Koji Kanemoto vs. Bas Rutten, Oct 26th 2002

[Guest PlatypusFool]

This is a pretty damn awesome little match for Koji's IWGP jr. Heavyweight title, with a whole lot of good stuff and nice touches crammed into about 10 minutes. They start by showing their strategies for the match ahead, Rutten tries some of his picture perfect high roundhouse kicks that he used so effectively against the young lions he faced during the July tour, but Kanemoto has him well scouted, and ducks each one of them before taking advantage of Rutten stretching out so far and taking him down into the ankle hold. This doesn't get the submission, but it comes close, and the crowd know the ankle hold is something to be feared, something Rutten needs to stay away from. With the leg singled out somewhat, Koji works on it for a little while, adding pain to the limb that could be so important to winning the match. Rutten, however, manages to get the upper hand, and uses his experience on the mat very well. Kanemoto is sometimes able to get back on top by using the injured leg to his advantage, but Rutten is too good, too controlling, too experienced. He's careful as well, Rutten knows his weaknesses and stays away from them, using knees and mat work instead of taking risks with more massive kicks.

 

Kanemoto is too strong, however, and this keeps him alive. Each submission hold he manages to survive, making the ropes, always refusing to lose the title he loves. Rutten's shining wizard looks to have him beat though, and almost keeps him down for the ten count. But Rutten loses focus, gets too confident, he doesn't go for the pin here, if he had he would have won, instead he lets Koji have the time to get to his feet and enters into a strike war in the hope of taking what strength Kanemoto has left. This is the time Kanemoto has been waiting for, he's been beaten up the whole match and Rutten hasn't made the mistake Koji needs him to yet, but an over confident, unfocussed Rutten finally makes the mistake. He forgets to keep a handle on his weakness, loses sight of his control, and over stretches on a palm strike. It's all the room Koji needs to reverse it into the ankle hold once again, and he uses all his remaining power to lock the submission in and get the win.

 

This match is excellent, not only is it psychologically sound within itself, with the strategies of the wrestlers being logical, and their decisions being influenced by what has already happened, it's also psychologically sound when seen after a lot of other Rutten matches. He made the same errors against Nishimura days earlier, and it nearly cost him that match, Kanemoto had also obviously been scouting Rutten's matches, and this helped him to survive a lot of the attacks levelled at him, and also gave him knowledge of the major weakness within Rutten's attacks, which was essential to him getting the win. This underlying story coupled with the good selling, and quality, if not entirely smooth, matwork, makes for a fantastic little contest, and Kanemoto's best match of 2002.

 

***1/2

[ravenlo 0]

Was this match a shoot?

[Guest wolverine]

"Was this match a shoot?"

 

Just for future reference, if you ever see terms like 'selling' or star ratings, or worked titles named in a match review like this, it's not going to be a shoot.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

No, not a shoot, a worked shoot. A match which brings in themes from the world of real fighting to create a different style of wrestling.

[ravenlo 0]

Oh, alright. I just didn't think Rutten would have jobbed.

[Guest Black Tiger]

I don't think that there was a person in the arena who thought that Kanemoto was going over, when Rutten tapped the place popped like hell.