Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa, from AJPW Summer Action Series II 1998 Night Fifteen

Ogawa has long been considered one of the weakest pure athletes of prime AJPW, but like fellow “underachiever” Akira Taue, his understated penchant for theater is easier to appreciate over time. I’d never suggest this is anything close to the classics his peers were putting on at a regular basis (Kobashi and Taue had a better match later in the show), but Ogawa holds this match together with his cowardly tactics and otherwise acting like a matador. It’s short, it’s fun, the crowd was rocking for the finishing sequence, and Misawa glared at both of them and that was amusing.

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