[2000-03-11-AJPW] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi

[soup23]

Life comes at you fast. A good but typical six man from these guys that will be raised when you think about the fact that this is the second to last time ever that Kobashi and Kawada stepped into the ring against one another. Even Misawa and Kawada only have a handful of these on tape. That is what made me cherish every interaction here a little more. Beyond that, Fuchi was really game and as someone that was forced to step into a more prominent role with the wake of the exodus that is looming, it was really nice to see him already bringing his working boots pre split. Goodbye 1990's All Japan. ***1/2

[Loss]

The crowd didn't get into it very much, but I thought this was a great match, and a nice dose of early 90s nostalgia, with Kawada assuming the ghost of Jumbo Tsuruta amidst a cast of familiar players. Everyone is a little older and wiser, so the match has a different dynamic, but there's cool stuff here from everyone, be it Kikuchi's selling as FIP, Misawa and Kobashi doing strong hot tags, Taue torturing Kikuchi or Fuchi really torturing Kikuchi with some insane moves, like the backwards headscissors in an almost crucifix position across the ropes. Ridiculous hold, and one of a dozen super cool things about this match. One of the last matches of his kind. ****

[Moonsault Marvin]

The old gang is back together. Fuchi is really fun in this match, and I liked the early exchange with Kobashi where Kobashi had enough and chopped him. Kawada's boston crab was great with him really pulling back on it to devastate Kikuchi's back. They lacked the fire in the finishing stretch that they had in the early '90s matches, but it was still a very good match.

[Laney]

There's a lot of great talent in this match so it can't help but be a very good match. Kikuchi does a great job in here as the opposing team just assaults him. There's a very nasty headscissors in the ropes by Fuchi on Kikuchi here. You have your great exchanges between classic rivals, but this isn't an epic encounter like we've seen in the past. We don't get the hot finishing stretch here, but this served as a smartly worked match with both teams putting in effort, but obviously not going for a classic. ***3/4

[ohtani's jacket]

Throwback match. A nice piece of nostalgia but the magic wasn't there. They cut a slow pace and it seemed that only Fuchi and Kikuchi were keen to add any spark. The most impressive thing in the bout was the headscissors spot. That made me sit up and take notice. Can't say the rest of it made me pine for the 90s.