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This is a two birds with one stone post. I wanted to get a little more Zero One in this year as well as get back to early 2000s NOAH. I was going through my 2001 list and realized I had a mini project with Zero One vs NOAH in 2001. There's some better known stuff and a couple I'd never heard of. Let's jump in! Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka (January 13th, 2001) : A good match that goes a long way on the Misawa vs Hashimoto interactions. Very exciting and extremely well worked despite not being memorable from an action standpoint. This is a big one but I think would've been better with someone other than Otsuka. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa - ZERO1 - 03/02/2001 : Great match! This is one I wanted to see for a long time as it was highly recommended on Quebrada (which was my gateway to serious puro fandom). It didn't really disappoint either. Now I wouldn't call it a classic in 2022 but 21 years ago, I could certainly buy that rating. Marufuji is spot on here and Hoshikawa is someone who looked ready to break out in the new millennium. He's like a beefier KENTA. This is kinda the template for their NOAH classics. I'd really recommend watching this match. It just has this really neat early 2000's transitional vibe to it. Like you could see where 2000's wrestling was headed but it was grounded by 90's sensibilities. From a personal perspective, I was only 5-6 years removed from this match when I found out about it. It's taken me 15 years to see it. Ha! A weird existential/where-has-the-time-gone feeling came over me when thinking about that. Like using wrestling as a way to measure the passage of time. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa - ZERO1 - 09/15/2001: This was off the hook! Fantastic junior action from bell-to-bell. The mix of styles is what I think did if for me. Zero One is power & kicks vs NOAH's speed and technique. It made for some great interactions and unexpected moments. And thy showed restraint by not emptying their tanks. They are building up the program and there's not much more you can do than this. It got over exactly as it needed too. I'm calling this a lost near classic junior tag match. It was a blast! Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura - ZERO1 - 09/15/2001: Where did this come from? Holy cow this is a interesting matchup. It's clever and exciting. Its much more like a 1986-87 NJPW heavyweight strong style tag. It's been awhile since I watched this type of stuff and this was appreciated. Yeah buddy, go check this shit out. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinjiro Otani & Takao Omori (October 12, 2001) Back in the green ring of Noah. This is neat as Omori is here as a cast off from the early days of Noah but there's that great AJPW history that ties him to Ogawa & Misawa. Then you've got Otani who has no love for Ogawa or Misawa whether you want to draw upon his NJ history or as one of the top stars of the fledgling Zero One. It's a simple match but a great one. I think what elevates it is that the little touches are done right. And perhaps it's because it is 2001 and we're not that far away from when wrestling (as in holds, storytelling over moves etc.) mattered. Compare this to nowadays or 2011 AJ which I was just watching, and working a few holds in between moves, escalating the action and selling rather than acting as a tough guy seems so very old fashioned. But dammit, those things work! And this isn't a text book example of those things but they're in the match and this small venue/B show main event was exciting and got me engaged. And rather than beat the scrap out of each other, go move crazy or whatever, they did a simple yet dramatic tag battle with good heel/face work, well timed counters & spots, and some believable near falls (rare as a unicorn nowadays). ----- Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (10/19/01) - Very good to great Jr. Heavyweight title fight. Lots of bombs thrown and no way will you not dig this match. Nice counter moves and surprises... just a lot of fun and believable near falls. Naomichi Marufuji & KENTA vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (11/30/01) - A prelude to the Marufuji/Takaiwa encounter. Its 13 minutes of really good junior tag action. KENTA hasn't quite found his identity yet and its the earliest I've seen him. The potential is visible already. The Zero-One team is a great combo and Hoshikawa impressed again. As a lead in to the match below, there's no reason not to see this. Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Naomichi Marufuji (12/09/01): This is a classic junior match because of all of bananas shit that takes place. It definitely belongs in the list of awesome Junior matches of early NOAH and perhaps it's the first one. But not only is it shocking (in a good way) but its clever at times as well. Takaiwa attacks the leg quite viciously and Marufuji's real only offense is his side kick (super kick) and taking flying leaps of the top rope. And his only defense is trying to counter Takaiwa with a pinning combination or endure the onslaught and maybe get lucky. I will say with a bit more structure this could have been a high end classic and be scratching at an all time classic (****3/4-*****) however it's just sneaking in at ****1/2. I try to avoid stars anymore because I'm splitting hairs with fractions so yeah low-end classic but a classic nonetheless In summary, this was extremely fun to watch. There's variety in styles and match-ups. The intensity was there. The action was exciting and surprising at times. It was exactly what I wanted. Everything here is easy to find online. If nothing else, pick 2-3 matches to watch. If you haven't seen Misawa in awhile, go with those. You want guys kicking people, Hashimoto and Hoshikawa got you covered. It is hard to go wrong with anything here. Be kind and patient with people this holiday season. A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Thanks for reading!

Thanks GOTNW. This was phenomenal and one of the best pure skill vs. pure rage matches I've ever seen. Fujinami wants to open this MUGA style, but Hash blitzes him with a DDT and follows up with a huge barrage of kicks, setting the tone for the rest of the match: Hashimoto demolishing the old man, and wily Fujinami trying to catch the beast. No one kicks a man when he's down like Hashimoto, and he lays an all time epic beating on Fujinami including one of the most gorgeous high kicks I've ever seen. Fujinami is great withstanding the beating, selling his leg and making comebacks, and the psychology is top notch: In isolation, Hashimoto's leg sweep is a cool enough spot, but integrated into the match like this as a "fuck you" to Fujinami's leg screws and Figure 4s it becomes something entirely different. It all builds to some of the best submission nearfalls (and breakups) I've seen, Fujinami teasing the Dragon Suplex, a glassy eyed Hashimoto refusing to go down, a big "Dragon" chant breaking out etc. Great match.

This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck!

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I'm sure I dug this more than most people will. I thought this was a masterful performance from Hashimoto. Him chopping the bigger Goodridge down with leg kicks, his selling of Goodridge's somewhat held back punches, his selling/facial expressions during Goodridge's rolling kneebar and him finally getting frustrated with Goodridge's clean breaks and blasting him with a headbutt and then landing the grounded headbutts, etc. was pretty awesome. I thought Goodridge did pretty good for having such limited experience in pro-wrestling. Him getting the full mount was pretty neat and got a pretty neat pop from the crowd.

Welcome to Shinya Hashimoto's ZERO1, where 2 olympic medalists, a japanese megastar and a US nobody with a supersoldier gimmick get together to work Memphis meets Shootstyle with a sports entertainment twist. Ghaffari was pretty grotesque but was a really good monster/immovable object here, no lying. The fact his nasty gut squish attack lead to a credible nearfall aswell as him acting invincible like an olympic level greco roman wrestler should added a ton to the match. Hashimoto struggling to do anything and Ogawa finally taking him off his feet all felt like like big moments. Howard looked really good too at this point as he hit all his stuff perfectly, including braining Hashimoto with a world class superkick. Unfortunately the 2nd half kind of breaks down with lots of ref bullshit happening, altough there is still fun to be had with guys getting bowled around and Ghaffari almost killing Ogawa with one of the most devastating splashes ever caught on film. Should add Ogawa looked great here too heating up the fans and selling very well. Borderline listworthy, must watch if you want to check out something unique.

VAST ENERGY. This match was a total freakshow, but had far too many great moments not to love it. After working a lithany of martial artists in the 90s and being the king of the Tokyo Dome, Hashimoto has retired to his own remote island to live out his vision of what pro wrestling is supposed to be – some weird combination of Memphis and RINGS. Broken down 2000s Hashimoto is still a seriously great pro wrestler, and him destroying this freak of nature here was damn impressive. Jones really laid into Hashimoto who sold the beating huge. This also included Jones working an iron claw that Hashimoto sold like his skull was about to get crushed, Hashimoto and Jones working 70s Mighty Inoue/Andre spots, bearhug etc. Jones was a mixture of wooden and awkward and impressively athletic, he had this huge elbow drop, flies over the top rope, impressive leaping clothesline etc. And Hashimoto really lays into him too, hitting every part of the body with a thud, trying to find the weak spot. Hash chopping the shoulder while Jones was trying to hit lariats was pretty awesome, other great moments include: Jones powering out of Hashimotos armhold attempts, Hashimoto chopping away at the throat as well as his body shot combo, Hashimoto coming up with a bloody lip, a borderline exhausted Hashimoto locking in a basic leglock that ends up inescapable for Jones etc.

Forget your initial feelings when you see this match up and believe me when I say: this was some wonderous pro wrestling. Lots of bullshit, but it was great bullshit. The Ogawa/Predator sections are really efficient in a "irresistable force vs. Immovable object“ way. Tom Howard looked great working his voodoo combat MMA stuff as he and Hashimotogo full Memphis meets Volk Han exhibition style. Some ref bullshit and a Gerard Gordeau run in do happen but that doesn't matter. You will be glad you watched this. Or maybe not.

I remember hearing about this match, I think I read an old article from SSS Stuart which depicted it as a disaster and shit on the booking and the Inokiism in it. Luckily I'm way too into absurdism to care about who wins in pro wrestling (especially in a fifteen year old match) and the way it was described really made me want to see it. Honestly this might be the best Hashimoto-Kensuke Sasaki match. I'm not sure how many matches they've had against each other but of the top off my head I can think of a Hash IWGP Title defence vs. Power Warrior, one in the Dome and a G1 match and I would have this one above all of them. It's billed as a "no rules deathmatch", that doesn't mean you're going to get garbage spots and heavily gimmicked stuff, just more punches to the face and also a very clever submission spot built around the stipulation. Hashimoto comes out wearing boxing gloves and man do these two beat on one another, they throw a lot of nasty shots in close range and while clinching before the match evolves into ridiculous bomb throwing. I could see the uniqueness of the pacing and (somewhat of) the finish throwing some folks off but I really appreciated them. It's esentially a proto-Futen match. ****

Back with more of Muto era AJPW! This time I'm going over 2005-2010. Well I'm actually going to sneak in a '03 & a '04 match that I found as well. This post I thought I'd change it up a bit and focus more on the Junior Heavyweight side of things.. or at least matches that included them. AJPW was never really known for their Junior division so I thought I'd check that out since there was a concerted effort by many companies to feature these guys in the 21st century. Just a guess but NOAH seemed to kick that off a little by having Kanemaru and Marufuji right out of the gate. Kendo Kashin seemed to fill that role early on but Muto probably knew he couldn't build the division on him. Kaz Hayashi will become that guy as you'll see. Anyhow, just wanted to take a different approach to this post. Let's get going! Toshiaki Kawada & Kendo Kashin vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Wataru Sakata (12/05/03): Kendo Kashin seemed to be the face of the AJ Junior division before they started pushing Kaz Hayashi and getting some of the Dragon Gate guys. I'm not going to seek Kashin out on his own but this will suffice. So the big draw is Kawada vs Hashimoto of course and it delivers on that... you know as a teaser for their 2004 singles match. But what you want to see this for is Kawada vs Wataru Sakata. Kawada whiffs on his arm hold back heel kick. He goes over Sakata's head and falls. It works a little as Kawada had been taking stiff ass leg kicks from Hash earlier. But Sakata kinda mocks Kawada for the whiff by throwing his hands up like "ha! that's what you got? it missed." But then starts nailing K with elbows and Kawada hits back (and although Kawada missed he's still in control). Sakata should start selling after like 2-3 pretty stiff elbows. Wataru Sakata decides he's Misawa and not a Zero One junior (although with some shoot background) and wants to go toe to toe. Kawada makes sure not to miss again with Sakata and if he's going to pretend his Misawa, Kawada will hit him like Misawa. It almost goes off the rails and Sakata may have tried to go into business for himself a couple times including near the finish. Kawada ends the match with a very snug looking face lock and then a rear naked choke. Very interesting stuff for sure. Kawada was a professional though and kept it on track, kept the drama on he and Hashimoto. But man he just lays into Sakata. Katsuhiko Nakajima, Genichiro Tenryu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Kaz Hayashi, Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima (10/22/04): Found this one by accident but man I'm glad I did! What a line up! I always felt Kensuke Office was more NOAH oriented but they were pretty much a part of AJPW during this era. This is a real showcase for Kaz as he takes a ton of punishment from his opponents. He even makes the teenage Nakajima look fantastic. Muto and Kojima have tons of history with Tenryu and Sasaki so they are more than game to get at them. Kensuke and Muto never really in any danger whatsoever but are very good in being "Kensuke" and "Muto" which works in this setting. I'm not asking for any depth from them. You could have had just as awesome a match with Tenryu & Nakajima vs Kojima & Hayashi frankly. But I think Muto and Kensuke were a cherry on top. You can find this on your "day-to-day movement" YouTube alternative. I thought it was great! TARU/Shuji Kondo VS Satoshi Kojima/Taiji Ishimori (09/23/05): Good little tag match and a sample of the Voodoo Murders stable. Not my cup of tea but it's OK here. I wanted to give it a chance but this type of heeling is a little too American style for me. The strength in numbers, too many short cuts etc. it's too obvious and heavy handed. I got my share of it during the NWO/Corporation/Ministry era of WCW & WWF but I bet there's some quality stuff. This has some nice moments... very good TNA Impact main event for 2005 Satoshi Kojima / Kaz Hayashi VS Keiji Muto / AKIRA (06/03/05): From highs and now to some lows.This has some good moments but overall it's terribly one sided and boring. The match pretty much neutralizes Hayashi who is your explosive junior and has him in the ring to long getting his leg attacked for Kojima, your explosive heavy to really do anything too awesome. The match has no real arc either. There's a hot tag to get Kojima in and get revenge but after taking a little bit of damage he tags Kaz back in. Now we see that kind of nonsense wrestling to brush it off as "he wants to get payback too soon" but that's pretty much how the match ends up. There's no 3rd act...Muto & AKIRA are never in danger. Kojima never gets another tag to clean house for a hot final third. It's OK but you don't need to see this. Or maybe you do...??? RO&D - TAKA Michinoku/Taiyo Kea/Jamal VS Kensuke Sasaki/Akira Raijin/Katsuhiko Nakajima (12/05/05) :So just found out that Akira Raijin was Kiyoshi back in TNA and is Sushi! That's badass! This was a ton of fun. Everyone was playing their roles to perfection. Not a barn burner but surprisingly very stiff. From Jamal's tears after the match, I think it was his last match in AJPW and RO&D and he was heading to the WWE to become Umaga. This match makes me want to see more Jamal. He's got a really good energy and is booked go toe to toe with the big guys like Kensuke. This was a really fun 18 minutes. I think RO&D might be more my speed the Voodoo Murders should I revisit this time period. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Taiji Ishimori vs. AKIRA & Kaz Hayashi - (01/03/06) : Really fun tag match with just a bunch of non stop action. AKIRA who is sorta the least exciting did a good job bringing his best moves. Nakajima vs Kaz is the highlight or focus of the match. There's one little hiccup during a spot that was more confusing than anything but it can be overlooked especially since this is just meant for fun than a world title defense type thing. Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima (04/07/06): Including this one as I remembered watching a long time ago on a comp I bought. Watched it again now and it is still pretty awesome! I thought it was great (****) at the time but I think that was on stiffness alone. This is stiff as a starched shirt. Kojima isn't known for his chops like Sasaki but he should be and that one lariat!! Holy Shit! Under 10 minute Champion Carnival match...watch it if you can find it. Shuji Kondo vs Kaz Hayashi (08/27/06): This is Kaz Hayashi in top form! He and Kondo had a fireworks show for the ages here. All kinds of crazy moves, reversals and such. Great striking too! Its a great match and one I've wanted to see for years. So psyched that Gaora posted it! Highly recommend this to Jr. wrestling fans Shuji Kondo VS Chris Sabin (07/01/07): Really good match and a blast to see Sabin in AJPW. It's something I wanted to see for awhile also. Of course it's mainly spots but they've picked some good ones. Its a little rough around the edges a couple moments but they do well in either recovering or moving on. I never felt taken out of the action. In all honesty, it's all you can ask for and more considering Sabin was not an AJ regular. At about 15 minutes, this is a blast! MCMG fans need to see this. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Silver King (03/01/08): Fast paced, hard hitting bomb fest! This was a blast and a half to watch! If anything though it's a bit too fast and doesn't necessarily develop but it's like match you'd see on like a TNA or ECW pay per view and be really hyped on the next few days. It's only around 12 minutes if you see what I mean. Search this one out! brother"YASSHI vs Shuji Kondo (02/06/09): History here is both guys are Dragon Gate alumni, kicked out, joined TARU and helped form Voodoo Murders, tag partners and probably way more but now squaring off for the last time. Saw something that he retired in February 09 so perhaps this is his retirement match (temporarily)? It's a wonderful under 10 minute match where they basically beat the crap out of each other. It's a great way to end their story if only for a few years. Kaz Hayashi vs Shuji Kondo (08/30/09): Well that was insane...a classic junior match for sure. I think it went beyond their fantastic 2006 match. I've heard others like the 2006 match more and I can see that. But really you need to see both! An absolute war with all kinds of moves, counters etc. like I expected. They easily could have rehashed their '06 fight but they pushed themselves to the limit. In fact, the reason this is superior is that it was full of surprises with many moves being counter strikes or reversals or things you rarely see from the wrestlers. I really like that kind of thing especially as we get into 2010's- present wrestling. This is out there for you to find. The video quality isn't amazing but it gets the job done & thanks go out to the uploader! Kaz Hayashi VS Keiji Muto (10/24/10): This is for the Junior belt. Kinda reminds me of when Kurt Angle wanted to win every title in TNA. To Muto's credit he looks in great shape and slimmed down from '05 and maybe that's the kayfabe reason? Anyhow we get some of the cool moments from the '05 tag match here in perhaps a call back. In any case this is a great match! Of course Muto does his same 2-3 moves over and over (dragon screw, shining wizard, low drop kicks) but Kaz has them scouted and that's what makes this exciting. Kaz might just have a chance to topple the living legend. Obviously this isn't as crazy a match as Kaz vs Kondo but it was a surprise. Certainly a late stage great match for Muto. If you noticed a few comparisons to TNA throughout, then you'll get a good impression of what AJPW feels like during the Muto era. It really does feel like Japanese TNA. Just from the few matches here, there was talent exchanged (Sabin and Akira Raijin) and I recall seeing the fake Muta for a little while. Afterwards as Wrestle-One I know they worked together as well. So for better and worse, that's probably the best way to describe Muto's AJPW to someone unfamiliar. I have a soft spot for old TNA and I'm forming one for this period of AJ as well. I'll definitely be checking out more. I hope you've enjoyed reading and watching some of the vids. Again, that's awesome that Gaora has been doing this. Hopefully I have helped spread the good word a little. This era of All Japan certainly is worth your time. Thanks for reading! Stay safe!

I'm doing a mixed up March type thing so I'll be getting back to JWP 1991 next week. For this week, I wanted to follow up on another little project Muto's AJPW. This covers 2001-2011. As you may know, I did a look at AJPW in 2011 sometime ago and was really impressed. It's not the Baba era but has its charm and quality wrestling. That along with post Muto AJPW made me question my preconceived notions about the 2000's All Japan. Generally speaking, I think most people skip over it entirely except for a couple matches like Hashimoto vs Kawada in 2004. I guess I'm speaking for myself...until now. So I have a very cherry picked list to see if there's something there that I'm missing. Make no mistake, the majority of the under card matches are crappy looking... heck even upper card matches don't look great either. 2001-2004 which I'm glancing at this post is really asking for cherry picking. The company at this point really looked to be relying on the draws of Kawada, Muto and guys he brought with him like Kojima and Kaz Hayashi as well as Tenryu and the big beefy guys he brought with him (who we won't see any of here). Then of course inter promo stuff with Zero One (essentially Muto working with other NJ defectors Hashimoto & Otani). Other than that the rest of roster were journey men wrestlers from the US & Japan, friends of Muto like AKIRA, and guys past their prime like John Tenta, Mike Rotundo and in some ways Dr. Death Steve Williams. Anyhow, I'm trying to use the Gaora YouTube page as much as I can but not everything I am looking for is on there. I'll share the links for Gaora where I can so you can enjoy as well. Let's go! Toshiaki Kawada vs. Keiji Muto (04/14/2001): This was a great match that built off of Kawada attacking Muto's neck and Muto going after K's knees and arm. They didn't do anything earth-shattering but dammit it worked. This was a keep it simple stupid big match. If you're watching this in comparison to AJPW from a year earlier then I can see being let down. But in 2023, this stands on its own two feet. There's a great story, excellent selling, and explosive, meaningful action. Honestly, I really dug the neck out of this match. It was so easy to watch. A very good beginning! Genichiro Tenryu vs. Keiji Mutoh (06/08/2001) Absolutely great match that played to both guys' strengths and weaknesses. Choice highspots, surprises and competitive spirit - it again was simple but effective heavyweight big match wrestling. I think this may have been better than the Kawada match above due to the familiarity between Tenryu & Muto. Keiji Mutoh vs. Toshiaki Kawada (02/24/2002) What makes this match work as it goes on it Muto's legitimate knee problems. So we've got two guys with leg problems (and are getting older). That said, they are more familiar now and go for a more complex match and it works fantastically. They go for it and it is a classic! It's not as brutally stiff at every turn from Kawada but it shows that he's way more than stiff kicks and chops. Muto does his thing kinda like Flair but like Flair if given an excellent opponent, you get an excellent match. That's been the case so far but here they go that extra mile. Both put on an excellent performance. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (07/17/2002) : This is one that's gotten talk in the past. A battle between youth and age. Fire vs experience. I loved it! I'm A fan of both guys so watching them go toe to toe for a half hour or so was a real treat. The fans were loving this as well. Nowadays or in the last decade you'd see stuff like this but it would be about machismo and/or hulking up but here they really sold the toll the fight was having on them. Again, Tenryu had his leg kicked in and can't bounce back from that. Kojima has been in some tough fights but these big time matches against living legends is how he's going to get him name in the record books. He's got to get chopped, punched, kicked, dropped on his head...and still get up and get angry. With all of that baked in along with WAR style that Tenryu brings and demands of his opponents, this is a classic match to me. Taiyo Kea & Satoshi Kojima vs Masato Tanaka & Shinjiro Otani (12/06/02): RWTL final match I believe. It's a really good match but I'm not too strong on the outcome. I think Kea got hurt legitimately during the early portions and it was almost a 2 on one fight. I don't think they were going for this as the story or as some homage to the 1988 RWTL final. Because the outcome didn't really make 100% sense however I do think the closing portion was extremely badass. I mean Kojima vs Tanaka is worth your time and its only about 20 minutes long as Gaora shows a bunch of pre and post match fluff. Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima (04/12/03): Kawada's return match after the 02/2002 match above. His knee got injured again then. So you know that's fair game in this matchup. The fans even boo Muto when he goes after it. But this is not the story of the match as they don't really belabor that point. This is a nice change of pace. The knee is bugging him but not taking him out completely so you're rooting for him to stay in the fight. You're really rooting for Masa Fuchi too..don't ever count out Fuchi Dammit! Lots of great action with excellent timing and selling. This was a great match... near classic stuff to be honest. Slight joined in progress and perhaps one small clip in the Gaora footage below. Shinya Hashimoto VS Satoshi Kojima (06/13/2003): What an absolutely stiff match Hashimoto fought. You could hear his kesagiri chops! He even chopped Kojima's arm so hard you could hear it! Koji was no slouch either but man alive Hash was just laying it in. And it was a simple match that didn't have a big story within the match but was elevated by Shinya's intensity and Koji knowing he had to match it or get destroyed. It is weird seeing basically two NJ wrestlers fighting for the AJPW Triple Crown. But these two really embody the physicality of AJPW. A great match! One I don't recall hearing about. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori (07/18/04): A really neat story match as Kawada hurts his own knee on a knee drop. What's interesting beyond that is Omori doesn't make this a Muto match and go ape shit after the leg. He instead sees it as an opportunity to beat Kawada on his own terms. Omori knows (in a way) that Kawada's kicks are hurting him with each one he throws. If Takao can punish the leg and even force Kawada to use the kicks, it will give him time find an opportunity unload his Ax Bomber lariat and Ax Guillotine Driver. This was Kawada wanting to tell a story, Omori was eager to tell that as well. Kawada sold the story just about all of the way to the end even collapsing on a kenka kick doing a back & forth segment. In some ways you couldn't tell this was 2004 or that Omori was with Zero One. It was a real turn back the clock AJ fight that built wonderfully into a nearly classic match. I've heard its better than the more talked about Misawa vs Kojima match from the same show. This has been pretty awesome so far. I do understand why people may have been disappointed at the time. It is more like NJPW of the 90's than AJPW. But that makes sense doesn't it? I would maybe say it's a bit of a hybrid. Like every promotion in the early 2000's, it was a transitional period of time. That is apparent here but the known quantities, your stars can still be depended on. Kawada, Muto, Kojima, Tenryu still bring the goods. And I'm no Muto devotee. Probably should have opened up with that but if there's any skepticism in my reviews, I wanted to say that Next time, I'll be looking at 2005-2010.

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It's a big shame that due to bad timing and some other external factors (Hashimoto leaving NJPW shortly after Nishimura returned from cancer treatment) this is the only singular time these two would share a ring in a singles match. It's also a shame because Hashimoto's intensity with Nishimura's style makes this a pretty great match for what it's worth, with them immediately establishing the tone with Nishimura bumping hard for leg kicks, trying for some Inoki-crab sweeps that get no-sold as Hashimoto coldly stares him down. Nishimura's frustration at being treated like this definitely shines though as he gets beaten down, but keeps getting back up every time despite the beating being given, refusing to properly give in. He is scared shitless pretty early on however; you see that as he rolls out and then looks like a deer in the headlights when trying to get back in. Hashimoto lands some nasty big-man offence as he does a stiff elbow and then a hard back-first senton in succession, which causes gasps in the crowd. Nishimura does get some control with a frenzy of iffy forearm shots, but Hashimoto's damage to the leg means he can't keep up the momentum and gets shut down with some brilliantly sold kicks to the body. This does become more of a generic affair as Nishimura counters a backfist with a Cobra Twist before going for some bombs of his own. Hashimoto of course shuts this down with more really well sold kicks to the body. We get some great intensity with the leg work as Nishimura just starts barking stuff while pulling as much as he can while in a figure-four in a attempt to disable the best feature of his opponent. Hashimoto also gets in some fighting spirit screams as he eats some crab-sweeps to the leg before landing just a nasty, vicious chop/kick combo to send Nishimura flailing to the ground. At one point he just goes ballistic with chops, doing them even when Nishimura is on the ground and out already. He follows up with a stiff spinning wheel kick and a DDT that Nishimura almost RVD-sells for which gets the win. Really good work despite how quick this was; so much intensity is communicated with just 10 minutes of time. The stare downs, the no selling mind games between the pair, Nishimura hurling himself around; it all just works to provide a really awesome short match that got a fairly lethargic crowd to get surprisingly well behind this despite Nishimura having no real chance against the big Ace of the promotion. Damn shame we never got to see these two work longer; they would've killed it in the early 2000's with more time and Nishimura being a actual threat.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.

Okay look, I get it. We're supposed to hate these matches because of the atrocious booking. Or because they ruined Hash's aura. I get that. By the general reaction in other threads I'm assuming a lot of people here witnessed this as it was going on and feel more upset about it. That's fine, I'm not gonna commend this as "ballsy" or something because it really is baffling booking for a feud with a guy who made you tons of money, even if MMA is on the rise and you want to seem legit. But I was seven when this happened. And I....just don't care about that aspect of these matches. I viewed Hash's rise and peak after it had long ended and I loved it all. And you know what? I loved this. The same way I loved what the first 2 Cena/Lesnar matches after he came back portrayed. To see an ace absolutely get overwhelmed and destroyed in such a surreal way is shocking, sure. But what makes these matches work is what that ace tries to do to survive it. This opens with Hashimoto again trying to mount some offense against Ogawa before getting swallowed up and having to roll outside and gameplan. This leads to Hashimoto having to make an opening creatively once again like in the '99 match and you get an absolutely awesome spinning low kick followed by Hashimoto trying to cave Ogawa's face in with stomps. It's unconventional, but it's him still finding a way to lay in a beating and Ogawa sells it well. And this is by far the most evenly worked match they had, again putting over that Hashimoto was closing the gap on not wanting to endure death by STO. We even get a section of I guess you could say legwork as Hashimoto destroys Ogawa's legs (which Ogawa sells incredibly well) and we get a submission finish tease. Every Hashimoto/Ogawa encounter to me is about what Hashimoto can do to not get engulfed late by STOs. This match more than any other one showed how much he didn't want that to happen, with the rope blocking, use of space, and struggle for Ogawa to even get a single one off. And late when it looks like he might be starting towards that we get that phenomenal DDT counter plus the armbar attempt that sends the crowd into a frenzy. Then we come to Ogawa putting Hash through the ringer with STOs and he again sells them tremendously. We can love Hash trying to fight through Choshu lariats so no reason not to love this. And I know there's always discourse about how much a crowd should matter in rating a match but the way they worked them during this entire feud is incredible. When Hashimoto finally can't rise again and gets counted out and you hear that woman just cry out from sadness at what occurred plus the looks of fans who are crushed is something else. Maybe it's something stupid, but when we remember that Hash opened a promotion after this, had excellent interpromotional feuds and matches, and even came back to NJPW a few months later anyway, it's not that bad to me. Not like any of us are on the NJPW payroll. Epic match.

Talk about it here.

Another night of Hashimoto & Tenryu trying to slice through eachother with chops. It never gets old!! Really you always find something new when these guys are tearing into eachother. Hirata is one of the more non descript japanese guys but he is perfectly fine here getting kicked in the face by Tenryu and getting a nice run of offense near the end until he gets caught by a flying chair cause Tenryu knows no rules. W-A-R!

Nice action packed sub-ten minute match. Zangiev was great in this with his suplexes and power spots plus I loved his reaction to Hash spitting at him. I liked Hash being more subdued in a sense since the danger Zangiev presented with all his suplexes and subs meant that one too many strikes could spell doom. But when he got his opening he laid it in, as expected. I feel like a Cesaro circa 2013 versus Hashimoto would look a bit like this. EDIT: My initial review for this actually really undersells how great it is lol. Seeing moves like the head scissors that you're used to just being part of the "headlock-head scissors-staredown" sequence to open a match being put to practical use to actually break an armbar attempt and create drama is awesome. Then you've got Zangiev blocking submission attempts while he's on the mat by just standing up and carrying around Hash like he's nothing. Final transition with Hash stuffing Zangiev into the corner and then hitting the flying spin kick rules. MOTYC in a really stacked '89.

Talk about it here.

Talk about it here.