[2002-01-04-NJPW-Wrestling World 2002] Yuki Ishikawa & Kazunari Murakami vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kenzo Suzuki

[Jetlag]

Murakami and his BattlARTS pal shake things up in New Japan. Tanahashi & Kenzo actually step up here, working shootstyle and look good. Tanahashi's matwork is especially way better than pretty much anything he did from 2006 onward. Kenzo throwing big crowbar suplexes is certainly way better than whatever he did later also. This was basically  an Ishikawa section followed by a Murakami section with both guys bringing their signature stuff. Ishikawa doing cool matwork and Murakami punching dudes in the face. Good shit but you come out of this match wanting to see a singles match.

[ohtani's jacket]

Say what you will about Tanahashi -- and I think he's deserving of most of the later praise -- he wasn't afraid to get schooled on the mat by Ishikawa then go toe-to-toe with Murakami and get his ass kicked. Match was criminally short.

[Calvin]

Tanahashi came ready to scrap in this one, and Kenzo tossing out heavy, hard-hitting suplexes was certainly an eye-brow raiser. The highly trained BattlARTS duo makes relatively quick work of them, but King of the Hills proved themselves on a big stage as spirited competitors at their core.

***