Super Generation Army Meets Takayamamania

Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi VS Jun Akiyama/Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 9/16/2000

CJD: So this isn't my Kikuchi white whale I alluded to. And you want to know the damndest thing John? I saw it out on the internet seas. But that's the thing about white whales, isn't it? Sometimes you'd rather know they're out there waiting for you than actually catch them. I decided I wanted a different flavor of Kikuchi, and there's nothing quite like year one NOAH. File this under matches we might've seen before. But how the hell am I not going to play this forward?? This had me riveted. All four guys brought such a great dynamic. This is a match that sets the table more than it feasts, but I am so so okay with that. And I know you have time to sink your teeth into a main course with whatever you play back! This match made me think of you through and through my friend.

JJZ: Oh baby are you hitting me right in the heart with this one. I could watch early NOAH all day! I'm assuming this is building to the 12/23/2000 singles match between Akiyama and Kobashi. Just wanna say that Takayama's German to Kikuchi was RIDICULOUS. I'll totally agree this match was all about setting the table and they did it so fucking well. Something often missing from modern puro. The energy and excitement coming from the crowd of the new born promotion was felt through the screen. It is really impressive that even though Kikuchi is so under sized in this match he honestly makes the biggest impression. They way he puts his whole body into every movement makes him so easy to cheer for. Kobashi is the greatest of all time. Takayama is the standard for Japanese hoss wrestlers. And Akiyama. I don't know if he will ever be truly appreciated considering the shadows he had to come out from under. This match was wonderful.

Rookie Of The Year

Jun Akiyama VS Al Perez - AJPW 1/15/1993

JJZ: I was really in the mood for some young Akiyama. I honestly can't remember the last time I've watched a singles match of his this early in his career. I knew even going against a gaijin in Al Perez that he'd be working from under but I wanted to see that dynamic. I haven't watched an Al Perez match in years. I remember always liking him but thinking he never reached his full potential. He did some really cool shit in this one. His strength took me by surprise a little bit. Perez threw Jun around like a little pup at times. Both guys showed a lot of good offense and took some brutal maneuvers from each other. The home stretch of this contest was the driving force of me playing it forward to you. Perez and Akiyama really showed out during it. Enjoy baby cakes.

CJD: Al Perez never reaching his full potential is very much his MO, I think even according to him, although maybe more for lack of opportunity. It's surprising after this match we didn't see more of Perez in AJPW. For that matter was he ever in ECW? It seems like a natural fit that Heyman would have found a great use for him when nobody else could. Either way he made the most of this opportunity with young prodigy Jun Akiyama. They put on one hell of an undercard match, with real struggle, peaks and valleys. I really enjoyed their chemistry and then that finishing stretch totally had me hooked. Great find I had no idea ever happened, my partner in crime!

Is The Great Zebra White With Black Stripes Or Is It Black With White?

Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga VS Jun Akiyama/Maunakea Mossman - AJPW 6/9/2000

CJD: We've been talking music while reviewing our matches lately. First albums, demos, quoting lyrics. Well I'm going to roll with it. Your previous Shiga match was like an EP that introduces an exciting new sound for the band. This Shiga match is like the album that follows up that EP and delivers on all that promise and then some. You talked a lot in your review of your match about how things felt fresh. I agree completely and 1999/2000 AJPW desperately needed that fresh coat of paint. And even though everyone here was still in the Burning stable and these teams were just having a little competitive rivalry, you could feel that there was much, much more on the line. I've always had a soft spot for Shiga and Mossman (the future Taiyo Kea), and it's because sometimes you'll stumble onto awesome matches like this from both. This match is made by the hierarchy that Kobashi and Akiyama bring, and their performances are phenomenal. But dare I say our MDTSOCWWKD Champion of the week, Kentaro MFing Shiga, is the star of this show!

JJZ: Wow. This match. I can't believe we are stilling finding these wonderful gems 24 years after the fact. The energy between Akiyama and Kobashi was vibrating off the screen. But the shing star of this match was SHI fucking GA. The way he was demanding to start. And then when Jun wouldn't start the match with him, he just picked his spot and took him out. Well Godamn son, go and take it then. This is why I will always say this is the greatest wrestling ever. And this is what Japan nowadays is missing. At the end of the day this is two vets, a green horn and a guy would I'm not sure his level of Pro but I'd guess it about fourth or fifth year, just putting in work. If the same top guys worked a tag with a mix of experience like this today in NJPW, they'd definitely treat it as a rest match. I hope all that made sense. Also all four guys told a complete story that anyone could understand in any language. Also, that finish was sick!

She Used My Head Like An Exploder

Jun Akiyama VS Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - NOAH 10/13/2006

JJZ: This match has all sorts of familiar feels to it so I wouldn't be surprised if you showed me this bad boy before. This was 2006, seeing Akiyama in the blue tights is awesome. Curious the backstory of this one? Doing a quick search didn't provide any answers. They really laid into each here. I expect a Kikuchi beatdown so I wasn't surprised by the match psychology. Love love love NOAH strong style. I watched this match like a little kid watching Saturday morning cartoons. Hope you enjoy my friend.

CJD: Seek knowledge and you shall receive my friend! This match was a month after Jun lost the GHC Heavyweight Title and was wearing his old trunks and working the undercard to make good on a deal with Kikuchi. So this match was the culmination of a small redemption storyline where he was proving himself to his old friend. I fucking love Jun Akiyama. This is just a small example of how he puts so many narrative touches into his career. And into his matches, where he constantly finds ways to challenge the audience's expectations. I bought on so many little moments of this match for example that would be throwaway spots for 99% of wrestlers. Kikuchi was such a game opponent and I was right there with you sitting cross legged Saturday morning with a bowl of Golden Grahams in my lap. Oh and by the way I loved this match if you couldn't tell!

No Fear, Fear Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Jun Akiyama VS Yoshihiro Takayama - AJPW 1/9/2000

CJD: I had so many directions to go playing a match forward this week. I watched some SUWA. I watched some Rikio. Nothing bad but nothing that was an open and shut case. Then I found this match and said "oh my." And I watched it, and it's simple, and it's not perfect, but for a match you've never heard of between these two legends, pre "great" Takyama, this is pretty fantastic. Exactly what this match should accomplish at this point in their careers and then some. Akiyama looks so fully realized at this point that it's strange he was so up and down throughout his NOAH career a few years later. But as for AJPW, we say it's the gift that keeps giving, and even in 2000, behold yet another gift.

JJZ: Fuck you for saying this match isn't perfect. For what they were going for with the talent they got it was perfect. All the big Japanese promotions of today could learn a shit ton from this match. Two pegged future stars that produce a stiff as hell psychology based match in under 15 minutes? I love NJPW but I think they are not aware a match doesn't have to be 25 plus minutes. Let's talk finish. Damn boy. You see that coming? I didn't. Totally surprised me. And jesus, how the hell do we keep finding these amazing matches from pre-NOAH AJPW. Now I get to go watch a bunch of Takayama matches!!!! (editor's note: he means Akiyama)

El Diablo Is To Blame

Jun Akiyama/Makoto Hashi/Yoshinobu Kanemaru VS Shinjiro Otani/Kazunari Murakami/Tatsuhito Takaiwa - NOAH 12/2/2006

CJD: You've got me feeling those mid 2000s puro feels right now. It seems to me that by the end of the decade Japanese wrestling settled into a landscape that is largely still the same today, but what a ride it was from 2000-2006. These 6 men put in some serious work in that era and this cast of characters plus a classic NOAH 6 man undercard match plus hot interpromotional action and this is about as 2006 as a match can be. We were watching so much NOAH in this time period that either one of us may have seen this match. But I checked my notes and I don't think I ever played it for you at least. And it didn't jog any memories and there's a headbutt that I certainly won't ever forget after watching this time. Not 2021 approved, that's for sure. This is the Murakami I'm used to. This is the type of Otani and Akiyama performance that has both perpetually fighting for spots in my all-time top 10. This is Hashi fighting from under like only he could. This is my kind of pro wrestling through and through and I have a sneaking suspicion it's in your wheelhouse as well.

JJZ: Man, this was the golden era of NOAH. When was the last time you got excited to watch a puro six man? I tried really hard to watch all the NOAH and NJPW six man matches that should have been good over the past few years and they always fell flat with a tempered crowd. But this ain't that. This is heat and anger and toughness and stiffness. Six wrestlers all wanting to put on a bust ass match that no one would be able to follow. This match was full of ass clinching spots and strikes that left me saying "that's gotta hurt!" to myself. I don't know if this was the main event of the show [editor's note - it wasn't] but it should have been. Super fun stuff.

Blue Thunder Goes Grey

https://rutube.ru/video/54cebe2c7887d48526a1c8ab7e9933a1/

Jun Akiyama/Takao Omori (c) VS Daisuke Sekimoto/Ryuji Ito - AJPW World Tag Team Championship 10/21/2017

CJD: I went down a bit of a rabbit hole deciding which direction to go with Akyiama as the third MDTSOWWKD Champion. You gave me a match in his "prime" which is a debatable term with a pro wrestler that never faltered through three decades of greatness. I wanted to high lite either super rookie or super vet Akiyama instead and there's a wealth of material either way. I ended up picking this match for a few reasons... Burning Wild, the team of Akiyama and Omori, had a great run around this time. Sekimoto is as you well know a personal favorite and almost an adopted AJPW native at this point. BUT, this is the most "invader" tag he could challenge with teaming with Ryuji Ito, who as much as I hate to admit it, is a deathmatch legend. So we have two homegrown talents from a deathmatch focused company, one who is the best pure pro wrestling heavyweight they have ever produced, the other who was the Ace of the deathmatch division at a time when they badly needed to rebuild after CZW almost destroyed them. They are going up against two of the senior most puroresu heavyweights still wrestling at this time and two absolute traditionalists. This has some rough moments because, if we're going to be honest, Omori and Ito are not great pro wrestlers. But it's fun, it plays on knowing hierarchy and character which are themes I want to focus on, and it's a great example of super veteran Akiyama. My apologies if Russian Youtube splices some ads in!

JJZ: I can honestly say I never thought I'd see Ito and Akiyama share a ring together. This is the most recent Akiyama match I've seen and he can still go. Watching the former Triple Crown Champion trade blows with Sekimoto was awesome. Ito and Omori had smaller roles in this match but did them very well. Loved the atomic drop. You could tell Sekimoto was pulling his blows a little bit which makes sense to show respect to the vets. Good stuff overall.

All Hail The Rat King

Jun Akiyama VS Yoshinari Ogawa - AJPW 9/11/1998

JJZ: Really hope you never seen this, loved this match. I know there are only 4 pillars of heaven but these 2 would be the 5th and 6th imo. And I ain't even an Ogawa fan. Super fun match here, Akiyama edges out Ogawa in every category but Ogawa combats that by cutting corners and playing a little dirty. Very surprising that the crowd was behind Ogawa in this match but it made for a great dynamic.

CJD: Ogawa is hilarious in that he's so far off from what we want from the King's Road style but he's so so good at what he does. We hated him when we were younger but we definitely can appreciate what he was going for these days. I loved this, especially that it's from a time when finishing stretches were a little simpler for a match like this. Straight forward and a total blast. When we started planning this project I don't think either of us with a 100 guesses would have predicted Rat Boy as our second champ!