Flood Waters Rise

Promotion ace Mitsuharu Misawa succeeded Giant Baba as President of All Japan Pro-Wrestling in the wake of his mentor’s death in January 1999. It wasn’t a smooth transition. Baba’s widow and majority shareholder Motoko (“Mrs Baba”) had wanted Mitsuo Momota, the son of Rikidozan, to take over, but Misawa’s predecessor at the top of the promotion, Jumbo Tsuruta, lobbied successfully for Misawa. Perhaps Mrs Baba saw Momota as a more reverent choice as successor, given his lineage, or perhaps she perceived him as pliable. Either way, she soon got her revenge on Tsuruta, who was dismissed without severance soon after.

 

Mrs Baba and Misawa couldn’t really agree on anything else, either. Misawa wanted more action by Junior Heavyweights, more varied main events, a modernised presentation, modern worker-friendly contracts (medical coverage and so forth), a change in the way merchandise revenue was handled (formerly this had been treated as the Babas’ pay cut) – basically, everything. Giant was also more diplomatic, more open to compromise – Mrs Baba lacked those qualities entirely in her dealings with Misawa.

 

By May 2000, things had come to an impasse, and Misawa had asked Mrs Baba to bless his founding of a new company. Perhaps in response, she arranged for his dismissal as President on the 28^th. He went off to form NOAH with 24 contracted wrestlers and several key foreign freelancers (notably Vader); Mrs Baba was left with something like 4 contracted wrestlers and a selection of regular guests.

 

The NOAH story is the big and successful one. It gets plenty of attention. It was Misawa’s Ark, carrying the vision of King’s Road – but what about those left behind in the flood, who through storm and wrack brought their promotion to shore? This is my take on the two years between Misawa’s exit and Keiji Mutoh buying Mrs Baba’s shares from her to become the majority owner of All Japan.

 

Notes on Booking in the End Days

Misawa and his cohort would work two more tours with All Japan after his dismissal – the ongoing Super Power Series and four dates on the upcoming Super Action Series. I’ll deal with the latter below, but some reflections on the former are a worthwhile precursor. Misawa is booking the card on these, and the final conflict with Mrs Baba was well underway before the tour started on the 20^th May. With that in mind, there are some interesting decisions, two of which we will consider.

 

First, Stan Hansen works two singles matches. He had worked one in the whole of 1999, and hadn’t worked in the Champion Carnival in either 1999 or 2000. The old cowboy is physically limited and winding down. Why does he come back to squash Takeshi Rikio and Takeshi Morishima?

 

Second, there is a one-night tournament on the final night of the tour – the 9^th of June – for the vacated World Tag titles. Neither tag champion – Vader and Steve Williams – is on the tour, and this presumably led to the vacation (both will be back in Japan for the rest of the year, though). The semi-finals see Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada defeat Johnny Ace and Mike Barton, whilst Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama defeat Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. The latter is booking for NOAH – the two young guns of NO FEAR mostly target Misawa, and this is a major elevation. The final sees Taue and Kawada beat Omori and Takayama. That’s a function of seniority in the match, perhaps, but it’s also strange insomuch as this is Misawa putting Kawada over, knowing Kawada is not coming with him to NOAH.

 

I can’t fully explain either decision – neither is discussed as far as I know in the autobiographies of the various key personnel, most of which have been translated in summary by KinchStalker – but they both show Misawa looking forward, and perhaps looking back too. Hansen is going to come back for one last ride on the range – for All Japan, not NOAH – and this is probably the last chance to give some rookies the rub by giving them a session with the legend. He gets ring rust off, looks strong again, and makes memories with the youngsters. The Tag Titles, meanwhile, let the now-splitting Holy Demon Army win one last time (they will have a moving last hurrah at Misawa’s memorial show 9 years later), and gives Kawada a final bit of shine. I think this should be read as irenic on Misawa’s part. Both moves help the company he is leaving.

 

Super Action Series 2000 – The New Roster

And it’s not just him leaving – 23 other contracted talent including virtually every important uppercarder and midcarder, plus key foreign freelancers and backstage staff are going. Who’s even left in the flood?

 

The senior referee, Kyohei Wada, had been Baba’s batman, and he is loyal to Mrs Baba. Ring announcer Fumi Kitahara also stays. Stan Hansen, close family friend of the Babas, is pointedly loyal to his widow (Hansen brushes this period of the split off in shoot interviews – he explained it as the Japanese being mysterious to Jim Cornette). Another old stager, the junior heavyweight Masanobu Fuchi, seems baffled by events when interviewed, and simply says he’s signed a new contract and is off to pray for Giant Baba and inform his spirit of events. Midcard heavyweight Maunakea Mossman – Hawaiian, but trained and contracted like a native – also stays, perhaps loyal to the man who scouted him out of Honolulu. Most significantly – vitally – Toshiaki Kawada, the #2 heavyweight in the promotion, stays. In an interview in June 2000, he says he could not let go of the name that Giant Baba had created (All Japan), and in his autobiography he says that his response to Misawa giving the chance to join him was similar – “To let the name All Japan die would be a lonely thing”. Kawada is outwardly positive, at this point and in his autobiography, about Misawa’s ideas and the future development of NOAH, though there is some hint of tension or confusion in the 2000 interview.

 

Mrs Baba, perhaps naturally, frames those who remain as being loyal to Baba’s dying wish – to preserve All Japan. Misawa sees himself as saving the spirit and sloughing off the crippled body.

 

Several key foreigners do stick around, perhaps happy with their remuneration and used to dealing with the Babas from a money perspective. “Dr Death” Steve Williams, a former Triple Crown champion, stays – this is the most significant name to remain. The others are Giant Kimala (aka Giant Kimala 2 or Botswana Beast), Scorpio (2 Cold Scorpio or Flash Funk), Wolf Hawkfield, George Hines, Johnny Smith, and Mike Barton. Hines, Hawkfield, and Smith had all been All Asia Tag champions, and Barton had been a World Tag champion.

 

Notably, Vader and Johnny Ace do not return. Vader is a two-time Triple Crown champion; he does not join NOAH’s opening tour, which is native-only, but he goes there soon after. Ace – a multi-time tag champion for both titles and a Triple Crown challenger – was a close friend of the Babas, and so I do not believe that he wanted to stay out of the fighting (as is sometimes claimed). He had opportunities opening up with the struggling WCW, and he picked that money and security over Japan. Finally, Richard Slinger – nephew of Terry Gordy, and a reliable undercard Junior mainstay in the 1990s – had not toured pre-split that year, and when he returned in the autumn would go to NOAH.

 

The returning foreigners perhaps do not look like much to us, but Williams and Barton, especially, were very credible to the Japanese audience. Smith and Kimala were both very reliable hands with a lot of good midcard behind them, Scorpio was fast and flashy, and Hines and Hawkfield were perfectly solid. However, Williams was definitely well past his prime – like Hansen – and most of this group were never going to be long-term uppercarders.

 

One other freelancer is missing: the great Hiroshi Hase, who retired from full-time work with New Japan in 1996 and transferred to All Japan as a guest by invitation from Baba. Hase is busy with his political career and will not return until his traditional New Year tour in 2001.

 

Four contracted wrestlers and seven freelance foreigners is not much to build a card with. What seems to have happened was that calls were made to whichever friends of the promotion were left. They needed more native undercarders and potential uppercarders, and they needed them to be available and reliable.

 

One obvious choice was to bring in regular guest, Jinsei Shinzaki, on a more full-time basis. Shinzaki (Hakushi in WWF) was a Michinoku Pro talent, but had guested throughout the late ‘90s, notably in a very fun tag partnership with Hayabusa (the high-flying star of FMW, a promotion run by the Babas’ adoptive son Atsushi Onita). Shinzaki only wrestled in three matches in 2000 prior to July – though I don’t know of any injury in that period – but returned pretty much full-time with All Japan for the back half of the year.

 

Another high-profile recruit was aging legend Yoshiaki Fujiwara (aged 51 in July 2000), whose main work had been in New Japan and shoot-style promotions, but who was now a freelancer. He would work chiefly with All Japan through 2000 and 2001. Fujiwara brought name recognition for wrestling fans – like Hansen or Steve Williams.

 

The undercard was filled out for the tour with six names: Yuto Aijima, SHINOBI, Shigeo Okumura, Mohammed Yone, Yuki Ishikawa, and Ryuji Hijikata. None of these were big names. They weren’t random scrapings, either.

 

Aijima and SHINOBI both chiefly worked Kyushu-based promotions: West Japan, Kageki, and Sekai No Puroresu. SHINOBI had links to Mexican promotions and to Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon, too. Aijima would work a full-time schedule, SHINOBI a part-time. The move to All Japan probably represented a significant promotion for both, especially Aijima. I don’t know how they were recruited, though Fuchi is from Kyushu so perhaps had contacts there.

 

Yone, Ishikawa, and Hijikata were shoot-stylists from BattlArts. BattlArts had been an important partner once Baba “brought the walls down” in 1997. He had worked with FMW (his adoptive son’s company), Michinoku Pro (a regional company in the north of Honshu), and BattlArts, as well as bringing in refugees from other shoot-style companies. Yone had in fact worked three matches in AJPW in 1998. Nevertheless, this was the first serious run for any of them with AJPW. Ishikawa is really a solid midcarder in BattlArts, and will only work two matches with AJPW; the other two are basically undercarders and will get extended runs.

 

Okumura is the most interesting name here, in some ways (though Yone and Hijikata will go on to be much bigger). He had been trained by the Great Kabuki and Masanobu Kurisu, both ex-All Japan close associates of Genichiro Tenryu in the 1990 AJPW-SWS split (though Kurisu was a freelancer by then). He worked with their companies Tokyo Pro and TEAM KURISU, as well as Go Gundan and Samurai Pro (both run by ex-AJPW Goro Tsurumi). He followed Kabuki and Kurisu around to other promotions: IWA Japan and IWA Kokusai. In 1998 he worked parts of two tours with All Japan, chiefly jobbing to Juniors. He increasingly worked with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR, but by December 1999 had begun to work regularly for Onita Pro – the personal brand of Atsushi Onita. I wonder if it was by Onita’s good graces that Okumura came to All Japan. Okumura had been a real wanderer, and had closely associated with the men who had “betrayed” Baba in 1990. He seems, from his early career stats, to have been willing to work any kind of match and do any kind of job. Exactly, really, who All Japan required.

 

On the note of Genichiro Tenryu…we’ll come back to him.

 

Day 1 – Fight for Tomorrow (July 1^st, 2000)

Five days of this tour were filmed – days 1, 2, 7, 8, and 16. They appeared via commercial tape, with no contemporaneous television broadcast (NTV had cut ties with All Japan and were preparing to broadcast NOAH; this was financially more directly ruinous than Misawa and co leaving). The production is actually fine here, with well-lit gymnasia and multiple well-handled cameras. I don’t know if NTV still had a hand here, or if Mrs Baba just ate the cost and paid for decent production from elsewhere; GAORA’s production later in the year is much worse, though they broadcast this (in November, albeit).

 

This is at the Differ Ariake in Tokyo, with an estimated attendance of 1,500. The crowd is actually pretty hot and engaged.

 

Giant Kimala vs Scorpio: 13:13, of which we have 0:39. Curtain-jerking is a hallowed art, and this is an interesting pick for the first match of the new era: quick guy versus big guy. Virtually impossible to judge, of course, because we only have the closing moments. The crowd isn’t exactly electric here, either, so maybe it’s been dull, but both these guys are fun. Scorpio strikes Kimala, Leg Lariats him, then misses a top turnbuckle Moonsault, and is Splashed for the pin. Fine for what we have. 2/5 (very provisional)

 

Maunakea Mossman vs Yuto Aijima: 3:34, of which we have 1:41. This is my first time seeing Aijima. Mossman is in Big Boy black trunks with dyed hair – he’s being promoted, clearly. Both guys actually look good here, even as it’s set up as a Mossman squash. Aijima is sharp in everything he does. Aijima gets to hit a nice Powerslam and Butterfly Suplex, Mossman then murders him. The crowd really enjoy the Hawaiian Crusher finish. If you told me Mossman as an established uppercarder and Aijima a respectable midcarder in the promotion, I’d believe you. 3/5

 

Jinsei Shinzaki & Johnny Smith vs Shigeo Okumura & Yoshiaki Fujiwara: 19:24, of which we have 2:16. Very hard to judge, though the crowd is engaged which is a good sign. We JIP with Fujiwara having gained the upper hand and having tagged in Okumura. Okumura gets to put some offence on Shinzaki, but eventually the senior man turns it round, and though Fujiwara breaks up one pin, Smith then drives him to the outside and assaults him pretty viciously. Dragon Screw (prophetic) into Necktie Camel Clutch for the submission on Okumura. Also my first time seeing Okumura, who does a respectable job but is just a little slow at points. This has just a tiny bit of an All Japan tag vibe. 2.5/5

 

George Hines & Mike Barton vs Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield: 13:57, of which we have 0:53. This is an interesting matchup, with the putative top two gaijin (once Hansen rides into the sunset) and two one-time All Asia title holders. Barton – Bart Gunn – is rated much more credibly here than he ever was in WWF, and all because he knocked out Steve Williams in Brawl for All. This matchup brings that to the audience’s mind, surely. It’s a reminder that here are two serious contenders. However, we get virtually none of it – we just get the finish, which is a fairly well-oiled back-and-forth with a good crowd. We do start with Dr Death half-botching a turnbuckle powerslam on Hines, which is a bit of a sign of things to come for him. Barton twice breaks up double-teams on Hines, and Hines gets a tiny final comeback. We preserve the potentially more interesting matchup for later via the finish, a Dr Death Backdrop on Hines. Entertaining for what we have. Williams and Hawkfield throw up the Triangle of Power sign at the end – that’s intended booking, I guess. 2.5/5

 

Masanobu Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada: 22:48. Shown in full. Fuchi out first in the black jacket he’s worn for 60 years or so by this point. Kawada comes out in a “Fight for Tomorrow” t-shirt, a fairly pointed piece of new merch. Fuchi is a 46-year-old Junior who doesn’t work singles anymore; Kawada is a three-time Triple Crown champ and was World Tag champ just last month. I liked this a lot the first I watched it, and rewatching has improved my opinion. This is an austere match – this is classic red Burgundy of the rural style – but it’s excellent. There is no problem re the believability of Fuchi being able to win. We know he can’t. But he and Kawada are “all that’s left” (pace the loyal and reliable Mossman), and they have to lead the Fight for Tomorrow. That’s the story, though: Kawada quickly gets in charge and stays in charge, but he cannot put Fuchi down. Fuchi can only gain advantage, and briefly, from tricks on the mat (where he can just about compete) or from frankly dirty tactics, but in the stand-up fight the best he can do is stay standing. He manages this for over twenty minutes. His chest is red-raw with Kawada’s chops and kicks, and even when he gains advantage he can only use it to take a breather, shaking cobwebs from his kick-clouded head.  But he doesn’t give in, he doesn’t stooge, he doesn’t beg off. He stands up and fights against impossible odds. Each man represents a part of All Japan’s spirit in this match: Kawada is the aggressive fighter and champion, Fuchi is the indomitable fighting spirit. It becomes profoundly moving by the end. After a Dangerous Bomb finally finishes Fuchi off, Kawada lifts him and raises his hand. Fuchi has been beaten but not broken; he is All Japan. 4.5/5

 

We end on a Kawada interview.

 

Day 2 – Prodigal Son

At the Korakuen, with estimated attendance of 2,100. Strange, really, to have the second day at the Korakuen. A poster outside prominently bills Kawada, Mossman, Barton, Williams, and what I swear looks like Johnny Ace on the low-res rip I’ve watched but which might be Hines (but why?).

 

Masanobu Fuchi vs Shigeo Okumura: 12:14, of which we have 0:54. Clipped to just the finish. Fuchi switches from main eventing to curtain-jerking and ends up torturing the newcome for a win with a form of Fujiwara Armbar. We JIP with Okumura on offence, and he looks fine if a little soft and slow. He seems perfectly professional, though, and sells properly. A guy like that can usually find a place in a fed needing bodies. He hits a missile dropkick “lying down”, joshi style, in a way that only Misawa has ever really made look good for me amongst men. They end up tussling for suplex positions, and Okumura moves round into a German hold, but Fuchi catches the arm into the Armbar, which is a neat finish. 2.5/5

 

Giant Kimala vs Wolf Hawkfield: 13:48, of which we have 2:33. This is a decent little closing clip for Kimala appreciators like me. I am also probably in the top ten Hawkfield fans in the world today, but that’s a limited statement; he’s super athletic and strong but his timing and positioning is so regularly just slightly off you have to accentuate the positives. He walks under a slow lariat from Kimala and later hits his winning frog splash slightly short. Kimala, meanwhile, hits a Flying Chop, Handspring Senton (!), and a normal Splash, and it’s very fun. Hawkfield gets pops from bodyslamming Kimala and a Gorilla Press Slam from the top turnbuckle (Kimala has gone up for a Diving Body Press). The crowd is down for all this stuff, and it’s reasonable remedial booking – we need Hawkfield, who is potentially a credible midcarder (he’s tall and athletic and has won a title before), to look good, and Kimala is always safe to job as you can’t really hurt what the crowd like about him. 2.5/5

 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The three “ordinary” contracted talent – Kawada, Fuchi, Mossman – come to the ring in t-shirts and track trousers, followed by Mrs Baba. Kawada speaks briefly, then Mrs Baba, who quickly begins to break down in tears. Both mention Baba-san. Mrs Baba speaks at some length, mentioning the company name a lot. She finishes the first part of the speech to thunderous applause. All Japan matters to the fans. It strikes me that smark wrestling fandom back in the mid 00s – when I first got into puro – probably didn’t grasp this because of a laser focus on NOAH (and perhaps because of the association with Muto). Nevertheless, this is a hot, loyal crowd. Then Mrs Baba mentions a surprise – we get sounds of wonder – and then a name: Genichiro Tenryu. The crowd goes legitimately mad and chants the returning prodigal in. He only walks to the ring and back out but it’s enough.

 

I think it’s pretty obvious in retrospect that this is the moment that saved All Japan, at least in the form it would take. Tenryu is barely younger than Hansen but works like a much younger man, still. He’s got massive name recognition, and has run two promotions with something like serious coverage. He’s a star, and he means that there are now two native main eventers of real calibre. With Mossman’s push, Williams, and Barton, the company suddenly looks a lot more serious. As we will also see in future tours, Tenryu also has access to undercard talent to come in and widen the native roster – he’s trained a lot of guys and he’s got his own promotion, which functionally folds into All Japan from not long after this.

 

What’s shocking, of course, is that this Mrs Baba inviting back the man who – no questions about it – betrayed Baba’s trust with a previous exodus. Tenryu pretended to retire and then took a glasses maker’s money to run a promotion, largely stocked with AJPW talent. This was much more morally dubious than Misawa’s departure. Baba had made it clear he would never welcome Tenryu or his confederates back, though he excluded future trainees (thus Okumura having come to All Japan whilst Baba was still in charge).

 

So this is genuinely dramatic. Scraping out some journeymen from Kyushu and some undercarders from BattlArts looks like scrabbling, and it probably was; calling in Tenryu is calling back Alcibiades in the hour of Athens’ need. There is something sublime in it, and the crowd reaction is one of the great crowd reactions in wrestling.

 

Jinsei Shinzaki vs Scorpio: 11:21, of which we have 2:08. Curious little thing. Should be the best match on the card, but the crowd is a little subdued and the finishing run-in – which is what we have – is…okay? There’s some back and forth, and Scorpio gets a 360 Leg Drop and a Moonsault in which is fun, but there are some obvious miscommunications (or something). After the Moonsault, Shinzaki kicks at one and Scorpio comes right back in to get a two. I think he’s annoyed. The finishing run itself is basically botched, and Scorpio takes Shinzaki up for a Powerbomb and then Shinzaki falls on him (I’ve seen the suggestion this is a failed Frankensteiner). Shinzaki hits his own Powerbomb straight from this for the win. This isn’t bad, per se. It’s just not good. 2/5

 

Johnny Smith vs Steve Williams: 17:14, of which we have 4:18. This is interesting – Johnny is basically a midcard tag guy, but here he is in the semi-main event in singles. He’s a successful midcard tag guy, and had earned his way over with the crowd, but this is a big promotion for him, and it’s because the uppercard is pretty bare – Williams, Barton, and Kawada are established there, but they need foils. This is obviously a match to emphasize William’s seniority, just as he had gotten the pin in the tag match the previous night. (He again throws up the Triangle of Power sign afterwards.) Anyway – we start with Johnny rolling outside, with a very short brawl there and then a return and a Johnny comeback. Johnny is actually great here. His offence, though he doesn’t get much time for it, is good, and he sells his leg great – he kips up and shouts and limps, for instance. There’s also a great tussle right at the end, just before the final move, where Johnny is blocking a Williams throw by holding his leg. He looks canny, strong, but outmatched. Dr Driver for the pin, predictably, but the crowd is into this. There is a notable half-botch – Johnny goes for a swinging neckbreaker low to the mat and Williams doesn’t move. It’s odd, hard to know who to fault. Anyway, good. 3.5/5

 

George Hines & Mike Barton vs Maunakea Mossman & Toshiaki Kawada: 17:14, of which we have 2:52. Disappointingly cut down to the finish. This is still interesting, if nothing else for the fact that George Hines is massively over with the Korakuen faithful, and Kawada gives him a decent offensive spurt before Enzui-ing and Spin Kick-ing him into unconsciousness. We start with Barton battering Mossman whilst Hines recovers at the ropes. Mossman eventually escapes and Kawada seems on top of Barton, but a sick gutpunch gives the foreigners the advantage, and despite interference from Mossman, Hines stays competitive. I think once he’s in, it’s not going to go well for him in the end, but the booking is to make him plausible at the top of the card – he’s won one All Asia title, in 1993 (!), with Patriot. Like Mossman and Smith and (to a degree) Shinzaki, he’s seeing a drive to main event status by necessity. I enjoyed what we got here, though it’s a shame it got cut down so much. The crowd is hot. Interestingly, Kawada shakes Barton’s at the end and brings him over to bow to the crowd. 3.5/5

 

Days 3-6, 9, 13, and 15 – Tour

These are the 7 days of “normal” tour for the new All Japan. The remaining days have the rather awkward presence of much of the NOAH roster, and will be summarized separately below.

 

These tour dates, untaped as they are – and with no surviving fancam I know of – are still pretty interesting, because we can see the general line of thinking in the booking and we can see certain experiments which may or may not last. I’ll try to summarize what the cards generally look like, as naturally there is some repetition and semi-repetition.

 

Fuchi curtain-jerks 6 times, 4 times against Aijima and twice against Okumura. It’s an important job, and a veteran with crowd connection is the natural fit for it (cf Mitsuo Momota).

 

Scorpio, Johnny Smith, and SHINOBI often come second; Scorpio beats SHINOBI three times (once curtain-jerking) and Hijikata once in this context, Smith beats Hijikata and SHINOBI once each, with the remaining spots being Yone over Hijikata and Okumura over SHINOBI. There’s some effort to give Yone and Okumura some shine here, as well as presumed long-term midcarders Scorpio and Smith.  Hijikata and SHINOBI are here to job.

 

The third match – the middle match, on these cards – contains Kimala four times and Jinsei Shinzaki twice, which I think is informative. Both were lower midcarders pre-split, though very popular ones; they’re natural picks to press up the card now, so as to occasionally take uppercard prominence, but they’re not selling tickets on their own (probably). Shinzaki beats SHINOBI and Yone, whilst Kimala beats Aijima twice and Scorpio once – and loses to Mossman. Mossman is being pushed into the main event, and there aren’t many people to credibly job for him – you can’t sacrifice other main eventers (Williams, Barton) and you probably shouldn’t feed him people like Smith and Shinzaki too often. Therefore, Kimala, who can be in semi-mains but is just never going to challenge for titles, can be safely jobbed out, and he’s a decent worker, too. The remaining “middle match” is Hines & Yone over Smith & Hijikata – Hines is usually working higher up, as (to be fair) is Smith, but this looks like a fun match on paper, with three pretty good workers and on perfectly respectable (guess which).

 

The semi-mains begin to bring in the new main eventers (because of course not everyone can main event every week, except one guy). The matches are: (1) Smith & Barton over Williams & Hawkfield – potentially pretty interesting with more Williams vs Barton; (2) Barton & Hawkfield over Shinzaki & Okumura – yes, Okumura is here to job, and this is the first Barton/Steele match; (3) Smith & Mossman over Yone & Williams – Yone surely eating the pin from Mossman; (4) Williams over Kimala – Dr Death getting shine off Kimala just like Mossman had; (5) Fuchi & Williams over Kimala & Okumura – a strange matchup, but presumably Williams over Okumura; (6) Kimala & Mossman over Scorpio & Williams – Kimala getting to be on the winning team, and presumably Mossman pinning Scorpio; and (7) Barton & Hawkfield over Hines & Mossman, amping up the new tag team and probably giving Barton a pin over Hines (I can’t see Mossman eating a pin even from Barton). Barton and Hawkfield are in three of these, Williams in five, Smith in two, Kimala in three, and Mossman three.

 

Meanwhile, Kawada main events (that’s the main point here): (1) Kawada over Shinzaki; (2) Kawada/Mossman over Smith/Williams; (3) Kawada/Shinzaki over Barton/Hawkfield; (4) Barton/Scorpio/Hawkfield over Mossman/Okumura/Kawada; (5) Kawada/Mossman over Barton/Hawkfield; (6) Kawada/Shinzaki over Barton/Hawkfield; and (7) Kawada/Shinzaki over Smith/Williams. In the tour segment of the series, aside from Kawada, the key main event pieces are clear: Mossman (3 times), Shinzaki (4 times), Williams and Smith (2 times each), Barton and Hawkfield (4 times each).

 

Day 7

Korakuen Hall, estimated attendance of 2,100.

 

Scorpio vs SHINOBI: 8:11, of which we have 0:38. Scorpio Powerbombs SHINOBI, Moonsaults him, refuses to pin, goes up for a 360 Splash. No doubt fun stuff, but very vestigial on the tape. The crowd claps along to Scorpio dancing after. 2.5/5

 

Jinsei Shinzaki vs Yuto Aijima: 10:33, of which we have 1:37. We get basically nothing here. They slap each other a bit, Shinzaki gets a lovely back spinkick in to gain advantage, then he does the top turnbuckle flying tackle, then a good-looking Necktie Clutch for the submission. He’s been on tape three times tearing through undercarders, and won by submission twice, which is a surprising direction. This is fine. 2/5

 

Johnny Smith & Yuki Ishikawa vs Masanobu Fuchi & Shigeo Okumura: 20:46, of which we have 2:38. Ishikawa is announced as from BattlArts by the commentators, which is interesting. We don't get much of him, or of this in general. Fuchi enters on a battered Ishikawa who immediately counters, and we get some slightly bitty back and forth across all four men. The crowd is somewhat warm, though, which adds to it. The decisive turnaround is Smith dodging an Okumura Missile Dropkick, getting two from a Piledriver, and then the pin from a British Fall. This is solid enough - the work is fine - but bitty and then it's over. 2.5/5

 

Giant Kimala & Mike Barton vs Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield: 19:26, of which we have 2:39. Very similar length and clip to the previous but a definite step up. We only get Kimala and Hawkfield as legal men, they do very respectably, though it's playing the hits. It's a shame to lose decent Barton/Williams engagement but their interferences in the main action always count and the action always develops organically - e.g., Kimala goes up to the top turnbuckle in Triangle's corner; Williams gets up from the floor and interferes; Kimala knocks him off, but Hawkfield has managed to get up; Hawkfield comes over to take advantage, but Kimala is stronger and can get off his Flying Neckbreaker/Chop anyway. It works, it all makes sense. The complete removal of the main matchup here from the clip causes this to suffer. The crowd love Kimala though. 3/5

 

Maunakea Mossman & Toshiaki Kawada vs Mohammed Yone & Yoshiaki Fujiwara: 20:53, of which we get 4:54. This is in two clips - just over 2:30 from the start, and 2:20ish from the finish. The content of the clips looks like it wants us to foresee a Kawada/Fujiwara rivalry. In the first clip they get into an ill-tempered strike exchange, and in the second Kawada at one point flips Fujiwara off as the old man considers interfering in Kawada hitting Yone. This actually comes down to Mossman and Yone, which has a lot of value as they do some quite nice work together - kick exchange, Mossman on top, Yone making a small and nice-looking comeback, and then building to the Hawaiian Crusher for the win. This is respectable, though Fujiwara already looks a bit slow here - he's the same age as Hansen, a year older than Tenryu, and his mobility is somewhere in between the two but closer to Hansen. I like his Baba shirt. 3/5

 

Day 8

The second commercial tape starts with this day, but not before a montage – starting with numerous news articles about Misawa splitting. It’s a bold way to frame things, putting the oppo’s face at the start of your tape! Then we get a summary of the Kawada vs Fuchi match and then Tenryu’s return, before a tease of the matches ahead.

 

Ryuji Hijikata vs Shigeo Okumura: 9:40, of which we have 0:40. We get this clip to show Okumura, one of the new boys, getting in a win. He beats legitimate future AJPW legend Hijikata, who here is appearing on tape for the first time. Hijikata is crisp and bumps well and that’s all we get of him; Okumura mostly just gets move in here before getting the submission win. Hard to feel too confident that this is very good. 2/5

 

Johnny Smith vs Yuto Aijima: 12:39, of which we have 2:35. This is the perfectly okay run-in to the end, giving Smith a win over one of the new boys. Decent missile dropkick/kip-up and Swinging Neckbreakers from Smith. The British Fall itself is pretty good here, but Aijima stumbles on the setup, which looks sloppy. This is fine, but we’re not able to say much more from the survival. 2/5

 

Giant Kimala & Scorpio vs Mike Barton & Wolf Hawkfield: 19:52, of which we have 1:30. You know what, this is a pretty fun fragment, though it’s not terribly sharp. Then again, literally none of these guys are known for being insanely crisp, even Scorpio. We start with Barton and Hawkfield – tagging here for the first time on tape, for what will be an important partnership for both of them – countering Kimala, and then double-team-lariating to push him over the top rope to the floor. Barton is left with Scorpio and we get a bit from both guys. Scorpio is allowed some nice comeback bits – a big, sweet-looking Armdrag counter off a Crucifix Powerbomb attempt, for instance – but can’t really properly take Barton down. Barton counters into his rather nice sudden Cutter (learned from former Tag Championship partner Johnny Ace, perhaps) as Scorpio comes off the ropes, and the #2(ish) gaijin gets the pin. Fun. 3/5

 

Mohammed Yone vs Steve Williams: 4:56, of which we have 2:17. Yone is being booked surprisingly high on the card, in some ways – main event the previous night and upper-midcard here. But then he had come over and challenged for tag titles with Ikeda pre-split. We have about half of this and it’s very fun, a good story of a sharp, aggressive “underdog” taking it to the big guy senior, who ultimately just overwhelms him. Some fun bits include Williams gaining control through a high Backdrop on to the corner post, Yone’s kicks, and Yone countering the first Dr Driver attempt into a falling Crossbody pin attempt. Yone looks pretty strong for what’s really a squash. 3.5/5

 

Masanobu Fuchi vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara: 30:00. We have about a third of this on the commercial tape, but the whole match survives as a fancam. This is a surprising match, and in a good way. The story that develops is that Fuchi can just about hang on the mat, but Fujiwara really has the advantage there – but Fujiwara doesn’t have the upright advantage that Kawada, and Fuchi is a vicious bugger (for which, this time, the crowd love him, even going into the FU-CHI-CLAP-CLAP-CLAP bit), willing to take any step to gain advantage. He hits stepover stomps by the apron, uses the ropes as a weapon, exploits breaks, all of it. Fujiwara is obviously looking for the Armbar, and locks it in a few times, and Fuchi suffers (though we don’t get his exquisite misery as in his 1991 match against Joe Malenko, due to the camerawork), but he’s always ring-aware and works to the ropes. He even finishes the match with his own Sleeper in. This is a match about Fuchi surviving, and it’s a good matchup for some nice matwork. It does those two things well. The booking – Fujiwara got in Kawada’s face the previous night but now can’t beat Fuchi – is odd, but it’s a strong match. 3.5/5

 

Jinsei Shinzaki & Yuki Ishikawa vs Maunakea Mossman & Toshiaki Kawada: 25:15. We have 4:40 on tape, but 24:17 survives by fancam (there is one obvious cut, unclear if it could have lasted a minute so there may be other very subtle cuts). The complete match is a good step up from the clipped match, though the camera work is obviously more limited. The result is never really in doubt – the two serious contracted main event talent are not losing to two upper midcard outsiders – but there’s plenty of action here. Ishikawa and Mossman have some great strike and hold exchanges, Ishikawa in general is actually booked strongly, and Kawada is put on an absolute tear of dominance. He repeatedly bullies or clowns both guys, at one point staggering around waiting for a Shinzaki Missile Dropkick only to jump to Enzuigiri him as he dives, at another points Ishikawa runs in to interfere and Kawada casually turns around him and Powerbombs him, that kind of thing. Shinzaki has a strange performance here – just excellent selling, most of his work is crisp, but he seems just a little slow and notably botches a comeback against Kawada (Springboard Dropkick). There’s some decent work by Ishikawa and Shinzaki on Mossman’s leg early on, but this doesn’t carry forward really (Ishikawa does try to return to it in the final third but that doesn’t develop). Kawada pins Shinzaki after a Powerbomb and a Knee Drop. This is good, if flawed. 3.5/5

 

Day 10-12 and 14 – Divorce Proceedings

One unusual provision of the AJPW-NOAH split was that Misawa agreed to bring his guys to work four dates on the Super Action (Summer Action I) series. None of these were taped, and the cards are functionally split – the NOAH workers fill up the middle of each card, and only work tags and six-mans. This means that we get the last AJPW leg of Family Legion vs Villain Shokai, with the final matchup being Momota/Kimura/Rikio vs Eigen/Kikuchi/Kobayashi (i.e., KENTA). Fuchi main events on the same day with other AJPW workers; a rather poignant moment for those of us who like the comedy six-mans. The other notable NOAH booking decision is that Team NO FEAR (Omori and Takayama) win three tag matches, twice against Akiyama and a partner and once against Taue and Masao Inoue. The already strong push is only going up from here.

 

The AJPW workers put on fewer matches as the card is naturally fuller but the dynamic of this does mean you get interesting matchups. The opening matches are AJPW in each case: Fuchi/Hijikata over SHINOBI/Aijima, Fuchi/Hawkfield over Kimala/Aijima, Fuchi over Aijima and Shinzaki/Mossman/Aijima over Hines/Scorpio/Okumura. Scorpio also twice works a “semi-opener”, beating Hijikata and SHINOBI. Everyone is still getting work, and Scorpio is getting junior heavyweights to work with to give the crowd some flash (Funk).

 

The semi-mains are usually AJPW: Kimala/Hawkfield over Barton/Okumura (oh, I wonder who did the job here), Kimala/Barton vs Yone/Okumura, and Kimala/Williams over Barton/Hawkfield (this one plays into the Williams/Barton rivalry and I suspect might be a lot of fun, especially at only 16:03). On day 11, AJPW instead provides a match right in the middle of the card – Okumura/Williams over Shinzaki/Yone.

 

Naturally, Kawada always main events, and the main events are always AJPW: Shinzaki/Mossman/Kawada over Smith/Scorpio/Williams (given Mossman’s push this is an obvious mismatch), Mossman/Kawada over Smith/Barton, Smith/Williams/Hawkfield over Shinzaki/Mossman/Kawada (demonstrating Hawkfield’s kayfabe superiority to Scorpio; I assume Shinzaki did the job), and Fuchi/Kawada over Smith/Fujiwara (playing into the tension between Fujiwara and the AJPW loyalists). Surprisingly, Smith main events every time as well – not Mossman (3 times) or Barton (2 times) or Williams (2 times), but Smith! But then he’s probably doing the job in two of those, and he’s a reliable crowd favourite, so this may be a bit of a thankyou for your service.

 

The AJPW booking here is much of a piece with the rest of the tour, barring the odd opening tag mixups. Kawada and Mossman look strong, Aijima and Okumura and Hijikata and SHINOBI get to job a lot, Shinzaki and Smith get booked up the card but are often losing, Barton and Williams look pretty protected, Scorpio gets to do entertaining but minor stuff, and so forth.

 

It’s obvious, though, by comparison, who has the stronger roster, and especially the stronger native under- and midcard. 2000-era Marufuji, Kanemaru, Takayama, Omori, Izumida, etc are obviously a step up in terms of flash and promise than Okumura, Aijima, SHINOBI, and Hijikata. The veteran undercard is interesting, with the serious competitors basically being Kikuchi and Momota vs Fuchi. Fuchi is the most accomplished of the three, though I love all of them. AJPW is very reliant on middling foreigners (a bit like the early and mid-70s), where NOAH won’t even feature foreigners in its first tour. In the native (sic) uppercard, you would give NOAH the advantage, certainly, but by less: Misawa/Kobashi/Akiyama/Taue vs Kawada/Tenryu (yet to redebut)/Mossman. NOAH has one more big name and Taue is better and more over than Mossman.

 

Day 16 – Resurrection

Budokan Hall, Tokyo, estimated attendance 16,300. We get exterior shots and then a trackalong shot of Tenryu arriving and going to his dressing room.

 

Masanobu Fuchi vs Shigeo Okumura: 9:57, of which we have 1:50. Solid finishing clip from the curtain-jerker. The crowd is hot here which is always a nice thing. Okumura starts with a bit of control, including a nice Lariat into the corner, but Fuchi takes over with arm submissions, pushes through a mini-comeback, and hits a sickening backdrop for 2. Another, shortly after, gets him 3. Okumura sells nicely. Solid but slight in the version we have. 2.5/5

 

Fuchi gives a short promo after, which is at least partly about the return to the Budokan and the new start, but I’m not otherwise clear.

 

SHIIBA vs SHINOBI: 8:48, of which we have 0:33. Semi-opener between two of the Kyushu boys. We have about as much or more of SHIIBA doing a comedy bit playing a big drum before the match as we do of the match itself. It’s a perfectly enjoyable comedy bit! The clip we have is SHIIBA rather untidily finishing up, with the pin off a Wristlock German Bridge. The more interesting thing here is that SHIIBA is actually Ryota Chikuzen, trainee of Ultimo Dragon and founder of Kyushu Pro, one of the most fun things going on in modern puro. Anyway, fluff in the form we have it. 2/5

 

Giant Kimala vs Yuto Aijima: 10:19, of which we have 2:16. This is pretty fun! Aijima starts our clip by, with a lot of effort, Vertical Suplexing Kimala! He then sells back pain and so is slow to the pin. Kimala gradually takes control, but not without resistance, as Aijima gets another nearfall off a Schoolboy. Kimala eventually runs through the Jumping Neckbreaker/Chop, the Rolling Senton, and finishing up with the Splash. It’s a formula Kimala match in some ways, but he’s sharp enough here and Aijima is good. 3/5

 

George Hines & Scorpio vs Mike Barton & Wolf Hawkfield: 15:08, of which we have 3:18. We have virtually nothing of Hines here, two attempted interrupt/comeback spots (including a good cycle kick) and nothing else. It’s Scorpio fighting for his life against Barton – though he actually starts in control with a credible pin sequence including what I guess is a 450+180 (but not a 630, let the reader understand). He goes for that again after the 2, and Barton gets his knees up. Barton sells nicely for the smaller man and is a good base here. Scorpio actually gets a few runs of offence against him, and comes out looking pretty good. Hawkfield is in for double teams, and does get a good top turnbuckle splash in, but otherwise looks as slightly confused as usual. The ending is sweet – Barton is just about fending off a bunch of Scorpio offence, Scorpio goes over the rope and lands on the apron, springs to get back in…straight into the Ace Crusher! Barton was doing these surprise cutters long before Randy Orton, turns out. This one was genuinely great. The match as we have it feels middling, because we have no sense of development, but it’s a good endrun. 3/5

 

Johnny Smith vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara: 19:52, of which we have 2:24. This is basically a Fujiwara Formula Match circa 2000, though of course we only get the end. It’s okay. Very early on Johnny lines up the front headlock for a Swinging Neckbreaker and then rather awkwardly changes to a waistlock and we get an extended “contesting for Germans”, which actually leads to some sick-looking Deadlift German Suplexes. It’s not entirely great action but it’s nice to see Johnny doing cool stuff. He eventually hits his Missile Dropkick and lines up for a Lariat, but Fujiwara spots it in time and takes him straight for the Armbar and the submission. Understanding the formula makes this much more palatable, but it never really moves above decent in what we have. I think we’d benefit from having more of this. After the match Fujiwara jaws at Kawada. 2.5/5

 

Jinsei Shinzaki vs Steve Williams: 21:11, of which we have 3:40. This is nearly all Williams tidying up on Shinzaki. Most stuff is executed fine, though Williams once attempts a comically slow Lariat to allow the dodge off the ropes. Williams does hit a very nice Gorilla Press Slam over the ropes and beyond the barriers, which Shinzaki takes beautifully. Very hard to feel too warm about this given it functions on tape as a squash. 2.5/5

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Maunakea Mossman & Stan Hansen: 23:12. Strangely for Tenryu’s return match in AJPW, this is mostly about Mossman and Hansen, but that’s the right call. Good match. Hansen and Mossman are the past and the future of All Japan (Hansen even adverts to this in a post-match interview), Kawada and Tenryu are the present. The NOAH exodus isn’t the loss of AJPW legitimacy; the true line resides here. Hansen is limited here – his hips are gone, he can’t run – but he’s still so good. He can sell and he can strike, but he also has so many clever bits and ideas. He at one point interferes, takes down Tenryu, and then contemptuously steps back outside to make the tag legal, for instance. Lovely little character touches. Tenryu actually has a quietish match, but gets plenty of good offence in and looks in good physical shape – there is only a year between him and Hansen, but the ring health difference is vast. Mossman is great, and looks like he belongs. He goes toe-to-toe with both of his opponents, and at one point dumps Tenryu outside beyond the barrier, bang in front of The Destroyer. This is his step into the spotlight and he’s not going to waste it. Kawada is dominant and brutal – and gets top billing, coming out last, after Tenryu – and he and Mossman, particularly, have several great grappling and strike exchanges. This is obviously a potential future rivalry, and it’s their first match of the tour, as previously they’ve only tagged with each other. Kawada has to roll out all his offence, but he gets the pin on Mossman and is lifted on the shoulders of Williams and Scorpio. Williams then gets a Zen Nihon chant going, and then Mossman is lifted up too. The storytelling in the match and after is all clear, though it’s very strange seeing Kimala in civvies and politely applauding Mossman. Obviously he has begun to adopt the strange customs of Japan. 4/5

 

Conclusion

NOAH got all the attention in the 00s in Western Puro fan circles, but this is a fascinating view into a product which would only last a couple of years before the full triumph of Pro Wrestling Love. It’s often recognizably All Japan – Fuchi vs Kawada, Tenryu/Kawada vs Hansen/Mossman, Smith/Williams, Smith/Yone, Hines/Barton vs Mossman/Kawada, the Kimala matches, all follow various formats and ideas established in the 90s – but the roster is so different, and the people being pushed so different, that it’s a bit of a parallel universe exercise (except it happened in our one!). What would happen if All Japan wanted to continue some of the same philosophy, with some evolution, but more importantly with 33% new personnel and heavily reliant on upper midcard foreigners and random native jobbers? Well, we got to find out, and actually it’s pretty interesting, if only in embryo.

 

The roster actually mostly works out. Okumura and Aijima turn up and do what they’re supposed to do, and even sometimes look good. Barton and Kimala are very underrated hands, and we see why here – they are reliably good value and reliable. Scorpio is entertaining in a flashy way. Mossman is definitely rapidly growing into his new role here, and Smith has a couple of very nice showings. Kawada, of course, is always excellent, as is – in his own contexts – Fuchi. On the other hand, Williams and Hansen are both obviously over the hill; Shinzaki has a very strange and quiet showing on tape; Fujiwara is solid but obviously a bit slow and, furthermore, booked in a strange way. There’s no depth here but there is quality.

 

I’ll get to summing up the best matches shortly, but one difficult with analyzing the material we have is that it’s heavily clipped. These commercial VHS releases were there to sell the new product, and especially live tickets. We’re getting storyline highlights, telling us who’s strong and so forth. Some workers suffer badly from this: Shinzaki has several long matches but we nearly always get finishing clips of him being beaten, so it’s hard to know what his actual work was like. The character and story decisions all make sense, even if they’re clearly in flux. Barton and Williams are the top foreigners, and might continue to be rivals going forward; Smith and Shinzaki are on the edges of the main event; Mossman is the #2 “native”, and Kawada is booked in godlike fashion. There are strange little insertions, not necessarily bad: the experiment with lucharesu with SHIIBA and SHINOBI, Fujiwara turning up and wanting to kill Kawada for some reason, and the BattlArts boys being really tough and gnarly, most notably. There’s a degree of experimentation here, and it’s part of what’s fun. Most of all, of course, Tenryu is back, and he’s set up for needing to rank himself against Mossman, Hansen, and (ultimately) Kawada.

 

One mitigation – or complication – of rating the VHS releases is that we have two fancams from Day 8, and in both cases these improve on the VHS clips. We have some reason – especially given crowd reactions – to think some of the other matches were better than we can possibly rate them from the remains. On the other hand, at other times it’s not clear how good the product actually is. On Day 16, at the Budokan, the card isn’t unpromising but the VHS is generally not too exciting, and sometimes the crowd reaction seems to back that up (but at other times they love it!). The barebones nature of things, the makeshift roster and the rest, is all pretty clear on a big show like this. They bring in extra people – and notably get Hansen and Tenryu in for their first dates – but whether it’s really a good enough card to justify a Budokan sellout is up for debate.

 

However, storylines and clipping issues aside, the best of the work we have here is really very good, and there are several other bangers (interestingly, because of the fancams, Day 8 is the strongest show; Day 7 the weakest):

Kawada vs Fuchi, Day 1: 4.5/5

Smith vs Williams, Day 2: 3.5/5

Kawada/Mossman vs Barton/Hines, Day 2: 3.5/5

Yone vs Williams, Day 8: 3.5/5

Fuchi vs Fujiwara, Day 8: 3.5/5

Kawada/Mossman vs Ishikawa/Shinzaki, Day 8: 3.5/5

Kawada/Tenryu vs Hansen/Mossman, Day 16: 4/5

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