NJPWworld has a pretty solid back
catalog of matches to explore their past so I thought I'd put that to
use and check out some matches I haven't watched before and thanks to
a vote on a twitter poll I'll be checking out some Riki Choshu
matches. I haven't watched any Choshu matches before this so I
randomly went through and grabbed names I heard of for him to go
against and checked against some lists of his matches on the internet
that I should check out. So here are the matches I watched and my
thoughts on them.
Riki Choshu vs. Atushi Onita (No Ropes
Barbed Wire Match)
Sadly the entrances are cut out for
this match on NJPWworld because Onita has one of the greatest
entrances ever for it. Just walking down in a leather jacket and
smoking a cigarette. The crowd is completely in Choshu's corner for
this match and cheer loudly as he dominates the early match. First
backing Onita into one of the exploding sides then picking him up and
powerslamming him onto the barbed wire and detonating another side.
Onita makes a slight comeback and grabs a headlock before Choshu just
backs him into a third side for another explosion. Choshu locks in
the sharpshooter and Onita crawls to the fourth side and grabs the
barbed wire to detonate it and make Choshu release the hold. Choshu
bounces off the ropes for lariats a couple of times then locks in a
scorpion deathlock on a bloody Onita to get the submission in a
brutal squash. Not really much to this match sadly. It's pretty much
carried by the spectacle of the exploding barbed wire ropes, which
are admittedly cool, but it would have been nice to have an actual
back and forth match as well.
3/10
Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto
Hashimoto retreats from the fight at
the start, but then goes in firing with strikes and starts smoking
Choshu with heavy kicks. All it takes is a bi elbow strike for Choshu
to even things up though. Just two big boys going strike for strike
in lots of exchanges and really laying them in. And the match is
called because Choshu is too beat up to keep fighting and yet still
tries I believe. Or maybe it's a draw, I can't speak Japanese so I
don't know, so over all it's a disappointing ending to a
disappointing match.
4/10
Riki Choshu vs. Andre the Giant
Choshu is a big dude and that makes
Andre look humongous in this match. Andre dominates most of it and
Choshu fights back and even successfully powerslams Andre 4 years
before Hogan did it for the very first time. Choshu shows a lot of
fighting spirit, but Andre overpowers him and hits a butt splash to
get the three count. A fine match between these two, but nothing
really special.
4/10
Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto vs.
Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono
A fun tag team match between four huge
names in Japanese pro wrestling. Chono and Mutoh have the NWO in
their corner for this match. So Mutoh wrestles as heel Mutoh which
makes him slightly less exciting, but makes him act in a different
kind of weird which is fun. Chono and Mutoh have control most of the
match thanks to their cheating ways with Sting throwing his bat in
often. Choshu and Hashimoto will get the advantage only for Mutoh to
sneak in and strike with the bat. Of course if you live by the sword
you die by the sword. After the NWO distracts the ref to allow Mutoh
to hit Choshu in the back with the bat to break up a sharpshooter,
Chono grabs Choshu by the arms and holds him still. Mutoh jumps off
the top with the bat and Choshu moves so Chono eats a shot straight
to the head. Choshu throws Mutoh out of the ring then hits two
lariats in a row to get the pinfall. A fun tag match with lots of
distractions and good work from both teams.
7/10
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
A pretty solid match from these two
guys here. Lots of work on the legs and backs of the opponents which
makes sense as Fujinami has one of his knees wrapped up. Lots of back
and forth submission work between the two men. The problem I have
with this match is both guys are doing the same submission moves and
takes any kind of personality out of their fighting style. The end
comes when Choshu hits a lariat then locks in a sharpshooter.
Fujinami crawls to the ropes for a break and Choshu stomps him to the
outside. Choshu rolls out and powerslams him legs first onto the
guardrail then bends his leg over the top. He rolls back inside and
gets a ten count. Which surprised me as the finish, but it was for
the WWF title I believe and not IWGP so that's why it wasn't a twenty
count. Solid work between the two men, but nothing that really got me
excited for the match.
6/10
What I learned from watching these
Choshu matches is that I don't really care for Riki Choshu's
wrestling. Which didn't surprise me as I don't really like the style
of wrestling that NJPW had in his time. He's probably a pretty good
wrestler of that style and the crowd seems to love him, but it's not
for me and none of these matches left me wanting to watch more Choshu
matches. I was originally going to link to the matches, but I don't
think any of them are particularly with checking out so I'm not going
to bother with that. Feel free to try and tell me why I should like
Choshu more in the comments if you want or tell me a match that will
change my feelings.
