[2001-03-03-AJPW] Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuya Nagai

[superkix]

This match ruled. Imagine Kawada working a spell in BattlARTS, against a former RINGS underdog in Nagai. No pin attempts, only knockdowns and submissions. And for almost 12:00 minutes, these two beat the shit out of each other. Pesky Nagai gets to kicking early on until Kawada snaps on him with elbows, and they trade blows until Kawada boots him down and spits blood. The stage is set. Nagai's shitty underdog performance is incredible, from his selling and expressions to rubbing wrist tape in Kawada's face and kicking the shit out of his leg. Really good struggle from both during the Stretch Plum attempt. And then it shifts into another gear as they start blasting each other with low kicks to the leg. Kawada is super aggressive with his kicks, buckling Nagai's knees and knocking him off his feet. But Nagai's giving it back to him and you can see Kawada's in pain as he limps around the ring, frustrated that Nagai keeps fighting. They slap the hell out of each other but Kawada keeps attacking the leg, putting him in a nasty stomping single leg crab. He keeps trying to submit Nagai with the single leg and after smacking him around and cutting the leg out with a kick, he really cranks on the single leg for the submission. I love a good, fiery underdog story and this delivered on almost all levels, with some great selling from both guys and brutal exchanges. A total hidden gem in Kawada's already stacked portfolio.

[Tim Cooke]

The infamous 3/4's legit match that sent Lance Storm into a tizzy in 2001

[soup23]

What was the context if Storm flipping out here?

[Tim Cooke]

Storm said Kawada is not a good worker if he needs to work that stiff. He then said Jeff Jarrett is better than Kawada because he can go do a five minute Nitro match on the fly - calling it all in the ring.

[ohtani's jacket]

Kawada has had an underwhelming start to the year so far but this was a real gem. I love watching Kawada against shoot style guys. He doesn't have the technique to compete with them in shoot style but what he does have his brutal pro-wrestling offense. His kicks, strikes, the stretch plum, and a half crab are enough to create the illusion that he can compete with these dudes, and his grit and toughness lend extra credibility. This was stiff. It was also beautiful. I wish we had seen Kawada vs. all of the high profile shoot style guys. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuya Nagai - All Japan 3/3/01

Took me a second to turn on my shoot style Brain but then I got it. I am not sure I have seen Nagai before. Kawada would trade in Fuchi for Nagai for the rest of the year and he and Fuchi fell short of winning All Japan Tag Championship to Johnny Smith & Taino Kea I believe. 
 

The key to unlocking this match is they are doing a faux-shoot-style match which is why they keep going to stand & bang exchange which at first I found peculiar as I felt the match lacked progression. The best Shoot Style matches tend to mix stand & bang with takedowns and submissions so I do think this overly reliant on one mode of shoot style. The other thing I thought was weird was Kawada was LIGHTING NAGAI UP! It was signature Kawada stiffness. Nagai was just pushing on those elbows. Maybe he throws a shitty elbow but after two or three of those stiff Kawada elbows you’d think he would be ok muthafucka I see how it is and start sending receipts but I thought Kawada was clearly out hitting him. Maybe that was the story. Kawada is the Ace and Nagai is just an undercard guy and what makes Kawada better is that he hits harder but still it made for a weird dynamic. 
 

It didn’t help that on Nagai’s big shine to establish himself as a threat he whiffed on his big kicks to Kawada’s head and Kawada still did his ass dump sell. After that, the result was never in doubt. Kawada just bulldozed his way through the match. Destroying Nagai with a steady barrage of elbows and kicks. We get the Stretch Plum I like how he had to earn the application. Nagai got one hope spot a cross armbreaker that Kawada sold well but a pet peeve of mine is that a wrestler stops selling in the ropes. The hold is still on you need to sell until the hold is released. The stand and bang exchanges were fun but more in a watch Kawada beat the shit out of this Rando than any sort of  emotional investment or character work. Kawada softens the legs up with some devastating kicks and three single leg crabs polish off Nagai. Kawada clearly liked what he saw as he adopted Nagai as his tag partner. *** 1/4