[2006-01-22-NOAH-First Navigation] Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[dawho5]

This match was amazing. I have one small quibble with it, but I'll get to that later. Taue does the opening control segment simple and effective. Love Taue's early match offense and how brutal it looks despite not being anything big. Akiyama's comeback is great for a few reasons. One, it comes a little earlier than expected. Taue seems to like to milk the comeback until right about the point where you figure it was a tease and then take the big opponent comeback. Here it comes right after Akiyama starts fighting back a little more and it catches you off-guard. Secondly, Akiyama's comeback is absolutely brutal. And focused. It's brilliant stuff and Taue taking that first bump at his age should get a fucking medal. And the second big knee is just...that looks like it hurt. The finishing run is incredible. All kinds of momentum shifts in between falls and a few teases of them. My only problem is I think Akiyama should have went right from the first exploder to a front neck lock instead of the nearfall in between. The exploder has been so devalued as a finisher that it needs a lot of setup at this point. Taue's last nearfall is absolutely incredible. He crawls over to Akiyama and drapes an arm over, and you get the sense that if he could just have made a full-on cover he may have had this match. This is a firm number 5 and both Taue and Akiyama at their very best.

[Superstar Sleeze]

GHC Heavyweight Champion Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama - Budokan 01/22/06

 

Wow, Akiyama looking like it is 2000 with his urgency and focus. Akiyama has looked great in certain instances since 2002, but here he was wrestling at the level that made him the preeminent puroresu star at the turn of the century. Everything was focused on Taue's head and neck. He was throwing knees like Misawa would throw elbow. Everything had a purpose and a sense of urgency behind. Taue is the King of Efficiency. There are no overwrought sequences. He is a straight-ahead wrestler. His goal was to Nodowa Akiayama to hell and retain his title. It did not feel like macho pissing contest, but two men struggling to win a championship.

 

The bout starts off pretty even with Taue having a slight advantage. Akiyama looks to strike early ascending the ropes, but Taue big boots him to the outside. Taue consolidates with a great dive to the outside. Taue chucks him back first into the railing and then drops him neck first on railing. Taue looks to get the Nodowa setting up with hotshots, legdrops and big boots, but Akiyama is able back body drop him out. In the spot of the match, Akiyama absolutely wipes Taue out with a running knee from the apron from behind. Akiyama does the same move again, but this time with Taue on the railing. Akiyama is relentless with knees to the head and does his trademark top rope diving elbow to the back of the head. Taue makes a mini comeback with a back drop driver that sets up the Nodowa/Big Splash comb. In a sequence I loved, Akiyama dropkicked Taue's knee to be able to knee him in the head, but the knees only get two. He looks for the Exploder, but Taue knows to avoid it. Akiyama DDTs him on the ramp. Akiyama looks to seal the deal with a running knee, but eats a big boot. NODOWA OFF THE RAMP~!

 

They tease the countout finish, but Taue rolls him back in to only get two. Taue hits Nodowa and holds onto throat to hit a Dynamic Bomb that looked dangerous, but only gets two. Backdrop Nodowa and cocky Taue covers with hand just on throat. Taue wants the Nodowa off the rope, but Akiiyama fights off. Akiyama jumping knee off the ropes. The Exploder gets two. They are really both showing much they want to win this with constant barrage of nearfalls. Akiyama goes for his guillotine choke, but still cant negotiate the pin. Another exploder still cant get the job done. "TAUE! TAUE! TAUE! TAUE! TAUE!" Now it's Akiyama going for the Top Rope Finish and it is SUPER NODOWA~! Taue can only get a arm on Akiyama and it is a kick out. Taue has an enziguiri left in him, but Akiyama unleashes knee after knee and eventually Taue succumbs to the onslaught.

An absolutely terrific match with both wrestlers working hard to win the match, which should not be a novel concept. Akiyama's commitment to the knee and the attack on Taue's head and neck was tremendous to watch. Taue has enough tricks in his bag to work effective control segments and then surprise during the big finish run. Clocking in at around 20 minutes, the match felt fresh and energetic throughout with Akiyama in top form. ****1/4

[Graham Crackers]

One of the six or seven best GHC title matches, one of the top 20 NOAH matches ever and probably a top 40 match for this ballot at worst. This takes the promise displayed in the Tenryu/Akiyama vs Kobashi/Taue tag and builds an incredible match on top of it. At his best in NOAH Akiyama came across as a smart worker but this is one of the few times he has come across as a real bruiser. Those knee strikes have never looked better from him.

[Superstar Sleeze]

The last great singles match between the Five Pillars ends an era in a fitting fashion with an all-out tour de force. Akiyama wrestles like it is 2000 with laser-focus on Taue's neck and those knees off the apron are nasty. The Taue resurgence is still in effective and looks as great as he ever did. The transitions were so smart in this that you wish all 2000s Japan remembered how to build a match this way. Everything builds from the first Taue big boot while Akiyama was on the top rope and he crashes to the floor. From there, each has to one-up the other. Akiyama wipes Taue out from the apron to the floor with two wicked knees. Taue responds with a crazy NODOWA off the ramp. All the work in between these transitions is incredible. The fact they make the transitions to be the most impactful spots shows such a deep understanding of how to layer their match. The spot that has made me lose my mind both time was when Taue knows he needs the Super Nodowa, but Akiyama nails him with a knee to the head. It puts over everything in the match in one simple exchange. Taue has hit his big moves, he knows he needs this one to polish him off and retain the title. It puts over how high-risk the spot to basically put your opponent in an offensive position (Akiyama has the high ground), but he has to do it to win and keep the title. Finally, it calls back to all of Akiyama's work on head/neck with the knee and puts him over as a resilient challenger. They say don;t make matches like they use to, but on January 22, 2006 Akiyama and Taue captured the magic one more time. In what I consider the weakest year of the decade, they salvage it with a performance worthy of the 90s. I see this in the #15-#25 range. There is actually quite bit of good shit from this decade. ****1/2

[G. Badger]

This is a really great, violent encounter that starts Noah '06 off right and is more like 2013 Akiyama in AJPW...using the knees like Misawa used elbows. Taue brought his A game here as well working a more spot-centric match to hide his limitations. Great finish, nice pacing, and memorable moments for sure.

[superkix]

Perhaps Taue’s last great epic encounter and what a lovely match to bow out on against Akiyama. He isn’t too proud to rake the eyes in order to gain control and he slowly wears Jun down the only way Taue can, coconut crushing and big booting. And it wouldn’t be an Akiyama match without knees everywhere – off the apron, onto the guardrail, front, back, top rope, you name it. He keeps putting the knees and elbows to the back of Taue’s head to set up the front necklock, but when Taue’s able to get to his feet, he destroys Akiyama with a backdrop counter. Taue’s offense isn’t always the most hard hitting but I loved that he really seemed to let loose here, chokeslamming Akiyama on the ramp, hacking away at him with his meat cleaver hands, and planting him with a sheer-drop powerbomb. He hits the Ore ga Taue for two but when he tries for a top rope version, Akiyama’s able to shove him off into a jumping knee > running knee > Exploder, going right back into the front necklock off the two count. In the final minutes, they’re both running on fumes, fighting over the chokeslams and the Exploders, before Akiyama starts again with the knees. It isn’t the epic finishing stretch of endless head drops but it’s the relentlessness of Jun and his knees that get the better of Taue, and in the end, the pillar crumbles. A simple but beautifully told story.

[Makai Club #1]

The pacing was amazing. It made the 20 minute run time feel just as small as their 1997 sprint. The wrestling was hot with no real time wasting. It was all action. Taue went all in and went very hard which Akiyama replied with the same. But it found time to build to its biggest spots, such as the Nodowa off the top rope, perfectly. Taue wasn’t messing around in what would be one of his last big matches but Akiyama was too much and was way too determined to win the GHC Title once again. Thrilling. ***3/4