The next batch of DVDs in the AJPW Classics series pick up with 1989 but, I'm not quite done with '88.
Here are some more great matches from 30 years ago!
Yatsu & Tiger Mask vs Tenryu & Kawada (01/23/88): This is a highly recommended bout. Good action, stiffness, and a little hardcore excitement makes this one memorable.
Footloose vs Mighty Inoue & Takashi Ishikawa (03/11/88): This bout was everything amazing about late 80s AJPW- weird moves, tease
Here we are about half way through 1991. The focus is clearly still on Mr. Onita. Goto is back to the #2 and Pogo is the main heel. I found out from BAHU's podcast that Kurisu was let go in '90 for tussling with a fan. So, our camo pants clad villain is the main Onita foe.
Atsushi Onita vs Mr. Pogo (05/06/91): This was the first exploding barbwire board match. Its all about tension and thrilling the audience with suspense. Everyone ate shit. It was great! Quinones and even a camera m
Super Strong Machine, Tatsutoshi Goto & Yoshihiro Ito vs The Great Kabuki, Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura (06/17/93 WAR): The inclusion of Kabuki made this one a must watch. Glad that I did! This was a nice quick paced brawling-in-the-ring six man. It was fun but became memorable when Kabuki's team started beating up Ito toward what seemed to be the 2/3rd mark. Koshinaka was elbowing him in the jaw, and 'buki snap punched him the in the same fashion all Strong style as the kids say. Ragi
Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita vs Kyoko Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa (W*ING 08/02/92): Who knew this match took place in a W*ING ring? Not I, I sing! Dr. Seuss...It's a pretty darn good match too. Sure, it gets the standard W*ING buzzcut in the middle and it starts raining but, its these 4 in 1992. So, if you ever needed an incentive to check 90's joshi out this might be it: 4 greats, tag match, sopping wet babes, insane dives in the rain, and not a super long epic. Thanks W*ING!
Now o
Procrastination got the better of me regarding the final 2 matches of Day #2 of the 16 Carat Gold Tournament but, here are a few nice matches from the 2010's that are totally worth watching instead!
Masato Tanaka vs Tetsuhiro Kuroda (01/28/11 Apache Army): I'm surprised that this FMW offshoot is still in operation in 2011. Here we get former partners & rivals squaring off again. Kuroda is a dude that doesn't get a ton of talk but, I think he's really damn solid. Really surprised
Mixed up indeed!
Young Bucks & Paul London vs Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Karl Anderson (The Dynasty International) (Express Written Consent 2009): I would consider this to be in the golden era of PWG...Like 2007-2011. It wasn't hyped to hell, still had plenty of CA state talent, shows weren't supercars etc. It was kinda ROH level but, still with comedy.
Bucks were feuding with the Dynasty team so, this 6 man was nice. Anderson was already in NJPW and London was coming bac
Umanoseke Ueda theme here today! Hahaha! This dude is sleazy in the best way. Very much reminds me of IWA Japan when he's in the ring. I think his most watched match nowadays is the 03/26/86 NJ team match.
Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanoseke Ueda (12/11/80) Now this was a great brawl like Abby & the Sheik were doing in the 70's. It was really out of control but organized chaos. It was really fun stuff. ****...I maybe overrating it but, it's the best
Episode #173 collects matches from late autumn of 1988.
Shunji Takano vs Shinichi Nakano (09/15/88): I'm skeptical of the date on this because it looks like there is a different mat in the next bout. This one IIRC is an all blue mat. But that's the date that everyone has for this match so why not This is very much my type of non-cooperative wrestling. Special emphasis on "wrestling" until they start slapping memories out of each other's heads. Oh did I mention the headbutts? Oh yes,
Onita's FMW is starting out just right in '91. Back to back February Korakuen hall shows ain't to shabby. Here's Onita's main events from those shows:
Onita vs Tarzan Goto (02/26/91): Blood curdling blows- Haymakers, no touch headbutts that split skin, clotheslines, chair shots, table attacks! Oh yeah! This was just great wrestling, great brawling. Onita & Goto showed ultimate heart and guts. This was right up there with the Kurisu matches and so much better than their electric b
Kendo Nagasaki doesn't suck as a wrestler. His stuff in BJW isn't the best but, his work in SWS & WAR is pretty darn good!
Ashura Hara & Genichiro Tenryu vs Kendo Nagasaki & Shinichi Nakano (08/09/91 SWS): I think a misconception that I had about Strong & Straight Super World Sports' association with WWF was that they'd tone down the stiff rugged wrestling.
I've come to know that the native vs native matches are some great clubbering stuff. No toning down.
The Iceman vs Miguel Perez Jr. (02/92 W*ING): Man oh man! We only get clips of this match the worst fact is that all of a sudden both guys are covered in blood. Come on W*ING! If anyone knows of a full or even less clipped version that'd be awesome.
Silver King vs Texano (05/23/94 IWA Japan): Cagematch is showing it as a very early show...perhaps the 3rd and looks to be the first tape they released. It is a highly recommended match. Lucharesu style, Los Cowboys stiffing the heck out
Continuation of day #2 of the 2010 16 Carat Gold show:
Johnny Kidd vs Paul Tracey: This a non tournament match in the classic UK style. I wasn't really in the mood for this I hate to say. So, I skipped. Sorry but, it's not the style I'm geared up for when watching wXw.
Oberhausen Terror Corps (Bad Bones & Carnage) vs Strong BJW (Sekimoto vs Okabayashi): This is what I'm watching for and exactly what I wanted especially at this point on the card. Highly recommended mat
AKINO & Ayako Hamada vs Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita (LCO) (06/09/01 Arsion): This match begins slowly and in a rather loose manner. I don't recall when it picks up but, its sometime when Mita starts bleeding! Yes, yes very good. Then more action, Shimoda's bleeding... Moving along swimmingly. AKINO's really standing out but, I'll skip to the highlights! There are chairs, tables, (aforementioned) blood, dives, double teams, and false finishes. This really picked yp into something special.
Technically, these are ROH matches but, all participants were actively working for NOAH. 2007 was a pretty solid time for Ring of Honor & NOAH's relationship. Heck, Morishima was the champ!
Nigel McGuiness & Doug Williams vs Takeshi Morishima & Chris Hero (04/13/07): This was a very solid B-show tag match. The fellows went above and beyond here. Nice to see the Brit Boys team up too. Hero was fresh back from a NOAH tour and doing finisher tributes like Damien 666. This he
AJPW Classic Selection #172
Stan Hansen & Danny Kroffat vs Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton (10/26/88): Gibson seemed like he had a bad ankle and was really only in for the key spots. Ricky therefore wrestled his butt off with Kroffat and Hansen. The story focus seemed to be on Rock n' Roll vs Hansen which helped in the drama department. I believed that they, combined, could take out the Texan. Kroffat was there as junior talent to keep up the pace and action of the match. It was
What's kinda funny is that people will see 1 or 2 of the crazier death matches from original FMW and think they understand or get "Onita." It's probably worse as he's gotten older as he's had to rely more and more on the actual gimmicks to hide his mobility issues. I know I felt this way before I started researching, reading about and watching Onita. There's a notion that Onita was great in AJPW but, got hurt and etc.
So, I think there may be this misconception that Onita sucked in F
Yoshinari Asai vs Bestia Salvaje (SWS 10/29/91): This was all kinds of fun and excitement but, with enough drama to keep me guessing the outcome. The speed and high flying technique was excellent and wasn't marred by a dozen false finishes. Reminded me of Rey vs Psicosis WAR J-Cup '95. Very high recommendation!
King Haku vs Takashi Ishikawa (SWS 10/30/91)
This is perhaps the best Ishikawa match that I've seen. Great knee work and Haku sells it like it's legit. That's what happen
This day in puroresu history...Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada had a really great match here. I didn't think it was a classic but, pretty comparable to Kawada's match versus Jumbo in 1991 in terms of greatness. Here's some of the other matches that happened that you might have missed:
Kenta Kobashi vs Dan Spivey: JIP This was an intense yet somewhat unorganized bout. It was plenty exciting but, not to the effect that is was super engaging. Spivey botched a Canadian Backbreaker Slam
Finally got back to the 2010 16 Carat Gold Tournament:
2010 16 Carat Gold Show: Day #2
Big Van Walter vs Munenori Sawa: 10:30 run time. David and Goliath match here. It was fun but, nothing too deep or engaging but, good for the opening match. A little disappointing though.
Erick Stevens vs KAGETORA: 8:30 match. Whoa!! This was quick energetic and really good. Lively as all hell. Stevens brings a star prescence that this venue demands. Otherwise the show feels
Hayabusa vs. Mr. Gannosuke -Mask vs. Hair match - (04/27/97 FMW) This was very good stuff with no blown spots, no awkwardness but, again it's Gannosuke & Hayabusa, like Misawa & Kawada or Benoit & Eddie. They know one another inside & out because they're close. This was good because they focused their "extreme" spots toward the beginning & brought it back inside & duke'd it out there. I would have liked a little more back & forth but since they hit their sequences to
Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama Champ Carnival (03/21/95): This seemed like that match people were talking about when they were discussing Kobashi vs. Jumbo back in '91. Just an excellent match that really made Jun look like the future star and it made Kawada look tough yet beatable. Really cool match with Kawada getting really stiff at times. ****1/4
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada Champ Carnival: Talk about a grisly wrestling match. Hit the guy in the shoulder- fine, hit the guy
So, this is where my official massive block of AJ Classics starts. Boy, its a good start
Great Kabuki & Akio Sato vs Jimmy Snuka & Tiger Mask II (09/15/88): A really enjoyable match with great offense from Jimmy & Tiger. Kabuki was really effective when inside the ropes & Sato made everyone look good. I recommend checking this out especially for Superfly & Misawa's team work.
Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (07/29/8
AJW TV January 4th 1991 (1/4/91)
Yumiko Hotta vs. Bat Yoshinaga- Nothing too awesome here other than Hotta kicking Bat in the face a few good times and busting out a top rope backdrop. ***
Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Takako Inoue & Miori Kamiya & Mika Takahashi- Really weird seeing Mita with short hair like Yamada and Takako was a little chubby here but, not in a bad way. Kind like you could tell she was 18 or so. Surprisingly Mima was
