Written By: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon) For 529 days, Toshiaki Kawada has proven that he is finally the Ace of All Japan Pro Wrestling and the last remaining standing Pillar acting as the cornerstone for the company he stayed loyal to. Keeping the wish of his late mentor, alive. Now that I have discussed Kenta Kobashi's historic 735 day reign as GHC Heavyweight Champion in NOAH, I would like to highlight another title reign that often gets lost in the grand history of professional wrestling and that was Toshiaki Kawada's 5th and final run with the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship from 2003 to 2005. There are multiple factors as to why this specific title run is often forgotten by many and gets astray in the grand history of professional wrestling and we will get into that as we progress in this article. Calling Toshiaki Kawada as one of the greatest wrestlers of all time is kind of underselling him in a way, because as a pure talent he stands uniquely on his own and it would be a disservice to just lump him in with the rest of the other legends of the industry. Kawada's level of in-ring IQ is unlike any other, some might say even better than his rival Misawa's. He was a special kind of wrestler who has his own brand of psychology, storytelling, and tenacity in the ring that many may try to imitate but it can never be duplicated. Also the man has the greatest kicks in wrestling, no one can even top him in that category and I think its unanimous for everyone, hell he's got his own kicks named after him! For this article we will be having a chronological look at all of Kawada's title defenses around this time period, the story and technical aspects of each match, as we take an in-depth dive into what I personally like to call: "The Reign of Loyalty." Background As the decade turned to 2000 the entire landscape of All Japan Pro Wrestling changed. Due to the passing of Giant Baba, they lost a leader that was able to unite everybody, something his widow Mrs. Motoko Baba was not able to do. Because of her polarizing views and way of managing things on May 28, 2000 Mitsuharu Misawa, the supposed successor of Giant Baba as the president of the company, led the largest mass exodus in pro wrestling when he brought along almost the entire AJPW roster and backstage staff to create a new promotion: Pro Wrestling NOAH. There were only four wrestlers of the original group that did not go, two natives and two gaijins. Masanobu Fuchi who is a lifer in the company, their longest tenured worker since 1974, however by this point he is now an old man and way past his prime similar to Stan Hansen. One of the all time great foreign wrestlers in Japan who made a name for himself and built his legacy in AJPW. Maunakea Mossman is a Hawaiian born former amateur wrestler who was personally recruited by Giant Baba, and last but not the least: Toshiaki Kawada. Dangerous K has had an interesting career by this point. He is already a former 4x Triple Crown Champion with his first win dating all the way back on October 22, 1994 defeating "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. However, none of his reigns felt like actual runs a main event level star would have. They all ended up being underwhelming in terms of length and at the end of the day, Mitsuharu Misawa was still seen by management as the true number one ace of the company and Kawada was only behind him. As great of a feud they had, on paper and even on the shows themselves it was clear that Misawa was heavily favored as the top draw by not only management but the fans too but when he left to run NOAH he brought along Kobashi and Taue as well, leaving Kawada as the sole member of The Four Pillars left in the company and it is finally his time to prove that he can be just as much of a top guy as his fierce rival. With not much of a roster left in their hands, AJPW sought after the aid of quite possibly the biggest wrestling star in the country at the time: Keiji Mutoh (aka The Great Muta) who left his long time home promotion: NJPW. For those who may not understand the magnitude of this move, think of it like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin leaving the WWF and going to WCW in its dying days, an unexpected move but definitely a big deal nonetheless as for a long time New Japan and All Japan have been rival promotions and rarely worked with each other. Mutoh brought along Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin with him. AJPW needed someone with a name value to potentially still draw in fans and no one had a bigger name than Mutoh for sure but it came with a caveat. Majority of the original AJPW wrestlers left for NOAH and they brought along with them the same philosophies and styles of wrestling there as well, mixing in King's Road with some modern elements at the time. But for Mutoh he brought an entirely new era and presentation to All Japan called: "Pro Wrestling Love" a contrast to the past style of the promotion, this one focuses more on the flashier side of wrestling, highlighting theatrics, character work, and leans in on the sports entertainment brand similar to the WWE. This became a polarizing part of All Japan's history, its purist fans weren't so keen on this entirely new presentation as they felt like it wasn't what Giant Baba stood for and AJPW was merely a name by this point but not what it used to be anymore. But if they want to keep the company alive, they have to undergo this new change of regime as Keiji Mutoh not only became instantly a main event level wrestler but the president of the company too which allowed them to work with other promotions and free agents, bringing in a brand new image to All Japan with different faces on the roster that you wouldn't normally see in the past. Kawada is the last true representative of what All Japan stood for. Before Giant Baba died he had one final wish to his students and that is no matter what happens, all he wants is for legacy to be kept alive and that is the promotion itself. While Misawa and the rest left for greener pastures, Kawada stayed to keep the promise they made to their master, however it wasn't such an easy road for him. His third reign as Triple Crown Champion in 1999 ended only in a week due to being forced to vacate the belt via injury, the same fate unfortunately happened on his fourth one in the new era when he defeated Keiji Mutoh in 2002 but once again he suffered a knee injury this time. Now in his fifth reign, this is potentially Kawada's last chance to prove to the world that he is the ace and will defend the honor not only of the prestigious Triple Crown created by Jumbo Tsuruta, but the entire honor of those that became before him that paved the way for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Thus begins the Reign of Loyalty. 1.) Shinjiro Otani Date: September 6, 2003 Event: Summer Action Series II (Tag 13) Time: 21:34 The Story: Around the mid 90's the junior heavyweight scene developed into one of the most talented group of wrestlers, especially in New Japan. The Lucha Libre influence was starting to grow strong as well with masked wrestlers becoming a prominent part of the roster and their highflying based offense. Names like Jushin "Thunder" Liger, The Great Sasuke, Ultimo Dragon, and El Samurai are some of the few notable legends that left a mark in some of the all time classic matches. But another man who also shined around this time period and had a successful run in the division was Shinjiro Otani, a graduate of the NJPW Dojo, unlike most of his peers Otani didn't need the colorful masks or costumes to get over, he was simply himself but competed just as vicious with the rest of them, best known for his high volume offense and submission holds, he was an all-around talent but mainly a technician. Otani became the inaugural WCW World Cruiserweight Champion on March 20, 1996 when he defeated Wild Pegasus (aka Chris Benoit) for the vacant belt in NJPW. On August 10, 1997 he became IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the first time as a part of the J-Crown which that itself he won three times. For the unfamiliar, the J-Crown is a collection of eight notable junior heavyweight championship belts from various promotions all combined into one singular accolade. Him and his long time partner Tatsuhito Takaiwa were also the inaugural IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions on August 8, 1998. Regardless of weight division, Otani already was one of the most decorated wrestlers in the country and in 2001 he left NJPW alongside Shinya Hashimoto to create Pro Wrestling ZERO1. Otani moved up to the heavyweights and he was no longer restricted to solely wrestle for one promotion and was a freelancer, being able to compete wherever he pleases. On July 16, 2003 Hashimoto had to vacate the Triple Crown due to injury so AJPW had to host a mini tournament to crown their new World Champion, Otani defeated Satoshi Kojima while Kawada defeated The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) and so they meet in the main event for the gold. Two recognizable names in Puroresu who both have storied careers already will cross paths for the first time for the most prestigious prize of the company. The Match: Before the match could even start after announcing the names of the contenders, The Gladiator who lost to Kawada earlier in the night stormed the ring and attacked him, specifically his injured knee. AJPW wrestlers who were at ring side had to separate them and escort Awesome back in the locker room. Having already wrestled once in the same night is already a grueling task but now the deck is even more stacked up to Kawada as he has to wrestle with a bad knee against a submission artist. They're really trying to make him a sympathetic babyface into this match and it did work but I think the crowd was already strongly behind him to begin with because he's one of the All Japan originals left and Otani being from an outside promotion, it's clear which side the fans will cheer on. Nevertheless, the match still started, Otani seemed like he was a bit disappointed in the beginning while the attack was ongoing and he probably wanted a fair fight between him and Kawada, the beginning of the match wasn't really anything special, both men sizing each other up and testing the other, common beginning to a match. It wasn't until when Otani gave in and began to stomp on Kawada's injured knee and things started to heat up from there, receiving boo's from the crowd. That's pretty much the entire story of this match with Otani either repeatedly kicking or stomping the knee or attempting to make his opponent submit with various submission holds focusing on his obvious weakness. Otani got a little cocky when he started to do his signature Face Wash kicks to Kawada in the corner but this only riled up Dangerous K and he began to rain down kicks of his own, that's what you get when you have two wrestlers with the deadliest kicks in the same ring. Classic Puroresu booking as the heel strives to get more negative reaction from the crowd by punishing the babyface, but this only adds fuel for the eventual comeback of Kawada. By the finishing sequence, Kawada begins to execute his various signature maneuvers, locking in the Stretch Plum then attempted a pin, Otani answers with two sequential Backdrop Suplexes which also resulted in a near fall. He then locks Kawada's entire injured leg and knee but barely manages to reach the ropes to escape, more strike exchanges Kawada goes for a power bomb which I legitimately thought was the finish but it got kicked out on two and a half, a Brainbuster that almost got the win again, but it was a high kick directly straight into the face that awarded him the victory. I have to say this match was a mixed bag to me. I've watched plenty of matches involving these two legends but it seemed like their styles didn't mesh as well as it could have been. On paper it does sound like an intriguing match up but it under delivered at least for me and this is supposed to be a high profile match for the main belt. I'm not saying it was a bad match, far from it, but knowing the credentials of both wrestlers, they could've easily tore the roof off if they wanted to, the finish was really the most disappointing to me and even the crowd didn't expect it to end that way. Perhaps having already prior matches in the night didn't help but hey, it was still a solid effort but this was the first and last singles match between them. Where Are They Now? At the age of 47, Shinjiro Otani is still an active wrestler and ever since Shinya Hashimoto passed away he became the leader of ZERO1. 2.) Don Frye Date: October 26, 2003 Event: Road To Re-Birth X Re-Verse (Tag 11) - 31st Anniversary Time: 17:05 The Story: A photo of Don Frye in his prime must be mandatory to be side-by-side when looking up the word "manliness" in the dictionary. No one exuded more badass testosterone than The Predator himself. In the early years of Mixed Martial Arts as a sport in the late 90's, one of the men that shined among the rest due to his brutal style, charismatic personality, and looks that made him seem like a fighting game character come to life was Don Frye. He initially competed in the UFC but made an even bigger impressionin Japan at PRIDE FC. Due to MMA's growing popularity in the country, Don was able to transition into pro wrestling as well, making his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling on August 2, 1997 when he defeated Kazuyuki Fujita. A year later in 1998 he also had the honor of being Antonio Inoki's final wrestling opponent ever when the NJPW founder laced up the pair of boots one last time and defeating Don in the Tokyo Dome. As the years go by he became even more of an active part in NJPW and with Inoki's fascination with MMA, Don became one of the well booked gaijins in the promotion and even became a part of Masahiro Chono's TEAM 2000 stable, an offshoot of the nWo Japan when Chono and Mutoh split apart the group. In 2002 Frye only had one match in pro wrestling when he squashed Tadao Yasuda in an NJPW event but that year quite possibly the most iconic MMA fight took place and that was involving Don Frye against Yoshihiro Takayama. If you've seen it then you know what I'm talking about, it is one of the most popular bouts of all time, Don and Takayama didn't fight in a technical manner but rather threw away all forms of strategy out of the way and began to bust each other up with their knuckles, pounded each other with punches nonstop. Don Frye won the match and really was the dominant of the two because of his superior background in the sport but Takayama's efforts are commendable as having that kind of performance plus being a last minute replacement takes guts even if his entire face got reconstructed by his opponent. This fight was a huge momentum booster for Don Frye's career and he got even more famous because of it especially in Japan. The following year this granted Don his first and only match in an AJPW ring when he challenged for the big time and was Toshiaki Kawada's first defense in his fifth Triple Crown Championship reign. There really isn't much of a build here, just an interesting match up between two icons of their respective sports clashing against one another for a prestigious prize. The Match: Normally when you think of MMA fighters, the stereotype is they don't translate well into pro wrestling. You do have your exceptions though like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, or Kazushi Sakuraba but for the most part that's always been the deal especially in Japan as that's been the image of actual fighters due to the dark years of NJPW under the Inokism philosophy. However I think with this match alone, Don Frye has proven that he isn't one of the bad ones and he was actually rather good. I was surprised too as most of his matches tend to be five to seven minutes at most, he was usually doing short and squash matches so I wasn't sure how he'll do in a lengthy title match. Turns out, he was very solid at it. I feel like Kawada didn't need to carry him at all, sure it helps that he's in the ring with one of the best workers of all time, but Don performed well on his own. I thought his selling was fantastic for someone who's a legitimate fighter who could probably knock out most of the human population. The way he sells the strikes from Kawada especially his kicks were believable. The first half of this match was mainly mat-oriented, a lot of grappling and submission hooks, then as we progress they were a lot of strike exchanges ranging from elbows to kicks and even brutal looking punches. Despite having no MMA background, Kawada is best known for being a stiff and rugged wrestler in the ring so he fared well against Don. There was surprisingly some good amount of chemistry between the two and it speaks highly because this is their first and only match together. I thought the entire thing was paced well, both of them looked really great, there were moments where it felt like either of them could've win. Dare I say, this was better than the Otani match. My only real complaint about it was the underwhelming finish. After all the beating up they did with each other, the match ended with a referee stoppage after Kawada has locked in the Stretch Plum enough, Don wasn't able to signal back to the official and so they called for the bell, a success for the champion's inaugural defense. I know they're trying to protect his image with that ending but they could've gone for something more surprising, nevertheless it was still a good match for the two, there's not a lot but this is definitely the best match in Don Frye's pro wrestling career. Where Are They Now? In 2016 Don Frye was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. His health hasn't been the best in recent years but he's still hanging in there, a testament of a true fighter. 3.) Genichiro Tenryu Date: January 18, 2004 Event: New Year Giant Series (Tag 10) Time: 17:59 The Story: A classic tale of master versus student. It's a match up that's been played off for centuries in various forms of entertainment, especially in Japanese professional wrestling where the "senpai-kohai" connection is ingrained into the culture of the country. This is the same narrative heading into this match between Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada. For those not too familiar with their AJPW history, Tenryu was one of the top stars of the promotion during the 1980's. He was the tag-team partner turned fierce rival of Jumbo Tsuruta and their main event matches paved the way for high quality in-ring action that the Triple Crown Championship eventually became known for. He is the second ever wrestler to win said belt when he defeated Jumbo on June 5, 1989 but his reign wasn't really anything noteworthy. Only two successful defenses over Yoshiaki Yatsu and Terry Gordy before dropping it right back to Jumbo after 128 days. The following year after losin another title match against Jumbo, Tenryu led the first ever roster exodus in AJPW years before Mitsuharu Misawa did it in 2000. However his wasn't as impactful as he only managed to bring in a few wrestlers with him to form a new promotion of his own: Super World of Sports (SWS) and when that flopped he created Wrestling and Romance, which eventually became Wrestle Association R better known simply as WAR in 1992. This was a controversial move though. Tenryu was one of the top main eventers of the promotion and Giant Baba has a strict belief when it comes to loyalty, he felt betrayed by Tenryu's actions and vowed to ban him from entering the promotion ever again. However when Baba passed away in 1999 and with the aforementioned exodus of Misawa, AJPW was in dire need of top level workers to keep their company alive from going defunct they had to lower their pride, so they sought after the once exiled Genichiro Tenryu back into the promotion. However he's no longer his spry young self anymore, by this point at the turn of the decade, Tenryu was past his prime athletically but he was still just as vicious if not more as he got old with age. As you all know by now Toshiaki Kawada remained loyal to the promotion so it was an interesting dynamic to see two wrestlers with deep history in AJPW but for entirely different reasons. One was the loyalist while the other was seen as a traitor. Their connection with each other runs deeper though as Kawada was mentored in the dojo none other than by Tenryu himself and even joined him in his stable "Revolution" when he was starting to make a name for himself. Although they never faced each other in a singles match until on October 28, 2000 when Tenryu defeated Kawada to win the vacant Triple Crown Championship. Years later, they face each other again only this time around the champion is the student while the master is the contender in his path to greatness. This is Kawada's chance to truly surpass his master once and for all. The Match: I've watched the two Kawada-Tenryu matches in the 2000's back to back and you can tell there are different stories being conveyed in both. The first match four years earlier, was longer and rigorous and Kawada ended up losing the opportunity for the title. He still could not get the best out of his mentor. However this time around, now that Kawada is the defending champion and is on a path to glory, the match is significantly shorter and despite Tenryu fighting back, it was the defending champion who mainly got the upper hand for majority of the match. Tenryu even started to show his frustrations by attempting to use chairs and tables but referee Kyohei Wada put an end to those plans. The pace is faster in terms of match progression, Kawada is more visibly aggressive in comparison to their last outing, and it can be clearly seen that Tenryu could not keep up with him anymore. In the end, after a lot of brutal exchanges, the student has finally able to overcome and surpass his master by making him give up with the Stretch Plum submission. I thought this was a fine match though I preferred their earlier meeting, it's not entirely comparable as like I said the story and psychology into both matches are not the same, I enjoyed it still regardless. At this point of his career Tenryu is way past his athletic prime and leaned in more into his grumpy old veteran persona. I think this was the match that solidified Kawada's spot as AJPW's present day ace at the time, defeating one of the few men left who symbolized the past era. Where Are They Now? Tenryu continued to actively wrestle until in 2015 when he faced his final opponent: Kazuchika Okada who also did pretty good in this business last I heard. 4.) Shinya Hashimoto Date: February 22, 2004 Event: Excite Series (Tag 7) Time: 19:57 The Story: Now this is truly what a "dream match" is all about. Two of the biggest stars of their generation who made their name in historic promotions, becoming highly acclaimed workers and World Champions, practically having Hall of Fame worthy careers, clashing for the very first time! Seriously, I can't stress it enough how big of a deal this match is, just the sight of Kawada and Hashimoto sharing a ring together is an immortalized moment in itself. Much like Kawada with the Four Pillars, Hashimoto was a part of a group of legendary names as well known as "The Three Musketeers" along with Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono. They were all from the same New Japan Dojo class and debuted around the same time, all three would go on to dominate the wrestling scene from the late 80's up until the 90's where they truly peaked as main eventers. Hashimoto still stood out among his peers though and was the ace of NJPW throughout the decade and was the defining champion of the IWGP Heavyweight Title and at one point held the record for longest undefeated reign with the belt until it was broken two decades later. Hashimoto and Kawada while being in different promotions during their prime years as athletes, were never able to cross paths due to NJPW and AJPW rarely working together especially around that point. It wasn't until in 2001 when Hashimoto left the company, started out his own promotion: ZERO1 where he was able to become a freelancer and compete wherever he desires. He even had matches in NOAH where he fought Mitsuharu Misawa in a tag-team match. Basically fighting against other notable names he was not given an opportunity to during his time at the top. In 2002 Hashimoto made his debut in All Japan Pro Wrestling and reignited his rivalry with The Great Muta. On February 23, 2003 he defeated him to become Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a nice boost to his already accomplished career. Hashimoto successfully defended the belt twice against Arashi (aka Isao Takagi) and Satoshi Kojima but unfortunately had to drop the belt due to a dislocated shoulder seven months later. Kawada won the tournament for the vacant championship and now in his third defense, Hashimoto wants to take back the title he never officially loss and so these two all time greats will finally face each other in singles action in this once in a lifetime match. The Match: Simply put this match was awesome. Would it have been better had it happen in the 90's? Obviously, but I think at this stage of their careers Kawada and Hashimoto being the "grizzled old vets" if you will it added to the star power or high profile match feel. Unlike Kobashi and Chono who both had a decent match but clearly their styles were way too different to mesh with one another, Kawada and Hashimoto had a lot of similarities with their game especially when it comes to striking. The early going on the match, not much really happened, they were both sizing each other up until when they got into one of the turnbuckle corners and began to chop each other in the face, at one instance I thought Kawada even bled into his ear but it seemed like just great selling from the champion. That's one of the pivotal elements as to why this match was great too was the top notch selling from both men, they went hard on each other's weaknesses, Kawada with his knee and Hashimoto's shoulder. It was the challenger who mainly leaned in to the heel persona of the match, stomping and locking in Kawada's knee multiple times to gain sympathy from the crowd and after all despite being gone from New Japan for awhile now by this point, he still feels like an "outsider" in the promotion and this match always felt like its not just two legends squaring off but two of the historic companies coming together in some form. The finishing sequence to a match is where things really got intense, by this point the two wrestlers were clearly gassed but their fighting spirits are still alive. After all the endless exchanges of kicks and chops as well as a slew of other moves, Kawada locked in the Stretch Plum and this time adding in more damage to Hashimoto's broken shoulder which forced ZERO1 president Yoshiyuki Nakamura to throw in the towel for his top star. He tried to do it earlier too with the same spot but initially Hashimoto refused to give up, but this time the damage was already too much and Kawada was successful in defending the championship from his toughest challenge yet. What I enjoyed the most about these two was the subtle selling which they're both masters of, especially Kawada. I think modern day wrestlers can benefit by watching this match exactly for that, the way Kawada walked in pain while selling his knee added to the tension and drama of the match, also not being able to fully execute the backdrop suplex due to the weight of Hashimoto adding in to his bad knee made you feel for him instead of looking at it like a "botch." It adds realism to the match and respect to the art of wrestling, overselling can have its moments but during big time bouts like these, subtlety is more appreciated in my opinion. This was the first and only time these two ever met each other in the ring in singles action and I say it lived up to the hype and one of the few hidden gems in this era of AJPW. Where Are They Now? The following year Hashimoto left ZERO1 due to financial reasons and quietly retired from wrestling, unfortunately on July 11, 2005 he unexpectedly passed away at the age of 40. It would've been nice to see interactions of Hashimoto with the next generation of talents but that will always remain as a "what if?" forever. Gone but never forgotten. 5.) Mick Foley Date: May 8, 2004 Event: HUSTLE-3 (PPV) Time: 12:56 The Story: Toshiaki Kawada and Mick Foley are two legends of the wrestling business but you rarely associate one with the other. They became popular in different countries and companies, vastly contrasting in their styles of wrestling, and with how their careers turned out you may not even consider that they overlapped but here we are. "Wait this happened?" is the only appropriate response I feel like to this match up and it originally wasn't even supposed to take place. This wasn't in AJPW but a promotion called HUSTLE. It's a wrestling company with Nobuhiko Takada as one of its founders. It's basically a company with a little bit of everything from serious to comedy matches, it's like an EWR/TEW promotion come to life. They're best known though for their absurd, sometimes borderline weird matches and segments. Think of it like if DDT, WWE, and traditional Puroresu all mixed into one entity, that's basically HUSTLE. So back to the match, the original booking was supposed to be Kawada vs. Goldberg for the Triple Crown Championship but the latter did not make it to the event due to citing injuries as his excuse. The promotion had to find a last minute replacement for Goldberg and they had Mick Foley. The hardcore legend isn't necessarily new to the country as before even making it big in the States, he already popularized the death match scene in FMW along with his brutal battles against Terry Funk and Atsushi Onita. Cactus Jack even toured with All Japan in the early 90's participating in the Championship Carnival but never got to interact with Kawada. There really isn't a lot of story in here, before the match in an interview Kawada even called out Goldberg saying he was a coward for not continuing with the match as he himself is fighting with a lingering injury and mentioned that Foley is an unworthy challenger but he will fight him anyway to defend the honor of the Triple Crown. An odd match up for sure but an interesting little tidbit into the legendary careers of these two Hall of Famers. The Match: This is probably the closest we'll ever get to see Kawada wrestle in a WWE-esque match and I'm not saying that as if it's a good thing. With all due respect to both men, they've certainly had better matches than this. Foley is a shell of his former self at this point and only works well in hardcore stipulations, having poor performances in normal matches and Kawada is past his physical prime so he's not exactly the 5 star caliber machine he once was. Add in the fact that this match barely has any heat or build up and what we got was a boring slugfest. The pacing was slow in an awful way, a lot of stalling in the beginning with Mick grabbing "Barbie" (his barbed wire baseball bat) to the outside which played a huge role into this match but at the start he attacked young boy Taichi with it to the outside. Yes, the same Taichi who's now the Lord Emperor of New Japan was once under the wing of Kawada but anyway, as I said with the lack of any substantial story to truly carry this match as an engaging piece, the crowd barely reacted to it at all. Even Foley's attempts at popping the audience with his hardcore stuff and bringing out Mr. Socko barely got reactions at all. The constant interferences really made this doesn't feel like a Puroresu match at all and I know this is HUSTLE but even that gets way too much and this is still supposed to be for the Triple Crown Championship. Instead of it being presented like a high profile title match, it felt like a midcard affair but this was the semi main event. Foley's punches looked weak in comparison to the elbows and kicks of Kawada, by the looks of it the champion himself doesn't seem so pleased to be in the match either as he's phoning it in majority of the time. The ending of the match we saw Kawada lock in the challenger in the Stretch Plum attempted a pin afterwards but got a kick out, then hits him with a PK for the underwhelming finish. Out of the entire reign, this one is skippable and only nice for the novelty of it, other than that it wasn't something noteworthy and there are better things we can remember these legends for. Where Are They Now? The hardcore legend is still around and kicking (although not wrestling anymore) which is a miracle in itself after all the insanity he has put his body through the years. 6.) Jamal Date: June 12, 2004 Event: Crossover (Tag 9) Time: 18:01 The Story: Another name you probably did not expect to see here is Jamal (Eddie Fatu aka Umaga.) He is a member of the legendary Anoa'i Samoan wrestling dynasty which includes many notable names in wrestling over the years including his brothers Rikishi and Sam Fatu (aka Tonga Kid.) After his Three Minute Warning stint ended in the WWE, Jamal debuted on AJPW in 2003 and aligned himself with the stable: Roughly Obsess & Destroy (RO&D) which was led by TAKA Michinoku. It was basically a faction for gaijins with TAKA being the only native member, other wrestlers that were a part of the group were Bull Buchanan, The Gladiator (Mike Awesome), D'Lo Brown, RO'Z (aka Rosey), and Matt Morgan. Taiyo Kea was also one of the top representatives of the group but we will get more to him later. This stable along with many other factors was a clear sign that AJPW is in an entirely new era with a lot of ex-WWE wrestlers being featured prominently on the shows, something that wouldn't really be seen when Giant Baba was the one running the helm. The following year Jamal started to get pushed a bit, in that year's Champion Carnival he got an upset win over Keiji Mutoh and later on feuded with Kawada and aimed for the Triple Crown Championship so the match was finally set. The Match: There are some former WWE wrestlers that blend well with the Japanese style but unfortunately in my opinion Jamal wasn't one of them. I'm not saying this match was bad but it was just average at best. I know All Japan at this point doesn't have the best overall roster because most elite level talents are either in NJPW or NOAH so they have to make do with what they have, I do not think Jamal around this time of his career was ready for such a high profile match yet. The lack of build up or any background for this match didn't help either, for the most part it felt heatless and there isn't enough fire there for the match to make it feel like a big deal. It's one of those "filler defenses" if you will. I'd give them this though, the physicality of the match was decent. There was at one point which I feel was the turning point when Kawada sent Jamal flying all the way to the outside when he was on the ropes, through the announcer's table and even bumped onto one of the officials and seemingly broke his arm. It was a hilarious spot though at least for me not really entirely brutal, maybe I just can't take this match too seriously. Kawada has primarily worked on the arm since that point, either repeatedly hitting it with kicks or locking it in with armbars. Some more back-and-forth between both men afterwards, then we got Jamal hit a top rope giant splash onto the champion which got a two count, loved Kawada's wobbly selling after taking the move. The challenger continues to hit more of his power moves but still to no avail, Kawada keeps on kicking out. The finishing sequence is when the crowd was finally getting into it a little bit, the signature moves were receiving reactions and such. Jamal hits Kawada with a powerbomb but the champion quickly got up on his feet and hits the contender with his trademark jumping high kicks but wasn't able to put him down. Another powerbomb this time transitioning it to a full blown pin which got a near fall. To their credit the crowd went wild after this and began cheering for Kawada. A brainbuster and stiff kick to Jamal which both led to near falls, fair play to them as that did make Jamal look at least tough or durable against Kawada's big hits. However the damage was already too much and Kawada locked him in with the Stretch Plum which forced referee Kyohei Wada to ring for the bell. If the pacing were a little faster then maybe I would have liked this match better, I'm not a big fan of Jamal's work in the first place until when he finally became Umaga in his WWE return, character work and being a dominant hoss were his strengths as a performer. Kawada did fine but he certainly had better matches around this point of his career. Where Are They Now? Eddie Fatu returned to the WWE then portrayed his much more well known persona as "Umaga, The Samoan Bulldozer" and managed to have programs with various main event level stars like John Cena and Triple H. He worked with the company until in 2009 but unfortunately passed away that same year on December 4 at the age of 36. 7.) Takao Omori Date: July 18, 2004 Event: Battle Banquet (PPV) Time: 22:36 The Story: A product of the famous Animal Hamaguchi dojo, Takao Omori made his debut at All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1992. Initially in his first few years, he didn't score a lot of wins and mainly loss to veteran members of the roster like Mighty Inoue, Mitsuo Momota, and Haruka Eigen. On September 24, 1993 Kawada and Omori met each other in the ring in singles competition for the first time but it was Dangerous K who came out victorious, few days prior to that match they loss in a tag-team bout to the duo of Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama. Omori continued to compete in AJPW but mainly as a midcarder, he wouldn't win his first title until in 1995 when him and Jun Akiyama defeated The Fantastics for the All Asia Tag-Team Championships and reigned over for an impressive 1,076 days. He continued to find tag-team success in 1998 when him and former UWF-I alumnus Yoshihiro Takayama formed "NO FEAR" and were 2x AJPW World Tag-Team Champions before leaving together to join the mass exodus for NOAH. Omori didn't last long with the new company though due to some personal disagreements with the management and Takayama opting out for a solo career in MMA. So he left and became a freelancer, competing in various promotions in the country including a return to his original home promotion: AJPW in 2004. Participating in that year's Champion Carnival, Omori receive a decent push something he's been longing for his entire career so far, he managed to reach the tournament's semi finals but lost to Keiji Mutoh. In the build up to their next PPV, Omori got a surprise clean pin fall over Kawada in a tag-team match which granted him a shot at the Triple Crown Championship. This is his first time getting a chance at the big one as in his original run he was not able to be given the same opportunity. Throughout his career thus far, Omori has always been overshadowed by the rest of his peers, even his tag partner Takayama was seen as the better wrestler between them, but ever since running on his own, he was able to prove that he can certainly go at it with the best of them and now he has a chance once and for all to prove all the doubters wrong and capture the most illustrious title in the company. But to get there, he first has to beat one of the most decorated and toughest wrestlers of all time. The Match: Nothing but praises for this match! It had everything I want in a Puroresu bout, obviously the hard hitting stiff action is there which I'm always a sucker for but the rest of the way both wrestlers managed to keep my attention with their storytelling by emphasizing on the intensity of their moves and high drama for a lot of the spots throughout. Admittedly going into this match for the first time, I've only seen Omori matches mainly in tag bouts but this proved to me that he can go at it in big time scenarios as a solo act too. Kawada did not need to carry him to a great performance but he actually put in the work which turned out to be fantastic. From start to finish, the fight felt very equal to me, Omori managed to hang in there against a tough opponent like Kawada which really put him over immensely in my view. Taking advantage of the knee which as usual the champion sold perfectly all the time, it doesn't feel like an overreaction when he sells it, you can feel the struggle every time he walks or attempts to execute a move with it. A lot of exchanges when it comes to striking and submission holds. Puroresu is best known for its stiff shots and a lot of wrestlers will come to mind right off the bat including Kawada, but I feel like Omori is underrated in this situation too. What I like about him is that not only he can dish out a good elbow or palm strike, but take the punishment just as well with his incredible endurance. Omori tends to be on the heel side of the match over the fan favorite Kawada, repeatedly attacking the knee and even almost got into a scuffle with veteran referee Kyohei Wada at one point. This made Kawada's eventual comeback all the more convincing after suffering some painful attacks from the opposition. The latter part of the match as expected is where things really got heated and turned up to second gear. They teased some power moves when they were both in the apron which added to the overall tension of the story, but Kawada hits him with a jumping high knee instead, it was a little underwhelming but probably the safest spot they can do, what visibly popped me though was the straight up kick from Omori towards the champion's face, it was delivered truly out of nowhere which surprised me a little bit. Back in the ring, Omori hits Kawada with a flying knee from the top rope which got him a two count. Then we got the counter of big hits where Kawada channels his inner Superman and keeps on getting up after receiving some big lariats from his challenger. Kawada then hits him with a neckbreaker suplex then followed it up with a powerbomb which got a two count. Finally we get to the closing stretch, both men now exhausted but still had a lot of fire power left in them exchanged slaps and elbows, then Kawada with the jumping kick, pinned his opponent but only got a one count much to the surprise of the audience. Some more near falls from both men but finally after hitting him with a backdrop suplex followed up by a stiff kick, the champion successfully retains after a hard fought battle. This match is overlooked because it happened during AJPW's low profile years but it deserves some more attention for how amazing both men performed here, stellar work for Kawada and especially Omori, this is the bout that truly legitimized him as a worthy main event level player. Where Are They Now? Omori did eventually become Triple Crown Champion a decade later in 2014 when he won the vacant belt against Jun Akiyama but his reign only lasted for 14 days and immediately dropped it to Suwama. It was more of a consolation reign for sticking with the company all these years later and he's still a part of the AJPW roster as one of the veterans even if his run at the top are way past him now. 8.) Osamu Nishimura Date: September 3, 2004 Event: Summer Impact (Tag 8) Time: 27:17 The Story: Osamu Nishimura began his journey into pro wrestling in the year 1991. He is another graduate of the New Japan dojo and was also trained by British wrestler Tony St. Clair and later on was mentored under the wing of Tatsumi Fujinami. Nishimura is best known for his technical style of wrestling, combining both worlds of the classic British catch-as-can style and the traditional hard hitting affair of Puroresu, blending in a wonderful mat-based pro wrestling presentation which is quite unique in itself. However, despite being a technical genius, Nishimura is rarely mentioned in mainstream media nowadays because as great of a grappler he is, he lacked in the personality department and was not able to stand out against the more charismatic personalities of the 1990's. Although he was still able to find fairly good amount of success in various parts of the world touring not only in Japan but also in the US and Europe. From the late 90's to 2000's he primarily competed in NJPW where he won the IWGP Tag-Team Championships twice, first with his master Fujinami and later on with Hiroyoshi Tenzan. In 2004 he made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling in the Battle Banquet PPV the same event as the previously discussed match where he lost to Keiji Mutoh. Nishimura can be seen in the crowd watching the main event between Kawada and Omori, hinting about the next potential contender for the Triple Crown. He would eventually earn the right to challenge for the belt, earning a victory on the champion in a six man tag-team match. This is the first time Nishimura will be challenging for a World Heavyweight Championship in his career and he will forever solidify his status among the greats if he can take down Kawada. An interesting clash of styles between the never say die master of King's Road against the well traveled all-around technical wizard. The Match: I did not expect this match to be so action packed from the get go. Before Kawada could even make it in the ring, he got attacked in his entrance by Taiyo Kea and Jamal, two members of RO&D. Nishimura quickly took advantage of the situation and assaulted the champion to the outside and as they got back in the ring, he didn't stop and continued on with his offense. What stod out to me was Nishimura following the footsteps (quite literally) of Kevin Von Erich by wrestling barefoot, he really went all out with the old school vibe this time, I'm not too sure if this is what he does all the time around these years of his career and it's just a small little detail I found interesting. But anyway, back to the match he did the classic spot of escaping his head out of a leg hold which always guarantees a pop from a crowd, he executes them good but in my opinion nobody does them better than Johnny Saint. Fair play to Nishimura too, the constant criticism against him is that he has the same personality as that of bland bread but for this match he actually conveyed a lot of emotions, almost in the same level as Kawada who is known for being one of the most expressive workers ever. His strikes had more emphasis in them and the constant back-and-forth submission holds between the two were more engaging and they didn't feel like "rest spots" which I enjoyed. Obviously for the most part while there is some high intensity action, most of the time it was strictly mat-oriented and if done correctly, those kinds of matches can be entertaining and that was exactly what we got. Nishimura constantly worked on Kawada's bad knee, just like everyone else thus far taking advantage of the champion's main weakness. After a tiring battle with endless exchanges of submission holds, with the challenger getting some close calls in the finishing sequence which got the crowd to chant his name! I was shocked a little bit by that as the audience went from Kawada die hards to being behind Nishimura after a fantastic effort from him thus far. However in the end, Kawada proved to still be mightier, he delivered a powerbomb which got a near fall then knocked his opponent out with a stiff kick for the win. The thing I enjoyed the most in this whole match was the counters they did to each other, especially Nishimura, you can clearly see the Fujinami influence in him whenever he performs these counter attacks that catches Kawada in surprise. Nonstop action from start to finish, really didn't think this would be as good as it was but dare I say it's one of the top title defenses of the Triple Crown in the decade. I know it ain't saying much but there's a lot of great stuff around in this era too that gets overlooked and this is one of those cases. One of Nishimura's best singles match in his career and a little hidden gem in Kawada's post 90's run. Where Are They Now? Osamu Nishimura is still actively wrestling as a freelancer as of the writing of this article. He primarily competes in AJPW since 2007. 9.) Taiyo Kea Date: October 31, 2004 Event: Keiji Mutoh's 20th Anniversary Show (PPV) Time: 26:44 The Story: Ever since he was young Maunakea Mossman is already considered as a top prospect, winning the Hawaiian state championship in amateur wrestling. He is also the nephew of former pro wrestler and manager King Curtis Iaukea and the one who persuaded him to send his resume to All Japan Pro Wrestling. He was so good that Giant Baba himself visited and personally recruited him to train in their dojo to Japan and from then on as they say the rest is history. Mossman immediately became one of the top stars of the junior heavyweight division upon graduating in the dojo. He was Baba's favorite and while the Four Pillars were dominating the heavyweight scene, the juniors were somewhat left behind the shadows and only two wrestlers were prominently feuding around the 90's which were Yoshinari Ogawa and Mossman. He defeated his rival on August 22, 1997 for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship with three successful defenses for 294 days before vacating the belt as he went moved up to the heavyweight division. Mossman had a series of trial matches against some notable heavyweight wrestlers to prove himself as a worthy contender. In the seven matches he managed to defeat lower tier competitors like Johnny Smith, Wolf Hawkfield, and Giant Kimala but he lost all of his matches against the Four Heavenly Pillars but did show some resiliency and determination against the main eventers. When Misawa left to create NOAH, Mossman was one of the four wrestlers to remain in AJPW. In the end, he has proven right to being Giant Baba's favorite and just like Kawada stayed loyal to the promotion where he made a name for himself. In the new era of AJPW, it wasn't only a change of atmosphere for the company but Mossman as well. He changed his ring name to "Taiyo Kea" giving him a semi Japanese name which made him for marketable to the fans. Despite being technically a "gaijin" in the sense that he is born in Hawaii, Kea spent most of his life in Japan ever since becoming a pro wrestler and has embraced the Japanese culture immensely getting to the point wherein he doesn't even feel like a foreigner anymore. Due to many stars leaving, he finally has the opportunity at the spotlight. He also worked under the wing of Keiji Mutoh, developing an edgier side to his personality by becoming a part of Bad Ass Translate Trading (BATT) stable, an offshoot of nWo Japan. Taiyo Kea challenged for the Triple Crown first time in his career on 2001 but lost to Tenryu. Advancing three years later where he has elevated himself to the main event scene even further by now being a key player in a stable of his own (RO&D) he has constantly feuded with Toshiaki Kawada and for the most part in his career, has been overshadowed by the Pillars but now he gets a chance to surpass his senior and capture the illustrious title that has alluded him on many occasions. The Match: Unfortunately I couldn't find a copy of this match online. I dug in deep for a lot of these matches too including this, going through various video streaming sites even the ones I only go to for obscure wrestling matches but nope. Seems like available footage of this event is lost in time which is the perfect analogy for this era of AJPW where a lot of people have just forgotten it existed and got heavily overshadowed by the popularity of NOAH and the mess of NJPW. If anyone actually has a working copy or knows someone that does then please contact me. It would be unfair for me to review this without having even seen a second if it, there is video of their '06 match but obviously that's different. What a bummer. Where Are They Now? Taiyo Kea is the first former Junior Heavyweight Champion to win the Triple Crown doing so in 2006. His run only lasted for 62 days. He's been a semi active wrestler since 2015. 10.) Hiroyoshi Tenzan Date: December 5, 2004 Event: The Unchained World (TV-Show) Time: 32:21 The Story: On August 10, 2000 something remarkable took place when AJPW veteran Masanobu Fuchi entered a New Japan ring for the first time and announced to the world his intentions to "break down the barriers" so to speak between the two companies and form an inter-promotional alliance. Riki Choshu, who was the head booker at the time for NJPW also entered the ring and the two legends shook hands and made the partnership official. This was a big deal as for three decades, AJPW and NJPW were rival promotions and rarely worked with each other. This is certainly something we wouldn't see if Giant Baba was still alive but if both companies want to survive, they have to work with each other by sharing talents and allowing some of their workers to compete elsewhere especially in AJPW after their roster was heavily gutted by the NOAH exodus. Ever since then we've seen many wrestlers from AJPW work New Japan shows including Kawada himself who made his NJPW debut in the Tokyo Dome on October 9, 2000 when he defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki in a non-title match. This event proved to be a huge success as they managed to have a sell out, proving that the alliance was a good move as it allowed fans to witness "dream match scenarios" such as these. The following year Kawada joined the tournament for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship and there he faced off against Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the first time and won the match, reaching the finals but loss to Kensuke Sasaki. Tenzan would eventually make his way to AJPW and aimed to avenge his loss to Kawada and wanted for it to be himself to dethrone the dominant champion. By this point Dangerous K has already surpassed his long time rival Mitsuharu Misawa's record of eight successful title defenses with the Triple Crown, but he has another tough challenger ahead of him by this point is already a former 2x IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Tenzan is a graduate of the New Japan Dojo on the same class as Kojima, Nagata, and Nakanishi. Together they were known as "The Third Generation." Tenzan had an accomplished tag-team run during the 90's and a prominent member of the nWo Japan, around the 2000's he started to develop his career even further by being a solo act and now he wants to add the prestigious Triple Crown in his resume. These two are certainly familiar with one another by this point, it's an interesting match up of different styles but they do have something in common, they're both tough and will do everything to always come out victorious. The Match: This was really great, the longest bout out of the entire 5th reign of Kawada as champion and the hype delivered between these two. It's crazy how prime Tenzan and his current form is night and day when it comes to in-ring action. When he could still go and before his body got riddled with injuries, he really was one of the best workers in the entire world and I do stand by that opinion. He's a bit like Taue in a sense where some of his moves are not as fluid and may look awkward at times but I think that's just his fighting style and if you look past that aspect, his move set is actually pretty solid. Once again, just like most main event Puro matches this followed the formula of the slow build to reach the intense climax and heated ending. If you're not a fan of stuff like that maybe you won't enjoy the first half of this match but I do liked it myself, the character work and selling these two had against each other was good enough to keep everything flow in the right direction and the strike exchanges they did were hard hitting enough to keep my eyes glued as I'm a sucker for stiff back-and-forth action whether it be Kawada's kicks or Tenzan's various chops. Being an outsider, Tenzan was the clear heel throughout the match, being more arrogant than his usual self, often mocking and ostracizing the champion much to the dismay of the crowd. His in-ring work may not be your cup of tea but give Tenzan credit for his ability to always capture the attention of the fans and get a reaction one way or another. One of the more memorable spots of the match was the challenger delivering his signature Tenzan Tombstone Driver (TTD) onto Kawada in the outside floor sans mat. It was probably made safe by both men but from a certain angle, it really looked brutal. From that point on it was Tenzan who was mainly on the upper hand and put in a lot of work for Kawada's eventual comeback, beating up the champion for him to rise through the battle. When the champion was looking like he's got the momentum back, Tenzan slowed it back in and almost got a close win by locking in his signature Anaconda Vice but Kawada still has a lot left in the tank. By this point both men are already feeling the grueling stages of the bout and it's only a matter of who wants it better to crown the winner in the end. At one point during the match, after receiving back to back headbutts directly in the face, Kawada got busted open in the right eye and the amount of blood really got out of hand nearing Muta-scale levels. It did add to the tension of the match I'd give it that and made Tenzan really strong, especially his head which earlier in the match Kawada attempted to headbutt himself but he's the one who got hurt, who knew Tenzan had Samoan blood in him? But I digress. The finishing sequence to this match was as high drama as you can possibly get, Kawada almost managed to hit the freaking Ganso Bomb on Tenzan but he just barely managed to escape, Tenzan proceeded to run to the ropes but met a jumping high kick followed up by a backdrop suplex which got a near fall. Finally, a Dangerous Kick knocks him out for good and another successful yet hard fought win for the defending champion. Probably one of the best matches of Tenzan's career around this point and a phenomenal job on Kawada in every aspect of the game from his offense to selling and elevating his opponent to an even greater level only the way he can. The closing stretch of this match made up for its slow pace start and everything paid off with the wonderful action we've witnessed in the end. If you haven't seen this one yet and interested in seeing Tenzan in his prime against veteran Kawada then I highly recommend you to do so! The final five minutes alone are worth it enough. Where Are They Now? Hiroyoshi Tenzan is still actively wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Although way past his prime now, Tenzan provides solid veteran presence in the roster and mentors many of the young talents in the dojo like many of his fellow legends. 11.) Kensuke Sasaki Date: January 16, 2005 Event: New Year Shining Series (Tag 6) Time: 23:27 The Story: Two top tier wrestlers with completely different backgrounds and made their names in separate promotions but once they've faced off for the first time against one another in the main event of the Tokyo Dome at the start of the decade, it marked an entirely new era for the landscape of Puroresu. Kensuke Sasaki is one of the most decorated wrestlers in NJPW history, heading into this match he is a former 5x IWGP Heavyweight Champion and 7x IWGP Tag-Team Champion. Started out under the mentorship of Riki Choshu, Sasaki slowly developed into one of the biggest prospects in the company after learning the ropes in various parts of the world. Initially a tag-team wrestler, he would then become a powerhouse in the main event heavyweight scene and eventually reached the same heights as The Three Musketeers by becoming a fan favorite. When Hashimoto left New Japan, Sasaki became the de facto top star of the company and upon entering the 2000's was one of the most popular acts in the country due to his high intensity and hard hitting performances. As I've mentioned already him and Kawada faced each other twice already, first was in the Tokyo Dome when NJPW and AJPW's partnership became official and Sasaki loss to the veteran but their re-match the following year for the vacant IWGP Championship, he would become victorious and beating Kawada. Now five years later, they clash once more and they have set the bar quite high for their previous encounters with the first one especially being considered one of the greatest matches not only of their respective careers but throughout the entire decade. Sasaki is now a made man himself, leaving NJPW and becoming a freelancer under his own brand: Kensuke Office (aka Diamond Ring.) A worthy challenger for the Triple Crown, he was seen watching the match amongst the crowd in Kawada's last defense against Tenzan, now it's his chance to add the prestigious World Tile into his already stacked collection of gold. A rubber match to determine once and for all the better of the two warriors. The Match: Once again another beautiful showcase of philosophies between Strong Style and King's Road with its two best representatives at the time. The beginning was a little slow paced but in the right way, surprisingly some mat-based submissions from both men, did not expect Sasaki to go very technical in the beginning but he can deliver despite being at the point of his career where he really bulked up. A test of strength spot which obviously the challenger will always have the upper hand when it comes to pure raw power alone. Then a barrage of strike exchanges which continued all throughout the match in between some more submission holds. Very heated action as one would expect from a match featuring these two, around these years Sasaki has improved immensely, he's one of those wrestlers where he got better with age and his expressions were on point too. Kawada while way past his physical prime now, was still able to go at it with Sasaki's pacing and intensity, not being left behind the much stronger opponent. Eventually the action spilled to the outside and Sasaki even hit a dive off the top rope onto Kawada which is just crazy seeing a man built like a bull casually jump from such height. Sasaki then suplexed Kawada onto the concrete floor which could've counted out the champion but he did end up go back and take him inside the ring, wanting to win at least in an honorable manner instead of the easy way out. For the most part the momentum has swayed on both side until when they got back inside. It was mainly Sasaki drilling in Kawada with his offense, the champion taking in majority of the stiff offense from chops, lariats, and even a quickly executed piledriver. The middle part of the match is where Sasaki was evidently the one who was on top of the game and making you think he may have a chance by constantly dropping Kawada who's selling as always is on point, I especially liked him standing up for a bit after the piledriver then immediately fold down, dazed like he was shot with a gun. Only someone of his caliber can pull off something like that without it looking ridiculous, such elements add to the tension and drama of the match. Eventually Kawada channeled his inner fighting spirit and fought back against his opponent, a lot of "hope" spots if you will and the closing stretch of this match was just a straight up back-and-forth offense from both men. Near the end as Kawada was gearing up for his signature corner high kick, Sasaki countered by running onto him like a freight train putting down the champion, he would proceed to hit a German Suplex which Kawada barely just withstood, but then followed it up immediately with a Tornado Bomb which resulted in a near fall, a huge jump from referee Kyohei Wada for the count by the way, thought I'd just like to point that out, he got some height for sure on that one! After locking him in to a submission hold, Sasaki hammered down the opposition with some more lariats, tried another pin but this time only got a one count much to the awe of the crowd. Kawada countered him back with a brainbuster which resulted in a one count as well. A jumping high kick was rejected with Sasaki hitting it with a clothesline, both men selling their limbs, but then back-to-back strong arm lariats with a Northern Lights Bomb which could've ended the match but Kawada managed to roll his way out of a pinning predicament then hits a running Sasaki with another jumping high kick. As if things couldn't get more heated, the final seconds were just as intense when Kawada hits Sasaki with two backdrop suplexes simultaneously but the challenger keeps on getting up but still visibly shaken, finally another high kick plus stiff kick combination gets the job and after a grueling affair Kawada retains. In comparison to their earlier matches, I really liked their first encounter the best, but obviously I think the atmosphere added to the overall presentation of that match with it being their inaugural match against each other and being in the Tokyo Dome, plus them being younger means more athleticism and a lot more time for action. With that said, this match still delivered, a little slow in the beginning, but man the final fifteen to ten minutes made up for it by how much it was filled with high volume action. Even though they were gassed at times, they still brought out a lot of effort and you can feel the tension reach to its boiling point. Always love me some good ol' physicality spots and who better than these two. Sasaki gave Kawada a run for his money but the champion slightly had the edge on him in the end. Both men looked great afterwards and there is an underrated chemistry between these two, their styles blended well and we got a solid match out of it. Where Are They Now? Kensuke Sasaki did end up becoming Triple Crown Champion two years later in 2007 when he defeated Minoru Suzuki and had a decent reign for 247 days. Him and Takayama are the only two wrestlers to win the IWGP, Triple Crown, and GHC Heavyweight belts. He retired from in-ring competition in 2015. 12.) Satoshi Kojima Date: February 16, 2005 Event: Realize (PPV) Time: 27:04 The Story: By this point Toshiaki Kawada has already etched his name as one of the greatest Triple Crown Champions in the lineage of the illustrious title. He has surpassed his former rival Mitsuharu Misawa's record of eight successful defenses with him going over at ten, this will be his 11th defense in total. He is also the second longest reigning champion at 529 days. His next challenger approaches in the form of another member of The Third Generation, he was able to beat Tenzan but now he's going up against a full-fledged member of the AJPW roster: Satoshi Kojima. Much like his long time tag-team partner, Kojima is a graduate of the New Japan Dojo and foun moderate success in the company during the late 90's becoming a 3x IWGP Tag-Team Champion. However as the 2000's entered, the scene of the promotion changed entirely as Antonio Inoki's obsession with MMA became full blown and highlighted these fighters instead of his naturally home grown talents. Kojima's dojo classmates such as Nagata and Tenzan were not given a fair shake and despite becoming IWGP Champions themselves, they still felt overshadowed by other fighters with Nagata especially losing credibility during his time as the champion being booked in legitimate fights in PRIDE, getting knocked out in embarassing fashion against top tier level talents like Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko. Kojima saw the writing on the wall and left the company along with Keiji Mutoh in 2002 to go to a floundering AJPW but at least in this company he is able to showcase his talents better against a new field of competition. Ever since going to the company he was already treated as big deal with a ton of potential, reaching the semi finals of the 2002 Champion Carnival and the following year going all in and winning the entire tournament. In 2004 at the Battle Banquet PPV, Kojima had the biggest match of his career yet when he faced a returning Mitsuharu Misawa. We have to remember the magnitude of this match alone as Misawa returning to All Japan at this point for one match was such a big deal after the mass exodus that took place years earlier, this is the match that truly legitimized Kojima in the eyes of many and despite losing, he fought hard against arguably the greatest wrestler of all time in what was a fantastic match. In 2001 at the Super-Force Group Declaration event where a lot of NJPW vs. AJPW match ups took place, Kojima and Kawada already faced each other in one of the featured matches and Kawada was victorious that time, now we advance to this date Satoshi Kojima has grown to be an even bigger star than before and proved himself worthy of the top spot, he is facing Kawada again but he has more experience now in high profile matches, has improve immensely since their last encounter, for Kojima to officially become the ace, his toughest quest is to vanquish and dethrone the last standing Pillar of All Japan Pro Wrestling. The Match: As I was watching the entrances, I'm surprised to see that by this point the AJPW faithful have warmed up to Kojima with the ovation they gave him, even cheering him over Kawada when the bell rang, not just any cheers either, literal Road Warrior level pops of chanting his name out loud which is nice to see. I would've thought that the stigma of him being a former New Japan wrestler would stick but I'm glad over the course of his time in the company, he has won the respect of the fans and to be cheered by arguably the biggest star of the promotion at that point, who's history runs deep, that's an achievement in itself. Before the match could even start, the atmosphere already has such a big fight feel to it, even more so than the two previous bouts against Tenzan and Sasaki, they've built up Kojima well as the number one contender. I really like the overall story they told in this match where Kojima is the new upstart and potential face of the company, but Kawada whom at this point has pretty much sacrificed and offered his entire career to All Japan still does not want to let go of the very spot he worked hard for over the past 22 years. He has turned into what his sensei Tenryu became that is the grumpy old veteran of the roster, a "murder grandpa" if you will, and it's amazing to see the transformation. Brushing off Kojima's chops and elbows, then giving receipts of his own, showing to the younger guy how it's supposed to be done. This is still his home and he will always be an outsider. Things like these is what makes matches so compelling, the callbacks to the past and interconnecting the stories of both wrestlers into this one fight. For the in-ring action itself, what's really telling how the tides have turned is that for most of the matches so far it is Kawada who was in the role of the sympathetic babyface taking in the punishment of his opponents for the eventual comeback, but this time it is him who is on the other side of the role, the one delivering the punishment to Kojima, acting as a gatekeeper in him reaching the gold, similar how Misawa was to him before. Usually in these matches we get the traditional slow start, testing each other out, feeling the opposition and all that, but what I really enjoyed in this match is right from the get-go, both men just went all out with their offense and hit each other with strikes and even the submission holds in between added more to the tension than take away from it. Around this point of his career, its clear that Kawada was already past his athletic prime, with his moveset becoming more visibly limited. But they managed to make up for it with the high drama filled action, constantly going to the outside, and I always love me some hard hitting Puro action and that is exactly what we got here. The challenger being absolutely manhandled by the champion, dishing out everything he could to Kojima, rising up the fighting spirit inside him while also getting the support of the fans in the process, a very effective tool in conveying a good story. One of the biggest highlights of this match was Kawada giving out a powerbomb to Kojima straight to the outside floor. Back in the ring, Kawada still has the upper hand. It's pretty much stays that way for the bulk of the bout. Momentum finally swayed a bit on the challenger's side when he hits the Koji Cutter which somewhat made things even going forward. When Kojima finally started to fight his way back against the legend, it feels so satisfying because of the way they structured the match. Usually it is Kawada who is doing the comeback at the finishing sequences of the match, now he sees himself in somebody else's shoes and the fans ate up all of it, heavily cheering on for Kojima. The clash of power moves straight up felt like a shonen anime fight, Kojima attempted to go for a strong arm lariat, Kawada counters with an enziguri, but the challenger did not falter and managed to still hit the lariat, the champion quickly rose back up in his feet and gives out a high kick, double lariats, and finally Kojima winning the sequence with an even stronger arm lariat. The final minutes of this match is the most intense I've ever seen throughout this whole reign. Both men by this point have pretty much laid it all out, its just a matter of who wants it more, is it the feisty young challenger or the veteran defending champion? It was just a fight from here, dishing out every last ounce of offense and energy they have left in their bodies. Kojima blocked the signature jumping high kick then hits another strong arm lariat, the champion kicks out arrogantly but then gets hit with another one which resulted in a one count! A third lariat which led to another near fall, words can't even describe how much the tension is at an all time high and I'm watching this match many years later and it's still able to convey that, can't imagine how fans must've felt witnessing this live. Kojima gets back in the turnbuckle corner, waits for Kawada to stand up, and finally hits another strong arm lariat and this time it gets the three count! The icing on the cake was Kawada personally awarding Kojima the belts, passing on the rich legacy towards the next generation. Wow. What a match. This wasn't just any bout as well, you can exactly see the moment where someone's career changed and became a superstar. Satoshi Kojima has surpassed Toshiaki Kawada and became the new ace of All Japan Pro Wrestling. A beautiful story from beginning to end, every second did not feel wasted, this is what professional wrestling is all about. Definitely one of the top matches of Kojima's career and a highlight in Kawada's post prime years. Both men cemented their status after this match as all-time greats. One comparison came to mind to another match which I already covered here, something that took place months earlier around when this match happened was Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama in NOAH. Similar to this match, Akiyama like Kojima were the supposed next top faces of their respective promotions and for them to get there, they have to beat legendary dominant champions in Kobashi and Kawada respectively. What AJPW did right that NOAH did wrong in hindsight is that Kojima was able to realistically surpassed his senior and the transition to him now being the new star was flawless. Plus Kawada was an effective enough character to lean on being a heel for someone like Kojima to overcome and it is evident too as the crowd favored him throughout the match. Unfortunately for Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi is such an eternal babyface and someone you just cannot hate at all so he was the one playing the heel role and they haven't built him up in a way where he could take down the champion and have that satisfying "passing of the torch" moment, obviously Kobashi winning and having that Godly title reign is great but it sure did a damper on Akiyama's overall legacy, something Satoshi Kojima was not able to experience because he managed to get over organically and booked properly. If you haven't seen this match, I highly recommend you to do so. There is no doubt that this was the best out of Kawada's entire final reign and what a great way to conclude it all. One of the greatest wrestling matches I've ever seen from a storyline perspective and the in-ring action itself did not disappoint at all. Where Are They Now? Kojima's run after this title victory was great on its own and at the time was the third longest reign with the belt at 502 days and even held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship simultaneously at one point when he had a match against a familiar foe in Hiroyoshi Tenzan. He won the belt for one last time in 2009 and the following year returned to NJPW, upon his return he won the IWGP Title and it looks like he'll remain there for the rest of his career. Aftermath When Kawada's run as Triple Crown ended he opted to become a freelancer but still primarily worked for AJPW. But this would allow him to wrestle in other promotions without much restrictions, one of the most notable matches around this part of his career was facing Mitsuharu Misawa for the final time in the main event of NOAH Destiny 2005 in the Tokyo Dome. It was their 20th singles encounter since 1982. The match itself obviously was a far cry from what they could do in their primes but it was still special nonetheless for its historical implications and a great way to officially have a "story book ending" to one of the most legendary rivalries ever in pro wrestling. Kawada wrestled his last match in an AJPW ring on April 9, 2008 at the Champion Carnival tournament where he defeated Keiji Mutoh. He would continue to actively wrestle until quietly retiring in 2010. A year prior Misawa unfortunately passed away while wrestling in the ring and with his greatets rival gone, Kawada himself has stated that he has loss the motivation to compete. He did not have a grand farewell ceremony unlike Kobashi and Taue which is a shame because he deserved it, instead Dangerous K slowly faded away from the spotlight and had his final in-ring match ever on August 15, 2010. Nowadays Kawada runs his ramen shop. He has chilled out ever since retiring for good and has started to return in the business lately as a promoter, having his own self-produced events: Holy War since 2019. As for All Japan Pro Wrestling, the company is still around. In 2013 Keiji Mutoh left as president and had a little exodus of his own to create his new promotion: WRESTLE-1 which just closed this year. AJPW is doing well but clearly their popularity is not what it used to be at its peak, still though they have many talented wrestlers in their roster and only time will tell if they'll ever see a resurgence again. Toshiaki Kawada is the epitome of loyalty. A great example of a man who stood by his principles and beliefs, in the end being awarded for his actions. He kept the promise of his mentor alive and carried All Japan behind his back as the last remaining pillar when everybody else lost faith in the brand and went away. While Baba, Jumbo, and Misawa were far more synonymous with AJPW, to me there is no other wrestler that lives up to what the promotion is all about, Toshiaki Kawada did not only embody the style of professional wrestling of AJPW, but everything else that it upholds to. In my opinion, his greatest legacy isn't just all the championships, tournament victories, and all time classic matches he has amassed throughout his 27 year career. It was his undying loyalty that no other man can replicate. Check out my other works here that you might find interested:
Kenta Kobashi's Legacy Defining Title Run The History of Puroresu By The Stars Follow me on Twitter: @SuperMastodon Thanks For Reading. |
AuthorSuper Mastodon. Spent countless of hours throughout my life watching professional wrestling. Now I write about it, because I like that too. Archives
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