Genichiro Tenryu v Keiji Mutoh (All Japan, 4/13/02) - EPIC
Well I'll be. A fairly decent amount of Tenryu v Mutoh matches have happened over the years, six of them from 1999-2002 alone, but this is the first one that's really jumped off the page as being properly awesome (the Tenryu/Muta match from 1996 is tremendous, but that's a whole different sort of spectacle). I thought the build and implementation of strategy was on par with some of your 90s All Japan classics, albeit on a much smaller and less ambitious scale. On the other hand this didn't have the excess of those and if you're like me then 19 minutes of this is going to be more appealing to you than 43 minutes of that, for as brilliant as THAT could often be. They start with some basic matwork, nothing too different from how they've started a few of their matches together, then about four minutes in Tenryu sets us on our merry way. I cannot for the life of me remember Tenryu doing a Shining Wizard before, but this was amazing and his impression of Mutoh's little pose after it was maybe even better. Mutoh is PEEVED and immediately has to leave the ring to compose himself and perhaps we wonder if he maybe should've sold his own signature move for longer than six seconds there, though I suppose rage will light a fire under us all and with it comes an imperviousness that we can't quite comprehend probably. The last couple Tenryu/Mutoh matches I watched had Mutoh predominantly going after the leg. I get it because it plays into the Shining Wizard and it makes sense, and it was fine, but there's probably always going to be a ceiling on how much I'll enjoy Mutoh working a leg. This time he changes tack and instead of going after the leg, he focuses on the arm. But also the leg a wee bit and we'll get to that in a second. The transition into the arm work was spectacular, as he first wipes Tenryu out with a plancha, then hits a Shining Wizard that smashes the back off Tenryu's head off the guardrail, and follows those up with a cross armbreaker on the floor that actually has Tenryu tapping out. We get some foreshadowing of the leg coming into play after the Shining Wizard, as Mutoh lands on Tenryu's leg and it gets bent super awkwardly, and Tenryu clutches at it as if it's been hurt. Mutoh's offence is mostly low dropkicks to the shoulder while Tenryu struggles to his feet, so not really much different to his usual low dropkicks to the knee in overall execution. There are times as well though where he'll actually get Tenryu to the mat by using the dragon screw, so it's a bit of a two-pronged attack and ultimately plays to him setting up the Shining Wizard again if he can't make Tenryu submit. Tenryu's selling was great the whole way and I love that most of his offence in return was brutal chops and blatant face-punching. Things shift his way a bit when Mutoh incorporates a THIRD strategy like some sort of Pep Guardiola, where he basically uses the Shining Wizard to set up the moonsault as another alternative to the arm work. And like the actual Pep Guardiola he maybe shouldn't have overthought everything on the big occasion because Tenryu will not be hit with that fucking moonsault. He rolls out the way of the first one and Mutoh lands hard on his already-decimated knee, so obviously that slows him down while giving Tenryu a target to aim for in times of trouble. Tenryu gritting his teeth and finally unleashing the lariats was done about as well as you could want, a bit like your classic "this'll hurt me but it'll hurt you more" Kobashi/Hashimoto/Misawa performances after someone works over the arm for a while. Mutoh counters the first brainbuster by kneeing Tenryu in the head in mid-air and I think he even sold the knee after it as well, which obviously ruled. Then Tenryu gets knees up on Mutoh's third moonsault attempt, hoists him up for another brainbuster, this time absorbs Mutoh's knee strike, and crumples him in a way where you know he's not getting up again. This was really great. They easily could've gone another few minutes and sprinkled in some more nearfalls, but even for a relatively short finishing run I thought they built big drama and did so with only a handful of bombs, really because the timing and pacing was so strong. And the story of Mutoh's strategies almost turning himself in circles was really cool. He had Tenryu reeling and he overreached, maybe because Tenryu is who Tenryu is, but either way the moonsault was his own undoing in the end. And Tenryu will punish you as emphatically as anybody ever could. Just an excellent match.
Real Japan is a peculiar promotion. Most of their shows around this point seemed to be headlined by nostalgia trip main events featuring a 60-year-old Tenryu, a near-60-year-old Choshu, and some of their legendary buddies like Fujinami (a sprightly 57 here). Fujiwara even shows up a few times and he's like a hundred maybe. They would also have some great on-paper undercards featuring guys like Yuki Ishikawa, Alexander Otsuka and Masao Orihara (and Minoru Suzuki if you like that sort of nonsense). Perhaps this is the part of the write-up where I suggest doing a deep dive on Real Japan Pro Wrestling in future? Ultimo was the workhorse for his team here and still looked nicely athletic at 44 years old, hitting all of his signature spots like a man of 27. Sasuke was only 40 and somehow that feels wrong considering how long he'd been on the go, but he took a beating without breaking his skull so maybe at some point in his 30s he learned not to be so reckless. I wasn't sure if we'd get any Tenryu/Sekimoto interaction as you sort of worry for the old man getting his chest caved in off the stumpy meathead. That match-up was brief but Sekimoto didn't exactly go easy on the chops. Then again, would the old man have it any other way?
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