[1989-08-10-NJPW] Jushin Liger vs Naoki Sano

[Microstatistics]

Don't really know what to say except that it has maybe the greatest selling performance in the history of pro wrestling **** 1/4

[Jetlag]

This is such a drastic improvement from the July match. It keeps the high end move selection and intensity and upgrades with great selling and brutality. Liger comes in with the goofy shoulder protection pads and Sano goes at them immediately. Panic mode for Liger from the start and from then it's all fantastic desperation selling from him for the rest of the match. Essentially his arm becomes useless, so he has to try different things, but Sano blocks the big Liger highspots, so Liger switches to a simpler tactic and just repeatedly drives the point of his boots into Sano's bloody face. The sections were Liger is trying to kick and piledrive Sano into a coma are indescribably great. Sano also has great comebacks with perfectly timed submissions to the arm. Finish plays off a previous match. Great match, can't remember seeing a better Liger performance.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin Liger vs Naoki Sano - NJPW 8/10/89

 

Jushin Liger's magnificent selling has been much discussed and raises this match to all time classic status. I loved the first match so much with Liger beating the shit out of Sano only for Sano to kick his head off then the double knockout finish. Here Sano rips off Liger's arm and beats him with it.

 

The beginning of the match with them just kicking each other in the head during lock ups outta nowhere was bitchin. Sano reverse thrust kick gives him his first opportunity at the left arm and Liger selling the hell out of it. Liger makes ropes. Liger is wearing shoulder pads...was he injured in an intervening tag match?

 

Liger hits a kappo kick but Sano makes it back to the arm. The heat segment is glorious. Love the fake out Irish whip into just snapping his arm down or Ligers prone selling with his dead arm limp by his side.

 

The match changes complexion when Sano hurls his body to the outside but smacks his head against the concrete busting himself open. Sano abandoned strategy and paid for it. Young dude in a championship match got to leave it out on the table.

 

Liger's broken wing selling is great his offense of kicking Sano straight in the Open wound. I don't think that gets discussed enough is that he matches violence with violence. Loved the pile drivers!

 

Liger makes the cardinal mistake of putting his opponent On the top rope. Never let your opponent have the high ground. Sano hits a missile drop kick and hits that splash to outside. Great transition. Finish is double hot. The struggle over the German duplex ending in a Fujiwara armbar. Ligers hope spots were great. Loved the trio of armbar, German and super back duplex (play off the double KO spot). Great finish!

 

Heated, energetic, violent, sublime selling blood from Sano and a raging climax. Maybe a hotter transition back to Sano is keeping this from the full Monty. Just doesn't feel that level but goddamn this is just insanely great pro wrestling. ****3/4

[zep81]

Watching the Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami vs Kantaro Hoshino & Naoki Sano (8/8/1989) tag match a couple of days prior helps makes this classic match even better.

[superkix]

This may very well be my favorite example of limb selling in a match, if anything within a junior heavyweight match, where the high spots often take priority over sustained selling. I mean, you got Jushin "Thunder" Liger wearing American football shoulder pads to protect the shoulder but Sano doesn't let deter him. If anything, it's a giant target on Liger -- like, hey Sano, I'm hurt, please don't attack me here. Sano goes after the arm early on, pissing off Liger, who annihilates him with a rolling koppou kick. But when Sano gets a hold of it, he really does a number on the arm, kicking and stomping and stretching it to make Liger his (rarely seen) bitch. Liger essentially wrestles this match single-armed, the injured one hanging limp at his side. He tries to lock up but Sano overpowers him. When he tries for the surboard, he has to switch things up to a leg scissored armbar before...well, his arm is jacked. In perhaps my favorite moment of the match, Sano whips the arm and it's sold beautifully by Liger...just the way it drags along the canvas as he crawls. Awesome. Liger's finally able to turn the tide with a very conscientious top rope suplex to the apron and a follow-up plancha. He sidesteps Sano's dive and Sano crashes, giving Liger some much needed time to rest up. When Sano returns to the ring, he's bloodied up and Liger smells it, attacking him with boots and at one point, kicking Sano in the face. He delivers a quasi-Gotch-style piledriver and then piledrives Sano on the floor because he's Liger. Again, he uses his recovery time wisely and continues to target Sano's neck. Sano's able to snag the arm a few times with armbars but Liger's able to make it to the ropes. When Liger tries for the brainbuster, Sano again takes him down with the wakigatame, forcing Jushin back to the ropes. Assuming Liger ain't tapping, Sano hits a German suplex hold and when that doesn't do the trick, he hits a super backdrop for the win. A fantastic match and perhaps the shining example of how you can make sustained limb selling compelling from start to finish. Liger really is the best junior heavyweight.

[cactus]

Sano reminds me a lot of Dynamite Kid in his offence. He's quick, stiff and likes to bust out a variety of snap and bridging suplexes. He goes after Liger's arm and Liger never forget to sell it. It amazes me how expressive Liger is, especially considering we can't see his face! Some of Liger's kicks looked weak, but with selling he brought to the table, weak strikes can be forgiven! Sano switching the momentum in the finishing stretch by locking in a flash Fujiwara armbar had me marking out. Super heated juniors match which I'd rate just a hair above their 1990 match. 

★★★★½

[ClassicsPuro1983]

Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano '10.08.1989 
Jushin Liger wearing football shoulder pads in order to protect his injury prone shoulder, than Hoshino & Sano destroyed in a tag match two days earlier. But Naoki Sano doesn’t care. Liger shoulder is a target. A totally different match from 7/13/89, Liger shows why he'd soon be known as the best sellers in junior history. The violence only escalated when it served a bigger purpose in the overall storyline of Liger being a stubborn bastard and wrestling 75% of the match with one arm. On paper, it’s simple. But this is wrestling. It isn't nearly as high flying as 7/13/89, it's more a traditional, with crisp technical wrestling and badass hatred spots. Incredible fight! Blood, authentic heat, and all time classic. Sano became the IWGP jr. heavyweight champion for the next 24 weeks. (****3/4)