Random New Japan

New Year Golden Series 1980

(1980/2/5)

WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship: Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami ©

Very rough, very physically demanding match, absolutely flawless in execution, shit was tight and technically sound. Fujinami entered the match with a cut on his forehead and DK took advantage of it every time when on verge of losing the mat game. These two were so damn physically prepared and fit here, it felt like they could’ve wrestled for three hours straight. Great finish too.

****1/4

Champion Series 1985

(1985/6/11)

WWF Championship: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan ©

Oh look, it’s Vinnie Mac inside the ring, announcing this sports entertainment match! Sheeeeit, Hulk is much bigger than Fujinami (a former Junior after all), but the size and power advantage alone are not enough to defeat the tough No. 2 of New Japan, hence Hogan bringing it down to the mat and trying to hang with Fujinami in his own game. So cool seeing the Hulkster busting out various armbars and other pace-controlling holds. Fujinami was, naturally, working from beneath and his comebacks fired up the fans every time, but really, they were chanting for Hogan too, and quite loudly and heavily I must say. Too bad they kinda botched the lariat finish, but still, this was a great match overall and should serve as a rock solid counter argument against all the “Hogan shit wrestler” (whatever the fuck that means) cocksuckers.

****1/4

IWGP Champion Series 1987

(1987/5/18)

IWGP League 1987 – Block B: Masa Saito vs. Akira Maeda

Five minutes of crazy awesomeness. The key part of success was actually Super Strong Machine laying a horrific beatdown on Maeda just when he was about to enter the ring, shoving him into the ringpost few times and busting him wide open. It looked like a legit cut, not a bladejob. That turn of events suddenly gave Masa Saito a significant advantage, and he sure as hell took the chance, Maeda got his ass kicked properly here, I’ve never seen something like this before. One helluva brawl, short and sweet.

****

Fighting Spirit Series 1988

(1988/10/27)

Antonio Inoki vs. Crusher “Bam Bam” Bigelow

Most of this was messy as fuck.

**

G1 Climax 2008

(2008/8/15)

Masahiro Chono & Kurt Angle vs. Shinjiro Otani & AJ Styles

I have never bothered to check this one before, silly me because this was tons of fun. Everyone delivered, even Angle, even the veteran Chono, but the undisputed MVP was Shinjiro F’N Otani, my god, he owned everyone out there, especially the crowd. Angle and AJ had a fun rivalry that year, their match-up here was damn good, also Chono’s charisma and badassery were just all over the match, great stuff, super enjoyable.

****

G1 Climax 2008

(2008/8/16)

Hiroshi Tanahashi & AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kurt Angle

Fun, vivid tag, but the one from the night before had Otani in it, and this one didn’t, that’s the key difference. Nakamura was painfully average here, Angle and AJ worked another round of their beef, and Tana and Angle were building towards their eventual one-on-one match. And holy shit, Angle actually beat a wrestler by using Olympic Slam, go figure!

***1/2

Resolution 2009

(2009/4/5)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi ©

I have never actually seen this match before, despite it sleeping on my disk for three years now. Eh, waddaya gonna do… Good match, the opening stage with them rolling on the mat trying to outcatch each other and with two strong headlock sequences was the best, it was nice. The rest was good enough, simply a mixture of regular Angle & Tana matches, with obligatory signature spots such as suplexes, ankle lock reversals, HFFs, etc. Nothing out of order, just stuff good enough. What really made the whole thing for me was Tana’s fantastic post-match selling of the ankle lock damage, I fucking love when wrestlers do that.

***1/2

Masahiro Chono 25^th Anniversary

(2009/10/12)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Shinjiro Otani vs. Shinsuke Nakamura ©

Excellent title match and forgotten gem of modern New Japan, the veteran and Junior Heavyweight legend of the company comes back to fight the representative of some other, modern era, and he’s going all in. Superb work by Otani here, incredible crowd control by using his retro signature spots and also reminding everyone of the great late Shinya Hashimoto, he drew massive sympathies throughout the match, and the crowd bought into a chance of him winning the strap. Nakamura was good too, but damn, the challenger was just on a whole other level of swag.

****1/4

Best of the Super Jr. XIX

(2012/6/10)

BOSJ XIX - FINALE: Low-Ki vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

The opening phase with Low-Ki setting up his pace was awesome, as he was just chopping and kicking the shit out of Taguchi, stretching him on the mat, etc. Felt like a rookie punishment match. Eventually, Taguchi finds few ways to stay alive, mostly via smart reversals. However, Low-Ki is a vicious beast and we got an awesome ringside sequence that culminated in a great table spot reversal that fucked up Low-Ki’s midsection. He sold it great, favoring it all the way until the end. That proved to be the key for Taguchi’s victory, in the finishing run Low-Ki missed the phoenix splash and Taguchi was free to wrap it up with a series of moves, with the last two of them targeting Low-Ki’s hurt midsection. Excellent, tight match with a smart layout and simple structure.

****1/4