[1993-08-03-NJPW-G1 Climax] Hiroshi Hase vs Shinya Hashimoto

[garretta]

I haven't read the whole long thread yet, so forgive me if I repeat things that have been said earlier.

 

This was a classic of its kind. These guys spent the first twenty minutes trying to break each other's legs, then Hash's kicks started doing their damage, but not putting Hase down for the count. Hash went for one kick to many in the end, and Hase caught him, hit the sidewalk slam, and scored the win, to the delight of the crowd.

 

The dueling figure fours were the spot of the match, and Hase did a much better sell job than Hash did until about the third one Hase applied. After that Hash almost overcompensated for earlier. Normally, that would ve a major problem, but since ninety percent of Hash's offense is kicks for which he needs healthy legs, I'll reluctantly live with it.

 

It was sort of dumb for Hase (in a kayfabe sense) to keep going for leg submission holds when his own leg had been damaged. I guess whoever booked this match wanted to put Hase across as a tough guy who ignores his own pain to get the job done, but he still looked dumb regardless.

 

That said, the pop for his eventual win was tremendous. As I've said, Hash is pretty much a one-move (or in his case, one-strike) wrestler, and if his kicks don't get the job done, he's pretty much up the creek. I know a lot of people think he's a tremendous worker, and maybe they're seeing different matches than I am, because on the Yearbooks he's been one-note to the point of being ridiculous.

 

I can't wait to see the rest of the matches from this tournament. If they're anything like last year's Climax, I'm in for a real treat!

[JKWebb]

#361 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-400-351/2/

 

I thought the opening matwork was pretty good, and they did a nice job breaking it up with some intermittent striking. I specifically liked how focused Hash was on the left leg, and thought Hase did a great job expressing how painful Hash's strikes were. I thought Hase was selling Hash's submissions a little better than vice versa. There is one moment where Hase misses a strike, so he makes up for it by nailing two ruthless chops at the chest/neck area of Hash. For me, it was Hase's performance that elevated this to the really good to possibly great level. I love his expression and celebration at the end. The announcers and the crowd and the music, it's all really fun at the end.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroshi Hase - NJPW G-1 Climax '93

I was really impressed by the first 3/4s of this match. The last quarter felt totally tacked on and disjointed from the first 15 minutes. It was an obvious Hashimoto kills Hase with a ton of spots (kicks, powerbomb, chokeslam, DDT), but was going to lose. Hase hits the Exploder out of nowhere for the win. Hase's smile and the announcer's YAHOOOOO almost make up for the disappointing finish. The first 15 minutes is an amazing exhibition of how you can have compelling wrestling just using holds with no highspots. The first highspot of this match was around the 16 minute mark. It was two guys going out there and wrestling seeing where the holds took them. I thought it was an excellent lesson in gradualism. How Hase had to work hard to make in roads on Hashimoto's legs. He is the more accomplished amateur wrestler, but Hashimoto is a big dude. So to take him down and keep him down are two different things. At first Hashimoto was using brute force to break the figure-4s Hase was using. Hashimoto was brutalizing Hase's leg with kicks. Then Hase got the dropkick to the leg and really worked it over. Rather than power out now Hashimoto had to go to the ropes. I loved that ride they took us on 15 minutes. It was not an abrupt Hashimoto's leg is fucked two minutes in, but it took 15 minutes and it was interesting. Of course, Hashimoto blew off the leg selling and the match became a Hashimoto beats the shit out of Hase, but cant get the job done match. Tale of two matches, the first one is more interesting, but the second one is still fun. ***3/4

[Makai Club #1]

On initial viewing, I wasn’t into the  grappling portion of the match that most of the match is built around. Hashimoto has never really stood out as a great mat-worker to me and it didn’t fully click as a whole. On second viewing though, it came out a bit better. I loved seeing the struggle between two wrestlers who essentially have the same strategy: attacking the leg. Hase switching up the way he did the figure four, pushing the leg with his soles rather than the back of the leg, was clever. Hashimoto trapping Hase’s arm while trying to lock the other in an armbar was a nifty transition into a potential submission. I really dug how things escalated from pure 70s style grappling to more strikes being thrown to the legs, by both Hase and Hashimoto. Hashimoto would throw sweeping kicks, taking Hase out from under him while Hase would use dropkicks and stomping knees. Hashimoto utilized his kicks in brilliant ways. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kick to the leg being used as a defence to someone (Hase in this case) coming off the top rope. Eventually Hashimoto takes full control of the match and Hase looks in total danger. Hase’s selling is really strong for this final stretch of the match, being able to make the most of Hashimoto’s offence. Hashimoto looked like a killer when he was throwing vicious head kicks to a kneeling Hase. The finish is perhaps too sudden with Hase just sneaking the win after being pummeled for a good while though. The crowd and Hase go nuts at the surprise win though. A match I’m glad I revisited. ****1/4

[fxnj]

Didn't expect I'd be the low voter on this to such an extent. On first watch, this felt like the missing link of stylistic degradation between the amazing proto-shoot style matches of Inoki and Fujinami and the soulless big matches of Tanahashi and Okada with first halves dedicated to meaningless and boring limbwork. I've seen people give Kurt Angle shit by saying the drama is in applying holds rather than sitting in them, but this is a far worse example of that mantra than anything I've seen Angle do. Instead of just 1 ankle lock at the end, here we've got an entire match where guys move in and out of leg holds at will just so they can spend all this time heatlessly sitting in them. There's one part where Hase grabs what looks like a nasty ankle lock (not the Kurt Angle version) while in a leg hold, and Hashimoto is just aimlessly looking around like nothing is happening. The dueling figure fours stuff didn't really do it for me either and got pretty repetitive. While watching the figure fours I couldn't stop thinking about how much better the figure four and the general leg work was in Akiyama/Hase. That match had an intensity which I didn't really feel from this in how they'd struggle and emote while in the holds. Hash and Hase spent all this time working over each others' legs just so they could almost completely ignore it when they stood up and wrestle what felt like an entirely different match with Hash freely using his kicks and Hase running the ropes. Admittedly, Hash stiffing Hase was pretty good, but I had no idea why had to pack in all the stuff in-between that with them sitting in leg locks in front of a dead crowd. Should have just been a violent sprint. The flash pin finish did nothing for me here, but I think it would have worked much better in the context of a shorter match as well.

With regards to the earlier conversation in this thread, I watched Muto/Hase 01 for the first time about a month ago. I think it was actually reading the talk about it in this thread that made me want to watch it a few years ago, but I never got around to it since I couldn't find it online at the time. Anyway, the matwork in the first 20 minutes of that blew me away. So many innovative counters, a sense of tension and struggle in how they go for moves, and an amazingly fast pace that unfortunately results in them being gassed out after those first 20 minutes and having to switch to bomb throwing. Still a far better match than this.