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Post by jetlag on Jan 6, 2018 7:39:31 GMT -5
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (IWGP Heavyweight Championship - NJPW 6/5/1998)
tl;dr epic striker vs. technician heavyweight fight, best match between the two?
Full review from PWO:
Thanks GOTNW. This was phenomenal and one of the best pure skill vs. pure rage matches I've ever seen. Fujinami wants to open this MUGA style, but Hash blitzes him with a DDT and follows up with a huge barrage of kicks, setting the tone for the rest of the match: Hashimoto demolishing the old man, and wily Fujinami trying to catch the beast. No one kicks a man when he's down like Hashimoto, and he lays an all time epic beating on Fujinami including one of the most gorgeous high kicks I've ever seen. Fujinami is great withstanding the beating, selling his leg and making comebacks, and the psychology is top notch: In isolation, Hashimoto's leg sweep is a cool enough spot, but integrated into the match like this as a "fuck you" to Fujinami's leg screws and Figure 4s it becomes something entirely different. It all builds to some of the best submission nearfalls (and breakups) I've seen, Fujinami teasing the Dragon Suplex, a glassy eyed Hashimoto refusing to go down, a big "Dragon" chant breaking out etc. Great match.
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Post by microstatistics on Jan 15, 2018 16:51:46 GMT -5
Need to rewatch to see if it's a contender for me but this is nonetheless a fantastic match. The veteran champion trying to use all of his smarts and skill to survive the force of nature ace. The finish is a memorable visual.
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Post by GOTNW on Jan 18, 2018 18:36:38 GMT -5
best match between the two? Have you seen their 4/4/94 match? I'd still give this one the nod, but if there's a contender that's the one. "Last time I saw these two square off Hashimoto gave Fujinami his worst beating since the infamous Maeda match. Fujinami is getting older I’m not sure he can take one more. They start off with some nice matwork as you’d expect until Hashimoto out of nowhere counters a Headlock with a brutal DDT. Then we move onto Hashimoto kicking Fujinami’s legs really hard and I’m thinking that is an acceptable substitute in case Fujinami is getting too old for this shit. They do a great callback spot to their 1994 title switch and tease Fujinami countering Hashimoto’s kicks a couple of times but never go through with it. This builds to Fujinami snapping and slapping the daylights out of Hashimoto which in turn makes Hashimoto lose it and THE BEATDOWN now properly begins. They do a great job utilizing their signature moves and maximizing their value and when Fujinami finally manages to counter Hashimoto’s kick it’s a big deal. It’s also really well done because he just viciously threw Hashimoto’s leg on the ground instead of doing a Dragon Screw as Hashimoto would expect so when he goes for the Dragon Screw Hashimoto’s leg is already weakened but not enough for him not to fight back and you have this amazing struggle over whether or not the move is going to go through. Another thing I love about Hashimoto is how well he uses his weight, he did this amazing counter to Fujinami’s Dragon Sleeper where he just threw himself backwards and knocked Fujinami off his feet and the finish was a very smart play on that. I would have this one over four stars as well, I liked it more than the Muta match and about as much as the OHgun tag so ****1/2 sounds about right. Hashimoto’s glassy-eyed selling at the end is picture perfect." |
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Post by jetlag on Jan 18, 2018 19:02:18 GMT -5
best match between the two? Have you seen their 4/4/94 match? I'd still give this one the nod, but if there's a contender that's the one. Not yet. Is it this match? www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQURLD5tvek |
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Post by GOTNW on Jan 19, 2018 20:36:29 GMT -5
Yes
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Post by lemming on Aug 2, 2021 11:03:48 GMT -5
By 1998 Fujinami is far outmatched by Hashimoto and it's all one way traffic in the early going. Clearly the veteran's game plan is just to try and survive long enough to catch one of Hash's strikes and hope he can turn it into an opening.
But then when he finally does catch a kick, instead of executing a dragon screw to turn the tide (as wrestling convention would expect), Hashimoto fights off the attempt and decides he's going to destroy Fujinami's leg instead, presumably to punish the old man for his impudence. Fujinami has no answer to this and is soon limping. Eventually he's forced to throw caution to the wind and charges Hash head on as a hail Mary. He does score some blows but pays for it as Hashimoto unleashes a higher level of fury. However, this increased rage does eventually allow the crafty Fujinami to hit the dragon screw that was teased earlier and at last he has a foothold in the contest.
With both men then having had their leg worked over, the match builds to a dramatic cat and mouse finish, as a frustrated Hash wants to finish off his opponent but now can't afford to let Fujinmai catch him out on the counter again. Great title match.
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Post by mvz on Oct 15, 2021 2:19:28 GMT -5
This is an example of really strong dramatic storytelling and I just loved it. There wasn’t much happening in the early going but every bit was meaningful and Fujinami’s selling out across the challenge ahead of him. It felt like Hashimoto had an answer for everything. They did a great job building suspense and I was all in once Fujinami hit the dragon screw and was going for the big moves. Finishing stretch was just brilliant, great selling by Hashimotoand a finish that surprised me.
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Post by mrjmml on Sept 6, 2023 12:10:06 GMT -5
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW - 6/5/1998)
In the last match I wrote about Fujinami was brutal, working with someone like Genichiro Tenryu may have inspired such a violent contest but this match is different, this time his opponent is the best NJPW musketeer Shinya Hashimoto, his career isn’t short of matches like the one I covered yesterday but this time Fujinami got him in uncharted territory, Tatsumi tried to make this one a strictly technical contest and he pretty much succeeded, Hashimoto is famous for his stiff striking, his greatest matches came against wrestlers with a similar style like Vader, Genichiro Tenryu or Nobuhiko Takada, I’d say this match is the exception to the rule, Fujinami and Hashimoto are like night and day but that was what made it particularly interesting, the premise of this match was enticing to say the least, how a striker will adapt to submission specialist, it was a common situation in early MMA history when most of the fighters were pretty much one dimensional, the strikers had no idea of what to do in top mount while a submission specialist would do everything in his power to take you down to avoid striking exchanges and that’s what happened here, Fujinami took the striker and tried to submit him for around 25 minutes, it’s quite a spectacule if you’re a Pancrase or Pride fan, to be fair it resembles more a Pancrase fight than a Pride one but we aren’t talking about MMA, this is pro wrestling and in pro wrestling the underdogs prevail, in pro wrestling people chant out of passion and excitement, Fujinami had the crowd on their feet throughout the match, if you’ve been reading my Fujinami retrospective you’ll know he’s one of the greatest babyfaces Japan has ever produced, he always draws a reaction out of the people in the stands, his age doesn’t really matter, he never fails to surprise me and exceed my expectations he’s that special.
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Post by elliott on Sept 17, 2023 17:45:11 GMT -5
A terrific match.
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