Jun Akiyama

[Rah]

20 hours ago, Boss Rock said:

I would love more recs if you have them!

SUWAMA vs Jun Akiyama  (AJPW 10/23/2011)
This goes looooooong so you're gonna need some patience for it. It has all those little cliches of longer Japanese matches (chess match/strategic style wrestling) which might leave the meat feeling a little uninspired for some but I adored Akiyama's vicious streak in trying to crack SUWAMA's neck. 

 

Jun Akiyama vs Masakatsu Funaki (AJPW 6/28/2012)

Fantastically violent 4 minutes. I'm a huge Funaki apologist, so take this one with a bit of salt, but I had no issues seeing this as one of the most fun matches to come out of Japan that year.

 

Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama & Mitsuo Momota vs Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Super Tiger II (Rikodozan Memorial 12/16/13)

This isn't something you're watching to find a "good match" but it's an example of how, between all the mindlessness, Akiyama can be so, so great.

 

Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori  (AJPW 6/15/2014)
Fantastic match. I checked my review for this, now, and I wrote "Akiyama must be the single best wrestler alive nobody here talks about." Akiyama has a few other "good ones" a little later in the year (e.g. vs Miyahara), but I thought this was his strongest showing. He's at his best when he picks a specific body part and just goes to town with it in fantastic ways - RIP Omoroi's arm. They have another killer a couple years earlier (02/03/2012).

 

From 2015, puro fell of a cliff for me so I just gave up on it all together. I'm sure there's something that stands out, but I've not seen it. 2010s AJPW house-style was already starting to grate me from as early as 2012ish, because, amongst other copy-paste jobs, it felt like the irish whip into the barricade was a checklist spot. I honestly feel their style actively hampers their ability to deliver legitimate epics yet Akiyama would always ensure he gets the most out of that environment. I wasn't much aware that he had broken away from them and ended up in DDT as a grizzled, grumpy vet. Sounds a lot like Kingston in Chikara - which is a fantastic foil. 

 

 

[Boss Rock]

Thanks!

[MrMoonlight]

I'm wandering through this amazing forum these last couple of days, having discovered you guys a couple fo years ago, reading almost only 1980's nwa/wwf reviews but man, this whole part with one thread for each wrestler where you debate about how great they are with so many views that I can appreciate even when I disagree is just amazing. So thank you all, really!

Now, from what I read so far, if it was about the GTWE as in the Greatest Thread Wrestler Ever, this may be it: Jun Akiyama.

I also felt like wrtitting my own stuff because some of you asked for a great Akiyama as a grumpy old veteran. There's one match I couldn't find on line (but I'm pretty sure I have it somewhere) but if you can get your hand on:

02-11 -Diamond Ring- Kobashi Kenta & Akiyama Jun vs Sasaki Kensuke & Kitamiya Mitsuhiro

All the Akiyama vs Kitamiya interactions are Tenryu in a pretty damn good day like. I'll see if I can upload it and share, I'd love to hear some reviews of you guys on it.

PS: it was nowhere to be found so I uploaded it, here's the link:

 

[EnviousStupid]

Not a favourite, but he's almost certainly the best wrestler of the 2000s in my eyes, and that's the decade I grew up watching wrestling in. Plenty of great stuff across singles, tags, multimans, main-events, undercards, sprints, 30+ minute epics and practically everything in between. He even participated in one of the best G1 Climax tournaments, concluding with an all-time finals match against Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

[Mr JMML]

He has been great for 30 years, from his 1990's AJPW run to his KO-D Openweight championship reign in 2020. 

Three matches that I recommend:

 

 

 

Akiyama is a top 30 wrestler of all time for me.