[5.0] "Clipped to about 9 minutes. Kea's getting the big push for the eventual Tenryu title bout, but first he has to fight a debuting Kakihara who had been away prior to NOAH. Kakihara was a favourite of Misawa and probably would've been pushed super strong as a Jr heavyweight, but problems with Takao Omori being a dickhead and PRIDE aspirations meant it wasn't meant to be. He's back in the company and gets a pretty nice semi-main event spot with Kea and co. Kakihara is still doing the MMA gloves shtick from the NOAH match and this seems to be a new thing for him, probably taken from his Kingdom days where he was punching dudes all the time. I'm not the biggest fan of it given it means he's doing less slick grappling and more stand-up and rabbit punches, and said punches usually can't be sold properly so they look really phony most of the time. Yone is still doing his kicks and Jumbo knee, so we get a really awkward half shoot/half pro-style match that doesn't really blend well to the pacing overall. I mean Kea trying to do shoot-style is a interesting visual (especially given his legit amateur wrestling credentials) however it just translates to a headlock takeover and some generic holds, lame. Kea has tons of tape over his lower stomach and back, and he really seems in pain after taking a bump on it, even if he is, obviously, playing it up. Shinzaki....does his usual thing, like he works over Kea's midsection. That's really it, he was kinda featureless in this match. I don't know if that's the clipping just taking out his spots or what, either way it was weird. Second clip removes the Yone hot-tag bar him trying for a a top rope Kinniku Buster but getting kicked for his troubles. Kaki gets over his striking by landing obvious wiffed punches before resorting to far better looking roundhouse kicks to KO his opponent for the pinfall. Yeah this was a really weird match that has elements that COULD have been great (Kakihara's return, Kea injured) however there just wasn't much connecting involved to try to make this actually worthwhile. Kakihara is a good worker! This PRIDE-lite gimmick isn't doing much for him though. Combined with relatively ok to featureless performances overall and you get a fairly wet fart for a match."
