[1992-04-06-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Master Blaster vs Yoshinari Ogawa

[Ma Stump Puller]

Master Blaster??? Yep, we're going there.

I'll give credit to Blaster/Greene: he's not a very good wrestler but he does well enough here as the stocky heavyweight with clear limitations mostly hidden behind his muscle. What really matters with this one is how they work the match itself.

The two push their advantages well: Blaster is the cocky big guy who can easily throw his weight around while Ogawa can only get in little quick bits here and there before he's run over. With the focus on a fairly limited power-wrestler, one would think that the crowd wouldn't care much about this at all....but that's exactly the opposite! Ogawa's work on the defensive with his selling and urgency to try to fight back alongside Blaster playing into the bruising heel shtick get the crowd fairly shockingly vocal with this one, with even actual big boos for Blaster when he keeps trying to mangle Ogawa's poor back. Ogawa himself gets in his usual generic underdog spots, including pulling bit for bit the Taue small package counter from last month's Carnival showing to be used here (and it wasn't as smooth either mind).

They're done competently and build to the bigger stuff, like Ogawa doing a huge German suplex on Blaster for a near fall that felt completely bonkers given the sheer difference in size between the two. Ogawa jumps well for a bunch of Blaster near-falls as he keeps getting up despite the beatings he's put under. Blaster's facial expressions as the crowd keep egging Ogawa on are good as well, showing him annoyed as he keeps ramping up the bombs to progressively closer calls. Crowd gets loud for Ogawa pushing though regardless and eventually he outlasts Blaster long enough to take advantage of him being knocked into the turnbuckle, snapping on a classic school-boy to steal the win. Alongside the Abby match this is one of Ogawa's first big shine moments, even if it's on a unaired undercard. It showcases his dynamic already of being the smaller man in a land of giants, and we even get little bits of the sneaky but resilient character he'd play to perfection in the late 90's and beyond. Blaster did his job and this is probably one of his best matches as a result since it's one of the few matches Al Greene had where he wasn't either jobbing his heart out or working a boring squash. Definitely not a must-watch but certainly one to mind if you want pre Rat Boy greatness, this was sweet.