NJPW OCTOBER SURPRISE
Jushin Thunder Liger & Koji Kanemoto vs. Kenichi Yamamoto & Naoki Sano - NJPW OCTOBER SURPRISE - 29/10/1995
Notable by his absence on the Tokyo Dome show was IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Koji Kanemoto, but he gets his chance to wrestle the shooters on this show instead. 9,000 fans isn’t a bad substitution, I guess. This was a good mix of shoot heavy submissions but with a distinctive junior heavyweight pacing. It was good as Kanemoto matched up with Sano in a great way. Kanemoto could be a bit more mean with his strikes and make use of his wrestling;. This had quite a few aerial moves like Kanemoto’s moonsault for the finish. ***
Keiji Muto & Yuji Nagata vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW OCTOBER SURPRISE - 29/10/1995
Takayama and Nagata really clash with each other in the opening exchanges with Nagata coming off better out of the two, catching Takayama’s kicks and being the stronger wrestler. Kakihara and Mutoh have an interesting dynamic but Nagata seems determined to face every UWF Shooter he can and takes up most of the ring time for his team. Mutoh does bits and tries his hand at this style of grappling but I’d say his attempt at a heel hook is unconvincing at best. And despite being Keiji Mutoh, the crowd doesn’t react to his submission attempts. The match sparked up once more when Kakihara and Nagata were mouthing off at each other and palming each other in the face before the awkward finish. Kakihara called for Mutoh to come into the ring which Nagata agreed to and Mutoh quickly shot and got a take down and tagged in Nagata, who then got heel hooked by Kakihara to lose. A bit messy in the final moments but this had its fun. Nagata is really a great figure in this feud. Truly. ***
Kensuke Sasaki vs. Yoji Anjo - NJPW OCTOBER SURPRISE - 29/10/1995
Anjo couldn’t beat Choshu but what about the protege? This isn’t really done in the typical manner that most NJPW v UWFI matches have been done. It’s more of a classic pro style with lock ups and wrestling style knee lifts. Anjo plays along with elbow strikes and a more showy method of doing a submission (doing it slightly slower while looking at the crowd, playing for a reaction). My favourite part of the match came in the halfway point when Anjo headbutted Sasaki’s groin when he was trying for the armbar. The crowd booed Anjo heavily for that. Anjo caught Sasaki in trouble, countering a running lariat attempt with a Fujiwara Armbar, posing during the fact. And that signalled the beginning of the end match. Anjo applied a shockingly poor figure four, doing it the wrong way round but he hurt Sasaki’s legs but it didn’t matter as Sasaki was able to hobble his way to victory with two lariats, a Northern Lights Bomb and the Strong Hold to end it all. Sasaki gets his win after “losing” to Kakihara. ***1/4
NJPW Battle Final 1995
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Junji Hirata & Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Ookami Gundan (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono) - NJPW Battle Final 1995 - Day 16 - 11/12/1995
Hashimoto and Teznan have real trouble early on. Hashimoto kicks and hits the heck out of Tenzan, while working on his neck and Tenzan tries to give it back with the mongolian chops before Hashi hits his leg again. The faces keep targeting Tenzan as the weakest of his team but Chono doesn’t stand for it, cheating as a result, coming in when not allowed, etc. The match isn’t anything great but they keep up the intensity of the match and the crowd really gets into the nearfalls. Hashimoto spikes Chono with a brainbuster, seemingly signalling the end but Chono low blows Hirata, and locks in the STF. The finish comes later when Tenzan hits Chono with a lariat by accident, karma for their cheating and the champions retain. ***1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Keiji Muto (c) vs. Shiro Koshinaka - NJPW Battle Final 1995 - Day 16 - 11/12/1995
It’s sad to end the year on this being clipped but we get the back end of what looks like a good match. Koshinaka and Mutoh have an unsurprisingly great closing stretch, the strengths of both wrestlers with false finishes and close calls. No doubt this would’ve been a great ending to a terrific match. ***
Year-End Awards
Match of the Year: Keiji Muto vs. Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW G1 Climax 1995 - Day 5 - 15/08/1995
The G1 Final was one of the biggest matches of the calendar year, topped by something otherworldly in comparison but it still felt huge, on top of it being a tremendous, quality match. It fed off the momentum of the whole tournament and their other (disappointing) match earlier in the year. I’ve found it very rare that Hashimoto comes out of a match looking like the worst wrestler but Mutoh was a magician with his wrestling and charisma.
Wrestler of the Year: Keiji Mutoh
1995 was a good year for this award. Shinya Hashimoto was a strong, strong in-ring horse with 3 out of their 5 matches being in the top ten of the year for New Japan. He had a strong draw for the promotion for a lot of that time also but the award will go to Keiji Mutoh. Likewise to Hashimoto, Mutoh has had a strong in-ring year having quality matches against Nobuhiko Takada, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Ric Flair and, again, Shinya Hashimoto in the G1 Final. The October Tokyo Dome event was huge and a big plus for Mutoh as a main drawing act in the company. He got rid of the lazy, unimaginative Great Muta gimmick and was himself and it’s the best he’s ever been.
Feud of The Year: Ookami Gundan against the World
A controversial opinion considering the UWFI v NJPW feud is iconic but I feel the need to praise Ookami Gundan’s work against everyone in the promotion. Chono and Tenzan changed the company in many ways and added something fresh with the heat generated against the likes of Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki and many others.
Disappointing Match of the Year: Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Mutoh - NJPW Wrestling Dontaku In Fukuoka Dome - 03/05/1995
The match-up is both the MOTY and the DMOTY. Not bad by any means but it does underwhelm me every time I watch it.
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