Loss Posted February 18, 2011 Report Share Posted February 18, 2011 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted May 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 Not as good as the other two Hase matches, but still good and very heated. Cool to see Fujinami using Hase's tactics against him, using a series of figure fours and finally the scorpion to take the whole thing. The heat from Hase's dragon suplex on was off the charts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted May 19, 2011 Report Share Posted May 19, 2011 I thought this was a big letdown. Very repetitive from Fujinami's end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted October 19, 2013 Report Share Posted October 19, 2013 Hase was the star of the tournament by far. Fujinami was a tiresome washed up veteran. The Dullragon wins. It was watchable enough, but not close to being a worthy G1 final. It felt like they were never on the same wavelength. Early on Hase was stunned by a german but Fujinami displayed a lack of killer instinct as he didn't capitalise. Hase came back with some well thought out work on the old timers back. Fujinami's leg work in contrast was uninteresting and poorly executed. The ending could've at least had HH coming close to victory, even if they had to give the 80's legend his G1 win. It sucks that they didn't demote the Dragon down the card, as he only had midcard ability following his bad injury in 1989. Yeah I know that usually doesn't happen to past their prime stars. Except in WCW. Like 1992 this was a G1 notable for one outstanding match, and one wrestlers surprise run to the finals. Overall it was a fairly weak tournament with little to see in the first 2 rounds and an unworthy champion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted December 29, 2013 Report Share Posted December 29, 2013 When the started handing Fujinami the trophies after I was surprised that this was the actual final to the tournament. Lackluster compared to the other Hase matches. Fujinami in the 90's hasn't done it for me. I thought maybe it would be Hashimoto's turn to win G1 tournament in 93. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 I thought this was really good, just not as transcendent as the first two Hase matches, as Hiroshi closes out one of the greatest weeks of wrestling I've ever seen. Hase is really one of the most versatile guys ever--there is so much he can do offensively that looks smooth and polished like he's been doing the moves for years, even though he only busts them out when necessary. Whether it's leveling Chono with stunners or in this case, all the stuff targeting Fujinami's bad back. He almost puts Fujinami away with a dragon suplex, only for Fujinami to turn the tables and use his own golden arm bomber to regain the advantage, eventually putting him away with a scorpion deathlock set up by Hase's bad wheel. An anticlimactic final, yes, when you compare it to '91 and the other two Hase matches--but the story of the underdog Hase going on a George Mason/VCU-like run was still compelling. I thought Fujinami looked good here, though the decision to put the IWGP Heavyweight belt back on him in '94 still puzzles me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted June 23, 2015 Report Share Posted June 23, 2015 Really good but I really think Hase should have defeated Mutoh in the final here to really set himself up as a main player. This had some engaging matwork but the escalation that made the previous two matches work so well on top of the matwork got stunted here when Fujinmai won in fairly anticlimactic fashion. Still, a superb week for Hase. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 It's strange how people will view a match and a wrestler in a way that fits a narrative even if what is actually being seen is counter to that narrative. The narrative being the one that Fujinami was washed up after returning from his back injury in the 90s. Fujinami was indeed a shadow of a shadow the worker he used to be. It's hard to fathom that he dropped off as hard as he did while still being able to wrestle for the next two decades. However, this is the best he's looked in a singles match on a yearbook since returning. He's actually pretty good here and this is a very good match. Fujinami had a great transition when he suddenly had an opening and viciously kicked out Hase's injured leg from underneath him. It was loud and strong enough as a transition with the two pausing to react afterward, that anyone in the building would have understood exactly what was happening. If there's any criticism I would make of Fujinami, it's that he did not sell the back as well as he should have. Hase did a great job working it over, assaulting Fujinami with Uranages on floor, and that deserved more from Fujinami's intermittent selling. The matwork between the two was good, though, and they both did a good job on offense. I loved the opening barrage from Fujinami and then the backing off, a mistake that Hase wouldn't make later on. I loved Hase's trifecta of suplexes in the stretch run, hitting his uranage, hitting Fujinami's own dragon suplex and then hitting a Saito suplex, touching on each decade in New Japan. This should have been Hase's coming out party, but the wrong guy won, and Hase will always be a notch below the true headliners, (like Fujinami and Masa Saito). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garretta Posted December 3, 2016 Report Share Posted December 3, 2016 I saw a totally different story being told here. The right guy won, because the guy who "should have" won had a leg that was destroyed over the course of the tournament and simply wasn't physically capable of winning. I thought Fujinami's work on Hase's leg was stellar, and he showed a killer instinct that he very seldom does. That repetitiveness that some of you saw was actually smart wrestling on Fujinami's part; he could feel Hase's leg weakening more and more each time he applied the figure-four or the Scorpion, so why wouldn't he go back to those holds time and again until he finally got the submission? Remember, he's a wrestler trying to win a contest, not a performer trying to be aesthetically pleasing. (Yes, I know exactly what I just said. If you need it explained to you, you're on the wrong board.) I understand that it might have been a better story if Hase had overcome the injury to win the tournament, but sometimes the upset just doesn't come off, the underdogs simply don't have enough in the end, and that was what happened to Hase here. Did it take away from his earlier performances? Not in my eyes it didn't. It also doesn't mean that Hase will forever be seen as a lesser talent. He may be seen that way by some, but it's not just because he didn't win this particular match and tournament. Also, it's unfair to judge Fujinami's performance in the tournament just on this match. A lot of us may have seen his other tournament matches, but a lot of us haven't. Given his status, it may just be that whoever was booking saw Fujinami as the Cinderella story, not Hase, which means that he's the one who pulled the upset out of nowhere, even with Hase injured. I don't have access to the other matches, so I don't know how Fujinami worked them, but it's a definite possibility. Hase worked worked in his back quite savagely in the early part of the match, so this match may have been a question of who gave out first, since I'd bet that Fujinami's other opponents worked on his back at least a little. Anyway, both men were tremendous in this match, and I'd like to see them go at it again when each of them is closer to a hundred percent. I think we'll be in for another treat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted December 3, 2016 Report Share Posted December 3, 2016 I saw a totally different story being told here. The right guy won, because the guy who "should have" won had a leg that was destroyed over the course of the tournament and simply wasn't physically capable of winning. Criticising the Fujunami win is in view of the tournament as a whole rather than this one match. Hase didn't have to win the final to make it a great push for him. I just can't see a lot of benefit to pushing the Dragon anymore by this point. Remember, he's a wrestler trying to win a contest, not a performer trying to be aesthetically pleasing. (Yes, I know exactly what I just said. If you need it explained to you, you're on the wrong board.) It's too hard to decide on which joke to insert here. Also, it's unfair to judge Fujinami's performance in the tournament just on this match. A lot of us may have seen his other tournament matches, but a lot of us haven't. Given his status, it may just be that whoever was booking saw Fujinami as the Cinderella story, not Hase, which means that he's the one who pulled the upset out of nowhere, even with Hase injured. I don't have access to the other matches, so I don't know how Fujinami worked them, but it's a definite possibility. Hase worked worked in his back quite savagely in the early part of the match, so this match may have been a question of who gave out first, since I'd bet that Fujinami's other opponents worked on his back at least a little. This paragraph is contradictory and complete conjecture. Only a brief clip of Fujinami's R1 match and about half of his QF match were ever shown on TV or Comm. They were wins over fellow veterans Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Osamu Kido. Then he beat Mutoh in the SF. There wasn't a particular theme of accumulated back damage. It's also hard to see how Fujinami's run could be viewed as a Cinderalla story in the context of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garretta Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 First, thanks for the info on who Fujinami beat. You're right, beating Fujiwara and Kido doesn't exactly make for a Cinderella run, considering that both of them were better known as shoot fighters than pro-style wrestlers by now. Him beating Muta's a bit of a headscratcher; now I know why people were calling for Muta in the final, and I would have been too. As for no one else really working on his back, that makes Hase's actions seem more desperate than anything else. I never claimed to be an expert on New Japan; I've made no effort to seek out other footage than what I've bought, and I probably won't. I don't say that as an excuse for myself; I say it to remind everyone reading that I'm someone who's watching these matches pretty much in isolation. I've probably made a few outlandish assumptions based on my lack of puro knowledge in the past, and I probably will in the future. As someone who's obviously watched more than I have, you were able to educate me, and I sincerely thank you for having done so. I should have left the parenthetical line that you referenced above out. It was needlessly snarky, and I apologize. I usually take lines like that out before I send my posts, but I didn't this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjo Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 I never claimed to be an expert on New Japan; I've made no effort to seek out other footage than what I've bought, and I probably won't. I don't say that as an excuse for myself; I say it to remind everyone reading that I'm someone who's watching these matches pretty much in isolation. I've probably made a few outlandish assumptions based on my lack of puro knowledge in the past, and I probably will in the future. Most of the posters in these threads are fans who have some or a lot of Puro knowledge from years past. AJPW and NJPW being the most watched overall. So viewing New Japan from the Yearbooks is about rediscovery and reanalysis as well as discovering new things. Coming at things with a clean slate is going to give you a fresh and different perspective at times. That and your forthright opinions make your posts interesting to read, whether I agree with them or not. And unless a fan lived through an era or watches lots of footage from the time period there's plenty of guesswork and speculation involved. Following a certain promotion through the Yearbooks involves trying to fit the pieces together as best you can. It's not ideal, but it is the most efficient and fun way to experience 90's wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makai Club #1 Posted August 23, 2020 Report Share Posted August 23, 2020 The final, the end, the grand finale of the G1 Climax. A ton of the matches aren’t available in the way needed but what is available in full is quality matches. And Hase’s been at the front of all of that. Can he take that final step of beating The Dragon himself? Hashimoto went down. Chono went down. Fujinami is next. I loved the initial flurry where Fujinami and Hase battle each other with some light grappling before Fujinami plants Hase on his neck with a german suplex. He didn’t follow it up and it cost him as Hase regained footing and nailed a uranage on the floor. The match moved up a tempo once Fujinami attacked the leg after Hase left it open. Fujinami kept going back to the figure four to soften up the leg to great success. Hase in return kept throwing hard suplexes to great applause. They built Hase’s barrage of german/dragon suplexes up so well as a match winner throughout the tournament so when Hase got into a groove, the crowd bit on that as the finish. Fujinami just surviving it with a suplex of his own was pretty great. And the recurring leg work by Fujinami eventually paid off when Fujinami locked on the Scorpion Deathlock to get the win. It was not the best G1 Finals you’ll ever see but I dug it a ton. It followed a lot of the similar notes that the Chono v Hase match had but with less flair to it. Fujinami’s selling wasn’t great as far as the back goes either. But this was a borderline great match I thought. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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