G-1 CLIMAX 1996 - PART 1

Kazuo Yamazaki . . . gets his hand torn to pieces.

Riki Chosyu . . . gets a big can of Whoop-Ass opened up on him by Hashimoto.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan . . . scores his biggest win ever.

SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. MASAHIRO CHONO

This is fun stuff, even though it’s very pedestrian, with the standard young gun vs. established star storyline. Kojima starts off as the house of fire, going right at Chono and not holding anything back. He hits the lariat early on and then focuses on Chono’s leg, and tries to mix things up with some other big moves. Chono is really good here, because he’s more than willing to sell like mad for Kojima. Of course eventually the experience factor kicks in, and Chono is able to get control of Kojima. Kojima refuses to stay down, and does the Terry Funk style of selling and not selling at the same time, when Chono starts to Yakuza kick him. The only real problem with Kojima carrying the offense (and Kojima carrying the match, is much more preferred than Chono) is that Kojima didn’t have any big moves that really looked they could put Chono down. Not that Chono doesn’t sell Kojima’s lariat, and Rydeen bomb and give them both very close near falls, but it didn’t bring the aura of Kojima coming oh-so-close. Kojima’s flash pin attempt with the small package was the only near fall that had that feeling.

The experience factor comes into play again when Kojima attempts the moonsault (a move he never used) and misses, which enables Chono to go for the kill. Chono’s use of the STF is actually quite smart, even though on the surface it looks damaging. The first time he applies it, Kojima crawls to the ropes for the break, Chono tries again, intentionally near the ropes and Kojima gets his foot under for the break. Kojima had pretty much sapped all his strength by being in the hold for so long, as well as having to expend energy to crawl to the ropes, so the third time he’s in the hold, he’s not going anyplace, and has to tap out. This wasn’t really anything very great, but it was rock solid and Kojima’s fire made it a very enjoyable match.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. KENSUKE SASAKI

This is just like the previous match, only instead of Tenzan playing the spunky babyface who tries his best but can’t do it, Tenzan gets pretty much squashed. It makes sense for the squashing, just like it made sense to let Kojima carry the bulk of the last match, because unlike Chono, Kensuke is healthy and has a better move set to work with. Logical or not, it wouldn’t have killed the match, or done any damage to Sasaki at all to let Tenzan get in more offense. It also wouldn’t have killed Sasaki to respect what little offense Tenzan was allowed to get in, more than he did. There is one nice continuity bit from the last match. Tenzan also attempts the moonsault. Unlike Kojima, the moonsault is one of Tenzan’s finishers, and he hits it, it’s also the closest that Sasaki comes to giving Tenzan a near fall that looks convincing. They even end the match the same way as the previous one, with Kensuke scoring the tap out after using his submission (a stranglehold gamma) for the third time.

KAZUO YAMAZAKI vs. KEIJI MUTOH

This match also falls into the category of the star taking on the underdog although not in the same way the previous two matches had. Yamazaki may be new to NJPW, but he’s certainly not an inexperienced pro like Tenzan and Kojima are. He cut his teeth in the UWF and UWFi promotions, and now he’s nearing the end of his career. Mutoh is also a bit of a mix of the way Chono and Sasaki had treated Kojima and Tenzan respectively. Whereas Chono was selling like mad for Kojima, and Sasaki was doing next to nothing, Mutoh takes the hybrid method. When Yamazaki hits his trademark kicks or counters something of Mutoh’s, he doesn’t have any qualms about putting it over, but he also has no qualms about being cheap and taking a shortcut by attacking Yamazaki’s hand.

What makes this so good isn’t just the story they play around Yamazaki’s injured hand, but rather the way that they build up the anticipation for Mutoh’s ever present Dragon screw. Mutoh seems to think that the Dragon screw is what he needs to use, and whenever he attempts to go for the kill, Yamazaki is right there to block it. Mutoh’s other big move attempts like the handspring elbow, and the Dragon suplex result in him being on the wrong end of various armbar submissions. Mutoh figures out that Yamazaki is relying on the armbars to fend off the Dragon screw though, so Mutoh catches Yamazaki off guard by blocking his Waki-gatame and with Yamazaki vulnerable, Mutoh is able to hit the elusive Dragon screw. Yamazaki’s sell job of the Dragon screw does admirable justice to all of the buildup that went into Mutoh finally pulling it off. The figure four is only natural to follow it, and from Mutoh’s shortcuts with the hand attacks, to him finally pulling off the Dragon screw just babyface Yamazaki in heaps. Yamazaki got outsmarted once and got the Dragon screw, and he isn’t going to let it happen again. Mutoh doesn’t figure that out though and instead of either pulling Yamazaki into the middle and trying again with the figure four, he goes for the Dragon screw, and Yamazaki avenges the armbar counter, by hooking a rolling juji-gatame for the upset tap out. Really good stuff, with both men doing an exceptional job. ***1/4

RIKI CHOSYU vs. SHINYA HASHIMOTO

There are relatively few matches that could match this one, for stiffness and brutality. It doesn’t have the move set depth of the previous matches, but it doesn’t need it, for the story they go with. Shinya Hashimoto, the IWGP Champion, the man who reclaimed the IWGP Title for NJPW is out to prove that he’s the toughest grappler in the G-1. Who better to prove that against than the past his prime Chosyu, who has already made it clear that this will be his last G-1? Every kick, every chop, DDT, anything else that Hashimoto dishes out, is his way of telling Chosyu that this is Hashimoto’s time to shine and that he’s an old man who can’t go anymore. Chosyu does an exemplary sell job of the pain he’s being dished, and not only does he choose both options for what he can do about it (nothing, and like it), but he also takes the rarely used third choice, and challenges Hashimoto for more.

Chosyu gets himself a lucky break on the floor when Hashimoto tries a jumping spin kick, Chosyu seizes the moment and hits Hashimoto in the knee while he’s airborne and in that split second, the tables have been turned a complete 180. Now it’s Chosyu with the chops and his Riki Lariat, telling Hashimoto that he may be the champion, but he’d damn well better respect the old guard like Chosyu. Chosyu also uses the superplex just to shove it in Hashimoto’s face, as brutal and Hashimoto’s kicks and chops may have been, they don’t compare to Chosyu’s Riki Lariat. Every time Chosyu hits it, you can see the life draining out of Hashimoto until finally he can’t take any more and falls in a heap onto the mat for Chosyu to pin. This is quite possibly the greatest performance of Chosyu’s career. It was quite simple and very effective. While it certainly helped, the stiffness in the beating wasn’t the only great aspect. It was the fact that they were able to use the stiffness in their shots to tell a compelling story. ****1/4

DAN SEVERN vs. YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA

Why is this match on here? Did the world really need to see this? This might have been good if they’d decided to either stick with shoot style, or work full pro style. But instead they work shoot style and throw in the goofy pro style aspects to just muck the whole thing up. Suffice to say, that an accomplished mat worker like Fujiwara and an accomplished UFC fighter like Severn should have been able to find a better way to end their fight than Severn doing five consecutive fall away slams. I guess him winning with a choke, or an armbar wouldn’t have been very beast-like.

KENSUKE SASAKI (2) vs. JUNJI HIRATA

As unfortunate as it was that Hirata injured his knee and put an abrupt end to the match, it’s not too much of a loss. The match really didn’t look like it was going to be anything special. Kensuke was once again being a bully and controlling the offense, while not really putting over the little bit that Hirata was able to squeeze in. Hirata wasn’t tearing the house down either, blowing off Kensuke Ippon Seionage. Even though this was well on its way to being a waste, it still would have been nice to see what Hirata would have done with the other three. Hirata and Chosyu would have put the two grizzled vets together, Hirata and Hashimoto would have been a battle of partners, and Hirata vs. Tenzan would probably have been a match to help Tenzan get up the ladder. Instead of any of that, the three of them just get two points, and a forfeit win.

KEIJI MUTOH (2) vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA

They try to work this like the Chono vs. Kojima match, only smarter, but it just doesn’t gel. Once again Kojima starts out as the house of fire, but he smartly realizes that his go-go-go mentality is what cost him the last match, so he tries to slow down. Kojima also tries the moonsault again, and fails. Mutoh’s arm work which carries most of this match is very mediocre, because he isn’t doing anything to extenuate the holds, he’s just laying there like a sloth. Kojima doesn’t even bother selling his arm at all when he frees himself, even after his lariat, and jumping elbow drop. Kojima gets a few near falls from the lariat, but the fans just don’t buy them. Mutoh’s leg work is fine to set up the ending, but one has to wonder why he’d go with the Dragon screw - moonsault - figure four combination for the submission, the only real purpose the moonsault played was to show up Kojima, for trying it earlier, and there needs to be more reason than that for using a big finisher.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. RIKI CHOSYU (2)

This had the potential to be really good, but Chosyu had to go and kill the momentum before it could even really get going. After the monumental beating he took the night before, there is just no way Chosyu isn’t feeling the effects from it, and Tenzan pounces early and hacks away at Chosyu with kicks and chops, much the same way Hashimoto had. Even though he probably can’t do it with as much force as Hashimoto, they’re still going to be effective, because Chosyu will be sore. After Tenzan drops his diving headbutt, Chosyu decides to just pop up and blow off any idea of selling. He hits the Riki Lariat, and honestly, a delayed sell by Chosyu wouldn’t have been bad. He had the strike needed to stop Tenzan, but he used too much energy to do it and can’t capitalize on the opening. Instead Chosyu just stands there and walks around, and then when Tenzan gets up, Chosyu levels him with the Riki Lariat again, and Tenzan takes a nasty bump on his head and neck, to end it in a hurry. Given seven more minutes, for which Tenzan to continue his assault and at least get some sort of near fall, and Chosyu to attempt a more realistic comeback, this could have been tons better.

KAZUO YAMAZAKI (2) vs. SHIRO KOSHINAKA

Yamazaki’s hand plays a big part in this match too, Yamazaki knows that he’s got a bulls eye on it, and in order to be successful he has to protect it. Yamazaki accomplishes this by using his ever present stiff kick offense to keep Koshinaka at bay, and using submissions in order to hold him off. He also uses his skills to counter Koshinaka’s attacks into his own moves. Koshinaka takes a shot at the hand in order to escape an attempted suplex. Koshinaka doesn’t play it safe like Mutoh did, he attacks the hand to get an opening for himself, but doesn’t stick on the hand like it’s his lifeline. Koshinaka doesn’t get the win by stomping the hand or anything like that, he saw Yamazaki’s kick coming and ducked it, and hit his powerbomb for the win. This was a simple match, with some fun work and the story with Yamazaki’s hand getting incorporated, but not overkill. ***

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. SHINYA HASHIMOTO

The end result was sort of in the bag here, given that Tenzan’s only remaining opponent would have been Hirata, and one of the big aspects of the G-1 has always been the young gun pulling off the upset over the big star. Tenzan knows that he has the same opportunity that he did with Chosyu. If he can exploit what happened to Hashimoto in his previous match, then Hashimoto having the previous day off to rest won’t matter, because Tenzan can still come out with the win. Unlike the Chosyu match though, Tenzan has a clear target that he can go after, Hashimoto’s knee, that was how Chosyu was able to turn the tide in the first place on Hashimoto. Tenzan goes right after the knee and god bless him, Hashimoto does a first-class sell job on the knee.

Tenzan runs into trouble when he starts to move away from the knee and work in his own stuff. It’s a natural thing for him to do, and when Hashimoto hits him with a big chop in the mouth, it’s a valuable learning experience for Tenzan, that he needs to keep his eyes on the prize. It looks as though that mistake is going to cost Tenzan the match, and be the most painful learning experience of his career. Fortunately for Tenzan, fate intervenes and Hashimoto’s leg buckles underneath him as he attempts the Vertical Drop brainbuster, which would have been the end. Seeing that a second chance has come to him, Tenzan springs to action, with two diving headbutts, and then a figure four, and hits one last diving headbutt to Hashimoto’s knee to finish him off, and gets his prominent victory over the IWGP Champion. It made Tenzan look very good, and at the same time didn’t do anything to make Hashimoto seem any less strong at all. It wasn’t very long at all, and it’s still quite obvious that in a match where they’re both on equal footing, Tenzan wouldn’t stand a chance. ***3/4.

Conclusion: Kind of a sudden place to end the first part, seeing as it was only the first match of the day. Nonetheless this is definitely a tape you should pick up. A high recommendation for part one of the 1996 G-1 Climax Tournament.