NJPW G1 Climax 1996 - Day 2 - 03/08/1996

UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title / NWA World Welterweight Title J-Crown Tournament First Round Match: Shinjiro Otani (c) vs. Negro Casas (c)

A nice solid technical bout for the juniors with Casas, who is one of the best, working a more traditional style opposed to the more theatrical lucha and adapting really well. The crowd heat was low as it usually is for the Juniors but the work didn’t suffer as a result. The crowd reacts to the high spots and Casas outsmarting Otani in the vital moments of the match at least. The match was good overall.***1/4

WWF Light Heavyweight Title / WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title J-Crown Tournament First Round Match: Gran Hamada (c) vs. El Samurai (c)

Not that great. Despite being skilled, Samurai bores me to no end. Long holds that seemed much longer. Again, nothing looked poor or bad but I felt uninspired by it. **1/4

G1 Climax 1996 Block A Match: Junji Hirata vs. Kensuke Sasaki

It’s a shame that the injury came when it did because it was looking to be a cool match, one that Hirata would’ve won which, of course, threw the rest of the booking plans for the block out of the window. The injury came from a powerslam by Hirata who landed awkwardly and that was pretty much it baring an extra move here and there. Sasaki gets the win but I bet the win against Choshu would’ve been much sweeter. NR

G1 Climax 1996 Block B Match: Keiji Muto vs. Satoshi Kojima

I thought this was a very strong match with Mutoh leading the line, dominating the majority of the match while giving Kojima some hope spots, which he took advantage of. Mutoh was quicker on his feet and more adept technically but Kojima was stronger and channelled the obvious Riki Choshu influence in his offence with his many lariats and the fire that he showed. He had good hope spots that were convincing in getting a potential upset lingering in the background at times but Mutoh is just another class and it showed throughout. ***1/2

G1 Climax 1996 Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Riki Choshu

This was short and didn’t make Tenzan look that good but it was interesting at least. Choshu definitely used this as a resting match. **1/4

G1 Climax 1996 Block B Match: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki

I found this to be quite boring. Some of the early grappling was good and I liked the way they worked towards the false finishes at the end but this was largely listless, not too unlike a modern main event style of match. Koshinaka could've been more active on offence to complement Yamazaki's danger submission element. **1/2