Bierschwale

December 10th at Nippon Budokan will have the semi-finals & final for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Tournament.

11/3/95 AJPW/WAR Once More Korakuen Hall Tokyo 1) Katsumi Usuda & Yuji Yasuraoka defeat Tiger Mask IV & Ultimo Dragon via pinfall by Usuda on Tiger Mask after an Everest German Suplex. (14:25) - 2) Black Cat & Negro Casas defeat Akira Nogami & Tatsuhito Takaiwa via pinfall by Casas on Takaiwa following La Casita. (12:43) - 3) Mascara Magica & Alex Wright defeat Norio Honaga & Masao Orihara via submission by Magica on Honaga with a Doble Palanca hold. (10:59) - 4) Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi defeat Robbie Brookside & Ian Dean via pinfall by Kikuchi on Dean after a diving headbutt. (12:57) - 5) Nobutaka Araya, Samson Fuyuki, & Koki Kitahara defeat Haku, Jun Izumida, & Konga via submission by Kitahara on Izumida after a cross-armbreaker. (13:53) - 6) La Parka defeats The Great Kabuki via pinfall after blocking a Kabuki mist attack with a steel chair, hitting Kabuki with the chair, and following it up with a Martinete. (17:51) - 7) Takashi Ishikawa, Yoshinari Ogawa, & Genichiro Tenryu defeat Tamon Honda, Takashi Iizuka, & Osamu Nishimura via pinfall by Ishikawa on Honda after a sitout piledriver. (22:03)

That immediately makes me think of the JWP matches with two-count/one-count pins, which I think are awesome. I've come up with some half-baked ideas around that idea just because I agree, it makes things more important when there's that much more "risk".

TOP FIVE CONTENDERS FOR EACH AJPW CHAMPIONSHIP Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship C: Mitsuharu Misawa. 1: Akira Taue. 2: Kenta Kobashi. 3: Toshiaki Kawada. 4: Genichiro Tenryu. 5: Osamu Nishimura. AJPW World Tag Team Championship C: Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi. 1: Stan Hansen & Akira Taue. 2: Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa. 3: Yoshinari Ogawa & Genichiro Tenryu. 4: Samson Fuyuki & Koki Kitahara. 5: Haku & Konga. AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship C: Black Tiger II. 1: Mascara Magica. 2: Osamu Nishimura. 3: Ultimo Dragon. 4: Alex Wright. 5: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. All-Asia Heavyweight Championship X: Tamon Honda. X: Osamu Nishimura. 3: Jun Akiyama. 4: Nobutaka Araya. 5: Miguel Perez, Jr.. All-Asia Tag Team Championship C: Samson Fuyuki & Koki Kitahara. 1: Haku & Konga. 2: Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa. 3: Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida. 4: Masao Inoue & Akitoshi Saito. 5: The Great Kabuki & Takashi Ishikawa.

FINAL CARD FOR "WAR ONCE MORE" ON 11/3 AT KORAKUEN HALL: First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: TIGER MASK IV/ULTIMO DRAGON vs. KATSUMI USUDA/YUJI YASURAOKA - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: BLACK CAT/NEGRO CASAS vs. AKIRA NOGAMI/TATSUHITO TAKAIWA - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: NORIO HONAGA/MASAO ORIHARA vs. MASCARA MAGICA/ALEX WRIGHT - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: ROBBIE BROOKSIDE/IAN DEAN vs. MASANOBU FUCHI/TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI - NOBUTAKA ARAYA/SAMSON FUYUKI/KOKI KITAHARA vs. HAKU/JUN IZUMIDA/KONGA - THE GREAT KABUKI vs. LA PARKA - TAMON HONDA/TAKAYUKI IIZUKA/OSAMU NISHIMURA vs. TAKASHI ISHIKAWA/YOSHINARI OGAWA/GENICHIRO TENRYU

AJPW signs Negro Casas for WAR dates only.

WRESTLING ACKNOWLEDGER PUBLICATION TOP FIVE MATCHES OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 1995: 1) Stan Hansen/Akira Taue/Ultimate Tiger vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi/Mitsuharu Misawa (10/19). 2) Jun Akiyama vs. Osamu Nishimura (10/25). 3) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Ultimate Tiger (10/25). 4) Black Tiger II/Ultimate Tiger vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Tiger Mask IV (10/6). 5) Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (10/14).

Press Secretary.

It's way more complicated than Gabe just being his employer to me. It's about betraying a friend to get yourself over and saying something disgusting in the process.

I'm just happy to see that dipshit get fired.

Firstly, I hate Joey Styles. He's a terrible announcer and shouldn't have been allowed to announce another match in his life after One Night Stand '05. He also seems to have no awareness of what wrestling is in 2016 with his cornball Twitter feuds where Stokely Hathaway just clowned him. Full disclosure. But what he did is spit in the face of someone, in Gabe, who was seemingly doing him a favor. He was hired because Gabe wanted to show him loyalty. And Gabe gave him a TON to do since he had been hired. He went out of his way to make Joey look good. But Joey just threw it all away. He had no respect for someone who believed him to not just be an employee, but a friend, AT THE SAME TIME that the company was having its first show on a brand-new platform. Joey Styles is a fucking idiot. He made his bed and now he can go fuck off to it forever.

This match is a ****3/8 to me. It's about the least pretentious or extraneously colorful match ever. Just two dudes womping the absolute Goddamned hell out of each other. Just something that CLICKED for me one day. Best match to happen on my birthday if Savage-Warrior doesn't count because I hadn't yet been born.

I definitely assume that Gabe felt like he owed him a favor back from the ECW days, which is what makes Styles's malfeasance really just so stupid.

FORMAT FOR THE 1995 REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE REVEALED: Twelve teams will take place in a double-elimination tournament. Teams confirmed for the event include: Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa Samson Fuyuki & Koki Kitahara The Great Kabuki & Takashi Ishikawa Haku & Konga Stan Hansen & Akira Taue Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Nishimura Masao Inoue & Akitoshi Saito Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi Mosh & Thrasher Maunakea Mossman & Takao Omori Yoshinari Ogawa & Genichiro Tenryu Four teams will receive seeds in order to prevent them from being the first four teams eliminated, though this will not equate to a bye.

Oh, he was terrible, and Gabe was going out of his way to make him look great. He made his bed.

Crap. Uh, AJPW signs Yuji Yasuraoka.

Yeah, we're getting into some indie excess, but CLASSY indie excess!

FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT OF "WAR ONCE MORE" ON 11/3 AT KORAKUEN HALL, WITH A TENTATIVE CARD CONSISTING OF: First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: TIGER MASK IV/ULTIMO DRAGON vs. KATSUMI USUDA/YUJI YASURAOKA - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: BLACK CAT/NEGRO CASAS vs. AKIRA NOGAMI/TATSUHITO TAKAIWA - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: NORIO HONAGA/MASAO ORIHARA vs. MASCARA MAGICA/ALEX WRIGHT - First Round of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Tournament: ROBBIE BROOKSIDE/IAN DEAN vs. MASANOBU FUCHI/TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI - NOBUTAKA ARAYA/SAMSON FUYUKI/KOKI KITAHARA vs. HAKU/JUN IZUMIDA/KONGA - TAMON HONDA/TAKAYUKI IIZUKA/OSAMU NISHIMURA vs. TAKASHI ISHIKAWA/YOSHINARI OGAWA/GENICHIRO TENRYU

AJPW releases Jumbo Tsuruta. AJPW signs Masaaki Mochizuki.

Only the main event left. SUSPENSE. IS. RISING.

10/25/95 AJPW 23rd Anniversary: Royalty Reborn Nippon Budokan Tokyo 1) Tamon Honda eliminates Nobutaka Araya to win a 13-man battle royal. Before the match took place, it was announced that the winner would face the winner of the Magic Dragon Cup final at the 11/29 show in Osaka during the Real World Tag League for the newly-revived All Asia Heavyweight Championship. In order of elimination: Mi. Inoue, Eigen, Mossman, Saito, Izumida, Slinger, Kimura, Ma. Inoue, Omori, Iizuka, Perez, Araya. (10:54) - 2) Mascara Magica & Ultimo Dragon defeat Black Cat & Black Tiger II via pinfall by Magica on Tiger after a Liger Bomb to win the tag team elimination scramble. Order of preliminary eliminations: Norio Honaga/Masao Orihara eliminate Satoru Asako/Tiger Mask IV via pinfall by Orihara on Asako after a moonsault press (8:33), Cat/Tiger eliminate Katsumi Usuda/Alex Wright via submission by Tiger on Wright after a Lasso From El Paso (12:14), Akira Nogami/Tatsuhito Takaiwa eliminate Honaga/Orihara via pinfall by Takaiwa on Honaga after a Death Valley Bomb (16:49), Magica/Dragon eliminate Nogami/Takaiwa via submission by Dragon on Takaiwa after a Dragon sleeper (19:16). Magica then called out Tiger for a title shot at the Real World Tag League opener on 11/18. (23:37) - 3) Samson Fuyuki & Koki Kitahara defeat Masa Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi to retain the All-Asia Tag Team Championship via submission after Fuyuki applied a Fuyuki Special II on Fuchi. (18:44) - 4) Osamu Nishimura defeats Jun Akiyama to win the Magic Dragon Cup via pinfall with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch. (25:21) - 5) Haku, Konga, Jumbo Tsuruta, & Yoshiaki Yatsu defeat The Great Kabuki, Takashi Ishikawa, Yoshinari Ogawa, & Genichiro Tenryu in a tag team survival match. Haku & Konga eliminated Kabuki via pinfall by Haku after a double diving headbutt (9:15), Ishikawa & Ogawa eliminated Konga via pinfall by Ogawa after a double brainbuster (16:21), Ishikawa & Ogawa eliminated Haku via pinfall by Ogawa after a diving elbow drop (20:37), Tsuruta & Yatsu eliminated Ishikawa via pinfall by Yatsu after a combination Yakuza kick/Samoan drop (26:42), Tsuruta & Yatsu eliminated Ogawa via pinfall by Tsuruta after a powerbomb (46:15). (46:15) - 6) Mitsuharu Misawa defeats Ultimate Tiger in a Texas death match after Tiger could not meet the 10 count following a Tiger Driver '91 through the timekeeper's table. The match was a bloody brawl, with Misawa coming out in his old Tiger Mask II persona to counter Ultimate Tiger. The first successful fall came after Tiger reversed a Tombstone piledriver into one of his own, but Misawa rose at 6 (13:18). The second successful fail resulted from Misawa hitting a diving splash to the top rope to the floor through a table, but Tiger rose at 5 (17:56). A series of chairshots and an unmasking revealing Ultimate Tiger to be WCW's Sting, drenched in his own blood ensued, but Tiger was able to get the next cover with a flash sit-out powerbomb onto the floor, though Misawa rose at 7 (20:39). A bloodied Misawa took off his own mask and placed it on Tiger before hitting the successful Tiger Driver '91 to win the war (22:52). - 7) Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi defeat Stan Hansen & Akira Taue to win the AJPW World Tag Team Championship via pinfall by Kobashi on Hansen after consecutive moonsaults while Kawada held Hansen in a kneebar. Taue helped up Hansen as Kawada & Kobashi celebrated and were awarded the unified titles. Hansen was determined to attack the two Super Generation Army members but Taue prevented him and reminded him of the upcoming Real World Tag League where they'd have their revenge. (24:43)

OFFICIAL CARD FOR THE FINALE OF THE OCTOBER GIANT SERIES, ROYALTY REBORN, ON OCTOBER 25 AT NIPPON BUDOKAN: Battle royal: NOBUTAKA ARAYA vs. HARUKA EIGEN vs. TAMON HONDA vs. TAKASHI IIZUKA vs. MASAO INOUE vs. MIGHTY INOUE vs. JUN IZUMIDA vs. RUSHER KIMURA vs. MAUNAKEA MOSSMAN vs. TAKAO OMORI vs. MIGUEL PEREZ, JR. vs. AKITOSHI SAITO vs. RICHARD SLINGER - Elimination tag team scramble: SATORU ASAKO/TIGER MASK IV vs. BLACK CAT/BLACK TIGER II vs. NORIO HONAGA/MASAO ORIHARA vs. MASCARA MAGICA/ULTIMO DRAGON vs. AKIRA NOGAMI/TATSUHITO TAKAIWA vs. KATSUMI USUDA/ALEX WRIGHT - All-Asia Tag Team Championship match: MASANOBU FUCHI/TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI vs. SAMSON FUYUKI/KOKI KITAHARA © - Eight-man tag team survival match: THE GREAT KABUKI/TAKASHI ISHIKAWA/YOSHINARI OGAWA/GENICHIRO TENRYU vs. HAKU/KONGA/JUMBO TSURUTA/YOSHIAKI YATSU - Magic Dragon Cup final: JUN AKIYAMA vs. OSAMU NISHIMURA - Texas death match: MITSUHARU MISAWA vs. ULTIMATE TIGER - AJPW World Tag Team Championship unification match: STAN HANSEN/AKIRA TAUE vs. TOSHIAKI KAWADA/KENTA KOBASHI

AJPW signs Black Cat.

Dave's pick for the best atmospheres of all are the ones where he literally gets kissed on the cheek by a wrestler right before they have a match.

I prefer the Taue match from that year out of just the "Kobashi GHC defenses against a guy who is taller than he is" genre.