Magnum Opus KAI

What's this? A brand new project on the old blog? Yes it is. Today we are trying something new. Chismo and I are both going to watch a match and rate it separately. That way we can see how our tastes and views differ. Chismo approached me with this idea a while back and I immediately thought it sounded like a fun idea. When he then suggested that we do it with one of my boys, Wrestle-1 star Kai, I got the added idea of making this a series, a chronicle of Kai's descent into madness as he goes from AJPW's golden boy and Mutoh's anointed one, to the self proclaimed ace all the way to his current Onita/Dean Ambrose cosplaying gimmick. Strap in, this is going to be a wacky ride.

Who is Kai? Kai is a Japanese wrestler trained in the Animal Hamaguchi/Keiji Mutoh/All Japan Pro-Wrestling school. Up until 2012 he worked as a junior heavyweight and things were going smoothly, winning the Junior League in August of 2008. Only a few short months after his re-debut post excursion to Mexico. Kai was set up as the future top junior heavyweight of All Japan alongside his training mate Hiroshi Yamato and things were trucking on well for him (for more info on his junior days, please visit his Wikipedia page). But in 2012 he made the announcement that he was going to move up to Heavyweight, and that was seemingly the gunshot that set off all the events that has led to this day in his career. Kai's initial heavyweight run in All Japan started just as strong as his junior run. He slotted into the Champion's Carnival and had a good run in it, which takes us to this match….

This first match in this descent into Kai madness is from his Champion Carnival run. And it is the semi final match of the tournament where he faces off against at the time recent import Go Shiozaki. The winner would face Jun Akiyama in the finals of the tournament. Without further stalling, let's get to it!

AJPW Champion Carnival 2013 - Final Day

 (2013/04/29)

Semi-Final: Kai vs. Go Shiozaki

PATRIK: I liked this match. It was built around one key element. Kai taking his lumps and proving that he can dish out lumps (well, he could at least try). Shiozaki laid into Kai from the word go and Kai was bleeding (from the chest) because of Shiozaki's chops only minutes into the match. Shiozaki spent most of the match working over Kai, hitting him with a lot of hard chops and just laying into the former junior heavyweight. But Kai always got back up and fought through the pain. The crowd ate this up and were decently loud for Kai's comebacks. I really liked the finishing stretch bar a bit of no-selling from Kai at the start of his final comeback. But once he got into the offense I got over it. Kai proved that he belonged in the heavyweight ranks and tapped out the former GHC champion to advance to the finals. Also, bonus point to Kai for his facial expressions when Go chopped the shit out of him.

 Patrik's rating: Good!

CHISMO: Wow, this was terrific and even better now in retrospect than when it happened almost 3 years ago. Pro-wrestling does the very best coming-of-age stories, and KAI was in the middle of one when this was happening. Champion Carnival '13 was his big breakthrough and he was bound to be the next big heavyweight thing in the company, his progress was very tangible and he was set for greatness... but then the Muto exodus happened and the rest is history. All Japan at least had SOME chance back then, the product was fantastic (Burning vs. All Japan!), there was some promising buzz, only for all of it to fall apart in two months. Needless to say, KAI turned out to be the biggest victim, because he's not even the man in W-1, and W-1 didn't really become anything special since its inception. 

Anyway, onto the match, yes, really great match in front of amazing Korakuen people, they were rooting for KAI super hard, but were still shocked and in disbelief when he actually won. So funny to witness all the OOOOUUUU faces on female fans. On top of all, he won by submissions, ha! Go really did a number on KAI's chest, to the point of bleeding. Nasty sounds of chopping were echoing throughout Korakuen. In the end, KAI's ex-Junior arsenal and rope-running craft proved to be game-changer and made for one helluva feelgood moment and payoff. Rating: ****1/2

Kai would go on to lose the final of the tournament later that day to Jun Akiyama, but came out of the tournament looking really good and as the future of All Japan. But alas, it was not to be. Kai injured his biceps a short while after and had to take three months off to recover. And during his time away, the Shiraishi debacle happened, with former AJPW president Mutoh leaving and taking nine wrestlers with him to form Wrestle-1, Kai being one among them. Who knows how Kai's career would have looked had he decided to stay. But we know how his career turned out in Wrestle-1 so far. Which we will take a look at next time. 

Until then...