Superstar Sleeze

Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Steve WIlliams - AJPW 9/3/93 The Doctor Is In The House! With Gordy's unfortunate drug overdose and Hansen's getting up there in years, the mega-push of Dr. Death as the top gaijin was launched. It began a couple days prior to this with the heralded hoss workrate bombfest with Kobashi and he is immediately thrown into the fire expected to main event a Budokan Hall main event with Misawa. I think the Misawa/Hansen matches can be underrated but they have definitely had clunkers so the reputation is deserved. I feel that Doc is better suited for the Misawa formula because he is more interesting on top, in control, grinding it out than Hansen who is much more suited for brawling (once you get past the exposed knee and Cowboy Kick, Hansen doesnt have much). My recollection is that the 1994 match is incredible and one I have earmarked to pay extra close attention to as a possible dark horse pick for the best 90s All Japan match. This match I known I have seen I remember liking it but not to the same level because I didnt think Doc had truly become 1994 Dr. Death yet. This is very much Misawa by the numbers and whenever you encounter formula matches like this. The interest is to see what wrinkles the opponent can add. I think what Williams brings to the table is a raw-bone power and explosiveness that Misawa has a hard time stymieing. On three occasions, we see Williams immediately snuff out a Misawa rally with a explosive lunge or turning his arms into whips (I love how he chops) or just hurling his body weight at Misawa. Misawa tries elbows and some aerial tactics like a dropkick/tope suicida (I love when I hear random English during Japanese commentary, random Spanish really made my day). It is Doc's power/weight/explosion combo that makes him so tough. Doc definitely uses a lot of holds in between his quick counters so I can see that getting tiresome for some. Misawa for his part also tends to use holds including his FACELOOOCCKKKK when he is trying to contain the explosive Williams. I would say Dr. Death's weakness is his desire to emasculate with Misawa with slaps. We see that at the beginning of the match and he gets popped real good by an elbow. However, he doesnt really learn his lesson and again Misawa SMOKES with an elbow. It will be interesting to see if Doc's pride costs him the match. Doc's power bails him out as he presses Misawa high and rolls Snake Eyes. Taue would be proud. OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE! Nope Misawa slithers free, but Doc mows him down and goes again but still cant hold him. He ends up hitting a powerslam for two. I loved all that struggle set up a hot nearfall. Now Williams tries for the Back Drop Driver. Crowd reacts to that. I love how they have gotten that move over and I love a good tease. Doc goes balls out, does his own suicide dive and a shoulder tackle from the high rent district. The big man was leaving his feet. Doctor Bomb gets two! That was a great flurry of moves that led to a big time nearfall. Lots of tussling here and leads after a lot to a partially hit Back Drop Driver. It looked more like a conventional Back Suplex than a Back Drop Driver, which I think some AJPW fans push as Baba trying to protect the move. After that, you know the end is nigh, Doc whiffs on a lariat and ELBOW~! Tiger Driver only gets two. Misawa just WRECKS HIS SHIT WITH ROARING ELBOWS GALORE! It was brutal! Tiger Driver with Doc kicking out at three to keep his heat but c'mon no one is buying that. Misawa just beat the shit out of him. It is clear from the finishes of this and the Hansen October match both kicks out at three that Baba was worried about the thiness of his roster, but not to worry All Japan would keep delivering for years to come. Trademark Misawa match, he takes a lickin', but keeps on tickin'. It should be noted Williams did not hit Oklahoma Stampede or the BackDrop Driver fully. He was working off high-angled powerslams and the Doctor Bomb so they have plenty of gas left in the tank for a rematch. Misawa also to his credit stuck with Elbows and Tiger Driver so he has plenty left in his arsenal. In that respect this is a great first match, you establish the power vs striker dynamic and left some tricks in your back pocket for rematches. They grind for the first 12 minutes, but they start kicking ass down the stretch. If you like the Misawa style you will like this match like I did and I think this plus the Kobashi match show Dr. Death was poised to explode in 1994. ****

Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama - AJPW 7/9/93 Kawada should have sent this match in as a video application to work Stu Hart's Dungeon stretching people. Those were some gnarly submissions! Supernova Rookie Jun Akiyama is not something I have yet experienced. Halfway it hit me, the reason this is so special because you feel like you are watching any other Akiyama match and you have to remember he is a legit rookie and making this all look easy. Akiyama looked great in this. Look at all that hair! What happened, brutha? I liked the beginning with Akiyama showing his dogged determination. It was a great string of "It must be nice to be young" spots. Even though he totally whiffs on a pescado because Kawada moves and Kawada whips into the railing, it doesnt matter because Akiyama is 24 so he doesnt feel pain. He just gets back up and starts hurling lunging elbows at Kawada. It really showed the youth vs experience element. We often talk about the advantages of experience, but youth can recover a helluva lot quicker as you see with Akiyama bouncing back like rubber man. Akiyama starts targetting the arm. The work is basic but really well-done. I thought Kawada looked bored and listless. The more I watch the more the gap widens between Misawa & Kobashi from Kawada. He just does not bring the same level of work. Akiyama elbowed the arm and you wouldnt know anything happened from looking at Kawada's face. Kawada was definitely a lot more home on offense. Akiyama shows that dogged determination after some hiptoss and bodyslams by Kawada. Kawada eventually starts pelting Akiyama with Cowboy Kicks and then he bodyslams him hard on the floor. Kawada goes full Stu Hart and stretches the fuck out of Akiyama in a bunch of gnarly ways. Kawada gets complacent and stands him up and Irish Whips him. Never Irish Whip this allows Akiyama to build some momentum. We get the big Akiyama finish run. Northern Lights Suplex was a nice nearfall as was the German. He has not developed his patented high knee or Exploder yet. Kawada uses his well-schooled feet (TM Chris Jericho, color commentator extraordinaire) to counters Akiyama first with a kick to the midsection coming off the top and then a jumping high kick. Kawada had to use both of his key counters to take down the Supernova Rookie was a good way to make Akiyama look competitive in one of his first big matches. Kawada measures and MOWS HIS ASS DOWN WITH A WICKED LARIAT! Kawada was much more motivated on offense, but I felt like he slept through selling and bumping for Akiyama. Akiyama looked like a wrestler well beyond his years. Fun rookie vs. veteran match especially when Kawada is on offense. ***3/4

Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi - AJPW 7/29/93 Greatest match ever? That's the million dollar question, aint it? I certainly seem to think so back in 2013. I voted Flair vs Morton in the cage as my greatest match ever because I was only voting based on matches that I have done full reviews on and I hadnt done my All Japan rewatch yet. So here we are. Is this the Greatest Match Ever? The difference between now and 2013 is I have seen pretty much every Hansen vs Kobashi match up to this one. I thought the '91 match and the '93 Carnival match from just a few months prior to this are also classics and contenders for a Top 100 match. The key is the dynamic. It is 100% centered around the Kobashi victory. Kobashi does not need revenge. He does not need to hurt him. He just needs to pin him or submit. It is so pure. Kobashi is such a pure and human pro wrestler. Anyone from any time period and any culture will understand Kobashi because he is the epitome of the human condition: the emotion, fire, desire, passion, agony, disappointment, dedication, willpower, distraught everything all wrapped up in one superball of human energy. Then you have Stan Hansen who is not just a man. This is a Grizzly Bear. a Killer Whale, and a Bull IN A China Shop, all mixed into one human. There's no humanity to Stan Hansen. He's an Animal, a Beast. When you wrestle Stan Hansen it is not Man vs. Man, it is Man vs Nature. Kobashi had proven he could survive in previous encounters but could he ever conquer Hansen? Now that I've seen the '93 Carnival match this really is an extension of that match. There are some differences but for the most part they follow the same layout of Kobashi dominating the first 10 minutes or so. Big transition. Competitive finish run and a Massive Lariat finish. So lets breakdown the differences. This match Kobashi is more focused on attacking the head of Stan Hansen as opposed to the arm in the previous match. I like how this is set up. Hansen is stomping a young lion and Kobashi rushes over takes advantage and kicks him in the head. This immediately rings Hansen's bell and it is clearly from Hansen's selling he is at an immediate disadvantage. Kobashi cements this with a DDT on the outside. There are a lot of DDTs and legdrops to the head in his match. Hansen just a couple bearpaw swings but Kobashi is immediately overwhelming him with firepower. There were a lot of chops, BIG TIME Lariats, and blow to the head from Kobashi. I did like Kobashi using the Cowboy Kick to get back at Hansen. This was an all-out offensive assault from Kobashi. It was a full court press where he never let up on Hansen. Much like the Carny match, it was a low-risk offense targeting setup with facelocks, combine that with dogged determination Kobashi it just overwhelmed Hansen. Just as mentioned in the '93 Carny match, the mystique of Hansen is obliterated in this match. Kobashi has taken him to task and Hansen is left a wounded Grizzly. Now a wounded Grizzly is a dangerous grizzly, but he is not the hellraising Bull In The China Shop we are used to. Then comes the moment that has been burned me in my mind since I have first watched this match some 15 years ago. Hansen is slumped down in the corner battered and bruise. Kobashi comes charging in for the kill and Hansen just gets a straight boot up and CLOBBERS Kobashi in the face. Kobashi just crumples into a heap with the perfect glassy eye sell and I love how he just flops out of the ring. Just like the entire complexion of the match changes. Hansen dives onto Kobashi from the apron, then it is the Super Famous Powerbomb onto the concrete, another spot etched in my memory and then the elbow drop off the apron. Hansen was using his body weight and gravity do the work against Kobashi. Hansen is not able to activate Hellraising, Chaos mode, but he is 100% in command and this creates that dynamic we love. Kobashi the underdog taking on the Force of Nature. Can the human spirit overcome? They do a great job down the stretch duking it out for control. They beat the dog shit out of each other but those last 5 minutes or so are just perfect. Hansen just back suplexed Kobashi and he tugs on the elbow pad. I love this. I love when little things like this elicit such a big crowd response. Kobashi uses a drop toehold to evade and immediately leg drops the back of the head. It was so urgent. It was so electric. Then comes the barrage of leg drops because this is here chance. He was getting the shit beat out of him and now he is not going to let go. He just keeps crashing down with leg drops, climaxing with one from the top rope. 1-2-NO! Awesome nearfall. Then we gets the classic Fist Pump->Moonsault->Connects! 1-2-NO! HUGE NUCLEAR NEARFALL! Kobashi goes full Ricky Steamboat just going for a ton of quick pinning combinations desperately trying to win. At this point in his career, it was moonsault or bust, so you can really feel his anxiety and fear. He shot his best shot and Hansen still kicked out. Like the what the fuck can he do? What I love about Kobashi is that he doesnt give up. He just keeps trying. He just keeps throwing shit at Hansen. It maybe a basic as fuck schoolboy rollup but goddamnit that's all he has got. Kobashi realizes he can try to hit the Moonsault again as a way to win the match. After all if you at first dont succeed, try, try again. This leads to the iconic finish, where Hansen blasts Kobashi off the top rope with one wild swing of his bear paw and the underdog is vanquished once again, but his flame is not extinguished. He got closer than ever before. Is this the Greatest Match Ever? No. It is for a weird reason. We all advocate for watching more wrestling to give us context and a flesh out the narrative of a match, but for the first time, this may have backfired. I think the '93 Carny match exposed some flaws in this match that I had never seen. I think the opening ten minutes of this match are too easy for Kobashi. I think Hansen is much more active in playing defense in the Carny match and making Kobashi earn his offense. In this match, Hansen is content playing ragdoll. I think the Carny match having arm psychology allowed for a more focused Kobashi offensive effort. Now what the Carnival match lacked where big spots. The Foot in the Face in the Corner, The Powerbomb on the Floor, The Legdrop Sequence, The Moonsault and The Iconic Lariat finish are all very famous. In the Carny match Kobashi gets a shit ton of offense, but he does not get The Legdrop or Moonsault nearfalls which are nuclear. I think the Lariat finish off the top rope is one of the best finishes of all time. In fairness to the Carny match, the Lariat to Kobashi coming off the middle rope fit that match better. I think it comes down to do you prefer minimalism or maximalism. I am a Maxed out guy so I prefer this match to the Carny match slightly but I love well-done minimalism and that the Carny match exposed enough flaws in this match that I dont think either of these matches are the Greatest Match Ever. Both will finish in my Top 50 of all time for sure. I think if you take the first ten minutes of the Carny match and marry it with the last ten minutes of this match with some slight edits then you could say thats The Greatest Match Ever. It is ***** all the way but sometimes you gotta pick those nits.

Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue) & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - AJPW 6/3/93 This takes place just two days after the first ever Four Corners of Heaven tag at Budokan and it is just one day removed from Kobashi & Kikuchi dropping the All Asia Tag Titles to The Patriot & Eagle. RAT BOY! Looking not very ratty and no Zebra-print! It is weird to think Kobashi and Ogawa would go onto have one of top 5 favorite matches of all time in a decade headlining the Budokan together. There are a lot of similarities between the opening of this and 6/1, Kobashi & Taue have a great even exchange. Then it is Misawa and Kawada again the crowd is rocking. Interesting here Kawada yanks Misawa down into a choke. Then we get Kikuchi and Ogawa doing their stuff. Kikuchi would do well in today's scene with all the leg lariats. Kawada works over Misawa's knee and this lasts a little longer than 6/1 that you almost think that could be the hook, but the hook is of course Kikuchi taking a shit kicking. Kobashi must be so relieved in these six-mans. I really enjoyed the heat segment on Kikuchi. I loved how it was set up. I loved how the Holy Demon Army really kicked ass. I loved how Kikuchi sold. Kikuchi has a heart three sizes too big. He thinks he can suplex Taue. God bless his heart. Taue just picks him up and slams him. The plucky Kikuchi shoot right up and actually yanks Taue over. It is not a suplex as much as a takedown. Taue is pissed. Kikuchi goes for a hiptoss, Taue blocks and picks him up and slams him down. That was great. Here comes Kawada. He hoists Kikuchi up and hurls him over the top rope onto the floor. Second time I have seen Kawada do that spot, he should have kept that. Taue SLAMS Kikuchi on a table. Then Snake Eyes on the railing. I love Taue. They work over Kikuchi's back. Deep Boston Crab by Kawada, save by Misawa. Taue gets a hold on Kikuchi and Kobashi saves. Taue is pissed. Ogawa gets a Boston Crab and Kikuchi makes the ropes. I liked that no one had to save during Ogawa. Kawada comes in and lights Kikuchi up. Taue comes back in and it comes full circle. Ogawa is able to get a leg lariat to stun Taue, Taue catches him a second time and falls back, Kikuchi crawls for the tag, Taue has the leg, Kobashi breaks Taue's grip and tag out to Misawa! I loved that! It seemed straight out of a 80s WWF Tag team match! Misawa OBLITERATES Taue with an Elbow summarily. He smokes Kawada & Ogawa. Taue and Misawa matched up well here. Taue wrestles through a Tiger Driver and hits a Samoan Drop. Kawada comes in. Kawada & Misawa trade Stretch Plum and Facelock. Misawa tags out to Kobashi. These two sure love to stiff each other. I love how committed Kobashi was to the Rolling Cradle! It is such a great move. They should bring that back and the rolling Short-Arm Scissors. Kobashi & Kikuchi do a Rocket Launcher version of Twisted Bliss! Which of course I had to let Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross know about on Twitter because I marked out hard. It turns into the Kikuchi & Ogawa show down the stretch. They trade a ton of hot nearfalls which makes sense as they clearly #5 and #6 in this match so they can bust out all the offense not worry about protecting their stuff. Kikuchi wins with the German. They did a good job tantalizing you with Misawa & Kawada. They never gave too much away from either man. Especially Misawa was just using his strikes, the Facelock and the Spinning Lariat. He never busts out his big offense. Again, I thought Taue stole the show. He was the game-changer on the heel side. He worked really well with Kikuchi. I loved how they entered the heat segment and left it. Really took advantage of David vs Goliath dynamics. Loved Taue slamming Kikuchi on the table out of rage and rolling Snake Eyes on the railing. The finish was hot too. I came out of it wanting to see Taue vs Kikuchi and Taue vs Misawa singles matches more than anything else. ****

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Holy Demon Army vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi - 6/1/93 Let the Four Corners of Heaven Era Begin! Misawa & Kawada had run its course and with Jumbo headed into semi-retirement, it came time for Kawada to spread his wings. He shook hands with nemesis Akira Taue and just a couple weeks prior to this won tag team titles from the Miracle Violence Connection. Kobashi at this time was still All Asia Tag Team Champs with Kikuchi but would drop the belts to The Patriot & Eagle the day after this match cementing his graduation from his junior tag team with Kikuchi to being the main event tag team partner of Misawa. My one complaint is the audio has two tracks of commentary. On the left side you have an announcer & Baba and the right side it is an announcer & a girl. It drives me nuts because they are two tracks and two people are talking at this same time and it creates a cacophony that distracts from the match. I really like Japanese commentary even though I dont speak a lick of Japanese because their cadence really matches the rhythm of the match. This two track thing is annoying, but we press on. My recollection of this match is they let it rip and it was gangbusters from jump. Thats not the case. I am ok with that. They start with Kobashi vs Taue to whet the Budokan's whistle and then they give them Misawa vs Kawada. There's a big reaction for that. They clearly had something there. Misawa and Kawada would go onto main event the next Budokan show in late July. It is interesting it is very even and intense in the beginning but there are no real big highspots. The first highspot is on the second go-round Kobashi gets a semi-delayed vertical suplex on Taue. Taue serves the role of game changer. Taue has been heel longer than Kawada and always felt more like nefarious scoundrel of the two. Taue really gets this party started by rolling Snake Eyes which always draws boos from the Japanese faithful. Kawada WRAPPED his Spin Heel Kick around Kobashi. I loved the struggle and urgency from both men to get the Stretch Plum on and to escape the Stretch Plum. Taue dumped him to the outside and kicked some ass. Strong heat segment. Kawada wants an abdominable stretch, they tussle and Kobashi drops down into a ROLLING CRADLE! Perfect use of the move, this discombobulates Kawada long enough to tag out. I have noticed in All Japan hot tags dont last long. Even though Misawa came to kick ass, Kawada rifles Misawa's knee with a couple precision kicks that destabilize him so Kawada and can take him down with a single leg crab. Theres a nice sequence where Taue wants a kneecrusher so Misawa clamps on a headlock to stop it so Taue switches to a waistlock and takes him over with a Back Drop Driver. Great organic build to the move. Misawa flips out of a back suplex, ELBOWS Taue, and gingerly tags out. Again, Kobashi can get a legdrop and a cover but his hot tag does not last long. Kawada ends up picking him and chucking him out of the ring. Then Kawada does a very impressive delayed vertical suplex on him. Two very impressive feats of strength from the smaller Kawada. Kawada reminded me why I liked him so much as a teenager. It was his nonchalant stiffness. He threw some really great kicks, chops and lariats during this part of the match. Taue comes in and just tosses Kobashi around. Great suplex slam and I LOVE when Taue just picks guys up in the Back Suplex and tosses them! I love when Kawada feeds a wrestler to the wolf. NODOWA~! Kawada & Kobashi really ramp up the desperate urgency on the struggle over the Stretch Plum. At the halfway point, this has been all Holy Demon Army. They have isolated the junior partner and are kicking his ass while Misawa may have a knee injury stemming from Kawada kicks. Kawada and Taue have great chemistry together and it has been great getting back to watching them do their thing. Let the All Japan workrate bonanza begin! This is what everyone has been trying to replicate for the past 25 years but still nobody does it better than originals. That Stretch Plum on Kobashi is just dripping with drama. Kawada is torturing the very expressive Kobashi right in front of Misawa, just inches from making a tag. When it does happen! If you could bottle the electricity in this moment, you could power the world for years. God Almight! Goes crazy that camera rumbles. Kawada tries to head Misawa off at the pass by kicking him as he comes through the ropes. Misawa Walks Tall! MOWS DOWN KAWADA WITH ELBOWS! This was raucous! Taue comes in to feed to and Misawa mows him down too. Misawa Is The Man! There are some really nice touches during this segment that show the difference between the two teams. When Misawa clamps on his FACELOOOOCCCKKKKK Taue comes into make the save. Misawa never did that when Kobashi was in the Stretch Plum. When Taue cant get Misawa over in the NODOWA~! Kawada comes in kicks Misawa in the back of the head. These little things go along way in Puroresu where heels are more often understated. It all builds to next NODOWA when Kobashi comes in and breaks it up because he is pissed off at the cheating. I really dug that. The babyfaces finally have a chance to let it rip down the stretch. Misawa sends Taue flying off the apron with a dropkick. You know that famous gif of the Lucha Blue Gorilla mascot going flying off the apron thats what Taue was like! Kobashi dropkicks and then Taue-seeking diving elbow from Misawa extends the rally. Kobashi looks to press, but Taue kicks off twice and NODOWA~! I love that majority of Taue's offense is just dropping guys throat first on the top rope and chokeslams. He is the best. I love how Kobashi earns his own comeback. After the Nodowa, he is down and Kawada starts chopping him. Kobashi MANS UP on his own and earns his finish sequence. I think thats important as Kobashi was graduating to their ranks and was low man of the four on the totem this shows everyone he is all man. Kobashi Hulks Up chops through it and then clobbers Kawada with a Lariat. He goes to town with DDTs so Taue comes to save only for Misawa to come in and they hit Stereo DDTs. Thats one of those things that would have gotten over huge in Charlotte but in Tokyo not so much. Is there anything pumps you up more for than the fist pump before a Kobashi moonsault? I love that. The dastardly Taue breaks up the pin after Kobashi lands a perfect moonsault. Misawa attacks Taue and Kobashi hits a true Jackknife Powerbomb (Kevin Nash eat your heart out) for two. Kobashi believes if at first you dont succeed try, try again as he goes for the moonsault, but Kawada yanks down. Misawa tags in and the place is rocking all over again. I think it is very interesting that in these last minutes Kawada gets the last laugh going into the title match. He blasts Misawa with a jumping high kick to the head which ends the rally. Taue comes in and just starts lawn darting Misawa into turnbuckles. Misawa actually recovers using his spin kicks. In comes Kobashi and he knows all he has in his arsenal is the moonsault so he goes all in on that. Taue knows Kawada cant handle one more so comes to save. Misawa goes to attack Taue on the apron and Kawada blasts Misawa off the apron. SUPER NODOWA~! Misawa saves! NODOWA ON MISAWA! POWERBOMB ON KOBASHI! 1-2-NO! That should have been the finish. Kobashi is valiant in his defiance but Taue blasts him from behind hits another Nodowa and then Kawada blasts him for good measure with a kick and then a Powerbomb for the win. Wow! They went all out on the finish stretch! The Holy Demon Army came out looking like monsters. Misawa & Kobashi were great valiant babyfaces, but Kawada & Taue looked like killers. I really felt like Taue and Kobashi came off as the MVPs. I think Misawa had the biggest single moment off the hot tag from the Stretch Plum and Kawada looked vicious, but in terms of bringing the action it was Taue and Kobashi. Taue was the game changer. He was the one willing to get his hands dirty. He was dropping fools on their throats or chokeslamming him to hell. The reason Holy Demon Army won was he stopped the Moonsault and then Super Nodowa on Kobashi. Kobashi is always a show-stealer especially in stoic All Japan because he brings so much emotion but he was the one who could look weak. Misawa had to have his offense protected because he was the Man. So the match relied on Kobashi hitting his big offense and letting that get kicked out of. Also everyone knew Kobashi was eating the fall but they did it in the most badass way possible with a ton of NODOWAS AND POWERBOMBS! Excellent balls to the wall workrate dash that All Japan excels at! ****1/2

Holy Demon Army vs The Patriot & The Eagle - AJPW 2/24/94 I have always been interested in All Japan's midcard especially wrestlers like Patriot & Eagle (Jackie Fulton, Bobby's shoot brother). They just seem so different. I always thought the Patriot has a cool mask, like one of my favorite actually, Eagle's mask is good too. Patriot is a big dude. I am surprised it took Vince until 1997 to hire this guy. He looks perfect for WWF. Great dropkick too (good height and power), athletic, powerful. I thought he was expressive even under the hood. Eagle definitely had some brother in him. After the double dropkick, that was definitely a Bobby Fulton like celebration. All Japan was such a hoss-friendly promotion at this time, it is not too surprising that Patriot was fine there. I was surprised how equitable the match was. Holy Demon Army did not really kick the shit out of them. It was pretty 50/50. We get Taue doing his Snake Eyes and Kawada with the Single Leg Crab step on the head. Neither guy really stiffed the gaijin. The best part of the match was Patriot's hot tag. It seemed to wake up Taue who started to get heated and fight back. I thought it was interesting they still an All Japan style finish run even in a midcard match like this. You had big nearfalls where partners were saving. Kawada took a German from Eagle. Eagle did a Missile Dropkick into a Full Nelson Slam by Patriot, is that Uncle Slam? Which I think is my favorite punny move name. Kawada/Taue get back on offense. Kawada hits a powerbomb save by Patriot and then a modified Stretch Plum gets the submission. I guess thats the biggest difference is that submission actually got a win. A main eventer would never submit. Kawada & Taue were on cruise control. Patriot looked really good and Eagle was servicable. If someone told me that Patriot & Eagle had a lost classic, I'd believe they are capable. Whether they got the opportunity and hit a home run is a different story. Unfortunately since most of the focus of All Japan is on the Four Corners and Hansen, Doc & Gordy, there is not much footage of Patriot & Eagle, but this was fine. If you have not gotten the chance I recommend the Del Wilkes (The Patriot) appearance on the Steve Austin show. It is amazing how strung out on painkillers he was at this time. Worth it for the novelty of seeing Patriot & Eagle, but it is just a good match. ***

Best of WWE 2010-2014 Top 6 Pretty amazing that with this publication that I have thoroughly covered WWE from 1978-2014. I have looked over 500 matches. Now that being said 500 match barely scratches the surface of all the WWE matches that have occurred over the time period. I covered anything that was of a note and additionally included matches that piqued my interest and was able to find some hidden gems. I am definitely still looking for any further recommendations. The Top 6 of WWE in 2010-2014 was dominated by John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. Each of these men have at least two matches in the top 6. Who of these four all-time greats will take the top spot? Click and see! https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-wrestling-love-vol-56-best-of-wwe.html

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 10/23/93 Misawa vs Hansen was a popular main event in 1993 for All Japan. They headlined the finals of the Carnival, had a title defense in May and was the main event of the big October Anniversary Show. I think 1993 All Japan has been defined by the beginning of the legendary Four Corners of Heaven Tag Series and the incredible Hansen vs Kobashi rivalry, but in terms of main event rivalry this was the match. Not only that I think this was Stan's Swan Song as a main event singles draw. He would win the title one more time in 1995 for reasons I am not sure of, but after this, the focus began to shift to Dr. Death Steve Williams and the Four Corners of Heaven. This makes sense as Stan would turn 45 in 1994. Not the most enthralling first fifteen minutes to start off this main event. Misawa liberally uses his elbow at the beginning of the match to assert his dominance. Hansen powders to shake out the cobwebs. He comes back in and uses kicks and elbows to garner some control. Misawa manages to wrangle him in a surfboard, but Hansen uses a single leg trip to get a leg lace. Misawa sells well wriggling around. Hansen leaves his arm vulnerable. Misawa grabs it and turns it into a cross armbreaker. Misawa begins working the arm, which seems interesting. He beats the arm with elbows and works armbars. He uses the over the shoulder arm breaker. Again Hansen powders and again he uses this to take control. He POPS Misawa real good with an elbow upon his reentry into the ring. There goes anything interesting. Hansen is kinda boring on top when he works a standard paced match. He has his go-to's like the exposed knee and the Cowboy Kick, but there's a lot of chinlockery. This has definitely been the most boring start to a Hansen vs Misawa match. Misawa starts to fire up and so Hansen gets desperate with lunging shouldertackle, a dropkick and throwing Misawa down, but Misawa wants to take over and so he does. The usual Misawa comeback sequence unfolds. No really strong transition. Hansen is kinda just standing there taking it. It is weird watching Hansen just ragdoll for Misawa. Misawa misses his diving elbow off the top. Hansen goes for a single leg crab?!! Hansen's decisions in these Misawa matches have been peculiar. He tries powerbomb, but Misawa still has too much strength. They botch a spot. Misawa I think is supposed to reverse a powerslam mid-air, but it just looks awkward Misawa gets a 2 count. Misawa dropkicks a flat-footed Hansen out of the ring. This is really weird. Misawa missed a plancha and Hansen throws him down on the floor with a powerbomb. Ok thats more like it! Hansen gets a two count. Good nearfall for Hansen. He hits his big middle rope splash for two. Ok here we go Lariat and go home. Misawa elbows out of the corner, Hansen comes back in and Misawa gets a Sunset Flip for a 3 Count ?!?! Hansen kicks out at 3 and immediately pounces on Misawa. Wow! What a lame finish! Especially for a Budokan Main Event?!! Hansen gave a totally soul-less performance. He lost all his uniqueness. That "think shoot, but work" mentality. The bull in the China Shop. This Stan Hansen was just mailing it in. He was flat-footed in his feeds for Misawa. Just standing waiting to be hit. He was chinlocking. He was hitting the spots but putting no personality into it. The finish was wretched. The Misawa formula is not conducive to great Hansen matches. Hansen does not do well in mid-tempo, grind it out situations. He is NOT Bret Hart. But still they had two great matches, but this match is terrible. One of the worst matches between two of the best of all-time. I think more people should watch this so they can get a reality check on Misawa & Hansen. I think we all need that sometime. Our heroes (Misawa & Hansen are both Top 5 workers of all time in my opinion) are fallible.

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue - AJPW 2/28/93 The last classic native vs native match before the paradigm shift when Kawada joins forces with Taue. So for a short time Taue fulfilled his role as heir to Jumbo as the top native heel in AJPW. I like Taue a lot and I liked this match a lot, but it was clear they needed to turn Kawada to even out the sides. Misawa gains control early with an armbar uses it to set up a dropkick and then another armbar but with better positioning. Taue uses his size advantage to get out. Misawa elbows him so Taue THROWS HIS ASS DOWN! I liked that a lot. Taue goes for a headlock, but Misawa uses technique to attempt a cross armbreaker. Taue uses a combination of closed fists and his length to escape. The closed fists were the first sign that Taue had given up hope of wrestling this match on the up & up. Taue does NOT give Misawa a clean break. He beats him down with chops and open hand slaps. It is great shit. The Japanese really hate when Taue does the hot shot. He does that twice and the crowd is pissed each time. He beats Misawa up on the outside. He works over Misawa with some basic holds like Octopus stretch. Misawa starts to show some life like catching a charging Taue in a Tiger Driver attempt but Taue squashes that with his size and drops Misawa across the top rope neck first like I mentioned earlier. Misawa gets a dropkick sending to the floor. Misawa has heat-seeking engaged and flips over to the apron and nails Taue with an elbow. However, he turns his back too soon and Taue clobbers him and gets a back suplex on the floor. Then a Dynamic Bomb, but it has not been named as such so there for not as impactful as it would be in 1995. He gets a nearfall. Then Dynamic Bomb in the ring. If this was 1995, it would be curtains, but in 1993 it is another kickout. The novelty of this match is that Taue is wrestling like a true heel which is rare in Japan. He was stretching the rules and brawling on the outside. Can Misawa overcome or will Taue win with his dirty tactics? NODOWA?!? Now we are talking, but Misawa armdrags out. Taue rolls Snake Eyes to re-assert control. He smacks Misawa around in the corner this only serves to fire Misawa up who wants to hook up a Tiger Driver, but Taue breaks free. Taue wants a Powerbomb but Misawa-rana. Typically you cant powerbomb Misawa, Taue should consider himself lucky earlier. Misawa snaps off a lot of what we expect from a Misawa finish run but with special emphasis on the Facelock. He was really trying to get that over in his first Triple Crown reign because I dont remember that from the back half of the 90s. Theres a great sequence where Taue blocks the Diving Elbow and then throws MISAWA DOWN! The crowd is buzzing and NODOWA~! WOW! 1-2-NO! Bummer! Great nearfall. Take us home Misawa. First Taue hits a Missile Dropkick for one last nearfall. Alright, ok, I dig that. Misawa hits a spin kick and a German (which he already hit earlier which is unusual to see that in wrestling). It takes two Tiger Drivers to win the match. I think cut out the German and second Tiger Driver to make it more efficient. I liked Taue getting a lot of big nearfalls, Powerbomb, Nodowa and Missile Dropkick. I thought Taue held up his end of the bargain well. He was great playing dirty his Snake Eyes and open hand slaps looked great. Typical Misawa extended comeback but more compact than we would see later. There are plenty better Misawa/Taue matches, their 95 Carny final is a contender for my favorite match ever, but this one is still great. ****

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 5/21/93 Misawa's Magic Elbow was established in his Triple Crown victory over Hansen in August of 92 when he basically KO'd him with one Elbow. At the Carny Final, Misawa's elbow brought Misawa within a half-count of winning and almost rendered Hansen's lariat arm useless. Hansen gutted through it and a desperation lariat and then a powerbomb got him the win. This is the rubber match. Misawa's elbow has become a focal point of the rivalry and now we see Hansen doing the smart thing and working over it. I liked the very beginning. Hansen bumrushing Misawa trying to bully him. Thats what he would do to Kawada or Kobashi, but I think in the past he has been a little more cautious with Misawa. Misawa fights through this early onslaught and sends him packing. Hansen connects with a suckerpunch when he gets back in. This is a short-lived advantage as Misawa hits an ELBOW~! Hansen crumples but it is too early for Misawa to pin him. This next section is pretty uninspired. Misawa is content to work holds and at one point Hansen starts to work the leg because thats the limb he has access to. It kinda feels like Misawa should hit his diving elbow to the outside twice but they never really tease it. The match picks up when Misawa unwisely goes to the ropes when Hansen is on the outside. Hansen snatches Misawa's arm and yanks down on the top rope. He pulls him to the outside and beats down on the arm. The climax is smashing a TV into the arm. I loved that! Back in the ring, he works the arm. Misawa hits an elbow but is in too much pain to capitalize and Hansen takes him down with an armbar. He uses the exposed knee and Cowboy Kick on Misawa's injured elbow. He drags him to the apron and does an arm stretcher there. Hansen's big climax to this heat segment is he gets a nearfall with a Powerbomb this is a play off of the Carny Final win. The arm psychology has definitely been the best part of this match thus far. It will be interesting to see how Misawa overcomes this or if Hansen's new strategy will pay dividends with a three count? It does pay off in the short term. Misawa is a tentative in his counters. When he goes for his spinning lariat or diving elbow, Hansen is able to counter because Misawa is not 100% committed due to his bad arm. The worst part of this match is all the lame ways Hansen comes up with to miss his Lariat. He tugs at his elbow pad which makes the crowd react. At one Misawa shakes him off like a pitcher would baseball. Almost as if to say, too early bro, Hansen proceeds to miss his lariat in comically bad ways, taking exaggerated tumbles to the outside. Misawa all of sudden wins suplex battles on the floor. Misawa becomes obsessed with his facelock or a sleeper. If only we had the 10/92 announcer screaming "FACELOOOOOOCK!" to make this interesting. They do a little ring around the rosie and Misawa SMOKES him with an Elbow! Crowd pops for that! Misawa now really locks on his Facelock and then hits Macho Man Elbow (hey why didnt he do that more often?). Hansen just starts slapping Misawa. This entire finish run has been really weird. Lots of false starts and weird transitions. Hasen swings wildly and misses the Lariat in a normal way. Back to FACLOOOCCCCKKKKK Hansen again counters and slams him on the top rope and knees him. Only for Misawa to hit a crossbody. This is bizarre. Misawa counters Hansen's kick with a ROARING ELBOW~! Greatly prefer August 1992 and Carny Final 93 match to this. I am kinda surprised this is generally considered the best of Hansen/Misawa. The finish stretch is a mess. I liked the arm psychology and I can get behind the Facelock psychology to sap Hansen of his energy but the transitions were so weird. Its still a good match, but not quite as great as the other Hansen/Misawa matches. ***1/4

Holy Demon Army vs Dr. Death & Big Bossman - AJPW 12/1/93 Holy Shit! Big Bossman was the star of this! What a tremendous performance! He brutalizes Toshiaki Kawada who was dealing with a shoot knee injury. Kawada's knee selling is sublime here just like in 12/3/93. Then on top of that he has become the God King of the Uppercut as he just rifles Taue every chance he gets. The Holy Demon Army turn into a babyface tag team with Kawada selling his knee. Who knew Taue was such an awesome hot tag! He showed such great fire! The match is JIP about 5 minutes. Doc and Kawada throw the smaller Kawada around at will and then start working the knee. Kawada throws desperation kicks at Doc's knee in retaliation and tags out. Taue starts dropping Doc on the top rope to some jeers surprisingly. I guess it is a heel move, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Bossman breaks up a Taue chinlock with a knee. Bossman took to Japan very well. Taue knocks Bossman off the apron in retaliation but this distracts him long enough for Doc mount a comeback and go toe to toe with Taue. He can tag out to Bossman who lands his first of many BRUTAL Uppercuts to Taue and then steps on his face twice. He is not getting as much as heel heat maybe because Taue is the biggest heel native. Great work by Bossman, Taue his Back suplex to get out. Kawada kicks but Doc immediately comes in and kicks the bad knee. Thats bullshit no hot tag. Dick move to go after the bad knee. These big behemoths run a clinic devastating the knee. Bossman tells Doc "Hold him brutha, I wanna elbow that knee on the apron". Bossman gets it. Doc kneecrusher on the railing. This is good shit. Great verbal selling by Kawada. Cant wait to watch 12/3/93 again! Kawada hits an enziguiri and here comes Hot Tag Taue! He is a house afire! He is clobbering everything that moves. Nodowa?!? No Doc saves. Taue takes them both on until Bossman NAILS him with an uppercut! Wind up and it is out of here! This is insane! How good those uppercuts are. Doc & Bossman splashing Taue in the corner. Bossman stradling him and then hitting that signature uppercut. This is amazing! Doc gets a powerslam for two. With Kawada's knee fucked and now they have isolated Taue, it is not looking good for the Holy Demon Army. Oklahoma Stampede broken up by Kawada kick to the knee and Taue tags out. I love how Kawada keeps kicking people in the knee because he keeps getting kicked in the knee. Kawada gets a powerbomb on the bigger Williams but Bossman saves. Stretch Plum! Bossman saves with an open handed palm strike to the head and this sets up OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE WAIT!??! Rollup by Kawada! Doctor Bomb! Clean! This time gets two for Dr. Death. Bossman gives Kawada a taste of uppercuts so Kawada lands a jumping high kick! Bossman does a great Blackwell weeble wobble sell and here comes Hot Tag Taue! Who is red hot! Dropkick! DDT! Doc interferes, Spinebuster and Bossman Splash from the top. Kawada high kick and Taue superplex on Bossman! Bossman Uppercut! Taue fights through it but is caught in the Bossman Slam! Kawada saves! Popeye Wind Up and the Uppercut connects! Kawada clobbers Doc. Kawada Kicks Bossman in the head for NODOWA~! Kawada kicks Doc in the head! NODOWA~! Announcer loses it! NODOWA AGAIN FOR THE WIN! I can see Meltzer really likes this style. It is very, very heavy on workrate. What I think separates it from today's stuff. Is that still feels like a competition. The transitions are meaningful. It does not feel overly choreographed or overly cooperative. Theres a lot of action, but it still feels like a struggle. I loved Bossman Uppercutting the shit out of people. I wish there was more Kawada stuff but they needed to save him for 12/3, The finish run was hot. Great shit! ****

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 4/21/93 Champions Carnival Finals In a moment where many thought the Universe would be Annihilated, Misawa's Elbow met Hansen's Lariat in a collision that many physicists speculated was the cause of blackholes in many far off galaxies. Thankfully for the human race, we could just enjoy this moment of the two unstoppable forces colliding! Another great installment in the criminally underrated Misawa vs Hansen feud. I didnt like this quite as much as the August 1992 title switch. Misawa had his breakthrough win against Hansen on that night and it was all due to his Trusty Elbow which Hansen put over as death. Since then Misawa has beaten the top two native challengers, Kawada and Taue, but this is his first singles match against Hansen since the Triple Crown title victory. Since this is the Champions Carnival, the Triple Crown is not on the line. Can Misawa prove his is not a one punch fluke? Hansen vs Misawa has a different feel from the rest of All Japan at the time. It is much gritter and more minimalist. There are a lot less highspots and more emphasis on strikes. I liked how chippy it was at the beginning of the match. They felt like they were fighting through each other's offense. Hansen was going for the eyes and Misawa was just trying to hammer elbows. Misawa was content to work headlocks at the beginning. Hansen was looking to dish maximum punishment using the hard parts of his body, elbow, exposed knee and cowboy kicks. Hansen gains control when he drags Misawa to the apron out of a figure-4 headlock and lunges at him with an elbow. Big Powerbomb by Hansen gives him his first nearfall. Hansen has a phenomenal dropkick in the early 90s. It carries weight and explosiveness. Hansen signals for the Lariat. Swing & a MISS! Misawa ELBOW DEATH~! Hansen goes down to a knee and a second elbow causes Hansen to collapse but kicks out this time! Huge heat on this nearfall because of what went down in August. This shows Misawa is going to have dig deeper than in August to win. We get the frogsplash and now Misawa wants the Tiger Driver. Hansen blocks. Then in a moment when time stopped, Misawa's Elbow Collided with Hansen's Lariat sending shockwaves throughout the universe. The selling by both men is otherworldly. I love that both took 2-3 full minutes to sell. It really put the moment as something special. Misawa was in pain and agony. Hansen was in full wounded bear selling writhing in pain on the outside. It was genius stuff. Misawa was relentless when Hansen returned to the ring. Tons of elbows to the bad arm. Then out of nowhere LARIAOTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WOW! My eyes went wide because Hansen just gutted through it and almost decapitated Misawa. Hush fell over the crowd. Hansen could not capitalize because he was in so much pain, but when he did cover Misawa got his foot on the ropes for two. Hansen wants the powerbomb, Misawa tried to mount a comeback, but too much was taken out of him. In a fitting way, they are both on the mat and Hansen just starts kicking him in the head hard repeatedly. There was no elaborate setup to the final powerbomb. It was this small, lo-fi, gritty, minimalist sequence where Hansen just kept kicking him in the head. Second powerbomb does Misawa in who really never had a chance after the Lariat. I loved this match because it is really stripped down. Its a fight early. Just a lot of strikes. Misawa really only hits one signature move besides the Elbows and that is the Frogsplash. So you leave plenty in tank for the rematch. You get the Big Elbow nearfall to play off August. The Elbow/Lariat is such a cool spot. The finish was great Hansen gets the desperation lariat and grits through the pain for the win. Now Misawa vs Hansen Triple Crown rematch is inevitable and plants the seed of doubt that Misawa could be a fluke making their May rematch all the more intriguing. ****

Mistuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen & Giant Baba - AJPW 11/30/93 Didnt think this could live up to the hype in a zillion years, but hear I am to tell you believe the hype Giant Baba in 1993 had a damn great match. The part that really sold me was when Kobashi has this menacing look on his face that he is about to unload a Lariat onto Baba. Kobashi comes charging only to eat a BIG Chop from Baba! I popped huge! Baba's aura added a lot to this match and increased the novelty. Also the crowd was wicked invested into Baba. It turned Stan Hansen into a super babyface and turned Misawa into a super heel. I did seem to notice that crowd had a harder time bringing itself to boo Kobashi, but they loved booing Misawa. The match is JIP by 6 minutes or so and we are already in a Kobashi heat segment. Misawa interrupts and attacks Baba draws boos. I know it is serious that when Misawa goes into elbow Hansen during a Boston Crab it draws major boos. I was like "Ok so we are flipping everything on its head". I think Misawa was a good subtle heel, BUT Hansen really embraced his newfound babyface popularity with the crowd. He was a great cheerleader for Baba on the apron. Even though this is a 30 minute draw they NEVER telegraph it and thats another secret to this being great. I figured around the 25 minute time call they were going to a draw but I never had an inkling before that. Hansen teased his Lariat twice. Kobashi nailed his moonsault on BABA!!! Baba was hitting his Russian LegSweep, Lariat and Kick of Fear. You can usually sniff out a draw but everyone went balls to the wall and was trying to win the match. Other things that stood out to me was the Rolling Cradle by Kobashi on Baba! Loved Baba/Hansen double teams like the double chop and the Can-Can Big Boot together. During the heat segment on Baba, Hansen just comes in and THROWS KOBASHI DOWN IN A POWERBOMB! Hansen BLASTING Kobashi with the LARIAT to the outside! Misawa held nothing back in this match. He was blasting everyone. There was a great Hansen splash from the top rope on Misawa. It felt like a very fat splash. Lots of body weight. Down the stretch you get classic Baba overhand chop to Misawa and Russian Legsweep, huge heat on the nearfall. Misawa just unleashes three brutal spinning elbows on Hansen. Misawa elbows Baba down for 2! It was just a great bomb-throwing sprint down the last ten minutes. At end of it all, it is Baba standing tall. He knocks Kobashi down with an elbow and then Misawa with a Kick of Fear. Kobashi bumped and sold so hard for Baba. If you love workrate-heavy matches with a ton of drama and focus on competition this match is for you. They just let it rip. ****1/4

Mistuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen & Giant Baba - AJPW 11/30/93 Didnt think this could live up to the hype in a zillion years, but hear I am to tell you believe the hype Giant Baba in 1993 had a damn great match. The part that really sold me was when Kobashi has this menacing look on his face that he is about to unload a Lariat onto Baba. Kobashi comes charging only to eat a BIG Chop from Baba! I popped huge! Baba's aura added a lot to this match and increased the novelty. Also the crowd was wicked invested into Baba. It turned Stan Hansen into a super babyface and turned Misawa into a super heel. I did seem to notice that crowd had a harder time bringing itself to boo Kobashi, but they loved booing Misawa. The match is JIP by 6 minutes or so and we are already in a Kobashi heat segment. Misawa interrupts and attacks Baba draws boos. I know it is serious that when Misawa goes into elbow Hansen during a Boston Crab it draws major boos. I was like "Ok so we are flipping everything on its head". I think Misawa was a good subtle heel, BUT Hansen really embraced his newfound babyface popularity with the crowd. He was a great cheerleader for Baba on the apron. Even though this is a 30 minute draw they NEVER telegraph it and thats another secret to this being great. I figured around the 25 minute time call they were going to a draw but I never had an inkling before that. Hansen teased his Lariat twice. Kobashi nailed his moonsault on BABA!!! Baba was hitting his Russian LegSweep, Lariat and Kick of Fear. You can usually sniff out a draw but everyone went balls to the wall and was trying to win the match. Other things that stood out to me was the Rolling Cradle by Kobashi on Baba! Loved Baba/Hansen double teams like the double chop and the Can-Can Big Boot together. During the heat segment on Baba, Hansen just comes in and THROWS KOBASHI DOWN IN A POWERBOMB! Hansen BLASTING Kobashi with the LARIAT to the outside! Misawa held nothing back in this match. He was blasting everyone. There was a great Hansen splash from the top rope on Misawa. It felt like a very fat splash. Lots of body weight. Down the stretch you get classic Baba overhand chop to Misawa and Russian Legsweep, huge heat on the nearfall. Misawa just unleashes three brutal spinning elbows on Hansen. Misawa elbows Baba down for 2! It was just a great bomb-throwing sprint down the last ten minutes. At end of it all, it is Baba standing tall. He knocks Kobashi down with an elbow and then Misawa with a Kick of Fear. Kobashi bumped and sold so hard for Baba. If you love workrate-heavy matches with a ton of drama and focus on competition this match is for you. They just let it rip. ****1/4

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Dr. Death & Big Bossman - AJPW 11/24/93 Real World Tag League Who says the Four Corners are NOT versatile? They work full-blown Southern tag style with a double face in peril like they have been working it their whole lives. Hell, they even busted out a Rock N Roll Double Dropkick at the end of this match. Mitsu Morton and Kenta Gibson would have gotten over huge in Greenville, SC. Bossman looks absurd in an All Japan ring with his prison guard outfit and night stick. Misawa vs Bossman is the All Japan Triple Crown Title defense you never knew you needed until you watched this. Anyone who has followed Bossman closely knows he would fit in 90s All Japan like a glove. He was filling in for Terry Gordy who had been out for quite some time due to drug related issues. Bossman was a great pick up as he is a similar wrestler. He is an athletic hoss who is a big bumper with a damn good punch. All Japan was the perfect haven for the Mid-South athletic hoss. Bossman got himself over huge with the Japanese crowd. It was a bit of a slow start for him, but after that first uppercut on Misawa and the way Misawa sold it like money, the Japanese crowd was all over him. Even the slightest heel tactics will get the Japanese up in arms because they are so used to everyone playing it straight. So closed fists, double teaming in the corner and dumping Misawa to the outside only to hit him with a nightstick had the crowd wanting Bossman's ass. Misawa looked so comfortable working the Southern Style tag. All the tropes were there and Misawa was selling it all so well. He took the Bossman stradle sold it, waited and got nailed by the signature uppercut. I know Bossman had some matches in All Japan on an early tour in October but Misawa was feeding like a champ. Bossman's uppercut really got over. Another really good Bossman sequence was right at the beginning. It looked straight out of 2019. Bossman does his signature powder runs around the post to come back in but Kobashi followed him and it becomes a foot race into a really cool dropdown sequence that I recommend everyone checking it out. Kobashi took the first FIP and Misawa took the second. After that the action really heated up. This became something really special in the finish stretch. Bossman/Doc looked so damn good that you started believing they would actually win. The Uppercut/Back Drop Driver combo was HUGE! The Double Oklahoma Stampede was also MASSIVE! I really started to bite on the finishes even though you knew the Natives were heavy favorites. I was really surprised how much offense the gaijin team got. Misawa hit some big nasty elbows. There was one to the back of the neck of Bossman that he sold like he shot in the back. Wicked good! I liked Misawa dropkicking Bossman and then Kobashi blasting him with a Lariat. The Double Dropkick towards the end had me marking out! Then they did a Suplex/Frogsplash combo that was awesome! Beautiful German Suplex wins it for our heroes! More Bossman & Dr. Death Please! I will be watching their match against Holy Demon Army and looking forward to it. It is too bad Bossman went to WCW, I get it travelling to Japan cant be easy but selfishly I would have loved to see Bossman stay in All Japan for a couple years would have produced some damn good shit. Misawa & Kobashi gelled with Bossman and the Southern style really well. A huge feather in Misawa & Kobashi's cap to all the naysayers that they could only work one way. ****1/4

I think all y'all are super underrating this match. Definitely a contender for Top 25 All Japan Matches of 90s. It seems like the boys over at Greatest Match Ever, know whats up. Just want to give them a shout out. Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen - All Japan 4/16/93 Greatest rivalry of all time for my money. These two just have insane chemistry with each other. Kobashi has that "live by the sword, die by the sword" mentality. It is almost like he made a promise to himself "I am going to leave it all in the ring and throw everything I have at this Grizzly Bear". They do such a great job setting this tone right from jump. There is this wild brawl that breaks out and Kobashi just dropkicks him. Kobashi ends up outside the ring and he rushes back in and dropkicks him again. Kobashi would NOT BE DENIED! I really feel that is the story of this match. It is Kobashi's tenacity. He was absolutely relentless in his drive to move forward. Hansen tried everything. You named it Hansen tried it. Sleeper/facelocks, throwing wild strikes like bearpaws,elbows & kicks, he tried diving tackles, and he tried powdering, but for 15 straight minutes Kobashi kicked his ass. This was a fucking mugging. Only two things kept this competitive: Hansen's aura (the fact he is damn near unbeatable and that Kobashi has not defeated him yet) and Hansen's constant struggling. I loved during one pinfall attempt Hansen was writhing in pain so Kobashi actually had to wrangle a wriggling Hansen into a cover. (And yes I am proud of myself for getting three "wr" words in the same sentence :p) While Hansen was giving a stellar underneath performance and really making Kobashi EARN that offense, Kobashi was putting on a fucking offensive clinic. Early in the match while they were tussling in the corner, Kobashi snapped Hansen's arm across the top turnbuckle. Kobashi became laser-focused. I mean this was unlike any Kobashi I have ever seen. He zeroed in on that arm like he was an Anderson. Nothing was going to stop him. All those Hansen tricks I mentioned in the first paragraph, Kobashi mowed through them and then got right back on that arm. Dropkicks to the arm, strikes to the arm, holds, he was crushing it. He went for a cross armbreaker three times. Each time, Hansen got more and more desperate at making a comeback. The third and final time saw Kobashi kick his ass on the outside. Then a funny thing happened. It all went horribly awry. There was one weakness is Kobashi's full court press strategy. It left him vulnerable to mistakes. When you constantly pouring on offense, it cane be reversed or countered. Up until the 15 minute mark, Kobashi was wrestling not only a clean match, but a low-risk match. He had wrist control for the majority and his offense was being executed in close quarters. However, he took an unnecessary risk when he dove off the apron trying to shouldertackle Hansen, Hansen evaded and drove Kobashi to the cement floor. Then Hansen BOWLED Kobashi and cemented his advantage with a brutal chair attack. I fucking love this match! Now it is Hansen's turn to kick some ass. He just pummels him. Everything is to Kobashi's head. It is all LOW-risk offense: boots, exposed knee, elbows. Kobashi gets a quick hope spot, Hansen immediately quashes that. Grabs him by the hair and POPS him with an elbow. I love it. Kobashi gets a flurry going and hitting a dropkick. I have never seen Kobashi hit so many dropkicks, he started the match with a dropkick. It is explosive and generates enough momentum to set up more offense. I loved the next sequence. Kobashi wants to sap the Big Man of energy goes for a sleeper. Hansen sells desperation and grabs the hair and rips Kobashi over. Hansen starts throwing desperate swings. He looks like he is rearing up for a Lariat when Kobashi wrangles him into a sleeper! He really cinches it in this time. Way to make him earn it! Great series of nearfalls follows: off the sleeper, then off a furious onslaught of legdrops and then a DDT. Bodyslam->Fist pump->MISSED Moonsault! Again, this has been Kobashi match to lose. He was wrestling again very clean. "Live by the sword, die by the sword". Hansen bowls him over with his charging body weight and then busts out his own dropkick. Kobashi will not be denied and hits a Lariat for 2. Crowd is going bonkers. Kobashi comes charging in and Hansen uses his momentum against him to drive him into the top turnbuckle and then scoop him up into a VICIOUS Back Drop Driver! This is the second time Hansen has used Kobashi's overzealousness against him. He only gets two. Wants the powerbomb, Kobashi sits down on him! Kobashi looks to come off the middle rope. LARIAOTOOOOOOOO! HOLY SHIT! 1-2-3! The best part is that Lariat fits the psychology narrative perfectly. This was the third time Hansen used Kobashi overzealous offense against him. Kobashi dominated this match by full court press, suffocation offense. He was all over Hansen, but in doing so would often come in charging with reckless abandon. Three times Hansen used that against him. On third time, it spelled the end of Kobashi. Did Kobashi come closer than ever to beating Hansen? Yes. It proved it was going to take a combination of all-out offense and intelligence to beat one of the fiercest wrestler ever! Awesome, awesome match! *****

Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams - AJPW 8/31/93 Important match in the annals of All Japan lore as Doc has his coming out party. With Gordy's OD and Hansen's age, they strapped the rocket to Dr. Death and pushed him hard as the #1 gaijin. Doc would go on to have an amazing 1994 that single handlely makes him a Top 100 wrestler of all time candidate. It all starts here against Kobashi who was coming off a greatest match of all time candidate with Hansen at 7/29/93. Kobashi was at best #3 in the native pecking order, maybe fourth, we can argue his status with Taue at the time. A win for either man would propel them up the ranks for a Triple Crown title shot against Ace, Misawa. This is a Bill Watts' dream match. Just two big muthas bowing up to each other and daring to the to hit him hard. They were really slashing one another with those chops. I always like how Williams chopped. He just whip those arms like they were belts. He really slice and dice you. Kobashi returned fire with some murderous chops and lariats of his own. There were definitely some really impressive feats of strength in this match. The number one spot that stood out to me was Doc pressing Kobashi over his head. I have seen big, strong wrestlers have trouble doing a press slam if their opponent does not feed right coming off his feet. So for Doc to press Kobashi TWICE from deadlift position shows how FUCKING strong Dr. Death was. That was a gnarly bump Kobashi took when Doc just let him fall to the floor. Not to be outdone, Dr. Death decided to do a back handspring elbow out on the floor. All sorts of athleticism on display from the Boomer Sooner! It was definitely a very bomb heavy match. Kobashi loved DDT at this point in his career, lots of those. Lots of suplexes. Kobashi was using the legdrop a lot. Dr. Death was using a lot of slams. I would say there were three main stories to this match. Would Kobashi finally get a big win? Could Doc apply the dreaded Backdrop Driver? I think they did a great job selling this with two teases and how Kobashi scrambled for the ropes and railing. Each occasion the announcer really did a great job selling how it would be curtains for Kobashi if Doc hit this move. The last story was this big, dumb, jock meathead wrestling. A lot of the transitions were just them No Selling like there were Luger of Sting and bowing up to the other and then taking over. I think my major issue of the match wasnt that there were too many bombs. It is that they were too easy. Each man let themselves be ragdolled for a couple minutes. Then they would hulk up and take over. There were not a lot of missed moves or missed opportunities. It was too "my turn, your turn" for my tastes. This was especially cemented after Kobashi's lengthy sleeper and when it was over and Kobashi went to move to the next spot, Williams just broke and threw his arms up and hit his move. It felt like Smackdown Here Come The Pain where I successfully hit Square at the right time to break my brother's grapple and go on offense. That's how I felt about the body of the match, it was very Kurt Angle. The difference is the match breathes more because people stayed on offense longer, BUT the transitions were piss poor. The finish run was definitely the best part because they played into their characters a lot better than in the body. Plucky underdog Kobashi desperately going for covers after the superplex first with DDTs and then legdrogs then German then finally the fist pump moonsault 1-2-NO! When you first dont succeed, try, try again, this time the moonsault eats the knees. I thought this was the best part of the match because there was some meaningful struggle in who would gain the upper hand as Kobashi was still valiant. Doc counters with the Oklahoma Stampede. Kobashi tries to bring him down after the kickout with a sleeper, but Doc wrangles him into an insane Back Drop Driver on his fucking head. WOW! That should have been the finish, but this being All Japan we need two more, but goddamn those were wicked! Most people take umbrage with the finish, I loved it. I thought there was great escalation, awesome nearfall for Kobashi with moonsault, good competition after the failed moonsault leading to an cool way into first Backdrop Driver. My issue is with the body of the match, I thought it lacked struggle and the offense was NOT earned and it was too "my turn, your turn". Offense looked great and I love power offense but with so much good wrestling these things stand out. Fun match, but not an elite All Japan match. ****

Robert is definitely right. This is not a Macron issue, but scientists are struggling with the fact this is NOVEL and nothing is obvious. A lot of this has to do with can the virus be transmitted from inanimate objects and how long does it take for the virus to be inactivated without a host. I think the idea behind people not wearing masks was to keep the masks for the frontline workers. It clearly does not hurt to wear mask. I am pro-mask wearing but as a person in the scientific community for a shoot, nothing should be taken as obvious.

Hey Stacey, not a bother, dont be sorry! We will have plenty of time. Right now, pro wrestling is the low man on the totem pole no matter what the McMahons may think. If you need time to find your wrestling smile again thats fine. I have enjoyed our recording sessions. Nintendo Jesus dude! What is your major malfunction? Victim-blame much! Who are you to tell Drake Maverick how he should feel! It is fine if you feel that in that situation you would tell them to fuck off. I totally get that. But to call Drake Maverick, pathetic. I dont know man. That's pretty damn low.

Yoji Anjoh vs Kiyoshi Tamura - UWFi 7/3/91 God, I love shoot style. The little things like the way takedowns are EARNED. How many times have we seen a guy just passively follow on a headlock takedown (albeit a lot safer to got with the motion of the takedown)? Here each takedown either looks like a rip OR it is just straight up blocked. Like uh uh I aint going there. I love it. There was one time Tamura was selling a midsection kick and on the subsequent oo-soto-gari he collapses instead of following through on the takedown and it was great. I really enjoyed the takedowns and the takedown defense throughout this match. Takedowns are really an underutilized part of today's wrestling landscape and I would love to see them make a comeback. I thought Tamura was the feistier of the two. Apparently, this was only Tamura's ninth match and he is filled with piss & vinegar. He is the one slapping and more prone to wild strikes. Anjoh is forcing Tamura to take a lot of rope breaks. Some really good Tamura selling on the way he scrambled to the ropes on a submission hold. I think my favorite spot of the match was when Anjoh landed a Super Tiger-esque flying knee to the head of Tamura when he was in the ropes. Personally, I felt this was a dick move and UWFi should have deducted three points from Anjoh for unsportmanslike conduct but he was awarded the knockdown and Tamura was subtracted three points. Either it was a sick spot and made Tamura even more of an underdog. Oh yes, the crowd how I can forget the crowd! Molten crowd! They were popping for Tamura's first takedown within 60 seconds of the match starting like Austin's music had just hit. Holy shit this crowd loved Tamura! I loved how into every detail they were. This was a smart fucking crowd and not smart in the ECW mutant sense but smart in the sense they love pro wrestling and understand the craftsmanship. I loved the crowd. There was another moment I loved. You are watching the legs because Anjoh is going for some sort of leg lace/toehold but next thing you know Tamura traps the arm into a vicious double wristlock which could be a legit submission. Shit, like that is the fun of wrestling. You are watching something and then out of left field boom. It was Volk Han-esque rabbit out of his ass magic. I was 50/50 on the finish. Lots of Japanese wrestling is booked that they person that takes the majority of the match loses but also rookie/young lions tend to lose. So I couldnt decide when Tamura went down huge in terms of points I think it was 12-4 that he was going to get the flash submission or not. Ultimately Anjoh finished with a wicked single crab, tough toehold, but Tamura was clearly game and clearly over. Very fun and great shoot-style! ****1/4

Hulk Hogan vs Vince McMahon - WrestleMania XIX Street Fight This has been gotten some play recently as a surprisingly great match so I thought I'd check it out as on paper it is not something I have ever felt compelled to watch. It is two of the all-time great characters in wrestling history. They do a great job building the match bringing up Hogan testifying against McMahon is a great touch. McMahon is just one of the best heels ever. I love him stabbing the pen into Hogan's open wound and then signing the contract. He is so good at being the reprehensible corporate boss. He has such great facial expressions. I have always though McMahon's greatest redeeming quality is his intelligence to always show ass and let himself look like the fool at the end of the day. This is a bit different than most McMahon matches where he usually just gets his ass kicked the whole time. In this match, he does work on top quite a bit. It is funny that the man that I always assumed hated limb psychology uses it here. He is targeting Hogan's arm and he even works a hammerlock! McMahon's biggest impediment to being a great wrestler is that he is tremendously uncoordinated and stiff (stiff in the sense that he is not limber. He is not stiff in how hard he hits). Once both men start bleeding buckets, this picks up. Lots of steel chair shots. The one that popped me the most is Hogan hits Hugo the Spanish announcer in the head with a chair (stiff shot, unprotected) and busts him open. I've never seen anything like that before and totally caught me off guard. Vince hitting a legdrop off the ladder was pretty insane and unexpected. There is a classic Vince face when he has the Crimson Mask and is getting the lead pipe from under the ring. It was clear in the production meeting told everyone he would be doing a Vince face and make sure to get it as we get a close-up and Michael Cole screaming that "we are looking into eyes of Satan". I bet Vince believes "it is better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.". Hogan stops the lead pipe with a ballshot; McMahon was the first to used a ballshot for the record. Here's RODDY! Oh shit I forgot about this. Then Mr. America floods back into my head. I was like O Hogan must lose because they keep saying Hogan's career is on the line. Piper blasts Hogan with the pipe. Im like Ok this is it. 1-2-Kickout. That's weird. Here comes crooked ref Sylvain Grenier! Shit I forgot about him! Ok this must be it, Vince drops the leg. Still no! HULK UP! WHAT A FUCKING HULK UP! SEATTLE EXPLODED~! Hogan decks McMahon and then sends the evil Quebecois ref packing. Hogan drops the Leg not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES! 1-2-3! Huge pop! Weird! I thought for sure because of Mr. America Hogan would lose they must have gotten him fired some other way. The Hulk Up & Hogan win was clearly the right thing to do and almost always when Vince is in the ring he does the right thing, he is the one left looking up at the lights. This definitely overdelivered. Hogan was still moving around quite well at this point in his life. McMahon bled, made his heel faces and jumped off a fucking ladder through a table so you cant ask for much more. I think there could have been more gimmicks personally. My favorite street fights have cowboy boots, belts, and powder at least and they greats have fire balls. So I enjoyed this, but I thought it was still a bit tame. ***1/2

Best of WWE 2010-2014 Part 3...#12-#7 This period is such an embarrassment of riches and varied that no single man repeats once during any of the six matches. Usually when we think of great workrate eras, there is a dominant person(s), Four Corners in AJPW 90s, Lawler in Memphis, Flair in Crockett, Tanahashi & Okada in New Japan, or Bret & Shawn in WWF 90s. The WWE 2010-2014 had such a balanced attack that you really got a lot of different looks from the talent. In this volume, the 2010 WWE Match of the Year is unveiled, the crown jewel of the Hall of Pain run and the match that made me join PWO in order to defend its honor. This match is a hill I am willing to die on. Click on the link and check it & see. https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-wrestling-love-vol-55-best-of-wwe.html

Best of WWE 2010-2014 Part 1...#18-#13 WWE was so damn good between 2010-2014 that we are breaking this down in 4 parts! This part is chock full of NXT as a whopping 4 out of 6 matches come from the "development" league, lets be real, its WWE's take on a "Super Indy". Sami Zayn was the heart & soul of NXT and was on a babyface run of life time. Find out what NXT matches made it and what two main show matches made it by clicking below. We are at the halfway point! https://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2020/04/pro-wrestling-love-vol-54-best-of-wwe.html

NWA US Tag Team Champions Barry Windham & Ronnie Garvin vs Dick Murdoch & Ivan Koloff - NWA World Championship Wrestling 3/14/87 The short-lived tag team of Windham & Garvin had some great matches against the Midnight Express but here they are having another great match with the equally short-lived tag team of Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch. The fans were yelling "traitor" at Murdoch so Nikita's babyface turn has not bridged the gap for all Soviets. Uncle Ivan has a Nikita replacement named Vladimir Petrov. Stone Cold Steve Austin really broke the mold when he shaved his head. Up until that point it was only Commie bastards that shaved their heads. BW pretty much goes full Ricky Morton and wrestles the entire match and on his own and he is just fantastic. His combination of size, fire and power make the perfect lead babyface for a promotion. Cryin' shame he never got that main event run like he should have had. I have not seen too much of Uncle Ivan, but he is a pitbull in there. He gives Garvin a run for his money in terms of tenacity. Koloff vs Garvin began the match and there were some good fire fighting here. There is a lot of chinlockery on Garvin, but Garvin tags in Windham right before the commercial. Windham is rocking into the ad break. I loved how the Windham heat segment was so fluid. He was taking heat but he was fighting back too. He was not a ragdoll. There was a real sense f struggle but also definitive momentum shifts set up by either Windham missing moves (dropkick, or kneedrop) or catching Uncle Ivan on the top (first coming down and then crotching him). This leads to a great powerslam nearfall. Also Windham is able to get a great atomic drop on Dicky Murdoch sold like only he can and then catches him with the right. BW was his own house of fire, but on the same token when he missed move. They went right back to work. Murdoch rode him down the knee from the top. Windham's selling from his pummeling was top notch. WIndham hits his lariat. Tony says he needs to roll over. I wish David added "But which way?" does he roll over for the cover or the tag? He makes the tag! Garvin is a glorious house of fire, chopping everything in sight. HANDS OF STONE~! Murdoch and the big fakes Russian get involved but Garvin & Windham fend them off. What he cant fend off is Jim Cornette and Bobby Eaton. He gets a hold of Cornette but Eaton blasts with a racket. Koloff/Murdoch win the US Tag titles. Put some more heat on MX vs Windham/Garvin feud and keeps the MX hot. I dont really know what happens to Koloff & Murdoch as a team. Murdoch would go onto have an all-time classic that year with Windham in the NWA-owned UWF. This is a great exhibition of Barry Windham's talents. ***3/4

NWA World TV Champion Arn Anderson vs Ronnie Garvin - JCP World Championship Wrestling 3/1/86 Anderson, Garvin, Studio Wrestling for the TV Title with the Nature Boy on commentary sign me up. This is pro wrestling, daddy. I love the studio crowd chanting "Break it" when Garvin has AA in the arm wringer. Anderson controls with wristlocks and such. Garvin looks to chop his way out of trouble. AA puts over the danger of the Hands of Stone by taking a powder. It can be over in a snap of the fingers. Garvin has a puncher's chance. Garvin works his control segment with a lot of holds around the head. He really cranked Arn's head at one point. Anderson takes back over and works, the back with a bearhug. It starts to be finish time and Arn starts to milk that clock. Powders again for the Hands of Stone. Garvin puts on the ab stretch as time expires. Flair distracts and Anderson hits the Front Suplex to put Garvin down. Not as good as that 87 match but this is still good craic. *** I recommend the Flair promo from this show and his squash match. He pummels the jabroni and you get to see some good Flair offense.