Uno Dos Tres 10/15/03

A taste of the 2003 Rey de Parejas tournament and the greatness that could have been in JUN.

October 15, 2003 – Fukuoka, Japan

In all likelihood I’ll be reviewing the matches on this show again more in full, as I have a feeling they’re shown more intact on an episode of Vamanos Amigos.

The show starts by talking a bit about the Rey de Parejas tournament. They show a bunch of quick clips of a few of the matches. We get to see a few of them more in full than the others.

Second Doi {SM} & Masaaki Mochizuki {SM} vs. K-ness {DF} & Susumu Yokosuka {DF} [Round Robin Tournament Match]
The match is joined in progress. Do Fixer is in control of Doi, but Mochizuki regains control for his team with a dropkick. He and Doi keep the pressure up with dropkicks. Doi hits a suicide dive on K-ness. Mochizuki hits Yokosuka with an ax kick. He hits a sick German suplex for 2. K-ness hits Doi with an enziguiri. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Doi hits Yokosuka with a hurricanrana. He hits the Doi 555 for 2. Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri and Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Doi puts K-ness in the pendulum but Yokosuka makes the save. The bad guys hit the SukaDora Knee for 2. Mochizuki dropkicks Doi by mistake. Mochizuki tries to take control with kicks but K-neSuka come back with their signature strikes. Yokosuka hits the Cutter for 2. He hits the Jumbo no Kachi twice. K-ness hits an enziguiri and Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachigatame for the win at 5:05 shown of 13:27. Decent stuff, though Mochizuki was uncharacteristically sloppy here.
Rating: **¼

Kenichiro Arai {SM} & Dragon Kid {SM} vs. Karaoke Machine #1 & Karaoke Machine #2 [Round Robin Tournament Match]
Anyone else ever notice the Karaoke Machines’ intro music starts almost exactly the same way as the intro music to MegaMan III? Sorry, RockMan III. Don Fujii’s Machine starts with Arai. They fight to a stalemate. Kid puts Fujii in the Christo. Arai hits Machine #2 with a headbutt to the crotch. Fujii hits his buddy with a pan by mistake. Kid rolls him up for the win at 2:00 shown of 9:06.

“brother” YASSHI {AI} & Shuji Kondo {AI} vs. Anthony W. Mori {IC} & YOSSINO {IC} [Round Robin Tournament Match]
Everyone brawls to start. YOSSINO and Mori nail stereo dropkicks. They hit stereo dives as well. We skip ahead to Kondo beating Mori with clotheslines. He rams YASSHI’s head into Mori. They hit the Babylon for 2. Kondo hits a powerslam for 2. Mori hits a hurricanrana and puts on a triangle choke. Kondo hits a powerbomb to escape. Mori blocks the King Kong Lariat and puts on an armbar but YASSHI makes the save. YOSSINO hits YASSHI with the Sling Blade for 2. YASSHI hits a dropkick. He hits the Bad Boy for 2. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Kondo hits the Lanzarse for 2. YASSHI misses the Flying Big Head. Mori hits a dropkick off the top. He hits a northern lights suplex for 2. YOSSINO hits the Torbellino. He puts on the Sol Naciente but Kondo makes the save with the Lanzarse. Kondo suplexes Mori. He and YASSHI hit the Big Boy for 2. YASSHI hits the Flying Big Head for 2. Mori hits Kondo with an enziguiri. Kondo clotheslines his leg and puts on the Gorilla Clutch. Mori counters to a roll up for 2. Kondo clotheslines the blue box into Mori. He hits the King Kong Lariat for the win at 7:14 shown of 14:04. Mori’s career continues to confound me, as even as far back as seven years ago he was doing amazing stuff with the bigger guys on the roster and never got much of a push. This ruled by the way, as you don’t typically see this much action jammed into such a short match (even clipped).
Rating: ***½

CIMA {CM} & JUN {CM} vs. Magnum TOKYO {DF} & Milano Collection AT {IC} [Round Robin Tournament Match]
I wonder what would have happened to Shingo Takagi if JUN had never been injured and had stuck it out with Dragon Gate. For those who don’t know, JUN is here what Takagi would become at the tail end of Crazy Max’s run. The match is joined in progress with JUN elbowing TOKYO. He hits a suplex. CIMA tags in and hits a crossbody. He dropkicks TOKYO’s knee. CIMA hits AT with a dropkick. He hits a plancha on both opponents. Back in the ring CIMA hits TOKYO with his X-Factor for 2. TOKYO hits the overhead kick. He clotheslines CIMA off the apron. He dropkicks JUN in the face. TOKYO hits a brainbuster for 2. JUN hits the X-Factor for 2. AT saves TOKYO from the Onifuusha. TOKYO hits an elevated Ace Crusher for 2. AT puts on the Paradise Lock. He gracefully ducks CIMA’s crossbody, sending CIMA to the floor where TOKYO hits him with a plancha. JUN rolls AT up for 2. He hits the uranage. TOKYO hits a missile dropkick. He hits the Gyrating Frankensteiner for 2. He puts on the Regal Stretch. AT puts CIMA in a stepover toehold full nelson. JUN and CIMA get to the ropes. CIMA hits AT with a back suplex. TOKYO hits the Erect Smash. JUN hits a sick back heel kick. AT hits an enziguiri. Everyone is down. CIMA and JUN hit a Doomsday Crossbody on AT. They hit a double vertical suplex on TOKYO. Time is starting to run out. CIMA hits AT with the Venus. AT hits an enziguiri. CIMA blocks the Emporio Armani Shoe with his knees. He hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. AT blocks the Mad Splash and puts on the Suenyo. CIMA gets to the ropes. He hits a superkick and the Schwein. TOKYO blocks him from pinning AT, so by the time he gets there it only gets 2. AT puts on the AT Lock but JUN makes the save. TOKYO hits JUN with the enziguiri and a superplex. He hits a lariat for 2. He hits another enziguiri and the Egoist Driver for 2. AT hits the Armani Shoe Exchange and puts on the AT Lock. He keeps him in it for a while, but before JUN can tap the time limit expires at 13:00 shown of 30:00. From the little things like partners delaying their opponents from pinning their partners to the big things like all four guys showing absurd intensity, this ruled every second it was on my screen. Now I understand why people miss JUN. I’m very curious to know now if more of this match was shown on Vamanos Amigos.
Rating: ****¼