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[1997-08-03-NJPW] Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

I love Chono as a second for Tenzan. This is a lot of fun and feels like a really good American TV main event. Tenzan keeps testing Hashimoto's temper and paying for it. Weird spot where Tenzan slips off the top rope when his boot gets caught on the ringpost. Tenzan gets the win. He relied on his NWO seconds a little, but the win was still earned.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Good stuff. Chono gets involved but he doesn’t play a part in the finish so credit to Tenzan. I know these tournaments are completely planned out for each result but I would have liked if they called an audible after Tenzan got his foot stuck in the ropes. Like he’s on his way to victory and something bizarre like that happens which allows Hash to survive and then get the victory.

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  • 3 months later...

Chono is a boss second and he does a good job here like a great manager of being important to the match without taking away from everything Tenzan accomplishes. I also thought the work around the botch was very fun with groggy Hashimoto coming back with some offense and then the run to the finish. This was a really fun match with Tenzan feeling like a player and it having a big slugfest atmosphere.

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  • 1 month later...

Weird spot where Tenzan slips off the top rope when his boot gets caught on the ringpost.

Yeah, that was one of the weirest screw-ups I have seen in a wrestling match. In addition it looked pretty scary. I think Tenzan only hit his shoulder but he was very close to drop straight on his head (which would happen to him more than once in his career thanks to the courtesy of fucked-up moonsaults).

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  • 1 year later...

This was solid enough, but I remembered it as being better than this. The early stages featured some hard hitting. Hash was in control before being distracted by Chono's presence at ringside. Tenzan took advantage and seemed to be heading towards the kill. Then in a bizarre moment he gets his boot stuck in the rope. This mishap cut off the momentum at a key juncture. Tenzan still went on to win after his 4th diving headbutt in a finish I wasn't crazy about. When a wrestler tries a finishing move several times and it doesn't work then it's so much better when they try something else and it gets the win. Afterwards the fans chanted his name.

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  • 8 months later...

Chono in the all-black casualwear and sunglasses is about the smoothest looking motherfucker in wrestling. Until he gets on the apron and changes the tide of the match, this is way more interesting with Hashimoto on top, as Tenzan for the bulk of this doesn't offer much more than chops and eye gouges. The closing stretch is a lot better, minus one of the weirder blown spots you'll ever see--Tenzan's foot getting caught in the turnbuckle like that seems so fluky and unlikely that one could swear it was a planned spot. They run through a quick Hashimoto comeback before going to what appeared to be the originally planned finish, with Tenzan picking up a big win. Not an overly impressive performance by Tenzan all in all, but Hash carries this to something pretty good.

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  • 2 years later...

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW G-1 Climax '97 SemiFinals

 

NWO Japan is in full effect with Tenzan coming out in his trademark Bull mask and NWO shirt. NWO Banner in the arena and tons of NWO merch throughout the arena. The NWO was an amazing phenomenon. Hashimoto comes into this as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and pretty much the only thing he has left to do in his career is win a G-1 Climax. Tenzan has been Chono's second since 1995 and is firmly in the upper midcard but isn't quite at Three Musketeer level so I would say Hashimoto is the favorite coming into this contest.

 

I really hate snap back bumps off of Tenzan's Mongolian Chops. It just seems so wrong. It is not just Hashimoto that does it; it is Sasaki too. Tenzan wins an early slugfest that feels really mid-00s and is something I just find boring. Hashimoto catches him with a forearm in the corner. Nice kick some really good kicks from Hashimoto. Kneelifts set up the inverted Triangle Choke that Hashimoto used to tap Takada. Tenzan hulks up. Headbutt/Mongolian Chops. Tenzan does the inverted Triangle choke. I expected this to be more heated. This is more of a grind down the opponent match. Hashimoto is so damn good at no selling. He really builds to it well. Hashimoto beats the piss out of Tenzan. I mean just absolutely rifling him with kicks and overhead chops. I thought both DDTs came off as sick and vicious. Good finish stretch for Hashimoto. I like Tenzan taking a powder and then Chono getting up on the apron. Very American but also very logical as a way to quash Hashimoto's momentum as he was a runaway freight train. Tenzan dropkicks Hashimoto from behind due to Chono's distraction. Tenzan has a busted lip? Weird, I don't know from what. Tenzan's bodyslam looks like a scary piledriver. I do like his headbutt. He does not really leap as much as fall off the top rope. Hashimoto kicks out a bunch. Then on the grand finale, Tenzan's boot gets caught in between the turnbuckle and rope and Wow, he could have really hurt himself. It takes the ref, Chono and the dude who looks like Masa Saito, but isn't to get him free. They improvise a quick Hashimoto comeback before Tenzan hits a bodyslam and some more headbutts to win.

 

Crazy botch aside, this is a pretty pedestrian New Japan Heavies match. Hard hitting, not much selling, lots of machismo and bravado. Good finish stretch. ***

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  • GSR changed the title to [1997-08-03-NJPW] Shinya Hashimoto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan

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