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[2000-01-21-ECW-TNN] Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Mexican Death)


Grimmas

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After a year long few, that was mostly civil, these two let loose with a vicious "Mexican Death" match. Blood, high flying, insane kicks. This one had it all.

 

There is one moment where Crazy is out on his knees and is all wobbly and Tajiri sits down in front of him and does a mocking pose. It's just so great.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 11 months later...

This gets really visceral really quick with the chairs stuff. Will give credit to Joey Styles for putting over how this was a feud initially based on athleticism but now it is about hatred. Tajiri slides chairs across a table and then they go sailing into the crowd. Tajiri mockingly bows to the guy in an awesome moment. Crazy is a bloody mess. Tajiri hits the double stomp but the table doesn’t break. Second time is the charm and Tajiri’s charisma is just oozing off the page here. Tajiri mocks the selling of Crazy. THIS GUY. Crazy’s comeback is great and feels well earned after this shit he has endured. They quickly go through the crowd and Tajiri gives a beautiful moonsault through a table from the Bleacher Creature section. Crowd is rampant for Crazy now cheering him on. Tajiri isn’t dead yet with a handspring elbow but I liked Crazy hitting a flash clothesline too. Both guys are down as we reach the final moments of the match. Tajiri is able to get the tarantula as a bit of desperation and then hits a German for a nearfall. Tajiri just has such pop on every move tonight as evidence with the baseball slide and Asai moonsault combo. This is perhaps my favorite Styles call ever and I appreciate Gertner playing it straight on commentary as well. Tajiri sets a table up into the corner and Crazy comes zooming into screen with a huge missile dropkick. Now Crazy has a table that he brings into the proceedings. Tajiri has the ring wrench and looks like an assassin as he drives it into Crazy. He goes for the death kick but Crazy lifts him up for a powerbomb, a great finish results with Tajiri blocking that and misting Crazy but him still being able to deliver the powerbomb to the other table for the win. Easily one of the best ECW matches of all time. ****1/4

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This match and HHH/Cactus from Rumble are on the same level??? Transition were 8 million times better in HHH/Cactus.

 

Tajiri vs Super Crazy - ECW Hardcore TV 1/21/00 Mexican Death Match

 

Joey Styles and Joel Gertner do not get enough discussion about being the worst announce team ever. Brutal!

 

JIP as Tajiri dropkicks Crazy in the head. Joey tries to make some BS that because this is a Mexican Death match the violence will be escalated, but whats stopping them from doing that in a straight ECW match. Tajiri stacks up the chairs and dropkicks them in Crazy's face. He juices. The following segment is by far the best part of the match as Tajiri is just so damn good here. First he is skipping chairs off the table trying to decapitate Crazy but they go sailing into the crowd. It is legitimately dangerous but does create an aura of sadism and insanity for Tajiri. The double stomps through the table was awesome. Love that move to begin with never seen it done through table. Tajiri mocking Super Crazy's selling is without a doubt the highlight of the match, Tajiri Is God.

 

Biggest problem with the match has been my problem in general with Tajiri matches in ECW, transitions, transitions, transitions. Crazy just jumps on offense and hits a top rope quebrada and before we know it they have arena brawling and moonsault from bleachers through a table. We get it you're good at moonsaults. Back in the ring, he busts Tajiri open with punches! Now that's more like it. It starts to get a little my turn, your turn. Tajiri shows he can match highspots with Crazy with Asai moonsault into the crowd. Super Crazy's missile dropkick may be the best missile dropkick I have ever seen. We got some tables. Tajiri's kicks are just incredible in this match. The finish is Tajiri mists Super Crazy in the powerbomb position, but Crazy finishes the move through a table to get the win. I thought this was a great spotfest with the blood, Tajiri's insane charisma taking their usual very good match and making this feel special and great, Still without better transitions it feels too spotty to say it is in the upper echelon of great brawls or great death matches. Tajiri Rules All! ****

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This match and HHH/Cactus from Rumble are on the same level??? Transition were 8 million times better in HHH/Cactus.

 

 

 

Tajiri and Crazy had better crowd brawling that led to a more substantial spot with the moonsault from the bleachers, didn't have unnecessary bait and switching involving weapons that makes me question the credibility of the match, didn't have unnecessary Rock intereference where it seems like Mick can't win the big one on his own and also didn't have Tajiri immediately get up and get his heat back after being defeated in devastating fashion.

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This was of course awesome. A fantastic new dimension on a feud that had been running for a full year at this point. I love that still, after all that time, that match doesn't seem stale, and the feud still feels like it has legs. I think that's because they are both booked to be strong players instead of as a Harlem Globetrotters-style sideshow like the WCW guys, and this match represents a progression. The feud has taken a newly violent turn. Some of the other matches they could have elsewhere. This match can only happen in ECW. They have blended what they do with the house style. They did a great job both getting over Tajiri's sadistic side and getting over Crazy's resilience and ability to fight back. Great psychology too -- look past all the table noise and notice how the fans are rooting for Crazy during his comebacks and how the blade helps build sympathy for him. Just a total masterpiece. ****1/4

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I rewatched this and bumped it up 1/4* from when I watched it two years ago. Tajiri is a sociopath here skipping chairs and throwing tables at the crowd. There is a real aura of danger with Tajiri on offense, plus the mocking! The MOCKING!!

 

Crazy on offense wasn't as great, but it served it's purpose until that finishing sequence, which is all time great level. Tajiri shoves a wrench down Crazy's throat, nails a kick, gets countered, mists him, then gets countered into a power bomb for a Crazy win. This match rules!!! **** 1/2

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I haven't watched this in a few years, but I also love it and it's probably my US MOTY for 2000. Tajiri's performance is honestly one of my all time favourites. The chair-skimming, shoving the wrench into Crazy's mouth like he's trying to yank out teeth, spitting on fans, just conveying the whole sense of chaos through his actions -- he's a phenomenal little psychopath in this match. I remember thinking Super Crazy maybe was a little too "fresh" during his initial comeback, but it isn't a huge deal. Tajiri was something else in 2000. So much fun.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This match is absolutely insane and I loved every minute of it. Tajiri looks like an absolute killer in this match. The decapitation attempt with chairs was awesome, a few of the chairs went flying into the crowd and it just added to the level of violence in this match. You have to give Super Crazy credit too, he was able to get the crowd behind him even though they wanted to cheer Tajiri for his excellent performance. It doesn't get much better than this in ECW.

 

****1/2

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  • 2 weeks later...

Furniture-fu will never be my favorite style of wrestling. But Tajiri as a swaggering, vicious bastard was very cool, and Super Crazy had the crowd going apeshit with the intensity of his comeback. This felt genuinely wild at times. Tajiri could easily have maimed someone in the crowd when he skipped those chairs across the surface of the table and through the ropes. I certainly don't recall Attitude Era WWF approaching this level of mayhem on television. I could see this standing up as one of the most memorable matches of 2000.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This was an excellent match. I'm not a huge fan of workers using tables in matches but at least Tajiri did something novel with one. I can't remember seeing anyone skim chairs across a table before. That's gotta be more difficult than it looked. Tajiri was pretty cool in this. I liked the way he mocked Crazy, although it was a weak transition for Crazy's comeback. Crazy probably could have sold more during his fightback but the action was exciting. I liked the dives a lot and Tajiri maiming Crazy with the ring wrench. The finish was cool too even if it was a table spot. I was skeptical about whether I'd enjoy this but they won me over.

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  • 1 month later...

The rules of a Mexican Death match are that it is ‘no DQ’, as opposed to something like a Texas Death match. The match start with Joey Styles and Joel Gertner making jokes like how the loser of the match has to watch 12 hours of Mil Mascaras movies. Almost as soon as it’s started though we cut to a break. We return to see Tajiri dropkick Crazy whilst he’s tied in the ‘Tree of Woe’. He goes outside and brings three chairs into the ring, sets them up in front of Crazy’s head and dropkicks the lot into this face busting him open. He bites the cut and wipes Crazy’s blood down his chest before ramming his head into a table. He then fires chairs across the table at his head, which Crazy has to duck out the way of, and the chairs go flying into the audience. The crowd lose their shit at how dangerous this is and Tajiri’s response? He bows at them! Tajiri lies Crazy on the table and comes off the top with a double foot stomp. The table doesn’t break so he heads up for another go, this time making sure to put Crazy through it. At this point he starts mocking the beaten Crazy who is down on his knees which is all kinds of awesome. Irish whip reversal and Crazy with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker followed by a springboard moonsault. He throws Tajiri to the outside, nails him with a chair and they fight to the back. Moonsault off the bleachers through a table. Back in the ring and Crazy is laying in those kicks. Punches in the corner with the crowd counting along in Spanish, then Tajiri staggers to the opposite one and receives ten more with him now busted open like his opponent. Crazy whips him into the ropes, handspring elbow, but Crazy is back to his feet and levels him with a clothesline. He crotches Tajiri on the top rope and a springboard back heel kick to the head for a two. A great spot where Crazy has Tajiri backed up against the ropes slapping his chest, he catches a kick, but Tajiri then reverses it into the tarantula. Kick to the groin and a lovely German suplex for a near fall. A baseball slide dropkick sends Crazy over the guard rail and into the front row, and Tajiri with an Asai moonsault out onto him. He brings a table in the ring and sets it up in the corner, but he’s taken took long and is met by a glorious missile dropkick from Crazy. As Tajiri rolls to the floor for a breather, Crazy collects a table of his own and sets it up in the opposing corner. Tajiri is back on the apron and he’s got the ring wrench in his hand. Back kick to Crazy and he starts driving the wrench into his mouth. Crazy ducks a kick, boot to the mid-section and he goes to powerbomb Tajiri through a table. Tajiri blocks it and blows the mist in Crazy’s eyes. He leaps off the table, but Tajiri catches him, runs to the opposite corner and powerbombs him through that table for the win. That finishing sequence just there was outstanding.

 

Excellent match. Tajiri is just so good here. He’s methodical, calculated, everything he does has a meaning and a purpose. There is a legitimate air of ‘I don’t give a shit’ about him when he’s firing those chairs at Crazy’s head and they go flying into the crowd. His mannerisms and charisma are off the chart on this one. Even when something goes ‘wrong’ like the double footstomp through the table, if you didn’t know better you would have thought that was meant to happen. The guy is a consummate pro, covers it perfectly and just does it again. Compare this with how Ric Blade behaved when he botched the leg drop against Low Ki. Crazy’s comeback seemed a bit out of place considering the beating he had just taken, maybe fire back with some punches first before going into the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and springboard moonsault! The finishing stretch is tremendous and the best I’ve seen in the year so far. By the way I wish Hat Guy and his pal would sit the fuck down! Boy would I hate to be at the Arena and be sat behind that pair!

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  • 1 month later...

This was a very fun match that incorporated a variety of unique and impressive spots without ever feeling like they were simply setting up stunts with no idea what to do in between. I'm not quite as high on this as some others, perhaps because it seemed to end in a flash without building much along the way. On the other hand, I'm a big fan of matches that don't overstay their welcome and maintain focus the whole way through. The mixture of spots were impressive but they also had some impressively organic transitions, particularly given this type of match.

 

***1/2

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  • 4 months later...

I was always confident that this is my favourite ECW match ever but, having not seen it for years, I can safely say that opinion hasn't changed one bit. I think this a top 5 OAT performance from Tajiri in conveying total, unhinged lunacy in a wrestling ring. Just about everything he does is laced with malice and psychopathy; that second chair he skims across the table goes flying straight into the front row and all he does is sarcastically bow and spit on the fans complaining! He drives both his feet into Crazy's stomach twice and gets down on his knees to mock him! He picks up the remnants of a table and just chucks it over the top rope like he's finished discarding a murder weapon and, the wrench! The shot of him slowly walking into the ring, wrench in hand and evil in his eyes is absolutely incredible and then he proceeds to try and rip Crazy's teeth out before, once more, nonchalantly throwing the wrench into the air, not giving one shit about the assembled audience. It really does come across like a man who is just totally focused on destroying his enemy, with absolutely no consideration for whoever happens to get in his way. ECW had incredible angles throughout its years but it never had a match that came close to this.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

In s match like this, what Im looking for is hatred, a feeling of chaos, blood, and crazy spots that are built to well. This delivered on all fronts as far as Im concerned. Tajiri comes off as sadistic with his kicks and mockig and like chad says, Joey Styles really puts over the progression of the feud. Its at the arena so obviously its feels wild. The crowd brawling leading up to the big moonsault was really well done, same with the Asai moonsault over the railing by Tajiri and the table spots in the ring. Super Crazy has a nice comeback that suffers from no-selling and doesnt feel fully earned but again, Im not really looking for that here.

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  • 2 months later...

This was awesome. Tajiri was out for blood and was just killing Super Crazy his kicks were great and he had the crowd at the tip of his fingers. The spot with Tajiri throwing the chairs down the table were great. Then a good come back from Super Crazy with great spots the moonsault from the bleachers, from someone who didn't really enjoy the Tajiri vs. Super Crazy matches for most of 1999, this was fantastic.

 

****

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  • 4 months later...

Man, this was great. First, Super Crazy was great here, he mad Tajiri's stuff looked good, had a great comeback, and delivered in the finish. But DAMN, Tajiri was incredible. He came off as a complete unpredictable lunatic who did not care about anything else but destroying his opponent. The launching of chairs off the table was absolutely bonkers, and I loved when he mocked Super Crazy. Just an incredible brawl that transcends the ECW style.

 

****1/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-01-21-ECW-TNN] Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Mexican Death)
  • 3 months later...

I think even more highly of this now than I used to. Tajiri is near-otherworldly in being a little scumfuck bastard. Sliding the chair across the table didn't even work the first time so he had little reason to try it again, but he seemed to do it just to amuse himself and maybe get an audience member in the forehead. There were barely any moves used in the half of the vid but I don't know if a single one of them could have been taken out without losing something, right down to Crazy repeatedly punching Tajiri on the table to make sure he stays down. I forgot how great the finish was, total last minute desperation from Crazy after taking the mist. I could probably watch this a half dozen more times right now and not get fed up of it.

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