[2001-10-08-NJPW] Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki

[GOTNW]

Ah, the glorious period of New Japan when wrestlers were forced to shave their heads and wear gloves. It is always interesting to see what conclusions workers came to when doing matches like these. Kensuke's Lariats and Strangle Holds aren't exactly shooty, but they don't feel *that* out of place in these hybrid matches either, and certainly give the match a unique flair. There's a lot of face punching, which is enjoyable on its own but these two find smart ways to incorporate them into transitions as well as make it look like a struggle-you'll see dodging, shoving, blocking and so on. Kensuke's great timing maximized the value of his flash attacks and hearing the echo of the Dome crowd is always a special feeling. Fujita's side mount knees were a nice callback to what he was doing in PRIDE at the time and the TKO finish was worked about as well as it gets. ***1/2

[superkix]

I echo a lot of the above sentiments regarding this match. Sasaki makes his offense work while looking like a little badass. He gets in some really good body shots on Fujita, and the way Fujita took that German suplex was kind of nuts. When Sasaki takes him down with the armbar takedown, Fujita scrambling to the ropes was a lot of fun. Loved the finish with them trading punches while Sasaki's got him in the kneelock and then Fujita going nuts and pummeling him the TKO. 

[Makai Club #1]

Really enjoyed this. Sasaki really worked well in this style of match. Sasaki isn't exactly a striker of the conventional sense but he had some nasty looking body shots. Made my own kidneys shudder. Fujita being on the defensive was fun to see as well, the ways he tried to defend himself and get on the offence. Fairly compelling match. I wish it went longer than it did but it comes with the time. 

[cactus]

This is like two motivated post-return Brock Lesnars locking horns in the Tokyo Dome. The German Suplex that Kensuke hits is up there with the one that Vader did to Inoki in '96. This is a violent, glorious and compact match that never outwears it's welcome and leaves you wanting to check out more Fujita matches. 

★★★½

[ohtani's jacket]

What the heck happened to Sasaki's mullet? This was big, dumb and goofy. Just the way it should be. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 10/8/01

Fujita is the current IWGP Champion defeating Norton for the title and with wins over Nagata and Don Frye. Some reason this match is not a title match. Sasaki was the heir apparent with Hashimoto leaving to form Zero-One and Mutoh joining AJPW and Chono being banged up. However the rise of MMA and Inokiism brought an end to that. That being said Sasaki was still the top traditional pro wrestler so I think they did want to protect him. 
 

I expected Fujita to bulldoze Sasaki and force him to fight underneath but Sasaki controlled 75% of this which is typical Japanese style. I am a big Sasaki fan and he held his own. Big meaty clotheslines, great armbars and leg work. Fujita caught him with a spine buster on a charge and did his standard ground & pound knees. Sasaki got out of the head & arm triangle. Sasaki looked to be in dominant position targeting the leg with kicks and drop kick. He had Fujita in that inverted Figure-4 Liger likes but Fujita just beat the shit out of him from his back with punches. PRIDE-style punches to the back of the head end it with red tackling Fujita.

Sasaki looked great on offense and got a chance to hold his own, but this is Fujita’s world we are just living in it. ***