It's the last real day of spring break, so naturally I'm sitting on the couch watching wrestling. I'm trying to participate in the Best of the 2000s Japan wrestling project, but I've fallen behind my original schedule of one match a day. This is due in August, so it's time to start binge watching. Today I start 2002. Let's settle in for the long haul.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW - Feb 24, 2002
Tenryu has been a top three wrestler in this project for me. I love mean old bastards roughing up younger guys and Tenryu is the pinnacle of that. Kojima plays the unfortunate youngster this time. At about 31 years old, Kojima is hardly a kid, but next to Tenryu he might as well be. Kojima came back at Tenryu with tons of fire. The lariats Kojima hit on Tenryu looked killer, but Tenryu wasn't going to lose that easily. I loved Tenryu beating Kojima into the ground with chops but then falling back into the ropes, grimacing in pain once he saw Kojima wouldn't see it.
Match Rating: ****3/4
Jushin Liger & Wataru Inoue vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - NOAH - Feb 17, 2002
Liger and Inoue jump Kanemaru and Kikuchi as the bell rings. The four brawl for the next few minutes until things settle down. The crowd roars their disapproval whenever Liger or Inoue interfere. Liger is such a phenomenal dickhead. The NOAH fans want their guys to win so badly that they don't even care when Kanemaru puts his feet on the rope for a pin attempt. The wrestling match breaks down into a straight up fight for a few seconds here and there, really cementing the animosity. Liger flops around like crazy when Kikuchi gets him in an armbar and he makes his desperate attempts to get the ropes so dramatic. Kanemaru even uses one of Liger's finishers on Inoue to seal a victory.
Match Rating: ****1/4 and the best juniors match so far in the set. As if I didn't like this enough, there's a twenty man brawl at the end. I can't resist a big brawl while the timekeeper furiously wails away on the bell.
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - NOAH - Feb 17, 2002
Another huge tag match from the same night. This one is a "SPECIAL MATCH" if the signs are being honest with me. Misawa and Nagata start it off but it's Akiyama vs. Kobashi the fans are dying to see. Nagata works a more methodical pace than Akiyama, who's going full bore at Kobashi and Misawa. That is until Kobashi and Nagata start smacking and chopping the crap out of each other. Interesting how the ref didn't care at all the Akiyama was in the ring, standing watch over Misawa when Nagata had Kobashi in a leg lock. I guess it doesn't matter if he doesn't attack Kobashi? The closing stretch is good, but today is the odd chance that I can say there was a better tag match on the same card. Akiyama getting the pin on Kobashi seems huge, but the crowd went silent for it.
Match Rating: ****
Masato Tanaka (c) vs. Shinya Hashimoto - ZERO1 - Mar 2, 2002
Tanaka already dropped a lot of his ECW baby fat. He's not as ripped as he is today, but the transition is starting. Tanaka kicks the belt away at the start, which infuriates Hashimoto. Hashimoto is bent on punishing Tanaka with an ass whooping. Tanaka bumps and sells more and more as Hashimoto continues the beat down. Tanaka pounces on Hashimoto for a pin the moment he gets Hashimoto down. He obviously wants nothing to do with this fight. Tanaka gets this look of "I'm sorry, please stop kicking my ass." Hashimoto finally obliges with a sick brainbuster.
Match Rating: ***1/2 but one of the stand out matches for what it is. Plays like a very extended squash.
Yuji Nagata (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama - NJPW - May 2, 2002
This must have been a TV broadcast, because there are a couple of Japanese commercials cut in before the match starts. Takayama is legitimately huge. At 198 cm, he towers over Nagata. Nagata starts wearing down Takayama early. Nagata makes every blow Takayama lands seem like it could be the end. I'm a fan of that. Nagata flinghing himself at the ropes when Takayama sets up for a German got a laugh out of me, but it emphasized how dangerous Takayama is. Nagata howls to show his fighting spirit but has to clutch the top rope to even stand at the same time. Nagata and Takayama start trading forearms. That evolves into trading rights. Nagata wins with two high kicks, the second smashing into the side of Takayama's head.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima - AJPW - Jul 17, 2002
I skipped a few matches that I'll have to go back and see just so I could get to the rematch right away. The crowd chants "Kojima" while Tenryu looks as stoic as ever. Tenryu cornered Kojima early on in the first match with strikes and chops. This time Kojima evens the score. Tenryu drives Kojima back into the corner during a test of strength not long after. The crowd knows what's going to happen. Kojima knows what's going to happen. Kojima pushes back with all his might to get out of that. What a tease. Kojima starts targeting Tenryu's knee. Tenryu throws a great jab, probably because he's punching Kojima square in the face.
Kojima keeps going back at Tenryu's knee whenever he gets in trouble. Tenryu actually has to roll out of the ring and take a moment to let the pain subside. Tenryu's favorite spot on the other hand is throwing Kojima into the corner then jabbing and chopping the hell out of him. I love it way more when he does it than when Kobashi does it his style. Holy hell Tenryu just did a suicide dive through the ropes. Kojima returns that with a plancha of his own. Tenryu's selling of his knee is phenomenal. He limps across the ring as he runs from an Irish whip. Kojima won't stop targeting it with stomps, a figure four, and then a sharpshooter.
Kojima mimmicks Tenryu's chops and punches in the corner. Unlike the first match, he has to sell this time around and he isn't hiding his pain. He fixes his knee pad every chance he gets. Tenryu's mannerisms never cease to amaze me. The little things he does get the crowd going, like the face and gesture he makes when Kojima falls over as he tries to stand after a German suplex.
The crowd wants Kojima to win this one so badly. Tenryu tries a brainbuster, which ended the first match, but Kojima slips out and counters with an Ace crusher. Tenryu hits the brainbuster on the second try, but he's too hurt to get the cover quickly. He stumbles over and flops onto Kojima, who kicks out at two. Tenryu sets Kojima up for the spider German like the first match. It lands, but Kojima rolls away from the back elbow drop that follows. Kojima lands an avalanche Ace crusher. Tenryu gets a foot on the rope before the three.
Tenryu chops Kojima before he can hit a lariat. It stuns him for a second, but Kojima comes right back with it a moment later. Both men are down and have to slowly scrape themselves up. They trade hard, hard shots. Especially Tenryu's chops. Another brainbuster. Tenryu immediately brings Kojima back up. A second brainbuster in a row. Kojima kicks out!
Tenryu clenches his fist, sizing Kojima up for a lariat. Kojima blocks it. He shoots Tenryu into the ropes and lariats him on the rebound. Two count. The crowd buys every nearfall and so do I. The camera keeps switching to an overhead angle when both men are down, which is a visual I love. Tenryu boots Kojima's arm when Kojima tries another lariat. More chops, then a fourth brainbuster. And a fifth! Kojima gets up, filled with fighting spirit. He stumbles into the ropes and springs back with a lariat. Tenryu kicks out at two. This is nuts.
Both men trade chops again until a SIXTH brainbuster puts Kojima down. Tenryu has to slowly roll onto him. Kojima kicks out at two. Tenryu's pissed. He chops the hell out of Kojima. No more brainbusters. It's powerbomb time. He plants Kojima back into the mat and folds him in half. Kojima can't kick out of this one.
Match Rating: ***** Superb. Not perfect, but the complaints I have feel more like nitpicks when weighed against the intensity and drama of the match. There's a fighting spirit spot, which I'm not a big fan of by nature, but I think Kojima does it about as good as it can be done. He gives up going after Tenryu's knee, but after a while he clearly wanted to put the old man away. The near falls were about to get excessive at the end but Tenryu picked the right moment to finish the job and he did it with something different to boot. Loved it. Best match of the set so far.
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