[2000-04-09-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Takao Omori vs Steve Williams

[soup23]

The Doc reclamation project comes to an end as this is probably the last high profile singles match he has here in the semi of the Carnival. This was kept at a really good length and hit a good clip. Omori looked more vicious here than usual. Even the finish with the lariats had some great bumps from Doc where he looks like he just got shot from a cannonball to put over the power of Omori. Thanks for the 2000 memories Doc. ***1/4 (6.4)

[Loss]

That opening clothesline is in the running for GOAT bushwhacks in a wrestling match. It set the tone for a much better than expected match between an underachiever and a guy who keeps delivering, despite his best days seemingly being long gone. Omori's run of early offense was awesome and the best part of this. It did lose a little something when Doc took back control, even if the work was sound and Doc was cranking in the chinlock and using it to set up the backdrop driver. Like, technically, he was doing it well, but the thrill of the conquer was gone because he was above Omori in hierarchy, so him being dominant just wasn't as fun. Omori kept rolling through a lot of Doc's attempts to slow this down and take it to the match, which is probably both a way to cover for some sloppy sequences and create some real friction in the fight for Doc to lock anything in. I do wish his pin had been just slightly more built up, but the sudden nature of it also worked the way they did it. I'm glad I saw this. ***1/4

[Tim Evans]

I liked how Doc was all crazy during his entrance and then Omori goes all Hansen on him to stop that. This really felt like Doc's last stand and he went out on a high note even though he lost.That backdrop driver after the match looks brutal. Like 1993 doc driver brutal.