Talk about it here.

I only really enjoy Takaiwa matches when he is in the ring with wrestlers I like. Sometimes that isn't even enough for me. Unfortunately I'm in the Marufuji hate camp so as you can imagine, I didn't like this.

Takaiwa vs. Marufuji - December 9, 2001

Really good match and storytelling, although not structured to be truly great to me. I assume this title change was Marufuji's coming out party, and I loved the very beginning of the match, with Marufuji's superkick and immediate collapsing of the damage reminding me of Shawn Michaels. Takaiwa tried to make an example out of the younger challenger throughout the match, having the match done with but choosing to continue dishing punishment. That would be his downfall, as throughout the rest of the match Marufuji would not be denied and earned the Jr. Championship to a wonderful reaction. ***3/4

Man, Takaiwa is such a boring dude to watch. The crowd seems extremely uninterested in him when he's not hitting huge slams and powerbombs. Him trying to heel it up is pretty poorly executed too. Maufuji, on the other hand, is someone I have no interest in watching when he's not teaming with KENTA. Here he comes across as a guy who takes a beating, but still wants to get all of his stuff in, so of course he does. So this is really rough to sit through. It's only 22 minutes long, but it feels like it's more than that.

I like both guys even if they are flawed and they gel extremely well together. Takaiwa simply mauls Marufuji here and destroys his leg too. A great performance that played to his strengths. Marufuji turns in a pretty great underdog and selling performance. 2001 MOTYC. ****1/2
 

I liked this. Takaiwa has always been a guy I find watchable and I haven't seen enough of Marufuji to be sick of him. Sometimes all a guy needs is a beer in one hand and a 2.99 kick out. Now maybe that should be a beer in one hand and some territory wrestling or some shit, but 2.99 kick outs started for a reason. And that reason is because they're exciting. Japanese men's wrestling was so bad in 2001 that the bar is pretty low, but this is a top 5 match from the year for the simple fact that it registered a pulse. 

I enjoyed this, even if I can see the criticisms others have highlighted. For one, it's probably 5-7 mins too long, but you can't argue that the crowd aren't invested and living and dying with Marafuji. I'm not an expert of Takaiwa, but here he alternated between being a no nonsense bad ass to being really boring, often in the same sequence. I'm a Marafuji fan, and thought he was great at eliciting sympathy with his selling, although again, there were a couple of moments - the coast to coast dropkick after having his knee heavily worked on being the most egregious - where he would just pop up. But again, his combination of gaining sympathy and fire has the crowd invested and keeps you entertained. I loved the start, with Takaiwa just going straight at Marafuji and then the sequence on the ramp. Sometimes a match works with a nice slow build and increase in the tempo, but I like here that they just went at it out of the gate and made it clear that if the fans wanted Marafuji to win they were going to have to will it into happening. Good stuff here (*** 3/4)