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[1998-02-07-NJPW] Jushin Liger vs Shinjiro Otani


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

A complete shame that we only get 9 out of the 23 minutes of this one. I should be thankful for the finishing run we do get because it is fantastic, but that graphic at the end made me sigh and groan with displeasure. We get some great palm strikes and back and forth action between these two. The way Liger's arm gives out on the top rope suplex is really clever and is another notch in his "screw up on moves to get over worked body parts" belt. Liger overall in this match makes a great case for how his storyline in matches make them next level, not state of the art dives. I will be interested to see in what people think of the actual finish and whether the right guy won or not. I won't be rating this since we got less than half of the build up to the finish but in all of the 90's matches that I know was taped that we don't have in full, this pretty firmly at the top.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Aaaagggghhhh!!! Curses to NJ for never showing the full version of this. JIP over 14m in, and I can't just guess what they did in that time. Maybe it was awesome? Maybe they did something retarded and the crowd were generous? I can't rate it. There was great excitement down the stretch and had the feel of a MOTYC. Ohtani was this time the defender rather than his challenger role from one year earlier. This may have been even better? Aaaagggghhhh!!!

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This really was an outstanding 9 minutes of action, and I suspect this would be the MOTY to this point (if not more than that) if we had it in full. I suspect the early parts of this were all about Otani weakening Liger's arm based on where this was early. Otani's character is a little smarter than he had been, maybe because he's the champion, but Liger still picks up a victory and regains the IWGP Junior Title. Great stuff.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

Then everybody QUIT FUCKING AROUND AND UPLOAD THIS ALREADY.

 

Holy shit, this could be a legit MOTYC if I can find a full version because the closing stretch is just heart-stopping. Liger levels Otani with a supah fisherman bustaaaa...for two. One of the great near-falls of these Yearbooks, had me totally roped in until Otani got the shoulder up. He does a great sell afterward, Hulking Up but also continuing to put over the move as he constantly backs away from Liger, partly as if he's trying to buy time and partly because he seems concussed and doesn't know where he is. This takes another 2 or 3 twists after *that* and even after only 9 minutes this is exhausting just to watch.

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Yep, great homestretch and I'd like to see all of this. Otani's selling after the first brainbuster is so hilariously great. Also loved how he sort of reversed the second brainbuster from the top and just landed on top of Liger -- actually, it looked more like it wasn't any intention of his and Liger just didn't execute it right and Otani happened to fall on top of him rather than head first into the ring, which he played up with his reaction, looking so excited that he lucked into surviving the move.

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

I got the full match in crystal clear quality from Mike L. I think NJPW World may also have the full version. There was some enjoyable work here, particularily Ohtani's aggressively working the arm and his heelish touches. I wasn't a huge fan of the second half which people have liked a lot as there was no big payoff to the armwork and it felt close to satire at times – with Ohtani falling on his head as a „counter“ to the 2nd avalanche brainbuster etc. Folks who liked the JIP version should check out the whole thing.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1998-02-07-NJPW] Jushin Liger vs Shinjiro Otani
  • 3 years later...

A classic, with style. Liger is at his best there, his selling of his arm, his emphasis on his key moves to right then sell big again add somewhat of an epic touch. Otani is as good as always, portraying confidence and despair or a blend of the two at his most effective, but he had a couple of cheap transitions that restarted the build up process toward epic selling Liger was looking for, which is probably what I like the most. Anyway, really great stuff, slightly better than the Otani vs Ultimo from 1/04. 4*

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