There is a lot to love on with this match, especially Genichiro Tenryu's grizzled performance as he absorbs most of what Kawada's dishing out and serves it back twice as spicy. He blows off the kicks early on, peppering Kawada with his terrific jabs in the corner before Kawada starts chopping away at his chest. Loved all the stand up exchanges early on the match before Tenryu catches a foot and dragon screw legwhips Kawada down to set-up the legwork. The legwork was fine but ultimately meaningless, but it did provide us with that awesome face punch sold perfectly by Kawada. Kawada goes back to kicking after that leg segment and gets a little revenge on Tenryu in the corner but Tenryu's the big boss here, standing up to Kawada's peskiness, refusing to lay down. He blasts Kawada with his own gnarly lariat, Kawada punches him in the face, and then locks in the stretch plum, struggling to keep it in after all that punishment Tenryu handed him.
They both fight for the powerbomb, with Tenryu winning out after failing to mimic Kawada's rolling koppou, Then Kawada muscles Tenryu over with back-to-back backdrops. The selling of exhaustion in this match is terrific, with Tenryu tumbling out of the ring and into the cameraman. Then he takes that nasty boot to the nose when he's on the apron, and his face becomes a bloody mess. The finishing stretch, with Kawada trying to take down Tenryu with kick after kick after kick before Tenryu explodes with the lariat, was pretty great, and the result is Kawada nearly KO'd from the blow, which allows Tenryu to put him away with the Northern Lights Bomb. One of the best matches of 2000 for sure.
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