Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama (NOAH, 12/23/00)

EPIC!

This was one of the very first NOAH matches I remember seeing during my initial exposure to Japanese pro-wrestling and, at the time, my high school brain was like "whoooa, dude, what the hell did I just watch?". So having rewatched this, what does my married brain think? It's still pretty damn epic. Is it too much? Yeah, probably, most likely, but it isn't necessarily done for the sake of indulgence. It's young brash Jun Akiyama trying to dethrone King Kobashi with everything he's got and Kobashi...well, dropping Jun on his head a lot and Akiyama with the will to survive. It's long though, and you know, I struggle with overly long, bloated matches. To open, Kobashi pops him with a big chop to the chest to set the stage and mood, encouraging Akiyama to bring it, which Akiyama has to seriously consider after those Kobashi chops. When they lock up, Akiyama does a little swanky maneuvering to turn the tide on Kobashi, taking him over with a double wristsault into the front mount, peppering him with slaps and then trying to lock in a rear choke before Kobashi gets to the ropes. Akiyama doesn't immediately let go and Kobashi lets him having it with more chops, catching him with a rolling backchop in the corner.

Loved Akiyama’s driving elbows in the corner and when he hits that running elbow smash on the ramp, he turns Kobashi's left eye into a swollen mess. But he works through it, focusing on Akiyama's neck after a few DDTs, using a front necklock and deadlifting it into a suplex. Akiyama turns the tide with a nasty dropkick to the knee, allowing himself a breather before they trade suplexes and Akiyama starts in on picking Kobashi's arm apart. But that's what we call filler...well-executed, sure, but filler nonetheless. Soon, Kobashi is dumping him with a sleeper suplex or a half nelson suplex on the rampway. Then Akiyama comes back and hits an Exploder to Kobashi on the floor (sold like death by Kobashi) and tries to set-up for his front necklock finish. When Kobashi grabs the ropes immediately, Akiyama hits the wrist-clutch Exploder for a terrific nearfall. Kobashi lariats his way out of a SUPER EXPLODER, and they're both obviously exhausted by this point in the match. Even when Kobashi hits another lariat, it's a collapsed pin attempt, his eye the size of a grapefruit. Akiyama survives the short-range lariat and when he tries to elbow back, Kobashi stuns him with the spinning backchop and unleashes the ultimate finisher in the Burning Hammer to finally put him away. A really good match, awesome in parts, with a great build and tons of bombs. But why so long?

Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka (NJPW, 12/14/00)

Easily, one of the best tag matches of 2000. It hits a lot of highs, never any lows, although there's a decent little plateau (mesa) in there at parts. Everyone had a role to play: Iizuka the tough underdog with a thing for sleepers, your asshole Uncle Fuchi, proud dad Nagata, and the man, Toshiaki Kawada. I really loved his messy mat scramble with Nagata to open their exchange before they start throwing each other at themselves with boots and elbows. Iizuka's on the rocks for much of the match, as Fuchi starts breaking him down at the knees, catching a wave in the corner on his Iizuka surfboard. Kawada picks up where he left off with the stomping single leg crab and when he's got Iizuka in the bow-and-arrow, Fuchi pops in to stand on Iizuka's throat like a shithead. 

Iizuka gets bullied inside the ring, Nagata's bullied outside -- and some of his facials are incredible. At one point, it looks like he takes a little cat nap on the ring apron. Iizuka's trying to fight back but can't overwhelm the AJPW team, and when he finally gets a break, he tries to grab the sleeper again on Fuchi. But he tags in Nagata, and Nagata and Kawada go at it. On a whole, I think their exchanges could've used an extra dab of Cholula, but whatever, it was fun. Loved all the enziguris and Kawada's selling before Nagata hits the German suplex hold. They each lock in their submissions, and each submission is broken up by their wounded partners. Really good selling from both Fuchi and Iizuka there at the end. There's stereo submissions from both teams, a dope dropkick to the knee by a stumbling Fuchi, and, and a final kick and face slap exchange between Nagata and Kawada to heat it up just before it cools down on the time limit draw. Draws are hard to pull off, especially tag draws, and I think this had it right for the most part. 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 10/28/00)

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.

Yuki Ishikawa & Carl Malenko vs. Kazunari Murakami & Naoyuki Taira (BattlARTS, 9/7/00)

The HATE between Yuki Ishikawa and Kazunari Murakami permeates throughout the whole match, whereas Carl Malenko and Naoyuki Taira are, more or less, left to their own devices, even into the finish, where Malenko has Taira in a crossface hold and Murakami's more concerned with staring down Ishikawa then breaking up the submission. Rewind, Murakami promptly jumps Ishikawa at the start of the match and Ishikawa catches him, deadlifting him into a German suplex like "what bitch?!" The work on the mat between them is aggressive, with Ishikawa clawing Murakami's face when he tries to block the headbutts. Meanwhile, last time we saw Taira, who was "way too oily" in RINGS and now he's coming into BattlARTS with spin kicks and shitty little smirks. The stuff between he and Malenko was a lot of fun, with Malenko showing off with takedowns and transitions, and Taira blasting him with knees and kicks for knockdowns. One thing I really like about Malenko is the way he sinks into submission holds. But then we're back to Murakami/Ishikawa, with Murakami kicking him out of the ring, scraping around the crowd, kicking chairs and shit, throwing his mouthguard at Ishikawa. Lovely stuff. They continue thrashing each other on the mat until Ishikawa catches him with an armbreaker on the ropes, which plays into their eventual awesome singles match later int he year. In the end, they're too busy mean mugging each other to care about Malenko's sweet submission finish. Lots to love on here.

Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi (NOAH, 8/6/00)

This kind of "main event" match structure is why I enjoyed the Okada/Omega G1 Climax match-up so much: it simplifies the bombastic formula, condenses it, utilizing offensive targeting to build drama without dragging out the nearfalls in order to produce excitement for the sake of excitement. In other words, I really enjoyed this. The hero, Kenta Kobashi, comes into the match with a taped right knee but he's still able to say "not today, kid" with the opening exchange. Kobashi controls early on after taking over on the outside, chopping Akiyama over the barricade and powerbombing him onto the floor. He works a slower, more methodical pace, bringing him back into the ring with a great stalling suplex from the apron before trying to wear him out with a facelock. Then he'll explode with chops on Akiyama, breaking down his defense for the half nelson suplex.

Akiyama's able to dropkick the bum knee out from Kobashi and I love the follow-up dropkick just as Kobashi had struggled back to his feet. With the follow up submission attempt, Akiyama turns the sasori-gatame into the STF, and then starts trying to hamper Kobashi from making the break by grabbing the arm and covering his eyes. And after he makes the break, Jun immediately pulls him back to the middle with a cross kneelock. The frustrated boots to the knee after Kobashi makes it to the ropes shows Jun's hunger. Kobashi counters the Northern Lights suplex attempt with a necklock>necklock suplex, then catches him in the sleeper>sleeper suplex. Kobashi puffs up again with his offense, and even after Akiyama delivers a German suplex hold, he quickly grabs a kimura off the bridge, which was unexpected but awesome. In the end, however, Akiyama is younger, healthier, and the more aggressive, dropping Kobashi with three Exploder suplexes before cinching in the front necklock for the huge submission victory, not letting go after the referee calls it as if he wants to be sure he's actually beaten Kobashi. Great stuff.

Takehiro Murahama vs. Black Buffalo (Osaka Pro, 7/22/00)

A terrific three-quarters of a match, with some minor issues during the home stretch. Takehiro Murahama is having one of the better debut years in recent memory, and up against Black Buffalo, you have a neat dynamic of the babyfaced shooter against the gruff brawler trying to take it to the mat. First and foremost, Murahama’s tights are incredible – peak 90’s aesthetic circa 2000. Buffalo’s takedowns aren’t pretty but they’re effective as he takes more of a smothering approach on the canvas. Murahama’s still able to sneak out a leglock through Buffalo’s aggression and when he’s back on his feet, he pops Buffalo with a kick to the hamstring, to which Buffalo smartly rolls away from Murahama. Murahama’s spunky on the mat, running through a number of holds almost as a routine (see above) before settling on an armbar. I loved his leglock counter to the hip toss. Buffalo doesn’t hold back with the open hands and short-arm lariats, and of course, he brings the chair into play. At one point, he’s standing on Murahama’s head while he’s on the ropes and then drops a leg across the back of his neck onto the ropes. Nasty. Just as Murahama starts heating back up, he kicks the ring post, which leads to Buffalo targeting the leg with a chair and figure-four leglocks. Good in-the-moment selling from Murahama but once he pops back up to his feet and starts flinging kicks at Buffalo, he blows off the legwork and then it’s business as usual as they run through their offense to what seemed like a botched finish. A bit of a jarring transition but still, a real good match worth checking out.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 7/1/00)

One thing I love about pro-wrestling is a good, hard-hitting, extended squash match, and Toshiaki Kawada knows how to squash his way into my heart. After a stalemate opening, Fuchi slaps Kawada in the face to let him know that he’s the vet and Kawada starts hacking at Fuchi’s leg with kicks…you know, because Fuchi doesn’t wear kneepads so it’s an easy target. Hamstring kicks, face kicks, nasty stomps to the head, slaps, extended wristlock sequences – Kawada gives you a bit of everything. Fuchi finally catches a kick, dropkicks Kawada’s opposite knee, which is such a great counter, then proceeds to step right on his fucking face. When Kawada is peppering Fuchi with those shitty little face kicks, Fuchi stands up like “what!”, and Kawada slaps him and puts him back down for more shitty face kicks. Awesome moment. Fuchi heats up toward the end, delivering three consecutive backdrops to Kawada but that’s about the only whiff of victory he gets. Kawada runs through some of his offense, trying to set-up the powerbomb and after a big high kick and an enziguri, he’s able to put Fuchi down with the folding powerbomb. My kind of match.

Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 5/26/00)

What an awesomely scrappy and, at times, brutal match-up, with tons of fighting spirit from Kobashi and Takayama coming off like a big bully. I mean, he high kicks Kobashi in the head before the bell and demands the ref to ring it. The look on Kobashi's face just before Takayama penalty kicks him is priceless. Kobashi is able to hulk up and take control of the situation but when he tries that shit again, Takayama tackles him into the canvas and pounds away at him from the front mount, laying back into a cross armbreaker and refusing to let go after the rope break. What a jerk. He drags him around ringside, stands on his throat, boots him in the head. Kobashi tries hacking at Takayama's head and neck with backchops but Takayama cuts him off again with a nasty climbing knee in the corner. The grunty armwork adds to the grittiness of the match, and Kobashi does a great job selling it as he tries to defend himself with the opposite chop hand. I really liked the struggle on the mat with Kobashi trying to hang on as Takayama pries the arm back into the armbar. As Kobashi spirits his way toward the finishing stretch, the fans rallying him on, Takayama keeps trying to go after the arm but he's clearly exhausted. He's able to hit a beautiful high-angle German suplex hold for a nearfall but can't deliver a second. Instead, they just start popping each other with fists and while Takayama lands a few good shots, Kobashi relentlessly whaps him with back fists. The finish comes a little out of nowhere as Takayama throws Kobashi with a desperate German and then Kobashi comes back with the lariat for the win. Big performance from Takayama, who went well past empty, and Kobashi being the best babyface he can be with some terrific selling.

Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa (NJPW, 5/27/00)

This ruled. Stiff strikes, focused legwork from Kanemoto with some uncharacteristically great selling from Takaiwa, neat little nuances here and there, and a few bombs for good measure. Even with a couple of minutes missing, we got the complete story. Kanemoto promptly shotguns him with a kick to the left leg and Takaiwa sells hard for it, before he starts trying to clobber his way to the driver's seat. The lariats into the guardrail were great but then he gets caught with the overhead suplex on the floor and Kanemoto goes to town on the leg. Fun stuff like Takaiwa grabbing the ref's shirt while in the figure-four or Kanemoto backhanding him in the face after he drops down with the spinning toehold. I love that when Takaiwa tries for his own figure-four, it's immediately reversed and he's put on the rocks. Then Kanemoto pulls off the knee pad and starts punching the bandaged knee. Takaiwa is able to work around the bum knee and throw some bombs, including a sweet Death Valley Bomb hold off a tiger suplex attempt. His double powerbomb is obviously weakened because of the leg and he knows it so he pulls Kanemoto up instead of pinning him and clubs him with a lariat. The finish was cool, too, with Kanemoto rolling through his own frankensteiner into an ankle hold to submit Takaiwa. Everything I want out of a sub-15:00 junior heavyweight match.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW, 4/15/00)

This was such a cool match-up, almost worked like a junior heavyweight match with Ogawa forcing Misawa into his style. Ogawa's a favorite and he was able to show off here, between his slick maneuvering and cheap tactics. He gets the most out of simple holds, like the way he hangs onto a side headlock or headscissors, or how he leaps onto Misawa's back with a sleeper hold to try and wear him down. He was able to deliver some great neck-focused chains of offense to set up the backdrop hold while managing to counter a lot of Misawa's offense. Subtle selling from Misawa, who looked a little perturbed at times that he's got this little gnat constantly buzzing around his head and on occasion, he's able to pop him with a few stiff elbows before finally putting him away in the end with the tiger driver. A simple but refreshing match.

NJPW "Dome Impact 2000" (4/7/00)

Don Frye vs. Koji Kanemoto

Don Fyre has such a good look, long hair or short, and he came off like a big badass here, but gave Koji Kanemoto enough to keep this interesting for the most part. Kanemoto isn't one to back down from a fight and I like that he stepped up to Frye, smacked in the face, and then immediately gets belly-to-belly suplexed down and put into a submission. Frye's limbwork was real grunty and calloused, which is obvious when you take a look at him, but Kanemoto's a sly cat and will grab a leg when he can. He lands a moonsault onto Frye's back off the missed spear and Frye lets loose a terrific F-Bomb when Kanemoto's got him in a leglock before he boots his way out the hard way. Then he clobbers Koji with a few elbows and submits him with a leglock.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinjiro Ohtani

Both entrance themes rule -- what a transition period 2000 was. I really liked the hot opening with the hard open hands exchanged and Ohtani going after the elbow/lariat arm and getting in some of his signature spots. But when Kojima takes over on offense, he more or less blows off the armwork and just shows off his dominance to the point where he attempts his own facewash...and fails. I liked the Koji Cutter spot off the missed spinning heel kick and Ohtani's reaction to the nearfall off the dragon suplex hold was great. Other than that, Kojima kind of stunk it up.

Kazunari Murakami vs. Takashi Iizuka

I love the visual of Takashi Iizuka running down the rampway toward the ensuing chaos in the ring...and then immediately getting pummeled and taken out by Murakami. Whenever Iizuka is able to get a submission hold locked on, it feels like a big deal and while the groundwork is rather simple, the struggle conveyed from both sides really adds to the gritty feel of the match. Iizuka being a dope on the ropes, not letting go and then pounding Murakami in the back of the head was great. I think this could've benefited from being shorter but whatever, we got Murakami trying to goad Iizuka back to his feet after blasting him with a kick, and the slack-jawed looks of Inoki and Fujinami at ringside. As the match heads home, you can really see the frustration in Iizuka's strikes and when he's able to get the choke sleeper on Murakami, it's huge. It's hard to put a rapid dog to sleep but Iizuka snags him off the ropes and finally puts him down. Good stuff.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa

Slimmed up and shaved down Shinya Hashimoto is oddly reminiscent of Monster Morning himself, Manabu Nakanishi. This was pretty damn great in the way they were able to keep the lines blurred. Early into the match, Naoya Ogawa is being real shitty and brash with his knockdowns and then gets caught off guard with that Hash legsweep from the outside, which allows Hash the opportunity to lay into him to the point that Murakami has to come into the ring in Ogawa's defense. The reactions Hashimoto elicits from the fans with his takedowns are awesome as he keeps trying to cut out Ogawa's legs. I thought the STO struggle and escalation of impact was done really well, with Hash first countering with the DDT and then just kicking the shit out of Ogawa's leg in frustration before Ogawa is finally able to put him down after the choke sleeper > STO combo. Pretty awesome match.

BattlARTS (3/25/00)

Yuki Ishikawa & Naoki Sano vs. Alexander Otsuka & Kazunari Murakami

Kazunari Murakami and Yuki Ishikawa have such good chemistry together -- Murakami's always coming out rabid and swinging, and the cooler Ishikawa is just trying to get the takedown and submission. Murakami is one of the few guys out there whose sloppiness actually adds to the match and his charm. I love the way Alexander Otsuka maneuvers around the mat and floats around his opponent (with Sano here) as he's constantly looking for an opening to suplex or a limb to snag. The brawling on the outside was awesome with Ishikawa jacking Murakami with these gnarly elbow shots and rolling around with him on the collapsed chairs. And when Murakami kicks Sato in the butt after the big dive and commentary lols...precious. I thought Ishikawa's deadlift German to Otsuka as he's crawling to his corner was incredible, and of course, Otsuka answers with a nasty release dragon. Oh, and Otsuka makes the best saves. Really good match that flies right by, despite the 30:00 time limit draw. 

Daisuke Ikeda vs. Katsumi Usuda

A lot of stiff love, with Usuda opening the match with all these shitty little headbutts before trying to choke out Ikeda. Then he starts snapping off kicks, landing a couple of headshots to Ikeda, who stumbles around until he runs into a shot that knocks him flat. Really great hard kicks from Usuda throughout. Of course, Ikeda dishes it back, waylaying Usuda with a big right hand before clobbering the fuck out of him with a lariat on the ropes. Usuda spends some time going after the arm, doing a good job of maneuvering around Ikeda's escape or counter attempts to stay in control. Loved when Ikeda freaks out on him with his punts, stomps, and kicks. Really liked the finish too, with Ikeda grabbing the arm, rolling around into a Fujiwara armbar, and then laying on him with the choke sleeper until Usuda's eyes go white. Too bad this was clipped because this ruled. 

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Satoshi Kojima (NJPW, 3/19/00)

Although it's missing six or seven minutes of action, this is such a great match with a concise and engaging story, good selling from both guys, and an exceptional performance from Satoshi Kojima. It opens with Kojima hitting a diving elbow drop onto Sasaki, slickly countering a lariat attempt with a Koji Cutter, and then hammering on Sasaki's knee with some grunty legwork, which includes these awesome diving chopblocks. After he delivers an awkward Koji Cutter off the apron, Kojima hangs Sasaki in the tree of woe and lariats the fuck out of his knee. Then he hits a top rope Koji Cutter -- I mean, they're coming from every angle. My favorite moment of the match comes after Sasaki withstands Kojima's lariat and straight up punches him in the face. Chono and crew jump the apron like "What the fuck, ref?!" but Sasaki doesn't care and punches Kojima again. He starts to build some momentum, hitting a frankensteiner and locking on the sasori-gatame but he can't maintain it due to the knee damage. They ragdoll each other with back-and-forth German suplexes and one count lariats. Kojima's able to counter the Northern Lights Bomb with an armbar takedown but when he tries to go back to the leg, he just collapses in exhaustion. So good. He then tries for his own Northern Lights Bomb but can't do it, so Sasaki shows him how it's done and then polishes him off with the short-arm lariat. Recommend!

Takehiro Murahama vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (Osaka Pro, 3/25/00)

I do love little shitkickers and Takehiro is a terrific little shitkicker, already showing so much fire and ego three months into his pro-wrestling career. This match is fought in rounds, like Murahama's debut match, and Murahama is just so much more aggressive out of the gate than Hoshikawa, avoiding most of his strikes and laying into him with kicks, punches, and knees. The only real offense Hoshikawa's able to get in the first round is a series of freakout slaps to the grounded Murahama. The second and third rounds are mostly defensive, with some strikes exchanged and groundwork that doesn't go anywhere. In the fourth round, Hoshikawa immediately takes Murahama down with a suplex and tries to cinch in a choke, knowing his only chance to best Murahama is on the mat. The German suplex off the ropes with Murahama struggling to hang on was awesome. When Murahama delivers his own German, Hoshikawa is able to grab an arm upon impact, going from a double wristlock into a jujigatame and nearly scoring the submission before the round ends, saving Murahama's ass. In the final round, Murahama comes out swinging for the fences and pummels Hoshikawa down, stomping away at him while he's on the ground. He's relentless here and Hoshikawa definitely gets brutalized, despite getting a few shots in, before he goes down hard. Pretty awesome fight that felt different than most "shoot-style" affairs.

Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 2/27/00)

When I think of Jun Akiyama, I think of the Blue Thunder of Furikan High, Tatewaki Kuno! (if you get that reference, thumbs up). This is Akiyama's big moment in the rising sun, challenging the final boss of AJPW in Mitsuharu Misawa, and the relentlessness in which he comes at Misawa and stays on him throughout is incredible. I loved the opening stretch building to Misawa's apron elbow, with Misawa especially looking spry and energized. He's got to make sure Akiyama's ready for the challenge so he throws him a few snug love tap elbows. But Akiyama's more than ready, alluding Misawa's dive as he crashes and burns on the guardrail, setting up some extensive and aggressive neckwork. An apron kneedrop, a piledriver on the floor, a fucking Exploder '98 on the apron with a wonderful shot of Misawa's face before the execution, and some gnarly neck cranks back inside the ring. Misawa's selling is terrific here, and Akiyama doesn't let him build much momentum, dropping kicking him out of the ring and escalating the attack on the neck with a badass cradle tombstone piledriver and Exploder.

Misawa's veteran comeback toward the end begins with him busting open Akiyama's nose with a nasty knee drop to the face. Then he frog splashes him, hits a couple of German suplexes and tiger drivers, but Akiyama won't lay down, can't stay down. The fighting spirit Exploders were the perfect transition point heading into the finishing stretch, with the fans rallying behind Akiyama as he blasts Misawa with the jumping knee in the corner and follow-up Exploder. When that doesn't work, he spikes Misawa with a brainbuster and when it's still not enough, the wrist-clutch Exploder earns him his victory. Such an fantastic match, and Misawa's final epic before leaving All Japan.

Vader & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 2/20/00)

Love Vader preempting the match with a double bird “Fuck you!”. The first half of this match was solid enough, with Williams half-rolling around the mat with Akiyama, and Akiyama and Kobashi working over Vader’s knee. At one point, Kobashi has Vader in the half crab and Akiyama dropkicks the knee a couple times -- good subtle selling from Vader throughout. The match picks up as Akiyama gets put on the rocks and suplexed around by Vader and Williams. Even when Kobashi gets the hot tag, he’s only able to get in so many chops before he finds himself in a bit of trouble. I thought Williams connected with some good stiff clobbering blows and the final minutes of the match heading toward the finish was full of big boy bombs, including Exploders from Akiyama, powerbombs and powerslams, and Vader landing the Vader Bomb onto Kobashi for a terrific nearfall. Kobashi’s able to level Vader with a lariat but Williams sneaks in, ducking the spinning backdrop and dumping Kenta on his head with a brutal dragon suplex, which allows Vader to chokeslam him for the win. Good stuff.

Vader vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW, 1/23/00)

I dug this a lot. Loved Akiyama’s opening rush, blowing off the ref and hyping up the crowd as he takes it  Vader. Vader tries putting him in the corner and peppering him with these nasty little forearm shots but Jun fights for a German, with Vader hanging onto the ropes until Jun chops the arms out and delivers the big ole suplex. Both these guys were big bumping around, in and out of the ring. Vader chokeslams Akiyama onto the timekeeper’s table and then follows up with a powerbomb onto the floor. The midsection of the match is Vader-dominant, with splashes and clobbering blows and even a dang Fujiwara armbar. Akiyama tries going after the knee, zeroing in with a top rope dropkick, but Vader, more or less, blows it off. But he’s slower climbing up top, so Akiyama’s able to powerbomb him down and hits an Exploder for two. I liked Akiyama countering the cover off the chokeslam with the desperation armbar but it doesn’t do much and Vader launches him into the sky with a German suplex and then chokeslams him again, this time, pressing all that choice Vader beef onto his legs and shoulders to keep him pinned.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Mitsuharu Misawa; Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 1/9/00)

Hiroshi  Hase vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 1/9/00)

There is a lot to love from Hiroshi Hase in this match, from his awareness to his determination. Clearly, Misawa is not as slick as Hase on the mat so he has to rely on his primary form of offense, the elbow. Knowing this, Hase takes the obvious route and proceeds to annihilate said elbow in the form of extensive armwork. He takes him down, tangles him up, and rolls all over the canvas with Misawa in tow, working the arm like a full-time job. Misawa doesn’t do much in terms of escaping or countering – he mostly lays there and takes the punishment, though at times, he seems desperate to get away. Then again, he’ll often say “fuck your armwork, Hase” and throw a couple of elbows but Hase brushes them off and takes him back down to his realm of holds. I love that Hase immediately brings the focus back to the arm following much of Misawa’s offense, first with the overshot diving body press and then off the German suplex hold. “Ask him, come on, give up!” says Hase before he dumps him with a big ole uranage and follows up with a cross armbreaker. 

Misawa’s selling of the arm, or lack thereof, didn’t necessarily bother me -- I mean, I love Misawa's stubborness to keep using the elbow, knowing he can't take Hase on the mat and coming to realize that Hase has an answer for most of his other offense. The elbows obviously don't have the same impact on Hase so he has to keep on battering him, switching to the other elbow at the end to get some good shots in, before finally downing him with the running elbow.. Sure, he could’ve done more to sell it but it’s Misawa, he’s the ace, so Hase staying in the driver’s seat for so long is more than most get. 

As Hase continues snagging the arm off of Misawa’s signature offense (tiger driver, frog splash, etc.), you finally see him start to crack with desperation. There’s a great visual of Hase almost hugging the arm, a look of real frustration on his face as he’s trying to get him to submit. But no matter what he does, Misawa’s throwing those dang elbows. So Hase himself says “fuck this armwork” and drops Misawa with a dragon suplex, back-to-back uranages and a Northern Lights suplex hold. When that doesn’t do the trick, he tries for a second Northern Lights and Misawa knees out of the attempt, throwing elbows from both sides before finally laying him out for good with the running elbow. I wasn’t a big fan of Hase’s relatively quick demise following all that dedicated work on top but again, it’s Misawa. You take what you get, and what I got was a lot of cool shit from Hase.

Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (AJPW, 1/9/00)

Really good stuff and an easy watch, with Yoshihiro Takayama firing heavy early on with his big boots, knees, and kicks. But Jun is too slick for that shit and dropkicks Takayama’s knee out from under him to set-up the limbwork portion of the match. I love Akiyama when he’s working the hell out of a body part and here, he snares Takayama on the guardrail and delivers a killer dropkick from the apron. He goes through the gamut of leg holds, from the Scorpion Deathlock to the STF to the figure-four leglock, but Takayama finds an opening to exploit Akiyama’s weakness in the taped left elbow. He ragdolls Jun with a couple of suplexes and pulls out a beautiful double arm suplex hold before going into a facelock, transitioning into the over-and-the-shoulder hold to further damage the elbow. Okay selling from Takayama, better from Akiyama, whose able to dropkick the knee again to turn the tide. I liked that he targeted the bad knee to block Takayama’s German suplex attempt and then rolled him up on the second attempt. 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 1/4/00)

Can’t beat watching these two big boys lobbing knuckles at each other. When Tenryu tries backing Sasaki into a corner, Sasaki straight up pops him with a couple of shots, knocking him on his ass. The referee’s like “what the fuck did you do, Kens-kay?” and Tenryu tries firing back with his old man jabs but Sasaki pops him again. He stays on him with punches in the ropes, throwing in a couple of chops, but Tenryu finally jabs and chops Kensuke down before collapsing himself. Tenryu puts him back in the corner and goes to town on his chest with more chops before it’s bombs away -- a spider German suplex, a powerbomb, a snap brainbuster. Tenryu even tries to get fancy with a frankensteiner but Sasaki slams him down and delivers a frankensteiner of his own. When they’re throwing bombs, they’re smacking each other around in these ugly bar fight exchanges but Kensuke proves in the end that his bombs are a little bit bigger, as he drops Tenryu with not one but two Northern Lights Bombs to win the title.

Osaka Pro "Osaka Pro Legend Story" (1/4/00)

Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Takehiro Murahama

What a trip seeing everybody’s favorite DDT referee Yukinori Matsui in there officiating. As far as debut matches go, I can’t think of one much better than Takehiro Murahama’s debut against Naohiro Hoshikawa, boxing gloves and all. The progression of heated strikes from round to round was incorporated really well into the structure, and while there were a couple of muddled exchanges, Murahama looks like a naturall. In the first round, they land some good hard kicks and Murahama connects with a flurry of punches but they really unload in the second round, with Murahama taking out Hoshikawa with a right hook. He dumps him with a backdrop suplex but Hoshikawa immediately retaliates with a pop-up German suplex throw. In the third round, Hoshikawa lands some stiff kicks and knees while Murahama’s still lobbing jabs. After a belly-to-belly suplex, Hoshikawa maneuvers into an armbar, forcing Murahama to the ropes...but that just sets Murahama off, as he promptly pummels Hoshikawa’s face in, taking him back down with another barrage to end the match. Really good stuff.

Super Delfin vs. Dick Togo

Super Delfin has always had some of the crispiest takedowns in pro-wrestling, and Dick Togo’s no slouch himself. I liked the tempestuous back-and-forth open, with Delfin pulling out perdy little tilt-a-whirl headscissors in and out of the ring. Of course, the match can only stay untainted for so long with Togo’s crew lurking on the outside, and after some shenanigans, Togo gets a hold of a chair and injures Delfin’s leg after a diving double stomp from the apron. Togo’s legwork is grunty and somewhat effective but in the end, felt like filler as Delfin doesn't really sell it and it’s quietly forgotten in the back half. At one point, Delfin tries countering with a rana but Togo turns it into a crab hold > STF, and when he starts to heat up, someone throws a chair at him while he’s on the top turnbuckle. The leg stuff goes away as Delfin fights back for a diving body press to the outside. Back inside, he calls for the tornado DDT but Togo’s able to roll through the attempt and Liger Bomb him for two. Togo builds momentum, delivering the Pedigree into the diving senton, which should've been the finish, but when he tries to double dip on the sentons, he misses, which allows Delfin to drop him with a brainbuster and a shitty tornado DDT. He follows up with back-to-back shoteis, missing the third but correcting himself with a stunner to set-up the third and final shotei for the win. A pretty good match with some cool moments but it was all over the place and the finish sucked.