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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.

I'm doubtful on the whole idea of the buffer match needing to be lower card guys, but I definitely feel like there should be a buffer between emotionally charged matches. For me, watching something like 6/3/94 or 12/6/96, etc. is a very emotionally invested experience. The wrestlers involved in those matches had big feuds going on and even if you hadn't followed those, the way the match was worked draws me (and a lot of people, as I understand it) in as the match progresses. And that tends to make the matches a bit...heavier for lack of a better word. It takes more energy from me, the wrestling fan, to watch those matches than, say, one of the lead-in 6 man tags. So if there is need of a "buffer match", it's more something like a 15-20 minute tag or 6-man with big names that will be having a big match next major show. You're not sticking jobbers in there, but you're allowing the crowd and people watching the whole show to get a little of the mental energy that goes into watching a great wrestling match back.

Holy Demon Army vs. Kobashi/Ace 10/11/97 Slow start, then Kobashi's heavily taped leg comes into play. Well, even without the tape there's a 95% chance of legwork in a Kawada vs. Kobashi match of any sort. Once there is an injury involved it is for sure. They play up the Ace vs. Taue match in the finishing run, which is pretty good on it's own. Taue vs. Ace 10/21/97 15 minute match, but well-worked. Taue gets the lion's share of the early offense. Good exchanges throughout and both hit big stuff, with Taue doing (I think) the reverse nodowa with the opponent landing on his face for the first time. Given it's similarity to an Ace crusher in the impact, it's pretty cool that Taue used that after Ace hit his finisher. Really liking Ace's post-1995 work. Once he started teaming with Doc it seemed like he picked it up more than a few notches.

I would agree with that 100%. They had themselves trapped in a corner where Misawa would either have to cease being the ace and have a level playing field with the other 3 until others could be groomed, or what happened would have to happen. Which leads me to: Misawa vs. Akiyama 9/6/97for the Triple Crown Akiyama gets 2 minutes or so longer than the previous match to wrestle Misawa. He does a bit more damage, works the leg early and goes to it late to slow Misawa down. It doesn't work, the crowd still loves the plucky kid for trying even though they knew (just like anyone else would looking at the names) who was winning. It seemed like a minor step up for Akiyama, and if Misawa comes across as a little too harsh, well, he is superman now. A mere mortal like Akiyama can't get too close or that doesn't work. Misawa/Kawada/Hase vs. Kobashi/Taue/Akiyama This is another match like Kobashi vs. Hase. No real big stories being furthered here besides the Kobashi vs. Kawada and Akiyama vs. Kawada (which was awesome) stuff. You get lots of fun wrestling from matchups you don't see too often. And some nifty double teams from Misawa/Kawada and Kobashi/Taue. This was incredibly enjoyable and some of the stuff was absolutely awesome.

Kobashi/Smith/Ace vs. Misawa/Akiyama/Asako 8/22/97 Fun 8 minutes of chaos on the tail end of a 6 man. Akiyama looks golden. Asako, as always, brings the can-do attitude against bigger opponents. Ace holds his own again. After a certain point he got really good. Kobashi and Akiyama have some damn good exchanges. Kobashi vs. Hase 8/25/97 This match did not have a big history of competition between the two. Nor was it part of a major story. It was just a really well-worked, fun to watch wrestling match. And I loved it. Hase starts on Kobashi's arm, moves to the leg and never lets it get too stale. Kobashi and Hase do some excellent matwork. The chop exchanges are great and tend to favor Kobashi. Giant swing contest! Hase keeps going back to the leg for near-fall submissions and cut-offs late. Hase hits some awesome suplexes. Kobashi hits some of his big stuff. Really, really fun match and well worth watching. Misawa/Akiyama vs. Williams/Albright 8/25/97 World Tag Titles So have I mentioned at all that Williams and Albright are big and like to toss people around a lot? Because that's pretty much how this goes. It's all kinds of fun to watch Misawa and Akiyama try to slay not one, but two monsters. They don't, but the effort was really, really worth the watch.

Misawa vs. Kawada 6/6/97 for the Triple Crown This match was incredible in the opening and middle parts. Great exchanges (I think these two do the best job of keeping them intense but not overdone) and Kawada working over the right arm after Misawa hurt it blocking a gamengiri were the highlights. The finishing sequence is intense, but Kawada does 4 dangerous backdrops in a short time, follows them with a brainbuster and puts on a variation of a triangle hold. That's death right there. Anyway, Misawa gets out of that, takes another dangerous backdrop that he nosells and goes back on offense. That's fucking ridiculous. I did like the change n strategy by kawada, choosing not to pin but attack the neck via submission to put Misawa away. Then they screw up the finish with the ref stopping his 3 count even though it doesn't look like Kawada moves after an elbow. So Misawa uses a German for a 3 right away. Put a good ending on it, that's a classic. As it is, it's great in parts and excessive in others. Misawa vs. Taue 7/25/97 for the Triple Crown Taue dominates this from the start. So much so that I'm not sure Misawa did enough at the end to put him away. Also, the sheer amount of punishment Misawa takes is pretty brutal. Taue looks great here. Okay, so, is Misawa booked a tad too strong? No, at this point it's gone beyond that. But I suppose he had to be brought up to a point well above the other 3 to stay ace. Either way, bleh.

Akiyama vs. Misawa 5/27/97 Akiyama gets quite a few nice nearfalls on Misawa. There are a few times where he really has him on the ropes. Misawa comes back, but Misawa is still scrappy even kicking out of a tigerdriver. A second puts him away. Good stuff from both, and the crowd is really behind Akiyama. Akiyama does nosell a German towards the end, but I'll ignore it mostly. Holy Demon Army vs. Kobashi/Ace 5/27/97 for the World Tag Titles This is JIP to the finishing stretch. It's good back-and-forth with all four delivering. Ace vs. Taue is highlighted. The crowd is really, really hot. Finish is good, but I could use less of the Kobashi double fist "spirit" crap.

Kawada/Taue/Omori vs. Kobashi/Ace/Patriot 5/18/97 This match seemed to have two purposes. First was to give the idea that Ace and Taue don't like one another. Second was to give Patriot, Ace and Omori a chance to show their stuff in a fairly high profile matchup. Omori isn't much in his first stretch in the match but brings his game up as he goes. Ace and Patriot deliver up until patriot leaves the cover early on the 3 count. Dude, really? Fun tag match, did what it was supposed to do.

Fairly famous trifecta here. Misawa vs. Kobashi 4/19/97 CC Final #1 Misawa, Kobashi and Kawada tied, and Kawada got the lucky draw. I liked how this match went, with Kobashi getting aggressive early to try and put the ace away. He teases a few big moves before Misawa sends him to the floor after an elbow to cut off a flying shoulder and hits a Ricky Marvin plancha. This match had Misawa throwing every rope-variation I have seen him do besides that second turnbuckle 360 kick. Kobashi goes back on offense and after several great nearfalls and a very well-placed sleeper that kills Misawa, Kobashi hits a....Russian legsweep and covers. I don't think he gets that you have to build the nearfalls UP to keep the momentum of the match moving forward. Misawa is back in control and hits more of his high flying stuff. Kobashi goes back on offense after a missed diving elbow from Misawa. Misawa elbows a lariat after some hot nearfalls. Misawa looks like he's going to put this one to bed, but Kobashi hits a lariat to a charging Misawa to bring things back his way. Kobashi has a powerbomb nearfall that the fans sort of react to, seems like the jig is up. In a stroke of genius, an orange crush is fought over, then hit for a really big nearfall. And then Kobashi goes for a cover after a...dropkick. Look, I get the idea of desperation pinning attempts towards time limit. But this is Misawa and you're trying to pin him after a dropkick? Zero reaction. Misawa blocks a lariat and Kobashi goes for the pin again. This one makes far more sense than the dropkick, but that finish could have been far, far better. Misawa vs. Kawada 4/19/97 CC Final #2 Boy does Misawa get his ass handed to him here. He gets in some elbows and makes Kawada work a bit for it, but it ends up going powerbomb, stretch plum, powerbomb, stretch plum, powerbomb, 3. Kawada looks like he just swallowed the most bitter pill anyone ever had to swallow afterwards. I guess if the first time I pinned my archrival in a singles match came under those circumstances, I'd probably feel about the same. Kobashi vs. Kawada 4/19/97 CC Final #3 Oh man, words cannot describe how awesome this match is. Kawada goes back after the right arm of Kobashi that Misawa hurt. Kobashi goes after Kawada's left leg. Wouldn't be Kawada vs. Kobashi without some leg work. Kawada, fresh off his own battle with his own pride, punches Kobashi in the face while he's trying to put on a figure four. This is impressive as psychology given the character of Kenta Kobashi. That was a fucking CHALLENGE motherfucker! Kobashi wins the strike exchange, but forgets the leg, which comes into play later. Kobashi tries an early powerbomb and Kawada goes right back to the arm. Kobashi hits a lariat and momentarily looks to be going to the leg until Kawada starts kicking him in the face. That motherfucker wants to play again, this time Kawada gets dumped on his head with a German but again the leg is forgotten. Kobashi hits some very big nearfalls, misses a lariat and hits an enzuilariat. He wants the lariat but Kawada hits a gamengiri! They are both down for a bit, Kawada hits a dangerous backdrop that Kobashi tries to fight through but eats another gamengiri. Bet he's regretting not working the leg earlier. Kawada puts on the most brutal stretch plum I've seen. Kawada works up to a powerbomb...see how that works Kobashi, he worked UP to his big nearfall instead of hitting it, then going back to a suplex. Back to the match, Kawada has this great "are you shitting me?" look on his face after the powerbomb kickout. The crowd is nuclear also. Kawada hits an abisegiri, Kobashi won't go down. Another abisegiri, still not going down. Gamengiri!!! 3! I love how Kawada played into Kobashi's pride (especially after not pinning Misawa in match 1) to keep the leg fresh for later, all while keeping pressure up on the arm to throw Kobashi's game off. Then in the end, Kobashi refusing to fall over (in addition to the earlier lack of legwork) ends up getting him kicked in the head enough for the 3. Great, great stuff.

Misawa vs. Kawada 4/2/97 CC Fucking wow. This match ruled on so many levels. They didn't work it like a 30 minute draw at any point during the match despite the 90%+ chance that it was going that direction due to it being a 30 minute time limit. At one point during the big Misawa nearfall section near the end, I really got this feeling that Kawada was going to put together something big for the end. I knew from the match length he wasn't, but the way they worked the match had me looking for the big Kawada run that put Misawa away for the first time. The last 8 minutes of the match are absolutely amazing. Every time I think All Japan has found a way to work a draw that can't be topped, they manage to do it. I think one aspect of the Misawa comeback that I, at the very least, have been sleeping on so far is the way he times his counters (frankensteiner to powerbomb attempt, etc.). He always seems to do this RIGHT where the opponent has this massive wave of momentum and if this bomb doesn't put him away, the next one is sure to. It gives him just enough time to regroup and take a few big bombs before landing a few elbows to give him the necessary breathing room.

Williams/Ace/Kea vs. Misawa/Akiyama/Asako This had some fun parts. Ace, Akiyama and Asako all contributed as much or more then you would expect. This match was a lead-in to Misawa vs. Williams. The few times there was interaction, it was good. Kea was pretty...there I guess? Not much that he did seemed like it mattered. Asako at least, when he's in these 6 mans, brings this attitude of "I'm gonna hang with the big name guys!" He even hits this sweet looking front flip into what seems like a proto-emerald frosion off the top for a nearfall in this one. Ace brings it too, there is this great spot where Misawa goes for his tigerdriver -> backdrop -> tiger suplex on Williams and Ace sees it coming. Misawa eats a lariat as Williams ducks. Great teaser for a big match right there and puts Ace over as a smart wrestler. Finishing run is a bit too chaotic for some of the people in the match and they seem lost. Akiyama vs. Taue CC 97 Handheld and Akiyama looks like he may catch Taue with another surprise exploder, but Taue gets the shoulder up this time. Taue is so great at putting Akiyama over, even if Akiyama doesn't always need the help. Taue makes sure Akiyama stays down with a really brutal run of moves to finish the match. Kobashi vs. Akiyama CC 97 Twenty minutes of awesome here. They do a little matwork along with some intense exchanges early and it's all very good. There is this Kobashi spinning back chop in the middle where Akiyama takes it on the upper part of the cheek near the eye. Ouch. The finishing run is great for more than one reason. The lack of unnecessary head drops and nosells is good, as is the sense of struggle for every big move that leads to a nearfall. Nothing is easily gotten and the big momentum change was well done. Akiyama busts out the blue thunder! I love how the bump can make a simple DDT look ridiculously evil. Also, Kobashi going glassy-eyed after a big nearfall was pretty sweet. A late exploder tease sets up the big finish.

Akiyama vs. Taue 1/20/97 Short, 5 minutes. Great stuff packed into that 5 minutes though. The expression on Taue's face post-match is fucking great. Kobashi vs. Misawa 1/20/97 for the Triple Crown This was great. Opening 15 minutes were really good, heated exchanges, momentum swings, a few tigerdriver teases, and a Misawa DDT bump that fucking rocks. Kobashi working the ribs for a while is pretty good, Misawa sells it well. Misawa hits a ridiculous 360 degree second rope sidekick to the chest. I love how he has all this high-flying offense he busts out on occasion. Misawa runs his elbow into the guard rail on a dive and the meaty part starts. Kobashi gets some seriously sweet arm offense in and the crowd is popping for submissions like nearfalls. Misawa elbows a lariat and now we got two guys with arms that aren't doing so hot. The finishing stretch is awesome and really, really well-worked with a minimum of no-selling. There is downtime, but the punishment that is dished out in this match warrants it.

It's more a must-see for the historic factor. That match put Misawa in the main event solidly. The Hansen match later on seemed like it made him "the man". Neither were Misawa's best matches in-ring, but they are a big part of the history. I will agree on Steamboat vs. Macho from WM3. It was definitely a great match, but I've seen a lot better out of Steamboat.

Damn, I have yet to watch that Joe vs. Kobashi match, and now I really don't want to...

I thought the early match was pretty incredible as far as setting up the late match. Akiyama yet again shows up Kawada and Taue by merely hanging with them right away. So when they get their first big shot at him, they ruthlessly beat him down. Not playing with him or slapping him, walking away when he wants to fight, but just beating on him. Even after he got the pin on Kawada, they still had yet to really get serious on Akiyama from the beginning of the match, that is until this one. There's so much good stuff in the opening part, too. Kawada, during the Akiyama beatdown, giving Misawa the "stay out of it" look right before putting the seated sleeper on Akiyama. Taue standing between Kawada putting the sleeper on Akiyama and Misawa. The Akiyama/Misawa offense that looks like they are going to have a repeat of the taped RWTL is pretty essential to this match. That and the subtext of Taue vs. Misawa in comparison to Kawada vs. Misawa in terms of WHY Kawada has so much trouble with Misawa. Kawada has always tried to beat Misawa at Misawa's game. He'll go strike for strike, bomb for bomb, won't back down from anything but the occasional rolling elbow. His pride forces him to TAKE whatever Misawa is gonna dish out that won't put him away and get through it like Misawa does to him. Taue has no such delusions. He's going to do what he thinks will beat Misawa. If that's getting out of the way of a flying clothesline and tossing Misawa down on his face, fine. Ducking a running elbow, sure. This really helps him vs. Misawa as far as stopping the big momentum Misawa gets when Kawada or Kobashi try to go strike for strike with him and Misawa wins and hits a few big moves as follow-ups. It also keeps Taue from overextending himself and getting into bad spots. How many times does Misawa catch Kobashi or Kawada after a big whiff during a strike exchange and suplex them over, or at the very least use that to his advantage to swing momentum his way? How many times does he do that to Taue? That's the kind of stuff that really stands out to me in the way they wrestle these matches. How their personality really has a lot to do with their strengths and weaknesses, and what it allows them to exploit in each other.

Misawa/Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army 12/6/96 RWTL Finals As with 6/9/95 I'm not going to do any kind of play-by play or anything on this. It's something that if you haven't seen, you should. And if you have, watch it again real soon. Loved the brutality towards Akiyama after the big apron nodowa at 23 minutes. Anytime he showed any sign of life at all, Kawada and/or Taue would end him...again. Misawa's valiant struggle against the inevitable was epic and awesome and incredible, along with any other superlatives you may want to throw into that list that I didn't. Not forgetting at all that the build up to that point was great, but that final 8-10 minutes was absolutely jaw-dropping. All four guys really brought their A+ game to this match. When you look at the participants, that should tell you how great this actually is. So 1996 is done, and it was another really good year. Kobashi was still good at all the things he was before 96, he just started adding or accentuating a lot of his more annoying habits. Kawada had a lot of fun matches opposite Misawa and Akiyama that really, really, really made you love all 3. Taue had a good year as well, winning both the Champions Carnival in his first headlining match as the only native and beating Misawa for the Triple Crown in what I thought was a definitive Taue performance. The TC match with Kobashi was pretty damn good too. And Jun Akiyama had a Hell of a year for a guy who debuted in September of 92. Roughly 3 and a half years in and he's working big matches with Kawada and Taue as his foils. The thing that gets me is that he plays his role to perfection and more than holds up his end of any match he is in. His 96 has to be one of the better years anyone has had in wrestling at 3-4 years in the business. Oh, have I mentioned that the RWTL in 96 was fucking amazing? Because it was. Some of the head-drop and noselling nonsense that gets out of control in later 90s All Japan is rearing it's ugly head, but I'm doing my best to not highlight that any more than I have to. Except for days when I am a tad more grumpy than normal.

Holy Demon Army vs. Misawa/Akiyama 11/29/96 RWTL Everything I've watched from this year's RWTL with these two teams has been really, really good. Let's hope this is no different. Taue and Akiyama start out with Akiyama goading Taue into a brawling match. The faces work Taue's leg before shit hits the fan. Akiyama takes a floor nodowa while Kawada and Misawa fight around the other side. Misawa (the legal man) takes a doomsday device style floor nodowa with Taue coming from the apron. Then Kawada hits him with a floor powerbomb not too much later. Holy Demon Army is in firm control of this match even when Misawa tags Akiyama. Misawa and Akiyama scramble like mad to get any kind of offense together, but when they do it's awesome to watch. Crowd is popping like mad for almost the whole finishing sequence. Incredible match. One thing that stood out to me was Taue chucking Akiyama at Misawa as he came in to get Akiyama out of a nodowa. The second time Taue tried it, Misawa caught Akiyama and started the big comeback. REALLY looking forward to 12/6! Misawa/Akiyama vs. Williams/Ace 11/30/96 RWTL Guessing they tied and this is for the shot at winning the tag league, as they already had a great match in the tag league this year. Oh yeah, MORE ACE! Not something I would have expected myself to be happy about, but I am. Akiyama starts things out by charging Williams and soon eats a backdrop driver. That's gonna leave a mark. Ace and Williams work over Misawa for a few minutes. During this time Williams comes off the top rope to meet a Misawa elbow. Ouch. Akiyama saves Misawa and takes the tag. They work over Ace and hold off Williams, but Ace is kicking out of everything and still fighting back. Misawa hits a tigerdriver, rolls out and hits another for 3 at..7 minutes? Who cares, the match was still awesome. Great sprint, but given who was involved that is no surprise. One more match left in 96. You know the one. I'm looking forward to it, hopefully work goes by fast tomorrow.

Maybe he forgot his mask and they improvised.