Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

[2002-01-04-NJPW-Wrestling World 2002] Yuji Nagata vs Jun Akiyama


Calvin

Recommended Posts

This match severely lacks stakes for what's supposed to be their biggest match on their biggest show of the year. From what I understand, it's last minute booking due to Kazuyuki Fujita injuring himself and vacating the IWGP championship, leaving Nagata with no opponent. NOAH steps in to bail them out, but they're not sending Akiyama, their GHC champion, to the Dome to lose.

There's some genuinely exciting moments in this one (Emerald Flowsion, hello?), but the odd pacing choices here hurt the escalation leading up to many of those offensive exchanges, and the dual neck selling segments wasn't exactly the most compelling match structure. A more compact, shorter bombfest would've worked better here, but what we got instead is a match that was unsure of itself and these two lacked the in-ring chemistry to overcome that obstacle.

**3/4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

It does start on the slower sides of things. Jun as the NOAH Ace was an experiment that didn't quite work at that point, and there's something missing there too, as you'd expect much more heat and dickiness out of Jun in a NJPW setting. Of course we're deep into Inoki fucking up the company, so it's not like it's a hot context anyway, with Nagata coming off getting legit killed in an MMA match (dumbest idea ever from Inoki). Still, it takes off after a while, when Nagata drops Jun on his head, which will result in a payback spot in the form of a great DDT on the ramp. The piledriver that follows looks indeed shaky at best. Still, that's the story there. Nagata is actually kinda heelish a bit, which the crowd doesn't seem to like (odd). Things really pick up when the bombs are coming, after Jun realizes he can't exactly exchange strikes with Nagata (the hard slapfest was what ignited the real heat). Jun putting Nagata in his own Nagata-lock was kinda neat too. But really, it's more of a bombfest with counters in the finishing stretch, which is fitting for a Dome show and it gets really good. Nagata actually shines more to me there with his execution and selling, in a position where he's working from underneath, trying to get by Jun's more dangerous attacks, which will end up breaking him at the end. Very good/Excellent match overall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • GSR changed the title to [2002-01-04-NJPW-Wrestling World 2002] Yuji Nagata vs Jun Akiyama
  • 3 months later...

Really underwhelming match considering how great Akiyama can be and Nagata being passable around this time. This was largely boring your turn/my turn stuff. I know it can be difficult to work with a guy you are not used to, but I expected more from Akiyama than just chinlock his way through a neck work segment. Nagata just isn't good enough to make this stuff compelling. Akiyama using the Emerald Frosion was a cool touch admittedly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

GHC Champion Jun Akiyama vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW Tokyo Dome 1/4/02

Fujita was stripped of the IWGP Title on this night according to an above post that he injured himself. I have not had a chance to research the background to this but my recollection was this was always the plan because wasn’t Akiyama shown in the crowd during Nagata matches in the run-up to this.

This is not an Inokiist match obviously very much a tame AJPW/NOAH match but it happened in the Inokiist Era so I gave it watch during lunch break.

They start with the standard All Japan rope break will he or won’t he spot. Nagata rifles Akiyama with kicks. They go to the strike exchange never a fan. All Japan Exploder trade Akiyama Shining Wizard. The transitions are pretty weak throughout the match. Nagata gets a guillotine than a couple piledrivers. I was like well they have to transition back to Akiyama since Nagata climaxed. Nagata misses a spin wheel kick. Akiyama pops up DDT on ramp, Tombstone on outside and piledriver inside. Very symmetrical match. Since Akiyama climaxed Nagata gets a suplex. So it is endgame which means trading Crossfaces and slaps. Nagata gets his big hurrah at the end with the head kick. Akiyama hits Emerald Flowsion and some Exploders to win. My turn/your turn bare bones All Japan match here. It was just going through the motions. I’ll be generous *** 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...