Shinya Hashimoto vs Toshiaki Kawada – Triple Crown championship AJPW 2004

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1. Shinya Hashimoto and Toshiaki Kawada mean so very much to me as pro wrestlers

   Hashimoto is my favorite Ace (along with Jumbo Tsuruta and Hiroshi Tanahashi) in all of Puroresu. His presence, stature, and unique charisma unique made him stand out to me whenever I first saw some old matches of his. Big Hash was a man who made every strike, submission and lock up feel so damn intense and was able to get so much out of small moments. His passing in 2005 was such a tragedy, as well gs him being somewhat forgotten compared to this fellow Musketeers Muto and Chono.

   Toshiaki Kawada is a man who has rightly always been praised for his talent in-ring, but has also always faced this “underdog/lesser” role when it came to his most important feud with Mitsuharu Misawa. It’s this idea of the Dangerous Man Kawada being always one step behind his rival that truly endeared him to me, well as his brutal offense and unique slow selling style. I’ve come to believe Kawada was the best of the Pillars due to the fact he always shined in whatever role he played: asskicker extraordinaire, underdog, old legend, and even some comedy in HUSTLE.

   The story leading into this match is around 2003 Shinya Hashimoto invaded AJPW with his Zero-1 wrestlers and took the Triple Crown from Great Muta, defending it twice, before having to relinquish it due to a nagging shoulder injury. Before taking time off, Hashimoto was scheduled to defend the belt against AJPW legend/defender Kawada, who won the Triple Crown in Hash’s absence. Now the time has come for this verifiable dream match to take place.

   The story in the match is Kawada has always been the superior striker in AJPW due to his karate background (although he would mistakenly would trade elbows with Misawa) but here he faces in Hashimoto another karate expert who’s kicks are even more lethal/stiff than Kawada’s, as well has Hashimoto’s kesagiri chops drawing blood from Kawada’s ears. So Kawada take it to the mat, with his amateur wrestling background giving him the upper hand over Hashimoto, although Hash’s judo background doesn’t make it easy. The story becomes the two men targeting each other’s limbs, with Kawada focusing on Hashimoto’s taped shoulder/arm, and Hashimoto working over Kawada’s famously bad leg.