Superstar Sleeze

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Great Muta vs The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) - AJPW 01/13/03 Well this was the worst match I have watched since I returned to reviewing. A heatless mess. Early on there was the spot that Big Sexy and other tall wrestlers do where the stick the boot up and choke their opponent in the corner. Awesome just had his boot resting languidly on Muta’s chest as Muta did not move. It was absolutely pathetic. They put zero effort in. Hall at least made sure his shit look snug. Awesome besides his plancha and top rope splash did not try at all. Scratch everything I said about Muta wrestling two different matches depending on his gimmick. We were back to drop kicks to the knee which didn’t connect, dragon screws, STF and Figure-4. This match made feature the most pointless use of blood ever. Muta hit a Shining Wizard off the apron and posted Awesome who blades because it is a Muta match but didn’t sell shit. Muta hit all his spots. Awesome just lariats after the back handspring elbow. Hits his power spots (powerbombs) and flying spots. Muta does not what to take the Super Powerbomb so he bails and it is kinda top rope Pedigree. Then He mists Awesome who doesn’t sell it. This is self-parody. Muta hits a bunch of rope assisted Shining Wizards to win. Great Muta felt like a self-parody doing all his cool spots but without any heat. Ice cold. Horrible match.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 2/23/03 These two drew a sellout at the Budokan with ZERO undercard support, we are talking absolutely nothing. I think that is more impressive than the match itself. All Japan as a place for New Japan refugees + Kawada and Tenryu could have been great. Long term they would have needed more than just Kojima for their future but for the first half of the 2000s they actually were fine in terms of star power. The big thing going into this is re-adjusting yourself when watching Great Muta vs Keiji Mutoh. Gone are all the basement dropkicks, dragon leg screws, figure-4s and it is replaced by chairs, blood and mist. Yes the Shining Wizard and Moonsault are still there but you need to re-align yourself. The selling is another thing that took me a while to figure out. Great Muta sells with more of a register. My thought process is he supposed to be a horror movie monster. You can stun him but he keeps coming back for more. It used to feel like random no-sells but once you see Great Muta the Monster through that lens as opposed to Keiji Mutoh the Man his selling makes a lot more sense. A match that gets a lot more entertaining as it goes on. I am a Mutoh/Muta defender for the most part, but I forget some time how brutal his stalling as Great Muta can be. Lots of looking under the ring, powdering, making kids cry. The crowd was 100% there for these. They traded missed elbow drops and the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. These 16000 people were pumped for this match. Hashimoto finally gives chase. Muta whips him into the railing. Muta kicks a Young Boy in the stomach and he tries to use him as a stepping stool to hit a Shining Wizard. Either he lost his balance or the Young Boy Collapsed but Muta fucking ate it on the Shining Wizard one of those, it seemed cool in your mind but looked dumb in execution. Match picks up here as Muta slams into a post and crowns him with a chair to busts Hashimoto open. Muta is a great garbage brawler and this was pretty good. Choking with the cord, jabbing a pen into the wound, biting the wound all great shit. Hashimoto gets some kicks as a hope spot. Muta grabs a chair. Mists Hashimoto, the blood and green mist combo never gets old, always looks cool as fuck. He uses the chair to hit a sick Shining Wizard. Chair much more stable than Young Boys. Muta misses a moonsault. Hashimoto has his opening. Muta counters the Brainbuster into a DDT. Muta is back to hitting Shining Wizards and gets the Moonsault, but Hashimoto kicks out. Hashimoto BLOCKS the Shining Wizard with his forearm. HASHIMOTO SWEEPS THE LEG~! Perhaps the greatest sell of a Legsweep ever as Muta sells like he was shot in the back of the leg. Match is just worth watching for this. I vaguely remember Hashimoto falling in love with this Inverted Triangle submission, but Muta makes the ropes, this felt out of place. Hashimoto blocks the Mist with forearms and hits his own Shining Wizard! BRAINBUSTER! Sue me, but this was pretty fun. Dumb as fuck but pretty fun. If this was JIP to Muta busting out Hashimoto I could be convinced to go like **** as the finishing stretch was great Hashimoto as a Karate/Kung-Fu warrior taking on the evil horror movie villain who just keeps coming back. With the beginning, I think I will go ***3/4, but the last ten minutes or so is good craic.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Keiji Muto vs Scott Hall - NJPW 9/23/01 Man if you ever wanted to show someone the most bare bones, stripped down pro wrestling match this might be the one. They just sleepwalk through this match. All of Hall’s punches and work are tight but he is putting in minimal effort. Muto is in 2001 cruise control mode. He found a formula that is bulletproof in 2001. Muto with the Triple Crown is still a mind fuck. Weird fun fact that Hall challenged for Triple Crown. I think there’s some lingering NWO civil war shit here. Hall is with Chono and Muto is with TenKoji. The first five minutes they work a headlock, Muto hits his power elbow. Hall hits a cool Eaton-esquires slingshot back Suplex to take control. His punches look great and he throws Muto out. More punches. The work is tight but feels pedestrian. Muto hip tosses out the ab stretch. Standard 2001 Muto stuff here. DROPKICKs to the knee, dragon leg screw, figure-4. Tries the back breaker/moonsault combo but Hall cuts him off with a super Back Suplex which Hall loved as a transition in the 90s. Hall runs through his shit: chokeslam, sack of shit. Muto works in the DROPKICK to the knee (that’s why 2001 formula is so good) and gets the moonsault but there’s shit with Chono and TenKoji. Shining Wizard but Hall hits a lariat, Razor Edge but Muto wriggles free and two Shining Wizards later he wins. A match that just never got out of first gear.

IWGP Champion Bob Sapp vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/3/04 Fantastic match! Totally different than Sasaki match, which you would expect but I don’t want to take for granted. Nakamura’s approach to taking down the Beast was submission technique as opposed to brawling. It was like shoot-style version of David vs Goliath. Stick and move became submit and move. Bob Sapp’s presence and aura is perfect. Shame he vacated the title after this and was never given a main event run somewhere. Dude was money waiting to be printed. I love how aggressive Nakamura was early. He was the Tasmanian Devil wrestling circles around Sapp taking him down. The problem was Sapp was just too fucking big. So even though his technique was flawless and he was getting takedowns, nothing stuck because Sapp could just raw muscle his way out. He was flinging Nakamura around with biels and hip tosses but Nakamura would just keep coming. Nakamura tries work up to big finishes like the cross-armbreaker or Triangle but Sapp just brute forced out. I thought his lariats have gotten better too. Massive DROPKICK by Sapp! He geared himself up for that sent Nakamura careening out of the ring. He tried to get back in but Sapp lariat him back out. A little king of the Mountain. He gave chase and on the ramp he looked to polish Nakamura off with a powerbomb but got caught in a Triangle. Great sell here as Sapp took an 18 count. I was watching this on a 1 inch x 1 inch screen so kinda lost what Nakamura did here but he stayed aggressive and was working through some submission combinations. They get into the clinch and SAPP MURDERS NAKAMURA WITH A LARIAT! Me and the announcer lost our shit! Sapp goes to a choke and NAKAMURA BITES HIS WAY OUT OF IT! HELL YEAH! Sapp hits a piledriver and is charging at Nakamura who clamps on a Guillotine than a DDT. Sapp reverses the full mount because he is a BEAST! His ground & pound looks killer! Head & arm triangle but Nakamura counters to a crossarmbreaker but Sapp picks him up and slams him! POWERBOMB! One count! Boooo! Sapp rocks him with big strikes and second powerbomb finishes him! Besides the dumb one count bullshit, this match rocked as a shoot style David vs Goliath match. Sapp looked massive DROPKICK, lariat and powerbomb all looked great. Nakamura May have never looked better as a submission Wizard, love how aggressive he was. I wish we got a lengthy Bob Sapp run on top. ****

IWGP Champion Satoshi Kojima vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/14/05 This is one of the most boring matches I have watched in a long time. It was excoriatingly boring at 20 minutes. Fucking Inoki gave them an HOUR, ONE FUCKING HOUR earlier in the year. Kojima won the title in a match that went 59:30. Are you fucking kidding me? I kinda sorta knew that long match existed because these two might be the most bizarre pairing to ever be given an hour. Going through the IWGP Title Defense history, Nagata/Nakanishi is also weird as fuck to go an hour and Nagata/Chono, I get the booking rationale, but fuck I do not want to see Chono go an hour in 2002. Kojima only other defense of the IWGP title was against Nakamura for an hour so yep not watching that. In a sick twisted way, I am morbidly curious what the fuck TENZAN DID FOR AN HOUR! We all know Kojima hit 60 different Ace Crushers and Lariats. Did Tenzan Mongolian Chop and Headbutt for 60 minutes straight?!? Hiroyoshu Muthafuckin Tenzan wrestled for an hour...like it is settling in now and what a what the fuck!?!? Alright the actual match. Look it is Kojima vs Tenzan, I was not expecting Misawa vs Kobashi here, but this was pretty fucking bad. Sasaki vs Suzuki was bad. I am not sure which of these was worse. Sasaki/Suzuki you know they can do better. Kojima has had great matches with Tenyru and Hashimoto. I have enjoyed Tenzan in his run and really enjoyed his Tanahashi match and I bet if I rewatched that Akiyama match I'd grade it higher. But man did this suck! You knew it was bad right off the bad as Kojima hits what else Ace Crushers. I have not seen Kojima wrestle in probably five years and it was just so nice to see the first move he hit was an Ace Crusher. There was no heat behind it. He did not hit out of nowhere no was their struggle. The issue with the match was not so much what moves they did or the order, it was how they were doing them. They were going through the motions. Ice cold wrestling. Hit a couple Ace Crushers. Dive to the floor. They chop on the floor. Back in the ring, they reset into standard New Japan mat wrestling. It is like what the fuck. So those Ace Crushers did not even pop the crowd and they did not mean anything to the story. Tenzan does what Tenzan does. Clubber. Kojima gets a back body drop flying elbow. Tenzan gets a back body drop and a top rope diving headbutt! Symmetry! Their transition is garbled, but make a long story short, Tenzan goes for the Tenzansault but Kojima meets him up there and hits an Ace Crusher because he is Fucking Kojima, bitch. Kojima goes for his big Lariat, but Tenzan hits the Side Effect and Tenzan applies the Anaconda Vice and then Tenzan Driver back to Anaconda Vice. Crowd does not give a shit at all. This is one of the weakest, most pathetic finish runs in history. KOJIMA COUNTER TO THE ANACONDA VICE IS A RUSSIAN LEGSWEEP! It is both pathetic and kinda awesome! He applies a weird top wristlock/crucifix I dont know if he was using or if this was just his counter to the Anaconda Vice. The one interesting that happens in the match is Kojima hits an Axe Bomber and Tenzan sells it like he is OUT FUCKING COLD! I saw that Kojima won the belt at 59:30 via KO so I am assuming this a play off that finish. They even do the ten count but Kojima interrupts it by turning to pin him, but he kicks out. Kojima blasts him with another lariat, kick out at one because you know Japan. Kojima goes for a suplex, once punch and Tenzan hits a Tenzan Driver. What a lame transition! Tenzan went from being almost KO'd to being in control. Now Kojima hits an Emerald Flowsion. Was it this shit? Kojima misses a lariat, Tenzan wild swing misses, but Kojima sells it. Tenzansault hits and sitout TenzanDriver ends it anti-climatically as Tenzan takes forever to cover him. What a shitburger...how bad must that 60 minute match be?

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW Osaka Dome 11/13/04 New Japan was still drawing 28000 people to the Osaka Dome this late in the Inokiist Era. Pretty stacked card as this does not even close the show. There's Tenryu/Shibata on the undercard along with invaders (Kawada/Naoya Ogawa) vs Tenzan/Tanahashi (sounds tasty) and weirdo main event of Fujita/Kashin vs Nakamura/Nakanishi. The main event did not sound appetizing on paper and Jetlag's review made it seem even less so (except Inoki comes in and punches Nakamura apparently) so I will skip. On paper this is kind of a dream match for me. I am way higher on Sasaki than most people and I do like Minoru Suzuki (more recent Suzuki can be hit or miss, but this era I usually like). This match much to my shock and dismay kinda sucked. I am not even sure it kinda sucked. I think it might have sucked out loud. Usual New Japan feeling out process. Nothing wrong with that. I like Sasaki muscling Suzuki over but Suzuki keeps the headlock on and yanks him over the top with him. They stare off and both head back in the ring. Missed opportunity in my opinion but fine. Suzuki puffs out his chest which is the Universal sign of Hit Me. They trade some blows. Cool wrinkle here at the end. Suzuki hits a dropkick to get Sasaki off his feet. Suzuki invites Sasaki to do the same, but side-steps him and makes him look like a chump. This is weird it got weird again. Suzuki hit the lightest knees, threw some strikes tried to go for the arm but Sasaki just threw him off and reset. Ok it seemed like they had somewhere to go but didnt do much. I kinda forget what happens next (watched this about 5 hours ago) but the next big thing is Suzuki works the arm which is the bulk of the body that has any sort of progression. Suzuki would just wander a way for extended stretches and just leave Sasaki to sell. It was weird. Either Sasaki needed to throw in some hope spots of Suzuki needed to stay on him. The way they did it was just awkward. The finish run took what was a boring match made it actively terrible. Sasaki started throwing some lariats. Suzuki gets a Rear Naked Choke out of a Northern Lights Bomb attempt which was the first big "nearfall". He hits a piledriver, Sasaki kicks out at one. Sasaki hits Northern Lights Bomb with no struggle. Suzuki at least punches Sasaki a couple times before his second piledriver which Sasaki no sells and hits a lame Northern Lights Bomb. They are both out. Suzuki slaps Sasaki twice pretty good cracks. Sasaki misses on Lariat but gets him on the second attempt. Suzuki kicks out at one. Makes some faces, fall down and Sasaki wins. The first 15 minutes or so are pretty fucking boring. The last five minutes are terrible. I know Suzuki is supposed be mercurial and eccentric but this was just bad. Sasaki did not adapt at all either. I am sure most people would blame Sasaki but I thought Suzuki was just as bad if not worse. This could be one of the worst matches featuring two wrestlers who are otherwise pretty good at wrestling.

IWGP Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 6/10/03 Takayama’s first defense as IWGP Champion after defeating Nagata in the Dome. It is still unclear what constitutes an IWGP defense versus a NWF title defense. Tenzan came up short last year against Yasuda and doesn’t look like he got a shot against Nagata. Tenzan is incredibly over throughout the match so while I’m not a huge Tenzan fan based on crowd response he has earned this spot. My standard line he is the best possible goon or bruiser. He is like the best possible version of a Nasty Boy. I do appreciate that you always know what you’re going to get with Tenzan. With the right opponent, you can get a lot of mileage out of him because he puts parameters on what can and can’t be done which can inspire creativity. What’s interesting is I found the Yasuda more interesting until the very end because it was two very limited workers trying to figure out how to work a match. Takayama who is clearly much better than either however doesn’t really force Tenzan to wrestle an interesting match. Takayama because he is so dynamic and adaptable is able to just cruise through this and work a normal match. Whereas a Tanahashi can bring something special out of a Tenzan and a Yasuda causes me to be like how the fuck are these two gonna have a match. Takayama makes it too easy for Tenzan. Pretty standard New Japan feeling out process. They go the test of strength which is perfect for these two heavy hitters. Some shoulder tackle standoffs. Tenzan wins with a spinning heel kick then sends Takayama to the floor and its Air Tenzan! Now that was an ugly ass Slingshot Plancha and I was here for it. Big Suplex back in, nice struggle. Tenzan consolidates the advantage and does what Tenzan does: clubber. He leaves himself open to some Kicks and in the scramble Takayama rocks him with a big kneelift! Classic Takayama! Takayama’s control segment is solid, but uninspiring. I could watch Takayama throw kicks and knees for days but there was nothing special here. Takayama uncharacteristically goes to the top and gets thrown off. Tenzan tombstone for the first near fall. Takayama takes back over shortly only for Tenzan to catch a kick and HEADBUTT THE KNEE! The Yasuda strategy I dig. Perfect Tenzan psychology. Dragon leg screw. Top Rope Diving headbutt to the knee! Love it! Big Tenzan finish stretch…Tenzansault and Anaconda Vice. Lots of Tenzan clubbering after running out of things to do. TAKAYAMA LUNGES FROM HIA KNEES AND HEADBUTTS TENZAN IN THE FACE! HELL YEAH! Two big kneelifts and an Everest German and that’s all she wrote. This felt sub-*** to me until Takayama insanely sick headbutt transition to win. From tut headbutt to the German was like 30 seconds tops. It was like the best 30 seconds ever. So gotta be ***

GHC Champ Kenta Kobashi vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/2/03 My first Kobashi match in two years! Yay! My first 25+ minute match in two years! Boo! I love Kobashi but this was just a sleepwalk match. Chono does not do much for me but unfortunately he is in the Dream Match role on these Dome cards, Misawa the previous year and Hulk Hogan later this year. He is just useless. Kobashi did the moves but he didn’t really bring that emotion takes Kobashi’s matches to the next level. The first ten minutes were pretty standard Kobashi fare: chops (Chono didn’t really bring it), tests of strength and headlock. Just Kobashi wrestling a broomstick. The one potentially interesting moment in the whole match was Chono was doing a ballshot to finally not get his ass kicked, but Kobashi blows it off to hit Suplex so lame. If Chono at least played an Eddie Guerrero like cheating scoundrel that could’ve interesting but they played it straight. The transition to Chono was the usual All Japan apron work. Kobashi was going to hit a Suplex but Yakuza Kick and a suicide dive out Chono in control. Chono did a Misawa-rana on the Ramp that popped me. We get the Chono bombs: Saito Suplexes, Shining Yakuza Kick, STF. I like the STF spot it feels hot. Chono does his shitty Iron Cross rest hold and Kobashi hits a shit ton of half Nelson suplexes and Lariats to win. At one point in between the Suplex barrage Chono’s hope spot was an Abdominal Stretch which made me laugh out loud because it was so lame. At least do the Octopus Stretch. It was standard All Japan/NOAH match Greatest Hits Dome match. Nothing interesting just hit your stuff go home. Kobashi just plugged Chono in and Chono did nothing interesting.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Budokan 08/29/02 NWF Title Tournament So what I have gleaned in my limited research is Fujita vacated the title earlier in the year so he set up a tournament for NWF Title also called The King of Gladiators tournament. 4-men all shoot backgrounds. It is him vs Takayama and Kohsaka vs Yasuda. In my opinion, it is upsets in both as the new Inoki favorites go down. Inoki even comes out to hype up the crowd and NWF title is shown. This May be the most violent match I’ve ever seen. We will get there in a second. Scrappy amateur wrestling to start. I would’ve expected Takayama to use his reach advantage to keep the stockier Fujita at bay. Fujita slaps him on the ropes. A lot of guard and ground & pound. It is actually on the floor Takayama wins and Chono who beat Takayama early in the month for the G1 Climax gets in his face. Back in the ring Fujita catches a kick into a throw. I really like the struggle where Takayama earns his throw. Fujita ground & pound knees. Head-arm triangle. This is all good Inokiist wrestling then this happens… So they decide to stand & bang. I rewound here. I don’t think Takayama bladed. Fujita was throwing live rounds. He whiffed on two but he connected on two. One made absolutely disgusting sound and next thing you know blood is pouring from Takayama’s ear. Takayama gives in my opinion two receipts the first kneelift was stiff, then Everest German but that penultimate kneekift was SICK! I don’t know how Fujita’s nose was intact. Takayama obliterated his face the the final kneelift was more standard snug pro wrestling but the penultimate one was brutal. Check out the two wicked punches by Fujita and two kneelifts by Takayama. ***

Kazunari Murakami vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 10-13-03 Tokyo Dome This is on the undercard of Hogan vs Chono and a Shooters vs Pro Wrestlers 5-on-5 Elimination Match. This was more angle than match. My sense was this was either a hazing of Shibata or he proves he was tough enough to be a member of Makai Club. You’d think Murakami death glares, stiff strikes and Shibata bleeding buckets would be an easy thumbs up but the majority of the match is Makai Club mugging Shibata and Shibata selling the selling loss of blood. Shibata jumpstarts the match attacking Murakami as he enters the ring but Murakami says if you’re gonna do that you better finish me as he recover brutally knees him in the face and shoves him out the ring. Makai Club mugging and Shibata is wearing the crimson mask. Murakami hits some great strikes does his usual double foot in the corner. Pretty easily KOs Shibata. I think they have another match in Big Mouth Loud to check out.

NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 6/13/03 Budokan Six Months before Nakamura and Takayama squared off in the Dome to unify the IWGP & NWF Championships they met in the Budokan for the NWF title only. This is a bit weird as the previous month Takayama won the IWGP Championship from Nagata at the Dome but this didn’t unify the titles. He would defend the titles separately. I watched this about ten hours ago but the match is pretty basic so I’m not too worried. The match follows a different layout than previous Nakamura matches. In other Nakamura matches he is the young gun counter wrestler that use flash submissions to win matches. Here he is the aggressor and brings the fight right to Takayama with big strikes and a barrage of submissions. He even goes so far as to use Takayama’s one foot cover to show up Takayama early. It is an early Triangle that saps Takayama of most of his energy early. Nakamura is wrestling circles around Takayama because of it. Nakamura was catching kicks and turning him into powerbombs. The only reason Takayama gets can into it is a MASSIVE KNEELIFT! Nakamura shoots in for a takedown and eats nothing but knee. The Takayama heat segment and finish is just classic Takayama. Pretty similar to the Kenta if memory serves me correctly with Takayama just obliterating Nakamura with kneelifts and strikes before polishing him off with an Everest German. Besides a Nakamura Triangle Choke that Takayama powerbomb out of I don’t really remember much or hope spots. I appreciated the inverted narrative of Nakamura getting all his hope early looking like he was going to win on a fast break only to obliterated by a knee, cool match. ***1/2

Wow I was quite the hater back in the day. Have no recollection of watching this and liked it way more so re-doing the review from scratch. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 6/7/02 Since I’ve been doing this project to watch all the IWGP title defenses between Fujita to Lesnar, I have had this one circled for a while. Sasaki is one of all-time favorites and brilliant power wrestler who had the misfortune of peaking during Inokiism. Nagata is someone who has grown on me and I don’t think he has the charisma of a potted plant anymore and also I own 10 potted plants now and I think potted plants can be charismatic. I watched this match before but I was out to lunch then. It is a ***1/2 match that deserves a better review. Nagata just won the title from Yasuda and defended at the Dome against Takayama. This presents a different more traditional pro wrestling challenge for Nagata. In the year 2000 Kensuke must have been pumped he was the heir apparent to the Musketeers and getting a big push against Kawada and All Japan. Then Inoki switches gears to Fujita and Yasuda and never looks backs. Nagata fits better in Inoki’s vision of a hybrid wrestler. This starts very New Japan for like ten minutes but ends very All Japan. I liked the mixture. The beginning matwork was classically influenced think NWA championship style: headlocks, wristlocks, armbars. Nagata starts peppering Sasaki with kicks who responds with ROARING Oo-Soto-Gari loved that response from him. Then they did my favorite thing they teased their finishers: Northern Lights Bomb and a Nagatalock. Then they back to matwork but more Shoot-influenced the struggle over the Cross-Armbar was tremendous. Nagata Dane out the better with a step over toehold. Nagata starts pelting Sasaki with kicks. Sasaki punches him in the face. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! Nagata powder. A beautiful All Japan sequence straight out the Kawada playbook and the response by Nagata was genius simultaneously protecting the move and selling it. This is the more All Japan finish run. Sasaki hits his special armdrag. I really liked the transition to Nagata's offense. Sasaki mistimed a rope running sequence. He tried to ricochet off the ropes and catch Nagata bouncing off the turnbuckles. Nagata did not bounce as quickly so he missed Nagata who then kicked his head off! I love him paying for trying to be too convoluted. Nagata's control segment was a lot of kicks and then on a Sasaki powder, Sasaki tried the All Japan ricochet off the railing Lariat, but Nagata caught him in an Exploder. Nagata pretty much had the match won here. As he was getting back in the ring, Sasaki LARIATS the knee! This was a great, last ditch, desperation ploy by Sasaki. This leads to him using the Scorpion Deathlock and when that does not work trying to truck Nagata with Lariats, but he is running out of steam. Nagata kicks the Lariat arm some brutal kicks to the head. Wrist-clutch Exploder and two Saito Suplexes win the day for Nagata! I liked how they clearly showed Nagata was the better wrestler. He has better ground game and striking game, BUT Sasaki has a puncher's chance. His two best openings were the closed fist/Northern Lights Bomb combo and the Lariat to the Leg/Scorpion Deathlock. Sasaki could do damage but he needed a closed fist or a sneak attack chop block to gain an advantage. He put Nagata over strong, definitely an enjoyable match. ***1/2

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 8/15/04 G-1 Climax Finals What a beautiful pro wrestling match! My reasoning for choosing Inokiist New Japan has my return to reviewing was twofold: 1. The matches are usually short most are under 10 minutes, 15 minutes max which suits my lifestyle well. 2. I have become very disenchanted with modern pro wrestling. People may find that surprising given that I usually praise WWE for the Bloodline, Cody Rhodes stuff and there's usually one AEW match a week that I think is very good to great. There is so much trash in current pro wrestling. I was kinda sick of it. I knew Inokiist New Japan would take out the two things I hate most in modern pro wrestling: 1. Running and 2. Overselling. As I ran out of Shooter vs Wrestler matches I have started to wade back into pro wrestling matches. This match really reminded how beautiful traditional pro wrestling can be. As Inoki once named his show, Pro Wrestlers Be Strongest! Both Tanahashi & Tenzan played to their strengths and the result was a terrific, elegant match. It is a battle of tempo that often gets lost in Shoot-Style or Inokiist style matches. Here it is the clubbering, lumbering Tenzan vs the quick, hit 'n run Tanahashi. Tanahashi is my choice for best Japanese Wrestler of the 21st Century. He is just on here. He is the best possible version of Keiji Mutoh. What is also so unique is this match is early enough in Tanahashi's career that it predates his formula of working the knee. The match when viewed through the lens of tempo just falls into place sublimely. If Tanahashi keep it uptempo, he has the advantage and is supplying the excitement, but there is also a looming dread and stress that any moment Tenzan can just headbutt him in the breadbasket. Early on we see that with a quick sunset flip attempt, Tanahashi tries to quicken the pace but is stopped dead with the butt to the solarplexus. Tenzan clubbers. If you seen one Tenzan match, you know the drill: headbutts, Mongolian Chops, general clubbering. He Irish Whips Tanahashi. This creates the space to allow Tanahashi to generate his offense. He springs into a reverse cross body. He just seamlessly without pause throws his body at Tenzan, elbow drop, Senton. He goes for a superplex, but gets the worst of it. Tenzan is back up and he is clubbering. Tenzan escalates he hits the Diving Headbutt the first big move of the match. Tanahashi cradles. This discombobulates Tenzan long enough that Tanahashi can increase the pace again. It looks like Tanahashi is overzealous and Tenzan is going to throw him to the floor but Tanahashi skins the cat. He is all over Tenzan. Nice dive! Finally Tanahashi by hurling his body and keeping Tenzan off balance has earned his right to hit bombs. He hits one German couldnt hold the bridge but holds the waistlock so he can get the bridge. Which I loved! Dragon Sleeper for Tanahashi. He goes for the win when he thinks Tenzan is unconscious. Tanahashi goes for the Dragon Suplex, but Tenzan elbows out. Mongolian Chops. Tanahashi goes to block...HEADBUTT TO THE BREADBASKET! OH HELL YEAH! Saito Suplex, great Levelling the Playing Field spot. Here comes the Fighting Spirit Breakdown, it is lame but short. Tenzan spinning heel kick another level the playing field spot. I always get worried about the home stretch in this timeframe. Very easy to go NOAH and do too much. Tenzan hits his weird Tombstone variant and then Anaconda Vice. Tanahashi rolls him on the shoulders which again fits with Tanahashi's offense strategy which is gets Tenzan into weird positions. My favorite part of the finish stretch was Tenzan missing the moonsault opening him up to an amazing finish stretch that would make Ricky Steamboat or Keiji Mutoh jealous. Shining WIzard! Dragon Suplex! Inside Cradle! Backslide out of a headbutt to the breadbasket attempt (THAT SPOT WAS *****)! Back to Dragon Sleeper! I love Tanahashi so much, I fell in love with him all over again and boy oh boy I wanted the kid to do it! Again Tanahashi cant win with the Dragon Sleeper. He gets to his feet first, but as he is picking Tenzan up, Tenzan does the only thing he can...LUNGE AT HIM WITH HEADBUTTS TO THE STOMACH! REPEATEDLY! I never know how much I could love a headbutt to the stomach. Tenzansault which I bit on as the finish. Great nearfall! Anaconda Vice is the finish but what he does is pick him up and throw him down to the mat while in the vice twice. I would have liked to see Tanahashi lose by pinfall here but still the tap out was great. I feel like this was Marty Sleeze special two dudes staying true to their characters, lets the clash of styles tell the story, using the headbutt to the breadbasket as the touchstone, Tanahashi generating his offense so well, really interesting transitions, everything feels organic and snug. Pro Wrestling Be The Best! ****1/2

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW 8/14/05 G-1 Climax Finals I watched this yesterday but only getting to the review now. It is honestly that good to get everything exactly right so I’m not too worried. Fujita is the ultimate coulda woulda shoulda wrestler. With the right management and right mentor on psychology, this dude could’ve been real money. Chono is Chono. He is over like rover but I just don’t give a shit about him. Fujita comes out like a beast ground & pound knees. I like the route they take at the beginning cat & mouse. The only way Chono can get an opening is if Fujita hurts himself. Fujita misses a charge and tumbles to outside or kicks the post. There’s a great Fujita German off the apron to the floor. Chono’s transition is both good and bad. I liked that Fujita no sold the initial Saito Suplex and it took a string of four bombs for Chono to actually gain control. I still felt that it came out of nowhere and was not earned. I don’t know when this started but it seems Chono replaced the Yakuza Kick with the Shining Yakuza Kick. He seems to use his foot rather than his knee (Mutoh would use his knee). I don’t know if this was a conscious decision or Chono just couldn’t bend his knee properly. At one point he tears his tights, so he can expose his knee pad but repeatedly runs the flat of his foot into Fujita’s face which honestly looked more painful than a normal Shining Wizard but also has nothing to do with the exposed knee. I forget Fujita’s finishing run I’m sure it was a lot of chokes and knees. Chono set his up with an STF which is a great spot. He does a great STF, it generates a lot of heat and it feels like he can win but obviously Fujita was not going to tap. So a bunch of Shining Yakuza Kicks wins the day. It was a little sad to see big bad Fujita job to this fossil but the people were happy. I thought the match was a mess and nothing too terribly interesting happened.

Fuck I didn’t know I had already watched this match. I’m about the same ballpark as I was before I think I was going to go 2.5 stars or 3 stars once I finished writing. The first 12 minutes of this match are utterly pointless. They don’t establish a hook or anything. It is broken up into little segments that don’t connect and are not that interesting on their own. Nominally I’d say they are going for Chono is the legend that is out-gunned by the giant shooter badass. Takayama picks him Up out of the guillotine and drops him off the top turnbuckle to slap him. Or in a firefight Chono strikes are over but is eventually a losing battle. But then he will randomly win a strike exchange or apply a really shitty reverse surfboard. The selling in segment was good but not between segments. The finish run was good: Takayama kneelifts, the Everest German, the big Jumping Knee. The spinning heel kick for Chono to take over was bad but I LOVED THE STF! I wish he won it with the STF rather than the barrage of Yakuza Kicks. I’ll be generous and go ***. I had zero recollection of watching lol

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Giant Bernard - NJPW 5/3/06 Inokiiam ends with a whimper not a bang. Im pretty sure this is the last IWGP title defense under Antonio Inoki and it is a Smackdown 2002-03 match. Also 5/3 was a typical Dome show date and it was not a Dome show in 2006 showing how far the business has fallen. This starts interesting but gets progressively less interesting. Bernard throws a better clothesline than Brock. One of the few things Brock does not do well is throw lariats. Brock actually wrestlers small here which makes for a better match. Bernard is winning the clothesline war and using his bulk to bully Brock around. It is only on an errant charge to the post that Brock takes over a very small spot. Brock suplexes and when Bernard tries to use his weight Brock puts Bernard’s injured arm into a vicious top wristlock. Great sell. Fujiwara armbar less so. You can tell Brock is a product of the early 2000s because he uses a toe kick to set up moves that is so out of style now it is jarring. Big belly to belly. More arm submissions starts to drag. Albert actually picks things up on a switch into the corner. It is charges and shouldertackles that win. Baldo Bomb sets up his finishing run with a Vaderbomb and Scissors Kick. On 2nd Vaderbomb Brock hits a German. Pair of DDTs what he beat Akebono with but this time it is the F-5 that wins the day. I am confident enough in my Brock love to know this was not his day. There was so good bumping and selling early. I thought he was much better at wrestling underneath to A-Train who had great offense. Brock obviously is a great offensive wrestler but I don’t think he brought it today. ***

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Bob Sapp - NJPW 3/28/04 Well this was FUCKING AWESOME!!! Couldnt find any of Tenzan’s title defenses or Sasaki’s title win. Nakamura vacated the tile after 1/4 I assume due to eye injury. Tenzan seemed liked a great transitional champion than Sasaki. But I cannot complain too much because we got a killer match. Bob Sapp looks like a hundred million bucks. They just get into a three point stance and charge each other like two battering rams. It is just beefy wrestling, slapping their meats against each other and I’m here for it. Big body slam by Sapp establishing his power and size advantage. Sasaki butts low to get a laugh from the fans and then TOPPLES SAPP OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR WITH A BIG LARIAT! HUGE POP! Sasaki presses his advantage on the floor. He is mugged by masked members of Makai Club. So who comes to save him but his wife AKIRA HOKUTO WITH A FUCKING SAMURAI SWORD! Crowd is going wild and pretty sure changing her name. Once they tuck tail and run, we see the damage is done and Sasaki is wearing a CRIMSON MASK! Massive choke slam and dropkick and it looks like Sapp has it in the bag. Sapp charges and Sasaki back drops him over the top rope. He gives chase but this time there’s no Makai Club (thanks wifey!) and he beats Sapp down with a chair from the stands, smashes his head into the post and then it is FLYING BLOODY SASAKI from the top rope to the floor. Back in the ring, Hokuto continues to pay dividends and she passes him IWGP title and he smashes it into Sapp’s chest. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! Awesome near fall! Sasaki tries to charge him but Sapp just BEAST MODES HIS ASS! Sapp’s last lariat actually looks kinda good! POWERBOMB! Of course Sapp weirdly is lifting Sasaki’s arm up on the winning pin and is also using 2001 Space Odyssey as his theme. Then he says he is not a part of Makai Club, he is a member of K-1! Oooooooooo DRAMA~! Nakamura comes out to challenge him…great post-match angle. Look if Sapp bled too after the chair shots or if Sapp come throw a proper clothesline (it is like he cannot lift his arm all the way up) this would be an all-timer. The beefy wrestling to start, Akira Hokuto with a samurai sword, Sasaki bleeding, chair shots, dives, belt shots, choke slams and powerbombs this is an easy thumbs up. RAUCOUS MAYHEM~! ****

IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/04 I could’ve sworn I’d seen this match before but no review and I didn’t have any recollection of it while I was watching. Takayama was used a lot in big shows from 2002 up until time period. Even though, Takayama won the IWGP Championship from Nagata he was able to lose it to Tenzan without dropping NWF title. I don’t know how that was possible but this match is for the Unification of the two titles. Right away you see Nakamura’s right eye is all fucked up and he came into the match that way. Don’t know what happened, but it is all black and kinda red and swollen. It is unsightly and nasty. I don’t know if it was for that particular reason or just as the young Lion he started off very aggressive. It is about 15 minutes long and it tells a simple but elegant story. Nakamura does all he can to end it early with submissions. He starts off with a heated leglocks. Takayama is a bit bewildered to start as Nakamura is a Tasmanian Devil and the much larger Takayama is just trying to get a hold of him slowing him down with headlocks and smothers. Nakamura in all his haste left himself open to a wicked kick to the face. Takayama got full extension and got round that kick. Nasty. Nakamura keeps on fighting. He even gets two big throws on Takayama. There is a cool kick-catch into a powerbomb that feels really organic that people should steal. Again he pounces on Takayama with submissions but it is a Triangle that seems to spell his doom. Takayama powerbombs out of the triangle and PUNCHES HIM RIGHT IN THE BAD EYE! The rest of the match is one long heat segment. Takayama punches, claws, kicks, grinds, smashes the eye at every turn. Nakamura sells really well. I think a Triangle was his only real hope spot. The eye work is fantastic. Takayama is absolutely brutal. He is such a great bully doing things like the one foot cover to show his domination. He hits the Everest German to put Nakamura out of his misery but Nakamura kicks out of the bridge and seamlessly gains a side mount and a double wristlock for the flash submission victory! This plays very well with Nakamura’s early gimmick as a counter-wrestler specifically flash submissions which is how he beat Tenzan. Unlike Tenzan, the legitimate eye injury was a much better hook and Takayama is better at working on top. I think there are people who like these type of matches more than me so I highly recommend people watch this as I think this is an incredible young babyface takes a lickin and keeps on tickin’ match. Nakamura’s selling is a good here but you have to wonder is it selling if it actually hurts. Takayama’s offense is perfect bully offense. What I don’t like about these matches (Brock/Roman 2015) is the battering is too much to credibly believe in comeback. They poured it on too thick. It began to undercut the match credibility but made Takayama look like a choke. One thing they did do well is that there were zero Takayama near falls besides the Everest German. That saved Takayama. I wanted more hope spots, it could’ve led to immediate cutoffs but I needed more fight from Nakamura but this was still an awesome Dome match. ****

IWGP Champion Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 4/5/02 I thought this was a more spirited match from start to finish than the February match but I think the blood and rousing finish stretch keep the 2003 match ahead of this. Takayama is in the crowd and it is clear they are building to the Dome match in May for the IWGP championship. I like Yasuda just fine but I do think Nagata was the right choice for the Dome match with Takayama. Two over-arching ideas to touch on. 1. I love the selling in Inokiist Japan. It is all register and great selling in holds. Today’s selling goes from 0 to 100% in one highspot back down to 0% to hit a couple moves back to 100% with the glassy eyed sell. There are levels to this. When you do a register-heavy selling, you leave room for escalation. 2. I am not sure like this in all contexts. I find it more interesting than anything else. Is the use of suplexes/throws as ways to discombobulate your opponent and position them for finishing submission or Bomb. Obviously head-dropping ones should be sold. I think it’s interesting how Yasuda threw Nagata with a butterfly suplex. Nagata came rushing at Yasuda. We know from MMA suplexes look cool as fuck but don’t do much damage. So I think it is interesting way to use suplexes more as takedowns and set up moves. I think there are situations where suplexes should be big finishing bombs and where they should be takedowns to set up Opportunities and use it for body positioning. Hot start which was missing from their other matches. Nagata is aggressive out the gate but Yasuda comes out with Sumo Slaps to bully him into the corner. Guillotine Choke as he shoves the ref off. Pummels Nagata in the corner. Terrific opening. The inevitable grappling is fine. It helped I read that post that Yasuda won a major match using his forearm to choke out an opponent. It is the usual Yasuda using his weight to get takedowns or shift his weight in to smother Nagata in various chokes (forearm on throat, head-arm triangle, and rear naked). Nagata was going for cross-armbreakers and leglocks. Nice call back to the February match is that when it looked like Yasuda was going to win the double underhook but this time the fighting spirit compelled Nagata to throw the big Yasuda over. This leads to two very hot Nagata leglocks. Yasuda looks in trouble. Loved the three move sequence. Yasuda catches a kick. Creams Nagata with a beautiful right cross. Dude should be throwing more punches. Tiger Driver (loves those double underhook) and right after the kick out he pounced with a Head-Arm Triangle. The efficiency was sublime. It is choke city for Nagata. Yasuda left his ankles crossed but nothing happened. The one flaw of the match was on a third Guillotine attempt Nagata executed an armbar takedown into a Crossface felt too out of nowhere and easy. I love Nagata stumbling on his big high kick only for YASUDA TO ROAR AND HIT A MASSIVE DROPKICK! Tiger Driver! 1-2-No! Great strike exchange; Yasuda’s throws a great punch. Nagata German! Yasuda back to Guillotine but Nagata struggles and counters into a Wrist-Clutch Exploder! I love the sell and Crossface for the win. Very entertaining finishing stretch and I just love the efficiency of these matches. ***3/4

Yuji Nagata vs Tadao Yasuda - NJPW 2/16/02 Vacant IWGP Title I enjoyed their April 2003 match with the blood a lot and am intrigued by this match for the Vacant belt. It is unclear to me that they were fully behind Yasuda and just plugged the plug after the Tenzan defense or the plan was always to have Nagata lose this one and get it back in time for Takayama in the Dome on May 2nd. The people above really do a good job defending Yasuda and I agree with all of it. Just as a counterweight, I would say there is a ceiling to Yasuda. I would get into this argument from time to time with Matt D over people like Demolition. There is only so much staying true to your character and story can do. Eventually you do need interesting execution to take you to the next level and a lot of Yasuda’s stuff can be boring even if it is sensible. There’s a reason I watch pro wrestling and very little MMA. Most MMA I find boring because it is exactly the stuff Yasuda does. Maybe education on my part would help but I can only offer review based on my world view. They establish the size advantage for Yasuda that he can throw his weight around in the clinch, takedown and on the mat. Nagata needs to us technique and strikes to win the day. The first peak is Nagata’s kick barrage in the corner…I believe a spinning heel kick and kappou kick. This rocks Yasuda and seems to give Nagata some confidence. He ends up slapping Yasuda which snaps Yasuda back into it. My recollection is Yasuda starts winning the takedown/mount battles. The most execution part for sure was Nagata’s Volk Han-esque ankle cross escape out the choke and going into the Nagatalock. It was not just the sequence of moves that had heat but Yasuda’s selling was incredible. He was writhing and screaming. Terrific. All chokes should be broken by ankle crosses. Nagata seemed to have it pouring it on with kicks and a German Suplex but Yasuda won a double undertook struggle (Nagata wanted a belly to belly). Yasuda bullied Nagata into the corner. Yasuda loves his double underhooks. Tiger Driver! Yasuda gets the Head-Arm Triangle. Yasuda looks to have it with a Guillotine (dude is all about the choke) but Nagata reverses into a Crossface. Yasuda is just throwing bear paws once gets the rope break. He is wounded and is just flailing trying to connect with something. Great selling and response to Nagata offense. Nagata running out of steam tries to throw kitchen sink at him including a Kappou Kick. Nagata shoots for takedown but is caught with the Guillotine and taps out. Once the ankle cross happened this got really good. I thought Nagata being so aggressive was awesome. Yasuda creates a pretty natural Everest to climb. The beginning was pedestrian but it was a rousing finish. Two dudes sticking to their characters and the story just naturally unveiled itself. ***1/2

IWGP Champion Tadao Yasuda vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 3/21/02 Yasuda is probably the most forgettable IWGP Champion but even with his short reign he was able to sneak in a successful title defense here against Tenzan. Yasuda defeated Nagata the month prior to win the vacant belt. I am unclear why Fujita vacated the title, but I think it was due to injury, I need to some research. On this show, Nagata beat Norton to become #1 Contender for the next big show. Nagata/Norton from '98 I believe it my pick for best Norton match of all time, but reading Jetlag's review of the 2002 match sounds like something I can skip. This is only my second Yasuda match, but I am not going to judge too much as Tenzan is not the best person to judge against. I watched this match about 5 hours ago during my lunch walk but it was sub-15 minutes and nothing really happened in the first 5 minutes so it shouldnt be too bad. As I just said not much to report in the first 5 minutes, Tenzan bullrushed Yasuda early but Yasuda used his size and shoot skills to quash that. It seemed like goon/bully move for Tenzan to try. Tenzan is like the world's best Nasty Boy and without his size advantage I was interested to see what he did. Lots of pedestrian grappling. Yasuda started to gain an advantage so Tenzan bullied him into the corner and started to make some headway with clubbering. He deviated from that. Went into a Guillotine, but that played right into Yasuda's hands who quickly countered and bloodied Tenzan's mouth with some ground & pound. Yasuda loves his double underhooks and hit a Tiger Driver. My memory is a little foggy but I know the next major transition was Tenzan headbutting the knee of Yadusa and that's a very Tenzan thing to do. Most people would kick or chop block but he headbutts. In terms of strategy I dig it. It is tried & true pro wrestler vs shooter strategy for the pro wrestler to weaken limb to make in-roads. Tenzan worked the leg pretty well. He hit a diving headbutt to the leg again very Tenzan. Tenzan moonsault and a modified Michinoku Driver for two big nearfalls. The crowd did get into it. He started doing his Mongolian Chop and headbutt shit. Yasuda started his hulk up and eventually Guillotine Choked Tenzan out. Nobody is going to confuse this with Inoki/Brisco '71, but it was better than I expected. The boring first five minutes drags, but they tell simple, elegant story. They explain how Tenzan manages to get some offense, build to some hot Tenzan nearfalls and efficiently have Yasuda win. I see a lot worse day in, day out in WWE and AEW now so I cant complain. ***

I always thought optimistically that Imperium is the Modern Day Holy Roman Empire (Austria, Germany & Italy) and not just the Axis Powers but when Gunther wears that long red coat it makes hard not to think they arent leaning into the Nazi shit which is just gross.

As a huge Byzantine nerd, I popped for his. Waiting for the Holy Roman Empire spinoff, if Shane/Steph need to make a break for it lol

Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW Osaka Dome 4/9/01 There is 1/4 Dome match between these two I think in 96 that I like a lot so I was intrigued by this match as the stipulation was a Death Match which just means Last Man Standing but MMA-style because it is 2001 New Japan. Hashimoto is full on Zero-One and this has to be one of the last matches he had with NJPW. Sasaki has hit the skids after a great 2000 and early 2001. He dropped the IWGP belt to Norton and lost this match to an invading Hashimoto. The writing is definitely on the wall for Sasaki who I don’t think would find his footing again until 2005 against Kobashi in the Dome. I thought this was pretty good but nothing too wild. Hashimoto has MMA Gloves, Sasaki has his mullet. Striking and clinch work to start. Sasaki gets the first throw out of a waist lock. He uses the takedown to try a Double Wristlock and then executes the Cross-Armbreaker but leaves it on extra long in the ropes because it is a Death Match. Hashimoto has to pull himself out to break which was a great spot. Best drama of the match. Hashimoto comes in and WAILS on Sasaki. Brutha punches right to the face; Sasaki takes them like a champ. Now Sasaki powders. The gloves comes off. Hashimoto CHOPS him down with the edge of his hand! Gets a 7 count. Hashimoto goes for an armbar takedown and Sasaki gets a crotch hold into a half Northern Lights Bomb half body slam. Go Sasaki Go! Big meaty Lariats! Weak transition as Hashimoto blows this all off to hit some knee lifts into a Brainbuster, it takes a couple more kicks and that’s it. I think if Sasaki got one big near fall and they came up with a better way for Hashimoto to take back over this would have been incredible but as it is a solid shoot-style brawl. ***1/4

IWGP Champion Scott Norton vs Kazuyuki Fujita - NJPW Osaka Dome 4/9/01 On April 9, 2001, Inokiism went into full effect and didnt end until Inoki was ousted in 2006. Clearly Naoya Ogawa was the original Inokiist experiment, but I feel like it was only when Fujita won the title they went full bore. After going 6-1 at PRIDE with victories over Ken Shamrock and his only loss to Mark Coleman, Fujita was brought back to New Japan in grand fashion to win the IWGP Championship after never making it past the midcard in the late 90s. Interestingly, Fujita came out with a title belt I did not recognize. Norton defeated Kensuke Sasaki for the title and was clearly a transitional champion. So that the traditional pro wrestling Ace, Sasaki, did not have to job to Fujita. They did have a non-title match in October that Fujita won. Funny enough, Norton was still rocking NWO gear even though WWF had purchased WCW a month prior. Match is 7-8 minutes and based on that I expected to see Fujita steamroll Norton, but thats not really true. Norton takes the majority of the match. I think this was twofold to make Fujita's win seem more impressive against a game champion and to promote the MMA style of flash submissions. After Norton had beaten down Fujita with traditional pro wrestling tactics of a powerbomb, chops and wrestling outside, he was felled by a flash cross-armbreaker which then led to a rear-naked choke. It showed the superiority of MMA submissions over conventional pro wrestling tactics. The only other thing to note was the opening spot was Fujita hoisting Norton up in a very impressive double leg takedown that was more like a Alabama Slam. Norton is no small guy. Norton's powerbomb looked very good. There was a brief scuffle between NWO Japan/Team 2000 (Chono/Tenzan) with the MMA boys, but other than that not much to report. Definitely different than expectations, but it got the job done establishing the New World Order of Inokiism & MMA-influenced pro wrestling.