Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (AJPW, 3/3/01)

This match ruled. Imagine Toshiaki Kawada working a spell in BattlARTS, against a former RINGS underdog in Mitsuya Nagai. No pin attempts, only knockdowns and submissions. And for almost 12:00 minutes, these two beat the shit out of each other. Pesky Nagai gets to kicking early on until Kawada snaps on him with elbows, and they trade blows until Kawada boots him down and spits blood. The stage is set. Nagai's shitty underdog performance is incredible, from his selling and expressions to rubbing wrist tape in Kawada's face and kicking the shit out of his leg. Really good struggle from both during the Stretch Plum attempt. And then it shifts into another gear as they start blasting each other with low kicks to the leg.  Kawada is super aggressive with his kicks, buckling Nagai's knees and knocking him off his feet. But Nagai's giving it back to him and you can see Kawada's in pain as he limps around the ring, frustrated that Nagai keeps fighting. They slap the hell out of each other but Kawada keeps attacking the leg, putting him in a nasty stomping single leg crab. He keeps trying to submit Nagai with the single leg and after smacking him around and cutting the leg out with a kick, he really cranks on the single leg for the submission. I love a good, fiery underdog story and this delivered on almost all levels, with some great selling from both guys and brutal exchanges. A total hidden gem in Kawada's already stacked portfolio.

Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 12/16/88)

Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy are mean, mean bastards already but when you throw them up against two other mean bastards in Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada, you get mean bastard warfare. Tenryu getting smacked around and shitkicked against the ropes by Hansen, or hard chopped by Gordy, with Kawada being the spitfire in-and-out of the ring -- this starts hot and ends hot. It's too much to try and break down but a few of my favorite moments from the match include Gordy's huge lariat in the corner sold beautifully by Tenryu, Hansen stumbling around, he and Gordy breaking pinfalls the fuck up, Kawada getting destroyed on the outside. After Gordy hits the powerbomb on Tenryu, Kawada's able to hobble back into the ring to break it up in a killer save. The fans really want Tenryu on his feet, fighting these gaijin fuckers off, but he keeps getting double teamed while poor Kawada is once again in a world of hurt outside the ring. Tenryu's able to fire back with some nasty chops and slaps to Hansen, knocking him down, but Gordy clobbers him with a lariat. After Gordy breaks up the diving back elbow, he pummels Tenryu with gnarly punches but misses the corner lariat, allowing Tenryu a short but brief comeback. He hits the powerbomb but it's not enough. After Gordy powerbombs Tenryu, Hansen drives the knees to the head and finishes him off with a SICK lariat for the win. Awesomely chaotic and brutal tag team warfare.

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.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 10/9/00)

I kinda hate the term "banger of a match" but when it fits, it fits. Kensuke Sasaki isn't interesting when he's trying to find his way out of a paper bag on the mat but when he's clobbering and chopping and throwin' bombs, he's pretty great. Toshiaki Kawada is trying to work a side headlock and Kensuke bam-bams his way out of it, blocking the gamengiri and straight punching Kawada in the face. They chop it out, with Kawada really selling Sasaki's hands, they slap it out, and when Sasaki starts to get the better of him, Kawada socks him in the face! Big heart. Kawada unloads on him with nasty kicks in the corner, more chops, folds him in two with a backdrop, and then STRETCH PLUM! I mean, Sasaki sells it like it's kryptonite but then kicks out at one. I didn't have a problem with that because it was almost like a knee-jerk reaction to the ref's hand hitting the canvas. Sasaki steamrolls through with a couple of lariats and the sasori-gatame, Kawada fires back with his own lariats, then they collapse following DUELING lariats -- lots of lariats. I liked the finish, with Kawada landing these enziguris that won't take Kensuke off his feet and Kensuke's finally able to lariat an attempt down, only to run into the biggest enziguri kick of them all to end his reign. A pissed off Kawada lobbing stiff shots is hard to top.

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.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 7/18/91)

I heart both of these guys and I heart this match like I heart a good cup of coffee in the morning. A little sugar from Fuchi on the mat, a little cream behind Kawada’s kicks. Unfortunately, this is clipped but when it picks up, Fuchi’s going after Kawada’s left leg with the old man stomps. He lays into a leglock, transitions into an STF, and then just starts cranking on the leg. When Kawada gets pissy, it’s one of the better things in life, with his baby headbutts and punting Fuchi out of the ring. Even when he’s lying on the ground, he’ll still try to take out Fuchi with a low kick. But Fuchi takes advantage of a prone Kawada with a nasty looking stomp. He avoids the powerbomb, backdrops Kawada, then slides into a facelock, forcing Kawada to take a breather out of the ring but goes right back to it when Kawada re-enters. Kawada finally clobbers Fuchi and uses his own facelock, which produced this fantastic visual of Fuchi scrambling to get out of it until Kawada applies the body scissors and submits him. Really fun stuff.

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 4/20/91)

This match rules -- easily my favorite six-man tag in All Japan up until this point. Kenta Kobashi’s babyface stellar babyface in peril performance, the Taue/Kawada hate still bleeding into this match, Fuchi being a dick, and of course, the rivalry between Jumbo and Misawa continuing to unfold. Taue himself is quite the dick early on as he keeps harasses Kawada on the apron until Kawada finally kicks the shit out of him while Taue’s laid back in a cross armbreaker. Violence ensues, with Kawada pummeling Taue into the canvas with his little shitty headbutts. Jumbo and crew are such good heels here, especially Jumbo, who goes from playing to the crowd to either piledriving Kawada on the floor or just stepping on his face. Fuchi’s the dirty daddy crass technician, immediately working Kawada’s neck with the headscissors after he and Taue double teamed him with a second piledriver on the floor. Kawada’s finally able to get some revenge on Jumbo with his face kicks – I love that when Jumbo tries to hulk up, Kawada puts him right back down and continues pelting him with those shitty face kicks.

The young guns control for a while, isolating Taue, with Misawa launching Kobashi with a top rope plancha onto Taue outside the ring. Fuchi spoils the fun by getting the tag and immediately starts destroying Kobashi’s knee with great stomps and a knee crusher onto a chair. Terrific selling from Kobashi as he desperately tries to fight back but his knee is fucked and Fuchi takes advantage of it, using an STF and then just rolling back and cranking on the leg. Loved the look of intensity on Jumbo’s face as he’s wrenching on the single leg crab. They milk the teased tag outs by Kobashi with the crowd wanting nothing more than Kobashi to get the hell out of there but Jumbo and crew are absolute bullies, especially Fuchi, who ties Kobashi’s knee in the ropes and cheapshots him with punches. Kawada at one point enters the ring and kicks Jumbo, trying to help Kobashi out, but it ain’t happening. Kobashi FINALLY tags in Kawada, and while he and Misawa go at it with Fuchi, Fuchi’s such a badass that he fights off both and puts Misawa on the rocks against Jumbo. The final fews minutes of the match are incredible, with terrific nearfalls, a super hot crowd, and a hell of a pin break up by Kawada after the chokeslam from Taue. Once the ring has been cleared, Misawa’s up and he’s able to pick up the win with the tiger suplex hold. Fantastic!

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (AJPW, 4/18/91)

I loved this match. These two have such fantastic chemistry together and I love that Kawada brings out Taue's shitkicker scrappiness. Kawada is the bigger shitbag of the two, whipping Taue around by the arm to maintain arm control and when Taue tries to work the arm, Kawada bleeds him with nasty boot scrapes to the face and adds insult to injury with those dirty little kicks of his. Watching Taue bulldoze Kawada with sumo slaps and fall out of the ring was a definite highlight of the match. Taue takes advantage of the outside element, suplexing and powerbombing Kawada on the floor, or lariating him over the guardrail. Kawada's so good at peppering his selling with subtle nuances, like flailing in the single leg crab, but his in-ring awareness is also on point, as he's able to counter the chokeslam attempt with the armbar, bringing it back to his opening armwork. He's able to catch Taue with a back kick that knocks Taue into the ref, and when he hits the powerbomb pin, the ref is slow to make the count. In the end, Taue wins by countout after chokeslamming Kawada...on the floor. Of course.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW, 4/6/91)

The story of big daddy Grumbo Tsuruta having to deal with all these fucking younguns runnin' around his house in 1990-1991 is one of my favorite things. Probably the most insolent prick of the bunch of Toshiaki Kawada. Jumbo shows his dominance early on, with Kawada bumping like a maniac for Jumbo's kitchen sink knees, and while Kawada hacks out Jumbo's leg with kicks and overexerts himself with a single leg crab, Jumbo's soon tossing him around and busting his knee on the timekeeper's table. He keeps working Kawada over with the single leg crab, at one point, transitioning into a side STF. Desperation mode Kawada has to sacrifice that injured leg to connect with a gamengiri and the selling by both men in that moment is amazing. After an lariat to the back of the head, Kawada continues being a shithead on the outside by repeatedly stomping Jumbo's head. The powerbomb tease is great but when he starts in with the shitty face kicks, Jumbo's had it and smacks him absolutely silly. Kawada survives the powerbomb but falls after two consecutive backdrops. A solid effort from Kawada, showing off the tenacity that makes him so lovable.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW, 1/27/91) + BONUS TAG!

Although these early All Japan six-mans can become a little hard to distinguish from one another, the formula works so well and the characters play their roles engagingly. Once again, the seasoned dad wrestler Jumbo Tsuruta showed terrific resilience against that fiery shitkicker Toshiaki Kawada, who pesters him throughout. I mean, the opening exchange sees Kawada bump like hell off a kitchen sink knee -- Jumbo hits him so hard he hurts himself. At one point, Kawada keeps peppering Jumbo with his shitty face kicks and Jumbo snaps, unloading a barrage of big daddy elbows on him and continuing the punishment on the floor with chairshots. Fuchi's the prematurely old dick head, Misawa the young hero, Kikuchi the underdog, and Taue does what Taue can to ensure his team comes away victorious, getting shit from the fans for breaking up puns but ultimately scoring the pinfall with the powerbomb. To quote all the cool little Twitter owls, this was a HOOT!

Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa (AJPW, 2/23/91)

This match was clipped to the end of the six-man and what we get is a doozy. The heat between Kawada and Taue is sizzlin'. The match cuts in with Taue delivering one hell of a shoulderblock to Kikuchi before we get to the bloodshed. Once again, Taue with his fresh haircut, is being nastier than usually, busting open Kawada or tossing Kikuchi out of the ring onto Kawada. The fans are way into Kawada's general pissy-ness as he and Taue just slap each other silly heading into the finishing run, and they bite onto most of the nearfalls before Kawada finally puts Ogawa away with the powerbomb.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue (AJPW, 1/15/91)

Good lordy, this match was unexpectedly tumultuous, with an uncharacteristically brutal and bloody-faced Akira Taue. Even before the streamers are let loose, Kawada is throwing chairs and repeatedly ramming Taue’s forehead into the guardrail, busting him open after a few jabs of the chair. The blood only seems to invigorate Taue, who counters Kawada’s kick by just shoving his leg into the guardrail, and then goes to work on it. I love how Kawada uses his boots in submission situations but when he tries booting the back of Taue’s head, Taue says “fuck this” and starts peppering Kawada with slaps. Taue’s legwork is real grunty but effective, as he uses the timekeeper’s table or a chair to fuck up Kawada’s leg. Kawada’s selling is almost non-existent throughout but it doesn’t really matter because Taue keeps cutting off his rebuttals, headbutting him or spiking him into the canvas. Kawada finally snaps in the end, shitkicking Taue on the mat and then clobbering him with the enzui-lariat to pick up the win. Loved this!

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJPW, 12/7/90)

Misawa wants Jumbo, wants him real bad, but first, he and Kawada have to deal with Taue and his incredible hair. When Misawa gets his hands on Jumbo, he uses his youthful speed to his advantage, overwhelming the veteran before tagging in Kawada. The pissed off Jumbo takes it out on Kawada with some nasty kitchen sink knees but Misawa’s able to temporarily extract Jumbo from the tag equation after blasting him with a big running elbow from the apron. With Jumbo out, Taue ain’t got nobody as Misawa and Kawada take turns bullying. Jumbo emerges to break up a hold but Kawada starts attacking him to jeers from the All Japan fans. Kawada’s the biggest shithead in this match and it’s awesome. Loved his climbing corner kick to Taue’s face – such a jerk. When Jumbo finally gets the tag, he gives it to both punks and damn near decapitates Misawa with a jumbo-sized lariat. Again, Kawada keeps spoiling Jumbo’s offense but Taue gets his revenge, hitting a dive to the outside and bodyslamming Kawada on the floor. His offense never looks that great but he’s such a loveable underdog. In fact, Jumbo comes in and tries to help him out by elbowing Misawa and backdropping Kawada but it’s still not enough to get Taue the pinfall. The final minute or so of the match is built around Kawada’s powerbomb and it’s fantastic, as both sides are scrambling, the crowd is losing it, I’m losing it, and finally, Taue loses it via Kawada’s powerbomb.

Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara (AJPW, 07/19/98)

Kakihara pissing off Toshiaki Kawada is something that needs to be witnessed, please, go. He immediately pops Kawada with a slap and Kawada’s selling is fantastic here as he quickly tags out to Taue, who gets popped a few good times himself! Oh boy, when Kawada gets back in there, he takes it to Kaki with slaps, knocks him down, picks him back up, and then smacks the shit out of him. Kawada and Taue work Kaki over for a while, Taue piledriving Kaki at one point, and each time Kaki tries to fight back, Kawada usually shuts him down with a boot to the face or kicks. But he keeps fighting until he gets the jujigatame on Kawada and the tag to Takayama. He eats some Kawada kicks, Kawada eats some knees, but Takayama’s mostly a ghost in this match. The final stretch with Kaki and Taue was alright – I liked Taue just shoving Kaki down when he keeps coming at him, but it lacked the fire of his exchanges with Kawada.

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (AJPW, 10/19/90)

Masanobu Fuchi is such a surly fucker in this, between his chair jab and dirty, nose-busting stomps to the face. Of course, the bloodied Kenta Kobashi plays a terrific face in peril but the underlying narrative of the match is that the young lads can't quite catch a break. Sure, they get a little revenge here and there, like Kawada suplexing Taue on the floor and Kobashi's moonsault press and German suplex hold to Fuchi. But even when Kawada gets that hot tag after Kobashi's beatdown, he unloads on Taue only to get shut down soon thereafter. The crowd turns molten when Misawa gets the tag and starts elbowing Jumbo in the corner, taking the fight to the outside but getting taken out by an awkward Taue plancha. Daddy Jumbo eventually gets the kids reined and I love that final interaction with Misawa, stopping Misawa's attempt to save Kobashi from the powerbomb with an elbow to the face. Kobashi tries one last comeback effort but the thorn in his side, Fuchi, cuts him off up top, allowing Jumbo to the super backdrop and a regular one to put Kobashi away. As always, this is the good stuff.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 9/30/90)

When a match goes to a draw, whether it's half an hour, the fully sixty, or somewhere in between, there's often an issue of keeping the furnace burning. This match keeps it lit and while there are the inevitable moments of downtime, they are few and far between. All four guys bring something unique to the party and perhaps best of all, buckets of hate. Terrific brawling in and out of the ring and a crowd that stays hot until the end, buying into all the big two counts in the final few minutes. The animosity between Misawa and Jumbo is still very strong here as Misawa gets in some flippant slaps prior to their initial lock up and keeps antagonizing him throughout. I loved the interactions between Misawa and Taue, with Taue's bandaged forehead getting re-opened. He plays to the sympathy of the fans so well here, as Misawa and Kawada keep riling him up with shitty kicks to the head. Kawada, of course, as the gap-toothed rowdy bully the bloodied Taue and pissing off Jumbo -- loved Kawada exploding with elbows on Jumbo before Jumbo tosses him out of the ring. In the back half of the match, the bombs start falling and there's some cool spots, including Kawada hitting a proto-Stylin' DDT on Jumbo and then a sweet atomic drop > jumping high kee > backdrop double team by Taue and Jumbo on Misawa. Misawa especially delivers some beautiful offense, including the German and tiger suplex, and an awesomely executed tiger driver. Taue and Kawada have a pretty great shotei exchange, with Kawada getting the upper hand, and in the end, he comes off the top rope with the knee drop just as the time limit expires. If you like pissy tag team wrestling sustained over the course of 45:00, this is the match for you.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJPW, 8/18/90)

What I love about these six-mans (and most AJPW six-mans in generals) is that everyone has a role to play, and for the most part, they play it so well. Here, we've got Misawa as the crowd-favorite, Kawada as the baby-faced aggressor pissing off Jumbo, and Kikuchi taking a hell of a beating but not staying down. On the other side, Taue is the gangling bruiser, coming in off a tag and immediately lariating the shit out of Kikuchi. Fuchi is his usual grumpster self but I thought Jumbo was really awesome here, really taking a lot from the youngsters but also dishing it out in stiff fashion. Kawada isn't scared to go hard in the paint against Jumbo but he pays for it. Jumbo busts Kikuchi open with an elbow late in the match and this after nearly beheading him with a lariat but I loved Kikuchi toward the end, desperately clubbing away at Jumbo to save Misawa and his final exchange with Taue where he managed a few hot nearfalls before taking the fall. Really fun match with lots of fire throughout. 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/30/90)

This had moments of future greatness for sure but both boys are still very green at this point, especially Kawada, and this match has its fair share of slog and slop, with really long control segments from Kobashi, working over Kawada's leg, but not enough on Kawada's part to convey the extent of all that legwork. But onto the cool stuff, like Kawada whiffing on the plancha, Kobashi kicking him over the guardrail, some rando kid patting Kawada's ass as he stands before he gets taken out with a big swandive from Kobashi. They engage in a pretty great pissy exchange in the corner that ends with Kawada forearming a grounded Kobashi in the face. Kawada's a real grunt on top, implementing the stomps to the head while applying the sasorigatame, but once Kobashi counters a spinkick with a cloverleaf hold, it's snoozeville. Kawada doesn't do much else in the match, aside from a springboard somersault plancha that mostly takes out the guardrail, and the finish is an absolute mess. But hey, we all gotta start somewhere, am I right?

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Toshiaki Kawada (NJPW, 11/3/04)

This is Shibata's second-to-last match in New Japan before his exodus and it's against the Triple Crown Champion, Toshiaki Kawada! It isn’t much but what we get is Shibata trying to get in as much offense against Kawada as he can, riffing some of Kawada’s own signatures, before Kawada snaps and goes apeshit on him, chopping him in the throat and backdropping him on his head! Surprisingly, Shibata is able to wear Kawada down with the sleeper for a big PK for two but that’s as close to victory as Shibata is able to taste. The finish is something else as he and Kawada go at it until Kawada rocks him silly with shots, including a KO punch, which Shibata mistakenly sits up from so Kawada kicks him in the head and drops the knee for the three count. Kawada's selling made this thing all the more enjoyable. A sub-10 minute match with a great back half. 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroshi Hase (AJPW, 5/2/99)

Dipping into the archives with this one. I like both of these guys a whole lot but this wasn’t great. This was Kawada’s first match back from injury and while there was some decent drama surrounding the forearm, especially after Kawada hits the lariat, I felt like they could have milked it a bit more here. Lots of early fire right out of the gate and some great selling from Kawada after Hase plants him with the uranage but then they slow things down…a  lot. The ground game wasn’t all that compelling and when Hase switches his focus to Kawada’s leg, Kawada more or less no sells it to land a bunch of kicks. I loved Kawada trying to slap his way out of the giant swing and the sheer-drop brainbuster finish was molten hot but otherwise, a disappointing match-up considering the two guys involved.