[2000-08-07-NJPW-G1 Climax] Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Manabu Nakanishi

[soup23]

The G1 butchered for 2000 which is maddening but shows how even in 2000, content delivery wasn’t to the point that we expect today even if the moves and presentation isn’t all that different in many facets. Nakanishi nearly kicks out of the diving headbutt at one to big ohhhs from the Osaka crowd. Tenzan misses his moonsault and Nakanishi is hulking up with the spears and torture rack combo. Tenzan regains with a the double chop and then hits an ugly moonsault for a nearfall. The cradle tombstone gives Tenzan the win. Good heat for this one and Nakanishi looked strong. Tenzan was pretty sloppy in his comeback. Overall, this looked like it topped out as a good clash of the titans style match. NR

[AstroBoy]

This looked pretty fun from what made it. I like Nakanishi a lot here and the crowd responds to him big time. He comes across like a big deal and Tenzan, by contrast, looks pretty sloppy and secondary in this. There are some brute spots between the two but Nakanishi just shined brighter than Tenzan here. Hot crowd, though, plus a fun slugfest.