[2011-06-19 AJPW Pro Wrestling LOVE in Ryogoku Vol. 12] KAI vs Shuji Kondo

[BigVanCrush]

You know who fuckin' ruled? Shuji Kondo. That little meathead changed my perception of what junior heavyweight wrestling could be in the mid 2000s when I saw him pop up in the VOODOO MURDERS. You didn't have to be a mat technician like Minoru Tanaka or Koji Kanemoto and you didn't need to be a high flyer like the X-Division guys I watched in TNA. Liger probably worked the most like a heavyweight of every junior in a major promotion in Japan, but he still had some of the flashier trappings of traditional juniors. Not Kondo. HE worked like a Dragon Gate pilled version of Bill Goldberg did the fusion dance with Kensuke Sasaki and he KICKED ASS. KAI is a Muto boy that I don't think quite gets the love he deserves. He's got good offense, good fire, good selling, doesn't have any bad tendencies. He's basically everything you want someone in his spot to be. They have a big ol' bombfest for the vacant Junior title and while I think you could shave a few minutes off of this, I think the excess helps the match a bit because KAI ends up going over. If this was Kondo winning the belt again, then the excess would probably bother me more. KAI's sitout 2K1 bomb is a really cool move and he absolutely drills Kondo with one late. This isn't a classic on the level of the All Asia Tag Title match on the show, or even the main event, but it's  a very good, very dumb big Junior Title bomb fest. ***1/2