Fantastic Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Without a doubt, my favourite member of the AJPW "four corners of heaven". With the spate of Puro retirements from his era (Kobashi, Taue and now Sasaki, among some other names) in the past couple of years, I'm starting to wonder whether or not Kawada is ever going to return for one final match. Kobashi got the big fanfare he deserved, and both Taue and Sasaki went out on their own terms, with Sasaki essentially "passing the torch" to his protege - Nakajima, in an unadvertised retirement match. Granted, we have no idea what kind of shape Kawada is in physically, but there was never any indication that he left wrestling in 2010 due to injury(s). He could potentially get in ring shape for a retirement match. But if not, he's definitely in need of some kind of official retirement ceremony. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 It is odd that he hasn't had a retirement ceremony, but it is in some ways fitting that everyone else got a big sendoff and he didn't. Kawada made a career out of not really being treated equitably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I've also heard he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 It is odd that he hasn't had a retirement ceremony, but it is in some ways fitting that everyone else got a big sendoff and he didn't. Kawada made a career out of not really being treated equitably. Yeah, great point! But even still, something needs to be done. An AJPW card with a brief retirement ceremony attended by Kobashi, Taue, Akiyama and others, followed by a tribute match, where one of Kawada's proteges' takes on one of Misawa or Kobashi's proteges' in a "next generation" clash could be a decent draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 As Loss says, it's fitting. On the "rubbed people wrong", it would be ironic since he appeared more than willing to put people over after he left All Japan and went freelance. Hell, even in All Japan after everyone left, he was more than willing to put over the people brought in to headline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 As Loss says, it's fitting. On the "rubbed people wrong", it would be ironic since he appeared more than willing to put people over after he left All Japan and went freelance. Hell, even in All Japan after everyone left, he was more than willing to put over the people brought in to headline. Not trying to make a dig, I love his matches and I have never met the man, does anyone have information as to what his relationships with other wrestlers have been like? I've heard on a couple of different instances that he was hard to deal with (granted, one of those people was RVD and the other I don't remember the specific name so, hey, look, a grain of salt.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 My impression is that he's made a pretty clean break, letting his wrestling physique disappear, running his restaurant and turning up only for the big tribute shows to his former comrades. I've assumed we won't see him back, and you know, good for him. He seems to have made it out fairly intact compared to his greatest rivals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 does anyone have information as to what his relationships with other wrestlers have been like? I've heard on a couple of different instances that he was hard to deal with (granted, one of those people was RVD and the other I don't remember the specific name so, hey, look, a grain of salt.) I think he rubbed several of his contemporaries the wrong way when he refused to walk away from AJPW with the rest of them back in 2000. However, you can understand why he chose to stay. Kawada was never going to have a shot at being "the ace" in the same company with either Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi. Whilst I prefer Kawada to Misawa, I can't deny that in terms of sheer athleticism and natural talent that Misawa was a better wrestler than Kawada. Kobashi meanwhile, was better looking than Kawada, had a better physique, and far more charisma. Misawa understood this better than anybody else, they were pretty close regardless of what might have been said about their rocky relationship, given that they went to the same school, trained together, travelled together and wrestled together. I think what riled people was that Kawada was publically supporting Motoko Baba, even though it was apparent to almost everybody that he didn't have any stock in her lunacy, and was staying because it was the best thing for his career. I get the impression from reading some of Kawada's autobiography that his hard personality was something mainly encountered by Gaijins. He had particular disdain for Westerners Americans and Canadians, presumably because he was treated like shit during his learning excursion to Canada for being Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted February 21, 2014 Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 I'd read somewhere that he made Baba and AJPW management angry in 1996 by publicly saying that All Japan ought to be more willing to work with other companies. If so, that would point to him being very willing to buck whatever the trend was if he didn't agree with it. That can be something that works against you in the opinion of your peers if they all decide to go the opposite direction you do a few too many times. That being said, he deserves much better. The man was a big part of an incredible run of wrestling in All Japan and should be honored for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 There was an interview where Kawada mentioned having trouble with his vision due to damage to his orbital bones. I don't think he ever officially retired. He just says he's resting his body. From all accounts, he lost his passion for wrestling after Misawa died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjh Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I think the lack of retirement match is mainly due to being a freelancer with no fixed home promotion since he left All Japan in 2005 and not promoting his own indy shows like Kensuke Sasaki. Apparently he pissed off NOAH management by going into business for himself and doing an unscripted promo at the end of his match with Mitsuharu Misawa in their Dome Show main event in the summer of that year, which caused the show to overrun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted February 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 I think the lack of retirement match is mainly due to being a freelancer with no fixed home promotion since he left All Japan in 2005 and not promoting his own indy shows like Kensuke Sasaki. That's a really good point actually. I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective that AJPW isn't doing any serious business these days and that by bringing Kawada back in some capacity, whether it's to have a retirement ceremony or make a brief comeback tour, they may ignite some interest. Of course, Kenta Kobashi's re-association with AJPW hasn't improve their fortunes all that much. Kawada's comedic association with Hustle was surprisingly effective at rejuvenating him as a performer, although following this and the brief foray into Zero-1, he kind of frittered out. I'm with ohtani's jacket on this one, I think Misawa's death really hit him hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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