Superstar Sleeze

I am surprised everyone was down on this match. I thought it was their usual great Battle of The Bulls match. It wasn't CHOSHUUUUUUUUUUU, but not much is. Greatest 18 Champion Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 11/5/91 What is the Greatest 18 Championship? Short answer: Fuck if I know. Long speculative answer: It was a Riki Choshu vanity belt to make his matches seem more important while Fujinami was IWGP Champion throughout 1991. It is smart idea. Choshu is going to be wrestling the semi-main all year you should give his opponents something to vie for in addition to just trying to beat Choshu. It is one thing for Hashimoto to wrestle Choshu it is another to have a belt on the line even if it is a made up one. Don't ask me why the that is the name. It is Japan. The physical belt is Inoki's old WWF World Martial Arts Championship. Usual great Choshu vs Hashimoto battle of the bulls match. Hard fought lock ups. Shoulder tackles. Headbutts. It is the old run it up the gut, three yards and a cloud of dust. It is what is missing from wrestling nowadays. I thought what was interesting is that even though in 1991, Choshu is clearly Hashimoto' senior and Hashimoto wouldn't really break out until 1993, Hashimoto feels in charge of this match. It is his match to lose. Choshu is the one desperate in the beginning landing the big elbow and following up with headbutts. Hashimoto is not trying to prove to Choshu he belongs. It feels like he is past that. Now he just needs to pick up the win. It is two different things to contend and to win. Hashimoto already has that air that he can contend and Choshu clearly takes him very seriously, but can Hashimoto win? Hashimoto lots of kicks, rainbow spinning heel kick and DDT, but not enough to put him away. I hate how the cross armrbeaker is treated in New Japan. Hashimoto goes for the rainbow heel kick in the corner and Choshu blocks just as he will in the 1996 G-1 Climax and Hashimoto never recovers. Selling has never been a strong suit in New Japan among really any of its wrestlers. I should say long term selling. They good at registering. They are terrible at weaving it in long term. I just have to give up that Choshu blocked that with a bad arm and that he is moving around like nothing happened to him. Usual Choshu vs Hashimoto fireworks ending. Lots of Lariats, screaming defiance, Hashimoto eating them. I really enjoyed Hashimoto trying one last spinning heel kick that Choshu side steps. I would have made Choshu stealing Hashimoto's DDT the finish, but that is just me. I don't think they needed as many lariats, but again just me. It is Hashimoto vs Choshu, it is big, beefy wrestling. Whats not to love? ***3/4

Tatsumi Fujinami vs The Great Muta - NJPW 9/2/3/91 I give you, The Great Muta, in all his violent glory. He bashes Fujinami's head into exposed turnbuckles, grinds a spike into forehead, slams a toolbox into his head and hits him with canvas poles. Great piledriver in the ring. He gnaws on the bloody cut. He grinds the open wound into the exposed turnbuckle. His bloodlust is insatiable. In the ring, he cuts Fujinami off at every pass, with kicks, suplexes and oh just throwing him head first into hard, metal objects. I don't think I have ever heard that much heel heat in Japan. At least loud booing on three occasions. The Great Muta was just destroying Fujinami here. Fujinami started the match off red hot. He knows The Great Muta and how he is a horror movie monster come to life. He took it right to the beast. Great suicide dive to the outside wiping him out and the bodyslam. The thing is he let up on the gas pedal. Muta rolled under the ring. He undid the turnbuckle padding. You cant let that happen. The first time was an accident when the crown of Fujinami's head strikes the exposed turnbuckle and knocks him loopy. It was all down hill. But after bashing Fujinami's head with everything he could find under the ring and drawing blood. He could not put the Ace of New Japan away. Multiple Saito Suplexes and even a package piledriver and Fujinami would not stay down as Antonio Inoki looked on. Muta missed his trademark back handspring elbow. Fujinami gets in a kick and then Billy Robinson backbreaker! DRAGON SLEEPER! Can he pull off a miracle? Foot on the rope. OH NOW THE REF ENFORCES THE RULES! Fujinami punches Muta repeatedly in the corner as the ref tries to pull him off. If I was Fujinami, I would have been like "Where the hell were you when he was hitting ME WITH A FUCKING TOOLBOX!" The ref keeps at it. GREEN MIST~! It hits the ref not Fujinami. Fujinami cant win the with the ref. Two Saito suplexes, Fujinami is beside himself, he has the monster on the ropes, but no ref. German Suplex, bridge! He gets a visual three, but the ref is down. Fujinami goes for the ten punches in the corner, BALLSHOT! YES! YES! YES! The one last check box on all time heel performance. I love it! Muta gets a glass bottle and colddocks Fujinami. He revives the ref and hits his moonsault for the win. Spikes, piledrivers, blood, ballshots, MIST, Glass Bottles. Amazing heel performance from The Great Muta. The Great Muta in all his violent glory! ****1/2

The Great Muta vs Sting - NJPW 3/21/91 I really enjoyed this, but I am starting to think I am the only person that enjoys Muta. Obviously a lot of history going back to their iconic 1989 feud, which I really should re-watch it has been ages since I first saw it. This is my first time watching this match at the Dome. They have another big match in '92 where Muta is defending his IWGP Championship against Sting. I thought this started off fast and furious. Muta jumps Sting and loved the back handspring elbow early. Looked good. Sting countering with the press slam to the outside, crazy bump, and then out of control over the top rope suicide dive was great. Sting was on top for most of the match. I thought did a damn good job. Muta fucking up the monkey flip made for a surprisingly interesting spot. Muta does not sell in this gimmick, which makes sense for the gimmick but it is weird for the match. I wanted him to heel it up more like he did in his '92 IWGP Championship run. I loved the finish stretch. I love missed moves. It makes when they hit them all the better. Both guys know the Stinger Splash and Moonsault can win the match so they keep going for it, but the other guy knows the same thing so they keep countering. Really smart and interesting. Loved the missed back handspring elbow which leads to the missed Stinger Splash which leads to Muta eating knees on a moonsault. Fabulous sequence. Muta goes for the Moonsault again (really puts over the move) and Sting is able to hit a Super Back Suplex. Great spot. Missed top rope elbow drop by Sting. Simultaneous Lariats. Simultaneous dropkicks. They are doing a great job putting over the narrative how well they know each other. Sting is able to apply the Scorpion Deathlock as his nearfaal. Muta makes the ropes. Absolutely love the finish proper. Sting comes hurling in for the Stinger Splash and Muta MISTS HIM! Reverse crossbody picks up the win for Muta. The beginning is hot, the middle meanders, but the finish run is absolutely red piping hot! ***3/4

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami vs WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair - WCW SuperBrawl I Flair hair update we have gone from flying saucer to the Beiber hair cut. 1991 was the nadir for Flair. I don't get the booking of bringing in a virtual unknown Japanese wrestling legend based on a convoluted controversy that happened in Japan to main event a show. I am going with the narrative that this is to re-unify the NWA & WCW World Championships with Fujinami coming in as the NWA Champion. There is a group of Florida fans that are super into Fujinami chanting for him and bringing in a sign in Japanese. WCW's fanbase was insanely hardcore. Better than Dome match. More heated action and better structure. In the last match, Flair kept calling for different spots so they both moving too fast from spot to spot, but also moving too slow in the sense that execution was slow. Here they were moving better and more in sync. Good fire fights between these two. Fujinami used holds well. Fujinami aged a lot man. Like I remember digging his 1980 work but there were times here where he just looked plain old and he was wrestling Flair, who is four years older than him, but was moving way better. Fujinami worked the back well. Flair was selling a lot better. The atomic drop on the railing was a good transition for Flair to get on top and work the knee. The figure-4 was over. The bridge spot was sad. Fujinami just did not look good at times, Another was the press slam again Fujinami just looked out of it. Flair blades off the railing. Flair is working over time to make this work. All the good Flair tropes down the stretch. They knock heads. Fujinami plays Steamboat with a bunch of nearfalls before Flair pushes him off into Tiger Hatori. Flair grabs a handful of trunks and Fonzie counts Fujinami. Why the hell do we need to protect Fujinami? Wasn't Flair the babyface? What the fuck? Shitty finish aside, there is some good work here, but these two just don't really have chemistry. If this is your only introduction to Fujinami definitely check out his 80s stuff because he does not look good in these matches. ***

Hilarious. Watched this segment many times. Very funny. Prime Missy Hyatt.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami vs NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair - NJPW 3/21/91 This is the worst time period for Ric Flair's hair. It looks like he as a flying saucer on his head. I believe this is Flair's first challenge for IWGP Championship as the NWA was historically affiliated with AJPW while NJPW was affiliated with WWF & Florida. Things switched in the early 90s with WWF switching their affiliation to Tenryu's upstart SWS and WCW moving to a relationship with NJPW that would last through the 90s. It is important to note Flair's WCW World Heavyweight Championship is not on the line. This was a new championship was that created in early 1991. I wonder if part of the reason this match exists to put over the fact that they are now two different world championships in WCW and really explain to the fans that the NWA & WCW are different entities. At this time in New Japan, short of Antonio Inoki coming out of semi-retirement, Tatsumi Fujinami was The Man. 1991 was his last hurrah and his 20th anniversary as a pro wrestler. He would continue to wrestle throughout the 90s and win the IWGP Championships two more times, but he treated more as a legend or elder statesman than a regular main eventer. He traded the championship earlier in the year with Vader and would lose the championship to long time rival Riki Choshu at the 1/4/92 Dome Show, but not before having two big championship matches with Masa Chono, who at the time seemed poised to be The Musketeer that would break out. The first half of this match was pretty much Flair by the numbers. He gets shown up early on the mat and then in a fire fight. I liked Fujinami going for the Dragon Sleeper early and Flair sold it really well. Desperately looking for the ropes. There was definitely some serious miscommunications. A weird criss cross spot that just ended. The press slam off the top that clearly went awry. Fujinami did look worse than Flair, but not by much. Nothing was sticking. Flair was clearly calling the match and just kept moving through stuff way too quickly. He starts working the knee but before you know it Fujinami has him in a Scorpion Deathlock and then we are back to back body drops and that botched press slam off the top. They needed to slow the fuck down. Flair could not focus on one thing in the first half of this match. It continues into the second half. They are doing the Steamboat chop out of the corner, back drop and then Flair is hitting Butterfly Suplex and a delayed vertical suplexes. The Suplexes look great, but nothing means anything. Finally we get some stickiness. When Flair blades off a railing spot. Now we have a hook. Fujinami is teeing off on Flair. Fujinami has been at his best in this match when he has been playing it like Wahoo or Garvin would. They intensity of the strike exchanges have been great not much else. The Flair Flops in this were great and well timed. Enziguiri one was good. Flair and Fonzie heads collide and Fonzie goes over the top rope. Fujinami does his best Steamboat impression with a ton of quick pinning combinations that fans count along with. It is clear Fonzie is not getting back up so when Fujinami does the Banana Split Schoolboy out of the Abdominal Stretch, Tiger Hatori counts three to give Fujinami the NWA World Championship. This sets up the SuperBrawl I main event of Fujinami's NWA Championship vs Flair's WCW Championship. What was the point of that match? This match is all over the place. I am hard pressed to even call this good. Fujinami looked disinterested and lost at times. Flair just could not settle the fuck down. One of the worst matches I have ever seen out of these two all time greats.

I just re-watched this. Agree with all my initial point wholeheartedly. Good crack as the Irish would say. Kensuke Sasaki is the man and all his haters be damned!

Why is there always so much Kensuke hate? He is a great power wrestler with a ton of charisma. Never understand the lack of Kensuke love. TAKE THAT DREAM!

The Great Muta & Sting vs The Steiner Brothers - NJPW 1/4/92 The first Tokyo Dome show on 1/4 in history. This would be the first of three out of four years Muta would wrestle the Steiners at the Tokyo Dome. New Japan sure loved the Steiners. Coming home from the club at 3am, the Steiners are exactly what I want to watch. Big, dumb fun. No thinking. Just a ton of power moves. Rick stiffs Sting early and Sting gives right back to him with the best Sting clothesline ever. I liked Sting stealing the Steiners running powerslam into the buckles. Muta takes a lickin' in this match. He just thrown around like a ragdoll. I don't like the blue at all on Muta. Not intimidating. White, black and red are the best. Green and yellow are ok. Blue is too neutral. It just makes him look cold. Steiners are fucking awesome. Every suplex and slam you can think of. Muta of course sells for shit, but at least he is willing to bump. Muta just gets up acts like nothing happened and pops off a back suplex. Whatever. Stinger Splash. Muta tags back in. Back handspring elbow, um, don't think so, Rick catches Muta and RELEASE GERMAN! I think that's the best version of that spot. The best spot of the match for me was when Sting hurled Muta at Rick sending him tumbling over the top rope. That could have looked horrible, but it was perfectly executed looked amazing. The finish sucked. They were clearly trying to protect the Steiners with a fast count and Rick also pinning Muta while Sting pinned Scott. Shitty finish aside fun power, Dome match. ***1/2

I was really hoping Big Sexy was going to come in at We are getting to part of the list where even if i didn't vote for them I am not surprised by the choices.

No one should sell for the IT Kicks. They are supposed to be Miz' way of taunting Bryan but in kayfabe it would make sense that he isn't as good at them and if people no sell them it will garner a major reaction. You can explain Miz going back to them even though they don't work as hubris. Of course the real benefit is no one ever had to sell those shitty shitty kicks ever again. But i think no selling makes sense in a kayfabe way.

I just realized something...Seth Rollins has not dropped...does that mean he didn't even get one vote?

I don't get Earthquake at all. What did he do in 91? 92 was Natural Disasters right? Besides the Mania VI-SSlam 90 corridor what's the big deal?

Things definitely would get testy on commentary. Mostly because Booker is an absolute loon and he never made any sense. "Dean Ambrose does not have an on or off switch, he is just stuck somewhere in the middle" That Kurt Angle return match with The Shield. maybe the most annoying commentating performance in the history of man. It was the anti-Heenan at the Rumble. You could tell Graves was getting annoyed by Booker. There were a couple times Cole & Graves browbeat Booker into submission for one of his gaffes. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a work, shoot or worked shoot. It is just Booker being Booker, a complete loon.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW G-1 Climax '91 I need to watch more 80s puroresu but Riki Choshu seems like the guy who ushered in a more theatrical style of pro wrestling in Japan kinda like the Macho Man and his grandiose epics at WrestleMania did for America in a similar timeframe. Choshu throwing back the towel when someone (Saito?) threw the towel in for him is like the most badass thing ever. Choshu nearly takes Hashimoto's head off at the start of the match with a lariat. Scorpion Deathlock. Awesome dropkick from Choshu. He starts to go for more lariats. Kick stuns him and then Hashimoto pours the kicks on. Suplex slam and elbow drop. Hashimoto is firmly in command never lets go. I wish we saw this more in pro wrestling. It would make comebacks sweeter. Like still have comebacks on PPVs but not every single pro wrestling match on TV should have a comeback. Sometimes the heat segment should just be the finish. I thought their needed to be a real head kick. Something really emphatic. To drive the point home. We did get a good roundhose kick to the head, but Hashimoto didn't let it sink in because he kicked him in the chest again. Hashimoto was good, but Choshu was awesome in this. He was so in his element with the defiant, but weak punches, flopping selling, and of course throwing the towel back. Hashimoto hits his rainbow kick to win. Really unique match and perfect 10 minute explanation of the awesomeness of Riki Choshu. ****

Did this not make Charles' 500? I am shocked. It is a classic. Keiji Mutoh vs Vader - NJPW G-1 Climax 8/10/91 What makes this work is that you don't have to sell for Vader. The reason wrestlers have to sell is to make you believe. If watching Vader punch someone in the face, does not make a believer out of you then I guess the only recourse is to have Vader punch you in the face. Vader bullies Mutoh into the corner and it is classic Vader the rights and lefts in the corner. You already know Mutoh is in dire straits so when Mutoh makes a comeback it is not that he is no selling. It is that he is fighting through the pain because you already believe. I thought Mutoh was perfect in this match offensively. Five distinct and interesting offensive series. The first being a series of punches to the face that reels the big man and lets him know that he is ready for the fight. Then he goes for a lock up and Vader tags him real good in the face. His next series is a series of dropkicks and after three gets Vader off his feet. Mutoh establishing the quickness game. Now Vader takes offense for a bit longer. It is the clotheslines, splashes and just using his girth to steamroll Mutoh. They go into the corner and then throws him into the post. But as he is getting back in Mutoh dropkicks him. Plancha. Railing. Back handspring elbow on the railing! Back in the ring it is the classic Mutoh elbow. It is a very electric and exciting comeback. Mutoh tries to put Vader in a hold. Bad idea. Vader just tees off on Mutoh. A lot about Mutoh but heres an example of Vader's greatness. Huge Lariat and then the urgency and tightness of his cover put over the stakes of the match. Great stuff from the Big Man. I love the fourth comeback. Mutoh slips down from a suplex and rocks Vader with two smashmouth forearms to the face and then hits a back suplex, springboard missile dropkick (floors him for two) and then a moonsault. Love the urgency from Mutoh. The transition back to Vader is all time great one when he catches him in the back handspring elbow and then Vader THROWS HIM DOWN FOLDING HIM IN HALF. Mutoh is made to look great kickout out of a big Vader splash and Vader powerbomb. My one complaint is the finish was a bit weak. This was a bomb throwing match. To end it with backslides, small packages and not the greatest reversal of a powerslam just felt disjointed from the rest of the match. Mutoh was Vader's equal and this felt tacked on. 95% of this was just gold and you know what the finish is still good enough. Very exciting pro wrestling that makes sense. ****1/2

Shinya Hashimoto vs Vader - NJPW 7/19/91 I thought the beginning of the match was much better than the rest of the match. Vader sets the tone early by slapping the taste out of Hashimoto's mouth. Hashimoto fires right back. Great slugfest early on. Spilling outside of the ring twice. Multiple big shots with Vader overwhelming Hashimoto. Vader wraps his arm around the post. Good transition and work by Hashimoto so Vader punches him right in the face to stop that. I mean he clobbers him. I thought it kinda meandered in the middle. There were some rough, slow motion Vader bumps. Terrible legsweep and missed charge. Then when Hashimoto went back to the arm, Vader just did not sell in holds like the over the top shoulder, which was not Vader's fault, I mean Hashimoto looked like he was just holding it. I think Vader was waiting for a snapping motion to sell. The cross armbreakers were horribly sold, which anyone knows from reading my reviews is a major pet peeve of him. I thought the finish stretch redeemed this. Hashimoto's rainbow kick and DDT got great heat. The Sleeper/Choke was a great idea to finally fell the beast when nothing else seemed to work, but Vader is just too much of a monster and from the sleeper gets a powerslam using the hair. Loved that! Vader just steamrolls him en route to a victory not before Hashimoto gets a couple kick outs but a big splash does him in. Beginning and ending were great. The middle was just really weird given that these are two of the greatest of all time. ***1/2

NWO Japan (Keiji Mutoh & Masa Chono) vs Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW Super Grade Tag League Finals '97 The NWO Superteam came together in May-June of 1997. Mutoh was originally leading the resistance against the NWO, but later figured if you cant beat them join them and formed this superteam with Chono. They are reigning Tag Team Champions having defeated Sasaki & Yamazaki on the NWO Typhoon Tour in the fall. They main evented Fukuokoa Dome against Tenryu & Fujinami. Funny thinking of how Tenryu & Fujinami were battling the NWO and so were Flair & Sting at this time. I have never seen anything from their era Mutoh. JIP to about ten minutes in. Chono tags in a bearded Mutoh who looks badass. Dropkicks the knee of Nakanishi and slaps Hashimoto on the apron. He is working the knee so it is definitely Mutoh. Chono grabs a toehold into an STF, but can hear Hashimoto's footsteps. Mutoh springboard elbow that looks awesome! Mutoh scissors the leg. NWO Sting at these New Japan matches cracks me up. Hashimoto delivers the elbow to break that up. Back to Chono's STF. They are just guzzling the young buck. Nakanishi makes the ropes. Kick to the head and Nakanishi tries to power up, kick to the knee stops that. Chono goes to the top but ends up getting thrown off. Here comes HASHIMOTO! KICK GALORE! Chono and Mutoh get killed. Mutoh eats the Yakuza Kick on a miscommunication. Spinning back chop! DDT on Chono! BIG DDT NOW! Cross armbreaker that is shittly sold. Should be a quick submission or a lot more fight. Mutoh gets HUGE elevation on his elbow drop. Mutoh looks fucking good. Tag out to Nakanishi. I don't know about that strategy. A couple lariats take Chono down. Nakanishi lariats both NWO Japan down. This is the most American thing ever. Torture Rack on Chono, but lets him down, doesn't have a good hold. Chono rakes the eyes which is the best way to get out of it. CHONO BALLSHOT! Yakuza kick. Tag to Mutoh, Tag To Hashimoto. MUTOH IS A HOUSE OF FIRE! WOW! HE LOOKED GOOD! Springboard dropkick from Mutoh on Hashimoto and then Hashimoto takes the flying shouldertackle from Chono. Hashimoto feeding and bumping like a madman. Another springboard missile dropkick from Mutoh and then another flying shouldertackle. Hashimoto kicks out. Great sequence from the Three Musketeers right there. Nakanishi holds Chono. Mutoh misses the back handspring elbow. Hashimoto goes for the brainbuster and Chono breaks free to Yakuza Kick the knee of Hashimoto who goes down like a ton of bricks. Mutoh moonsault while Chono holds. What the hell! That is just blatant cheating. Yakuza kick, dragon leg whip and Figure-4! Chono stands watch. Chono STF on Nakanishi. Ill be surprised if Hashimoto taps out given his current push. WOW! He tapped out. Again missing over the half of the match so I wont rate, but this was a barrel of fun. Chono & Mutoh wrestle like the greatest American heel tag team. Taunting, double teams, Miscommunication spots, bumping for a hot tag, eye rakes, ballshots. It was great. At the end of the day, Hashimoto has been proven to be better than Mutoh & Chono, BUT when Mutoh & Chono unite Hashimoto cant overcome those odds. This was a great Chono & Mutoh isolate Hashimoto and make him submit. Really enjoyable. Mutoh looked really spry. I want to see more of him in this era.

Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW Super Grade Tag League '97 Shinya Hashimoto won the '96 Tag League with Scott Norton. It is weird he is teaming with Nakanishi because Nakanishi & Kojima (Bull Powers) were a fresh-faced babyface power team that team regularly throughout the year and won the Tag Titles in '97. Sasaki is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion coming into this match. He & Yamazaki won the tag titles from the Bull Powers in August of '97 before dropping them to the current champs the NWO Japan superteam of Mutoh & Chono. These two teams tied in the round robin and the winner faces the Tag Champs Mutoh & Chono in the Finals. JIP about 7 minutes into the match. Hashimoto is working over the knee of Sasaki and tags in the young powerhouse, Nakanishi, who delivers some of the lamest kicks to a knee you will ever see. He torture racks just the leg of Sasaki. I really enjoy the Torture Rack so I am glad Nakanishi brought it back. Sasaki is selling really well. Does jelly legs really well. He slaps the taste out of Nakanishi''s mouth three times and tags out to Yamazaki who dropkicks the young buck in the knee, dragon leg screw and then figure-4. A message to Mutoh? In what is the story of the match, Hashimoto bails Nakanishi out with a elbow drop. Is there anyone better at doing a simple standing elbow drop than Hashimoto. I liked Nakanishi powering out of the armbar takedown with a sidewalk slam. TORTURE RACK! Hashimoto holding Sasaki back. Yamazaki gets a cross armbreaker out of this and Hashimoto saves again diving on Yamazaki. Yamazaki wisely tags out to the IWGP Champ. Lariat and then the Scorpion Deathlock. Nakanishi makes the ropes. Nakanishi gets a back body drop to tag in Hashimoto. Add being an awesome hot tag to Hashimoto's resume! Kicks galore and a DDT get two. I love Sasaki's sell of the DDT of being stunned in place. Yamazaki saves on this one. Third DDT and Yamazaki saves again. Cmon Nakanishi you gotta get in there and get your hands dirty! Don't be shy! Here comes Hashimoto's favorite spot. Stand in the middle and take lariats. Sasaki has a good lariat so it is fun. Sasaki tags out to Yamazaki. Hashimoto catches Yamzaki's foot and STRIKES HIM DOWN WITH THE HAND OF HASHIMOTO! Yamazaki blocks chop and goes for the armbar takedown. He wont go down. Sasaki Bulldogs him down in the armbar. Nakanishi breaks it up. Great Sequence! Yamazaki kicks the bad arm and Hashimoto lets out that loud hiss of pain. Armbar takedown NO kneelifts and DDT on Yamazaki! Hash is thinking brainbuster, but switches quickly to an armbar takedown and Yamazaki taps so quickly that Sasaki cant save. Love the finish, after dropping the title to Sasaki, Hashimoto was put in "MMA" matches on the big shows and beating these guys nobody has ever heard of in a round system. The quick submission gets him over as an MMA player and also explains why Sasaki cant get in there in time. We are missing half the match (15 minute match). So I am not going to rate, but everything after Hashimoto's hot tag is gold.

I agree with your takes. I didn't like it quite as much as you, but I think you like this style more than I do so it makes sense. Antonio Inoki vs Tiger King - NJPW Battle Formation 4/12/97 Inoki is in his Final Countdown tour and brings in Tiger Mask for a Dream Match. I actually like Tiger Mask more than most. I especially like Tiger Mask when he wrestles more like Super Tiger. There is some Tiger Mask stuff like the 619 feint and the hammerlock, snapmare counter, but the rest is Super Tiger all the way. Some really good kicks from Sayama as expected. I liked the missed headkick right into the leg sweep. Sayama looked a little bigger than usual but still wrestled well. Inoki looked immaculate, but didn't think he did much. I thought it was interesting that even the littlest of things from Inoki popped the crowd. Like slapping his leg exhorting Sayama to kick him again or dropping to his ass to do a Jitu-jitsu spot. Sayama taps to a abdominal stretch. It felt more like a shoot style exhibition rather than a contest.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW G-1 Climax '97 SemiFinals NWO Japan is in full effect with Tenzan coming out in his trademark Bull mask and NWO shirt. NWO Banner in the arena and tons of NWO merch throughout the arena. The NWO was an amazing phenomenon. Hashimoto comes into this as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and pretty much the only thing he has left to do in his career is win a G-1 Climax. Tenzan has been Chono's second since 1995 and is firmly in the upper midcard but isn't quite at Three Musketeer level so I would say Hashimoto is the favorite coming into this contest. I really hate snap back bumps off of Tenzan's Mongolian Chops. It just seems so wrong. It is not just Hashimoto that does it; it is Sasaki too. Tenzan wins an early slugfest that feels really mid-00s and is something I just find boring. Hashimoto catches him with a forearm in the corner. Nice kick some really good kicks from Hashimoto. Kneelifts set up the inverted Triangle Choke that Hashimoto used to tap Takada. Tenzan hulks up. Headbutt/Mongolian Chops. Tenzan does the inverted Triangle choke. I expected this to be more heated. This is more of a grind down the opponent match. Hashimoto is so damn good at no selling. He really builds to it well. Hashimoto beats the piss out of Tenzan. I mean just absolutely rifling him with kicks and overhead chops. I thought both DDTs came off as sick and vicious. Good finish stretch for Hashimoto. I like Tenzan taking a powder and then Chono getting up on the apron. Very American but also very logical as a way to quash Hashimoto's momentum as he was a runaway freight train. Tenzan dropkicks Hashimoto from behind due to Chono's distraction. Tenzan has a busted lip? Weird, I don't know from what. Tenzan's bodyslam looks like a scary piledriver. I do like his headbutt. He does not really leap as much as fall off the top rope. Hashimoto kicks out a bunch. Then on the grand finale, Tenzan's boot gets caught in between the turnbuckle and rope and Wow, he could have really hurt himself. It takes the ref, Chono and the dude who looks like Masa Saito, but isn't to get him free. They improvise a quick Hashimoto comeback before Tenzan hits a bodyslam and some more headbutts to win. Crazy botch aside, this is a pretty pedestrian New Japan Heavies match. Hard hitting, not much selling, lots of machismo and bravado. Good finish stretch. ***

Kensuke Sasaki vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW G-1 Climax '97 Finals New Japan goes all in on Sasaki as he wins the G-1 Climax, the IWGP Tag Team Championship (w/Kazuo Yamazaki) and the IWGP Championship all in the same month. Sasaki's transformation into Riki Choshu clone is complete here with no pads, mullet and the black trunks with black boots. A lot of people seem sour that Sasaki was Choshu's boy. It was pretty obvious as they are pretty similar wrestlers and builds. I like Sasaki and am happy he got the opportunity. This is a great power match sprint that never lets up from jump. Tenzan comes in to the match banged up and already bleeding from the mouth and ear. I need to watch that Hashimoto match. He hears the bell ring and charges straight at Sasaki. If Tenzan just used heabutts all the time instead of that goofy double Mongolian chop I would like him so much better. Tenzan actually hits a diving headbutt for two early. Sasaki just starts wailing on his head with closed fists. I was surprised the ref was not on his case more immediately. Lots of good drama over the Scorpion Deathlock and then Sasak puts the STF on Tenzan. Good dick move as all of NWO Japan (Chono, Muta, Saito, Norton and Buff Bagwell) are out here and the STF is Chono's move. Sasaki wants to finish it with a Northern Lights Bomb, but Tenzan reverses into the Tenzan driver. Two more diving headbutts. This is insane. Wicked hot. They are headbutting each other from the knees. Tenzan is bleeding from unusual places. It is chaos. Northern Lights Bomb. 1-count Kickout. I know we all hate them now, but this was pretty novel in 1997 and I got jacked from that. Tenzan does the defiant fighting spirit with blood and drool coming from his mouth. Lariat and Sasaki with the Mutombo finger wag (tell me he doesn't have charisma) and puts Tenzan away with the Northern Lights Bomb. Never lets up, just a power sprint, two bulls going straight at each other and wailing on one another and they top it off with a compact, but dramatic finish run. Great G-1 Climax finals! ****

Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW G-1 Climax '96 Shinya Hashimoto, IWGP Champion, Defender of New Japan, Ace, does not win a single match in the G-1 Climax...WHAT?!?! He does not lay a complete egg because Hirata gets injured and forfeits his match to Hashimoto. You see Hashimoto had an absolute war with Choshu the first night of the tournament where he injures his leg and it never recovers. He drops his next two bouts to Tenzan and Sasaki due to the bum wheel. I am so annoyed I cant find more Kensuke Sasaki. I mostly just watched this match because at least it was something. I would love to see the 1/4/95 match again and the title switch, 8/31/97. Hashimoto gets on the mic and tries to psyche out Sasaki, but to no avail. Sasaki zeroes in on the leg and never relents. Scorpion Deathlocks and leg attacks galore. I thought he gave up a little easily on some holds. Good work from him on top. Mixes in a powerbomb and some lariats. Hashimoto sold like a champ. For a badass asskicker, he could still show vulnerability like he was Ricky Morton. Great mini-comeback from Hashimoto catching Sasaki coming off the ropes with a wicked overhand chop and then the crazy DDT for two. Cross armbreaker, but cant get it fully applied. That was his last gasp as Sasaki goes back to the leg. Hashimoto tries the defiant stand in the face of lariat spitting on Sasaki. Spit is so gross. KILL HIM SASAKI! Weird finish as Sasaki does that nasty over the top armdrag he does and just gets the pin. Solid match, good Sasaki power performance and even better Hashimoto selling performance. ***1/4

Ok, I am doing a lot of New Japan heavies in 90s watching so Ill add to the list. Thanks!

You know what, Pete, I actually dug this quite a bit. Flair doing an out and out American heel act in Japan against the ultimate asskicker was fun as hell. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs WCW US Champion Ric Flair - NJPW 7/17/96 I think Randy Savage vs Jushin Liger, yes Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger still takes the cake for holy shit that happened match, but this is pretty amazing. Flair's last big time match in Japan after a 15+ year run as a big time American wrestler over there. Challenging for the biggest title in the world in my estimation as New Japan was really firing on all cylinders at this point. I think they could have done something really special as late as 94 with the sweet spot being 90-92 for these two, but I still thought this was fun. This was not 80s Flair in Japan, Flair was going all Flair and giving Japan a taste of America. Wooos, Flair Flops, Hollering on knucklelocks, begging off. To his credit, I thought this played really well in front of the Japanese. I thought Hashimoto was a bit tentative to start and the hollering on the knucklelock caught him off guard. But the temper tantrum Hashimoto throws after the drop toehold, shows that he gets it. It is time to wrestle American. To Hashimoto's credit he goes all in. When this turns into Flair/Garvin 2.0, this is glorious. Some of the best flesh on flesh smacking around. Hashimoto DESTROYS Flair with these overhand chops. I mean WOW! These are huge. Flair beg off and then eyepoke is great. Chopblock. Flair worked the knee really well like way more focus than usual and I thought Hashimoto really sold well. Flair's figure-4s were over especially since Mutoh/Takada really established that as a killer finish. Hashimoto fiery Ronnie Garvin like comeback with Flair selling and bumping was great. The DDT was an out of nowhere finish just it was getting good. I thought this was a really fun Flair as an over the top American heel vs the Japanese asskicker. ***1/2