Puroresu Show Reviews

8.12.2003 Shizuoka:
Yutaka Yoshie VS Katsuyori Shibata (Block B)
Shibata was SO BORING here. All it seems he could was kicks and a STO. Looked like Yoshie had to carry Shibata in this one. I would have fast-forwarded through this if I wasn’t ripping the tape. Crowd was also mostly dead silent for this one and Yoshie was the man that made it interesting.
Match Rating: **

Masahiro Chono VS Hiroshi Tanahashi (Block A)
Another match I wish I could have forward passed. Even the live crowd was silent throughout most of it until the end. Compared to Nakamura, I still don’t see the hype in Tanahashi, and I wish I could have fast forwared past this.
Match Rating: **

Shinsuke Nakamura VS Yoshihiro Takayama (Block B)
This looked better than their Wrestling World 2004 Tokyo Dome bout. As I mentioned above, I can really see a difference in Nakamura’s work rate compared with Tanahashi. For some reason he actually does draw my attention to watch his matches. Nakamura was ousized and outpowered, but he managed to grond Takayama with his submission skills. Heck, he pushed Takayama to the point of the IWGP champion having to used desperation cradles to try to steal the win!
Match Rating: ***

Hiroyoshi Tenzan VS Osamu Nishimura (Block A)
Tenzan’s power VS Nishimura’s mat game. This was another fun Nishimura bout, though not as good as Nishimura’s first two days. I’ve really come to enjoy Nishimura’s work in this G-1, and this was another excellent showing of Muga that even frustrated Tenzan at some points of the match!
Match Rating: ***1/4

Yuji Nagata VS Tadao Yasuda (Block B)
Am I the only one who thinks Yasuda’s parents were a chimpanzee and an orang hutan? The guy seriously looks like the missing link or something. Heck, he wrestles like one too. Nagata did all he could to make this match look good but I still found it quite boring and again I wish I could have fast forwarded pass this. Maybe they took a look at this match and decided to have Nagata squash Yasuda in the IWGP tournament back in February this year instead of wasting air time?
Match Rating: **


Manabu Nakanishi VS Jun Akiyama (Block A)
Big clash of styles in this one. Akiyama may have been overpowered, but he outwitted Nakanishi. Great exchanges, though it got kinda dull when the pace slowed down. Still a good match to end the night.
Match Rating: ***

8.14.2003 Sendai:
Shinsuke Nakamura VS Tadao Yasuda (Block B)
Another underdog battle for Nakamura against a bigger opponent. Yasuda bullied Nakamura throughout the most of the match, and Nakamura also had to contend with the cheating tactics of the Makai. Still ok and the right guy went over in the end.
Match Rating: **

Manabu Nakanishi VS Osamu Nishimura (Block A)
Battle of two good friends who are VERY familiar with each other. Nakanishi was very aggressive here, not wanting to be locked down by Nishimura's ground game. This was also probably the shortest Nishimura match I've ever seen, clocking in at about twelve minutes compared to all the others so far that went over the twenty minute mark. Still fun though.
Match Rating: ***

Yutaka Yoshie VS Yoshihiro Takayama (Block B)
Now this was FUN and it woke up the crowd too! Two big men trading big shots and power moves! Yoshie really had the crowd behind him here as he took on the reigning IWGP/NWF champion who easily matched size with him. Fun bits included them trading slams over and over AND OVER, and generally trying to one-up each other in a “I can do this better than you” type contest.
Match Rating: ****

Yuji Nagata VS Katsuyori Shibata (Block B)
Punch, kick, submission was the formula for this match as it’s what both men excel at. But Nagata is definitely the better of the two at it! OK match, but hated the Makai interference and the crummy ending.
Match Rating: **

Hiroshi Tanahashi VS Jun Akiyama (Block A)
Thankfully this match lived up to my expectations after watching all the mostly sub-par Tanahashi matches up till now. Akiyama made Tanahashi look like a million bucks, and Tanahashi actually looked like he earned it!
Match Rating: ****

Masahiro Chono VS Hiroyoshi Tenzan (Block A)
The story of this match shows how even Chono & Tenzan are and the difficulties they had trying to put each other away. Personally, I thought it went on too long for my taste. There wasn’t even much crowd reaction to Tenzan debuting the now dreaded Anaconda Vice.
Match rating: ***

G-1 Climax Special Matches:
8.12.2003:
Josh Barnett VS El Samurai
Samurai is wearing 4 ounce gloves like he’s a big time shooter with heavy punches. He gets an early advantage on Barnett, but this doesn’t last long as Barnett quickly puts him away with his Capture Buster. And in case your wondering, I don’t get how it knocks people out either.
Match Rating: *

8.16.2003:
Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura VS Enson Inoue & Michiyoshi Ohara
Oh the HORROR of fake shoot fights! They spent so much time on the mat I wished I could have fast forwarded passed it! Nakanishi failed on two attempts at shoot-fighting and still he tries to match fists with Enson Inoue, which almost gets him KO’d! Nakamura played second fiddle to Nakanishi and really didn’t do much of note. Ohara also kept up the wrestling end for his team at least when most of Enson’s offense are just puches and submissions.
Match Rating: **

Labels: NJPW