[1998-08-08-NJPW-G1 Climax] Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Koji Kanemoto & Dr Wagner Jr

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I marked out that Shinjiro Otani's Disapproving Father seems to have made his return to New Japan. I didn't care for this much at all. Too many moves with wrestlers hoisted into a Doomsday Device position in too short of a time period. This had a lot of over-the-top moves I didn't care for. I love all four of these guys but I didn't love this match. And I watched it twice to make sure I wasn't just imagining things. Rare misfire for this group of guys. Good at times but I didn't care at all.

[soup23]

I have no idea why Kanemoto and Wagner are partners and this was an incredibly disappointing match given the talent and the roll they have been on. The action was there but the story wasn't and as a result the match felt by the numbers. At least Otani won the support of his father for one night at the finish. (**1/2)

[Childs]

I think I liked this better than either of you guys, though I agree with the general criticism that they were just doing moves without a ton of meaning. I also didn't really understand the pairings. But I guess what redeemed it for me somewhat was the force with which they hit their shit. If you're going to give me an empty vessel, at least throw it at me as hard as you can. Wagner, especially, brought some real violence to his big moves. I don't know; this is just relativity praise. If Chad gave it 2 1/2 stars, I'd probably give it 3.

[soup23]

Expectations play a heavier role for me watching the yearbooks than a blank mosaic I have came into some of the 80's footage with. Therefore, I do think this was severely hindered by not being up to the level of any of the matches featuring these guys that we have seen on a yearbook in a long time.

[Zenjo]

Early on there were some fun moments with Ohtani and the bad Doctor. I had the feeling it might develop into something special. It never quite happened though. Good effort but didn't catch fire. With a different move selection here or better execution there it could well have been a different story. Oh well. Anytime Mr Ohtani gets to mark out in the crowd is a highlight for me.

[PeteF3]

Finals to determine inaugural IWGP Junior Tag champions. Maybe our takeaway from this year and to a lesser extent 1997 is that Liger really is the top guy in this division and the glue holding everything together, because while this wasn't *bad* it was another messy, disjointed match--much like the Super Junior finals but without nearly as much heat or drama. I did like some of Wagner & Kanemoto's double teams, particularly the Splash Mountain/missile dropkick, but others took too long to set up, and at times all four guys seemed to resort to boot scraping not as a way to establish dominance but because they couldn't think of anything else to do.