Billy Kidman v Yoshihiro Taijiri

[Guest TheNewAge]

Tajiri Vs. Billy Kidman - WWE Tour Of Japan 2002

 

This is pretty decent, but also rather disappointing. There are a couple of nice exchanges, like a sweet little powerbomb reversal sequence, though that predictibly ends in a Kidman facebuster, and a nice chop-fest, but that's about it. Kidman varies his offense a little, which was nice to see, using an inverted DDT into a facebuster (something I don't think I've seen before), as well as a Kryptonite Krunch. The opening mat work is pretty OK as well, with Tajiri busting out a lot of funky leg locks which I've never seen him use.

 

I didn't enjoy this as much as I should have due to my high expectations - it was listed as a ***3/4 match. It was probably **1/2 tops. It was fun, just nothing memorable. Crowd is hot for Tajiri, as to be expected, and they go insane when he hits the Asai Moonsault. There's also some decent comedy as well, with Tajiri rolling all the way across the ring to escape Kidman, and Tajiri's crazy little chicken dance before delivering a simple chop (which is great). The ending's cool, with Tajiri "matrixing" his way out of a rana pin, in to a couple of stinging kicks for the victory. They hinted at this a couple of times prior, but Kidman managed to thwart it both times, having Tajiri well scouted.

 

Kidman's character has some decent development during this contest. The opening work sees the usual exchange of arm drags, hip tosses, pin attempts, etc. We get a handshake afterwards. A little while later, Tajiri gets the better of the mat work and Kidman's frustration is evident. On his next opportunity, he decides to attack his opponent with punches and kicks, instead of wrestling him (I'm reaching here). Later on, when he gains close nearfalls off the KK and the inverted DDT thing, his frustration is at an all time high. These two manoeuvres followed the other facebuster and a dropkick, so it was a case of "which move will be enough to beat Tajiri?". As it turns out, none of them are. Kidman loses his cool and hits the Rana more in desperation than anything. He doesn't have nearly as much leverage as he'd like, which is why Tajiri can elevate out of it and get the victory. I'd have liked to have seen Tajiri bring a deeper attack with him, just as Kidman did. I was expecting him to bust out the Dragon Suplexes, Tiger Suplexes, and the Germans, but it wasn't to be. Alas. Still, this is an OK match, just nothing special.