Superstar Sleeze

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Shinjiro Ohtani - NJPW 2/18/01 This match should be shown in every pro wrestling training school and all fans should watch it. No one will be blown away by it. No one will think it is the greatest match of all time. They make every right decision. They execute fundamental flawlessly and they build match organically. A truly special match that is so basic but so beautiful and satisfying to watch. Ohtani jumps Sasaki before the introductions are over so he still has his jacket on and Sasaki is still wearing the IWGP title. Ohtani pummels him in the corner and focuses on the arm. The arm is the instant hook of the match. Ohtani can always go back there for cutoffs. Sasaki as the valiant champion needs to figure out a way to over come it. Ohtani plays a great heel vacillating between cocky, desperate and despicable. Take note how most of Ohtani’s offense is in the ropes and the corner. Not only is this technically illegal but it prevents the bigger, stronger Sasaki from muster any offense in such close quarters. The transitions in this are impeccable. The way Sasaki is finds opportunities for hope spots and Ohtani uses the arm as a cutoff is pitch perfect pro wrestling. The first hope spot arises from Ohtani running away from his opponent to hit the ropes to gain some momentum. Sasaki is able to use this space against the charging Ohtani with a kneelift. This is pro wrestling 101. Wrestlers should not be rewarded for running away and creating space for their opponents they should be punished. Next Sasaki throws kicks which anyone who has seen a Sasaki knows is not his forte. Shinya Hashimoto he is not. However he has a bad wing so he is adapting. He throws a chop with his bad arm and winces. He tries an overly convoluted move where he tries to time Ohtani ricochet out of the corner with his own off the ropes and whiffs on a lariat. Ohtani is able to get a hold of the arm and slam it into the turnbuckles. Ohtani was punished for creating space for go opponent. Sasaki is punished for being overly complicated. Now Ohtani has earned the springboard DROPKICK to the arm. Sasaki is in so much pain he can do it. He goes for a cross armbreaker but Sasaki blocks. Ohtani sticks his tongue out and starts to get cocky. Sasaki Slaps the taste out his mouth. He winces but Ohtani let his guard down and paid for it. Sasaki hits a sledge and works hard for a vertical suplex but can’t follow up as Ohtani goes back to the arm. Charging boot to the arm. Sasaki is now prone to these attacks. Ohtani puts his boot in Sasaki’s face in the corner. Ohtani gets cocky and the ref’s count distracts him long enough that Sasaki throws him down on his ass and then with reckless abandon DROPKICKs him. He didn’t wait for Ohtani to get into the right place. Ohtani didn’t move into place for the next spot. Sasaki knew where Ohtani would be and Ohtani knew to look for the DROPKICK. Pro wrestling 101 but when done right is spectacular. Now Sasaki getting in a head shot can start to open up his offense with a power slam. Sasaki scrambles to the cover but can’t get it. He is really selling how much his arm is bothering him. Once he can work up the gumption to hit the ropes for a lariat, BANG! DROPKICK to the bad arm! Again a charging wrestler pays for giving his opponent space. I am not saying all charges should fail but when charges fails it does two things: 1. It creates compelling transitions and 2. Makes you appreciate when charges work. Ohtani goes for a cobra clutch but Sasaki battles him off. Next they do a Strong Style breakdown. Look it is a New Japan staple I don’t like it, it doesn’t do anything for this match. I’ve seen better, I’ve seen worse. Ohtani wins it. Moving on. Ohtani goes for a springboard DROPKICK but on the apron Sasaki blasts him with a lariat. This is a moment of transition where your back is turned and Ohtani pays for it. Then they do a very creative 180 off this. Ohtani gets back on the apron but Sasaki is caught charging and Ohtani smashes the bad arm off the exposed part of the turnbuckle. Sasaki could not follow up his lariat but this left Ohtani in perfect position to not one but two springboard DROPKICKs to the bad arm and back of Sasaki! This was genius! They establish this is a difficult move to hit. They come up with a creative way for Ohtani to deliver enough pain to Sasaki to cause him to writhe. Beautiful pro wrestling. Unfortunately they get a little lazy down the home stretch. It is still very good just not as tight. The transitions aren’t as interesting. The first “near fall” is a cobra clutch by Ohtani which he tried earlier but now has been earned. They did good teases Will Sasaki make the ropes or not and the crowd got invested at this point. Ohtani tries something else but Sasaki simply elbows out of it which is not as cool as some of the other transitions. He DEMOLISHES Ohtani with two badass lariats which totally makes up for it. He goes for the Northern Lights Bomb but Ohtani just bunny hops out of it which is kinda lame everyday transition. Ohtani goes back to the Cobra Clutch and back to the ropes. They do a slap battle and Sasaki OBLITERATES Ohtani with a lariat. Sick gutwrench Powerbomb and Northern Lights Bomb and Sasaki TAKES THAT DREAM! There’s an alternate reality where the shooters do not come in and Sasaki goes on a monster run and is considered a bonafide GOAT candidate. The home stretch they went the easy way. All of Sasaki’s bombs looked killer but they didn’t pay off the arm work nor were they set up In An interesting manner. Ohtani’s cobra clutch was perfect for his work but would’ve liked to seen the second near fall set up better. The first 75% of this match flirts with ***** but the home stretch is awesome but not extraordinary. It is ****1/2 for me and I could see lower BUT I think there is so much to appreciate and learn in the first 75% of this match I implore you to watch it. Bravo to Sasaki and Ohtani!

GHC Champion Jun Akiyama vs Yoshinari Ogawa - NOAH 4/7/02 The surprise of the century and a stroke of booking genius! Kobashi is back from injury and they clearly want to do Misawa/Kobashi in a year but Akiyama can’t afford to lose either guy clean because it would ruin all his progress. So let’s protect him by having slip on a banana peel to this scuzzball loser that nobody thinks has a shot. You protect Akiyama, show that NOAH can be unpredictable and put yourself on the road to Misawa/Kobashi. Wins all around. Fun little match with Ogawa coming out hot with a DROPKICK and DDT. He goes Brock Lesnar Suplex City with the Back Drop Driver barrage. When that doesn’t work he charges and eats post. Akiyama has hit eat railing. Akiyama looks in firm control. Tries to finish off with an Exploder but Ogawa cradles. He gets two Exploders but can’t win. He signals for a Wrist-Clutch Exploder…Ogawa shifts the weight and cradles him and because AKIYAMA’S WRISTS CLUTCHED HE CANNOT KICK OUT! GENIUS! Crowd is in shock! ***** booking, **** match.

GHC Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshinari Ogawa - NOAH 12/7/02 My first Misawa match in years! My first Rat Boy match in years! This Misawa’s lone defense before losing the title to Kobashi at 3/1/03. An unheralded Misawa title defense means one of two things: it sucks or people are sleeping on Rat Boy. The truth is in between it is very good and enjoyable but I hesitate to call it great. I thought the first 15 minutes were spectacular. The opening was wrestled like two tag partners fighting for a singles title which was great tit for tat with Misawa teasing the elbow and them trading slams. Ogawa controls the opening porting with side headlocks and figure-4 headlocks but what is interesting is how they work in and out of these holds. Ogawa is doing everything he can to stymie Misawa’s momentum. The first Misawa elbow is met with an eye poke. The next leads to a cravate scramble. A missed Misawa Senton leads to a figure-4 headlock. Great work by Ogawa. Misawa lifts Ogawa over the top rope while in a headlock and rocks him with elbows. It takes a bit but an Elbow Suicida wins him control. I love Misawa had to earn it. Misawa mid-match control segment is the same as always but beautiful to watch. A Tiger Driver punctuates it. Misawa loses control on the outside missing a somersault plancha off the apron. Ogawa needs a DDT on the ramp to consolidate his advantage. This is where they lose me as all of sudden Rat Boy becomes Suplex City Brock Lesnar endlessly dropping Misawa over and over again on his head with Backdrop Drivers. I didn’t count them but had to be at least ten if not a dozen. Misawa hits and Elbow or a Tiger Driver I can’t remember to level the playing field. The finish stretch is fun it is a combination of Misawa Elbows & Tiger Drivers vs Ogawa’s cradles. Misawa wind with Emerald Flowsion. Takes out the penultimate segment with Ogawa in control and replace with something more creative and this match could be great but as is it is still very good loved the front half! ***1/2

Naoya Ogawa vs The Predator - Zero-One 7/7/02 Steel Cage Match To me based on the PPV cards the climax of Z-1 vs the UPW boys. This card drew 2000 more people to the Sumo Hall compared to the last show so it was a marquee match. Predator must have been thinking his trajectory was the big time. He is still doing the Brody gimmick. I think this delivers but doesn’t overdeliver. It is a very solid cage match between two monsters. I enjoyed it but wasn’t an all time, Predator threw Ogawa into the cage a bunch, hit some Brody signature spots and used the chain to attach and choke Ogawa. Ogawa used his Judo takedowns and the steel cage to regain control. Not one Not Two but THREE SPACE TORNADO OGAWAS plus a choke out gets Ogawa the win. Brody I mean Predator gets his heat back by attacking Ogawa with ten chain but that gets broken up. Hashimoto/Ogawa cut a promo head to the back only to be jumped by Nathan Joens and Tom Howard. Nathan Jones is FUCKING HUGE! I knew he was big but I didn’t think he would tower over Ogawa. Tom Howard isn’t done yet. They challenge them to a tag team match, it looks Nathan Jones did fight them in a tag team but with Corino and maybe Heidenreich (blast for the past!) but not Howard what a shame! Maybe the UPW feud still has some life left in it before they switch over to Z-1 vs AJPW. Fun monster vs monster Cage match ***1/2

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs The Predator & Tom Howard - Zero-1 5/3/02 Probably my favorite match of the Z-1 vs UPW feud but I really did like the last tag match with Mark Kerr. Call me crazy but I think Tom Howard is definitively a good wrestler. Skipped the anniversary show but will go back to watch Ogawa vs Ohtani at some point. Predator has changed his gimmick from the MMA one he did in WWE and is doing a blatant Bruiser Brody ripoff gimmick complete with chain, Hussing and the commentary screaming BRUISER BRODY every second of his entrance. Hashimoto & Ogawa feel like a real rockstar dream team. Ogawa and Predator play well together. Two big muthas that don’t bump worth a shot unless you force them. I feel like Predator wrestled better here. Ogawa goes for the Judo hip throw, Predator blocks and Saito Suplex! Ogawa powders! Felt electric. Ogawa gets that judo throw on comeback. Whips crowd into a frenzy. Great Clash of the Titans feel. Howard work like the biggest dick throughout this match. Throughout the match Howard starts with his hands behind his back. First segment was against Hashimoto works twice in getting Hashimoto down. Hashimoto third time chops, Judo Takedown on Howard army crawl spot out on a leglock. He loves that spot and he is really good at it. Hashimoto/Predator - Hashimoto droptoehold but Predator comeback. Hashimoto big kick sends him to powder. Probably the weakest segment but Predator felt huge. Ogawa comes in. Ogawa Saito Suplex on Predator sends him to powder! Great heat! Really good sequence with Ogawa/Howard. Howard hands behind his back. Ogawa tags Howard in the face. Howard takes him down second time. Howard steps on his foot on the third pass. Takes him down. He is a such a dick. Ogawa triangle choke on Howard but Howard is choking Ogawa. I really wanted them to unleash hell on Howard. Predator gets tagged in but gets flattened with STO. Turns out the white red is a Heel ref. We work a heel ref the rest of the match. Hashimoto DDT. Heel ref spot. Hashimoto Spinning Heel Kick. Hash/Ogawa Total Elimination!!! I LOVE THAT SPOT! but heel ref let’s Howard break it up and Howard tags in. Ogawa rocks Howard’s world with two SPACE TORNADO OGAWAS! CRUSHING HIM! They do their double team German but Predator attacks everyone with a chain. Japanese ref calls the match off because the white ref won’t do it. Hard to tell if it is a DQ or No Contest. Predator hangs Ogawa with the chain to set up their big match! What puts a ceiling on this is that Hashimoto/Ogawa never truly unleash hell and climax with a win. You want to see Howard get fucking wrecked doesn’t quite get there. Where the match really succeeds is making you want to see Ogawa vs Predator in a singles match. Felt like a really good chapter in the overarching story than a standalone great match and that’s alright more pro wrestling should be done in this style. ***1/2

Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs Mark Kerr & Tom Howard - Zero-One 12/9/01 Skipping Zero-One’s fifth I didn’t recognize the foreigners and it looks like it was a commercial flop (2000 in Budokan OUCH!). Watching the pre-match hype this is the first time Hashimoto & Ogawa team after their long, torturous rivalry. I am surprised they didn’t cash in on one more Hashimoto vs Ogawa match before going down the dream team route. They are continuing the UPW feud with Mark Kerr somehow continuing to be roped into this. Tom Howard is pretty good, very athletic, he was the big bumper and mover of the four. With the right gimmick, he could have been a solid mechanic. Kerr is the ultimate wrestle-fuck wrestler and it is a lot of fun. Ogawa and Kerr present such a cool match up. These matches tend not to be too narrative heavy so the work doesn’t really stick with me. Ogawa vs Kerr was a lot of fun. Kerr weathers an early Ogawa storm and shows he can take the big man down. Hashimoto & Howard present a very different alternative with Howard throwing wild high kicks and using eye takes while Hashimoto works the leg in conventional manner. I love Howard’s scramble arm crawl out of the ring to avoid Ogawa. Ogawa two pancakes on Kerr and then into a really nice Judo throw was cool. The next thing I remember was Ogawa in control of Howard and Kerr breaking it up. The Japanese end up on the heels. Then it looks like Hashimoto and Ogawa are going to break up right then and there about ten minutes into the match. I remember Hashimoto shoving Kerr head first into a post really hard. Hashimoto working some solid takedown defense including that knee when Kerr shoots for a takedown but succumbing to the belly to belly into a cross-armbreaker but Ogawa saves. Again the memory gets a little hazy here but the finish run is pretty awesome. Next thing I remember OGAWA SPACE TORNADO OGAWA ON KERR! Double leg takedown by Kerr, Triangle by Ogawa, wait now Kerr is trying to make Ogawa eat his knee. Hashimoto needs to save twice. Hashimoto DDTs Kerr twice. He goes for the Triangle/armbar but Howard hits a crazy top rope elbow. Howard should’ve gotten a run somewhere. Great three move finish combination. Ogawa/Hashimoto version of total elimination (STO with Hashimoto’s leg sweep) on Kerr, lariat into a German it looked like Kerr and Hashimoto might be out. Ogawa detains Howard and Hashimoto chokes Kerr out which is surprising I thought Howard would’ve taken the fall. Not the stickiest of matches (match sticks with you) but the finish run rocked and I loved Ogawa/Kerr’s interactions so this an easy thumbs up. ***1/2

Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Mark Kerr & The Predator - Zero-One 8/30/01 Turns out I’ve only ever seen Mark Coleman but have known of Mark Kerr’s existence forever but just never seen him. It seems like Kerr did a lot less pro wrestling than Coleman. The Predator is best known stateside as Sylvester Terkay who I thought had a way longer run in WWE. He really stuck with me as a teenager. I loved his look and gimmick. He was undefeated in WWE in his short tenure. Why was he let go? The Predator makes a big deal that he is indeed The Predator at first I thought this was weird but it is because I guess he was going a Big Van Vader UFO gimmick complete with mask (but he took Off the mask). I assume this was to avoid lawsuits. Nothing extraordinary here but an enjoyable contest. Mark Kerr would have been a fantastic pro wrestler. Predator is fucking huge and looks killer but leaves something to be desired in his strikes and moves. Tom Howard was also the trainer of the Predator so I feel like this a continuation of UPW vs Z-1 or American Shooters vs Z-1 feud. The best exchanges were between Hashimoto and Kerr for sure. Kerr’s double leg takedown looked killer. Hashimoto gave pretty good (he did the old Takayama spot where Kerr shot off the double leg and Hashimoto made him eat a knee) but Kerr looked like a beast. Predator/Fujiwara was fun because Fujiwara is always fun. Hashimoto performed better against Predator (sick drop toehold to start) and it was clear he was going to be the fall guy. Fujiwara/Kerr was fun. Just some cool amateur takedowns and scrambles. Back to the main event which was Hash vs Kerr. Kerr gets a terrific organic belly to belly but can’t connect with any ground & pound. Predator comes in and Racks Hashimoto but Fujiwara saves with the headbutt. Hashimoto delivers SPACE TORNADO OGAWA and polishes him off with a cross armbreaker! Kerr gets on the mic to challenge Hashimoto to a singles match which has me salivating but to my knowledge never came to fruition. Enjoyable short tag match. Kerr/Hashimoto is worth it ***1/4

Shinya Hashimoto vs Tom Howard - Zero-One 6/14/03 After using Misawa on his first two big shows, Hashimoto taps Tom Howard for the main event of his third big show and they do 8000+ in Osaka. Tom Howard, Tom Howard, Tom Howard. Where have I heard that name before? Oh that’s the right he’s the UPW guy who trained John Cena among others. He was better than I expected. He kinda felt like a fake Kung Fu guy like Seagal or what have you but he was actually pretty good in the ring. Unfortunately his look is pretty normal and he doesn’t have much in the way of charisma. Of course Hashimoto has charisma out the yin Yang. Hashimoto went to So Cal to debut one of his Japanese protégés. Things got testy and Hashimoto and Howard ended up in a brawl to set this up. I never really thought of what the aim of Zero-One was. I just kinda assumed it was Hashimoto not wanting to deal with the Inokiist bullshit. It looks like he liked the Inokiist style he just wanted to be the Ace and didn’t cede that to a legit shooter which is smart. Plus he brought Naoya Ogawa. Tom Howard feels like a martial arts practitioner that Inoki would’ve vanquished in the 70s. They stand and bang to start. Good stand up. Really good. Hashimoto throws a wild on and Howard gets behind with a Full Nelson. Steps on the knee to takedown Hashimoto. Howard’s execution and movement is good. He takes Hashimoto down again from behind using a Full Nelson. Hashimoto regroups and tries traditional wrestling but on a rope break Howard slugs him! Good heel heat and takes the match up a notch. Howard wrestled well on top and got a lot of offense. Hashimoto gets a comeback started By going into the clinch and shoving Howard into the buckles. SPINNING BACK FIST! DDT! Now Hash is rocking! Characteristic kicks. Howard connects with a wild round house kick to the head for his last near fall, Howard goes careening over the top turnbuckle to the floor on a wild spinning heel kick. Sick bump. LEG SWEEP~! Kinda and step over toehold by Hashimoto to win it. Pretty enjoyable match. I see why Howard was asked back but he feels more like a midcard act than a main eventer, ***1/4

I definitely more on OJ’s side on this than El-P. I thought this match was a mess. Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinjiro Ohtani - AJPW 9/6/03 Budokan Hashimoto got injured so he had to vacate the title. We do eventually get Hashimoto vs Kawada but in February 2004. Semi-finals are the same day. Kawada beat Gladiator (Mike Awesome) and Ohtani beat Kojima (in a match I watched but forgot but apparently I liked). Apparently Awesome has sour grapes about his loss and attacked Kawada and made a point to elbow his knee. You think this should be easy Kawada selling the knee and Ohtani attacking it but they make a mess out of it. This match is a part of the ongoing AJPW vs Zero-1 feud. Feeling out process. Kawada gets his normal heel kick Ohtani powders. Ohtani sick of getting bested kicks him in knee. Gets the facewash. This triggers the babyface shine with all the typical Kawada high spots, charging boot, half crab step on his head, Kawada Kicks etc…Ohtani goes back to the knee. It just felt like every transition was random and require done wrestler to no sell and take over. It was very my turn, your turn. Just a blend of their high spots. Kawada would do a bunch of offense, Ohtani would blow it off DROPKICK the knee. Kawada would take a bunch of punishment and then blow it off and make his comeback. Good example was Ohtani has pretty good momentum hit his standard springboard DROPKICK to the back only for Kawada to go back on offense. Ohtani gets a leglock and some suplexes especially his Dragon Suplex in his finish stretch. Kawada takes way too long to polish him off because this is 2003 Japan, one powerbomb should have sufficed but it ends up being like three more higspots. Kawada wins the Triple Crown title and finally goes on an epic reign but is it too little too late. Rough start to the reign.

Naoya Ogawa vs Bill Goldberg - HUSTLE 1/4/04 I don’t know how they got Goldberg as he was in the middle of his WWE run. Goldberg is perfect for Japan. Honestly he should have just worked Japan post-WCW (I know he worked some All Japan for Mutoh) but Goldberg in Inokiist New Japan would have been money. While this didn’t meet my lofty expectations I still thought it was very entertaining. These are two monsters who are very interesting in matches when conventional pro wrestlers have to get creative and figure them out. Here it is King Kong vs Godzilla which is fun but not as fun as when a mortal is involved. Oh Goldberg is aligned with Boss Takada who is in a normal suit no Generalissimo yet. Ogawa overwhelms Goldberg early and crowds him in the corner. The ref tries to come between them and Goldberg roars back. Excellent Steinerline by Goldberg. Military Pressing Ogawa was impressive but the catch & slam popped me. Honestly it is pretty late (I’m working night shift) and my memory is already hazy. Basically there were two many leglocks. It is King Kong vs Godzilla stand & bang throw each other around. Otherwise it’s awesome. Ogawa SPACE TORNADO OGAWA WAS KILLER! They both get sick of the ref and clobber him. SPEAR~! It is not even close. Goldberg has the best spear ever. Visual pin. OO-SOTO-GARI! Visual pin! Interesting. Ogawa wants another but Goldberg dead weights him. Giant Silva trips Ogawa and chops him. SPEAR~! Jackhammer! Takada celebrates with Goldberg. Hashimoto peels down the aisle in a hilarious moment. They argue. Sick melee where Ogawa RIPS Takada down and then it gets broken up. They should have ran Ogawa vs Takada immediately for HUSTLE 2. Fun power match. ***1/4

Toshiaki Kawada vs Mark Coleman - HUSTLE 1 1/4/04 HUSTLE 1 debuted directly opposite New Japan’s annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show. Pretty ballsy by Takada. Looks like Hashimoto, Ogawa and Kawada were the native talent and this basically became Ogawa’s home promotion until IGF. Kawada is the Triple Crown champion but it is not on the line. Alright match, I always get Coleman confused with Mark Kerr. He was pretty good. Trade good strikes early. Kawada doesn’t really connect with his front kicks and Coleman takes him down at Will. Kawada gets a Triangle then Cross Armbreaker out of defense. Reset. Coleman throws fucking bombs. Great Kawada sell. He comes back with kicks. Coleman throws him around at Will with beautiful overhead belly to belly into head and arm triangle, reset in rope break. Kawada gets a rolling heel hook out a waist lock and the ref calls. Coleman doesn't have the coolest look like a Don Frye but he was jacked to the gills and clearly athletic as fuck. He looked like he has potential but this was just alright.

Naoya Ogawa vs Tadao Yasuda - HUSTLE 10 7/13/05 HUSTLE seems fully entrenched in their over the top Fighting Opera style with Takada in the M. Bison getup leading the Monster Army and Yinling The Erotic Terrorist. According to one review this is Razor Ramon Hard Gay’s which seemingly would transfer the Ace Babyface role from Ogawa to Hard Gay. Yasuda was brought in as a hired mercenary for Takada to take out Ogawa. This is pretty good but not as good as I was hoping. Both guys are more spry than I expected moving around at a good clip but I wanted to see them just throws each other around. Yasuda jumps Ogawa at the bell and tries to choke him out first with his forearm and then a Guillotine. Ogawa pops out. Great collar & elbow tie up leads to a Ogawa figure-4 and they fight over reversing the pressure. Nobody really sells shit which I’m down with in this match. Ogawa tries a throw but Yasuda ball shots and charges Ogawa. Butterfly Suplex. Ogawa gets an armbar takedown then cross armbreaker. Yasuda escapes. SPACE TORNADO OGAWA~! They fight over an Oo-Soto-Gari great struggle and OGAWA SLAMS HIM TO THE MAT! Another one! Ogawa wins! Takada comes in I assume talks shit and hears Razor Ramon Hard Gay. The amount of time spent in home ratioed to how long the match was too high. It just was not beefy and massive enough. Some fun spots. The finish was killer. ***

Way harsh, OJ, I thought Kawada crushed it in this match. Great shoot-style brawl. Echo Jetlag’s sentiments completely the first ten minutes of this is sublime! AJPW Triple Crown Champion Toshiaki Kawada vs Don Frye - AJPW 10/26/03 Budokan The last of the October Anniversary shows to take place at the Budokan! Toshiaki Kawada is embarking on the Triple Crown reign he deserved for years finally not snake-bitten by injuries unfortunately this is decline of All Japan. Mutoh/Tenryu/Kawada was enough to keep All Japan competitive for 3 years but it was not a sustainable business model and outside of Kojima it looked like they didn’t have a future. For their big Anniversary show they tap Mutoh’s good friend, Don Frye! I think is a great challenger for a bigs how and gives All Japan a different wrinkle and Frye a different environment. Hands down this is the best Don Frye match I have ever seen! Frye looks bitchin’ as hell and I have wanted to love him but he didn’t click until now but that’s now surprising because Kawada works really with shooters. Frye really sold and bumped well for Kawada. After watching this, he deserved a high level run in the US or Japan. Frye brings an extra pair of fingerless MMA gloves and tosses them to Kawada. Kawada throws them away saying he is willing to breaking his hands on Frye’s skull. Fuck yeah! Frenetic start! Tasmanian Devil Dust Cloud! Bang on muthafuckas! Kawada gets the early advantage knotting up Frye’s hammie with kicks. Frye sells it like a million bucks. I love in these pro wrestler vs shooter matches how the pro wrestlers have to come up with openings against the shooters. Kawada is either working the leg or being a prick. He gets caught trying to get cute with Frye’s leg and Frye makes him pay with big bombs! This stretch here where they stand & bang rules! After the first barrage, Kawada is throwing desperation kicks from his ass to Frye’s hammy as Frye flops in pain. KAWADA POTATO~! That seems to wake Frye up who unleashes hell on Kawada! Kawada awesome sell and powder. It Is all Frye now as Kawada is playing right into his hands playing the stand & bang game. Frye chokes Kawada out! Ref stops to check Kawada in the ropes! This respite gives Kawada life he rocks Frye with bows from both sides. In the next scramble he gets a heel hook and never looks back. This is the one drawback of this match after that heel hook Frye gets zero offense. It lasts another 5-7 minutes. It is a great asskicking. Frye bumps and sells like a champ for Kawada but that’s what keeps from an all-timer. Kawada wins with a stretch plum! Even with the squashy finish I loved the first ten minutes of this. Killer shoot-style brawl! Add another feather in Kawada range cap! I still like Misawa and Kobashi more but this is something Kawada is clearly better at than them is wrestling people out of his comfort zone, adapting and making himself, the opponent and the match look good. ****

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Keiji Muto vs Tatsumi Fujinami - NJPW 12/11/01 This is the type of match that is so underrated. It is that mid-tempo rocker that you can just vibe and cruise too. It is never gonna be a banger or a 5-star classic, but it so damn satisfying and you can just cruise with the match. It is a lost art to have a match this simple but so appetizing. Terrific mirror match between these two. If Hashimoto is the heir to Choshu, I always felt there was a connection between Fujinami and Muto. Both a little undersized and aerial. Fujinami obviously a much better technical wrestler and Muto had more theatrics. I really love their 1991 match where Muto was in the Great Muta role. Feels like perfect 90s New Japan match. I love how they organically build from the typical New Japan amateur wrestling into such a rousing finish run. It is cool how they just take what the match gives them rather ham-fisting highspots. Muto gets the power driver elbow. He was looking for the Back Handspring Elbow and Fujinami goes for a choke. Muto breaks free and goes to his 2001 formula. He executes a Dragon Leg Screw on the Dragon. Fujinami brutha I invented that game. Hits the Dragon Leg Screw back and Figure-4s Muto (Muto screaming fuck three times helps a lot). It was brilliant. I was hooked. The rest of the match is a terrific showcase of how to do a symmetrical match (read lots of mirrored leg work). Muto keeps trying to play Fujinami's game working the leg (dropkicks to the knee, Dragon Leg Screw) but it backfires on him (he goes for figure-4, but Fujinami counters beautifully into a leglock). Fujinami is wrestling a brilliant defensive match. He throws in a Kappou Kick after a dropkick to the knee and that seems to help. Then a dropkick to the knee from the middle rope, but he leaves his feet one too many times and Fujinami throws him off with a DRAGON LEG SCREW! Fujinami hit a top rope kneedrop! Fujinami back to the figure-4! MUTO FRANKENSTEINER OUT OF NOWHERE! Shining Wizard Blocked! FUJINAMI SHINING WIZARD! CROWD AND I LOSE OUR COLLECTIVE MINDS! Fujinami goes back up top...TOP ROPE SHINING WIZARD BY MUTO! Muto hits a barrage of Shining Wizards to win! Terrific Lo-Fi match! That builds out of their chain wrestling into dueling leg work and then finally into the insane Shining Wizard barrage! Love it! ****

GHC Heavyweight Champion Jun Akiyama vs Vader - NOAH 12/9/01 Not at the Budokan but a pretty big event at 12000 with a GHC Tag Title match on the undercard pitting No Fear against Misawa & Y. Ogawa. I believe this must be Vader’s last major title shot, he looked shaky to start but once he gained momentum he looked great. This is Akiyama’s second title defense and he would be looking at main eventing the New Japan Tokyo Dome show on January 4th against Yuji Nagata. Beginning saw Vader just stand & bang. Akiyama held his own but any time he tries to pick up the Mastodon he paid for it. He tried to go up top to utilize gravity to his advantage but ended up getting clobbered to the floor. Vader looked great down here big shots and dropping Akiyama abdomen first on the railing but Akiyama came back throwing Vader on a table and attacking his right arm with a chair. Going to the outside definitively kicked this match up. Akiyama Worked the arm. Vader hit a ridiculous German Suplex to turn the tide. He basically launched him without falling back it was insane. Great spot Akiyama elbows the injured arm to break the grip but his good arm Vader clubs him. Vader works Akiyama’s abdomen on the outside. Scorpio is coaching up Vader audibly yelling “work the stomach”. Vader obliges. Perhaps Vader would have anyways but this guaranteed sound psychology. He was burying the fists in the breadbasket. Wicked front Suplex. Great selling. Insane Saito Suplex. Vaderbomb had great heat. Vader looks to take him up for the Powerbomb but Akiyama DROPKICKs the knee. He goes full Mutoh; Dragon Leg Screw and a rope-assisted Shining Wizard. Exploder! Guillotine but can’t cinch it in and Vader clubs him to get out. Vader is going for the Vadersault but Akiyama POWERBOMBS Vader! Wow! Vader throes a desperation bear paws out. Wild Vader chokeslam! Akiyama kicks out at 2. Vader goes for a super chokeslam but Akiyama wriggles into a cross-armbreaker.Exploder no go OO-SOTO-GARI! Cross Armbreaker wins it! Love Akiyama winning with something besides an Exploder or Guillotine Choke. Vader once he got rocking and rolling, looked like the killer grizzle bear he is. Loved him swinging bear paws to get out of trouble and set up his power offense. Vader still had it this late. Misawa and the boys have a formula that just works in how they accentuate their high spots and their transitions matter. ****

HONDA WRESTLED YASUDA ON THE FIRST ZERO-ONE BUDOKAN SHOW!!! LETS FUCKING GO!!!

GHC Heavyweight Champion Jun Akiyama vs Tamon Honda - NOAH 9/5/01 Ahhhhh I have been avoiding NOAH, but it seems like early NOAH actually has some shorter matches. Honda is one of those wrestlers a lot of people seem to like but I really have only watched the Kobashi match and maybe one or two others. I think sometimes on these projects, it is a disservice that the only Honda match I have watched was the biggest match of his career. Here he is challenging for GHC Title but this time against Akiyama in a much smaller venue, according to Cagematch just 3000 people. It is interesting that post-split All Japan was running the Budokan more and doing very good business even though they lost all these big stars. Obviously NOAH would get there with some big Dome shows. Interesting match, kind of confirms what I remember about Akiyama, he lacks personality compared to the other pillars. You know exactly who Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi and Taue are when they are in the ring. But who is Akiyama? Honda is another dude who instantly get as soon as he enters the right. He is the shoot amateur wrestler who is going to suplex you to death and then try to choke you out. He is like a better Yasuda. Scratch better. A more capable and dynamic Yasuda. I like how because Yasuda is limited he causes workers to get creative. Even though I have not watched NOAH in years, I just know Honda is getting Akiyama out of his comfort zone and working a different match. Man I wish we got Honda vs Yasuda or Honda in Inokiist Japan against any of the shooters he would have been interesting. Atypical NOAH start, doing more New Japan style matwork. The highlight by far is Honda's drop toehold to block a spinning toehold and counter into his own leglock. That was amazing! Someone needs to steal that spot. I love also how Akiyama slapped on a lazy leglock and Honda immediately countered into his own tight one. AJPW/NOAH transition to the action, Akiyama uses a drop toehold on a charging Honda to the steel railing to kickstart the match and consolidate control. DDT on ramp puts Akiyama firmly in control. King of the Mountain. Then some neck work. Honda back drops out of the piledriver. Akiyama shifts weight on the Saito Suplex, but in the scramble, Honda gets a leglock and looks like he has an opening. Back Drop Driver, but Akiyama responds with an Exploder. Akiyama charges, but Honda scoops him up and powerbombs him! Honda finish run here we go. He uses a choke to sap Akiyama energy and then throws him around with some HIGH German Suplexes that would make Takayama jealous. STF into Olympic Hell Choke and great nearfall here as the crowd is perking up. Akiyama grabs a Guillotine Choke out of desperation which stymies Honda's run. Honda throws a headbutt, Akiyama counters with a Jumping Knee. This sets up the Exploder Head Drop and Guillotine Choke (he had been using that as a finisher since he choked Kobashi out with it as the Second NOAH show). Tight, economical and efficient (usually not words associated with NOAH). Really solid wrestling. Honda leaves me wondering what could have been if we worked New Japan at this time. ***3/4

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.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Keiji Muto vs Dr. Death Steve Williams - AJPW 7/14/01 Budokan Not a bad showing for the Budokan at 12,800, Doc seems like a good first challenger for Muto. In the pre-match promo, Doc says the belts are coming home to All Japan so Muto must still be NJPW 4 Life and doing the invasion angle. Tenryu and Kawada are in the undercard in separate matches so definitely some support. I had no idea what 2001 Doc would hold but he was pretty damn fun! His body has definitely aged but he is still a Suplex machine and throwing in some Fuck Yous and Son of Bitches didn’t hurt. This happens smack in the middle of the 2001 Muto Renaissance but was not over laden with the 2001 Muto tropes. Muto was put in an early hole and had to use his new strategy to dig himself out of the hole. I dug this match a lot. Unfortunately we are JIP to Doc in control we are missing about 4 minutes on the front end of a 19 minute match so not horrible. Doc teases to Huck Muto out into the crowd with a Gorilla Press but drops him back into the ring. We get the beginning of the 2001 Muto run…Dragon Leg Screw, DROPKICK to the knee and SHINING WIZARD~! Holy shit is it already over? No! Muto hurt his knee on Doc’s face and rolls to the outside. He is really clutching it. Doc gives chase but Muto sidesteps runs him into the post. Muto hobbling tries to get back in the ring, chop block! Really nice Muto bump. Doc is firmly in control. He does a great job mixing the suplexes, knee work (headbutts to the knee ala Tenzan) and trash talk. Muto gets a Misawa-Rana out of the Doctor Bomb. Doc nails the Backdrop Driver. Muto powders classic AJPW. Muto kicks off the ring post on a second Backdrop Driver. Back in they trade FUCK YOUS! It is really off to the races. Doc hits his Doctor Bombs but no Oklahoma Stampede and some suplexes. Muto gets his moonsault but his knee stops him for capitalizing. Muto tries to go for Shining Wizards but first two times Doc catches and throws him. Doc tries another German Suplex but OLD MAN MUTO FLIPS OUT LANDS ON HIS FEET AND DROPKICKS THE KNEE! Look at Muto Go! SHINING WIZARD~! In true All Japan fashion, Doc has to eat 27 of them before he loses but his discombobulated selling after them is great and having not watched AJPW in a while I have Some nostalgia for it. Way better than I expected and it is not even really because of Muto, Doc really brought the offense and the intensity. Muto sold his knee well and built his comeback logically. ***3/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Great Muta vs The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) - AJPW 01/13/03 Well this was the worst match I have watched since I returned to reviewing. A heatless mess. Early on there was the spot that Big Sexy and other tall wrestlers do where the stick the boot up and choke their opponent in the corner. Awesome just had his boot resting languidly on Muta’s chest as Muta did not move. It was absolutely pathetic. They put zero effort in. Hall at least made sure his shit look snug. Awesome besides his plancha and top rope splash did not try at all. Scratch everything I said about Muta wrestling two different matches depending on his gimmick. We were back to drop kicks to the knee which didn’t connect, dragon screws, STF and Figure-4. This match made feature the most pointless use of blood ever. Muta hit a Shining Wizard off the apron and posted Awesome who blades because it is a Muta match but didn’t sell shit. Muta hit all his spots. Awesome just lariats after the back handspring elbow. Hits his power spots (powerbombs) and flying spots. Muta does not what to take the Super Powerbomb so he bails and it is kinda top rope Pedigree. Then He mists Awesome who doesn’t sell it. This is self-parody. Muta hits a bunch of rope assisted Shining Wizards to win. Great Muta felt like a self-parody doing all his cool spots but without any heat. Ice cold. Horrible match.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Great Muta vs Shinya Hashimoto - AJPW 2/23/03 These two drew a sellout at the Budokan with ZERO undercard support, we are talking absolutely nothing. I think that is more impressive than the match itself. All Japan as a place for New Japan refugees + Kawada and Tenryu could have been great. Long term they would have needed more than just Kojima for their future but for the first half of the 2000s they actually were fine in terms of star power. The big thing going into this is re-adjusting yourself when watching Great Muta vs Keiji Mutoh. Gone are all the basement dropkicks, dragon leg screws, figure-4s and it is replaced by chairs, blood and mist. Yes the Shining Wizard and Moonsault are still there but you need to re-align yourself. The selling is another thing that took me a while to figure out. Great Muta sells with more of a register. My thought process is he supposed to be a horror movie monster. You can stun him but he keeps coming back for more. It used to feel like random no-sells but once you see Great Muta the Monster through that lens as opposed to Keiji Mutoh the Man his selling makes a lot more sense. A match that gets a lot more entertaining as it goes on. I am a Mutoh/Muta defender for the most part, but I forget some time how brutal his stalling as Great Muta can be. Lots of looking under the ring, powdering, making kids cry. The crowd was 100% there for these. They traded missed elbow drops and the crowd was whipped into a frenzy. These 16000 people were pumped for this match. Hashimoto finally gives chase. Muta whips him into the railing. Muta kicks a Young Boy in the stomach and he tries to use him as a stepping stool to hit a Shining Wizard. Either he lost his balance or the Young Boy Collapsed but Muta fucking ate it on the Shining Wizard one of those, it seemed cool in your mind but looked dumb in execution. Match picks up here as Muta slams into a post and crowns him with a chair to busts Hashimoto open. Muta is a great garbage brawler and this was pretty good. Choking with the cord, jabbing a pen into the wound, biting the wound all great shit. Hashimoto gets some kicks as a hope spot. Muta grabs a chair. Mists Hashimoto, the blood and green mist combo never gets old, always looks cool as fuck. He uses the chair to hit a sick Shining Wizard. Chair much more stable than Young Boys. Muta misses a moonsault. Hashimoto has his opening. Muta counters the Brainbuster into a DDT. Muta is back to hitting Shining Wizards and gets the Moonsault, but Hashimoto kicks out. Hashimoto BLOCKS the Shining Wizard with his forearm. HASHIMOTO SWEEPS THE LEG~! Perhaps the greatest sell of a Legsweep ever as Muta sells like he was shot in the back of the leg. Match is just worth watching for this. I vaguely remember Hashimoto falling in love with this Inverted Triangle submission, but Muta makes the ropes, this felt out of place. Hashimoto blocks the Mist with forearms and hits his own Shining Wizard! BRAINBUSTER! Sue me, but this was pretty fun. Dumb as fuck but pretty fun. If this was JIP to Muta busting out Hashimoto I could be convinced to go like **** as the finishing stretch was great Hashimoto as a Karate/Kung-Fu warrior taking on the evil horror movie villain who just keeps coming back. With the beginning, I think I will go ***3/4, but the last ten minutes or so is good craic.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Keiji Muto vs Scott Hall - NJPW 9/23/01 Man if you ever wanted to show someone the most bare bones, stripped down pro wrestling match this might be the one. They just sleepwalk through this match. All of Hall’s punches and work are tight but he is putting in minimal effort. Muto is in 2001 cruise control mode. He found a formula that is bulletproof in 2001. Muto with the Triple Crown is still a mind fuck. Weird fun fact that Hall challenged for Triple Crown. I think there’s some lingering NWO civil war shit here. Hall is with Chono and Muto is with TenKoji. The first five minutes they work a headlock, Muto hits his power elbow. Hall hits a cool Eaton-esquires slingshot back Suplex to take control. His punches look great and he throws Muto out. More punches. The work is tight but feels pedestrian. Muto hip tosses out the ab stretch. Standard 2001 Muto stuff here. DROPKICKs to the knee, dragon leg screw, figure-4. Tries the back breaker/moonsault combo but Hall cuts him off with a super Back Suplex which Hall loved as a transition in the 90s. Hall runs through his shit: chokeslam, sack of shit. Muto works in the DROPKICK to the knee (that’s why 2001 formula is so good) and gets the moonsault but there’s shit with Chono and TenKoji. Shining Wizard but Hall hits a lariat, Razor Edge but Muto wriggles free and two Shining Wizards later he wins. A match that just never got out of first gear.

IWGP Champion Bob Sapp vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/3/04 Fantastic match! Totally different than Sasaki match, which you would expect but I don’t want to take for granted. Nakamura’s approach to taking down the Beast was submission technique as opposed to brawling. It was like shoot-style version of David vs Goliath. Stick and move became submit and move. Bob Sapp’s presence and aura is perfect. Shame he vacated the title after this and was never given a main event run somewhere. Dude was money waiting to be printed. I love how aggressive Nakamura was early. He was the Tasmanian Devil wrestling circles around Sapp taking him down. The problem was Sapp was just too fucking big. So even though his technique was flawless and he was getting takedowns, nothing stuck because Sapp could just raw muscle his way out. He was flinging Nakamura around with biels and hip tosses but Nakamura would just keep coming. Nakamura tries work up to big finishes like the cross-armbreaker or Triangle but Sapp just brute forced out. I thought his lariats have gotten better too. Massive DROPKICK by Sapp! He geared himself up for that sent Nakamura careening out of the ring. He tried to get back in but Sapp lariat him back out. A little king of the Mountain. He gave chase and on the ramp he looked to polish Nakamura off with a powerbomb but got caught in a Triangle. Great sell here as Sapp took an 18 count. I was watching this on a 1 inch x 1 inch screen so kinda lost what Nakamura did here but he stayed aggressive and was working through some submission combinations. They get into the clinch and SAPP MURDERS NAKAMURA WITH A LARIAT! Me and the announcer lost our shit! Sapp goes to a choke and NAKAMURA BITES HIS WAY OUT OF IT! HELL YEAH! Sapp hits a piledriver and is charging at Nakamura who clamps on a Guillotine than a DDT. Sapp reverses the full mount because he is a BEAST! His ground & pound looks killer! Head & arm triangle but Nakamura counters to a crossarmbreaker but Sapp picks him up and slams him! POWERBOMB! One count! Boooo! Sapp rocks him with big strikes and second powerbomb finishes him! Besides the dumb one count bullshit, this match rocked as a shoot style David vs Goliath match. Sapp looked massive DROPKICK, lariat and powerbomb all looked great. Nakamura May have never looked better as a submission Wizard, love how aggressive he was. I wish we got a lengthy Bob Sapp run on top. ****

IWGP Champion Satoshi Kojima vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NJPW Tokyo Dome 5/14/05 This is one of the most boring matches I have watched in a long time. It was excoriatingly boring at 20 minutes. Fucking Inoki gave them an HOUR, ONE FUCKING HOUR earlier in the year. Kojima won the title in a match that went 59:30. Are you fucking kidding me? I kinda sorta knew that long match existed because these two might be the most bizarre pairing to ever be given an hour. Going through the IWGP Title Defense history, Nagata/Nakanishi is also weird as fuck to go an hour and Nagata/Chono, I get the booking rationale, but fuck I do not want to see Chono go an hour in 2002. Kojima only other defense of the IWGP title was against Nakamura for an hour so yep not watching that. In a sick twisted way, I am morbidly curious what the fuck TENZAN DID FOR AN HOUR! We all know Kojima hit 60 different Ace Crushers and Lariats. Did Tenzan Mongolian Chop and Headbutt for 60 minutes straight?!? Hiroyoshu Muthafuckin Tenzan wrestled for an hour...like it is settling in now and what a what the fuck!?!? Alright the actual match. Look it is Kojima vs Tenzan, I was not expecting Misawa vs Kobashi here, but this was pretty fucking bad. Sasaki vs Suzuki was bad. I am not sure which of these was worse. Sasaki/Suzuki you know they can do better. Kojima has had great matches with Tenyru and Hashimoto. I have enjoyed Tenzan in his run and really enjoyed his Tanahashi match and I bet if I rewatched that Akiyama match I'd grade it higher. But man did this suck! You knew it was bad right off the bad as Kojima hits what else Ace Crushers. I have not seen Kojima wrestle in probably five years and it was just so nice to see the first move he hit was an Ace Crusher. There was no heat behind it. He did not hit out of nowhere no was their struggle. The issue with the match was not so much what moves they did or the order, it was how they were doing them. They were going through the motions. Ice cold wrestling. Hit a couple Ace Crushers. Dive to the floor. They chop on the floor. Back in the ring, they reset into standard New Japan mat wrestling. It is like what the fuck. So those Ace Crushers did not even pop the crowd and they did not mean anything to the story. Tenzan does what Tenzan does. Clubber. Kojima gets a back body drop flying elbow. Tenzan gets a back body drop and a top rope diving headbutt! Symmetry! Their transition is garbled, but make a long story short, Tenzan goes for the Tenzansault but Kojima meets him up there and hits an Ace Crusher because he is Fucking Kojima, bitch. Kojima goes for his big Lariat, but Tenzan hits the Side Effect and Tenzan applies the Anaconda Vice and then Tenzan Driver back to Anaconda Vice. Crowd does not give a shit at all. This is one of the weakest, most pathetic finish runs in history. KOJIMA COUNTER TO THE ANACONDA VICE IS A RUSSIAN LEGSWEEP! It is both pathetic and kinda awesome! He applies a weird top wristlock/crucifix I dont know if he was using or if this was just his counter to the Anaconda Vice. The one interesting that happens in the match is Kojima hits an Axe Bomber and Tenzan sells it like he is OUT FUCKING COLD! I saw that Kojima won the belt at 59:30 via KO so I am assuming this a play off that finish. They even do the ten count but Kojima interrupts it by turning to pin him, but he kicks out. Kojima blasts him with another lariat, kick out at one because you know Japan. Kojima goes for a suplex, once punch and Tenzan hits a Tenzan Driver. What a lame transition! Tenzan went from being almost KO'd to being in control. Now Kojima hits an Emerald Flowsion. Was it this shit? Kojima misses a lariat, Tenzan wild swing misses, but Kojima sells it. Tenzansault hits and sitout TenzanDriver ends it anti-climatically as Tenzan takes forever to cover him. What a shitburger...how bad must that 60 minute match be?

IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW Osaka Dome 11/13/04 New Japan was still drawing 28000 people to the Osaka Dome this late in the Inokiist Era. Pretty stacked card as this does not even close the show. There's Tenryu/Shibata on the undercard along with invaders (Kawada/Naoya Ogawa) vs Tenzan/Tanahashi (sounds tasty) and weirdo main event of Fujita/Kashin vs Nakamura/Nakanishi. The main event did not sound appetizing on paper and Jetlag's review made it seem even less so (except Inoki comes in and punches Nakamura apparently) so I will skip. On paper this is kind of a dream match for me. I am way higher on Sasaki than most people and I do like Minoru Suzuki (more recent Suzuki can be hit or miss, but this era I usually like). This match much to my shock and dismay kinda sucked. I am not even sure it kinda sucked. I think it might have sucked out loud. Usual New Japan feeling out process. Nothing wrong with that. I like Sasaki muscling Suzuki over but Suzuki keeps the headlock on and yanks him over the top with him. They stare off and both head back in the ring. Missed opportunity in my opinion but fine. Suzuki puffs out his chest which is the Universal sign of Hit Me. They trade some blows. Cool wrinkle here at the end. Suzuki hits a dropkick to get Sasaki off his feet. Suzuki invites Sasaki to do the same, but side-steps him and makes him look like a chump. This is weird it got weird again. Suzuki hit the lightest knees, threw some strikes tried to go for the arm but Sasaki just threw him off and reset. Ok it seemed like they had somewhere to go but didnt do much. I kinda forget what happens next (watched this about 5 hours ago) but the next big thing is Suzuki works the arm which is the bulk of the body that has any sort of progression. Suzuki would just wander a way for extended stretches and just leave Sasaki to sell. It was weird. Either Sasaki needed to throw in some hope spots of Suzuki needed to stay on him. The way they did it was just awkward. The finish run took what was a boring match made it actively terrible. Sasaki started throwing some lariats. Suzuki gets a Rear Naked Choke out of a Northern Lights Bomb attempt which was the first big "nearfall". He hits a piledriver, Sasaki kicks out at one. Sasaki hits Northern Lights Bomb with no struggle. Suzuki at least punches Sasaki a couple times before his second piledriver which Sasaki no sells and hits a lame Northern Lights Bomb. They are both out. Suzuki slaps Sasaki twice pretty good cracks. Sasaki misses on Lariat but gets him on the second attempt. Suzuki kicks out at one. Makes some faces, fall down and Sasaki wins. The first 15 minutes or so are pretty fucking boring. The last five minutes are terrible. I know Suzuki is supposed be mercurial and eccentric but this was just bad. Sasaki did not adapt at all either. I am sure most people would blame Sasaki but I thought Suzuki was just as bad if not worse. This could be one of the worst matches featuring two wrestlers who are otherwise pretty good at wrestling.