Inoki Festival 1995 (12/30/95)

The whole show is an easy recommendation and a breeze to watch at under two hours. Unfortunately, some of the matches are clipped, like the sweet Kakihara/Ikeda match, but everything delivers on some level, with original Tiger Mask showing off, Nakano/Hokuto trying to kill themselves, and fired up baby versions of Nagata and Nishimura. But, the two matches that really stood out, were the semi-main and the main events. 

Hiroshi Hase vs. Yoji Anjoh

It's Hiroshi Hase sans mustachio, not letting Yoji Anjoh get away with much -- really liked the tension build in the corner, which leads to them both slapping each other around. Hase is smooth as always, using a dope double leg takedown and working his way into an inverted STF. He hooks the leg when Anjoh tries to backdrop him, so that he lands on top when Anjoh still attempts it. Then we get a uranage and the giant swing, sold wonderfully by Anjoh, before eats a second uranage. Anjoh's able to fight out of the Northern Lights suplex attempt, delivering a nasty German, then following up with some great looking knee drops before finally stomping on Hase's face before he applies the leglock for the submission.  

Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki

A two-out-of-three falls tag match and a total blast. Nobuhiko Takada was, more or less, there to collect a paycheck but whenever Antonio Inoki was in the ring, the match really lit up, whether it was ground aggression with Yoshiaki Fujiwara, or pissy exchanges with Kazuo Yamazaki. Inoki and Fujiwara do the old man matwork better than most half their age and here, Fujiwara got to show off with some slick takedowns and at one point, really catches Inoki in the chin with one of his sig headbutts. When Yamazaki comes in, he tries to get crazy with Inoki but Inoku quickly gets hold of the reins and pins Yamazaki. During the second fall, Yamazaki calls out Inoki and when Inoki gets the tag, it's his turn to go nuts on Yamazaki but Yamazaki evens the score by kicking Inoki in the head. Yamazaki's still peppering Inoki with punches and kicks during the third fall but Fujiwara starts prepping Inoki's arm for his patented armbar. The finish to the third fall was...uh, strange. Takada breaks up the Fujiwara armbar by kicking Fujiwara in the fucking face, Fujiwara is loopy, Yamazaki injures himself flying into the ring to retaliate, completely missing his spinning wheel kick attempt. And then Inoki puts on the octopus hold to win it. 

Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 5/31/91)

This was a STEINER BROTHERS tag team match, with little finesse but lots of discomfort for the opposition. To open, they’ve got Kensuke Sasaki on the rocks, slamming and suplexing and clobbering away, slanging their meathooks in between fresh tags. When Kensuke’s finally able to turn it around, does he make the hot tag? Hell nah, dude, he puts Scott in the Scorpion Deathlock! And then he gets dropped with a tiger driver and one of Rick’s ugly slams. But when Hase does get that hot tag, oh baby, he runs straight into a tilt-a-whirl slam and a Samoan drop off the top rope.  He’s able to deliver a uranage and the Northern Lights suplex hold but Rick breaks it up and it’s all downhill from there, as Scotty hits a Doomsday DDT and botches a frankensteiner for the win.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Mitsuharu Misawa; Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 1/9/00)

Hiroshi  Hase vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 1/9/00)

There is a lot to love from Hiroshi Hase in this match, from his awareness to his determination. Clearly, Misawa is not as slick as Hase on the mat so he has to rely on his primary form of offense, the elbow. Knowing this, Hase takes the obvious route and proceeds to annihilate said elbow in the form of extensive armwork. He takes him down, tangles him up, and rolls all over the canvas with Misawa in tow, working the arm like a full-time job. Misawa doesn’t do much in terms of escaping or countering – he mostly lays there and takes the punishment, though at times, he seems desperate to get away. Then again, he’ll often say “fuck your armwork, Hase” and throw a couple of elbows but Hase brushes them off and takes him back down to his realm of holds. I love that Hase immediately brings the focus back to the arm following much of Misawa’s offense, first with the overshot diving body press and then off the German suplex hold. “Ask him, come on, give up!” says Hase before he dumps him with a big ole uranage and follows up with a cross armbreaker. 

Misawa’s selling of the arm, or lack thereof, didn’t necessarily bother me -- I mean, I love Misawa's stubborness to keep using the elbow, knowing he can't take Hase on the mat and coming to realize that Hase has an answer for most of his other offense. The elbows obviously don't have the same impact on Hase so he has to keep on battering him, switching to the other elbow at the end to get some good shots in, before finally downing him with the running elbow.. Sure, he could’ve done more to sell it but it’s Misawa, he’s the ace, so Hase staying in the driver’s seat for so long is more than most get. 

As Hase continues snagging the arm off of Misawa’s signature offense (tiger driver, frog splash, etc.), you finally see him start to crack with desperation. There’s a great visual of Hase almost hugging the arm, a look of real frustration on his face as he’s trying to get him to submit. But no matter what he does, Misawa’s throwing those dang elbows. So Hase himself says “fuck this armwork” and drops Misawa with a dragon suplex, back-to-back uranages and a Northern Lights suplex hold. When that doesn’t do the trick, he tries for a second Northern Lights and Misawa knees out of the attempt, throwing elbows from both sides before finally laying him out for good with the running elbow. I wasn’t a big fan of Hase’s relatively quick demise following all that dedicated work on top but again, it’s Misawa. You take what you get, and what I got was a lot of cool shit from Hase.

Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 1/9/00)

Really good stuff and an easy watch, with Yoshihiro Takayama firing heavy early on with his big boots, knees, and kicks. But Jun is too slick for that shit and dropkicks Takayama’s knee out from under him to set-up the limbwork portion of the match. I love Akiyama when he’s working the hell out of a body part and here, he snares Takayama on the guardrail and delivers a killer dropkick from the apron. He goes through the gamut of leg holds, from the Scorpion Deathlock to the STF to the figure-four leglock, but Takayama finds an opening to exploit Akiyama’s weakness in the taped left elbow. He ragdolls Jun with a couple of suplexes and pulls out a beautiful double arm suplex hold before going into a facelock, transitioning into the over-and-the-shoulder hold to further damage the elbow. Okay selling from Takayama, better from Akiyama, whose able to dropkick the knee again to turn the tide. I liked that he targeted the bad knee to block Takayama’s German suplex attempt and then rolled him up on the second attempt. 

Rick & Scott Steiner vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW/WCW Supershow, 3/21/91)

STEINERZZZZZAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!! Hey, I love a good suplex and the Steiners know how to toss a few. This was about 80% Steiner domination over poor Hiroshi Hase with shitty matwork but you ain’t paying the Steiners to paint the canvas – no way, baby, you get tiger drivers, suplexes, superplexes, and superduperplexes. When Hase hits the uranages on both Steiners, the crowd loses their collective shit for the Kensuke Sasaki hot tag! They work a little magic, with Sasaki superplexing Hase onto Rick and Hase executing that beautiful Northern Lights suplex of his. But alas, our heroes fall to the best meatheads after a double team bulldog and the Scott Frankensteiner.

Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/13/90)

A hot blast of tag team action featuring power babies Iizuka and Sasaki, Koshinaka’s booty-based offense, and Hase swanking the place up -- loved his early mat exchange with Koshinaka. He’s such a dick here, it’s fantastic. After a fairly pedestrian start, with Iizuka established as the underdog, he and Koshinaka try working over Hase’s leg but Hase escapes Iizuka’s shitty leglock with some well-placed boots and flattens him with an awesome rolling heel kick. The fans aren’t happy about Iizuka getting bullied but Hase doesn’t care and sits back all cool-like with a killer crab hold. When Koshinaka gets the big tag, he hip attacks his way to a brutal powerbomb on Hase. Izuka’s able to hit the BLIZZARD SUPLEX HOLD, his greatest contribution to the game, but Hase comes in and nonchalantly kicks out his leg on the bridge. Fuck yes. The finishing stretch becomes quite the suplex party, with Koshinaka scoring a nearfall off a dragon suplex hold and Hase countering Iizuka’s lariat with the uranage. In the end, however, it’s baby Kensuke that comes away with the win after a judo throw on Iizuka.

Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase (AJPW, 5/1/98)

Well, based on the two best dudes involved in this match-up, I went into this fully expecting something fan-fuckin-tastic but I was left more than disappointed. Between shitty pacing, meaningless* matwork, which, unfortunately, the low energy of it permeated into the crowd, and an awkward vibe that I can’t quite put my finger on, this match had a lot working against it. That being said, this match wasn’t bad. I liked the subtle one-up manship throughout, the smacks traded, and the crowd-poppin’ suplex exchange. This was, more or less, the Hase Show, as he works in his giant swing after Akiyama unsuccessfully tries to slap his way out of it. I love watching Hase deliver suplexes and he gets in quite a few toward the end, including a Northern Lights suplex hold (*where the prior legwork comes into play) and a big dragon suplex for a nearfall. But Akiyama’s comeback is ridiculously fast after taking about five suplexes in a row and he hits a sheer-drop Exploder for the win. This was okay, which pains me to say.

Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 11/1/90)

This was a pretty fun tag match that really heats up in the back half. Kensuke Sasaki was a fan-favorite here and whenever he got the tag in, he'd bulldog Mutoh and Chono around while Hase brought the finesse. I thought Mutoh was especially good here, building off his rivalry with Hase. They work so well together. Loved him kicking out Hase's leg during the bridge, which nobody does. Hase gets isolated, then Chono, and the midsection sort of meanders into the final few minutes of the match. After a sweet ura-nage, Hase puts the sasorigatame on Chono, Mutoh breaks it up, then Sasaki comes in, superplexes Chono, and puts the sasorigatame back on. Gotta get it. When Mutoh tries to break it up, he and Sasaki get into it with slaps until Hase dumps Mutoh to the outside, allowing Sasaki to hit a German suplex hold on Chono. In the end, Mutoh's able to hit a dragon suplex hold and the moonsault press on Hase for a crazy nearfall, but after Sasaki cleans house, Hase pins Mutoh with the Northern Lights suplex hold for the big win.

Hiroshi Hase vs. The Great Muta (NJPW, 9/14/90)

Great Muta was Muta here – you know, which is to say you get all the Muta highlights but with an added sheen of viciousness.  But Hiroshi Hase really makes this match something special. From his slick-as-catshit movements and takedowns in the early goings to him trying to fight through the heavy crimson mask with the crowd at his back, just an awesome performance from Hase. He manages to piss off Muta with slaps and gets tossed out of the ring and split open on the ringpost. Then, back inside the ring, Muta spikes him with a fucking Gotch-style piledriver. Hase’s trying to hulk up but missing opportunities to turn things around, as Muta looks to put him to sleep. But when he does finally turn it around, it’s fantastic – the Northern Lights suplex hold, the suplex onto the floor, the way he staggers in for that awesome uranage. But instead of going for the cover, he makes the mistake of climbing up top, which allows Muta to spray him with the mist. Then Muta loses his shit and gets himself disqualified but he gives zero shits for Hase or the ref or the fans, and hits his moonsault anyway because he’s Muta.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW, 2/5/88)

What can I say about Hiroshi Hase that hasn't already been said? Criminally underrated, killer mullet, equally killer mustache, tons of killer suplexes. This was part of the inaugural Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Hase gets punished by Takada early on in this match-up, taking some nasty kicks to the face and really struggling to stay on his feet in a terrifically sold performance. But he goes from nearly being KO'd on the mat to firing off a quick German suplex hold at the snap of a finger. The selling, more or less, goes out the window in favor of back-and-forth offense, with Hase managing to pull off his patented Northern Lights suplex hold for a two count. Takada tries to suplex Hase from the top rope but they end up collapsing to the outside and brawling over the barricade, which results in a draw. This had its moments and these two would go on to have a superior match the following month for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroshi Hase (AJPW, 5/2/99)

Dipping into the archives with this one. I like both of these guys a whole lot but this wasn’t great. This was Kawada’s first match back from injury and while there was some decent drama surrounding the forearm, especially after Kawada hits the lariat, I felt like they could have milked it a bit more here. Lots of early fire right out of the gate and some great selling from Kawada after Hase plants him with the uranage but then they slow things down…a  lot. The ground game wasn’t all that compelling and when Hase switches his focus to Kawada’s leg, Kawada more or less no sells it to land a bunch of kicks. I loved Kawada trying to slap his way out of the giant swing and the sheer-drop brainbuster finish was molten hot but otherwise, a disappointing match-up considering the two guys involved. 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Hiroshi Hase (NJPW, 8/8/93)

Two of my favorites doing what they do best. Hase is definitely one of the most under-appreciated guys out there, not only rocking the mullet but the 'stache as well. They grapple a bit, fighting over control of the wrist, and when Fujiwara can't maintain it, he gets frustrated and strikes Hase. There's a lot of things to love about this match. The way Hase pulls a trick from Fujiwara's playbook, grinding the forearm and elbow into his face. The grin on Fujiwara's face after tying Hase up in the corner. The time out requests. Fujiwara's busted open head from a comedy spot. At one point, Hase hurts himself trying to headbutt Fujiwara and Fujiwara gives a little strut for good measure. The counterwork was top notch and I loved how Fujiwara kept going back to the armbar in the end, transitioning out of the German suplex hold and then countering the uranage with the armbar takedown. But Hase's counters out of the standing armbar with a beautiful dragon suplex hold for the three count. This match has a little bit of everything, which makes it so much fun to watch. Check it out.