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Post by Cap on Dec 8, 2017 15:36:22 GMT -5
Koji Kanemoto vs El Samurai (Best of Super Juniors Final - NJPW - 6/5/1997)
I feel like this match has fallen out of favor with some. It doesn't matter to me, I love this match. This is so intense, so violent. Kanemoto is trying to absolute murder Samurai in this. Samurai's hope spots and comeback are so excellent. There is a ton of emotion and urgency (my favorite word for wrestling) that I just love. This match holds up to me and I can't picture it not making my list pretty easily.
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Post by elliott on Dec 8, 2017 19:23:59 GMT -5
Seconded. Not a match I feel holds up well. I was never as big of a fan of it as some even back when I loved juniors wrestling. I'd be more amenable to voting for Dragon vs Otani from the J-Crown than this. If it ends after the top rope rana, maybe I'd be less inclined to hate it. But again, I'll go ahead and second the nomination.
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Post by jetlag on Jan 6, 2018 5:25:37 GMT -5
3rd. A rewatch may be in order, but this is undeniably a standout match for the 90s juniors. Mostly because it's BRUTAL, but there's some more to it. It has the quality matwork like a BattlARTS match and then Samurai starts kicking Kanemoto in the eye. But yeah BRUTAL and NECK DEATH.
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Post by bossrock on Jan 6, 2018 18:17:01 GMT -5
After seeing Samurai play a great heel in the classic Liger match, it's interesting to see him play babyface. But he does a tremendous job of it.
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Post by bossrock on Jul 23, 2018 23:32:05 GMT -5
Re-watching this match and I forgot just how violent it is. Kanemoto absolutely lays in with the stiffest of kicks to Samurai's back and leg and Samurai stomps the crap about of Kanemoto's face. Samurai's leg selling is very good overall even if he forgets it a bit during his comebacks. Some wonderfully athletic spots such as the reverse-rana off the top rope and the spiral sentons from Kanemoto. Samurai's final surge of offense is also great and gives us a wonderfully satisfying conclusion.
If you want a match that has cool moves as well as hate-filled violence, look no further than this match. Absolute lock.
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Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2018 20:27:42 GMT -5
From my rewatch write up on 7/28/2018 Koji Kanemoto vs El Samurai (Super Juniors Final – 6/5/1997) Current Rank: 39 Trending: Down I don’t often see this match get praised as one of the best New Japan Juniors matches of the 90s, at least not in the circles I digitally run in. In fact, if anything I see this shit on a lot. However, I really think this is an incredible piece of work. It doesn’t have quite the shock value, quite the sustained violence or awe-inspiring movezzzz, but it has a really impressive flow to it. It accelerates and cruises in a way that I find quite enjoyable. Each man elevates the actions in their own way in different parts and the result is a very strong end to a tournament. Koji Kanemoto is an great ass hole in this, beating the ever loving hell out Samurai and doing it in a way that might make you questions what is real and planned (the whole point). Even though that ass hole ness isn’t sustained into a elite heel performance, this is still quite memorable. Samurai, when he is on, is an big time underdog babyface. Here, with his mask hanging off his head, fighting for his life and the Super Juniors crown, Samurai looks like a world beater. I can get some of the complaints, but this match always holds up as an all timer to me, right along with some of the best from NJ Juniors at the time. Even still, it will fall down my list just a touch. While I still love the brutality from Koji in the match, it wasn’t quite as pronounced in a consistent way as I remember. It wont fall out of the top 100, but it might fall out of the top 50 or so. Full post can be found here: gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/657/caps-watching-project-reports#ixzz5NS3WT4XH |
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Post by superstarsleeze on Feb 3, 2019 20:59:38 GMT -5
Very frustrating match. Finish kills the match for me. Overkill and moves lose meaning. I am higher on Kanemoto than most. He is a badass and was just a beast working the leg. He is flipping Sammy off and ripping his leg off. He is fucking badass. It is too bad that the finish undercuts how good the match was. Honestly, think this match would have made my Top 100 if the finish was not so overkill.
Koji Kanemoto vs El Samurai - NJPW 6/5/97 Best of the Super Juniors Finals
They had a stone cold classic on their hands, but they bit off more than they could chew. We will begin in the beginning where this match ruled. Opening matwork was tight as usual then escalated with some really wicked slaps. Samurai went for the first high spot of the match a top rope kneedrop and missed. I love highspots that miss early. Kanemoto was a beast working the leg. Tight holds, awesome kicks and most importantly a wicked sneer. He flips Samurai off in the toehold and Samurai smacks him but theres nothing he can really do. Great character work from him. He puts his boots on the face and throat of Samurai until Sammy ends up outside the ring. Sammy comes back and hits a dropkick in the tree of woe, but Kanemoto holds on and gets a heel hook now thats badass. I liked that as a hope spot for Sammy, but not a transition as it would have been too easy (they walked a fine line there). Samurai catches Kanemoto with a punch to the eye and Kanemoto is down to one knee. Sammy pounces lots of laces kicks to the face. Kanemoto is selling really well. I didnt love the release belly to belly to transition back to Kanemoto but I agreed in principle that should go back to Kanemoto and again he did a great job zeroing in on the leg. Kanemoto lands on his feet on a moonsault attempt, his first high risk move but Sammy blasts him with a lariat. Samurai suplexes him over the top rope to the floor (not treated as a huge spot, but that was wild!) and Samurai follows with a dive which I thought Sammy sold well before doing. Kanemoto came back in and popped off another suplex. Really strong knee bar and then figure-4! I loved him tying Samurai up in the ropes. AXE KICKS! Kanemoto is a huge prick in this match. Samurai hits with a forearm coming off the ropes and he stupidly goes for a powerbomb with a bad leg. Kanemoto counters into a forward crab but Samurai makes the ropes. I love that Kanemoto keeps missing his highspots. He should just stick with the leg strategy but he gets greedy. He misses his twisting senton and eats mat. The DDT is the perfect move for someone with a leg injury. Two DDTs by Sammy and a top rope headbutt! Great nearfall for Samurai. Samurai smacks Kanemoto around before throwing him out. Samurai looks like he is spent. Kanemoto comes back in and slaps the shit out of him big kick. This is what Kanemoto needed if he wants to hit highspots a KO blow. Now he can hits his twisting senton no problem. Then to establish he is the biggest prick in the world, he rips Samurai's mask.
At this point, this is where excess rears its ugly head. Up until this point, it was Kanemoto the prick decimating the leg and he finally hit his first highspot. Samurai has used the missed highspots to create some offense, but besides the DDTs-Top Rope Headbutt has not had much. Great story.
Then we get a SPIKE TOP ROPE DRAGONRANA By Kanemoto on Samurai! But he does not cover, which is wise because you want to protect the move but really he should not have done the move. Kanemoto eats knees on his moonsault. Sorry but thats backwards. Spike Top Rope Dragonrana >>> Moonsault. Samurai hits two powerbombs on his bad leg and goes for a cross armbreaker (I appreciate that shoot style is en vogue) Kanemoto could have sold more here, not enough scramble. Kanemoto meets him up top with a beautiful super powerslam. That should actually be stolen. Kanemoto hits a moonsault-Tiger Suplex combo and still doesnt win. He goes for a twisting senton off the top rope and misses. Hey at least they tied that story into the finish. Samurai hits a top rope Slop Drop and then a bunch of reverse suplexes to win.
I laid out the story perfectly two paragraphs above and they just abandoned for a bunch of bombs. The Spike Top Rope Dragonrana is the most egregious because it overshadowed everything they did after. Samurai really should have won with the cross armbreaker because he had built up momentum from surviving that move and using knees against Kanemoto's finish, which played into the story that Kanemoto cant hit his highspots. Then Kanemoto does hit his highspots and Samurai still kicks out?!?! Then Samurai's highspots arent as good as Kanemoto's which is another problem. Anyways, first twenty minutes near perfect wrestling, last five is a clusterfuck, but still kind of enjoyable because Kanemoto's spots are good. A very frustrating **** match.
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