I'm back with the second half of 2001...and I bring you more reviews & Gaora videos

Dr. Death & Mike Rotunda (The Varsity Club) vs. Kojima & Hiro Saito (06/08/01 AJPW PPV): 11+ min match that was 100% action. Obviously Mike Rotunda (even in '01) is going to bring good stuff. I was worried about Saito but no! He was really good. I think he was perhaps as good as Tenzan at least. Another great k.i.s.s match. This easily could have been a match from 1991 instead of 2001 but I find nothing wrong with that at all.

Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yuji Nagata & Shinya Makabe (06/08/01): All Asia tag titles on the line and shoot, this delivers! Just about 13 minutes of action... obviously this is more UWF kick & grapple style. That change of style keeps this from blending with the Varsity Club tag...but this is every bit as great. Heck this was better as they didn't keep it simple but really swung for the fences at times and connected. This is a hidden gem for sure in my book. Holy cow, Gaora has this match up!  Didn't see this until watching elsewhere. Here it is:

06/08 had some really short but sweet tag matches but also features the great Muto vs Tenryu main event plus Kawada vs Tenzan. I've seen their Jan. 4th '01 Dome Show match (which is really good) so this is a follow up. And I can't skip it. 

Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/08/01): It's exactly what you want from these two - chops, headbutts, kicks to the face. No injury story here..really just Tenzan has a big stone head. And that works because both guys really blasted each other. Tenzan's spinning heel kick damn near knocked Dangerous K silly. You better believe he connected with his gamengiri kicks in response. A definite departure in pacing from the tags but where those were a go-go style this was more deliberate and savage.

These matches coupled with a great Muto vs Tenryu main event which I reviewed last year... this honestly was a great show for All Japan!

Muto vs Dr. Death (07/14): A great drama match for the Triple Crown. And that drama was derived from Muto selling his bad knees. I thought this was a good twist on his normal attack plan. Instead it was he who would be in pain. He did an excellent job in selling this story to the fans. He would roll out of the ring to safety. He'd collapse on the Irish whip. And it was made better by Muto going for big moves out of desperation. And let me tell you that point of desperation felt real as this was one of the best singles performances by Steve Williams in '00-01. Gorilla Press slam, Doctor Bombs, Dr. Death Backdrop, release Tiger Duplex etc. He wasn't half steppin'! The finish wasn't my favorite as it wasn't as clever and emotional as the rest of the match. Watching again, I think it looked like it was kicked out of and was a flat finish actually... it didn't have that big dramatic effect. Nonetheless, it was a great match. 

Genichiro Tenryu, Yoji Anjo, Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. George Hines, Johnny Smith, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada (10/08/01): Well this one almost was skipped over. Holy cow AJPW vs WAR is on! Having George Hines in this as an AJ rep is weird but the fans like him & I like him so it's cool Fuyuki I think wanted to be the ref (Fuyuki in FMW style) and Kawada fucking kicks his face off! Yes!! Things get kicked off this way and although we only get half this is really good stuff. Kitahara vs Kawada is criminally brief and in this edit I'm not sure we see Johnny Smith wrestle. Nonetheless, this is a blast to watch. Arashi/Isao Takagi kinda gets a bad rep but he's perfect in his role as tough old sumo turned pro...I dug him in late 80's/1990 All Japan and he does his thing here. Looked up George Hines and he wrestled as Jackie Fulton (Bobby's real brother) and as The Eagle...damn that's why he's so good...here I thought he was some younger guy

Genichiro Tenryu & Yoji Anjo vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea (10/22) WAR vs Muto's AJPW...Kea would be very loyal to Muto once the Baba's were no longer associated with All Japan. He would leave AJ to join Wrestle-1 in 2013. So this a strange match historically (as is much of this time)...Kea at this point is one of the main loyalists and Muto pairing with him bolsters his commitment to AJPW (which is true). It's a that bummer only half is shown but damn this was great! Looks like it was joined in progress half way in. Kea absolutely plays a big role in what makes this great. Along with new ring gear, he's really stepped up his game here. Tenryu and Anjo make a great team of old surly hard-hitters. Muto of course is Muto but it is different than what anyone else is doing so it absolutely works. He pulls out a really awesome spot that reminds you that he can be a fantastic in ring worker.

Genichiro Tenryu vs Taiyo Kea (10/27): This goes 11+ minutes but did they count the intros in that time? What I saw was 6 minutes and I couldn't see a clip. Anyway this works even at 6 minutes because Kea looks like he's trying to knock Tenryu the fuck out. Tenryu must have told him to lay it in because Kea goes for it. This was too short to rate fairly but it was a lot of fun!

Kawada vs Fuyuki  (10/27): Oh yes, I dug the heck out of this! Fuyuki still has it here without a doubt. I'm A fan of his but I'll tell you his best work isn't in FMW at the end of his career. Here back in AJPW, he is the Fuyuki of old...even though pretty overweight. His strikes looked great and lord knows Kawada wasn't holding back. Kicks, chops, slaps, lariats...A great 17 minute battle between for former Footloosers. Gaora has this for our viewing pleasure:

Muto vs Chono (10/27): This was a gritty hard fought match. That's something that I always like about Chono. He kicks you in the face and grinds you down with joint locks then stretches & chokes you out. Muto definitely brings his 2001 A-game...facing his rival here feels like a big deal. I thought this was a great match. Different than what's come before tonight... definitely more NJ style (obviously) but still quality. Again, Gaora has the goods below:

10/27/01 seemed like a pretty sweet show!

Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea (12/07): Only half shown unfortunately but what was shown was great. One of my favorite parts was when Kea and Muto assassinate Kawada's knee caps :D. Oh man I wish that we got the full thing as it was in that golden zone of 17 minutes.

We definitely see a big step up in the quality singles matches from 2000. The AJ vs NJ stuff (Pro Wrestling Love) is definitely a big help. I think there's the opinion that Kawada drops off after the NOAH exodus but it just isn't true. He definitely embraces working with the New Japan guys and raises their level. I think Muto & Kojima definitely see notice as they both get a metaphorical shot in the arm working with Kawada, Dr. Death, Muto & Tenryu. Tag bouts are the bread and butter of AJPW which is great for a tag fan like me. It reminds me of late 80's - early 90's AJPW in that regard. Call me surprised but, I really dig this time period of All Japan. 

If you want to compare 2001 AJPW & NOAH, AJPW is wrestled more in the style of late 80's - early 90's heavyweight (Jumbo, Tenryu, Riki & co.) with a focus on big time matchups while moving a couple key loyalists up (Taiyo Kea most notably). But there's still a focus on older talent like Tenryu, Kawada, Dr. Death. 2001 NOAH is late 90's AJPW style but with more emphasis on pushing younger or mid card talent into more prominent roles than they were in while at All Japan. The talent in pool at NOAH is much deeper. AJPW has a couple high end talent supported by mid card talent that makes up for their lack of talent/abilities by giving it their all. Their under card (if shown on TV) really doesn't get much time...it's treated as filler for the live shows.

I'm really enjoying this period of AJPW. I won't lie though. A good deal of my appreciation is from being able to watch it for free. Being from the VHS/slim pickings/making every purchase count era, I'm not sure I would have given these the time of day. Like if it was a choice between NOAH & AJ, I'd probably would have gone with NOAH just because I'd think my chances were better at seeing a classic match or something. That's not to say I like this era of AJ more or less than NOAH. It's just far less flashy.

Anyhow, I'm going to push forward into 2002 but am going to watch a few of my DVDs first. I'm not doing great watching my backlog so I've got to get back to that. But after that, I'll be back to Muto's AJPW.

Thanks for reading! Definitely check some of these out!