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[1992-12-14-NJPW-Final Battle] Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase


Loss

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  • 2 months later...

It's pretty close on which is worse.

 

The "visual" of Hase bleeding in the first one may look better, to a degree because Hase bleeds onto his chest better than Mutoh and the yellow trunks going red is a great visual.

 

The thing that this one has are the close up where Muta is just pouring off his forehead like a faucet.

 

I think a lot of us had seen blood so often in matches that getting it down onto the chest (ala Flair or Dusty) and trunks (Flair) wasn't totally uncommon on a big juice job, though the 1990 match came across as a Really Big Juice Job.

 

What I don't think was too common was 15:20 of this (which is pretty much the first shot of Muta bleeding after the cut):

 

 

It isn't even a good VQ of it. But that's not really something we saw too much of back them.

 

Anyway, the proper original term for it was "Hase-Muta Scale" because it was the two of them in two different matches, each bleeding a visual ton in high quality (i.e. VQ) matches where the camera gets shoved right in there. Over time the Hase part of it got left off.

 

And this really was the match where it was coined after because it was the second time around. It would be interesting to find where he first used it after the match. There wasn't a ton of juicing in WCW or the WWF in 1993. AJPW didn't do juice. NJPW didn't do a ton, the two jobs on this card not withstanding.

 

1. Great Muta retained the IWGP title pinning Hiroshi Hase in 23:04. Match was joined in progress with Hase limping. Muta hit Hase with a chair and went to the top for a moonsault but Hase got up, picked Muta up and crotched him on the top rope. Muta fell to the floor and grabbed a metal spike from underneath the ring, but before he could use it, Hase got it from him and jabbed it into his forehead. Muta juiced like crazy. This was sick, since it was like a faucet running. The amount of blood was incredible. Hase then bit into the cut and within seconds his entire chest was bathed in Muta's blood. Hase was spitting the blood out. So this turned into an incredible match in a very sick way. All the blood made the "Muta character" into a babyface after being a strong heel for so long. Muta made the face comeback with five straight back suplexes but missed the moonsault. Hase got several near falls with a Soviet suplex and back suplex. Muta blocked a Soviet suplex, hit two Dragon suplexes but Hase kicked out twice and finally got the pin with the moonsault. ****1/2

I think I've mentioned before that they had another bloodbath on 9/23/93. Wasn't on TV, but don't know if it was filmed for commercial tape as it was part that big series they ran that week. Just remember seeing pictures in one of the mags about it, and it looked like another total bloodbath.

 

 

John

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...

The blood was Friday the 13th bad. Hase looked like he butchered a live animal with the blood all over him. The work for the most part good. I wouldn't put it in a MOTY hunt by any stretch of the imagination. Their was so much blood you were actually distracted from the match.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 6 months later...

What a week for Hase. OK he lost here but I think I'd rather be him afterwards. The man with the dodgy 'tache gained the early advantage whilst Muta was showboating. After a few minutes it started getting dirty as they used cheapshots. Muta brought the strangeness. Halfway through he took a metal spike to the head and the blood poureth. Man it was gushing down, great visual. Hase showed no mercy. It was so sick the way he kept biting the the wound and ended up caked in blood himself, not to mention it being all over the mat. It got the crowd behind Keiji and he launched an exciting comeback to prevail. Strong climax. Not a great match, but a classic.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yep, the blood was really flowing here. Which to me seems tricky with Muta since he wears face paint to the ring. I feel it's a bit overrated as a match at this point. I can be really down on Hase at times. Probably too harsh on him. Overall it's a decent match but felt like Muta put him away too easy in the end. With the blood loss he probably should have lost the match.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 2 months later...

1. Great Muta retained the IWGP title pinning Hiroshi Hase in 23:04. Match was joined in progress with Hase limping. Muta hit Hase with a chair and went to the top for a moonsault but Hase got up, picked Muta up and crotched him on the top rope. Muta fell to the floor and grabbed a metal spike from underneath the ring, but before he could use it, Hase got it from him and jabbed it into his forehead. Muta juiced like crazy. This was sick, since it was like a faucet running. The amount of blood was incredible. Hase then bit into the cut and within seconds his entire chest was bathed in Muta's blood. Hase was spitting the blood out. So this turned into an incredible match in a very sick way. All the blood made the "Muta character" into a babyface after being a strong heel for so long. Muta made the face comeback with five straight back suplexes but missed the moonsault. Hase got several near falls with a Soviet suplex and back suplex. Muta blocked a Soviet suplex, hit two Dragon suplexes but Hase kicked out twice and finally got the pin with the moonsault. ****1/2

I think I've mentioned before that they had another bloodbath on 9/23/93. Wasn't on TV, but don't know if it was filmed for commercial tape as it was part that big series they ran that week. Just remember seeing pictures in one of the mags about it, and it looked like another total bloodbath.

 

John

 

Was this really considered a face turn for Muta? Had never heard that before.

 

I don't know where in my head I got the idea that Hase was boring, but this is yet another match on the yearbook where he's great, charismatic and often pretty heelish. Nothing remotely blase or boring a bout him. Didn't think this was so great, but Hase's performance going after the cut and all the blood definitely make it good and memorable. Muta on the other hand was stalling much of the way until bleeding. Would've loved to see Hase win here but given the Tokyo Dome title match that wasn't happening.

 

*** 1/2

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...

It's a really good match, though to me it's a shade shy of the top marks that JerryvonKramer gives it. They start off all guns blazing with tons of hatred and the second half of the match is awesome with the feeling of a real war. I just felt that they lost their way a little bit in the second five minutes, where muta is stalling wandering around looking under the ring and Hase just waits in the ring taunting him. Where's the hatred gone? When the match gets back on track though, it's awesome. Muta and Hase are both on great form. Muta is. really crisp in his execution and character-wise at his sinister ninja best. Hase on the other hand puts in a really superb brawling performance, and the visual of him stood there with Mutas blood smeared literally all over him is one that always sticks with me. It's a brilliant match, just not quite 5* for me on account of that iffy bit from around 5-10 minutes.

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  • 3 months later...

The blood was the story of this match, of course. This has to be the sickest bladejob I've ever seen from anyone, period. It's not often that blood is literally dripping on the cancas like it was here. And yet, Muta somehow manages to beat Hase clean and retain his title.

 

This is a wild one before Muta gets split open as well. It's almost like Hase scouted Keiji Muto and knows to expect craziness when he decides to wear the Muta paint, so when he sees the paint is on prior to the bout, he decides to beat Muta to the punch in order to save his life. He's much more aggressive than I remember him in most of his other matches, and even begins the rulebreaking with scraping his boot across Muta's face, which conveniently removes the paint and sets up the bloodbath. Then Muta finds the spike underneath the ring and all hell breaks loose.

 

I like how each guy is so exhausted that their needles are stuck on "suplex" toward the very end. These guys are so burnt out and beaten up that they can only think to execute one move, which of course isn't enough to put wither one of them away. I think that the only other move we saw after that was Muta's second attempted moonsault, which of course got him the win.

 

Nice to see Chono make a belt-for-belt challenge with the NWA World title; it effectively sets up the Muta-Chono bout from three days earlier, which I have yet to watch.

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  • 1 year later...

I agree with Parv; this is complete classic.

 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase - NJPW 12/14/92

 

Probably the most famous New Japan heavyweight match of the 90s stateside as this is famous for developing the famed Muta Scale where Great Muta does a five alarm bladejob bleeding like a stuck pig. From the reviews I recently read, this match is no longer regarded as a classic and is more of a novelty for the sheer gore of the match. I disagree. I think this is a match that benefits greatly from watching a lot of Great Muta during this time period. Great Muta wrestles unlike any other wrestler in New Japan or anywhere else in the world except for the Undertaker. He is a horror movie character come to life. Most violent wrestlers we think of are wildmen like The Sheik and Tiger Jeet Sngh. Great Muta brings the violence of these men with a dimension of stalking dread that is more reminiscent of Frankenstein or the Creature From The Black Lagoon. There is no selling when you wrestle Muta. There is no grappling holds or traditional pro wrestling struggle. The struggle is in the survival. Hasimoto, asskicked extraordinaire, learnt this lesson take Muta lightly and you will be blinded with a broken back. The Sting match did not feature as great of a finish but again Muta beat the hell out of Sting. Muta chokes, claws, blinds his opponents using railings, chairs, mist and his spike. The spike has been a foreign object that Muta loads his boot with and he will come down across your back with a kneedrop to setup his backbreaker/moonsault combo. The first couple times, I really wanted the spike be used to carve up an opponent. Little did I know Muta's comeuppance would come at the hand of his favorite weapon.

 

Hase's strategy early is smart he dropkicks Muta at the beginning of his prematch ritual, the mist blow. He doesn't let up. Wicked urnage. He takes him to the outside whips him into a railing. He grabs a table brings it on his side of the railing and drives Muta into it. Unlike any other opponent, Hase knows the demonic nature of Great Muta better than anybody as Muta bloodied him up in 1990. The problem is at some point he does run out of steam in the ring and thats when Mutas strike with rapid fire kicks and chops. I thought Mutas speed and strikes looked great. What was uncharacteristic for Muta is that he grabbed a hold instead of taking his opponent outside. Muta does his bridging Indian Deathlock and I loved Hases counter the smother of Muta and then a wicked neck clamp. Now Muta does what does Muta best be weird. He goes looking for his spike. Going each of the four sides and he cant find it. Hase lies in the ring and welcomes to come back into the ring. Muta takes Hase back outside and drives him head first into the concrete. Then anytime Hase gets chippy Muta crotches him on the ring rope or then the steel railing. This is really both of them no selling, but I think when you are in there with a monster like Muta you need to throw everything at him. Muta throws in a chair. Hase grapples with the ref for it and then Muta bashes him with the chair and then backbreaker, but Hase pushes him off the top rope. Hase constant suplexing Muta and especially this instance after a chair shot is what drops this match from perfect status he was no selling too much. Muta gets the spike, but before he can put it in his boot. Hase gets it and carves Muta open. NASTY BLADEJOB! Crimson Mask has never been so appropriate. Piledriver, sleeper, and biting lots and lots of biting. Hase mocks Mutas mist spew with Mutas blood. Thats sick. Hases body looks like a murder scene. Muta starts suplexing the shit out of Hase. Four back drop drivers. Muta crashes and burns on the moonsault! There is still life in Hiroshi Hase! Mutas sell is so great. He looks like a fish completely spent from flopping around and died. Hase hits a wicked urnage. 1-2-NO! Powerbomb! 1-2-NO! Hase goes for another Urnage, but Muta snaps off a Dragon Suplex, bridge 1-2-NO! Even Muta is shocked! Another snap one with bridge for two. Muta is ready to destroy. Backbreaker/moonsault and it is over. Hase came closer than any men before him, but all fall before The Great Muta. ****1/2

 

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Masa Chono makes the challenge for 1/4/93 Dome show.

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  • 6 months later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1992-12-14-NJPW-Final Battle] Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase
  • 2 years later...

Hase was known more for his technical wrestling but realized the danger his opponent posed and displayed unusual aggression right from the start. Muta fought back, hurting Hase’s hamstring in the process, before grabbing a spike. But Hase turned the tables and busted him wide open with it, perhaps as revenge for their September 1990 match when the shoe was on the other foot. He attacked the cut with a great mix of psychology and barbarism, forcing Muta to eventually make an almost underdog like comeback. This led to a bomb-heavy finishing stretch, where Muta finally prevailed. One of the better 90s NJPW heavyweight matches. ****3/8


 

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