Hashimoto v Yamazaki (The Title Match)

Shinya Hashimoto v Kazuo Yamazaki (New Japan, 2/16/97) 

This is such a great match. It was a pairing that ruled any time we saw it in '96 and they played off some of that history here. First couple minutes are great as they set up a few things they'll pay off later. Right away Yamazaki throws some strikes in the corner and Hash just wallops him with an overhand chop, so you're thinking Yamazaki might want to try and do something about those at some point. He also tries to hit a German, but it's blocked and Hash reverses it into a snap DDT. For a stretch after this it feels a bit like Hashimoto is having to react to whatever Yamazaki throws at him. He can never settle into a rhythm while Yamazaki implements his strategy. Hashimoto will kick you in half so naturally Yamazaki goes after the leg. Hash is mostly contained for a while, and even if some of the kneebars aren't hugely compelling they at least further the story. There are also a couple great moments where Yamazaki tries to go for an armbar, then as Hash worries about blocking that Yamazaki shifts back to the leg. We also get a payoff to that earlier German suplex attempt as Yamazaki wastes him with an ax kick and hits a great looking German. Match goes up a gear just after halfway and is fucking awesome from then on (as opposed to only being pretty great beforehand). There were a few occasions in the back half of 1996 where Yamazaki would sell a rib injury in matches. He'd even do it outside of New Japan, like during a tag match in WAR, and it always added some big time drama. The injury was caused initially by Hashimoto trying to crush his lungs in a June tag title match, so Hash just pump kicking him in the guts was an amazing "fuck this" transition. Yamazaki sold it like he'd been shot as well, and they play it up with a few other kicks to the midsection later so I'm inclined to believe it's a deliberate part of the PSYCHOLOGY~. At this point Yamzaki changes strategy - because stopping those kicks clearly worked out so well - and goes to the arm instead. I guess it's easy to make comparisons to Misawa/Kobashi again because it's so fresh in my mind, but Hash's overhand chops feel pretty comparable at this point to Misawa's elbow - and we've seen them used to similar effect already - so I thought it was a cool way to advance things. That Hashimoto's selling performance was incredible doesn't hurt. It was a different sort of selling from Misawa's, more expressive than Misawa's stoic determination, but the overall point was largely the same. His arm is fucked and his opponent is clearly trying to take away a major weapon, but as long as the arm is still attached he'll keep using that weapon and worry about the consequences later. Yamazaki was winging kicks to the arm, really working for the Fujiwara armbar, and the crowd were starting to react like an upset might be on the cards. A couple times he grabbed the fresh arm and applied the armbar there, then as Hashimoto reached for the ropes he would transition back to the opposite arm. At one point he just started headbutting the shoulder and the bit where he blocked the brainbuster by punching Hash's bicep was awesome. Hashimoto coming back with his own headbutts looked brutal as well, just total Fujiwara-style butts right to the cheek bone. And of course the moment he lost it and reeled off five overhands in a row, dropping to one knee in agony afterwards, was amazing. That finish with the absolute mother of all brainbusters was a hell of an exclamation. I've never seen their G-1 match from a year later, but it's one I've been looking forward to for ages and if this is anything to go by I imagine it'll be terrific.