[2000-03-20-NJPW] Jushin Liger vs Don Frye

[Loss]

Well this matchup is certainly an interesting idea. Fun stuff with Frye taking Liger lightly to start by putting him on the top rope and sort of patting him on the shoulder, and Liger responding by mounting him, slapping him in the face multiple times and immediately locking in a cross armbreaker. For the first few minutes, Frye put over Liger in every exchange and only got the advantage through cheating, which got great heat, proving the old Dave Meltzer adage about shooters always getting great heat for cheating very true. Liger's performance and selling was awesome here. Frye is pretty limited in terms of what he can do in the ring, but he has great charisma, is a strong heel and New Japan fans accept him as a tough guy, so he gets by and is very effective. This worked. ***

[soup23]

I really like New Japan at this point which is a pleasant surprise. Even after the dome match, Liger's junor bully run has been effective. Here he meets a bigger bully in the yard and must counteract that with precision and speed. Using that simple match narrative, this really worked for me. Frye has a great way of presenting himself to gain investment from the viewer that counteracts his technical shortcomings. A really fun match. ***1/4

[Moonsault Marvin]

Black Liger finally loses. Frye had the size advantage, but didn't really use it and stuck to his shoot style stuff. Liger did a great job of selling as usual. This seems like a big win for Frye. Good match.

[cramerjason87]

Frye has a look and instincts for pro wrestling. He does a great job keeping the leg work on Liger interesting. His strikes look good too. Match loses steam because of Liger's spotty selling.'Ok match but seeing Frye in this match compared to the Sasaki match was impressive, he totally gets it.

[Calvin]

Don Frye vs. Jushin Liger - NJPW (03/20/00)

Odd matchup, but this ruled. I loved how Liger didn’t even bother changing his approach and tries to bully Frye and…  it kind of works? Frye sells like a madman for Liger’s offense, and he has to cheat to gain control of the match. The dueling limbwork is a nice touch, and Frye’s is especially brutal as he elevates Liger’s leg on the bottom rope and then viciously stomps the shit out of it. Ouch. In the end, the size and strength difference is too much to overcome, and Black Liger finally loses. I don’t mind them cashing in on Liger’s equity to put Frye over -- because the man genuinely looks like a star, and he’s picked up on pro-wrestling impressively quickly -- but this is Liger’s first loss of 2000, and the anticlimactic finish felt like an injustice to all the work they’ve done to build him up.

Rating: ***¼