dawho5

So the thread derailed a little bit, yes?

Taue vs. Kobashi 9/11/98 Triple Crown Holy crap this was an amazing wrestling match. Probably the defining Taue vs. Kobashi for me. Very little noselling shenanigans and head drops. Just a slow build to a really heated finish between two guys who know how to do that very well. Kobashi is so Jekyl and Hyde, but when he's not bad he's fucking amazing. Holy Demon Army vs. Burning 10/11/98 Tag Titles So the good Kobashi shows up again here. Along with Akiyama, Kawada and Taue. Kawada and Taue dominate early, but Akiyama and Kobashi give them a run for their money when they get their turn. There is so much awesome here. Akiyama gets his foot caught in the open gate when Taue boots him over the guard rail outside. Ouch. Think the Holy Demon Army has any kind of mercy on that? Taue ends up in a cloverleaf and Kawada decides that working over the legit injury isn't enough and knee drops the back of his head. Oh how I love Toshiaki Kawada. Kobashi fights off both members of the Holy Demon Army right away, appears to be going down to the numbers game when Akiyama comes storming back in! Burning has some really sweet double teams. Kawada gets worked over huge and Taue has to carry the team for a while. And does. There is a portion of this match called "The Akira Taue Show" I swear. Finish is all kinds of All Japan tag atch goodness. That's 3 great All Japan matches today, all in late 1998. And one of them had Yoshinari Ogawa as it's main focus. Finding stuff like that is awesome.

Holy Demon Army vs. Kobashi/Mossman 8/29/98 More Kobashi vs. Taue, with some Kobashi vs. Kawada thrown in. Good tag match, Mossman takes the fall to a Dynamic Bomb. Kawada vs. Kakihara 9/11/98 Kawada gives Kakihara the early part of the match. The best part of this is how steam starts rising off of Kawada as he does a (sort of) slow boil to the point where he's done playing nice. Then Kakihara should probably have run away. Akiyama vs. Ogawa 9/11/98 Odd matchup to be as good as this was. Ogawa starts out hot, looks like he's gonna take a beating for sure, then moves and Akiyama does the ring post shoulder bump. Ogawa takes full advantage, cutting off Akiyama until he gets royally pissed. Akiyama destroys the skinny little runt until Ogawa starts this huge run of nearfalls. Seriously epic stuff for an 11 minute match. Then we get to the inevitable, but Ogawa struggles all the way until the end against it. About halfway through, they cut to Misawa watching nervously from the back and keep going back. And the crowd is so fucking behind Ogawa. If I had to put any kind of label on this, it's the best WCW cruiserweight underdog match of all time. In front of a Korakuen crowd that loves underdogs. Featuring Akiyama as your ass-kicker big man. Fuck, for an undercard match this is hugely awesome.

Really liking Rudge from the Regal match. He's great as the ass-kicker heel and the chickenshit heel and can switch gears instantly. Always loved watching guys like that.

Kawada/Omori vs. Hase/Mossman(Kea) 7/24/98 Clips to the Kawada vs. Hase parts, which are gold. Big finishing sequence while Omori and Mossman mess around on the floor. Very short and very worth it. Akiyama vs. Kobashi 7/24/98 Triple Crown You know how I pointed out last post that when Kobashi is the senior guy in the ring he lets his bad habits get out of control? Yeah, watch this match and tell me I'm wrong. Anyway, Akiyama has tons of great stuff for Kobashi's injured knee. And he starts prickishly early. Kobashi's nonsense starts about the ten minute mark, is broken up by the legwork, then starts to get really irritating. Bleh. Kobashi/Ace vs. Taue/Honda 8/23/98 Kobashi and Taue have a triple crown match coming up, so we clip to their stuff. Which is brilliant. Finish is unexpected for the nature of the match. Misawa/Akiyama/Asako vs. Kobashi/Omori/Ogawa 8/23/98 JIP, but we get 13 minutes of awesome. Asako is spunky and won't be intimidated by Kawada. Akiyama wants a piece of Ogawa. Ogawa shows lots of fire in giving him more than he bargains for. Ogawa also avoids being Misawa's bitch! Kawada kicks people in the face. Omori is hit and miss, but some of his hit is really good. Misawa takes an Omori missile dropkick for Asako, what a nice guy. Finish is completely out of the blue but awesome.

Honestly, I think Kawada was done by that point as a serious threat to hang onto the TC for any amount of time. They killed it by waiting too long for the big singles win over Misawa. And I would agree that Kawada made that match what it was. Kobashi as the main guy in a match tended to go way overboard, and Misawa never seemed to reel him in. Kawada and Taue were the only ones who looked like they could keep some of Kobashi's more annoying tendencies in check. Holy Demon Army vs. Kakihara/Takayama 7/19/98 Really liking the new faces in 97/98. Kakihara vs. Kawada is all sorts of fun. Kawada sells a left hand palmstrike by kakihara as a flash KO then gets his revenge later, the Kawada way. Takayama has a pretty small role in this. We all know how this turns out. Kobashi/Mossman(or Kea) vs. Akiyama/Hase 7/19/98 Have I mentioned my love of watching Hiroshi Hase wrestle? If I haven't, I probably should. He does an incredible job especially with Mossman here. Akiyama has a title match with Kobashi in a week, so he decides to tear up the injured knee as much as possible. Kobashi does some of his annoying stuff but mostly stays with the rest of the match. Hase pins Mossman, which makes sense given the upcoming title match. Taue/Izumida vs. Albright/Takayama 7/24/98 Izumida takes on Takayama and looks like he's going to be able to put him away, then that big Albright guy decides that's not happening. They tease Taue making it happen anyway a couple of times, Taue gets claps (GASP) for breking up pins. Izumida kicks out of the running legdrop from Takayama that looks to be his finisher. A second puts the plucky undercard guy that the crowd loves away.

Kobashi vs. Kakihara 7/15/98 Kobashi makes Kakihara's strikes look rwally dangerous, considering he sells most of them. Gives Kakihara the mat for the most part as well. Kobashi's pro wrestling suplexes and things of that nature mess Kakihara up and weaken him enough for a lariat to put him away. Fun clash of styles match. Akiyama vs. Mossman 7/18/98 Mossman comes out of the gate hot and tries to take it to Akiyama. Some of it works out, but I think teasing the exploder pissed Akiyama off. Akiyama hits an exploder, a double arm DDT and a brainbuster for the win. Kobashi/Ace/Hase vs. Albright/Takayama/Kakihara 7/18/98 I really need to see Hase in his prime. Great, great performer and technician. Kakihara is impressing me as well. Hase giant swings Takayama, which is all kinds of awesome. Good mat exchanges, some miscommunication with Takayama and Ace provides awkwardness. Besides that, Ace is good. Takayama at this point is not the Takayama you come to know later, but shows flashes of it. Abright is kinda awkward but brings the big suplexes. Fun finishing run, big finishing move.

The referee for today's post will be...Wadaaa Kyoheiii (In case you didn't know, the correct response is, "KYOHEI!!!") Holy Demon Army vs. Kobashi/Ace 6/5/98 Tag Titles This is a really fun tag. Kawada and Kobashi start off with a great exchange. Ace ends up in peril shortly after, then we get Kobashi and Ace working over the knee of....Taue? Nice changeup there. Turns out, Taue's grasp of the little things really makes this work. Kawada's not happy about the goings on, gets into a tiff with Kobashi and takes a lariat for his trouble. He's out of the picture for a while. Taue has an incredible figure 4 sequence with Kobashi. The finishing sequence is all kinds of hot, but we don't really get to see Kobashi vs. Kawada a lot during it, Wonder why that could be. Kawada vs. Kobashi 6/12/98 Triple Crown Oh yeah, this might be why. So they work the mat for a while. And it's awesome. Then they to a chop exchange and neither one can get any kind of control until the 18-20 minute timeframe. By that point, they are both pretty well gone. Kobashi gets the first big nearfall. Then Kawada goes on a similar run to the way he finished Misawa. That doesn't get the 3, so he tries a third powerbomb only to exhaust himself not getting it. Kobashi takes charge, but Kawada is fighting every step of the way. Finish is all kinds of incredible with kobashi determined to get the three one certain way and Kawada just as determined to prevent it. My favorite part was Kawada taking a lariat, staggering around like a drunk on the attempted nosell and then getting a desperation gamengiri to land as Kobashi walks into it. They took it easy on the suplex nosells and not too many head drops. Just lots and lots of "you will NOT get any momentum going while I can still do anything about it" from both.

Speaking of safety on chair shots, Hansen and anyone else I saw us a chair in AJPW would go across the back, not hitting the head at all, with all of their chair shots.

Several markout matches for me tonight. Fuck yes! Akiyama vs. Hase 5/1/98 At the TOKYO DOME! That place is huge and it's packed. Akiyama and Hase spend the first 12 minutes working old school tie-ups that get nowhere and then taking it to the MAT. These two doing 10 minutes of back and forth matwork is amazing. Hase seems to get the better of it by a little. Big exchanges follow, with Hase and Akiyama exchanging exploders and uranages. Hase wants to put Akiyama away with a sasorigatame, but Akiyama is just as determined to come back with a figure 4 and they really really work the hell out of that figure 4. Hase gets some super hot nearfalls. Akiyama gets a few big nearfalls. Wrist clutch exploder finishes for Akiayma, great match. Misawa vs. Kawada 5/1/98 Triple Crown This was not their best match. But then, even post-95, most Kawada vs. Misawa matches are amazing when compared to most wrestling matches you will see. Kawada works every possible angle here. He goes after Misawa's injured leg from the CC and tries to finish with a figure 4 like he did on Taue during the tourney. Then Misawa injures his arm blocking a gamengiri, his elbow arm. Kawada attacks that. Misawa still gets some super nearfalls in on Kawada and never stops elbowing, because he's Misawa. They build Kawada's finishing sequence absolutely perfect. The final 3 or 4 minutes of this match are wrestling at it's finest. Once Kawada gets the 3, I immediately mark the fuck out. I LOVE in the postmatch where Kawada has this combination of tired as hell, shocked and relieved written all over his face. Then they cut to the locker room where a bunch of other AJPW guys are toasting Kawada and he's got this look on his face like everything that just happened is just now setting in fully. Man, I am such a sucker for loving this stuff, but I don't care.

Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Takayama/Kakihara Akiyama has a great shoot-based mat sequence with Kakihara. The All Japan guys make the UWFi guys' strikes look really good. Akiyama and Kakihara get in each others' face. Takayama gets a flash KO on illegal man Akiyama. Kobashi hits a lariat out of nowhere to win. Lots of fun though. Misawa vs. Akiyama 4/18/98 CC Finals Akiyama goes after the leg early as it's been worked on during the CC. Misawa hits a tigerdriver within a minute anyway for a good nearfall. Akiyama catches Misawa with a dragon screw from the top to go on offense and work...bet you can't guess...the leg. Misawa gets back in it when Akiyama tries to manufacture a top turnbuckle dragon screw and takes a missile dropkick instead. Misawa's nearfalls are silent. Even the tigerdriver gets no response other than claps when Akiyama kicks out. Weird. Looks like an audible is called and the go back to Akiyama nearfalls which brings the crowd right back up. Then they fight over a tigerdriver enough so the crowd pops. Big running elbow puts Akiyama away. Akiyama went back to the leg during his exploder setups, so I won't call it a waste. I do like how Akiyama is putting together lots of different sequences on Misawa to get the exploder instead of going right for it.

I'm gonna throw in here despite not really being a WWE guy. The Attitude Era kicked off when the fans backed Stone Cold over Bret Hart during and after the I Quit match. It wasn't in any way planned by Vince, but when the fans stuck with Stone Cold, he eventually became the face of that era. So Vince is willing to follow where the fans are going when it comes down to keeping them around. And Bryan/the Shield are clearly part of what the fans want to see now. I would guess that they are just playing the same game they did leading to WM to mess with all the fans and get them ready to pop big for Bryan's next "victory" over the evil booking team. Because that seems to be the angle they are working, not against any particular wrestler.

Kobashi vs. Akiyama 98 CC Akiyama has had his share of success against big names, but a singles match with Kobashi? They work pretty even for the early part, with Kobashi working over Akiyama's back once he gets a clear advantage. Akiyama catches Kobashi on top and hits a dragon screw before working over Kobashi's leg. They do a nice sequence of finishers and teases, with Akiyama never ignoring the leg. Akiyama cuts off a late (29 minutes or so) lariat with a low dropkick. Kobashi's not done by a long shot, but Akiyama just keeps kicking at the leg from one knee to keep Kobashi from being able to bring him to his feet as the bell rings. I liked the desperation by Akiyama once he knew Kobashi had him with one more big move, so he stalled Kobashi using the earlier leg assault to slow him down enough to survive. A few more head drops than were really necessary for Kobashi to put away Akiyama, but he's the king of overdoing all the things that All Japan in the late 90s got a bad rap for. Don't get me wrong, I love the way he wrestles in so many ways, just he gets excessive. I will say that earlier in this match, they have another awesome sequence out of a knucklelock. Kobashi could really work the simple stuff well for as much as he liked to go over the top on things.

I'm a pretty big 90s AJPW mark, admittedly. But really all I want is wrestling that fits what I want to see in the ring. I've watched some of the 80s wrestling that gets talked about in some of the threads I've seen and a lot of those matches are a bit shy of Japan in terms of stiffness. Regardless of that, they are certainly great wrestling matches that have the intensity, emotional content and storytelling that make wrestling great. I'm not going to say I know this for sure, but I would guess that most people who post here would be willing to talk about any given match that they've seen regardless of where it came from as they saw it. It doesn't seem like the kind of board where it has to be Japanese or lucha or American or any specific promotion. It just has to strike the poster as "good wrestling" or better.

Kawada vs. Akiyama 98 CC Akiyama brings the pain early after an exploder. Kawada hits a dangerous backdrop and starts working over the back of the neck. Akiyama has a big run where he puts Kawada in a stretch plum and tries to pin him (back to their round robin match in the RWTL). Kawada gladly returns the favor before giving Akiyama a brainbuster back as well, but getting the 3 instead of a late kickout. Kawada vs. Misawa 3/29/98 CC Big exchanges throughout this one. Kawada hits a brainbuster before 3 minutes is up and proceeds to tear up the back of Misawa's neck. Misawa gets a short comeback in before Kawada starts working over his back. Misawa works over the leg a bit before hitting his big not-quite-finisher offense. Kawada hits the back of the neck hard again, but can't powerbomb Misawa, which after all the work on the back of the neck and back would do it. Misawa hits multiple tigerdrivers and suplexes, plus a few nasty elbows that don't put Kawada away. And, there's the 30 minute draw right at the gamengiri comeback starter. Crowd seemed mixed, they didn't seem to buy into a lot of the pinfall attempts before 25 minutes and popped more for moves than anything. Almost like they knew.

I would add Akiyama in '96 to this. Going from barely seen as a threat to holding his end of one of the greatest matches of all time in one year has got to mean something.

Wondering if they weren't trying to make it a big strike he could win a match with when necessary, a la Kobashi's lariat, Misawa's run elbow/rolling elbow, Kawada's gamengiri/abisegiri. Misawa vs. Akiyama 1/26/98 Triple Crown Shorter match than the last but Akiyama pushes Misawa harder. He puts together several nice runs of big moves (pedigree -> enzui diving elbow -> 2 Germans rolled into a blue thunder is one example) for big nearfalls. Crowd really eats it up and Misawa debuts the emerald frosion to really put the kid away. Kobashi/Ace/Smith vs. Misawa/Akiyama/Kea 2/14/98 Last 10 minutes roughly. Ace looks to be feuding with Misawa, and it definitely works. Kobashi hits a vertical suplex on Akiyamafrom what looks to be a DDT type lockup. Big chaotic finish with Team Global Energy (Kobashi's team) coming out on top after Ace hits a cobra clutch suplex on Akiyama. Kea doesn't do too badly, making the little offense he had televised look at least passable.

Holy Demon Army vs. Misawa/Akiyama 12/5/97 RWTL Finals This was really good. They play off of the Akiyama back injury the week earlier. Kawada and Misawa have great exchanges. Kawada and Akiyama have all kinds of tension. Misawa gets to be THE MAN after a Holy Demon Army beatdown on Akiyama's back. They play off the finish of the week-earlier match for a big nearfall. Then for the finish, Misawa watches from the apron as Akiyama is pinned following a jumping front kick to the face. Admittedly, not the move you would expect to put someone away, but that was weird that Misawa did nothing. Kobashi/Ace vs. Holy Demon Army 1/25/98 Tag Titles Kawada and Taue have never beaten Kobashi/Ace, best they have done is a draw. Ace and Taue still don't like each other at all. Kawada and Kobashi have some great exchanges. Kawada and Taue work over Ace's arm after he hits it on a guard rail. Then they target Kobashi's leg. That starts even in the first exchange with Kawada and Kobashi just kicking each other in the leg over and over again because neither will back down. Then later Taue goes back to it and they work a Kobashi in peril segment off of it. Great sequence with an apron nodowa tease, then Kobashi gets some help so he tries an apron powerbomb, but Kawada's not letting that happen to his buddy Taue. Kawada helps Taue seal the deal on the apron nodowa, which effectively kills Kobashi. Finishing run is good, with Taue getting frustrated at Kobashi not staying down and Ace always coming back in just in time to save him. Finally, they give Ace the Kobashi/Akiyama treatment from the big tags so Taue can put Kobashi away. Kobashi never stops fighting, but a top turnbuckle high front kick puts him away. They are really pushing Taue's kick as lethal now. 1997 went by fast. Some fun stuff, some additions to the style I don't care for. But those are usually saved for big matches, not the RWTL stuff, so it's not too overly bad. Also, Shinzaki being entertaining for one match was nice. Hayabusa in AJPW was a fun addition to the tag matches when he would fly in at the right moments or hit his big spots late. Definitely a big year for Ace and Akiyama. Finally saw some Johnny Smith stuff, looking forward to more of that. Oh yeah, in 1998 VADER shows up. I know it's old Vader but I could care less about that. It's fucking Vader.Still liking a lot of what I see.

I would agree with the above sentiments completely. There's no need for the "bodybuilder" type guys anymore. I think your prototype big man now is Antonio Cesaro. He's more a tall guy with a good sized frame, but lean and muscled. It actually looks like he can move and everything. That's far more dangerous than a guy who's so beefed up he can barely move if you think about it.

Misawa/Akiyama vs. Shinzaki/Hayabusa 11/27/97 RWTL Kawada/Taue were much better opponents for Shinzaki. Misawa is far too nice and lets Shinzaki do the shit that always pisses me off about him. Shinzaki, regardless of whether or not it fits the way the match has gone, is going to use every one of his signature spots. Hayabusa blows a few spots, but the stuff he hits, especially towards the end, is really sweet. Team FMW hits a pair of dives to set up a 450 and a phoenix splash near the end. Guess who wins. Misawa/Akiyama vs. Holy demon Army 11/28/97 RWTL This is great. No, it's not 12/6/96 great, but I still loved it. Akiyama gets massacred early and Misawa ends up taking a beating at the hands of Taue and Kawada. Akiyama comes back into the match with a bit of offense before the Holy demon Army exploit their earlier damage. Misawa comes in on fucking FIRE and destroys both Taue and Kawada. They turn it around on Akiyama and Taue takes Misawa outside for a floor DDT. That allows Kawada to put Akiyama away with a 3 after the stretch plum. One thing I loved here was Kawada doing a delayed vertical suplex on Akiyana after his back had been beaten the crap out of, then covering Akiyama in a way that he could stare right at Misawa.

Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kobashi/Ace 11/23/97 RWTL THIS was an incredible wrestling match. Johnny Ace shows up big time, and you know the other 3 can go. Akiyama has to save Misawa from an Ace crusher that started with him seated on the top turnbuckle. Then Akiyama and Misawa do that sweet, lucha flavored German to German double team out of the corner. Ace makes things interesting afterwards, really pushing Misawa. Misawa has a tigerdriver hooked up just after 29 minutes. Akiyama has Kobashi locked up outside. He hits it in time, but will Ace kick out? If it's true that people didn't think much of this RWTL, I doubt many gave it a real chance. Great fucking match. Holy Demon Army vs. Kobashi/Ace 11/27/97 8 minutes of good stuff. Kawada works on Kobashi's leg and Kobashi hits a dragon screw. Because, you know, it's Kobashi vs. Kawada. Good finishing run, not quite the fever pitch the above match had but still not bad. I have to say, after Hansen and Doc are mostly out of the picture, Ace has emerged as a really good #1 gaijin, almost to their level even.

Jumbo vs. Hansen 4/16/89 is one that I really love that doesn't seem to get a ton of praise. Jumbo finally going off on Hansen is pretty sweet.

Just watched Magnum/Tully for the first time with none of the buildup. Honestly don't see how you could not love it, but different strokes for different folks. LOVED the part where Magnum had the mic in Tuilly's face, then they just started rolling around and clawing at each other's faces. By that point it was an accomplishment to stand up because of the toll the match had taken on both. That was an absolute war. Magnum thinking about going back to gouging Tully afterwards was a great, great touch also. What separates this match from a brawl to me is the sheer amount of hate and refusal to back down even one bit by both. The intensity level in this match is through the roof and I think that elevates it far above calling it just "a brawl".

Misawa/Akiyama vs. Johnny Smith/Wolf Hawkfield 11/17/97 RWTL Wolf Hawkfield proves to be a decent to good wrestler when it comes to execution. His instincts seem off, but the crowd seems unfamiliar with him and he is likely new to the promotion. Johnny Smith is all kinds of fun. He's got a really diverse offense that seems different from anyone else I've seen come through All Japan in the 90s. Also, the crowd really likes him. In fact, they love this team of gaijin who manage to hang with Misawa/Akiyama right up til the end. Misawa gets booed for breaking up a submission. Fuck yes. Can Misawa and Akiyama put the plucky Smith away while keeping Wolf away from breaking up their big pins? Honestly, the finish was great and the crowd was really really into it. Hawkfield busting out the bearhug into an overhead belly to belly was pretty damn sweet. Holy Demon Army vs. Shinzaki/Hayabusa Wow does this crowd love them some Hayabusa and Shinzaki. Kawada and Taue play their roles as dickish heels to perfection. Hayabusa's 450 gets a holy crap big pop, as do most of his flying spots. The setup job Taue and Kawada do on the rope walk is so amazing. Shinzaki setting up his praying powerbomb and Taue kicking him in the face is so sweet. Shinzaki hits that powerbomb after some help from Hayabusa and the crowd is freaking nuclear when Kawada kicks out. Kawada hits a big revenge powerbomb for the 3. Damn fun match. Loving the new faces and how they spice up the product a bit.

Kobashi vs. Misawa 10/21/97 Let's get this out of the way. Yes, there were a lot of head drops. Not many were nosold. Kobashi did his spirit thing way too often. Misawa took way too much punishment. However, that is par for the course at this point and I'm willing to look past that to the way the match plays out around all of that. And it's really, really good. Kobashi hits Misawa with everything including the kitchen sink, but Misawa sticks it out and makes the improbable comeback. In the early stages of the 20+ minute closing stretch, Kobashi takes on the "submit Misawa instead of pin him" strategy and busts out some really great submissions. I hope they book those segments progressively later in the match at some point where it becomes a real threat to Misawa that a guy like Kobashi could, 25 or 30 minutes into the match all of a sudden start really working the neck or back or injured arm or leg for a win over Misawa. They probably won't, but I can dream.