[2001-06-30-NJPW] Chris Candido & Negro Casas vs El Samurai & Shinya Makabe

[GSR]

Candido impressed enough on the previous tour to be invited back which is cool to see.  A Casas dropkick sends Samurai to the outside, immediately following the dropkick with a pescado.  Samurai manages to block being suplexed to the floor and instead suplexes Casas from the apron into the ring.  Each makes a tag and Makabe and Candido slap the snot out of each other.  Candido stops Makabe with an eye poke and then stuffs him with a pair of running clotheslines in the corner.  As he goes for a third, Makabe runs out and levels him with one of his own.  A boot to the gut stops him in his tracks though.  The Candido delayed suplex.  Now Casas and Makabe trade slaps and this is great.  Makabe catches him on the middle rope crossbody but then misses the elbow drop.  Candido and Samurai do the same spot from their Super Junior singles match, where after an initial successful bodyscissors into a roll up, Candido goes for it again only to be German’d.  As Casas climbs the turnbuckles, Samurai gives him a shove to the floor, the two having a stand off as with Samurai perched ready to take flight, Casas challenges him to just try it and jump.  Samurai holds on to block the Candido top rope rana and then nails him with a missile dropkick.  Top rope rana by Samurai bringing Casas is in to save his partner.  Candido ducks the clothesline and launches Samurai with a release belly to back.  Reverse DDT on Casas.  Regular DDT and he finally tags out to Makabe.  Casas blocks the German, fires off some elbows and then dropkicks Makabe in the knees.  Magistral cradle and now it’s Samurai who is having to save their partner.  Middle rope senton but Makabe kicks out at one which seems to surprise Casas.  He gestures to Candido to take care of Samurai and as he does so, lands a second senton.  Although this goes one better, it’s still not enough for the three.  Candido runs into a Makabe spear and a lovely Northern Lights sees him pick up a two.  Samurai has had enough of the opposition interfering and goes after Casas.  That leaves Candido and Makabe all alone in the ring, Candido using a powerbomb to get the win.

I liked the Liger and King singles match in the Super Juniors tournament but this is probably my favourite of Candido’s New Japan matches.  He and Casas making a cracking pairing, highly charismatic and great workers to boot.

[Matt D]

I had no idea this one existed until this morning. actually. I loved the beginning, where you're not quite sure Candido knows what he has in Casas, but where he gets him to pose big and cheesy regardless. I'm not going to say that they were always on the same page here. There was a funny moment where Casas tagged in, did a double team, and then headed right back to the apron and they had to tag about three more times before it all made sense. There were some nice "taking the leg out" moments here both from in front and behind from Casas and yeah, that period relatively early on where he did a bunch of stuff, including the plancha and his big seated senton dive from the apron as Candido watched on was what you'd expect from a match like this. I think ultimately, the match was pretty formless. Casas and Candido controlled with their tagging but never to any real narrative effect. Lots of fun individual spots. Some things, like Makabe kicking out of the first senton at one detracted. The sequence where Candido tagged in and walked right into the Makabe spear was great though, and I liked the power bomb turned into the a roll up, especially because it played into the finish. Ultimately, I thought this was a bit of a mess but certainly an enjoyable one. I would have liked to see the tenth match with Casas and Candido teaming. I think they would have really gotten it eventually.