Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 10/14/2002
Great Inokiism style clash of the titans. Fujita has the gloves and you know what that means. Just the right mix of tense and a crazy fight. Nagata avoiding Fujita shooting in early and hammering him with knees was a great opening scramble. Fujita is a great freaky monster who will beat your fucking brains in, and Nagata may have had his finest moments ever in this match. He certainly had the crowd when he seemed done for and then made his big rally trying to kick Fujitas brain in. Real „kill or be killed“ feel to these kind of matches, and this was one heck of a Tokyo Dome main event in that style.
Yuji Nagata vs. Takayuki Iizuka, NJPW 12/23/2002
Really nice veteran match building to a Sleeper Hold. These two hitting the mat is surprisingly good, even knowing Nagata could be pretty good when he wasn‘t clowning around. I liked how they teased Iizuka working the legs but Nagata got the advantage back and Iizuka had to resort to locking in surprise sleepers. I love any kind of match that has an outmatched guy trying to pull off a miracle reversal and Iizuka was really good at his thing here, while Nagata makes a convincing ace.
Yuji Nagata vs. Bas Rutten, NJPW 7/20/2002
Most intense 8 minute IWGP title match ever? Aside from his slightly awkward Shining Wizard, I thought Bas was really great here. Every single thing he did looked like it could plausibly end Nagata. Nagatas comebacks against Bas' onslaught were wonderful. It's tough to stay credible against a legit monster like Bas, but Nagata made me believe. Great stuff.
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