Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - New Japan 8/29/02 A big brawl erupts and looks like NOAH has smartened up to New Japan's tactics and meets them at the pass. A really good early spot sees Kikuchi having a figure-4 on Minoru's head so Liger bodyslams Kanemaru on Kikuchi three times before he releases the hold. NOAH beats the piss out of Minoru early as Kanemaru drops a boot on Minoru as he hands over the edge of the apron. Kanemaru is even puts his feet on the ropes during a pin. NOAH heeling it up that's what I like to see. Minoru is selling all the suplexes and splashes so well. How did this guy not become a junior's superstar on the level of Liger, but KENTA and Marufuji got all this press? Kikuchi taunts Liger by holding out Minoru's hand to have him tag in and when Liger gets chippy he boots him off the apron. This is some good stuff so far. Minoru grabs his flash cross armbreaker. WAHOO~! Kikuchi gets thrown to the outside and eats a Ligerbomb on exposed concrete. He is just deadweight now. I love the puro deadweight sell on the outside. Liger applies camel clutch on Kikcuhi and Minoru puts his foot on Kikuchi's face for more leverage and the crowd pops. So do I! Minoru covers Kikuchi with one foot. This is glorious! Kikuchi catches the Liger palm strike and tags in Kanemaru. Kanemaru does some flippy shit so Liger kappo kicks him. Sit down, bitch! Minoru and Kanemaru trade ballshots in a funny exchange, which is sold for comedy. Liger and Kikuchi in and guess who wins that strike exchange. Ligerbomb is broken up by Kanemaru. Liger goes to town on Kikuchi with palm strikes and brainbusters, but Kanemaru keeps saving. Kikuchi is sucking air, dude. Somehow he catches the Liger palm strike and reverses into a German for two. He keeps hitting Germans, but Minoru saves. Kanemaru hits a brainbuster on Minoru and tells Kikuchi to finish him. Kikuchi with a modified Protobomb wins the match. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This match was more heated than the Osaka match and was about at the level of the earlier NOAH/NJ match. I liked Wataru's performance for the stiffness and Minoru's for the cockiness. I did not think either NOAH/NJ matches transcended into all-time classic status mostly because I did not think the NOAH guys were on the same level as the NJ wrestlers in offense, selling or bumping. NOAH was pretty good at heeling it up early, but then lost that feel towards the end. It is a very good match, but not a classic. ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - 07/17/02 The two trends I have noticed from my limited Kojima watching is to expect one shitty modified Ace Crusher and that the beginning of the match is always better than the end. I will say this match the the goodness lasted well into the match thus making it is his best match yet. After being dissed and dismissed by Tenryu in the February match, Kojima came out with something to prove and right off the bat gives Tenryu a taste of his own medicine: punches and chops in the corner. Tenryu gives him a Fuck You Chop that may have been a little high as Kojima gasps for breath powdering to the outside. The high chop to the throat was Tenryu's ace in the hole throughout the match when the going got rough. It is quite a trump card to have. Tenryu, who is pissed that Kojima is being a little baby about him trying to crush Kojima's larynx, throws a water bottle at him. Got to love, Mr. Puroresu! Kojima's new strategy is just to kick him in the knee. Tenryu retaliates by kicking him in the head when he tries to go for a toehold following up with a high chop and kappo kick. Tenryu punches him in the face and Kojima goes back to the knee. A dragon leg screw causes Tenryu to powder. Kojima pounces on the knee, but Tenryu just overwhelms him. Tenryu hits a pretty explosive follow up chop into corner with some more punches. Tenryu lariats Kojima out and dives onto Kojima. Judging by this crowd, the chicks dig this lumpy old bastard. Tenryu has been taking Kojima to the woodshed and it seems at this point they are going to make the Fighting Spirit play to get Kojima over here. Kojima takes out Tenryu's knee with a lariat on the apron. I love that spot! Here comes Kojima: plancha, somersault off the apron, dragon leg screw, figure-4, scorpion deathlock. He goes back to give Tenryu some more of his own medicine with punch/chop combination in the corner. Kojima is feeling it, but his top rope elbow only gets 2. What does Tenryu do to stymie Kojima? Chop to the throat, duh. Tenryu hit him with two sick deadwight Germans, really showed off Tenryu's power. At this point, I actually wrote "Wow 20 minutes in and no Ace Crushers yet!" in my notes. Literally a second later, Kojima floats over on a suplex attempt and hits an Ace Crusher. It was inevitable. He hits his stupid looking neckbreaker and his scoop piledriver. The best part is on the pin, Tenryu's foot looks for the rope and when he realizes he is too far he kicks out. Thats excellent ring awareness in bot a kayfabe and non-kayfabe sense! Tenryu punches Kojima and hits a brainbuster to regain advantage. He hits the Spider German, but misses back elbow. Thus Kojima hits his stupid fuckin middle rope Ace Crusher. What does Tenryu do, everybody? Chop to throat. Kojima has FIGHTING SPIRIT~! He lariats Tenryu with no padding only there is a bandage there. We hit the home stretch with a chopfest. It is too bad they descended into trite 00s puro hell because they were doing so well. Tenryu hits tow brainbusters for an excellent false finish. Kojima gets his pop for a lariat false finish. Instead of just finishing it there, they dragged it out. Tenryu blocks a lariat hits two brainbusters, but Kojima does a dazed lariat that left me shakin' my head. They do a chopfest were both men sell their fatigue. Tenryu wins with a brainbuster and powerbomb combo to a lesser pop than the false finishes. The finish issues is the same ones that plague the WWE today with so many false finishes that the crowd does not pop as hot for the actual finish. Plus they just dragged it out way too much at that point. Before that, the match was really good and Kojima gave his best performance yet. He had a chip on his shoulder he was going to prove his mettle to Tenryu and used his moves against him, took out the knee and then threw the bombs. Plus he did take one helluva a beating. Tenryu was his usual steady eddy self making everything awesome around him throwing water bottles in disgust, chops to throat, deadweight Germans. It is a disjointed match, but I am a positive dude. Lets go ***3/4

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 05/02 From winning the 2001 G-1 Climax to main eventing the 01/04 Dome against Akiyama, now Nagata defends the IWGP title against the shoot-style giant, Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama just carries himself so differently from a typical Japanese pro wrestler and at 6' 5'' he looks and wrestles like a giant in his match. He does not outright heel it up, but just his demeanor and his methodical pacing seems to mock the IWGP Champion and the crowd. He is a giant playing with his prey, before he breaks it into submission. Nagata looks a lot better in this match than Mutoh match as he is bringing it to the Bleach Blond Giant rather than reacting. It is not as good as Tenryu/Sasaki in terms of cementing a new champion, but Nagata earned a lot in terms of credibility by taking a lickin' and kept on tickin'. There is an gritty struggle to start on the mat that is how much the IWGP Championship means to these two combatants. Nagata gets a couple early slams (overhead belly to belly and back drop driver), but neither phases the monster, who shrugs them off. Nagata goes for the back drop driver again only to eat a German suplex and a roundhose kick to the head that knocks him out. Nagata's only option is to roll out of the ring. He does an excellent sell where he collapses on an irish whip. Takayama works an effective heat segment, just punishing Nagata with kicks. Nagata gets a hope spot in like a rolling heel hook out of a German suplex attempt, but Takayama cuts him off with a wicked kneelift. Then he starts to hulk-up, he kicks Takayama's base foot out from under him and roundhouse kicks him in the head to level the playing field. He slaps on his variation of the figure-4, but Takayama makes it to the ropes. Takayama hits a knee to the head and a slugfest breaks out. The punches are awfully weak and they punch each other at the same time. They get back up and slugfest ensues. Takayama whiffs on a roundhouse kick and Nagata hits two kicks to the head to win. ***3/4 They built the match up well with Nagata bringing the big moves early and Takayama established as this imposing tour de force he has to overcome. However, once they hit the Nagata Hulk-Up they lost me. The slugfests were a pretty lame to payoff the build. The build was David vs. Goliath and they paid it off with a toe to toe slugfest. It seemed too disjointed. Still, I like seeing Nagata as the champion bringing the offense to his opponent, which is a step-up from the Mutoh match.

New Japan (Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka) vs. NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 4/7/02 In my opinion, this is the best match of the trilogy with great intensity and payoffs. As always the match starts with a melee as Liger greets Kikuchi on the ramp with a PALM STRIKE~! In a great early spot, Liger shoots Kikuchi into the ropes on the ramp so he just walks right through into the ring. Crowd pops! I love it! Kikuchi grabs a double wristlock on Minoru is going for the early submission and is relentless on the arm. The NOAH ref actually has to pull him off, which affords Minoru the opportunity to tag Liger and for Liger to palm strike Kikuchi. Looks like the fix may be in and the ref has some Yakuza bookies to pay off. Liger applies a cross armbreaker to Kikuchi, who sells it well, but it was not sold like in other Minoru matches the urgency to get out it. They went for more of a dramatic, long-term sell. Jushin "Nature Boy" Liger and NOAH Official Tommy Young get into a heated argument. Then Minoru comes in hits a dropkick, kips up and flips off Kanemaru on the apron. Minoru does the one foot pinfall attempt. This is great heel work from the New Japan boys and everything is focused on the arm throwing it into the post and kneedropping it. Kikuchi back drops out of a Ligerbomb attempt to tag Kanemaru, which was a bit of unsatisfying transition. What happens next is some of my favorite stuff to ever happen in a wrestling ring. I have come to realize that Kanemaru' has a penchant to low blow with his leg when he being attacked from behind. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on Liger, who avoids Kanemaru's natural defense mechanism and then kicks Kanemaru in the balls. Kanemaru sells it like death. The NOAH young boys are red hot and take to the apron to protest. Liger taunts them and palm strikes one off the apron. LIGER RULES~! Minoru sets up Kanemaru in the corner for Shattered Dreams, but first he hits two dropkicks and then casually walks over and kicks him in the balls. Minoru hops around in the ring grabbing himself taunting the crowd. I love it! Minoru kneedrop and does the one foot cover again to no avail. Kanemaru hits a dropkick to tag Kikuchi, again kinda lame transition. Kikuchi is red hot and is just tackling everyone and forearming anyone he can get his hands on. He tags Kanemaru in and then in the payoffs to end all payoffs: Kanemaru knocks Minoru on the ground and drop toeholds Liger so that he headbutts Minoru in the nuts. TREMENDOUS!!!!! In turn out after having his manhood abused Kanemaru grew a fucking set because he rips Liger's mask and goes after Liger's eyes. Liger kicks out of his moonsault at one and just lets out what can only be described as a roar! Now you gone and done it, boy! Liger absorbs a palm strike and lets loose with one of his own for two. They trade brainbusters to level the playing field. Minoru flies all around Kikuchi making him look foolish. Minoru heel hook does not do it and Kikuchi rattles off a German, but on the second attempt Liger palm strikes him in the head. Liger tells Minoru to take care of his light work. Liger piledrives Kanemaru on exposed concrete. Minoru gets a two with a head kick and the immediate cross armbreaker gives New Japan the victory. I thought the first 3/4 of this match would give the Midnights/RnRs a run for their money in combining drama and comedy in a match. The New Japan heel work was awesome and the testicle psychology was off the charts great. Kanemaru taking it to Liger was awesome and really should have figured into the finish. Instead, the finish was the usual stuff with Minoru winning with the cross-armbreaker. There was definitely a lot more to explore in terms of Kanemaru going to town on Liger. In addition, the babyface transitions were not the strongest, but still overall a super fun and excellent match. ****

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Masato Tanaka - Zero-One 3/02/02 I did not understand the appeal of this match as a MOTYC. It was a really great extended squash that saw Hashimoto pretty much fuck up Tanaka's day, but outside of that this match really did not offer much. It was just a follow-up to the Zero-One inaugural tag that established Hashimoto as an unstoppable, invulnerable force of nature. I will say Masato Tanaka's screeching in Japanese was really disconcerting and I would almost say disturbing. I felt really bad for him as he was just getting wrecked by the emotionless Hashimoto. At the beginning of the match Tanaka kicks the NWA belt away and Hashimoto will not stand for such disrespect and sends Tanaka running for the hill after beating him up in the corner. Tanaka's new strategy is to try to get toe to toe with Hash, but that works about as well as you think it would. The story of the match is that Tanaka would occasionally find an opening (lariat, forearms, attacking the knee), but could never string together any offense because well he is facing Hashimoto. The most entertaining moment of the match for me was when Hashimoto wiped out from a double stomp from the apron to the floor. Thankfully, he was able to catch the railing so he did not take a header into it. It is only funny because he did not get hurt. Boy, did he take out his embarrassment on poor Masato Tanaka with those kicks. It finally looks like Tanaka make actually make a run at Hashimoto by getting to his knee, but he just cant resist slapping Hashimoto, who responds with a punch that floors Tanaka. Tanaka tries to take down Hashimoto, but eats knee lifts before taking a DDT for 2. One last gasp for Tanaka who hits a roaring elbow and applies a choke, but as soon as Hashimoto stands up he just melts into a pool of defeated humanity. Brainbuster is the mercy killing for Masato Tanaka. The transitions for all the offense shifts were pretty bad. It felt like Hashimoto would let Tanaka do things and then he would just swat him from the sky. There was no heat. When you have a guy like Hashimoto it is always semi-entertaining to watch him just squash someone, but not a MOTYC in any way. ***

Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi - Budokan 2/17/02 The two combatants in New Japan's 01/04/02 Dome show team together to face Misawa & Kobashi in Kobashi's return match from knee injuries to draw a sell out at the Budokan. Not only is it Kobashi's return match, but was this the first time he had teamed with Misawa since 1995. NOAH played two pretty big drawing cards there to ensure a sell-out. There are big Kobashi chants to start and you know Akiyama's days as champion are numbered with such a big time reaction. Misawa and Nagata start with some decent chain wrestling. Nagata seems to get the best of Misawa on the mat and fights through Misawa's trademark elbows. They both tag out and there is a big pop for the Kobashi vs. Akiyama showdown. Kobashi looks pissed and is ready to light up some muthafuckas. That is the theme of the beginning of the match, the people want to see Kobashi kick some ass so he delivers. He chops the shit out of Akiyama and hits a delayed vertical suplex then brutalizes Nagata with high chops and then does his short knee lifts/ab stretch combo on him. Nagata kicks Kobashi knee during a struggle over a suplex to buy his team some time and Akiyama capitalizes with a jumping high knee. That is the risk Misawa and Kobashi took with having Kobashi take a bulk of the offense early. Akiyama applies a Boston Crab, but Kobashi makes it to the ropes. Kobashi starts to hulk-up and throws down Akiyama in the corner, but a drop toehold stymies him and Nagata applies the crossface. Nagata get back to the legs and drops down for his version of the figure-4 and Akiyama cuts off Misawa this time. Kobashi's selling including verbal selling has made this heat segment one of the better ones so far in my 00s puroresu watching. Kobashi is able to fire off a suplex to finally tag Misawa. Misawa will not be denied and his elbow find its mark on Akiyama and Nagata. However after repeated attempts for the Tiger Driver, Akiyama nails him with an Exploder. Akiyama wisely tags out to Nagata who hits a Northern Lights Suplex and applies a crossface, but now Kobashi saves. Here comes the Misawa comeback with the Roaring Elbow and Tiger Driver, but only gets 2. Kobashi comes in to the joy of the crowd and delivers his string of crowd-pleasers: Spinning Back Chop, Half-Nelson Suplex, but powerbomb gets countered into a triangle choke by Nagata. Nagata aint holding down Kobashi, who gives him a sleeper suplex for his troubles. Nagata is able to kick Kobashi's leg one last time to give his team the advantage. Akiyama and Nagata are able to do a double submission spot with Nagata applying the STF and Akiyama his choke. Huge Kobashi Chants. Kobashi is still struggling, but to my surprise a wrist-clutch exploder does him in while Misawa is detained by Nagata. I am so used to American psychology, I often forget it is customary for wrestlers to lose their return match to put over ring rust and build their comeback to a more satisfactory climax. This is a fun popcorn match. The beginning is just giving the fan what they want Kobashi killing bitches dead. Then they add the drama with Akiyama and Nagata targeting the injured knee. After that it just becomes a bomb fest with everyone hitting their best hits before Nagata gets one last ditch kick to knee and you see Kobashi putting over the new champion Akiyama. While this is yet another big win for Akiyama, soon after he would be shunted to the tag division and the process was begun to get the strap to Kobashi by getting it to Misawa first to set up a big money gate at the Budokan. ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - Budokan 02/24/02 Kojima is still wicked over with the fans. I actually listen to wrestling podcasts while listening to these puro matches, but still have the volume up high enough on the match to hear sound effects. The only chants loud to hear are the Kojima ones. I have no problem tuning out Japanese commentary completely so that undercurrent does not affect my ability to listen to the podcasts. Tenryu is more game than Kawada it seems to carry Kojima to a great match, but still it does not reach MOTYC levels for me. Again, I thought the beginning of the match was the best part. Tenryu was so good at looking down at Kojima. The way he brushes aside one of Kojima's chops is awesome. Then he backs Kojima against the ropes and lets Kojima cover up waiting for the chop only to look like a tool when it never comes. Then the next times he chops the bejeezus out of him in the corner. Basically, Tenryu is awesome, but we already knew that. Kojima "proves" his mettle sending Tenryu tumbling to outside with some forearms and a diving forearm. He does his somersault splash. After a chinlock, Tenryu hits his own somersault splash on Kojima. In a weird moment, Kojima heads for the hilsl, but seems to be spooked by the specter of Giant Baba at the end of the ramp. It is weird because Kojima seems like a babyface to the crowd and because puroresu does not usually that device. Tenryu wrangles him back in and just punches and chops the shit out of him. Kojima resorts to his base instincts: Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher, Ace Crusher! Ok, it was only two, but one was a shitty one off the apron. In a really cool spot, Tenryu tries to enter the ring and Kojima lariats his knee. That spot should be cribbed. Once again, the knee work does not follow to a neat conclusion. Kojima really is a shitty version of Mutoh. Tenryu regains the advantage and hits his wicked sweet spider German/back elbow combo. Tenryu goes back to head games with some playful slaps and Kojima reacts with a scoop piledriver. I love how Kojima hits this weird neckbreaker and afterwards Tenryu just punches him to get the advantage. Tenryu brainbuster leads to a double KO. Tenryu wins a chopfest to get a powerbomb, but only gets 2. Kojima lets out a roar, but then Flair Flops. Huge Kojima chants! Tenryu polishes him off with a brainbuster. This was a big improvement over the Kawada match because of Tenryu's consistency. The whole match he was playing head games with Kojima about his inexperience and his inferiority. Kojima would power up, but he would never be able to sustain momentum because he lacked the experience. Why hit a weird move when you can just punch someone in the face? Kojima is a bit all over the place on offense, but is good at puro fighting spirit selling. He is a more expressive, but spottier version of Mutoh. I actually really dug the finish where he looks like he is going to do the fighting spirit hulk-up, but just collapses. It shows Kojima has a lot of heart, but does not have the brains yet. ***1/2

New Japan (Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue) vs NOAH (Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - NOAH 2/17/02 It is one thing to lose your notes in a match you dont like (Togo vs Tiger Mask), but it annoys me that I don't have my notes for this match because I thought this was pretty good, not MOTDC, but solid resume padding for the greatest Junior of all time, Liger and a HUGE performance from Wataru Inoue. Inoue knows how to light up a muthafucka with an elbow. NJPW bullrushes early and isolate Kikuchi. At one point the Budokan is rocking like it is 1992 and chanting for Kikuchi. I always think of Liger as one of the best babyfaces of all time, but he has not trouble heeling it up here as he shoves his boot in Kikuchi's face before dropkicking him in the face and then doing a one foot pin cover. Kanemaru tags in and he does not have much in the way in offense. At first, he is content with letting the heels run into each other and stuff of that nature, but occasionally he will slip into indy-riffic spots, but he is not horrible. Liger gives him an absolute shit kicking I remember at least three Ligerbombs and a fisherman buster. Liger was on point in this match. Kanemaru to escape the wrath of Liger floats over on a suplex attempt and back kicks him in the balls. Kikuchi is pretty good at selling, but has almost nothing in the way of offense. The New Japan heels are really carrying this by delivering an ass kicking. Inoue and Kanemaru are the final two with Inoue initially gaining the advantage because he is ALL MAN~! However, the number games catches up to him and Kanemaru is able to hit a frogsplash, moonsault and a brianbuster to win. Melee ensues. New Japan and NOAH brawls to the back, which was awesome and pumped me for the rematch. It is not a super classic tag match, but the effective, powerful offense of the New Japan contingent and a pretty good finish. ***1/2

GHC Heavyweight Champion Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01 You have three hottest commodities in puroresu in this match and Hiroshi Hase. Of course, I thought Hase was the best worker in the match. smile.gif New Japan is continuing to put over Nagata as their new pro wrestling superstar having him hang with All Japan's and NOAH's champions. NOAH followed up Akiyama's red hot 2000 by making him the second GHC champion putting him over Misawa in July. Mutoh resuscitated the crippled All Japan promotion by reinventing himself completely in the ring. Also Mutoh placed a runner-up in 2001 G-1 climax losing to rising superstar, Yuji Nagata. Mutoh is looking for some revenge and has his buddy, Hase as back-up. This match also served to hype the main event to 2002 01/04 Dome show where Nagata was going to challenger Akiyama for the GHC Championship. They were definitely trying to deliver a big Dome main even match, but I thought they fell short of the mark. The body of the match seemed perfunctory and an obligation before they started to bust out finishers in the grand finale. Mutoh wins an early chain exchange with Akiyama by hitting a dropkick and posing which got a pretty good reaction from the crowd. The Mutoh and Hase have much better continuity as expected and this affords them an early advantage as Mutoh scores his style elbow and begins some leg work. Nagata and Hase exchanged some pretty good slapfests when they needed to and Nagata was clearly the most protected wrestler in the match. Hase had a chip on his shoulder and he was working the hardest to sell and bump for his opponents even selling on the apron. Hase is supremely smug as he re-enters and then does the giant swing to a big pop. They tease the exploder off the apron, but Mutoh does the dragon leg screw off the apron and dropkicks the knee. I love that combination so much. All of sudden it is breaking loose in the Tupelo Dome as we get the double figure-4 for Mutoh and Hase. Mutoh hits his franekensteiner and moonsault combo for two. When I watched this, I could have sworn the match was more even, but reading my notes it seems like Mutoh and Hase dominated. Hase gets a little cocky after rolling Germans and a backbreaker. He slaps Nagata. Nagata hits an overhead belly to belly. Melee ensues. The spot of the match is Mutoh stepping on Hase's back to hit a Shining Wizard on a standing Nagata. Hase follows up by head dropping Akiyama and hitting his Northern Lights Suplex on Nagata. However, Nagata and Akiyama are able to wrangle Mutoh and Hase into double submission holds. The finish is Akiyama hitting his jumping knee twice and Nagata dropping Hase with a back body driver. Honestly, I watched this match twice once about a month ago and again two nights ago and this review does not really reflect my perception of the match. Akiyama and Nagata definitely struggled more and got in more offense, but my notes paint a picture of Mutoh & Hase domination. Neither time did I think the match was all great so I am not going to rewatch it again anytime soon, but I wanted to be honest about this review. Outside of a big Hase performance, it felt like Mutoh by the numbers with a fireworks finish. It was definitely most disappointing Akiyama match so far. ***

Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final The objective of the match was to get over Yuji Nagata as a hybrid MMA/pro-style wrestler through submission-style counter-wrestling, which was en vogue at the time. However, the match became so focused on Nagata's counter-wrestling that it seemed like he did not have any offense of his own. This whole match was run through Mutoh, which is a problem in fact in 2001 running a match through Mutoh is sensible especially since Nagata was just beginning his ascent up the card. However, Mutoh did not really fight from underneath rather he would string some moves together and Nagata would counter into submission. Nagata's offense never strung together combinations, but let Mutoh dictate the match. I am not trying to damn the style of counter-wrestler just that Nagata was miscast. We all know that Inoki was trying to force shoot-style/MMA-style down the audience's throats with Fujita as IWGP champion and his Bom-Ba-Ye. That all being said, I think they had a very strong match and the best match they possibly could have given the environment. Mutoh was compelling on offense, sold well for Nagata and they built to a helluva finish run. Nagata for his part did the best he could some of his submissions looked lame and some looked good. Once the more "pro-wrestling" finish kicked in, he looked way more comfortable. The opening chain sequence ended with Mutoh in a guillotine choke. Mutoh begged off into the corner and took a powder. It established Nagata as the "superior" ground wrestler and that Mutoh is now wary of mixing it up on the ground with Nagata. Mutoh gets in the ring, slaps Nagata and tries a double leg takedown. I like Mutoh trying to distract him with the quick slap. Mutoh goes for his handspring elbow, but Nagata counters into a crippler crossface. After a rope break, Mutoh executes a dragon leg screw after catching a kick. Mutoh may have been unprepared for the ground game, but he has countering the kicks all match and finally now is ready to execute Mutoh v.2001 Strategy. However, he goes for the figure-4 too soon and gets caught in a triangle choke. Imagine Dusty putting Flair in a triangle choke that would have been awesome. They stand back up and there is a really intense struggle as Nagata is trying to kick Mutoh;s legs and Mutoh keeps trying to wrangle his knee and finally hits a dropkick to the knee. Now the standard Mutoh leg work kicks in and he applies the figure-4. They do the sequence again and again, but when Mutoh goes for the figure-4 a third time Nagata connects with a kick to head and a weak-looking heel hook. Back up, Mutoh hits a frankensteiner into a cross-armbreaker and poorly reversed into Nagata's version of the figure-4. So far, guillotine choke, crossface, triangle choke, a heel hook and now a figure-4, but everything feels so isolated and no submission holding is having any consequence on the match. Whereas, Mutoh's work has been tight, connected and he has sold well for Nagata's stuff (Mutoh sold his figure-4 better than Nagata sold his). The finish stretch was the best part of the match for me. Mutoh hit his top rope frankensteiner followed up with a moonsault. He goes for a cross-armbreaker and this time Nagata has to get to the ropes because Mutoh finally has punished him so much. Mutoh goes for the Shining Wizard in the corner, but Nagata dodges. He hits a nasty German that folds Mutoh up like an accordion and then gives him the wrist-clutch exploder; only for Mutoh to pop up and hit the Shining Wizard. The place goes fuckin' nuts for that. They were sitting on their hands for the most part until that sweet sequence. Then they exchange some of wicked shitty kicks (why was Nagata given a shoot-style gimmick). He blocks the Shining Wizard and applies the crippler crossface to win the 2001 G-1 Climax. ***1/2 Nagata came off as so reactionary in this match. Mutoh was constantly moving forward and had a clear game plan. Mutoh was going to counter the kicks and use his knee psychology to win. Nagata just countered and never followed-up. I have not watched enough Nagata, but I don't think that was inexperience on the big stage as much as it was having a style foisted on him that did not suit him. It is actually a testament to both men that this match is so great given how far outside their comfort zone this was. I enjoyed Mutoh's performance a lot. He got Nagata over as a submission specialist while still making himself look strong. I liked the flash submission stuff as first, but I was hoping it would go somewhere. Like I said above, the finish sequence was great. It is not up with Mutoh's best stuff from the year, but it does demonstrate the year Mutoh was having: winning the Champion's Carnival, Triple Crown, Runner-Up in the G-1 Climax and headlining the Dome in October. He is right up there with Akiyama as hottest commodity in puroresu in 2001.

GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama Budokan 1st Anniversary Show 07/27/01 The crowning achievement of Jun Akiyama's career as it finally seems like he is going to be the man. All of 2000 was leading to this climax where he defeats Misawa to become the GHC Champion. The aftermath would turn out differently as NOAH would reset and go with Kobashi as their big drawing ace. However, for this one night Akiyama looked like he fulfilled his potential and had become puroresu's new big star. In their last big match at the Budokan, Misawa lost to Akiyama and he comes out elbows blazing. He will not be deterred and elbows through everything. Akiyama tries to powder. Misawa keeps elbowing. Akiyama ties to take it to the mat. Misawa elbows out. Akiyama tries to go elbow for elbow well that is just preposterous. Akiyama finally kills this onslaught by dropkicking Misawa off the top rope onto the floor in a sweet bump. Akiyama drives his knee into Misawa back sending him crashing into the railing. Misawa is not the only who remembers their previous match as Akiyama goes for Misawa's neck with a tombstone piledriver and some neck submissions. All of sudden we are transported to the Greensboro Coliseum where the "Total Package" Mitsuharu Misawa no-sells "Nature Boy" Jun Akiyama's strikes in the corner and cleans his clock with some more elbows and Akiyama has some great webble-wobble, ropes holding me up sells of it. The one of the biggest stylistic differences in this match from the 02/00 match is that Misawa gets way more of his offense in this match. I don't if it is due to his age, but Misawa almost looks demonic when he slaps on the front facelock the way his eye-brows are arched. Misawa gets his trademark diving elbow to the floor after doing a rana out of a powerbomb and a butterfly suplex after he cant get his Tiger Driver. Then out of nowhere Akiyama applies a crossface. Here come the fireworks! Akiyama DDTs Misawa on the ramp and teases an Exploder and a German off the ramp onto the floor, but Misawa elbows him off. Similar to Misawa's fatal mistake in 2000, Akiyama dodges an elbow from the ramp and drives him to floor. He capitalizes on this mistake with an Exploder on the floor and in the ring. Then in a perplexing move, Akiyama goes to the top? They tease a superplex until you realize that they are actually going to do a SUPER TIGER DRIVER~! It did not look as great as it possibly could have, but the audience and announcers all collectively lost their shit. Misawa sells his own damage thus it takes him too long to cover. Misawa follows up with the Roaring Elbow and a Tiger Driver both getting two. Hence he looks to finish off Akiyama and hit the Emerald Flowsion, but Akiyama wriggles free to hit two Exploders to level the playing field. They are both in their respective corners and charge at each other, but it is Akiyama's high knee that finds the mark. The end is nigh for Misawa. The brainbuster and choke fail to polish off Misawa, but the combination of an Exploder and a Wrist-Clutch Exploder ultimately finish Misawa and Akiyama wins his first major singles title. Unlike the first match, Akiyama feels like he is overcoming Misawa's onslaught of elbows and bombs. In the first match, he builds a huge lead and needs to weather the inevitable comeback. In this performance, he proved he does not have to be a front runner and he has big time comeback ability. I loved Misawa's presence in this. He was not going to lose to Akiyama again and just elbowed through everything. He would not be denied. The problem was that when he tried something high-risk it paid off with him crashing and burning (yes he pulled off the SUPER TIGER DRIVER~!, but more often than not he ate concrete). Eventually, it came down who was quicker at pulling the trigger Akiyama's knee or Misawa's elbow and the younger Akiyama won that battle and ultimately the match. My major issue with this match was the transitions were pretty lame and did not weave a complete story. The Akiyama crossface and the SUPER TIGER DRIVER~! were poorly set up from an in-ring action perspective. I don't think they made the most of their big spots. Nothing seemed to have any consequence until about 2 minutes to go. I liked the story, but I thought the plot devices could have been better combined to deliver a more complete match. ****

Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - All Japan 6/30/01 So what happened to this Araya guy? It sure as hell felt like a star-making performance for him in a way that he had not succeeded yet with Satoshi Kojima (he was already a relatively big star from New Japan) and Taiyo Kea. I had never heard of Araya so I read that he was a WAR stalwart before coming in post-split All Japan. Post-split All Japan is a combination of Mutoh & his crew and Tenryu & his crew since Mutoh became the president it is not surprising that Araya did not go further based on this information. Fuchi and Araya started off with a pretty good mat exchange, which Fuchi seems to get the better of this. Araya backs Fuchi into his corner. I just watched the New Japan tag match with Kawada and Fuchi on the same team and actually got confused when Kawada and Fuchi were squaring off. The double writslock is a favorite these four. Kawada and Tenryu squared off to a big reaction with some chops and kicks thrown. Araya comes in and promptly gets punched in the head. Araya is bleeding. Tenryu big chop to him on the outside. Fuchi works the cut with closed fists. Tenryu comes in and just keeps punching him in the head even though Araya tries firing up. Araya is finally able to get Kawada for a not so hot tag seemed too early for me. Kawada comes in and heads are gonna roll. Kawada spinning heel kick to Tenryu and big boot to Fuchi. Fuchi punches Kawada in the head and you get that great Kawada sell. Kawada takes an enziguiri whilst in the corner with that great selling. Kawada punches Tenryu in the neck to tag in Araya. Araya and Tenryu just go at it and in a great vicious segment. Tenryu wins and Fuchi kicks him in. I am just loving these old bastards beating the piss out of this plucky undercarder and while Kawada is trying to clean up. Fuchi hits him with two back drop drivers and Tenryu hits with the running chop in the corner. Araya finally bowls Tenryu over and hot tag to Kawada. Kawada kicks Tenryu's head off, but Tenryu punches him in the head. Tenryu enziguri gets Fuchi in, but Kawada jumping kick blocks Fuchi's German. Araya is just killing everything. Araya urnage on Fuchi and goes for moonsault. Fuchi dumps Araya off the top. Kawada kicks Fuchi's head off and Araya wins with the moonsault. Watching the match develop, I never once expected Araya to be on the winning team, never mind getting the pinfall. I am a sucker for Japanese veterans torturing undercarders. I thought the blood added a lot to this. I loved how Araya was not somebody to take this lying down and just kept coming. I will say what keeps this from being an all-time classic is because the could have really added a lot more drama to at least one of those face in peril segments. I thought Kawada had some great moments in this, but the match was all about Araya versus the cocky Fuchi and the ornery Tenryu. It is a shame they never really capitalized on this. ****1/4

All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01 Slow and steady wins the race. One wrestling cliche that I feel is misappropriated for many wrestlers is "no wasted motion". In this match, there was no wasted motion. Every single move mattered, was milked and was given time to breathe. At one point, I popped for a dropkick to the knee like it was a frigging Burning Hammer. That is pro wrestling. On the surface, this match is about Mutoh's hyper-focused strategy: the knee, the knee, the knee and Tenryu's consequent retaliation. However, perhaps buried in this match is Tenryu's masterful performance working underneath and selling Shining Wizard from the first minute of the match to the transition to finish. That is pro wrestling. Mutoh comes out all guns blazing and is looking to end it early. Tenryu, off-guard, catches Mutoh's foot who uses it as a step stool to hit a Shining Wizard. He hits his backbreaker, but Tenryu powders before the impending moonsault. The headshot Tenryu suffers prevents him from mounting pretty much any offense in the first ten minutes of the match. When Tenryu is able to string together three moves punctuated with a powerbomb, Mutoh hits a kappo kick to the head sending him reeling to the outside. Mutoh follows up with a plancha and his knees strike Tenryu's head. When Tenryu is climbing back into the ring, Mutoh pounces at the opportunity with two dropkicks to the knee. A desperate Tenryu hits a brainbuster on the apron and a diving elbow through the middle ropes. That is the price you pay for the All Japan Triple Crown. Unfortunately, It is too little too late as Mutoh grabs his leg and dragon leg screws him off the apron and immediately hits a dropkcik from the apron to the knee. Tenryu does his best to try avoid Mutoh's relentless onslaught on the knees, but ends up in the figure-4. After a rope break, Tenryu lands a punch, then a dragon leg screw and then the Ultimate FUCK YOU Dropkick to the knee. I have never popped so hard for a dropkick to the knee. After all the NOAH matches with their constant strike exchanges, we get a shot basement dropkick exchange, which is bitchin'. Tenryu wins with a dragon leg screw and he get his own figure-4. He applies a Texas Cloverleaf, but his knee gives out. Tenryu, feeling in control now, is comfortable to start hitting his big bombs to put away Mutoh. SPIDER GERMAN~! and falling reverse elbow (a combo someone has to crib) get two. Mutoh gets his hope spot with an out of nowhere Frankensteiner. Tenryu blocks the follow-up Shining Wizard. He hits a brainbuster for two. Frustrated, he hits a top rope Frankensteiner for two. He goes back to the well one more time with the brainbuster and eats a knee to the head. He just collapses calling back to the initial Shining Wizard at the outset of the match. They square off once more, but Mutoh hits a bicycle kick and you can feel the end is nigh for Mr. Puroresu. Mutoh hits two Shining Wizards, but neither puts him down for three. Mutoh hits his trademark backbreaker/Moonsault combo to win the Triple Crown and become only the third wrestler to have won both the IWGP Heavyweigh Title and Triple Crown title (Vader and Genichiro Tenryu are the other two who preceded him). ****3/4 (I am not a huge fan of star ratings, but I need something to keep track of all these matches. With that said, I could see me giving this five stars) Mutoh and Tenryu delivered near perfect individual performances that intertwined to deliver one of the best matches I have seen from 00s Puroresu. Tenryu gave one of the best resilient, sympathetic underneath performances ever. Mutoh was on point with every transition making sense, his strategy was worked to a tee, and he sold well. The whole match Tenryu was hitting home run shots because Mutoh got him off-balance early and even though he recovered by giving Mutoh a taste of his own medicine. Mutoh was able to hit him in the head twice to finally set up for the finish stretch and still Tenryu did not go down without taking 2 Shining Wizards and a moonsault. The only criticism (you have to nitpick when you are trying to determine the best match of the decade) is that it is worked on the slow-side with lots of downtime. I can see other NOAH matches when put together as well as this plus the pace they work edging this out. I think this is a definite MOTDC.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - All Japan 06/06/01 The last time I saw a Kojima match was about 6 years ago. I didn't like him then and I don't really care for him now. I will get the Devil his due in these upcoming matches he was over like rover. I would say he was more popular than Kawada and Tenryu with the audiences. From my understanding, he is even a spottier version of Mutoh and the number one Mutoh disciple following him from New Japan to All Japan and using a lot of 21st century Mutoh tactics. Also he fuckin loves the Ace Crusher. The beginning of this match was by far the best part. You have Kawada shaking off a tie-up and going into hamstring stretches. Basically, saying this kid is his light work before the big 06/08 Budokan card. Kojima, feeling disrespected, gives him some fuck up flip splashes and then mocks him and does his own hamstring stretches. I really liked that tit for tat interaction. The crowd hot for Kojima loved that he showed up Kawada there. Kojima catches one of Kawada's kick with a drag leg screw and then does his best Mutoh impression with dropkicks to the knee and a figure-4. So far, so good, so what because Kawada decides to basically drop the entire match and restart. One of my favorite things in wrestling is Kawada selling the knee and I was bummed that once he went back on offense he just no-sold it. We are talking running big boot and a knee drop. It also kinda made Kojima look like a chump. Of course, when Kojima dropkicks Kawada in the face Kawada sells it like he has really been hurt. So it is all the more frustrating because he is game in some points of the match and others he will just get his shit in. After this, it loses structure and basically becomes your standard 21st century bomb throwing match, but without the high-end NOAH offense. Kawada hits a pretty wicked back drop driver. Kojima follows up with a desperation Ace Crusher and then one off the middle rope that looked like shit. The lariat exchange was pretty decent. Kawada kicked Kojima's lariat arm -> Kawada could not take him down with lariats -> Kojima lariats Kawada's lariat arm and murders him with a lariat. This gets the biggest pop of the match. If I am the booker, I don't care Kojima can't work because he is over. Push this man. Kawada kicks lariat arm again. Kojima eats a wicked back drop driver, powerbomb and an enziguiri to lose. I thought Kawada's defensive performance (bumping and selling) in this was woeful. I am very disappointed by his work in this match. Kojima was ok. He could be carried to a great match, but this would not be the match. This match was pretty much a mess and lost its way after the knee work. **3/4

Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01 I have seen their Triple Crown Match from 2002 and remember liking that even though it did not make the voting list. So I was pretty excited to see this and this did not disappoint. The one thing you can expect from Mutoh is you will not get a lot of those macho pissing contests that can dominate heavyweight puroresu in the 2000s. This is wrestled more in the vein of traditional Strong Style. Kawada was definitely the best suited of the King's Road guys to perform in NJPW as he can hold his own on the mat. They jockey for some holds with Muto having a slight edge. The story early seems to be Mutoh knowing he can't out-strike or out-power Kawada so he tries to leverage his ground game into an opening. However, he is unable to avoid the DANGEROUS~! kicks from Kawada, which are all targeted at Mutoh's head and neck. On second watch, I realized that this control segment went on for 10 minutes where Mutoh just got his ass handed to him. I actually appreciated this segment more on how well Kawada worked this and did not get off track. Muto did his best selling in this segment really forcing you to observe how concentrated Kawada was on damaging his neck. Kawada even mocked Muta a bit with his run down the ramp doing a Kawada Kick to Muta's head. Even though, Kawada was in control of a lengthy time, Mutoh still made it feel like a struggle by mixing in a tasteful amount of hope spots. Kawada was able to hit the powerbomb on his second attempt, but Mutoh kicked and rolled to outside. Tired of getting his ass kicked, he grabs a chair from a fan, but ref stops him from bringing it in and the fans applaud (well that is different from America). Mutoh blocks the enziguiri and wastes no time capitalizing with dropkicks to the knee and arm. You have credit Muto getting over dropkicks as a legitimate setup move. Muto is nullifying Kawada's biggest weapon while at the same time putting himself into a position to win by submission. There is nothing Muto really does better than Kawada and he knows that, but if he can take away Kawada's legs then he can win the match. Kawada blows Mutoh out of the water with his selling throughout the home stretch. For whatever reason, Kawada was just fucking on in this match as he is making Mutoh's offense look like a million bucks. The dragon leg screws and figure-4 look devastating while Mutoh seems focused just on doing his offense. Kawada gets the stretch plum going back to the head/neck, but misses a knee drop (OW!). Muto wastes no time again, but this time all the dropkicks are focused on the arm. They trade cross-armbreakers, but once again Kawada outshines Mutoh in the selling. Kawada with a relentless flurry on lariats before Mutoh blocks them. Mutoh wrenches his leg with another dragon leg screw. His Shining Wizards more like they are pushing Kawada over rather nailing him with a high velocity impact, but to his credit Kawada does his best loopy sell of them. ****1/4 It is a little bit slow to start and there are some times in the Kawada control that lose their place a bit. However, once Mutoh hits his first dropkick this match goes to another level with one of Kawada's best individual performances. While Mutoh could have been better at selling and really putting some energy into his offensive strategy was excellent. I prefer this sort of straightforward wrestling match to macho pissing contest matches. So I have it behind only Tenryu/Sasaki so far.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - GHC Heavyweight Title Tournament Final 04/15/01 NOAH has existed since August of '00 based on a hot Kobashi/Akiyama feud, but eventually they would need a champion of their own. We see trusty Misawa pitted against the best native heel in Japan in the early '00s, Takayama. Misawa delivers a quintessential Misawa performance pretty much getting his ass kicked for 20 minutes before making his comeback with his elbows to fell the giant. In watching Misawa vs Takayama and Kobashi vs Takayama matches so close together, I believe the reason why Kobashi delivered better matches with Takayama is because he is more of a prototypical face (histrionics, fire and selling). Whereas, Misawa excels better at the nominally face vs face matches, but Doc, Taue or Kawada plays a more subtle heel where Takayama plays a more overt heel. Thus the more overt babyface Kobashi seems to have more classic matches. I am not saying this is a bad match, but I don't think it was anywhere near the '00 Kobashi match because Misawa's stoicism limited him against Takayama. Takayama has such a great aura about him with the bleach blond hair and just how he carries himself. He feels like a big star. We get a slow start on the mat and it seems like Takayama gets the better of it at first and does his arrogant cover. Misawa elbows him out and hits his diving elbow. Misawa goes to his top rope diving elbow, but Takayama catches him with a knee lift and thus triggers the heat segment. They do a bit where Takayama is willing to take a countout or knockout victory to win the title instead of pinfall or submission. Misawa attempts to use the elbows as an equalizer, but ends up on the ramp where he eats a back drop and a huge knee to face back into the ring. That was a wicked, out of control knee. Takayama begins to trash talk Misawa and that incites a flurry of elbows from Misawa and a leg lace. Takayama cuts this off with a knee lift, but it is the wrong knee and he sells it! However, he gets a big boot and a roundhouse kick that totally puts CM Punk's to shame. Takayama looks to polish him off with two Everest German Suplexes but this is Misawa baby! The match picks up when Takayama kicks Misawa so hard in the neck that blood just starts pouring out of Misawa's neck/ear region. It is a nasty visual. Misawa is pissed and hits his double elbow connection that always looks brutal. Misawa decides he is going to attack the arm with some takedowns, which really went nowhere in the long run. Takayama hit a powerbomb out of a triangle choke which is always a cool visual. Misawa hits his Tiger Driver for 2 and we know that we are in the middle of Misawa's finish stretch, Takayama one-ups him with a release Tiger suplex but still only gets two. We get our first slugfest and it pits Takayama's big boot against Misawa's elbow. Is there anything more powerful than Misawa's elbow? Misawa hits this absolutely wicked elbow connection (the spinning back elbow was beyond sick) and then polishes him off with Emerald Flowsion. The '01 match featured more of a Misawa beatdown, but a more compact Misawa comeback. The arm work at the end seemed so strange. It did not add anything. I am not saying Misawa has to hit all his moves in every match, but this felt like a mid-90s Savage match where he just takes heat the whole match and hits three moves to win. The '02 match has more of a struggle to it, but they run out of gas towards the finish. This one starts slow, but gets to a pretty satisfying conclusion. If forced to choose I would say the '02 match, but they are in same class of match. ***3/4

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Takehiro Murahama - NJPW 4/20/01 This match did not disappoint given my high expectations after seeing them square off in the December trios match between New Japan and Osaka Pro. I was very excited when I found out they had a match nominated for this project. The way this match builds is really why it stands out as one of the better matches I have seen so far. It begins fast and furious with each man trying to find a hold that will weaken the other man. It is not mindless grappling. It really feels like they are looking to pick something a leg, arm, anything they can get their hands on and then wrench it. Murahama went for the cross armbreaker early but Minoru powerbombed out of it. From there, they just ramped up their intensity on the mat. Minoru is able to pop off a quick back drop driver, but Murahama powders before he can press his advantage. Murahama comes in and hits a huge flash kick to the head, which was treated like a KO shot and got a big reaction, but only got two. I like how everything is so quick in this match. Blink and you miss something crucial. Murahama works over the arm and then applies the cross armbreaker this was the best presentation of the cross armbreaker I have ever seen. From the announcer, to the crowd to Minoru's wriggling and selling, it felt so frantic and I could actually feel myself becoming anxious given the confluences of all these reactions. Minoru makes the ropes and powders. So Murahama dives on top of him. Sweet! Great way to press the advantage and have a nice highspot. Now Muraham goes for the crossface chickenwing, but never quite gets his fingers locked and there is such a great struggle here. Murahama coming off the ropes eats a dropkick to the knee and crowd pops because they know the heel hook is coming. Minoru keeps pulling Murahama back on the heel hook, but cant wrangle the submission. I liked how they whiff on big kicks. It was very believable how they absorbed a kick and kept going on. I have seen enough MMA to know that not every kick or punch to the head is a knockout shot. Minoru finally catches Murahama with a kick to the head and heads to the top. Murahama follows and there is a great struggle atop the turnbuckle with Minoru throwing headbutts that actually bust himself open. Eventually, Minoru hits a missile dropkick and when he fires up you see the blood covering the right side of his face. What a war! Huge release German and a kick only get two. Minoru wastes no time and applies the cross armbreaker for the finish. This was a great blend of the en vogue MMA-styles at the time. Even the typical pro wrestling spots like the dive to outside or missile dropkick made total sense in the scheme of the match. Everything in this match was so quick they were looking for a flash KO or flash submission, but still everything built. I loved the frenetic feel during that cross-armbreaker attempt by Murahama just so perfectly executed. The finish stretch was great at putting over Minoru's fighting spirit and of course his deadly cross armbreaker. ****1/4

Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata - Zero-One 3/2/01 The decentralization of puroresu continues as the disenchanted Hashimoto forms his own promotion known as Zero-One (started in the year 2001) and brings in three of the biggest stars of puroresu for his debut show. It is the fastest rising stars in New Japan and NOAH on either side and of course the main attraction is to see the Ace of 90s New Japan mix it up with the Ace of 90s All Japan. I did not expect such a snoozefest of a match. Everything felt so tepid until the end. The match did make Hashimoto look like an absolute monster, but other than that it was pretty uneventful. Nagata is just not a very good submission wrestler, which is a problem since that is his gimmick at this point. Akiyama does his best to make it interesting by heeling it up and taunting Hashimoto. After Nagata catches him with a German, Misawa says "Kid, let me show you how it is done." and Nagata gets some kicks in before it is elbow city. Misawa gives him "Now you do something" tag. Akiyama piledrives Nagata while taunting Hashimoto. This match undercut Akiyama pretty bad, but hey at least he was a total prick during it. Nagat kicks Akiyama's leg out from under him and is going to do his Nagatalock while saluting Misawa, but thinks better of it and tags Hashimoto. Hashimoto rips through Akiyama, who bails. Akiyama thinks about it on the outside before coming back in and just being taken to the woodshed. It really feels like Akiyama was playing the same role as Nobutaka Araya in the tag match I watched earlier. Akiyama is not Araya. Hashimoto overhand chop is pretty sweet and he looks like a beast. Finally, we get Misawa vs. Hashimoto. Misawa hits a spinning back elbow up against the ropes. Hash with a huge overhand chop sends Misawa to his knees and then floors him with a kick to the chest. Then tags Nagata. Awww is that it? Tease. Nagata applies a shitty armbar and then a crossface. Misawa can't be bothered with this shit and just elbows out of it and tags Akiyama. Take care of my light work, Akiyama. They trade exploders, you know it was coming. Akiyama applies a crossface. Akiyama goes for another, but Nagata drops down into guillotine choke. I liked the symmetry of that. Here comes Hash to murderize Akiyama, but Ak cuts him off with a high knee. Atta boy! He puts his foot on his throat and makes the ref count. Glorious. Misawa goes for the Tiger Driver, but Nagata interferes. Hashimoto disposes of Misawa and tags Nagata. Misawa gets the Tiger Driver for two. On the next one he elbows Hashimoto, but it gets reversed into a triangle choke. Akiyama saves Misawa after a Nagata back drop driver with a pin. Hashimoto is in for the kill and hits a couple DDTs, but cant put Misawa away while Nagata detains Akiyama. Akiyama breaks free and slaps the shit out of Hashimoto while he is trying to suplex Misawa. This wakes up Hashimoto who now has murder in his eyes and goes to town in the corner. This allows Misawa to hit a German Suplex from behind for the win. After the match, Hashimoto makes a beeline for Akiyama and tries to kill him. Melee ensues. It was nice to see Akiyama heel it up and Misawa in a back to basics match, but it felt like nothing happened. Hashimoto would come in kick ass and then leave. Why leave? Why not just win? Misawa was not much better with Nagata either. He let Nagata hit moves, but then no sold them and just would elbow. Akiyama was at least interesting, but treated like Hashimoto's bitch. I get the appeal that it is Misawa vs. Hashimoto. It did not do anything for me. The ending was good with all of Akiyama's antics finally getting him in hot water with Hashimoto. The payoff with Misawa sneaking away with the victory was cool. I'm giving it *** because it was a decent match with a very good payoff and finish.

Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi - NOAH #4 PPV 12/23/00 The story of Akiyama's two monumental victories is focus, focus, focus. Take what it is given to you and don't let up. Weather the inevitable comeback and unleash a barrage of Exploders to win. In this match, he has three things working against him: he falls into an early hole, Kobashi's half-nelson suplex levels the playing field in the middle and then pride at the end. In the previous matches, Misawa's elbow and Kobashi's lariats and suplexes were rendered powerless by Akiyama's tenacious work. In this match, Kobashi shows tremendous fighting spirit in working through his arm injury to hit a half-nelson suplex to knock Akiyama out. Akiyama is able to recover from this, but when he had Kobashi knocked out on the outside after an Exploder instead of taking the victory he wanted the decisive victory. Thus was the great, long fall of Akiyama from the top rope onto the back of his head. Kobashi is ripshit to start the match and is lighting Akiyama up. Akiyama vacillates between retreat and standing tall with neither working. On the outside, he is able to use Kobashi's overzealousness against him ducking out of the way of a chop. He drops him across the railing and Kobashi is really selling the cheat. As a viewer, I thought this was clearly the opening Akiyama would exploit. However, Akiyama deviates and instead goes high-risk on the ramp hitting a DDT on the ramp and a running elbow (ala Mutoh). He looks to end it early with an Exploder, but Kobashi plants him with a DDT on the edge of the ramp. Akiyama deviating from the gameplan did not work out too well. Instead, Kobashi takes a page out of Akiyama's playbook and is absolutely relentless on Akiyama's neck. It really climaxes when Akiyama goes for his knee in the corner and Kobashi throws him down. Akiyama really sells that neck making you believe Kobashi had turned the tables on Akiyama. I actually believed I could buy Kobashi's headlock as the finish after the neck work and Akiyama selling and how tenacious this headlock was. In a callback to the August match, Akiyama saves himself with two desperation dropkick to Kobashi's knee. Different day, same story? Not so fast, Akiyama drops a boot on Kobashi's arm from the apron and drives his knee into Kobashi arm riding into the railing. Akiyama is looking to take away the Burning Lariat and the lethal chops of Kobashi. The following arm work is so textbook, but so well-done with Akiyama using everything available (ropes, post, railing, his own shoulder) to hit to inflict damage on the arm. Kobashi makes you believe that arm is totally useless, but just when end seems near he snaps off a sleeper suplex. Kobashi continues to sell the arm, but hits a half-nelson suplex on Akiyama that knocks him the fuck out. That is not something Akiyama had to weather in his previous victories. Kobashi is still injured, but in a lot of ways the entire playing field had been levelled. Kobashi, ever the sportsman, stops the ref's count and drags Akiyama back into the ring. Kobashi still sells the arm doing moves like the powerbomb and the lariat. You believe it is arm that is allowing Akiyama to kick out because those moves don't have their usual power behind them. Kobashi goes for a move that does not use the arm: the moonsault. However, Akiyama gets up to powerbomb him off the top rope. It is even stevens. It really feels like it is a tied ball game going into sudden death overtime at this point. Akiyama goes for the kill with the exploder on the apron, but they both jump off the apron. Akiyama is able to hit an Exploder on the exposed concrete and he is fuckin out. Now, Akiyama stops the ref's count to drag Kobashi back into the ring. In Akiyama's mind, a pinfall the ring must mean effacing all doubts and securing his place in the Sun. He hits a double-arm DDT, a diving elbow to the back of Kobashi's head and then a exploder, but only gets two. Akiyama goes for his choke, but they get wrapped up in the ropes. There is a great struggle over the wrist-clutch exploder where you actually feel bad that Kobashi is about to be hit with this move. Then Kobashi kicks out! So Akiyama figures the only thing more he can do is hit the Exploder off of a higher place. Kobashi still has enough struggle in him to send Akiyama crashing onto the back of his head. Kobashi just collapses onto the mat in a great visual. Kobashi hits three lariats, but he knows what he must do. Akiyama puts up a perfunctory struggle before the inevitable BURNING HAMMER~! Both men shake hands and all is right in the Kingdom of NOAH. At 35+ minutes, this match continues the lineage of dramatic, epic Kings Road matches. I loved the symmetry of both men having the other knocked out at different points, but wanting to finish it in the ring. I liked the callbacks to their previous encounters. I do think this match is a little overly self-indulgent and could have benefited from trimming. There is plenty of gratuitous suplexes and such that left off because I did not want to write a novel about this match and because I thought they were insignificant. I am strong believer moves like that should not be. In the February 2000 classic with Misawa, there were no wasted moves. Still, it showcased Akiyama and Kobashi at their finest with Akiyama working the arm over and Kobashi fighting through it. There is no slight in not being as good as that Misawa/Akiyama 2000 match. It was a great, great blowoff match and excellent example of both men's resumes. ****1/2

Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - New Japan PPV 12/14/00 New Japan vs All Japan delivers another classic in this tag match pitting the 2000 G-1 Tag League Winners against the All Japan stalwarts. Nagata & Iizuka come out with Sasaki and Liger immediately this match has a big fight feel. At first, Fuchi cowers away from the younger, Iizuka using the ropes to his advantage. I have never seen Iizuka match and just know him as the dude that the Steiners took liberties with at Wrestlewar '92. He has a predilection for the sleeper. Nagata tags in and brings the fight to Fuchi, who tags out to Kawada. Kawada and Nagata duke it out on the mat in a very gritty exchange. Kawada, cocky as ever, goes for hamstring stretches so Nagata kicks him in the face. The ref admonishes Nagata allowing Kawada to retaliate with a kick to the face of his own. We leave this exchange feeling both are equals. Fuchi mans up and hits a kneecrusher on Iizuka and transformed into the cockiest bastard ever. He lays Iizuka on the middle turnbuckles where he stands on Iizuka's neck and legs. Kawada puts him in a half-crab, which in typical Kawada fashion involves him stepping in his head and nearly breaking him in half. Fuchi gets in on the action by standing on Iizuka's head with the look that says "What the fuck are you going to do about it, Nagata?" Fuchi puts Iizuka in the half-crab so Nagata lights him up. This gives Kawada the chance to floor him with a jumping kick. So now Kawada and Fuchi take turns beating the shit out of Nagata on the floor while the other keeps Iizuka at bay. That's fuckin bitchin' tag wrestling. The crowd is behind Iizuka and I love how you see Sasaki urging Nagata on while he is fallen in the corner. Nagata tries to interfere, but just collapses. You really get the feeling what is one the line here. It is New Japan versus All Japan and New Japan lost the first battle when Kawada beat their champion. Iizuka is able to hit a suplex on Fuchi and he grabs a sleeper on him. Kawada breaks it up, but Fuchi falls outside the ring. While Kawada is checking on Fuchi, Iizuka tags Nagata. I loved that sequence so much. Kawada knows he is in enemy territory and cant afford to lose Fuchi. Nagata tells Kawada to bring it, don't sing it. Kawada hits a big boot and lariat for two. Kawada goes for the back drop driver, but Nagata gets some jumping high kicks to rock him. Kawada is just masterful at selling these. Nagata gets a German, but Kawada hits his spinning heel kick. Kawada hits the back drop driver, but only gets two. Liger cheers the kick out. This is such a cool atmosphere. Kawada applies the stretch plum and the crowd seems very nervous that All Japan will go over again. Kawada with a boot to Iizuka and goes for the powerbomb, but Nagata blocks and kicks Kawada's knee, an eye for an eye. Nagata applies the Nagatalock. Fuchi, remember that badass mutha, staggers in and breaks it up. However, both the All Japan boys end up in leg submissions. Kawada punches Iizuka in the head to make the ropes. When Fuchi is released, he collapses in the corner looking for a tag even though his not legal and Kawada is not there. I need to watch more Fuchi because after being the cockiest bastard ever he is selling like a million bucks. Not to be outdone, Kawada keeps collapsing on German suplex attempts before doing a jumping kick out of it. Kawada tags the limping Fuchi. Fuchi dropkicks Iizuka's knee hoping to regain that advantage. He hits two back drop drivers on Iizuka. Fuchi grabs his own sleeper on Iizuka to give him a taste of his own medicine. Kawada stretch plum on Nagata and Fuchi switches to stretch plum. I love mirror spots! I don't know Japanese, but it sounds like the time calls are getting closer together. Iizuka and Fuchi knock heads on a criss cross exchange. One last Kawada/Nagata exchange and they rip into each other with vicious face slaps. Nagata ends up gets the better of it and applies a cross-armbreaker. Fuchi stands on Nagata's head to break it up as the time limit expires. WHAT A WAR! First, my new dream team is Masa Fuchi and Tony Atlas. Whenever, Atlas played FIP they could have had Fuchi walk on him to revitalize him. smile.gif Seriously, this was a fantastic that used everybody to their best potential. They highlighted the Kawada/Nagata showdowns in such a way they came off as a big deal, but without feeling like we did not see any action. Fuchi's work in this was excellent and I really need to watch more of his stuff. I loved the Iizuka FIP, which actually became a double FIP where both Iizuka and Nagata were in peril. That was some really ingenious booking. It is the type of stuff you only get to see in puro tags. The finish was great with Kawada and Nagata trading stuff in a logical, violent fashion. I loved Fuchi's and Kawada's selling at the end. It really took the match to whole new level. The ending with Nagata and Kawada slapping the fuck each other in a race against the clock was so dramatic. It just had to end as a draw. ****1/2

New Japan (Jushin Liger, Minoru Tanaka, Shinya Makabe) vs Osaka Pro (Super Delfin, Takehiro Murhama, Tsubasa) - NJ PPV 12/14/00 On the same show where All Japan invaded and had a classic, Osaka Pro invades to take on the best of New Japan's juniors division. Liger is rocking the EVIL~! all black outfit again and is ready to best some Osaka pro ass. Super Delfin has crew dressed up as ridiculously as usually as they are in matching rainbow outfits. I could not really get into this match. It was not a bad match. It was a match that was just there. I did not think it had that much heat, which is strange because it had an awfully chippy start. My interest piqued at the prospect of a Minoru/Murahama shoot-style match that was teased at the beginning. There were some nice spots, but I did not think it built too much. I liked the symmetry where Tsubasa showed off with some gymnastics after sending Liger to the floor so when Minoru clears the ring he does the same as an FU to the Osaka team. Minoru plays FIP early taking a Hart Attack dropkick-style and then being put in a Boston Crab. Murahama plays a great watchdog while this is going on. In the spot of the match, Minoru jumps over an Osaka guy, ducks under an Osaka leapfrog only to run into a Murahama palm strike. Minoru creates separation (Vintage Cole!) with a dropkick and tags Liger. Tilt-a-whirl backbreakers for everyone, but whiffs on a palm strike. The dive train onto Liger was my second favorite spot. Murahama works over Liger's arm, but he able to hit a desperation powerbomb and tag out to Makabe because he is too injured to follow up. Is Delfin mocking Liger by using the palm strike or is that one of his moves? I did not care for Tsubasa offense late in this match felt bush league and weak. The finish sees Minoru dropkick Tsubasa as he comes off the top to give Minoru command of the match. He hits a missile dropkick to the back of the head and a Northern Lights, but broken up by Delfin. Liger detains Delfin and Minoru hits another Northern Lights and gets the submission with his cross armbreaker. The massive push of Minoru Tanaka continues and I would say he was the star of the match. I am excited that him and Murahama ended up having a match in 2001. It is a serviceable match, but nothing to write home about. ***

Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00 This is probably the closest classic father vs son match we will ever get to see (sorry, David Flair). A lot of time has passed since Tenryu left in 1990 leaving Kawada leaderless in his war against Jumbo Tsuruta. Yet both men are in their classic yellow and black outfits ready to wage over the vacant Triple Crown. Kawada reminds me very much of myself in my teen years when I would play my father in tennis. I never just wanted to win. I had to win the "right" way by out-muscling him with raw power. Kawada just keeps coming at Tenryu with strike after strike looking to bludgeon his father-figure into submission. My father much like Tenryu was a lot wiser and was going to take his time let me make mistakes and find ways to win. Tenryu and my dad both hit hard back. Kawada and I both learned the hard way that tunnel vision is the enemy of success. This starts off a lot more tentative than Tenryu and Sasaki as there is a great amount of respect between these two veterans. Eventually fires off the first salvo, a series of three wicked kicks to Tenryu back. Tenryu shakes it off and unphased just looks at Kawada as if to say, "Is that all you got, little man?". In that moment, I finally got Tenryu. Ditch says above "radiates contempt", I really saw it in that moment and everything about Tenryu really clicked for me. Tenryu retaliates with a kick to back and Kawada immediately gets up and starts kicking the back of his leg in an awesome spot. Then begins the macho posturing that just works in this match. Each man takes the other's best shot. Kawada fells Tenryu with a high kick so now from the ground Tenryu kicks the back of Kawada's leg so he responds with a knee drop. Tenryu rolls outside bested by his protege. Tenryu begins firing off a closed fist and Kawada does that excellent almost fall on his ass sell. Tenryu is looking for alternate avenues already, but Kawada just keeps coming with his kicks. So then Tenryu gets a hold of that leg and just wrenches it in a dragon leg screw. Tenryu is working smart progressing from a strike battle to the ground game where he does a great job working over Kawada's legs with a variety of holds like the Figure-4 and Sharpshooter. They then do an even better struggle over the vertical suplex than in Sasaki match. This is where the match goes off the tracks for me a bit. You have Tenryu using the fist to control and work over the legs as a neat story and natural progress from the macho posturing early. But here Kawada blows off all the leg work and just fires off kicks with both legs. The King of Leg Selling pulling that shit was weird. I felt it hurt the progression of the match. I don't mind that Kawada goes back to all the strikes because that makes sense. Kawada has tunnel vision. He never content with just winning he has to win a certain way. In this match, it is clear he is going to win by bludgeoning Tenryu with strikes. He does that and Tenryu absorbs them and hits a lariat and immediately goes for a pin. Tenryu does not give a fuck how he wins. He just wants to win. Tenryu now with his standard offense: enziguri and falling elbow, but not enough. After being with that damn closed fist for 18 minutes, Kawada gives him a Fuck You! Closed Fist. They really built that up well as Tenryu sold that incredible. Finally, Kawada looks for a win with a Stretch Plum. In 2000, nobody thought the Stretch Plum would finish a match, but you feel that Kawada offense is progressing towards a victory rather than annihilating his opponent. Kawada attempts his powerbomb hitting a wicked Kappo Kick in between two attempts. Tenryu back body drops him and hits a lariat and goes right for the pin. Again, Tenryu is looking for a victory. Tenryu attempts his powerbomb and hits a Kappo Kick of his own to set his up, father like son! Tenryu powerbomb only gets 2. Now we hit the home stretch, Kawada rattles off two back drop drivers in quick succession. Tenryu attempts to get up but stumbles out of the ring wiping out the camera man. As he gets back on the apron, Kawada kicks him fucking flush in the face and bloodies his nose. That looked wicked. Kawada on the outside whips him in the railing and kicks him over the railing. Back inside, Kawada is not pressing his advantage instead futzes around with more strikes. He cracks off his own enziguri, but Tenryu hits a clothesline immediately. The All Japan delayed selling is a bit annoying. Tenryu on the next exchange catches with a right to the back of the head that knocks Kawada out cold. He hits a Northern Lights Bomb for his first Triple Crown since 1989. I thought Kawada's performance offensively was very genius. He told a coherent story he was going to win in a very precise manner and he never backed down from that. I really didn't like that he blew off the leg selling. Tenryu was excellent in this as the father who still has gas in the tank, who can absorb a ton of punishment and still dish it out. I would have liked his leg heat segment go even longer and then having the Fuck You! Closed Fist transition back into Kawada's offense. I feel like they did the strike exchanges a little too often. Kawada smashing Tenryu's face in really added a lot to this match putting over his strategy and Tenryu's ability to absorb his best shot. I think the booking was smart as it gave All Japan two top dogs instead of one when they would have been ultra-thin. I liked the Sasaki match a lot for its progression and I would say these two were about even. I am probably in the minority for thinking that, but I think there is a lot these two could have done to improve the match. I hate to sound so negative because this match is ridiculously good and a MOTYC for 2000. When you are ranking the best matches of the entire decade, I believe an extra fine analysis warranted. I would say without a doubt if you want to understand why Tenryu is a GOATC then watch these two matches. ****

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokoyo Dome Non-Title Even though All Japan was gutted by the formation of NOAH. The fact All Japan retained Toshiaki Kawada was enough to make the New Japan vs All Japan feel like a big deal at this October Tokyo Dome show. One thing that I picked up on rewatch was that crowd actually threw shit at Kawada during his entrance. It was that sort of visceral reaction that really sets the tone for this match. It is not about titles. It is about pride. The two biggest puroresu companies finally clashing. This is the match that should be about egos, machismo, bravado, and posturing. That what it delivers in spades a spectacle of two surrogates fighting the battle for Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba trying to win honor and glory not just for themselves but their promotion and in a lot ways their family. This match reflects that. It is not a championship match with respect. It is not violent hate-filled brawl. It is two men taking each other's best shot and seeing who stands last. With all the moving pieces, Mutoh to All Japan, Hashimoto's Zero-One and Sasaki & Kawada as freelancers we see a lot of these matches because this is how Dream Matches are performed in Japan. It is not Gaijin vs Native. It is not veteran Native vs young lion. It is two superstars clashing and it is a style that leaves a lot to be desired. It can come off as more of a ritual than a match sometimes. It is like a game of bloody kunckles, you are trying to outlast your opponent and win in a very specific fashion. It is not logical because rituals are not logical. It comes off like the old practice of dueling. It is how a man wins honor. The match starts off with a hotly contested lock-up. Steve Austin just got finished telling me a shitty lockup is a great way to start off a shitty match. Well if the converse is true then this match is going to rock. Sasaki lands an early cheapshot with a closed fist to Kawada's head, who does that perfect jelly leg sell. He asks the ref "Did he just do that?". I absolutely love next segment as they try to grapple each other in gritty and sloppy fashion. It feels like a real fight two warriors jockeying for position. Then they kick it into the part of the match I expected. They just start chopping and slapping the shit out of each other. Kawada stands in front and literally dares him to hit him. These were monstrous chops dangerously close to the throat. Kawada ends the ritual with a closed fist, the ultimate cheap shot in Japan. This begins the Kawada heat segment, which is actually pretty restrained. He hits Sasaki hard, but there is a level of arrogance to it that Kawada is very good at projecting. Kawada fails to put him away with a back drop driver (the only head drop of the match), enziguiri or the stretch plum. This is the best selling I have seen so far from this era as they are really putting over the toll of the moves by the space between the stretch plum and this powerbomb attempt. He gets back dropped out of his powerbomb attempt. He misses a kick and Sasaki evens the match with a wicked clothesline. Sasaki begins his babyface comeback that does not feel that energetic, but more like his own heat segment. He does that weird armdrag thing I saw him do against Tenryu. Lariat only gets two. He puts Kawada in the Scorpion Deathlock twice, but can not render a submission. What may make it feel like a heat segment is that Sasaki is really selling his exhaustion and thus is not moving as fast during his comeback as you normally would see a babyface. Sasaki breaks the second Scorpion out of sheer exhaustion. That is really tremendous. Sasaki just lying face down while the ref taps him is a great visual. They go back to the bread and butter. They just start hitting lariats on each other. Each on are on jelly legs, Kawada does this great sell where he kind of stumbles and then gets hit. It is not logical, but it is a display of honor. Sasaki crushes him with a lariat the plum of sweat off Kawada is impressive. All Japan delayed sell allows Kawada to get a big boot rendering it even once again. Double clothesline. Sasaki gains an advantage, but in his exhaustion collapses on a simple suplex attempt. Kawada takes advantage with repeated enziguiris that rock Sasaki, now Sasaki channeling Misawa swats Kawada with a lariat to the leg. As he revs up, the New Japan crowd begins to cheer and Sasaki runs straight into Kawada's enziguiri and just like that Kawada is victorious. This is an amazing war of attrition that took me three times to get. The first time, I actually thought match was abrupt. I was not paying attention to the selling at all. I was just watching the striking and thought it was weird there were no suplexes. The second time, I thought it was underwhelming because I could not piece together the transitions and once again not to the selling. Sometimes, I get stuck in this offensive mindset. Now, I see the War of Attrition. It is not abrupt at all; the match could have ended five minutes earlier. This was a war and they were selling it that way. The battle for honor not just for yourself but for your company and how they wove that through. To me, this is your ultimate "Can I take your best shot match?". There is no weakening of a body part to avoid your opponent's best shot. In fact, they welcome his best shot. It is not smart wrestling. It is really fucking stupid wrestling. But then again Pride is a really fucking stupid thing. ****1/2

IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs Jushin Liger & Shinya Makabe - New Japan 9/12/00 Not to be outdone by the previous Junior Tag Title Defense this also had a great closing stretch, but the beginning of the match was pretty ho-hum. The story of the match was the development of Makabe into a man. At first, he was never able to press the advantage against his opponents even though Liger, the God King of Juniors, would set up with some great advantages like tilt-a-whirl backbreakers/surfboard on Kanemoto or powerbombing and piledriving Minoru. It is not that Makabe was so incompetent that he get his ass beat it was just he didn't do much. He threw a lot of lame dropkicks. Liger finally says fuck it and is going to take the match over and hits a big palm strike in the corner on Minoru. Minoru clings to the ropes for dear life. Liger gets cocky and Minoru quickly applies a heel hook. Kanemoto stomps Liger's leg and dares Makabe to try something. Makabe being the putz he is does nothing. Liger makes it to the ropes and Kanemoto & Minoru just kick the shit out of his leg. Where's Makabe? Liger gets a desperation palm strike, but Kanemoto from the ground applies the heel hook again. Minoru throws Makabe out. Makabe is friggin' useless. Liger needs to think about getting a new partner. Liger avoids Kanemoto's flip splash and tries to get the leg woken up, but eats an overhead belly to belly. Makabe breaks up a pin?!?!?!?!?!?!? He is learning! Kanemoto hits his moonsault for two and now has a standing anklelock. Makabe hits a nice German suplex on him. Liger palm strikes for everyone. Ligerbomb on Kanemoto only gets two. Liger tags in Makabe who runs in and spears Kanemoto. That was pretty cool. Minoru stymies Makabe with a dropkick and Kanemoto hits a bridging Tiger suplex, which Liger breaks up. Minoru applies the heel hook on the outside to Liger. Makabe hits another spear on Kanemoto and a bridging Germans get two. I have come to find out Makabe has two moves at this point: the spear and German suplex. Kanemoto grabs a heel hook out of the German, which allows him to tag Minoru who dropkicks Makabe's knee and applies his own heel hook. Liger saves Makabe from what should have been a submission. Minoru starts to kick Makabe, who starts to fire up with fighting spirit. I have become a pretty big Minoru fan and was actually worried this moron might beat him. I began to actively root for Minoru and the cross armbreaker, which may color why this ending was so exciting for me. Makabe spears Minoru and hits rolling bridging German suplexes for two. Minoru takes a wicked bump off of a lariat and Kanemoto saves. Liger detains him and tells Makabe to finish him off. Ruh roh. Makabe hits a Northern Lights 1-2-NO! MIN-OR-U! MIN-OR-U! MIN-OR-U! Ok so the crowd was not chanting it, but I sure was in my living room in Massachusetts 14 years after the fact. Makabe looks to be on fire, but the dumb oaf eats a kick to the head and Minoru applies the cross armbreaker to get the flash submission. What a great finish to get me so invested in the outcome. They have done so much to get Minoru's flash cross armbreaker (which is how Del Rio's move should be treated) that you knew it was going to be the finish, but it was smart to have Makabe make the fighting spirit comeback to have him show a good outing. They used the vets tastefully as Liger hit all his sweet offense and played a good FIP. The story was to really let the young lions shine and Minoru looked like he was ready for primetime. ***3/4

Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobahi - NOAH #2 8/06/00 Now that they positioned Akiyama as a force to be reckoned with it was time to consolidate that and they went a long way towards doing that by having Akiyama choke out Kobashi to win NOAH's first single main event. My biggest issue with this is that it was not wrestled that much in the vein of blood feud, but more along the lines of an All Japan epic and I think if NOAH really wanted to depart from the past then have an out of control brawl could have cemented that image. No matter this is still a very good match just a bit disconnected from the storyline set up the night before. It actually began as I wanted with a heated exchange and Akiyama powdering, but once he got back in everything became tentative they went into the test of strength and sort of slowed it down. The first big highspot is Kobashi hitting a powerbomb on Akiyama to the outside. Akiyama really milks for everything it is worth. That separates the great wrestlers from the chumps because plenty would be right back up hitting moves and taking bumps. Kobashi is now doing ab stretches and a full nelson. I don't have anything against that, but I think storyline necessitates a more violent layout. Akiyama hits a pair of basement dropkicks on the bandaged knee to take control and Kobashi selling of these dropkicks is so damn good. "Ko-Bash-i" chants ring out as Akiyama has him in the scorpion deathlock. Akiyama is relentless on the knee very similar to his hyper-focus in the Misawa match. Akiyama goes for an Exploder and a great struggle before Kobashi snaps off a suplex then his own sleeper suplex. Kobashi is still selling his knee as he tries string together some offense: powerbomb and half-nelson suplex. However, it seems like the injuries have sapped too much of his strength and energy as Akiyama hits FIVE exploders and chokes him out to win. After the match, the young boys are tending to Kobashi and one is giving him CPR so Akiyama to be a prick gets into a scuffle and there is even a hip swivel on the ramp. Watching this match, I thought I came in with the wrong expectations. It was a dick move to drop Kobashi on his head the previous night, but maybe it was supposed to be more symbolic then start of Akiyama, the super heel. Then the finish and post-match happened where Akiyama chokes him out, attacks those helping Kobashi and is a cocky prick on the ramp. I think antics are truly emblematic of what is trying to be achieved. It is just that the All Japan guys are so rooted in their ways they only know that way to wrestler a match. It is a very good match, but falls short of being on the level of other All Japan epics, but that's why they have rematches, folks. ****