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Burning vs. the Untouchables (Misawa/Ogawa) 3/6/99 Tag Titles The early parts of this match belong to Ogawa. He proves he can go with both Akiyama and Kobashi. Then he becomes the in-peril guy to set up a hot Misawa tag until Kobashi hits a sleeper suplex to kill off the big comeback. Big finishing sequence is really hot, Ogawa even gets in a few really nice nearfalls and the other 3, well, you know they cre pretty capable in those finishing stretches. Taue vs. Vader 3/6/99 Triple Crown Taue actually matches up pretty well with Vader. Until he gets squashed with a splash from the apron after a failed apron nodowa attempt. Then Vader senses blood and kills the midsection with a few running splashes before finishing with a powerbomb. Loving Vader in AJPW, he brings this complete sense of something different to the main event. And he tends to make everything look very, very hurtful without really overdoing it. Short TC match, but very good. I liked Vader putting over Taue after the match. Vader was the first person to hold both the TC and the IWGP Heavyweight title, did not know that. Up next is the Champions' Carnival, featuring that Vader dude. Oh yes.

Misawa vs. Kawada 1/22/99 Triple Crown Great exchange early, looks like it was supposed to be sprint-y build. Then Kawada breaks his arm doing some kind of spinning back chop/fist to the back of Misawa's head. Misawa reacts pretty damn good, getting some elbows and a quick tigerdriver nearfall in place of whatever it is they had in mind. Kawada eventually gets himself back into the match after Misawa leads him through some stuff. They don't blow any of their previous matches out of the water, but it's like the match where Kawada breaks Misawa's face. It's impressive they worked their way to the finish with what happened. Now, I do have several burning questions. #1 WHY THE FUCK did Misawa not call off the ganso bomb spot? Letting a one-armed man drop you vertically on your head has got to be one of the crazier things I've ever seen. #2 Given that the spot happens, why did they not just go with the 3 on that? I get the idea they wanted the brainbuster to be considered dangerous for the future, but really? You're going to tempt fate twice? Crazy, crazy dude Misawa was. That's not to take anything away from the amazing effort put forth by both, just...couldn't they have hacked off the last minute or so and called it on that? Anyway, after the match Misawa needs a little help getting to the back, probably to get his spine decompressed again. Kawada has an ice pack tied to his arm while he's still in the ring. I get this feeling the Kobashi eye injury has something to do with the finish of the Triple Crown match with Misawa last year. Something tells me the way they wrestle is getting a little out of hand and could maybe have been dialed back a bit.

I have to agree with the above poster on things like RoH and "head dropping epics". I've always had trouble watching American indy guys try real hard to emulate puroresu guys by throwing hard elbows and doing dangerous moves. It just seems so overly contrived to me. And if you've read anything from 1995 on in my All Japan topic you know how I feel about head drops being used liberally. I mean, if you look at 6/3/94, there are very, very few head drops. It's been months since I watched it, but I think there are 3 at most. And each one is done for a very specific reason. The truly sad part of 1990s All Japan and 2000 and later Japanese wrestling (to me) is how they took the obvious stuff from AJPW, the head drops and the strike exchanges, and started using them with no thought or attention paid to the why and where in the match they happened. It's as if they watched all of the out of control Kobashi stuff and ignored the early Misawa/Kawada matches (and ignored Taue completely). I mean, when you really get into it, Taue very rarely stayed in strike exchanges too long. H'd either go with a big running big boot or standing enzuigiri, or a choke toss after a few chops that had no effect. Because he knew his strikes otherwise were not up to snuff with what was coming back at him. So he changed it up according to what Akira Taue did well. That's the kind of thing that never registered with all the Japanese and other wrestlers around the world who started doing strike exchanges. It's very much along the same lines as something I read (and agree with) in the Triple H thread. He certainly loves his heroes and tries his best to do what they did in the ring. But he never really got into why they did it and when they did it, and why they chose that moment to do it. So it ends up coming off as a cheap knock-off of that thing that he loves so much. he looks like he's going through the motions of it, because he is. Same goes for those who take 1990s All Japan stuff and put it into their wrestling just to put it in there. Don't get me wrong, I know there are fans out there that think long match + head drops = epic. And I know there are fans who think everything that comes out of Japan is sooo much better than wrestling from the States. I'd like to think that this particular corner of the internet doesn't deal as much with that kind of wrestling fan. Sure, people have their preferences, but I would say that most people here keep a fairly open mind about wrestling and are willing to give things a second or third look if enough other posters call it good. And most are willing to take another look at something they consider great if enough other people talk about the things that aren't right with it.

Holy Demon Army vs. Burning 1/7/99 Tag Titles Kawada is getting his leg worked over after a big clip. Kobashi, taped up head and all (his left eye) is recovering from something. Kawada finally gets the tag and the Holy Demon Army work over Kobashi for a while, then Akiyama. Burning gets their big run of stuff, we end up with Taue vs. Kobashi. Kobashi and Taue hit lariats at the same time, Kobashi follows with a second to take the titles away. Good tag match, but too much Kobashi fighting spirit crap. Also, when a wrestler tapes an injury, they ought to put a big red target on the tape. Kobashi vs. Vader 1/15/99 Vader's entrance is pretty sweet, menacing the crowd with a chair. Kobashi tries playing Vader's game throughout, brawling rather than doing his thing. Kobashi does hit a sweet vertical suplex on Vader. Vader crushes Kobashi like a bug with a splash and Kobashi looks like he's gonna puke. More Kobashi fighting spirit and the match kind of loses me. The Vader moonsault brings me back as Vader hits that for a nearfall, then two of those vaulting body splashes off the first rope for a nearfall, then a jumping splash off the second rope for three. I think vader just took inches off of Kobashi's stomach. A concerned Akiyama tells reporters how Kobashi is kind of fucked up after the match (I think, I don't know Japanese), and Vader complains that gaijin don't get chances at the Triple Crown in a somewhat confused manner. Match had a little unfamiliarity at certain points, but was definitely a fun brawl.

Hansen/Vader vs. Misawa/Ogawa 11/14/98 RWTL Immediately upon seeing the matchup I thought of a Frank Caliendo joke about odd actor pairings in movies. "Robert Deniro, Al Pacino and Richard Dreyfuss in, "Guess Who Got His Ass Kicked." And oh boy, does Ogawa ever get the beatdown thrown on him for every second he is in the ring. Misawa tries to fight off the monster gaijin team after Ogawa has been elft for dead, but Vader squashes him like a bug too. Holy Demon Army vs. Misawa/Shinzaki 1/15/99 There is a tag title match before this one I will watch, but tonight I am in short match mode. Kawada and Misawa have some truly great, intense exchanges that are freaking amazing. Shinzaki...well, let's not talk about him too much because he was passable here. Misawa lays into Kawada late to set up the Misawa/Shinzaki control segment and avenge himself for a few earlier thrashings. Taue decides that he's seen enough and clears out both members of the opposite team with nodowas. Kawada finishes Shinzaki with a powerbomb, without that stupid praying shit beforehand. 1998 was pretty sweet. Kobashi did really well except for the Akiyama match for not giving in to his bad tendencies. Kakihara got a little more confident and his stuff with Kawada was great. Ogawa had a knock-your-socks-off great match with Akiyama. Vader showed up and kicked the crap out of Ogawa and Misawa. All very good things. Wish I had more complete RWTL stuff given the teams involved, but 1998 was actually better than 1997 for the pre-RWTL tours as far as I'm concerned.

I would say pre-1996 easily. But if you move that up to 2001 as suggested earlier it makes it even more compelling.

Misawa vs. Kobashi 10/31/98 Triple Crown I loved this match. In fact, I liked it better than either 1997 match. Less senseless head drops, only a couple of really questionable nosells, and a slow build to a nuclear hot finish. Kobashi working the arm early for as long as he does was pretty pointless, I'll take that away from it. Misawa, oddly enough, blows a couple of spots. We find out after the match why when he has 6 or 7 other wrestlers decompress his fucking spine. I think the thing to take away from that is that every one of the Four Corners, Misawa more than the rest, put a terrible amount of wear and tear on themselves to work this way in the usually very controlled manner that they did. I can only hope that the wrestlers who work in puro today and deal with a far more head-drop centric style understand how to do it a little safer. Otherwise you're going to see a lot of real problems for big names in puroresu as time goes on.

Kobashi/Shinzaki vs. Misawa/Omori 10/24/98 Misawa vs. Kobashi a week before the big one. Clipped to Hell, but given that it was Shinzaki and Omori I'm thankful. Kobashi uses the burning hammer to *gasp* pin Misawa, Must have been the first time he used it, since whatever the awesome play-by-play guy's name is calls it a backbreaker. Holy Demon Army vs. Takayama/Kakihara 10/31/98 Okay, whoever's entrance theme that plays for the UWFi guys has a kickass theme. Muddy Waters baby! And then the Kawada theme comes on, trying to decide which song is cooler. Takayama is so very not over going into this. kakihara is, and the match has a lot to say about why. Tak really doesn't have the confidence in his kicks yet. And his chops and elbows are less stiff than Taue's. When you are in matches with guys like Kakihara and Kawada, weak kicks stand out (see: Akira Taue). His knees are big, but all he is are knees and suplexes at this point, and being able to take damage like a tank. Kakihara is great as the cocky, quick shootstyle guy playing tag with Kawada. Kawada plays his game a while, while Taue tires of it very quickly and gets in close enough to do his power stuff. Kawada doing his slow burn on Kakihara is always fun to watch. Holy Demon Army isolates Takayama and really throw a beating on him to set up the nodowa for 3. Tomorrow is that one match. Between these two kind of well-known guys. I think it goes kind of long.

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.