[2000-01-02-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs Akira Taue & Johnny Smith & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

[soup23]

With this and the previous six man, we essentially have all of the big focal points of AJ coming into 2000 besides Vader and Kawada. Kikuchi and Kakihara have a more shooty opening than the matwork in the previous six man. Action seems to start earlier in this one with Kakihara busting a suplex onto the floor and a kick right to the face of a wounded Kikuchi. After some meandering, Misawa comes in vs. Smith. Smith is a weird trajectory as he was doing pretty well in the gaijin role in 98-2000, then the NOAH split happens and his relevance falls off. He gets in some pretty good arm work on Misawa. Misawa does a nice diving headbutt off the second rope to Taue and then rolls through. Misawa looks good in the early portions of this match not taking the night off at all. Smith continues to do some arm work this time on Ogawa when he gets tagged in. Match takes more of a structure when Kikuchi starts to get worked over. Kakihara is taking the lion’s work for his team with Misawa being a nice compliment. Misawa and Taue have their hottest exchange of the match as the match nears its conclusion. Kakihara also is able to hit a nice flurry on Taue. Ogawa and Smith gives way to Ogawa and Kikuchi with Misawa chipping in again for his team. A nice spot does happen where Kikuchi rolls through the first drop toe hold attempt of Ogawa before he hits the second. Misawa also hasn’t thrown out hardly any of his big time offense showing restraint. He pins Kikuchi with a frog splash and running elbow smash. This match had some nice moments but also felt meandering for much of the time. I also thought both Taue and Ogawa were essentially non factors and those are two guys that I really like. **1/2

[Loss]

Kakihara's UWFI stuff is always fun to see in a total pro-style environment, but this didn't do much for me outside of that and Ogawa's tree of woe eyepoke on Kikuchi, which admittedly may have been worth the price of admission. Pretty one-sided affair without much drama. The late leg work on Kakihara feels awfully uninspired. A match with this many interesting guys shouldn't be this bland, and this felt like an obvious sign that a shake-up was due.

[soup23]

This was really dry on rewatch. Kakihara doesn't provide much interesting work and he really does carry the lion's share for his team. Misawa was fine, everyone else was below average IMO. **

[benj]

It's weird, the previous six man was better, but I was more into this match. Maybe it was the dynamics of the teams, or Kikuchi not giving two fucks, but this felt like an easier watch. The frog splash did not look fun for Misawa landing on Kikuchi's shoulder. Like Loss said, interesting guys, but kind of bland.

[Laney]

This is a highly disappointing match given the talent involved here. The first half of this match is boring, but then Kikuchi brings me back into it when he is getting beatdown. The next 5-7 minutes or so are great and a lot of fun, but then it becomes awkward when Johnny Smith and Ogawa faceoff. The match never recovers and is just awkward until the finish.

 

Kikuchi and Kakihara were fun in this match. It was also fun when Misawa and Taue faced against each other. The rest of the match is forgettable.

 

**1/2

[Karl]

A real nothing match here. Always nice seeing Kikuchi and Ogawa going at it but beyond that the most fillery fillers of a match. Not awful...heck, not even bad, just.....there. **

[AstroBoy]

I thought Kikuchi's face in peril work stood out big time. The frog splash from Misawa looked incredibly painful and this was solid but I'm just struggling to find much to say about it. A pretty listless match.

[puropotsy]

I found this to be a little slow. Kakihara and Kikuchi had some fun exchanges early. I liked Smith's control section and then Misawa and Taue had a fun exchange as well. Otherwise, this was lesser AJPW six-man work to me

[Chess Knight]

Yeah I agree with everyone else, this is sadly pretty lifeless, outside of some workover parts and weird comedy spots. The wrestling was solidly done, though, I think this had some of the work of peak All Japan (SOME of the work), but absolutely none of the energy. I guess I came away from it a little let down, like others have said, because of who was in the match. If this had six people I'd never seen before I'd probably jot their names down to remember to see what else they can do. For a while I've said that expectations and prior knowledge don't affect my enjoyment, or anything, in wrestling. For a while I have been full of shit, and not really known it.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I thought this was better than the previous six man. Kakihara looked good on offense, and poor Kikuchi took a beating and sold it well. I liked some of Misawa's selling such as wiggling the fingers.

[Wahoos Leg]

There is nothing technically wrong with this match, but the complete absence of heat and energy killed it for me.

 

Totally skippable.

[Tim Evans]

Is Kikuchi still a junior heavyweight here? He looks bigger than I remember him being in 1993. Agree with everyone else that this was a nothing match but interesting to see where All Japan was after baba died but before NOAH formed. This was pretty much the definition of Misawa sleep walking through a match.

[Sean Liska]

Wow, haven’t watched this era since I was a 15 year old making my parents drive 45 minutes to a Japanese supermarket with AJPW tapes. Why did AJPW put the hard cam in “wrong” part of Korakuen in their later years? Always bugged me.

 

Anyways, I’ve been watching a lot of early 90s AJPW recently so have to adjust my mindset. The crowd is quieter, Kikuchi is wearing different gear. Shoot, this crowd is making me appreciate modern NJPW crowds. Kakahira brought a fun dynamic to things. The last 7 minutes made it a good match but, man, 2017 AJPW has more life than this. Maybe it was a bad night.

[jiraffejustin]

Yeah, I guess everybody here is right about this match being totally lifeless. The crowd is dead and you can't blame them, but if they had a pulse the workers might be a little more energized by them. The match before this one is a whole lot better. Maybe these guys just weren't feeling it. Not much to say about this match. The finish was decent with that frog splash looking kind of nasty, I think it probably should have ended the match, but I'm fine with the kickout followed by the elbow.

[Pterois]

I'm the outlier here. I think it is extremely enjoyable. Kakihara doing his shoot stuff in a pro style environment is really enjoyable. Kikuchi is as good and fun as he was in the early nineties. Thee crowd might be a bit quiet but I don't care, I am too focused on what those guys are doing. Indeed, Misawa doesn't do a lot but I don't blame him, the others are a thrill to watch. I'm glad I've seen it.