This may be a bit more NJ Heavy intensive that other people's ballots, but I felt like being a bit quirky here. I'm expecting the juniors to take names and kick ass on the final vote, and thought some of the best of the heavies needed to find their way onto the final list. Plus, for this long time NJ viewer, the juniors matches at some point in the decade started to feel a bit like the 10/98 and 6/99 Misawa vs. Kobashi matches - "Yeah, this is an excellent match... but it's not really doing anything fresh for me..." So I felt more comfortable sticking in a few extra heavy matches that stuck out as "memorable" in my mind for one reason or another. So you, my loyal reader, may not be finding here a true list of "best" NJ matches, or at least one that you would agree with. But if I was limited to 20 NJ matches from the 90s to take onto an island, I'm pretty comfortable that these would be the 20... or at least 17 of the 20. :)

These were the last eight to miss the cut that might be among the 3 of the 20 for the island that I'm not sure about. :) In chron order:

* Jushin Liger vs. Peagsus Kid (11/1/90 ­ IWGP Jr. Title)
The opening blast of one of the best wrestling TV shows ever. A terrific match in the context of its time, but I left it off because I tend to like the quality of both Yamada and Benoit's work a few years later in the decade. I have enough other matches on the list that show both them to drop this one off.

* Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Norton (11/5/91 ­ IWGP Tag Titles)
A terrific Natives vs. Gaijin match, and terrific storyline in it of Mutoh & Hase being the outgunned by the power of Rick & Norton and digging deep down to pull it off. Mutoh worked well with Norton in this time frame and was probably the key performer in New Japan in getting him over as a top gaijin. They had earlier tags and singles matches that ranged from watchable to excellent.

* Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs. Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow (5/1/92 ­ IWGP Tag Titles)
Another terrific Natives vs. Gaijin matches, with Mutoh & Hase even more outgunned here against a pair of Gaijin Monsters. Just to make the Ultimate Babayfaces storyline even stronger, Hase comes in with a bandage over a "cut" from a prior match. Damn if those evil Gaijin Monsters don't go after that "injury" and before long poor Hiroshi is bleeding like only Hase and Mutoh can bleed. A damn fun match. The same card and TV show also had the climax of the superific mid-card Dojo Sign Feud, which really needs to be seen built up over several weeks of TV to really appreciate what fun it was.

* Shinya Hashimoto vs. Jushin Liger (02/24/94 - Fan Appriciation Night)
Obviously both have had better matches. But this match is really a tribute to both workers in being able to pull off a The New Man vs. The King of the Juniors match. Did Liger have a snowball's chance in hell of winning? Nope... but Liger and Hash didn't let that get in the way as they took their time building up a match. A nice long 20:00+ match, never rush or impatient, not ripping off the fans in anyway, they did what few juniors and heavies have ever pulled off. I hate leaving this off because I'd really rather watch it against as opposed to a third or fourth Liger junior's match... but I did get the point where I could find something to drop in it's place.

* Great Sasuke vs. Jushin Liger (4/16/94 ­ Super J '94 Semis)
Super match. I've never quite liked it to the level of most people, as I always thought it was a low end MOTYC rather than a high end one. Sasuke got better and more confident in his work later in the year... so I tend to like his later work better. There's enough Sasuke in the Final 20 that I didn't sheed too many tears about dropping this one.

* Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke (7/8/94)
I like this match better than the Super J-Cup match. Just thought that Sasuke was a better worker, even if he might have been a bit more spectacular in the J-Cup. Great TV show.

* Shinya Hashimoto vs. Nobuhiko Takada (4/20/96 - IWGP Title)
There were just too many matches better than this. It's the closest thing to a "Takada Match" that Takada had in this run... but they could have had a better match if they had worked a few tags against each other prior to this and established some storylines going in. But this was smartly worked, and along with the Koshinaka match in March of the year, at least leave us two excellent Takada matches to wash the stench of the Takada vs. Mutoh matches out of our mouths.

* Shinya Hashimoto vs. Riki Choshu (08/02/96 - G-1 '96)
Live this was a spectical like a heavyweight fight with two people clubbering each other, with the Old Man trying to hang with the New Man. A super simple match, not complex at all, and connecting with the crowd like few I've ever had the pleasure to watch. The television show has the mic'ing of the crowd all fucked up for the first two nights of the series, and you just can't tell how heated the Sumo Hall was that night. I dropped it off the list because the whole experience of seeing the match live, and watching that crowd react, not only isn't captured on tape but is something I try to avoid letting influence my decisions on lists such as this. ;)

19. Shinjiro Ohtani vs. Wild Pegasus (3/20/96 - WCW Cruiserweight Title Final)
This may be the greatest WCW Cruiserweight match of all time. Either this or the 11/96 Dragon vs. Rey or the 10/97 Rey vs. Eddy. Benoit worked really well in 1995-96 with Ohtani and Kanemoto, knowing exactly when to let them hit their spots and exactly when to transition into his own offense. Sad that WCW dragged him away from New Japan...

18. Keiji Mutoh vs. Masahiro Chono ­ (1/4/93 ­ IWGP Title vs. NWA Title)
Title vs. Title matches tend to be disappointing, either because of a screwjob to keep the title from changing or because the match doesn't meet expectations. This is one of the exceptions to the rule. Perhaps expectations weren't too high as it was the top match on the card (Choshu vs. Tenryu was the draw), or because they had a total dog of a match right before this at Starcade 1992. But these two did have their working boots on this day, at least in a New Japan fashion. This wasn't far removed from Chono being injured by Austin, but it's also one of the last times he looked like the Chono of 1990 - 8/92. They did a lot of playing off of the 8/91 match, and just worked very well and smartly against each other. I probably like this match more than anyone. ;)

17. Black Tiger vs. Pegasus Kid (6/11/96 - TOSJ '96 Semis)
16. Black Tiger vs. Jushin Liger (6/12/96 - TOSJ '96 Finals)
My two favorite BT matches, which also mark the high point of his New Japan career. The first sticks out as memorable due to Benoit's use of the chinlock and Eddy's epic selling of it - a rare treat in juniors matches. The second is closer to a traditional juniors match as Liger and Eddy both let it all hang out. I think this is right in Eddy's prime as a pure worker, and I'd rather watch these that a hundred Eddy vs. Malenko ECW matches.

15. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Hiroshi Hase (12/11/94 ­ IWGP Title)
Hase's lone IWGP title match, and he makes it memorable by taking a kingsized ass kicking from Hash. If I recall correctly, Hase had won their prior singles match at the 1993 G1 with a total fluke win out of nowhere. Hash seems to be intent that no fluke happens here. :) This has the feel of a AJ main event, with Hash as Kawada and Hase as Kobashi from about the same time frame. Not quite at that level, but a pleasure to watch.

14. Great Sasuke & Black Tiger vs. Wild Pegasus & Shinjiro Ohtani ­ (10/16/94 - SG Jr. Tag League '94 Finals)
A terrific spot-a-thon. I'm probably less ga-ga over this than most people as seen lucha matches live that were at the same level or even better... and seen a tag with three of these four plus Koji that was in the same range. But this does stand out as being the most memorable juniors tag of the decade.

13. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Steiners Brothers (3/21/91 ­ IWGP Tag Titles)
As much here for impact as anything else. This was the "pass through" match for a host of hardcore fans who became puroresu fans in the early 90s - it made many who were blowing off what Meltzer was writing about puroresu take notice and seek out tape dealers. For those of us who were puroresu fans before that, this was a dream match - getting to see how the Steiners would hang with a top Japanese team in Japan. Hase & Sasaki already had a string of top flight matches under their belt, and really at this time were thought of as highly as the Misawa & Kawada team as the top team in Japan. I'm sure there are plenty of people who like their later matches, but it's hard to get across the vibe this match produced in 1991.

12. Masa Chono vs.Keiji Mutoh (8/11/91 ­ G-1 '91 Finals)
New Japan's Three Musketeers front and center to _make_ the G1 Climax tourney. A long match with a slow build, this was almost like a Flair match in taking its time to build and never feeling rushed. Of course they were doing moves that Flair couldn't, working at the state of the art end for heavy work at the time. They don't quite reach the level that Jumbo and Misawa had reached the year before, but they do their generate proud. This was the same month as the Hennig vs. Bret match that placed well in the WWF list. Chono and Mutoh where on another level entirely.

11. Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Liger (1/31/90 ­ IWGP Jr. Title)
I probably rate this low, but (i) again I like Liger's later work better, and (ii) this match has been pimped enough since the day it first hit the shores of Northern California that I feel like being slighty contrarian by placing it out of the top 10. ;) It is a perfect climax to the Sano vs. Liger feud over the IWGP Jr. Title, and there aren't too many feuds that ever get such a fitting climax. A great match.

10. Great Muta vs. Hiroshi Hase (12/14/92)
I probably rate this a bit high, as it has the typically goofy NJ transitions where Muta is getting killed dead but then hops onto offense. It's legendary for Muta's juice job, which with their match the year before is the origin of the term "Hase-Muta juice" and the later "Hase-Muta Scale". But in addition to the spots playing off the blood, and Hase getting "payback" on Muta, they also bring a boatload of offense given the era. With all the juice, they make sure to get across the concept that it's still a wrestling match in the end.

9. Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (3/17/96 ­ IWGP Jr. Title)
One of the excellent examples of the King of the Juniors vs. Young Gun trying to knock him off. Ohtani played the young gun role to perfection as he was an ultimate babyface at this time despite any attempts by Koji to get him to punk it up. Ohtani sold the (immediate) damage of Liger's moves better than Koji, and made his comebacks come across more as "spunky" than "punky" like Koji would. At this time, in 1996, it was the right role for Ohtani to play, and it helped make the match. Plus... Liger by this point was full comfortable in his working style, and his persona, after coming back from the injury. Terrific match, got over a new finisher, and continued the storyline of Ohtani trying to win a big match against Liger.

8. Jushin Liger vs. El Samurai (4/30/92 - TOSJ '92 Finals)
As I said in my pimping post, this is Liger's signature "one-man show". Sammy is really along for the ride and Yamada whips out every move he can think of to kill Sammy.

7. Vader vs. Antonio Inoki (1/4/96)
This is the Kawada vs. Albright of New Japan matches, with Vader playing Kawada and Inoki playing Gary. Except that Inoki is willing to take a far worse beating than Gary was. Vader worked with a torn up shoulder that would require surgery, quite a bit out of shape and at a more methodical pace that he would work with say Sting... still delivered the ass kicking of a lifetime on Inoki. The commercial tape is priceless as it has Inoki's post match press conference, and he's just shot and out of it in an almost certain concussed state. I rate this higher than Liger's one-man show because while Sammy was still a bit green in 1992, Inoki was an almost 53 year-old OLD MAN who didn't have to take a level of beating that was worse than what Vader did to Sting and Davey Boy.
Easily one of the more shocking great matches I've ever seen when Yohe and first watched it the day after the show. It was too early for any buzz about the show to have hit the US... as long as one was smart about avoiding spoiler phone calls. ;)

6. Keiji Mutoh vs. Shinya Hashimoto (8/15/95 ­ G-1 '95 Finals)
I think this was the best NJ heavy singles match of the decade. It might not come across that way if one sees it as a stand alone match, but in the context of the year's TV show it really climaxed the ascent of Mutoh into being the Man in New Japan at that time. After Mutoh beat Hash for the IWGP in May, there still was the "feel" than Hash was the top dog... much like in All Japan when ever Misawa didn't have the title. In this G1, Mutoh fought with his back to the wall after losing his opening match to Koshinaka. He then cameback to beat Chono in the next match, but Chono left his "mark" on the rest of the tourny by giving Mutoh a nasty cut. Though the rest of the tourny, the cut would get popped back open, sometimes to epic Hase-Muta levels like his match against Flair. The final was another New Japan slow build main event, with lots of killing time early exactly like you would expect in a old US-style match. When they picked it up, you could sense the doubt in the crowd - would Hash avenge the IWGP loss and win his first G1, or could Mutoh overcome again and stake his claim as the top dog in the promotion. Terrific drama down the stretch.
After taking this, Mutoh had a stretch where the NJ fans really looked at him as the Man. It ran though the 1/4/96 loss to Takada, and he never really got it back after that regardless of the long IWGP run in 1999. But week by week in that stretch in 1995, you could just see that "it" that he had with the fans that was different from the time when he was a young spunky kid in the 80s, a Three Musketeer in the early 90s, the Great Muta in his first IWGP reign, and how they looked at him for the last four year of the decade. Hell... I don't know if it's something that's easy to see on the tapes today without having gone through watch he, Chono and Hash grow from 1989-95.

5. Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (8/4/96- J-Crown Semis)
Oddly enough, this is *not* the best match I've ever seen live. ;) But it is the best of a number of great New Japan matches I've had the pleasure to watch. In the building, the early body of the match _worked_ very well. The fans know how these things work - they start with a hot spot or two to tell the crowd "You're watching the juniors now", they take it to the mat for the body of the match exchanging periods of dominance while pick it up for a high spot here and there, and then they bust loose and work hell-on-wheels towards the finish. The body of the match was very solidly done, with the key high spot of Dragon going early for La Magistral, but Ohtani bailing out of it and waging a finger at him to say, "You beat me with that last year, and you tricked Liger with it in the first round, but you're not getting me this time." One of those beautiful spots where the workers and the crowd are completely on the saw page of what it's all about. The work to the finish was beautiful... these two were in the absolute middle of their prime that night, both completely comfortable in their roles and totally confident in their work. Great match.

4. Keiji Mutoh & Masa Chono vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (11/1/90 ­ IWGP Tag Titles)
I rate this match this high because it is the one moment in the 90s where the NJ heavies were _better_ than their AJ peers in a comperable setting - this was better than the Jumbo & Taue vs. Misawa & Kawada Big Tag matches of 1990. Of course the All Japan heavies then got a lot better after that, while New Japan heavies stayed stuck at this level... or regressed in many cases. Does this match hold up against the 12/96 Kawada & Taue vs. Misawa & Akiyama? Nope... not at all. But in the context of it's time, when it hit the shores here, it was on the level of best mens tags any of us had seen. And in that way, it's worthy of being ranked up here.
It's always bizarre to read old WON's and see how were ranked Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Hase, Mutoh and Chono all in the same class in 1990-91. If you want to see the potential of the NJ heavies, watch this and the 12/90 Jumbo & Taue vs. Misawa & Kawada match in a sitting. Ponder if there's any reason to doubt that if Taue could get as could as he did in 1995-96 that the more athletically gifted Sasaki could have gotten to that level if he had the desire. Ponder that if Mutoh had the desire and work ethic that he could have been as good as Misawa as he's every bit as gifted, if not moreso. And on and on.
Then after that, watch the 8/95 Mutoh vs. Hash match that I cited above and follow it with the 9/95 Misawa vs. Taue TC match. See how far the All Japan workers, even Taue, had come... while the best of NJ heavies, even working at their best, couldn't get to that level.
Anyway... I'm not sure how this match will seem to people raised on Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue, Misawa & Akiyama vs. Kawada & Taue, and other high end AJ matches. :)

3. Pegasus Kid vs. Great Sasuke (4/16/94 ­ Super J '94 Finals)
I thought this was the best Juniors match I'd ever seen when I was it. It still might be. Enough has been said about it over the years, starting with Meltzer glowing review way back when which has directly or indirectly influenced how most of us see the match. I'll only add that the main even across town at Budokan was the best match that night. ;)

2. Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (2/9/97 ­ J-Crown)
As I wrote back in 1997 in the Torch and on RSPW in the "Working Shoes" thread (which I think was reposted to tOA in the past six months or so ;) ), this is Liger and Ohtani doing the 1/97 Misawa vs. Kobashi match juniors style. I've talked about the match in the past far better than I could quickly jot down here. I rated the 1/97 Misawa vs. Kobashi quite high on my AJPW list, so it's junior peer deservers to be here.

1. El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (1/21/96 ­ UWA Title)
If the match that came in #2 was juniors doing a All Japan big singles main event, this was them taking the current NJPW vs. UWFi feud and melting it into the elastic NJ Jrs. style. We all complain about the juniors ignoring the "work a body part" that makes up the body of every juniors match. This is the one match where they don't forget. The not only sell the limbs that were worked over ealier, but they kept going back to them. They not only go for UWFi holds for super heated near-taps, but they also use their high spot juniors moves to damages those very limbs. When they fly, it's with a purpose, is well set up, and is logically hit or side-stepped depending on the set up. You've got them working in their signature spots, working in spots that were super over due to the NJPW vs. UWFi feud, using fluid transitions and selling to perfection. And you have the Korakuen Hall hardcore fans, the smartest fans in the world, keeping up with everything they're doing, getting it, and eating it up.
The NJ Jr. division would go back to some submission with KaShin hit the division, but by that point Koji and Ohtani and Takiawa were pushing the division more in the direction on nutty spots and nuttier selling. I look back at this match and always think that *this* is the direction the junior division could and should have followed. On the NJPW and AJPW lists, I can't really say that about any other match - a great, perfect MOTYC match in it's own right that also gives you a very clear picture of an alternative path that the style could have been followed which would have been better for the division. I can't say that about Kawada vs. Gary, as no other top AJPW heavy could have worked *that* match. They could have incorporate some of the moves and thoughts into the AJ style, but that still would have required another match between the top natives that had those incorporations as a dominant theme that is followed all the way though to the finish. A "mutation" of the AJPW style that then the other heavies could work, and where we could have glimpse a better alternative to the head-drop-o-rama the style became.
This Sammy vs. Ohtani match *is* that mutation for the NJ Jr. division. The rest of the juniors could have worked it or something very similar to it. The "base" of junior division requires knowledge of working on the mat in a variety of styles that had passed though the division over the years. It's a reason why Sammy could work smoothly with the bizzarro cool lucha mat work of Dos Caras and why Ohtani would work smoothly with the UWF-style of Kakihara and Sakuraba. Koji could work within this mutation. Liger could. KaShin obviously could, and likely would have been a far better worker because of it.
Of course like many mutations, this one died quickly in the NJ Jr. division. You get matches where submissions are tossed out, and even are the finish. People probably can point to some matches that are similar to it. But it's far from a dominant strain within the style of the junior division.
Oh well... I sing the praises of a match that was quickly forgotten by the workers and fans alike, and now put it #1 on my list when it probably won't draw another vote. :)
John