[2000-02-22-BJW-Exite Series] Tomoaki Honma vs Abdullah Jr Kobayashi (Barbed Wire Board and Ladder Death)

[soup23]

BJPW does a good job differentiating their death matches. This felt like a different style of match from the one previous. This has more of the boards and props but also has some semblance of a story throughout. The ladder shots that were used were well done minus a botch from Honma trying to run up one. Honma hits a gnarly blade job and the match culminates in a big dive from the ladder that wins a hard earned victory for Honma. This match shows that Abdullah could hang early on in his career. ***1/2

 

[Loss]

I thought this was pretty fantastic. I appreciated how much wrestling they worked into this. To me, the best death matches have a lot of wrestling because they recognize how effective doing a lot of it is in building tension. They didn't go as heavy on the weapon shots here, and when they did, it was more about the brutality and less about the stuntman nature of the moves. I loved how much heat Kobayashi built on Honma through out this, and how Honma just kept selling and selling and taking a beating. The blood helped build drama. I also sort of got a kick out of how this is a ladder match, but they make no false pretenses about its purpose. There is nothing to climb and grab to win. It's seriously just there to maim and hurt. Refreshing honesty if nothing else. There weren't really any wasted spots in this. When I think back on it, I am pretty sure I remember them all, and that's a hallmark of a gimmick match that built its big moments up exceptionally well. Underneath the blood and guts, the weapons, the barbed wire and the ladder, this was just a fundamentally sound wrestling match with a hell of a lot of selling and a great controlled performance by Kobayashi, even outdoing Kanemura in the previous match. Honma earned that win and got over big in overcoming so much to get there. ****1/4

[Tim Evans]

Skinny Abdullah is a sight to see. This was interesting as Homna does his usual crazy bumps but the match is built on attacking Abdullah's arm. I didn't notice it till the finish. I liked how there was blood but not a ton from silly lighttube shots like most of these deathmatches seem to be. The weapons were used at the right time but not overdone. Good match.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I preferred the Kanemara/Yamakawa match to this one, as I didn't get into the big spots in this one. The barbed wire board didn't really seem to cut them much so it didn't seem devastating. I did like the spot near the end where Honma jumped on the ladder and catapulted it into Kobayashi's face. Average match.

[JourneybyTrain]

Kind of surreal to see skinny Kobayashi as I've only seen matches of his from the last decade or so (pointy shoes are nice as well). The majority of this match was kind of average BJPW wandering around, throwing some mediocre strikes and doing a spot with some barbwire, chair or ladder that has not much build up or drama to it. But the three big spots towards the end are all great, specially liked Honma smashing the ladder into Kobayashi's face with a leg drop. Seemed like he improved going for the submission after just hitting the arm on the big headbutt spot, which is pretty brilliant if so. Was thinking this was kind of boring but those spots really saved the match.

[TravJ1979]

This was really good. They had a match with hardcore elements instead of hardcore spots with a headlock or two in-between.

[drew wardlaw]

Kobayashi is the standout for me here, specially the aura that he has early on. Currently hes a deathmatch legend and just has this incredible presence of loveable horror. Its cool to see that hes got traces of it here. Hes not as beloved yet but if you look at his introduction and the way he carries himself on offense you can tell hes got it.

[Edwin]

In the sense of 4-5 years, Kobayashi ages about 30 years and that is most likely due to amounted scar tissue and most likely eating 5 meals a day as he looks relatively young and slim here and in 2004 he looked like he was in his late 40's and he gained about 75-100 more lbs.

 

This match was great. I thought this was far better than the Yamakawa match from the previous month. Both guys looked fantastic here. Honma's dive with the ladder to the outside early on was nuts. His facial expression and selling after getting tossed off the top of the ladder was great.

 

Less pointless crowd brawling here and more brutalness instead.

 

The finish was excellent with Honma having the awareness of countering his kimura with a Fujiwara armbar immediately.

 

****

[Stiva]

Great match that built and delivered in the ways you want a big death match to. At the end, I was about to complain about another Honma match not ending when it should but the combo of the awesome dive into the ring and the instant armbar was enough to make me forget that fucking nutso powerbomb through the boards from Kobayashi. Both guys were awesome here, not only at the big moment to moment stuff but the little things that keep everything together. Honma's facial expressions are just fantastic and Kobayashi does tiny things like bending Honma's finger back during an Abdominal Stretch and giving sly little kicks as he sets up the next weapon spot. All of those spots meant something and the work in between escalated nicely. Great match.

[xlynwoodx]

My expectations were somewhat high after watching the Kanemura x Yamakawa match that preceded this.  The crowd was nowhere near as hot (There is a somewhat notorious fire incident in the match preceding this that probably caused this).  I thought it was weird to have a title match with ladders all over the place but it not be an actual ladder match.  There was more wrestling than I expected and some of the spots were cool, especially the two at the end.  Overall, this didn't do much for me.