[2000-04-11-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman

[soup23]

Good match but one I was expecting more given the talent involved. Holy Demon Army just really don’t have a lot of steam or momentum after the No Fear loss. Everything they did here was fine but the highlight and energy mostly came from Akiyama as he entered in the closing stages of the match. Taue predictable puts Mossman away. Mossman looked good again and hit a floatover DDT that looked smooth. ***

[Loss]

I think what I really liked about this was the interaction between Kawada and a young Taiyo Kea, which nicely foreshadowed two of the top talents that would be left behind in post-split All Japan. This was a very good match, and Mossman has really come a long way since the last time I saw him in a match, which was probably in 1996 or 1997. Akiyama also contributed a lot to this match, but that's been his story in every match, so it comes as no surprise. I love that his in-ring approach is becoming to never give an inch in terms of going to extremes to make his point. (Wow, three cliches in one sentence!) ***1/4

[Moonsault Marvin]

I thought Mossman looked really good when doing kicks, but was somewhat uninspiring on the mat, not really doing anything when he had Kawada in the Indian deathlock position. I really liked the overhead suplex Taue did by hooking the arms from the front. Not the most memorable tag for Kawada and Taue, but it had some fun double teams by both sides. Good match.