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AJPW 2003: The long reign of Toshiaki Kawada
After defeating Shinjiro Otani in 2003, Kawada won the Triple Crown for the fifth time in his career. The peculiarity is that now this did imply a long reign.
After winning the title for the first time in 1994 against Steve Williams, Kawada tied in his first defense with Kenta Kobashi and lost in the second against Stan Hansen. Then in 1998, he did so against Mitsuharu Misawa, but lost in the first defense with Kobashi. In 1999 and 2002, he defeated Misawa and Keiji Muto respectively. But in both years, he was injured before he could defend the title.
In this way and unlike any other previous Triple Crown champion, Kawada had never had a single successful defense with the AJPW top title. After beating Otani, Kawada broke that curse and had ten consecutive defenses. Not only did he vindicate himself, he also broke the record for Triple Crown defenses, established with the 8 that Misawa had in his third reign, between 1997 and 1998.
Unfortunately for AJPW, Kawada was still a little tired of the company. After losing the belt, he signed a contract as a free agent and his exclusivity with All Japan ceased. From there until the end of his career he continued to appear in AJPW, but also in a handful of other companies. Thus, the last bastion of the glorious All Japan of the 90s ended.
New alliances
Since 2003, we have seen how its alliance with ZERO1, Shinya Hashimoto’s company, affected AJPW.
By 2004, AJPW once again joined forces with their old rivals, NJPW. The wound caused by Keiji Muto’s departure healed and began a more lasting alliance than the one that originally existed. In fact, the first edition of Wrestle Kingdom (2007) was not exclusive to New Japan, but rather a joint PPV between the two companies. This spoke to Mutoh’s ability in public relations and to NJPW’s problems selling tickets, which continued to force them to ally with other companies.
As a curiosity, in 2004 the Triple Crown was defended in a HUSTLE show, a company that had a focus more on sports entertainment than on traditional Puroresu. I feel that taking the title from AJPW and taking it to a promotion that was not even close to being NJPW, the most important in Japan, was another way of devaluing it.
Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs Genichiro Tenryu, Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, AJPW New Year Giant Series, Day 10, January 18, 2004
After Tenryu surprisingly thwarted Kawada’s title victory in 2001, the two met again three years later. Now with Tenryu challenging and repeating that dynamic of student vs teacher, it seems to me that they left a much more interesting fight.
Dangerous K started dominating Mr. Wrestling, both in striking and grappling. And from there comes the first notable moment of the match: Tenryu, frustrated, throws chairs towards the ring. Back in the fight, Genichiro manages to take control of the situation after catching Kawada with a good kick. From then on, the veteran makes a good comeback and after punishing his neck, he does a good limbwork on his leg.
Tenryu hits Kawada with everything and even breaks glimpses of a comeback. But the Brainbuster doesn’t give him the pin and from that moment on, Toshiaki’s final comeback is quite good. In this way and despite having received the entire fight, he ends up beating Tenryu with his own Brainbuster. Compliant in everything.
Rating: 4 jumbitos 1/4.
Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs. Shinya Hashimoto, Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, AJPW Excite Series, day 7, February 22, 2004
Since the exodus to Noah, the best fight for the Triple Crown so far. As remarkable as it is and how little it is remembered, it feels like a Hidden Gem in every sense of the word. Apart from the fact that AJPW is looked askance at this time, it is equally influential that Dave Meltzer gives it less than 4 stars, an outrage.
To begin with, the big match feeling is atrocious. You have Hashimoto who until a few years ago had been the ace of NJPW and Kawada, the biggest star of AJPW. Two fighters who also had slightly similar styles, due to the recurring use of kicks. But at the same time, they went their separate ways and had never faced each other. The atmosphere reacts to this, in what was also (apparently) AJPW’s last show at the huge Nippon Budokan.
Without losing the thread of storytelling, the combat feels very realistic. From the moment they both meet and try each other in grappling, to the moment Hashimoto slaps Kawada that leaves him bleeding from the ear. Within those same brutal contacts, Shinya kicks Toshiaki’s knee and begins to work his leg in a remarkable way.
In contrast to Hashimoto’s limbwork to the leg, Kawada destroys his injured arm. That ends up being an extremely smart tactic on Dangerous K’s part, since, due to the weight difference, he has no way to deliver his main finishers to Shinya. In fact, his only Standing Powerbomb attempt ends with Hashimoto launching him into the air.
Kawada’s limbwork ends up being terribly effective, as Hashimoto is unable to cover it after doing the Brainbuster and damaging his arm. And then, Toshiaki manages to immobilize him with the Stretch Plum. The latter would end up causing Shinya’s staff to throw in the towel. Except for Kawada’s somewhat intermittent selling, there is very little I can criticize about this tremendous match.
Rating: 4 jumbitos 3/4.
Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs Mick Foley, Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, HUSTLE 3, 8 de mayo de 2004
I love Mick Foley and that same 2004 he came from giving Randy Orton perhaps the best match of The Viper’s career. Therefore, it hurts to assume that the only fight of his career for the Triple Crown was bad.
A maxim of wrestling for me is that if you show something that gives hype and you don’t use it, the spectator’s disappointment greatly detracts from the total appreciation. Here Foley arrived with his bat with barbed wire and managed to get it into the ring in the middle of the fight. And yet, neither he nor Kawada were hit by the bat, they did not bleed in any way and there were no violent spots. What’s the point of putting the bat in then? They sell you a fight with a hardcore aura and it is not.
Although Foley was not a technical brazen, the best moments of the fight are when he fights like a normal fighter, instead of selling spots that are not going to happen. In fact, if they weren’t going to do anything violent in the first place, they should have had a normal fight. It would have been much better than this rubbish.
It’s annoying that this involves two such good fighters, but I think that up to this point in the section it’s the worst Triple Crown match we’ve talked about.
Rating: 2 jumbitos.
Toshiaki Kawada (c) vs Jamal, Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, AJPW Crossover, 12 de junio de 2004
Better known as Umaga, Jamal fought in the Japanese FMAW the first years of his career. Then, after his first stint in WWE, he was in AJPW between 2003 and 2005. If you are fans of WWE Umaga 2007 – 2009, you are going to like this match. If not, maybe too.
Starting the fight, Jamal’s physical superiority is very evident. With little effort he takes Kawada out of the ring and throws him a couple of times against the barrier. But in minutes, they turn the match around and I feel that in a way that is organic within everything. The Samoan begins to carry the corner with his shoulder, receives a kick from Kawada that sends him to the barrier and has such a catastrophic fall that at the time he came to think that there was a botch and that he had really hurt himself.
Although in theory Jamal is the heel that threatens the reign of Kawada, the ace, the dynamic is that the Samoan is the one who has his arm destroyed, becoming an unlikely underdog. I like what comes of it, especially because when Jamal starts to gain ground he never stops selling the arm.
In the comeback, Jamal manages to hit Kawada pretty hard and at times it even seems like he could hit the ball. The ending is still good, with Dangerous K pressing with the Stretch Plum until the Samoan finally passes out. Highly recommend this.
Rating: 4 jumbitos 1/4.
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