[2000-02-05-NJPW] Kensuke Sasaki vs Don Frye

[soup23]

Frye with long hair is throwing me off. Really shoot style heavy opening with Frye working a choke. I don’t think this segment will be for everybody but it kept me engaged. Sasaki tries to open things up with more strikes but Frye is not interested in that as he takes the opening provided and works toward an arm submission. Build to the finish is really dramatic as Sasaki starts going after Frye’s leg. Sasaki does the Bret Hart to Mr. Perfect kicks on Frye and Frye takes almost an identical bump which I don’t think is a coincidence. The Scorpion does play well into the leg work that has been done. A flurry of clotheslines is able to put Frye away with the last looking really brutal. Sasaki is getting a strong push right now and he is performing well. I thought Frye as the dangerous gaijin challenger was a very good foil for him in this match. ***3/4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Loss]

One reason this worked so well was because the fans understood the holds and they had been built up to have meaning. I think you try to transplant this match into another place and time and it probably struggles to get over because it's not the type of match that really sells itself in terms of action or excitement. At this point, New Japan was on the right side of the line. I tend to think most great wrestling is universal, but this is one of the rare exceptions to that. I also appreciate how they haven't gone full blown RINGS or anything, but have allowed the shoot style stuff to at least have some influence on the working style. Frye was presented as a legitimate badass (and he was and is, so that wasn't hard), and he's a great opponent to establish Sasaki as a champion and legit tough guy taking him down. I don't know how much offense other guys were getting against Frye around this time, but Sasaki more than held his own. He survived Frye's initial attack, including a cross armbreaker, and forged his own counterattack with the clip on the apron and the sharpshooter before finishing him off with a series of lariats, all of which felt like a tribute to his mentor Riki Choshu. I really enjoyed this match as much for being a booking triumph as I did a wrestling triumph, hitting all the right notes and doing a match that was uniquely New Japan at the same time. ****

[cramerjason87]

This was ok but Sasaki did a great job with a developing Frye. There is a real effort level in all NJPW matches. Frye is really green here especially bumping, a few times he landed on his arm doing basic back bumps. I loved the clothesline to the knee on the apron spot Sasaki did in the finishing sequence.

[Robert S]

Build to the finish is really dramatic as Sasaki starts going after Frye’s leg. Sasaki does the Bret Hart to Mr. Perfect kicks on Frye and Frye takes almost an identical bump which I don’t think is a coincidence.

Considering that Hennig (and Rheingans) trained Frye (according to Wikipedia quoting Meltzer) this would make sense.

 

This match was not what I expected. I expected much more of a "Different Style" (or however the term was) match and this was way more classical pro-wrestling than that. Did Frye always work like that? He seems to be one of those MMA guys who immediately "got it", i.e. without having many matches under his belt looking like he has done it for half of his life. Bas Rutten was another one of those guys.

[ohtani's jacket]

I was curious about Frye so I checked this out. Kind of a weird look for him. He looked a bit like Kevin Nash without a singlet. Sasaki gave a strong performance in this match. For a guy who doesn't have the greatest reputation in the world I thought he sold beautifully. Whoever laid this out did a great job of planning it. Much better than the Tenryu match from January, IMO. Again, Sasaki impressed me here.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I really liked this one, as the matwork had lots of struggle. Sasaki sold well and had another top notch performance. I was never very impressed with his 90's matches, but he seems to be hitting his stride here. Very good match.

[GOTNW]

This match was quite the ride. Early on it's worked pretty much like a regular match, with them working opening matwork, it isn't them just sitting in a hold for two minutes, they're attempting armbars and so, but there's no urgency, instead a rougness in that everything attempted is fought against with fireman's carries, powering out and so on. As the match develops it becomes clear that what Frye's doing isn't that much different from what Shamrock, Severn etc. were doing in WWF a few years before-it's hard to compare their pro wrestling talent (especially with Shamrock's great UWF/PWFG run) but it's clear Frye had the platform that better suited his skillset and opponents who knew what do with it. Frye's punches manage to look great in a worked environment too and Kensuke milks everything they do for all it's worth, and momentum shifts meaning a lot is what ultimately makes the match. The Lariat gives Frye a chance for quick counters, but is also what ultimately slays him. I was surprised by Frye's bumping too, I think he did a good job of not putting over Sasaki's offence strongly without getting too cartoony. ****

[JourneybyTrain]

I don't know anything about Don Frye but he looks like he's from a Hollywood action movie which is pretty cool. Was expecting a short burst of violence and was surprised to find they worked a pretty good match focused on the mat wrestling. Sasaki was good here, specially loved the big running lariat out of the corner who burst out in the middle and the finishing run of lariats was good as well.

[Childs]

I'm digging the mix of stuff on these New Japan shows, even if they weren't churning out classics. This feels like the year when Sasaki finally came into his own as a top guy. I can't imagine him working effectively in a match like this in say, 1995. But he was on point with everything from selling to pacing to matwork. Frye also did fine in what was very much a pro wrestling match.

[superkix]

This was decent. I liked the back-and-forth struggle to get a takedown and lock in something substantial. Frye was working like a heel here, cutting off Sasaki's offense with submission holds and I thought Sasaki did a good job of selling. That Frye bump on the leg trip was crazy, which led to Sasaki cutting him out at the leg with the lariat on the apron to set-up the Sharpshooter. A big set of lariats from Kensuke and that's all she wrote.

[Stiva]

I really enjoyed this, which surprised me. I agree that it was pretty immaculately laid out, from the opening exchanges to Frye's dominance to the great Sasaki comeback, all aided by two good performances. Frye had some nice moments peppered through (the headbutts in the corner were choice) but his general role as badass holds expert was done to perfection with some real torque and he bumped nicely when he had to. Still though, this was Sasaki's match; he sold perfectly, bumped well, had some real snap and whip on his own holds at the start and his comeback was timed, and executed, perfectly. I've never been Sasaki's biggest fan but I think it's probably time I used this project to reappraise him.

[tbrett]

I liked this one. Sasaki's come back was great. The clothes line to Fryes leg on the apron was great. Good work by both men.