[1997-10-21-AJPW] Akira Taue vs Johnny Ace

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Much better than you'd expect from these two. This is the best I've ever seen Ace look. There's still an awkwardness to everything he does, but he does a lot and looks like he belongs. They have to work really hard to pull the crowd into this -- I think because it's Taue vs Ace -- but they eventually do.

[Kevin Ridge]

Ace counters the chokeslam into the Ace Crusher! Looked as good as the Taker/Orton version. Really good effort by both guys and agreed better than I expected going in.

[soup23]

I love matches like this with two guys overcoming the crowd apprehensions and putting together a great match. The ending sequence was especially good from the Ace moonsault on. Taue being able to hit the nodawa and follow up with the dynamic bomb had everyone look strong coming out.

[PeteF3]

A really good effort and definitely the best singles Ace match I've seen. Ace had all kinds of cool counters to the nodowa by turning them into his own big signature offense, and Taue brought a lot of new shit he didn't ordinarily do, like the headbutt tope. A good finishing stretch that Taue wins but gets Ace over as a guy with guts who could have won with one more break.

[Zenjo]

I know it's got a great wrestler in it but this didn't look all that hot on paper. Johnny Ace was miles better in a tag environment where his weaknesses could be covered. This was his singles best bout. Taue soon took control and was in the ascendancy early doors. Ace showed strong toukon as he made his comeback. It had the potential to be sloppy, yet the execution was good today. There were odd moments when they weren't on the same page, nothing major. Well paced and structured. Akira survived a tough examination before coming through.

[ShittyLittleBoots]

A pretty good match. Mostly dominated by Taue who does a good job in that while Ace makes some decent comebacks. **3/4