Vader vs Jun Akiyama-AJPW 23.1.2000.

I think the biggest problem of the match was its length and how it was structured. It was too long to be worked as a sprint but with how these two were in 2000 it was unlikely they were gong to have a classic structure. So you end up with them meeting in the middle, and Akiyama really takes it to Vader in the beginning, almost shockingly so, completely dominating that portion of the match. And with how Akiyama was positioned it makes sense that they'd showcase him like that, but as Akiyama was doing German Suplexes in the first minutes of the match you can't scale back, and Vader had to get his heat back after Akiyama's shine. So you get a long Vader control segment with a lot of offence but not a lot of urgency, the crowd can clearly tell there's no way they're gonna go the finish and that's after you've had Vader Chokeslam Akiyama on a table and Powerbomb him on the floor. There was really nowhere left for them to go-with what they chose this was probably as well as they could've done, but they made a grave mistake and you could tell that by the crowd reactions. Vader's and Akiyama's offence as well as some of the ideas they came up like Akiyama getting a Dropkick in but Vader quickly cutting him off with an Elbow Drop since Akiyama was still laying, the build to the Exploder, Vader adapting the Chokeslam cover after Akiyama countered that with an Armbar etc. were enough to make it very good, but it didn't manage to go beyond that. ***1/2