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[2000-06-24-Osaka Pro] Super Delphin & Takehiro Murahama vs Naohiro Hoshikawa & Masato Yakushiji


soup23

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2000 is a weird year from a WOTY standpoint whereas all big contenders have taken months off to a degree. Thus enters Takehiro Murahama who after this match has to be at least in the conversation. He has changed the dynamic of Osaka Pro and created a spark that is unheralded. The theme of this match is that he has proven himself to Delphin but not to Hoshikawa and Yakushiji. As a result, the match plays out with the Hosh and Yaku team beating the shit out of Murahama when given the chance. All the strikes here look tremendous and with great precision. Murahama finds a small opening and immediately makes the hot tag to Delphin. The finishing run here was super exciting with saves being made and a great sense of unknown as to who was winning the match at any point. Eventually Hosh and Yaku take home the victory but after the match they give their nod of approval to Murahama. The rudo team in Osaka Pro is not amused and this sets up a trios I can’t wait to get into. Osaka Pro is right there with CMLL as the best promotion in 2000. ****1/2 (8.8)

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  • 1 month later...

This was fun. How can you not love Yakushiji in his Bruce Lee get up? His opening section opposite Murahama makes me wish that singles match footage of his wasn't so scarce. And this was his last year of wrestling! Talk about retiring on the height of your game. The rest of the match was more Hoshikawa style, meaning it involved Murahama eating lots of nasty shots. I am fascinated witht his venue - looks like they crammed 70 people at most into there, and they are sitting on the floor really close to the ring, making the fans prime targets for getting flattened by suicide dives while drinking coffee. Delfin didn't do a ton here as the focus was to get Murahama into the fans hearts by eating ALL the punishment and busting out and awkward shooter dive and generating a bunch of nearfalls. I've probably seen a hundred japanese tags like this but the combination of this being O-Pro, Game of Death Yakushuji and Murahama in the focus makes it well worth checking out.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Yeah, this was good. Murahama has been one of the best guys from the Japanese indies this year and apparently he has dropped the gloves and thus is throwing less strikes with his hands and now he throws mostly kicks and works with more pro-wrestling based offense he didn't do previously. Delfin was kinda eh here, but Murahama was able to carry along and he was also heavily featured here. His exchanges with either guy were fantastic as he adapts and creates chemistry quickly with whoever he's working with that night.

 

***1/2

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was great. The exchanges between Murahama and Hoshikawa were definitely the highlight. As much as I like Murahama, I'm becoming a big fan of Hoshikawa. Cool dad vibes and his shit always connects and looks very crisp. As Murahama's getting beaten down and struggling to make it to Delphin, Hoshikawa is bullying him with these condescending little kicks and cuts off his momentum by catching a kick and capture suplexing him. He's got a pretty snap Northern Lights suplex hold and that diving kick that finishes off Murahama looked brutal. Delphin didn't get too much time to shine and Yakushiji in his Bruce Lee attire was interesting but the stuff between Murahama/Hoshikawa ruled, and Murahama busting out the tope con hilo and being all proud about it afterwards was awesome.

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-06-24-Osaka Pro] Super Delphin & Takehiro Murahama vs Naohiro Hoshikawa & Masato Yakushiji
  • 2 weeks later...

This was an excellent match.  A great showing from Murahama here as a he plays his role great here by taking a lot of punishment, but showing a lot of heart and giving it back as well.  Everyone in this match looked great and the finishing stretch would fit well in today's modern style.  ****1/2

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