[1997-06-05-NJPW] El Samurai vs Koji Kanemoto

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Samurai tries to take on the Liger role for a big part of this. I like Samurai, but he falls short. Still, there's lots to like about this match, with my favorite moment coming when Kanemoto grabs Samurai's ankle and bends it in an almost unimaginable position when he loses his temper. As a result, Kanemoto realizes he's created an opening for himself and goes back to it every time Samurai strings together any offense, with the highlight being the drama surrounding the figure four. That separates Koji from Otani as a strategist, or at the very least someone who can better channel his emotional outbursts into something that can benefit him in the course of a match. Koji starts ripping Sammy's mask and Liger goes to the apron in protest, and suddenly I remember 1992. That was a great call back. I also love Liger raising his hands and cheering when Sammy puts his knees up to counter the moonsault, followed by a powerbomb and cross armbreaker.

 

At first, the idea that this match was a goofy spot-a-thon seemed like nonsense -- most of this match was on the mat and the work had been pretty focused and straightforward. But then the final few minutes happened, which were total overkill and felt really out of place with what they had done up until that point. What a shame after building the match so well. It's hard for me to call this a bad match considering how much I liked about the first 18 minutes or so, but the last few minutes left a weird taste in my mouth. They should have quit while they were ahead -- they were pretty far ahead. As much as I loved the first part of this, I really hated what they did at the end enough that it dragged this down quite a bit.

[Childs]

They delivered about 3/4 of a great match. I liked the dynamic of Kanemoto stalking Samurai with kicks and submission attempts and Samurai trying to be opportunistic with his offense. But at some point, Sammy popped right up from a big Koji move and went straight into his comeback without selling. And it was like a switch had flipped. After that, they went all highspots, with no sense of pacing or meaning. I don't much like Kanemoto as a flyer; he was better at playing a nastier, more grounded counterpoint. I agree with Loss that it's still a good match but what a disjointed experience.

[Kevin Ridge]

I found myself coming around to Kanemoto here. Mix of kicks/strikes with pushing Samurai's ankle on the ground. But then he would do his flippy senton in the middle of kicking Samurai in the head and tearing his mask. Felt out of place. Samurai finishes things off with a top rope reverse DDT, botches one in the ring and then hits an elevated version. Didn't like the way the sequence works and yeah they just randomly started throwing stuff out there at the end. There is enough to like overall though.

[soup23]

Higher than Loss and Childs but a little more restraint would have been beneficial. Still, I think this was at least every good and from a storyline perspective this hit a lot of great notes like Liger cheering on Samurai and the leg work utilized by Kanemoto.

[PeteF3]

Wow, I was lower than everyone on Kanemoto/Liger and way higher here. I thought this was spectacular and lived up to pretty much every bit of its reputation. Kanemoto immediately erases the criticisms that had started forming, as he controls this match like a pro. An overconfident, overemotional pro. Samurai puts in a great underdog performance while also leveling Kanemoto with big bombs when he gets the opportunity. Yes, there are huge moves down the stretch, but I didn't find this overindulgent at all--they keep the near-falls to a relative minimum and I found myself getting breathless down the stretch, wondering which bomb was going to put the other away. In the end, Kanemoto takes one risk too many and Samurai puts him away with a series of elaborate, ridiculous, but awesome reverse DDT variations--including paying Kanemoto back for spiking him on his head with the reverse top-rope Frankensteiner with an inverted top-rope DDT. Dave gave this 5*, which I won't as I thought Samurai has had two better matches this decade, but I thought this was an easy MOTYC and without going over every other match of his probably Koji's best singles match.

[Zenjo]

A Super Junior classic. Some nice matwork to open proceedings. Then the intensity went up a notch as Kanemoto began targeting the knee. I appreciated how the damage inflicted would go on to influence the rest of the bout. Because of the leg work there was a real urgency to Koji's submissions in the 2nd half. They mixed this nicely with big moves including a top rope reverse huracanrana headbump! One of the most awesome moves I've ever seen.

 

There was some spikiness to the rivalry early on. This kept escalating over time before reaching a crescendo of fury at the end. Kanemoto made the big mistake of tearing off Samurai's mask, trying to humiliate as well as beat him. I loved Liger's reaction on the apron. This insult enraged Sammy and brought him back from the brink. With adrenaline and rage running through his veins he dropped KK on the side of his head, the front of his head and finally the back of his head. A trio of devastating moves provided a jaw dropping finish to a great match. Wonderful layout, superb execution, perfect pacing and master psychology. A MOTYC.

[Matt D]

Glad to see the opinions on this one. In general, I fall in line with most people, in that the first 2/3rds were just wonderful and the last 1/3 was somewhat problematic. I'm probably the biggest critic of excess we have but there's a fine line between excess and escalation, and I think this managed to walk it pretty well until the very, very end.

 

First, the good stuff. I don't know what I was expecting from this match, but it wasn't something so struggle-oriented, logical, and character driven. I guess, especially in a finals, I was expecting more spots. Kanemoto was a star bully here, filling time perfectly with kicks and grinding. Samurai was great from underneath. Both of them sold moments very well. There was a real feeling of exhilaration when Kanemoto locked on the Figure-Four for instance, or frustration when the ref was getting in his way later on. I loved how he missed so many top rope moves. That made him hitting the flipping senton off the second rope matter all the more when he does hit it. Even that was set up by how quickly he rushed up to the second rope the second time he missed it, and paid off even more fully when he misses it from the top to set up the finish. The leg focus was a joy. Kanemoto just went back to it and back to it and back to it and the fans popped in the back half of the match whenever he put on a leg submission. They bought it completely.

 

So, let's talk about the finishing stretch. It was too much, absolutely, but some of that was mitigated by a few factors. First, Kanemoto did it to himself to a degree. I completely bought him refusing to pin Samurai at certain points, even given the stakes. He'd been in control for most of the match. He knew he could go back to the leg to cut him off if he had to. I think he had some sense of how explosive and dangerous Samurai could be. A lot of it was just that sheer bullying mentality he kept with him through the match. So I was fine when it backfired on him. I was less fine on the Tiger Suplex kickout. It's one thing to pick a guy up and pay for it, or to take your time and lose an easy pinfall, something like that. It's another to pick the guy up, hit an even bigger move, and then have him kick out. The logic isn't there. So while the reverse rana or the moonsault could have ended the match, it was due to Kanemoto's believable choices that it didn't. He paid for it, but it was just a bit too muddied.

 

The flip side was Samurai's offense. I'm not saying wrestlers have health bars or anything but by the time Samurai was hitting the big stuff at the end, he'd taken way more offense than Kanemoto had. I buy some of those late kickouts from Kanemoto just because he hadn't taken as much. I also buy the late flurry from Samurai and the shaking off of the leg selling in the stretch. I don't always or even often buy that, but a guy's mask getting ripped off COMPLETELY, so that you can see his whole face, is so striking a moment, that I just bought the burst in the moment. I didn't really buy the cross-arm breaker and I'm glad that didn't end the match. I think it was ill-fitting within the match itself (though Samurai had done some arm stuff early on). Basically, he could have done one less reverse DDT type move at the end. He was still sort of riding the energy from the mask ripping though so it wasn't the world's worst sin or anything. It was just a bit too much.

 

Like some of the AJPW matches from around this time (or shortly before), if this match was the end of history, as in there was nothing that ever followed it, the final bit of escalation might have worked and been worth it. As it was, it probably didn't quite pan out but it sure came close.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I am in the echo chamber, loved the first 3/4ths and was dying for them to just end it. I still think it was great but they squandered a classic.

Koji Kanemoto vs El Samurai - NJPW 6/5/97 Best of the Super Juniors Finals

They had a stone cold classic on their hands, but they bit off more than they could chew. We will begin in the beginning where this match ruled. Opening matwork was tight as usual then escalated with some really wicked slaps. Samurai went for the first high spot of the match a top rope kneedrop and missed. I love highspots that miss early. Kanemoto was a beast working the leg. Tight holds, awesome kicks and most importantly a wicked sneer. He flips Samurai off in the toehold and Samurai smacks him but theres nothing he can really do. Great character work from him. He puts his boots on the face and throat of Samurai until Sammy ends up outside the ring. Sammy comes back and hits a dropkick in the tree of woe, but Kanemoto holds on and gets a heel hook now thats badass. I liked that as a hope spot for Sammy, but not a transition as it would have been too easy (they walked a fine line there). Samurai catches Kanemoto with a punch to the eye and Kanemoto is down to one knee. Sammy pounces lots of laces kicks to the face. Kanemoto is selling really well. I didnt love the release belly to belly to transition back to Kanemoto but I agreed in principle that should go back to Kanemoto and again he did a great job zeroing in on the leg. Kanemoto lands on his feet on a moonsault attempt, his first high risk move but Sammy blasts him with a lariat. Samurai suplexes him over the top rope to the floor (not treated as a huge spot, but that was wild!) and Samurai follows with a dive which I thought Sammy sold well before doing. Kanemoto came back in and popped off another suplex. Really strong knee bar and then figure-4! I loved him tying Samurai up in the ropes. AXE KICKS! Kanemoto is a huge prick in this match. Samurai hits with a forearm coming off the ropes and he stupidly goes for a powerbomb with a bad leg. Kanemoto counters into a forward crab but Samurai makes the ropes. I love that Kanemoto keeps missing his highspots. He should just stick with the leg strategy but he gets greedy. He misses his twisting senton and eats mat. The DDT is the perfect move for someone with a leg injury. Two DDTs by Sammy and a top rope headbutt! Great nearfall for Samurai. Samurai smacks Kanemoto around before throwing him out. Samurai looks like he is spent. Kanemoto comes back in and slaps the shit out of him big kick. This is what Kanemoto needed if he wants to hit highspots a KO blow. Now he can hits his twisting senton no problem. Then to establish he is the biggest prick in the world, he rips Samurai's mask.

At this point, this is where excess rears its ugly head. Up until this point, it was Kanemoto the prick decimating the leg and he finally hit his first highspot. Samurai has used the missed highspots to create some offense, but besides the DDTs-Top Rope Headbutt has not had much. Great story. 

Then we get a SPIKE TOP ROPE DRAGONRANA By Kanemoto on Samurai! But he does not cover, which is wise because you want to protect the move but really he should not have done the move. Kanemoto eats knees on his moonsault. Sorry but thats backwards. Spike Top Rope Dragonrana >>> Moonsault. Samurai hits two powerbombs on his bad leg and goes for a cross armbreaker (I appreciate that shoot style is en vogue) Kanemoto could have sold more here, not enough scramble. Kanemoto meets him up top with a beautiful super powerslam. That should actually be stolen. Kanemoto hits a moonsault-Tiger Suplex combo and still doesnt win. He goes for a twisting senton off the top rope and misses. Hey at least they tied that story into the finish. Samurai hits a top rope Slop Drop and then a bunch of reverse suplexes to win. 

I laid out the story perfectly two paragraphs above and they just abandoned for a bunch of bombs. The Spike Top Rope Dragonrana is the most egregious because it overshadowed everything they did after. Samurai really should have won with the cross armbreaker because he had built up momentum from surviving that move and using knees against Kanemoto's finish, which played into the story that Kanemoto cant hit his highspots. Then Kanemoto does hit his highspots and Samurai still kicks out?!?! Then Samurai's highspots arent as good as Kanemoto's which is another problem. Anyways, first twenty minutes near perfect wrestling, last five is a clusterfuck, but still kind of enjoyable because Kanemoto's spots are good. A very frustrating **** match.