[1999-10-11-NJPW-Final Dome] Shinya Hashimoto vs Naoya Ogawa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Tatsumi Fujinami was the special referee and Antonio Inoki was at ringside in a tuxedo. Electric atmosphere for this, and the few times Hashimoto is able to muster a comeback, the heat is off the charts. Hashimoto makes this something worth watching for sure, and it was an incredibly successful match, but it's more great spectacle than great match. That's perfectly fine, as a great match wasn't really what they were going for. And the feud continues.

[Tim Evans]

I don't see what they saw in Ogawa as he's just so awkward looking. Even more than Takayama. Hashimoto carries this was his selling and the crowd going nuts. Inoki strutting in with his tux calling off the match was just manly. Better than 1/4 that's for sure.

[El-P]

Garbage. Not as bad as the 01/04 match (but what is ?), but really, whenever Ogawa gets on offense, it's legit pathetic. Hash succeeds in making it watchable and entertaining for a while, but having him sell for the godawful offense of Ogawa (who sucks to an amazing degree, Dennis Rodman was a better worker than this) forever is just depressing. A hundred STO and shitty kicks later, Hash looks dead. I never understood the reasoning behind this whole program. It killed Hash as a draw and he was never the same after this abortion of a feud. Fuck you Inoki.

[jdw]

I hate the Hash-Ogawa 2.0 feud. Worst booking in pro wrestling history to me. Yeah, Fuck Inoki.

[Zenjo]

Hash keeps getting knocked down by the same moves over and over and over again. They both end up looking terrible in different ways. An abysmal attempt at pro wrestling by Ogawa. NJ also manages to make their #1 draw of the decade look like a complete joke. Eventually Inoki can't take anymore and calls off this abomination. Well you booked it you idiot. Fuck this shit.

[tim]

This match wasn't a good decision but it was pretty great before the prolonged beating of Hashimoto. Crowd is really into it and the heat in nuclear when Hash gets offense. An especially great moment is Hash making a comeback with a headbutt as Ogawa is distracted shoving the ref. Ogawa's STOs look really good. This was going into MOTYC territory until the end.

[Microstatistics]

Had reviewed this in the Hashimoto microscope thread.

 

This is a polarizing match to say the least with opinions ranging from "it's garbage" to "it's an all time classic". Regardless of the booking, as a match I thought it was pretty excellent. Ogawa was pretty good in this actually with great looking offense (though it did get repetitive) and I liked his frequent taunting. Hashimoto carries it though with his selling and ability to generate drama. There was also a cool spot where he tried to minimize the distance between himself and Ogawa to counteract the strikes. They could have taken it home about 2-3 minutes earlier though because the finishing stretch dragged a bit. **** 1/4

[Jordan]

Probably could cut a few of the late STOs off this and it gets the point across without going into overkill, but leading up to that this was great. The way that Hash has to stubbornly accept that going into exchanges with Ogawa is going to get him killed and then shifts his strategy is awesome. The headbutt transition rules and Ogawa sells the beating like he should. I think Ogawa performs his role well, including still selling as the match breaksdown into him rattling off STOs while still maintaining that dickish attitude. Like 2012-present Lesnar, he's the amped up shooter who knows he can run through anybody and knows that he always has his kill move in the STO. Again, this probably drags into the finish with how many he hits, but Hashimoto's selling in this is great and still offers up the idea that he might find a counter or something to find a way to turn the tide back in his favor. It's just as compelling as him taking Choshu lariats, at least to me anyway. I think they get the main ideas of this match better at the April encounter, but I still enjoyed this overall.

[soup23]

I enjoy this feud a lot and this was a great spectacle match for me to set up what we saw in the future. Inoki and Fuji being involved of course is a little too ham fisted but they are seen as authority figures and the crowd is nuclear for all of this. While Ogawa is awkward, he can tee off on Hashimoto and Hash is such a great performer he can build up anyone. This felt like a dome main event. ***3/4

[PeteF3]

This just got less and less exciting as it went along. Hashimoto's early rising-from-the-grave comebacks with fire in his eyes were electrifying, both for the crowd and myself. But it became more and more apparent that Ogawa either wouldn't or couldn't actually sell anything for more than a few seconds or put himself in any kind of danger of losing, so every time Hashimoto got back up it meant less and less and less. Both for the crowd and myself. We reach a point where Hashimoto looks dumb and overmatched instead of gutsy, until fucking Inoki has to come in and make himself the center of attention at the end. I don't hate this as much as the people who really hated this, but I think it's clearly a very, very disturbing trend for what's ahead for NJPW in the next few years and an inexplicable shitting-on of Hashimoto. Hash either had to win this or lose in a truly great match and neither happened.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW Final Dome 10/11/99

 

Final Dome is a very amusing name for pro wrestling card to me for some reason.

 

After the shoot angle at 1/4/99, Ogawa goes on to win the NWA World Championship from Dan Severn. I have no idea why Inoki wanted to resurrect that championship. Weirdly enough Ogawa won the championship back in October of 1999 in Connecticut. It is weird to think that I could have seen Naoya Ogawa live. This is probably the biggest crowd the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was ever defended in front of. Actually Muta/Chono was in front of 53.5k and this only drew 48k. Fujinami is the special ref after the fact at 1/4/99 Tiger Hattori was steamrolled and the match had to be called off.

 

I loved the first 3/4s of this. incredible atmosphere. Badass big fight feel. I am a huge Naoya Ogawa fan. He just has great presence. Reminds me of a Bill Goldberg or a latter day Brock Lesnar. You just feel like something crazy is gonna happen. Hashimoto cant get anything going early against Ogawa. Ogawa does have the reach advantage so I get why he is trying to shorten the gap but the dude cant take the giant Ogawa down. Hashimoto is besides himself in the corner and has no idea what to do. Then Ogawa starts taunting him. I have said how much I love cocky shooter bastards. Ogawa comes in and gives Hashimoto a couple playful punches and BAM! Headbutt. THE DOME EXPLODES~! I don't think I have heard the Tokyo Dome that loud. They were fucking roaring for Hashimoto on offense as he reigned down the hammer fists. Ogawa quashes this with a wild right to the head from his back as Hashimoto was going for a kneebar. Ogawa is in the full mount but Hashimoto makes the ropes. Ogawa being the asshole he is sneaks in a stomp to the midsection that Hashimoto sells so well. Hashimoto's next flurry is two huge deadlift suplexs. Again the Dome erupts. I am going crazy too. This time Ogawa stymies him with a top wristlock. Bummer. Ogawa quashes all of Hashimoto's hope with an STO. Two brutal ones. Really drives him down. Great selling from Hashimoto. Hashimoto kicks Ogawa right in the fucking knee. The crowd and I perk up, but then it is a wicked STO. Ogawa does a great job selling the leg. Ogawa gets a great suplex and then it is just STO after STO. Hashimoto does a great job with his defiant selling. Clearly going for the Choshu/Hashimoto dynamic with the defiance in the face of a clear loss and move repetition. It dragged on forever and really killed the heat. I think one last Hashimoto flurry, KO punch/kick or STO and call it. Instead of this going forever with Fujinami checking on him and Inoki calling off the match.

 

Hashimoto is a total rockstar. Great selling from beginning to end. His offense was electric, but don't sleep on Ogawa his presence makes this match work because he is a real mountain to climb. His selling late with the leg is great and I love his cockiness. Tighten this up and it is classic, but God the ending just drags. ***3/4

[dawho5]

This was...something. There are a lot of parts I like, there are some issues I have with it as well.

 

The good. Hash's early comebacks are really good. As is the dickery by Ogawa. I like how it is clear from the start Ogawa doesn't need it, so it only heightens the effect. Ogawa himself is actually an interesting thing. He's clearly out of place but not necessarily in a bad way. He's got this aura of badass to him, but is clearly not supposed to be in a wrestling ring. The first few STOs and throws were really good. The strategy by Ogawa is good. Picking yourself up off the ground over and over again is hard work. You get tired just doing that. If you're getting hit or thrown around it is worse. So when Hash won't back down Ogawa keeps putting him on his back and making him get up, because he knows Hash will. Then when the hands drop and no defense to speak of, lights out.

 

The bad. I get this feeling watching Ogawa that he wasn't necessarily trained as a pro wrestler very long. Long enough so he could throw kicks to the back of the head and not kill a guy and that's about it. Not good looking kicks, but kicks nonetheless. Some of the "Ogawa doesn't belong here" comes in when different, more pro wrestling, situations come up and he just is unsure of what to do. The repetitive throws and selling really expose this. Did Inoki only train Ogawa so far on pro wrestling in order to make him feel completely different? It works, but it hurts the proceedings in ways as well.

 

On the level of spectacle and getting over with the live audience, this was a home run. If you're looking at it as a match it's not very good as a whole. There are interesting and some good parts for sure. If you cut some time off of this it might be better remembered.