[2000-03-10-NJPW] Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Kendo Kashin & Negro Casas & Dr Wagner Jr

[soup23]

Six grumpy men beating the shit out of each other and flying around. This just kept getting better and better and climaxes in an amazing finish with Otani kicking the shit out of Casas and picking up the win. I was happy to see both Wagner and Kashin fit in here. In the case of Kashin, I didn’t think he was the weak line at all here and was really impressed at his sequences overall. Kanemoto has some weird low blows that he does directly in front of the referee which is odd. We have seen a lot of these guys so far paired up and this was another great entry with Casas bringing some freshness. ****

[Loss]

Awesome match with everyone just jovial and upbeat the entire time, especially Wagner, who seemed to be having the time of his life. Kendo Kashin would be my Most Improved Wrestler of 2000 at this point. He used to drag juniors matches down to an extent, and while I still wouldn't classify him as a great worker, he is more than capable of holding his own in these matches now. Wagner just adapted so seamlessly to New Japan, far better than Casas did. He was the biggest star of this. Very lively match -- the kind that reminds me why I love this stuff so much. ****

[Moonsault Marvin]

Wagner has another good performance in the NJPW tags. He is really top notch at showmanship. Lots of back and forth action in this one. Good match.

[Laney]

This a very good match and was a lot of fun. Dr. Wagner Jr. was great in this and has been a joy to watch in Japan thus far. It was surprising to see just how well Wagner worked the New Japan style. Kashin was surprisingly enjoyable in this as well. Some fun near falls and overall great action. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

This was another excellent juniors match. I love grumpy veteran Ohtani. Can we put to bed the narrative that his peak was short lived? I think it's more the case that we, the viewers, were exhausted on the 90s stuff and couldn't enjoy the 2000 stuff while it as happening. Nearly two decades on it all seems so fresh again. I love it anytime Wagner and Ohtani square off. That's such a great match-up. It feels like a simulated CAW match-up you'd make on one of those old console games. Casas vs. Ohtani was a treat as well. Casas has had an extremely quiet year thus far. It looks as though after Santo left CMLL, Bestia and Scorpio were shifted sideways in the Los Guapos stable but Casas was left with little to do. That will change in the coming years but for now, he's stuck in a holding pattern. I thought his work here was excellent and showed how fundamentally solid he is but for some reason he didn't show any of his natural charisma. I loved Ohtani gesturing for the belt at the end and talking shit. Go get that belt, son!

[cramerjason87]

Fun match. I was really impressed with Dr. Wagner Jr.'s charisma to the Japanese fans. He feels like a real star in the juniors division. Kanemoto and Otani are great here.

[Seabs]

Pretty basic but with so many good workers all looking on top of their game basic can turn into something really good. It didn't get into the great territory but when matches are designed to that's not a problem. Things got really hot towards the end and then there was a weird minute or two when Kanemoto tagged in and they slowed the pace back down before getting back to the hot finish pace again. Ohtani was the MVP for me.

[Sean Liska]

So many thoughts from watching this. What a great match. I like modern NJPW, but when people talk about it being the best wrestling of all-time - the modern guys are pimples on the asses of these dudes. I'm sorry, I just feel strongly about this era of NJPW juniors. Getting to see Casas and peak Otani was a wonderful unexpected treat, I wish we has gotten to see more Casas in the match. Wagner was great, I've always been one of his biggest fans. Just everything about this was so good.

[superkix]

This was a lot of fun, with some neat exchanges and everyone getting their chance to shine -- oh, and Doc Wagner showboating around and stooging with Kashin. Nothing is really sold but whatever, they got some token legwork in. I liked Kashin scooting over to the corner with Kanemoto in the leglock. His lowblock>blockbuster combo on Takaiwa looked awesome. More Ohtani/Casas interactions would've been good but the two count off the la magistral cradle was great.

[tbrett]

Really good 6-man. Some of my favorites participating Ohtani, Takaiwa, and Wagner. Every time I watch Wagner in NJPW he grows on me. It was a good pace with some nice exchanges from everyone in the match, agree on the two count on the la magistral that spot was awesome.