[2000-03-26-BJW] Tomoaki Honma vs Jun Kasai

[Loss]

This was an excellent, hard-fought 10-minute match with stiff shots, blood from Kasai and a little weaponry, but not much, and built to well when it is done. Most of the focus here is on the wrestling. This is the second Honma match I've seen this year that is worlds better than the Yamakawa match in January. It starts off with Kasai trying to wrestle and Honma trying to brawl before both flip roles and then the match breaks down. Would make my imaginary comp. ***3/4

[soup23]

Really strong match that starts out about as different as a Jun Kasai vs Honma match can. They worked the match for at least the first half of this one and showed they were competent and engaging in that realm. Better yet, this raised the stakes when the chairs and blood started to mix themselves into the proceedings. Kasai has this Crazy Monkey persona which has been his MO for the past 10 years but this match proved that he had a skillset that extended beyond the hack and slash style. ***1/2

[Moonsault Marvin]

The chair to the head was brutal. The match built well as it alternated between regular wrestling and hardcore. Honma was very dominant in the latter stages, so I was surprised Kasai pulled out the win. Good match.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was a decent match. It was hard fought, physical, and noisy! Honma must be a graduate of the Chono School for Grunt and Groan. Really noisy worker. It's rare that you see blood on the camera lens too.

[cramerjason87]

Really interesting match. It felt like a New Japan young lion vs a veteran match with weapon shots. They did a great job of engaging the crowd with nearfalls. Honma had some fantastic offense especially the brainbuster. Kasai sold well and had fire on his comebacks. Interested to see more Big Japan after this match.

[Edwin]

This was a strong match. Very intense and gritty. Its a rarity at this point watching Kasai participate in non wild death matches so this was a pleasant surprise. Its even more surprising that he can actually go and hold his own against Honma.

 

Kasai did the classic Flair head first into the corner spot that leads to the blade job. However Kasai is a masochist, so of course he went overboard with the blade job and got really bloodied up which was awesome. In fact there's so much blood here that it splats on the camera after a vicious running corner elbow from Honma.

 

Another awesome performance and another solid match involving Honma.

 

Very good match.