Burning vs. No Fear (AJPW - 10/30/1999)

Rare footage of Kobashi actually angry. It’s unusual for him to be pissed off in a match rather than fired up, but No Fear are such pricks that he can’t help himself. At one point, he’s so enraged that both the referee and his partner have to restrain him from pounding on Takayama in the corner. This leads to Omori running in and nailing Kobashi with a dropkick and then laying out Akiyama with an axe bomber. I usually find Omori to be pretty useless, but he brought it here. Winding up his arm before throwing a European uppercut is unquestionably the coolest thing he’s ever done. This is by far the performance of Takayama’s career up to this point as he absolutely brutalizes Burning, including a few knee lifts that had to have scrambled their internal organs. It’s also incredibly refreshing to see a late 90s All Japan title match worked as an intense sprint rather than a bloated epic. Big moves and nearfalls lose their luster as the years pass, but violence is timeless. I wish this had a better ending than Kobashi hulking up and hitting a lariat, but I suppose No Fear had it coming.