally able to connect with his really cool inner clutch Ki Crusher for a very close 2.9, before nailing a firebird splash for the win. It was extremely obvious that this was gonna be the result, but it was the right one nonetheless and I can't wait to see what Watanabe and Hayashi will be able to do against each other next week.

Rating: B

Jom's GLEAT Reviews: Kaz Hayashi vs. Takanori Ito (04/01/21)

      (Written by Jom)

    Finally, my catch-up series has come to a close, and it is time for some reviews concerning matches that actually happened recently. I'll miss doing those bulk posts with multiple matches, but this at least means I'll be doing one GLEAT post a week for a while.

Kaz Hayashi vs. Takanori Ito

    This is the first round in a pro-wrestling rules tournament featuring these two along with Watanabe and Iizuka. Basically, the exact same tournament as last time but with different rules and Hayashi instead of Matsui. Hayashi definitely benefits from these rules since he's much more of a traditional wrestler, but Ito hasn't bee a slouch in the pro-wrestling rules matches so far. Both guys do some fine wrestling here, with the story of the match being that while Hayashi is a veteran and has a lot more tricks up his sleeve, Ito's raw power and excellent technique repeatedly allow him to take and keep control. Hayashi is actually able to bust out some pretty cool stuff that betrays his older appearance, including backflipping out of a German suplex and attempting to hit the bouncy kick. He's also able to do a good amount of just extremely solid wrestling, such as a nice back suplex. Ito, for his part in the match, was also pretty good, albeit kinda boring at times. When he's in a pro-wrestling and not UWFi situation, you can tell he's not as comfortable, spending a good amount of time slowly doing his stuff. That doesn't mean he isn't good, as he's able to do some really cool stuff like his fallaway slam and most notably his strikes. The best moments in the match were definitely any time either man went into striking, especially one exchange towards the end. The actual match ending came when Ito connected with a sweet high kick and tried to rebound to the kneeling Hayashi for a PK, but Hayashi was able to counter both that kick and a second one to do a cool headlock rollup for the win. This was perfectly fine, for all the slow moments in the match there were also some really cool ones and the right man definitely won. I'm predicting now that Watanabe beats Iizuka in the next round and goes on to face Hayashi in the finals, mostly to put over Watanabe as the face of GLEAT's pro rules division.

Rating: B