Low Ki vs. Bryan Danielson (RoH 3/30/2002)
Not as great as the JAPW match, but still insanely tightly worked,
stiff pro wrestling that blows away all the current wannabe shooters
(and everyone else too). They mostly struggle over holds while pounding
the daylights out of eachother. Kis stiffness was just crazy as he would
rough up Danielsons already bruised face with out of nowhere kicks. At
one point he just grabbed Bryans head and went loose with Kawada kicks
sending him to the outside. Most of this match was both guys fighting
over holds or working eachother over with stiff kicks and chops. Ki
blocking a Dragon Suplex only to be thrown with a back suplex was like
something out of 80s NJPW. I also loved how Ki, after choking the air
out of Danielsons lung would immediately follow up with double stomps to
the stomach. Unfortunately Danielson made an easy comeback soon after
that and the finishing stretch was not as great as the body of the match
as they mostly stick to throwing big old bombs back and forth for like
10 minutes. Still, match felt like a classic in large parts.
Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH 4/7/2002)
NOAH vs. NJ part two. Everyone is on fire! Liger is a no selling douche! Kikuchi is a mad old bugger who will take a chunk out of you without blinking! Clever nutshot spots! Mask ripping! Submissions are important! This match did a great job milking and amplifying the heat of the feud. Lean and strong pace with an emphasis on masks ripped open and nasty elbows from mount, this is the direction japanese wrestling should've kept going. Watch the backstage footage too!
Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton (NJPW 5/2/2002)
This is one of those feel good matches you can just back and enjoy every second of it. Basically Hashimoto & Ogawa waltz in and just destroy everything in their path. STOs, nasty kicks and chops and various cool combination moves abound. Norton & Tenzan don‘t stand much of a chance but they try. You get a great little Norton performance as he sells all the nasty chops and kicks he takes to his shoulder in a big way. There is an art to selling in such a way that everyone can emphatize with you even when you‘re a giant muscled up dude like Norton and he had it down. Tenzan also doesn‘t suck!
Antifaz/La Fiera/Safari vs. Averno/Mephisto/Zumbido (CMLL 1/11/2002)
his was given plenty of time. Cool 10 minute opening fall with Safari
looking especially slick, nice rudo beatdown with plenty of elaborate
double times and some more heated than usual exchanges between Safari and Mephisto, culminating in Safari
hitting a sick dive that Mephisto failed to catch properly, which only
increased the intensity. The main reason I'm adding this though was La
Fieras awesome performance. I didn't know he was even still around by
2002, but he looked like he had aged just right here. Basically acting
like Tenryu, working as "I've been doing this for 30 years and I'm
hurting in place I didn't even know existed, but I'm still gonna kick
the shit out of you". He hits all these graceful kicks and takes some
big bumps. Finish was charming and the crowd went wild for it.
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