[1996-08-06-NJPW-G1 Climax] Shiro Koshinaka vs Satoshi Kojima

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Super fun match and yet another upset in the G-1 Climax, which is kind of a staple of Choshu booking. Kojima wins big in a match with lots of stiff clotheslines, powerbombs and nearfalls. Terrific sprint.

[Zenjo]

This wasn't technically good from either man. Yet it had a great energy and some excitement. I'll mark it down as a guilty pleasure.

 

Kojima was raw. Koshinaka was a sloppy goofball, but I couldn't help but smile at times. Needing to win the match he was rabid with intensity and the crowd were into it. Kozy was similarly fired up, in a goofy kind of way. 10m of action with plenty of near falls and urgency. The result was another example of the fine margins between victory and defeat. That's part of the essence of the G-1.

[PeteF3]

More of the same as Muto-Koshinaka, though Kojima doesn't really have Muto's star power or flair for the dramatic, at least not yet. Still very heated, though. Another fun finishing stretch and ending, too.

[soup23]

I liked this better than Muto vs. Kojima but I am starting to realize that I may be lower on this G-1 as a whole than everyone else. Upsets are a lot of fun and a big tournament is an avenue to do them, but Kojima/Tenzan/Koshinaka and Muto/Chono at points just don't do it for me. I wonder if Hashimoto had any surprising matches as looking at the brackets he was in a weak field. Anyway, my favorite moment of this was the fact that the small package was able to obtain the victory as a good call back to the nearfall in the Muto/Koshinaka match. Kojima celebrates the upset well. ***

[tim]

I liked this one a whole lot too. Hot finish, bit of a lull in the middle, and then a sprint toward the end with a super ton crowd and great nearfalls. Keep it short enough and that's a great G1 formula. I liked the lariat spots in the beginning and in general Kojima brought it with some nice lariats. Koshinaka actually hits a top rope ass attack that looks really good! Cool ending that is unique in this context.