soup23 Posted May 1, 2017 Report Share Posted May 1, 2017 So here is the drill, put Ogawa in a NJPW ring around this time and I am all in. This had a great atmosphere like usual and the Egg team of Nagata and Nakanishi were strong as being the flag bearers for NJPW. Nagata blasts Murakami with a kick and wants a piece of Ogawa. After some jockeying, he succummbs to an STO with Ogawa giving a look of "is that the best you got." I have been a Nakanishi fan in 2000 but I thought he was the weak link here and was unable to match the hatred and intensity of the others. He showed more fire in the post match presser. We have a masked man who apparently was Inoki choke him out on the apron which gets big heat and a quick finish with Murakami taking the loss. It really feels like we could have had 3-5 more minutes of heated action. After the match, Riki Choshu is wanting to get involved and him and Choshu go after each other. ***3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroBoy Posted September 28, 2017 Report Share Posted September 28, 2017 This felt a little abrupt with the ending being what it was but what we got leading up to it was solid. Nakanishi had a few awkward moments, particularly with Ogawa, but he and Nagata were fun foils for their opponents here. Nakanishi throws a nice body punch in the corner on Murakami at one point. Murakami is fun both instigating and getting the tables turned on him, and the reactions for Ogawa throwing out the STO are huge. Post-match brawl is fun and pretty chaotic. ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superkix Posted January 11, 2018 Report Share Posted January 11, 2018 This was a bit of a mess but you kind of expect it to be going in. I love that Nagata just really wants to suplex Murakami and Nakanishi is able to throw him down a couple times but doesn't know what to do when he's got him on the mat. They beat up Murakami awhile until Nagata throws him into Ogawa's corner and tells Ogawa to tag in. Ogawa hits a couple STOs, Nakanishi tries going after Ogawa's injured shoulder while Nagata pins Murakami with some kind of suplex hold. Then everyone starts fighting post-match, including Choshu. A hot mess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonsault Marvin Posted May 10, 2018 Report Share Posted May 10, 2018 I liked the amount of struggle in the initial matchups against Murakami, and he was good in convincingly taking a beating. Nagata dragging him to the corner to goad Ogawa into coming in was funny. Ogawa easily stood up to both his opponents and was giving out the STO right and left. The match ended quickly, as Nagata was beating Murakami while the masked man choked out Nakanishi. This led to a fun pull apart brawl. Everybody looked good and the brawl built up a potential rematch. Good match. *** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superstar Sleeze Posted August 14, 2023 Report Share Posted August 14, 2023 IWGP Tag Team Champions Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 5/5/00 Fukoukoa Dome You can pretty much never go wrong with the team of Ogawa & Murakami. The two of them generate instant nuclear heat and make everything feel like a fight. I like Nagata well enough, don’t have much of an opinion on Nakanishi. This is a month after Ogawa beat Hashimoto at the Dome forcing him to “retire”. This is one of those Inokiist clusterfucks that you wish followed a little more of a narrative, was a little longer and had a better finish. I don’t mind the clusterfuck finish. You gotta keep Ogawa strong post-Hashimoto and if you don’t want them to be champs then Murakami eating the pin is fine. They could have climaxed a little hotter felt like it was still building. The charm of Inokiist matches is that they feel so wild and organic and unpredictable but the downside is too much chaos can feel unsatisfying too. I love the brawl to start. Ogawa has his right shoulder wrapped so Murakami takes the first 5 minutes. Murakami looks great to start awesome back heel trip takedown of Nagata, keeps the hold post-rope break. Nagata rips him down with a great Suplex. Nakanishi was interesting he came in and kinda cleaned house on Murakami. Honestly it felt like Nakanishi was the bigger star the way he was able to throw Murakami around. It was essentially a two on one handicap match for five minutes when Nagata finally threw the limp body to Ogawa. I loved all the tussling Ogawa did with both. That first STO the way it came out of a double underhook Greco-Roman struggle spot was insane. Blind and you miss it type stuff. I rewound twice to really take in the full explosivity of the move. The ones against Nakanishi were also interesting the first one there was so much struggle he didn’t get all of it so he followed up and flattened him with the next one. Then they did the Schmozz finish which I don’t blame them just think they could have made the match 5 minutes longer and built to it. Nagata kicks Ogawa’s bad arm. Masked dude who looks like Inoki chokes Nakanishi out while Nagata pins Murakmi with a German Suplex bridge. Post-match brawl which seems to tease Ogawa vs Choshu which we never get as a single but we do get as a tag team match one year from this at 2001 Donakatu event. A singles match is very tantalizing. Fun Inokiist clusterfuck. ***1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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