[1998-02-08-NJPW] Koji Kanemoto vs Jushin Liger

[Jetlag]

Way better than the crap that was their July match. Essentially Kanemoto makes Liger his woman in this one. Kanemoto is great as a violent bully and he just kicks the snot out of Liger from start to finish. Unfortunately Liger lacked his usual fire. Add a pissed off Liger comeback to this and you'd have a minor classic on your hands. They went to the usual bomb throwing in the last 3^rd, altough it wasn't egregious.

[MrMoonlight]

It’s the kind of match where Kanemoto gets full pleasure out of going against what the audience expects to look badass and nonchalant. The issue is that most of the time it feels a little stupid, illogical, inconsistent… so a lot of strikes are thown, stiff, but it remains quite flat aside from one or two big spots and a multi big kick out finish. So nowhere near a top 30 njpw '98, and another fail for Kanemoto who was on a bad streak but will get back on track with great individual performances later that year.