Superstar Sleeze

NWO Japan (Keiji Mutoh & Masa Chono) vs Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW Super Grade Tag League Finals '97 The NWO Superteam came together in May-June of 1997. Mutoh was originally leading the resistance against the NWO, but later figured if you cant beat them join them and formed this superteam with Chono. They are reigning Tag Team Champions having defeated Sasaki & Yamazaki on the NWO Typhoon Tour in the fall. They main evented Fukuokoa Dome against Tenryu & Fujinami. Funny thinking of how Tenryu & Fujinami were battling the NWO and so were Flair & Sting at this time. I have never seen anything from their era Mutoh. JIP to about ten minutes in. Chono tags in a bearded Mutoh who looks badass. Dropkicks the knee of Nakanishi and slaps Hashimoto on the apron. He is working the knee so it is definitely Mutoh. Chono grabs a toehold into an STF, but can hear Hashimoto's footsteps. Mutoh springboard elbow that looks awesome! Mutoh scissors the leg. NWO Sting at these New Japan matches cracks me up. Hashimoto delivers the elbow to break that up. Back to Chono's STF. They are just guzzling the young buck. Nakanishi makes the ropes. Kick to the head and Nakanishi tries to power up, kick to the knee stops that. Chono goes to the top but ends up getting thrown off. Here comes HASHIMOTO! KICK GALORE! Chono and Mutoh get killed. Mutoh eats the Yakuza Kick on a miscommunication. Spinning back chop! DDT on Chono! BIG DDT NOW! Cross armbreaker that is shittly sold. Should be a quick submission or a lot more fight. Mutoh gets HUGE elevation on his elbow drop. Mutoh looks fucking good. Tag out to Nakanishi. I don't know about that strategy. A couple lariats take Chono down. Nakanishi lariats both NWO Japan down. This is the most American thing ever. Torture Rack on Chono, but lets him down, doesn't have a good hold. Chono rakes the eyes which is the best way to get out of it. CHONO BALLSHOT! Yakuza kick. Tag to Mutoh, Tag To Hashimoto. MUTOH IS A HOUSE OF FIRE! WOW! HE LOOKED GOOD! Springboard dropkick from Mutoh on Hashimoto and then Hashimoto takes the flying shouldertackle from Chono. Hashimoto feeding and bumping like a madman. Another springboard missile dropkick from Mutoh and then another flying shouldertackle. Hashimoto kicks out. Great sequence from the Three Musketeers right there. Nakanishi holds Chono. Mutoh misses the back handspring elbow. Hashimoto goes for the brainbuster and Chono breaks free to Yakuza Kick the knee of Hashimoto who goes down like a ton of bricks. Mutoh moonsault while Chono holds. What the hell! That is just blatant cheating. Yakuza kick, dragon leg whip and Figure-4! Chono stands watch. Chono STF on Nakanishi. Ill be surprised if Hashimoto taps out given his current push. WOW! He tapped out. Again missing over the half of the match so I wont rate, but this was a barrel of fun. Chono & Mutoh wrestle like the greatest American heel tag team. Taunting, double teams, Miscommunication spots, bumping for a hot tag, eye rakes, ballshots. It was great. At the end of the day, Hashimoto has been proven to be better than Mutoh & Chono, BUT when Mutoh & Chono unite Hashimoto cant overcome those odds. This was a great Chono & Mutoh isolate Hashimoto and make him submit. Really enjoyable. Mutoh looked really spry. I want to see more of him in this era.

Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW Super Grade Tag League '97 Shinya Hashimoto won the '96 Tag League with Scott Norton. It is weird he is teaming with Nakanishi because Nakanishi & Kojima (Bull Powers) were a fresh-faced babyface power team that team regularly throughout the year and won the Tag Titles in '97. Sasaki is the IWGP Heavyweight Champion coming into this match. He & Yamazaki won the tag titles from the Bull Powers in August of '97 before dropping them to the current champs the NWO Japan superteam of Mutoh & Chono. These two teams tied in the round robin and the winner faces the Tag Champs Mutoh & Chono in the Finals. JIP about 7 minutes into the match. Hashimoto is working over the knee of Sasaki and tags in the young powerhouse, Nakanishi, who delivers some of the lamest kicks to a knee you will ever see. He torture racks just the leg of Sasaki. I really enjoy the Torture Rack so I am glad Nakanishi brought it back. Sasaki is selling really well. Does jelly legs really well. He slaps the taste out of Nakanishi''s mouth three times and tags out to Yamazaki who dropkicks the young buck in the knee, dragon leg screw and then figure-4. A message to Mutoh? In what is the story of the match, Hashimoto bails Nakanishi out with a elbow drop. Is there anyone better at doing a simple standing elbow drop than Hashimoto. I liked Nakanishi powering out of the armbar takedown with a sidewalk slam. TORTURE RACK! Hashimoto holding Sasaki back. Yamazaki gets a cross armbreaker out of this and Hashimoto saves again diving on Yamazaki. Yamazaki wisely tags out to the IWGP Champ. Lariat and then the Scorpion Deathlock. Nakanishi makes the ropes. Nakanishi gets a back body drop to tag in Hashimoto. Add being an awesome hot tag to Hashimoto's resume! Kicks galore and a DDT get two. I love Sasaki's sell of the DDT of being stunned in place. Yamazaki saves on this one. Third DDT and Yamazaki saves again. Cmon Nakanishi you gotta get in there and get your hands dirty! Don't be shy! Here comes Hashimoto's favorite spot. Stand in the middle and take lariats. Sasaki has a good lariat so it is fun. Sasaki tags out to Yamazaki. Hashimoto catches Yamzaki's foot and STRIKES HIM DOWN WITH THE HAND OF HASHIMOTO! Yamazaki blocks chop and goes for the armbar takedown. He wont go down. Sasaki Bulldogs him down in the armbar. Nakanishi breaks it up. Great Sequence! Yamazaki kicks the bad arm and Hashimoto lets out that loud hiss of pain. Armbar takedown NO kneelifts and DDT on Yamazaki! Hash is thinking brainbuster, but switches quickly to an armbar takedown and Yamazaki taps so quickly that Sasaki cant save. Love the finish, after dropping the title to Sasaki, Hashimoto was put in "MMA" matches on the big shows and beating these guys nobody has ever heard of in a round system. The quick submission gets him over as an MMA player and also explains why Sasaki cant get in there in time. We are missing half the match (15 minute match). So I am not going to rate, but everything after Hashimoto's hot tag is gold.

I agree with your takes. I didn't like it quite as much as you, but I think you like this style more than I do so it makes sense. Antonio Inoki vs Tiger King - NJPW Battle Formation 4/12/97 Inoki is in his Final Countdown tour and brings in Tiger Mask for a Dream Match. I actually like Tiger Mask more than most. I especially like Tiger Mask when he wrestles more like Super Tiger. There is some Tiger Mask stuff like the 619 feint and the hammerlock, snapmare counter, but the rest is Super Tiger all the way. Some really good kicks from Sayama as expected. I liked the missed headkick right into the leg sweep. Sayama looked a little bigger than usual but still wrestled well. Inoki looked immaculate, but didn't think he did much. I thought it was interesting that even the littlest of things from Inoki popped the crowd. Like slapping his leg exhorting Sayama to kick him again or dropping to his ass to do a Jitu-jitsu spot. Sayama taps to a abdominal stretch. It felt more like a shoot style exhibition rather than a contest.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW G-1 Climax '97 SemiFinals NWO Japan is in full effect with Tenzan coming out in his trademark Bull mask and NWO shirt. NWO Banner in the arena and tons of NWO merch throughout the arena. The NWO was an amazing phenomenon. Hashimoto comes into this as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and pretty much the only thing he has left to do in his career is win a G-1 Climax. Tenzan has been Chono's second since 1995 and is firmly in the upper midcard but isn't quite at Three Musketeer level so I would say Hashimoto is the favorite coming into this contest. I really hate snap back bumps off of Tenzan's Mongolian Chops. It just seems so wrong. It is not just Hashimoto that does it; it is Sasaki too. Tenzan wins an early slugfest that feels really mid-00s and is something I just find boring. Hashimoto catches him with a forearm in the corner. Nice kick some really good kicks from Hashimoto. Kneelifts set up the inverted Triangle Choke that Hashimoto used to tap Takada. Tenzan hulks up. Headbutt/Mongolian Chops. Tenzan does the inverted Triangle choke. I expected this to be more heated. This is more of a grind down the opponent match. Hashimoto is so damn good at no selling. He really builds to it well. Hashimoto beats the piss out of Tenzan. I mean just absolutely rifling him with kicks and overhead chops. I thought both DDTs came off as sick and vicious. Good finish stretch for Hashimoto. I like Tenzan taking a powder and then Chono getting up on the apron. Very American but also very logical as a way to quash Hashimoto's momentum as he was a runaway freight train. Tenzan dropkicks Hashimoto from behind due to Chono's distraction. Tenzan has a busted lip? Weird, I don't know from what. Tenzan's bodyslam looks like a scary piledriver. I do like his headbutt. He does not really leap as much as fall off the top rope. Hashimoto kicks out a bunch. Then on the grand finale, Tenzan's boot gets caught in between the turnbuckle and rope and Wow, he could have really hurt himself. It takes the ref, Chono and the dude who looks like Masa Saito, but isn't to get him free. They improvise a quick Hashimoto comeback before Tenzan hits a bodyslam and some more headbutts to win. Crazy botch aside, this is a pretty pedestrian New Japan Heavies match. Hard hitting, not much selling, lots of machismo and bravado. Good finish stretch. ***

Kensuke Sasaki vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW G-1 Climax '97 Finals New Japan goes all in on Sasaki as he wins the G-1 Climax, the IWGP Tag Team Championship (w/Kazuo Yamazaki) and the IWGP Championship all in the same month. Sasaki's transformation into Riki Choshu clone is complete here with no pads, mullet and the black trunks with black boots. A lot of people seem sour that Sasaki was Choshu's boy. It was pretty obvious as they are pretty similar wrestlers and builds. I like Sasaki and am happy he got the opportunity. This is a great power match sprint that never lets up from jump. Tenzan comes in to the match banged up and already bleeding from the mouth and ear. I need to watch that Hashimoto match. He hears the bell ring and charges straight at Sasaki. If Tenzan just used heabutts all the time instead of that goofy double Mongolian chop I would like him so much better. Tenzan actually hits a diving headbutt for two early. Sasaki just starts wailing on his head with closed fists. I was surprised the ref was not on his case more immediately. Lots of good drama over the Scorpion Deathlock and then Sasak puts the STF on Tenzan. Good dick move as all of NWO Japan (Chono, Muta, Saito, Norton and Buff Bagwell) are out here and the STF is Chono's move. Sasaki wants to finish it with a Northern Lights Bomb, but Tenzan reverses into the Tenzan driver. Two more diving headbutts. This is insane. Wicked hot. They are headbutting each other from the knees. Tenzan is bleeding from unusual places. It is chaos. Northern Lights Bomb. 1-count Kickout. I know we all hate them now, but this was pretty novel in 1997 and I got jacked from that. Tenzan does the defiant fighting spirit with blood and drool coming from his mouth. Lariat and Sasaki with the Mutombo finger wag (tell me he doesn't have charisma) and puts Tenzan away with the Northern Lights Bomb. Never lets up, just a power sprint, two bulls going straight at each other and wailing on one another and they top it off with a compact, but dramatic finish run. Great G-1 Climax finals! ****

Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW G-1 Climax '96 Shinya Hashimoto, IWGP Champion, Defender of New Japan, Ace, does not win a single match in the G-1 Climax...WHAT?!?! He does not lay a complete egg because Hirata gets injured and forfeits his match to Hashimoto. You see Hashimoto had an absolute war with Choshu the first night of the tournament where he injures his leg and it never recovers. He drops his next two bouts to Tenzan and Sasaki due to the bum wheel. I am so annoyed I cant find more Kensuke Sasaki. I mostly just watched this match because at least it was something. I would love to see the 1/4/95 match again and the title switch, 8/31/97. Hashimoto gets on the mic and tries to psyche out Sasaki, but to no avail. Sasaki zeroes in on the leg and never relents. Scorpion Deathlocks and leg attacks galore. I thought he gave up a little easily on some holds. Good work from him on top. Mixes in a powerbomb and some lariats. Hashimoto sold like a champ. For a badass asskicker, he could still show vulnerability like he was Ricky Morton. Great mini-comeback from Hashimoto catching Sasaki coming off the ropes with a wicked overhand chop and then the crazy DDT for two. Cross armbreaker, but cant get it fully applied. That was his last gasp as Sasaki goes back to the leg. Hashimoto tries the defiant stand in the face of lariat spitting on Sasaki. Spit is so gross. KILL HIM SASAKI! Weird finish as Sasaki does that nasty over the top armdrag he does and just gets the pin. Solid match, good Sasaki power performance and even better Hashimoto selling performance. ***1/4

Ok, I am doing a lot of New Japan heavies in 90s watching so Ill add to the list. Thanks!

You know what, Pete, I actually dug this quite a bit. Flair doing an out and out American heel act in Japan against the ultimate asskicker was fun as hell. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs WCW US Champion Ric Flair - NJPW 7/17/96 I think Randy Savage vs Jushin Liger, yes Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger still takes the cake for holy shit that happened match, but this is pretty amazing. Flair's last big time match in Japan after a 15+ year run as a big time American wrestler over there. Challenging for the biggest title in the world in my estimation as New Japan was really firing on all cylinders at this point. I think they could have done something really special as late as 94 with the sweet spot being 90-92 for these two, but I still thought this was fun. This was not 80s Flair in Japan, Flair was going all Flair and giving Japan a taste of America. Wooos, Flair Flops, Hollering on knucklelocks, begging off. To his credit, I thought this played really well in front of the Japanese. I thought Hashimoto was a bit tentative to start and the hollering on the knucklelock caught him off guard. But the temper tantrum Hashimoto throws after the drop toehold, shows that he gets it. It is time to wrestle American. To Hashimoto's credit he goes all in. When this turns into Flair/Garvin 2.0, this is glorious. Some of the best flesh on flesh smacking around. Hashimoto DESTROYS Flair with these overhand chops. I mean WOW! These are huge. Flair beg off and then eyepoke is great. Chopblock. Flair worked the knee really well like way more focus than usual and I thought Hashimoto really sold well. Flair's figure-4s were over especially since Mutoh/Takada really established that as a killer finish. Hashimoto fiery Ronnie Garvin like comeback with Flair selling and bumping was great. The DDT was an out of nowhere finish just it was getting good. I thought this was a really fun Flair as an over the top American heel vs the Japanese asskicker. ***1/2

Ok, this is the dream match I never knew I wanted A-Fuckin-Men!

Damn proud to be the high vote on the Usos! Their current run had been amazing. Best mic work of 2017.

OMG How did I forget Rey's return in my post! I WAS GOING WILD FOR THAT! He looked like WCW Rey and I was loving it! REY VS AJ MUST HAPPEN! MUST MUST HAPPEN!

Women's Royal Rumble was fun as all get out. Best Royal Rumble match in ages! Jimmy Redman with the best post in ages! I have never seen Kairi Sane before, but that is how you get yourself over in 2 minutes. My Dad and I were marking out the whole time. Becky Lynch gave the hardest working performance I have ever seen in a Rumble. 30 minutes of nonstop movement. No breaks. No rolling to the outside. Just suplexes for 30 minutes. I am saying this as a compliment, you could see how red she was in the face and it was a really hard performance. Nikki Bella RULES! Loved the Bella Twins in this. Asuka is God. Loved it all!

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Naoya Ogawa vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 4/7/00 Hitherto, the lowest drawing Dome show. On the undercard, we have Masa Chono vs Great Muta in the blowoff to NWO Japan Civil War and a logical progression from 1/4/00. The headscratcher is IWGP Champ Kensuke Sasaki wrestling Jushin Thunder Liger. That would be a fun match for Kouraken Hall and something I would love to watch. In front of a Dome, seems odd. Hashimoto vs Ogawa is not enough to draw on its own. Compared to the previous year where Mutoh vs Don Frye could draw 50k+, which is less to say about Mutoh's drawing power and more about the health of pro wrestling and New Japan in 2000. I think I enjoyed the 5/97 match a tad bit more, but this is in the same ballpark. Hashimoto has a way better strategy in this match rather than in FINAL DOME where he is going for the legs and avoiding the clinch and above the waist takedowns. There were some great legsweeps in this taking out that plant leg like a pro. The crowd was popping HUGE everytime Ogawa hit the mat. When Hashimoto took off his glove, the cute chick in the second row lost her mind imitating Hashimoto punching. This crowd wanted a Hashimoto win. Ogawa did rock him early, but Hashimoto powdered gathered himself. That leg strategy was working. He gets a DDT on the ramp. It was going Hashimoto's way. Then he went into the clinch. STO! What a dumb move. I literally said to myself, "He deserves to lose." I did like the DDT counter to the STO and the cross armbreaker that was hot shit. It was STO city after that. It felt exciting for spurts then would cool down. I think Nagata vs Murakami blows this out of the water in terms of a pro wrestler vs shooter in a big time match. ****

Shinya Hashimoto vs Satoshi Kojima - NJPW 8/2/98 G-1 Climax Semifinals Hashimoto is on the road to doing the one thing he has never done before in New Japan, win the G-1 Climax. Standing in his way his a young bull named Satoshi Kojima. They had a really damn good match in 2003 for the Triple Crown in All Japan. Very underrated match that peoples should check out. I don't think Kojima is NWO 4 LIfe yet; I think that happens a little later this year. This match is definitely a portent to come. Lots of defiance. Lots of lariats. Lots of fighting spirit. Lots of standing and bellowing. Lots of strike exchanges. It works because Hashimoto is God. This is definitely the beginnings of Modern Puro. I think it really all starts with Hashimoto vs Choshu. This is pretty much worked as the poor man's Hashimoto vs Choshu. A lot of New Japan young lions were modeled in the fashion of Choshu: Tenzan, Kojima, and Nakanishi. Lots of power. Only Nagata was more in the mold of an Inoki with his submission stylings. I really enjoyed the match because they beat the piss out of each other. They don't bother with the traditional New Japan matwork they just go balls out from jump. I do like little touches like Hash going for a double wristlock because Kojima's biggest weapon is the lariat and Kojima attacking the leg because Hashimoto's kicks. Hashimoto's double stomp on Kojima is great. I loved Kojima's top rope elbow on Hashimoto's leg. Great drama on the figure-4 on Hashimoto. Kojima makes the fatal mistake of deviating from the leg strategy and trying to win via Lariat. Bad idea, brutha. Hashimoto literally tries to chop off Kojima's arm. He goes bezerk at one point. It is just great Hashimoto standing taking the lariat and then beating the shit out of somebody. Like Modern Puro it takes three DDTs and a cross armbreaker to get the win. I liked Kojima's sell of the DDT, it makes sense and I like that all chopping of the arm was worked into the finish. The layout worked the crowd was chanting for Kojima on multiple occasions. It is poor man's Hashimoto/Choshu, but Hashimoto is still awesome and Kojima had good leg psychology, meaty lariats and good selling. Definite recommendation. ***3/4

Kensuke Sasaki vs Atsushi Onita - NJPW 1/4/99 FIREBALL~! Wrestling needs more fireballs. New Japan feels so loaded right now. Mutoh is winning the title. Hashimoto vs Ogawa raging. Now ONITA is in New Japan! He debuts in the Tokyo Dome and you can tell from the pre-match package that Riki Choshu thinks he can draw money. Onita's promo style, leather jacket and hair make me think of Roddy Piper. His entrance just screams cool. Leather jacket, chair dragging on the ramp, nonchalant facial expression and the cigarette. Dean Ambrose take notes, bro. I thought this was good, but not great. A lot of the individual spots connected with me. Like Dusty/Bubba Rogers chair collar spot at the beginning. Sasaki no sells that like a champ and just decapitates Onita. Sasaki whipping him around by the leather jacket was badass. Some really stiff shots from Sasaki. Onita collars another chair around Sasaki and then PILEDRIVES him on the table. Sasaki just roars back with nasty chair shots to Onita. Then Onita FIREBALL for the DQ! Individual spots were great, connective tissue was not there. Felt huge and the Tokyo Dome was the appropriate setting for this. ***

Fujinami actually had a lot of big time matches in the 90s, but none of them are online. This sucks. I need to fill this void.

Scott Norton vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 9/23/98 Vacant IWGP Championship Holy shit! Did this come out of left field! Great match! So some context: Chono had to relinquish the championship after winning the belt for the first time from Fujinami due to injury in August of '98. So why the hell are two midcarders wrestling over the title? The top three players in New Japan were Keiji Mutoh (NWO 4 Life), Kensuke Sasaki and Shinya Hashimoto. It feels like the booking had graduated Hashimoto to a Choshu or Inoki class where he no longer needed the championship and instead would be in special attraction matches against Naoya Ogawa. Mutoh was penciled in to win the championship at 1/4/99 and thus needed a challenger. However, Sasaki vs. Mutoh was showcased at both the '97 & '98 Dome so cant run that again. Sasaki just had his big run from 8/97 into 4/98. So it was Mutoh's turn with title, but I agree that Mutoh challenging at the Dome against a mid-carder is a better version than Mutoh winning in September and then defending against a midcarder. Before the injury, you got to believe Chono vs Mutoh was the Dome Main Event of 1/4/99 NWO JAPAN EXPLODES~! They wanted to stick with NWO Japan vs NWO Japan story so giving it to Norton makes sense because you don't want Tenzan or Kojima looking like a transitional champ because ultimately you expect those two to be big time players in 4-5 years. What surprises me most is that Nagata was chosen for this slot. He had his run in WCW, but really hadn't done much in NJPW. Nakanishi or even Tenzan & Kojma (both were NWO 4 Life, but that could have planted the seeds of NWO Japan EXPLODES~!) seem like better candidates. So this is how New Japan established Yuji Nagata as a contender on short notice. Sasaki & Nagata won a round robin tag team tournament with Nagata submitting Yamazaki in the final (Yamazaki's partner was Hashimoto) and then declaring he wanted the IWGP Championship. Here's the kicker the round robin tag team tournament was for a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. LOL! Afterwards, Hashimoto, Sasaki, Yamazaki pump up Nagata and give him the rub. Now onto the match, for two midcarders wrestling over the IWGP Championship, this was friggin' awesome. It was like All Japan invaded New Japan for a night. Scott Norton was on fucking fire. Probably because he was going to win the championship, but he was so motivated. He did NOT SELL SHIT in this match. But I mean that in a good way. He finally wrestled the way he looks. A TOTAL ABSOLUTE MONSTER! The first sequence is straight out of the All Japan playbook, Nagata kicks Norton hard and then Norton stands up, big heel kick from Nagata and then Nagata Back Drop Driver. Norton pops up and STEAMROLLS him. The whole match is built around Norton destroying Nagata with chops and lariats. Nagata tries his best to target the arm for a cross armbreaker. I love that when he cant get it that he goes for the Short Arm Scissors. Norton is so awesome offensively and Nagata does a great job selling for him and putting him over as this human wrecking ball. I love Norton overhead shoulderbreaker into a Fujiwara armbar. Great selling from Nagata. Super hot nearfall for Nagata with the Triangle Choke complete with the arm falling down two times. Norton breaks out. Then Norton JUST THROWS NAGATA DOWN WITH AN EPIC POWERBOMB! I fucking loved this. Norton was a power wrestling god in this match. Nagata was the perfect blend of strategy (arm), selling and hot hope spots. He was just credible enough to make you believe, but vulnerable to make you believe Scott Norton was Baddest Man On The Planet. Check this out! ****

It begins and ends with Terry Funk vs Bob Orton - 5/26/83. A match so good it will be probably make my Top 100 Matches of All Time. I have seen some Bock from down there that's pretty good. Never seen any Tully & Gino yet. Anyways, yeah Funk vs Orton must watch.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh vs Don Frye - NJPW Strong Style Symphony 4/10/99 Say what you will about Keiji Mutoh, but the dude was a draw not just as Great Muta. He drew 53,000 to the Dome on this show. Granted, Frye is a strong challenger, who wrestled in Inoki's last match, with a legit shoot background and this is a part of the big NWO Japan vs Team 2000 feud. But still here is Mutoh's undercard: Masa Chono vs Onita - No Rope Explosive Barbed Wire IWGP Tag Champs Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami. No Hashimoto. No Ogawa. Mutoh drew 53k to the Dome on his own. Never seen a Don Frye worked match before. Wow he throws the worst worked punches of all time. Those things miss by a country mile. You couldn't find a camera angle to make those look good. I usually love shooter vs pro wrestler, but just thought this was alright. The best part was the beginning right at the bell Mutoh hits two dropkicks that have Frye staggering. Then backbreaker->moonsault->kneebar. Hot way to open that gets over how big of a challenge Frye is for Mutoh. The wrestling is fine after. Mutoh gets a Dragon Leg Screw and he is pumped, but Frye hits "a punch". Frye works the leg, but Mutoh gets another dragon leg screw. Big pop from the Dome! The Dome hates Frye. Mutoh gets a barrage of dragon leg screws and then a figure-4. He gets "punched" going for a figure-4. Rear naked choke! This is Frye's big nearfall. Frye is "punching" Mutoh and it is just terrible. Mutoh starts unloading headbutts. Look at him go! Terrible punches by Frye. Dragon Leg Whip! Good break up of the figure-4 by Frye by standing up. Frye reigns down "punches". Mutoh just grabs the arm, double wristlock, cross armbreaker. LOL! I get this pro wrestling, but I just cant believe that Don Frye in the full mount reigning down punches is going to fall prey to a shitty cross armbreaker takeover from Keiji Freakin Mutoh. Don't bother. First minute is awesome, the rest is just ugh.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh vs Manabu Nakanishi - NJPW FINAL DOME 10/11/99 FINAL DOME is still the best name ever! Keiji Flair vs Lex Nakanishi! Figure-4 vs Torture Rack! Well they ruin that when Mutoh abandons the leg attack and goes for the arm, but I came up with the joke mid-match and I am sticking with it. Nakanishi was in the midst of the run of his life besides in 2009 when he won the IWGP Championship. He forced IWGP Champion Mutoh to submit in the '99 G-1 Climax en route to winning the 1999 G-1 Climax. He is the biggest underachiever of the most underachieving generation in puroresu with his cohorts of Tenzan and Kojima. Nakanishi is a power wrestler through and through with not much in the way of charisma or selling. Between him and Mutoh, there is not much in the way of selling. Beginning is typical NJPW fare, I thought Muoth acquitted himself well on the mat very organic and clever way to get into an abdominal stretch and good quash of a takedown. They show off Nakanishi's power with the short arm scissors pickup and then the bearhug. Mutoh attacks the leg in standard 2001 Mutoh fashion unfortunately this gets dropped. I think it might have been because Nakanishi refused to sell. Credit where credit is due Mutoh actually did create some doubt in the outcome of the match. The first 3/4s Mutoh was in control, but after a Nakanishi spear, Mutoh gave most of the match to Nakanishi save for a few hope spots (I liked the out of nowhere Frakensteiner by Mutoh). Nakanishi went for the Torture Rack five times and the commentators inform us this is what Mutoh submitted to in the G-1 Climax. On top of this there was an onslaught of spears, suplexes and a plancha to the outside, the big man was feeling it. Mutoh wriggled free one too many times and got a double wristlock takedown into a cross armbreaker for a submission victory. The biggest problem as Nakanishi's Torture Rack looked like shit and he was just carrying Mutoh on his shoulder. More unimpressive was the ease with which Mutoh broke the hold time and time again. If they stuck with the leg psychology they could have protected Nakanishi and his finish, also creating drama can Nakanishi hold him? what else can Nakanishi do now that Mutoh has taken away his biggest weapon? Feels more like a missed opportunity than a great match. ***

IWGP Shinya Hashimoto vs Scott Norton - NJPW 2/19/95 Odd layout to say the least. Gaijin muscle head comes in with an injured wing and Hashimoto just picks it up apart. Kicks, chops arm bar takedowns. Between this and the 99 Mutoh match, Norton is a much better seller than I expected. Norton gets some power move hope spots but Hash is never in danger. Hashimoto runs through his DDT arsenal even a Fishermans DDT complete with involuntary spastic selling from Norton! About a minute left Norton hulks up and his big bear fall is a powerslam. Lame. Gets Hashimoto up for a Samoan Drop and then collapses and submits!?! Watched it twice and still no clue what the fuck he submitted to. Routine match but the heel had the injury so it killed any intrigue. Always fun to watch Hashimoto work on top but the shitty finish and the routine nature make this something you can avoid.

I am really disappointed I only wrote in the facebook posts for my bottom 50. I keep seeing my name crop up for people I was lukewarm on. I really should have written on my top 25. Glad my comments are useful.

Awesome! FMW is a big blind spot for me. This will be very useful.

Vince/Austin was the only segment worth a damn. Vince is awesome. Roman/Miz was good. 1-2-3 Chant was cool as hell. Torrie Wilson looks younger than when she left. Rest was lame.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Scott Norton vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW 1/4/99 NWO JAPAN EXPLODES~! It is funny on the same night WCW runs Hogan vs Nash as the big NWO Civil War blowoff, New Japan runs a main event of NWO Japan vs NWO Japan at the Tokyo Dome. I was really fascinated by this. Basically Chono finally wins the IWGP Championship in the August of 1998 but is forced to vacate when he is injured. Scott Norton wins the championship over Yuji Nagata of all people, but I don't think Inoki wanted anybody doing the job to Norton. Norton beats Hashimoto by countout and Nakanishi. My gut says the build was to do Chono vs Mutoh and have that lead to the NWO Japan Civil War that dominates 1999 and leads to Chono vs Mutoh at 1/4/00. Basically, my understanding is that Mutoh takes over NWO Japan in Chono's absence and turns it babyface. Chono returns in February of 1999 and is pissed and this is when he forms Team 2000, which is his new heel stable that feuds with Mutoh. What is interesting is they never run a Mutoh vs Chono during this title reign. Mutoh defends against Don Frye and Kojima of Team 2000, but not Chono. They were saving that match for 1/4/2000. I think Norton was just a lame duck champion to get them to Mutoh, but keep the theme of NWO Japan vs NWO Japan. It is so weird hearing "NWO" in the Japanese accent over the loudspeakers at the Tokyo Dome. Mutoh has "I Am Boss" on his tights. Does Hollywood or Big Sexy know? Mutoh targets the arm, short arm scissors, double wristlock and goes for cross armrbeaker, but the announcers point out Scott Norton's arm wrestling background. Wow Japanese commentary is good. Norton starts to steamroll Mutoh. Mutoh definitely went to the Bruiser Brody school of selling. Norton chops Mutoh so hard that he has to bump. Norton hurts his knee doing shoulderbreaker. Ruh roh. It may be 1999, but Mutoh is partying like it is 2001. 2001 Mutoh match develops 8 million dropkicks to the knee, 8 million dragon leg screws and 8 million figure-4s. I am a total mark for 2001 Mutoh so I loved this. Norton surprises me by being a really effective seller. I think Mutoh and Norton varied where and how Norton took the dragon leg screws and dropkicks to the knee. Norton had some good hope spots like his lariats on the third one Mutoh ducks and hits the dropkick to the knee. Nice! Norton's desperation powerbomb was sick, and the way he collapsed was great. I liked Mutoh getting the moonsault only getting two and then hitting a springboard dropkick to the knee to set up the figure-4 submission. A surprisingly brisk and fun match. Best Scott Norton match I have ever watched and safely better than the Fingerpoke of Doom or Hashimoto vs Ogawa from the same night. ***3/4