Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Tag Team Champions Steiner Brothers vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 9/23/92 SCOTTY STEINER DRAGONRANA! WHAT THE FUCK! Last title defense for the Steiners before they drop it to the all-star team of Scott Norton & Tony Halme. Nobody feels like selling in this one. It is just the Steiners suplexing and slamming Hase & Sasaki to their heart's delight. I will say they were willing to take the suplexes in return, but they weren't going to sell shit. I liked how Scotty at least switch it up using a Dragon Sleeper or STF to break up the suplex-a-thon. I thought the MVP of the match was Sasaki. That had a motor and was totally explosive during the match. He was not going to take the shit from the Steiners and he gave as good as he got. It actually got dramatic when the natives isolated Rick Steiner because Scott Steiner just decided to leave the match. Seriously, I rewound and he didn't even take a bump. He just did the middle rope Doomsday Device and decided to start selling. The finish stretch was ridiculous with Scotty hitting a terrible Dragonrana and then two more shitty Frankenesteiners. Rick hits a Steinerline to win. I like the Steiners & Sasaki more than most and this was just those three hitting insane suplexes. I liked it, but nothing I would remember. ***

IWGP Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers vs Keiji Mutoh & Kensuke Sasaski - NJPW 8/12/92 This is actually non-title. The Steiners won the IWGP tag team championships from Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow in late June of 1992 and would have two title defenses on this tour against Norton & Bigelow and Chono & Hashimoto. This is an usual native team, most of the time you will see these two tag with Hase rather than each other. Big, big fun! Absolutely loved the first five minutes. Great amateur wrestling. Who the hell is this Keiji Mutoh and where is he everyday? He has having so much fun. This crowd was rocking. I loved the Steiners suplexing the hell out of Mutoh & Sasaki only to do their usual pose. Then the natives get back in and Mutoh sends Rick Steiner into a Kensuke Sasaki Steinerline and then Mutoh hits a wicked stiff dropkick on Scotty who tumbles through the ropes. Sasaki & Mutoh do the Steiners pose with Mutoh playing Rick and the Sumo Hall ERUPTS! I was marking out so hard! I thought the heat segment on Scotty was great. Mutoh hitting his trademark elbow and back handspring elbow onto Scotty on the floor. Sasaki showing off his strength with the Argentine Backbreaker. The stuff with the Scorpion Deathlock was great with Mutoh pushing on Sasaki when the ref was not looking. I am having so much fun. I was a bit bummed the natives just gave up on the hold and the tag to Rick was a bit lukewarm. Rick came in and just stiffed the hell out of Sasaki. That slam into the buckles was OUTTA CONTROL! Great tight Boston Crab by the Steiners who switch out behind the ref's back. Sasaki hits a big powerslam on Rick (Rick's usual feed bump to his opponent). Tag to Mutoh and shit just breaks down. Suplexes, moonsaults, Frankensteiners, you name it and happened. Steiners had invented the Steiner Bulldog yet but instead do the Steiner DDT from Rick's shoulders. Looked awesome. Super fun, crowd pleasing match. You don't see many of these in Japan and you know what judging by the crowd reaction this style could really get over. Lots of fun! ****

Buzzed OJ is great! Why don't people talk about that more? IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu - NJPW 2/17/94 Tenryu is coming off defeating Antonio Inoki at 1/4/94 in the Tokyo Dome, the last person to ever defeat Inoki. So to say the stakes are high in this match is an understatement. Hashimoto is 0-2 against Tenryu and Tenryu has defeated everyone on the New Japan roster. This is about pride. If the first one is about psychology, the second one is about selling, this one is about sheer brutal offense. When you think of Hashimoto and Tenryu, you think of stiff, violent strikes, finally we get these two letting loose and ripping into each other on all their glory. Tenryu is chopping on rope breaks and Hashimoto is throwing wild kicks. Hashimoto takes him down to work the leg so Tenryu starts throwing nasty elbows into Hashimoto's side. Hashimoto throws the nastiest headbutt this side of Regal/Finlay totally out of nowhere. He just throws two more and a big kick. Then they just start firing into each other. Tenryu chops him in the throat and Hashimoto goes down in a heap. Tenryu goes for a rear naked choke. Hashimoto breaks loose and starts in on the arm. I loved how Tenryu got out by kneeing him in the head repeatedly. Tenryu is all about brutal strikes in this match. Knees and kicks to head. He constantly peppering these kicks to the head. Tenryu goes for the lariat and Hashimoto hits his armdrag and goes back to the arm and gets a cross armbreaker, but Tenryu's foot is on the ropes. Chop back to the throat. It is just violent watching this. Again, Jesus! Bodyslam and the top rope reverse elbow gets two. This has been a WAR! Best part of the match: Hashimoto sick and tired of these chops to throat, kicks him low. Now Tenryu drops down in a heap as if he was kicked inthe fucking balls. The ref's reaction is great. He is so pissed Hashimoto did it. But there is a chance that Tenryu is faking but the ref is keeping Hashimoto back. Tenryu up on his feet and Sumo Slaps. Tenryu brutalizes Hashimoto in the corner. Now the ref is on Tenryu's case and Hashimoto LEAPS OVER THE REF AND NAILS AN ENZIGUIRI TO THE TENRYU'S HEAD!!! MARK OUT CITY! HASHIMOTO KICKS TENRYUS HEAD OFF! HASHIMOTO THE DESTROYER UNLEASHED! Tenryu slumped down in the corner and Hashimoto seems very pleased with his corner. I loved Hashimoto finally letting loose and just letting the kicks fly and with most of them being aimed at the head. He hits an ugly version of his leaping DDT. After trying in previous matches, he finally gets it, but cant capitalize. Seems like he had his bell rung. Tenryu Kappo Kick! RUH! ROH! Tenryu hits an enziguiri. Tenryu slaps himself to shake out the cobwebs. POWERBOMB! But Tenryu is knocked silly. He cant capitalize due to all the shots to his head. Hashimoto is back up but Tenryu chops and kappo kick. Again his head is all messed up. Tenryu goes for a DDT, but Hashimoto throws him THE FUCK DOWN with an Urnage. DONT BE BRINGIN THAT IN MY HOUSE! HASHIMOTO DDT! 1-2-NO! CMON! FINISH HIM! Tenryu starts slapping the shit out of Hashimoto, he falls into a powerbomb. 1-2-NO! WOOOOO!!! Tenryu is slapping the shit out of Hashimoto. Duck. BELLY TO BELLY! HASHIMOTO ROUNDHOUSE KICK TO THE HEAD! DDT! YAAAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOO!!!! Chono & Hase in to celebrate with Hashimoto. One of the best feel-good victories of all time, love these torch passing moments. They finally had the stiff, brutal war we wanted out of them. They beat the piss out of each other. Tenryu just ripped into Hashimoto with those chops. Hashimoto with the headbutts early and then those head kicks. Great Tenryu selling of the head kicks down the stretch. Amazing dramatic finish run. Hashimoto just would not be denied and Shinya Hashimoto is officially the Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling! *****

Is this the only match on any Yearbook with no comments from Loss? Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu - NJPW 8/8/93 The rematch takes place just days after the finish of the G-1 Climax and this time the match takes place on New Japan's turf so Hashimoto has home court advantage. Hashimoto is much more in control here than at the beginning of the last match. He seems more confident that he can improve and get the win here. Tenryu seems more offensive-minded. He knows he eeked out a victory last time. Tenryu goes with Sumo Slaps to start and Hashimoto mostly blocks, they lock up and get tangled in the ropes. Reset. Each hits a shoulderblock knocking the other off their feet. Hashimoto favors his injured left shoulder. Is this the DDP injured ribs of Japan? Did it ever heal? Tenryu goes low though and gets a drop toehold looking to work the leg, but that goes nowhere. Upon standup, Hashimoto targets the leg he attacked in the first match with kicks and then a toehold. Rope break. Then they stare at each other for uncomfortably long period of time. Tenryu opens a can of whoop ass. Chops to the throat that are just wicked and when Hashimoto tucks his chin to block Tenryu CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! WOW! Hashimoto opens a can in return and starts chopping the hell out of him and kicking him. Hashimoto ends up just smothering him. I didn't like Hashimoto going for a hold right after that. They should have kept rocking because they were finally letting loose. Tenryu makes the ropes. Wicked kick and then chops him repeatedly up high in the throat and face. Hashimoto goes down in a heap. Kawada kicks to the head. This is a great dick heel performance from Tenryu and a great Hashimoto selling performance. Top reverse elbow from Tenryu. He hits a big lariat for two. Goes for another and Hashimoto says DONT BE BRINGING THAT IN MY HOUSE when he throws him DOWN with an Urnage. Hashimoto wants the DDT, but cant get it so he settles for trying to pull Tenryu's shoulder out of its socket with an armdrag and works Tenryu's lariat arm. Great verbal selling and physical selling from Tenryu. Tenryu starts kneeing him in the head. Tenryu has been brutal in this match. Bodyslam by Tenryu and goes up for his top rope reverse elbow but you cant do the same move twice and Hashimoto gets the electric chair. Crawls desperately for the cover but only gets two. Cross armbeaker on the bad arm and Tenryu quickly gets the ropes. I will never get tired of watching Hashimoto kicking people. Those kicks to Tenryu's bad arm are ferocious. Hashimoto runs the ropes and gets caught in a desperation powerbomb. Hashimoto charging in has cost him twice now (in the first match, missed jumping DDT was the beginning of the end). Tenryu goes for the powerbomb and Hashimoto backdrops out. The selling is off the charts here with Hashimoto really selling discombobulated. Hashimoto cements his advantage with the enziguiri and then the rainbow heel kick. Tenryu's selling is so good you can feel the match slipping from his grasp. Now here is Hashimoto's finish sequence. Tenryu almost blocks the jumping DDT in the same way but this time, Hashimoto gets an armbar takedown on the bad arm. Hashimoto hits his DDT. I loved the urgency on the cover but only gets two. Tenryu is grabbing his head as Hashimoto is frustrated. He grabs the hair of Tenryu and takes him over with a German suplex cover again and only two. The anguish on Hashimoto's face is great. He pulls on the hair again to pull him up this time for a powerbomb. Tenryu almost collapses, nice touch. He picks him up and Tenryu kicks him in the head. ENZIGUIRI! LOOK AT THAT SELL BY HASHIMOTO! WOW! Kappo Kick and Hashimoto is bowled over. In the last match that was the prelude to the powerbomb and the finish. Tenryu is selling his left arm but he grits his teeth and hits a lariat anyways. Tenryu is pissed. Big chops again from Tenryu, great offensive performance from Tenryu. Hashimoto powerslam! Hashimoto gnashing his teeth. Pulling Tenryu up by his hair, German? Tenryu goes wild with elbows and punches to the head. Total survival mode. Bulldog out of that position. Great enziguiri from Tenryu. Tenryu loads him up, powerbomb, 1-2-NO! HUGE POP! Here comes the Defiant Fighting Spirit last stand. Rainbow kick and then falling chops. Hashimoto can barely stand is just throwing chops. Powerbomb again for two. This time Hashimoto has nothing left and Tenryu hits the third and final powerbomb to put away the challenger to his throne. I just want to get this out of the way early, I thought the beginning was too tepid to give this a full five. Now let me praise the match. The finish sequence would inspire generations to come. That defiant last stand by a young upstart is a common trope in 2000s puroresu. It is cinematographic but it works so well here. The way Hashimoto throws those chops after the first powerbomb is just great. In the first match, Hashimoto got caught with a kappo kick to the head in the middle of a fight. It was a flash loss. Here Hashimoto showed great resiliency but had a dug too much of a hole for himself. What makes this match so great is not the offense per se, but the selling. Not just selling of the offense, but the selling of the importance of the match. Hashimoto was selling how badly he wanted to win the match. So many wrestlers forget that is what pro wrestling is about, it is about winning. Hashimoto wanted to win this one so badly. It was completely engrossing watching him try so hard. The way he gnashed his teeth for every Tenryu kick out, how he pulled him up by the hair and how he threw those last chops, Hashimoto putting everything he had into the match. When a wrestler is invested in the outcome of the match, the fans will be invested. Hashimoto comes up short in the match, but in reality he was the true winner. ****3/4

Shinya Hashimoto vs Genichiro Tenryu - WAR 6/17/93 I really need to watch the NJPW vs WAR build to this match. This is the feud that makes Shinya Hashimoto into The Man. Chono may have won the first two G-1 Climaxes and Muta may have been the first one to win the IWGP Championship, but neither was tapped to be the Leader of New Japan to face off against the invading Genichiro Tenryu. Tenryu defeated Choshu at 1/4 Dome show, but lost to Choshu at the April Sumo Hall show. The New Japan vs. WAR feud continued with a greater emphasis placed on Shinya Hashimoto in his quest to defeat Tenryu. I liked the beginning. Hashimoto was raring to go, but Tenryu is tentative. In a lot of ways, this was Tenryu first major contest against a star of the 90s. He had matches with Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi but he left before any of them were pushed. In the New Japan feud, he was faced against his old rival, Choshu. After leading that Revolution against Jumbo, the tables have been turned and it now Hashimoto who is the upstart and Tenryu is the establishment. He has become an elder statesman and now he has to weather that storm of rage that he knows all too well that causes a man to throw off the chains and topple the establishment. There is a great lock up in the corner where you see Hashimoto give Tenryu the death stare. Hashimoto throws a barrage of kneelifts up against the ropes and Tenryu has to powder. Hashimoto is pissed and throws a wild overhand chop. Hashimoto finally gets a hold of Tenryu starts to blast him. Tenryu goes to the eyes and just rips into Hashimoto. That chop to the throat was just nasty. Reverse top rope elbow. Tenryu wants the win early. Tenryu headbutts Hashimoto in the midst of headbutts, Hashimoto kicks Tenryu's leg and LEG SWEEP! Hashimoto does a great job working holds on the legs and using strikes against the legs. Hashimoto has the best standing elbow drop this side of Lex Luger. Tenryu did a great job selling all the leg work. Tenryu has two hope spots built around Sumo Slaps which of course draw blood from Hashimoto's nose. I love how Hashimoto used the weakened leg to set up his big bomb offense: DDT, powerbomb and rainbow heel kick. He goes for the death sentence the jumping DDT but Tenryu shoves him off. Enziguiri from Tenryu! I love how all of Tenryus offense has been targeting the head during his comeback. Powerbomb 1-2-NO! Tenryu is in shock. Hashimoto hits his own enziguiri; I like how Hashimoto has used the powerbomb and enziguiri in this match. Tenryu hits a couple really bad enziguiris, but thats Tenryu for you. The finish sequence is absolutely amazing. Tenryu tries with all his might to get Hashimoto up for his second powerbomb, but cant do it. Kawada kicks by Tenryu and then two BADASS CHOPS! Hashimoto kicks him in the head with a roundhouse kick and Tenryu responds with a KAPPO KICK! That popped me! POWERBOMB! 1-2-3! One of those matches where Hashimoto gained as much in a loss as he would have with a victory. Helluva effort him. Totally in the zone once the bell rang, great job working the leg and hell he had Tenryu where he wanted him after the finish sequence and was one move away from winning. Tenryu showed his veteran poise giving a totally selfless performance selling so well for Hashimoto and giving so much of the match to him. Then coming back with the perfect amount of vulnerability and credibility. You come away feeling that is not a matter of if but when Hashimoto will upend Tenryu and take his place among legends of puroresu and the Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling. ****1/2

Hulk Hogan & The Great Muta vs The Hellraisers - NJPW 9/23/93 A lot has changed since the Hogan vs Muta confrontation in May both men have lost their championships, Hogan to Yokozuna and Muta to Hashimoto three days prior to this. The Hellraisers were not tag champs at this point, the classic tag team of Scott Norton & Hercules is. So no gold on the line. This match and Tenryu/Hase drew 18,000 to Yokohama Arena, which is a pretty impressive figure. The novelty on the surface is Hogan and Muta as a tag team besides a couple weird looks from Hogan to Muta there is not much there. The real novelty is Hogan eating all of Sasaki's offense like a champ. A lot of people take easy on Hogan, but Sasaki set the tone early with stiff chops. He hit with a pretty wicked lariat and powerslam. He even got Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock. Sasaki don't give a fuck who you are. Hawk was pretty useless in this match. Hawk and Hogan have a terrible opening with Hawk having trouble getting Hogan up for the Press Slam and Hogan executing the shitting juji-gatame ever but that was mostly Hawk's fault. Hawk vs Great Muta was a contest of who could sell less and guess what Muta won! Muta as a face in peril was just dumb. His whole character does NOT sell. The Muta/Sasaki parts were pretty decent and I am bummed I cant find anything online. The finish is pretty good. Muta mists Hawk when he was setup to take the Doomsday Device. Then Muta mists Sasaki. Hot tag to Hogan and AXE BOMBAH~! Watch Hogan & Tenryu vs Road Warriors for a crazy Hogan tag match in Japan. This is just fun to see Sasaki kick Hogan's ass.

I agree with the sentiment of so many above I was waiting for Hashimoto to unleash HELL on Regal and it never really came. Bummer. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Lord Steven Regal - NJPW 4/16/95 A lot has changed since June of 94, Hashimoto has defeated three of his four peers (Sasaki (twice), Chono, & Hase) along with young upstart Tenzan and resident gaijin monster Scott Norton. So he was on quite the tear. Bringing in Regal made a lot of sense to bring some variety to Hashimoto opponents as he pretty much went over everybody save for the person he would lose it to (Mutoh) and that Regal fit the New Japan style so well. From in ring style standpoint, I don't think there was a major promotion in the world where Regal's gritty technical work would have been better on display than in New Japan (BattlArts, yes). Regal has that mat-based grit, strong suplex game and barrage of strikes that would fit New Japan so well. Regal takes down Hashimoto early by stepping on the back of his knee and then gets a tight smother. You can hear Hashimoto's labored breathing and the bone of the forearm is grinding against Hashimoto's nose. Hashimoto is susceptible to bloody noses so it is not a surprise that within the first minute we have blood. At first Regal seems to want to attack the left arm and Hashimoto does a good job defending his arm. He gets a nice inside trip, but rides high on the toehold and Regal pops a couple time in the busted nose. This serves to anger Hashimoto upon stand-up. But Hashimoto does not follow up instead Regal continues to blast him in the face or grab tight facelocks and grind his forearm bone against the injured nose. Hashimoto even has to take a breather after a severely brutal beating. This was definitely Regal/Finlay, BattlArts level violence from Regal. I think what dragged this down from a classic to a great match is that Hashimoto never really returned in kind. He had his moments, but there was never that one shot or one flurry that was on the level of Regal's brutality. Hashimoto's enziguiri was the first major salvo of his comeback forcing Regal to outside. Then he started to lay in with the kicks. Some nice overhand chops by Hashimoto as Regal fired back with his own strikes. One of my favorite spots was Regal's counter to the DDT with an armwringer than a pop to the face. Nasty. Hashimoto powers out of the Butterfly suplex. I love Hashimoto's sweep the leg as a transition. His big rainbow spin wheel kick. I didn't like Regal getting the Regal Stretch right after that. Need a transition. Hashimoto then gets out of the Regal Stretch no problem goes for DDT and Regal backdrops him out. They are losing me down the stretch. They come back with Regal violently attacking the face again, this has been a great offensive Regal performance. I liked the armwringer->DDT->quick submission with the cross armbreaker. A quick submission to a cross armbreaker? Is someone preparing for a Shoot-Style Invasion? Regal's brutal strikes and facelocks against the bloody nose of Hashimoto was totally engrossing. Unfortunately, you are waiting for Shinya Hashimoto The Destroyer to UNLEASH HELL on Regal, but it never really comes. Great stuff that could have been classic. ****

What the hell were you all watching? This was MONEY!!! IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 6/1/94 After regaining the championship from Fujinami at the May Dome show, the 80s strike back continue as Fujiwara is his next challenger. Superb! Had all the chippiness you would expect plus a ton of the little things that make both these men great. Fucking Fujiwara, God Bless this man, he rules the school. We get a lock up in the corner and he throws some great rabbit punches. Hashimoto throws one wild haymaker in the corner. I guess Hashimoto has an injured left shoulder because Fujiwara goes after it with ferocity. He takes Hashimoto down with a vicious armbar. Hashimoto makes the ropes and then tries to give Fujiwara a taste of his own medicine, but Fujiwara quashes the armbar takedown as they end up in the ropes. Hashimoto frustrated throws a wicked stomp. Then the best thing ever happens. Fujiwara backs him into the corner and gives him a CLEAN break. What a fucking asshole! I have never marked so hard for a clean break. Other things that are characteristic of Fujiwara is the organic transitions into holds and the struggle over holds. Hashimoto starts to the throw kicks and Fujiwara catches his foot and gets a single takedown. The fight for the single leg crab is great and then Fujiwara just settles for a chokehold. Which just reinforces how much that clean break was such a dick move. FUJIWARA PUNCH TO THE FACE! Punches in puroresu always make me mark out. That was awesome. Fujiwara going back to the choke was great. Then Hashimoto bulrushes Fujiwara and wrenches the knee. Then he points to his shoulder. Fucking love it! Two fucking assholes going at it. Fujiwara goes back to the arm. Rope break. Good selling from Hashimoto. Hashimoto misses his rainbow kick in the corner. Fujiwara just bounces on his feet as Hashimoto looks like an asshole worried that Fujiwara is going to pounce. It takes a real man to make Hashimoto look like a jackass. Hashimoto overwhelms him with kicks in the corner. Fujiwara catches the foot, this time Hashimoto gets a guillotine. Then backs him into the corner, Hashimoto gives Fujiwara a receipt and PUNCHES him in the face and then he catches him really good with a kick to the chest. Fujiwara does his classic collapse selling. Fujiwara sells so well. Desperately clinging to the foot. Then there is the one bad egregious spot. Fujiwara puts Hashimoto in a cross armbreaker for a long time. No real struggle or selling. I know PRIDE wasn't a thing yet, but a cross armbreaker is an endgame. I didn't like the disrespect for that hold. The ease at which Hashimoto got out and he elbows the bad knee. I like the double psychology, but just one bad moment. Hey it happens. They stand up. I love all the resets. Makes it feel like a chapter book. Fujiwara feigns with some slaps and Hashimoto says bring it, don't sing it. Hashimoto gets him in the clinch, Muay Thai knees, Fujiwara goes for the armbar takedown, HASHIMOTO DDT!!! MARK OUT CITY!!! YES! YES! Hashimoto running enziguiri, kneelifts, VICIOUS DDT! Fujiwara fucks up by kicking out, but I don't care, THIS WAS FUCKING AWESOME! Great character work, great build, dripping with psychology, tons of great offense. Only thing this from being in the tippy top is the cross armbreaker spot, watch this match! ****1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 6/15/94 The goal of the Spring of 1994 in New Japan was very clear, get Shinya Hashimoto over as the Ace. Trading the title with Fujinami was booking genius as it broke up the long Hashimoto run with the championship and it made him earn it back from Fujinami, the NJPW stalwart of the 80s. It gave him a challenge. Then he goes over Fujiwara two weeks before this. Now it is the rockstar of the 80s, Riki Choshu to make Hashimoto. Short of Inoki putting Hashimoto over they really did all they could. Amazing match. I know they would go on to have a Dome match in '97 which I have not seen but will see soon, this would have benefitted greatly from being in a Dome and there are few matches that thrive in a Dome setting, but Hashimoto vs Choshu is definitely one. Choshu has a weathered face and is a battle-tested veteran seeking to prove one last time he is the Man. Hashimoto is not going to give him an inch. I loved the two lock ups early. Two rams neither one buckling. Hashimoto ends up kicking the shit out of Choshu early on. He looks like he is going to run away with the match with his onslaught of kicks, one really good one to the head. He even hits his DDT. He goes for his rainbow heel kick and Choshu swats him out of the sky. Superplex! Then Choshu tries his damndest to decapitate him with clotheslines. Those last three lariats were brutal. Even though he tries multiple times, he cant get the pin. Choshu has punched himself out and is exhausted. Hashimoto starts rifling him with kicks. Even though a lot is taken out of Hashimoto, he is the younger, hungrier competitor and he outlasts Choshu in this gunfight. Hashimoto's kicks and big elbow drops the one from the second rope was great. Choshu, resilient to end, refuses to be turned over easily but once Hashimoto pins him there is no kicking out. An amazing old gunslinger vs new fastest draw in town match, Choshu gives it his all and his defiant to the end, but nothing was going to stop the asskicker Shinya Hashimoto. ****

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Scott Norton - NJPW 3/21/94 Having defeated Muta twice, Sasaki and Chono at the Dome, Hashimoto had burned through a lot of challengers, a perfect time for top gaijin in New Japan, Scott Norton to step up. Looking at Scott Norton, he seems like he should be a favorite of mine as a big brick shithouse type wrestler, but I have not seen much to judge. The first ten minutes or so of this is excellent. Really riveting David vs Goliath type shit which is not something you get to see from Hashimoto often. Norton is trash talking him telling him to hit the ropes. Hashimoto cant budge the big man. I love how he no sells the rainbow heel kick and then no sells the railing and comes back with a big clothesline. I mean Hashimoto cant get anything going. He is outside collecting him and Chono is cheering him on. Kicks, chops nothing doing. He tries to stretch out Norton arm and Norton does a fucking bicep curl and then short arm clothesline. This was great stuff and they were working around Norton's limitations. Dude has no charisma and not much offense. Turns out he hits the same desperate lariat a lot. Eventually Hashimoto wrestles him down into a tight armbar when he sees that short arm clothesline come again. Credit where credit is dude, Norton sells that arm for the rest of the match. Best spot of the match is Hashimoto hits his DDT gets two and then goes for the leaping version, Norton catches him and puts him into the corner and hits a superplex. Great spot it is all down hill from there. Somehow Hashimoto is the one who takes over and he runs through a short finish stretch before Norton runs through his powerbomb, powerslam and Samoan Drop. He sells the arm and then Hashimoto hits some of the worst enziguiris this side of Tenryu. He hits like a half a dozen of them. Cant get the pin. Slop drop, nope. Jumping DDT finally. Awesome front half that just gets progressively worst as they run through a very tepid finish run. A good IWGP title run from Hashimoto but not one for the ages. ***1/4

High vote on Ronnie Garvin was like being the high vote for Stan Lane. Just outta left friend for me. Nikki Bella booiooooo she deserves better!

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Power Warrior - NJPW 12/13/93 I was expecting the Hoss Battle of the Century here. I am remember really liking their 1/4/95 match, but I actually don't remember anything about it besides the fact I really liked it. I thought this was a pretty good I run through my routine you run through your routine match because at the end of the day they both have really good movesets. I was hoping for more testosterone and macho pissing contests. Sasaki controls early on the mat and he is not half bad. I am more pissed about the fact that Hashimoto was in a cross armbreaker for as long as he was and didn't even sell. He really shouldn't be in one for that long either. Sasaki executed it fine. I thought the holds were well-executed especially the Scorpion Deathlock; Hashimoto just didn't sell. Hashimoto drawing Sasaki into a macho pissing contest of chops seemed like a smart strategy for Hash once he started destroying him with kicks. Then Sasaki hit a lariat and bulldog. There was this weird stretch where nothing seemed to matter and they just hit moves. Like Hashimoto hits a missile dropkick and then Sasaki hits a suplex. At some point Saski does gain control and runs through his finish stretch. He has a hot submission move with is like a headscissors neck vice. It is over. if there is one thing New Japan does better than any other pro style company is get submissions over. Hashimoto escapes and sweeps the leg! Sasaki sells the leg! Hashimoto works over the leg before hitting a pair of DDTs and a German. Bunch of kick outs there. Hashimoto is ready to finish him. Sasaki kneelift back to the submission good wrinkle in the Hashimoto finish run to give Sasaki one last gasp. I liked the transition to the finish a lot. Sasaki goes for the bulldog again but Hashimoto turns into him quickly snaps off a deep armdrag and then hits a vicious DDT for the win. That's what was missing from the match better transitions. People were just taking over willy nilly. More missed moves and mistakes. More struggle. New Japan needs more grit. ***1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 12/13/93 Outside of two short reigns of Fujinami & Takada (143 days total), these two men owned the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from August of 1992 to August of 1997. In Mutoh's first reign under the guise of The Great Muta gimmick, he successfully defended the title against Hashimoto in 1992. About a year later in September of 1993, Hashimoto defeated The Great Muta ending his over one year long reign. This is Hashimoto's first title defense and it is against the Great Muta's alter-ego, Keiji Mutoh. I have to say hats off to Mutoh for working both characters distinctly different. It affords New Japan to get two completely different matches out of the same pairing of wrestlers. I didn't think this was quite as good as their September '92 match, but I still thought this was a pretty solid encounter. I watched the 7-8 minute JIP version. It is Mutoh's holds versus Hashimoto's strikes. Mutoh rides a short arm scissors pretty good getting it twice and then a solid armbar. Mutoh even throws some headbutts and a nice forearm. He was definitely game. I thought Hashimoto's kicks looked great throughout this match. Eventually Hashimoto is able to blast his way out of Mutoh's holds and just start rifling him with kicks. There is a point where Mutoh misses his signature back handspring elbow and Hashimoto is just so geared up to light him up. Hashimoto hits some nice suplexes, really liked his suplex slam. I about to state something really obvious but Mutoh is a weird wrestler. It is in the way he sells. He kind of just doesn't sell and it makes it look like he is just standing around waiting to be kicked. That lack of struggle bothers me. It only is from time to time. Hashimoto goes for his DDT, which is one of his big moves. Mutoh drives him hard into the buckles and then hurls his body back into Hashimoto. The urgency can be there from Mutoh. Just not always. Then we get the big Mutoh finish stretch: top rope frankensteiner, German suplex, backbreaker/moonsault 1-2-NO! New Japan seemed pretty into the false finishes. Mutoh goes for the moonsault again, but lands on his feet. I liked Mutoh ducking the rainbow heel kick from Hashimoto. Evetually Hashimoto gets him up for the Brainbuster and 1-2-NO! Then DDT kickout. Is it 2018? Hashimoto gets that rainbow heel kick and then a vicious DDT to win. Thought the matwork was tight. Middle section featured some great Hashimoto strikes. Each person's finish run looked great. From an offensive standpoint, great match, but there is way more to wrestling than offense. Selling from Mutoh seemed off, lack of struggle was apparent. I think New Japan had a distinctive enough of style that they could have competed with All Japan in terms of match quality if they were just grittier. A pro-style RINGS which is what Inoki clearly wanted. Enjoyable, but nothing that will blow your mind. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs The Great Kabuki - NJPW 6/15/93 So while Hashimoto gets Tenryu in the WAR feud, Muta is stuck with Kabuki but it makes sense given their past history and they even play on their father/son Kayfabe relationship. Muta kicks the ref in the balls, mists Kabuki and then busts him open with the championship. This was a pretty good Muta squash while Kabuki bled and Muta but him. All the usual Muta spots bulldog into concrete and running lariat. Kabuki makes his comeback when Muta misses the back handspring elbow. Kabuki busts Muta on the ring post. Kabuki bites Muta. Muta gets back breaker but no moonsault. Muta gets a chair. Kabuki mists the ref, poor ref, and beats up Muta with the chair. Ref calls it off. Muta is bleeding big time. Kabuki threatens to kill his son in ENGLISH! Then chokes him with nun-chuks. Before everyone pulls him off. Good double juice Muta brawl. ***

Useful information. WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta - NJPW 5/3/93 Non-tile. Still pretty impressive that Muta wrestled both the NWA World Champion & WWF World Champion in the same calendar year. Also impressive he wrestled Sting & Hulk Hogan within a six month window. I was pretty amped for this when Muta flipped off the crowd and misted. It seemed like he was going to go back to his violent, maniacal tendencies. I thought this was pretty entertaining. But it felt rushed and all over the place. I liked Hogan wrestling early with the juji-gatame. Muta is more about the heel chicanery eyerakes and rolling under the ring. There is a good fire fight on the outside with some strong chops through back and forth. Hogan is the one that sends Muta into the crowd. I liked Muta having the timekeeper's hammer. It was stuff like the running lariat only to have Hogan go on top with some nasty eyerakes and punches. He even gets booed. Tries to save face by yelling "Ichiban!". Then Muta is back on top with the backbreaker and Moonsault. I was really hoping for a Hulk-Up. Instead a rope swing comes into play. Then Axe Bomber. Then there is Mist that hits the chest. Legdrop for two. Axebomer wins. It is a weird match. I mean it is Hulk Hogan vs The Great Muta, it is a match you would never expect to happen. It is not bad. It just feels really thrown together. ***

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Great Muta vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW 1/4/93 These two are about a year and half removed from their G-1 Climax '91 Classic, but they are also just a month removed from their absolute stinker at WCW Starrcade 1992. Definite closer to the stinker. If you have watched a lot of Great Muta's title reign up to this match, you will be very disappointed. What has made Muta so great is his violent, stalking monster character. He doesn't wrestle holds. He wants to claw your eyes out or choke with a cord. It is a very subdued Muta performance. I don't know if it was out of reverence for the Dome and Inoki wanted them to have a normal pro wrestling match but it didn't work. Muta did tease the spike early and the ref took it out of his hands. They never really brought the violence. The first ten minutes nothing really happens. I thought even though this was a subdued Muta performance he was still the one bringing the excitement. The bulldog on the ramp, his classic running lariat on the ramp, the missed back handspring elbow on the ramp, the suplex on the ramp, his dive from the ramp over the top rope, you see a trend Muta did a good job using the ramp. Chono had no zip on anything. Just a really blasé performance from him. By far, the most exciting moment of the match was the missed moonsault into the STF. That happened with like 8 minutes left to go in the match. Down the stretch, Chono hits a powerbomb and gets the STF again for his nearfalls. Muta hits the backbreaker->moonsault->pin, wait kickout, moonsault-> pin. I guess we know where that started. Muta wins the NWA World Championship and in a lot of ways this is the peak of The Great Muta. No mist. No blood. Don't bother.

I agree with Parv; this is complete classic. IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase - NJPW 12/14/92 Probably the most famous New Japan heavyweight match of the 90s stateside as this is famous for developing the famed Muta Scale where Great Muta does a five alarm bladejob bleeding like a stuck pig. From the reviews I recently read, this match is no longer regarded as a classic and is more of a novelty for the sheer gore of the match. I disagree. I think this is a match that benefits greatly from watching a lot of Great Muta during this time period. Great Muta wrestles unlike any other wrestler in New Japan or anywhere else in the world except for the Undertaker. He is a horror movie character come to life. Most violent wrestlers we think of are wildmen like The Sheik and Tiger Jeet Sngh. Great Muta brings the violence of these men with a dimension of stalking dread that is more reminiscent of Frankenstein or the Creature From The Black Lagoon. There is no selling when you wrestle Muta. There is no grappling holds or traditional pro wrestling struggle. The struggle is in the survival. Hasimoto, asskicked extraordinaire, learnt this lesson take Muta lightly and you will be blinded with a broken back. The Sting match did not feature as great of a finish but again Muta beat the hell out of Sting. Muta chokes, claws, blinds his opponents using railings, chairs, mist and his spike. The spike has been a foreign object that Muta loads his boot with and he will come down across your back with a kneedrop to setup his backbreaker/moonsault combo. The first couple times, I really wanted the spike be used to carve up an opponent. Little did I know Muta's comeuppance would come at the hand of his favorite weapon. Hase's strategy early is smart he dropkicks Muta at the beginning of his prematch ritual, the mist blow. He doesn't let up. Wicked urnage. He takes him to the outside whips him into a railing. He grabs a table brings it on his side of the railing and drives Muta into it. Unlike any other opponent, Hase knows the demonic nature of Great Muta better than anybody as Muta bloodied him up in 1990. The problem is at some point he does run out of steam in the ring and thats when Mutas strike with rapid fire kicks and chops. I thought Mutas speed and strikes looked great. What was uncharacteristic for Muta is that he grabbed a hold instead of taking his opponent outside. Muta does his bridging Indian Deathlock and I loved Hases counter the smother of Muta and then a wicked neck clamp. Now Muta does what does Muta best be weird. He goes looking for his spike. Going each of the four sides and he cant find it. Hase lies in the ring and welcomes to come back into the ring. Muta takes Hase back outside and drives him head first into the concrete. Then anytime Hase gets chippy Muta crotches him on the ring rope or then the steel railing. This is really both of them no selling, but I think when you are in there with a monster like Muta you need to throw everything at him. Muta throws in a chair. Hase grapples with the ref for it and then Muta bashes him with the chair and then backbreaker, but Hase pushes him off the top rope. Hase constant suplexing Muta and especially this instance after a chair shot is what drops this match from perfect status he was no selling too much. Muta gets the spike, but before he can put it in his boot. Hase gets it and carves Muta open. NASTY BLADEJOB! Crimson Mask has never been so appropriate. Piledriver, sleeper, and biting lots and lots of biting. Hase mocks Mutas mist spew with Mutas blood. Thats sick. Hases body looks like a murder scene. Muta starts suplexing the shit out of Hase. Four back drop drivers. Muta crashes and burns on the moonsault! There is still life in Hiroshi Hase! Mutas sell is so great. He looks like a fish completely spent from flopping around and died. Hase hits a wicked urnage. 1-2-NO! Powerbomb! 1-2-NO! Hase goes for another Urnage, but Muta snaps off a Dragon Suplex, bridge 1-2-NO! Even Muta is shocked! Another snap one with bridge for two. Muta is ready to destroy. Backbreaker/moonsault and it is over. Hase came closer than any men before him, but all fall before The Great Muta. ****1/2 NWA World Heavyweight Champion Masa Chono makes the challenge for 1/4/93 Dome show.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Sting - NJPW 11/22/92 Not nearly as good as the awesome Hashimoto match, but this is still pretty damn entertaining. Once you understand the Great Muta character as this stalking, maniacal monster his matches become a lot more interesting. Sting is controlling via the arm early. Muta is missing moves here and there to keep it moving allowing Sting to go back to the arm. Then Muta just goes into glorious heel offense, deep eye rakes, whips into the railing, scaring the photographers, choking with the cord. This dude is a master heel. He reminds me of heel Jimmy Snuka or early Undertaker. Just a slow moving, demonic presence. I love Sting's comeback. He catches him on the back handspring elbow onto railing and then sends him into the railing. Then he does the Stinger Splash onto Muta when he is on the railing. Good symmetry. Nice Military Press back into the ring and even crazier bump when he Military Presses from the ring to the floor! Muta kicks the ref while in the Argentine backbreaker and loads his boot with the spike. He goes up top for the kneedrop, but misses and Sting puts him in the Figure-4! Love it! The ref finds the spike and pulls it out and breaks the hold to reset the match. Finishes with a whimper as Muta hits his backbreaker/moonsault combo to win. I was hoping for something more diabolical. Thought Sting have a dry performance but the stuff on the outside was good. Great Muta heel performance. ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 9/23/92 Really unique match. It is all about getting The Great Muta over as this violent monster in a way a more sadistic Undertaker. Hashimoto beats the shit out of Muta for the first four minutes, but about a minute in you notice something weird. Muta isn't fighting back and he is not really selling. Hashimoto is getting more and more frustrated that Muta is not fighting back. He is really not doing anything. I am thinking to myself "Oh God, another weird Muta performance". Then Hashimoto gets on his knees with arms open to say "Hit me". Muta just unloads. Throws him to the outside and beats the shit out of him with chairs. It was great so now Hashimoto no sells and Muta says "Fuck you!" by clawing at his eyes, biting his forehead and choking him with a cord. It was brutal. Muta goes for his back handspring elbow and Hashimoto kicks him right out of the air. Monsters don't do gymnastics. Hashimoto hits an amazing snap belly-to-belly suplex. That might be the best belly-to-belly suplex I have ever seen. Muta blocks the DDT...MIST...Hashimoto ducks...DDT! Hashimoto 1-2-NO! Good nearfall. Hashimoto lines up for an elbow and typical Muta fashion, he just casually rolls out. Hashimoto is like what the fuck. He whips him into the railing and leaves him out there. Bad idea. Muta loads his boot with a giant spike. Muta brings in a chair. Hashimoto heads him off at the pass. Rifles him with kicks. He has control of the chair. MIST! Hahsimoto is in the middle of swinging and still whacks Muta. Great! Muta comes crashing down with two brutal double knees from the top on Hashimoto's back. Hashimoto is selling the mist and his back so well. Muta hits repeated kneedrops. I thought he was going to carve Hash open with the spike, but the spike was just to load the boot. Hashimoto keeps kicking out. Moonsault does him in. Honestly, unlike any match I have ever seen. Violent, maniacal zombie Muta was an interesting foil to asskicker Hashimoto. They kicked the shit out of each other and I thought the finish was really well done. It is hard to rate because I have never seen anything like this. I am going to high and then revisit. ****1/2

Kelly are you the one shooting Chief up the card? You didn't vote for either of the Glamor Girls or Jumping Bomb Angels???

Red Rooster entry was very funny. Judy Martin is the only one of mine that has dropped. Surprised Chief Jay Strongbow didn't drop yet.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ric Flair - WCW Starrcade 1993 How can you not get emotional watching this? The opening video package is amazing. Vader showing up in the Ribera Jacket saying we are going to have a party and he likes this kinda party was great. Flair being picked up by Okerlund in the limo was cool. "If there is no more Ric Flair, who will go Wooo?" - Fan to Flair in 1993, amazing. The world without Ric Flair is going to be a lot less fun. Vader is such a great brute. I love that double fist pump Ric Flair gives on the entrance way. He loves pro wrestling. Pro wrestling loves him. I'll be honest this is more lopsided than I remember, but it is fine by me because Vader was in a ridiculous groove at the time point in his career. There may be no wrestler at working heat segments ever. That's a big claim, but his brutality is totally engrossing. You cant take your eyes off Vader destroying an opponent. You see tuffs of blond hair burst into the air with each massive blow. Flair taking it to Vader early was the wrong idea. Flair chops and Vader just shoves him. "You aren't man enough" Vader twists him into a Greco-Roman Knucklelock and beats the shit out of him. Flair is the king of verbal selling and the way he hollers in pain is great. Of course, what makes Vader a great heat segment worker is how he feeds for his babyface to get hope spots. Vader misses and eats the railing. The electricity when Flair chops and punches was amazing. Flair has great, great punches. We don't talk about that enough. Harley interrupts this comeback and Flair takes a wicked bump on the floor. Vader DESTROYS Flair. Huge superplex! Punches and forearms. Wicked clotheslines. He busts open Flair real good on a lariat to the mouth. Flair "You son of a bitch!" Flair bleeding from the mouth adds to this grittiness. The fact he is in way over his head against this unstoppable monster. Vader starts to give Flair more opening. A missed splash here and a missed splash there. Vader locks up Flair again and this time Flair goes to the eye. Then Flair just unloads with punches and CHOPS HIM IN THE FACE! Off comes the mask. Vader's face is cut up and red. Hell Yes! Flair goes for the leg. The crowd comes alive. You can hear the excitement in Tony's voice. Wraps the Grizzly Bear's leg around the post and then the chair to the knee. Vader tries to attack. Flair just starts beating the shit out of his face while Vader yells "Hit me! Hit me!" Flair crowns him with a chair. That is the one sequence I always remember. This comeback is positively electric. It is the ultimate fist pump. You want to know you are over? Pick up someone's foot and see a crowd lose their shit. Flair picks up Vader's foot to setup for the figure-4 and the crowd goes wild. Vader still has some fight in him. Missed Vaderbomb! Figure-4! This should have been the finish. I know Vader submitting might have hurt his image but damn it would have been great. Vader gets control again after he makes the ropes. MISSED VADERSAULT! Insane spot. Flair covers. Harley headbutts Vader. Fun spot, but not necessary. The finish sucks as Vader does get back up and then Flair tabletops for the win. Doesn't matter Flair wins and it is one of the loudest pops of all time. Great performances by both wrestlers. Vader comes across as an unbeatable monster. Flair is selling like a champ and really does feel over his head. What I love about Flair's offense it is all chops and punches! He came to fight! This match comes across as a fight and Flair is fighting for his life! Vader is the king of the missed move and does a great job giving Flair openings and selling for Flair's molten hot comebacks. I actually really liked the finish stretch just not the finish. Big fight feel and a big fight that delivered. Long Live The Nature Boy! ****1/2

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader vs Ron Simmons - WCW Main Event 8/2/92 The full length match was shown on the August 2, 1992 edition of WCW Main Event. It is weird to think about it, but Vader was merely a transitional champion in 1992. Bill Watts came in and wanted to go a different direction. He earmarked Ron Simmons as his new Junkyard Dog and wasted little time lifting the belt off Sting and putting it on Ron Simmons. The follow through may have been lacking, but this match was molten hot. The Baltimore crowd was rocking throughout and the roof damn near came off the place for the Simmons victory. I thought the shine was great. Vader is so selfless and Simmons was explosive with those tackles and the spinebuster. Vader was a killer in his heat segment. Absolutely superb. The Splash in the corner was huge. The strikes looked so crisp. Loved the escalation of hope spots from the kick out on the second rope splash to the vertical suplex, the backslide out of a short arm clothesline attempt as nifty to the sunset flip being squashed. You want Simmons to string something together but Vader is a monster. I cant say enough how good Vader looked in this. Then it happens. Simmons catches Vader with a powerslam. 1-2-3! History is made. The black kid jumping up and down in celebration is iconic and says more than any words could. Excellent match and title victory. ****

My parents were pretty excited about Jericho vs Omega. More excited than me honestly. Life is crazy. I saw some reviews here make it out to be a classic. My mom didn't care for it. My Dad liked it the most. He liked the brutality. I thought it was way tooooooooooooooooooo loooooooooooooooong. Brawls shouldn't be that long. A very good match that could been great if they went only 10-15 minutes instead of 35 MINUTES! Yes the best Jericho match since 2009, but anyone who thinks it is his best needs to watch the Michaels 2008 series and Mysterio 2009 series before making those claims.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin) - Great American Bash '92 I loved this! I am a sucker for a great shine. You know what before that let me say Austin was way better in this than he was in that TV title match with Windham. I was harsh on him there and I want to give him credit where it is due and that he rocked in this match. Admittedly, he ran out of steam towards the end but he killed it for the first 95% of the match. Back to the shine, amazing! Austin is working a break-neck pace trying to overwhelm Barry Windham and instead eats a punch after a couple minutes and goes down in heap. Part of what makes this great is whoever is on the apron also does a great job selling concern. Austin is so good at writhing in pain. Ten months later and I am ready to finish this review. The shine is indeed amazing. Austin is not just bumping for Windham it really is the selling and just putting over the offense. I loved Rude trying to get in on the action and does the Tombstone reversal spot to a big pop. Windham gets a flying lariat on a tag and it really feels like the Texicans are running away with this Madusa agrees and gets on the apron. Rude yanks Windham down by the hair and then hits a missile dropkick by the ref's back. Remember this is Watts' WCW so top rope moves are banned. Nice piledriver by Rude. The heel heat segment gets a little long in the tooth, but includes all the staples you would expect from Southern Tag wrestling. The finish was a barnburner. Dustin rocked it as a hot tag, punches, elbows and a great dropkick to Rude. Weird WCW camera angle aside I liked the finish with Dustin hitting the Flying Lariat as Austin was thinking piledriver. Great classic Southern tag. ****