If you'll allow me to speak freely, I am not a Takada fan. He has that stoic charisma and big star aura that can come across really well in a match like this, where the personalities of the competitors add a ton to the atmosphere, and from time to time he will kick the absolute dogfuck out of someone. But for every one of those times you get several in exchange where he'll grab a kneebar or half crab and lie around on the mat like a bag of fermented grass. He also has a good sandbag or two in him when he's really feeling like stinking a place up. You got the best/worst of both worlds here, but thankfully more of the best than the worst. This is the second match these two had in '96. The first was from UWFi and was a total Big Match Spectacle and it ruled. It also ended with Takada making Tenryu submit, which neeeeeeever happens, so the return leg being in WAR leaves there little doubt as to who's winning. But hey, it's not like the journey can't be fun! Like the first match it's very much a spectacle, though a little more traditional pro style befitting the environment. Even the staredowns at the beginning felt big, that hesitancy to lock up really milking the drama. Both are almost smirking and I imagine for Takada it's because he knows exactly what Tenryu wants to do, while for Tenryu it's because he knows Takada knows yet that doesn't make him want to do it any less. The first exchange was perfect. Tenryu did what we all knew he would and threw a jab at Takada's cheek (after pretending to shake hands first), then what followed went something like this -- Takada winging a kick, Tenryu smashing him in the nose, Takada letting his temper flare by kicking Tenryu out the ring, Tenryu taking a walk to compose himself only to turn around and get thumped clean over the barricade with another kick. From then on out it had the feeling of many a big Tenryu match, where he was the tide his opponent tried not to get swept away by. Tenryu would be Tenryu no matter what, against anyone and everyone, in any building on earth, but could Takada keep his head and not get roped into playing Tenryu's game? After the hot opening they slow things down a bit and the matwork wasn't the best. It was the weakest stretch of the match and Takada wasn't too fussed about working the kneebar. Tenryu's selling was amazing, but he's never been a Fujiwara so there's a ceiling on how much even he can keep an extended kneebar interesting. When they bring it back up again Tenryu tries to cave Takada's face in and I loved how Takada slumped in the corner like "honestly, was that even necessary?" I thought Takada sold those shots to the head amazingly for the next few minutes, how even when Tenryu went for a kneebar of his own Takada still looked dazed. Tenryu realising the error of his ways and ditching the kneebar in favour of elbowing Takada in the face after fifteen seconds was obviously phenomenal. At that point Takada just starts kicking Tenryu in the lungs and the rest of the match is spectacular. Tenryu chops him in the throat more than once and Takada goes down like he caught a knee to the balls. He then picks up one of those non-foldable chairs and points to his weenie like that knee was not the least big accidental and Tenryu looks at him like he maybe underestimated Takada's emotional state. Some of Tenryu's on-the-ropes selling down the stretch as Takada kicks the shit out of him was out of this world great. There was one bit where he looked dead to rights and he just bum-rushed Takada with a big sumo push, and Takada about gave himself whiplash flying into the ropes. Down the stretch they even do that 'one guy is covered for a two count then just rolls over and covers the other guy for two' bit and it didn't suck. That they had the crowd genuinely biting on Takada submitting to the WAR Special is just the coolest.
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