Kazuyuki Fujita vs Kensuke Sasaki-NJPW 8.10.2001.

Ah, the glorious period of New Japan when wrestlers were forced to shave their heads and wear gloves. It is always interesting to see what conclusions workers came to when doing matches like these. Kensuke’s Lariats and Strangle Holds aren’t exactly shooty, but they don’t feel *that* out of place in these hybrid matches either, and certainly give the match a unique flair. There’s a lot of face punching, which is enjoyable on its own but these two find smart ways to incorporate them into transitions as well as make it look like a struggle-you’ll see dodging, shoving, blocking and so on. Kensuke’s great timing maximized the value of his flash attacks and hearing the echo of the Dome crowd is always a special feeling. Fujita‘s side mount knees were a nice callback to what he was doing in PRIDE at the time and the TKO finish was worked about as well as it gets. ***1/2