Thursday, August 17, 2017

Osamu Nishimura vs. Jushin Liger (NJPW, 3/29/02)

This was 85% Osamu Nishimura schooling Liger on the mat, working the leg like a part-time job. His approach was aggressive at the outset, whipping it on the apron, throwing a hard elbow, kneebreaking it on the guardrail. Silky smooth transitions, going from a kneelock to a grounded ankle hold when Liger flips over onto his stomach. Liger tries firing back with chops and slaps but Nishimura's able to trip him up, going into the Indian deathlock, bridging back with the sickle hold, then finishing with the bow-and-arrow hold. However, Liger doesn't really sell the legwork, which is unfortunate considering Osamu's effort. In fact, he doesn't really get much offense in at all and in the end, the 15:00 time limit expires with Liger in Osamu's manjigatame. A cool story in theory that wasn't very compelling.

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