[1997-04-12-NJPW] Shinya Hashimoto vs Naoya Ogawa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

The first in their series, which I think people both love and hate for equally valid reasons. I understand why people don't like this series, but I thought it was a lot of fun and enjoyed the shooty nature of it. Give Hashimoto credit for adjusting so well to Ogawa's style. Things get heated a few times, but ultimately, more violence is teased than delivered. This effectively whets my appetite for the May rematch.

[jdw]

I don't think anyone hated the Original Series in 1997. It's the Later Series that has a lot of hate associated with it.

 

Considering they wanted Shamrock for this match, thought they had him and had plans, this was a pretty decent "save" by NJPW and Hash to have a match that drew and fans didn't think was a dog. This is something that gets across how good Hash was at the time.

[Childs]

Ogawa clearly had no idea how to move around in a wrestling sense. But at least he came off as imposing, and his takedown move to set up the finish looked pretty badass. As Loss and jdw said, great performance by Hash to hold it together.

[soup23]

I thought this was a ton of fun and Ogawa being a little awkward only added to the theme of shooter in a unique setting for me. The finish was spectacular as Ogawa locks in a choke and the ref calls for the bell. Choshu and Sasaki loss their shit and the crowd goes nuts. Ogawa celebrates as we get a bloody nose Hash standing up looking pissed and taking out his frustrations on the ref. This really got over the danger that any New Japan wrestlers could face vs. Ogawa.

[Kevin Ridge]

Oh, no! Ogawa has a gi on. Big match feel to this. Hash gets choked out. It's a big finish for Ogawa to win but what a depressing finish for the wrestling guys.

[Robert S]

It's funny hearing the announcer shout "ippon, soremade" (Judo call indicating an instantaneous end of a fight) when Hashimoto gets in a nice Judo throw on Ogawa.

[FLIK]

Considering they wanted Shamrock for this match, thought they had him and had plans, this was a pretty decent "save" by NJPW

Heh, never knew that story. That makes for atleast 2 times NJPW has gotten burned trying to use him, the other being a G1 one year in the early 2000's that he was announced for then ended up pulling out of.

[PeteF3]

Yep, reading along in the Observers, the Shamrock War in early '97 is kind of fascinating. NJPW actually reached the point of holding a press conference announcing the match, and that it would be for the IWGP title. Then Shamrock ended up signing with the WWF and New Japan was left with a dodo-sized egg on their face. (It's not even that the WWF wasn't open to the idea of Shamrock working the match, but at some point, if not in April, Ken was going to have to do a job and that probably wasn't going to fly.) As it is, this is pretty heated and dramatic, and I'm not sure any other wrestler in the world besides Hash--with his timing, presence, ring smarts, and straightforward style--could have gotten a match this good out of Ogawa, who was an imposing physical specimen with great credentials but was also in his first pro match. Hash gets Ogawa on the ropes but gets caught in the STO (named as such already) and then put out with a sleeper as the Dome crowd loses it. Hash and Kensuke Sasaki protest the stoppage but Tiger Hattori responds with the highlight of the event, doing a backwards fainting pratfall to signify Hashimoto's passing out. I know this feud completely goes off the rails eventually, but in an odd way I'm sort of fascinated to watch all this for the first time.