What Good is Dreamin if Shinya Hashimoto Must Dream All Alone By Himself

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Jake Roberts NJPW 9/23/93 - GREAT

ER: I thought the Rude match was kind of weird, as he went over to Japan and Hash worked almost a WWF style match with him. But I didn't know what weird was until I watched this. Roberts is one of the biggest names in wrestling to rarely work Japan, somehow working Japan even less than Lawler. I believe this is the lone match from Jake's lone New Japan tour that made tape, and it's great and weird. It's basically Roberts coming to Japan and working a match the same way he would work a Tito Santana match. You know, cruising to Japan for a week, working with the 2nd or 3rd biggest name in the company, but still working the Tito formula. It's weird and it works. He plays Jake mind games with Hash, and it's weird just because he's opposite this burly asskicker and he does things like point to his head to show how smart he is after blocking an Irish whip. 

This hits peak surreal when Jake's knee buckles on a leapfrog, and he begs off in the corner while holding his knee, even asking for a time out. I'm willing to bet this was the first time a New Japan crowd had seen someone ask for a time out in many years. And of course it's all so he can jump Hash, hit the short arm lariat and the DDT. After the DDT he even does jumping jacks and a squat to show that the knee is doing alright. The crowd reacted when Hash kicked out of the DDT, but it sounded more like confusion that elation. Hash didn't even really get to ramp up to his comeback too much, as you assume Jake isn't going to take a super dangerous brainbuster bump or anything, but Hash wins with the big spinning heel kick. Post match things get ridiculous as Jake dumps an actual cobra out of a bag and lunges at Hashimoto with it, like Berzerker stabbing his sword into the mat trying to murder Undertaker, Jake flies cobra first into the mat trying to kill Hashimoto!! Then he fakes throwing the snake into the crowd, the way you would a t-shirt when there is a competition to see which side of the ring has the loudest fans. He actually pretends to throw a cobra, then just lets it slither out to the floor while the commentary crew freaks out. I'm really glad this match happened.

PAS: It is famously hard to score in Japan, but Jake looks like he found a way. This is fully in the period where Jake looked like the heroin addict you go to if you need to have a body disappear, which is also exactly how he wrestles. I loved Jake breaking out the fake knee injury in Sumo Hall like he was working a no bumps match against Tom Brandi at the Sheboygan American Legion. All of Jake's offense looked good, he has a great jab and the short clothesline is the best short clothesline in the history of New Japan. That albino cobra is fucking nuts, I assume that was just the pet of whatever exiled Yakuza he horse hunted from this morning, "Let me get some of that snow white, and let me borrow the snake for tonight."


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE HASHIMOTO

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Accentuate the Positive

I did one of these posts in 2010 talking about some stuff I was excited about (Danielson vs. Sawa in EVOLVE) in an otherwise cloudy wrestling landscape. I am not sure if wrestling is better 8 years later (My personal life is a lot better, the state of our country is arguably worse), the overall worldwide house style has become more homogenized towards a style I don't care about, but in that, there are still pockets of fun stuff to look forward too. I am in a good mood today (had an awesome time with the Baby Zach at the Zoo) and want to talk up some stuff I am excited for.


-Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. at Verano De Escalando. I am not a big fan of AAA main events, but Rey Jr. working a singles main event against an all time legend like Doc Wagner is super intriguing. I can't imagine these two having crossed paths many times before (if ever), and I imagine Rey will really want to show out.

-The possibility that Josh Barnett wasn't just BSing. Barnett tweeted about bringing back the UWF a couple of days ago, and tagged guys like Riddle, Thatcher and Cobb. I know Barnett is a big time shoot style wrestling fan, and the thought that he could set something like that up is super intriguing.

-Cain Justice and 2 Cold Scorpio at the Scenic City Invitational. There are going to be a bunch of really good indy wrestlers at this tourney and I am excited to see what 2 Cold still has in the tank and what Cain, who is my favorite young wrestler in years, can do with guys he isn't as familiar with, should be a chance to see one of my old favorites and one of my new favorites.

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