Kakihara, to me the word is synonymous with underrated. I'll never understand why this guy isn't huge. Well, size has to be a big part of it because Kakihara apparently has been deemed too small. He's supposed to be the same height and weight (180, 93) as Otani was before he was sent off last year to bulk up, but he looks better because he's got a lot better tone. The thing with Kakihara though is that he wrestles big. He's always been very cocky and demonstrative. He never backs down from anyone; he always takes it to them.

Everyone was small in UWF-I, that was not the problem. The problem was they wouldn't create a legitimate star that could then battle with Takada by pulling the trigger on Kakihara or Tamura over monsters Vader (never happened) or Albright (did, but Albright stock was down and the league had greatly declined in popularity by then because all the big matches had been exhausted). Despite his exciting matches, strong charisma, and exceptional ability, that has been the story of his career. He got one huge win over Sasaki at the Tokyo Dome, but a few months later Choshu embarrassed him and then he pretty much toiled with the other former UWF-I guys that didn't do shoots until joining All Japan. Despite working really hard and being the best performer on their regular shows (since the names mail it in), they typically blew it by having him job left and right. Supposedly Misawa wanted him as his new partner when Akiyama was switched to Kobashi's side, but Ogawa got the nod because he'd been with the company for years, and suddenly on this tour Kakihara found himself in the junior division.

What stands out the most about Kakihara's matches in All Japan is making his opponents look better than they are, which did translate into matches that were better than they had the right to be. He had a match with the big inept goof Takayama on 7/7/99 that's probably at least as good as anything Kawada ever did with Takayama, and you know I love Kawada, even though it was on a nothing show and didn't have any anticipation or atmosphere. In All Japan, he was hardly ever able to have a notable singles match though because the guys you'd think he could have a superior match with such as Kawada and Kobashi "had to" kick his ass inside of 10 minutes because Kakihara was booked as some young chump that wasn't in their league. Even though it was a junior title match, it was a title match nonetheless, and Kakihara didn't pass up his rare opportunity to have a memorable match.

The structuring in this match was excellent. They knew each other's strengths and worked together to maximize them and have the end result be both wrestlers looking like champs. Kakihara is one of the best kickers, so Ogawa would have to avoid these or pay the price.

Ogawa has one of the most pathetic move sets you'll ever see from a Japanese junior, especially a Japanese junior champion. Honestly, it can be pretty embarrassing to see heavyweights like Kobashi have to put over this guy that gets by on eye gouges, eye rakes, pin moves that don't do any damage, and one of the weakest backdrops. One thing Ogawa has in his favor though is quickness. Even if he fires back after a strike or counters with a basic hold, it's usually credible because he does it before his opponent could be expected to react. When he's in with a major talent like Kakihara, who is also known for doing everything faster than almost everyone else, this can make for some pretty awesome transitions.

Ogawa didn't need a big move set here because they were smart. Early on, Kakihara booted the ring post when Ogawa ducked his high kick, which gave Ogawa an injured shin to work over the rest of the match. Ogawa isn't going to do shin breakers off the top rope or anything wild and deadly, but he's one of the dying breed that can knock your house down brick by brick. Here he was willing to pull, twist, slam, and jump on Kakihara's weak part (which mysteriously expanded to, if not became, the knee) until he was blue in the face or he'd finally beaten Kakihara to retain the title. Like Bret Hart, he wasn't above using the ring post for assistance.

Writhing in pain didn't prevent Kakihara from using his mat technique to counter Ogawa's. At one point, Ogawa had him in an akiresukengatame, but Kakihara used his free leg to kick Ogawa in the face twice. This gave Kakihara the opening to go right into an akiresukengatame of his own, but Ogawa was able to escape by grabbing the ropes. This match wasn't about a bunch of near submissions, but this one spot got over the danger of wrestling someone with extensive (worked) shoot training. Kakihara might not win, but he was capable of pulling a finisher out of nowhere at any time. When Kakihara had a legitimate chance for a submission later on, the fans were going nuts.

Kakihara knows how to work the crowd. He got a reaction early by teasing a dive. It was fun since when he didn't do it he smiled as he shook his head no and twirled his finger around. Everyone knows shooters don't do topes, but the joke was on us because he made us think he might break that rule.

Offensively, Kakihara did what he does best, beat the shit out of his opponent. His kicks may not be as heavy as Hashimoto, but for his size he sure can hit hard. It's not so much about the impact with Kakihara though; it's his speed and athleticism. He comes at you with these barrages of strikes that go by so fast that you can't recite them once he's done with the sequence. He also comes at you from all angles because he's able to twist and bend his body in ways that most strikers couldn't even if they weren't all bulked up. Kakihara isn't limited to kicks, but he's stuck to the U.W.F. motto of kick, suplex, & submission.

I loved the sequence at 10:40 where Kakihara, who was definitely on the losing end more often today, tried to make his big comeback. When Ogawa ran at Kakihara earlier in the match, Kakihara tried to stop him with an inverted atomic drop, but the quickness of Ogawa came to the forefront as he was finished performing his swinging neckbreaker before Honky had decided to shake. This time Kakihara busted Ogawa's balls with the inverted atomic drop and started booting him with both legs, selling the bad one after each kick. This built up to Kakihara going for a German suplex hold, but Ogawa kicked him in what we now need to call the bad knee to stop it.

The match really took off in the last 4 ½ minutes. It had build up with the solid action, but now it exploded with sequences of hot action back and forth broken up by several near finishes. The crowd reactions to all this were generally strong.

Although they largely left the shin/knee storyline, Ogawa did get a great (considering it's one of his top finishers) near fall with his figure four style jackknife hold. It looked like Kakihara might have finally got that submission out of nowhere when he turned Ogawa's nadare shiki move into an udehishigigyakujujigatame. True to his cheap nature, Ogawa pulled the ref down on top of Kakihara, which gave Ogawa enough of an opening that he could pull his arm out. Kakihara should have paid more attention as he approached Ogawa, but he was mainly complaining to the ref and that allowed Ogawa to step out of the corner and kick Kakihara in the knee. Kakihara avoided Ogawa's shoulder charge in the corner and looked to have the match again with an udehishigigyakujujigatame, but Ogawa turned his body and rolled on top of Kakihara. Although Kakihara still had Ogawa's arm all Ogawa's weight was on top of him and the ref counted 3 before Kakihara could push Ogawa off and re-extend his arm.

This was the best match I've ever seen Ogawa have. Although Ogawa's performance was one of his best because he wrestled so smartly and reacted so quickly, he never has matches approaching this level with any of the other current AJ juniors. To put Kakihara's performance in perspective, all one needs to point out is between Misawa vs. Kawada, Kobashi vs. Vader, & Kakihara vs. Ogawa, his match was the only great one.

16:22