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Post by nintendologic on Jun 14, 2019 21:04:54 GMT -5
This might be the greatest IWGP tag title match of all time, which is a minor miracle given 3/4 of the participants. The opening minutes have plenty of action but not a whole lot of direction. Things pick up after Hirata injures his leg, turning it into a de facto handicap match. Hashimoto struggles valiantly against the odds, but he's eventually overwhelmed and pinned, due in no small part to a low blow from Chono and outside interference by Hiro Saito. One of the few New Japan tag matches of the period that doesn't feel light-years behind what All Japan was doing at the same time.
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Post by KB8 on Oct 10, 2020 8:45:33 GMT -5
Second
I thought this was good for about ten minutes and then REALLY good for six-seven minutes. And for the whole seventeen minutes Hashimoto was awesome. Tenzan and Chono are in full shithead mode and this is about the most I've enjoyed both of them in ages, especially Tenzan who's usually woeful. He has an extremely punchable face and demeanor in this, shit talks Hashimoto on the mic before the match starts, and Hashimoto stomping him to bits was just perfect. The brainbuster Hashimoto gave him was on a whole other level of ridiculous compared to most brainbusters you've ever seen. This might be my favourite period of Chono's career because he wouldn't dick around on the mat with boring matwork for three hours and instead leaned all the way into being a bastard, letting his charisma do a lot of the work. That first ten minutes was mostly back and forth, nothing really sticking too long, no stretch where someone was properly isolated. It meant there was plenty of Hashimoto coming in grumpy and squashing someone's spleen but I wanted something to really dig my teeth into. I was a bit worried they were going to work the whole match even until Hirata seemed to injure his leg and end up in PERIL. That didn't last too long either and so we never got a vintage Hashimoto hot tag, but it did lead to the best stretch of the match. As soon as Hash comes in he casually sweeps aside Tenzan's attempt at a wheel kick, and at that point you're thinking someone's getting their chest caved in. Except Chono jumps him and pretty soon Hashimoto is fighting both of them while Hirata is out on the floor with his bad leg. Every time Hirata tries to climb back in he'll be dragged out again by Chono's enforcer Hiro Saito, so Chono and Tenzan have an open lane to pile on Hash. So rather than getting the Hashimoto hot tag we get Hashimoto as face in peril, and wouldn't you believe it he was amazing at it. He fights back bloody-nosed, just whomping motherfuckers with overhand chops and roundhouse kicks. The last couple minutes feel more like All Japan than New Japan to an extent, with Hirata trying to fight his way to his partner's side before he's overwhelmed completely, only All Japan probably would've eschewed the low blow so maybe Chono > Misawa after all. And Hashimoto > everybody, which we already knew.
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Post by elliott on Sept 14, 2023 23:04:06 GMT -5
I love this. Not sure where it'd rank on the best NJPW matches of the decade, but it's on the list. Great stuff.
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Post by makaiclub on Nov 12, 2023 12:45:20 GMT -5
Terrific match with tons of heat mongering of the best kind by Chono and Tenzan. Tenzan was awesome here and definitely had the best performance of the match, just by effort alone. Hirata was stuck with a bum leg which left Hashimoto alone which didn't deter him from being his usual badass self. Chono was good at being a mean bastard though. He busted Hashimoto's mouth open and seemed to enjoy the idea of Hashimoto bleeding on him while in the STF. TenCho win the vacant tag team titles (for 20ish days before they were vacated again due to Chono's dad dying, causing him to miss a defence). ****
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Post by elliott on Nov 12, 2023 12:54:06 GMT -5
I really like the Tenzan/Chono team in this era. They're a lot of fun. Lots of good matches.
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