[1994-06-15-NJPW] Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Choshu/Hash is always a fun time. By always, I mean, "I really liked the one match I've seen, even though I know they've had more." But still, it's painfully obvious they match up well. Everything these two do feels life or death, and this has all the great staredowns and lariats and high kicks that you want from them locking up. I know that sounds generic, but it's true. It's not the G-1 final, but it's really good in its own right.

[Kevin Ridge]

So this is for the title? Choshu took the loss in the previous six man tag. It's a good match as they do make fine opponents for one another. They slug it out and throw a lot at each other. I wasn't expecting the finish to come off an elbow drop but I was okay with it.

[Exposer]

It's a testament of these guys charisma when a limited moveset is used and the match is great. They just kick, elbow, DDT, knee, and clothesline the hell out of one another and they make it work. I liked that Choshu during his control segment would still grasp his chest from Hash's previous assaults with his knees and feet or shake off his arm after each massive clothesline he connected with. I'm a fan of small details like that. Overall, this felt like a big deal and ultimately was a very good to great match.

[soup23]

A low - tech match even by Choshu standards but everything was presented well and I loved the elbow smash finisher as it looked devastating. Hashimoto is given Misawa a run for his money in my book for best "ace" of 1994.

[PeteF3]

Not much to say here. Just two hosses beating each other up. This was better than their early '90s stuff, and the dynamic was switched. Hash is no longer the young lion--now Choshu is the oldster who's still trying to hang.

[Jordan]

PeterF3 nailed it pointing out the importance of the dynamic switch in terms of Hash fully becoming the man and Choshu transitioning into the old vet trying to hold on. I think their best matches by far come when that finally takes place (This, '96 G1, '97 Dome Show).

 

Watching this after just watching their match from 1991 is like night and day in terms of quality in my eyes. While the layout for the '91 match seemed kind of out of order and just momentum killing at times this one never let up and kept going and going towards its end goal.

 

And I must say I really loved the diving elbow finish and how spontaneous it felt. Completely bought it (loved Choshu's refusal to be easily turned over for the pin in a last ditch effort to survive) and wish modern wrestling had more of those.

[Zenjo]

I know it's not being fair, but I couldn't help comparing this to the main event from the last AJ show at Budokan Hall...

 

Choshu vs Hash matches are a lot down to interpretation. Two guys exchanging simplistic and repetitive moves for 10m and an elbow drop finisher. Or a psychological masterpiece telling tales of rivalry, generations and the shifting sands of time. Take your pick.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 6/15/94

 

The goal of the Spring of 1994 in New Japan was very clear, get Shinya Hashimoto over as the Ace. Trading the title with Fujinami was booking genius as it broke up the long Hashimoto run with the championship and it made him earn it back from Fujinami, the NJPW stalwart of the 80s. It gave him a challenge. Then he goes over Fujiwara two weeks before this. Now it is the rockstar of the 80s, Riki Choshu to make Hashimoto. Short of Inoki putting Hashimoto over they really did all they could.

 

Amazing match. I know they would go on to have a Dome match in '97 which I have not seen but will see soon, this would have benefitted greatly from being in a Dome and there are few matches that thrive in a Dome setting, but Hashimoto vs Choshu is definitely one. Choshu has a weathered face and is a battle-tested veteran seeking to prove one last time he is the Man. Hashimoto is not going to give him an inch. I loved the two lock ups early. Two rams neither one buckling. Hashimoto ends up kicking the shit out of Choshu early on. He looks like he is going to run away with the match with his onslaught of kicks, one really good one to the head. He even hits his DDT. He goes for his rainbow heel kick and Choshu swats him out of the sky. Superplex! Then Choshu tries his damndest to decapitate him with clotheslines. Those last three lariats were brutal. Even though he tries multiple times, he cant get the pin. Choshu has punched himself out and is exhausted. Hashimoto starts rifling him with kicks. Even though a lot is taken out of Hashimoto, he is the younger, hungrier competitor and he outlasts Choshu in this gunfight. Hashimoto's kicks and big elbow drops the one from the second rope was great. Choshu, resilient to end, refuses to be turned over easily but once Hashimoto pins him there is no kicking out. An amazing old gunslinger vs new fastest draw in town match, Choshu gives it his all and his defiant to the end, but nothing was going to stop the asskicker Shinya Hashimoto. ****

[KB8]

What a match. There is nothing complicated about this. If you know anything about their rivalry then it'll probably resonate with you a little more, probably make everything come off a little richer in its execution, but even going in cold this is not a difficult match to follow. Partly because the simplicity is in how much they absolutely smash each other to bits. There are only like three actual transitions as well, each of which being examples of them smashing each other to bits. The tie-ups to start are Hashimoto v Choshu tie-ups, like two bulls butting heads. Then Choshu starts throwing kicks to Hashimoto's leg so Hash completely obliterates him. He just punts him up and down the place. This is Hashimoto's house now and Choshu's trying to use some of his wiliness but you will fucking not be pulling that shit tonight, my friend. I can only assume Hash had a leg injury at some point in the lead up to this because Choshu finally manages to take over by just clubbing Hashimoto's knee as the latter goes for a wheel kick. Ordinarily that wouldn't seem like a spot to shift momentum so drastically, especially given Hashimoto's dominance up to that point, but Hash sold it like it had totally ruined him so maybe there's something else there. Either way Choshu goes right to what brung him and about decapitates Hash with a lariat. And well, Choshu trying to lariat Hashimoto into oblivion as Hash refuses to give an inch is one of those things in pro-wrestling that just feels right. It's pure. Like Lawler and Dundee trading haymakers or Tamura and Han fighting over limbs. They're not the only ones to have done it, but there's something about THOSE guys doing it that nobody else can quite capture. Hashimoto's selling is so good as Choshu unloads bombs, the way he grimaces knowing how much this next lariat is gonna suck, the way he struggles to stay upright, the way he sells the cumulative damage of each blow. Choshu going through progressive stages of denial or disbelief as Hashimoto keeps kicking out ruled as well. After his last attempt he's almost shocked into a state of immobility, but it ends up costing him as Hash comes roaring back out of nowhere with a monster roundhouse. Even as you get the sense it's only a matter of time you still wonder if Choshu has one trick left in the bag. And then Hash crushes him with the nastiest middle rope elbow you ever did see. That this might not even be a top 3 iteration of this match-up is sort of staggering.