G. Badger

I have put a pause on my AJPW 2002 project for the time being. In the meantime, I thought I would share some "vintage" Dr. Death Steve Williams reviews. Early 2000's AJPW has renewed my interest & appreciation for him. He's certainly not at his prime but he brings something special to every match. So below is a collection of reviews of his peak era AJPW work. I'm going to remove any spoilers that I wrote and if you're looking for stars (*) in your reviews, this one has got 'em Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams (07/24/91) Awesome fun stuff here with Miracle Violence Connection looking like the toughest tag team ever. They went after Misawa's face and then his leg which I'm sure both were legitimately injured. Tremendous selling from Misawa & is what made it very special. Kawada was a very good number two playing the part of being Robin to Misawa's Batman. Cool, cool stuff. **** or maybe ****1/4 Editor's note: 02/26 Gordy/Williams vs Misawa/Kawada & 12/06: Gordy/Williams vs Misawa/Kawada from 1991 are great matches as well. I don't have reviews written up for them but they are ****+ matches. Jumbo & Akira Taue & Ogawa vs. Williams & Gordy & Richard Slinger (05/25/92) ***3/4+ A solid match by all standards and was quite entertaining. Both teams brought a lot of intensity and that goes a long way for me. It probably could have been a little shorter as the pacing was a bit askew. It was a good match nonetheless with Ogawa, Slinger , and Gordy being the standouts & Joe was the referee (the fans counted faster than he did!) Steve Williams/Terry Gordy vs. Stan Hansen/Joel Deaton (06/03/93) ***1/4 Although it was only 6 minutes & 47 seconds this match was all action. It was rather one sided though, as Gordy ambushed Hansen and the Miracle Violence Connection double teamed the whole time like it was a Tornado Tag match (maybe it was). Deaton tried his best to save Hansen but he was no match for Gordy & Dr. Death. There was no pacing or a match just a display of violence and Hansen's toughness. Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi (08/31/93) ***** Stiff AJPW brawling punctuated by 3 of the deadliest backdops ever! But the match is much more than the last 5 minutes it's that just those backdrops come out of nowhere and take your breath away. Rewatch: Wow! this is a fantastic, hard-hitting match. Each man gives it their all and the execution is brilliant and the timing is perfect. Kobashi would have loads of other classic singles bouts but to me this is Dr. Death's pinnacle! If one wants to know why Steve Williams is a legend, this match is all the evidence needed. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams (09/03/93) **** Dr. Death held up his end of the deal with plenty of exciting moves and a palpable sense that he wanted to win the Triple Crown. Misawa did an excellent job selling but, the match lacked a real sense of direction and the finish was flat. I would place the blame on Misawa. I think his great matches come out of familiarity & rivalry...not top gaijin vs. second banana native like Kobashi. There was no real offense on his end that would warrant a comeback victory. Elbows are great especially from Misawa but, I felt they were kinda soft or maybe Williams oversold them. The one thing that was preserved was the great execution AJPW is known for but, it lacked the build that the company was known for as well. Everything can't be a classic..still a great match. The bar is really high in '93. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams Champion Carnival Finals (04/16/94) I don't know but this one is a clear re-watch candidate. I didn't like the transition from Williams to Kawada other than he must have really messed Dr. Death up with the somersault kick. It was one of the best I've seen so, that may have done it...Williams was throwing Kawada around like a ragdoll though. It could have gone on a few more minutes or with a bit more back & forth before the finish. Anyhow, Williams was just so awesome here but, Kawada probably let him have too much offense for the type of finish they went for. I don't know if that was Doc or K's decision. I could have been Doc's since he's the senior worker (I think). As it stands: ****1/4+ Re-Watch: I watched a clipped version (maybe the first 6-7 minutes cut out) and it was still very good stuff. In fact, I'm comfortable putting it up a notch. Kawada was so damn stiff where the transition was that I'll warrant that he legit screwed Dr. Death up. There was a gaff by the TV crew as they showed both guys talking on the mat in between big moves & this seemed like an "uh-oh!" regarding kayfabe. I mean I probably could have done with out it. They weren't looking at each other & the camera was zoomed in tight on their faces so maybe they were talking to Wada the ref. It sorta killed the next spot though since you just saw them talking it out...possibly. Still damn good stuff & really good in putting over Kawada's big moves. People talk about K's performance but I thought he overdid the selling a couple times but other times I wasn't sure if he was really hurt or what so it balances out. Dr. Death I thought did very good as well but, his job as monstrous gaijin bruiser is much easier to portray. Still he does a damn good job! With a little more action at the end this could have been nibbling at 4.75 stars. Still if you want to see one match with Doc and/or Kawada this is not a bad one to go with...just a very nice example of AJ puroresu. ****1/2 Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi Triple Crown (09/03/94) I thought they gave Kobashi a bit too much time to get over as the budding super hero but, overall it was a pretty damn good match. Williams was really fun and dangerous, if that's possible. Kobashi really knew when to turn his offensive stuff up a couple notches. Still, he needs someone to take his suplexes in order to appear multi-faceted. Much of his early stuff was chops and leg drops. Although he did get a couple backdrops & a German on Williams, the only convincing near-fall slam was the REDACTED. I still probably would like their '93 match better but this one was a nice companion and a must own for Dr. Death fans like myself. ****1/4 Williams vs. Toshiaki Kawada Triple Crown (10/22/94) I liked this more than the Kobashi match as it never had a big Kawada on offense section where Williams wasn't try to spoil it. It really helped that both guys sold the effects of the fight so well. To augment that, they really went after each other's weak spots and there were allusions to the Carnival match but, it went in a better, more believable direction. In fact, contrary to all other reviewers I liked this better than the 04/16/94 match although the score is ultimately equal. ****1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace (03/04/95) ****1/2 The accumulation of little things brought this match-up to a 4.5 star rating. The beginning portion was rather messy as far as it's direction and Dr. Death was being rather soft and cartoonish. My feeling is: if you're not comfortable striking then don't strike. This rule really applies to Doc in this match. In they early portion, he was really a drain. Until he & Ace started working on Misawa's striking arm, this match was looking at a **1/2 rating. It was going nowhere but did have some cool moments/moves. Then the match worked up to boil. The moves had meaning and there was some urgency brought to each pinfall cover. Even then this match was only at a *** or ***1/2 (which compared to most other leagues is acceptable). At some point in time Misawa, Ace, & Kobashi got their shit together and took this match somewhere memorable. Doc, however, simply filled a role as the interloper...knocking people off aprons, ax-handling would be pinners, and the like. Although he must be commended for some of the most deadly moves of the match! Overall though, the only ones who brought intensity were Kobashi & Ace. Essentially it was a match between them with their respective partners as seconds.In regards to the length of the match at 36 min...let's say if they cut out the crap from the start and shaved of a few seconds worth of stalling this puppy could have been great. If they had condensed it to tag matches of old at 25 minutes or so, this would easily be ****3/4 stars, telling a story of native vs gaijin & one of equality but here it's a ****1/2 by a hair... Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams - Champion Carnival FINAL (04/20/96) This is quite physical in terms of slams and moves for two guys that don’t really take those big bumps. Every move wasn’t as crisply executed as hoped for. This was due to the men’s sizes. Still, it was quite amazing because they pulled them off in a believable manner; very much in the Tsuruta/Tenryu days. It was apparent that chemistry was not working on the same level as with the other 3 or 4 big natives. Kobashi would have been a great fit with either guy but, from a story perspective, I can understand. It is definitely something different and it must be commended for that. ****+ Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace (06/07/96) A pure 20+ minute spree of excitement and nearfalls. Ace has never looked better, and his chemistry with Akiyama is what made this match so great. Doc once out of the limelight really showed his strength as a brilliant tag wrestler (again). He and Ace were such a standout team because of this dynamic. Akiyama played his role brilliantly and Misawa was ace but also big brother (again). This was his role here and it was masterful as ever and touched an emotional nerve. The dynamic with Doc and Akiyama was rough in the early going but as it became more heated, one forgot this segment of the action. It was clear this match was for Ace and Akiyama to shine and they did not disappoint. ****1/2 If you have never checked out Dr. Death in AJPW, absolutely go watch these this week. If it's been a while since you've watched 90's AJPW then, pick a match or two to revisit. Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the delay! My family health issues are ongoing and I really haven't been in the mood to watch wrestling. I have chipped away at my list and finally got this week done. It wasn't a slog or anything at all. In fact, I've really enjoyed it. It's the diversion that I've needed. I'm just not in the head space to watch it on a regular basis right now. Arashi, Nobukazu Hirai & Nobutaka Araya vs. Dr. Death, Mike Rotunda & Yuto Aijima (07/17): A fun steak and egg kind of match. If this was a little crisper in a few places, this could actually have been quite good. Still I liked it Also from this show is the classic Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (07/17/2002) match. Gaora recently posted this so I'll share it here: Great Koji vs Great Muta (07/20): Muto wrestled 3 times this show. Once as Kokushi Muso (the monk) vs Hayashi, then another as Muto in 6 man legends match then this match. Gaora has it here: Tenryu vs Taiyo Kea (07/20): Ooohhh!!! This was great (and shown in full from TV)! 15 minutes of Kea & Tenryu beating the crap outta each other. The Kea vs Tenryu rivalry/angle is really slept on in my opinion. It's very much "younger" guy taking on the legend to prove himself. I think the angle really establishes Kea as a star that no other matchup could. See the 2001 matches & my reviews for context. This is the one to watch!! Arashi, Nobutaka Araya & Yuto Aijima vs. Yoji Anjo, Mitsuya Nagai & Shigeo Okumura (AJPW PPV 08 30 2002): This was OK. It had no real flow but there's a couple neat moments and I liked the finish. I definitely believe they could have done better BUT I think the purpose of the match was to put over Nagai's roundhouse kick. You're probably not going to watch it so I spoiled the ending. Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo & Gran Naniwa vs. Johnny Smith & George Hines & Gran Hamada (08/30): Fun match but nothing you couldn't see elsewhere. It was cool that the heavyweight guys really put over Naniwa & Hamada's moves. Naniwa was actually the standout of the whole thing to be honest. Dr. Death & Hines were good too. Thanks for reading! Take care of yourself...take your health seriously. Things don't always get better on their own. If you've got some health concerns and are nervous about seeing a doctor then, talk to a friend, family member or co-worker. They might be able to help in some way. See if there's tele-health available to you or maybe there's a YouTube video that can help with your symptoms. Anything proactive is better than ignoring it OR thinking you're fucked & giving up at the start. And once you gets started, keep momentum. Starting is the hardest part so long as you keep doing the work. It sucks to have to confront this stuff... regardless if it's your health or a loved ones. But to be honest, you'll have to confront it sooner or later. I'm telling you that sooner is better... it sucks BUT it sucks less because you'll be saving yourself or others a ton of hassle and grief. OK that's my PSA! Hopefully that helps someone out there in webland...just if you're going through something similar, you're not alone

Things are starting to pick up with AJPW 2002. Arashi vs Satoshi Kojima (04/01): Fantastic heavyweight battle! Arashi being a super heavyweight is fun. Cozy can basically hit him as hard as he wants. Arashi/Isao Takagi is big enough that he can toss and pummel Cozy with confidence. His sleeper hold looks great & don't forget his awesome frog splash! Exactly what you want in a 13 minute Carnival match. Maybe I'm getting old but, I'm really enjoying these shorter matches... there's no fluff. Tenryu vs Muto (04/01): Rough around the edges at times but in a good way. Muto bled and Tenryu was in his element - chops, punches and lariats. I am appreciating Muto's explosive offense more than I have in the past. It works here since he's fighting from underneath most of the time. What was also cool is Tenryu wouldn't let Muto capitalize on his dragon screw and kneecap drop kicks. My favorite bit was when he jabbed him in the jaw right when he was going to sink in the Figure Four. Nearly a great match... but at 14 minutes, I think that was their goal. Glad I saw this in full. Muto vs Kea (04/02): Whoa shown in full & pretty long too! It was pretty good too. The beginning with all the wrestling was excellent stuff. They transitioned into Kea working over Muto's leg the Muto working over Kea's leg. I think Muto could have sold his preexisting damage a little better especially given his tendency to spring up & attack. This honestly is what held it back from being a great match. The finish was nice and played off the parity they were selling. Kea looked really good here by the way. Kea vs Dr Death (04/03): Another match shown in full!? Sweet! More very good stuff. Doc tricks Kea from the outset and this is on. Solidly paced match with lots of good moves throughout. We even see Doc do some Muto like moves! Kojima vs Anjo (04/04): Really good match! Another edited one where I can't tell what was cut. Says it's 18 minutes but I saw 12 here. A little bit of dueling legwork. Nice to see Anjo as most of his Carnival matches are clipped to show the last minute or two. Muto vs Kojima CC (04/10): This isn't the final but it should have been and for my blog, it is the final Champion Carney match...the real final stinks. That said it isn't wrestled like a big time match but is totally unique. Muto's eschews his usual leg attack and instead opts to go after Kojima's arm. Kojima doesn't actually bring too much to the match and it feels a little phoned in...but again the victor has another match this night. Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang & Hi69 vs. Kazushi Miyamoto & Gran Naniwa & Ryuji Hijikata (04/13): Don't get me wrong there area few Jr. matches over this period of AJ that make TV. Most don't look worthwhile or shown in full but this one did...and it's probably Kaz Hayashi. And without a doubt the highlight is Kaz vs Gran Naniwa channeling Michinoku Pro '96 for a couple minutes. Jimmy Yang has some cool moves too...and everyone else looks good as well. This was fun! Arashi & Nobutaka Araya vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Shigeo Okumura (04/13): Was tempted to skip this for time but so glad I didn't! This was great! This was a tank emptying big time match with mid card guys. This reminded me of something you'd see in IWA Japan. There were some flubs but they make up for it in heart & intensity. I dug this one. Muto vs Tenryu (04/13): Pretty sure this is shown in full but it's not very long...another masterful AJPW edit? Perhaps... anyhow this isn't pretty but it's scrappy and full of twists. And that is what I want from a Tenryu match and even 2002 Muto as well. I thought this was great because of the twists and the little things they do. This 04/13 show feels like WAR lives on. Muto & Shinzaki vs Kojima & Hines (05/01): Muto is doing his monk persona so he and Shinzaki are a really cool looking tag team. Hines and Kojima aren't going to be out done. Hines is wearing Muto's pants and Kojima is the Great Kojika (Muta homage). About half shown...this was a lot of fun. Arashi, Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs. Keiji Muto, George Hines, & Kaz Hayashi (AJPW TV 05/12): In a bit more fun, Hines & Hayashi are dressed as Muto. Kaz even has his head shaved! Team WAR doesn't give a fat crap! They will beat all of them up! This is a blast. Exactly the fun 11 minute 6 man match you want. Only thing missing is a super crazy Kaz dive but I'm not complaining Nothing too crazy this time but, a lot of enjoyable wrestling. Both Tenryu vs Muto matches are worth your time. But Arashi & Nobutaka Araya vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Shigeo Okumura (04/13) was probably my favorite match overall. I really enjoy the tone of AJ at this time...it's very much dream booking WAR. Thanks for reading! Stay safe!

We're back with more wrestling action! Let's take a look at AJPW 2002! Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Yoji Anjo (01/14/02): Almost got this mixed up thinking it was 2001...anyhow fun match here. Tenryu basically gets to hit Arashi as hard as he wants. Kitahara is badass as is Anjo who pulls out the shoot style moves to keep things spicy. Kawada vs Hase (01/14/02): This is shown in full on the Gaora YT page below. Good to very good match. It wasn't fully developed though. Hase was only working part time so this felt more like a novelty rather than a challenge for Kawada. Don't get it twisted, this was really fun stuff - good mat wrestling at the start, nice strikes from both, suplexes. However, Hase wasn't really putting Dangerous K in trouble. In fact, it felt like he steam rolled the former Olympian in 13 minutes. Everything looked great though so if you're a fan of either guy then, you want to watch this! Keiji Mutoh vs. Toshiaki Kawada (02/24/2002) is one I highly recommend you watch. I know some people may not like it and I'm not a Muto devotee but I think it's a classic. Now we're on to the 2002 Champion Carnival! Kojima vs Mitsuya Nagai (03/23): 2nd half shown.. it was good but I think I missed the story aspects completely. Really dug Kojima's lariats! Muto vs Dr Death (03/24): Badass 15 minute Champion Carnival match! This was well paced & built. This match works because both guys are long in the tooth...down but not out at all. I don't have much else to add because this felt like a perfect TV episode main event match between two of AJ's biggest stars. It's got the build but it's not too long. It's got the moves but it's not all about them. Very good to great match. Gaora has shared this below. Stick around for the Dr. Death promo/interview at the end - RIP: Kea vs Rotunda (03/26): 1/2 shown which was about 30 minutes... and I thought this was a really good old school match. It could have taken place in 1984 in the best way. Don't know if this is available in full anywhere but what is shown was very enjoyable. George Hines vs Muto (03/26): Too damn short since it was a real quality headlock match. This could have went on a couple minutes more and I would have been happy. Kea vs George Hines (03/27): Another edited match but I have no idea where the cuts were. This has a lot more going on the the Muto one. Too short to call it very good but I really liked this one. Tenryu vs Dr. Death (03/27): Fun under 10 minute match! Mainly punches and chops. Of course they could have done more but I ain't gonna hate on it. Yoji Anjo vs Mitsuya Nagai (03/28): Only a third shown, it was rough around the edges but in a fun way. I'm not sure I want to see the full thing though But it sure was a battle. Muto vs Mike Rotunda (03/28): They said this was 13 minutes but this looked shown in full at around 8 minutes. Anyway, I liked this a bunch since 95% of it was wrestled like it was 1987 Over way too soon though but **spoiler** the Shining Wizard was the big move in wrestling. This is a very good start to the year. If nothing else the roster is really getting along well after 2001. More good stuff to come

Thanks for waiting This wasn't a "quickie" blog post/watch...but for consistency I'll label it such. Now onto ASW V Night 2! No Holds Barred Match Joey Ryan vs. Kevin Steen - I'm not sure how I feel about having this booked first but they didn't make this an over-long match. It was heated and pretty brutal with some of the spots BUT it didn't feel like a hardcore spot fest. Steen can definitely get over indulgent with the brutality but I think it was just right here. If you legitimately don't like Joey Ryan, you might want to watch this. Great match ----- Rocky Romero, Ronin & TJ Perkins vs. Karl Anderson, Lil Cholo & Nosawa - This was a fun match. I would have been happy with Rocky & TJ vs Lil Cholo & Nosawa though. ----- Chris Hero vs. Davey Richards - I watched this after the comedy match below and I actually thought it was funnier. Davey was a riot This was a good match perhaps like ***1/2 stuff. In addition to the comedy, there was some good wrestling. They absolutely had lots left in the gas tank. ----- Colt Cabana & Top Gun Talwar vs. Disco Machine & Kikutaro - I kinda passively watched it. It was funny in parts. I think Kikutaro vs Colt would have been better but again I half paid attention. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Alex Shelley - Unfortunately my disc has some flaw because after a few minutes of pretty good mat wrestling, the fucker locked up. I tried going to the next chapter/match and rewinding until I got to other side of the lock up but no dice which leads me to... Kaz Hayashi vs. PAC - Fortunately the disc issue wasn't with the whole rest of the DVD. But it's on 75%? of the Shelley/Claudio and 50% of this match. This one was a selling point along with the main event. Still I'd rather have a joined in progress match than none at all. And whoo doggy this was a great junior fireworks match from what I saw. PAC really is one of the standout wrestlers of 2024 for me. Lotsa big moves, cool counters and just about everything I wanted...except the first half of the match Hayashi had a great weekend in SoCal as did PAC. ----- Jack Evans & Roderick Strong vs. Arrogance (Chris Bosh & Scott Lost) - Pretty damn good match. Jack & Strong do some crazy double team moves here. Roddy hits Chris Gosh like he hates him. Scott Lost is as solid as ever. Jack only flubs one move but Bosh handles it perfectly by mocking Jack and using as an opportunity to tag in the fresh Scott Lost. It actually looked organic. The only bummer is we don't A clean finish because Super Dragon & Davey run-in and spoil it. Still it feels like a good ending El Generico (c) vs. Human Tornado - Very good match..I actually enjoyed this more than the Claudio/Tornado match from night #1. Generico and Tornado have good chemistry and I liked their 2 Skinny Black Dudes tag team. I didn't think that there was anything spectacular here but was well wrestled. Although Generico did a top rope Quebrada so that was pretty awesome. The spots with Candice were pretty creative without being downright nasty. Yeah this might have been a case of lowered expectations from the previous show with Tornado but I liked this Low Ki vs Samoa Joe - A hard hitting, serious affair. No PWG jokes here. That said this felt sorta dry even though the intensity was there. I honestly think the lack of internal story or stakes is what held this back from being a classic match. That said, that's the only drawback of the fight. This is the Ki vs Joe match you want to see. Near classic match. ----- Woo-hoo! Finally got through this DVD. Man stuff is really touch and go from way day to the next with the family health stuff. Had a few chill days and was able to watch most of this very good show. Then having the time & mental energy to watch Joe vs Ki was a bit of a struggle. I'm glad I found the half hour or so to get it done. Anyway, hope you are doing well, take care and thank you for reading!

I think that's a pretty good assessment of Ibushi being the quintessential 2010's wrestler especially now that I've got the hindsight...The sometimes unnecessarily complex moves but mixed with stiff strikes. Kinda like who Ricochet seemed to emulate? Given the right opponent, I like Ibushi. Nakamura is that opponent here. And this match is really about prime era Nakamura. He was the big draw to me during this period of NJPW. And the weird charisma was really something special... But he's got the movements and moves to back it up. Those strikes were great! I will disagree that I don't think he gave Ibushi too much in this fight. Nak gave enough to get him over as a credible player for future matches. But again, I'm saying this in 2024. Watching a rerun of the USA AXS episode, we hear Ibushi say post match he gave it his all but Nakamura definitely had more to give. That's a true statement. Overall this was a very good to great match and if you happen to come across this bout, definitely give it a watch...even if to remember/see for the first time how cool Nakamura was.

I never thought that I would have done 350 blog posts when I had started this. Doing the blog has helped me keep up with my wrestling watching. There's been times where there's been burnouts or I just don't have the time/energy to get any watching in. This blog has motivated me to keep up with the hobby. But I think my biggest motivation is to share my views with everyone reading... and not because I think I've got the best reviews out there I want to help spread the word about wrestling from years past. I think many PWO members feel this way too whether they acknowledge it or not. I'm also motivated to post to maybe provide that one review that convinces someone to check out a match/promotion/wrestler that they might have skipped over. As someone who got into older wrestling by reading reviews & comparing/collecting best-of lists, I understand the importance of these things. I feel like the heyday of this era is in the past...the peak was probably the 1990's Yearbook project here at PWO. Still I think it's important to keep this practice going for new fans and old fans looking to get interested in new things. Additionally, I try to provide my honest my opinion based in my enjoyment rather than hard metrics. I used to do all of the star ratings and even have ratings from different aspects of a match like intensity, pacing, etc. But it just zapped all of the fun out of watching wrestling. I was a judge at competition rather than a fan having a good time. So there might be folks out there that cruise reviews for stars but, I seldom do that. Hopefully I keep my reviews short and to the point for even the time-cramped reader. Speaking of which, I'm rambling. So thanks for reading this and posts past. Here I wanted to share an abridged collection of "best of" lists from the blog. These are some of my favorite projects from the blog. Anyone who is new or doesn't want to go back to the Best Match Watched posts should have most of the best stuff here. Rewatches, posts I made using old reviews but I thought were worth sharing aren't included. Also HM means honorable mention so if you're strapped for time you'd be forgiven if you skipped them But they are still really awesome so you've been warned Finally, my apologies for inconsistencies in the date/promotion format. There was a lot of copy/pasting, reorganizing and I just don't have the time to get these uniform. I think you'll be able to figure it out though. Tiger Mask I is absolutely worth checking out especially beyond his matches with Dynamite Kid. I think the hindsight "bad reputation" Tiger has gotten is from just how hard those matches were hyped. And don't get me wrong those are amazing matches at first but I've probably watched them all 5 times each. Only their final encounter holds up after multiple viewings. Some of my favorites are: Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (11/05/81) Tiger Mask vs Steve Wright (04/01/82) Tiger Mask vs Black Tiger (05/26/82) Tiger Mask vs Bret Hart (07/30/82) Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Black Tiger & Pete Roberts (08/27/82 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Pete Roberts (09/10/82 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (02/03/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid (04/21/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (06/02/83 NJPW) Tiger Mask vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (07/14/83 NJPW) ----- Early-mid 80's AJPW is really awesome stuff. I think it's a fantastic way for someone to get into old school wrestling or Japanese wrestling. You've got lots of legends and it's got a even mix of U.S. & Japanese stars. Then when Terry "retires", Brody is in NJPW and Riki & co. join for a few years, it feels like a brand new organization. Similar to the early days of NOAH or when Akiyama & co. go to AJPW in 2013. Here's the best of what I saw: Bruiser Brody vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14/83) Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (AJPW 11/28/83) Baba & Dory Jr. vs Hansen & Brody (AJPW 12/10/83) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (AJPW 05/22/84) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (AJPW 08/26/84) Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (AJPW 12/08/84) Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (AJPW 12/08/84) Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 12/12/84) Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (AJPW 06/21/85) Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 06/21/85) Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask (AJPW 08/31 aired 09/07/85) Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 08/31 aired 09/07/85)HM Ric Flair v. Rick Martel (AJPW 10/21/85) Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW 11/30/85) Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (AJPW 12/12/85) Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (12/12/85 aired 12/14) only 1/2 aired Genichiro Tenryu vs Ashura Hara (04/12/86 AJPW) ----- I think I'm most familiar with late 80's NJPW than an other New Japan time period. I took a look at '88 a few years back and it was a hoot! Tatsumi Fujinami is one of my favorites because of this year. I recommend watching these: Akira Nogami, Tatsutoshi Goto, K. Yamada, K. Hoshino & S. Koshinaka vs Hiroshi Hase, K. Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki, N. Honaga & H. Saito (04/27/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Big Van Vader (04/27/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu (05/27/88) Shiro Koshinaka vs Owen Hart (06/24/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu (06/24/88) Tatsumi Fujinami vs Big Van Vader (06/26/88) Riki Choshu vs Antonio Inoki (07/22/88) Shiro Koshinaka vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (8/08/88) Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami (08/08/88) I'm really glad that I've had the opportunity to dig into FMW. As an ECW fan in high school, FMW always seemed like the cooler cousin of ECW...if just for the Tanaka vs Awesome stuff. In my VHS days, I had BJW & IWA Japan stuff but not FMW. Eventually I got an Explosion Death Match comp tape. Then a few years later, I got the Highspots Hayabusa comp which was very good but not great as a taste of the true best of Hayabusa. So finally digging my teeth into the meat of FMW has been fulfilling. As garbage/hard core wrestling has fallen out of mainstream favor for a long while, I think the memory of ECW and FMW is fading. So I'm glad to keep the flame burning. I need to watch more but my absolute favorites so far are: Onita/Tarzan Goto vs M. Kurisu/Dragon Master [Kendo Nagasaki] (FMW 04/01/90) Tanaka, Kuroda & Koji Nakagawa vs Kanemura, Hido & Hosaka (FMW - Exploding Barbwire match - 09/01/96) Masato Tanaka vs Mr. Gannosuke (01/06/98 FMW) Hayabusa vs Masato Tanaka (03/13/98 FMW) Hayabusa vs Mr. Gannosuke (04/30/98 FMW) Jado & Gedo vs Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka (05/05/98 FMW) HM Hayabusa & Tanaka vs W*ing Kanemura & Kodo Fuyuki (05/27/98 FMW) HM Tetushiro Kuroda vs Masato Tanaka (06/19/98 FMW) Hisakatsu Oya vs Tetsuhiro Kuroda (12/12/98 FMW) Masato Tanaka vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 02/27/99) Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda (FMW 03/19/99) ----- Joshi is something I'd loved but eventually moved away from... thinking I'd seen all that I had wanted to see. It took me long time to come back to it but the blog has definitely reconnected me. I know some folks are not as interested in it as much the men's stuff but, I think you're missing out. If you're looking for things outside of "the usual" joshi must see's, try the following: Crush Gals vs. Jumping Bomb Angels (AJW 09/14/1987) Miss A & Harley Saito vs. Shinobu Kandori & Rumi Kazama (JWP 10/10/90) HM Eagle Sawai & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Shinobu Kandori & Harley Saito (JWP 04/26/91) HM Mariko Yoshida vs. Manami Toyota (AJW 08/30/92) Chigusa Nagayo vs. Mayumi Ozaki (JWP 05/22/94) Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai (JWP 05/22/94) Mayumi Ozaki & Devil Masami vs. Dynamite Kansai & Chigusa Nagayo (GAEA 04/15/95) Akira Hokuto & Toshie Uematsu vs KAORU & Kiyoko Ichiki (GAEA 01/19/97) HM Las Cachorras Orientales vs. Watanabe & Maekawa (AJW 06/18/97) Meiko Satomura vs Sonoko Kato (GAEA 08/23/98) Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs. Aja Kong & Mayumi Ozaki (GAEA 04/04/99) LCO vs Hokuto and Ozaki (GAEA 09/15/99) HM Sonoko Kato vs. Meiko Satomura (GAEA 10/11/99) Ayako Hamada & AKINO vs. Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda (ARSION 12/11/1999) Aja Kong vs KAORU (GAEA 02/13/00) Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito vs. Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa (AJW 12/9/00 - Cage Match) Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi & Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita & Kumiko Maekawa - (AJW 2/28/01 - Elim. Match) Yumiko Hotta, Manami Toyota & Mima Shimoda vs. Kaoru Ito, Tomoko Watanabe & Momoe Nakanishi (AJW 04/01/01) Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura (03/11/01) GAEA - HM Akira Hokuto vs Meiko Satomura (04/29/01) GAEA Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu (05/13/01) GAEA Momoe Nakanishi vs Kaoru Ito (AJW 07/08/01) Early 2000's Puroresu I haven't seen it all but contrary to popular belief, early 2000's Japanese wrestling doesn't suck. Is it different than the greatest decade in modern wrestling (1990s) ? Yup but there's plenty of great wrestling to enjoy. I think the inter-promotional stuff is very interesting and although it would stay a part of puro, it was best when it was fresh & new. You might be familiar with a couple of these but there's a bunch that I think flew under the radar or have been forgotten about: Curry Man, CIMA & Super Boy vs Minoru Fujita, Shiryu II & Jody Fleisch (M-Pro 12/21/99) A few days short of 2000 but I'm counting it! Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura (06/16/01) NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (07/27/01) NOAH Jado & Gedo vs The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask IV (M-Pro 08/19/01) HM Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO1 09/15/2001) HM Naomichi Marufuji vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (ZERO1 03/02/2001) hm Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1 09/15/2001) HM Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH 12/09/01) Vader vs. Jun Akiyama (12/09/01) NOAH - HM Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori (02/17) NOAH Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (02/17) NOAH - HM Keiji Mutoh vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW 02/24/2002) Genichiro Tenryu vs. Satoshi Kojima (AJPW 07/17/2002) Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - (8/29) NOAH Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama (09/23) NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama (09/23) NOAH Shinjiro Otani vs Masato Tanaka (Zero1 07/31/02) Mitsuharu Misawa & Masahiro Chono vs Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue (01/10/03 NOAH) HM Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka (01/10/03 NOAH) Jushin Liger & Takehiro Murahama vs. Tsubasa & Black Buffalo (02/1/03 Osaka Pro) Ikuto Hidaka & Masao Orihara vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yoshihito Sasaki (Differ Cup 2003) HM Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori (AJPW 07/18/04) HM I'm very glad that I've been able to find and enjoy early ROH. I wasn't quite sure of what I was in store for as I wasn't sure just how developed some of guys were. And you can definitely see some chinks in their armor on some of the lesser known matches but, on the big recommended matches below, they delivered. As you can tell, there's a handful of guys working at that high level but the matches never seem repetitive. I threw in a couple other matches from IWA-MS may as have been in a ROH ring. Planning on picking up with my final 2005 DVDs. The list below has some usual suspects but I bet there's a couple that you don't know: American Dragon vs Low-Ki vs Christopher Daniels - Era of Honor Begins (2002) American Dragon vs Christopher Daniels - Round Robin Challenge (2002) Daniels vs Low-Ki - Round Robin Challenge (2002) American Dragon vs Low-Ki - Round Robin Challenge (2002) Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles - Road to the Title (2002) American Dragon vs AJ Styles - All Star Extravaganza (2002) Low Ki vs American Dragon vs Steve Corino vs Samoa Joe - Final Battle (2002) Bryan Danielson vs Paul London (ROH - Night of the Butcher 12/07/02) Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Do Or Die – May 2003) Samoa Joe vs Christopher Daniels (ROH Glory by Honor II - September 2003) Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (ROH War of the Wire - November 2003) AJ Styles vs Bryan Danielson (ROH Main Event Spectacles 2003) CM Punk vs AJ Styles (Tradition Continues 2003 ROH) Samoa Joe vs Homicide (ROH Death Before Dishonor 2, Night 1 07/23/04) Bryan Danielson vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles (TPI 2004 Finals 09/18/04 IWA-MS) Bryan Danielson vs Chris Hero (TPI 2005 09/24/2005 IWA-MS) HM Low Ki & Homicide vs Samoa Joe & Jay Lethal (Punk: The Final Chapter 2005) ----- FIP In it's original form as sister promotion to ROH, Full Impact Pro was actually pretty good wrestling. Things don't really pick up until 2006 in terms of great matches but once it does, it really feels like a companion to ROH rather than just another local indie (early matches were at a stripper bar and other depressing venues). I know that there's a few matches out there that I'd like to still see but these are the ones I'd recommend...if you're a Roderick Strong fan especially: Roderick Strong vs Jack Evans FIP Strong vs Evans (2005) Roderick Strong & Jack Evans vs. Jimmy Rave & Shingo (FIP New Year's Classic 2007) BxB Hulk and Yamato vs Roderick Strong and Jay Briscoe (FIP Third Year Anniversary 2007) HM Tyler Black vs Roderick Strong (FIP Heatstroke '07 Night 1) Roderick Strong vs Erick Stevens (Dangerous Intentions 2008 FIP) Erick Stevens vs Go Shiozaki (Heatstroke 2008 FIP) Go Shiozaki vs Roderick Strong (Fallout 2008 FIP) In a similar vein, I had been curious about Dragon Gate USA, which was an obvious creative offshoot of what Gabe S. was doing in ROH and even FIP. Turns out it was pretty good stuff. I can't say each show was awesome but there's probably a handful that I would definitely recommend. Instead, it was a promotion that depended a lot on a couple crazy under card matches and then a top shelf main event. But that can probably be said for a lot (most) promotions. These are all in the mix for best match watched for 2024 (see previous post for the complete list): Shingo vs Naruki Doi (Open the Historic Gate 2009) DGUSA - HM Davey Richards vs. SHINGO (Open the Ultimate Gate 2009) DGUSA Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Real Hazard (Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) (Open the Ultimate Gate 2009) DGUSA Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs Shingo/Dragon Kid (Open the Freedom Gate 2009) DGUSA - HM CHIKARA Sekigun (Hallowicked, Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush) & Masato Yoshino vs. KAMIKAZE USA (Akira Tozawa, Gran Akuma, Jon Moxley & YAMATO) (Enter the Dragon 2010) -DGUSA Bryan Danielson vs. SHINGO (Enter the Dragon 2010) DGUSA Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO (Untouchable 2010) DGUSA Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Naruki Doi/Pac (Uprising 2010) DGUSA Shingo/YAMATO vs CIMA/Dragon Kid (Uprising 2010) DGUSA - HM BxB Hulk vs Masato Yoshino (Uprising 2010) DGUSA BxB Hulk vs Shingo (Bushido 2010) DGUSA Austin Aries vs Akira Tozawa (United Philly 2011) DGUSA Akira Tozawa vs BxB Hulk (United Finale 2011) DGUSA YAMATO vs Austin Aries (Mercury Rising 2011) DGUSA Masato Yoshino/Pac vs YAMATO/Akira Tozawa (Fearless 2011) DGUSA Akira Tozawa vs. Ricochet (Open the Ultimate Gate 2013) DGUSA - HM Akira Tozawa vs Shingo (Mercury Rising 2013) DGUSA - HM ----- Big Japan Wrestling in the 2000's is definitely worth checking out. Big Japan was my first foray into Japanese death matches. It was good for the time but not outstanding. In just a few years, they really became worthwhile. That's something I can tell just from watching a few shows. It is something I'm going to be exploring more of. Zero One is another promotion that is one that I'll be watching more of. Here are my favorites so far: Abdullah Kobayashi vs Daisuke Sekimoto (07/22/05 BJW) Jun Kasai, Men's Teioh, Y. Miyamoto & Jaki Numazawa vs Abby Kobayashi, T. Sasaki, MASADA, Shadow WX (01/02/07 BJW) Takashi Sasaki vs Yuko Miyamoto - Scaffold and Light tube (BJW 03/14/07) Madoka & Kengo Mashimo vs Katsumasa Inoue & Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW 03/14/07) HM Takashi Sasaki vs Ryuji Ito: 300 light tube death match (BJW 07/08/07) Daisuke Sekimoto vs Manabu Nakanishi (BJW 2007) Honorable Mention Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (ZERO1 09/15/2001) HM Naomichi Marufuji vs. Naohiro Hoshikawa (ZERO1 03/02/2001) hm Shinya Hashimoto & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura (ZERO1 09/15/2001) HM Shinjiro Otani vs Masato Tanaka (Z-1 07/31/02) Masato Tanaka v Togi Makabe (Zero One 08/03/08) Masato Tanaka vs Daisuke Sekimoto (Z-1 08/02/15) ----- There's a wealth of free NJPW small show matches from the very early 2010's posted officially on YouTube. They actually seem to have matches from the late 2000's to the early 2010's. Although I watched a good deal of these, I still have more I want to see. There's been a few diamonds in the rough: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Masato Tanaka (NJ 08/15/09 G1) AKIRA vs Kenny Omega - NJPW Best of the Super Jrs. (2010): HM Prince Devitt vs Gedo - NJPW Best of the Super Jrs. (2010) Nakamura, M. Tanaka, Takahashi & Naito vs H. Tanahashi, Makabe, Nagata & W. Inoue (NJ 12/04/10) Masato Tanaka vs Yuji Nagata (NJ 03/19/11) Special note: On Amazon Prime they are showing old (?) New Japan on AXS episodes from like 2015. A couple matches I have dug are: Okada vs Goto - New Japan Cup Finals (03/23/13): This was a great showing from Goto. And I actually enjoyed Okada more than just "he took good bumps and was OK to get beat up." He felt right in this match and in the Korakuen Hall setting. I thought it was a great match. Nakamura vs Tanahashi (01/04/14): This was a great match between the perennial rivals. I didn't think this went into high gear but damn it still was entertaining stuff. Good hard hits, neat moves and the entrances were the pros. The lack of substantial selling, kinda slow pacing and the Dome atmosphere were the cons. I think we could attribute the first two cons to this being in the Dome. Still great to see this in 2024 since so much has changed since then... Great match! Early 2010's AJPW is a gold mine especially once Akiyama and pals come over. I wish some of those Muto loyal guys that left would have stayed. I really think AJPW could have made a comeback in a big way. This period is really something special if you're into Misawa era NOAH, 06-08 ROH, etc. I think it's an excellent alternative to 2010's NJPW which was all the rage at the time. Sanada/Soya vs Yuji Okabayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto (03/21/11) Strong BJW vs SUWAMA/T. Soya (AJ 11/26/11) Strong BJW vs Get Wild (Omori & Manabu Soya) (AJPW 11/29/2011) Strong BJW vs Suwama & Takumi Soya (03/20/12 AJPW) Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki vs Takao Omori, Manabu Soya & Kaz Hayashi (02/10/13) HM Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka (c) vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (03/17/13) Suwama vs Go Shiozaki (04/18/13) Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka vs Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki (04/25/13) Minoru Tanaka, Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato vs Atsushi Aoki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kotaro Suzuki (04/29/13) Jun Akiyama vs KAI (04/29/13) HM Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Hiroshi Yamato (06/02/2013) hm Jun Akiyama and Go Shiozaki vs. Joe Doering and Suwama (06/02/2013) Suwama & SUSHI vs Go Shiozaki & Kotaro Suzuki (07/21/13) hm Akiyama & Shiozaki vs Omori & Suwama (2/3 falls 07/28/13) Go Shiozaki & Jun Akiyama vs. Suwama & Takao Omori (08/17/13) Go Shiozaki vs Suwama (Triple Crown, 08/25/13) Kensuke Sasaki, Jun Akiyama & Go Shiozaki vs Suwama, Takao Omori & Kento Miyahara (08/31/13 Diamond Ring) hm I'm counting this one Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara (10/27/13) Joe Doering & Suwama vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (AJPW - 02/08/14) hm Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (Vacant Triple Crown Title - 06/15/14) Joe Doering (c) vs. Go Shiozaki (10/29/14 -Triple Crown Title) Burning Wild vs Xceed (11/29/14) Doering/Shingo vs Hino/Miyahara (12/04/14 Fortune Dream) I'm counting this one too ----- I have kinda the same experience with early 2010's ROH that I've had with AJPW. I'm not saying every damn match & every damn show is awesome. I think cherry picking is definitely the way to go because I've been pleasantly surprised. In fixing the list up, I noticed I omitted a couple matches on my original list. So, I have added them here. This project is something I want to get back into this year with finishing up my 2015 DVDs. reDRagon vs The Briscoes (ROH 05/11/13 11th Anniv. Show) Eddie Edwards vs Matt Taven (ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas 06/01/13) HM Roderick Strong vs Adam Cole (ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas 06/01/13) HM Jay Briscoe vs Davey Richards (ROH Honor in the Heart of Texas 06/01/13) Eddie Edwards vs Kyle O'Reilly (ROH Reclamation - Night 1 07/12/13) Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal, Caprice Coleman & Cedric Alexander vs Adam Cole, Matt Taven & reDRagon (ROH 10/26/13 Glory by Honor XII) Kevin Steen & the Young Bucks vs Michael Elgin & the Briscoes (ROH 03/07/14 Raising the Bar Nt. 1) -Michael Elgin vs Roderick Strong (ROH Summer Heat Tour Cincinnati 2014) Roderick Strong vs Kyle O'Reilly (ROH Winter Warriors Atlanta 02/21/15) Briscoe Bros. vs Mike Bennett/Matt Taven (ROH Winter Warriors Atlanta 02/21/15) Bennett & Taven vs Ciampa & Hanson (ROH Winter Warriors Dayton 2015) HM Alberto El Patron vs Roderick Strong (ROH Winter Warriors Dayton 2015) HM Roderick Strong vs Silas Young (ROH - Conquest Tour 2015 - Hopkins) HM Briscoes vs War Machine (ROH - Conquest Tour 2015 - Hopkins) HM AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong vs Kyle O'Reilly (Aftershock Hopkins 2015 ROH) So that's it! Hopefully if you're a new reader, that gives you plenty to sink your teeth into. Go back and find the full reviews. Plus I left off all of the "great" and "very good" matches that really are the meat & potatoes for a wrestling fan. So go check those out too! If you're a regular or long time reader, thanks for your time & attention! I hope I've given you some laughs, ideas & inspiration. Hopefully I have kept some older stuff floating around in the collective community memory for a couple years longer.

Kinda surprised there's only one review on this one. This was a great match between the perennial rivals. I didn't think this went into high gear but damn it still was entertaining stuff. Good hard hits, neat moves and the entrances were the pros. The lack of substantial selling, kinda slow pacing and the Dome atmosphere were the cons. I think we could attribute the first two cons to this being in the Dome. Still great to see this in 2024 since so much has changed since then... Great match!

Just saw this, that sheds a whole new light on this match. Perhaps the "best" version is this edited form after all. Having watched a bit of GAEA, it's shame that Kudo couldn't have come out of retirement (even for a short while) to wrestle there. The mix of brawling and technical wrestling seemed like a natural fit for her...plus a chance to fight Aja Kong & Ozaki again. Thanks for the info!!

I don't know what's special about Okada. His offense is bland and he doesn't really work from underneath. The thing I will give him is that he always seems keen to get the deal beaten out of him. And thankfully that's what happens here...Okada gets decimated by Makabe. And then somehow wins anyways... I think this was a very good match and worth your time if you're a Makabe fan.

This felt anemic especially once Frankie was in control. Then much like the Shelley vs Aries match this was a house show match. They did some cool moves but this was just directionless and long at around 20 minutes. Immediately afterwards was a promo from Eric Bischoff and ahem...Gunner for a match with Eric Bischoff's son...absolute resurrected WCW pap. So Kaz vs former NWA champ, X division champ, tag champ AJ Styles is Eric Bischoff Jr. & late stage WCW tattooed jobber. Oh but Hulk Hogan is gonna be there too...Hulk calls Bischoff's son "the future of this business." The fans were eating it up at the entrances chant "Hogan! Hogan!" Morons... I would have put on a house show match too.

I don't think this was a carry job by Aries. The first part of this match felt like they were in "house show mode." They eventually brought this up to their standards but honestly the standards are way lower than they were in '04 or '05 when fighting for the same X division title. That's pretty demoralizing actually... So I don't blame them... They got the "this is awesome" chant and in reality it was only "pretty good."

There's a TNA Impact "channel" on Amazon Prime/Freevee that basically shows old and recent TNA PPVs. I am not much of a fan of the more recent stuff but Against All Odds 2011 was on tonight. I was half paying attention to TNA at this time so when it came on I tuned in...at least there were some recognizable faces. I definitely remember this storyline and its really one of those "too close to the truth" angles that make me cringe. Kurt actually looked a divorced dad with his hair grown out and stubble on his face. Double J looks like he's hit the tanning bed way too many times but isn't a pill popping drunk so Karen legit leaves Kurt for him...but they paint Kurt as the baby face because Jeff (and the mother who isn't at fault so the kids would logically be with her) in a way is a better dad and ...yeah I'm thinking too much about this Its a good angle but definitely cringy and worked-shoot which has that late stage Bischoff WCW stink all over it. It's a pretty good match to be honest. They do enough shenanigans to trick ya, the do enough revenge spots to get you behind Kurt (to appeal to the single dad audience), and yeah...the finish wasn't end all be all awesome but it wasn't the main event and it absolutely worked. It's not a feel good finish which actually was a theme with this show. Mr. Anderson vs Jeff Hardy and Bubba vs Devon all kinda had depressing endings too (but were good matches). I'd recommend this Kurt vs Jeff match though (as well as RVD vs Matt Hardy). Also watch for the kinky moment after the match where Karen love bites Double J's neck! oh shit I know way too much about Jarrett's sex life now :S

Thanks for mentioning this because I was looking through my DVDs kinda scratching my head like, "why did I get some of these?" I now remember really enjoying the Bucks & Cody six man matches that they'd show on TV quite a bit so I think I probably made some purchases with that feeling in mind. Anyone out there have an opinion on the HDNet years? I was able to pick up a few of the Best of ROH on HDNet compilations. Any show recommendations?

Sorry for the delay! I have had some family health issues that I've been dealing with the past couple weeks. I've got a few matches left to watch of PWG All Star Weekend V - Night 2 but it's probably not going to be ready for another week or so. Sorry if you're looking forward to that! In the meantime, it's time for the Best Matches Watched (thus far) for 2024. I've sorted things by year. It's all 2000's & 2010's. I definitely have to get some 80's stuff in this year...but anyhow HM stands for Honorable Mention, stars denote an all time classic...these are the front runners. I definitely recommend checking all of these out! Also I am going to use show titles/event names for American promotions since they are easier for you & me to track down than using the dates. 2001 Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura (03/11) GAEA - HM Akira Hokuto vs Meiko Satomura (04/29) GAEA Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Meiko Satomura & Toshie Uematsu (05/13) GAEA Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori & Takashi Sugiura (06/16/01) NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama (07/27/01) NOAH Vader vs. Jun Akiyama (12/09/01) NOAH - HM 2002 Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori (02/17) NOAH Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata vs Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (02/17) NOAH - HM Jushin Liger/Minoru Tanaka vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - (8/29) NOAH Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama (09/23) NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama (09/23) NOAH - HM 2006 Motor City Machine Guns vs Jimmy Jacobs & Tyler Black (All Star Weekend IV 2006 night 1) PWG No Remorse Corps vs. Kings Of Wrestling vs. MCMG vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy (All Star Weekend IV night 2) PWG 2007 El Generico vs. PAC (All Star Weekend V - Night 1) PWG 2008 Beer Money vs LAX - (Hard Justice) TNA *AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle (Hard Justice) - TNA* 2009 Shingo vs Naruki Doi (Open the Historic Gate) DGUSA - HM Davey Richards vs. SHINGO (Open the Ultimate Gate) DGUSA Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Real Hazard (Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) (Open the Ultimate Gate) DGUSA Naruki Doi/Masato Yoshino vs Shingo/Dragon Kid (Open the Freedom Gate) DGUSA - HM 2010 CHIKARA Sekigun (Hallowicked, Jigsaw & Mike Quackenbush) & Masato Yoshino vs. KAMIKAZE USA (Akira Tozawa, Gran Akuma, Jon Moxley & YAMATO) Enter the Dragon -DGUSA *Bryan Danielson vs. SHINGO (Enter the Dragon) DGUSA * Bryan Danielson vs. YAMATO (Untouchable 2010) DGUSA Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Naruki Doi/Pac (Uprising 2010) DGUSA Shingo/YAMATO vs CIMA/Dragon Kid (Uprising 2010) DGUSA - HM BxB Hulk vs Masato Yoshino (Uprising 2010) DGUSA BxB Hulk vs Shingo (Bushido 2010) DGUSA 2011 Austin Aries vs Akira Tozawa (United Philly 2011) DGUSA Akira Tozawa vs BxB Hulk (United Finale 2011) DGUSA YAMATO vs Austin Aries (Mercury Rising 2011) DGUSA Masato Yoshino/Pac vs YAMATO/Akira Tozawa (Fearless 2011) DGUSA 2013 Akira Tozawa (w/Christina Von Eerie) vs. Ricochet (Open the Ultimate Gate 2013) DGUSA - HM Akira Tozawa vs Shingo (Mercury Rising 2013) DGUSA - HM Although it's not represented on this list, I've really enjoyed early 2000's AJPW. Many of the classic matches were viewed in 2023. This year I'm watching the unsung stuff which has been fun especially since I am a fan of late 80's AJ & SWS/WAR. That said, I'm planning on working my way through 2002. Next I want to revisit ROH with a few shows from 2005 and perhaps 2015 as well. So yeah, if you're looking for something different to watch, check out some matches from the list. Thanks for taking a look!

Yeah I'm definitely still doing this. It's ended up being a long term project since 1) I have a bunch of DVDs & 2) I get side tracked easily. So I kinda just chip away a little bit each year. 2002-'04 has been what I've been watching over the past few years in bits & pieces. I'm a big fan of Paul London's stuff & I agree every time AJ Styles shows up he has a great match or better. I started my "look back" 7-8 years ago with 2005. It seemed to be the most hyped year and other than Joe vs Kobashi, I hadn't seen any of it. So I have seen a good deal of this & love the GenNext vs Embassy stuff. For a little bit, I considered doing a rewatch of 2005 (that's kinda where I'm at chronologically) but there's actually way too much. But I do have a couple un-watched shows (Escape from New York, Vendetta (so psyched to have got this one) & Showdown in Motown (one I really got for Sabin vs Danielson)). I have seen some of very high end stuff and the B-shows from the last couple months of 2006...but definitely I only have seen bits and pieces. I recall Briscoes vs Joe & Homicide having a couple crazy matches on one or both of shows. Any other match, show, feud that you'd recommend? Kinda the same story with '07-'08 but to greater extent. I have seen a handful of shows/matches on compilations or an odd DVD. Thanks for the insight with Taven, Bennett & Vinny! I actually have a good chunk of the dire years on DVD as ROH was practically giving them away the last few Sinclair years Thanks for the reply! It's definitely given me the spark to get back into these.

Here's a couple teaser videos that PWG still has on their YouTube page: Not sure on video quantity but hey...it's better than some homemade music video from 2008, right? Now if you're interested, here's the reviews! Nosawa vs. Disco Machine - Good simple opening match. Roderick Strong vs. Rocky Romero - This was really good stuff. It was hard hitting and while longer than you'd normally see a second match go, they never went crazy (unlike later PWG). This finish was a little sudden but again it's the second match of the night. So, they did their job and gave us a very good match without burning anyone out. ----- Claudio Castagnoli vs. Human Tornado (w/Candice LeRae) - This is a good match but it could have been better as it was a little loose at times. The Tornado/Candice stuff was always in bad taste...and reminds me of a poor man's Jade Chung/Nana...which was also distasteful. Matt Classic vs. Kikutaro - Colt...I mean Matt Classic & Kikutaro have a heck of a funny match! They are great together! ----- Jack Evans vs. Kevin Steen - Really good stuff...lots of what you want from both guys - Flips from Jack and sick bombs/drivers from Steen. It's not as good as Strong vs Rocky but it's got the crazy moves whereas Roddy vs Romero was a more complete match. ----- Frankie Kazarian, Ronin, TJ Perkins & Top Gun Talwar vs. Karl Anderson & The Dynasty (Chris Bosh, Joey Ryan & Scott Lost) Speaking of Jade Chung, she's accompanying the Dynasty. And her presence is the best part of this...TJ Perkins vs Scott Lost is pretty good but this got old quick. Alex Shelley vs. Kaz Hayashi - I'm sure that if they had a couple more matches together they could produce a classic or two. Not sure that ever happens... Anyhow what we have here is pretty damn good. It's high level '07 junior wrestling... it's really notable how they don't run through their moves & spots like would become common practice. Everything has weight to it. It definitely could have been a Battle of LA match for instance. Excellent false finishes, excellent pacing...honestly this was right on the border of being a great match. I think it does sorta have that middle "work a limb" that doesn't really matter but Shelley doesn't blow it off even at the very end. I think if they called back to it a little bit then this would have propelled it to greatness. In all fairness, this is third from the top so, I think it's not that big of a deal. I dug this a bunch ----- Low Ki vs. Davey Richards - Lemme say that stoogey (?) heel Davey Richards is always fun. I'm not sure how much we see him later in his career but early Davey hamming it up is underrated. Anyway, this is a great match with lots of excellent mat wrestling and of course striking. They kept this simple and it was all the better for it. This was exactly what you want from these two. ----- El Generico vs. PAC - Classic PWG title match. Heck I don't need to qualify it with "PWG title match." It's a straight up classic match. It is very much a go for broke, empty the gas tank with the pedal to the metal match. PAC is excellent as always and he hits everything perfectly despite doing some of the most insane stuff. No knock on Jack Evans but he's been replaced with a better model. Honestly I think Ricochet is/was redundant if on the same show as PAC. Anyhow, PAC is one step ahead of Generico. He's pulling counters and reversals out of thin air... which is usually something that the Generic One does. He's got to stop the Brit with brute force. This was a really good show. The weak bits were those featuring the owners/ SoCal regulars...but not all of them so I'm hoping their matches are better Night #2. This is definitely worth picking up on DVD. Night 2 review is coming up! Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the delay! The big draw for this show is the return of Shingo and his challenge for Gabe's golden boy Johnny Gargano's title. Shingo vs Johnny Gargano - This is the big selling point of the DVD. Shingo is back in DGUSA after right around where I stopped in 2011. Gargano's in ring abilities have greatly improved. He seems to know what to do more than before and doesn't have to do a fancy move all of the time...but he still favors doing something fancy over something basic. And this is where I continue to have a problem. He's "play wrestling" like many people of that generation of pros (Young Bucks were some of the first I remember). He doesn't always seem like he's in a fight, in a competition etc. He looks like he's the main character in TV show or movie with exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures & posing. He is hamming for the camera and crowd way too much. I don't watch WWE very often (maybe a Smackdown every few months) and this is all what "wrestling" is now. And for awhile I guess... anyway...despite all of that this is still a pretty good match. Don't want to say Shingo is 100% responsible but, fuck it...he's 99% responsible. When Shingo is beating the hell out of Gargano, it's fantastic. Gargano isn't even in the same league as Shingo so when Johnny is on offense, it's just not believable. But J.G. does give you the impression (at times) that he is desperate and knows he's in trouble. If you watch this, there's a shenanigans finish that is not clever or anything... it's right outta the Jeff Jarrett book of cheap wins. It jives with the desperation angle but it's not truly sold strong enough throughout the match to warrant this type of finish. Re-watch: I wanted to give this another look and man, Gargano is just making faces and doing all of these little head shakes and stuff all match...and the crowd is pretty tired so he's doing this shit like he's about to transform into a werewolf or something I wish I could put a clip show together. Also he doesn't seem to know how to fill the time in between spots. This is why this is so good when Shingo is on the attack or when Johnny is counter attacking. Also Johnny didn't really sell anything in the "pop up right after taking a big move to run the ropes" way...but maybe this can be said of many of these types of matches so I'll stop now. I watched this before the rest of the show because of the hype (it didn't live up to it as predicted) so I'm going to review the rest of the show in order now. Brian Kendrick vs. Rich Swann - Oh yeah, this is really solid stuff. Nice pacing, good wrestling holds (especially from Kendrick) and a smattering of exciting moves. Swann looked excellent and I gotta think Kendrick laid this one out and Rich followed along. It was so much in that 2000's ROH /higher echelon Indie style...when doing a smart match was important. As a whole, I enjoyed this more than the Gargano match. Arik Cannon vs. Jigsaw vs. Fire Ant vs. Chuck Taylor vs. Anthony Nese vs. Shane Strickland - A LOT of fun...very much a call back to the early shows with Chikara guys, Taylor, Cannon... Strickland was still green but he did well...Nese was more polished. And this was bananas. All said, this could have been Cannon, Jigsaw, Taylor & Fire Ant and that would have satisfied me. Scott Reed (w/Larry Dallas) vs. Derek Ryze - skipped Jon Davis vs. Trent - Started watching this but the crowd killed it... they just wanted to shit on Davis. So I gave up on it... Eita & Tomahawk TT vs. The Super Smash Brothers (Player Dos & Player Uno) - This didn't really pull me in as there was too much comedy from the Smash Bros. The DG team were at half speed as were the Bros. But it was fun wrestling... lots of cool spots Akira Tozawa (w/Christina Von Eerie) vs. Ricochet - Ricochet has shaken off probably 90% of his bad habits. He does a couple melodrama moments but they are at the very end and feel earned. This should have been for the belt and the singles main event as this actually felt like a Dragon Gate singles match. Tozawa and Ricochet came up in the company at the same time, they are equally in rank & experience. Gargano vs Tozawa or Ricochet would have made more sense but Shingo really out ranks him in ability and experience. If I can do tangent, it felt like he was lowering himself to face Bargain especially in a title fight...sure Shingo wasn't a regular and you didn't need to protect him but it also kinda didn't make sense. Anyway, Tozawa is a beast and Von Eerie was a great second/manager. Ricochet felt like a heel here and it worked. I would have liked a different finish but dammit! it was earned. Near classic match. Sami Callihan vs. Uhaa Nation - Very good to great match. Sami got to hit Uhaa really hard and he went after his opponent's knee (which Lenny Leonard let's us know was very injured & rehabbed recently). Psychology!? Wha!? Uhaa sold the hell out of it too. Tozawa vs Ricochet was a hard act to follow but this was really sound good wrestling. Everything was there except the fans' excitement. AR Fox & CIMA vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) - This was not as fast or crisp as the top tier DGUSA tag title fights of '09-'11 but, this was still great action packed tag wrestling. AR & CIMA are a sweet team! They had some absolutely nasty tag moves. Fox actually is fundamentally better than Ricochet was as CIMA's partner. The Bucks were their usual selves. They do the same kind of thing everywhere & every time but, there's always neat teases, variations that make it fresh. This was a really good show...probably a great one. If you're a Gargano fan then, you're going to really like the main event more than me. And I'd recommend going on eBay and picking this up. -----Bonus! Akira Tozawa vs Shingo (Mercury Rising 2013) - So this took place the next night on the Wrestlemania Sunday afternoon. This is the superior version of powerhouse vet vs spunky rising star. Very much like the Gargano match Shingo is mopping the floor with his opponent for much of the early stages of the match. Eventually, the opponent mounts an offense. I prefer Tozawa's strike based attacks especially in this situation as he & Shingo get to beat the hell outta each other! But I admire that things didn't suddenly become even-steven. Tozawa was fighting with grit & heart. Near classic match maybe a little more. And while I was contemplating watching more, the YouTube channel was axed...so I'm glad I got one last video in. Tozawa vs Shingo is a helluva final match. It's been a overall great experience watching Dragon Gate USA. It's not as hokey as I thought it would be back in '09-'10 when I'd see the PPV previews. The big time matches truly deliver especially in that time span. I was surprised to see Austin Aries here but his matches were also excellent. I can't vouch for everything but if you're interested, keep searching around on YouTube, or other video services or the DVDs are for sale on eBay... it's worth the time and money.

I'm back with the second half of 2001...and I bring you more reviews & Gaora videos Dr. Death & Mike Rotunda (The Varsity Club) vs. Kojima & Hiro Saito (06/08/01 AJPW PPV): 11+ min match that was 100% action. Obviously Mike Rotunda (even in '01) is going to bring good stuff. I was worried about Saito but no! He was really good. I think he was perhaps as good as Tenzan at least. Another great k.i.s.s match. This easily could have been a match from 1991 instead of 2001 but I find nothing wrong with that at all. Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yuji Nagata & Shinya Makabe (06/08/01): All Asia tag titles on the line and shoot, this delivers! Just about 13 minutes of action... obviously this is more UWF kick & grapple style. That change of style keeps this from blending with the Varsity Club tag...but this is every bit as great. Heck this was better as they didn't keep it simple but really swung for the fences at times and connected. This is a hidden gem for sure in my book. Holy cow, Gaora has this match up! Didn't see this until watching elsewhere. Here it is: 06/08 had some really short but sweet tag matches but also features the great Muto vs Tenryu main event plus Kawada vs Tenzan. I've seen their Jan. 4th '01 Dome Show match (which is really good) so this is a follow up. And I can't skip it. Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/08/01): It's exactly what you want from these two - chops, headbutts, kicks to the face. No injury story here..really just Tenzan has a big stone head. And that works because both guys really blasted each other. Tenzan's spinning heel kick damn near knocked Dangerous K silly. You better believe he connected with his gamengiri kicks in response. A definite departure in pacing from the tags but where those were a go-go style this was more deliberate and savage. These matches coupled with a great Muto vs Tenryu main event which I reviewed last year... this honestly was a great show for All Japan! Muto vs Dr. Death (07/14): A great drama match for the Triple Crown. And that drama was derived from Muto selling his bad knees. I thought this was a good twist on his normal attack plan. Instead it was he who would be in pain. He did an excellent job in selling this story to the fans. He would roll out of the ring to safety. He'd collapse on the Irish whip. And it was made better by Muto going for big moves out of desperation. And let me tell you that point of desperation felt real as this was one of the best singles performances by Steve Williams in '00-01. Gorilla Press slam, Doctor Bombs, Dr. Death Backdrop, release Tiger Duplex etc. He wasn't half steppin'! The finish wasn't my favorite as it wasn't as clever and emotional as the rest of the match. Watching again, I think it looked like it was kicked out of and was a flat finish actually... it didn't have that big dramatic effect. Nonetheless, it was a great match. Genichiro Tenryu, Yoji Anjo, Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. George Hines, Johnny Smith, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada (10/08/01): Well this one almost was skipped over. Holy cow AJPW vs WAR is on! Having George Hines in this as an AJ rep is weird but the fans like him & I like him so it's cool Fuyuki I think wanted to be the ref (Fuyuki in FMW style) and Kawada fucking kicks his face off! Yes!! Things get kicked off this way and although we only get half this is really good stuff. Kitahara vs Kawada is criminally brief and in this edit I'm not sure we see Johnny Smith wrestle. Nonetheless, this is a blast to watch. Arashi/Isao Takagi kinda gets a bad rep but he's perfect in his role as tough old sumo turned pro...I dug him in late 80's/1990 All Japan and he does his thing here. Looked up George Hines and he wrestled as Jackie Fulton (Bobby's real brother) and as The Eagle...damn that's why he's so good...here I thought he was some younger guy Genichiro Tenryu & Yoji Anjo vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea (10/22) WAR vs Muto's AJPW...Kea would be very loyal to Muto once the Baba's were no longer associated with All Japan. He would leave AJ to join Wrestle-1 in 2013. So this a strange match historically (as is much of this time)...Kea at this point is one of the main loyalists and Muto pairing with him bolsters his commitment to AJPW (which is true). It's a that bummer only half is shown but damn this was great! Looks like it was joined in progress half way in. Kea absolutely plays a big role in what makes this great. Along with new ring gear, he's really stepped up his game here. Tenryu and Anjo make a great team of old surly hard-hitters. Muto of course is Muto but it is different than what anyone else is doing so it absolutely works. He pulls out a really awesome spot that reminds you that he can be a fantastic in ring worker. Genichiro Tenryu vs Taiyo Kea (10/27): This goes 11+ minutes but did they count the intros in that time? What I saw was 6 minutes and I couldn't see a clip. Anyway this works even at 6 minutes because Kea looks like he's trying to knock Tenryu the fuck out. Tenryu must have told him to lay it in because Kea goes for it. This was too short to rate fairly but it was a lot of fun! Kawada vs Fuyuki (10/27): Oh yes, I dug the heck out of this! Fuyuki still has it here without a doubt. I'm A fan of his but I'll tell you his best work isn't in FMW at the end of his career. Here back in AJPW, he is the Fuyuki of old...even though pretty overweight. His strikes looked great and lord knows Kawada wasn't holding back. Kicks, chops, slaps, lariats...A great 17 minute battle between for former Footloosers. Gaora has this for our viewing pleasure: Muto vs Chono (10/27): This was a gritty hard fought match. That's something that I always like about Chono. He kicks you in the face and grinds you down with joint locks then stretches & chokes you out. Muto definitely brings his 2001 A-game...facing his rival here feels like a big deal. I thought this was a great match. Different than what's come before tonight... definitely more NJ style (obviously) but still quality. Again, Gaora has the goods below: 10/27/01 seemed like a pretty sweet show! Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea (12/07): Only half shown unfortunately but what was shown was great. One of my favorite parts was when Kea and Muto assassinate Kawada's knee caps :D. Oh man I wish that we got the full thing as it was in that golden zone of 17 minutes. We definitely see a big step up in the quality singles matches from 2000. The AJ vs NJ stuff (Pro Wrestling Love) is definitely a big help. I think there's the opinion that Kawada drops off after the NOAH exodus but it just isn't true. He definitely embraces working with the New Japan guys and raises their level. I think Muto & Kojima definitely see notice as they both get a metaphorical shot in the arm working with Kawada, Dr. Death, Muto & Tenryu. Tag bouts are the bread and butter of AJPW which is great for a tag fan like me. It reminds me of late 80's - early 90's AJPW in that regard. Call me surprised but, I really dig this time period of All Japan. If you want to compare 2001 AJPW & NOAH, AJPW is wrestled more in the style of late 80's - early 90's heavyweight (Jumbo, Tenryu, Riki & co.) with a focus on big time matchups while moving a couple key loyalists up (Taiyo Kea most notably). But there's still a focus on older talent like Tenryu, Kawada, Dr. Death. 2001 NOAH is late 90's AJPW style but with more emphasis on pushing younger or mid card talent into more prominent roles than they were in while at All Japan. The talent in pool at NOAH is much deeper. AJPW has a couple high end talent supported by mid card talent that makes up for their lack of talent/abilities by giving it their all. Their under card (if shown on TV) really doesn't get much time...it's treated as filler for the live shows. I'm really enjoying this period of AJPW. I won't lie though. A good deal of my appreciation is from being able to watch it for free. Being from the VHS/slim pickings/making every purchase count era, I'm not sure I would have given these the time of day. Like if it was a choice between NOAH & AJ, I'd probably would have gone with NOAH just because I'd think my chances were better at seeing a classic match or something. That's not to say I like this era of AJ more or less than NOAH. It's just far less flashy. Anyhow, I'm going to push forward into 2002 but am going to watch a few of my DVDs first. I'm not doing great watching my backlog so I've got to get back to that. But after that, I'll be back to Muto's AJPW. Thanks for reading! Definitely check some of these out!

The 2000 AJPW matches were very encouraging. I'm going to keep watching All Japan into 2001. Call me crazy but this is fun stuff! Again, tag team matches are going to be featured and they really are the bread and butter of this period of AJPW. Since there's a full years worth of wrestling, I'm going to do this in two parts. Taiyo Kea & Mohammed Yone vs. Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai (01/02): This looked good on paper but I wasn't feeling it at all. It's kinda aimless and there's no inherent excitement. Plus they don't really generate any energy with a good story or neat moves. I think a Kakihara vs Kea match would have been good to very good. This was just OK. Hiroshi Hase vs. Masanobu Fuchi (01/02): A little bit of comedy but still some quality wrestling. Of course we only get a portion but I would have liked to see more of the early stuff. Glad to see Hase. It's been awhile! Masanobu Fuchi, Nobutaka Araya, Shigeo Okumura & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara, Mitsuya Nagai, Mohammed Yone & Taiyo Kea (01/10/01): That's a lot of 0's and 1's Anyway this is a really good elimination Tag endurance match. So it's a series of different tag matches with the man who gets pinned/submitted must leave and a new team member replaces him. Blah blah it's cool. The teams don't make a bunch of sense to me. But maybe Kea's team has something to do with the above tag match? What keeps this from being great is there's just not enough Kawada and too much Okumura (who isn't bad but isn't Dangerous K). Also there's probably not enough Kea vs Kawada either. You want to see your big star captains square off but it really doesn't happen. I don't think there's any meaning behind this bout other than a New Year novelty match. I saw the full version (40+ min) but there's a clipped version too. You would be OK watching the clipped one I think. Kakihara and Fuchi doing some shoot style stuff and Fuchi face punching Nagai were my favorite parts btw. Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Smith & Taiyo Kea (01/14): 24 minutes long and shown in full on the New Year Giant Series commercial tape. Very good tag match between AJ's's top old school teams. It didn't really seem to have a fourth gear but every one looked pretty good nonetheless. It was a very hard fought match. They are definitely giving Kea a push and I'm all for it Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo (02/24) : We only get the the last third but it's quite enjoyable stuff. In this format, this would be a very good TV match in the States at about 7 minutes shown. Taiyo Kea vs Tenryu (03/03): Sadly only 8 of 20 minutes are shown. So I'm hesitant to say this is great but I really liked what was shown. Nice little touches from Tenryu and Kea. Kea definitely is showing he belongs in the upper echelon of AJPW. Quality strike exchange here where you can actually hear Tenryu's punches landing! Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (03/03): This is exactly what I was looking for. Nagai & Kawada do an excellent shoot-flavor match. The hit the crap outta each other. Nagai whiffs on a head kick and grazes Kawada on the next and wisely never does another. This is in the first minute and the recover wonderfully. Ultimately it's one of those younger guy showing he's got toughness by withstanding the vet's attacks. Since they work this like a MMA type match, Nagai is still getting shots in and is hurting Kawada without necessarily doing anything significantly damaging. I don't want to say it's great but yeah it's pretty damn close to being great. More singles matches like this please! Taiyo Kea vs Tenryu (04/11): 8 of 17 minutes shown. This was also really good stuff. It didn't have the great strike exchange but they have good chemistry. I think if we see the full thing we might have some added drama here but as it is Taiyo trying to take on the legend Tenryu yet again. Dr. Death & George Hines vs Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (04/14/01): A great keep it simple stupid match. About 15 minutes of action where the crowd was going nuts seeing the NJ team in an AJ ring plus taking on Dr. Death who was still pretty awesome. Having watched a good deal of NOAH stuff at this time...man it would have been sweet to see Dr. Death vs Akiyama in a title fight. George Hines is pretty good too...awesome drop kick and lariat...wouldn't mind seeing more of him. Also recommend Toshiaki Kawada vs. Keiji Muto (04/14/2001) as it's a great match. So on those two matches, A pretty good night of wrestling. Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Masato Tanaka & Hideki Hosaka (05/20): Holy crap! ECW/FMW era Tanaka was in AJPW! And they showed the full thing! I would have liked him up against a couple bigger status guys but Araya & Okumura step up and have an excellent showing. It's not ground breaking but it's great stuff... especially if you're a Masato Tanaka fan. This was a treat! Taiyo Kea & Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara (05/20): Sadly 5 of 18 shown...and I'm not sure we need 18 minutes of Goto & Ohara but this was very solid... brawling in the stands, good action...this felt like a late 70's-early 80's match in the best way but then again we get only 5 minutes. Glad to see more Hase Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara (05/20): Another one that's pretty truncated but it was fun. I'm not sure I wanted to actually see this whole thing but at 5-6 minutes, it's neat. If they did more shoot flavored stuff then I think this could have been something. Should have Part 2 next week! Should have some Gaora footy too. Thanks for reading!

I'm not really sure why I watched these matches. This is a notoriously poorly rated year for AJPW. I don't think many people have thought highly of AJPW after the NOAH exodus. And as a result, I don't believe there's been a good consensus of if AJPW was ever any good post July of 2000. Sure there's been a handful of matches that have gotten some hype and even some wrestlers but I think Western fans have gone elsewhere. I've done some projects in the past looking at early 2010's AJPW (which when originally intended to be completed was actually timely). I found that not only was it good/watchable but it was pretty great. I'm never one to be completionist or do super deep dives...if you've read my blog you know that I watch the stuff that interests me. I favor matches that have wrestlers that I like. And ultimately all of that is what led me here. Post split AJPW has a bunch of Kawada, Tenryu, Masa Fuchi, Dr. Death Steve Williams and even Mike Rotunda. I'm willing to give these a shot. I know from others that there is some quality amongst the junk. The good thing about 2000 All Japan is that the junk is spray painted safety orange with big "do not watch" stickers tacked on the sides. They were booking anyone who would show up for the undercard. I am also favoring tag team matches as these feature the best looking matches. So per usual I am cherry picking and let's get started! Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu VS Stan Hansen & Maunakea Mossman (07/23/00): I am not sure if it's a great match but this is way better than it had any right to be. Mossman gets a big push out of necessity. Hansen can still do mean & stiff. Tenryu is doing his thing. I feel like Kawada is dejected (rightfully so)...like all of this is a step down for him and you can tell his heart isn't in it here...but he still gives a very good effort.. don't get me wrong. And the match is really good and I really dug the last few minutes. Genichiro Tenryu, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada v Johnny Smith, Mike Barton & Stan Hansen (08/20/00): Joined in progress with only the last third shown. It was good at times but also very random feeling with Barton/Bart Gunn especially since he pinned Kawada. Again, Kawada is almost getting punished for staying with AJPW... Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs Steve Williams & Toshiaki Kawada (09/02/00): This was actually pretty good especially when Tenryu was in. Hansen was done by this point... he was still pretty good a year earlier with Vader but at least here he no longer seems to have it. It's pretty crazy they wanted these guys to work a nearly 30 minute match. I only saw half so maybe he looks better earlier. Tenryu vs Kawada was great and definitely a prelude to their October classic. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams (10/14/00): Half shown, good match but weird pacing as Williams' back or ribs were injured. For 2000 post split, it's worth a watch though. It's different but still good... Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (10/21): Stan is really done here...he's clearly in a ton of pain from the wrestling. It's a good match though because Tenryu works within Hansen's limits. Its mainly chops, punches and other things Stan can just stand or lay there for. Early on they are much more mobile but even at 11 minutes it's too much for the Lariat. He's fighting from underneath the whole match but Hansen is the best at that so this actually makes the match look competitive and real. Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21): This is cool...I didn't realize they started the AJ vs NJ stuff this soon. I know they tip toe into it at the end of the year. That's when we get the awesome Kawada vs Nagata tag match in December in NJ. The crowd is going crazy. It's only 11 minutes but man this is fun. Doc is much better than in the Kawada match and he vs Kojima is really good. They have a couple minutes where he looks like the Dr. Death of old. Goto and Araya do their part (Araya being more interesting) and we get a good little match. More Doc vs Kojima please! Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21): Very good 6 man match. The NJ team (Team 2000) was actually pretty dynamic and did quite a few moves compared to what the AJ team did. Kawada was the most exciting man for his team which you you wouldn't think since we're used to the bigger stars taking a back seat in these types of matches. In actuality, there was quite a bit of Kawada vs Chono and that is what I wanted. Of course it's only 17 minutes and the middle portion is your punch & stomp variety but it works. This really is preamble for bigger things to come so I was never expecting anything mind blowing. It definitely delivered upon expectations (AJ vs NJ skirmish) and went a little above by giving us some good Chono vs Kawada moments... which I'm not sure we got many more of those. Jinsei Shinzaki & Masahito Kakihara vs. Taiyo Kea & Mohammad Yone (10/28): Only half aired but I really liked what was shown. What's weird is about 6 of the 8 minutes shown was the first 6 minutes... and it was really good. They started working over Kea's taped up ribs and back...then it skipped to the last couple minutes and was over. Kinda a bummer since it was starting to get good. Toshiaki Kawada/Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea/Johnny Smith (11/18/00): This is on the Gaora site so I'll share it below. Even they have it joined in progress...very much a theme with the TV as you can tell. But they have most of the match and thank goodness as this is really really good stuff. Kea vs Kawada is fantastic...their kick exchanges especially. Johnny Smith is also excellent... I think Dangerous K is out of his funk by now. I like having Fuchi as his partner because it protects everyone in a business sense. Like a few months ago Kawada & Taue would have eaten this team for breakfast but there's parity with Fuchi as his regular partner. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06/00): Great 20+ minute tag match. This is almost like an alternate universe match if Tenryu didn't leave AJPW in '90. Because of the exodus, we get to view this match (as well as the Tenryu vs Kawada singles title fight). They are wrestled almost as if the Misawa era did not take place. It feels like you could draw a straight line from 1988-90 heavyweight AJPW to this. Since I am a big fan of that period, I dug the heck outta this. If you liked their singles match then this is a must see. Fuchi clearly was wasted during the later 90's as he is a face punching, bone grinding SOB still. He and Kawada continue to be an excellent team...again calling back to the early 90's. Tenryu has the young but burly Araya under his wing. There's an interesting balance struck based on size, experience, rank etc. This makes for a really great tag match...everyone had to be beat up by the end of it...like a Wahoo vs Valentine match. Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00): Oh man other than that one flub in the beginning, this was a very good match. Keeping it simple, keeping the intensity up, yeah this was on its way to maybe being great but they had to keep it short since they're wrestling again this night. Williams/Rotunda are good...surprisingly good in '00. Genichiro Tenryu & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Mohammad Yone (12/09): This one almost was missed. It's a little bit shoot style, a little bit WAR...there's nothing to hate here. Maybe there's not the epic Tenryu vs Fujiwara elements you're looking for but Yone & Nagai truly make up for it. Yone doesn't get enough love past some BattlArts stuff and I seem to be the only person who actively is excited to see Mitsuya Nagai matches... which is a shame. Neat little stuff like this is why I comb through some of these long TV episode uploads Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00): RWTL final. A great tag match with Kawada trying to beat the Varsity Club all by himself. Eventually he's got to tag Fuchi in. But dammit Fuchi holds his own...again we missed out on Fuchi in the mid & late 90's. This is probably the top Doc performance of 2000 where he & Kawada seemed right at home together. Rotunda is someone who I wish we had in 90's AJPW. He's been an excellent addition to the 2000 AJ roster. He's not spectacular but is solid as a rock. This isn't going to make anyone's top RWTL list BUT it's a great improvement from where they were in July...not only that but AJ actually is pretty damn interesting & has a few quality tag teams. I think that's my big take away for this project. The tag team landscape is great... perhaps unspectacular compared with the NOAH guys but the matchups are fresh... nothing feels set in stone, no outcome seems predictable. It's definitely a company in flux. The tag scene (sans Steele & Barton who's absence you might have noticed) is really where AJPW is thriving post split. I would say the only singles match worth watching is that Kawada vs Tenryu classic from October. But there's plenty of tag stuff that has not gotten the love it deserves especially if you're into late 80's AJPW/SWS/WAR like I am. My favorites were: Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21) Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (11/18) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09/00) I'm definitely going forward with this to look more at early Muto's AJPW in 2001. Thanks for reading!

I've been watching 2001 as well and that's been my experience too. There's a lot of matches where only half the match has aired. I feel like I've gone through what I wanted with '01 and it's definitely better than 2000. Just glancing at my notes for complete ones I found & enjoyed: Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Smith & Taiyo Kea (01/14) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuya Nagai (03/03) Dr. Death & George Hines vs Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan (04/14) Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Masato Tanaka & Hideki Hosaka (05/20) Dr. Death & Mike Rotunda (The Varsity Club) vs. Kojima & Hiro Saito (06/08) Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yuji Nagata & Shinya Makabe (06/08) Gaora actually has this one Toshiaki Kawada vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan (06/08) Muto vs Dr. Death (07/14) Kawada vs Fuyuki (10/27) Gaora has this also and I think it's somewhat well known Muto vs Chono (10/27) Gaora also But there's a ton of stuff that's out there where half or less was shown. A fine example is Genichiro Tenryu, Yoji Anjo, Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. George Hines, Johnny Smith, Nobutaka Araya & Toshiaki Kawada (10/08/01).

Kudos for going through all of these matches especially the ones that even looked bad on paper. I've watched the high end stuff (if you can call it that) for post split 2000 AJPW. The tag team landscape is great... perhaps unspectacular compared with the NOAH guys were doing but the match-ups in AJ are fresh... nothing feels set in stone, no outcome seems predictable. It's definitely a company in flux. The tag scene (sans Steele & Barton who I weren't interested in watching) is really where AJPW is thriving post split. I would say the only singles match worth watching is that Kawada vs Tenryu classic from October. But there's plenty of tag stuff that has not gotten the love it deserves especially if you're into late 80's AJPW/SWS/WAR like I am. My favorites were: Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21) Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (11/18) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09) I'm hoping to get a blog post together with reviews shortly. For curious folks, it is definitely worth checking out the top shelf stuff. The under card definitely seems skippable- thank you again for doing the dirty work!

It's been awhile since anything was posted here so I thought I'd drag it off the shelf and post some reviews here. That way anyone looking for PWG reviews has a one stop shop. Here's some quality matches from Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. Sabin vs Shelley (Hollywood Globetrotters 03/04/06) - Pre Machine Guns...Shelley with two tone hair and Sabin with the alien on his trunks, yes! This was probably more towards Sabin's style (and the MCMG style) as opposed to Shelley's. Poetry in motion opening. But, whew! this was a great match. Lots of good back and forth stuff. Their familiarity with one another is clear and they are able to work some pretty complex stuff. I don't think there was a story or drama but this was a great athletic contest type match. Sabin & Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black (All Star Weekend IV 11/17/06 night 1) - Dream match fulfilled... this was a classic in my book. Having watched all that Dragon Gate, this totally is in the same league! I loved the Shelley vs Jimmy stuff...playing off their history together. Anyways, the last couple minutes sealed the deal. If you're hoping this is worth your time then you gotta see this! No Remorse Corps vs. Kings Of Wrestling vs. MCMG vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy (All Star Weekend IV 11/18/06 night 2) - This is bananas in the best way! The built this thing with care. The first section was all mat and chain wrestling. Then they went into more advanced stuff like suplexes, slams and some double team stuff. It was simple timeless stuff and every once in awhile they would throw something modern (for 2006) in there. Or a fan service spot.. it is PWG after all. Then the final portion was your bat shit fireworks finale. I think if I had to pick a favorite pairing, it was Kings of Wrestling vs Motor City but, everyone was killing it. Super Dragon vs Davey (with their history) was the especially stiff and where the story of the match was. I thought this was a classic. The Guns killed it this weekend in Reseda Motor City Machine Guns vs Young Bucks (Ninety Nine 04/11/09) - A very good to great match. The Bucks at this time kinda have a set program of spots so I wasn't really surprised by anything they did but the Guns were looking great. Of course there are a couple moves you'd expect from the but they mixed things up a bit. And they did things that look like they hurt...like all of those kicks...damn! I think it was over a little too quick... like the finish didn't feel earned considering what just came beforehand. In other words, the wrong team won. But it's all good, this was a bunch of fun. Just don't expect a lot of actual tags, I think I remember like one tag, so "Dragon Gate" rules...thankfully I'm pretty used to it recently. Motor City Machine Guns vs Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong (DDT4 05/22/09) - A dream match fulfilled again! A great match. It was simply awesome at times. It's great to see the Guns get the time to go all out. Dragon & Roddy is one of those rare pairs that you can't believe didn't happen sooner. I remember this at the time. Hybrid Dolphins was their tag name I wasn't crazy about the finish however the crowd was (& you might be too) so I definitely recommend this one.

The YouTube account that had the DGUSA matches also has a bunch of PWG. Way too much if you know what I mean. But I was able to narrow it down to a few matches by the Motor City Machine Guns over the years. It's not complete or anything just some stuff I wanted to see. Sabin vs Shelley (Hollywood Globetrotters 2006) - Pre Machine Guns...Shelley with two tone hair and Sabin with the alien on his trunks, yes! This was probably more towards Sabin's style (and the MCMG style) as opposed to Shelley's. Poetry in motion opening. But, whew! this was a great match. Lots of good back and forth stuff. Their familiarity with one another is clear and they are able to work some pretty complex stuff. I don't think there was a story or drama but this was a great athletic contest type match. vs Jimmy Jacobs vs Tyler Black (All Star Weekend IV 2006 night 1) - Dream match fulfilled... this was a classic in my book. Having watched all that Dragon Gate, this totally is in the same league! I loved the Shelley vs Jimmy stuff...playing off their history together. Anyways, the last couple minutes sealed the deal. If you're hoping this is worth your time then you gotta see this! No Remorse Corps vs. Kings Of Wrestling vs. MCMG vs. Super Dragon & B-Boy (All Star Weekend IV 2006 night 2) - Hahaha! This is bananas in the best way! The built this thing with care. The first section was all mat and chain wrestling. Then they went into more advanced stuff like suplexes, slams and some double team stuff. It was simple timeless stuff and every once in awhile they would throw something modern (for 2006) in there. Or a fan service spot.. it is PWG after all. Then the final portion was your bat shit fireworks finale. I think if I had to pick a favorite pairing, it was Kings of Wrestling vs Motor City but, everyone was killing it. Super Dragon vs Davey (with their history) was the especially stiff and where the story of the match was. I thought this was a classic. The Guns killed it this weekend in Reseda vs Young Bucks (Ninety Nine 2009) - A very good to great match. The Bucks at this time kinda have a set program of spots so I wasn't really surprised by anything they did but the Guns were looking great. Of course there are a couple moves you'd expect from the but they mixed things up a bit. And they did things that look like they hurt...like all of those kicks...damn! I think it was over a little too quick... like the finish didn't feel earned considering what just came beforehand. In other words, the wrong team won. But it's all good, this was a bunch of fun. Just don't expect a lot of actual tags, I think I remember like one tag, so Dragon Gate rules...thankfully I'm pretty used to it recently. vs Danielson & Strong (DDT4 2009) - A dream match fulfilled again! A great match. It was simply awesome at times. It's great to see the Guns get the time to go all out. Dragon & Roddy is one of those rare pairs that you can't believe didn't happen sooner. I remember this at the time. Hybrid Dolphins was their tag name I wasn't crazy about the finish but the crowd was & you might be too so I definitely recommend this one. Pretty sweet batch of matches here. The bouts from the ASW IV events were the best. Thanks for reading!