1999 Recommendations

[FLIK]

I'd add these two as absolute must haves

 

AJW 7/10/1999 (3WA Tag Titles, 2 out of 3 Falls) ZAP T (Tomoko Watanabe) & ZAP I (Kaoru Ito) © vs Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita

ARSION 4/14/1999 Candy Okutsu & Ai Fujita vs Ayako Hamada & Mika Akino

 

Mariko Yoshida vs Michiko Omukai (ARSION 05/04/99)

Yoshida didn't wrestle Omukai at the 5/4 show, the other Yoshida match that needs to be included from this card is vs Hiromi Yagi.

 

Haven't seen but looking through PUNQ's list he has these very highly rated from 1999

 

NEO - 1/4/1999 Kyoko Inoue & Genki Misae vs Yumiko Hotta & Nanae Takahashi

NEO - 7/4/1999 Kyoko Inoue vs ZAP I (Kaoru Ito)

LLPW - 3/10/1999 Yasha Kurenai, Noriyo Tateno, Harley Saito & Rumi Kazama vs Manami Toyota, Takako Inoue, Momoe Nakanishi & Kumiko Maekawa

 

IF room needs to be made to fit the above on then i'd cut any of these, otherwise i'd say keep all 3

 

Hikari Fukuoka & Mikiko Futagami vs Aja Kong & Candy Okutsu (ARSION 03/16/99)

The Bloody & Fang Suzuki vs Sumie Sakai & Megumi Yabushita (Jd' 09/05/99)

Lioness Asuka vs Cooga (Jd' 12/28/99)

[Loss]

Here are the other promotions:

 

BattlARTS

Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka vs Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone (BattlARTS 01/12/99)

Daisuke Ikeda vs Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 04/26/99)

Yuki Ishikawa vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (BattlARTS 05/14/99, Bed of Nails Death Match)

Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda vs Joe Malenko & Carl Greco (BattlARTS 06/09/99)

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 08/29/99)

Taka Michinoku, Yuki Ishikawa & Kazunari Murakami vs Alexander Otsuka, Mohammed Yone & Ikuto Hidaka (BattlARTS 09/26/99)

Taka Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka (BattlARTS 10/17/99)

Alexander Otsuka vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (BattlARTS 11/09/99)

Naoki Sano vs Maasaki Mochizuki (BattlARTS 11/09/99)

Tiger Mask IV & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda (BattlARTS 11/09/99)

 

RINGS

Volk Han vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (RINGS 01/23/99)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (RINGS 01/23/99)

Akira Maeda vs Alexander Karelin (RINGS 02/21/99)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hiromitsu Kanehara (RINGS 03/22/99)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Frank Shamrock (RINGS 04/23/99)

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Yoshihisa Yammamoto (RINGS 05/22/99)

Kiyoshi Tamura vs Yoshihisa Yammamoto (RINGS 06/24/99)

Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Wataru Sakata (RINGS 08/19/99)

 

Michinoku Pro

CIMA vs Minoru Fujita (Michinoku Pro 01/09/99)

Naohiro Hoshikawa, Masato Yakushiji & Masaru Seno vs Shiima Nobunaga, Judo Suwa & Sumo Fuji (Michinoku Pro 01/10/99)

Taka Michinoku, Gran Naniwa & Tiger Mask IV vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada & Pablo Marquez (Michinoku Pro 03/06/99)

Alexander Otsuka vs Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro 03/06/99)

Great Sasuke, Taka Michinoku & Gran Naniwa vs Shiima Nobunaga, Judo Suwa & Sumo Fuji (Michinoku Pro 03/13/99)

Great Sasuke vs Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro 04/27/99)

Taka Michinoku, Shoichi Funaki & Tiger Mask IV vs Shiima Nobunaga, Sumo Fuji & TARU (Michinoku Pro 06/19/99)

Taka Michinoku & Minoru Fujita vs Shiima Nobunaga & Sumo Fuji (Michinoku Pro 07/17/99)

Tiger Mask IV vs Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro 07/17/99)

Taka Michinoku, Magnum Tokyo & Minoru Fujita vs Curry Man, Super Boy & SUWA (Michinoku Pro 08/02/99)

Taka Michinoku, Magnum Tokyo & Minoru Fujita vs SUWA, Super Boy & Curry Man (Michinoku Pro 08/22/99)

Taka Michinoku & Great Sasuke vs Tiger Mask IV & Minoru Fujita (Michinoku Pro 09/23/99)

CIMA vs Minoru Fujita (Michinoku Pro 10/19/99)

Tiger Mask IV vs Great Sasuke (Michinoku Pro 10/19/99)

Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Maasaki Mochizuki & Minoru Fujita vs Sasuke The Great, Sumo Fuji, Curry Man & NANIWA (Michinoku Pro 11/07/99)

Tiger Mask IV & Magnum Tokyo vs CIMA & SUWA (Michinoku Pro 11/07/99)

Minoru Fujita, Shiryu II & Jody Fleisch vs CIMA, Super Boy & Curry Man (Michinoku Pro 12/21/99)

 

BJPW

Ryuji Yamakawa vs Tomoaki Honma (BJPW 06/20/99, 3 Way Board Falls Count Anywhere Death Match)

Tomoaki Honma vs The Winger (BJPW 10/03/99, Barbed Wire Board Death Match)

Tomoaki Honma vs Shadow WX (BJPW 10/17/99, Light Bulb and Barbed Wire Board Death Match)

Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa vs Shadow WX & The Winger (BJPW 11/08/99, Light Bulb and Barbed Wire Board Death Match)

Shadow WX vs Ryuji Yamakawa (BJPW 12/04/99, 4 Way Light Bulb Board Death Match)

[El-P]

Mariko Yoshida vs Michiko Omukai (ARSION 05/04/99)

Yoshida didn't wrestle Omukai at the 5/4 show, the other Yoshida match that needs to be included from this card is vs Hiromi Yagi.

 

I second this.

[Chess Knight]

I'd throw in the 7/29/99 Ishikawa v Ikeda.

[FLIK]

I'd add these as must haves

 

Battlarts

3/21/1999 Masaaki Mochizuki vs Minoru Tanaka

5/14/1999 Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone vs Hayabusa & Tetsuhiro Kuroda

6/20/1999 Yuki Ishikawa & Mohammed Yone vs Daisuke Ikeda & Ikuto Hidaka

 

BJW

5/30/1999 (Barbed Wire, Fire & Lightbulbs) Ryuji Yamakawa vs Shadow WX

 

 

I'd put these in the keep only if there's room pile

 

Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda vs Joe Malenko & Carl Greco (BattlARTS 06/09/99)

Taka Michinoku, Yuki Ishikawa & Kazunari Murakami vs Alexander Otsuka, Mohammed Yone & Ikuto Hidaka (BattlARTS 09/26/99)

Tomoaki Honma vs The Winger (BJPW 10/03/99, Barbed Wire Board Death Match)

 

 

 

and i'd drop this all together since I thought it was pretty average

 

Naoki Sano vs Maasaki Mochizuki (BattlARTS 11/09/99)

 

 

 

I'd throw in the 7/29/99 Ishikawa v Ikeda.

I thought the August match was a lot better but this one is really good too, works well as a set up & just as an overall part of their big feud over the years

[Chess Knight]

Yeah, July is a good lead-in which is why I suggested it, but I've always though the August match was a MOTYC. That needs to go on 1000%.

[jpchicago23]

The LWO fiesta has to be added for pure comedy. It's one of those so bad its good things from early January.

[benj]

MTV True Life - I'm a Professional Wrestler

 

So much great shit.

[TravJ1979]

OVW started TV blocks in July, so I'd like to go through those and find interesting stuff as well. If anyone watched OVW at the time and has any recommendations, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

I haven't watched the 90's OVW stuff since it first aired, but I do know almost all of it stunk. It wasn't until the year 2000 with Cornette involvement and subsequent WWE developmental money that it started getting good. By the summer of that year, they had flushed out most of Danny Davis' students that would never make it and started having a nice mix of good, albeit green guys and vets with WWE guys mixed in.

 

So for 1999, unless it involved Nick Dinsmore, Rob Conway, Damaja (a/k/a Danny Basham), Doug Basham or Flash Flanaghan, I'd skip it.

 

From an entertainment standpoint there was Rod Steele as a cult favorite and Rip Rogers, well, being Rip which is awesome.

 

1998/1999 match listings can be found here: 1998 and 1st half of 1999 and here: 2nd half of 1999 and beyond

[Bix]

How was Trailer Park Trash in '99? I liked his work from a couple years later,

[TravJ1979]

How was Trailer Park Trash in '99? I liked his work from a couple years later,

TPT was okay. He did a lot of teaming with Rip which was entertaining. Personally I could never get over his look.

[ajtroma]

Im interested in seeing what makes the final cut. I remember 1999 being the absolute nadir of the industry. Just complete dogshit but compared to today's stuff, its golden.

[Zero]

FWA - 11-20-1999 - Ki vs. Quackenbush - I remember this being a pretty great indy match, and look of what is to come in the future years.

[tim]

While I'm at it, here's the New Japan list, if that can also be edited:

 

Kensuke Sasaki vs Satoshi Kojima (NJPW 02/11/99)

Keiji Muto vs Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW 02/14/99)

Masa Chono vs Atsushi Onita (NJPW 04/10/99, Explosive Barbed Wire Match)

Kensuke Sasaki vs Satoshi Kojima (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/11/99)

Great Muta vs Great Nita (NJPW 08/28/99, No Rope Barbed Wire Land Mine Exploding Death Match)

Keiji Muto & Scott Norton vs Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata (NJPW 09/23/99)

Keiji Muto vs Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW Tokyo Dome 10/11/99)

Candidates for finish only/cuts.

 

I'm sure it'll be obvious when the match is watched in full to decide but the entrance for that Onita/Chono match NEEDS to be on here.

[FLIK]

I loved Onita vs Chono, wouldn't cut it at all. Easily Onita's best match in New Japan and genuinely a really great match. Helped that Chono was nice enough to not treat Onita like a bitch and squash him (Sasaki & Choshu) and wasn't pussy enough to avoid taking bumps (Muta)

[Zenjo]

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Shiro Koshinaka vs Masa Chono (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Yuji Nagata vs Satoshi Kojima (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Keiji Muto (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Kensuke Sasaki vs Satoshi Kojima (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/11/99)

Keiji Muto vs Yuji Nagata (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/11/99)

Masa Chono vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/11/99)

Keiji Muto vs Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/15/99)

I watched the 99 G1 earlier this year and it certainly doesn't warrant this much space. I would go with:

 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Yuji Nagata vs Satoshi Kojima (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/10/99)

Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/11/99)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/14/99)

Keiji Muto vs Manabu Nakanishi (NJPW G-1 Climax 08/15/99) - Finish Only

[Ditch]

NJ list note:

 

Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW Tokyo Dome 01/04/99) (Finish only - title change)

 

I would say to put the full match in. It's solid and very important.

[dawho5]

Hansen/Taue vs. Burning 12/3/99, Misawa vs. Vader at the Dome and Vader vs. Kobashi CC Final seem like they would be the big AJPW matches of that year. Hansen as an underdog babyface is absolutely incredible. Who would have known that after years of being the asshole bully? I think the underappreciated match from AJPW in 99 would be Burning vs. the Untouchables 10/23/99. It's two guys who have been in Ogawa's spot in this kind of match doing everything they can to stop Misawa and the plucky underdog tag partner from getting the fall on them. I won't say it's on the level of 6/9/95 or 12/6/96, but it's close enough for 1999.

[Loss]

Ok Ditch, I have to ask ... what is the story with Survival Tobita vs Ken The Box? I've never heard of the match.

[Loss]

I would go to bat for The Hollys v. Acolytes match from Sunday Night. I'm pretty sure it was billed as a Texas Tornado match and if I'm not mistaken it aired on Halloween. Match is not great, but it is really vicious and in a year where the WWF product was mediocre at best, it has allows stood out to me.

 

I looked through Heat listings for '99 and didn't see any match between these two teams. Is it possible it was in another year?

[CaptCabana]

History of WWE website doesn't show a show on October 31, 1999 for Heat, but I've seen at least one other listing that does indeed show a Sunday Night Heat on that night that has Acolytes vs Hollys No Holds Barred Match.

[PeteF3]

I'm not Ditch but Survival Tobita was a DVDVR sensation WAY back in the day (late-'90s, green board, Linear-style layout where you had to click on each post individually). He ran an under-under-underground indy fed that usually didn't even use a ring, just mats, and wrestled against a bunch of guys in monster outfits. Sort of Japanese indy sleaze meets Kaiju Big Battel. Ken the Box or Mokujin Ken was his most famous opponent, a big guy in a box outfit with boxing gloves who was invincible.

[zep81]

Awesome/Tanaka (November To Remember) has to be there.

[MikeCampbell]

I don't know how you guys feel about including a lot of Benoit, but 1999 seemed to the year that he finally got some respect from the WCW bookers, so I'd think the following matches should be included:

 

Benoit/Malenko vs. Windham/Hennig from UnCensored

Benoit/Saturn winning the tag titles from DDP and Bigelow from Thunder

Benoit winning the US Title from David Flair

Benoit vs. DDP from Road Wild (not a great match or anything, but everyone KNEW that Benoit's title reign was ending here, and WCW actually got one over on them)

I'd guess that the famous Spring Stampede tag match is already earmarked for inclusion.

 

I'm also recalling a Nitro match from June: Benoit/Bagwell/Malenko/Saturn vs. Flair/Piper/DDP/Kanyon that ends with Bagwell pinning Flair to a huge pop. That's probably the pinnacle of Buff's popularity.

[CaptCabana]

I think the triple threat tag match from Slamboree '99 with Kidman/Rey vs Saturn/Raven vs Benoit/Malenko doesn't get near enough love. Yes, the Spring Stampede match the month before is superior, but this one is DAMN close.