By the end of the Hobbit 2, you are supposed to be rooting for Smaug, right? He is like Ric Flair without the bitches. He has all the gold. He is a badass. He is outnumbered and still kicking ass. All Gold Everything. I would totally watch a sitcom of Smaug and the Mad Elvin King of Mirkwood pick p chicks that would be most excellent.
Yoshihiro Takayama is most famous for his brutal 2002 Pride MMA fight with Don Frye where he lasted 6 minutes and was absolutely brutalized. Even though he lost, he became an overnight sensation in Japan because of the great fighting spirit he showed in the beating he took. Before this infamous fight, Takayama was a midcard shoot-style wrestler for Nobuhiko Takada's UWFi. The Japanese shoot-style promotions were closest of all wrestling promotions to mimic an actual fight and treat pro wrestling as an actual sporting contest. RINGS, the shoot-style promotion where Fedor Emelianenko got his start, would eventually become a legitimate MMA promotion. These promotions (RINGS, Pancrase etc) blurred the lines between reality and fiction so well that Sherdog still considers some RINGS worked match as legitimate shoots. The founder of Pride, Nobuhiko Takada was actually the founder of Takayama's first promotion, UWFI. At the turn of the century there was a major MMA boom in Japan, which saw a lot of shoot-style competitors like Takayama get drafted into MMA. Some like Kazushi Sakaruba nicknamed the Gracie Hunter (how badass is that) thrived in this environment, but others like Takayama may have been good at exhibitions were not suited for legitimate competition.
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| OW! |
In 1996, UWFi collapsed after a feud with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Takayama, a mid-carder in the promotion, joined All Japan Pro Wrestling. After Giant Baba's death, he was pushed in a tag team with Takao Omori as NO FEAR. Unlike most of the native Japanese roster of All Japan, these wrestlers were willing to be full-fledged heels in ring adding a unique dynamic to their matches. They were instantaneously pushed up the card winning both the All Asia and Double Cup Tag Team titles, Omori was the 2000 Champions Carnival Finalist and Takayama was a challenger for the Triple Crown. When Mitsuharu Misawa led his mass exodus from All Japan, Takayama was tapped for a key role as the finalist in the GHC Heavyweight Title Tournament losing to Ace, Misawa. In 2002, he declared free agency in order to pursue the big paydays of MMA and to work more for New Japan.
It would prove to be the biggest year of Takayama's career as he headlined the Dome against Nagata for the IWGP Championship, '02 IWGP G-1 Climax Finalist, Won GHC Heavyweight Championship and had the famous fight with Don Frye. Takayama was pushed in these roles because of his outstanding performances in the ring and the interesting he added to all his matches because of his size and willingness to heel it up. Takayama is a billed 6' 5'' 290 lbs, which is an absolute monster by puroresu standards. In the WWE, he would be a big guy, but would not be treated on the same scale as Big Show. In Japan, he was one humongous dude. In addition this giant of a man was not afraid to cheat like a muthafucka and be as cocky as hell. He could kick your ass on the mat, with his strike, with power Everest German and of course by using underhanded tactics. When you take the David vs. Goliath dynamic and add the fact that Goliath is a dirty, rotten cheating prick, you only elevate the drama of the match that is what Takayama brought to his matches. This played well against natural babyfaces like Kenta Kobashi, whose fired-up comebacks meant just that much more when you saw Takayama outright disrespecting him throughout the match. In 21st century puroresu, there is really no wrestler quite like Takayama.
It would prove to be the biggest year of Takayama's career as he headlined the Dome against Nagata for the IWGP Championship, '02 IWGP G-1 Climax Finalist, Won GHC Heavyweight Championship and had the famous fight with Don Frye. Takayama was pushed in these roles because of his outstanding performances in the ring and the interesting he added to all his matches because of his size and willingness to heel it up. Takayama is a billed 6' 5'' 290 lbs, which is an absolute monster by puroresu standards. In the WWE, he would be a big guy, but would not be treated on the same scale as Big Show. In Japan, he was one humongous dude. In addition this giant of a man was not afraid to cheat like a muthafucka and be as cocky as hell. He could kick your ass on the mat, with his strike, with power Everest German and of course by using underhanded tactics. When you take the David vs. Goliath dynamic and add the fact that Goliath is a dirty, rotten cheating prick, you only elevate the drama of the match that is what Takayama brought to his matches. This played well against natural babyfaces like Kenta Kobashi, whose fired-up comebacks meant just that much more when you saw Takayama outright disrespecting him throughout the match. In 21st century puroresu, there is really no wrestler quite like Takayama.
While I enjoyed Takayama's individual performances, most of the matches did not live up as all-time classics. The one match that I thought was a clear-cut Match of the Decade contender was the match against Kenta Kobashi in 2000 for the Triple Crown. (I gave this match *****, which means so much because I have been giving out star ratings for all of 3 months :) ) He worked best against Kobashi because Kobashi is the most American of the puroresu wrestlers. He wrestles like an American babyface with dramatic selling and fired-up comebacks. Since Takayama's heel character is something you find more in America than in Japan it is sensible that he meshed better with the more "American" Kobashi. Whereas, the Misawa matches were a bit underwhelming (very good, just not all-time classics) because Takayama's heel was mixed with stoicism of Misawa. It just did not feel as urgent or dramatic as the Kobashi match. The other matches with Nagata and Nishimura also had contrasting styles issues where Nishimura seemed to be overtly self-indulgent and Nagata was focused on getting himself over New Japan's shoot-style pro wrestling champion. I have seen from these matches that Takayama is a wrestler that always puts on an interesting performance, but his uniqueness does not always mesh with his opponents. I look forward to watching more Takayama especially revisiting the heralded 2004 GHC title match against Kenta Kobashi.
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| What a photogenic wrestler! |
The rankings for the Best of Puroresu from 2000-2009 thus far:
1. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00
2. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01
3. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01
4. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokoyo Dome Non-Title
5. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00
6. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00
7. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00
8. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02
9. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01
10. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayma - Tokyo Dome 05/02
11. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final
12. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals
13. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin
14.. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01
4. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokoyo Dome Non-Title
5. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00
6. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00
7. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00
8. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02
9. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01
10. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayma - Tokyo Dome 05/02
11. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final
12. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals
13. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin
14.. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01
BONUS MATCH: Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - 2000 Champions Carnival Final
I understand why this match has a big rep as you get well-executed leg work from Omori and then a gangbusters finish stretch from Kobashi with Kobashi finally winning the Champions Carnival, but I did feel everything connected and that this was a true classic match. I liked where they went with Omori hitting basement dropkick on the knee as a last ditch effort to avoid the match becoming a rout. He gave a great performance in destroying the leg, but rather than the constant callbacks and battling through the pain in the Takayama match we get the Kobashi fireworks show at the end. Dont get me wrong, I dig some high end offense, but it felt arbitrary and capricious. It was like Kobashi said ok no more leg work time to give the folks the grand finale. Judging by the reaction of the two good-looking ladies in the front row thats what they wanted. It just killed the drama of the match. The hook went from being Kobashi overcoming a knee injury to Kobashi's badass offense.
Omori starts off with the weakest slap in history when he backed Kobashi into the ropes. I just shake my head. Kobashi overwhelms Omori with chops and kicks his ass on the outside. Omori takes a pretty wicked Bret-style bump into the railing. For all my criticism, Omori left it all in the ring for this match. I liked Kobashi's short knee lifts into an ab stretch thats really sound psychology and I like that he uses that as a routine spot. Omori tries a fishhook to get out and I loved that. There is an epic suplex struggle (common All Japan spot at this point, this one was the best so far) and Omori bails on it to hit a dropkick to knee. Immediately, the entire complexion of the match changes from Kobashi's domination to Omori consolidating an advantage. On the outside he basically throws Kobashi onto the announce table in a sweet spot. Omori does a great job working over the knee with an assortment of submissions (half-crab, figure-4, and Scorp Deathlock). Kobashi just chops him in the head to build his comeback. Omori cuts him off and hits a missile dropkick for 2. Kobashi misses a spinning back hand chop and Omori hits rolling dragon suplexes for 2. It is about here when I know we are just going for a bomb throwing finish. Kobashi starts throwing suplexes, but Omori actually cuts off the moonsault attempt by attacking the knee. He hits a monster knee drop. If you are an offense mark, you will love this shit. After Omori only get a 2 after a lariat, Kobashi just takes this muthafucker to the woodshed. At first Omori struggles, but Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex. Omori is struggling as Kobashi goes for a powerbomb, so Kobashi smites him with a Burning Lariat. Kobashi hoists Omori up and you can tell he is going for the turnbuckle powerbomb but misses. So he powerbombs him again onto the turnbuckle, but Omori's legs were under the rope. Omori's eyes tell the story: the lights are on, but no one is home. Kobashi hits a half-nelson suplex, crowd erupts for the Burning Lariat and then Kobashi hits THE MOTHER OF ALL BURNING LARIATS to win!
Look, I don't think it is a transcendent match because of disjointed it is and that it felt like an exhibition of Kobashi's Godly Offense rather than a real struggle. However, as far as fireworks spectacles go this pretty fuckin awesome. Omori is totally game and plays his part well. Omori hit a monster top rope knee drop and did some great leg work. Kobashi is an offense god and if you love offense this is your match. ****
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All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - 05/26/00
All Hail Yoshihiro Takayama! Black hair Takayama is just as much of bad ass muthafucka as bleach blond Takayama in heeling it up. It is such a great change of pace from the typical King's Road style to have a native play a heel so convincingly. I have not re-watched the '04 Kobashi/Takayama (which is a favorite going into the poll), but I really dug this match a whole lot and would put it up there with Mutoh/Tenryu and Misawa/Akiyama as the best match so far.
During the pre-match rules and bullshit, Takayama just kicks Kobashi in the head with a big boot and pounces. What a prick. That's the story of this match Kobashi has to overcome the fact that he has an opponent that is not above taking shortcuts and has his partner, Omori outside ready to assist. Kobashi fires up and lights up Takayama. If Kobashi ever worked America for a sustained time in the 90s, he would have been excellent at babyface shines. As he was great at beating Takayama from pillar to post outside the ring. Kobashi looks to finish it early or at least take a commanding lead with a back body drop driver. Takayama knows that could spell the end and dead weights him. He gets a double leg takedown and just will not let go of that cross-armbreaker. Takayama will constantly use arm attack cutoffs for the rest of the match now that he was able to debilitate a body part of Kobashi. Takayama does not relent in being a heel he uses the railing, he steps on his throat and does a cocky cover. Takayama just plain gets it. At some point, Kobashi's eye has swollen shut and I have neglected to mention how friggin' hard they are hitting each other. Kobashi fires up again and gets a flurry of chops in the corner, but Omori gets up on the apron and Kobashi hits him with a spinning back hand chop to teach him a lesson. However that distraction is enough time for Takayama to kick the arm. Takayama follows up with great arm work, but Kobashi chops out of the armbreaker and actually powders to put over how much damage was done to the arm. Now, Kobashi starts to string together a combination with suplexes and DDTs, but cant put Takayama away yet. Takayama is always cutting him off at the arm it is an incredibly focused performance. Kobashi is just in his element fighting from underneath. Kobashi hits a monster Fuck You Burning Lariat, but with the bad arm. Takayama gets his Everest German only for 2. Takayama frustrated begins to hit Kobashi with closed fists so Kobashi rallies with closed fists of his own, but with his bad arm just dangling at his side. It is an awesome visual. Takayama out of nowhere hits a German for two. This time Kobashi revved up hits Burning Lariat with the bad arm and wins!
Kobashi battling through the pain to finally hit his Lariat bad arm and all is just the perfect finish to an incredible match. I loved the pacing of the match with Kobashi early on pissed off at Takayama's blindside followed by Takayama grabbing a hold of an appendage and ripping it to shreds. Everything followed from that hook. Takayama was the consummate heel and Kobashi consummate babyface. Just when you think Kobashi is making his comback, Omori distracts him. Just when you think he will do it again, Takayama kicks him in the arm. Just when you think Takayama will win with his German Suplex, Kobashi fires up with fists of fury bad arm just dangling. For him to actually win with the bad arm Lariat was perfect because he did not no-sell it. He battled through pain. Takayama would never be able to inflict the amount of pain to break Kobashi's fighting spirit. I LOVED THIS MATCH! *****
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| Santa forgot one of your gifts! A string of pearls for your girls! ;) |
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - GHC Heavyweight Title Tournament Final 04/15/01
NOAH has existed since August of '00 based on a hot Kobashi/Akiyama feud, but eventually they would need a champion of their own. We see trusty Misawa pitted against the best native heel in Japan in the early '00s, Takayama. Misawa delivers a quintessential Misawa performance pretty much getting his ass kicked for 20 minutes before making his comeback with his elbows to fell the giant. In watching Misawa vs Takayama and Kobashi vs Takayama matches so close together, I believe the reason why Kobashi delivered better matches with Takayama is because he is more of a prototypical face (histrionics, fire and selling). Whereas, Misawa excels better at the nominally face vs face matches, but Doc, Taue or Kawada plays a more subtle heel where Takayama plays a more overt heel. Thus the more overt babyface Kobashi seems to have more classic matches. I am not saying this is a bad match, but I don't think it was anywhere near the '00 Kobashi match because Misawa's stoicism limited him against Takayama.
Takayama has such a great aura about him with the bleach blond hair and just how he carries himself. He feels like a big star. We get a slow start on the mat and it seems like Takayama gets the better of it at first and does his arrogant cover. Misawa elbows him out and hits his diving elbow. Misawa goes to his top rope diving elbow, but Takayama catches him with a knee lift and thus triggers the heat segment. They do a bit where Takayama is willing to take a countout or knockout victory to win the title instead of pinfall or submission. Misawa attempts to use the elbows as an equalizer, but ends up on the ramp where he eats a back drop and a huge knee to face back into the ring. That was a wicked, out of control knee. Takayama begins to trash talk Misawa and that incites a flurry of elbows from Misawa and a leg lace. Takayama cuts this off with a knee lift, but it is the wrong knee and he sells it! However, he gets a big boot and a roundhouse kick that totally puts CM Punk's to shame. Takayama looks to polish him off with two Everest German Suplexes but this is Misawa baby! The match picks up when Takayama kicks Misawa so hard in the neck that blood just starts pouring out of Misawa's neck/ear region. It is a nasty visual. Misawa is pissed and hits his double elbow connection that always looks brutal. Misawa decides he is going to attack the arm with some takedowns, which really went nowhere in the long run. Takayama hit a powerbomb out of a triangle choke which is always a cool visual. Misawa hits his Tiger Driver for 2 and we know that we are in the middle of Misawa's finish stretch, Takayama one-ups him with a release Tiger suplex but still only gets two. We get our first slugfest and it pits Takayama's big boot against Misawa's elbow. Is there anything more powerful than Misawa's elbow? Misawa hits this absolutely wicked elbow connection (the spinning back elbow was beyond sick) and then polishes him off with Emerald Flowsion.
The '01 match featured more of a Misawa beatdown, but a more compact Misawa comeback. The arm work at the end seemed so strange. It did not add anything. I am not saying Misawa has to hit all his moves in every match, but this felt like a mid-90s Savage match where he just takes heat the whole match and hits three moves to win. The '02 match has more of a struggle to it, but they run out of gas towards the finish. This one starts slow, but gets to a pretty satisfying conclusion. If forced to choose I would say the '02 match, but they are in same class of match. ***3/4
REWATCH THOUGHTS:
As I was progressing through the years, I could feel that I really short-changed this match.There is nothing from my initial review that really warrants such a low rating. I think I picked up on a lot more little details and totally agree that this should be a lot higher. Even if it was a slow start, it was a start that established Takayama was going to use his size to control Misawa on the mat and avoid the strikes. That is a pretty different game plan than I have seen against Misawa. We have seen Kawada attack the elbow and Kobashi just fight fire with fire. This is a more conservative that could pay dividends. The problem is Takayama's hubris gets the best of him. He goes for the one foot cover and then kick to the back and this wakes Misawa up. However, Takayama always has a cutoff. In this case, he catches Misawa off the top with a kick to the midsection, which Misawa sells really well. Another case was Takayama putting his hand over Misawa's mouth and talking trash. if you really think about it, there is something naturally upsetting about someone having their hand over your mouth. They are in a position of power and are controlling your ability to breathe and talk. So Misawa elbows the fuck out of him and then goes to the leg with a legbar for maybe 20-30 seconds. Takayama sells the leg better than pretty much any Tanahahasi opponent that has had his leg worked on for 5-10 minutes. Again Takayama has the answer with the knee lift, but can't fully capitalize due to that bad knee. Then we get that nearfall stretch with the struggle on the Everest Germans and Takayama's realization he is not just in there with anyone he is in there with Mitsuharu Fucking Misawa. The blood that stems from the kicks by Takayama is just the cherry on top to incredible heat segment that had stretched the entire match. After being covered with one foot and his mouth covered, this blood was the last injustice Misawa would suffer and he unloads with absolutely fucking sick two elbow to Takayama's face. It is a short and compact Misawa finish run, but it is one that is satisfying and appropriate. This is a lock for the teens of my top 100 now, but misses the Top 10 because my slight, slight issues with the slow start and the Misawa arm work that really did not feel as heated as the Elbows or go anywhere. I am picking nits, but you have to for the Top 10. ****3/4
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IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yuji Nagata vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Tokyo Dome 05/02
From winning the 2001 G-1 Climax to main eventing the 01/04 Dome against Akiyama, now Nagata defends the IWGP title against the shoot-style giant, Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama just carries himself so differently from a typical Japanese pro wrestler and at 6' 5'' he looks and wrestles like a giant in his match. He does not outright heel it up, but just his demeanor and his methodical pacing seems to mock the IWGP Champion and the crowd. He is a giant playing with his prey, before he breaks it into submission. Nagata looks a lot better in this match than Mutoh match as he is bringing it to the Bleach Blond Giant rather than reacting. It is not as good as Tenryu/Sasaki in terms of cementing a new champion, but Nagata earned a lot in terms of credibility by taking a lickin' and kept on tickin'. There is an gritty struggle to start on the mat that is how much the IWGP Championship means to these two combatants. Nagata gets a couple early slams (overhead belly to belly and back drop driver), but neither phases the monster, who shrugs them off. Nagata goes for the back drop driver again only to eat a German suplex and a roundhose kick to the head that knocks him out. Nagata's only option is to roll out of the ring. He does an excellent sell where he collapses on an irish whip. Takayama works an effective heat segment, just punishing Nagata with kicks. Nagata gets a hope spot in like a rolling heel hook out of a German suplex attempt, but Takayama cuts him off with a wicked kneelift. Then he starts to hulk-up, he kicks Takayama's base foot out from under him and roundhouse kicks him in the head to level the playing field. He slaps on his variation of the figure-4, but Takayama makes it to the ropes. Takayama hits a knee to the head and a slugfest breaks out. The punches are awfully weak and they punch each other at the same time. They get back up and slugfest ensues. Takayama whiffs on a roundhouse kick and Nagata hits two kicks to the head to win. ***3/4
They built the match up well with Nagata bringing the big moves early and Takayama established as this imposing tour de force he has to overcome. However, once they hit the Nagata Hulk-Up they lost me. The slugfests were a pretty lame to payoff the build. The build was David vs. Goliath and they paid it off with a toe to toe slugfest. It seemed too disjointed. Still, I like seeing Nagata as the champion bringing the offense to his opponent, which is a step-up from the Mutoh match.
REWATCH THOUGHTS:
Liked this a good deal more on the rewatch. At first this had a nice Clash of the Titans feel with the gritty grappling early and then Nagata scoring early throws. However, a weakish Takayama roundhouse kick puts Nagata in a hole. Takayama has such a great presence to him and really knows how to carry a heat segment. Nagata is effective when he put in a position to react against a charismatic figure. He is able to feed off the natural story of him being overmatched by the larger Takayama. I liked the leg sweep and follow up Nagata work. The match is hurt when they overreach and Nagata is overselling then still coming back.; The simultaneous punches leave a lot to be desired. I have it in the 60s, but a higher rating. ****1/4
REWATCH THOUGHTS:
Liked this a good deal more on the rewatch. At first this had a nice Clash of the Titans feel with the gritty grappling early and then Nagata scoring early throws. However, a weakish Takayama roundhouse kick puts Nagata in a hole. Takayama has such a great presence to him and really knows how to carry a heat segment. Nagata is effective when he put in a position to react against a charismatic figure. He is able to feed off the natural story of him being overmatched by the larger Takayama. I liked the leg sweep and follow up Nagata work. The match is hurt when they overreach and Nagata is overselling then still coming back.; The simultaneous punches leave a lot to be desired. I have it in the 60s, but a higher rating. ****1/4
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| His heart don't pump kool-aid |
Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax '02
Sasaki is wearing a doo-rag because he has cut the most bitchin' mullet of all time off. Mullet > Doo-rag. However, I cannot deny he is rover like over like this crowd and they may have been able to get a little bit more out of him before transitioning into the Nagata era. Sasaki looks to power straight through the monster early with lots of stiff shots to the mid-section and head. This flurry overwhelms the Bleach Blond Giant enough to hit a powerslam on the ramp and a brainbuster before a HUGE knee lift puts on a stop to that. The crowd even gasped for that kneelift. For all the love the lariat gets, the knee lift is just as badass. Takayama is his usual dickish self putting just one foot on Sasaki counting along. He hits a nice jumping knee on the ramp and then his jumping knee/butterfly suplex combo. A cocky Takayama lets Sasaki take a standing count only to eat a lariat, big mistake. Sasaki is able to apply the scorpion deathlock, but Takayama is too close to the ropes. They start trading wild forearms and this turns into a battle of the big boot versus the lariat. Some of those lariats by Sasaki were vicious and Takayama ate them like a champ. Takayama goes for the German. Sasaki blocks it and then throws Takayama to the ground on his jumping knee attempt. This time the lariat fells the giant. He signals for the Northern Lights Bomb and the crowd pops huge. It is academic as Sasaki picks up the points in this match. ***1/4
It felt like a really high-end TV match, just simple, but exciting spots strung together in a cogent fashion to advance the tournament. Takayama came off as a bigger prick in this match and someone you will root against from now. The big take home was just how over Sasaki was in this match. The home stretch is how they should have ended the Nagata match. Sasaki basically used Takayama's size against him when he threw him down and then hit his big finish to a nice pop.
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I wanted to like this, but it came off feeling too much like exhibition to me. There was no real sense of struggle or urgency until the latter stages of the match. There is no doubt that Nishimura was over like rover with the crowd, but I did not get the sense he really cared about winning the match. He seemed kind of like a hot dog showboat. I love Takayama, but he sort of just let Nishimura do stuff to him to pop the crowd. Nishimura has some neat little mat stuff, but it is way too cute for my taste. What bugged me the most about Nishimura' performance is how he totally no sold the cross armbreaker while in the hold. Talking about killing the drama. Even though, the crowd loved Nishimura, there seemed to be something so detestable about him. He just seemed so smug to me. Towards the end when Nishimura did a knee drop on Takayama's knee and then the figure-4, Takayama's selling finally drew me in. It finally felt like two people trying to win a match. Of course, I am going to call a spade a spade and Takayama just dropped the knee selling after that, which bothered me because Takayama working from underneath was an interesting dynamic. I have never seen Nishimura before but something about him did irk me so I did take personal pleasure when Takayama said enough with this bitchy little kicks and chopped the fuck out of his chest. Then he just chucks him across the ring twice. God Bless Takayama! That was pretty much the end of Nishimura. Nishimura get an ab stretch pin for a false finish that crowd bites on. Takayama, undeterred, hits him with an Everest German to pick up the victory.
Having only watched one match of Nishimura, I will continue to have an open mind about him that withstanding I was very underwhelmed by this match. It was a refreshing change of pace to see long stretches of matwork and no lariats, but I have seen better versions of this match and it really could have been so much more. There was plenty of good wrestling, but once again it felt like a Nishimura matwork exhibition. I thought Takayama supplied all the best parts and was the only one interested in selling during the majority of the match. It would have been cool to see Takayama work underneath if it was against a less self-indulgent opponent. It is a hard match to rate, but I will say ***1/4.
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Yoshihiro Takayama vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax '02 Semi-finals
I wanted to like this, but it came off feeling too much like exhibition to me. There was no real sense of struggle or urgency until the latter stages of the match. There is no doubt that Nishimura was over like rover with the crowd, but I did not get the sense he really cared about winning the match. He seemed kind of like a hot dog showboat. I love Takayama, but he sort of just let Nishimura do stuff to him to pop the crowd. Nishimura has some neat little mat stuff, but it is way too cute for my taste. What bugged me the most about Nishimura' performance is how he totally no sold the cross armbreaker while in the hold. Talking about killing the drama. Even though, the crowd loved Nishimura, there seemed to be something so detestable about him. He just seemed so smug to me. Towards the end when Nishimura did a knee drop on Takayama's knee and then the figure-4, Takayama's selling finally drew me in. It finally felt like two people trying to win a match. Of course, I am going to call a spade a spade and Takayama just dropped the knee selling after that, which bothered me because Takayama working from underneath was an interesting dynamic. I have never seen Nishimura before but something about him did irk me so I did take personal pleasure when Takayama said enough with this bitchy little kicks and chopped the fuck out of his chest. Then he just chucks him across the ring twice. God Bless Takayama! That was pretty much the end of Nishimura. Nishimura get an ab stretch pin for a false finish that crowd bites on. Takayama, undeterred, hits him with an Everest German to pick up the victory.
Having only watched one match of Nishimura, I will continue to have an open mind about him that withstanding I was very underwhelmed by this match. It was a refreshing change of pace to see long stretches of matwork and no lariats, but I have seen better versions of this match and it really could have been so much more. There was plenty of good wrestling, but once again it felt like a Nishimura matwork exhibition. I thought Takayama supplied all the best parts and was the only one interested in selling during the majority of the match. It would have been cool to see Takayama work underneath if it was against a less self-indulgent opponent. It is a hard match to rate, but I will say ***1/4.
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GHC Heaveyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02
The most in-demand puroresu star of 2002 continues his run of excellent matches against NOAH ace, Mitsuharu Misawa. Takayama won the GHC Title from Yoshinari Ogawa and was used as a high-profile transitional champion to Misawa to set up the famous 03/01/03 Misawa vs Kobashi encounter. In their match from 2001 to decide the first GHC Champion, I found the first half of the match to be sluggish before the dramatic home stretch seeing Misawa crowned as the GHC Champion with Emerald Flowsion. In this match, they cut a quick pace from the outset of this match and never really let up even though towards the end they did seem fatigued. This featured a great Takayama heel performance, which makes Misawa's famed extended comeback all the better. It all boils down to Misawa's elbow versus Takayama's size. Takayama started off dominating Misawa with an assortment of kicks that sent him out of the ring and reeling into the corner at different moments. Takayama boots him off the top turnbuckle. He sends him crashing into the railings before clobbering him with the big boot over the railing. Early on, it seems the size and power of Takayama will be too much for Misawa to handle. Takayama, cocky as ever, covers Misawa with one foot in the ring. They go back to a test of strength something Takayama had won early, but this time Misawa executes a fireman's carry out. During a Misawa chinlock, Takayama feigns choking so as to get the ref to break it. Takayama is fuckin awesome. Takayama dumps Msiawa out onto the apron only to be hit by a short-arm elbow and a running elbow over the top rope. A dropkick to the outside sets up Misawa's diving elbow, which looks particularly brutal given how Takayama lands and Misawa follows this up with another elbow from the apron sending Takayama through the railing. Misawa effectively began to use his elbow as his equalizer against Takayama. Takayama as devastating weapon of his own: the kneelift. He catches Misawa coming off the top with a wicked kneelift triggering big Misawa chants. Takayama hits a bridging butterfly suplex, never seen that one before, for two. There is a lame sequence of kicks that just kinda ends with a Misawa single-leg takedown. Here comes the Misawa offensive onslaught: roaring elbow, German, Tiger Driver, Frogsplash and facelock. Takayama throws him off on Tiger Suplex attempt. A roundhouse kick to the head ends a elbow versus boot exchange and gets two. Takayama just fucking unlodas with knees driving Misawa into the corner. He hits a dropkick to Misawa's face and another knee only to get two triggering more Misawa chants and causing a bloody lip. Takayama has proven he has bombs of his own that can counteract Misawa, but has not yet put him away. He signals for the German suplex; he hits it, but rolls through to hit another one and Misawa gets his foot on the rope. He goes for a capture German suplex, but Misawa turns that into a double underhook overhead belly to belly suplex (is there a shorter name for that. It feels like one of the IUPAC names for an organic molecule). You know they do a reverse tombstone piledriver spot in WCW. Well the try to do the same thing but with the Emerald Flowsion version of that and fuck it up resulting in a bloody nose for Takayama. They run through a sequence, but they seem blown up at this point. Misawa takes home with elbows and after a barrage of them wins his second GHC title. ***3/4
They lose a bit down the stretch, but it was a dramatic thrill ride as Misawa was able to vanquish the Bleach Blond Giant of Japan with his trusty elbow. Takayama laid a pretty damn good beating on Misawa. Those Takayama kneelifts were bitchin' as all hell. It is too bad they botched the Emerald Flowsion shot as it seemed to mess up their finish, but it was a very well built match.
RE-WATCH THOUGHTS:
If you combine the beginning of this match with the ending of the 2001 match, you probably have at the very worst a Top 5 Match of the Decade if not the best Match of the Decade. I really understood and was engaged by the beginning. This time Takayama is not trying to avoid the strikes Misawa. He is engaging Misawa head on as an equal. He is kicking his ass in a kickboxing match and in tests of strength. I loved Misawa restoring to a tight, tight headlock just to end the onslaught. Then when Takayama is being a dick about his chinlock and kneeing him in the head, he gets pissed and starts kneeing Takayama in the head. We never see that from Misawa. I loved Misawa diving elbow through the ropes. Takayama catches Misawa with a knee lift off the top and then sick butterfly suplex bridge and those wicked knees in the corner. At this point, I really thought this had Match of the Decade Contender written all over it. Then they just blew up. It was such a shame. It was still violent and really showcased Misawa overcoming Takayama. If only they had just enough gas to finish it out. I project this in the 30s.****1/4
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I have always liked Takayama and watching these matches only made me appreciate him more. I am about halfway done with the Rick Rude/Dustin Rhodes feud and working on getting all the Tenryu. Kawada and Kojima matches from 2000-2002 done. Until then, help my grassroots campaign to get Smaug & Mad Elvin King sitcome launched.
RE-WATCH THOUGHTS:
If you combine the beginning of this match with the ending of the 2001 match, you probably have at the very worst a Top 5 Match of the Decade if not the best Match of the Decade. I really understood and was engaged by the beginning. This time Takayama is not trying to avoid the strikes Misawa. He is engaging Misawa head on as an equal. He is kicking his ass in a kickboxing match and in tests of strength. I loved Misawa restoring to a tight, tight headlock just to end the onslaught. Then when Takayama is being a dick about his chinlock and kneeing him in the head, he gets pissed and starts kneeing Takayama in the head. We never see that from Misawa. I loved Misawa diving elbow through the ropes. Takayama catches Misawa with a knee lift off the top and then sick butterfly suplex bridge and those wicked knees in the corner. At this point, I really thought this had Match of the Decade Contender written all over it. Then they just blew up. It was such a shame. It was still violent and really showcased Misawa overcoming Takayama. If only they had just enough gas to finish it out. I project this in the 30s.****1/4
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| On Your Knees - W.A.S.P. |
I have always liked Takayama and watching these matches only made me appreciate him more. I am about halfway done with the Rick Rude/Dustin Rhodes feud and working on getting all the Tenryu. Kawada and Kojima matches from 2000-2002 done. Until then, help my grassroots campaign to get Smaug & Mad Elvin King sitcome launched.
Nice blog
ReplyDeleteAmazang
Good work
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