Hiroshi Hase vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW - 6/26/1992)

Second

Apparently this is Sasaki's return match after a hiatus (maybe through injury, though I couldn't tell you one way or the other), going up against his former tag partner and mentor with something to prove. I'm a fan of matches where the understudy tries to prove they've caught up, only to bite off more than they can chew and the old head put them in their place. That's pretty much what we got, with Sasaki being super aggressive going for the choke (and Hase selling it great, letting us know it might not always have been a legal hold), practically ragdolling Hase around at a few points. Hase coming back with nasty headbutts cutting Sasaki open ruled and pissed off Hase is always a fun time. You try to raise them right, to lead them down the righteous path, but I guess some lessons need to be learned the hard way and Sasaki clearly convinced Hase this was one of them. The string of uranages leading to the finish was quite unique and the whole thing came off as a cool piece of storytelling (which may be one of those cliche buzzwords in 2019, but if the shoe fits...).