[1990-06-12-NJPW] Jushin Liger vs Masaji Aoyagi

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Childs]

The first two rounds consisted mostly of unremarkable grappling. But Aoyagi ripped at Liger's mask in the second, which seemingly planted the seed for the match to become something else entirely. Liger pulled off his mask completely before the third round and just tore into Aoyagi with a vengeance the rest of the way. It was odd in that the reaction seemed delayed and out of scale with anything Aoyagi had done. But I will say the match got a lot more interesting after raving lunatic Keiichi Yamada emerged. I'm not sure how I'd rate this overall. I was glad it made the yearbook.

[Loss]

I really enjoyed the spectacle of all of this. Aoyagi works a very narrow style, but when he's opposite someone with charisma and star quality, he typically has a good match. This is not an exception to that. This starts off as a mat-based affair until Aoyagi makes it personal by taking cheapshots and kicking Liger in the face. The Japanese dynamic seems to always be that guys who are seen as shooters taking shortcuts gets big heel heat, and that adds a lot to the atmosphere here. After splitting victories in the first two rounds, Liger gets his mask ripped off and completely snaps, taking Aoyagi off of his feet with a double-leg takedown and trying to choke the life out of him. It's strange seeing Liger work unmasked. Aoyagi starts bleeding and his white karate outfit is a crimson mess, which is always a fun visual. This wasn't a great match, but it was a great concept that came off very well. I wouldn't have minded seeing Liger work a few more matches like this throughout the decade, provided he had the right opponent.

[PeteF3]

Definitely broader and more theatrical than a typical UWF match, and also one of the fighters is dressed as a cartoon superhero. Aoyagi is pretty much on the defensive for most of this, actually. He gets in a few nice kicks but the mask-ripping just serves to piss Liger off and Aoyagi pays for it. Yeah, it's not a great match, but it's really really fun and engrossing just to see Liger sort of out of his element...is Liger vs. Sano: The Sequel (as part of the UWFI feud) anything like this? They had a match then, right? The only thing that actively annoyed me about this was the round-ending bell...with all the "saved by the bell" false finishes it felt like the match had like 3 endings, and then when the ending finally came no one was quite sure what to make of it until Tiger Hattori raised Liger's hand.

[Childs]

No, Liger/Sano from the UWFI feud wasn't like this. I haven't watched it in a few years but recall it being fairly subdued, actually.

[soup23]

I really liked this a lot and it was something entirely different from what I expect a Liger junior match to consist of. First two rounds were pretty good mat wrestling and then Liger SNAPS and it just becomes an intense war with Aoyagi trying to hang on.

[Kevin Ridge]

Aoyagi likes his spinning kicks so Liger dumps him on his ass. They are doing rounds which is not a favorite of mine. Submission attempt but the bell rings to end round. Much more aggressive in the second around as Aoyagi gets his strikes in and rips Liger’s mask. Another submission is stopped as round ends. We get some crowd shots. Liger storms out to start round with no mask! No hiding it on camera either. He throws lots of forearms and elbows to bloody Aoyagi. Third round ends with another submission on. That one is getting tired quickly. Referee calls the match due to blood in fourth round. Liger was kicking his ass though.

[Zenjo]

Fought in the shoot style initially. Mr. Karate insults Liger by ripping his mask in Round 2 with proves a costly mistake. In Round 3 it's a furious Keichi Yamada that storms out of the chair and totally kicks his ass. Aoyagi pays a heavy price and the bout is eventually stopped because of the gratuitous blood loss. It's a good job he didn't work a regular schedule or he'd run dry I think. Wicked stuff here. Reminded me of a Nagata vs Murakami match (possibly late 02?), but not on that level.

[Cox]

This was pretty boring until Liger looses his shit, then the hate jumps exponentially and the entertainment value increases. Don't fuck with a maskless Liger.

[TravJ1979]

Agree completely with what Cox said.

[garretta]

This was two bouts in one: Liger/Aoyagi was pretty tepid, while Yamada/Aoyagi was one of the most impressive squashes I've seen regardless of country. I realize there was a ton of money to be made with the Jushin "Thunder" Liger gimmick in Japan, but it would have been nice to see this guy become two wrestlers: Liger starts the match scientifically, then takes the mask off and becomes Yamada when the heels cheat too egregiously or when there seems to be no chance of victory for Liger otherwise. You couldn't run it too often, but it would definitely add intrigue to his matches to see how far Liger can be pushed before he takes the mask off.

 

I didn't mind the round system, but it would have been nice to know how many rounds the match was scheduled for beforehand. Also, they didn't need to have more than one "saved by the bell" sequence to get the idea over that it could happen at the end of any round. Three in a row was overkill.

 

I'm waiting to see if any other NJPW matches from this year are booked in this fashion. It's a nice change of pace from the ordinary.

[drew wardlaw]

Ayoagi is back from that Pioneer match earlier in the year, and one again he is bleeding like an absolute hog. I think this is a real feather in Liger's cap. A strange match but it totally works as a story. And now we've got a consistent match ripping narrative for Liger in 1990.

[dawho5]

Liger going off on Aoyagi was priceless. Took a bit to get there, but it makes for a very entertaining finish.

[superkix]

Yeah, this is really all about that third round, where the mask comes off and Liger wrecks Aoyagi's Christmas.

[ClassicsPuro1983]

Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Masashi Aoyagi '12.06.1990                                                                                                         

A real example of the kind of match Aoyagi does as well as anyone in wrestling history. This is like a toughman contest. They build the tension in the first two round with Aoyagi throwing kicks and Liger delivering some good amateur wrestling takedowns. In the end of the second round, Aoyagi rips Ligers mask and Liger comes out maskless in the third round. The brawl get wild, with crazed Liger and Aoyagi with a blood colored Gi. All does almost everything shockingly credibly, with the amateur wrestling, ground and pound and submissions. The match is fairly one-sided. But still a great match of the genre, and a big win for Liger in fourth round, defeating a legimiate karate master. (****)

[Chess Knight]

Well shit, why didn't this get more traction over the years? I watched this because of how great Liger was selling for Sano, but I got the inverse where instead of trying to survive, Liger is the one trying to kill. They don't accomplish much in the first round and a half but the tentative approaching, coupled Liger trying to quickly get a victory through limb holds was enough to carry it. It's not exactly a Kiyoshi Tamura main event but for post-UWF invasion NJPW shoot style...style...ish it definitely works. Things pick way up though when Liger forgoes a clean break while Aoyagi is prone in the ropes and slaps him in the face. A couple stomps later and Aoyagi is bum rushing Liger, punching his head to the ground and tearing at the mask. All the hesitation in Aoyagi's earlier karate kicks (he was a legit karateka) are gone as he swings into Liger full bore. While watching I had a thought that I probably would have preferred him to keep more of an offense after that, but it being a rounds match helped accept Liger fighting back so early. Then the third round starts and I couldn't have cared less if it became a complete squash. Liger is fully unmasked, as in no torn mask they just take it off between round 2 and 3, and he takes Aoyagi down and bloodies him with headbutts. Most of the rest of the match is Aoyagi getting struck continuously in his bloody head with only brief moments of respite, like grappling Liger close, or even when the doctor checked him. Liger basically figured out that grounding a karate fighter who's already bloody made the match a wash. I think it was rife for a rematch too, that I'm worried never existed, or existed but was never taped. Great, great spectacle.