8 Essential Tajiri Matches

Tajiri was drafted to Raw in the 2004 WWE Draft Lottery, ending a two-year run on Smackdown. His time on Raw mainly saw him feuding with the likes of Jonathan Coachman and Garrison Cade and teaming with Rhyno and then William Regal, but he also had one or two truly standout moments on the red show.

On the April 26, 2004 episode of Raw, Tajiri got into it with Triple H, misting the p*ssed off former World Heavyweight Champion, leading to Eric Bischoff making a match between the two later on in the show. Triple H was gold in the backstage segment with Bischoff, by the way, feigning blindness by talking to a plant instead of the General Manager. Hammy, yes, but very funny.

The Game, green face and all, started off aggressively, pounding Tajiri down and choking him. The Japanese Buzzsaw came back, though, with his usual, deadly flurry of kicks and a handspring back elbow. After sending Trips careening into the steel stairs he attempted to secure a win via countout, but The Cerebral Assassin rolled in and 9.

More kicks were neutralised with a MAIN EVENT SPINEBUSTER, as Triple H set about making Tajiri pay for his earlier actions. Tajiri would come back on occasion, reversing an abdominal stretch into an Octopus hold, but he didn't have enough to put away his significantly bigger adversary. After ducking another mist attempt, Triple H landed a pedigree and got the academic three count.

Tajri really had no business going over in this match but he was made to look really good by a motivated Hunter, who took a lot of offense and sold very well for the Japanese star. A selfless performance from a man who, at this point in time, was often accused of selfishness.