[2000-02-22-BJW-Exite Series] Ryuji Yamakawa vs Kintaro Kanemura

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

 

[Graham Crackers]

I watched this a million years ago on a Kanemura comp (I think). I was watching it with a friend and at the time we were really excited about our recent discovery of Kanemura who we thought was the best Japanese deathmatch worker of all time. I remember that we both marked out when he mimed the blowjob and masturbation with the light tube and for years my friend and I joked that it was the greatest light tube spot of all time.

 

It's still pretty funny and this is a fun match. Not something I can see making my ballot or even a MOTY list though.

[Wahoos Leg]

Crowd's hot for the entrances and loves Kanemura's dancing schtick. My first time seeing either guy. I liked Kanemura quite a bit. He's a good dickbag heel and moves well for a big guy. He also does most of the heavy lifting as Yamakawa spends the majority of the match getting his ass kicked. Would have liked to see him go back to the arm more other than the one spot where he ineffectually tried to block the press slam from the top rope down to the floor. Some good spots but a lot of this ran together. A fun watch but it won't make the cut.

[soup23]

This was a batshit crazy deathmatch that was full of action and some insane spots. The blowjob lighttube was pretty hilarious. I think the reason this match resonates with me so much is that Kanemura is aware of how much of a scuzzy dude he is. He embraces that and that really works for the work overall. This is one I see me having a good bit higher than Loss but the suplex into the table looked insanely dangerous and I liked that the weapons for the most part were just the tables and chairs around ringside and they integrated them right in. ****

[Loss]

I cut my death match teeth on Kanemura as an up-and-comer so it's a fun shift to see him as more of a jaded veteran who is just so unphased by violence because he's experienced so much of it. There were crazy spots, but I also thought the character work was pretty decent. I still don't get Yamakawa the way I do everyone else around him though. He has yet to really impress me in a big way and always comes across as the lesser guy in his biggest matches, even though his charisma is there. Kanemura puts on a strong heel performance here, not so much in terms of being hateable, although he's good in that sense, but in carrying the match and feeding Yamakawa's comeback. I also love the simplicity of some of the quick transitions, like Kanemura going for the chair near the end and Yamakawa blindsiding him, and not just the kickouts, but the timing of the kickouts generating so much heat because they were so well-timed. So yes, crazy spots, but this had substance beneath the flash thanks to a strong leading performance. So yes, I liked the match but didn't like it as much as soup. Everyone is right about everything. Everyone gets cookies. ***1/2

[Laney]

This is a pretty fun death match with some sick looking spots with tables. A lot less violent then the death matches we see today, but there was some good wrestling and psychology involved. A good match, but I wouldn't rate this on the highest end of death matches that I've seen. You have to give them credit though for getting a lot of the violent spots that they did here.

 

***1/2

[Moonsault Marvin]

Death matches aren't my favorite style, but I thought this was a good match. Kanemura did a good job of being a humorous heel. Yamakawa really took a beating, and I don't know how he got up after that power bomb where he was supposed to hit the table but instead he hit the floor.

[Rah]

What’s a BJPW match without one of the wrestler’s pretending to jack off or blow a light tube? What’s a BJPW match with weak chair shots? The answer to both of those questions is “shit”, obviously. I’m sure this was okay, but I had to rewind four times just to try understand what I missed from zoning out. This really could not suck me in, and its violence did nothing for me, either.

[TravJ1979]

This started out good, but devolved into a typical ECW brawl. I just can't take Kanemura seriously with his air-brushed jean shorts and dress shirt. Tucked in no less.

[drew wardlaw]

Wing Kanemura wit some very saucy lighttube antics. Very casual too. Anyway, this was a fun plunder type match with some especially rough spots like that powerbomb. Worked perfectly fine for the type of match it was, but didnt hit the peaks of the Honma vs Yamakawa match from the month before.

[Edwin]

I thought this was very fun. Kanemura tossing Yamakawa over the top rope onto a pile of chairs and then following up by jumping off the top rope and hitting a senton on Yamakawa without having to set him up for it was awesome.

 

Glad Yamakawa started the walking around the crowd holding Kanemura by the hair and Kanemura hit him with a punch to the stomach and the proceeded to attack him.

 

I also liked Kanemuras use of weapons. He didnt just break a light tube on Yamakawas arm and forget about the light tube like most guys do, instead he broke the light tube on his arm and then grab shards of it and stabbed Yamakawa in the arm multiple times with it. He also threw Yamakawa through a table and then proceeded to hit Yamakawa across the head with it endless times until it was in pieces.

 

The finish was awesome with Yamakawa hitting his modified double underhook facebuster once and that was it. No need to kick out of it as it was wrap right there.

 

Very fun match.

 

***

[ohtani's jacket]

Nothing like a death match in the morning to get your day started right.

Actually, this wasn't much of a death match. There were tables and chairs but that could describe a regular match in 2000. It was a lot of fun, though. It could have been a sprawling mess but they kept things surprisingly tight. Both guys are charismatic which helps. I love Kanemura. He looks like the type of Japanese comedian who'd advertise plus-sized clothing stores but instead of making people laugh his calling in life is to brawl like a motherfucker. Another cool BJW match. I've now successfully cherrypicked BJW for the year. I enjoyed the highs that the promotion had. I've probably watched more garbage wrestling from 2000 than I have from any other year in wrestling history. I won't be jumping through barbed wire anytime soon but I do feel enlightened. Thanks for taking me on the journey (pun intended.)

[xlynwoodx]

I got some PWG in Reseda vibes from this crowd.  It felt like a party that had some wrestling there. 

Someone else compared it to ECW, which feels right as it was less a pro wrestling match and more a brawl with some pro wrestling rules.  But it was different enough, with some crazy spots, two real characters, and a wild crowd.  I knew I was in for something special when Kanemura comes out and does a choreographed dance to "Come Out And Play" by The Offspring.  Then the match started and he immediately hits a Van Daminator.  Later, he does this wacky butt-drop senton to the outside that I rewatched probably 15 times.  Dude was just always up to something.  Yamakawa is a big dude, took some insane punishment, and looked pretty good during the finish.  When I saw "Tables, Light Tubes, and Chairs Match", this isn't what I expected, it was so much more fun than that.