The 2001 SUPER Jr. final was an example of how to have an excellent long match without killing yourself. That's fitting because the storyline was that Liger, who dominated the league during the early years but had not won since defeating Super Delfin in '94 and had "graduated" from the league last year, was back for possibly one last run. He was the only wrestler to make it though the league portion undefeated, which probably made it look more like he was going to lose in the final to put over the younger star whom they'd been pushing heavily even before he totally left BATTLARTS to join New Japan toward the end of 2000. With these two on top of the division, those longing for the days when the NJ juniors were flying all over the place once again will not be satisfied, but what these guys were able to give us that the jumping beans cannot is a match that's built well and rewards the viewer for the long lost concept of having some patience. The entire match was a display of good solid techniques with proper execution and effort from both parties to show the pressure and pain of all the holds.

With Tanaka involved, it's not surprising that the match was a technical display. It was a little more towards Liger's style of matwork, but both men got ample opportunity to show what they do best on the mat. For Liger that's perfectly executing submissions that are logical within the context of the match he's presenting, while for Tanaka it's doing breathtaking counters into the submissions. Thus, that the match was more toward Liger's style was definitely a positive because Tanaka's submissions were no less exciting, but were far better timed and more logical.

They took their time. The match consisted of essentially alternating the advantage every two minutes or less to show how even the two performers were. The thing is the match flowed so well with seemless transitions and perfect counters that everything was totally believable and it didn't seem the least bit segmented.

Tanaka eased into his arm attack. It wasn't something he necessarily went out there looking to do, but it was the logical progression after he injured Liger's arm at 7:50 when Liger caught his kick, but Tanaka countered the shotei (palm strike) with a dobitski udehishigigyakujujigatame (flying armbar). When Liger came back he set out to injure Tanaka's knee with his typical kneecap dropkick then submissions such as the figure 4 offense that is often the staple of his matches. It's hilarious how Liger has been using this psychology and focus to his attack for the several years that he's been "washed up" and "boring," but Muto suddenly realizes that he can do the same thing because he already does the Dragon screw to figure 4 and suddenly he's "Wrestler of the Year" and "Mr. Best Ever at Psychology." It's just sad that Muto is supposed to be better and smarter when you look at the difference in virtually every aspect in their game. Consider the effort put in on offense and defense as Liger actually puts his opponents over while Muto just lies motionless while in or performing some clasp (particularly his lame put us to sleeper). The credibility and precision of Liger's execution is way better, particularly on the dropkicks as Muto has no explosion, zip, or impact on his key setup move that he relies on way more than Liger relies on his better version. Hell, even the stiffness is a big advantage to Liger since he drives you into the mat on his various bombs and busters, whacks you with his palm, and doesn't mind if you return the favor. On the other hand, Kawada & Tenryu have to go easier with their strikes on Muto than they ever did on ancient Baba and since Muto adopted the shining wizard he is giving Prince Iaukea a run for his money when it comes to highest percentage of pathetically executing your finisher. I realize Muto deserves credit for having quality matches when he can barely walk, but Liger has come back from a brain tumor, two badly broken ankles, and he's had knee problems for a long time as well, so it's not like he's the picture of health.

Liger's knee attack helped him because he can't come close to matching Tanaka for athleticism. Tanaka's arm attack didn't help him a great deal because Liger was still able to utilize his shoteis. What helped him more was his quickness and athleticism because he countered and avoided too many shoteis for Liger to be able to beat him in this fashion. The most notable example happened just after 16 minutes. Tanaka came out of his arm attack and started using some stiff knife edge chops, which seemed to rile Liger up. Liger was poised to beat the hell out of Tanaka with his shoteis to show him who had the advantage when it came to heavy blows, but Tanaka countered the third with a hard high kick and went back to the arm by immediately applying an udehishigigyakujujigatame.

The pace quickened a good deal after this point, but at the same time they did their best job of showing the damage they'd sustained over the course of the match and the fatigue of wrestling a long hard match. The evenness, back and forth nature, and the acting combined to make it a very dramatic match. There were several nice moves after this point, but they were gravy. I was not the least bit surprised, but certainly far more impressed that spots like the frog splash and missile kick were credibly worked into the match than disappointed that neither man did a dive. When they did something it was for a purpose. The couple really fast sequences of counters almost in a row otherwise wouldn't have fit, but did because of the desperation they showed in trying to take home the cup right there. The culmination was Tanaka stopping a running Liger with a high kick then going into another dobitski udehishigigyakujujigatame, so it was tied in with the rest of the match and only served to increase the level of desperation.

The finish was perfectly set up. Liger had dropped Tanaka on his head with a brainbuster a few minutes earlier, but when he went for a second one Tanaka once again nearly made him submit to an arm bar. Liger had done enough shoteis to see Tanaka's counters for them by this point. When Liger ran off the ropes Tanaka went back to the high kick counter and Liger once again caught his leg, but this time Liger was wise to the arm bar as well. He locked Tanaka's head and deposited him on it with a fisherman buster then pulled his limp body up and used his suichoku rakka shiki no brainbuster to capture the SUPER Jr. for the 4th time.

26:12

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