[2000-08-24-Toryumon] CIMA & Sumo Fuji & Yoshikazu Taru vs Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda

[soup23]

M2K vs Crazy Max has arrived. This is the first super sized match between the two and Korakuen is rocking for it. It sort of reminded me of the Jumbo and Co. vs Misawa and Co. tag from May 1990 as you could tell the momentum was changing for the promotion and this was going to be the main focal point for the foreseeable future. Fuji gets worked over for a majority of the match and shows some sympathetic tendencies which is different from what he has been asked to do in his career so far. The match has an extended finishing run with a ton of chaos and action. M2K has instituted wanting to have a double countout and they succeed here. I don’t know how long that is going to be acceptable for me as a viewer chronicling this stuff, but it worked here. **** (7.9)

[ohtani's jacket]

This was cool it felt like the first important match between these teams and the first great Toryumon trios match. The intensity was high throughout but I really liked the finish with Crazy Max desperate to get the win, protecting the pinfall from interference but forgetting about the ref. The "ring out," as it's so colloquially called in Japan, was teased a couple of times and when it finally happened it seemed like a great way of signaling that the war was far from over. I liked the mad scramble that CIMA made to beat the count and the way Mochizuki celebrated when he dragged him from the apron kicking and screaming. Kudos to Fuji as well for adding another feather to his cap as an effective FIP and Taru for being the big time power offense.

[AstroBoy]

Typical really good match in the midst of a good run from Toryumon leading up to this. Taru was a mauler with a hellacious clothesline and a really nasty boston crab in this, a great enforcer type to complement his guys. Fuji getting worked over did mix it up and also led to CIMA's comeback with two great spots. The first being the perfectly timed miscommunication that led to Masaaki nailing the wrong man with the weapon. And then CIMA flashing the springboard dropkick turned into a moonsault mid-move. Such an awesome move. There are big nearfalls but they kind of serve to make the double countout finish feel even more "earned". If all that stuff wasn't going to end the match, then clearly the two sides have bigger things ahead and the countout only serves to beckon that.

 

****