NJPW 5/3/1995 - '95 WRESTLING DONTAKU IN FUKUOKA DOME

NJPW 5/3/1995 - '95 WRESTLING DONTAKU IN FUKUOKA DOME

Junji Hirata vs. Hiro Saito 

Hirata won with a Liger Bomb in 6:04. No heat and nothing really of interest at all here. A rather boring match that is skippable. It seemed that the ref screwed up as Hirata thought the match wasn't over yet and kicked Saito in the crotch.

"Ah that Kanemoto? Ah, he's sh!t" - Sabu

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Koji Kanemoto vs. Sabu

The finish

Sabu won with a split legged moonsault off the ropes in 16:39. This was a typical Sabu match and not good at all. It was long and had no flow at all. Sabu did his moves, Koji tried to work with them and it a mess.  Matches with different style of wrestlers can work but it can also be a disaster like this. Rating: *

"Kanemoto, tough. Sabu, very tough. I wanna fight heavyweight, no more junior heavyweight. Then I kick everybody's ass heavyweight." - Sabu

Ric Flair vs. Hiroshi Hase

Ric Flair won with a Figure Four in 22:52. It was a nice, long and technical match from the 1980's, but the finish was really abrupt. Flair was getting his butt handed to him and then slipped in a Figure Four for the win. The crowd was still not good up to this point, but for straight wrestling, you can't get much better than this. Rating:***3/4

"If I were judging the top contenders for any title, they would be in New Japan. In New Japan, there are many good ones." - Flair

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

The finish

Kensuke Sasaki won with a lariat in 11:20. This was way better than expected. They stuck to their big moves and threw a little hate in there. Had I known the angle behind this match, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more. This is one of the better Sasaki in NJPW performances of that time and a good showing for Tenzan. Rating:***1/2

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto

 Keiji Mutoh won with a moonsault off the second turnbuckle at 21:13. What am I missing here? I read that this was a great match but I don't see any of it at all. They started off with rest holds for the first 10 minutes that meant absolutely nothing. Then Mutoh hit a bunch of offense and Tiger Hattori botched a three count to give the Mutoh the win. Did I watch a different match here? I saw two guys do very little, blow up and then saw the ref botch the finish. An odd match that was extremely disappointing. Rating:*1/2

This concludes Part 1. Part 2 with Benoit, 2 Cold Scorpio, TERRY FUNK and more at:
http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/njpw-531995-95-wrestling-dontaku-in_8.html