[1995-08-13-NJPW-G1 Climax] Ric Flair vs Keiji Muto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Joined in progress. This was fantastic! Muto's cut from the Chono match is reopened. This is really cool because Flair is playing the total heel instead of his normal, more subdued Japan act. Muto misses a moonsault and clinches his knee, just giving Flair a huge opening. But Flair decides to work the cut instead, which I think worked out way better. Flair throws some outstanding punches and eventually gets back to the knee before locking in the figure four. Muto's blood covered face while selling the figure four is quite the visual. I love how into the reversal the New Japan crowd gets -- yet another example of '95 New Japan reminding me of JCP. Excellent, excellent, excellent. I don't know how the whole match will look, but now I want to see it, because this was lots of fun, and Flair looked great!

 

I kept looking for Flair scooting in for Muto's moonsault like jdw has talked about, but saw no such thing.

[Tim Evans]

This was good but man, Flair can't even get a win in Japan?

[PeteF3]

Dang, this is like Buddy vs. Armstrong and the Lawler-Dundee Christmas LLT, rolled into one and cranked up. Flair staying in Mutoh's blind spot and peppering him with rights and lefts was absolutely awesome. Flair is a pure heel and Mutoh is a pure babyface, and both play their roles perfectly, though it's clear that Flair has lost a step and that Mutoh is the superior worker at this point. Pains me to admit it, but it's true. Flair still knows what he's doing though, in terms of laying out a match and timing his kickouts and giving Mutoh his hope spots. Mutoh's moonsault actually looks really vicious here, and is a convincing way for him to go over. New Japan carrying the banner of '80s southern wrasslin' in the middle of the '90s is something I can definitely get behind.

[Zenjo]

I would imagine that joining in progress would do this all sorts of favours. The first half was cagey and tactical. Or to phrase it differently; slow paced and underwhelming. It was well worth sticking with it as things got really good in the second half. Mutoh's head wound was reopened and Flair wasn't about to pass up the invitation. Plus the Nature Boy went to work on the leg at the same time. It was pretty awesome when Mutoh was bleeding profusely and selling the leg simultaneously. In classic style the face was energised by the loss of blood and his adrenalin helped Keiji to hulk up for the comeback victory.