This won't make you forget about the Carny 94 final but it is a fun match with about 5 out of 12 minutes clipped. Williams is at least aware of his limitations and takes a much more calculated approach to his matches in 2000 and allowing for his taped up ribs and other vulnerabilities to be worked over. As a tournament match, this also worked as Kawada had to get past a big gatekeeper type that had lost a step on his road to the finals. I think I can find a spot for Dr. Death on my top 100 workers of 2000 and Kawada is building up his case for a top 10 finish towards the end stretch of the year. *** (6)

I'll be surprised if Kawada is not your number one puro worker. Akiyama and Kobashi do have solid cases, but Kawada was fantastic in the NJPW vs All Japan stuff. Looking forward to what you think about Kawada vs Tenryu. It will go down to the wire as Kobashi, Akiyama and Kawada all have big MOTYCs in December.

I'm loving the Kobashi vs Akiyama feud right now so much, it is going to be tough for Toshiaki even though I know some stuff like the 12/14 tag was MOTDC last time I watched. All three have had tremendous years in 2000. Kawada's is kind of a slow burn for me that gets much better after the split but he also has some sneaky stuff like those No Fear tags in the first half.

I thought the first two nights of NOAH is some of the best puro booking of all time with Akiyama running through Misawa & Taue, turning on Kobashi and then choking him out the next night. What came in between that and the December match? Six-mans?

Yeah, a lot of six mans and tags but great progression as you see Kobashi debut the purple gear and get pissed off putting cocky Akiyama down a peg and then Jun having to come back by getting his lieutenant Takayama and Omori up against Kobashi.

Oh, I didn't know about the Akiyama/No Fear alliance, that sounds badass. Plus Akiyama does have possibly not only the MOTD but maybe the greatest match ever against Misawa in 2000. Yeah the more I think about it, the more I want to put Kawada at number one, but I don't think Akiyama can be denied.

Solid match with commendable performances but Williams didn't have a ton of ideas on offense.  Of course his limitations were what they were, but it didn't make for very enthralling work considering he took most of the match that wasn't clipped here.  Kawada is very subdued and understated here and that was actually a nice antidote to excess.  The finish felt sudden but in in a good way as Kawada counters some strikes and puts Williams down with an enziguiri.

 

***

Kawada and Doc slapping each other while doing a death stare was nice.  Not a very long much but it wasn't bad. Kawada is easily superior. Doc tries but Kawada is just to much for him at the end.