[2000-08-12-NJPW-G1 Climax] Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinya Makabe & Shinjiro Otani

[soup23]

Tanahashi is teaming with Kanemoto today. What a turncoat. Makabe has beef with Koji and they start the match out. That doesn’t last long before Tana tags in and again we have a spirited exchange between him and Shinya. I will continue to be amazed at how much sharper Makabe’s striking is now than in current day. Otani and Tanahashi also fire off against each other. From there the match is the typical Otani/Kanemoto hate fest with stiff strikes and taunting along the way. I appreciate this development for the juniors and think that in current day, they spend too much time paired up with each other or clear past their prime veterans. I also appreciate how strong Otani and Kanemoto go after each other in these mostly meaningless tags. The finale of this match had Makabe being the main whipping boy and Otani hitting a missile dropkick to help Makabe out. Makabe then hits two Germans and we have a huge upset with Otani celebrating with him. Damn good match and showing from the young lions. ***1/4 (6.5)

[AstroBoy]

I wasn't wild about this as a lot of it just felt like a loosely interconnected series of slap exchanges disguising as a match. But the main moments that stand out here are both due to Otani and how he gets things over more than any move or strike exchange could. Otani's reaction to Tanahashi's nearfall, just his look of concern and question to the referee, does more to get Tanahashi over as a threat than any of Tanahashi's offensive exchanges did. The crowd is suddenly into it at another level there.

 

And it's Otani's rabid enthusiasm, trying to encourage Makabe to finish the deal on Kanemoto, that brings the ending stretch an added element of heat. Without his acting there, it wouldn't have come across nearly as well.

 

**3/4

[ohtani's jacket]

The 2000 juniors division continues to spiteful and hard-hitting thanks in large part to Ohtani and Kanemoto's penchant for being spiteful and hard-hitting. The young lions looked good here. I can't imagine it's easy to go out there and put on a match like this when you're inexperienced but the vets kept things humming and Ohtani got the crowd fired up for Makabe.