Toshiaki Kawada vs Keiji Mutoh (AJPW - 4/14/2001)
Sept 19, 2018 21:29:52 GMT -5
Post by superstarsleeze on Sept 19, 2018 21:29:52 GMT -5
Mutoh 2001 Shining Wizard Reinvention! Mutoh really got the dropkick over as a setup move. Mutoh displays his offensive strategical brilliance here. He cant go toe-to-toe with Kawada on a level playing field. He needs to injure something to take away Kawada's striking ability. They establish this in the first ten minutes that Kawada is able to kick ass and control with strikes. Once Mutoh takes that away by relentlessly dropkicking the arm and knee, he has a fighting chance. Kawada is brilliant in this match. He is such a tremendous seller and this is one of his best performances. He really fights through the pain to stay competitive in the match. He does not stop selling and then go back to selling. He is selling while on offense that may be the single hardest thing to do in wrestling and that’s why Kawada is one of the elite. We see the genius of Mutoh’s strategy at the end as he is working figure-4s and cross armbreakers, but as Kawada is no longer able to stand it leaves him vulnerable to the Shining Wizard.
Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01
So I was pretty excited to see this and this did not disappoint. The one thing you can expect from Mutoh is you will not get a lot of those macho pissing contests that can dominate heavyweight puroresu in the 2000s. This is wrestled more in the vein of traditional Strong Style. Kawada was definitely the best suited of the King's Road guys to perform in NJPW as he can hold his own on the mat. They jockey for some holds with Muto having a slight edge. The story early seems to be Mutoh knowing he can't out-strike or out-power Kawada so he tries to leverage his ground game into an opening. However, he is unable to avoid the DANGEROUS~! kicks from Kawada, which are all targeted at Mutoh's head and neck. On second watch, I realized that this control segment went on for 10 minutes where Mutoh just got his ass handed to him. I actually appreciated this segment more on how well Kawada worked this and did not get off track. Muto did his best selling in this segment really forcing you to observe how concentrated Kawada was on damaging his neck. Kawada even mocked Muta a bit with his run down the ramp doing a Kawada Kick to Muta's head. Even though, Kawada was in control of a lengthy time, Mutoh still made it feel like a struggle by mixing in a tasteful amount of hope spots. Kawada was able to hit the powerbomb on his second attempt, but Mutoh kicked and rolled to outside. Tired of getting his ass kicked, he grabs a chair from a fan, but ref stops him from bringing it in and the fans applaud (well that is different from America). Mutoh blocks the enziguiri and wastes no time capitalizing with dropkicks to the knee and arm. You have credit Muto getting over dropkicks as a legitimate setup move. Muto is nullifying Kawada's biggest weapon while at the same time putting himself into a position to win by submission. There is nothing Muto really does better than Kawada and he knows that, but if he can take away Kawada's legs then he can win the match. Kawada blows Mutoh out of the water with his selling throughout the home stretch. For whatever reason, Kawada was just fucking on in this match as he is making Mutoh's offense look like a million bucks. The dragon leg screws and figure-4 look devastating while Mutoh seems focused just on doing his offense. Kawada gets the stretch plum going back to the head/neck, but misses a knee drop (OW!). Muto wastes no time again, but this time all the dropkicks are focused on the arm. They trade cross-armbreakers, but once again Kawada outshines Mutoh in the selling. Kawada with a relentless flurry on lariats before Mutoh blocks them. Mutoh wrenches his leg with another dragon leg screw. His Shining Wizards more like they are pushing Kawada over rather nailing him with a high velocity impact, but to his credit Kawada does his best loopy sell of them.
Loved this match even more on second watch. This was just an all-time Kawada performance. It reminds you why he is one of the greatest of all time. I am at an all-time high on Misawa and Kobashi and Kawada has sort of lagged in the background because of some weak individual performances in the 2000s. He brought it here on offense and defense. The neck targeting was just pinpoint accurate. Then he continued to sell the leg and arm throughout the match as Mutoh was changing his strategy. One of the hardest things I have found in my wrestling watching is conveying that struggle to still perform offense. Several will just blow off and then return to selling, most will just blow off altogether. Kawada really conveys that struggle demonstrating why he is elite.
Tanahashi could learn a thing or two from Mutoh. Mutoh is not perfect in this match, but gives a great performance. I loved the early work to avoid Kawada's strikes only to fall prey to them. He did blow the selling of the neck off to get to his offense, which is why I would say this is not the greatest performance ever from him. From offensive standpoint, this is incredible. I really don't know how you can fault his urgency in his attacks. He was just pressing and pressing. Dropkicking Kawada's entire right side just peppering with dropkicks the knee and arm. I just loved the suffocation. This was the full court press, but in pro wrestling. Would love to see Tanahashi pick up something like this because he shows great urgency on his High Fly Flow, but would love for him to extend this to his entire game. I would say from strategic standpoint just an absolutely genius performance that has not been replicated frequently enough. It also leads so seamlessly and beautifully into the Shining Wizards, which are sold so well. Between Mutoh's offense and Kawada's selling, it made for an all-time great finish run. The slow start and Mutoh blowing off the neck selling on the transition (loved him getting so frustrated and trying to get a chair) keep it from Top 10. I see this in the #15-25 range. Really high-end stuff from both wrestlers. ****1/2
Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01
So I was pretty excited to see this and this did not disappoint. The one thing you can expect from Mutoh is you will not get a lot of those macho pissing contests that can dominate heavyweight puroresu in the 2000s. This is wrestled more in the vein of traditional Strong Style. Kawada was definitely the best suited of the King's Road guys to perform in NJPW as he can hold his own on the mat. They jockey for some holds with Muto having a slight edge. The story early seems to be Mutoh knowing he can't out-strike or out-power Kawada so he tries to leverage his ground game into an opening. However, he is unable to avoid the DANGEROUS~! kicks from Kawada, which are all targeted at Mutoh's head and neck. On second watch, I realized that this control segment went on for 10 minutes where Mutoh just got his ass handed to him. I actually appreciated this segment more on how well Kawada worked this and did not get off track. Muto did his best selling in this segment really forcing you to observe how concentrated Kawada was on damaging his neck. Kawada even mocked Muta a bit with his run down the ramp doing a Kawada Kick to Muta's head. Even though, Kawada was in control of a lengthy time, Mutoh still made it feel like a struggle by mixing in a tasteful amount of hope spots. Kawada was able to hit the powerbomb on his second attempt, but Mutoh kicked and rolled to outside. Tired of getting his ass kicked, he grabs a chair from a fan, but ref stops him from bringing it in and the fans applaud (well that is different from America). Mutoh blocks the enziguiri and wastes no time capitalizing with dropkicks to the knee and arm. You have credit Muto getting over dropkicks as a legitimate setup move. Muto is nullifying Kawada's biggest weapon while at the same time putting himself into a position to win by submission. There is nothing Muto really does better than Kawada and he knows that, but if he can take away Kawada's legs then he can win the match. Kawada blows Mutoh out of the water with his selling throughout the home stretch. For whatever reason, Kawada was just fucking on in this match as he is making Mutoh's offense look like a million bucks. The dragon leg screws and figure-4 look devastating while Mutoh seems focused just on doing his offense. Kawada gets the stretch plum going back to the head/neck, but misses a knee drop (OW!). Muto wastes no time again, but this time all the dropkicks are focused on the arm. They trade cross-armbreakers, but once again Kawada outshines Mutoh in the selling. Kawada with a relentless flurry on lariats before Mutoh blocks them. Mutoh wrenches his leg with another dragon leg screw. His Shining Wizards more like they are pushing Kawada over rather nailing him with a high velocity impact, but to his credit Kawada does his best loopy sell of them.
Loved this match even more on second watch. This was just an all-time Kawada performance. It reminds you why he is one of the greatest of all time. I am at an all-time high on Misawa and Kobashi and Kawada has sort of lagged in the background because of some weak individual performances in the 2000s. He brought it here on offense and defense. The neck targeting was just pinpoint accurate. Then he continued to sell the leg and arm throughout the match as Mutoh was changing his strategy. One of the hardest things I have found in my wrestling watching is conveying that struggle to still perform offense. Several will just blow off and then return to selling, most will just blow off altogether. Kawada really conveys that struggle demonstrating why he is elite.
Tanahashi could learn a thing or two from Mutoh. Mutoh is not perfect in this match, but gives a great performance. I loved the early work to avoid Kawada's strikes only to fall prey to them. He did blow the selling of the neck off to get to his offense, which is why I would say this is not the greatest performance ever from him. From offensive standpoint, this is incredible. I really don't know how you can fault his urgency in his attacks. He was just pressing and pressing. Dropkicking Kawada's entire right side just peppering with dropkicks the knee and arm. I just loved the suffocation. This was the full court press, but in pro wrestling. Would love to see Tanahashi pick up something like this because he shows great urgency on his High Fly Flow, but would love for him to extend this to his entire game. I would say from strategic standpoint just an absolutely genius performance that has not been replicated frequently enough. It also leads so seamlessly and beautifully into the Shining Wizards, which are sold so well. Between Mutoh's offense and Kawada's selling, it made for an all-time great finish run. The slow start and Mutoh blowing off the neck selling on the transition (loved him getting so frustrated and trying to get a chair) keep it from Top 10. I see this in the #15-25 range. Really high-end stuff from both wrestlers. ****1/2
