WRESTLING ROUNDTABLE #1

All Japan 9/6/03 PPV

TL: Tim Livingston

MC: Mike Campbell

TL: Welcome fellow readers of both Mike and myself as we take the roundtable thing and go over the most successful PPV of the year for All Japan Pro Wrestling. With out a doubt, the saddest story in all of wrestling over the last few years is how far AJPW has fallen since the split in June of 2000 when Misawa took everybody not named Toshiaki Kawada and Masa Fuchi with him to form NOAH. For all the people who thought what’s happened to WWE lately is a bad thing, think about this in retrospect: Everybody picks up and mutinies WWE except for Benoit and Rey Mysterio. Mysterio really isn’t Fuchi and vice versa, but that’s how bad it would be. And then, add on that an incoming star from another company (In AJPW’s case, Keiji Mutoh), comes in and buys the shares of the company, makes himself the champ, and then goes on to lead the direction of a company more towards the entertainment side of things instead of wrestling. And then, in that time, have your top guy, Kawada, go down to an injury, taking him out for over a year, as your top draw is automatically gone, causing attendance gates to PLUMMET, and that’s what you have right now. Basically since the split, All Japan has been fucked over more times than I can count individually.

MC: Well if I had to choose between Mysterio and Fuchi, I'd take Mysterio. Fuchi only has about 30 years on him. The split really put AJPW in the shitter, hell Baba's vision went downhill from the start since his widow brought back Tenryu. The most amazing thing to me was that with all his loyalty, Kawada still found himself getting the shaft, Misawa may as well have been booking AJPW with how Kawada was pushed. Kawada goes down with his injury and Mutoh resorts to booking KRONICK and GOLDBERG to fill seats. Kawada's old partner Mitsuya Nagai gets the hell out of dodge and goes to New Japan. Mutoh is forced to work with Zero-One and then puts the Triple Crown on Hashimoto. Kawada comes back and the big Hashimoto vs Kawada match is teased and built up, then cancelled because of all of Hashimoto's injuries. Titles are vacant and attendence is down. Welcome to AJPW circa 2003. It aint 1993 no more.

TL: Yeah, those gaijin moves were two of the worst moves I think any owner could make unless your name is Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins. I’m not even gonna TALK about the Wrestle-1 bullshit. Kawada beat Mutoh in July (HEY HEY! Mikey’s gonna review that one soon enough...) and was ready to take down Hash, but Asskicking Elvis was in a lot of trouble with his injuries. Since Mutoh lost and Hash relinquished the belt, a four man tourney was announced with three All Japan participants (Kawada, The Gladiator (Mike Awesome), and Satoshi Kojima) and Shinjiro Ohtani from Zero-One in the tournament. Mutoh wasn’t involved since he and Arashi faced Gigantes (The Wall of WCW fame) and TAKA~! in their defense of the Double Tag Titles. So with a big time main event possibility, this was All Japan’s most important event in some time.

MC: One of Mutoh's few good moves here, was trying to push other guys like Arashi (say what you will about him, but I appreciate the effort), and Arashi's old partner Araya was paired with Kawada, until he left for a few months. The PPV itself was sold on the idea that Dangerous K would get what was rightfully his for the last year and a half, the Triple Crown. Also Kendo Ka Shin jumps to AJPW and gets the Jr Title almost instantly and he's got an Iron grip on it (picture HHH with the RAW title), The All Asia tag belts are vacated and are won by two of those bastards out of Zero-One.

TL: Man, comparing Kendo to HHH is like saying HHH had good matches or something...but yeah, Kendo has held that belt for 18 months. It’s more of an RVD ECW TV Title reign. The All-Asian belts are being held by the Zero-One fellas and I’m not sure if AJ is gonna go get them soon. This can be a muy bueno PPV is everybody comes to work.

MC: This PPV is about AJPW getting back what's theirs. Get those tag belts off those Zero One guys, get a new Jr champion (and Ka Shin hasn't had a good match unless his opponent was named Minoru Tanaka or Koji Kanemoto), and get Dangerous K his damn Triple Crown. ON WITH THE SHOW!

Masanobu Fuchi/Masayuki Kono/Taichi Ishikari vs. Kaz Hayashi/Ryuji Hijikata/Hi69

MC: Although AJPW may be very different from the company that Tim and I were used to, it's still got the same basic problem. The junior division is still horrible. They are all just thrown in these random six man tags. First off you have Hayashi's team aka "The team we can tell everyone apart on". These guys all have either some personality or looks that tend to stay with you. On the other hand Fuchi's team is "Team bland". Fuchi you can immideatly point out because the man is old and out of shape, but then his partners are just generic guy in black and generic guy in light blue.

TL: All I know is that Masa Fuchi is still around, still surly, still ready to whoop some ass as the young age of FIFTY, and anytime he does that, I’m all in. All I know is that Kono and Ishikari are VERY VERY BASIC and they are so vanilla I remember NOTHING. Hi69 would work well on the US Indy scene because he’s flashy and misses his big highspot. He gets kicked hard by Fuchi and I like it. Hijikata tagged with Kawada and I’m hoping he picked something up from him but I’m sadly disappointed, as all he pretty much does throughout this is no-sell nearly everything. Kaz Hayashi is still Kaz Hayashi, and while he might not be doing his “I..AM...BENOIT~!” shtick anymore, he’s still very solid. By the way, which one is Kono and which one is Ishikari?

MC: Hell if I know.

TL: Fair enough.

MC: The only bright spot in this whole match for me was Hayashi's brief return to his Benoit phase, by breaking out the old snot blowing routine. 1/2*

TL: I liked the snot-blowing, the double fisherman buster, and then Hi69's HUGELY BLOWN Infra-red, just because it looked cool. Fuchi backdropping everybody not in pinstripes was good, too. Then you had the rest. 3/4*

Kazushi Miyamoto/Tomohiko Hashimoto/Shoichi Ichimiya vs. The Funkster/Extreme Blade/Gran Hamada

MC: Next up is Kazushi Miyamoto & Tomohiko Hashimoto & Shoichi Ichimiya vs Gran Hamada & Extreme Blade & Funkster. From the bland and pointless to the comedic and pointless. Extreme Blade is Elix Skipper, in a mask doing his best Scorpio impression. Ichimiya and Funkster are the dueling Hulk Hogan impersinators, Miyamoto is 1/2 of Turmeric Storm and rules all, so he's being wasted here. Hashimoto is from DDT, but at least he aint a tree, and Hamada is a legend and is also wasted here.

TL: HEY HEY! GRAN HAMADA! I SWORE he was in the retirement home!

MC: Hamada and Fuchi ought to form some sort of Elder Statesman team, Hamada still rules it even into his 50's. When Blade isn't dancing around he's pulling off some cool stuff. Funk takes a beating and "Funks Up."

TL: Funk was so underutilized in WCW it’s not even funny. Hell, he throws a GREAT Axe Bomber on this that was on a Garrison Cade like level in it’s goodness. Seriously, Omori WISHES he threw an Axe Bomber that good. Nice tilt-a-whirl facebuster, as well. Hashimoto lives up to his last name: porky bushy haired fellow who kicks hard. If there’s relation, it shows. That man NEEDS HIS SIDEBURNS. Skipper tries to be TOO showy with a lot of his stuff. Miyamoto I’ve never seen but if what I’ve heard from Turmeric Storm is any good, I’ll get more of him. He has a really cool look, and does the HHH pose better than HHH. BEST PART OF THE MATCH! Ichimiya, porker of the year, goes KEIJI MUTOH ON FUNKSTER’S ASS with the handspring elbow, bulldog, power drive elbow, and then a SHINING WIZARD that’s actually GOOD! For a comedy match, that was nearly on Damien’s level with the Mutoh mockingness. Hamada still has the best headbutts and Tornado DDT this side of Los Guererros. The Double German was pretty dang cool.

MC: The Japanese do have a strange sense of humor. NOAH likes to send out guys in their 60's and 70's to try to wrestle, while AJPW just dressed them up like WWE wrestlers. Comedy or not, at least this had something in it to make it stand out. **

TL: OK. I like Miyamoto. He has the SWEET German and a nice Swanton Bomb. I'll get more of him. FINITO! *1/2

Shawn Hernandez vs. Tomoaki Honma

TL: Shawn Hernandez vs. the other half of Turmeric Storm in Tomoaki Honma. Honma is so my hero for coming out to Smooth Criminal. I didn't like how he came out to AAF's version though. No Michael. No peace. Know Michael. Know peace. Hernandez is part of that stable of gaijin and TAKA~! who dress up as WWE wrestlers and he portrays Kurt Angle. Herenandez has some cool moves. Vince should snatch him up as that third Angle child that nobody talks about. You know the one, Mike...

MC: Hernandez is better known as "Hotstuff Hernandez" in Ring of Honor and he is pretty choice, sadly he spends this match doing his best Kurt Angle impression, right down to the strap drops. Honma is from BJPW and as a result, gets little to no respect out of me until he earns it. Honma also bumps a lot, (well as much as he can for a match that only goes about five minutes) and thus earns some of my respect. Honma amazingly kicks out of the Angle Slam, but falls victim to the "Olympic Drop".

TL: Hernandez has some REALLY nice power moves, including a choke overhead suplex, a nice spiral bomb after catching a slam, and a SWEET lariat that Honma bumps HUGE for. Honma does some nice stuff, too, as his running Sunset Bomb was choice and threw some good elbows. Hernandez looking for a rana was cool, as was his blind leapfrog spot. I remember seeing him in ROH and not liking him TOO much, and then I see this and I'm quite impressed, just because Honma bumped like a deathmatch freak SHOULD bump. Looking at the last two matches, I need me some Turmeric Storm already. I totally dig the Honma Clutch.

MC: Who could forget Hernandez' entrance theme? It's the hip hop remix of "I Don't Suck"

TL: Hernandez needs to come out to Cypress Hill. Period. Or Los Marijuaneros. This wasn't TOO bad. *3/4

MC: On the short side, which I found disapointing because I was getting into Honma quite a bit. **

The Gladiator vs. Toshiaki Kawada (Triple Crown Tournament Semi Final)

MC: Kawada is damn near drowned by all the yellow streamers. Awesome uses his power to push Kawada around, and Kawada is all "My knee is sore, don't toy with me". Awesome doesn't stop and Kawada introduces Awesome's face to his foot.

TL: Awesome seems to have a bit of a gut or has lost some muscle mass or something. Kawada has HAIR ON TOP and I'm shocked and appalled. No idea why his knee hurts. Here's your match for ya: Awesome flips Kawada off, Kawada kicks him in the face. Awesome comes back, Kawada kicks him in the face. Awesome gets an opening, hits the Awesome Bomb, but then Kawada comes back, kicks him in the face, gamengiri, and then the AJPW CAMERA CREW GOES AAA ON ME when they TOTALLY miss Kawada punting Awesome's face somewhere towards Kyoto. Chris Tucker needed to jump in that ring, stand over Awesome, and say, "You just got knocked the FUCK out!" Fucks yeah, I liked that ending.

MC: The big storyline for most of the summer was Kawada's knee, he'd sell it constantly to the point of Masa Fuchi almost throwing in the towel during Mutoh vs Kawada.

TL: See, THAT is why I have you here, Mike.

MC: Accidental or not, it acutally added some psychology to the tournament. We now know that Kawada is PISSED! In over 20 years with this company, he has NEVER got a decent Triple Crown run, now it's his turn. Mutoh loves to bring in Americans, so Kawada leaves one laying as a nice "fuck you" to Mutoh. The future isn't now, the future is later. KAWADA is now.

MC: I was actually a little paranoid about Awesome legit fucking up Kawada and keeping the curse going. I guess Kawada was too, and he didn't take no chances. The match itself can't warrent anything above * because of it's length and non-planned ending. But it's one hell of a mark out moment.

TL: I don’t even wanna rate this. But I will say this is quite the good ending. Yeah, Kawada is a BAD...ASS. Poor Awesome. No dumb moves. No stiffness. Know dumb moves. Know stiffness.

Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (Triple Crown Tournament Semi Final)

TL: This is my match of the night and even after I figured out what happened with Kawada’s knee prior to this match, I still think this is better just because they brought out a lot of great looking stuff in this match and the psychology was VERY good. I love how Kojima just pisses all over the Fire Festival Sword, painting it orange just to say, “HEY! FUCK YOU, Zero-One!” He doesn’t beat out Tenzan in the half-mask department, though. Ohtani is still YOUR Bitchmaster, supreme dick, and overall kick-ass beefed up junior who’s being sent by Hash to bring the belts back to Zero-One.

MC: We may be in All Japan, but Ohtani is the sympathetic one here. Kojima won the Fire Festival and now he's walking around with that sword that Ohtani proudly held for two years. Kojima even whips it out just to show Ohtani "it's mine now". Ohtani has his chance for revenge though. Kojima can keep that little sword because Ohtani wants to walk out with three title belts.Kojima does his big lariat all of two seconds into the match and Ohtani is stunned. Kojima lays a fairly decent sized ass whooping on the final holder of the J*Crown. Kojima pulls out a SICK Koji Cutter off the apron and Ohtani sells it like a pile driver in Memphis. If you don't understand the analogy then shame on you.

TL: If Kojima’s name was Stan Hansen, the match would be over after the Western Lariat two seconds in. And Ohtani comes back with the SWAAAAAAANK backdrop. See, Ohtani knows his All Japan shiznit. It’s funny that you mention the Koji Cutter, because I think Ohtani sells the lariat off the apron even BETTER. I mean, he fuckin’ pulled a Gladiator knock-out sell job after that and I was absolutely LOVING it. I also liked how they blocked the high flying moves. Ohtani breaks up the elbow with a dropkick, and Kojima blocks the prevents the springboard dropkick with his own dropkick. See, it’s the little things. Ohtani breaking up the chinlock with the biting is top drawer, and Kojima countering it into the German is even better. And then you have the dueling BOOOOOOOOT SCRAAAAAAAAPES. Yeah, this was very cool.

MC: Great Stan Hansen analogy there, Tim, because after Kojima goes for the cover after another Koji Cutter he's obsessed with hitting that lariat and it allows Ohtani the chance to drop Kojima with two release Dragon suplexes. Ohtani swanks it up with a Spiral bomb and King Cobra hold, but Kojima escapes. Kojima hasn't learned and STILL wants that damn lariat and Ohtani ducks and hits a Dragon suplex with bridge for the pin. Hey Kojima, keep the sword buddy. I'll send you a postcard from the main event.

TL: Mike, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Kojima fucking going CHIN FIRST into the guardrail after the tope suicida. I though the suicida part meant MISSING IT, NOT HITTING IT. CHRIST, that was absolutely awesome. Working the match around the lariat is awesome because that’s how Kojima beat Ohtani in the Fire Festival, and Kojima figured that hitting the lariat meant that it was gonna be a victory, no matter what. Kojima’s selfishness is also shown here, as he doesn’t allow Ohtani to get counted out because he wants to beat him in the ring. And you CAN’T DO THAT WITH THE BITCHMASTER! (© Justin Baisden, all rights reserved) Ohtani had learned from his previous match and it showed, as he hit the move that had won him so many matches, the Dragon Suplex, and that led to a victory. Just a great match, and I loved the hell out of it. ***3/4

MC: Simple enough story I've seen many times before, concentrates on hitting one move that usually wins and you get outsmarted and beat. Kind of surreal that Ohtani's two big finishers that he uses as a heavyweight didn't get it done. The Dragon suplex was his finisher from his junior days. It's called psychology and it's a beautiful thing. ***3/4

Kohei Sato/Hirotoka Yokoi © vs. Shigeo Okumura/Nobukazu Hirai (All Asia Tag Titles)

TL: Only person I know coming into this match is Sato, because I remember the finals of the Fire Festival in the OH-ONE, BAY-BEE where he got his ass handed to him by Ohtani. Yokoi is a shooter and Okumura and Hirai are supposed to bring the titles home? And people are wondering why the NWA/WCW regime got rid of the U.S. Tag Team Titles.

MC: Well to fill you in, Okumura and Hirai don't look like they've got much of a chance coming in. The results of the All Asia Tag Title League (where those two Zero One bastards one the belts in the first place) shows Okumura and Hirai coming in dead last. They can barely get along with each other and they have a little spat about the entrance. Of course the All Asia Tag Titles are the oldest tag title in Japan, while the U.S Tag Titles lasted for six years. Okumura and Hirai were both brought in to AJPW from the indies after the split. Hirai's father was a promoter (who just passed away recently) and Okumura wasn't really anyone of note.

TL: True, but did All-Asia ever have Doink the Clown and Faarooq as one of their teams who held the prestigious belts?

MC: No, they had the Blackhearts. Joel Deaton and David Heath (Gangrel) under masks.

TL: I see...ANYWAYS! The MATCH. Boy I like Sato kicking some people around. Okumura throws a lotta sweet moves. Good German. Good Diving elbow. Yeah, Yokoi is truly not pro-style at all. Punch, punch, punch, mount, punch...if I wanted this I’d watch a Ken Shamrock match. At least he can rana and throw a suplex...

MC: Yokoi can probably defend himself well against a juji-gatame or a triangle choke, but Hirai and Okumura aren't gonna fight like that. Hirai brings the pain with the lariat Kojima wishes he could have hit, and Okumura goes crazy with a brain buster. Yokoi may as well be wearing cement shoes in the ocean for all he can do about it. Sato has to keep saving him or they're going home without the gold.

TL: MAN do I love Hirai powerbombing Mr. Shooter on his fuckin head like he’s Brock Lesnar or something. Okumura with a very Bam Bam Bigelow-ish brainbuster and I’m wondering if ONE of these guys trained with Kojima because I see a lot of Kojima in both of them.

MC: Yokoi may not be the greatest pro wrestler, but he's a smart man because he can turn their weakness into a strength. Yokoi catches Okumura with a choke sleeper while Sato keeps Harai busy on the floor. Yokoi stands up Okumura and knocks him out with a punch and the belts stay with ROWDY. Simple strategy by the champions. Sato brings the technique, Yokoi brings the brains. It was almost like a chess match, Yokoi waited until it looked like he was about done and then grabbed Okumura and said "Checkmate".

TL: I didn’t see too much in this match, but the psychology of the non-wrestling half of the team being able to get one for his team is cool because it means that both men are equally dangerous. I like Okumura, but Hirai just seems a bit generic outside of a lariat. **

MC: MC: Repeat viewings actually improved this for me, once I finally grasped the pyschology of it I could understand it fine. Wasn't really that great, but we're not exactly dealing with the top guys here so I didn't expect anything blow away. **.

Kendo Ka Shin © vs. The Great Sasuke (AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title)

MC: The PWF Jr. Title is on the line and Kendo "longer title reign than HHH, and I didn't even put over my buddy for a few weeks" Ka Shin defends again Great Sasuke. This about as low as it can go for a legend like Sasuke. 1994: Wrestled in the Super J-Cup Finals, 1996: Unified 8 Titles into the J*Crown, 2003: Wrestled Kendo Ka Shin.

TL: HEY! Ka Shin sucks the donkey schlong and you KNOW Sasuke did it because Michinoku Pro was on a down time and he needed somethign to do, so Mutoh is like, “HEY! YOU! Get on over here and job to Kendo!” Thank GOD Sasuke is there to at least try and make Kendo wrestle...

MC: This match is proof that Lance Storm was right all those years ago about Sasuke. He really is the shits as a singles worker for the most part. Sure he had those classics with Lyger, Dragon, and Benoit. But who in their right mind would dream that guys like Lyger, Benoit, and Ultimo Dragon would put on classic matches?

TL: *raises hand* I truly don’t like KaShin at all. He never tries to branch out or do anything outside of his usual “be flashy, be a cheap heat rudo, use the juji-gatame, go home” routine. Just...bleh.

MC: Well Tim, this match sure isn't any different. It's about twelve minutes of them doing nothing of note. Sasuke pulls out a few of his famous spots and even takes out Ka Shin's ring boy with a Quebrada. Ka Shin kicks Sasuke low, hooks on a choke and then sends him home with the Juji-gatame. How about that? I just summed up a twelve minute match in about five sentences.

TL: But you forgot the ode to ECW brawl in the aisleway!!! *

MC: I suppose you could say that Ka Shin is a smarter wrestler for forcing Sasuke to work an unfamiliar style, but when the result is a less than thrilling match like that, I'm not generous with compliments. *1/2

Keiji Mutoh/Arashi © vs. TAKA Michinoku/Gigantes (AJPW World Tag Team Titles)

TL: This is for the tag belts featuring Keiji Mutoh and PLUMPY~! Arashi and they're facing TAKA~! Michinoku and Gigantes, who is WCW/WWE/NWA: TNA/most fans reject, the Wall. The funniest thing I've seen tonight outside of the Hogan impersonations is Gigantes trying to be Justin Bradshaw trying to be Barry Windham trying to be Stan Hansen. I mean, COME ON NOW! If I see a lot of TAKA and not so much of Gigantes, I'll be a happy man. 

MC: Okay, if you thought this match would be any good raise your hand. *sees about fifty hands in the air* All fifty of you are liars. Mutoh is the shits with his various injuries, Arashi is pretty agile for a big guy but he isn't Mr. Workrate. How good a worker do you think The Wall is? The smallest guy in this match TAKA Michinoku, somehow manages to carry all three of these guys to something decent.

TL: I can’t say too much about Arashi because this is my first time seeing him, but if Mutoh brings the work boots and TAKA brings his “I’ll carry anyone, anytime, anywhere” boots, I’m liking this. So far, as I watch this match a second time, I’m interested in seeing if the champs underestimate TAKA. I mean, he’s world class, but he’s down 50 lbs. to Mutoh and at LEAST 75 to Arashi, so will size matter in this match? At least Gigantes made himself useful and took the Psicosis bump to the post. Which leads to TAKA hitting the BOSSSSSSSSSS Spaceman Plancha. This is SWEET.

MC: Many people are pissed that Mutoh is giving Arashi such a push, I just apprecite him having the effort to push somebody new.

MC: This is so good TAKA bumps like a psychotic to make the other three look good. TAKA even makes his partner look good, because while TAKA is bumping like hell for the World Tag Champions, Gigantes makes the save and dishes out the punishment. It's brilliant, TAKA can't hurt them unless he's kicking their heads off, or flying on top of them from high distances. but Gigantes brings the pain and even though it's not a whole lot he's dishing out. The champions are so worn down that TAKA can put the hurt on.

TL: But see, the champs also know that isolating TAKA is a good idea. And that is why they whoop his ass for the better half of the match. And I loved how Mutoh expanded his horizons, using the STF and the Nagata Lock II/Crippler Crossface in his ode to NJPW period in that match. Also, GIGANTES? WITH A CAPTURE SUPLEX? Match of the Year. Right now. Mutoh is all dropkickin’ and figure-fourin’ and all that good stuff. Gigantes bumps HUGE on the Super Rana. You also get TAKA kicking Mutoh in midair to stop the Shining Wizard, and then he goes to HIS knees. That’s sweet. You also get to see Mutoh’s boss kneepad that says, “Wizard is Coming.”

MC: TAKA in addition to being the smallest guy, is also obviously the smartest since he actually intercepts the Wizard (It really took over two years for somene to come up with that idea?). Arashi gets in and allows TAKA to take him down with a rana rollup, but then Arashi power bombs TAKA into oblivion and then squashes him with a splash. Mutoh takes care of Gigantes on the floor and the champions finish off TAKA with their new finisher. SHINING IMPACT~!

TL: Shining Impact is a Doomsday Device, except sub in the Shining Wizard instead of the lariat. Now THAT is a credible finish, instead of somebody taking three of the regular versions to wnd a match. TAKA sold like a KING in this match. Gigantes actually did some wrestling, so he did more than what I thought he would do in this match. But big man, PLEASE actually try to be fluid with your finisher. Arashi is fat and fun and Mutoh brought the working boots. TAKA TALKS TRASH AFTER THE MATCH! Biggest surprise out of the year for me, so far. ***1/4

MC: This was better than it ever had any right to be with TAKA bumping for three to make them all look good. Mutoh and Arashi may not be much in singles but they morph into a very fun tag team. ***

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinjiro Ohtani (Triple Crown Tournament Finals)

MC: Time for the one we've been waiting for. Kawada's been without his belts for too long and even better that he'll go through that Zero One SOB Ohtani to get them. We all thought Ohtani was an underdog in the semi finals. Now he's out of the frying pan and into hell.

TL: HELL? HELL YOU SAY? Ohtani is the BITCHMASTER. HE WILL WHOOP THAT ASS...oh, he's facing Kawada? Hmmmmmmm...I see your point. Anyways, Ohtani is all flippin' people off and telling people to go down on him and what not so he's fired for this thing. Kawada with the greatest t-shirt ever: It says, "Symbol of All Japan." Gladiator, pissed off that he was knocked out earlier, comes out and destroys Kawada’s knee again. So in case you didn’t know, Kawada’s knee is HURTING right now.

MC:Underdog or not Ohtani is still an dick and he goes right into his act by daring to not sell Kawada's kicks, Ohtani works in his face scrapes and then he dares to try to go kick for kick with Kawada. Kawada wonders two things. 1. What kind of drugs did Ohtani take? 2. Where he can get them?

TL: Ohtani wastes no time exploiting Kawada’s weakness, that knee that has been worked on, and then he gets all nice with the BOOOOOOOOOOT SCRAAAAAAAPES. I’m loving this. SO much.

MC: Kawada fires off a Misawa face breaker and puts Ohtani down. Kawada one ups Ohtani by actually OUT DICKING THE MASTER! Kawada puts on his famous half crab/step on head, and replaces step on head with his own face scrapes. Ohtani sees he's being beaten and he does the only logical thing "screw the face kicks, I'LL KICK HIS BAD KNEE!" Ohtani does all sorts of nasty things like stomping it and draping it over the rope and jumping on it. Ohtani also dares to do Kawada's shinny kicks, Kawada's facial look is priceless and he goes nuts kicking at Ohtani, but Ohtani gets the last laugh. Ohtani purposely frustrated Kawada and Kawada just kicked recklessly to cause pain. This allows Ohtani to go after the knee since Kawada wasn't thinking about protecting it. Ohtani slaps on the figure four to really crank that knee. Lucky for Kawada Masa Fuchi isn't around with the towel or it'd be over.

TL: But see, this is what I didn’t really like. After the first series where Ohtani works over the knee in the corner, Kawada comes out and seriously kicks Ohtani hard with that right leg without any afterthought at all. THAT is what makes me take this match down a little more, because Kawada could have turned this into 12/3/93 all over again, making his selling of the knee the focal point, instead of being this overwhelming force who feels very little pain. I like the figure-four psychology by going back to the move that caused the knee to be really injured in the first place. Ohtani holding on through the five count kicks major ass, too. And then, after all that work on the knee that you just talked about, Kawada no-sells a springboard dropkick, and then goes on to kick some more, even getting a Gamengiri blocked, and then after the double KO, he doesn’t even THINK about grabbing his knee or ANYTHING. This is where I was kinda turned off by this match.

MC: 12/3/93 was also Kawada as the number 2 guy who just wants to get on level with Misawa. By now, he's no doubt the #1 man, and he's in there with a guy who's not even #1 in his own fed. I'm not saying it's good, I'm just saying why.

TL: But this is why I didn’t like the selling at all. His knee should be KILLING him with the amount of damage done to it, but that’s not the case, as he forgets about it and goes back to kicking Ohtani.

MC: Ohtani does the same thing that worked on Kojima, Sprial Bomb, King Cobra Hold, but instead of the Dragon Suplex that won him the match, Ohtani goes for the release. When he tries for the bridge Kawada escapes and hits the backdrop and then puts on the stretch plum. Ohtani refuses to stay down and Kawada demonstrates many nasty ways to use the foot to cause trauma to the head. Ohtani even kicks out of both the Dangerous Brainbuster and the Powerbomb (which won Kawada his 2nd and 3rd Triple Crown).

TL: I liked how the ref looked to Kawada’s corner when the kneebar was in and Kawada was SCREAMING in pain, going back to the Mutoh match. Kawada uses every move in his disposal that has won him the Triple Crown in the past, and when it’s all said and done, he uses the move that knocked out Gladiator, the head kick, to get himself his fifth Triple Crown title. There were some really good stories in this match, but Kawada’s refusal to sell the leg unless Ohtani was working the hell out of it really irritated me and it’s sad that I can’t find some way to REALLY love this match, as these two are two of my favorites. Good match, yes, but this could have been a WHOLE lot more. ***1/4

MC: What beat Kojima won't beat Kawada. What beat a big guy like Gladiator WILL beat a smaller guy like Ohtani. Some nice psychology in here, and the match was damn fince. Expectations were simply too high for this to not come off as disapointing. ***3/4

Final Thoughts:

MC: The stuff you'd expect to deliver did just that, like the two Ohtani matches. A nice surprise in the World Tag Titles match and a better than expected All Asia Tag Titles match. Not too much else to write home about though. Kawada vs Awesome is good if you're the mark out type. I'll mildly recommend this PPV. 60/40 isn't too bad.

TL: In a perfect world, a Kawada/Ohtani match would be a viable candidate for Match of the Year status, but surprisingly, it wasn’t that Ohtani wasn’t up for the challenge, but that Kawada seemed to go back to Feb of 2002, when he totally forgot the knee and decided to go bomb for bomb with Mutoh. This, overall, is a good PPV, but when I expect Kawada, who is the symbol of the company, to put on a good match when his company most needs it, and I get a performance that could have been a lot better, it leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. Hopefully, the Kawada of old, who sold his injuries like he was telling a more beautiful story than those written even by the great William Shakespeare, will return in all his glory one of these days.