Thursday, March 16, 2017

Nobuhiko Takada vs Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW, 8/5/86)

The young Shiro Koshinaka here looks strikingly like a present-day Isami Kodaka. Lost dad? This match was a blast. I love how he no sells Takada’s high kick early on so he can tie him up in the ropes and give him a good smack. They maneuver for leg control until Takada backs out and starts unloading with the kicks, catching Shiro with a foot to the face. Takada’s kicks look brutal and Koshinaka’s selling is terrific, at one point dropping like a bag of flour. There’s some sloppiness to the match, especially with some of the pin attempts, but it doesn’t take too much away from the total package. They fire off some bigger offense, Takada with his jumping tombstone and Koshinaka with a German suplex hold after landing some booty attacks. As Takada tries to submit Koshinaka, first with the arm, then the leg, tension starts to build. They start kicking at each other while Takada’s got the kneebar on and then they just explode into a maelstrom of vicious slaps. Koshinaka builds momentum heading into the finish but he misses the diving headbutt and Takada comes after him with those stiff kicks. After a full nelson suplex hold isn’t enough to put him away, Takada locks in the crossface chickenwing for the submission victory.

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