NJPW Battle Final 1992
Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Masao Orihara & Ultimo Dragon - NJPW Battle Final 1992 - Day 8: Battle Final in Rainbow Hall 11/12/1992
The Juniors get in on the New Japan vs WAR action. Young Punk Kanemoto and nearing prime Liger against Ultimo Dragon and Orihara sounds very exciting. Liger and Ultimo keep it clean with some fun mat wrestling with the shoulder tackle, kip-up into arm wringer spots while Orihara and Kanemoto are more feisty with their offence. Kanemoto and Orihara kick out at each other and show general disrespect to each other. There were times where they went a little long to get to the next gear but the action was never boring. Orihara takes a tremendous asswhipping and sells excellently. The dives to the outside looked outstanding as did most of the fast paced closing stretch. The match ended on a real dramatic note as well with the crowd biting on all the nearfalls before Ultimo finally pinned Kanemoto with the powerbomb. Awesome match that had two great parts. The assbeating and the bombs-away finishing stretch. ****
Hiroshi Hase vs. Masahiro Chono - NJPW Battle Final 1992 - Day 8: Battle Final in Rainbow Hall 11/12/1992
The finish threw me. I thought once Hase stopped pinning Chono on the first northern lights suplex that it was only time before Chono made another brief comeback but nope. Hase pins the NWA World champion clean, after toying him the entire match. Chono had his moments on top. Most of which involved working the knee for the STF. I liked this a ton ***1/2
Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase - NJPW Battle Final 1992 - Day 11 14/12/1992
After Hase pinned the NWA World champion a few days prior, Hase has tons of momentum coming into this match against Muta, who was the IWGP Heavyweight champion at the time. Can he pin the champ and potentially get a title shot? This match is famed for the Muta Scale where Muta loses the red paint as the match goes on but gets so bloody that his face goes back to dark red. Hase didn’t waste any time for Muta to start his stalling routine and plants him with uranage and stomps away at the head. Hase plays it cool when Muta tries to stall as well, swiftly regaining control over the champ. Hase again played it cool when Muta tried to use a turnbuckle lever as a weapon and turned it against Muta, drawing the blood. The visual of the blood looks awesome. Hase gets covered in it which the crowd pops for. Hase was a god in this match from start to finish. And not just on offence either, he bites Muta and then spits it like it was mist. I really hated Muta in the recent matches that I’ve watched of him but he uses the blood to great effect, drawing sympathy from the crowd and doing some great facial expressions. I do think that he makes a comeback a tad too easily after Hase beat him bloody for 95% of the match but Hase kicked out of a few of Muta’s killer moves so it’s not all bad. Hase brought a terrific performance adding more aggression and personality than he usually does. Muta bleed well and had some cool character work at the end. ***3/4
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Genichiro Tenryu - NJPW Battle Final 1992 - Day 11 14/12/1992
This was really good. Perhaps a bit too long but the match was filled with awesome bits of hate and frustration. Tenryu kicking Koshinaka in the fake out of a knee bar was awesome. The little sly kicks to the stomach and face was great. Good chemistry and fire shown between the two. ****
Year End Awards
Match Of The Year: Masahiro Chono vs Rick Rude - NJPW 12/8/1992
This was pretty clear from the start of the year. Then again when I rewatched the match. 1992 was a good year for New Japan but nothing else rewatched near this level of a match. The heat was off the charts. The work was great from the small things to the big picture spots. It felt like an epic moment and it was.
Wrestler Of The Year: Hiroshi Hase
I was stuck between two people for this. Hiroshi Hase and Masahiro Chono. Both had stellar years. Chono’s big matches delivered on a bigger level than Hase’s but Hase had more matches and performances that stood out, even if they weren’t as good as Chono v Rude, Muto, Koshinaka, etc. Honestly Chono on paper seems like the guy but I came to the conclusion that Hase is the WOTY through his variety of work. The tag matches, working with Sasaki in a singles match, his epic showing against Muta in the December match.
Feud Of The Year: WAR vs NJPW
There hasn’t been too many feuds to really sink your teeth into in 92. It’s mostly like matches that happen, so WAR vs NJ wins by default really. Every version of it came off super hot and intense. I only watched 3 matches tbf but all 3 were amazing in their own ways. Six man tags, junior spotty wrestling and the heavyweight stiffs.
Most Disappointing Match Of The Year: Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto
Who has bad Hashimoto matches? Not many. There was a big dispracney in my enjoyment depending on who was on offence. The match didn’t flow well at all so the good parts lead to nothing substantial. Muta is committed to the gimmick, which I do like, but it feels more out of laziness than anything.
Top Five Matches Of The Year:
Masahiro Chono vs Rick Rude - 12/8/1992
Genichiro Tenryu, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa vs Kengo Kimura, Masashi Aoyagi & Shiro Koshinaka - NJPW 23/11/1992
Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger - NJPW 08/02/1992
Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono - NJPW 11/08/1992
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Masahiro Chono - NJPW 31/07/1992
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