90s New Japan Heavyweights (part 4)

Hiroshi Hase v Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan, 6/26/92)

Apparently this is Sasaki's return match after a hiatus (maybe through injury, though I couldn't tell you one way or the other), going up against his former tag partner and mentor with something to prove. I'm a fan of matches where the understudy tries to prove they've caught up, only to bite off more than they can chew and the old head put them in their place. That's pretty much what we got, with Sasaki being super aggressive going for the choke (and Hase selling it great, letting us know it might not always have been a legal hold), practically ragdolling Hase around at a few points. Hase coming back with nasty headbutts cutting Sasaki open ruled and pissed off Hase is always a fun time. You try to raise them right, to lead them down the righteous path, but I guess some lessons need to be learned the hard way and Sasaki clearly convinced Hase this was one of them. The string of uranages leading to the finish was quite unique and the whole thing came off as a cool piece of storytelling (which may be one of those cliche buzzwords in 2019, but if the shoe fits...).


Shinya Hashimoto & Riki Choshu v Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (New Japan, 10/21/92)

I guess Hase and Sasaki have put behind them that whole business where they tried to kill each other for a minute there and now turn their attention towards the Super Grade Tag League. This had a few stretches of really good to great stuff, with longer stretches that were leaning more towards okay. Hashimoto and Choshu going semi-rudo and running continued interference was my favourite thing about it, as the crowd got on top of them every time and yet neither made any bones about drilling someone in the back of the head if their partner looked to be in some trouble. In a cool evolution from the 11/90 tag, this time it was Hase and Sasaki who looked like the more well-functioning unit. Hash and Choshu mostly bulldozed their way onto level footing, but I guess if you can bulldoze like those two then who needs sharp teamwork? The Choshu lariat straight into Hashimoto DDT ruled and I especially loved the moments where one of them would just come storming in and boot an opponent off the apron. At one point Hase was taping up his knee in the corner, doing so with some urgency as Sasaki was being worked over in the ring, then Choshu came rushing over from his own corner and floored him. Just cleaned him out. It's a spot I love pretty much any time it's done, but Choshu doing it is always great because it always seems so unnecessary. Like, maybe if Sasaki was inches away from making the tag. It'd still be a dick move but desperate times call for desperate measures. Sasaki wasn't really close when he did it, though. It was just...what was the need? I guess I'd have liked the finish run to last a little longer, but this was mostly good stuff. And early 90s Sasaki was way more fun than I remembered.