Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 6/6/2001
This was quite great. They had the MMA gloves and did hybrid style match. It wasn't UWF 2.0 or a BattlARTS knockoff match, they did their own thing here. The match felt like it could end at any moment, and the heat was off the charts. They really use things like the struggle over a takedown or Fujita trying to get mount to full effect. They really made people believe Fujita was gonna crush Nagatas skull once he got to mount position. Nagata looked like quite the valiant fighter trying to not get his head caved in by this beast. And well, then Fujita pretty much just smashed him. They never should have ditched the gloves.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 11/3/2003
I am so used to seeing these two guys do a bunch of love tapping while making goofy faces that I was caught off guard by this being a no frills contest. Suzuki was projecting the aura of a killer at this time, and there was some really good grappling in this. He reminded me a bit of Negro Casas and that is huge praise. Nagata was a surely company ace here. Suzuki putting a random sleeper on Nagata and Nagata selling it like death created huge drama. Then you had Nagata catching Suzuki with a suplex and just trying to crush his shoulder with kicks. Suzukis selling actually was the right mix between being in serious pain and putting on his psycho act. Really good ending to an intense match.
Yuji Nagata vs. Enson Inoue, NJPW 7/21/2003
For some reason, I find Nagata tangling with some semitrained crowbar more entertaining than him dealing with his dojo mates. Enson was swinging wild punches here and trying to knock Nagatas block off. Nagata mostly used grappling to defend himself and looked solid. Then he nailed Inoue with a big suplex and that as it. Solid showing from Nagata, although he kinda needed to unleash a bigger asskicking to look truelybadass in a Hashimoto way against the fighter.
Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata, NJP 8/14/2003
Shibata is all punk here, throwing flurries of strikes and his gloves at Nagatas face. Nagata does a lot of grappling in these matches. I've really noticed it before, but I guess they were pushing his strength as a grappler since he had submission finishers and all. This was Shibata acting like a fucker and Nagata punishing him with some nasty face grinding and hard smacks. Nagata putting the boot down is no frills, mean and effective. Shibata looked like the more exciting wrestler, even as he got the snot beaten out of him. Unfortunately, the crowd was dead silent for Shibatas offense. Finish was fun with Stone Cold Nagata taking a chair to Yasuda.
No comments:
Post a Comment