[2002-03-21-NJPW-Hyber Battle Night 9] Tadao Yasuda vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Champion Tadao Yasuda vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 3/21/02

Yasuda is probably the most forgettable IWGP Champion but even with his short reign he was able to sneak in a successful title defense here against Tenzan. Yasuda defeated Nagata the month prior to win the vacant belt. I am unclear why Fujita vacated the title, but I think it was due to injury, I need to some research. On this show, Nagata beat Norton to become #1 Contender for the next big show. Nagata/Norton from '98 I believe it my pick for best Norton match of all time, but reading Jetlag's review of the 2002 match sounds like something I can skip. This is only my second Yasuda match, but I am not going to judge too much as Tenzan is not the best person to judge against. I watched this match about 5 hours ago during my lunch walk but it was sub-15 minutes and nothing really happened in the first 5 minutes so it shouldnt be too bad. 

As I just said not much to report in the first 5 minutes, Tenzan bullrushed Yasuda early but Yasuda used his size and shoot skills to quash that. It seemed like goon/bully move for Tenzan to try. Tenzan is like the world's best Nasty Boy and without his size advantage I was interested to see what he did. Lots of pedestrian grappling. Yasuda started to gain an advantage so Tenzan bullied him into the corner and started to make some headway with clubbering. He deviated from that. Went into a Guillotine, but that played right into Yasuda's hands who quickly countered and bloodied Tenzan's mouth with some ground & pound. Yasuda loves his double underhooks and hit a Tiger Driver. My memory is a little foggy but I know the next major transition was Tenzan headbutting the knee of Yadusa and that's a very Tenzan thing to do. Most people would kick or chop block but he headbutts. In terms of strategy I dig it. It is tried & true pro wrestler vs shooter strategy for the pro wrestler to weaken limb to make in-roads. Tenzan worked the leg pretty well. He hit a diving headbutt to the leg again very Tenzan. Tenzan moonsault and a modified Michinoku Driver for two big nearfalls. The crowd did get into it. He started doing his Mongolian Chop and headbutt shit. Yasuda started his hulk up and eventually Guillotine Choked Tenzan out. Nobody is going to confuse this with Inoki/Brisco '71, but it was better than I expected. The boring first five minutes drags, but they tell simple, elegant story. They explain how Tenzan manages to get some offense, build to some hot Tenzan nearfalls and efficiently have Yasuda win. I see a lot worse day in, day out in WWE and AEW now so I cant complain. ***