[2001-08-08-NJPW G1 Climax, Night Four) Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata

[Ma Stump Puller]

I was fairly hyped for this given Yasuda and Nagata historically have pretty good chemistry and will have a great trio of matches in the next year or so. This kinda sparked that pairing given this is their first major showing against the other, and it starts great with Nagata rushing in for a surprise rolling kick and German suplex combo in the first 10 seconds! The crowd pick up for a full-mount beatdown and a cross armbreaker; Yasuda just about escapes to the ropes. This shakes Yasuda up enough that when he manages to get in his clinch in the turnbuckle he really lets rip with some good-looking knees, as well as just choking Nagata out with his boot.

Crowd reacts strongly to him shoving the ref out of the way and threatening the guy; while Yasuda had been a heel in his earlier G1 showings, he wasn't THIS much of a overt heel and this was pre Coward Shooter gimmick so he wasn't full on cartoony villain yet. They brawl on the outside and we get a great spot where Nagata slaps on the Nagata Lock on the apron to really bend back Yasuda's arm. The middle part of this is a bit slower as the two work on the mat: Yasuda isn't amazing but he can hold his own, as shown by him pushing with clinch work and defending against a rear naked choke and triangle armbar respectfully. We get a good spot where Nagata tries for a dropdown Guillotine choke, Yasuda is able to pop his head out mid-fall, beating him up for a pair of rear naked choke attempts.

Nagata impressively counters the second with a figure-four no-hands heel hook, which gives him the leverage to go into a full-on Achilles Tendon lock. This is followed up with real sharp kicks from Nagata to work over the leg as well. Nagata sells the shit out of Yasuda snapping up his arms in a clinch before doing the usual sumo chops followed up with a Guillotine and Butterfly Suplex and the crowd really shit themselves when Yasuda tries for another Guillotine, Nagata is just about able to spring his leg up onto the ropes. The finish is excellently done as Yasuda gets a near fall with a sit-out Tiger Driver however Nagata counters a final push for a Guillotine with a Fujiwara Armbar set-up before just pounding the guy with knees to the head to set up Crossface variation of the Nagata Lock, which gets the big win. 

This was really strongly built throughout with some great scrappy stuff at the beginning before settling down into a good pace between the two as they scramble on the mat. Yasuda is a menace with his clinches and dangerous submissions, and Nagata shines under pressure to deliver a solid babyface performance with tons of teases and fire to get the crowd right into this. Super fun for what it was and definitely worth watching if a fan of their existing trilogy of matches, maybe wanting something a bit less gimmicky than Yasuda's usual Coward Shooter stuff.