[1999-03-06-AJPW-Excite Series] Vader vs Akira Taue

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes of a good, borderline match sees Vader win the Triple Crown.

[tim]

This is basically Vader just killing Taue until he wins, and it's pretty cool.

[Tim Evans]

Just think, a year earlier Vader was a "fat piece of shit" jobbing to Bradshaw. I can watch Vader clobbering dudes all day.

[soup23]

You get the good stuff here as the first five -six minutes are really awkward. This has Taue showing some fire and Vader looking like a monster. Good deal.

[Zenjo]

This is borderline as to whether it warrants inclusion. By no means essential, but I'd recommend a watch. In general it was good quality. They went straight for each other and there was little downtime. Taue was big enough to go toe to toe with the Mastodon. Keeping it shortish was a positive. Unfortunately there was a minute in the middle where everything fell to pieces temporarily. That hurt the overall impression.

[PeteF3]

Of historical significance if nothing else, as Vader wins the vacant Triple Crown. Not bad action at all, with the highlights being Vader doing a splash off the apron to the floor and taking a cool bump off the second turnbuckle and eating a Taue boot. Still, hard to follow that whirlwind of a tag match.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Vader vs Akira Taue - AJPW 3/6/99

Historically the first Budokan of the year has the weakest Triple Crown defense and this continues that lineage unfortunately. At least they keep it short. As a Vader fan, I am happy that he was able to add this post-script to his career after the "fat piece of shit" bullshit. Vader winning the Triple Crown and being treated as a dominant main event act one they built their second Dome show around is the respect Vader deserves. In the post-match interviews, you can tell how much it means to Vader to have won this match and the Triple Crown. An interviewer asks him how he feels and Vader says "I feel like the best in the world" that's just great to hear. 

There's not too much to this match, it is just two big bulls colliding. Vader takes most of the match. Not too much in the way of signature Vader highspots more just his mauling and brawling style, the meaty lariats, the bearpaws, the body attacks using that size and girth to his advantage. Taue, as the biggest of the Pillars, does offer a more unique challenge to Vader in being able to use his length at times to keep Vader at bay. There is a clunky patch in the middle which draws some laughter from the Japanese crowd and there's a moment where it looks like it going to go to shit, but Taue salvages it all by going on offense. Vader getting way up for the Nodowa and Taue feeding the crowd saved the entire match. The crowd was right back in it and it effaced the miscues. After a couple Nodowas, Vader rolled to the apron. They tease the Nodowa of Death, but Vader backfists his way out of it. Vader hits MONSTRUOUS splash from the apron to the floor and I dont how much Taue was selling and how much Vader shoot landed on him. Another splash in the ring and Vader is rolling. The next back stop is Vader eats a HUGE big boot to the mush coming off the middle rope, which is Taue's big nearfall. Vader rips off his mask and starts throwing those massive haymakers in the corner. VADER THROWS TAUE DOWN WITH THE POWERBOMB! 1-2-3 in under 15 minutes. 

Honestly, not the most auspicious start to the reign and if I was Misawa who was pinning the hopes of the May Dome show on Vader, I would be a bit worried, but it all turned out alright as the Vader vs Misawa Dome match is my favorite Vader All Japan singles match and Vader looked like his old Mastodon self. There's enough good to check it out, but it may be the worst the Triple Crown match of the 90s.