NJPW "Dome Impact 2000" (4/7/00)

Don Frye vs. Koji Kanemoto

Don Fyre has such a good look, long hair or short, and he came off like a big badass here, but gave Koji Kanemoto enough to keep this interesting for the most part. Kanemoto isn't one to back down from a fight and I like that he stepped up to Frye, smacked in the face, and then immediately gets belly-to-belly suplexed down and put into a submission. Frye's limbwork was real grunty and calloused, which is obvious when you take a look at him, but Kanemoto's a sly cat and will grab a leg when he can. He lands a moonsault onto Frye's back off the missed spear and Frye lets loose a terrific F-Bomb when Kanemoto's got him in a leglock before he boots his way out the hard way. Then he clobbers Koji with a few elbows and submits him with a leglock.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinjiro Ohtani

Both entrance themes rule -- what a transition period 2000 was. I really liked the hot opening with the hard open hands exchanged and Ohtani going after the elbow/lariat arm and getting in some of his signature spots. But when Kojima takes over on offense, he more or less blows off the armwork and just shows off his dominance to the point where he attempts his own facewash...and fails. I liked the Koji Cutter spot off the missed spinning heel kick and Ohtani's reaction to the nearfall off the dragon suplex hold was great. Other than that, Kojima kind of stunk it up.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Takashi Iizuka

I love the visual of Takashi Iizuka running down the rampway toward the ensuing chaos in the ring...and then immediately getting pummeled and taken out by Murakami. Whenever Iizuka is able to get a submission hold locked on, it feels like a big deal and while the groundwork is rather simple, the struggle conveyed from both sides really adds to the gritty feel of the match. Iizuka being a dope on the ropes, not letting go and then pounding Murakami in the back of the head was great. I think this could've benefited from being shorter but whatever, we got Murakami trying to goad Iizuka back to his feet after blasting him with a kick, and the slack-jawed looks of Inoki and Fujinami at ringside. As the match heads home, you can really see the frustration in Iizuka's strikes and when he's able to get the choke sleeper on Murakami, it's huge. It's hard to put a rapid dog to sleep but Iizuka snags him off the ropes and finally puts him down. Good stuff.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa

Slimmed up and shaved down Shinya Hashimoto is oddly reminiscent of Monster Morning himself, Manabu Nakanishi. This was pretty damn great in the way they were able to keep the lines blurred. Early into the match, Naoya Ogawa is being real shitty and brash with his knockdowns and then gets caught off guard with that Hash legsweep from the outside, which allows Hash the opportunity to lay into him to the point that Murakami has to come into the ring in Ogawa's defense. The reactions Hashimoto elicits from the fans with his takedowns are awesome as he keeps trying to cut out Ogawa's legs. I thought the STO struggle and escalation of impact was done really well, with Hash first countering with the DDT and then just kicking the shit out of Ogawa's leg in frustration before Ogawa is finally able to put him down after the choke sleeper > STO combo. Pretty awesome match.

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 3/19/00)

Although it's missing six or seven minutes of action, this is such a great match with a concise and engaging story, good selling from both guys, and an exceptional performance from Satoshi Kojima. It opens with Kojima hitting a diving elbow drop onto Sasaki, slickly countering a lariat attempt with a Koji Cutter, and then hammering on Sasaki's knee with some grunty legwork, which includes these awesome diving chopblocks. After he delivers an awkward Koji Cutter off the apron, Kojima hangs Sasaki in the tree of woe and lariats the fuck out of his knee. Then he hits a top rope Koji Cutter -- I mean, they're coming from every angle. My favorite moment of the match comes after Sasaki withstands Kojima's lariat and straight up punches him in the face. Chono and crew jump the apron like "What the fuck, ref?!" but Sasaki doesn't care and punches Kojima again. He starts to build some momentum, hitting a frankensteiner and locking on the sasori-gatame but he can't maintain it due to the knee damage. They ragdoll each other with back-and-forth German suplexes and one count lariats. Kojima's able to counter the Northern Lights Bomb with an armbar takedown but when he tries to go back to the leg, he just collapses in exhaustion. So good. He then tries for his own Northern Lights Bomb but can't do it, so Sasaki shows him how it's done and then polishes him off with the short-arm lariat. Recommend!

Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 7/27/17)

I've said it before but smug shiteating ace, Kazuchika Okada, is the best Okada. He brings much more personality to his match when he's turning the heel knobs up a bit and against the lovable Satoshi Kojima, you want to boo Okada along with the fans. The way he mock claps for Kojima, only to turn around and attack him. Or how he goads Tenzan and grins like a total dick when Tenzan's forced out of the ring. The shitty boots to Kojima's back as he plays to the crowd. There's a lot to love about his performance here and of course, it all builds to Kojima getting some payback. Kojima channels his partner with the Mongolian Chops. When he's machine gunning him in the corner, the look on Okada's face is priceless. Kojima's able to hit a top rope Koji Cutter and a brainbuster but it's that final stretch that solidified this as one of the more memorable matches in the tournament thus far. Kojima strips the elbow pad and goes for the lariat, but Okada ducks it, delivering the German suplex to set-up the Rainmaker but Kojimda counters with a lariat to the back of the head and when Okada tries for it again, Kojima blasts him with the lariat for a nearfall. He's able to duck another Rainmaker attempt, connecting with a rolling elbow, but the ace is able to tombstone Kojima to deliver the Rainmaker nail in the coffin. Great stuff. 

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 3/19/16)

This was great stuff -- lots to love on. The mounting frustration of Shibata, his great submission counters to the lariat. The early submission stuff was more or less filler  (although the figure-four reversals were fun) but the focused armwork and attack by Shibata was a compelling narrative, and Kojima did a solid job of expressing the exhausted determination. Plenty of stiff shots, too, especially Kojima's elbows.  After Shibata kicks out the arm of Kojima, he smells the blood and gets to work. The missed lariat to the ring post added to the story, and Shibata kept it relative throughout. I loved Kojima's angry apron lariat to the back of Shibata's knee. Shibata's slow grinding boot scrapes are an added touch but he's no Ohtani with his running face washes. There's a fun back suplex exchange and then they go at it for a while with the elbows and Kojima gets especially feisty in the corner. Shibata gets a couple of big spots with a PK and a Death Valley Bomb but Kojima comes back with a top rope Cozy Cozy Cutter. Great spot where Shibata blocks a right arm lariat with a boot so Kojima sucks in the pain and blasts him with his left arm. Shibata counters another lariat attempt with an armbar takedown and although Kojima hits another, he sells the pain and can't finish him off. Nice brainbuster gets a big nearfall for Kojima but in the end, Shibata has him scouted out and counters the final lariat attempt with the sleeper hold, wearing him down enough for the PK to be the nail in the coffin. Awesome performance by Kojima who sacrificed the shit out of his arm to try and take down Shibata but the great ring awareness of the champ allowed him to hang onto his title.