M,Nakanishi/Y.Nagata vs H.Tenzan/M.Chono - NJPW 03/24/2002
Mar 4, 2023 14:42:10 GMT -5
Post by makaiclub on Mar 4, 2023 14:42:10 GMT -5
IWGP Tag Team Title Tournament Final Match (vacant): Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata vs. TEAM2000 (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masahiro Chono) - NJPW Hyper Battle 2002 - Day 11 - 24/03/2002
The match has a surprisingly strong opening with Tenzan and Nakanishi. I didn’t realise that the crowd were hissing already for Tenzan by this point. It’s cool though. Nakanishi isn’t great but he hits hard and he’s a fucking dude and that’s easy to get behind. Nagata and Chono are more technical when they pair off and they were quite good running through the classical holds, if I must say. Even if it's painting by numbers, I love seeing it. The match progresses nicely into T2000 taking over through their long standing tricks plus using their stable mates. Nagata and Nakanishi are good babyfaces, especially Nagata, who is just terrific during this period. It’s a shame he never caught on as the guy. Nakanishi is an awesome hot tag wrestler as he uses his strengths perfectly. He’s very impassioned in short bursts and gets a surprisingly amount of momentum doing little during it. Despite being double teamed constantly, he is booked strongly against the 2 of them, being able to hold his own by himself but eventually he succumbs to the master teamwork before Nagata makes the save. Chono is far from his mobile self but he pulls off a sweet counter to Nakanishi’s spear, rolling through to lock on a front butterfly lock. Nakanishi is able to power out of it though and hit a suplex! Nagata tries to finish Chono off, getting a close two on a Northern Lights suplex. The end seems to be nigh when Nagata looks on a crossface (Nakanishi has Tenzan in an abdominal stretch) but victory escapes them once more. This is followed by a magnificent exchange between Nagata and Tenzan which ends with everyone hitting a big move against each other. Tenzan hits the mongolian chops, spikes Nagata on his head for a big two count before finally putting him away with the moonsault. Fucking great match. Match of the night for me. Another quality match by this team. The crowd cheers for the result, which crowns Tenzan and Chono IWGP Tag Team Champions for a fourth time. Last time they were champions was 1998, so this was a big win. A feel good moment for the company, despite these two being heels, they are fan heroes. ****1/4
The match has a surprisingly strong opening with Tenzan and Nakanishi. I didn’t realise that the crowd were hissing already for Tenzan by this point. It’s cool though. Nakanishi isn’t great but he hits hard and he’s a fucking dude and that’s easy to get behind. Nagata and Chono are more technical when they pair off and they were quite good running through the classical holds, if I must say. Even if it's painting by numbers, I love seeing it. The match progresses nicely into T2000 taking over through their long standing tricks plus using their stable mates. Nagata and Nakanishi are good babyfaces, especially Nagata, who is just terrific during this period. It’s a shame he never caught on as the guy. Nakanishi is an awesome hot tag wrestler as he uses his strengths perfectly. He’s very impassioned in short bursts and gets a surprisingly amount of momentum doing little during it. Despite being double teamed constantly, he is booked strongly against the 2 of them, being able to hold his own by himself but eventually he succumbs to the master teamwork before Nagata makes the save. Chono is far from his mobile self but he pulls off a sweet counter to Nakanishi’s spear, rolling through to lock on a front butterfly lock. Nakanishi is able to power out of it though and hit a suplex! Nagata tries to finish Chono off, getting a close two on a Northern Lights suplex. The end seems to be nigh when Nagata looks on a crossface (Nakanishi has Tenzan in an abdominal stretch) but victory escapes them once more. This is followed by a magnificent exchange between Nagata and Tenzan which ends with everyone hitting a big move against each other. Tenzan hits the mongolian chops, spikes Nagata on his head for a big two count before finally putting him away with the moonsault. Fucking great match. Match of the night for me. Another quality match by this team. The crowd cheers for the result, which crowns Tenzan and Chono IWGP Tag Team Champions for a fourth time. Last time they were champions was 1998, so this was a big win. A feel good moment for the company, despite these two being heels, they are fan heroes. ****1/4
