[1995-05-03-NJPW-Wrestling Dontaku] Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Muto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Bearded Muto is awesome. The heat is so through the roof and Muto's selling looks so good that I wish this was a match we would have had room to include in full. Muto hits two moonsaults to win the IWGP title and kick off what I am expecting to be quite the exciting run for him.

[Tim Evans]

Muto leading the crowd in "Inoki's cheer" was weird. I thought Inoki was the only one that did that? Good stuff though.

[rzombie1988]

Can anyone explain this match to me? I just watched this and thought it was a total turd. The heat was good but nothing happened in the first 10 minutes, Mutoh hit a bunch of offense and then some shenanigans happened during the pin.

[Zenjo]

First half they worked the mat. It was a pleasant way to pass the time with a few nice touches. They patiently built it up. I liked how nothing came easy and they had to fight to pull off the higher powered moves. The stretch had clear shifts in momentum with one and then the other getting close but just being denied. It was a matchup of equals and on this day Mutoh shaded it. If it had gone to the better performer then Hash would have retained. I have no idea what "shenanigans" rzombie is referring to. I would usually use the term to refer to sports entertainment related screwiness. The match was by no means perfect, but it was a good main event for a Dome show and well worth a watch.

[PeteF3]

Dr. Death has lost a TON of weight since his drug bust, and--oh, that's Mutoh. He wins the IWGP title. Yay. Hash had had a stranglehold on the belt for the past year and a half, minus an inexplicable quickie reign by Tatsumi Fujinami, but I wasn't quite ready for him to lose the belt just yet.

[Jordan]

Muto's matwork has progressed here so this was an alright portion unlike some of his early 90s encounters with Hashimoto but it still feels like Hashimoto just hears the 15 minute call and decides to start headbutting Muto a bunch and wake up the Dome and get the match moving along. I will say however I felt like their transitions were a lot better by this point. Too much early 90s NJPW had the sort of obvious rope running counter ones or just a "well I'm in a corner and my opponent is running at me from far away I guess I'll duck" type of momentum shifts but they're much better at pulling you into the drama late here.

 

This too has another good finishing stretch, which seems to be a theme of these longer Hashimoto/Muto matches. I've never felt disappointed in the last segment of them but the journey is usually not worth it. Muto completely spikes Hashimoto on the dragon suplex here and it's kinda disappointing that he overshoots him on the first moonsault so he has to run back to the middle rope and do it again. Think my personal favorite moment in this was when Muto randomly decides to break out these terrible looking savate kicks that are missing by a mile so Hashimoto literally just walks through them to attack him some more.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 5/3/95

Finally found it! Most people would say the Hashimoto/Mutoh classic is their G-1 Climax from later this year and I would agree that is better than this but this is still very good. However real ones know that it is actually their 9/23/92 IWGP Title match with Mutoh as the Great Muta that is their real classic. Pretty typical puroresu booking here with Hashimoto having vanquished all challengers in his year long reign except Mutoh so expect Mutoh to win. 
 

Mutoh came to play. Mutoh runs hot & cold with me. While his selling, lack thereof, dragged the match down, his offense and more importantly his aggressive disposition is what kept me in it. He wrestled just like a challenger should always moving forward. That’s the champion’s advantage they don’t have to beat the challenger. Mutoh had that challenger mindset throughout this match. He had to win so he was always pressing and always looking for offense. Hashimoto sold this well making it feel like he was on his back foot and reacting to Mutoh.

They fool me early and set the tone. They eschew the typical New Japan mat work for Mutoh to hit drop kicks and get Hashimoto off balance. Mutoh goes for the back handspring elbow but it is too early so Hashimoto evades and delivers a kick. That’s that challenger mindset. I like New Japan Heavies matwork so I enjoyed this. Mutoh definitely had the upper hand in this segment. Besides a bad drop toehold, Mutoh worked the mat pretty well. There is a great spot where Mutoh does the Ali Shuffle goes for a leg dive and Hashimoto pancakes him.
 

Hashimoto just lunges with headbutts on a lock up to say fuck this let’s go muthafucka. Hashimoto starts unleashing fury including an unexpected piledriver. Hashimoto goes up top. HASHIMOTO GOES UP TOP?!? Misses top rope elbow. Mutoh’s turn. I loved Mutoh snap elbow on the fallen Hashimoto. Back Handspring Elbow (that feels earned now). Top Rope Franksteiner. Now Mutoh misses a top rope moonsault. Even Stevens. Great Hashimoto elbow and spinning heel kick.

This comparison is a microcosm of the match watch how Hashimoto sells the cross arm breaker versus Mutoh. Hashimoto selling adds so much drama whereas Mutoh feels like he is just any hold. Down the stretch Mutoh’s weird selling really hurts the heat. Hashimoto overwhelms with chops, kicks and knees to finally get a DDT. HASHIMOTO UNLEASHED HELL WITH ROUND KICK TO THE HEAD! 
 

Mutoh just kicks out and then on the Hashimoto Brainbuster he converts that into a DDT. Didn’t like that transition at all. Dragon Suplex. Mutoh blows the first moonsault so he goes back to hit another one. Hashimoto kicks out at 3 to protect himself. 
 

There was some good stuff; I enjoyed Mutoh‘s full court press, I thought both their control segments were good and liked how each ended with a top rope missed move. The last 5 minutes just needed a little more oomph and a better transition. Mutoh is such a strange wrestler. *** 1/2