NJPW Thanks Wrestling Day - 12/05/2023
Heisei Ishingun (Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto) vs. Ookami Gundan (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono)
It’s easy to ignore these matches when looking through NJPW World but Tezan and Chono are such a great team to the ones who do watch these unimpressive looking bouts and this was another one of those. The match doesn’t even start before everyone gets involved, all the members of HI and Hiro Saito. The ref gets everything under control and the match finally begins. And all pretense of civility ends quickly after a few heated exchanges and the match had a fucking awesome crowd brawl. It was generally intense with chairs flying, everyone involved in the action, despite the rules, fans in the way of the action, which only enhanced it in my opinion. It is a must see. The match ends with a more traditional finish where Chono and Tenzan seem to have Goto in trouble only for Akitoshi Saito to help out with a swift kick to the face, allowing Goto a chance to hit a running lariat for the win. A kick ass match. Strucally all over the place but that helped more than anything. ***3/4
NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III
Best Of The Super Junior III Block B Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 2 - 24/05/1996
This was a cool gem to witness. Not a great match by any stretch but the grappling was much more compelling in this intimate setting than the dome, plus Liger and Black Tiger committed to making it much more apart of the overall match story than using it to savour the big spots until later. I liked Black Tiger’s persistence on attacking the arm and he had some nice variations of holds, such as a double wrist lock with a Fujiwara styled neck crank, which he turned into an americana. Liger was in a selling role, making BT look like the clear better wrestler which may, or may not, have something to do with a potential rematch later in the tournament (hmm). And the finish looked devastating. ***1/2
Best Of The Super Junior III Block B Match: Black Tiger vs. Shinjiro Otani - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 12 - 05/06/1996
Phenomenal wrestling . Black Tiger was both fluid and viscous in his initial work on the leg before getting more vindictive and unsportsmanlike as the match went on, using chairs, ring posts and the like. BT continues his assault on Otani, who is such a good underdog. His selling isn’t brilliant but he’s full of passion and doesn’t fully ignore it, lingering around enough for sympathy. He never quits and that creates some exciting wrestling. The kick out on the frog splash was awesome and served as a great catalyst for the eventual comeback by Otani, which was just as compelling as the rest. Swift and precise. ****
Best Of The Super Junior III Semi Final Match: Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 17 - 11/06/1996
Damn, I can’t even begin to explain how much I adored this match. It was just sensational wrestling in every form. I loved Pegasus’ mindset early in the match. He simply would grab a headlock and continuously apply it, grinding BT down into submission. It’s not fancy or pretty, especially for someone like Pegasus’ skill, but he was so aggressive and persistent with it, as well as combative using it to cut Black Tiger off. It was so effective that it turned Black Tiger, who has worked heel in all the matches I’ve seen, into the biggest babyface in the division. And then it escalated and escalated but the quality never relented. Each counter was glued together with a realistic transition that felt earned and executed with some much impact, combining the graceful Jr Heavyweight style with the Heavyweight style. But despite the dominance that Pegasus had, Black Tiger had enough established winning moves, including the super frankensteiner that he used to beat Liger on Day 2 and when he hits them, it feels big. And when they didn’t finish the job, that felt even bigger. It took another top rope move (a super brainbuster) to finish the job and it felt justified because they wrestled such a great match. ****1/2
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 17 - 11/06/1996
A nice change of pace after these big Jr Heavyweight matches. A simple title match with a low level challenger in the biggest spot of his career thus far. Kojima, still young in his career, stepping upto Hashimoto is a cool story for the match. He doesn’t back down after the roman knuckle lock, going on the front foot, forcing Hashimoto to escape to the floor. Kojima tries to work the leg but Hashimoto powers through with stuff knees and overwhelming Kojima with his strength advantage. Kojima has the underdog element to him which the crowd gravitates to, which makes for some cool hope spots, including a big diving elbow drop but Hashimoto rarely looks in any real trouble. Good showing from Kojima, who looks like a prospect, although there is still room for improvement, and Hashimoto looked good in this easy title defence. ***1/2
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Junji Hirata & Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 18 - 12/06/1996
An awesome action packed bout with Hashimoto laser focused on Yamazaki, intending to injure any body part he can. Iizuka continues to pop up in these little tag match gems and he serves as a solid partner that Hirata can bully. Hirata is often the 4th guy in a match but he can throw his weight around in the match, although he eventually loses the titles for his team, tapping out to a quick armbreaker that comes out of nowhere in the finish that was well executed. Hashimoto thinks Yamazki is done and leaves to attack Iizuka, Hirata attempts to finish the job but falls victim to a quick submission. Really effective match with a hot crowd. ***3/4
Best Of The Super Junior III Final Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger - NJPW Best Of The Super Junior III - Day 18 - 12/06/1996
A strong final. Not the better match of the night however. Nor the best match of the BOSJ but I do somewhat appreciate that they didn’t spend too much grappling and more or less went straight into doing the bigger spots of the match. It lacked the foundations of the Pegasus match on the prior night but it had a heck of a finish built around nearfalls for the hot crowd, eventually building to Black Tiger beating Liger once again with the super brainbuster. ***1/2
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