Sorry for the delay! Busy week last week so I missed my self imposed Sunday deadline. But made my Wednesday deadline We're getting to the end of '84 and you know that means Real World Tag League stuff. Excited for that! Let's begin!
Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/11, aired 10/13): Joined in progress but we get the majority of the match (it seems). Very technically orientated match that stresses their equality. Eventually things get cooking and we get more high stakes action. We get a
Let's keep going with 1984 All Japan!
Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (08/26): This was fought like a gang fight more than a wrestling match. Absolute furious pace with a stiffness you could hear. A near classic match but with the post match brawl this is a classic. There's a part of me wants to call this an all time classic if you're counting entrance to exit. Did I mention Terry is at ring side?
Team Grandpa!
Rough necks is scared!
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At
Let's take a look at more of 1984 AJPW. We've got a really good batch!
Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne vs Dory Funk Jr. & Kerry von Erich (04/24, aired 04/28): These next two are Roy Lucier's 1984 AJPW TV episodes and not the Retro Classics that were broadcast in the late 90's. These technically should be with Part #2 but I'm putting these here. I'll try to work new ones in chronologically as I go on. A big reason for expanding beyond just my DVD set was I noticed that there were a couple
Here we are with week # 2 of AJPW from 1984. It's a pretty good one. Let's take a look!
Billy Robinson & Brad Rheingans vs Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly (03/04): Wouldn't it be funny if it was the Steve Regal and Kevin Kelly you thought it was? Its not But it's 1984 AWA via AJPW Classics. I thought this might be a boring match but it was quite fun. Regal & Kelly bumped really well for Billy and Brad. I thought they had some good chicken shit moments as well. I don't know if you're
I'm going to be looking at the AJPW Classics for 1984. I want to make an effort to put a sizable dent into my DVD collection this year. I was pulled a little off track with the JWP and Muto AJPW last month. And I am planning on going back to Muto's All Japan perhaps in May. Anyhow we're looking at 1984 AJPW right now. It's interesting to me as it features quite a few Americans that weren't necessarily AJPW regulars. A big part of that is the inclusion of AWA talent since this is when Jumbo was
Back with more of Muto era AJPW! This time I'm going over 2005-2010. Well I'm actually going to sneak in a '03 & a '04 match that I found as well. This post I thought I'd change it up a bit and focus more on the Junior Heavyweight side of things.. or at least matches that included them. AJPW was never really known for their Junior division so I thought I'd check that out since there was a concerted effort by many companies to feature these guys in the 21st century. Just a guess but NOAH see
Here we are for the final portion of my early JWP project. We'll be looking at the end of 1991. The dates are not evenly spread out but this is what I wanted to see based on others recommendations and my own preferences. There is more out there like the Cuty vs Scorpion stuff from the fall that I could do without. Anyhow, let's begin!
Harley Saito vs. Rumi Kazama (05/12): Wow! I was impressed with what they were able to do in an under 10 minute match! Lots of stiff looking kicks, good bits
I'm doing a mixed up March type thing so I'll be getting back to JWP 1991 next week. For this week, I wanted to follow up on another little project Muto's AJPW. This covers 2001-2011. As you may know, I did a look at AJPW in 2011 sometime ago and was really impressed. It's not the Baba era but has its charm and quality wrestling. That along with post Muto AJPW made me question my preconceived notions about the 2000's All Japan. Generally speaking, I think most people skip over it entirely except
I'm back with JWP 1991. Thank you to the folks who have posted these matches online. I've got the dates in an irregular order but you still be able to find these for your own enjoyment. Hopefully you find something you'll want to check out. Let's get going!
01/06/91: Miss A vs. Itsuki Yamazaki
A great bout pitting veteran technician vs the young powerhouse. I think they told that story wonderfully. Yamazaki's leg work on A/Dynamite was masterful. A eventually found the opening she needed
This is a project I wanted to do for a good while now. When I decided to watch all Joshi this month, this it the one I've been itching to start all month. Jetlag has done an awesome overview and Quebrada.net's reviews are really great as well. I've used those as my guide. As Jetlag has said, so little is talked about this era. I hope to add a little bit to the conversation. For reference here's Jetlag's Microscope topic: https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/39849-early-jwp-pre-splitinterpro
I was psyched to find this inter-promotional JWP show online. It's from right around the era I want re-explore. Having watched a ton of full Joshi shows, I skipped the following:
Kumiko Maekawa & Rie Tamada vs. Fusayo Nochi & Hiromi Yagi, Command Bolshoi vs. Bolshoi Kid, and Cutie Suzuki vs Takako Inoue.
Chigusa Nagayo vs. Mayumi Ozaki - Well, that was a war! I wasn't quite sure what to expect but the hate in this match was off the charts. It wasn't the quick burst of hate typ
Let's go back to 2011 and see what I missed the first time around. I'll post the links to the Gaora YouTube videos for your enjoyment:
Minoru Tanaka vs Kaz Hiyashi (01/02/11): This was a very good junior battle with two legends of the style. I think they have something better in them but this was still pretty good stuff. My issue is with how they're not really transitioning control from one guy to the other. It does seem a bit like 'your turn-my turn' and I'd like to see a reason why Minoru
Here we are back in 2013 -again! Some kind soul posted these since my 2013 project wrapped up. I stumbled upon them will looking for 2014 stuff. This is some really nice wrestling so let's take a look!
Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato vs Atsushi Aoki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (04/29/13) : Thought maybe I saw this but, no! So this was from the 2013 Champion Carnival final night. First things first, kudos to the dude who gave Aoki the double birds right in his f
Here we are at the end of the road for 2014 AJPW. We're wrapping up with the 11/29 show which I found online.
Masanobu Fuchi vs. Naoya Nomura -skipped
Takeshi Minamino vs. Yohei Nakajima - Fun indie heel vs babyface match. Just simple stuff but so enjoyable.
Keisuke Ishii & SUSHI vs. Enoshima Man & Ultimo Dragon - I started watching this and it was pretty bland. It was just a generic junior tag match with not much spark. I fast forwarded to the last couple minutes and it n
Well looks like my sample of AJPW for 2014 is going a bit shorter than expected. My disc for 09/28/14 is defective. I'm going to be perfectly honest, this is why I stopped getting stuff from my "Internet Video Provider." This disc was probably from my last or second to last order when half the stuff was either defective like this or just the wrong show (labeled date matched what I bought but what was on there was different). And here it bites me in the ass a couple years later. If you're interes
Part Two and our first combo entry. We start off with a match found online then we'll go over a full show. As you can tell from the date we're skipping ahead a few months.
Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14) - I guess Akebono had to vacate the title. We get a nice lead in to the match showing the history between Omori and Akiyama. I'm a dork and know it already... it's one of things that makes this period of AJ special. It's as if Akiyama never left and he and
Thanks for waiting on me! If you've followed my blog you know I am easily distracted. I have a real good plan that gets interrupted by something that draws my attention elsewhere. I'm not like this with serious matters but it's something I do with my hobbies. The seasons usually play some part. In the summer, I tend to focus (fixate) on skateboarding. Invariably I'll get hurt or its too damn hot to skate and that's when I make time for other stuff like wrestling. In the winter, I just tend to ge
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
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,
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
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
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
I really enjoy puro from the late 80's so, I'll admit that I probably get more rewatch value from pre-Jushin Liger Yamada than most. I think when I think about his work with and without a mask, he's probably in my top 10...I think! There's been a backlash against the 90's NJ Jr. style but, I've also seen that with the 80's Jr. stuff as well. That's cool but, that ain't me.
Keiichi Yamada vs Marc "Rollerball" Rocco (09/01/87): JIP, All action plus a leapfrog face to the nuts spot! Yes
More 1987 AJPW goodness!
AJ Classics Selection #153
Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Isamu Teranishi & Masanobu Kurisu (07/30/87): Well, this was a barrel full of monkeys! I loved it. All kinds of different offense or should I say 'awe'fense. Cheesy like Kraft. This took a little bit to get going in terms of direction and pace but, turned into a smile worthy Asia Tag match.
Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (07/11/87): P
