[2000-01-02-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori & Satoru Asako

[soup23]

Funny to see AJPW embracing the late 90’s attitude with the all black faction shirts. Kanemaru is someone will we get a healthy dose of throughout the decade but he is just starting out here as Burning’s underling. Akiyama and Omori start off by taking it to the mat. This I think is a throwaway segment but actually one that feels fresh against the big talking point that late 90’s All Japan and up to the split was all about head drops. This was as 1970’s feeling out process as you could get. Kanemaru mixes in some comedy right from the beginning when he headbutts Omori in the dick. Omori doesn’t take kindly to that and they start teeing off naturally on the junior member of the match. Good to see Asako show some fire here as someone who feel off from the latter half of 1990’s footage we watched. I know I am referencing the 90’s a lot here but I do think the gradual step into the 2000’s that we know when we think of pro wrestling is gradual over the calendar year 2000. This is why we can watch this footage so I can try to hash out that theory. Asako actually gains the advantage over Kobashi for a moment and tags in Takayama. Those two have a nice mano y mano exchange and bring the crowd to life. Akiyama gets tagged in and he starts throwing forearms with Takayama but this time Taka is able to gain the advantage. Nice triple team boot attack by No Fear. We get our first bit of true control in the match at the ten minute mark on Kanemaru. Asako sends him to the outside, posts him and hits a front senton. Takayama’s kicks and forearms look on point and he seems poised to be a big force in All Japan in the new decade. Really nice hope spot for Kanemaru where he fires off multiple elbow shots but gets pulled by his shirt from Takayama before he can make the tag. Kanemaru is able to make the tag and the leg of Asako is honed in on with the Burning unit. Akiyama does a great job of ratcheting up the intensity level as he tees off on the leg of Asako. A nice flash knee with the good knee and DDT allows Asako to make the tag and we enter the final stanza of the match with some No Fear double team moves. Nearfall happens on Kobashi from an Omori missile dropkick. This makes Kenta stop screwing around and he reels off a nice combo of offense before tagging out. Kanemaru hits some more offense and mixes in some comedy bits including a big Rick Rude hip swivel after a baseball slide. Match breaks down with Taka and Kento firing away and the two junior members in the ring. Omori sends Jun into the railing and then keeps things at bay as Asako hits a Fisherman Buster and Michinoku Driver to pick up the win. A real good way to ease us into the decade. The structure was predictable as Kanemaru > Asako > Omori > Akiyama > Takayama (those two are close) > Kobashi (1b of promotion) but it is fun to see the little tinges of offense that is made by anyone below the depth chart. I rag on NJ for their young boy treatment but that usually involves the up and comers jobbing to relics like Nakanishi and Tenzan. Everyone here still felt fresh and in the peak of their career. ***

[Loss]

A really nice match to jump into the 2000s with, and also to get my juices flowing as we once again attempt to plow through a decade, only this time doing a bit deeper of a dive.

 

Anyway, I thought this was an excellent match with a lot of interesting and notable qualities. Anyone who says Kobashi never really showed much growth or that he never evolved past putting on the Kobashi show should really check out this match to see something different from him. Long gone are the days of the ne'er-say-die guy teaming with Satoru Asako in strong AJ undercard matches. Here, he acts as a total brick wall for Asako's attempt at offense in the early part of the match, really hammering home just how much has changed for one of them, if not the other one, since 1993. They play the short game to hype his match with Omori that's only a few days away, and to hype his match with Takayama which is still a few months away. Omori looks better than at any point I recall seeing him -- wrestling with more aggression and aiming to match his much better tag team partner blow for blow. The effort is almost enough to carry him to that level, at least for one performance. Akiyama isn't a huge part of this match, but does some really cool things when he's in, kind of nailing the narrative to the bulletin board when he gets the hot tag and immediately destroys Asako's knee after watching his own junior partner Kanemaru get bludgeoned for several minutes.

 

Speaking of Kanemaru and Asako, this match is really about them, which makes this the inverse of a lot of the better All Japan six-mans. Oftentimes, you get the feel in some All Japan six-mans even when they are letting the younger guys shine that the match isn't really theirs -- after all, Kobashi-Fuchi was just a surrogate war for Misawa-Jumbo. This was a bit different in that they made a conscious choice to really hand the match to them. You get just enough Burning and No Fear to keep the heat at a respectable level, but they cede most of the body of the match to the juniors. Kanemaru works as a hell of a Ricky Morton and does some great comebacks swinging at everything in striking distance to try to shift the tide when he's FIP. He's really the best performer of the match, outshining Asako's FIP time if only because he had more of it.

 

This felt more substantive than the Evolve six-man over WM weekend, but it wasn't as balls-to-the-wall as that one, and it's lacking anything transcendent to make it truly great. It's about as good as it can be without any type of a-ha moment, so I don't mean that as a complaint at all. Putting established top singles guys and a young junior against a top tag team and a veteran junior was exactly the type of mish-mash booking WCW should have been doing at this time, and this does feel like the type of match that would be remembered for years if it happened on American television. As it stands, it borders on great, which makes it blend in when it happens in an overachieving promotion.

 

***3/4

[soup23]

Rewatched this since we are ramping up the series now and short changed this the first time around. AJPW really did a good job of building up No Fear as a credible unit against anybody in 1999 and that is displayed here. I really think Takayama would have a great chance of placing on my GWE after I am done watching all of this footage. ***1/2

[benj]

I thought his was fine, maybe a little long, but action was good enough to keep me engaged. To me this was all about Takayama. His exchanges with Kobashi were great, and him randomly punching or kicking Kanemura were my favorite parts of the match. Kind of made me want to see a Kobashi-Akiyama-Takayama three way dance; is that a possible game mode in Giant Gram 2000?

[Laney]

Pretty solid 6-man here with most of the focus being put on the Jrs who both seem to be the target for their opposing teams. Kanemaru has some awful ring gear here and tries a just as awful 619. That aside, he has a pretty good showing. I remember being a fan of Kanemaru later in the decade.

 

Standout moments in this for me is the crowd erupting when Kobashi enters the ring and Takayama being pretty brutal against Kanemaru.

 

Solid match with a sensible structure, but seems to go on a bit longer than necessary.

 

***1/2

[Ship Canal]

I enjoyed this a great deal, even if I felt like it could have had 5 minutes or so shaved off the end to make things a little punchier.

This seemed one of Akiyama's more understated but viciously methodical displays. I loved how he'd just tag in, lock something on and wrench it unforgivingly before letting someone else pick things up. There was a kind of half STF (I'm terrible with the names of moves) that he kept cranking and it made me really appreciate the little touches he adds into his matches that set him apart. The way he used his foot for leverage and would half circle back on it before syncing it in even deeper was such a nice touch that a lesser wrestler might not have thought of. Things like this really make him stand out even in very unshowy performances.

Also a huge mark for slightly grizzled, stubbly Kobashi during this period. I tend to think there is more evolution to his character than some give him credit for.

[WingedEagle]

Solid match that seemed like the Japanese equivalent of a TV main event designed to build an upcoming PPV between the various squads. While the juniors did most of the heavy lifting and Kobashi's presence was felt, Takayama made the strongest impression during his limited time in the ring. Between the force of his explosive knees and the way he'd sell without going down to put over his size, you saw pieces of what would make his matches with Misawa & Kobashi over the next couple years true classics. There was no way to tell from here that he could translate these moments into a complete singles match, let alone become one of the decade's best workers before injuries took their toll. But you could see that there was potential for more than simply being the big half of a tag team.

 

***1/2

[Karl]

This is a match about being tough. Everything is tough. The first 75% moves at a fairly glacial pace, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. Clearly this match is building to bigger things ahead, and it certainly piques the interest of whats to come. The biggest problem I had was Kanemaru - not his work, or anything like that, but rather his wearing of a wife beater in the ring. Thats a big no no. All in all, a pretty enjoyable match. ***1/4

[AstroBoy]

I preferred this to the other AJPW six-man on the same day. Kanemaru looked ridiculous but added some fun comedy with the groin spot and the hip swivel. I really liked seeing him and Asako kind of taking the spotlight of the story.

 

Akiyama's rapid fire kicks to the knee were vicious looking and he seemed lasered in and comfortable here. Omori came across pretty inspired as well. Fun match.

[puropotsy]

I really enjoyed this. Kanemaru has never done much for me but here he was quite good, starting with the epic headbutt to Omori's nether-regions, continuing through the beating he took from Takayama and Omori and then finishing with his firey finishing stretch before getting pinned by Asako. Speaking of Asako, the working over of his knee by Burning was phenomenal making his win that much more impressive. Really fun to see Takayama able to move around here. Omori was great then and really now. And Kobashi and Akiyama were in their primes (although I guess in some ways Akiyama still is) so it would be hard to go wrong with this. And the knee to Kobashi's gut by Takayama was stiff and awesome.

[Chess Knight]

Loved the Akiyama/Omori test of strength at the beginning, No Fear going wild on Kanemaru, and Burning focusing on Asako's leg (esp. Akiyama torquing it before locking in the STF). But I disappointed with this one, because honestly I thought the selling was so spotty. I wound up staring through the screen for a lot of it, because I could expect out of nowhere the guy selling to just be like "time for me to stop" without any build. I hate Kobashi's trade-off stuff.....I really do. I nearly fast-forwarded through a lot of it, and I'm getting to the point in my wrestling viewing where, when I see him do it, I start to wish somebody else was in the match instead. At one point in the match Takayama boots him to the mat and Kobashi just literally stands up and starts chopping him. The rest of them kind of did it, too. Akiyama and Takayama have a forearm trade off where Takayama goes down, but then just winds up on top of the match anyway four seconds later. Omori did this amazing slap to Kanemaru that felt like a momentum changer, but Irish whipped Kanemaru to the corner where Kanemaru greeted him with a boot. Those "fighting spirit" trade-off bits feel so damn useless most of the time. I've never liked Kanemaru but I don't think I've ever seen him this young, and.....thought he was even worse. When Omori went for the test-of-strength and he just kind of gingerly kicked him, I actually said out loud 'Fucking hell, you're terrible." His weird bursts when he would just forearm all three No Fear completely out of the blue after being at the bottom came off as really forced. Groin headbutt was great, though. This isn't "EVERYTHING I dislike about 21st Century puro", but it's not the best welcoming card for what's to come, honestly.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Solid match. Best part of the match was Akiyama's intensity while he was kicking the knee. I also liked seeing the double teaming by Takayama and Omori, since sometimes All Japan avoids that sort of teamwork. Kanamaru didn't seem like he really belonged in there with the rest of those guys.

[Wahoos Leg]

Kanemaru looks like a Japanese backyarder who somehow got booked because somebody didn't show up. That said, he did a very fine job getting bullied and pummeled by No Fear.

 

Asako drove me batty at times, in particular screaming like he was sodomized with a rusty steak knife every time he got kicked in the knee, then not selling it when Akiyama throws him out to the floor.

 

Everyone else in the match looked good, aside from Omori's physics-defying feed back into the ropes off a Kanemaru dropkick about 70% of the way through the match.

 

In short, this was an enjoyable watch but if you skipped it, I don't think you'd be missing much in the grand scheme of things

[jiraffejustin]

There is a few things I didn't care for, but for the most part, this is a pretty solid match. You'll have to forgive me if I mix up the two dudes in black that aren't Takayama, but I think it was Asako that went to Irish whip Kanemaru into a Takayama big boot on the outside, but Kanemaru looks like he takes off before Asako starts his whip motion and the camera was right there behind it making it look kinda silly. There was also those mounted slaps Takayama was laying on Kanemaru, but the camera was looking right at it so some of them looked good and others not so much. There's some weird moments in tag wrestling where multiple members of one team are in the ring and the other team has a guy, or in this case two guys, standing on the apron just watching their teammate taking an assbeating and not doing anything about it. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. That said, that dick headbutt was pretty funny, and not long after that Kanemaru eats a good uppercut on a cutoff spot that made me chuckle. Takayama is a guy that I am really looking forward to watching a lot more of. Most of my exposure to his work is from the 2010-2012 timeframe and the awesome Don Frye fight. He just seems violent, and I like that a lot. His big boot usually looks pretty great, and he doesn't seem afraid to lay into his opponents. He is my favorite part of this match, and every time he got in the ring I was excited for what was about to happen. Akiyama didn't do a whole lot, but I liked the work he put in on Asako's knee to start that section of the match off. It wasn't the best limb work I've ever seen, but it was good enough for this match and this setting. He attacked quickly and Asako, to his credit, sold decently enough, even if he did kinda forget about later on. Kanemaru was fine enough getting his ass kicked most of this match. Worthwhile match.

[Pterois]

Average and skippable match.Takayama was indeed already an exciting wrestler and one of the most interesting in the match. The presence of Kanemaru is not that annoying. In fact, I like the touch of comedy he brings. As always, Kobashi has an aura and is entertaining to watch.