A new standard for stiffness was probably set here. I definitely would not have wanted to be Fuchi because Kawada was absolutely brutal. He pretty much demolished the poor old man from start to finish. By the 8 minute mark, Fuchi's upper chest was all red. The discoloring, which really shows up on Fuchi due to his light complexion, was slowly moving down his chest too. Kawada mainly did it with chops, but if you just showed someone Fuchi's chest, they might have thought somebody put the rawhide to him. It was sick!

"One can only imagine how taking those chops must have felt. It's not like taking a stiff elbow to the jaw or kick to the forehead; the fact that Kawada's open hand actually drew blood from Fuchi's chest is enough to make me cringe. The only other match in that comes to my mind when looking at Fuchi's chest after this is Benoit/Tenzan 1/4/00. But as brutal as Benoit's chops are, Kawada put them to shame here," wrote Gabe.

The "new" style Kawada was pushing for here was pro wrestling stripped down to it's essence. For the most part, it was a "old-style" match - slow paced with strikes, submissions, and a few maneuvers that you could possibly do to an unwilling foe - except they didn't hit like this back in the day. The fans were pretty much silent, probably because they didn't know what to make of the match. They'd be taught to expect a mind numbing amount of cool or nasty spots in the big matches, but with the bar raisers Kobashi, Misawa, & Akiyama off in NOAH, they were given a match that contained no flash or glamour.

The problem with this match is that Fuchi is nowhere near Kawada's level. Kawada is one of the few performers that's exceptional enough to hide this fact. Unfortunately for Fuchi, the booker didn't attempt to do the same. Fuchi was an effective wrestler in his day, even into his early 40's. However, he's been a comedy wrestler for a number of years, so it wouldn't be credible for him to be able to push Kawada. All Japan didn't have anyone else at this point though, so it was a bad idea to do a match that emphasized the huge gap in the skill level of their #1 and "#2" natives.

Fuchi's best move was stepping on Kawada's face, but aside from that he didn't exactly walk all over Kawada. As much as I loved the match for its stiffness, I can't say that it was an excellent match because it was a lengthy squash. For the most part, Fuchi's offense was limited to an occasional chop. Kawada made Fuchi hit him hard when Fuchi did indeed get a little offense in, but you never got the feeling that Fuchi had a snowballs chance in hell. He deserves a metal of honor just for taking this beating, but hanging around a long time was the only thing he was allowed to do.

Beyond the lack of drama, the only major complaint I have is that the submissions weren't well done. Not only didn't they work the holds, but they didn't do anything to make you think any of them could be the finish. In other words, they were kind of dull because they looked like lengthy rest holds. I'd expect this from most wrestlers today, but Kawada in this style of match should be better than that.

If you want to visualize this match, picture a stiffer Tenryu vs. Hashimoto 8/1/98 except with Hashimoto getting 95% of the offense. Kawada eventually used his powerbomb to put Fuchi out of his misery. You either love this match or are bored to death by it.

"Hopefully this will be a new trend in All Japan. If the fans are hungry for stiffness, then this is as stiff as can be. The only difference is that this version of 'stiff' is a lot safer than dumping your opponent on his head," wrote Gabe.

If it's brutal, there will always be a certain amount of people that will love it. You bring up an interesting point though. Whether this is safer or not, it's really just a different form of the same type of thing we were already seeing here from the departed bar raisers. It's a match that gives you a fix; it's just that this fix is delivered through a savage beating, while Kobashi's was bone jarring and concussive. To take it to the next level, Kawada needs to return the promotion to the psychological glory of mid 90's All Japan. Give me this same type of match with a little more diversity and a story that is designed to attain a high level of drama (ie, something more back and forth where both men have at least enough of a chance to win that we can suspend disbelief) and you should easily have a match of the year contender. The idea and desire to incorporate the lost (or at least lessened) aspects of premium All Japan would have to be there, but if it is and they are willing to take this kind of pain, with Kawada at the helm this level is very attainable.

Special thanks to: Gabe Bautista

22:48

Rating: