[1997-01-04-NJPW-Wrestling World in Tokyo Dome] Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

A fitting send-off to their rivalry (ignoring the forgettable 2004 match), and one of the better 1/4 IWGP matches of the '90s. A more definitive finish than they normally had to go with their usual intensity.

[Loss]

I'm going to go out on a very short limb and call this the last great match of Riki Choshu's career. This match should be studied and emulated. I've always thought there's no better way to make a match feel big than to work an extended collar-and-elbow tie up to start out. THIS working style is what I want from my Wrestlemania main events, in case anyone is listening and cares at all. These are two guys confident in their craft -- they know they have the crowd whenever they want them, so they take their time building the match. Everything, from the aforementioned collar-and-elbow, to the test of strength, feels like a titanic struggle of utmost importance. Hashimoto cheapshots Choshu with a few kicks during a lockup, to which Choshu takes exception and starts drilling him.

 

I love how they get the vertical suplex over as a highspot just for Choshu having to try so hard to even lock in the front facelock and get him in position for it. What's cool about that is the way they call back to it in the finish, where a really earned brainbuster secures the win for Hashimoto, and also in a mid-match spot where Choshu puts Hashimoto in position for the superplex, just doing so gets a big "Ohhh!" pop from the crowd. I'm also always a supporter of the rule of threes with clotheslines to take a guy off of his feet, but especially when the sequence looks good.

 

Aside from a quick blown spot when Hashimoto slipped off the ropes when doing his own superplex and Choshu had to cover for him by yanking his hair to pull him back in position, this was a nearly flawless match. It's is big and slow and stiff and grand and wonderful, and it's a near-perfect main event for a dome show, both in who the participants are and in how the match is worked. I think this is my favorite match between them.

[Childs]

I also loved the opening lock-up, with them just bulling each other around the ring, unwilling to concede. For awhile after that, I thought the match might be a minor letdown in light of Loss' review and my own memory. But they just built and built, past the point where most of their previous matches would have ended. And the Dome crowd, which usually kind of sucks, went with them. These guys are the kings of keeping it simple and letting the intensity tell the story. This was the epitome of that.

[goodhelmet]

Childs, just curious, would this have a chance of making the 1980s set if it took place in that decade?

[Childs]

Definitely.

[Ditch]

This would be top 50 easy for me relative to the NJ '80s set, maybe higher.

[soup23]

I really loved this match and it felt like the perfect Dome show main event.

 

The most striking thing to me watching this match was just how good Riki Choshu had to be with his timing and charisma. I had always known this but it was most apparent here. Look at Choshu, he looks like the starting point if you did a CAW in a video game. Black trunks, white boots, no knee pads or elbow pads. He is stocky but not too big to make that a part of his gimmick. His offense is good but there is not a wide variety of stuff he is throwing out. He may be the most generic wrestler of all time on the surface.

 

Yet he is a fantastic wrestler because of how well he builds his matches and times his offense. He also carries this with his amazing facials. I tried to find an apt comparison and the closest I was able to come to was the piano bar player on my cruise last week. This guy was a 20 year old classically piano player that would play in a side of the bar for 3-4 hours every night and was awesome. It was just hard to take notice of him with the big productions and other showy stuff going on at the same time. The fact that Choshu was able to make people take notice of him and people realized how great he was is a true testament.

 

In regards to this match, nothing was again conceded. The opening lock up felt like two rams butting heads and no one willing to give in an inch. This flowed beautifully into the first strike exchange and the ongoing story of the match. Finish felt climatic without overkill and Hashimoto (who was also really really good here) picks up a definitive victory and looks more like the man. The long lasting shot of Choshu going to the back and waving to the crowd gives a sense of his realization that finally he gave his all and it just wasn't good enough. This was art personified and a splendid match.

[ohtani's jacket]

It's tough for me living in Japan to consider Riki Choshu generic. I get your point about his look overall, but the whole reason Choshu got over in Japan initially was because he was far from generic image wise.

 

Match was good, but I didn't like it as much as their '96 G-1 Climax and not as much as everyone else in this thread. Personally, I thought the layout was a bit too basic and while I could understand all of the match decisions they made, I didn't like the constant mirroring of spots and thought Hashimoto gave away too much control of the match to Choshu. Hashimoto at this point of his career could have destroyed Choshu if he'd really wanted to. I realise that's not the narrative they wanted to tell, but it was still a distraction for me. Would rather the focus had been on the old war dog trying to get one more victory than Hashimoto working so much of the match on the back foot. Champion working from a disadvantageous situation only really works for me when it's Misawa because he was such a great seller and so good at working that sort of narrative. As much as I love Hashimoto, he was more of a visceral worker and great at flurries, but we didn't really get the big flurry here, IMO. Still, this was a good match and obviously plenty of others appreciate it for what it is.

[Loss]

I can see that point of view, but have to question a few parts of it. If Hashimoto could so easily destroy Choshu, how did Choshu get a win over him five months earlier? And why do you prefer a match with what you think is a more unlikely result at this point in time? The '96 G1 is something I'm really looking forward to watching again, because so many people love that match, and it struck me as very good the first time around. But I can't remember a single highspot or sequence from that match, and I don't recall anything specific that would make the match especially memorable. That's not to say it's not memorable. Obviously, most people see it that way. But it didn't really make a lasting impression on me.

[Kevin Ridge]

Full match. Now that is a brainbuster to finish things off. I can kind of see what OJ is getting at with Hash should have been destroying Choshu at this point. One brief moment, Hash got real aggressive with overhand strikes, grabs Riki in a side headlock and hits repeated knees to the midsection. Choshu is just dropped by this sequence but it seems like Hash does not follow up the aggression. This did not hurt the match but I can see Hash needing to carry things more with Choshu having to be more desperate in fighting him off.

[ohtani's jacket]

I would have to watch the G-1 match again, but from memory Sumo Hall is a much better atmosphere for these guys' style of match than the Dome. I don't have a good explanation for why I thought the narrative was better in '96 other than to say that if that was Choshu's last hurrah then I think Hashimoto should have stepped up more in this match. I guess what was missing was the turning point that Kevin alluded to where you get the sense that Hashimoto is going to put him away and there's nothing Choshu can do to stop him. Or perhaps Choshu could have had a bit more intensity at the beginning. I don't want to say that Hashimoto was taking it easy on him, but maybe Choshu could have rocked Hashimoto a bit more in terms of possibly winning. I'm really only talking about small tweaks in the narrative as I get what they were trying to do, I just think Choshu was a bit long in the tooth for them to be working like such equals regardless of respect or Choshu winning the G-1 Climax even. But the end result was the same with Hashimoto getting the win going forward.

[jdw]

A more definitive finish than they normally had to go with their usual intensity.

I thought their 11/90 and 8/96 matches we just as definitive finishes, if not more so. Riki chopping off his head, Hashimoto trying not to lose the fighting spirit in the first and in the second one actually motioning Choshu to go ahead and chop it off... that's pretty definitive.

[jdw]

I would have to watch the G-1 match again, but from memory Sumo Hall is a much better atmosphere for these guys' style of match than the Dome. I don't have a good explanation for why I thought the narrative was better in '96 other than to say that if that was Choshu's last hurrah then I think Hashimoto should have stepped up more in this match. I guess what was missing was the turning point that Kevin alluded to where you get the sense that Hashimoto is going to put him away and there's nothing Choshu can do to stop him. Or perhaps Choshu could have had a bit more intensity at the beginning. I don't want to say that Hashimoto was taking it easy on him, but maybe Choshu could have rocked Hashimoto a bit more in terms of possibly winning. I'm really only talking about small tweaks in the narrative as I get what they were trying to do, I just think Choshu was a bit long in the tooth for them to be working like such equals regardless of respect or Choshu winning the G-1 Climax even. But the end result was the same with Hashimoto getting the win going forward.

G1 had the dual storylines:

 

(i) Choshu had never won it and there was a sense *in the building* at the start of the G1 that this was Choshu's last chance

 

(ii) Hash worked the "destroyed knee" angle, which turned the tide and frankly was Hash's story through the rest of the G1

 

The finish was Hash, the ace of the company, fixed because of the bad wheel, pickings for Choshu to finish, and Choshu having to chop him down. In turn, Hash was like, "Okay fucker... you're going to have to finish me so give it your best."

 

Loss on it:

 

Wow. What an emotional match, and I love the finish. Hashimoto was incredible here, really getting Choshu over strong. I love the dynamic, like El-P said, of the old veteran wanting to show that he still has a little fight in him, and reaching down deep to pull it off. This isn't head and shoulders above Muto/Yamazaki and Chono/Kojima as a match, but the heat, drama and emotion takes it to another level.

#71 - Riki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/02/96)

-- One of the most emotional matches on the set, as Choshu is out to recapture past glory, but first he has to get through New Japan's best wrestler. As good as Choshu looks here, this is really a brilliant Hashimoto performance in making Choshu look like he's still in his prime. Terrific match.

I am totally biased on the matches: I was in the building for the G1 match, and it was one of the greatest spectacles that I've ever seen. "Spectacle" is a word we tend to attach to those Tokyo Dome matches that may not be 6/3/94 but really work as wars in the big setting. Seeing one in Ryogoku... that's pretty damn special.

 

With the Dome match, I was just happy that it was a solid, tough match that wasn't a let down. It didn't have the punch of the match the year before, but it couldn't really without Choshu winning the IWGP.

[Zenjo]

This had a big match feel and I appreciated the traditional start. After 5m business started to pick up. Unfortunately they had a bunch of lariato's in the middle rather than at the end where they should have been. Low power to medium power to high power is what I want to see in my Strong Style. It still ended up as a decent marquee match but could've been much better had it been constructed more to my liking.

[Jordan]

Watched this last night at like 2 am when I should have been sleeping and enjoyed it. Too often it seems guys try to go for "epic" or the "big fight feel" and just over shoot the target but here it felt organic and well thought out for the most part. Hashimoto's selling of Choshu's lariat section was as brilliant as it was during the G-1 a year prior.

[Grimmas]

This was an awesome match. I have learned, over time, that at the very least I need a sense that the two guys in the ring are competing with each other. Well, everything in this match was a true struggle and had to be worked for. You felt every move in this one. From the awesome collar and tie up to begin things to the vicious brainbuster to end them, I was hooked on this one.

 

**** 1/4

[PeteF3]

Choshu and Hashimoto together feel like the wrestling version of the Ramones--minimalists in their own way, who knew what they were doing more than they may have let on. They don't to a *ton* in the face of what the rest of wrestling was doing in '97, but they know how to make every move, indeed every motion, matter. A fitting climax to Choshu's career as a meaningful main event guy.

[JKWebb]

http://placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-250-201/2/

 

#212

 

This hit the great level for me. This is just two big dudes just tearing into each other. I thought they both did a great job of displaying their emotion, projecting charisma, and just basically putting this over as a fight or a battle of two giants. ****

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 1/4/97

 

Coming off the Cinderella victory in the '96 G-1 Climax where Choshu beat Hashimoto epic fashion, Choshu now challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship one last time on the grandest stage of them all, 1/4, Tokyo Dome. It is Hashimoto vs Choshu. Intense. Gritty. Epic. Lock-ups that make you believe. Tests of strength until the very end when Hashimoto hoists Choshu up one last time to come crashing down with the Brainbuster. Everything is earned. Choshu is throwing punches and Hashimoto is exploding out of the corner with overhand chops and kicks. This is where New Japan's house style of minimal bumping works well. Just taking a knee to your opponent's offense means so much, Hashimoto on one knee in the corner taking that abuse is great. Hashimoto then has Choshu in the corner is working him over with kicks. Stepping on his throat. You would expect some remorse for someone who was probably a hero or a mentor to Hashimoto. Hashimoto is the heir to Choshu. There is no remorse. There is no "Sorry, I love you." It is nasty and he has no problem putting down the Old Man. But Choshu has fight left in him and starts in on the knee. Hashimoto sells so well. The Scorpion Deathlock. I hate that Choshu just lets go but I get that's just a hold to him, but I don't love it. Mack Truck Lariats. Hashimoto sells these so well. But this time Hashimoto's overhand chop leads to more damage as he kicks Choshu nearly straight off. Choshu is able to snap off a superplex, but it is too little too late. He goes up top and Hashimoto meets him there and superplexes him. Choshu survives two DDTs, but the Brainbuster which Choshu fights as hard as he can but eventually he has to submit to Hashimoto and Father Time and go up and then comes crashing down. I love that Choshu lifts his legs to kick out, but they just fall down with no power left.

 

Great match. Doesn't hit highs of the G-1 Climax because Hashimoto does not kick Choshu's ass quite as hard in this match so it doesn't set you up for that big rah-rah-sis-boom-bah comeback from Choshu. I didn't like Hashimoto pop up no sell and then superplex on Choshu either, but there is so much to love in his match. So focus on the positives. It is a great Grizzled Veteran has one last match in him and gives it all he got and comes up short. Hashimoto shows no remorse and goddamn he has to earn this win as Choshu does not go down without a fight. Epic main event fitting of the Tokyo Dome. ****

[KB8]

This was the business and a great Dome main event. Man Hashimoto's the best at this kind of match. Choshu as well tbf, and this might be top 3 for this match-up. They set the tone straight at the bell with the tie-ups. So much struggle and nobody works a collar-and-elbow like Hashimoto. And the build over simple moves, the way it escalates while maintaining that struggle; I could see someone thinking it dragged a bit in the first half, because it's a decent bit longer than their usual match together, but I'm fine with them taking their time over everything. Choshu kicking Hashimoto's leg out to set up the sharpshooter felt like the moment where you knew they were starting to go for the kill, then Choshu went to the lariat and Choshu trying to lariat Hashimoto's sternum to bits is never not awesome. I loved his progressive sell of his own lariat arm as Hash continued weathering the storm. Weathering the storm is pretty much a theme the rest of the way, much like it usually is between them. Can Choshu put Hash away with the lariats? Can Hash withstand them long enough to spot an opening? Can Choshu get past Hash trying to chop his arm off at the shoulder? The two superplexes felt huge and the fight over the brainbuster/DDT even more so. I do think there's something to OJ's point about Choshu maybe getting in a lariat or five more than he should've given where both guys were at this stage in their careers, but there's something about Hashimoto absorbing Choshu lariats that just feels right. Maybe it's an honour thing. Maybe I'm just a sucker for it. Either way this was badass and the kind of New Japan main event build I much prefer to something like Mutoh/Chono or whatever we get today.