jdw

It's a pretty short match... and there really isn't a lot of 1997 AJPW, unless you think the tv taping six-mans that aired on Sammy were consistently good. John

This, plus being able to go further more quickly with continued international expansion plus there was another similarly numbered offer on the table for Strikeforce. The offer strikes me as more likely, especially if it was a major money mark level. John

Does that mean 8-10 cards in the UK + 8-10 cards down under + 8-10 cards in Asia + 8-10 cards in the European continent (in addition to those in the UK)? I really don't think they needed Strikeforce talent to run more shows overseas. They were just *cutting* talent in UFC. There's plenty of other talent out there to grab. John

Update: I have it and it seems to be complete, or at least considerably more so than the TV version. Now to see if it's worth showing the first 2/3rds... 30 minute draw, so a lot more of it would be on Sammy. The AJPW year was pretty light. Even the Budokans felt like one-match shows. Will and Loss might get to the end of the year, look over what AJPW made it, and sense that RWTL is one of the few places where there's a decent amount of AJPW to reflect the year. Tag Title matches: 01/17/97 Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (4) beat Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (26:12) 03/01/97 Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue beat Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (14:12) 05/27/97 Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace beat Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue (28:40) 07/25/97 Steve Williams & Gary Albright beat Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (29:36) 08/26/97 Steve Williams & Gary Albright beat Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama (8:42) 10/04/97 Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (2) beat Steve Williams & Gary Albright (22:38) I don't recall this as being one of AJPW's better years for tag title matches. John

There's some confusion on the Lynch list and other places over the match dates for some of the Carny matches. I think the old ajpw.puroresufan.com had it right here: 3/30/97 @ Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium 1. Stan Hansen [5] beat Johnny Ace [8] (14:08) with a lariat. 2. Akira Taue [12] beat Gary Albright [2] (8:18) with a jumping front kick. 3. Kenta Kobashi [10] beat Jun Akiyama [2] (20:13) with a lariat. 4. Mitsuharu Misawa [7] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [9] went to a draw (30:00) when the time limit expired. 4/2/97 @ Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium 1. Akira Taue [14] beat Jun Izumida [0] by forfeit. 2. Jun Akiyama [3] vs. Stan Hansen [8] went to a draw (30:00) when the time limit expired. 3. Toshiaki Kawada [13] beat Gary Albright [2] (7:27) with a cross armbreaker. 4. Steve Williams [7] beat Mitsuharu Misawa [7] (18:21) with a dangerous backdrop driver. The matches from Samurai that are available on Lynch Boot 851 are all from the 03/30/97 card, though his listing mixes them around. Highlights of the 04/02/97 card aired on the 04/13/97 AJPW 30 show, but I haven't seen a Samurai listing of it. Looking at it looks like 2 minutes each aired of the matches. The triple-final probably should make it: Kobashi-Misawa, Misawa-Kawada and Kawada-Kobashi. It's a unique finish to the Carny. It's one of the three big Misawa-Kobashi matches that aired during the year. Kawada's first singles win over Misawa, though not in very satisfying fashion. And Kawada winning his second Carny. Given the lack of other Carny stuff, it's a limit year for All Japan... no reason not to have all three. There also is this: 03/29/97 Nagareyama (Lynch Boot 817 - Handheld) Ace vs Omori (18:23) Kawada vs Kimala (7:07) Taue vs Akiyama (11:25) I haven't seen this handheld. I'd recommend getting it and taking a look at it. Don't know if the Ace-Omori is any good. Kawada-Kimala is a morbid curiosity, but doubtful that it reaches the levels of warranting including. But given the lack of Carny stuff, and coming off Jun's quick win over Taue earlier in the year, I'd think the Carny Taue-Jun might be worth including unless it's awful. It's a match that would be new to most getting the set, and fits into the Taue-Jun arc of the year. They also had highlights of opening night (3/22/97) on the 3/23/97 AJPW 30. Most of the Misawa-Albright aired, while the other matches were chopped. John

The Fail and Fall of TNA John

Or "Mooooooooooooooo!" at his Texas Longhorn hand sign. John

How much time was left on the PPV when this happened? In the sense of, how much time did they still have blocked out? Was Eric always going to come down? Because even with the short match, the whole segment still went 10 minutes. John

I did have the "nice try" dig in there, which was borderline asshole. I read his run-in as the standard Dave/Bryan defending which make up 75% of his posts here, and did toss in the dig there. He deserves a pass on it as it's a retaliation. My bad. John

Dave is saying that all that Sayama cared about was getting over to the fans, and that he got over more than Hamada. All that Hogan cared about was getting over with the fans, and he got over more than Flair. To Dave, that made Sayama a better worker than Hamada. To Dave, well... he doesn't want to go there with Hogan because Hulk is Evil and Ric is Our Hero. They're the same thing. The result is just different because Dave doesn't really care to be consistent. John

I totally agree with Will and Loss' choice of this. It was highly rated at the time and it's a historically significant match. Look... if we all suddenly agree that Savage-Steamer at WMIII sucked and was ruined by Steele, it doesn't take away from the fact that it was: * an IC change at the time when they were more rate and the belt meant something * it was massively praised at the time * these are two pretty big stars in one of their most remembered matches Gotta be on. And JIP doesn't cut it. Yearbooks aren't just to cover the 200 "best" matches of a year. Will has a format for something like that. The Yearbooks are suppose to give us not only the top matches, but also the big ones, and famous ones, and a healthy helpling of the storylines of the year. Flair-Vader... it's big, famous, and has been debated since it happened. Perfect thing for a Yearbook. Even if it was the planned match (Sid taking the title from Vader), it would need to go on. John

The tricky part is that you're basing it on the set. Probably would help to see stuff like Taue vs Bossman (and Kobashi vs Bossman for that matter) to get a bit more realistic placement of him. Even stuff like the tags and sixmans in the second half of the year where Kawada & Taue are on one side and Hansen & Ted are on the other. It's pretty noticable when Ted is in how far things slide. But it's kind of noticable when *anyone* other than the Kawada-Hansen match up is in there that things are pretty so-so. Or the reverse: a match is kind of blowing, then Hansen and Kawada happen to be in and you quickly remember they're fucking awesome... and wish it was longer than a short segment. I think Taue is helped by the narrowness of the set. As odd as it sounds, Kobashi is *hurt* by the narrowness of the year, even if people end up putting him #1. Those singles matches of his that I mentioned earlier... you get the depth of his year. Then mix in the six mans were he's always up to something. In later years his stomping on the rest of matches with his go-go-go could be annoying. Here, he's trying to establish himself (those singles with Taue, Gordy, Misawa, Kawada, Hansen, Doc) and also later moving from #3 to #2. Pretty much what Jun did in 1996, except that Kobashi doesn't really need Misawa's help in shining: he just does. Doc might be hurt a little as his two matches with Kawada are out, and they're pretty much his signature singles of the first part of the year along with the Gordy. Well, and the Hansen match that was pretty flat. The six-mans once Gordy was out also reflect a bit that he's stepping it up: he's clearly the #1 guy on his side, where as Gordy was there before. The natives sell their ass off for him... and overtime he develops a strong persona as a top guy. 1994 is a peak, but stepping into Gordy's place for that September challenge, and holding up his end of the deal for a match that was a solid enough Budokan main... he seemed to grow from that. I do wonder where people would rank Kroffat in the All Japan context if they saw the match with Kobashi. It's a match that with All Japan's rigid slotting system no one thinks Kroffat is winning. So to draw heat from it takes some effort. Been a long time since I've seen it, but I recall it being a fun little Carny match. John

That's not the Sayama-Hamada comp that Dave is making up at the top. But nice try. John

Nice piece, Bix. John

There really should be a Hardy Brothers thread. There's been so much shit over the years... John

Looking at Dave's point, remove it from the Sayama-Hamada point of view and apply it to: Hogan-Flair. Hogan was more over than Flair. More people watched him. His matches, over time, got more heat simply because more people were in the building. Ego, it doesn't matter that a bunch of hardcore fans in the 80s thought Flair was a better worker than Hogan, because Hogan had to have been better: vastly more people in the country gave a shit about him. In addition, it doesn't matter that a lot of people in the business at the time, and kids who got into the business since, think that Flair is the better worker. The numbers don't lie, and since Hogan drew more, people at the time and of course now need to recognize Hogan was in fact the best worker in the world in the 80s. Does that fly at fucking all? Not to Dave. Why? Because Dave saw Flair and Hogan back than with his own eyes and thought Flair was better. Not only better, but much better. In addition, lots of other people told Dave that they thought Flair was better, including lots of people in the business. In addition, lots of people since then have told Dave that they got into the business because of Ric, and he was better. So the numbers don't mean shit, and the fact that Hogan was vastly more over at the time, and the fact that the overwhelming major of people in the country when they thought of Pro Wrestling thought of Hulk Hogan... doesn't mean shit. Why? Because Dave, and others, saw/see it with their own eyes and made up their mind that Flair was the better worker. The much better worker. So why aren't people able to do the same thing with Sayama and Hamada? Why the hypocracy that one can judge the work of Evil Hulk compared to Our Hero Ric, but we can't compare the work of Iconic Tigeryama and Hamada? Well... because. I have no skin in the Sayama-Hamada work argument. Sayama's work is an old debate for me, and I haven't watched as much Hamada as other folks. Not an argument I really get worked up about. But I do always find interesting how many different statements are made to slap down things like this that if you stepped back and applied them to OHR vs EH, they don't workout so well. Nor would one even attempt to make them. John

I'm trying to figure out why UFC paid $40M for it. Is it just to protect a monopoly? In the long term keeping contracts down? I can see the benefits of that. But Strikeforce is sort of stagnating. It wasn't an epic business fail, but their CBS/Showtime stuff hasn't really taken off in terms of making the promotion wildly popular. There is great value in being a monopoly. We see it in the NFL, and all of the major sports where there is just one entity controlling everything. But it's hard to see Strikeforce as the AFL, unless there was fear that a major money mark (say a Roman Abramovich type with money completely out of his ass) financed it *and* the promotion was able to both steal talent and develop it. Perhaps there is fear that was about to happen? The other possibility in normal circumstances would be if the Brothers were thinking about going public, and not wanting to have a viable promotion out there at that time. In other words, having some major high rollers out there see UFC valued at $1B, notice they can buy Strikeforce for $20M to $100M, and the UFC gets a more viable rival that is looking to building the business for a similar IPO. That, at least in the past, doesn't seem viable as the Brothers would need to make all sorts of public filings about the finances of the business, and how the Brothers have leveraged it to the benefit of their other entities, and how little the payouts are relative to the revenue... and sign them under penalty of jail time if they're completely cooked... Given what Snowden and others have written about how the Brothers are more than a bit sleazy in their finances, it doesn't seem likely *that's* how they would want to cash in. If they're going to see pieces (or all) of the company, they'd rather find money marks as opposed to making public filings. So... uh... yeah... interesting to see what the thinking is. On Bryan, it would be interesting to understand why he thought this was good. Is he fantasty re-booking Invasion with images of $$$ in his head? Even before that was shot down (i.e. that UFC is simply going to merge it in once they can), it was pretty obvious that's exactly what UFC would do. They want their brand to be it. UFC = MMA similar to NFL = Pro Football. They don't give a shit about Brand Extension, and they have years of data to show that UFC Sells and Other Brands Don't. John

And no Toyota to hog the spotlight. John

Because from what I can tell it only came out on the rare section of NJ Classics. It made NTV. I mentiond it should be on Will's Tenryu comp four years ago: http://www.otherarena.com/phpbb/viewtopic....449&start=0 John

And another one looking over the January 1993 AJPW TV listings: Feb 7th 1993 (taped 1/26 Osaka) 3. Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi *** 3/4 20:11 complete I'm surprised that it didn't make it as it's pretty much the first Taue vs Kobashi of note, sets up the Taue challenge of Misawa, and gives a good comp to what Misawa does with Taue. That's how loaded the year is: Kobashi's singles matches against Taue, Krofatt and Gordy get left on the cutting room floor due to space. Meltzer star ratings of ***3/4, **** and ****1/4 respectively. Wacky loaded year. John

One thing to keep in mind when watching this, which is really hard to now that we're 18+ years into his career which may even be close to over: Jun debuted 09/17/92. This is 01/24/93. He had worked the October series and the Tag League. This is just his third series. Granted, Kobashi was at his peak. Kikuchi was quite possibly at his peak. Ogawa, for whatever we want to say about him, was solid and after all those years knew how to work opposite Kobashi & Kikuchi, and within a match oppoposite them. So you could argue that Jun was getting soft landed into a great setting. I'm not sure I'd buy that. Watch the shit they're doing. It's not terribly easy, and if you don't hang with them you'd stick out like a sore thumb. In fact that happened with Kikuchi later in the year: fans kind of stopped buying him in there, and he wasn't able to re-click with them. I don't know... maybe watch this back-to-back with the famous MX vs Southern Boys. That one does have the advantage of a clear heel team, while this one isn't quite as heelish without Fuchi in there. But for what they do, and the drama down the stretch as they work to the finish (and I tend to think this one is much longer in working to the finish), this doesn't exactly take a back seat to one of the most famous and well thought of US tag matches of the 90s. And this gets buried under the avalanche of the coming Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Taue and Misawa & Akiyama vs Kawada & Taue series. It's like an after thought (or pre-thought). This might be the one match to point to when people ask, "How good was AJPW when it was at it's best?" *This* good: that a match like this gets largely forgotten in time because the Four Corners went to an entirely different level. Hell, maybe add in Hase & Sasaki vs Mutoh & Hash to the mix along with the MX-Souther Boys. Again, not saying this is better. But can this hang with those two much more famous matches, signature tags of their respective promotions in the decade? Heck, Loss like the title change with the Big Belts later in the series, and that's another match forgotten that gets no run. John

But don't forget: WWE Raw a few years ago with Shawn in the central roll had the best run of TV ever~! I don't know if people will get just how much "good" AJPW stuff got left off the 1993 set because there isn't enough space for all of it. The original backdrop driver match was a good six man tag, and better than some of the WCW TV stuff that made the set (and it's not like that WCW stuff was crappy). Here's three perfectly good matches: 07/11/93 Hansen & Bossman vs. Misawa & Kobashi ***1/2 10/03/93 Misawa & Kobashi & Akiyama vs Williams & Bossman & Slinger ***1/2 11/21/93 Williams & Bossman & Slinger vs. Misawa & Kobashi & Akiyama ***3/4 One certainly can understand them not being on the set. The last two bleed a little close to the Tag League, where we'll get to see a fair amount of Doc & Bossman. But the first one is kind of interesting and unique: Gordy was still around, so Bossman wasn't yet paired with Doc. Hansen would get DiBiase back as a partner the next series, which also was the one where Gordy OD'd... so Bossman/Bubba went over there. So it's unique, and also there's Stan in his career year opposite a couple of guys he'd worked well with, and a chance to see Bossman right off the bat in AJPW... not bad. In the context of 1993 AJPW, it's not a *great* match. But it was back-to-back on the same TV show as Kawada vs Jun... and no one was exactly blown away that AJPW TV had two pretty good matches on back-to-back. Par for the couse. Or how about the second night of the Sapporo Double Shot in May, where Kawada-Williams and Gordy-Kobashi don't make it? Or Carny where there's a lot on the cutting room floor such as Kawada-Williams, Kobashi-Furnas, Misawa-Hansen, Hansen-Taue and Gordy-Williams. The Yearbook touches on the high end stuff. There's just not enough space to touch on the depth. John

I think it's before your time: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/broadcast+journalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_journalism I don't think WWE fans wrote that second one. Well, always a good way to check: nytimes.com: broadcast journalist Pretty commonly used. Ed Bradley's obit was the second on the list... don't know if clicking on the link will get the same results for others. A lot of hits are from the NYTimes' "on tis day" feature, but there are plenty of articles as well. Old thing. Heard it all the time when growing up in the 70s. Probably could google Uncle Walter's obits and find many of them refer to him as a Broadcast Journalist. Not it's possible that few people refer to *themselves* as one. But other do, and they get introduced as such all the time. John

I don't think people dislike the drawn out Scorp. It's the other rest holds that tend to get laughs when people remember the "Always Go-Go-Going and Never Slowing Down" meme. Things like the chinlock and the leg scissors were favorites for yucks. Choshu got around that by being one of the folks to invent Nitro Style a decade before there was Nitro: shortening matches, cutting out the need to fill space that he wasn't terribly good at, and "getting to the good stuff" which he was. You tend to accept it for what it was. Savage was brillant at Nitro Style in the WWF as well, even dipping into My Turn, Your Turn and I've Got Stuff To Do mode to epic levels in his SNME match with Bret. If you're watching Savage in the WWF, you accept it as it's better than a lot of the surrounding stuff in the fed and you're not expecting Backlund vs Patera from him. If it's Choshu, you accept it because you're not expecting Backlund vs Inoki from him. Though you get a few yucks the next time you see the "Always Go-Go-Going and Never Slowing Down" nonsense. John

1997 Carny and RWTL were choppy on NTV but have quite a bit on Sammy. Lynch's list seems is a little spotty the RWTL... though maybe I'm just having a tough time sifting through the ordering off the 1997 stuff. There is a Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Jun before the Final that I don't see listed. Key taping dates: 11/23 Sendai: Misawa & Akiyama vs Kobashi & Ace, Kawada & Taue vs Hayabusa & Shinzaki 11/27 Sapporo: Kobashi & Ace vs Kawada & Taue, Misawa & Akiyama vs Hayabusa & Shinzaki 11/28 Sapporo: Misawa & Akiyama vs Kawada & Taue, Kobashi & Ace vs Williams & Albright They also taped the opening nights at Korakuen Hall on 11/15 & 11/16. The only thing to eyeball is the Misawa & Akiyama vs Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith 30:00 draw. I wouldn't exactly recommend it for the type of Yearbook you're doing, though would included it in a 1999 AJPW Yearbook or my fantasty 1977-99 RWTL monster set. Carny... I'd have to sift through. Haven't eyeballed that in a long time, and never put together a potential Carny Box Set List like I did with the RWTL years ago (though even that might need to be updated thanks to stuff popping up on G+). John