[2000-05-14-BJW] Tomoaki Honma vs Crazy Sheik

[soup23]

A very simplistic death match which I could appreciate. Sheik is pretty much a warm body here offering such great offensive moves as a nerve hold while on top. The selling of Honma as well as his overall charisma keeps things moving along. Finish sees him deliver a suplex through the barbed wire boards and then a flying forearm for the win. This match is a good way to compare other death matches too. If its better than this match, I would say it is a good match. **1/2

[Tim Evans]

I'm surprised to see Puerto Rican legend and former CMLL main eventer Rico Suave doing a sheik gimmick in 2000 Big Japan. Out of the three deathmatches i've seen on this card, I liked this the most. While it featured weapons, they made sense and the match wasn't booked around stunts. Homna bleeds a lot and Sheik focuses on the head to get the blood flow really going. Homna makes a comeback and all is well. Maybe not a good match but I liked where it was going.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I was expecting Crazy Sheik to be a poor ripoff of the Sheik, but he threw decent punches. Watching young Honma move so quickly is always jarring compared to current day Honma. I liked how they used the barbed wire boards. Honma put the Crazy Sheik in camel clutch to push him into the wire, and Sheik pulled Honma over to the board while using a waist hold. Sheik went to the nerve hold repetitively when once was enough, but otherwise, this was an okay match.