1995 Recommendations

[Loss]

Use this thread to post recommendations for the yearbook.

 

I don't want to put requirements on making recommendations necessarily, but I will kindly ask a favor -- if you recommend something, if you could, maybe just include a brief reason that you're recommending it. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but just something for us to see why it should go on.

 

If you make recommendations that pique my curiosity, I will do my part to ask more follow-up questions to make sure I have a good understanding of why it was recommended.

 

In addition, I will use this thread to list matches I come across when looking through various lists that look interesting on paper to ask if anyone has seen them.

 

Thanks!

[Dylan Waco]

95 was a shit year for WCW and because of that I think it would be potentially easy to miss the Stars N Stripes v. Vader/Arn tag if you didn't know to look for it. I don't recall the date on it offhand but it was EASILY the best WCW match of that year.

 

Here is a match that would for sure slip through the cracks if I hadn't just recently watched it. I'll include my review:

 

> The Gangstas v. The Thugz (Street Fight) - SMW Charlotte Memories 5-20-95

 

No chance of this sucking as battle of underclass stereotypes is pretty much guaranteed to work on some level and really you are not going to find better example of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan study subjects v. Senator James Webb study subjects than this. Racist rednecks v. black nationalist from the Ghetto - let's get er done. Thugz come out pissed off after a baiting New Jack promo and immediately get to it, with Tracy hitting dive shots to the floor with trashcans, leaping Confederate Flage shots, tossing New Jack into the tenth row, et. New Jack comes back by throwing an insane looking over hand that sends Tracy flying, then hurls him into a stack of chairs and just starts chucking shit at him. Jack tries to hit Tracy with a cinderblock but DWB blocks it at the last second. New Jack hits an insane leaping clothesline onto DWB on the floor. During all of this D-Lo is just tossing shit around. Tracy and Jack have color now and Smothers is really selling his ass off. Great punch exchange on the floor that starts with DWB and New Jack and escalates to all five guys. D-Lo gets tossed into the tenth row by Smothers. Mustapha tries to run away and Smothers darts after him and leaps on him sending him flying off camera. Back in the ring and there is more solid brawling and then Smothers gets dumped to the floor. D-Lo hurls a trashcan at head and then New Jack absolutely kills him with a leaping piledriver through a table. Holy fuck what a spot. Being economical men with their weaponry, D-Lo and Jack try and use the remnants of the table as a battering ram, but Tracy reverses and throws them both into it as DWB makes his comeback in the ring. D-Lo ends up accidentally frogsplashing Mustapha and Anthony pins him. Brawl continues post-match with New Jack and Smothers throwing each other into the crowd while men run over to protect their children from getting caught up in a race riot. They end up brawling onto a stage where D-Lo gets back body dropped. Thugz finally chase Gangstas to the back and Curtis raises their hands on the stage, while fans hold up the Stars N Bars. This is pro wrestling as hate crime which is pretty much the way it's supposed to be. Really a tremendous match, easily the best Gangstas match I've ever seen, and one of the best SMW matches I've ever seen as well.

 

Actually I would make a pretty strong push for Severn v. Bobby Blaze from the same show as as a really fun mat sprint that was out of the norm for the promotion and the time.

[Loss]

95 was a shit year for WCW and because of that I think it would be potentially easy to miss the Stars N Stripes v. Vader/Arn tag if you didn't know to look for it. I don't recall the date on it offhand but it was EASILY the best WCW match of that year.

I just watched this. I'm not sure I'd put it ahead of Sting/Austin (on the same episode I believe), Pillman/Badd, Flair/Arn, Benoit/Eddy from SN or Pillman/Wright from Main Event (completely going off memory on the last one), but still very good and a match I'd agree should be included.

 

Really, the WWF and WCW weren't having strong years in '95, so the good news is that we shouldn't have to cut too many things from them.

[Dylan Waco]

I forgot about Pillman/Badd. I like the tag better but those are neck and neck.

 

Another 95 match from WCW that might be easy to sleep on is Wright v. Arn from Slamboree which is a very good match, with a very good finish. Actually I think either Wright or Arn were the best guys in WCW that year which is saying something.

 

Also there is that Wright/Flair match from SN that I believe set the table for the brief Arn v. Flair feud

[Loss]

Agreed, and I want to include all of that for sure.

 

Regal and Eaton are a great team on paper, but none of their matches stand out to me. Obviously, the vignettes of Eaton being Pygmalioned are a must, but are there any Blue Bloods matches that should definitely go on?

[Bix]

For starters...

 

Off the top of my head from WCW:

 

Pre-Nitro:

- All of the infamously bad stuff has to go on, like Vader splitting his pants while Hogan no-sells the powerbomb, the worst stuff from uncensored, every single Dungeon of Doom skit ESPECIALLY "AAAAH! IT'S NOT HOT," the DDP-Dave Sullivan feud, etc.

- I like all of the Pillman-Wright and Flair-Savage stuff.

- As mentioned, Sting-Austin and Vader/Arn vs Stars & Stripes are both awesome.

 

Nitro era:

- Eddy's debut vs Wright on Main Event is fun and should be included.

- Eddy-Liger from Main Event is really good.

- Everything Sabu should go on, including the music video of dark match footage.

- I'd argue for all 3 matches from that one taped Nitro: Benoit-Sasaki, Badd-Eddy, and Sting-Malenko.

 

Non-WCW:

 

I must stress is that there is a lot of NJPW Classics with previously unaired, unpimped footage. '96 was similar but I think you covered the bases as more people were following classics at that point. This stuff really needs to be carefully looked at.

 

WWF is mostly obvious stuff with some outliers. Basically anything that looks intriguing on paper, like one of the Heavenly Bodies in a singles match or a Buddy Landel match, is worth including. Also, Bam Bam Bigelow vs 1-2-3 Kid in January might get overlooked because it was on Challenge during a really uneventful period for the show.

[Dylan Waco]

Agreed, and I want to include all of that for sure.

 

Regal and Eaton are a great team on paper, but none of their matches stand out to me. Obviously, the vignettes of Eaton being Pygmalioned are a must, but are there any Blue Bloods matches that should definitely go on?

The best Blue Bloods match that I can recall is v. Malenko/Benoit on one of the ppv pre-shows. I believe it was the pre-show for Halloween Havoc actually.

[puropotsy]

Agreed, and I want to include all of that for sure.

 

Regal and Eaton are a great team on paper, but none of their matches stand out to me. Obviously, the vignettes of Eaton being Pygmalioned are a must, but are there any Blue Bloods matches that should definitely go on?

The best Blue Bloods match that I can recall is v. Malenko/Benoit on one of the ppv pre-shows. I believe it was the pre-show for Halloween Havoc actually.

 

That would be correct, it was from the Havoc pre-show

 

One thing that I think would need to go on from WCW would be the segment where Flair has all the "Little Stingers" with him in order to convince Sting to team with him against Arn and Pillman. Sting was hesitant, but all the little kids in Sting make-up were saying "Come on, Sting" and Flair was saying "Come on, do it for the little stingers". Sting kept saying that he couldn't trust Flair based on history but finally gave in, saying that if Flair crossed him he would basically kill him (not in those words, but kinda...)

Of course, when they had the match as soon as Flair tagged in, he strutted across the ring and then strutted right back and punched Sting in the face. Predictable perhaps, but the image of Flair with the little stingers is priceless. The next year I told my buddy about it and we were laughing for hours.

 

I haven't seen the Flair vs Arn match from Fall Brawl in years, do people think it holds up?

[puropotsy]

I don't think anyone really needs me to suggest this, but Austin's work from ECW should definitely go in. His promos really were trend-setting from that point forward and from what I recall the matches were pretty good too.

[Tim Evans]

Some of the USWA/SMW feud should go on. For Example:

 

-The PG13-Rock N Roll Express match from Monday Night Memories. Went about 20 minutes and features RNR heel turn

- Tracy Smothers, Robert Gibson and Mark Curtis invading the studio and beating up the whole USWA roster

- Tracy vs Lawler from the Smothers set

- Tommy Rich's babyface turn with Lance Russell bringing up his kids

- Bob Armstrong taking over the USWA

 

And the PG-13/Gilbert Rich feud is real good. As is the Buddy Landell promo prior to facing HBK for the IC belt.

[Dylan Waco]

PG-13 and The Thugz had a few a good matches too.

[Bix]

Not to be a dick but to make sure they find it, R&R-PG13 (which I still haven't watched for some reason) is from A Night To Remember in Louisville. Monday Night Memories was a year earlier in Memphis

[Loss]

Not to be a dick but to make sure they find it, R&R-PG13 (which I still haven't watched for some reason) is from A Night To Remember in Louisville. Monday Night Memories was a year earlier in Memphis

Monday Night Memories is the show with the 10-way legends of Memphis main event, right?

[Bix]

Yup.

[NitroFan]

I haven't watched it in years but I remember loving that Sting/Flair vs. Arn/Pillman match that is mentioned above. Popped huge when Flair punched Sting. Even just including the last few minutes of Sting trying to make the tag and Flair turning on him when he does would be awesome.

[Dylan Waco]

Also worth noting that the Monday Night Memories song is awesome.

 

Couple of other 95 thoughts that are sort of out of the box. I would not go balls to the walls for J.T./Hack match but it is a personal favorite and a fun look at ECW house show insanity of the era. The Mikey matches I would all push pretty hard for as they give you a look at a guy who was legitimately great in the ring at that point. The SMW stuff is either the best stuff or the most important stuff from the year or both.

 

Mikey Whipwreck v. Steve Richards - FanCam 10-27-95

 

This was pretty great. Match is really broken down into three parts. First part is Mikey getting the best of Richards with armwork. They will come up for a high spot here or there but Mikey is controlling him and Richards can't get a break or get free of him. The second part is Richards control segment. This is bridged to very well by an epic top rope bump from Richards and a great Mikey plancha. Richards cuts off this run with a power bomb but sells a bit before coming back to offense. As usual Mikey makes a good rag doll and Richards does a good job throwing him around with some suplexes. Mikey's hope spots are very well executed and believable as are the nearfalls. Final segment of this is Mikey's attempted flurries of offense building to the Richards finish. In particular I thought the spot with the missed splash looked great and I enjoyed the sit down on the powerbomb. Superkick came out of nowhere and it really seemed like a last gasp for Richards. Both guys came out of this looking like a million bucks. I'm probably not doing this justice, but this is one of the better ECW matches I've seen from 95. Maybe the best Richards match I've ever seen period.

 

Shane Douglas v. Mikey Whipwreck - ECW 2/3/95

 

I love this match and voted it super high in the SC poll. This match is all about cocky vet Douglas underestimating a reluctant opponent in Mikey. Shane pisses off Mikey and Mikey shows him how scrappy he is and it makes a great match. The crowd explodes early every time Mikey hits an arm drag or a dropkick and his plancha was really great as he actually disappears off screen on impact. He works over Shane's arm which Shane does a good job of selling. Shane has to make his comeback off of a dirty rope break and then when Mikey tries to speed it back up he drills him with a nasty powerbomb and then a face first suplex on the apron outside the ring. The camera angle does not do the match any favors at this point, but you can see Shane holding the title up in Mikey's face and holding him at bay on the floor. Shane slams Mikey around and then stands over him slapping him in the face and talking shit. Mikey comes back with a serious of low blows and I really love it as there is a progression as he goves from straight punch, to punch from behind, to reverse atomic drop, to atomic drop. He starts reeling off spots and there is a really great string of nearfalls with Mikey hitting an awesome dropkick, followed by a crossbody for insanely hot nearfalls that crowd loses it for. Shane ends up catching Mikey coming off the ropes with a suplex and then climbs to the top but he eats a big boot when he comes off before a brief rope running exchange that ends with Douglas hitting the belly to belly. I overrated this on initial viewing but it is still a very good match with flashes of greatness.

 

Hack Myers v. J.T. Smith - ECW FanCam 9-15-95

 

Hack comes in and stiffs J.T. and has him reeling. J.T. ends up firing back with some stiff chops and Hack says fuck it and returns that favor and then drops a fucking nasty knee drop off the second rope to J.T.'s head. J.T. turns the tide with a spinning leg lariat. J.T. is great in this throwing down a chair in contempt, yelling at fans, et. Hack chases J.T. down and punches him in the face but Hack gets tossed into the crowd. Sweet spot where J.T. just gets chucked into the crowd wildly. They brawl to the back of the building where J.T. cranks up for a lariat but ends up taking a back body drop on the floor. They brawl some more and J.T. gets Hack down on the ground and hits a fucking frogsplash off of a lunch counter onto Hack. They end up back at ringside where Hack breaks a pan over Smith's head and then piledrivers J.T. in the ring for a nearfall. J.T. hit a sweet tornado DDT for a nearfall and then goes out to jaw at some fans picking up a chair on the way back into the ring. Naturally Hack gets the chair and fucking kills J.T. with a chair shot that wraps around his head. J.T. comes back yet again and is getting utter hell from the crowd who he proceeds to shit talk over the house mic. J.T. does an awesome spot where he sets up a dive on Hack then flips into the ropes instead and flips off the crowd. Hack pulls him out to the floor and they go back into the crowd. Hack pelts J.T. with some shit then hits a brainbuster back in the ring for a nearfall. J.T. pulls the ref in on an avalanche splash attempt and he gets wiped out. J.T. goes to the tights and hits Hack with a foreign object and gets the fall. The finish was not that well done but I loved the rest of this despite the relative lack of long term selling. Post-match J.T. falls off the ropes onto a table which was awesome.

 

Raven/Stevie Richards vs. Tommy Dreamer/Mikey Whipwreck (5/13/95)

 

This is a great match and another example of Mikey being awesome in 95 (I actually think you can make a strong case for him as the best wrestler in the States that year). On top of taking some huge bumps and ragdolling around this is a rare case of someone making Raven look good as well. Plus this is the debut of Fonzy as evil rule enforcing ref so it belongs on the set even if you are foolish and think the match sucks

 

Shane Douglas vs. Marty Jannetty (2/25/95)

 

This is the best of Shane's matches v. "name" talent which was a running theme of this period in the company. Jannetty really was a great wrestler and I'm sure Loss will go to bat for his SB of Wrestling match v. Snow from 95 as well.

 

The Thugz v. PG-13 - Volunteer Slam IV 5-19-95

 

Pre-match dueling Smothers/Ice mic work was unsurprisingly excellent. PG-13's pre-match ritual is so ridiculous it's a sure fire heat getter in and of itself. They haven't even locked up and Ice is flexing and strutting around the apron, jumping down argue with fans, graabbing the mic and shit talking the infamous old lady, et. DWB runs over and hugs her which gets a huge pop as Dundee flips the fuck out. Wolfie armdrags Tracy and of course PG-13 go into a ridiculous celebration. Tracy wins the next exchange and of course PG-13 flip out. We are now nearing five minutes in and there have been all of two successful offensive moves and this is still awesome. Pace finally picks up with Smothers clearing the heels out with dropkicks and PG-13 dropping to the floor to call a timeout. Thugz taunt them by doing the Fargo Strut. Now Wolfie is talking shit on the house mic. Ice gets bested in an armwringer exchange and ends up getting double chopped to a big a bump before retreating to his corner yet again. Holy Shit DWB's mocking of PG-13 dance is fucking hysterical. Ice gets into a criss cross with Anthony and ends up jumping into the arms of Wolfie to avoid a right hand. They both flee in terror, while Anthony makes the homophobic hand wave gesture and the crowd breaks out in a massive "faggot!" chant. Cool double drop down spot with PG-13 running into each other and taking each other out. Dundee grabs the mic and says the official is biased and they are leaving. Then he's calling Anthony "fatboy" and telling him if he doesn't play fair this time he's going home. Wolfie comes in and they end up working a pretty standard control segment, before Ice breaks it up with a knee to the back of Smothers, followed by an over the top clothesline bump. Smothers takes a crazy guardrail bump that almost knocks out the front row. Smothers is really good taking a beating here and I'm impressed as his ability to sell so convincingly for two guys that were being off the charts comedic just three minutes earlier. Crowd is almost frantic in their support for Smothers at this point as the heels are bringing out all the tricks to work him over and stir up shit. Really cool spot with Ice getting caught in a desperation sunset flip off of a rope running spot but Curtis is distracted by Wolfie in the corner. This is followed up shortly thereafter by an ever better spot with Tracy avoiding a corner splash but getting caught by a running clothesline from the apron as he tries to make a full escape. Ice takes a huge corner bump on a really excellent teased hot tag as I was certain Smothers was going to get DWB in. Heels attempt the same spot with the missed corner charge/clothesline but Smothers ducks and they take each other out. Smothers catches Ice coming off the top but still can't fight to the corner. Finally hit hits a double DDT and then sells for a few seconds before making a huge leaping hot tag. DWB in and he is cleaning house. Bucksnort Blaster bu the ref misses the fall and PG-13 use the hubcap but Smothers breaks up the pin. Thugz use the hubcap for the pinfall. Randy Hales complains about the hubcap use post-match and Curtis reverse his decision. Besides the lame Dusty finish this was a tremendous Southern tag, with all four guys looking great.

 

Bob Armstrong/Terry Funk v. The Gangstas (Texas Death Match)- Volunteer Slam IV 5-19-95

 

Funk is out of the back with his flaming branding iron and is chasing The Gangstas around ringside trying to burn them while The Bullet and Cornette keep them from getting in the ring. Armstrong and Funk immediately run at The Gangstas and not twenty seconds in Funk piledrives Mustapha on a table. Holy shit Mustapha's head leaves a huge indention in the table. Funk then props it up on the scaffolding and hurls him into it. Faces take the first fall but Mustapha gets back up. Holy shit, Funk goes into his classic boxing stance! D-Lo and New Jack surf a table into the ring and they blindside Terry with it and end up picking up a fall. Funk gets bumped into the mangled table again and New Jack stands on it and him for the next fall. Funk is really selling his ass off here and I am loving this despite the shitty layout with the falls coming to quick. New Jack hits his crazy diving clothesline and Cornette ends up blindsiding New Jack with a racket though it ultimately doesn't mean much. Funk is lunging for the hot tag and then Mustapha comes in and is clubbering Funk and honestly it shouldn't be any good, but Funk's weeble wobble selling is so great and man when he falls into the hot tag the crowd is amped. Armstrong is briefly in charge, but gets kicked in the balls by New Jack who then jaws with Funk before Bob takes a fall. Funk dumping water on Bob in between falls and hand clapping to get the crowd going was great. Then he comes in off the tag and starts knocking dudes out with the tennis racket. Funk takes another fall after getting hit with a foreign object and The Gangstas finally get their hands on Cornette. Armstrong comes in behind the refs back and piledrives New Jack. Somehow this results in a double countout spot with the babyfaces winning. The action in this was really great but it suffers from ridiculous layout and a senseless finish. Still it should make the yearbook without question.

 

Jerry Lawler v. Dirty White Boy - Super Sat Night Fever 1-28-95

 

Lawler relentlessly shit talking an eighty year old lady in the front row and nearly getting her to hop the guardrail was so great it almost pisses me off as you fear the match can't live up to it. Then Landel comes down and sits ringside after shaking Lawler's hand. More shit talking from Lawler and Buddy gets involved and gets chased around the ring by DWB with the old blue hair that went after Lawler pelting him in the head with something at point blank range. Lawler loses the first couple of exchanges via punch and ends bailing to the floor and getting relentlessly taunted by the old bitty which is so god damn great. Lawler ends up hiding on his knees behind Curtis after another punch from Anthony. Lawler then complains about a hair pull on a back body drop of all things while Buddy shit talks over the house mic from the timekeepers table. Lawler complains about another hair pull and DWB pleads his case while Lawler goes to his tights which begins the foreign object game. Of course Lawler is the master of this and Mark Curtis is a really great playing off of him and the crowd as Lawler shifts the gimmick all over to avoid discovery. Lawler ends up popping Anthony off of a test of strength spot and it just goes from there with Lawler working the gimmick every chance he can and Curtis just missing it time after time. Budro ends up handing the title to Lawler who sits it in the corner and bashes DWB's head into it while Landel distracts the ref. Anthony ends up making a come back in the corner and Lawler takes a face plant after a turnbuckle series. DWB hits the blaster and Landel rings the bell claiming the sixty minute time limit has expired. Curtis "fires" Landel as time keeper and they go to a finish with a ref bump, Buddy interference and a Lawler pin. This had some small edits and suffered a bit from a lack of depth, but watching Lawler interact with the SMW crowd is such a treat

 

Ricky Morton v. Al Snow (don't have the date on this)

 

This was a really really good tv match. Snow starts off early taking bumping in an almost panicked fashion for Morton and fleeing to the floor. Unabomb loads up his glove and Snow takes over with a shot that bust Morton over. Snow smartly walks Morton over to the camera to showcase the cut and then they go into the ring where he works over Morton. I am not a huge fan of roll up exchanges, but the roll up exchange in this is really awesome as they do a spot where Morton blocks several Snow punch attempts leading to a backslide that looks perfect and then follows up shortly thereafter with a great looking sunset flip that Snow takes almost like a spike powerbomb. Morton's facial expressions while Snow works him over are really great as well and he does a good job selling for some of Snow's weaker looking shit (namely kicks). To be fair Snow brings some really cool offense in this. Morton takes an insane header bump into the corner at full speed as a cut off spot and then Snow kills him with a nasty urange, a nasty twisting backbreaker and a later a really cool looking leglock. Morton's selling is typically great throughout. The height Snow got on the missed springboard moonsault was insane and he took another spike like headbump off of a Morton headscissors. Morton ends up winning after Unabomb goes to load up Snow's glove and Morton cuts him off at the pass and decks him with it. I can't imagine that there are a whole lot of SMW tv matches better than this.

 

Buddy Landel v. Tracy Smothers - Super Sat Night Fever 1-28-95

 

Lots of early schtick from Buddy with Tracy playing off of it really well and doing everything he could to get the crowd involved. Loved Budro sticking out his chin for Tracy to pop only for Curtis to jump in between them. Also really liked the countering of the various limb work with Smothers getting chucked to the floor and Tracy breaking up an early figure four. All this built to the first really big spot which was a simple slap delivered by Smothers that Landel sells so fucking awesome as he sort of teases a Flair flop before essentially passing out in the corner. This leads to a great chop exchange and Smothers ends up going for a figure four with Landel kicking off. They have really milked a little for a lot but that is what made SMW so great. There is another great mat exchange in this which is really simple back and fourth between Buddy and Smothers working from headscissors to headlock with Buddy cheating to gain his advantages and Smothers eventually snapping and peppering him with rights. They spill to the floor and there is an incredibly great strike exchange where Smothers fucking chops Budro in the face and Buddy fires back with some great rapid fire punches and then Tracy comes back with some more shots and it is awesome as fuck. They get back in the ring and Tracy goes for a corner charge which he misses for a big bump and eats a corkscrew elbow for a great nearfall. Budro misses the second corkscrew attempt which sets up a hot babyface comeback from Smothers. Finish is cool as Buddy goes to the tights for a foreign object but drops it after a back elbow. Smothers gets into it with Curtis about it and tries to use it for himself but while he is arguing Buddy retrieves a chain and decks Tracy for the finish. This was a great match, with great build, a great crowd and every spot meaning something.

[BBscout]

Angle-wise I'm a big fan of this and thought it may get overlooked.

 

Shawn Michaels/Diesel/Undertaker vs. Owen Hart/British Bulldog/Yokozuna from an October RAW.

 

At the time it felt like a big deal to have Taker aligning himself with anybody as opposed to ridin solo and could have been the first time since the 92SNME tag with Flair vs. Sid & Hogan if I recall right.

 

The 5 on 3 beatdown with Douglas and Mabel that left them all laying was a cool sight and was delivered pretty well.

[Bix]

This year seems like one with a lot more obvious choices and it's a matter of digging through Lucha, NJ Classics, and random indy stuff, much of which would be handhelds. I believe Sabu vs Devon Storm and Sabu vs Hakushi are both from '95, for what it's worth. For Lucha I'll dig through the Lauly listings and see what I remember I guess.

[MikeCampbell]

Angle-wise I'm a big fan of this and thought it may get overlooked.

 

Shawn Michaels/Diesel/Undertaker vs. Owen Hart/British Bulldog/Yokozuna from an October RAW.

I second this, but for the reason being that it was one of the very few times that the WWF Champion (cleanly or not) actually got pinned on TV.

[Ditch]

I must stress is that there is a lot of NJPW Classics with previously unaired, unpimped footage. '96 was similar but I think you covered the bases as more people were following classics at that point. This stuff really needs to be carefully looked at.

Not just for '95 but for all of '90 through '96. Sadly there's a pixelation problem on a lot of the discs. I'm working with Brent Baker, who's in touch with the person in Japan who did the VHS-to-DVD transfer. Hopefully it can be fixed.

[Ditch]

Matches that should be a lock:

Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 1/24

Misawa/Kobashi vs Williams/Ace, AJ 3/4

Lioness vs Hotta, AJW 3/26

Eddie vs Dean, ECW 4/15

Misawa vs Taue, AJ 4/15

Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 6/9

Misawa vs Kawada, AJ 7/24

Inoues vs Toyota & Hasegawa, AJW 8/30

Kong vs Kansai, AJW 8/30

Hokuto vs Toyota, AJW 9/2

Raven & Richards vs Pitbulls, ECW 9/16

Rey vs Psicosis, ECW 10/7

Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 10/15

Liger vs Ultimo, J Cup

Rey vs Psicosis, J Cup

 

Matches I'm reasonably sure would be on and will explain if asked:

Taue vs Kobashi, AJ 3/21

Hashimoto vs Regal, NJ 4/16

Misawa vs Taue, AJ 9/10

Kawada vs Albright, AJ 10/25

Guerrero vs Ohtani, Starrcade '95

 

Big pimping post coming up...

[Ditch]

AJ

Misawa, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Williams, Ace & RVD, 2/17: The March tag title match is well-regarded, and this is a fine lead-in tag. Doc and Ace are very aggressive, trying to take a piece out of the champs. Akiyama and RVD are good athletes/bumpers and thus make for good whipping boys. As with most any AJ lead-in, this is good by itself and better in context.

 

Misawa vs Kawada, CC: Misawa breaks his face, which was a huge deal. Maybe clip this or something since it's a letdown compared to their title bouts.

 

Kawada vs Taue, 4/8: The Kobashi match from the first night of the tournament is famous as Taue's "coming out", but from a work perspective I think this is quite a bit better. Possibly Taue's best singles match to this point. Hard-hitting, well put together, great selling, big nearfalls... everything you want from All Japan.

 

Kawada vs Kobashi, 4/13: This takes all the best elements of the January broadway and lops off the flaws. One of the best Champions Carnival round-robin matches (along with Kawada/Taue) and another must-have for quality purposes. Plus it was recently aired in mint condition on AJ Classics.

 

Hansen, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Kawada, Ace & Omori, 4/15: Everyone knows the "Misawa's broken face" storyline, but "Kobashi's bad knee" was an even bigger part of the 6/9 match and that's set up here. The Kawada/Kobashi stuff rocks. Plus: grumpy Stan Hansen!

 

Kroffat vs RVD, 6/9: My pick for the best '90s junior match in All Japan. As I wrote in '07: "I'm not big on a lot of juniors matches that start plodding and jump randomly to highspots, so having a good start is a big plus. The escalation is done well, the spots are done well, the roles are done well." Kroffat is fantastic in this and RVD is a fine high-flying babyface.

 

Misawa/Kobashi/Asako vs Kawada/Taue/Honda, 6/30: Pretty sure Meltzer called this 5*. We only get the second half, so it might have been the sort of "looked to be 5*" semi-rating he gave out from time to time. Anyway this is the best 6-man of the year and with it being clipped in half there's no reason to leave it out.

 

Misawa, Kobashi & Akiyama vs Kawada, Kikuchi & Ogawa, 7/8: Bit of an unusual pick but I think the combination of Kawada sending a message to Misawa and the rare heel-turn Kikuchi appearance is enough.

 

AJW

Bull vs Kyoko 3/26

Bull vs Kyoko 9/2: I'm lumping these two together because they're both good 'big match' joshi bouts, they're the last highlights for Bull Nakano, and it's teacher vs student.

 

Toyota vs 30 Opponents, 12/25: Not for the quality, but for the uniqueness.

 

Big Japan

Shopping Mall match, 7/1: Also unique. Problematic with its length, though.

 

JWP

4-on-4 "1 Count" match, 3/21: Hey it's another 'unique' one. The singles matches could maybe be clipped off, but then they do set up the 1-count stip.

 

MPro Mask League

Sasuke vs Naniwa

Sasuke vs Delfin

Sasuke vs Caras 1

Naniwa vs Gorgon Cross

Sasuke vs Caras 2: Again I'm putting these in as a block. Sasuke vs Naniwa, vs Delfin and the first Caras match all set up his vulnerability in the big finals match. Naniwa vs Mr. JL is all kinds of fun and maybe the most memorable win in Naniwa's career.

 

NJ

Chono, Tenzan, Hiro Saito & Sabu vs Hashimoto, Choshu, Hase & Hirata, 2/3 falls, 3/13: Chono's heel turn was the big storyline of the first 2/3rds of the year. This is the best multi-man tag from the feud, with plenty of hate and action, AND you get Sabu to spice it up.

 

Mutoh vs Tenzan, NJ 4/16: A short-ish match that announces Tenzan's arrival. Only mentioned because of its relative brevity.

 

Chono & Tenzan vs Hashimoto & Hirata, 6/12: This kicks off the mid-90s tag title revival as both TenChono and Hash/Hirata are formed. They mesh so well, with the clearly defined roles and face/heel distinction.

 

PWFG

Fujiwara vs Taka, 8/26: This should be a fast squash. Instead it's all kinds of fun. Phil's take:

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2010/07/o...ing-damned.html

 

RINGS

Han vs Zouev, 3/18: For pre-1996 Han matches, I like him best against other Russians who can go with him on the mat. Zouev was IMO the second-best of the RINGS Russians, and we get yet another masterful Han outing.

 

UWFi

Yamazaki vs Takayama, 6/18: Also here for the brevity and to mark Takayama's rise in stature, but a much better match than Mutoh/Tenzan given those two characteristics.

 

Anjoh vs Sano, 6/18: Just flat-out good shoot-style, like the '93 match. Way better than anything Takada did in '95.

 

Chono vs Anjoh, 10/28: Big-time heat, big-time personalities, and it's compact. What's not to love?

 

Chono & Tenzan vs Anjoh & Takayama, 11/25: Wild, hate-filled, and almost all action. I will take this over legbar-fests anytime.

 

WAR

Ultimo vs Jericho, 7/7: Ultimo's unique outfit, the fact that it's clipped, and the 'bigness' of it are enough to warrant inclusion.

 

Tenryu & Ultimo vs Fuyuki & Kandori, 12/8: Hard to top this when it comes to intergender matches. There's the usual entertainment/comedy aspect stemming from the battle of the sexes, but most of the value is in treating Kandori like a small underdog. She works hard, Fuyuki has her back, Tenryu and Ultimo walk a fine line in how they handle her, and the crowd responds very well.

 

WCW

Hogan vs Vader, Superbrawl: Vader cutting Hogan off repeatedly and no-selling the legdrop makes up for the craptastic finish.

[MikeCampbell]

Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue, AJ 1/24

I could see including the last few minutes of this to show that the teams went to a draw, but this doesn't need to be shown in full.

 

I'd also suggest Kawada/Akiyama 3/21, Kobashi/Misawa 3/26, and Kawada/Misawa 4/6

[Ditch]

I love 1/24/95 and rated it 14th for AJ in the decade. Vastly more coherent and watchable than Kawada/Kobashi or Toyota/Inoue, which I'm guessing are likely to go on the set.

[MikeCampbell]

The 1/24 tag draw bored me to tears.

 

Regarding AJW, I'd also suggest Toyota/Aja from 3/26 with Toyota's title win and their WWWA rematch from June (not solid on the exact date) where Aja gets it back.