Heads Up Battle 2001- Honda/Inoue v. Hash/Yasuda vs. Kawada/Araya v. Tenryu/Fuchi

[Phil Schneider]

A pair of nasty puro tags go at it with a post NOAH split All Japan war v. Z1 v. NOAH. Watch the matches, pimp the favorites

 

 

 

[Curt McGirt]

Let me just start by saying that Kawada's shirt is so baller that I would wear it every day if I owned it. This is pretty much a parejas increiblas matchup. Tenryu had been away from All Japan for awhile with WAR, SWS, and New Japan and I guess was a freelancer in '01? Is that correct? Araya was his WAR protege. Meanwhile on the other side you've got two of the only guys that didn't jump to NOAH, with Kawada being Tenryu's protege and former tag partner, so the dynamic is built in. Things pick up real quick when a jab from Tenryu busts Araya's eyebrow and immediately him and that old sadist Fuchi jump on it like sharks. As revenge Kawada starts beating on Fuchi then ends up tagging in a hot Araya who sufficiently steps up to the plate as the pissed-off, beaten upon underdog. So many cheap shots in this and it flies by at a rapid pace. The dickishness of Tenryu just walking off at the end is great. Awhile back Ditch was doing the top 2000 and 2001 battle and we were discussing that, so I made a separate folder of just those matches after I pared them down. Included from '01 are this, Kawada/Fujiwara, Ishikawa/Murakami, one of the Mutoh/Tenryus and a Mutoh/Kawada, and Akiyama/Misawa. That's it. This is probably a sufficient contender to the Z1 match but I still have to give that a watch when the net time turns over.

[EricR]

I have a somewhat similar Kawada shirt that my buddy got me when he went to Japan in 2001. 

[Phil Schneider]

Another close call but the Z1 tag hangs on by the skin of its teeth

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2016/11/2001-moty-challenger.html

[Curt McGirt]

No, y'all fucked up on this one. No way is the Z1 tag better than the AJPW one. The Z1 does have an interesting dynamic in that Japanese caste-system fashion with Yasuda immediately looking outclassed by Honda, in an early UFC way like a shitty kickboxer coming in against an Olympian, but then you've got Inoue. He's such a clear weak link that not even his getting Hash up for the Argentina backbreaker works. And there's not even a finish because his shoulder gets separated out of nowhere. At least with the AJ tag you had a great underdog fight and a clear finish with the guy that deserved to win getting his. Not a contest in my eyes. 

[EricR]

You crazy. Inoue being a clear weak link is the totality of Masao Inoue, and I love him for it. This was always going to be Honda trying to prop up the castle gates, knowing that once Hash breaks through the walls then Inoue is a sitting duck. The crowd knows he's the weak link, everybody in the match knows he's a weak link. Which is why it's so damn awesome that he rolls so far above his head until he's inevitably disposed of. The way he rushed Hash when he was tagged in, bringing his full chubster attack to him, and knocking Hash to a knee, was such a great moment. All of that totally worked. Oddly, in the AJPW tag, I thought Kawada was a weak link. He seemed a step off in the match, and his segments seemed disconnected from the bulk of the match. I like Kawada vs. Fuchi, like Kawada vs. Tenryu, but it felt out of step in this match. It was too clearly "taking a break from the Araya match story as the whole match just can't be Araya story", but it never really felt like Kawada stepping in to save his partner, it felt more like Kawada getting in the way of the more interesting story. 

[Curt McGirt]

I didn't really mind Kawada being the "weak link" (that phrase just sounds like an oxymoron) because it was a parejas match which could be read as inconsequential; Tenryu even shoves it off after immediately. Honda could have always saved Inoue too but didn't which could have padded out the match a bit longer but I guess who knew Inoue would have been injured (if it was legit. if it wasn't it was a mistake to end it like that so early). Araya got his full shine in the finish and that's why I prefer it more. And I don't think Inoue was as good as underdog as I've seen him in other tags where he has literally no offense aside from cheating, which makes his character more appealing. 

But hey, good faceoff between those two matches which are pretty parallel in some ways. Anyone else, thoughts?

[EricR]

Inoue didn't work another show for 3 months after this match so I assume the injury was legit. And I liked how that realism played into things. You had Inoue giving his most aggressive performance, taking a misguided attack headlong at Hash (as opposed to his usual no offense cheating you mentioned, which I really do love), and it lead to him getting burnt worse than ever. It was a junkballer blowing one by 2001 Barry Bonds, then being left to watch a 480' bomb after he tried the same thing next pitch.