[1997-03-01-AJPW-Excite Series] Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Interesting to watch Kawada and Taue work with the "shooters" of All Japan. Takayama looks exactly what he was at this point -- not too far away from putting together the pieces to become a great professional wrestler. There was some awkwardness in some of the sequences, but I enjoyed this overall. The exchanges between Takayama and Taue were a highlight, worked like a crowd had gathered around them sparring at a gym. I could see some people really liking this, if only because it's not 2.9 at all.

[MJH]

This was the worst Budokan in forever and I'm surprised anything got included. The Kobashi/Shiga v Akiyama/Kanemaru match was a lot of fun (though nothing I'd nominate for the set), Misawa/Doc bored the heck out of me, and this did nothing for me. I was always a mark for Gary and there's plenty of fine TV matches he had besides his debut, but I recall Taue and Takayama being awkward as hell and only exacerbated by Takayama being a few years away from anything good in this setting.

[Childs]

This wasn't good by All Japan standards, but it was interesting to watch Kawada and Taue work the UWFI guys. Taue really struggled to find any kind of rhythm with Takayama. Kawada worked with him seamlessly. More evidence of Kawada's greatness.

[soup23]

I thought this was great. This wasn't the most technical match but that sort of dodgy theme played well with me in the context of the shooters in All Japan territory theme. Kawada's strike were even crisper than normal and Takayama had equally heated exchanges with him and Taue proving himself. Felt different from anything else in All Japan in 1997.

[Kevin Ridge]

Takayama has put on some size since his appearances in earlier yearbooks. Taue is hitting running kicks everywhere. Loads of suplexes being thrown. Takayama and Albright more aggressive with going after submissions. But it’s Kawada who gets the submission. Strong sub 15 minute match for All Japan.

[PeteF3]

Lots of divided opinion on this one. I REALLY dug this, possibly more than anyone else here. Except maybe Chad, but even then I break with him on a few things--I thought Taue and Takayama worked together shockingly great. If you like legsweeps this is a match for you, as this is full of really cool leg takedowns from everybody, with Taue drawing on his old sumo background to bust out some new shit. I don't at ALL get the hate Takayama was getting in the late '90s--he's not a perfect wrestler by any means, and his kicks look pretty bad. But he's got a distinctive look, he's charismatic, and works hard and works pretty well even if he's letting the vets lead him around. He's gangly and awkward, and God knows that's never been a winning formula for getting over in All-Japan. Not only was there good wrestling and counter-wrestling on display here, but Takayama and Albright injected this with some new flavor, at a time when AJPW was continuing to regress deeper into its own bubble. The UWFI shooters give the style a shot in the arm, and I'd like to have seen more of this in the company going forward. There are only a few suplexes here, and none of them are head-drops. There is one really heart-stopping near-fall thanks to some perfect timing by Takayama, but otherwise this is based around submissions, a concept AJPW had gotten away from to the company's detriment. This is not a MOTY or anything but I think it's another testament to the greatness of the Holy Demon Army as workers and as a team.

[Zenjo]

This had a fresh and different feel to it with new acquisition Takayama alongside his fellow UWFI alumni Albright. The crowd were into it as well. So it had it's upsides. However the Beast didn't work all that well with either opponent. I don't mind rough edges, but more ring time together was required in this case. Gaz didn't feature all that much. His best before date had expired. He just hit his big suplay with no build or drama.