Graham Crackers
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Everything posted by Graham Crackers
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This was much better than the NOAH junior tags of the same time period but still wasn't without flaws. Mainly Takaiwa doing his usual Takaiwa bullshit (too many powerbombs, going back on offense too easily). That said, Dick Togo getting busted open gave him a lot more to focus on than he would usually have. He was pretty great punching and clawing at the open wound. I enjoyed the Hidaka vs Hoshikawa matches that came before this, even if they aren't anything incredible. They get a lot more mileage than you'd expect out of leg work in a juniors match and Hoshikawa is surprisingly consistent when it comes to selling it though this being a tag match may have made that easier as well. The combination of Hoshikawa's leg injury and Togo bleeding should have made this more dramatic but the crowd was pretty dead for the first 2/3's of this. A hotter crowd or a different comeback for Takaiwa after being hit with the senton could have elevated this to greatness but as it is it's merely good. -
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I remember the first match being refreshingly simple and it was, but it also felt really long on my last viewing. I thought it would be a junior MOTDC but it didn't really hold up as being at that level. I still loved the selling, the simple striking sequences, the lack of overkill in the finishing stretch, and the more conservative than usual fighting spirit spots. The rematch is almost at a similar level but I felt like it had a weaker structure than the original and that's what keeps it a step below it.
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I wouldn't call this shoot-style. There are elements of it here and there but they're all things you can find in tons of other NJPW matches. If you want to see an even better IWGP Jr title match that resembles shoot style then check out the Kanemoto vs Rutten from 2002. This was good in it's own right though. Tthe grappling was a nice change of pace from some of the spottier junior stuff from the last decade and with the length being shorter than 15 minutes in never overstays it's welcome.
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I like Misawa vs Takayama more than Takayama vs Kobashi. This is the first epic NOAH main event and one of the best matches they ever promoted. Takayama finally looks like the force of nature he'd be for the next few years in this match. Part of that is just how brutal his offense was but a lot of that is Misawa's incredible selling and the very nasty hardway blood. What I really love is that we get to see Takayama plugged into a great Misawa main event formula. Those submissions may not be your typical Misawa offense but they are plugged into one of those classic comebacks. Misawa comes out looking like he's still the man because he survived a beating at the hands of the next big thing. This is probably my Japanese MOTY for 2001.
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If only Sugiura had been a shoot style wrestler... Of course, who isn't going to look good in the ring with a game Alexander Otsuka? Sugiura and Otsuka look great doing all of that amateur wrestling stuff and the headbutt/blood make this really intense. This is a great match and one of the best from 2001.
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I'm shocked at the reaction to this match in this thread. It's not a MOTDC but it is easily one of the two or three best heavyweight dream matches put on in the interpromotional era. Everything Misawa vs Hashimoto is great, especially Misawa selling the beating and Hashimoto falling to the dreaded Misawa comeback. Akiyama has one of his best performances of the year being a total douche to Hashimoto only to get caught. Nagata isn't even as bad as usual.
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Probably the best Battlarts match nominated for this project to come before the 2008 return to glory. Not a wildly violent Battlarts match though there is some good striking. I like Tiger Mask and Hidaka in this setting but this is all about Malenko and especially Otsuka. Otsuka brings all the best matwork, counters, selling, and throws and it really feels like a good match to show off his skills without having the other 3 pillars of Battlarts (Ishikawa, Ikeda, and Ono) around.
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This is simple and effective and definitely better than their 2004 match. Tenzan's striking is inconsistent but Kawada's selling makes up for that. The headbutt that puts Tenzan in control is a real good one though. This is all about Kawada's selling which makes it better than it would have been with the focus on Tenzan's selling. The problem is that leads to a match with more Tenzan control segments than I'd like. The length makes that a bit more acceptable but it still never gets better than just good.
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These Kobashi vs Akiyama matches build nicely but are really bloated. I'm not sure if this match or the 2004 match will make my top 100 but if they do they'll be closer to the bottom. There is a lot to enjoy here but I don't think it's really enough to fill the length of the match. With that said, the big spots are incredible and even in the context of the match they never feel like too much. It's just the amount of suplexes and nearfalls in the ring that drag this down.
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This is a great match but I feel like an outlier because I don't think it's the classic that everyone makes it out to be. It is really great but it's still only my number 4 NJPW match for 2000 and would be even lower if I factored in other things. I guess that as much as I like Kawada and love Fuchi's performance that it isn't enough to compare with Hashimoto vs Ogawa, Misawa vs Akiyama, Tenryu's return to AJPW. I do still think it's a top 50 match though. Just not a top 15-10 affair.
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Like AKIRA's earlier match against Kanemoto this is very good but flawed. The leg selling isn't a problem here but there are some cringe worthy cliched junior spots such as the repeated missed double dropkicks that knock this down a peg or two. Kanemoto's brutal kicks keep that match a notch above this one.
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Man, this match sucks. Outside of Nagata's facial expression not even changing when Tenzan rakes his eyes nothing that happens was awful but not a single thing was good. The structure isn't compelling in any way. They hit each other. Sometimes a guy gets isolated but it's brief and it never goes as far as you expect a heat segment to go. There is very little grappling so they throw a lot of strikes. The strikes aren't sold in an interesting way, even if they aren't completely no-sold and they aren't even stiff enough to make up for that. Kojima hurts his knee but it doesn't really factor into anything. The crowd is hot but I can't bring myself to care.