All Time MOTY List Head to Head 2001: Tenryu vs. Mutoh VS. Santo vs. Parka

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Keiji Mutoh AJPW 6/8/01

ER: I haven't watched this match in at least 18 years, and I still remember the first time I saw it. I had just gotten the tape in the mail as part of a trade while still in college, and had that tape and a couple other wrestling tapes from that shipment in my backpack. It was not uncommon for me to carry around wrestling tapes or movies in my bag, as any time I had a big enough break in my class schedule I would steal away to the school library and watch them on one of their big viewing room projector screens. You have not seen peak nerd until you've seen me in college, watching Champions Carnival matches on a projector screen, alone in a room meant for film classes. On this day I had been excitedly carrying around that full 6/8/01 AJPW show in my bag, counting down the minutes until my afternoon classes finished, so that I could finally watch the hyped Tenryu/Mutoh and Kawada/Tenzan matches before my night class. On my way to the library I ran into a girl I liked and had recently gone out with a couple times. After a bit of talking she invited me back to her apartment for more chat and I - an idiot - actually had to stand there and consider turning her down so that I could go watch a lumpy old guy fight a ninja with two bad knees. Luckily the rational part of my brain took control and I went back to her place with her, which could not have gone better. But later, the irrational dummy poisoned part of my brain took control, and while sitting in this lovely girl's room she made the mistake of asking if I had anything to watch before my class. This poor, sweet unassuming girl. She barely opened that door to peak and my wrestling brain boot kicked that thing down, and in minutes time I was fast forwarding through a full All Japan show and she was not only watching professional wrestling, but professional wrestling in a foreign language. Clearly she was the kindest person ever for not throwing me out on the street like the diseased worm brained derelict I was, and instead sat there while I explained the finer points of Genichiro Tenryu to her.

And here we are 18 years later, and I watched it the way I should have watched it then: alone, in the bathroom. And I think it still holds up as great! At the time I remember a lot of the hype being around Mutoh's resurgent 2001, but this is a match made by Tenryu leaning way into everything Mutoh throws, and his fine selling throughout. At the bell Mutoh hits a dropkick to the chest and immediately nails a Shining Wizard, and I loved the way Tenryu sold that SW for the next several minutes. Even while he was doing offense, you'd see him rubbing at his temple, squinting that left eye shut, shaking the cobwebs out. Later Tenryu sets up an opening for all of Mutoh's knee work, as he aims to get his boot up to knock down a Mutoh handspring, but the timing is off a tad and it looks like he jammed his knee instead. The brilliance of the spot is the mystery of whether it was supposed to happen that way or not. Was the boot supposed to land flush, knocking Mutoh in the head? Or was the aim supposed to be slightly off, the boot raised slightly late, to give the impression that this isn't what was supposed to happen, and now Tenryu's leg is a problem? It's a great way to plant a seed, and few guys are better at planting seeds than Tenryu. He's one of the greatest all time salesmen in wrestling, and Mutoh is someone who benefits greatly from a great salesman, somebody that allows Mutoh to expertly sprinkle in big charismatic spots while the salesman is quietly gluing them all together.

This felt like a big main event Triple Crown match through and through, and I loved the story of Mutoh firing every attack he had at Tenryu's knee, until Tenryu got pissed enough to start beating the hell out of Mutoh's knee. I am somehow nearly the exact same age as Mutoh in this match, and I am thankful that a retired sumo never made it his night's work to make me hobbled. Tenryu's big attacks were really punishing, with all his chops landing flush, a hard enziguiri to the cerebellum, jabs giving Mutoh a new jaw alignment, and a couple huge moments like dropping Mutoh with a brainbuster on the apron or the famous spider german suplex (which was an internet gif when gifs still took a few minutes to load). Mutoh was awesome at finding openings, my favorite being his surprise kappo kick directly into the side of Tenryu's head that didn't catch that early match Shining Wizard. Most of his openings targeted Tenryu's knee, with a lot of quick low dropkicks (and Tenryu selling with his kicked leg thrown back, hopping a couple times on his good leg before going down, is one of my favorite Tenryu sells), slashing dragon screws, a crazy dropkick to the knee off the top rope, and even a dragon screw off the apron. The knee attacks were a great momentum stopper, a great way to slow down a charging bull. I loved the way the knee work wasn't the be all end all, but a way to leave Tenryu less mobile, a sitting duck unable to dodge the Shining Wizards, put down with one triumphant moonsault.

PAS: In many ways this big Mutoh run was a precursor to the current New Japan big match style. Lots of big moments timed for maximum impact, and not a ton put into the little moments and connective tissue. Mutoh has these moments of explosion, but then would put on a chinlock and gasp for air, he looked like he had my current pandemic level of cardio. Current New Japan has no one like Tenryu though who is a master at filling space. Nothing in wrestling history is cooler than a Tenryu toe kick to the eye, or his chop/jab combo. I loved the early handspring elbow counter when Tenryu kicked him in the head. Tenryu yells "Fuck" as his knee gets tweaked and never fully regains his footing. All of the crazy stuff around the apron was great, Tenryu's short tope, the brainbuster on the apron, Tenryu taking a dragon screw to the floor and Mutoh following up with a knee dropkick off the apron. It really should have been slotted closer towards the end of the match, as the submission stuff that followed it brought it down a bit. Certainly not a match without flaws, but man is it enjoyable to watch big match Tenryu do his thing against a super over opponent. 

Santo vs. Parka review

Verdict:

ER: I'm happy that this match ages so well, as I had nothing but fond memories associated with it. It's a tremendous Tenryu performances, but I wish it had a little less knee attack spamming during the middle portion. Mutoh went after the knee maybe too hard, with attacks that should have left Tenryu a cripple. Likewise, Mutoh almost immediately forgot about all of Tenryu's knee attacks the moment he went into final stretch mode, so the middle wound up feeling more time killing than it needed to. I love the feel and the overall layout and execution were top notch, an excellent match and a worthy challenger for a champ that is proving tough to dethrone.

PAS: I was happy to watch this after 20 years, and it holds up as an excellent match, but too many warts to unseat Santo vs. Parka