[2004-05-08-HUSTLE 3] Toshiaki Kawada vs Mick Foley

[Superstar Sleeze]

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Mick Foley - HUSTLE 3 5/8/04

HUSTLE is always a promotion I have wanted to check out because seems like it would be entertaining as hell. This is my sporadic request but if anyone has the video of Takada & Kawada singing Yeah, Yeah, Yeah send it to me. But this is before any Erotic Terrorists, Sumo Wrestlers hatching out of eggs or Takada dressing as M. Bison, this was when Hustle was a strait-laced freak show dream match promotion. Hashimoto/Ogawa vs The Outsiders sign me up!

Overall this match was fine just a collection of their spots and Foley didn’t do anything too wild. This is within a month of his masterpiece against Orton so he could still go but they choose not to go too wild. It has been a long time since I have seen Kawada and that first glassy eyed sell made me fall in love all over again. They stand and bang nobody is bumping worth a shit Alleluia! Alleluia! Not everything deserves a bump! Kawada hits his trademark heel kick and sends Foley packing. Foley does his Terry Funk impression. Throwing chairs in the ring and gets a barbed wire Baseball bat he hits a young boy with it. Neither Foley nor Kawada takes which is lame. Foley runs through his offense piledriver, baseball slide neckbreaker, Cactus Elbow. Great running knee in the corner. Double Arm DDT he has peaked so it is time to go back to the Bat and Socko for the rest of the match. Both of those are thwarted. Kawada gets on a roll with kicks and a Stretch Plum. He gets derailed by Foley’s Japanese second who I don’t recognize tripping him. Socko! What a bizarre concept! Kawada elbows out and kicks Foley in the head to win.

Felt like one of those greatest hits Dream matches where you just blend your high spots together but they didn’t bust out their big guns. Mediocre.