8 Essential Tajiri Matches

The Tajiri/Eddie Guerrero was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end. After losing the WWE Tag Team Titles to The World's Greatest Tag Team, Latino Heat snapped on his partner, who had accidentally been knocked onto Eddie's beloved low-rider in the closing stretch. Taking out his frustrations, Guerrero viciously drove Tajiri through the windshield of the vehicle.

The Japanese Buzzsaw was written out of storylines for a few weeks while he 'recovered from his injuries' but came back on the July 31st, 2003 episode of Smackdown to challenge Eddie for his newly-won United States Championship. Looking to gain an early advantage, Tajiri actually hid in the trunk of Guerrero's car, causing the hydraulics to fail and, when Eddie looked in the boot, he was met with a pair of very different boots and a stinging green mist.

After claiming blindness and attempting to walk out, Eddie was duly informed that such action would result in a forfeit of his title and quickly made it back to the ring. The match was full of intensity, with the pendulum constantly swinging back and forth. What I liked most about this one was that the two performers were clearly 'winging' a lot of it, not relying on pre-planned spots but feeling each other out and going by the reaction of the crowd, piecing it together as they went along.

It was also really intense, Tajiri's kicks somehow loaded with extra bite on this evening. Eddie managed to weather the storm of strikes, suplexes and submissions, ducking the green mist (poor Mike Chioda), grabbing his US title belt and hitting the Frog Splash for the victory.

There were so many little things in this match that made it great. Two genuine masters of their craft combining story with athleticism to great effect. Watch it!

Any other great Tajiir matches you can think of? Are you excited to see the man back in a WWE ring? Talk about it in the comments below!