Dylan Waco Posted February 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs2LZvXw7iA Tajiri v. The Great Muta - AJPW 2006 This was actually worth watching for the pre-match nonsense which features a highlight package of both guys that culminates in Tajiri offering Muta a bouquet of flowers, which he then snatches away and sprays mist on as a freeze frame caption pops on the screen that says "Don't Think. Feel." In English. I haven't the foggiest clue what the hell any of this is supposed to represent. Then Muta shows up for the match looking like a hybrid between the frontman of Ghost, a Power Ranger and Minnie Pearl dressed for a July Fourth show at the Grand Ole Opry. The match itself was..well it happened. This is what I would imagine Chikara would look like if they had TNA's business model of picking up WWE castoffs and running their fifteen minutes of fame into the ground. That's not to say this was entirely bad. In fact parts of it were pretty good and Tajiri looked great selling and bumping for Muta, hitting some nice clean spots and also recovering for Muta's inability/unwillingness to bump or (at times) even react. I'm not sure a match built around guys spitting in each others face should go this long, but I didn't feel like this was a total waste of time, which is something I guess since Muta is a tired act for me at this point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzxNjBBPkM Tajiri v. Taka Minchinoku - WWE 7/14/97 Very short spotfest. Was Tajiri flown in just for this match? Not much of note here really other than the fact that Tajiri hits a dropkick that decks Taka right in the balls as he comes off the top and seconds later seems to potato him with a high kick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0_qGDuF_cw Edge/Shelton Benjamin/Tajiri v. HHH/Batista/Randy Orton - WWE Raw 5/3/2004 Boy Tajiri was just miles better than everyone else in this. Actually I take that back - Batista was pretty good. It's not that the other guys were terrible, but I could live a thousand years without seeing Edge and HHH work each other again and Orton's offense was about as uninspired as it gets. This match was really just there until Tajiri got a hot tag from Edge, lit up everyone including the fastest rewind elbow spot I've ever seen him do, and then gets fucking CRUSHED by Batista on a second back elbow attempt. Seriously he just flies blind straight into a forearm to the head and it just looks horrendously violent. The heels don't have a lot to give offensively, but Tajiri's selling is good and the hot tag coming off the bridge/headkick spot was pretty sweet. All hell breaks lose as they tend to do in these WWE tags and you've got guys flying around like crazy, with Tajiri getting in a misting on a Batista powerbomb attempt setting up the Edge over Orton via awful looking spear finish. To the extent this was good it was nearly entirely because of Tajiri. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3mGVHHcguo Tajiri v. Super Calo - ECW 12/17/99 (Available on ECW Set) This is from one of the best non-ppv pro wrestling shows I've ever seen from beginning to end, as it had four matches on the ECW Set and really everything on the show was good. Still this stands out as something super memorable. This might have gone five minutes but for the time given it was pretty spectacular. Tajiri fucking pelting Calo with a kick off of a teased handshake after the initial exchange was really awesome. He's not someone who gets a lot of credit for his facial expressions but he is absolutely tremendous in that regard - literally among the best I've ever seen. Every highspot in this was awesome, from Calo's wipe out flip senton, to Tajiri's bridge out of a sunset flip into a back kick, to Tajiri's punt of a diving Calo. The finishing brainbuster was also nasty, tight and appropriately to the point. One of the better matches of it's kind that I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted February 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL9WRuJCDnI Tajiri/Brian Christopher v. Taka Minchinoku/Scott Taylor - WWE Shotgun Saturday Night 7/11/97 This is another one that is really short, but is still a cool find. Really this is a totally bizarre match as you have pre-Too Cool, Too Cool on opposing sides, teaming with guys that were the equivalent of random Japanese dudes to the average person in the States at the time. To top it off Jim Cornette and JR are calling this. Taylor is in all of his mulletted glory and is actually kind of a high spot machine here which might surprise some people. He also fucking creams Tajiri with a couple of rights at one point. Tajiri and Christopher have a fun Southern heel dynamic that they try and cram into such a short match and the miscommunication spots played well. Tajiri and Taka had some nice exchanges, including Taka selling the fuck out of a Tajiri spin kick and Tajiri following up with a really great looking Asai moonsault. Christopher ends up taking a wild bump off an accidental collision with Tajiri who turns into the Minchinoku Driver for the fall. Really fun match. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1d02FgAakU Tajiri v. Mr. Aguila - IWA 5/21/99 This was not a particularly good match, but I am glad I watched it because Tajiri was a really good heel in it. This sort of reminded me of a much less dramatic/over the top version of that Michaels v. Jericho ladder match that everyone other than me loved. I thought Jericho worked his ass off in that match and desperately tried to make it a great match and it just wasn't happening because Michaels was totally off his game. Even if you think I am batshit on that one, that is exactly what happened here as Tajiri was awesome with the heeling right out of the gate here, kicking Aguila in the gut on the handshake and taking things from there. But Aguila was totally off of his game. Aguila is a guy who is all spots and if he isn't hitting his spots cleanly or given the time to thin them out some over the course of a match he really has nothing else to offer. I was really impressed with how well Tajiri played the old "fake a knee injury/attack the face when he's not ready" bit. I also really enjoyed the fact that he did the bridge out spot, but resisted the back kick to the head which is really a babyface spot. His shit eating facial expressions, prickish golf clapping and loogey hocking gets me every time. He also worked a really stripped down heelish offense that was unique and felt right for what he was aiming for, did a good job cutting off Aguila int he early portion and his selling of the superplex ruled. Too bad Aguila was dogshit. Tajiri v. Super Crazy - ECW 2/7/99 This was fun as hell. There was no pretense of psychology in this and it was a basically a total spotfest, but it was laid out well and the spots all looked dynamic and exciting. We got a rolling surfboard from Crazy, a really cool vaulting dive from him, some moonsaults, et. Tajiri brought some nasty headkicks, rewind elbow, his vault hilo, et. Opening mat exchanges with the knuckle lock roll throughs and escapes looked really awesome and was a good way to set the tempo for the whole match. Tajiri won with a German which was semi-surprising but fitting. Not sure if this even went ten minutes, but it was a really well presented match. Sort of a "sampler" type bout for what these guys were capable of which is the only reason it didn't make the ECW Set (and it barely missed the cut). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENb5sysKDvo Tajiri v. Tommy Dreamer - ECW on TNN 10/1/99 (available on ECW Set) This however DID make the ECW Set and was one of the my sleeper "holy shit this ruled" matches for the entire process. Here were my thoughts on the match on initial watch: "God damnit we are getting to the point where any Tajiri match is a strong contender for the set. Tajiri slithering around the match, yelling at fans, et. is always fun, but I really loved how Dreamer kept reverting to nut based offensive attacks to the turn the tide. Seriously, Tajiri gets crotched on guardrail, takes a nasty crotch slide into the post on a missed tree of woe spot, sells his ass off from Dreamer kick to the crotch. There is a Rude v. Dustin match that works with a similar theme and I'm not sure Asian ethnic stereotypes lend themselves to crotch being main body part weakness to target but I still liked that Tommy was working over a body part. The big spots in this are also really awesome, with Dreamer flying backwards over a table off of a kick on the floor, Tajiri taking a huge bump into the crowd, Tajiri leaping on to a table in the crowd only to eat a nasty chairshot, et. Tajiri ends up blading in the crowd and is running around in the penalty box at the stadium knocking over fans. Dreamer bites the cut and punches it in the corner and then goes for a corner charge and gets his head kicked right off. Tajiri stands on Dreamer's head and spits on him and then runs from one corner to the other spitting on fans. Dreamer ducks a spin kick and hits a DVD but Corino pulls the ref out of the ring. Francine beats up Corino. Raven runs in and DDT's Dreamer and Tajir hits a running dropkick to him for the pin and celebrates by crawling around on the mat like a dog with two broken hind legs while cackling into the camera with blood pouring down his face. This is THE Dreamer v. Tajiri match to include and this is coming from someone who really liked the other two and hates the sort of run-in train finish we got here. I defy anyone to show me a better wrestler in 99 than Tajiri." I would only add that Tajiri may have actually been Dreamer's best opponent as they had two other very good matches, one of which fed right into the insane Mike Awesome drops the ECW title to Taz segment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Another request: Mogur/Americo Rocca/Cadaver de Ultratumba vs. Olimpus/Ultimatum/Yoshihiro Tajiri 2/18/1997 Early Taijiri in CMLL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 I added links for Tajiri v. Dreamer and Tajiri v. Calo Mogur/Americo Rocca/Cadaver de Ultratumba vs. Olimpus/Ultimatum/Yoshihiro Tajiri - CMLL 2/18/1997 Did I some how miss a fall in here, because I only remember seeing two? Anyhow this ruled. I loved the rudo team. Bunch of cranky looking bastards in there delivering everything from great cowering spots, to nice mat exchanges, to big bumps. I thought it was neat how you got the tricked out matwork, than Tajiri comes in and starts throwing bombs like no one let him in on the protocol. Faces win the first fall, but when the second starts Cadaver just runs right at Tajiri and starts beating his ass. Mogur (I think) takes over and proceeds to beat the fuck out of Tajiri. Every fucking strike looked like a potential knock out blow and Tajiri was tremendous selling it. I was really expecting this to be an offensive showcase, as Tajiri in 97 is different in someways than Tajiri in 99. Both were spot heavy, but the 99 version has more nuance to him at least that I can attest for. Now I'm starting to think the greenhorn babyface Tajiri of 97 may have made a great Ricky Morton, because his slow motion face planting on the floor and falling in a heap all over fans was some great shit. But Tajiri is not Ricky Morton and there was no comeback. Instead his buddies gave up in the ring, while he got his asskicked on the floor, eating a sick bodyslam and staring blankly at the rafters as blood poured from his nose as the bell rang. Great stuff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYH7_Yu4tmA Tajiri v. Kurt Angle - WWE RAW 10/31/05 I didn't really think much of this. Not a bad match but Angle was really uninteresting offensively. You didn't get the sense he was kicking Tajiri's ass or sense that he was toying with him so when Tajiri came back it was just "eh." I did think the finish was pretty good though. Tajiri v. El Lobo Andy Anderson - 12/15/01 I don't have a date on this, but it may have been from 2001. Anyhow someone find me a date because this was a great match and an insanely great performance from Tajiri. I don't want to sell El Lobo short. He was really awesome too selling the fuck out of his leg, eating all of Tajiri's stuff and coming back with some truly impressive and really athletic spots. But my god was Tajiri off the charts here. He is just vicious with his shots throughout the entire match. He creams Anderson with shots to his leg and hits some really nice pointed elbows for good measure. When it comes time for a hope spot he is flailing wildly for the sick delayed vertical, then bails to the floor and shoots back in to take over control before Anderson can run a string of offensive together. Later Anderson hits a huge gutbuster but uses his hurt knee. Tajiri sells the impact, runs over and dropkicks the knee to keep him on the defensive and then goes back to selling his ribs. Tajiri's mocking claps, using the ref as a shield, shoving at the ref, et is just all wonderful. Stretch run of this is really great too as Anderson gets a great near fall off of an Alabama Slam/80% across the ring diving headbutt. Tajiri has this great visual freak out as he is screaming in slightly comedic terror as Anderson hits a sit down Razor's Edge for another huge spot. Tajiri's seconds try to get involved and hold Lobo in place, but he ducks and Tajiri sprays the mist into his comrades eyes. You think he is going to turn around into a big spot for the face victory, but instead Tajiri cleans his clock with a blind side kick and follows up with the tarantula. He sprawls himself out on the top rope, leaning head first out towards the crowd literally laughing in their faces, kicking his feet like a little kid in the bath tub, and signalling that he's about to punt El Lobo's head into to the tenth row. But of course he whiffs on the head kick and Lobo hits a kick double underhook/flapjack thinking that Tajiri took really well for the fall. This is one of the best Tajiri matches I've ever seen and everyone should go watch it right this second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwxwce Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Lobo anderson vs tajiri - December 15, 2001 - -------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 It was 2 falls cause the rudos got Dq'd for excessive violence I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted February 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 That makes sense because that was an epic ass beating. I take it you are a fan of the match Tim? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also thanks for the date wwxwce - and the uploads assuming you are the same guy. Now everyone go watch the damn Lobo match Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwxwce Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 according to the Tv commentators only the first 2 falls were shown on tv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 The match was good but I mostly uploaded it for the project. Tajiri and Mogur trying to break each others noses with kick and punches was very Ishikawaish. Tajiri's partners weren't that good. Olympus was awful and future Electroshock was kinda just there. Rudos were awesome though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted February 29, 2012 Report Share Posted February 29, 2012 Is it (Tajiri v Lobo) this one? EDIT- Fuck I didn't even see Dylan post the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVdFt4fTc8 Tajiri v. Low Ki - ICW ?/01 The commentary here is just unbearably awful. Maybe the worst commentary I've ever heard. This wasn't really a dream match at the time, but in hindsight feels like one and by that standard it is really disappointing. By the standard of vet working competitive match with upstart before putting him away? Not bad, but not memorable. Lots of fun Tajiri taunt spots and Ki takes a crazy bump into the guardrail off of a slap of all things. Still this didn't have the time to develop and this was working looser than you would like (or at least the camera angles used gave it that effect). More of a novelty than anything else. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twu0wb8aU1w Tajiri v. Taz - ECW on TNN 9/3/99 Jesus Christ this was a great five minute match. Tajiri winning the open exchange with a rewind elbow that Taz took really well was awesome and made better by Tajiri spitting on him. Really loved Tajiri going for the tarantula and Taz stopping it with the angry man slam. Taz is just brutally stiff here throwing a nasty clothesline and nasty chops which Tajiri answers in kind. Tajiri ends up going for a headkick and Taz catches his leg and drops him right on his head which Tajiri sells like death. Taz has to pick him up limp bodied and murders him with some nasty crossfaces. Tajiri's facial expressions here were totally awesome. He comes back with a low blow and then just unloads with a barrage of sickening kicks. Tajiri looks to have him reeling but goes for another head kick and Taz slips behind him and chokes him out. Awesome sprint. Possibly the best Taz match I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVdFt4fTc8 Tajiri v. Low Ki - ICW ?/01 The commentary here is just unbearably awful. Maybe the worst commentary I've ever heard. This wasn't really a dream match at the time, but in hindsight feels like one and by that standard it is really disappointing. By the standard of vet working competitive match with upstart before putting him away? Not bad, but not memorable. Lots of fun Tajiri taunt spots and Ki takes a crazy bump into the guardrail off of a slap of all things. Still this didn't have the time to develop and this was working looser than you would like (or at least the camera angles used gave it that effect). More of a novelty than anything else. This is from some NY Indy called UCW from date is 1/26/01. Low Ki did have a bunch of matches in another indy called ICW around this time so I get the confusion. Ki had allready been around a few years by this point and was just starting to become one of the mega indy darlings around this time so he was getting booked vs a lot of bigger names. A mild dream match for some atleast when it happened. He wrestled Sabu, Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, Minoru Fujita & a bunch of others that year. Anyways, yeah this is really disapointing. I remember seeing it years & years ago on a "best" of Ki comp that RF video put out and had the exact same thoughts you did and couldn't stand the announcing either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 Tajiri v. Taz - ECW on TNN 9/3/99 Jesus Christ this was a great five minute match. Tajiri winning the open exchange with a rewind elbow that Taz took really well was awesome and made better by Tajiri spitting on him. Really loved Tajiri going for the tarantula and Taz stopping it with the angry man slam. Taz is just brutally stiff here throwing a nasty clothesline and nasty chops which Tajiri answers in kind. Tajiri ends up going for a headkick and Taz catches his leg and drops him right on his head which Tajiri sells like death. Taz has to pick him up limp bodied and murders him with some nasty crossfaces. Tajiri's facial expressions here were totally awesome. He comes back with a low blow and then just unloads with a barrage of sickening kicks. Tajiri looks to have him reeling but goes for another head kick and Taz slips behind him and chokes him out. Awesome sprint. Possibly the best Taz match I've ever seen. This is a great match, and I really think you could of credibly given Tajiri a ECW title run here and it would have worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVdFt4fTc8 Tajiri v. Low Ki - ICW ?/01 The commentary here is just unbearably awful. Maybe the worst commentary I've ever heard. This wasn't really a dream match at the time, but in hindsight feels like one and by that standard it is really disappointing. By the standard of vet working competitive match with upstart before putting him away? Not bad, but not memorable. Lots of fun Tajiri taunt spots and Ki takes a crazy bump into the guardrail off of a slap of all things. Still this didn't have the time to develop and this was working looser than you would like (or at least the camera angles used gave it that effect). More of a novelty than anything else. This is from some NY Indy called UCW from date is 1/26/01. Low Ki did have a bunch of matches in another indy called ICW around this time so I get the confusion. Ki had allready been around a few years by this point and was just starting to become one of the mega indy darlings around this time so he was getting booked vs a lot of bigger names. A mild dream match for some atleast when it happened. He wrestled Sabu, Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, Minoru Fujita & a bunch of others that year. Anyways, yeah this is really disapointing. I remember seeing it years & years ago on a "best" of Ki comp that RF video put out and had the exact same thoughts you did and couldn't stand the announcing either. What's crazy about this is that this match was held in the Elks Lodge in Queens less than two weeks after ECW went out of business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twu0wb8aU1w Tajiri v. Taz - ECW on TNN 9/3/99 Jesus Christ this was a great five minute match. Tajiri winning the open exchange with a rewind elbow that Taz took really well was awesome and made better by Tajiri spitting on him. Really loved Tajiri going for the tarantula and Taz stopping it with the angry man slam. Taz is just brutally stiff here throwing a nasty clothesline and nasty chops which Tajiri answers in kind. Tajiri ends up going for a headkick and Taz catches his leg and drops him right on his head which Tajiri sells like death. Taz has to pick him up limp bodied and murders him with some nasty crossfaces. Tajiri's facial expressions here were totally awesome. He comes back with a low blow and then just unloads with a barrage of sickening kicks. Tajiri looks to have him reeling but goes for another head kick and Taz slips behind him and chokes him out. Awesome sprint. Possibly the best Taz match I've ever seen. I had forgotten how much fun Tajiri was to watch doing the exaggerated facial expressions and really selling for his opponents. Thanks for the links! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 All you fuckers watch that El Lobo match and TELL ME IM WRONG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted March 1, 2012 Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 I haven't watched the Ki match in a while, but I remember getting the odd feeling that Tajiri was subtly mocking Ki in that one. Tajiri took most of the offense, to the point where the match felt like half a squash a times, and kept doing this exaggerated "I'm applauding my young opponent's tenacity, everyone else applaud him too!" schtick when Ki was down selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2012 That was one of Tajiri's major taunts. As a heel it was very rare for him to make it through a match without doing that at least once. Usually he would change it up for setting/opponent a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEzvoMHsir0 Eddie Guerrero/Tajiri v. The Basham Brothers - SD 6/5/03 This is a super fun little tv match. Eddie and Tajiri really were a great team as they both had tons of cool offense. Eddie gets a bunch of it in early, goes FIP after taking a sick blindside clothesline, comes back for the hot tag off of a brutal backdrop suplex and then Tajiri gets his turn to hit all of his signature spots in a really great way. Bashams took everything nice and added some nice touches. Nothing fancy and not terribly developed but this is a snapshot of a tag team that could have been an all time great team even if it would have been ridiculous for the WWE to go that route at that time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gEfmkB1Mc Tajiri v. Nunzio - SD 1/16/03 I'm sure I'll talk about this more later, but I actually think Tajiri v. Guido is the best series in ECW history. Tajiri and Crazy's best matches were probably better and they had a great routine, but the Tajiri v. Guido matches had more subtlety to them and more variety. One of the themes they often worked with was Guido targetting the arm and Tajiri working the kicks to counter, a sort of workrate/BattlArts hybrid that is kind of distinct in its characteristics. That is basically how this is worked, but this is few years after their peak ECW run, they are even more restricted by time than normal and the match is just fodder for a bigger angle involving Tajiri and Jamie Noble. And this is still pretty fucking good. Guido is awesome at busting out the Fujiwara from a variety of positions and here he does it out of a swinging slam attempt and it looked like the slickest and most vicious counter in the World. Tajiri keeps trying to come back and Guido keeps give him a big fuck you by going to that arm. There are some really awesome Tajiri comebacks, including a spot with Guido avoiding one head kick only for Tajiri to throw another from a different angle and Tajiri locking on this spinning Gori specialesque move that he immediately dropped into a German for a near fall. Tajiri does a good job working in offense and selling his arm in between spots. Noble tries to get involved and takes a great leaping bump on the apron for a high kick. Nidia tries to get involved and takes the green mist but Tajiri turns right into Guido, who grabs his arm and does his tornado single arm DDT which looked really good and was a totally believable finish to this match. These guys really had it down to a science. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil3kLDH8zU...ture=plpp_video Tajiri v. Little Guido - ECW TV 8/6/99 I feel like I should toss out another one of their awesome ECW matches here for comparison. It was one of many Tajiri matches that easily could have made the ECW Set, but there wasn't room for fifty Tajiri matches. Tajiri's mouth is taped up from getting barbed wire shoved down his throat by Taz at the ppv, so Guido smacks him in the mouth and then opens up with matwork. Tajiri breaks it up with a nice kick while laying down. Guido keeps going to the arm every chance he can, including a really great looking Fujiwara counter spot. Guido keeps slapping his ears and he ties Tajiri in the tree of woe. Guido goes for sliding dropkick but crotches himself and Tajiri looks to take over but takes a Tomikaze. Corino pulls Guido out of the ring and gets sprayed in the eyes with something by Corino. I thought this was going to be the finish, but they go back and fourth then Tajiri starts throwing vicious shots to Guido's leg which he sells by just plummeting when Tajiri tries to shoot him into the ropes. Tajiri ends up locking in a Texas Cloverleaf for the submission. Good match, very different from their other stuff. This is pretty much the best series in ECW history. Tajiri v. Mike Awesome - ECW 10-2-99 I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand I really didn't like Awesome in this. Thought his offense just looked really phony and weak by comparison to Tajiri's and he seemed to be moving around in an oddly plodding fashion. On the other hand I fucking loved Tajiri in this. Thought his Hulk Up spot after Awesome dominated the early going was a really awesome spot that did a good job making him look like Awesome's equal. I also really dug the spot where Awesome went for a German, Tajiri landed on his feet and Awesome lets out a "what the fuck?" as Tajiri goes behind him and drops him with a German of his own. Tajiri taking over by working the leg was also a really smart tactic, though Awesome forgot about it in the end. The finishing table spot was also pretty cool here as Tajiri blocks a table powerbomb by standing on it and hitting a tornado DDT only to get caught with a a powerbomb through the table a few seconds later. I nominated this for the ECW set on the strength of the carry job. Kris and Will actually liked it more than I did. All the more reason for a Tajiri set. Tajiri v. Super Crazy - ECW 2-12-99 (Available on the ECW Set) I have two mild complaints with this. First was that the comeback spots seemed predictable as every time they ran the ropes you knew it was coming. Second complaint is that I thought the trading tornado ddt's spot was a bit unnecessary. Other than this was a tremendous match, probably one of the best in ECW history and anywhere in the World in 99. The Queens crowd was uber hot here and both guys really seemed to feed off of it. This was a "top this" match but rather than it being spot trading, "top this" was actually the story of the match. It was not back and fourth at all and the transitions were really believable and well done. Loved the early spot of Tajiri dumping Crazy into the crowd wildly and then hitting a Asai that tore the roof off the place. Later Crazy did the same thing and it got an even bigger pop. Tajiri's kicks looked brutal and Crazy was really connecting nicely with his stuff as well. Finish was really awesome as Crazy hit a series of top rope dropkicks and then a frog splash for a clean decisive fall. Really awesome stuff and one of their very first matches together. Pretty amazing how on they were right away. This is probably their best match from 99 - at best it's their third best match of the rivalry. Fuck maybe Guido v. Tajiri isn't the unquestioned top of the heap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted March 2, 2012 Report Share Posted March 2, 2012 I know Eddy turned on Tajiri at some point. Didn't he slam him on one of his lowriders or something? Did they ever have a blowoff match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwxwce Posted March 3, 2012 Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Tajiri v. Little Guido - ECW TV 8/6/99 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6868D2411A5AEE0E Match 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2012 Thanks! I edited it into the original post. More reviews coming tonight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted March 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0kl92ccQs Tajiri v. Super Crazy - FMW 12/11/99 This was a good version of their touring match. I am not a huge fan of Crazy as a rule and think some of his transitions to offense were weak here, but as a broader match this impressed me. These guys got ten minutes and got all of their major shit in and did it without it feeling like a totally heartless exchanges of spots. The opening parity exchange was about as well done a version of those as you'll ever see and some of the other spots in this were really fantastic. Tajiri's hilo was a fun surprise, Crazy's Asai taking out multiple Japanese businessmen was great, the tarantula and bridge out spots looked really excellent and I really liked the fact that Tajiri went over in Japan with the Dragonsuplex. I also came to the realization that when Tajiri does his mocking poses and taunts he looks a lot like Alan from The Hangover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvvNG-ummZ4...feature=related Tajiri v. Jerry Lynn - ECW CyberSlam 99 I was not high on this the last time I watched it and while I enjoyed it more this time I have not softened much. I liked Lynn better in ECW than I thought I would and I love Tajiri (of course), but this match lacked flow to me at times and I thought there were several moments in the early going when things were noticeably "off." Things started to heat up a lot once Tajiri took control and there were some really great spots, but the finish felt out of nowhere and over all I thought this was really middling for Tajiri in a year where damn near everything he was a part of was awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sPELxv4ek4 Tajiri v. Rey Misterio - WWE SD 1/?/04 This is a Rey t.v. match so you know it's going to be good coming in, it's just a matter of how good. Well, it was pretty god damned good. Tajiri is a good opponent for Rey because he can take all of Rey's spots naturally and still play bruiser by turning his heel persona up. This match sort of has a dual story as you have Rey's leg as a target and Rey trying to fight off Tajiri's ringside cronies. They work some really great spots out of this, including a great counter of Tajiri's rewind elbow that sets up a nice Rey hilo and an awesome 619 attempt where Rey gets caught by a Tajiri second and just heaved to the floor. I also really liked the bump Tajiri took for the 619 later in the match and the roll through counter on the seated senton into a half crab on Rey's busted knee was a cool spot. I didn't remember much about these guys matches coming in, but this really makes me excited to check them all out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chess Knight Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Pretty sure that Rey v Tajiri is 1/1/04. Here's a pile of other Rey v Tajiris in the 'E: SD 8/1/02- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XivnLJPuZ18...feature=related Sometime in 03 [EDIT- 4/9/03, apparently]- No Mercy 03- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6MVox1El4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=721JscxmQTE SD 9/25/03- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03e9i9bprc...feature=related SD 2/12/04- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqWOUDYWQ4Y Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted March 4, 2012 Report Share Posted March 4, 2012 Tajiri worked the '07 Champion Carnival if you're interested in everything. I don't recall any of the matches being liked at the time though. 2/17/07 w/Great Muta vs Dustin Rhodes & Hakushi http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18vva_mu...n-hakushi_sport http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18vvg_mu...n-hakushi_sport 3/26/07 (CC) vs Satoshi Kojima http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lgbo_al...vs-tajiri_sport 3/28/07 (CC) vs Toshiaki Kawada http://www.mediafire.com/?82ng6gibna8k6ue 3/29/07 (CC) vs RO'Z (Rosey) http://www.mediafire.com/?e5h250gw6c6bct6 3/30/07 (CC) vs Minoru Suzuki http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1o1wh_ta...jpw-30-3-0_news 4/30/07 (Triple Crown) vs Minoru Suzuki http://www.mediafire.com/?ehiu0841l2dfkef 8/26/07 w/Great Muta vs Scott Steiner & Suwama http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTM1NTk0NjAw.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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