[1992-07-31-NJPW-Summer Struggle] Masa Chono vs Shiro Koshinaka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

Something about Chono vs Koshinaka makes them better opponents than when they're against other NJ regulars. Neither is good at the kind of chop/elbow/middle kick striking that's the meat-and-potatoes of post-1990 Japanese heavyweight wrestling, neither is especially compelling on the mat, neither has a deep arsenal of highspots, but both have just enough moves and charisma and ring smarts to put together good matches between each other. It helps that they aren't going 25+ minutes though. Lots of heat, blood, and a dramatic finish to cap it off.

[Loss]

I wouldn't say Chono makes easy work of Koshinaka, but he's definitely more dominant than I expected. Koshinaka, by the way, looks completely different with a shaved head -- almost like Bad News Allen in karate pants. He jumps Chono at the bell and pays for it throughout this match, bleeding a gusher and taking a hell of a beating. Chono refuses to let sleeping dogs life after the bell and half the heavies end up in the ring pulling apart Chono from ... Kengo Kimura??? Really? Okay. Really good match.

[Tim Evans]

Alright Skinhead version of Koshinaka rules. I always heard about that stable and now I get to see some in action. Good match with the blood and the heat.

[shoe]

I thought this was really good. It had a ton of heat. I didn't get the talking shit and getting suplexed off the top rope aspects of it. Other than this was really great.

[Zenjo]

They established a heated rivalry and a strong face-heel dynamic. Kosh looked good with the shaven head and beard, he should've kept the look. He ended up wearing the crimson mask. An exciting contest that kept moving and had strong rivalry psychology. Chono won convincingly because his opponant was weakened by blood loss. Very good.

[WingedEagle]

Hot crowd & opening with Koshinaka's butt bump to floor right away followed by a Yakuza kick from Chono. Yet another reminder why average at Korakuen is better than most stuff elsewhere. Cool spot where Kosh goes to the top, Chono follows him and they trash talk before Chono hits a superplex. Kosh then opens a major gusher which Chono works to great heat, setting the crowd up big for Kosh's comeback. Dramatic finish in the middle of the ring, followed by a heated post-match. Chona wins with STF after struggling to secure it in the middle. Chono goes for handshake afterwards, Kosh slaps him and takes him out with kick. Fun post-match which leaves you wanting more Skinheads vs. New Japan. Only thing lost on me is I thought the Skinheads were heels but they're seemingly treated as faces here. Is that just a Korakuen quirk?

 

***1/2

[PeteF3]

Yeah, Chono was working full-blown heel here. I'm not up on my NJPW history but I thought his heel turn was a few years away, but that's clearly how they were positioning him for this while Koshinaka works as a valiant underdog despite leading an ostensible heel stable. So we have that bit of weirdness and the dueling superplexes spot which was marginally better than dueling tombstones but not by much. Once we get past that bit of jerking off and get to Chono trying to open Koshinaka up, we get a hell of a match. Koshinaka gets in a great run of near-falls but once Chono kicks out of the dragon suplex, you (and Koshinaka, judging by his reaction) get the message that Shiro has no more bullets in his chamber. Chono comes back in short order with a fine sequence of each guy countering each other's hip attacks and Yakuza kicks. Shiro fights off one STF but eventually succumbs to a second one. Chono won't let go then clobbers Koshinaka on an attempted post-match handshake and most of the native roster eventually comes in to break it up. Yes, Kengo Kimura being the centerpiece of the post-match scrum was weird--it seemed he hadn't done anything since the Fujinami feud in '87. I am glad to see this Yearbook give some coverage to Heisei Ishingun.

[garretta]

I'd never seen these two go at it before, but they Immediately made me believe that they were (literally) blood enemies. Chono seemed more vicious than I've ever seen him, and Koshinala showed off more offense than usual, proving himself to be more than the master of the butt bump. His suplex variations were first-class, and I especially liked the spot where each man takes two turns superplexing the other, which I've never seen done before. Koshinaka's blade job was nasty, but really effective.

 

As fir the ending, I wonder if it led anywhere, because Kimura seemed awfully determined to come to Koshinaka's defense for whatever reason. I don't think I've seen a Kimura match since sometime in '87, but he looks like he can still go. I don't think the issue between Chono and Koshinaka is settled yet either, Chono's submission win in this match notwithstanding. Hopefully we'll see the fallout from all this sometime later this year.

[dawho5]

Chono being a complete dick heel was great, as was Kosh as the veteran who isn't taking Chono's shit.  Don't get allowing yourself to be superplexed.  Just seems kinda counterproductive.  The Southern brawl portions of this were great.  The goofy stuff dragged it down a little.