10 Wrestlers You'll NEVER Believe Shared The Same Ring

5. Toshiaki Kawada & Mick Foley

orlando jones ultimate warrior
WWE/AJPW

A semi-retired and very broken-down Mick Foley was still game enough in 2004 to get Randy Orton over in a violent, career-making bloodbath. He had also made a cameo appearance that built towards the match at WrestleMania XX in a star-studded riot of a handicap tag.

You'd think he was done for a while - particularly since he retired four years earlier, before paying further homage to Atsushi Onita and Terry Funk - but no. He returned to Japan, which is hardly a day off, but this time at least he didn't didn't writhe around in barbed wire or explode himself or something.

He instead worked a match with the stiff as f*ck Toshiaki Kawada.

This was a rather dumb decision to make, but this bizarre pairing - of two men who travelled different paths stylistically and geographically - promised a cracking, brutal affair of harrowing (read: awesome) punishment.

It wasn't very good.

Kawada was more miserable than disdainful and lethal, but his version of not feeling too up for it least manifested in some chest-caving kicks. Built around Foley's attempt to use the barbed wire baseball bat, this was a drab strong style/death match hybrid badly lacking in the suspense and dramatic peaks of the respective genres.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!