8 Essential Tajiri Matches

Two of the shining lights of ECW's dying days were Tajiri (of course) and Steve Corino. 'The King of Old School' began making a name for himself in 1999 as the advisor for Rhino and Tajiri, before the Japanese Buzzsaw broke away from him. The two faced each other in a midcard match at Hardcore Heaven 2000.

After calling him a 'slanty-eyed b*stard' (bit strong) during a pre-match promo, Tajiri decided to kickstart things with a kick to Corino's jaw, shutting him up for good. Tajiri withstood a powerbomb and enziguri before coming back with a Tarantula and a brainbuster on the entrance ramp, just before Corino did his standard bladejob (he really did love to get colour).

Tajiri gave him the old tree of woe dropkick, which splattered blood onto the camera in a great visual. After that, Corino was bleeding a gusher. Tajiri dropkicking a chair into his face didn't exactly help his cause, either. He was in firm control, immobilising Corino and his manager Jack Victory, but a Corino back bodydrop through a table in the ring turned the tide.

A series of nice-looking suplexes couldn't get the job done for Corino, who was wearing the proverbial crimson mask. The closing stretch was really well worked, with Tajiri taking out Victory once again (with the mist this time), allowing him to go nuts on Corino with a flurry of evil kicks.

A double stomp through a table finished the job. Tajiri looked so strong here, and it was obvious that he was one of the crowd's favourites during this era of ECW.