[1994-08-07-NJPW-G1 Climax] Shinya Hashimoto vs Shiro Koshinaka

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is a really intense match, which is apparent by both guys looking tired after seven minutes of just working the mat. This is laid out beautifully and executed even better, as the matwork is pretty hard-fought and the bombs get a huge reaction. Neither guy can really earn any momentum because there is so much of a fight for everything. It's more a case where they both luck into opportunities, like Hashimoto throwing an arm wringer of all things out of pure desperation to stop Koshinaka from throwing Germans and powerbombs. This is wrestled like a really good All Japan Carnival match with the awesome close calls toward the end of this 30-minute draw. One of the better New Japan matches of the year. A quick look at the WON list for the year has this getting ****. Can anyone confirm if it was edited for TV?

[jdw]

Looking at the WON review, the last 17 minutes aired on TV.

[Kevin Ridge]

Figured with the way the G1 was going so far we would get another short match. Not the case. For even for a while and quite physical. Hash uses some hip action of his own with a banzai drop type move. Koshinaki starts hitting a bunch of powerbombs and gets some really close counts. I thought once Hashimoto takes over towards the end that he will win but Shiri survives to earn the draw. Good match and best of the G1 so far.

[Exposer]

This was really great. Hashimoto was outstanding. Koshinaka was good for the most part but his random no selling a few times bothered me. The mat work was really intricate and cool looking. The next section of the match was Hashimoto remaining in control for the most part and largely for the rest of the match but with Koshinaka getting comebacks and throwing bombs when he could. Some of the cut off spots were tremendously executed by Hashimoto. He was just fucking excellent in this match. This was the best New Japan match I have seen with heavies in it since the Hash-Liger match early in the year.

[soup23]

For some reason I thought this was the final so seeing the draw baffled me at first. Great match that built up so well from real good matwork to nasty strikes, to bomb throwing with great selling. Hashimoto was really amazing in this and Kosh didn't annoy me as much as usual. Really awesome new Japan heavies match.

[PeteF3]

I didn't actively dislike this as much as the Hase match but I sure didn't think it was anything special. Koshinaka is a less-smart Bunkhouse Buck, or a less bump-crazy Shawn Michaels: good at taking offense from his opponent, not as compelling when in control and working a "straight" match. Hashimoto is busting out all kinds of new offense--butt drops, elbow drops from the turnbuckle, the brainbuster, etc., and all Koshinaka has to offer is power bomb after power bomb after power bomb. This got better as it went along, thanks almost all to Hash, but they telegraphed the draw pretty early on. '94 has been a very disappointing year for New Japan. It's still very good compared to what's going on in the U.S. but for the first time in a number of years, All-Japan feels like the clearly superior in-ring promotion.

[Zenjo]

(30:00) When the time limit expired.

 

The opening stages weren't quick, but had enough action and psychology to provide interest. Hash's serious approach counteracted Shiro's goofiness. Brown had superior firepower so Kosh had to use his speed and experience to hang in there. About 17m in the Ambassador stepped things up and got close to victory with powerbombs. Shinya wisely responded with submission work to allow recovery time. The final stages were back and forth with both men surviving everything thrown at them. There were some silly moments from Kosh and he overused certain moves as well. Hash reeled him in for the most part. Quite well planned but always felt like a draw. I'm not a big fan of time limit expirations these days. They generally feel manufactured. Like they're catering the match to last a certain length rather than going with the natural flow. Though you could argue that most TV matches are the same, but different lengths.