[2000-02-01-NJPW] Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Koji Kanemoto & Dr Wagner Jr

[soup23]

Wagner and Koji are a boss team. Tons of angst in this one with intense staredowns and hatred throughout. I will really miss Otani rising up to heavyweight because he provides a punkish spark that I assume will be missed. In particular the Kanemoto and Otani segments here were just brutal. I enjoyed Takiawa catching Kanemoto in mid air and changing the trajectory to a powerslam. Tell me if you have heard this before but Otani gets overconfident in his abilities. This allowed Wagner to hit the tombstone finisher and pick up the win. I was a little down on the junior tag on the Dome show compared to Charles but I thought this was a complete blast and kicks February off with a bang. ****

[Loss]

This was an excellent sprint. Lots of attitude and aggression before the bell even, as Kanemoto and Wagner ambush Otani and Takaiwa before the bell rings, before Otani can even take off his jacket. The match doesn't really let up from there and they continue to cut a breakneck pace for 12 minutes. Otani blows a dropkick, but they cover for it nicely, with Wagner taking a page out of Liger's book and stopping to applaud him. A minute or so later, noticing the crowd still wasn't back into the match, Otani hit a reverse spin kick, then signaled "I'm ok" to the crowd, made them laugh, and then they were back into the action like it never happened. To me, it's never about the blown spot, but rather the reaction that makes or breaks it, and that reaction was tremendous. Wagner finishing Otani with the Michinoku Driver was a strong finish as well. Tremendous match. ***3/4

[Robert S]

What was wrong with the ropes here? They were so loose that Ohtani screwed up two springboard moves. Pretty good match overall, I would say. Though watching Takaiwa there is no wonder that he seriously hurt a guy not so much later in his career. That "powerslam" was just reckless.

[cramerjason87]

Kanemoto looked great bringing intensity to his offense. Otani botched a move badly and was had some timing issues. The match was uneventful juniors work but moved at a decent pace.

[AstroBoy]

I thought this was pretty meandering actually. The intensity, stiffness, and hatred in the spots between Kanemoto against Ohtani and Takaiwa were all great but never built within the match for me. Just didn't seem to be any kind of progression by the end of the match other than isolated hateful standoffs. I also thought, though they covered for it admirably, the match lost a bit of steam on the Ohtani botch. Still a fun match. Just didn't get out of first gear for me. I liked the January dome tag of Ohtani and Takaiwa vs. Kashin and Tanaka better.

[Laney]

I thought this was a pretty solid match, but wasn't anything spectacular. There was a major slip up from Ohtani on the ropes here which was the most memorable part of this match. The in-ring work was good and it seemed like they gave Wagner a lot of time in this one. Overall, it's nothing that I would go out of my way to watch, but there's more good than bad in this.

 

***1/2

[Moonsault Marvin]

This one started off with some tense battling including hard slaps and kicks, but Otani busting it off the ropes caused the match to lose its momentum. I thought Wagner Jr. performed well, as I've never quite figured out the hate for him that some people have around here. Maybe I haven't seen enough of him. Average match.

[ohtani's jacket]

This had some decent action, but that was pretty much all it was -- action. Technically, it was as good, if not better, than the CMLL trios matches, but this division feels directionless like it's been spinning on it's wheels since '97. That said, the action is still good if you care about that sort of thing first and foremost. Wagner was great during this period of his career.

[aethelred]

A good match, with plenty of stiffness, and I felt the clunkiness of some parts of the match actually added to the match, making it feel like more of a fight.

[superkix]

This was pretty fun and an easy watch. Kanemoto stiffing it out with Takaiwa and Ohtani is always a fun. I thought Ohtani's corner boots looked especially nasty here. And of course, Ohtani whiffing on the springboard attempt was inadvertently great. Part of me feels like the more superior team would've been Takaiwa and Wagner Jr. but it was nice seeing him mix it up with the harder-hitting juniors. That Michinoku Driver finish out of nowhere was awesome.