Talk about it here.

Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs Dr. Wagner Jr & Silver King, IWGP junior tag titles, New Japan February 3rd 2001

 

Background: With WCW behind him, Silver King joined real-life brother as a regular part of New Japan's foreign contingent. Wagner is a former junior tag champion, and it stands to reason he would do even better with King as his partner now.

 

Why I think it's underrated: Another year, another under-the-radar match that Stuart put a spotlight on. This is carried by the luchadores. Their teamwork and interaction make the body of the match enjoyable, and a good finishing run is to be expected with the combined level of talent at work here.

 

What it deserves: Top 100 consideration / on the bubble. The crowd could be better, and there are several superior junior tags, but it's on the list for a reason.

This was pretty disappointing to me. I did like the Wagner brothers' schtick but it didn't feel like Kanemoto and Minoru were interested in wrestling the same match.

Looked like the point of the match was to get Wagner and Silver King over both as wrestlers and as threats to win a major title. And it did do that, because right towards the end the crowd really got into their bigger nearfalls. It probably won't get a vote, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Can't have big title defenses without opponents that the crowd thinks can win the titles off the champs.

This was okay. It was definitely laid out to make Silver King and Wagner look strong but not in a way that created any real jeopardy surrounding Kanemoto and Tanaka's titles. Not that I would care if Kanemoto and Tanaka's title reign was in jeopardy, but you never know. Sometimes you get suckered in. 

THis one didn't click for me. They had some good ideas and the King/Wagner duo had some nifty double teams but there was a lot of resets and the awkwardness didn't result in intensity and improvement like it sometimes can. *** (6)