There is a chance I might have unfairly pigeonholed Shin Suzuki. I don’t want to overplay it – I never disliked him or thought his wrestling was rubbish – but he wasn’t someone I sought out. Part of it might even be that he seems like a lovely bloke, and it’s always a delight when wee Konigiri-chan turns up on ChocoPro shows, which made what he did on the mat feel like it played second fiddle to his perceived decentness. I’d tagged him as a foil for more interesting partners. However, in the last few months, something has started to change.
The seeds were sown with the ChocoPro Halloween Special, a show I was lucky enough to be at live. While the main event of the evening was a brilliantly entertaining Rumble, the other match was also a surprisingly delicious treat. In it, Suzuki took on Mexico’s El Hijo del Alebrije, a wrestler I knew nothing about. I’ve touched on it before, but when you sit at the edge of the mat in Ichigaya, you’re scarily close to the action. You don’t even have the barrier of distance between you and the wrestlers, so watching the two of them exchange lucha-inspired offence in that tight, claustrophobic space was quite something. Those moves are impressive with all the room a ring has to offer, so I can’t imagine how hard they are to pull off in an environment where, if you get them wrong, you’re in danger of taking the front row with you.
If that was the beginning, this showdown with Baliyan Akki at the end of 2024 was where those seeds started to blossom. Suzuki didn’t win this match, but his performance caught my eye all the same. From the bell, he was on Akki, working over his leg and, again, using that touch of lucha to impressive effect. I often get frustrated at how weightless and ineffective most of today’s ranas are, as they’re thrown away with almost as little care as the arm drag, but when Shin leapt from the apron to send Akki twisting into the front row of chairs, there was a real thrust behind it. Similarly, when Akki initially blocked a Super Yoshi Tonic, Shin sold the struggle of forcing it through, refusing to let his opponent off and eventually bringing him down onto the mat. It felt earned, while also protecting the move, as Akki’s initial defence stopped it from connecting at full power.
Not that Suzuki was alone in performing well here, as I’m enjoying watching Akki adjust his wrestling in response to his injury issues. He (at least right now) doesn’t seem able to go at the same speed as he did before. However, while you never want someone to be hurt, I don’t necessarily think that’s a problem. It’s forced him to take things a bit slower, picking his spots and relying more on his power than his high-flying bursts. He sold the damage Suzuki did to his leg well, restricting his movement and relying on throwing bombs at the right moment. There was still the occasional flurry of interconnected offence, but they felt like desperation calls, as he could only pull from that well for a limited time.
It made for one of those matches where all their choices seemed to come up as a win. There was a moment when Akki also focused in on the leg, a clash of shins opening Shin up to it, but he never leaned too heavily on the attack, so there was no sense of being cheated when the payoff came from elsewhere. Instead, they drilled into the story of Akki overcoming his injuries and Shin’s leg work to hit that one big move, dumping Suzuki on his face and getting the three. It was great wrestling and more proof that one should never stick to their first impression too rigidly.
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Ramblings About Wrestling 
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