[2010-06-20-AJPW-Cross Over 2010] Akebono vs Ryota Hama

[Ma Stump Puller]

The Mega Powers collide! Both members of SMOP fight for relevance as Hama just came off his Triple Crown upset (and subsequent loss to Minoru Suzuki) and Ake's still stalking around as a former tag champ with Hama. Having lost both of their belts recently they're doing the classic tag-team dissension stuff as the pair have joined separate groups and whatnot. 

Even with the immense amounts of beef on display, the two do a good job distinguishing their strengths and weaknesses: Hama is smaller and more nimble (well "nimble" wouldn't exactly describe him much at all given his size, but he can do cool small tubby guy stuff like a baseball slide to the outside and whatnot) while Ake is bigger and stronger, generally leading the match when things slow down. You get a lot of the usual sumo spots between the two as they exchange charges, slams, and some surprisingly good exchanges. Hama generally has to sneak in offence by dodging or intercepting Ake's big charges with his own. His usual plan of just taking tons of punishment a-la his Kojima title match doesn't work with a guy like Akebono who can end matches fast, so he has to be a bit more proactive and try to lead with whatever we can. Hama has a good few bits like a running Sliding D on Ake after he dodges a splash, or eating some nasty Ake sumo-chops to the face to then answer with Vader-lite hammer blows and a running DDT.

It's about as fast of a sprint as you can get with these two, but they do a good job of working in the sheer impact of their immense size, with every move feeling like a potential big swing in momentum to end the match pretty much on the dot with how much sheer mass is being thrown and slammed around. Nothing feels easily earned, everything laboured. The ending especially with the absolutely insane top rope splash from Akebono for the finish was brutal as anything, Hama's big main event dreams getting literally squished by the far more imposing force. Akebono's never been particularly great at wrestling, but his appeal as a sub-10 to 15 freakshow performer is undeniable and he's a pretty good giant for this kind of match. Hama hadn't completely ballooned in size either and could actually still put on a solid match here and there despite mostly being known for his tag stuff.