Superstar Sleeze

Ok, this is the dream match I never knew I wanted A-Fuckin-Men!

Damn proud to be the high vote on the Usos! Their current run had been amazing. Best mic work of 2017.

OMG How did I forget Rey's return in my post! I WAS GOING WILD FOR THAT! He looked like WCW Rey and I was loving it! REY VS AJ MUST HAPPEN! MUST MUST HAPPEN!

Women's Royal Rumble was fun as all get out. Best Royal Rumble match in ages! Jimmy Redman with the best post in ages! I have never seen Kairi Sane before, but that is how you get yourself over in 2 minutes. My Dad and I were marking out the whole time. Becky Lynch gave the hardest working performance I have ever seen in a Rumble. 30 minutes of nonstop movement. No breaks. No rolling to the outside. Just suplexes for 30 minutes. I am saying this as a compliment, you could see how red she was in the face and it was a really hard performance. Nikki Bella RULES! Loved the Bella Twins in this. Asuka is God. Loved it all!

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 4/7/00 Hitherto, the lowest drawing Dome show. On the undercard, we have Masa Chono vs Great Muta in the blowoff to NWO Japan Civil War and a logical progression from 1/4/00. The headscratcher is IWGP Champ Kensuke Sasaki wrestling Jushin Thunder Liger. That would be a fun match for Kouraken Hall and something I would love to watch. In front of a Dome, seems odd. Hashimoto vs Ogawa is not enough to draw on its own. Compared to the previous year where Mutoh vs Don Frye could draw 50k+, which is less to say about Mutoh's drawing power and more about the health of pro wrestling and New Japan in 2000. I think I enjoyed the 5/97 match a tad bit more, but this is in the same ballpark. Hashimoto has a way better strategy in this match rather than in FINAL DOME where he is going for the legs and avoiding the clinch and above the waist takedowns. There were some great legsweeps in this taking out that plant leg like a pro. The crowd was popping HUGE everytime Ogawa hit the mat. When Hashimoto took off his glove, the cute chick in the second row lost her mind imitating Hashimoto punching. This crowd wanted a Hashimoto win. Ogawa did rock him early, but Hashimoto powdered gathered himself. That leg strategy was working. He gets a DDT on the ramp. It was going Hashimoto's way. Then he went into the clinch. STO! What a dumb move. I literally said to myself, "He deserves to lose." I did like the DDT counter to the STO and the cross armbreaker that was hot shit. It was STO city after that. It felt exciting for spurts then would cool down. I think Nagata vs Murakami blows this out of the water in terms of a pro wrestler vs shooter in a big time match. ****

Shinya Hashimoto vs Satoshi Kojima - NJPW 8/2/98 G-1 Climax Semifinals Hashimoto is on the road to doing the one thing he has never done before in New Japan, win the G-1 Climax. Standing in his way his a young bull named Satoshi Kojima. They had a really damn good match in 2003 for the Triple Crown in All Japan. Very underrated match that peoples should check out. I don't think Kojima is NWO 4 LIfe yet; I think that happens a little later this year. This match is definitely a portent to come. Lots of defiance. Lots of lariats. Lots of fighting spirit. Lots of standing and bellowing. Lots of strike exchanges. It works because Hashimoto is God. This is definitely the beginnings of Modern Puro. I think it really all starts with Hashimoto vs Choshu. This is pretty much worked as the poor man's Hashimoto vs Choshu. A lot of New Japan young lions were modeled in the fashion of Choshu: Tenzan, Kojima, and Nakanishi. Lots of power. Only Nagata was more in the mold of an Inoki with his submission stylings. I really enjoyed the match because they beat the piss out of each other. They don't bother with the traditional New Japan matwork they just go balls out from jump. I do like little touches like Hash going for a double wristlock because Kojima's biggest weapon is the lariat and Kojima attacking the leg because Hashimoto's kicks. Hashimoto's double stomp on Kojima is great. I loved Kojima's top rope elbow on Hashimoto's leg. Great drama on the figure-4 on Hashimoto. Kojima makes the fatal mistake of deviating from the leg strategy and trying to win via Lariat. Bad idea, brutha. Hashimoto literally tries to chop off Kojima's arm. He goes bezerk at one point. It is just great Hashimoto standing taking the lariat and then beating the shit out of somebody. Like Modern Puro it takes three DDTs and a cross armbreaker to get the win. I liked Kojima's sell of the DDT, it makes sense and I like that all chopping of the arm was worked into the finish. The layout worked the crowd was chanting for Kojima on multiple occasions. It is poor man's Hashimoto/Choshu, but Hashimoto is still awesome and Kojima had good leg psychology, meaty lariats and good selling. Definite recommendation. ***3/4

Kensuke Sasaki vs Atsushi Onita - NJPW 1/4/99 FIREBALL~! Wrestling needs more fireballs. New Japan feels so loaded right now. Mutoh is winning the title. Hashimoto vs Ogawa raging. Now ONITA is in New Japan! He debuts in the Tokyo Dome and you can tell from the pre-match package that Riki Choshu thinks he can draw money. Onita's promo style, leather jacket and hair make me think of Roddy Piper. His entrance just screams cool. Leather jacket, chair dragging on the ramp, nonchalant facial expression and the cigarette. Dean Ambrose take notes, bro. I thought this was good, but not great. A lot of the individual spots connected with me. Like Dusty/Bubba Rogers chair collar spot at the beginning. Sasaki no sells that like a champ and just decapitates Onita. Sasaki whipping him around by the leather jacket was badass. Some really stiff shots from Sasaki. Onita collars another chair around Sasaki and then PILEDRIVES him on the table. Sasaki just roars back with nasty chair shots to Onita. Then Onita FIREBALL for the DQ! Individual spots were great, connective tissue was not there. Felt huge and the Tokyo Dome was the appropriate setting for this. ***

Fujinami actually had a lot of big time matches in the 90s, but none of them are online. This sucks. I need to fill this void.

Scott Norton vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 9/23/98 Vacant IWGP Championship Holy shit! Did this come out of left field! Great match! So some context: Chono had to relinquish the championship after winning the belt for the first time from Fujinami due to injury in August of '98. So why the hell are two midcarders wrestling over the title? The top three players in New Japan were Keiji Mutoh (NWO 4 Life), Kensuke Sasaki and Shinya Hashimoto. It feels like the booking had graduated Hashimoto to a Choshu or Inoki class where he no longer needed the championship and instead would be in special attraction matches against Naoya Ogawa. Mutoh was penciled in to win the championship at 1/4/99 and thus needed a challenger. However, Sasaki vs. Mutoh was showcased at both the '97 & '98 Dome so cant run that again. Sasaki just had his big run from 8/97 into 4/98. So it was Mutoh's turn with title, but I agree that Mutoh challenging at the Dome against a mid-carder is a better version than Mutoh winning in September and then defending against a midcarder. Before the injury, you got to believe Chono vs Mutoh was the Dome Main Event of 1/4/99 NWO JAPAN EXPLODES~! They wanted to stick with NWO Japan vs NWO Japan story so giving it to Norton makes sense because you don't want Tenzan or Kojima looking like a transitional champ because ultimately you expect those two to be big time players in 4-5 years. What surprises me most is that Nagata was chosen for this slot. He had his run in WCW, but really hadn't done much in NJPW. Nakanishi or even Tenzan & Kojma (both were NWO 4 Life, but that could have planted the seeds of NWO Japan EXPLODES~!) seem like better candidates. So this is how New Japan established Yuji Nagata as a contender on short notice. Sasaki & Nagata won a round robin tag team tournament with Nagata submitting Yamazaki in the final (Yamazaki's partner was Hashimoto) and then declaring he wanted the IWGP Championship. Here's the kicker the round robin tag team tournament was for a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. LOL! Afterwards, Hashimoto, Sasaki, Yamazaki pump up Nagata and give him the rub. Now onto the match, for two midcarders wrestling over the IWGP Championship, this was friggin' awesome. It was like All Japan invaded New Japan for a night. Scott Norton was on fucking fire. Probably because he was going to win the championship, but he was so motivated. He did NOT SELL SHIT in this match. But I mean that in a good way. He finally wrestled the way he looks. A TOTAL ABSOLUTE MONSTER! The first sequence is straight out of the All Japan playbook, Nagata kicks Norton hard and then Norton stands up, big heel kick from Nagata and then Nagata Back Drop Driver. Norton pops up and STEAMROLLS him. The whole match is built around Norton destroying Nagata with chops and lariats. Nagata tries his best to target the arm for a cross armbreaker. I love that when he cant get it that he goes for the Short Arm Scissors. Norton is so awesome offensively and Nagata does a great job selling for him and putting him over as this human wrecking ball. I love Norton overhead shoulderbreaker into a Fujiwara armbar. Great selling from Nagata. Super hot nearfall for Nagata with the Triangle Choke complete with the arm falling down two times. Norton breaks out. Then Norton JUST THROWS NAGATA DOWN WITH AN EPIC POWERBOMB! I fucking loved this. Norton was a power wrestling god in this match. Nagata was the perfect blend of strategy (arm), selling and hot hope spots. He was just credible enough to make you believe, but vulnerable to make you believe Scott Norton was Baddest Man On The Planet. Check this out! ****

It begins and ends with Terry Funk vs Bob Orton - 5/26/83. A match so good it will be probably make my Top 100 Matches of All Time. I have seen some Bock from down there that's pretty good. Never seen any Tully & Gino yet. Anyways, yeah Funk vs Orton must watch.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh vs Don Frye - NJPW Strong Style Symphony 4/10/99 Say what you will about Keiji Mutoh, but the dude was a draw not just as Great Muta. He drew 53,000 to the Dome on this show. Granted, Frye is a strong challenger, who wrestled in Inoki's last match, with a legit shoot background and this is a part of the big NWO Japan vs Team 2000 feud. But still here is Mutoh's undercard: Masa Chono vs Onita - No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire IWGP Tag Champs Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami. No Hashimoto. No Ogawa. Mutoh drew 53k to the Dome on his own. Never seen a Don Frye worked match before. Wow he throws the worst worked punches of all time. Those things miss by a country mile. You couldn't find a camera angle to make those look good. I usually love shooter vs pro wrestler, but just thought this was alright. The best part was the beginning right at the bell Mutoh hits two dropkicks that have Frye staggering. Then backbreaker->moonsault->kneebar. Hot way to open that gets over how big of a challenge Frye is for Mutoh. The wrestling is fine after. Mutoh gets a Dragon Leg Screw and he is pumped, but Frye hits "a punch". Frye works the leg, but Mutoh gets another dragon leg screw. Big pop from the Dome! The Dome hates Frye. Mutoh gets a barrage of dragon leg screws and then a figure-4. He gets "punched" going for a figure-4. Rear naked choke! This is Frye's big nearfall. Frye is "punching" Mutoh and it is just terrible. Mutoh starts unloading headbutts. Look at him go! Terrible punches by Frye. Dragon Leg Whip! Good break up of the figure-4 by Frye by standing up. Frye reigns down "punches". Mutoh just grabs the arm, double wristlock, cross armbreaker. LOL! I get this pro wrestling, but I just cant believe that Don Frye in the full mount reigning down punches is going to fall prey to a shitty cross armbreaker takeover from Keiji Freakin Mutoh. Don't bother. First minute is awesome, the rest is just ugh.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh vs Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW FINAL DOME 10/11/99 FINAL DOME is still the best name ever! Keiji Flair vs Lex Nakanishi! Figure-4 vs Torture Rack! Well they ruin that when Mutoh abandons the leg attack and goes for the arm, but I came up with the joke mid-match and I am sticking with it. Nakanishi was in the midst of the run of his life besides in 2009 when he won the IWGP Championship. He forced IWGP Champion Mutoh to submit in the '99 G-1 Climax en route to winning the 1999 G-1 Climax. He is the biggest underachiever of the most underachieving generation in puroresu with his cohorts of Tenzan and Kojima. Nakanishi is a power wrestler through and through with not much in the way of charisma or selling. Between him and Mutoh, there is not much in the way of selling. Beginning is typical NJPW fare, I thought Muoth acquitted himself well on the mat very organic and clever way to get into an abdominal stretch and good quash of a takedown. They show off Nakanishi's power with the short arm scissors pickup and then the bearhug. Mutoh attacks the leg in standard 2001 Mutoh fashion unfortunately this gets dropped. I think it might have been because Nakanishi refused to sell. Credit where credit is due Mutoh actually did create some doubt in the outcome of the match. The first 3/4s Mutoh was in control, but after a Nakanishi spear, Mutoh gave most of the match to Nakanishi save for a few hope spots (I liked the out of nowhere Frakensteiner by Mutoh). Nakanishi went for the Torture Rack five times and the commentators inform us this is what Mutoh submitted to in the G-1 Climax. On top of this there was an onslaught of spears, suplexes and a plancha to the outside, the big man was feeling it. Mutoh wriggled free one too many times and got a double wristlock takedown into a cross armbreaker for a submission victory. The biggest problem as Nakanishi's Torture Rack looked like shit and he was just carrying Mutoh on his shoulder. More unimpressive was the ease with which Mutoh broke the hold time and time again. If they stuck with the leg psychology they could have protected Nakanishi and his finish, also creating drama can Nakanishi hold him? what else can Nakanishi do now that Mutoh has taken away his biggest weapon? Feels more like a missed opportunity than a great match. ***

IWGP Shinya Hashimoto vs Scott Norton - NJPW 2/19/95 Odd layout to say the least. Gaijin muscle head comes in with an injured wing and Hashimoto just picks it up apart. Kicks, chops arm bar takedowns. Between this and the 99 Mutoh match, Norton is a much better seller than I expected. Norton gets some power move hope spots but Hash is never in danger. Hashimoto runs through his DDT arsenal even a Fishermans DDT complete with involuntary spastic selling from Norton! About a minute left Norton hulks up and his big bear fall is a powerslam. Lame. Gets Hashimoto up for a Samoan Drop and then collapses and submits!?! Watched it twice and still no clue what the fuck he submitted to. Routine match but the heel had the injury so it killed any intrigue. Always fun to watch Hashimoto work on top but the shitty finish and the routine nature make this something you can avoid.

I am really disappointed I only wrote in the facebook posts for my bottom 50. I keep seeing my name crop up for people I was lukewarm on. I really should have written on my top 25. Glad my comments are useful.

Awesome! FMW is a big blind spot for me. This will be very useful.

Vince/Austin was the only segment worth a damn. Vince is awesome. Roman/Miz was good. 1-2-3 Chant was cool as hell. Torrie Wilson looks younger than when she left. Rest was lame.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Scott Norton vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 1/4/99 NWO JAPAN EXPLODES~! It is funny on the same night WCW runs Hogan vs Nash as the big NWO Civil War blowoff, New Japan runs a main event of NWO Japan vs NWO Japan at the Tokyo Dome. I was really fascinated by this. Basically Chono finally wins the IWGP Championship in the August of 1998 but is forced to vacate when he is injured. Scott Norton wins the championship over Yuji Nagata of all people, but I don't think Inoki wanted anybody doing the job to Norton. Norton beats Hashimoto by countout and Nakanishi. My gut says the build was to do Chono vs Mutoh and have that lead to the NWO Japan Civil War that dominates 1999 and leads to Chono vs Mutoh at 1/4/00. Basically, my understanding is that Mutoh takes over NWO Japan in Chono's absence and turns it babyface. Chono returns in February of 1999 and is pissed and this is when he forms Team 2000, which is his new heel stable that feuds with Mutoh. What is interesting is they never run a Mutoh vs Chono during this title reign. Mutoh defends against Don Frye and Kojima of Team 2000, but not Chono. They were saving that match for 1/4/2000. I think Norton was just a lame duck champion to get them to Mutoh, but keep the theme of NWO Japan vs NWO Japan. It is so weird hearing "NWO" in the Japanese accent over the loudspeakers at the Tokyo Dome. Mutoh has "I Am Boss" on his tights. Does Hollywood or Big Sexy know? Mutoh targets the arm, short arm scissors, double wristlock and goes for cross armrbeaker, but the announcers point out Scott Norton's arm wrestling background. Wow Japanese commentary is good. Norton starts to steamroll Mutoh. Mutoh definitely went to the Bruiser Brody school of selling. Norton chops Mutoh so hard that he has to bump. Norton hurts his knee doing shoulderbreaker. Ruh roh. It may be 1999, but Mutoh is partying like it is 2001. 2001 Mutoh match develops 8 million dropkicks to the knee, 8 million dragon leg screws and 8 million figure-4s. I am a total mark for 2001 Mutoh so I loved this. Norton surprises me by being a really effective seller. I think Mutoh and Norton varied where and how Norton took the dragon leg screws and dropkicks to the knee. Norton had some good hope spots like his lariats on the third one Mutoh ducks and hits the dropkick to the knee. Nice! Norton's desperation powerbomb was sick, and the way he collapsed was great. I liked Mutoh getting the moonsault only getting two and then hitting a springboard dropkick to the knee to set up the figure-4 submission. A surprisingly brisk and fun match. Best Scott Norton match I have ever watched and safely better than the Fingerpoke of Doom or Hashimoto vs Ogawa from the same night. ***3/4

They've done so many insane angles with him that haven't closed the show and where the other wrestlers are still existing in their own universes doing their choreographed entrances unaware anyone else exists, and yes, that does have a diminishing effect. Also zero follow through. Next week everybody is ok. Finally the firing angle looked like there would be follow through but that got reversed

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW Final Dome 10/11/99 Final Dome is a very amusing name for pro wrestling card to me for some reason. After the shoot angle at 1/4/99, Ogawa goes on to win the NWA World Championship from Dan Severn. I have no idea why Inoki wanted to resurrect that championship. Weirdly enough Ogawa won the championship back in October of 1999 in Connecticut. It is weird to think that I could have seen Naoya Ogawa live. This is probably the biggest crowd the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was ever defended in front of. Actually Muta/Chono was in front of 53.5k and this only drew 48k. Fujinami is the special ref after the fact at 1/4/99 Tiger Hattori was steamrolled and the match had to be called off. I loved the first 3/4s of this. incredible atmosphere. Badass big fight feel. I am a huge Naoya Ogawa fan. He just has great presence. Reminds me of a Bill Goldberg or a latter day Brock Lesnar. You just feel like something crazy is gonna happen. Hashimoto cant get anything going early against Ogawa. Ogawa does have the reach advantage so I get why he is trying to shorten the gap but the dude cant take the giant Ogawa down. Hashimoto is besides himself in the corner and has no idea what to do. Then Ogawa starts taunting him. I have said how much I love cocky shooter bastards. Ogawa comes in and gives Hashimoto a couple playful punches and BAM! Headbutt. THE DOME EXPLODES~! I don't think I have heard the Tokyo Dome that loud. They were fucking roaring for Hashimoto on offense as he reigned down the hammer fists. Ogawa quashes this with a wild right to the head from his back as Hashimoto was going for a kneebar. Ogawa is in the full mount but Hashimoto makes the ropes. Ogawa being the asshole he is sneaks in a stomp to the midsection that Hashimoto sells so well. Hashimoto's next flurry is two huge deadlift suplexs. Again the Dome erupts. I am going crazy too. This time Ogawa stymies him with a top wristlock. Bummer. Ogawa quashes all of Hashimoto's hope with an STO. Two brutal ones. Really drives him down. Great selling from Hashimoto. Hashimoto kicks Ogawa right in the fucking knee. The crowd and I perk up, but then it is a wicked STO. Ogawa does a great job selling the leg. Ogawa gets a great suplex and then it is just STO after STO. Hashimoto does a great job with his defiant selling. Clearly going for the Choshu/Hashimoto dynamic with the defiance in the face of a clear loss and move repetition. It dragged on forever and really killed the heat. I think one last Hashimoto flurry, KO punch/kick or STO and call it. Instead of this going forever with Fujinami checking on him and Inoki calling off the match. Hashimoto is a total rockstar. Great selling from beginning to end. His offense was electric, but don't sleep on Ogawa his presence makes this match work because he is a real mountain to climb. His selling late with the leg is great and I love his cockiness. Tighten this up and it is classic, but God the ending just drags. ***3/4

Shinya Hashimoto vs Naoya Ogawa - NJPW 1/4/99 A lot has changed since these last two hooked up in May of 1997. Hashimoto is no longer the IWGP Champion and the main focus has been on getting Kensuke Sasaki over as the new man. You can clearly see that Sasaki is cut from cloth of Riki Choshu and someone that Choshu would want to carry New Japan into the new millennium, but Inoki was entering his phase with being obsessed with shooting and there was a clear clash over Sasaki as there was no way he could deliver on what Inoki wanted as a champion. In a way, Inoki had been obsessed with credibility and shooting, after all that is what his legend is built upon but I don't think it ever got in the way of presenting pro wrestling like it did from 1999-2006. Ogawa after his first two matches with Hashimoto won a series of matches over shooters and traded victories with Don Frye who Inoki had his last match with was clearly someone Inoki respected. In late 1998, it seems Inoki started a spinoff promotion called Universal Fighting-Arts Organization with the first main event being Ogawa defeating Don Frye. Inoki loves invasion angles. The idea was to create Ogawa as the centerpiece of the UFO promotion and invade New Japan. They work this big angle for January 4th Dome show to kick off 1999. There has been reports that this was a shoot. I didn't see it. Felt like a work to me. It clearly is trying to capture the magic of PRIDE with the brutal head stomps. It is funny that Nobuhiko Takada ended out Inoki-ing Inoki at the end of the day. Also on paper this sounded awesome. Ogawa brutalizing Hashimoto in a five minute ass kicking with a wild fracas at the end and the whole match being called a no contest. It didn't feel as heated as I expected. I thought the 1/4/00 match was way crazier and more chaotic. One big plus is this is the Naoya Ogawa I know and love. Cocky shooter badass taunting everyone and the crowd. Getting on the mic laying down some smack talk. Flying around like an airplane. In the ring, his movement has vastly improved. His strikes look light years better. I think they could have had a good match here but the point is to get the UFO invasion over and create some buzz that Ogawa destroyed Hashimoto. Hashimoto is going for takedowns which is dumb. Hashimoto never was great at takedowns and Ogawa is a world class judoka that is what he does. Stick with strikes Hash. Somehow Hashimoto's nose is bloodied, but he is so prone to bloody noses who knows when it happens. Ogawa knees the ref in the balls. Ogawa was teeing off on Hashimoto's head. Brutal, brutal head shots. Was it a shoot in the sense that those punches and kicks were dangerous? Yes. But it all looked pre-planned to me. Riki Choshu coming out at the end was weird, but at the same time it doesn't matter if it is Japan or America people love seeing their old timey favorites come out and play asskicker. So I get it. I think on paper this was an excellent idea for an angle. To me they didn't hit this one out of the park. Look at 1/4/00 for a real crazy spectacle.

I love Braun. Right up my alley. Great power wrestler but I hate how all his angles have no lasting effect. Drives me nuts.

Man RAW isn't the same without Cole saying "it's Boss Time!" I'm a mark for shooter gimmicks. Sonaya's lariat a couple weeks ago was one of the best in ages. This was more of just a solid outing. Really hoping for big things from her.

I didn't like this much despite really enjoying Ogawa's two big matches in the 2000s. Very clunky here. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Naoya Ogawa - NJPW 5/3/97 I have watched two Ogawa matches in my life and I loved both (w/Murakami vs Hashimoto/Iizuka & vs Kawada in Zero-One). He has an amazing presence in those matches. First off he is a giant compared to most Japanese heavyweights. He knows like two moves but he is deadly. He is so raw and unpolished. There is a sense of total chaos when he is in a match. I was expecting more of the same here. This is only second match in pro wrestling. In his debut match, he defeated Shinya Hashimoto in April in a non-title bout. Now the title is on the line. Pre-match clips we see Ogawa chopping wood with Inoki and doing some sparring with Inoki. Ogawa is rocking the Judo gi. I was pretty disappointed in this match. Ogawa was not raw in the chaotic way. He was raw in the very clunky way. The match just felt so low and without energy. It was exactly opposite of the anything can happen feel of the 2000s matches. Ogawa being a world class judoka can take Hashimoto down at will, but cant do much else. However, he is quite good at strike defense so Hashimoto cant land much in the way of strikes and thus makes for a boing match. Once Ogawa took him down he tried to finish with cross armbreakers and double wristlocks common finishes but Hashimoto was too adept at blocking. It felt oddly boring, which I am surprised by. Hashimoto snuck in a spinning back chop, which you watch him practice in his sparring session, which is a neat touch. Then he goes for a leg bar. I hate the leg bar. He seems to try keep taking Ogawa down by the gi but Ogawa blocks. Big finish run is Ogawa gets the Oo-soto-gari, Space Tornado Ogawa, crowd oooohs and aaaahs and he puts Hashimoto in a rear naked choke. Hashimoto makes the ropes. Hashimoto from the ground sweeps the leg and then kicks Ogawa's leg out from under him. Ogawa takes a really clunky bump but looks so much realistic, I dig it. Then he kicks Ogawa's head off. He fucking punted him. Ogawa is out and someone from his camp throws in the towel. Not the spectacle I thought it would be. Pretty boring until the last minute or so, but the last minute is pretty damn good. Disappointing.

Misawa is the only other person that can get away with it. Hashimoto is tremendous. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW 2/16/97 Move over Sid because Hashimoto rules the world! Hashimoto had really grown into a world class asskicker. Adding that overhand chop as a more frequent part of his arsenal is great. Yamazaki throws some bows up against the ropes and Hashimoto responds by OBLITERATING him with a chop! Loved the beginning Yamazaki sneaks in a head kick (great call by announcer) tries to pounce with German but Hashimoto counters with a DDT so they are back on an even playing field. Yamazaki catches the next kick and drops into a kneebar. Great selling by Hash rolling to outside and good focus by Yamazaki attacking the leg upon reentry. I liked him going for an arm bar to make Hash defend that and go back to the leg. Great psychology. There's one small problem I find the kneebar to be most painfully boring submission hold. Great psychology doesn't always lead to great entertainment. Yamazaki gets in an axe kick as Hash was trying to make a comeback and then gets his German good callback! Figure-4! Hashimoto escapes and now here comes the asswhupping. Great kicks and a big ass lariat. Yamazaki counters with a cross arm breaker where the drama is appropriately sold and Hashimoto races for ropes. It becomes a great battle of Hashimoto strikes vs Yamazaki arm bar takedowns. They did a great job building drama and making those arm bars into hot nearfalls. The one where he switches arms to block Hashimoto from getting to ropes is great and loved it as a counter to the brain buster. Great use of psychology and submission to build tension. This is peak Hashimoto even more so than earlier in the decade. His comeback is fire. The way he pops Yamazaki with an elbow while Yamazaki has wrist control or those head butts. But the best is when he fires up and he knows his arm is gonna hurt like hell but he fights through the pain dishes an unholy barrage of overhand chips. The kicks in this were brutal. He was smoking Yamazaki. I forgot this earlier but the front kicks he used to make his initial comeback were nasty. This is all set up for badass finish. He fucking spikes Yamazaki with they brain buster. Goddamn. Not quite as good as their 98 classic but this is so much fun especially once it becomes Hashimoto's strikes vs Yamazaki's arm bars. ****1/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 1/4/97 Coming off the Cinderella victory in the '96 G-1 Climax where Choshu beat Hashimoto epic fashion, Choshu now challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship one last time on the grandest stage of them all, 1/4, Tokyo Dome. It is Hashimoto vs Choshu. Intense. Gritty. Epic. Lock-ups that make you believe. Tests of strength until the very end when Hashimoto hoists Choshu up one last time to come crashing down with the Brainbuster. Everything is earned. Choshu is throwing punches and Hashimoto is exploding out of the corner with overhand chops and kicks. This is where New Japan's house style of minimal bumping works well. Just taking a knee to your opponent's offense means so much, Hashimoto on one knee in the corner taking that abuse is great. Hashimoto then has Choshu in the corner is working him over with kicks. Stepping on his throat. You would expect some remorse for someone who was probably a hero or a mentor to Hashimoto. Hashimoto is the heir to Choshu. There is no remorse. There is no "Sorry, I love you." It is nasty and he has no problem putting down the Old Man. But Choshu has fight left in him and starts in on the knee. Hashimoto sells so well. The Scorpion Deathlock. I hate that Choshu just lets go but I get that's just a hold to him, but I don't love it. Mack Truck Lariats. Hashimoto sells these so well. But this time Hashimoto's overhand chop leads to more damage as he kicks Choshu nearly straight off. Choshu is able to snap off a superplex, but it is too little too late. He goes up top and Hashimoto meets him there and superplexes him. Choshu survives two DDTs, but the Brainbuster which Choshu fights as hard as he can but eventually he has to submit to Hashimoto and Father Time and go up and then comes crashing down. I love that Choshu lifts his legs to kick out, but they just fall down with no power left. Great match. Doesn't hit highs of the G-1 Climax because Hashimoto does not kick Choshu's ass quite as hard in this match so it doesn't set you up for that big rah-rah-sis-boom-bah comeback from Choshu. I didn't like Hashimoto pop up no sell and then superplex on Choshu either, but there is so much to love in his match. So focus on the positives. It is a great Grizzled Veteran has one last match in him and gives it all he got and comes up short. Hashimoto shows no remorse and goddamn he has to earn this win as Choshu does not go down without a fight. Epic main event fitting of the Tokyo Dome. ****