[2000-06-30-ECW-Kansas City, MO] Yoshihiro Taijiri vs E.Z. Money

[soup23]

I was happy to see Tajiri work with an underneath worker and him vs EZ Money sounded fun in concept. The match itself had the crowd firmly behind Tajiri and Money mainly backing off which was fun to see as a one off. Tajiri continues to find creative ways of bringing in his signature stuff like the mist and Tarantula. His kicks of course looked wonderful including the one right before the finish of the brainbuster. **1/2

[cheapshot]

EZ Money was one of those late ECW guys that was firmly locked away in the "average" folder in my brain. After seeing him here I was wrong to think he was average, I think it's his name that I don't like, it's so low rent sounding. Really good TV match, which was sightly hurt by the interference. EZ Money looked great and could hang with Tajiri in this. Good open sequence and the match flew by. Both were able to showcase their offence, including a great looking submission by EZ. **1/2

[GSR]

Is Chris Hamrick doing the slant eyes gesture towards Tajiri as he makes his entrance?  E.Z. tries to start a “USA, USA” chant but that ends up with them chanting “You suck dick” at him.  Money is just about hanging with Tajiri on the wrestling, confidently telling RF “this is going to be easy”.  A dropkick sends Tajiri sprawling through the ropes to the floor where he’s attacked by Hamrick before he throws him back inside.  Standing moonsault for a two.  A kick to the mid-section doubles E.Z over and Tajiri lands a standing moonsault of his own.  Nice counter of the Tarantula by Money.  Hamrick is up on the apron holding a chair, E.Z. goes to whip Tajiri into it, but Tajiri with a handspring kicking the chair into Hamrick’s own face.  Powerbomb by Money and not satisfied with just interfering from the apron, Hamrick is now in the ring.  E.Z. tells him to “hold that motherfucker” while he climbs the turnbuckles, but Tajiri blows the mist in Hamrick’s face and then gives Money a shove.  All tied up in the ‘tree of woe’ and Tajiri baseball slide dropkicks him in his face.  A stiff kick to the head, brain buster and this one’s over.

A pretty standard house show match (the crowd were wanting tables but they weren’t getting them tonight) however it’s always cool to see Tajiri in there with someone new.  There was some nice stuff like Tarantula counter and the handspring chair spot again, although a shame that these two only wrestled each other twice (according to wrestlingdata) as they could clearly have a very good match if given time on TV or PPV.