[1995-08-12-NJPW-G1 Climax] Shinya Hashimoto vs Kensuke Sasaki

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Oh, New Japan booking, you and your upsets. Another match where I was sure who was going to win and I was surprised. So I guess the early stages of the G1 were about giving both Muto and Hashimoto an early loss so they could fight back from it. This was a really solid, hard-fought back, but it's pretty slow-paced. I think some people will really dig it because of the stiffness. I liked it myself, but it felt a little on the bland side. The Tokyo Dome match from earlier in the year is the Hashimoto/Sasaki match you want to see.

[Tim Evans]

I thought this was mostly boring with good things in between. The chops while on knees spot was nice. The restholds were not. Felt more like a house show match than a G1 match

[PeteF3]

Pretty solid and straightforward, from a work and psychology standpoint. Hash kicks the shit out of Sasaki, but Sasaki keeps targeting Hash's legs and using it to buy time and counter moves, before getting in a fluke pinfall. Not much wrong with it, but while Sasaki is better than I remembered, I really hate how he applies his various Strangle Holds. Those are some STFU levels of weak.

[Zenjo]

This was a fairly long one going over 21m. There wasn't anything particularly bad to point out, just being a bit on the dull side. Lots of holds employed, but the matwork wasn't captivating. Could've done with more action and a shorter duration. The work on Sasaki's left arm wasn't a whole lot of use as it was the other one that hit the winning move.