[1994-02-24-NJPW-Fighting Spirit] Jushin Liger vs Shinya Hashimoto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

Speaking of New Japan booking... you have a very rare New Japan event at Nippon Budokan, with the following undercard:

 

1. Tokimitsu Ishizawa beat Tatsuhito Takaiwa

2. Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi beat Yuji Nagata & Shinjiro Otani

3. Yoshiaki Yatsu , Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga beat Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Masao Orihara when Yatsu pinned Orihara.

4. Hiroshi Hase beat Tadao Yasuda (debut) (10:26) with a crab hold.

5. Tatsutoshi Goto beat Masahiro Chono

6. Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido beat Power Warrior, Takayuki Iizuka & Akira Nogami

 

Ouch. I mean that is just dog meat. But then they book Hashimoto vs Liger, making it a one-match card at a big venue, and one of the participants is a junior. AND it's just a week after another big show with a much stronger card in the same city.

 

ProWrestlingHistory shows the gate for this as being far below the gate of the Budokan shows to either side, which means they propped up the attendance number somehow. Still, $400,000 for a heavy vs junior match is nothing to sneeze at, and it's certainly a vote of confidence in Liger. All done to build up the J Cup two months later.

 

Really good match, with Hashimoto putting Liger over way more than he had to.

[Loss]

This was an amazing match. It's not the best match of 1994 so far, but it is close, and it is probably my favorite match so far. Liger took pretty much exactly the amount of offense he should have, and Hashimoto did a ton to put him over, including taking a huracanrana while sitting on the top rope and eating a Liger bomb! The execution of both of those spots was also so well done because it wasn't hit as clean as Liger normally hits it, to show how much of a struggle it was to do those moves. I love when Liger tries to apply all of his signature spots to Hashimoto and can't do some of them because of the size difference. I also love how they both sold exactly as much as they should have. Hash's offense was much more powerful than Liger's because of the size difference, and Liger figured this out and tried to counter by hitting him three times as much. The crowd screaming in support for Liger when he's trying to lift Hashimoto in the surfboard is pretty fantastic too. Phenomenal stuff.

[jdw]

It was a Fan Appreciation Card with reduced ticket prices. The intent wasn't to run a Budokan with a blowout card, or even one of their normal major arena cards. It's pretty similar to the pedestrian cards both NJPW and AJPW rolled out for Fan Appreciation cards. The exception was... they gave the fans a pretty special main event. So that major it worthy of running at Budokan rather than at the typical Korakuen Hall.

 

John

[Exposer]

Wow, this was really fucking good. The Heavyweight vs. the Junior. It worked out perfectly. Liger's struggles and eventual success of executing his offense was really great. I loved how he gets more and more winded after each move. Before that though, he must target Hash's leg because everyone knows to take the bigger man down you've got to go after the leg. Hash is great here too. He works on Liger's arm early on and weathers the smaller mans offensive attack. The combination of kicks and the brainbuster is a defiant finish to an excellent match. This ruled big time.

[soup23]

Great junior vs. heavy battle. Starts out with good process and sound strategy from both competitors. Liger being unable to surfboard Hash was brilliant. The sequence from the Liger bomb to the end was breathtaking with big moves, perfect selling and the right pacing. Just a great match that makes both guys look really strong coming out.

[PeteF3]

The build to Liger finally being able to unleash his big moves was very well-done. He can't do the surfboard--and boy, does the size difference matter way more here than it did when Liger was unable to lift Tenryu--or various other moves, so he mostly settles for relentlessly attacking Hash's legs. Then when he *does* bust out the Liger Bomb, the moment is that much more special. Incidentally, I think, just to be difficult or whatever, the Budokan imposed special rules on NJPW that All-Japan didn't have to worry about: the card had to end at a certain time, and no fighting on the floor. So the one thing this match is missing is Liger busting out the big dives, which would have made psychological sense. But these guys are so good that that's easily overcome. Hash's cutoffs of Liger's big run of finishers is fantastic, looking like a desperate man while still convincingly killing Liger dead.

[Zenjo]

Champion vs Champion. This was a nicely worked contest with Hash giving a lot to Liger and rewarding the fans. Liger was short yet well built, so looked credible where other juniors wouldn't have done. The build was a slow burner with Jushin's arm and Shinya's knee having a hard time of it. Strong selling from both men. Initially it might have seemed a bit too minimalist, yet the contrast when they stepped it up made it worth the while. Liger hit some big moves and lasted a long while, yet he couldn't survive the heavyweights top offence.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin "Thunder" Liger - NJPW 2/24/94

 

Notice on how Liger did not wear a top for this match to show off his muscles to make it more believable he could go toe to toe with Hashimoto.

 

Respect size and everything matters more. This match is a perfect example of how by respecting size differentials match drama can be greatly enhanced. Early on Liger tries to do his routine moves like the surfboard and Ligerbomb, but cant because Hashimoto is just too big. On the flips side, Hashimoto can chuck Liger around like wicked snap belly to belly and his thrunderdous suplex slam. You really feel bad for Liger going up against this asskicker, but at the same time Liger is such a great wrestler you believe he has it in him. Hashimoto kicks his ass in the beginning. Liger realizes if he does not start fighting back he is going to get killed. So he unleashes a fury of palm strikes and a couple kappo kicks. He tries to speed up tempo, but eats a huge Hashimoto dropkick. Hashimoto destroys Liger's arm with wristlocks and then kicks the fucking hell out of it. My biggest complaint of the match is that Liger does not sell it long term, but still a great match. Liger uses speed and hits a basement dropkick. After those stinging kicks, I would be looking to fuck up his legs too. Liger proves he is not one to be manhandled and slaps the fuck out of Hashimoto in an inverted deathlock. Hashimoto is a great bully and I love how Liger is not backing down. It becomes an arm vs leg psychology. Liger wins out hits a missile dropkick on the knee and then applies figure-4. You see from Hashimoto's selling that it hurts, but does not hurt as much because Liger cant apply as much pressure. Then Liger just rattles off HUGE SPOT AFTER HUGE SPOT! OMG LIGERBOMB~! TOP ROPE BRAINBUSTER~! TOP ROPE FRANKENSTEINER~! GERMAN!!! That top rope brainbuster was scary. Hashimoto lets him have his fun before trying to kick a hole in his body. Those were fierce kicks. When Liger tries a palm strike, Hashimoto wipes him the fuck out with a leg sweep from hell. Kicks his fucking head off and then BRAINBUSTER~! Awesome David vs Goliath match where this time you knew Goliath was going to win and it is cool because it is rockstar badass Goliath, but David put up one helluva fight. ****1/2

[Jordan]

Funny how you can get answers to your thoughts on a match from watching something in a similar vein. This was the case for me after I returned to this after watching Bryan/Reigns and the two Styles/Reigns matches.

I had always thought this was great, but something about the finish always felt jarring, and I’m somebody who enjoys NJPW’s “it can happen at anytime” philosophy that followed a lot of matches in this era. The match has all this incredible build towards Liger finding some way to get off offense that when he finally has that major breakthrough it’s HUGE and the crowd is going crazy for it. But then Hash doesn’t shrug it off or no sell it, more so he finds a counter chance with that judo throw and then completely crushes Liger with kicks before the brainbuster. Now, I used to think that was anti-climactic considering where the match had progressed to but this time it clicked: Hash in those final few minutes was wrestling with this “wait a minute, I might actually lose” urgency that makes his assault all that more potent that you realize he doesn’t really need an extended run of DDTs and spin kicks when he’s the heavyweight anyway. Liger was the one trying to chop down the tree, or climb a mountain here, not Hash. But yeah, with my thoughts on this now set, Hashimoto's '94 looks insane. You have this, the Tenryu blowoff (which was just a week prior to this!!!), the Fujiwara match and the December Hase match on his resume. What a year.

[JKWebb]

#141 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-150-101/

 

Well, if that is the reason Liger didn't wear a top, then it worked on me. The first thing I thought was how jacked he looked without his normal gear. I loved Liger's slap to the face of Hash after Hash had hit him with some headbutts. That top rope brainbuster was BRUTAL. This was incredible. ****1/2

[ShittyLittleBoots]

THE Junior Heavyweight of New Japan going against THE Heavyweight of New Japan. And the match is just as good as it looks. Liger delivers a fantastic David performance as he tries to chop down the much bigger Hashimoto by going after his leg - great strategy, as Hashimoto established in the early parts of the match that size truly matters. He is AWESOME kicking Liger's ass (& Liger is really great bumping + selling), and his selling of Liger's work was pretty much perfect. The finishing stretch w/ Liger getting those sweet, sweet nearfalls until Hash just beat the shit out of him was also really, really, REALLY great. Fantastic match. ****1/2