Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW 6/10/03 Takayama’s first defense as IWGP Champion after defeating Nagata in the Dome. It is still unclear what constitutes an IWGP defense versus a NWF title defense. Tenzan came up short last year against Yasuda and doesn’t look like he got a shot against Nagata. Tenzan is incredibly over throughout the match so while I’m not a huge Tenzan fan based on crowd response he has earned this spot. My standard line he is the best possible goon or bruiser. He is like the best possible version of a Nasty Boy. I do appreciate that you always know what you’re going to get with Tenzan. With the right opponent, you can get a lot of mileage out of him because he puts parameters on what can and can’t be done which can inspire creativity. What’s interesting is I found the Yasuda more interesting until the very end because it was two very limited workers trying to figure out how to work a match. Takayama who is clearly much better than either however doesn’t really force Tenzan to wrestle an interesting match. Takayama because he is so dynamic and adaptable is able to just cruise through this and work a normal match. Whereas a Tanahashi can bring something special out of a Tenzan and a Yasuda causes me to be like how the fuck are these two gonna have a match. Takayama makes it too easy for Tenzan. Pretty standard New Japan feeling out process. They go the test of strength which is perfect for these two heavy hitters. Some shoulder tackle standoffs. Tenzan wins with a spinning heel kick then sends Takayama to the floor and its Air Tenzan! Now that was an ugly ass Slingshot Plancha and I was here for it. Big Suplex back in, nice struggle. Tenzan consolidates the advantage and does what Tenzan does: clubber. He leaves himself open to some Kicks and in the scramble Takayama rocks him with a big kneelift! Classic Takayama! Takayama’s control segment is solid, but uninspiring. I could watch Takayama throw kicks and knees for days but there was nothing special here. Takayama uncharacteristically goes to the top and gets thrown off. Tenzan tombstone for the first near fall. Takayama takes back over shortly only for Tenzan to catch a kick and HEADBUTT THE KNEE! The Yasuda strategy I dig. Perfect Tenzan psychology. Dragon leg screw. Top Rope Diving headbutt to the knee! Love it! Big Tenzan finish stretch…Tenzansault and Anaconda Vice. Lots of Tenzan clubbering after running out of things to do. TAKAYAMA LUNGES FROM HIA KNEES AND HEADBUTTS TENZAN IN THE FACE! HELL YEAH! Two big kneelifts and an Everest German and that’s all she wrote. This felt sub-*** to me until Takayama insanely sick headbutt transition to win. From tut headbutt to the German was like 30 seconds tops. It was like the best 30 seconds ever. So gotta be ***

GHC Champ Kenta Kobashi vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/2/03 My first Kobashi match in two years! Yay! My first 25+ minute match in two years! Boo! I love Kobashi but this was just a sleepwalk match. Chono does not do much for me but unfortunately he is in the Dream Match role on these Dome cards, Misawa the previous year and Hulk Hogan later this year. He is just useless. Kobashi did the moves but he didn’t really bring that emotion takes Kobashi’s matches to the next level. The first ten minutes were pretty standard Kobashi fare: chops (Chono didn’t really bring it), tests of strength and headlock. Just Kobashi wrestling a broomstick. The one potentially interesting moment in the whole match was Chono was doing a ballshot to finally not get his ass kicked, but Kobashi blows it off to hit Suplex so lame. If Chono at least played an Eddie Guerrero like cheating scoundrel that could’ve interesting but they played it straight. The transition to Chono was the usual All Japan apron work. Kobashi was going to hit a Suplex but Yakuza Kick and a suicide dive out Chono in control. Chono did a Misawa-rana on the Ramp that popped me. We get the Chono bombs: Saito Suplexes, Shining Yakuza Kick, STF. I like the STF spot it feels hot. Chono does his shitty Iron Cross rest hold and Kobashi hits a shit ton of half Nelson suplexes and Lariats to win. At one point in between the Suplex barrage Chono’s hope spot was an Abdominal Stretch which made me laugh out loud because it was so lame. At least do the Octopus Stretch. It was standard All Japan/NOAH match Greatest Hits Dome match. Nothing interesting just hit your stuff go home. Kobashi just plugged Chono in and Chono did nothing interesting.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Budokan 08/29/02 NWF Title Tournament So what I have gleaned in my limited research is Fujita vacated the title earlier in the year so he set up a tournament for NWF Title also called The King of Gladiators tournament. 4-men all shoot backgrounds. It is him vs Takayama and Kohsaka vs Yasuda. In my opinion, it is upsets in both as the new Inoki favorites go down. Inoki even comes out to hype up the crowd and NWF title is shown. This May be the most violent match I’ve ever seen. We will get there in a second. Scrappy amateur wrestling to start. I would’ve expected Takayama to use his reach advantage to keep the stockier Fujita at bay. Fujita slaps him on the ropes. A lot of guard and ground & pound. It is actually on the floor Takayama wins and Chono who beat Takayama early in the month for the G1 Climax gets in his face. Back in the ring Fujita catches a kick into a throw. I really like the struggle where Takayama earns his throw. Fujita ground & pound knees. Head-arm triangle. This is all good Inokiist wrestling then this happens… So they decide to stand & bang. I rewound here. I don’t think Takayama bladed. Fujita was throwing live rounds. He whiffed on two but he connected on two. One made absolutely disgusting sound and next thing you know blood is pouring from Takayama’s ear. Takayama gives in my opinion two receipts the first kneelift was stiff, then Everest German but that penultimate kneekift was SICK! I don’t know how Fujita’s nose was intact. Takayama obliterated his face the the final kneelift was more standard snug pro wrestling but the penultimate one was brutal. Check out the two wicked punches by Fujita and two kneelifts by Takayama. ***

Kazunari Murakami vs Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW 10-13-03 Tokyo Dome This is on the undercard of Hogan vs Chono and a Shooters vs Pro Wrestlers 5-on-5 Elimination Match. This was more angle than match. My sense was this was either a hazing of Shibata or he proves he was tough enough to be a member of Makai Club. You’d think Murakami death glares, stiff strikes and Shibata bleeding buckets would be an easy thumbs up but the majority of the match is Makai Club mugging Shibata and Shibata selling the selling loss of blood. Shibata jumpstarts the match attacking Murakami as he enters the ring but Murakami says if you’re gonna do that you better finish me as he recover brutally knees him in the face and shoves him out the ring. Makai Club mugging and Shibata is wearing the crimson mask. Murakami hits some great strikes does his usual double foot in the corner. Pretty easily KOs Shibata. I think they have another match in Big Mouth Loud to check out.

NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 6/13/03 Budokan Six Months before Nakamura and Takayama squared off in the Dome to unify the IWGP & NWF Championships they met in the Budokan for the NWF title only. This is a bit weird as the previous month Takayama won the IWGP Championship from Nagata at the Dome but this didn’t unify the titles. He would defend the titles separately. I watched this about ten hours ago but the match is pretty basic so I’m not too worried. The match follows a different layout than previous Nakamura matches. In other Nakamura matches he is the young gun counter wrestler that use flash submissions to win matches. Here he is the aggressor and brings the fight right to Takayama with big strikes and a barrage of submissions. He even goes so far as to use Takayama’s one foot cover to show up Takayama early. It is an early Triangle that saps Takayama of most of his energy early. Nakamura is wrestling circles around Takayama because of it. Nakamura was catching kicks and turning him into powerbombs. The only reason Takayama gets can into it is a MASSIVE KNEELIFT! Nakamura shoots in for a takedown and eats nothing but knee. The Takayama heat segment and finish is just classic Takayama. Pretty similar to the Kenta if memory serves me correctly with Takayama just obliterating Nakamura with kneelifts and strikes before polishing him off with an Everest German. Besides a Nakamura Triangle Choke that Takayama powerbomb out of I don’t really remember much or hope spots. I appreciated the inverted narrative of Nakamura getting all his hope early looking like he was going to win on a fast break only to obliterated by a knee, cool match. ***1/2

Wow I was quite the hater back in the day. Have no recollection of watching this and liked it way more so re-doing the review from scratch. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 6/7/02 Since I’ve been doing this project to watch all the IWGP title defenses between Fujita to Lesnar, I have had this one circled for a while. Sasaki is one of all-time favorites and brilliant power wrestler who had the misfortune of peaking during Inokiism. Nagata is someone who has grown on me and I don’t think he has the charisma of a potted plant anymore and also I own 10 potted plants now and I think potted plants can be charismatic. I watched this match before but I was out to lunch then. It is a ***1/2 match that deserves a better review. Nagata just won the title from Yasuda and defended at the Dome against Takayama. This presents a different more traditional pro wrestling challenge for Nagata. In the year 2000 Kensuke must have been pumped he was the heir apparent to the Musketeers and getting a big push against Kawada and All Japan. Then Inoki switches gears to Fujita and Yasuda and never looks backs. Nagata fits better in Inoki’s vision of a hybrid wrestler. This starts very New Japan for like ten minutes but ends very All Japan. I liked the mixture. The beginning matwork was classically influenced think NWA championship style: headlocks, wristlocks, armbars. Nagata starts peppering Sasaki with kicks who responds with ROARING Oo-Soto-Gari loved that response from him. Then they did my favorite thing they teased their finishers: Northern Lights Bomb and a Nagatalock. Then they back to matwork but more Shoot-influenced the struggle over the Cross-Armbar was tremendous. Nagata Dane out the better with a step over toehold. Nagata starts pelting Sasaki with kicks. Sasaki punches him in the face. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! Nagata powder. A beautiful All Japan sequence straight out the Kawada playbook and the response by Nagata was genius simultaneously protecting the move and selling it. This is the more All Japan finish run. Sasaki hits his special armdrag. I really liked the transition to Nagata's offense. Sasaki mistimed a rope running sequence. He tried to ricochet off the ropes and catch Nagata bouncing off the turnbuckles. Nagata did not bounce as quickly so he missed Nagata who then kicked his head off! I love him paying for trying to be too convoluted. Nagata's control segment was a lot of kicks and then on a Sasaki powder, Sasaki tried the All Japan ricochet off the railing Lariat, but Nagata caught him in an Exploder. Nagata pretty much had the match won here. As he was getting back in the ring, Sasaki LARIATS the knee! This was a great, last ditch, desperation ploy by Sasaki. This leads to him using the Scorpion Deathlock and when that does not work trying to truck Nagata with Lariats, but he is running out of steam. Nagata kicks the Lariat arm some brutal kicks to the head. Wrist-clutch Exploder and two Saito Suplexes win the day for Nagata! I liked how they clearly showed Nagata was the better wrestler. He has better ground game and striking game, BUT Sasaki has a puncher's chance. His two best openings were the closed fist/Northern Lights Bomb combo and the Lariat to the Leg/Scorpion Deathlock. Sasaki could do damage but he needed a closed fist or a sneak attack chop block to gain an advantage. He put Nagata over strong, definitely an enjoyable match. ***1/2

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 8/15/04 G-1 Climax Finals What a beautiful pro wrestling match! My reasoning for choosing Inokiist New Japan has my return to reviewing was twofold: 1. The matches are usually short most are under 10 minutes, 15 minutes max which suits my lifestyle well. 2. I have become very disenchanted with modern pro wrestling. People may find that surprising given that I usually praise WWE for the Bloodline, Cody Rhodes stuff and there's usually one AEW match a week that I think is very good to great. There is so much trash in current pro wrestling. I was kinda sick of it. I knew Inokiist New Japan would take out the two things I hate most in modern pro wrestling: 1. Running and 2. Overselling. As I ran out of Shooter vs Wrestler matches I have started to wade back into pro wrestling matches. This match really reminded how beautiful traditional pro wrestling can be. As Inoki once named his show, Pro Wrestlers Be Strongest! Both Tanahashi & Tenzan played to their strengths and the result was a terrific, elegant match. It is a battle of tempo that often gets lost in Shoot-Style or Inokiist style matches. Here it is the clubbering, lumbering Tenzan vs the quick, hit 'n run Tanahashi. Tanahashi is my choice for best Japanese Wrestler of the 21st Century. He is just on here. He is the best possible version of Keiji Mutoh. What is also so unique is this match is early enough in Tanahashi's career that it predates his formula of working the knee. The match when viewed through the lens of tempo just falls into place sublimely. If Tanahashi keep it uptempo, he has the advantage and is supplying the excitement, but there is also a looming dread and stress that any moment Tenzan can just headbutt him in the breadbasket. Early on we see that with a quick sunset flip attempt, Tanahashi tries to quicken the pace but is stopped dead with the butt to the solarplexus. Tenzan clubbers. If you seen one Tenzan match, you know the drill: headbutts, Mongolian Chops, general clubbering. He Irish Whips Tanahashi. This creates the space to allow Tanahashi to generate his offense. He springs into a reverse cross body. He just seamlessly without pause throws his body at Tenzan, elbow drop, Senton. He goes for a superplex, but gets the worst of it. Tenzan is back up and he is clubbering. Tenzan escalates he hits the Diving Headbutt the first big move of the match. Tanahashi cradles. This discombobulates Tenzan long enough that Tanahashi can increase the pace again. It looks like Tanahashi is overzealous and Tenzan is going to throw him to the floor but Tanahashi skins the cat. He is all over Tenzan. Nice dive! Finally Tanahashi by hurling his body and keeping Tenzan off balance has earned his right to hit bombs. He hits one German couldnt hold the bridge but holds the waistlock so he can get the bridge. Which I loved! Dragon Sleeper for Tanahashi. He goes for the win when he thinks Tenzan is unconscious. Tanahashi goes for the Dragon Suplex, but Tenzan elbows out. Mongolian Chops. Tanahashi goes to block...HEADBUTT TO THE BREADBASKET! OH HELL YEAH! Saito Suplex, great Levelling the Playing Field spot. Here comes the Fighting Spirit Breakdown, it is lame but short. Tenzan spinning heel kick another level the playing field spot. I always get worried about the home stretch in this timeframe. Very easy to go NOAH and do too much. Tenzan hits his weird Tombstone variant and then Anaconda Vice. Tanahashi rolls him on the shoulders which again fits with Tanahashi's offense strategy which is gets Tenzan into weird positions. My favorite part of the finish stretch was Tenzan missing the moonsault opening him up to an amazing finish stretch that would make Ricky Steamboat or Keiji Mutoh jealous. Shining WIzard! Dragon Suplex! Inside Cradle! Backslide out of a headbutt to the breadbasket attempt (THAT SPOT WAS *****)! Back to Dragon Sleeper! I love Tanahashi so much, I fell in love with him all over again and boy oh boy I wanted the kid to do it! Again Tanahashi cant win with the Dragon Sleeper. He gets to his feet first, but as he is picking Tenzan up, Tenzan does the only thing he can...LUNGE AT HIM WITH HEADBUTTS TO THE STOMACH! REPEATEDLY! I never know how much I could love a headbutt to the stomach. Tenzansault which I bit on as the finish. Great nearfall! Anaconda Vice is the finish but what he does is pick him up and throw him down to the mat while in the vice twice. I would have liked to see Tanahashi lose by pinfall here but still the tap out was great. I feel like this was Marty Sleeze special two dudes staying true to their characters, lets the clash of styles tell the story, using the headbutt to the breadbasket as the touchstone, Tanahashi generating his offense so well, really interesting transitions, everything feels organic and snug. Pro Wrestling Be The Best! ****1/2

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Masahiro Chono - NJPW 8/14/05 G-1 Climax Finals I watched this yesterday but only getting to the review now. It is honestly that good to get everything exactly right so I’m not too worried. Fujita is the ultimate coulda woulda shoulda wrestler. With the right management and right mentor on psychology, this dude could’ve been real money. Chono is Chono. He is over like rover but I just don’t give a shit about him. Fujita comes out like a beast ground & pound knees. I like the route they take at the beginning cat & mouse. The only way Chono can get an opening is if Fujita hurts himself. Fujita misses a charge and tumbles to outside or kicks the post. There’s a great Fujita German off the apron to the floor. Chono’s transition is both good and bad. I liked that Fujita no sold the initial Saito Suplex and it took a string of four bombs for Chono to actually gain control. I still felt that it came out of nowhere and was not earned. I don’t know when this started but it seems Chono replaced the Yakuza Kick with the Shining Yakuza Kick. He seems to use his foot rather than his knee (Mutoh would use his knee). I don’t know if this was a conscious decision or Chono just couldn’t bend his knee properly. At one point he tears his tights, so he can expose his knee pad but repeatedly runs the flat of his foot into Fujita’s face which honestly looked more painful than a normal Shining Wizard but also has nothing to do with the exposed knee. I forget Fujita’s finishing run I’m sure it was a lot of chokes and knees. Chono set his up with an STF which is a great spot. He does a great STF, it generates a lot of heat and it feels like he can win but obviously Fujita was not going to tap. So a bunch of Shining Yakuza Kicks wins the day. It was a little sad to see big bad Fujita job to this fossil but the people were happy. I thought the match was a mess and nothing too terribly interesting happened.

Fuck I didn’t know I had already watched this match. I’m about the same ballpark as I was before I think I was going to go 2.5 stars or 3 stars once I finished writing. The first 12 minutes of this match are utterly pointless. They don’t establish a hook or anything. It is broken up into little segments that don’t connect and are not that interesting on their own. Nominally I’d say they are going for Chono is the legend that is out-gunned by the giant shooter badass. Takayama picks him Up out of the guillotine and drops him off the top turnbuckle to slap him. Or in a firefight Chono strikes are over but is eventually a losing battle. But then he will randomly win a strike exchange or apply a really shitty reverse surfboard. The selling in segment was good but not between segments. The finish run was good: Takayama kneelifts, the Everest German, the big Jumping Knee. The spinning heel kick for Chono to take over was bad but I LOVED THE STF! I wish he won it with the STF rather than the barrage of Yakuza Kicks. I’ll be generous and go ***. I had zero recollection of watching lol

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Giant Bernard - NJPW 5/3/06 Inokiiam ends with a whimper not a bang. Im pretty sure this is the last IWGP title defense under Antonio Inoki and it is a Smackdown 2002-03 match. Also 5/3 was a typical Dome show date and it was not a Dome show in 2006 showing how far the business has fallen. This starts interesting but gets progressively less interesting. Bernard throws a better clothesline than Brock. One of the few things Brock does not do well is throw lariats. Brock actually wrestlers small here which makes for a better match. Bernard is winning the clothesline war and using his bulk to bully Brock around. It is only on an errant charge to the post that Brock takes over a very small spot. Brock suplexes and when Bernard tries to use his weight Brock puts Bernard’s injured arm into a vicious top wristlock. Great sell. Fujiwara armbar less so. You can tell Brock is a product of the early 2000s because he uses a toe kick to set up moves that is so out of style now it is jarring. Big belly to belly. More arm submissions starts to drag. Albert actually picks things up on a switch into the corner. It is charges and shouldertackles that win. Baldo Bomb sets up his finishing run with a Vaderbomb and Scissors Kick. On 2nd Vaderbomb Brock hits a German. Pair of DDTs what he beat Akebono with but this time it is the F-5 that wins the day. I am confident enough in my Brock love to know this was not his day. There was so good bumping and selling early. I thought he was much better at wrestling underneath to A-Train who had great offense. Brock obviously is a great offensive wrestler but I don’t think he brought it today. ***

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Bob Sapp - NJPW 3/28/04 Well this was FUCKING AWESOME!!! Couldnt find any of Tenzan’s title defenses or Sasaki’s title win. Nakamura vacated the tile after 1/4 I assume due to eye injury. Tenzan seemed liked a great transitional champion than Sasaki. But I cannot complain too much because we got a killer match. Bob Sapp looks like a hundred million bucks. They just get into a three point stance and charge each other like two battering rams. It is just beefy wrestling, slapping their meats against each other and I’m here for it. Big body slam by Sapp establishing his power and size advantage. Sasaki butts low to get a laugh from the fans and then TOPPLES SAPP OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR WITH A BIG LARIAT! HUGE POP! Sasaki presses his advantage on the floor. He is mugged by masked members of Makai Club. So who comes to save him but his wife AKIRA HOKUTO WITH A FUCKING SAMURAI SWORD! Crowd is going wild and pretty sure changing her name. Once they tuck tail and run, we see the damage is done and Sasaki is wearing a CRIMSON MASK! Massive choke slam and dropkick and it looks like Sapp has it in the bag. Sapp charges and Sasaki back drops him over the top rope. He gives chase but this time there’s no Makai Club (thanks wifey!) and he beats Sapp down with a chair from the stands, smashes his head into the post and then it is FLYING BLOODY SASAKI from the top rope to the floor. Back in the ring, Hokuto continues to pay dividends and she passes him IWGP title and he smashes it into Sapp’s chest. NORTHERN LIGHTS BOMB! Awesome near fall! Sasaki tries to charge him but Sapp just BEAST MODES HIS ASS! Sapp’s last lariat actually looks kinda good! POWERBOMB! Of course Sapp weirdly is lifting Sasaki’s arm up on the winning pin and is also using 2001 Space Odyssey as his theme. Then he says he is not a part of Makai Club, he is a member of K-1! Oooooooooo DRAMA~! Nakamura comes out to challenge him…great post-match angle. Look if Sapp bled too after the chair shots or if Sapp come throw a proper clothesline (it is like he cannot lift his arm all the way up) this would be an all-timer. The beefy wrestling to start, Akira Hokuto with a samurai sword, Sasaki bleeding, chair shots, dives, belt shots, choke slams and powerbombs this is an easy thumbs up. RAUCOUS MAYHEM~! ****

IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/04 I could’ve sworn I’d seen this match before but no review and I didn’t have any recollection of it while I was watching. Takayama was used a lot in big shows from 2002 up until time period. Even though, Takayama won the IWGP Championship from Nagata he was able to lose it to Tenzan without dropping NWF title. I don’t know how that was possible but this match is for the Unification of the two titles. Right away you see Nakamura’s right eye is all fucked up and he came into the match that way. Don’t know what happened, but it is all black and kinda red and swollen. It is unsightly and nasty. I don’t know if it was for that particular reason or just as the young Lion he started off very aggressive. It is about 15 minutes long and it tells a simple but elegant story. Nakamura does all he can to end it early with submissions. He starts off with a heated leglocks. Takayama is a bit bewildered to start as Nakamura is a Tasmanian Devil and the much larger Takayama is just trying to get a hold of him slowing him down with headlocks and smothers. Nakamura in all his haste left himself open to a wicked kick to the face. Takayama got full extension and got round that kick. Nasty. Nakamura keeps on fighting. He even gets two big throws on Takayama. There is a cool kick-catch into a powerbomb that feels really organic that people should steal. Again he pounces on Takayama with submissions but it is a Triangle that seems to spell his doom. Takayama powerbombs out of the triangle and PUNCHES HIM RIGHT IN THE BAD EYE! The rest of the match is one long heat segment. Takayama punches, claws, kicks, grinds, smashes the eye at every turn. Nakamura sells really well. I think a Triangle was his only real hope spot. The eye work is fantastic. Takayama is absolutely brutal. He is such a great bully doing things like the one foot cover to show his domination. He hits the Everest German to put Nakamura out of his misery but Nakamura kicks out of the bridge and seamlessly gains a side mount and a double wristlock for the flash submission victory! This plays very well with Nakamura’s early gimmick as a counter-wrestler specifically flash submissions which is how he beat Tenzan. Unlike Tenzan, the legitimate eye injury was a much better hook and Takayama is better at working on top. I think there are people who like these type of matches more than me so I highly recommend people watch this as I think this is an incredible young babyface takes a lickin and keeps on tickin’ match. Nakamura’s selling is a good here but you have to wonder is it selling if it actually hurts. Takayama’s offense is perfect bully offense. What I don’t like about these matches (Brock/Roman 2015) is the battering is too much to credibly believe in comeback. They poured it on too thick. It began to undercut the match credibility but made Takayama look like a choke. One thing they did do well is that there were zero Takayama near falls besides the Everest German. That saved Takayama. I wanted more hope spots, it could’ve led to immediate cutoffs but I needed more fight from Nakamura but this was still an awesome Dome match. ****

IWGP Champion Tadao Yasuda vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 4/5/02 I thought this was a more spirited match from start to finish than the February match but I think the blood and rousing finish stretch keep the 2003 match ahead of this. Takayama is in the crowd and it is clear they are building to the Dome match in May for the IWGP championship. I like Yasuda just fine but I do think Nagata was the right choice for the Dome match with Takayama. Two over-arching ideas to touch on. 1. I love the selling in Inokiist Japan. It is all register and great selling in holds. Today’s selling goes from 0 to 100% in one highspot back down to 0% to hit a couple moves back to 100% with the glassy eyed sell. There are levels to this. When you do a register-heavy selling, you leave room for escalation. 2. I am not sure like this in all contexts. I find it more interesting than anything else. Is the use of suplexes/throws as ways to discombobulate your opponent and position them for finishing submission or Bomb. Obviously head-dropping ones should be sold. I think it’s interesting how Yasuda threw Nagata with a butterfly suplex. Nagata came rushing at Yasuda. We know from MMA suplexes look cool as fuck but don’t do much damage. So I think it is interesting way to use suplexes more as takedowns and set up moves. I think there are situations where suplexes should be big finishing bombs and where they should be takedowns to set up Opportunities and use it for body positioning. Hot start which was missing from their other matches. Nagata is aggressive out the gate but Yasuda comes out with Sumo Slaps to bully him into the corner. Guillotine Choke as he shoves the ref off. Pummels Nagata in the corner. Terrific opening. The inevitable grappling is fine. It helped I read that post that Yasuda won a major match using his forearm to choke out an opponent. It is the usual Yasuda using his weight to get takedowns or shift his weight in to smother Nagata in various chokes (forearm on throat, head-arm triangle, and rear naked). Nagata was going for cross-armbreakers and leglocks. Nice call back to the February match is that when it looked like Yasuda was going to win the double underhook but this time the fighting spirit compelled Nagata to throw the big Yasuda over. This leads to two very hot Nagata leglocks. Yasuda looks in trouble. Loved the three move sequence. Yasuda catches a kick. Creams Nagata with a beautiful right cross. Dude should be throwing more punches. Tiger Driver (loves those double underhook) and right after the kick out he pounced with a Head-Arm Triangle. The efficiency was sublime. It is choke city for Nagata. Yasuda left his ankles crossed but nothing happened. The one flaw of the match was on a third Guillotine attempt Nagata executed an armbar takedown into a Crossface felt too out of nowhere and easy. I love Nagata stumbling on his big high kick only for YASUDA TO ROAR AND HIT A MASSIVE DROPKICK! Tiger Driver! 1-2-No! Great strike exchange; Yasuda’s throws a great punch. Nagata German! Yasuda back to Guillotine but Nagata struggles and counters into a Wrist-Clutch Exploder! I love the sell and Crossface for the win. Very entertaining finishing stretch and I just love the efficiency of these matches. ***3/4

Yuji Nagata vs Tadao Yasuda - NJPW 2/16/02 Vacant IWGP Title I enjoyed their April 2003 match with the blood a lot and am intrigued by this match for the Vacant belt. It is unclear to me that they were fully behind Yasuda and just plugged the plug after the Tenzan defense or the plan was always to have Nagata lose this one and get it back in time for Takayama in the Dome on May 2nd. The people above really do a good job defending Yasuda and I agree with all of it. Just as a counterweight, I would say there is a ceiling to Yasuda. I would get into this argument from time to time with Matt D over people like Demolition. There is only so much staying true to your character and story can do. Eventually you do need interesting execution to take you to the next level and a lot of Yasuda’s stuff can be boring even if it is sensible. There’s a reason I watch pro wrestling and very little MMA. Most MMA I find boring because it is exactly the stuff Yasuda does. Maybe education on my part would help but I can only offer review based on my world view. They establish the size advantage for Yasuda that he can throw his weight around in the clinch, takedown and on the mat. Nagata needs to us technique and strikes to win the day. The first peak is Nagata’s kick barrage in the corner…I believe a spinning heel kick and kappou kick. This rocks Yasuda and seems to give Nagata some confidence. He ends up slapping Yasuda which snaps Yasuda back into it. My recollection is Yasuda starts winning the takedown/mount battles. The most execution part for sure was Nagata’s Volk Han-esque ankle cross escape out the choke and going into the Nagatalock. It was not just the sequence of moves that had heat but Yasuda’s selling was incredible. He was writhing and screaming. Terrific. All chokes should be broken by ankle crosses. Nagata seemed to have it pouring it on with kicks and a German Suplex but Yasuda won a double undertook struggle (Nagata wanted a belly to belly). Yasuda bullied Nagata into the corner. Yasuda loves his double underhooks. Tiger Driver! Yasuda gets the Head-Arm Triangle. Yasuda looks to have it with a Guillotine (dude is all about the choke) but Nagata reverses into a Crossface. Yasuda is just throwing bear paws once gets the rope break. He is wounded and is just flailing trying to connect with something. Great selling and response to Nagata offense. Nagata running out of steam tries to throw kitchen sink at him including a Kappou Kick. Nagata shoots for takedown but is caught with the Guillotine and taps out. Once the ankle cross happened this got really good. I thought Nagata being so aggressive was awesome. Yasuda creates a pretty natural Everest to climb. The beginning was pedestrian but it was a rousing finish. Two dudes sticking to their characters and the story just naturally unveiled itself. ***1/2

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. ***

I always thought optimistically that Imperium is the Modern Day Holy Roman Empire (Austria, Germany & Italy) and not just the Axis Powers but when Gunther wears that long red coat it makes hard not to think they arent leaning into the Nazi shit which is just gross.

As a huge Byzantine nerd, I popped for his. Waiting for the Holy Roman Empire spinoff, if Shane/Steph need to make a break for it lol

Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW Osaka Dome 4/9/01 There is 1/4 Dome match between these two I think in 96 that I like a lot so I was intrigued by this match as the stipulation was a Death Match which just means Last Man Standing but MMA-style because it is 2001 New Japan. Hashimoto is full on Zero-One and this has to be one of the last matches he had with NJPW. Sasaki has hit the skids after a great 2000 and early 2001. He dropped the IWGP belt to Norton and lost this match to an invading Hashimoto. The writing is definitely on the wall for Sasaki who I don’t think would find his footing again until 2005 against Kobashi in the Dome. I thought this was pretty good but nothing too wild. Hashimoto has MMA Gloves, Sasaki has his mullet. Striking and clinch work to start. Sasaki gets the first throw out of a waist lock. He uses the takedown to try a Double Wristlock and then executes the Cross-Armbreaker but leaves it on extra long in the ropes because it is a Death Match. Hashimoto has to pull himself out to break which was a great spot. Best drama of the match. Hashimoto comes in and WAILS on Sasaki. Brutha punches right to the face; Sasaki takes them like a champ. Now Sasaki powders. The gloves comes off. Hashimoto CHOPS him down with the edge of his hand! Gets a 7 count. Hashimoto goes for an armbar takedown and Sasaki gets a crotch hold into a half Northern Lights Bomb half body slam. Go Sasaki Go! Big meaty Lariats! Weak transition as Hashimoto blows this all off to hit some knee lifts into a Brainbuster, it takes a couple more kicks and that’s it. I think if Sasaki got one big near fall and they came up with a better way for Hashimoto to take back over this would have been incredible but as it is a solid shoot-style brawl. ***1/4

IWGP Champion Scott Norton vs Kazuyuki Fujita - NJPW Osaka Dome 4/9/01 On April 9, 2001, Inokiism went into full effect and didnt end until Inoki was ousted in 2006. Clearly Naoya Ogawa was the original Inokiist experiment, but I feel like it was only when Fujita won the title they went full bore. After going 6-1 at PRIDE with victories over Ken Shamrock and his only loss to Mark Coleman, Fujita was brought back to New Japan in grand fashion to win the IWGP Championship after never making it past the midcard in the late 90s. Interestingly, Fujita came out with a title belt I did not recognize. Norton defeated Kensuke Sasaki for the title and was clearly a transitional champion. So that the traditional pro wrestling Ace, Sasaki, did not have to job to Fujita. They did have a non-title match in October that Fujita won. Funny enough, Norton was still rocking NWO gear even though WWF had purchased WCW a month prior. Match is 7-8 minutes and based on that I expected to see Fujita steamroll Norton, but thats not really true. Norton takes the majority of the match. I think this was twofold to make Fujita's win seem more impressive against a game champion and to promote the MMA style of flash submissions. After Norton had beaten down Fujita with traditional pro wrestling tactics of a powerbomb, chops and wrestling outside, he was felled by a flash cross-armbreaker which then led to a rear-naked choke. It showed the superiority of MMA submissions over conventional pro wrestling tactics. The only other thing to note was the opening spot was Fujita hoisting Norton up in a very impressive double leg takedown that was more like a Alabama Slam. Norton is no small guy. Norton's powerbomb looked very good. There was a brief scuffle between NWO Japan/Team 2000 (Chono/Tenzan) with the MMA boys, but other than that not much to report. Definitely different than expectations, but it got the job done establishing the New World Order of Inokiism & MMA-influenced pro wrestling.

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/2/03 One of those watched this in the morning before the girlfriend woke up, but only getting to the review 12 hours later so sorry in advance if shit is out of order. Nagata successfully defended his IWGP title last year to the day against Takayama at the last May 2nd Tokyo Dome. Here's how things have changed since then. Nagata is still champ and successfully defended against numerous challengers most recently Yasuda. Takayama won the resurrected NWF title at the 1/4/03 Tokyo Dome show (the show Nagata defended against Barnett). After he Nagata/Barnett match, Takayama/Nagata had a staredown. After Nagata defeated Yasuda in a bloody war, Takayama came in and suplexed the defeated Yasuda only to be drilled with a Saito Suplex leading to a pull-apart. Pretty good build here. Pretty standard New Japan start with the feeling out grappling. Takayama rocks Nagata with a head kick early, but doesnt lead to much. The big opening early was a Takayama knee lift to the head. The knee lift is always a Takayama bread & butter and it is important in this match. Takayama pummels Nagata and goes for King of Mountain. He knocks Nagata off the apron twice, but Takayama goes for a Sheamus-style Ten Beats of the Balrog, Nagata snaps the arm over his shoulder and then over the top rope. I love that spot so much. There's so much drama to it and the guy usually taking it really sells the shit out of it. This leads to the big limb psychology of the match as Nagata really goes after the arm with kicks and submissions. It is something he goes back to quite a bit. Takayama sells it down the stretch during the strike exchanges. Takayama's big comeback spot is a huge knee lift into the breadbasket. Nagata's two best chances at winning are Super Exploder (not much heat, I dont think Nagata was going to lose and figured it would take more) and a round kick that damn near takes Takayama's head off late. Takayama's selling of the arm down the home stretch is so good. Takayama weathers some Kawada-style enziguiris and STEAMROLLS Nagata with a Kneelift. A barrage of kneelifts later and an Everest German and we have a new IWGP Champion! My recollection is the 2002 match is better, but this is still pretty good. Good, stiff strikes. It is lacking some sort of hook or cool aspect to take it to the next level. It is a good meat & potatoes match. ***1/2

IWGP Champion Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 10/9/04 One of the most bizarre world title changed in history. Look I get it, Fujita is a legit successful MMA fighter so getting him to drop the title will always be challenging. Until GOTNW brought it up, I never thought that was Fujita throwing the match early at 2:30 to avoid a more decisive loss because that could make sense. Fujita comes out gets a Head-Arm Triangle which he switches to a standing choke, Sasaki falls back and he is forces to the relinquish the hooks to kick out. In This short time, they manage to do a strike exchange, Sasaki steams rolls him with a lariat. Northern Lights Bomb, I knew it’d be short so I thought that was the finish but Fujita kicks out. Ok. Weird. They re-do Head-Arm Triangle spot with Sasaki falling back and this time winning with the pin. I get the logic here a long match with a decisive finish is worse loss for Fujita than slipping on banana peel but at the very least just job clean to the flash bomb. The 1-2 punch of Sasaki lariat and Northern Lights Bomb is a good compromise. Instead he kicks out of Sasaki’s finish and Sasaki wins like a chump. Either bad booking or a shitty double cross.

Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 10/8/01 Fujita is the current IWGP Champion defeating Norton for the title and with wins over Nagata and Don Frye. Some reason this match is not a title match. Sasaki was the heir apparent with Hashimoto leaving to form Zero-One and Mutoh joining AJPW and Chono being banged up. However the rise of MMA and Inokiism brought an end to that. That being said Sasaki was still the top traditional pro wrestler so I think they did want to protect him. I expected Fujita to bulldoze Sasaki and force him to fight underneath but Sasaki controlled 75% of this which is typical Japanese style. I am a big Sasaki fan and he held his own. Big meaty clotheslines, great armbars and leg work. Fujita caught him with a spine buster on a charge and did his standard ground & pound knees. Sasaki got out of the head & arm triangle. Sasaki looked to be in dominant position targeting the leg with kicks and drop kick. He had Fujita in that inverted Figure-4 Liger likes but Fujita just beat the shit out of him from his back with punches. PRIDE-style punches to the back of the head end it with red tackling Fujita. Sasaki looked great on offense and got a chance to hold his own, but this is Fujita’s world we are just living in it. ***

IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs Tadao Yasuda - NJPW 4/23/03 I had no clue what to expect out of this match because I have never seen a Yasuda match in my life. Besides seeing his name crop up on the list of IWGP Champions, I have never heard much about him, but I knew he was an ex-Sumo, shooter. I feel like if Nagata was the #3-#4 guy in New Japan with two all-timers in at the Ace and #2 positions he would be highly regarded. He just doesnt have the charisma to be the Ace, but he is a really solid wrestler and I have grown to like him more and more. Do not let the pedestrian start this match has a raging crescendo! There is a lot of hype for the upcoming Dome match between the NWF Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Nagata in a couple days. Yasuda is backed by his MMA cronies including the wild Kazunari Murakami who Nagata had the best match of his career with in December 2002. The opening pummeling and grappling solid, nothing memorable. There was some chippiness at the start with Yasuda being kind of an MMA prick. It picks up a little when Yasuda tags Nagata when the ref orders a break. Nagata targets Yasuda's leg with kicks and then works over the leg. Murakami distracts Nagata and this leads Yasuda take advantage with a head arm triangle (somewhere in there are sumo slaps, a butterfly suplex, but my memory is failing me on the order). Nagata switches from the leg to the arm and intends to break off Yasuda's arm and take it home with him. Yasuda's selling is really good. and I love the Japanese spot of snapping the arm over the shoulder. It is such a dramatic spot. Quick tangent in these matches I am often interested to see how is portrayed as the better wrestler. Is Yasuda due to his shoot credentials and Nagata's relative nascent Ace status considered the better wrestler and Nagata needs to overcome him by being valiant and a great wrestler? Or is Nagata the champion, full Ace and Yasuda has to be a dick to have a chance. It turns out it is the latter, but it took a while to get there. It is clear that Murakami's interference was necessary to make Yasuda a threat as seen by the next spot. The climax of the arm work is a cross-armbreaker where Nagata will not break (there's be a couple instances of Yasuda not yielding clean breaks) and Murakami throws a water bottle at Nagata! HELL YEAH! It is on. Nagata dives into the fray, but he is not just fighting Murakami, he is fighting the whole crew and ends up getting mugged. Nagata comes up a bloody mess and is thrown into Yasuda. This is when the match goes from good to great! Yasuda works the cut with some nasty jabs. DRAGON LEG SCREW! HELL YEAH! Yasuda grabs a kicks and PUNCHES HIM IN THE OPEN WOUND! Yasuda goes back to his tried and true choke. NAGATA CROSSES HIS ANKLES WEARING A CRIMSON MASK! VOLK HAN SHIT! FUCK YEAH! YASUDA COMES BACK WITH A BALL SHOT! Shoot-style with ballshots is Marty Sleeze wrestling!!! Nagata survives. It is a bomb fest now! Tiger Drivers from Yasuda and Exploders from Nagata. It was a charge by Yasuda that led to an overhead throw by Nagata. Then Tenryu/Kawada-style enziguiris led to a barrage of Exploders for the win! Terrific ending. Nagata has way more bloody matches than I thought. Takayama demolishes Yasuda and Nagata drills Takayama with a Back Drop Driver. Melee ensues. Everything feels red-hot going into the Dome. This is Inoki at its finest! Blood, Shoot-Style and a Brawl at the end. Awesome stuff. Cant go much higher than **** due to the beginning, but killer ending.

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/06 Wow Brock does it again! He only had four title matches in New Japan, but half of them been killer! This match was the opposite of the Akebono match which really shows Brock's range as a pro wrestler. The Akebono match was all about wrestling small, vulnerable and underneath. Here he wrestles so big and powerful. He is Mount Everest and a Grizzly Bear wrapped in one. Then only in the finish stretch he shows his vulnerability enough to make you believe Nakamura has a chance. In fairness to Nakamura, he wrestled really well here. I slagged him a lot in the Tenzan match for pedestrian selling and not scrapping enough underneath. This match he was just hurling his body at Brock for 9 minutes hoping to Dear God something would stick. Nakamura came out hot with strikes. The way Brock would just shove him around was so powerful. He is a force of nature. He would catch kicks and just STEAMROLL him with a clothesline or with a wicked capture suplex. Nakamura would just keep coming. Brock was cruising. They spill to the floor. The way Brock just bulled him into the apron was so powerful. Nakamura gets the high ground first and that's so important. He gets his first major head-rocking kick to Brock. Brock registers it, but he does not oversell it. If he did that would undercut Nakamura's offense and the credibility of the match. Instead he starts registering these Nakamura's strikes. You can see he is slowing down absorbing these blows but he is still overpowering Nakamura. Nakamura's big finish run was when got a hanging armbar/triangle over the ropes. Boom here comes that grizzly bear selling that makes Brock, Hansen and Vader so special. Forces of nature that at the right, SELECTIVE moments show vulnerability. Nakamura missile dropkick! Nakamura German! Cross-armbreaker! Triangle! BROCK POWERBOMB! HE THROWS HIM DOWN! BROCK STEAMROLL CLOTHESLINE! F-5 WIN! All bow down to the greatness that is Brock Lesnar and an awesome underneath performance from Nakamura. ****1/4

IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar vs Akebono - NJPW 3/19/03 It is matches like this that make me proud to be a Brock Lesnar fan! I always assumed Brock Lesnar phoned in his IWGP Title Reign and just collected a paycheck, but no sirree Bob, Brock was committed to this match. The dude clutched his back just as he was running the ropes and stopped dead in his tracks. It was phenomenal. Whoever coached Brock on selling should coach everyone. Not because of how well Brock sells, but because how much he believes in selling. He wrestled this entire match underneath. He wrestled so vulnerable and really like Akebono bully him. That takes great self-confidence. He did not do what was best for him; he did what was best for the match. When you live in service to the match, the match pays you back double! Brock tries to overpower Akebono early like he would most, but there's nothing doing. His shoulderblocks have no effect. He cannot Irish Whip the massive Akebono. Akebono is able to Irish Whip. He puts Brock down on the shouldertackle battle. He picks Brocks up and slams him. He is manhandling Brock in a way that probably only Big Show has ever done. So Brock completely changes strategy and he wrestles small. He works a heavy diet of chop blocks and sleepers. He gets impatient and deviates from this strategy and tries to go for the F-5 but his back gives out. Great attempt here as he just collapses and Akebono takes quite the bump. Akebono starts pouring on the fat guy offense. Butt splashes in the corner, big splashes and elbow. He splashes in the corner, but Brock pulls the ref there. They give Akebono the visual pin; Brock gets the a belt shot for what I expected to be the lame finish, but Akebono kicked out. This is when Brock does the great sell of the back when he tries to run the ropes to get more momentum. Terrific. Akebono gets one more throw as Brock tries come off the ropes and Akebono gets his last nearfall. Brock punches the breadbasket great selling from Brock. DDT and Brock wins it! This match was way better than it has right to be and it is all thanks to Brock! Excellent underneath performance! ***1/2