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This has oh so much going for it. One thing I noticed early was that Iizuka or Nagata vs. Fuchi on the mat is odd because both the NJPW guys work a faster pace than he does there. It doesn't work incredibly well, but it can be overlooked. Iizuka in peril is fucking gold. Fuchi is incredible as the Japanese Ric Flair. Only a bit more aggressively dickish. Iizuka, by some stroke of genius (not sure if it was booked this way or somebody came up with it on the fly, but it worked so very well) turns things around in a completely unexpected way. Kawada tags in, but Iizuka starts hitting elbows on both. Instead of focusing on Kawada, Iizuka puts a sleeper on Fuchi and holds onto it until Kawada knocks him out of it. Kawada has to go check on Fuchi, who is pretty essential to him winning the match. This gives Iizuka time to tag. Kawada ignoring the leg during the finishing run loses some points for me. The NJPW guys working over the leg was very good, especially the Iizuka sweet revenge on Kawada. I don't like strike exchanges involving NJPW guys. There's no variance or thought put into it, just two dudes hitting each other. Awesome match, this has to be top 20.

As 6 mans go, this was pretty stellar. Most of your 6-man matches don't really do much besides set things up (unless you're in Mexico, MPro or Toryumon), so that's all they really needed to do. Murahama vs. Tanaka was all kinds of fun. Delfin getting cocky after outsmarting Makabe on a few moves then running into a spear was pretty nice. The dive train on Liger and subsequent face-in-peril segment was really good. Liger knocking Delfin out of the shotei pin was basically a fun way of saying, "If anybody gets a 3 off of that it's gonna be me." Tsubasa's confusion kills finishing run a bit, but match will probably still be lower half of the ballot for me.

This turns out to be a fun shootstyle match. Murakami shines when he's striking or showing his athleticism on the outside. Otherwise he comes off as a guy who is trying real hard to look like a heel instead of just being a heel. Ishikawa is great in the role of grappler, struggling through the strikes to get where he wants to be. I think this will make my ballot, can't say where just yet.

I wanted to love this match so much. Both guys in it are personal favorites and they do so many things right here. Complaints first. The leg heat segment was, I think, misplaced. They took a match where Tenryu the former mentor was absorbing all of Kawada's best strikes and making his former protégé pay in spades, and then had Tenryu decide to attack the leg to weaken it. I get the idea that he is "wrestling smart", but I think within the narrative of the match it actually makes Tenryu seem the weaker of the two since he has to resort to that. Most of the time in All Japan matches, Misawa was the guy taking the bodypart work rather than giving it out. When he did, it was always seen as him starting to really feel what was coming at him and need to do something about it. So if it was going to have a place in this match, Kawada should have had his big offensive run, hit the stretch plum (huge victory for him and excellently done), the backdrops and kicked Tenryu off the apron, THEN when Tenryu gets back on offense he works the leg over as he just got blasted with some big stuff and needs to slow Kawada down. The no-selling of lariats by not going down is pretty off to me. But there was so much more that was good about this match. Kawada's strike sequences going progressively longer and leading to bigger things at the end was great. Tenryu's offense was pretty spectacular with the exception of a blown abisegiri. The kick off the apron was so very...it's the spot of 2000 so far. Kawada having to struggle mightily to even put on a stretch plum or hit a backdrop was so very worth it when he did. This was right up next to great without reaching it.

Match was good enough, put Akiyama (and the front choke) over as dangerous and made sure we all knew he was now a prick. Kobashi did some of his usual stuff that I'm gonna not write about.

This was working for me up until the 1 count off the stretch plum. The lariat contest strikes me as pretty ridiculous. The finish is good, but I've seen it cap off far better wrestling matches. It's not that I'm missing the subtext there, just the way they did it seemed off to me. Then again, maybe with more Sasaki matches I'll warm up to the guy and have a rewatch. Edit: After the Kawada/Fuchi tag against NJPW, this match takes a dive for me. Nagata was fighting just as hard for NJPW and bothered to fall down and do a late kcikout for a Kawada lariat and stretch plum. Big match =/= you don't nned to sell the other guys' big moves. Kawada/Tenryu suffers from the same problem in a more minor way.

RF I can tell you from sparring that yes, sometimes when you throw something really light and effortlessly, it comes out really hard. It's one of those things that takes your expectations of how fighting works and makes you question the reality of it a bit. The more "stiff" something is in a muscular sense, the less it hurts if somebody knows how to throw it. Also, the higher pitched sounds of impact mean less penetration. So all those big, high pitched cracks are indications of surface hits. A dull thud hurts way, way, way more.

Really dug the finishing run with Makabe getting the big comeback bid with his spears and Germans. Crowd really wanted him to get the pin on Minoru with that northern lights, but it wasn't happening. The leg work was well done in a way that made you think that Makabe was going to tap while Liger was taken care of. Crowd made it better by being so damn into it. I'd say it's a well-worked juniors match that ends up somewhere in the lower half.

Not the biggest Sasaki fan, but he plays his role fine in this match. When Tenryu starts chopping, Sasaki decides he's going to outchop him. When Tenryu starts punching, sasaki's going to one-up him there too. Come finish time, it's brainbusters we do this with. Better than I expected, but most of the heavyweight matches in the project work a lot better for me.

Yeah, this match has a lot to love. Murakami's KO of IIzuka illegally almost sets off a brawl between the shooters and the NJPW guys who are trying to break up Ogawa and Hash when Ogawa and Murakami are a little dickish with them. Hash wants him some Ogawa, and Iizuka says he's up for it. Big shootstyle brawl ending with Iizuka's revenge and hash/Ogawa not caring about anything but brawling on the floor. Then Ogawa tries to start another post-match brawl because one isn't enough. Awesome stuff.

So Dragon Kid is 95% flippy shit. Some of it is impressive flippy shit, but come on, man. Develop some normal offense. How does the Toryumon ref have a job? Every Toryumon match I watch, the heels are pulling illegal shit right in front of his eyes, but they point the opposite direction at somebody over on the apron or at ringside and he SPRINGS INTO ACTION TO STOP THE DANGER OF THE MATCH BEING COMPROMISED BY INTERFERENCE! Glad he does such a good job of that. They really, really needed to find a better way of dealing with that than they did. SUWA as asskicker heel is pretty good. His late match offense that builds to his really big nearfall/finishers is pretty incredible. His 75% cheap heat act early is a little tired, but he brings it late. Also, very good at bumping around when he needs to be.

This is the first time I have seen this. Mossman/Kea seems to have figured out how to make his strikes look like they mean it. And he's showing a ton of fire, which is nice. I have this feeling most of the people watching these matches are familiar with the other 3. Right off the bat Hansen and Tenryu are eyeing each other up like they want to get it on before the intros. And once Tenryu is tagged in he goes straight for illegal man Hansen. Awesomeness ensues and the brawl is on. Kawada disregarding Mossman's offense with one counts is a little on the iffy side, but the crowd seems to not buy into it either so it works. Finishing run is marred by some blown spots on double teams, but crowd is still hot and the match is still very, very good.

Narrative is pretty simple for the first 12 minutes. Ohtani/Takaiwa are dicks. And they like slapping the piss out of Kanemoto. Kanemoto takes the challenge and feels he is dickish enough to trump both of them and outslap both of them. Tanaka joins the slapping party and it turns into a beat the shit out of each other contest. Finishing run is really hot, if a bit of a departure from early match stuff.

It was more Ditch pointing me to his chronological website. After I had access to all of that I wanted to hit all of it, because it would fill in the details going into big matches. I'm gonna go back and hit all the early 90s stuff too, just to fill in the blanks. One day I will get to the AWA stuff I teased myself with the first 8 matches of. Bobby Heenan the worker is fun, the High Fliers are freakin awesome, but it's gonna be months before I get to any of it.

Yeah, reading some of this and thinking about it I wonder if that would be anything they actually wanted to do. Appealing to a more broad demographic (i.e. lowest common denominator) is going to make you way more money on attendance, merchandise, pay-per-view, network, etc. than going for the smaller percentage with more money. It's very likely that's the erason the business model is what it is. Sure, it may cost them in advertising and TV dollars, but Vince is a smart guy. Despite being trapped in his own worldview, he wants to make money. And I imagine if he felt that the revenues would be higher marketing to fewer, wealthier people and getting the better TV/advertising revenue he would.

Hashimoto/Iizuka vs. Ogawa/Murakami NJPW 1/4/00 This is as awesome as I remember it being. 100% fight with several near-riots. Oh fuck yes. Ohtani/Takaiwa © vs. Kanemoto/Tanaka 6/25/00 IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Narrative is pretty simple for the first 12 minutes. Ohtani/Takaiwa are dicks. And they like slapping the piss out of Kanemoto. Kanemoto takes the challenge and feels he is dickish enough to trump both of them and outslap both of them. Tanaka joins the slapping party and it turns into a beat the shit out of each other contest. Finishing run is really hot, if a bit of a departure from early match stuff. SUWA vs. Dragon Kid Toryumon 8/24/00 So Dragon Kid is 95% flippy shit. Some of it is impressive flippy shit, but come on, man. Develop some normal offense. How does the Toryumon ref have a job? Every Toryumon match I watch, the heels are pulling illegal shit right in front of his eyes, but they point the opposite direction at somebody over on the apron or at ringside and he SPRINGS INTO ACTION TO STOP THE DANGER OF THE MATCH BEING COMPROMISED BY INTERFERENCE! Glad he does such a good job of that. They really, really needed to find a better way of dealing with that than they did. SUWA as asskicker heel is pretty good. His late match offense that builds to his really big nearfall/finishers is pretty incredible. His 75% cheap heat act early is a little tired, but he brings it late. Also, very good at bumping around when he needs to be. Hansen/Mossman vs. Kawada/Tenryu 7/23/00 This is the first time I have seen this. Mossman/Kea seems to have figured out how to make his strikes look like they mean it. And he's showing a ton of fire, which is nice. I have this feeling most of the people watching these matches are familiar with the other 3. Right off the bat Hansen and Tenryu are eyeing each other up like they want to get it on before the intros. And once Tenryu is tagged in he goes straight for illegal man Hansen. Awesomeness ensues and the brawl is on. Kawada disregarding Mossman's offense with one counts is a little on the iffy side, but the crowd seems to not buy into it either so it works. Finishing run is marred by some blown spots on double teams, but crowd is still hot and the match is still very, very good. I still think the NJPW shoot tag is absolutely amazing for the execution and the booking. I'd put that at least top 20 at this point, with the AJPW and NJ juniors tags somewhere under that. SUWA/DK is probably not going to make my ballot.

90s NJPW would get old really fast for both me and anyone reading. I held back quite a bit on the Kobashi bashing because it wasn't something that came up every match. Same with Omori. Also, negativity isn't something I put a lot of value in, so I just try to stay away from that stuff. But with 90s NJPW I'd run into a lot of things I dislike in a majority of the matches. I can see it going downhill fast. I can see doing 80s AJPW at some point. Right now I was gonna do Ditch's 2000-2009 puro stuff and then revisit some of the favorites to maybe do a top 20 or 30 AJPW 90s list afterwards.

Boy, pre-split All Japan ended kinda....iffy. Holy Demon Army vs. No Fear No Fear target a shoulder injury Taue picked up in the earlier match. Kawada leads a big comeback and eventually pins Omori after a...bodyscissors sleeper? I guess, it's only Omori. Maybe I just don't get the big push for Omori, but it seems like a huge waste. If every success he has involves cheating or somebody getting injured or just a happenstance advantage, is it really a push even? He throws a nice axe bomber and has some good stuff to throw into nearfalls, but up until that point of the match he's average or worse. Not sure why, but two dangerous backdrops and a gamengiri net Kawada a 2 count on Omori during the nearfall sequence. Kobashi/Shiga vs. Akiyama/Kea Akiyama must have had some beef with Kobashi before this match. Kobashi is back in 100% Spirit mode, which kind of kills this for me. As well as the mid match half nelsons. Shiga plays the never-say-die role he was born for well enough to salvage the match. So that's it. Except for one more thing. I've talked about 3 of the 4 Pillars. I think Akira Taue is the least appreciated so I saved him for last. Yes, he was far more physically limited and awkward than the other 3 (and Akiyama). And his strikes looked weak in comparison. But him knowing that and working around/through/with those limitations as the match demanded was one of the things that made him great to watch. If anything it forced him to be a very intelligent worker, very focused on how and why he was doing things. Pre-95 his offense was lacking, but he was so good at the small stuff like selling, facial expressions, and making simple submissions look vicious that he made up for it. He was the best of the big four at making a late nearfall look great by kicking out at the last possible moment (followed by Kobashi in that regard). I would put him right up there with Misawa and Kawada in terms of consistencty of performance post-95 also. And he really upped the ante with his big kicks (enzuigiri, jumping front kick) when he needed to. I think that to appreciate Akira Taue you have to be able to look at how much he does with far less than Kawada, Misawa, Kobashi and Akiyama bring to the table. He's nowhere near their athleticism or striking ability of the rest. He manages to not only hang with them in 99% of the matches, but actually adds to the match in meaningful ways. There aren't too many pro wrestlers who could have done that when you look at the accomplishments of his contemporaries. And finally, thanks to all who read this. And to those who chimed in and helped me see things I might have missed. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I did. Also, huge thanks to Ditch, without whom I'd never have seen a lot of the less hyped AJPW matches. Some of which actually trumped the matches they were building to. And fxnj I have to thank for that disturbing behind the scenes look after Kobashi vs. Misawa. That still gives me the willies.

Kobashi© vs. Takayama 5/26/00 Triple Crown This was something that All Japan did right in 2000 for sure. Takayama's early aggression deals enough damage that the crowd buys into him as a serious contender where not much else would. It only helps that he later goes to work on Kobashi's lariat arm and forces Kobashi to use his off hand on chops, making it far more likely Takayama can actually pull this off before Kobashi gets enough damage in to finish him. He doesn't, but I agree with the idea that wrestling is as much about the journey as the destination. You know what, fuck that. Takayama has the crowd fully behind him by the end of the match, which is actually a far better destination than you would have thought the match could reach going in. Holy Demon Army vs. Ace/Barton 6/9/00 This is part of a one night tournament to find new tag champs. As such it is a sprint, and a darn good one at that. Ace makes a really good go of trying to get one over on Kawada and Taue, but they are not known for being easy targets. Big slugfest ensues with Ace trying to will his team to victory in a chaotic brawl. Untouchables vs. No Fear 6/9/00 JIP and Misawa is giving lots of offense to these two. Ogawa hits a fair amount of good offense, but No Fear manage to isolate Ogawa and Omori catches him with an axe bomber for 3. I fail to understand the big push angle they gave these guys. Takayama is coming around, but to this point he hadn't been anything spectacular. Omori can be really good, but he can also barely show up. In reality, Omori is way more cheap heat than he is substance. Takayama at least brings something to the table when it comes time to work. Post-Baba AJPW makes you really appreciate how well he actually booked things. A few more matches to go and All Japan ceases to be the All Japan I've come to know.

I think a lot of the problem is the carny roots of pro wrestling. It's gonna be really hard to get it over with more educated folks when a lot of the carny aspects are still very strong in the presentation of pro wrestling. I'm not saying it can't be done, just you'd need to have a promoter who wanted to appeal to a different audience and understood that the very core of what they presented had to be changed in order to do that. I do think the way the matches are worked has something to do with it, but that's only a piece of the puzzle.

I don't know, it seemed like they were already pushing Omori. Maybe they wanted to save face for Akiyama the way they did it. It was one of those "flash KO" kind of deals. He had just beaten Misawa so I doubt he was being demoted back to midcard. Kobashi vs. Smith 4/10/00 CC Seems kinda one-sided, but it isn't. The build is a matwork clinic and I love it. I'm starting to see the change in Kobashi. He's actually carrying himself like an ace now. More calm until it's time to be intense than intense all the time. Liking that a lot. Finishing one has one small flaw which I will address later. Otherwise, this match is pretty damn good. Kobashi does a pretty good job of making Smith look like a threat but not killing his own dominance in terms of card position. Kobashi vs. Misawa 2000 CC So if that last match was really good, this match was great. Kobashi in his more "ace" persona vs. Misawa is a fun dynamic. Everything is pretty equaled out in the way they wrestle it and the finishing run is all kinds of hot. Kobashi vs. Omori 4/15/00 CC Finals Omori again brings his A++++ game against Kobashi in the big match. Omori is outmatched early and goes to the injured leg. Kobashi's fiery comeback is really, really fun to watch. Big finishing sequence with a super-hot crowd and the least annoying Kobashi bad habit match of the 3. The thing that knocks each one of these matches (Omori match the least) down is the half nelson. People really got on Marufuji for the overuse of the superkick as a turnaround in the early 2000s as I recall. Don't remember seeing people up in arms over the flagrant Kobashi use of the half nelson the same way. It's hard for me to get past that in a lot of matches. At the very least in the Omori match he uses it as a big nearfall and a setup for a lariat. That's more what a big head drop suplex ought to be used for.

For the most part, yes it has mostly been low income fans in the U.S. Flair might be an example to the contrary. Someone who was charismatic, a character that appealed (in one way or another) to most everyone and delivered in the ring whenever he wrestled. It wasn't like he didn't have comedy either. Just when he did things, he knew when and how much.

No Fear vs. Kobashi/Shiga 3/24/00 So the only real reason to watch this is Shiga. No Fear phones in 90% of their performance. Kobashi appears pretty disinterested through most of it. There's some good Kobashi vs. Takayama stuff, but otherwise you are watching this match for Shiga's struggle against those bullies Takayama and Omori. Akiyama vs. Omori 3/26/00 CC Why, All Japan, why? I have never missed Giant Baba as much as I do after watching that. It's not long, just....I think whoever booked this was watching way too much American wrestling. Misawa vs. Kawada 3/31/00 CC Okay, this is possibly the best sprint of all time. Clocks in at about 15 and a half minutes and they manage to cram pretty much every signature spot in there in a meaningful way. It's far from their best, but it's absolutely incredible for 2000. And now I'm gonna go off on another tangent. I've tried real hard to look for a weakness as far as Misawa is concerned. All I can really come up with is...nothing. Yeah, maybe he's not as outwardly emotional as you'd like a wrestler to be. He's not supposed to be. The thing that defines his greatness, to me, is that he is so comfortable and secure in his position that he always seems to hit the right notes for whoever he's facing and what the match is supposed to be saying. If the match is about his opponent, Misawa seems to disappear into the background and give the exact impression of his opponent that the match was meant to. On the rare occasion the match is about him, Misawa will deliver in spades. The matches that stand out here are the big comeback tag matches where his partner gets a beating put on him and Misawa has to drag the match back from the dead. And does so emphatically. Another one that comes to mind is when Kawada chokes him out illegally and Kobashi gently rolls Misawa to the floor. Once Misawa is back on the apron, there is a short time for tension to build until Misawa lets everyone watching know that it is not a good idea to piss him off. Matches like that are few and far between, but they leave an impression. In closing, I'm telling you what you probably already know. Misawa is fucking great.

Well, until comes time to have to put them under written deals so that big WWE can't snipe em. Then yer screwed.

I would say that you need serious competition to Vince McMahon before that can happen. He's very clearly stuck in his own view of what wrestling "ought to be" and the only thing that will change that is less money coming through the door. Maybe if you did get a major promotion coming up on his heels that could financially compete for the more athletic/skilled wrestlers and made it more of a serious competition-style atmosphere without too much nonsense, Vince might start to come around. But when you're the only game in town you don't have to change in the wholesale manner that would be necessary for what you're talking about.