[2000-04-25-NJPW] Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara vs Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (2/3 falls)

[soup23]

Unique pairing here with some Team 2000 members we don’t see much of against our junior pricks. Goto and Kanemoto face off right away. The first fall is really all action and at a breakneck pace. I like the mentality of both teams and how similar they are. In parity from the opening stanza, Goto picks up the win on Kanemoto. Saito is still getting after it in this match in 2000 which warms my heart. Second fall is more of the same this time with Takiawa pinning Saito in a nice surprise. Like with these previous junior heavy matches the action is certainly top notch. Third fall is more of the same with the finale resulting in Ohara and Otani in there. In a surprise for me, Ohara picks up the win. I have really soured on the NJ booking April as they have went out of their way to make the juniors look insignificant. ***1/4

[Loss]

I might be overrating this, but I am shocked at how freakin' GREAT this is. I'm not sure where I picked up this habit, but when skimming New Japan cards to figure out what matches I want to watch, I've sort of trained myself that whatever match(es) involve Hiro Saito (after the 80s), Michiyoshi Ohara or Tatsutoshi Gotoh are probably skippable. Now I'm wondering if I've truly missed out on some great stuff. The fans got really invested in the dual dynamic of heavies vs juniors *and* veterans vs young guys, and they dovetailed nicely. The pop for that second fall victory of Takaiwa pinning Saito is just off the charts. I do agree that the wrong team won, but I also think the vets were extremely giving and the young guys had some amazing surprise kickouts that made them look really strong. This could have been a really strong long-term feud with legs. As it stands, it's a great one-off. ****

[Mattsdmf]

I really liked this match as it was a lot of fun. I wasnt very familiar with the heavies side besides Saito but they did a great job. I thought Otani and Kanemoto were tremendous pricks in this and their performances along with Takaiwas performance was very very good. I loved the pacing that the match was in as it never got boring. The pop for the second fall was awesome! I thought Otanis selling was quite good in this. I do agree that the wrong team in this won.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Kanemoto seemed much more over with the crowd than usual. I liked Saito using the eye poke to stop Otani's no sell. Lots of back and forth action in this one, and it had a surprising ending. Good match.