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Post by Cap on Dec 8, 2017 14:25:02 GMT -5
Shinjiro Otani vs El Samurai (UWA World Junior Championship - NJPW - 1/21/1996)
This might be my favorite Jr. match ever. It is at least very much up there. I love me some Samurai (at least big match Samurai), but Otani is the star here to me. His facial expressions add so much to all the action and the action is incredible here. This doesn't fit a mold really. It is a really compelling combination of technical wrestling and speed that gives it an incredible amount of urgency and malice. The stakes just feel big here.
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Post by elliott on Dec 8, 2017 19:14:52 GMT -5
Seconded. Yeah, this holds up as a great juniors match. Its been talked to death over the years. Great dueling limbwork and offense focused on limbs. I've never liked Samurai but he's great here and Ohtani is at his peak.
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Post by microstatistics on Jan 6, 2018 22:18:47 GMT -5
The best dueling limbwork match ever. Incredibly gritty and hard fought with typically awesome character work from Ohtani. Also has maybe the GOAT finish.
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Post by superstarsleeze on Jul 29, 2018 18:55:35 GMT -5
I will never ever forget that double wristlock counter out of a German Suplex Bridge. Limb Psychology Galore!
UWA Junior Light Heavyweight Champion El Samurai vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 1/21/96
Nasty little fucking match. There's a segment where Sammy is clawing at Ohtani's bloody nose to avoid a legbar and then minutes later Ohtani is biting Sammy's leg to avoid a cross-armbreaker. Nasty little fucking match. Mr. Ohtani is straight cash money in this. He would be the biggest meme in the wrestling world if he existed today. This disapproving look he gives when his son squanders his advantage and his arm dangling off the apron is so amazing. At the end of the match, just looks away at yet another loss for Shinjiro when he really had the match at multiple points.
The hook of the match is the incredible dueling limb psychology and the fierceness of the grappling.
The matwork in this is so intense and so detailed. Samurai crossfacing Ohtani to try to release a toehold, but when Ohtani starts to grind his elbow into the knee Sammy actually grabs his arm and tries to apply a cobra clutch to stop it. It really was magnificent. Ohtani was using his joints to create lots of pain in the ankle and knee of Samurai. When Samurai tries to counter, Ohtani gets really revved up. You can feel how bad he wants this. Samurai gets some hope spots here and there, but this Ohtani's match to lose. Samurai tries to go after the arm, but Ohtani is able to return back to leg. However, in the process of trying to submit Samurai is able to gain wrist control and yank Ohtani down hard into a double wristlock (kimura). He tries to convert this into a cross armbreaker, Ohtani flays so hard onto his stomach he gives himself a bloody nose. Nasty little fucking match. Samurai is relentless on the arm while it is dangling on the apron. Cue the first image of Mr. Ohtani shaking his head, "What are we going to do with you, Shinjiro".
Samurai creates some opportunities for himself to fly. I agree that the number one complaint of this match that the selling while on offense does lead something to be desired. Ohtani is able to avoid Samurai and hit a dropkick to outside. Samurai thinks he avoids the slingshot, but Ohtani hits a great dropkick from the apron that sends Samurai swinging on the steel gate. Nasty little fucking match.
Ohtani uses more typical pro wrestling attack on the knee (seat drop, driving knee into the mat). He applies a kneebar. Loved the struggle over Samurai hitting a piledriver and then immediately going for the cross armbreaker. He has a game plan and everything is working towards that goal. The struggle over every hold makes this match the classic that it is. I love rolling double wristlock takedowns and Samurai has a beauty in this one. Ohtani's comeback begins by grabbing Samurai's head and hitting repeated heabutts! Nasty little fucking match. There are some issues I have with transitions mostly from Samurai like hitting the powerbomb out of nowhere. I did love again the diving headbutt right into the cross armbreaker. Everything is about the coross armbreaker so I loved it.
I have watched this match before like five years ago and loved it. I remember the dueling limb psychology, but there was only spot that really stuck with me. Ohtani's German and Samurai's immediate counter from the bridge into a double wristlock in one fluid match. MARK OUT CITY! The tension on the that submission was unreal. I loved Ohtani's big succession of three springboard dropkicks to the knee. Before AJ Styles, there was Shinjiro Ohtani. Ohtani goes for legbar, but it is back to the ropes. Ohtani cant believer, he is selling his arm a little. He is trying to fire himself up. Tries to hoist him up in Dragon Suplex, but when Sammy reverses he rolls through into a legbar. Nice! I love the facewashes on the apron. Nasty little fucking match.
Now it is Samurai with the nasty headbutts. He totally WIPES OHTANI OUT with a springboard dropkick to the back. Ohtani's father disapproves greatly. The camera misses how Ohtani takes out Samurai's knee. Springboard dropkick to the back of the head! He doesn't cover! Is this a mistake? DRAGON SUPLEX! 1-2-NO!!!! OHTANI IS INCREDULOUS! Total exasperation. He lifts Samurai up on the top rope. Never give your opponent the high ground! Headbutts and a tornado DDT follow. Big mistake!
Sammy finally gets that armbreaker and then as Ohtani is reaching for the arm to picks himself up Sammy comes crashing down on the arm with a kneedrop!!! MARK OUT CITY!!! CROSS ARMBREAKER TAP OUT! Ohtani's Dad, "Whose child is that?"
Perhaps the greatest finish of all time! I loved that! From a layout, commitment to strategy, escalation, offensive psychology, and struggle perspectives, the match is absolutely perfect. I just cant give it the full monty too many selling issues on offense and the transitions should have been tighter. The struggle was just off the charts. Everything was contested and earned. Samurai's commitment to applying double wristlocks and cross armbreakers out of any situation was great. Ohtani's urgency down the stretch was awesome, you cant help but get invested in who is going to win. Both were great mixing in their bombs with their submission attempts. The finish stretch with Ohtani's combo of Sprinboard dropkick/dragon suplex failing. Only to have Ohtani reach out for the ropes for salvation to have Samurai crash down with all his weight on the exposed bad arm and in a flash Ohtani is tapping out to a cross armbreaker. Nasty little fucking match. ****3/4
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Post by puropotsy on Mar 12, 2023 15:16:00 GMT -5
This has great limb-work and submission work interspersed seamlessly with high spots. It all makes so much sense, especially Samurai working on Ohtani’s arm (with great selling by Ohtani) and then coming off the top onto the arm and getting the submission. Masterful wrestling.
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Post by makaiclub on Jul 20, 2023 9:18:17 GMT -5
A quality match that is unfortunately not on New Japan World. But don’t worry, all the mediocre ones are on there. There was a strong lock up to begin the match. And I do love a good lock up. Otani aggressively targets Samurai’s knee after scoring an ankle pick in an amazing way. It came across as very brutal and focused. Otani truly wanted to tear his knee ligaments right then. That carried over throughout the match opposed to just the first few minutes, followed up by perfunctory grappling like his a lot of the famed Junior Heavyweight contests. Otani gets busted open by the nose but it doesn’t deter him from fighting on, especially in-front of his father. Samurai fights back with double wrist lock attempts of his own that seem to cause niggling issues for Otani and the match becomes a battle of who’s limb will give out first. The nearfalls were really good and had the crowd rocking. Ontai’s expressiveness made it so compelling. Although Otani lost the match, which seemed like a mistake, it’s not the main Junior title, so who cares? ****
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