NJPW Battle 7 04/01/1995

NJPW Battle 7 04/01/1995
UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title Match: Shinjiro Otani (c) vs. El Samurai
Otani goes super hard for Samurai’s ankle joints early on, ripping at the leg which El Samurai replied by working on the neck. The work from Otani is super basic but tight. Samurai hits some nasty moves like a really vicious neckbreaker. The crowd is quiet though, mostly sitting on their hands until Samurai hits a sweet tope. The match soon turned into a basic back and forth match with some big moves and nearfall. Otani has some great snap to his offence like his dragon suplex finish and, of course, his dropkick but there is a flatness to it that was rather disappointing. **3/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Norio Honaga (c) vs. The Great Sasuke
Norio Honaga is pretty much the opposite of Sasuke. He's gritty on offence with tons of strikes with malice rather than technique or grace unlike Sasuke. He carries himself like a slimy heel. So there is a great dynamic to play out. Honaga goes to town on the arm, smashing it into the ring post and has some snug submissions that he applied to Sasuke. Sasuke had some quick counters and applied some great holds of his own that I dug. Sasuke had some great planchas and back elbows - so graceful. Loved the finish. Honaga in the entire match kept on catching Sasuke out when he went for a high risk move and him catching Sasuke with a knee off moonsault and then tying him up with a pinning hold was a great pay off to that. ***1/4

J J JACKS (Akira Nogami & Takayuki Iizuka) & Osamu Kido vs. Heisei Ishingun (Akitoshi Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi & The Great Kabuki)
Saito certainly had a fashion choice and stuck by it. Oof, not the statement I'd want to live by. No one was light in this match. Iizuka and Kobayashi slapping the piss out of each other was fun. Saito laid into the kicks so hard that Hashimoto would cringe. Kabuki actually didn't look too bad. Kido trying to lock on a Fujiwara armbar gave the match some drama with the fans responding to it each time. This is as good as it's going to be. ***

Koji Kanemoto vs. Yuji Nagata
This had a quasi-shoot style feel for the first half of this match l with the flurry of kicks being thrown and the transitions into certain holds being very shoot like. As the match progressed, it turned towards the Pro-stye more and more. And does it superbly well, I might add. I like this side of Nagata. I've never really explored his pre 2002 matches in depth but if it's more like this, I need to. The work Nagata does on Kanemoto’s leg is very good, his submissions look tight and painful but Kanemoto does do a great job of selling the pain via his desperate attempts to get out of his submissions. The link up submission play was very compelling to watch. A better finish could've put this higher but this was pretty awesome. ***1/2

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Manabu Nakanishi
Young Tenzan looks a bit like Kensuke Sasaki ala 1991. Maybe it's just his body shape. This is a pretty basic match, there wasn't much to talk about except the finish with Tenzan hitting his would be signature Mongolian Chops and spitting the blood from his mouth out like its mist. **1/4

Tiger Jeet Singh & Tiger Jeet Singh Jr. vs. Heisei Ishingun (Michiyoshi Ohara & Shiro Koshinaka)
I'll say this, the Singh’s entrances are eerie. The match itself was fine. The Singhs were cheating scumbags equipped with forks, I think. It's not really my bag but it's effective. **

BVD Martial Arts Tournament Semi Final Match: Sting vs. Tony Palmore
I couldn't tell you what Inoki was thinking of when he got Choshu or whoever to ring up Tony Palmore and booked him for the Dome. You couldn't get anyone that was in their prime? Tony Palmore is clearly experienced but his pretty old and gasses immediately. His strikes look so soft and Sting selling for it actually makes them look worse. DUD

BVD Martial Arts Tournament Semi Final Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Gerard Gordeau
Known for that nasty knock out against Teila Tuli but he has some RINGS matches under his belt as well, so he's not totally new to a pro wrestling experience. This was alright. Obviously stand offish with both guys being rather tentative. Ended nicely with a few potatoes from Gordeau and an Inoki choke hold.

Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Heisei Ishingun (Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto)
This was bad. Bad and boring. Oh wow. Choshu didn't do anything and I don't blame him tbh.

Junji Hirata & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masahiro Chono & Sabu
I think I need to see more Sabu and Chono tbh. There is something appealing about seeing those two be on the same side. The match was pretty fun with Chono and Hirata (Strong Machine) going back and forth with Sabu and Fujinami occasionally chiming it. ***

Hawk Warrior vs. Scott Norton
This was alright. Both guys hit hard and got some nice responses from a crowd that had been pretty rough all show. **1/2

BVD Martial Arts Tournament Final Match: Sting vs. Antonio Inoki
This is a big improvement on the other matches in this tournament. There was nice drama with Inoki being locked into the Scorpion Death Lock at least. **

IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto (c) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner)
An awesome match on paper. Steiners are one of the most notable tag teams of the 90? s. Big bit quick and possessed all the skills. Muto already a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion (well Great Muta) and Hase, great wrestler. And it totally failed to deliver. It was slow, plodding. They seemed to have no ideas for the match. Just a dull armbar on Hase for what seemed to be the majority of the match. The ending was good and the kissing in the crowd parts were the only good thing about the match. **

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Kensuke Sasaki
One of the first big matches for Kensuke Sasaki, one to prove he could go toe to toe with the ace, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Shinya Hashimoto. Sasaki proved that here, dominating him. Overpowering him, forcing him to the floor, laying into him with clubs and forearms. Hashimoto finds a weakness, and starts attacking the arm and begins laying into Sasaki with his famous - or perhaps infamous kicks. Hashimoto soon starts to bleed from the nose and then they start brutalizing each other. Pretty great match. Smart storytelling and the crowd seemed into the match. ****1/4