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[1997-05-03-NJPW] Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Mens Teioh & Dick Togo & Hanzo Nakajima vs Great Sasuke & Super Delphin & El Samurai & Norio Honaga & Gran Hamada


Loss

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  • 5 weeks later...

Otani and Kanemoto are the perfect guys to team with the KDX crew from Michinoku Pro. Sasuke is the biggest kingpin involved in this match, so they go after him with extra gusto, maybe taking out their frustration over their losses to Liger in recent months. Liger's involvement would have taken this to another level, but Sasuke is a perfectly good surrogate. The action is awesome, but the attitude is what makes this stand out from the pack. I love all of the heels counting along with the referee to secure the win in the first fall.

 

This is really a hybrid of a lucha layout and New Japan/Michinoku Pro action, which makes it really unique. It follows a similar template to some of the best lucha -- strong rudo dominance in the first fall with a big technico comeback in the second fall and a toss-up at the end.

 

Honaga is pretty broken down at this point, but I love the moments when he outheels the heels with the eye pokes and other assorted dickery. Nakajima impressed me in this one too, even though he was only in for brief spells. Really, I think everyone had a standout performance, but I wanted to especially acknowledge those guys since they are probably the two least commonly heralded people in the match.

 

I really loved this match. It's not the best one I've ever seen or anything, but this would probably go on a short list of my favorite matches. The New Japan juniors have been a real highlight so far this year.

 

(Kanemoto's pop-up selling of Samurai's neckbreakers annoyed the fuck out of me, so if that's the kind of thing that we will see more of in their BOSJ final next month, I probably won't like it.)

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It's been said before, but it sucks that Sasuke and Taka went to WWF and this feud never got beyond stage 1. The non-MPro rules make this a little more disjointed than a regular MPro 10 man, but it's still worth watching to see the seeds of what could have been the juniors feud of the year.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This was great. Agreed with the others on Otani and Kanemoto fitting in great with the Kaientai spots though they weren't as over the top in the group poses. Everyone does step up in the first fall when the whole team counts the pinfall. Good stuff. I do like that they mixed up the NJPW and MPro guys on both teams. Honaga could have made for a good member of Kaientai though. I'm fine with things being switched up and someone actually winning two falls straight but this did leave me wanting more with all the guys involved.

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  • 1 month later...

Great match overall and a really neat mixture of New Japan and M-Pro guys. It was also refreshing to see a match go two falls only and the heels to look that dominant. hamada was spry and still a little bastard at that age. Nakajima looked real good for a person I had never given much though to. Just a blast watching this overall.

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  • 1 year later...

Otani and Kanemoto don't quite have the chemistry with Kaientai that TAKA and Shiryu did, but they fit right in with the group. Not quite as balls-to-the-wall as a typical MPro match in terms of crazy dive trains or anything, but a really fun dream match of sorts anyway. The heels win in two straight falls! That was unexpected, but they had the right guy in Honaga, a definite weak link, to do the second job.

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  • 1 year later...

In a surprising turn of events this only went two falls. Which was absolutely fine as it was just the right length. The mixed teams worked well together in a primarily MPro style of match. Fast paced action all the way with a face/heel dynamic. It doesn't stand out from the other 10 mans, but it was plenty of fun as usual and the audience was entertained. Easy viewing.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1997-05-03-NJPW] Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Mens Teioh & Dick Togo & Hanzo Nakajima vs Great Sasuke & Super Delphin & El Samurai & Norio Honaga & Gran Hamada

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