[1992-12-11-NJPW-Final Battle] Masa Chono vs Hiroshi Hase

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is totally the Hase Show. Chono isn't really good or bad and doesn't get in too much offense. Most of the time, Hase is schooling him on the mat, schooling him in the air, and schooling him anywhere else he can. It's a fun match to watch because Hase has tons of good offense and shows pretty much all of his cards, but I wish it was more competitive. It's not a squash or anything, but it is mostly Hase in control. Considering how hard Chono was pushed over summer and that he's the NWA champ, I'm not sure why they worked the match like that unless the goal was to build up Hase as a challenger. The stuff Chono does get in, like the floatover DDT and piledriver, looks really good. There wasn't much doubt that Hase was going over just because he was made to look so strong in the layout. Give Chono credit (or not) for taking so many headdrops from Hase less than two months after Austin messed up his neck. All the close calls near the end are great, but this is Chono getting thrown around like a ragdoll.

[shoe]

I really enjoyed this and thought it was an excellent match. Like Loss said Hase did control the bout a little too much, but damn he was great at it. I liked how they battled on the mat early with neither man able to take control. Hase finally does take control and is awesome working Chono's neck. We get some fun neck work till Hase goes to the top rope and misses a knee drop. This allows Chono to take control and work Hase's leg. We see him work it, and use the STF many times. Hase makes his comeback and we see both guys throwing a lot of big moves at one another. My one gripe is I wished Chono got a little more time in control. Still we had a bout that moved a long, both wrestlers attacked body parts, super athletic, and a strong finish. Meltzer compared this to Hart/HBK at Survivor Series. Personally I thought this smoked it.

[Zenjo]

A fine match, full of goodness over it's 25m duration. The whole bout was fought in the centre of the ring with little striking. Both utilised a wide array of techniques and the tide went back and forth. Could've used a little more variation in pacing. Chono worked on the knee which was sold very well later on. The G1 winner was head down and totally focused on the job in hand. Hase showed more character and engaged the crowd. Decent finish and an impressive showing from both men.

[PeteF3]

Wow. See, a standard match layout especially in Japan sees the guy who's taking the fall get most of the offense in the match, so both guys can ostensibly look strong. So I had this big write-up in my mind as I was watching this expanding on that. Even when it's designed to get the guy over, that type of layout can be counterproductive--a lower-ranked guy kicks his opponent's ass six ways from Sunday, but the higher-ranked guy basically shrugs it off when coming back at the end, which ironically can make the guy doing the job weaker, not stronger. That's exactly where I figured this was going since of course Chono wasn't doing a singles job to Hase.

 

Well, that whole idea went for nought (not that it kept me from writing it up anyway). Hase levels Chono with almost everything he's got and a few more wrinkles--and even busts out an STF and a series of Yakuza kicks, just to mess with him...and it all pays off when he pins him. I guess this is another example of my AJPW-centric thinking and another testament to Riki Choshu, as that one blindsided me. Hase was absolutely terrific, with some huge bombs like the Northern Lights superplex and Chono's moves which had you really buying into the upset-tease-that-wasn't-a-tease-at-all. Chono was kind of just there, but it was a stunningly selfless performance, and the ending was one of the most markout-worthy moments of this Yearbook for me.

[WingedEagle]

Like Pete, I saw Hase controlling this throughout and fully expected Chono to pull off the win at the end. Hell of a pleasant surprise to see Hase's dominance rewarded. He brought quite a bit here. A UFCish spot early where he basically invited Chono into his guard. He goes aggressive on the outside hot shotting Chono on the railing. He then goes to work with a ton of big moves including piledrivers on what had to have been a pretty tender neck for Chono. Hase added a nice wrinkle avoiding the STF a second time by keeping his head down to prevent Chono from locking it in. A series of uranages and northern lights gets him the win. The crowd was rightfully pretty hot here.

 

Have to say that Hase has been one of the more surprising wrestlers on the set. Maybe its misplaced expectations, but I generally go into his matches expecting one of Ricky Steamboat's performances when he isn't wrestling with fire -- functionally solid in every regard, but nothing that gets you particularly invested in the match. Between the Vader/Bigelow tag, the Choshu tag, the Sasaki match and this one, its been a pretty great year for Hase. Never really disappointing other than the Steiners match and we can guess why that didn't work.

 

***3/4

[garretta]

This was a classic non-title match in the old-school NWA mode, designed to show that Hase can beat Chono so that their title match has more intrigue.

 

I'd forgotten about Austin hurting Chono's neck while I was watching this, but kudos to Chono for allowing Hase to work his neck so much when it had to be hurting him.

 

The STF must be the hot new submission hold these days in Japan, as we've seen lots of wrestlers try it, even Ric Flair. Still, there's nothing quite like seeing the original master of a hold apply it, and that was definitely the case with Chono here. It was great to see him work Hase's knee before applying it; we as fans tend to forget about the leg's involvement because we can see the crossface part so much more easily on camera.

 

I disagree with those who think that Chono was just a punching bag; he showed his worth in the mat wrestling sequence at the beginning, and always managed to cut Hase off just as he was beginning to run away with things. Still, this was designed to get Hase over as a top NWA World title contender, and it certainly did. Here's hoping we get a title match on the '93 set!