[1996-08-02-NJPW-G1 Climax] Masa Chono vs Satoshi Kojima

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Masa Chono sounds like a goat when he breathes here. It's kinda weird, and persistent. At least I think it's him. It's distracting. That's a shame, because this is a fun match. I wouldn't have minded seeing it go longer, but it was paced well and the crowd was really hot for all the offense. Wrestlers who make strange noises when they wrestle take me out of the moment, though. Never fails.

[Phil Austin]

So pleased someone else thought that about Chono's breathing. It put me off of him for a long time before I got past it.

[El-P]

Funny, that never bothered me. I always thought it was a nice idiosyncrasy of Chono's work. Although there are other wrestlers who have a noticeable breathing. Haku is the first one who comes to mind.

[Zenjo]

The Chono goat breathing is definitely weird, but it's never bothered me much. Quite a spirited G-1 opener here with both men working hard. However it was very repetitive considering it's length. Plenty of lariats and Kenka kicks. Kozy showed youthful fire and pushed Chono before Mr. G-1 trapped him after multiple STF's.

[PeteF3]

I didn't notice the breathing at all, and this thread actually had me seeking it out. God, that sounds weird. Anyway, this was a little bit emptier than the FMW match but was still fun, with some cool back-and-forth exchanges and a spunky little performance from the overmatched Kojima. Finish is logical and realistic but it sort of peters out.

[soup23]

Good match but Chono and Muto have consistently been the most perplexing performers for me in the 90's. Whereas someone like Konnan who was a main eventer just sucks and Toyota is someone I can tolerate more than most, Chono and Muto continue to give performances that leave me cold. Nothing Chono does here is actively bad or lazy, but I also never got a sense of progression like I did in the previous match from FMW even with the STF attempts in the latter stages of the match. Kojima is young here and that plays to his spunky role better than in his current state but he also has never been a performer I am really into. Overall, good but nothing memorable. ***

[tim]

Fun match with Kojima doing the heavy lifting. It dragged a little bit at some times and there were two awkward spots from Chono, but most of this match was really good and energetic. Ending was a little anti-climactic.