[2000-02-20-NJPW-Fighting Spirit] Koji Kanemoto vs AKIRA

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Graham Crackers]

These two have a better match in 2003 but this one is still fun. Kanemoto really came into his own in the last decade, which is a shame because he didn't have the kind of competition that was conducive to having tons of great matches. The leg selling gets blown off at the end and it really sticks out but this is short enough where that isn't completely frustrating. Of course, this doesn't feel like a top 100 match anyway.

[Wahoos Leg]

Fun little match that is worth watching but nothing particularly memorable happens. Kanemoto's facial expressions added quite a bit to the matter. I'm not familiar with the build to this, but given the hot start and Kanemoto's shit-kickery on AKIRA, the feel of a bitter grudge match is easily perceived despite the language barrier.

[soup23]

The match starts off really rad with Kanemoto kicking the shit out of AKIRA and ripping his jacket off of him. AKIRA comes back with some good offense and a beautiful dive through the ropes. The end result of that leads to duel leg work. Both parts were done well and it paid dividends with AKIRA getting the surprise victory. A fun, hate filled ten minutes. ***1/2

[Loss]

This was a really fun sprint, and it was nice to see Kanemoto get to dish out some punishment after how Liger has been treating him all year, even if he did lose the match. This never really let up and the match was full of awesome aggression from both guys. I'd classify this as a really strong Nitro match full of great action. Nice mix of brawling and flying. ***1/2

[cramerjason87]

Enjoyed the intensity in this match. AKIRA looked great and when Kanemoto was on offense he looked good to. The leg selling being dropped at the end hurts the finish.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Kanemoto and AKIRA got off to a heated start with lots of slapping strikes. Kanemoto brings the hate by ripping AKIRA's jacket and then the mask off his face. Kanemoto had him screaming while kicking his leg, but he seemed to recover easily and eventually win. I wished they could have kept up the early heat throughout the match, but otherwise a good match.

[Rah]

This started off really well with Kanemoto on offence, but quickly lost itself afterward. I thought AKIRA’s strategy of rushing Kanemoto at the beginning being foiled by his own jacket acting as leverage was a great play in getting Kanemoto in control. The constant knee-work was also really enjoyable but once AKIRA got a hold of his own knee-work it almost seemed as if Kanemoto purposefully derailed their match. Here’s a guy who now sells his pre-injured/not 100% knee like death, yet he’s quick to jump around or purposefully tweak his holds as if to visually highlight his no-selling (the bridge comes to mind in this). Ugh.

[xlynwoodx]

Starts off hot with AKIRA attacking Kanemoto before the bell.  Kanemoto turns the tables and ragdolls AKIRA around by his jacket.  They beat on each other a while, Kanemoto hits some brutal kicks and AKIRA hits a nice dive through the ropes.  Then it gets weird.  Kanemoto hurts his knee, then is seemingly powered up by AKIRA beating on the knee, then is moving around fine.  He stops to yell at the ref when AKIRA turns the tables with an awesome dropkick to the head followed by a Dragon Suplex for the pin.  Good match, should've been better.