[2000-09-02-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs Steve Williams & Toshiaki Kawada

[soup23]

A strong tag match to end the show. Overall, a very good show for All Japan. This set up Tenryu vs Kawada as they really went after each other. Tenryu and Williams interacting is fun to see as they haven’t interacted since 1990. Hansen is certainly winding down and he has only five more matches after this. A couple of moments saw Doc being visibly light with him which takes the match down overall but Hansen is still there in the big moments and he ends up getting the final pin with the lariat. Hansen overall is going to be tough to gauge when I do my top 100 wrestlers list. Really all four of these men are. The punches Doc threw against Tenryu were much more vicious than the stuff he threw at Hansen. Tenryu had a few awkward moments himself but nothing that glaring considering the source. Overall, this probably would have been a MOTYC four years before but Doc/Tenryu and especially Hansen have lost just enough steam that it peaks out in the very good range. ***1/2 (7.1)

[ohtani's jacket]

The All Japan split has made what would have been a pretty average year for Kawada a heck of a lot more interesting. The irony of it being Kawada who's left to pick up the broken pieces of Baba's dream certainly isn't lost on the viewer. Unfortunately. he gives a fairly listless performance here. He had this amazing dynamic with Tenryu served up for him on a platter but he couldn't generate the type of heat you'd expect from such a key match-up. Tenryu tried a few tricks but Kawada wasn't up for it. Hansen was slow and plodding and looked gassed most of the time. Williams spent most of the time close to the mat in an effort to avoid doing any real work. You wished those two would just disappear and let us have Tenryu vs. Kawada. This should have been electric but it ended up being pretty disappointing. Perhaps I've been spoiled by Kawada's artistry in the past but I really expected more from him. He's got some work to do in the next couple of months if he's going to leave a positive impression on his calendary year.

[Tim Evans]

Even though he was old and probably shouldn't have been in the ring, Hansen can still throw a hell of a lariat. I thought the Tenyru/Kawada moments in this were good but just way too much Dr. Death for my liking. He was real boring when he wasn't punching guys in the face. Hell Hansen was better in this cause he was used better.