Toshiaki Kawada vs. Satoshi Kojima (8/23/04):
Even though I don’t remember many people calling this a Match of the Year Candidate I like it better than their February ’05 Triple Crown Match, which will probably get more pimping due to its ‘historical significance.’ Kojima initially gained popularity as half of the superb ‘Tenkoji’ tag team, with the man who would go on to win the 2004 G-1, Hiroyshi Tenzan. Kojima got his chance at singles stardom when he jumped from New Japan to All Japan, along with Keiji Mutoh, in 2002. The current Triple Crown Champion and the first man to ever hold the Triple Crown and the IWGP World Heavyweight Title simultaneously, Kojima is a talented and charismatic wrestler who learned his trademark Lariat from the master himself, Stan Hansen. Toshiaki Kawada is legitimately one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He will kick your face with stiff intensity.
Kawada establishes the pecking order pretty much immediately, when he breaks cleanly while Kojima is on the ropes. Apparently, he believes that he can take Kojima without needing to fight dirty. As is standard practice in major Japanese matches, Kawada and Kojima start out with a little mat wrestling. Sometimes, it feels like, “Oh, let’s go to the ground for a few minutes to kill some time,” but in this case the mat work establishes part of the story of the match. Kojima, surprisingly, proves himself equal to Kawada’s ground game, and Dangerous K is unable to gain any advantage over the younger man. The two grapplers get back to a vertical base, and when Kojima has the chance, he doesn’t break cleanly. Of course, Toshiaki makes the punk pay for his insolence.
It’s quickly made pretty clear that Kojima’s striking game is no match for Kawada’s. Koji, however, is too cocky to back down. After coming out on the short end of three separate exchanges, Satoshi figures out the way to gain an advantage: He blocks a kick and grab’s Kawada’s leg, taking him down and working the knee. Kawada keeps kicking away, even while on the ground, but the damage to his knee takes enough out of him that Kojima is able to get in some stiff chops and elbows.
When they move on to suplexes and power moves, I don’t think “All right! Here we go!” Instead, I hope that they keep telling the story that they’d already started and don’t get caught up in a game of escalating highspots. To my extreme satisfaction, they keep building on the story, as a bad fall on a German Suplex adds the element of damage to Kawada’s shoulder.
As one might expect, Toshiaki Kawada selling his knee and shoulder injuries is very much a Beautiful Thing. Kojima is a smart enough worker to press his advantage when he is given a chance, but it is hard to work on someone’s shoulder when they are kicking your face in.
In a wonderful mark-out moment, Kojima uses a Misawa-esque Rolling Elbow to stop the onslaught, then follows it up with a TIGAAAAH DRIVAAAAH!
Sadly, they kind of lose track of their own story at this point as the match turns into a kind of mini-tribute to the various Misawa and Kowada vs. Kobashi five star classics. I don’t really care too much, though, because that’s also a really cool idea and their execution of it has me marking out pretty fiercely. When it comes right down to it, I’d rather be emotionally involved with a match than intellectually engaged by it.
In the end, not unlike Kawada vs. Kobashi ’98, this match boils down to Kawada’s kicks vs. his opponent’s lariats. In ’98, the Lariat proved stronger.
In 2004… what do you think?
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Toshiaki Kawada (2/22/04):
Hash could kick your face with stiff intensity, too.
If I were to make a list of every person in the world who can keep me entirely entertained by doing nothing more than kicking other people really hard, it wouldn’t be a very long list. Out of wrestlers working in North America right now, Tajiri might make it and Low Ki definitely would. Off the top of my head, I’d add shoot style specialists Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda, Battlearts’ Diasuke Ikeda, PRIDE FC’s Mirko Cro Cop, and Joshi icons Dynamite Kansai and Yumiko Hotta. I’m sure there are a few others. For me, though, the two most compelling kickers of other human beings on the face of the planet will always be Shinya Hashimoto and Toshiaki Kawada. This fight is a true dream match, and with Hashimoto having departed this mortal coil I can only give thanks that we were able to experience this last year.
If Toshi and Shinya had done nothing but kick one another really hard, I still would have loved this match. And they do kick each other, really hard. Hash mostly kicks Toshi in the leg, and Toshi kicks Hash in the head. They do a lot more than kick each other, though. They also slap each other, chop each other, stomp on each other, and twist one another’s joints in various painful ways. Not only that, they do those things in such a way that their actions add up to a very well told story of struggle, anger, and systematic body part destruction. Plus, Kawada bleeds from his ear in what was probably an unintentional nod to his Greatest Men’s Singles Match Ever.
Kawada goes after Hash’s taped up right shoulder, and Hash goes after Kawada’s presumably already damaged right knee. They work the injuries into the story of the match in a realistic and logical manner, then they kick each other some more. Finally, with both men all but entirely worn down, Kawada puts Hashimoto into a modified Torture Style Stretch Plum and just cranks and cranks and cranks on the shoulder. Hash is too tough to quit, so his seconds are forced to either watch him get crippled or throw in the towel.
A decade ago, with both at full strength, Hash and Toshi would almost certainly have created a legendary five-star classic together. As it stands, this is one of those rare matches where it may well be impossible to apply any kind of objective judgement. I think that this is the kind of match that deserves special status, and as I said earlier, I am simply grateful that this match happened at all.
Thank you, Toshiaki.
Next Week:
A look at a battle of legends: Kawada vs. Tenryu. Plus, I reexamine Tenryu’s G-1 match with Sasaki.
Feel free to send feedback, questions, etc. to me by clicking here.
If you haven’t already, please check out our Special Feature: Wrestling with Television.
As always, thanks to Golden Boy Tapes for putting the Best of Japan 2004 DVD set together and enabling me to see these great matches.
Domo arigato, Shinya-sensei.
Thanks for reading!
