Examining the Hashimoto/Ogawa feud Pt.2: (1999.01.04) Wrestling World – Naoya Ogawa Vs Shinya Hashimoto

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1. Here we are folks, continuing my dive into the feud between Shinya Hashimoto and Naoya Ogawa in NJPW during the late 90’s and early 00’s, a feud which attracted record crowds, made box office money, but ultimately would send the company on the path to financial ruin.

   Last time, we looked at the May 3, 1997 match between these two, which ended with Hashimoto knocking Ogawa out with head kicks, but since then, much has changed for both men;

   Hashimoto had finally lost the IWGP title after his then record breaking 489 day reign, Kensuke Sasaki being the man who ended the reign; Hashimoto would go on to win the 1998 G1 Climax and was still seen as the top guy in the company, event without the IWGP title.

   Ogawa would increase his stock in the company in the interim years since his KO loss to Hashimoto, competing in “Different Style Fights” and defeating the likes of shoot stylist Kazuo Yamazaki, top gaijin Scott Norton, and MMA figure Don Frye; it was around 98 that Ogawa would ditch his judo gi in favor of his more famous look, the black boots, black trunks, and the fingerless MMA gloves.

   The entrances start off with Ogawa being accompanied by Kazunari Murakami, his training partner and fellow shooter; Gerard Gordeau, famed Dutch kickboxer and Ogawa’s bodyguard; Tiger Mask IV; and Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask I), Ogawa’s trainer. Hashimoto comes in with his usually stoic, yet intimidating aura.

   The match begins with both in boxing like stances and testing each other with a few jabs; Ogawa is mainly peppering Hashimoto with his jabs and Hash seems to be looking for the takedown but Ogawa has it scouted; Hashimoto gets Ogawa up against the ropes and refuses to break for anything, visibly bleeding for the nose already, and referee Tiger Hattorri is doing his best to get Hashimoto to break, which gets him a backhand from Hashimoto, all the while Ogawa just stands there with his hands down.

   After a few minutes of this, Hashimoto is tripped and Ogawa has full mount on him, and begins raining down punches to Hashimoto’s face, all the while Hattorri is trying to get some order in the match, which eventually gets the poor man another blow, this time a kick to his groin from Ogawa; as Sayama checks on Hattorri, Ogawa begins to really beat down Hashimoto, getting more punches to the back of his head and stands up to kick Hashimoto in the head, and even starts to stomp on him.

   Hashimoto rolls to the outside on the entrance ramp, laying down and trying to recover his back, as the NJPW wrestlers on the outside move to the ring, with Kazuo Yamazaki checking on Hashimoto, and getting in Murakami’s face; it’s at this point the bell is called for and the match is rule a no-contest; all the NJPW guys are in the ring now, along with Ogawa’s cornerman, as Ogawa takes the mic to spite the crowd and does some taunts; Manabu Nakanishi, Yuji Nagata, Takashi Iizuka, and Kazuyuki Fujita are some of the most vocally/visually pissed at Ogawa and co, Hashimoto is a big brother figure to these guys and seeing him layed out like that has there blood boiling.

   It’s at this point that Riki Choshu comes out to confront the situation and goes over to Ogawa, but their is a sea of wrestlers between them, as champion Kensuke Sasaki is also out here as well, backing his mentor and boss Choshu up; Sayama and Choshu get in each other’s faces and have a grate discussion in the midst of the people in the ring, and most of them leave at this point; finally, Choshu walks up to Ogawa and punches him in the face, Ogawa just stands there and doesn’t retaliate; ironically, it is Hashimoto who now has a hold of Choshu and is holding back from Ogawa and trying to talk to him, probably in an attempt to defuse the situation; Choshu, in an act of anger, even kicks Yuji Nagata.

   This is one of the most controversial moments in both NJPW’s history and Puroresu as a whole; much is still unknown, but the leading theory is that Ogawa was asked/forced by Inoki to shoot on Hashimoto in order to make Ogawa a bigger star, but the doubt comes into how many people were in the know; I believe perhaps only Inoki, Ogawa, and Hashimoto knew about the “worked-shoot” nature of what was going to happen, this explaining how pissed off the NJPW crew were, especially Riki Choshu.

   Would love to hear all your thoughts and opinions.