Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW, 4/24/89)

This was a one night tournament to crown the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with Vader and Shinya Hashimoto reaching the finals. Vader had already wrestled two matches at this point: the first against Masahiro Chono and then a tough semi-final match against Tatsumi Fujinami. Hashimoto, on the other hand, had already gone through Riki Choshu and Victor Zangiev (an awesome match). Hashimoto doesn't have time for Vader's hollering and smoke-spewing elephant head. He immediately goes after the injured arm of Vader, which Fujinami had worked earlier in the night. Vader does a good job initially of keeping the arm behind him but Hashimoto's able to snag it and Vader has to pop him with a spinning backhand. The tension between these two is pretty damn great and when Hashimoto lets loose with the kicks to the arm, Vader sells it terrifically. Vader does such a good job of playing the vulnerable monster in Japan who is scared (legitimately) of submission holds. Hashimoto works the double wristlock and he's able to avoid an avalanche in the corner to hit a few over-the-shoulder armbreakers to set-up the wristlock again. Vader bodyslams out of the hold, building some momentum, which includes a big dropkick, but when he goes up top, Hashimoto stops him with a spinning heel kick and once again goes back to the best shot he has at winning: that injured arm. But Vader is often able to clobber his way out of trouble and does so here, punching Hashimoto in the face and hitting two lariats, the second enough to score the win following an awkward hesitation by special guest ref, Lou Thesz, on the three count. A simple story of finding the dragon's weakness and exploiting it but in the end, the dragon eats the knight.