Graham Crackers Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Also on the 1/4 Tag Match is there an eventual Ogawa vs Hashimoto match I should be watching after that because it felt like that was what was being built to.That match happened on 4/7/2000 and is an awesome spectacle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitlick Posted September 5, 2013 Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Also on the 1/4 Tag Match is there an eventual Ogawa vs Hashimoto match I should be watching after that because it felt like that was what was being built to.That match happened on 4/7/2000 and is an awesome spectacle. Just finished watching it... Another question is do they rematch because to me without much prior knowledge it seems like Hashimoto was meant to get the victory in the end. I was pretty surprised Ogawa went over tbh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 The April match was their last one, which makes the booking quite odd until you remember Inoki was behind it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 Misawa vs Akiyama, All Japan February 27. 2000 Jun doesn’t waste too long in trying the apron Exploder and ends up connecting! I figured we were just getting a tease there but Misawa lands neck first on apron. They just continue on as normal though. Need to sell that better. Not sure about this Akiyama armbar triangle thing he keeps trying to put on. Middle stretch is a bit slow but it picks up. Misawa takes two Exploders and I think he’s going to get up again and then falls down on his ass. He wanted to continue the fight but just had little left. Jun stays on him and hits some big moves to get the win. Akiyama looked great here and is ready to just take over this decade. We shall see. This should rate high for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 SUWA vs Dragon Kid, Toryumon August 24, 2000 Nice dive by Kid who was sitting on turnbuckle but was still able to do dive to outside from that position. Suwa gets the pinfall with the use of the ropes at the 7 minute mark. Match ends up getting resumed though which makes sense since this is on the ballot. You should never attempt a top rope Splash Mountain powerbomb against an opponent who can do hurricaranas. A lot of guys get involved in the ring and outside and they disappear to back. Suwa does a video game type spinning powerbomb. I think that move was in that Def Jam Vendetta video game. I've found myself to prefer the tag matches from Toryumon/Dragon Gate. Suwa gets a hair cut after. I can see this ending up in last third of ballot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 From here on out, I'm going to forgo the play-by-play and just give my thoughts on the matches. Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama All Japan Pro Wrestling, May 26, 2000 One thing that stood out to me was the lack of head drops in this match. That's not to say they take it easy on each other, as the stiffness is off the charts. The problem is that Takayama isn't quite there yet, either as a worker or a serious threat to Kobashi. His arm work was good, but his offense wasn't all that compelling otherwise. And working on Kobashi's lariat arm didn't seem to bother him all that much, as he fended off Takayama with his left arm with little difficulty. Interesting as a precursor to their 2004 classic, but it'll probably finish in the middle of the pack. Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs. Shinjiro Ohtani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa New Japan Pro Wrestling, June 25, 2000 Straight up, I hated this match. The macho slugfest style of wrestling is pretty dumbed-down to begin with, and when you add spotty junior selling to the mix, you get two teams beating the hell out of each other for 20 minutes without any rhyme or reason that I was able to detect. There were a couple of nifty sequences where Kanemoto and Tanaka would counter Ohtani and Takaiwa's attempts at a powerbomb/missile dropkick combination, but that's about it. If you dig Kawada/Sasaki-style matches, this will be right up your alley. I don't, so this will finish low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smitlick Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 The April match was their last one, which makes the booking quite odd until you remember Inoki was behind it. Ah... It all makes sense now that you mention Inoki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted September 6, 2013 Report Share Posted September 6, 2013 Been watching a bunch for this the last week or so. My ongoing list that just reached a top 20, not exactly formatted for public inspection: Kobashi/Honda Kawada/Sasaki Nagata/Kawada tag Fujinami/Nishimura Kawada/Tenryu Shibata/Akiyama Akiyama/Inoue Honda/Ikeda Tamura/Ito Kanemoto/Hayato Ishikawa/Murakami Kobashi/Ogawa Ishikawa/Greco Hashimoto/Tanaka 02 Kobashi/Sasaki Hashimoto/Iizuka v. Murakami/Ogawa Taue/Marufuji Hashimoto/Nagata v. Misawa/Akiyama Tenryu/Kojima Bernard/Nagata Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 I think I'm going to try to get a ballot in. One thing that has struck me in watching a few matches from early 2000: All-Japan was still cranking out quality wrestling despite its impending demise. I really enjoyed Kawada-Kobashi, Kawada-Vader, Kawada-Misawa, Misawa-Akiyama and Kobashi-Takayama. It's not like any of those would push for a top 50 spot in the '90s but that's still plenty of good stuff for a five-month period. I could see most of those making my list of 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 Extend the deadline to Xmas next year and I will get one in as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 I think I'm going to try to get a ballot in. One thing that has struck me in watching a few matches from early 2000: All-Japan was still cranking out quality wrestling despite its impending demise. I really enjoyed Kawada-Kobashi, Kawada-Vader, Kawada-Misawa, Misawa-Akiyama and Kobashi-Takayama. Its' not like any of those would push for a top 50 spot in the '90s but that's still plenty of good stuff for a five-month period. I could see most of those making my list of 100.All Japan was plenty good in 1999-2000, it was just very lackluster compared to early '90s, and *really* lacked depth in terms of good midcard matches and consistently good small-show tags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 I think I'm going to try to get a ballot in. One thing that has struck me in watching a few matches from early 2000: All-Japan was still cranking out quality wrestling despite its impending demise. I really enjoyed Kawada-Kobashi, Kawada-Vader, Kawada-Misawa, Misawa-Akiyama and Kobashi-Takayama. It's not like any of those would push for a top 50 spot in the '90s but that's still plenty of good stuff for a five-month period. I could see most of those making my list of 100. The 2/27 Misawa/Akiyama match I actually think is a classic having watched it today and would give it serious consideration for a top 20 of AJPW of the decade if it happened in the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted September 8, 2013 Report Share Posted September 8, 2013 You know, I thought it was an excellent match with Akiyama delivering a performance that made him seem worthy of taking the leap. But it didn't quite stir me on that classic level. Misawa wrestled a smart, generous match; he just didn't work at the peak of his powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 I pegged that as Japan MOTY for 2000 because it had a mix of smart details from Misawa, him feeding Akiyama perfectly, and Akiyama delivering a huge performance in the clutch. Kawada/Sasaki doesn't hit the same heights, and the 12/14 tag has a rather dry first half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted September 9, 2013 Report Share Posted September 9, 2013 Ditch, how do you rate the Kobashi-Akiyama from December vs. the Misawa match? Watched it on the treadmill this morning. Akiyama's respective performances carried a lot of the same virtues. Kobashi worked "bigger" than Misawa, in part because he was ultimately going over and in part because he was Kobashi. I guess that match had a little more fat on it than the Misawa match, with a finish that was less clearly memorable in the narrative of these guys' careers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Even though the December match was a huge gateway for me into puro, I don't think it aged particularly well, much like the June '99 TC bout. The heat suffered due to being in STUPID IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO Ariake rather than the heart of the city like Sumo Hall or Budokan, there's "fat" as you say, and the finish is a bit telegraphed based on the structure. Misawa/Akiyama is tighter, smarter, and much more momentous. I have the December match 9th on the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 Tenryu & Araya vs Kea & Miyamoto, All Japan April 27th 2002 Background: Miyamoto, a young lion, seeks to prove himself against much larger competition. Tenryu shows no mercy whatsoever and Araya follows his lead. Why I think it's underrated: As a small-show tag this didn't make headlines, but it's one of the best 'young lion shows fighting spirit' bouts of the decade. Kea might be the biggest heel in this by virtue of how quickly he tags out every time, no matter how much punishment Miyamoto has taken. What it deserves: Top 100. It doesn't quite have the greatness of a top-tier bout, but they really accomplish what they were going for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smack2k Posted September 10, 2013 Report Share Posted September 10, 2013 VLC player is the best, and free! YES....if ANYONE is new to watching videos online or wants to watch videos without being told format A doesnt work for this player, get VLC Media Player...its free and it plays ANYTHING you feed it, almost completely regardless of format.. I am in for this as well..will do a ballot....My Puro love and interest grows everyday, so I will really be enjoying this as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Updated 5 links, please re-download the excel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 VLC player is the best, and free! YES....if ANYONE is new to watching videos online or wants to watch videos without being told format A doesnt work for this player, get VLC Media Player...its free and it plays ANYTHING you feed it, almost completely regardless of format.. I am in for this as well..will do a ballot....My Puro love and interest grows everyday, so I will really be enjoying this as well... VLC player and 7ZIP... the free solutions to like 75% of questions on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2013 Crazy MAX vs M2K vs Do Fixer, trios titles, Toryumon July 7th 2002 Background: The second of the three-way trios matches gets the honor of headlining the company's annual supershow in Kobe. Why I think it's underrated: As with the 2001 match, this didn't get attention based on Toryumon's perceived status as a second-tier promotion at the time. What it deserves: Top 100. I put this ahead of the rematch a week later by virtue of the rematch's repetition; I credit the original over the sequel every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen/Taiyo Kea All Japan Pro Wrestling, 7/23/00 Gee, I wonder who's going to take the pin in this match. The Tenryu-Hansen exchanges are by far the best part of the opening minutes despite the two having a combined age of approximately 800. The match picks up in a big way once Kawada decides he wants to start selling. A few slaps from Stan Hansen will do that to you. There's a funny moment during the Kawada-in-peril segment when Mossman knocks Tenryu off the apron and the crowd gasps because they know he is not long for this world. Sure enough, once Kawada makes the hot tag, he and Tenryu take turns treating Mossman to a beating not even Hansen can provide respite from. The finishing stretch consists of Kawada shutting down Mossman's lame attempt at a fighting spirit comeback while Hansen and Tenryu brawl on the outside. I literally laughed out loud when I saw a chair flying in the background while Kawada delivered the final powerbomb. A super-fun match that will finish high. Dragon Kid vs. SUWA Toryumon, 8/24/00 First of all, Dragon Kid is tiny. Like, really tiny. The women in the audience were taller than him. SUWA is pretty small himself, but he looked like Brock Lesnar in this match. Anyway, this is a hair/mask match, and it's initially worked like a traditional lucha wager match with lots of hate and punches and mask ripping and throwing each other into rows of chairs. About seven minutes in, SUWA gets the pin with his feet on the ropes. But Ultimo Dragon won't allow such an injustice to stand on his watch, so the match gets restarted. From here, things get a lot more juniorish with SUWA busting out all kinds of indyriffic offense. It was a pretty one-sided beatdown, which was fine because Dragon Kid's offense is pretty terrible. What wasn't fine was that SUWA threw everything but the kitchen sink at Kid to the point where it became clear that he didn't have enough to put Kid away. Sure enough, Kid gets the pin after a short comeback and an admittedly impressive dragonrana. Flippy juniors wrestling is very much not my thing, and this match did nothing to disabuse me of that sentiment. I'm not sure where it will finish, but it won't be high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted September 20, 2013 Report Share Posted September 20, 2013 I was actually surprised how much I liked the SUWA-Dragon Kid match. The restart was an effective bit of drama, and then I liked the SUWA control section a lot more than you did, NL. SUWA's stuff looked nasty, and Dragon Kid came off as gutsy to survive it and then pull out a win with that nifty dragonrana. The match carried a genuine sense of rivalry and didn't overstay its welcome. I went in thinking it couldn't make my top 100 but came away thinking it'll probably contend for the mid-ballot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ditch Posted September 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 SUWA had his moments before then but that was definitely a breakout performance for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Ridge Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 Updated 5 links, please re-download the excel. Did you get rid of the Italics for highly recommended matches? Don't see them on new download. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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