This
was a surprisingly great match. Kawada & Kobashi made it such, excelling
in the areas they normally excel. Taue & Ace were always serviceable, and
occasionally great. Taue seemed more awkward than normal. Perhaps age and injuries
are catching up to him, or maybe it was just that he was working with Ace, whose
almost as awkward as anyone in All Japan. When Kobashi carried Taue, the match
was very good. Ace's facials are always goofy, as unlike Kawada and Kobashi
he just looks so absurd when he's trying to be intense or nasty. Ace does have some cool
movess and does well on double team spots. The match was very good when Kawada
was carrying him, but wasn't that good when he was in with Taue. While this
isn't all that surprising, it was somewhat disappointing because the singles
match that Ace should have won from 10/21/97 Budokan was a very good match.
Luckily, Taue vs. Ace was kept to a minimum, but there was a price to that.
Since Kawada & Kobashi were needed to make keep the quality of the match
up while Ace or Taue respectively were in, they didn't work together all that
much to build to next weeks match for the Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken.
The reason this match was so good was that the body was very strong and solid then they really kicked it into high gear with great spots back and forth for hot near falls. The attacks early on were focused, and the Kawada vs. Kobashi rivalry was heated up even though they didn't log that much time together. The heat was a lot better than you would expect. The fans getting into the match so much once the workers turned it up a notch made this match seem like something special. The match would have been dramatic anyway, but a hot crowd that is reacting to everything adds a lot to the drama.
"Kawada and Kobashi did wonders for this match as usual, and the supporting cast filled their roles very well. Taue worked some very good sequences. He still has good value in AJ, despite his injuries and age. The crowd heat definitely added to the flow of this match, as the pacing seemed to really pick up during the latter parts of this match. Overall a very good tag title match, which has been rare this year in AJ," wrote Hadi.
Kawada and Kobashi started, mainly exchanging stiff blows. Neither man could gain the advantage, and Ace tagged in before the 2:00 mark. They worked over Ace's neck for several minutes. Taue did a couple of lousy guillotine drops during this portion, but Kawada's greatness made it an overall good segment.
Kobashi tagged in a little after 8:00, and no sold Taue's elbows then took control with his high spots. Less than 0:30 into his dominance, he ran over to the opponent's corner and elbowed Kawada off the apron to the floor. When Kobashi tried to pin Taue the first time, Kawada came in and made the save even though there was no threat of Taue not kicking out. Kobashi was pissed. He thought about attacking Kawada, but they wound up just having a stare down. While this was going on, Taue recovered and he blindsided the distracted Kobashi with a kick. Kobashi & Kawada soon worked another stiff segment. Kawada was the one who "won" the segment because he put Kobashi down, but he put over the damage off the stiff blows he withstood, and he had to roll over to his corner to tag Taue.
Kobashi attacked Taue's bad knee with a gyakukataebigatame (half crab), so Kawada came in to save him. Kawada unloaded several kicks, but they weren't enough to make Kobashi break. Kawada decided a running start would give him the necessary force to make Kobashi break, and Kobashi did break the hold, but not the way Kawada had envisioned. Kobashi saw Kawada running at him, so he released the hold and put Kawada down with his lariat. They continued attacking Taue's knee, including Kobashi kneebreakering Taue on a table.
Taue finally tagged out a little before 20:00 and Kawada tried his big moves, but Kobashi avoided them and tagged out. The action and crowd really got hot during the segment where Ace did his big spots to Kawada, including finally being able to cobra clutch suplex Kawada. Kawada took a nice bump on this, although he didn't make anyone forget Misawa. When Taue saved Kawada from being pinned by the cobra clutch suplex, he stayed in the ring and nodowa otoshi'd Ace, which bought his partner enough time to make the tag.
Taue came in and nadare shiki no nodowa otoshi'd Ace, but Kobashi saved. Taue tried to do his nodowa otoshis in rapid succession, but Ace countered with a sloppy Ace crusher. Ace then slowly made his way over to the corner to tag Kobashi.
Taue stopped Kobashi's lariats with high kicks, but Kobashi caught him with a rolling chop and Taue stumbled into a guillotine Ace crusher. Kobashi then released Tiger suplexed Taue. Ace took Kawada out, and they did their combination back suplex/Ace crusher spot for a 2 9/10 count. Kobashi continued dominating Taue. He worked toward his moonsault, but when he finally climbed up the ropes to perform it, Kawada cut him off.
Kawada took Ace out with an enzuigiri, and Ace really wasn't involved in the match after this because every time he recovered they just took him right out again. Kobashi finally lariated Taue, but he was too hurt to cover immediately and that cost him because Kawada, who was down in the ring, recovered just in time to make the save.
Kawada dropped Kobashi on his head with a Dangerous backdrop at 27:15, and everyone was down selling at this point. Kawada and Taue did their combination powerbomb/nodowa otoshi to Kobashi, but Ace was able to make the save before they took him out again. Kobashi was able to fend off some of the big spots, but as soon as he avoided one opponent's big spot, the other opponent would catch him with something. Finally, Taue nodowa otoshi'd Kobashi then dragged him up and Dynamic bombed him for the win. 30:26. ****1/4