[1998-08-01-NJPW G1 Climax- Tag 2] Satoshi Kojima vs Tadao Yasuda

[Ma Stump Puller]

Kojima has barely aged since the 90's, and he's still in that role of "guy who's over but not main event" as he's always been in. This is wrestled slightly different to the first matches these two were in as Koji becomes the underdog and Yasuda becomes the big lumpy sumo that he needs to chop down. Yasuda's stuff on top is fairly decent, mixing in the usual big man shtick while also occasionally doing something more athletic, like a rolling senton splash or whatnot. His sumo slaps are pretty damn stiff as well, naturally Koji works well with such a dynamic as he bumps solid, his selling is naturally sympathetic enough to get the crowd supporting the guy against the big lad, even during the lulls included here. Yasuda hits like a truck so naturally Koji tries numerous times to push though with his own chops to no success whatsoever. He has to instead use his speed to dodge moves and then just keep the momentum going with big moves until Yasuda inevitably powers though with his own. The crowd was fairly mixed as both men get chants depending on who's selling, they never really picked a definite favourite (isn't a bad thing, definitely makes this a interesting case).

The pace reflects this as both men get the chance to shine, with Kojima having to consistently go to the well against the brick wall that is Yasuda. Especially good bit comes when Koji runs for the lariat and Yasuda just blams him with his own before doing the Baba-lite neckbreaker for a big near fall. When Koji manages to try for another after some good forearms, Yasuda does his huge big-man dropkick to stop him again. I do have to enforce the fact that the crowd are LOUD for this, like these two aren't even really big stars yet or anything but the crowd is firmly super hyped for every big moment. This has maybe a few too many near falls (especially the last five minutes, almost nonstop after every big move) however the crowd still bite so you can't really complain. They work logically with this as well as Yasuda is so battered that all he can do is keep kicking out; Koji just keeps on top of him relentlessly until a final successful lariat puts him down. I thought that the start of this was fairly middling but got good as the two really clicked, something Kojima is really good at doing: he's great at finding what works between him and his opponent, building on it. In this case it's Yasuda's solid ability to just shut down his explosive work with steady counters, so the dynamic is all about that. Yasuda also shines a ton here as he gets to show off just how much he can do: it isn't anything super special workrate-wise, but his ability to establish his role in a match, going from underdog to the exact opposite here? Quite good, especially given this is before his early 2000's peak. Being able to communicate dominance AND vulnerability at the same match is definitely not easy. Great early Yasuda showing, Kojima also gets a pretty big spotlight here as well.