[1995-10-25-AJPW-October Giant Series] Toshiaki Kawada vs Gary Albright

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

It took me a while, but I came around on this once I was able to 'get' shoot-style. Kawada does wonderfully for his first match in the style, letting Albright stay in his comfort zone. Kawada wins but Albright looks like a force to be reckoned with.

[Loss]

This is a great match, but that's beside the point. This match demonstrates the genius of Kawada to adapt perfectly to a UWFI style with some minor All Japan touches that put this over the top. He does his normal Kawada selling in the context of a UWFI match, which is just sublime. In the context of a global yearbook, this looks way better than I imagine it would look standalone -- because you see it next to Muto/Takada and can't help but think how those guys dropped the ball in their match. But it also shows how All Japan dropped the ball by not doing more matches like this. While Kawada wins, this is one of the most effective jobs I've ever seen of putting over a newcomer's style. All of wrestling could learn a lesson from how this match was worked.

[jdw]

All Japan was faced with an issue of the other top guys not being able to work with Albright like this: Misawa, Taue, Kobashi, Hansen, the soon-to-be returning Doc, and Ace. Just not a style they worked well with, as became pretty evident over the next two years.

 

Or in the other direction, Gary wasn't well suited for working against the rest of them. Even Taue in the stretches where I thought he was "off" (to be kind) was still able to eat and bump for all the stuff the other guys were throwing at him. Obviously not bump like Misawa and Kobashi, but well enough to make other folks stuff look good. Gary... he's a big mass of humanity, not a bumper... it's pretty limited what you can do with him. He's far from Vader at that same point in terms of how Leon would bump his ass off for you if you could toss him around (in a sense, Leon would jump into all of those bumps to make it easy for you). Not really Gary's game.

 

Gary's actually the one "regular" of UWFi who fit in least with All Japan.

 

You do wonder how much Baba was paying for Gary and if the money wouldn't have been much better spent on guys who fit in better.

 

John

[goodhelmet]

John, if you were bringing in guys, play fantasy booker and tell us who you would have brought in. I agree with everything you said here but I want to know who else besides Vader (who you already mentioned) would have been the right fit.

[Ditch]

It depends on who was reasonably available.

 

From the UWFi crew, Takayama and Kakihara they eventually got. Anjoh was still in Takada's thrall and Takada himself would never happen. Let's put Saku and Tamura aside as well, both were too shoot-minded. Nakano was deep into jobberdom and very limited. Sano would have fit but was an also-ran. Yamazaki? He seems like a way better fit for Strong Style than Kings Road.

 

Vader, before he signed with WWF, would be an obvious one. I'd assume Baba tried.

 

Hayabusa, perhaps? But it would have taken a lot for him to jump from FMW. Awesome wasn't quite a proven commodity at this juncture.

 

I'd love to know who you have in mind John.

[Loss]

Takada/Anjoh I could actually see being spectacular.

[Ditch]

Takada was too connected and proud to be one of Baba's crew, having to compete with 3/4 people just for the top native spot. Nothing Baba could have done would have made it happen.

[Loss]

Sorry, I meant to type Kawada, not Takada. I was trying to say a Kawada/Anjoh match would have been fantastic.

[jdw]

Vader, before he signed with WWF, would be an obvious one. I'd assume Baba tried.

There weren't any reports at the time that Baba was trying. I don't recall the WWF being his first choice, but it ended up being the only option:

 

* he got run from WCW

* ECW didn't pay

* NJPW was still pissed off from his 1992-93 stuff

* UWFi was dead

* FMW didn't pay long term

* AJPW was in its cocoon

 

The Inoki match gives the illusion that NJPW was willing to have him come back, but that was largely an Inoki deal i.e. "We'll humor Inoki with an opponent he wants" rather than a sign that they wanted him to be a regular.

 

The WWF wasn't paying remotely close to his prior big WCW deal, nor his WCW+UWFi income. There also was the WWF being the WWF, which Vader knew well... and we ended up seeing exactly when he first went in and got bogged down in dumbass feuds (and jobs) rather than being programed up to the top quickly as a monster for Shawn to chase.

 

One suspects that if the Babas quickly went after him once he was dumped by WCW and made him an top gaijin offer (on par with Hansen), Leon would have bitten.

 

 

John, if you were bringing in guys, play fantasy booker and tell us who you would have brought in. I agree with everything you said here but I want to know who else besides Vader (who you already mentioned) would have been the right fit.

 

I'd love to know who you have in mind John.

It depends on the time frame people are available, and how they fit in.

 

Vader was available when he got canned. I would have signed him quickly to an exclusive (i.e. no US work) deal that ran through the 1997 RWTL, which probably would have ended up being just about right to keep him from getting obsessed about the massive jump in US salaries going on due to the Monday Night Wars and longing to sign a big deal with the WWF when they got desperate.

 

Tamura was never available because he didn't want to work pro style, hence his avoiding the NJPW-UWFi feud and instead going to RINGS.

 

The balance of the UWFi guys weren't available until after the NJPW deal was done... unless Baba somehow picked some off who didn't want the NJPW deal. Not sure who those would have been.

 

On the other hand, they all were largely available once the NJPW deal ran its course, and UWFi largely was dead. Look at what happened to them: feud with WAR and then Kingdom, which also died.

 

I disagree with the notion that Takada wouldn't work with Baba. He worked with WAR after the NJPW deal was done, with there being two Takada-Tenryu matches. He worked with Tokyo Pro, having the match with *Abby*. Takada would have worked with Baba. He would have been available after the NJPW deal was done, and one would have wanted to grab him *before* his matches Tenryu.

 

There's also the question of usage.

 

Takada probably didn't want to work a full series of matches, 8 series a year. I'd actually argue that it wouldn't have been wise to use him that way, and instead milk him for special, big matches and once they've run their course, move on from him.

 

In turn, Vader *was* an every show guy.

 

Problems with getting Vader?

 

Hansen was the top gaijin, and Williams was returning in March 1996. Vader coming in would clearly be the top-top gaijin, and booked quickly into the TC if you're planning to make the most out of him. Vader, Doc and Stan are all making good money (and AJPW expense). You'd be pushing Stan down, having a ceiling on Doc returning... and who knows what that does to the locker room.

 

Is it time to scale Hansen back from 8 series to 6? What do you do with Doc?

 

Not easy answers. I wouldn't let them get in the way of signing Vader since the product needed a shot in the arm, but I'd also be realistic that it alters the dynamic of the other two gaijin, and adds a big expense.

 

* * * * * * *

 

When you look at Takada and Vader, they're *short term* additions. They're not guys who are going to spend the next 10 years as rivals of Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi and Taue. They're guys to pop some big houses, and should be seen as such. There's value and limitations there.

 

The value is that if you pop the houses and know that they're short term, you can use that money (if you're smart) to invest in the long term and/or set aside for investment as the product comes down. I know... no one does that. But still.

 

The limitation is that when you come out of those, the product is going to dip because it's hard to get people super excited for going Misawa vs Kawada again if they've just done Vader vs All Japan and/or Takada vs All Japan.

 

Which means again that you need to look beyond those two.

 

I don't think there was anyone out there that AJPW could easily get who would be long term peers/rivals of the Four Corners, unless it was Hash when he finally hit the wall with New Japan... which if I recall came *after* the Split. The other peers in the country weren't moving (the NJPW top guys of that age group) or were problematic (Takada isn't going to work 150+ AJPW matches a year).

 

So instead, the company really needed to be looking at people who would be Jun's rivals / peers, at least in the heavyweight range.

 

At a certain point, Masato Tanaka was available. I recall stories of how low his pay in ECW was, and it probably wasn't all that great in FMW. I would have looked hard at stealing Tanaka with the promise of a push opposite Jun as a long term rival/peer.

 

I confess to, in hindsight, missing the boat on Takayama's potential. Add to the long list of awkward guys that you could have put under Taue's wing to learn the All Japan Way.

 

I certainly would have pushed hard to sign Sano the instant things went south for UWFi. He's not a Jun rival, but more along the lines of a younger Fuchi that would be a valuable addition to either the junior or All Asia divisions as an anchor, a part of one of the native groups, and a terrifically rounded worker who would be excellent to work with younger wrestlers to learn a broader base of work.

 

Same with the other promotions. I would have looked for underpaid guys who would have been interested in moving from a small pond to a bigger pond, or who were unhappy with being under a one-man anchor who no doubt was taking a big chunk of the money. Hayabusa? One does wonder how thrilled some of these guys were when Onita came back at the end of 1996.

 

They did eventually lift Ikeda, though the stuffed him down in the junior which I wouldn't have.

 

I also would have looked at the guys who largely got hung out to dry when Sasakue had his dreams of going to the US. The AJPW midcard was thin and weak, whereas the NJPW midcard was a value added part of the cards. Were there enough spots in the card for all of them? Perhaps not. Find the balance, and find people who would prefer the stability and paydays of AJPW, dealing with a solid front office rather than a crackpot like Sasuke.

 

* * * * * *

 

That's all good and fine, but in the end All Japan also needed to beef up their Dojo.

 

04/11/91 Inoue

05/25/92 Izumida

09/17/92 Akiyama

10/16/92 Omori

10/08/93 Honda

11/26/94 Mossman

 

Those are the debuts of potential heavyweights in the 90s. It... really sucks. Guys like Inoue and Izumida are marginal, Honda was older than one would want. Which leaves you needing to hit the ball out of the park with Jun, Omori and Mossman to have just *three* guys akin to Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi and Taue. You can't sustain a promotion with production like that.

 

Hence some of the stuff I said above about knowing Vader and/or Takada were short term: the objective out of them would be to milk the use of them to invest in other things. Grabbing Tanaka, who sure as hell would have been cheaper than Gary Albright, is one side of it. Investing in a better Dojo process was the other side.

 

* * * * *

 

Not saying that all of these are possible.

 

Getting Vader then Takada is a bit of a problem, since you'd have Vader in hand when Takada came open, and also midway through your first year with him right in the middle of the biggest part of the push. It's a little hard to grab Takada and then "bench" him while waiting for the right time in Vader's run to bring Takada in as the next big push... and also do it in a fashion that works around Takada not working every card.

 

Picking off the indy guys you want isn't easy. Baba didn't have any love for garbage *at that time*. You also never know when someone's ego is stroked (Busa in 1995) isn't (when Onita came back) or restroked (when FMW tried it's run as a more "serious" promotion). You need to strike when you get a chance.

 

But AJPW did have to wake up to the fact that:

 

* they were stale as hell in 1995

* Doc coming back in 1996 wasn't a magic potion that deals with that

* they had serious issues in developing peers for Jun

* they didn't have time to magical develop those peers, so they would need to steal if possible

* the midcards sucked

* the depth on the Four Corners teams needed to be developed behind them

* top gaijins were becoming rate

* going Four Across (four top teams/groups) with 2 native and 2 gaijin teams was getting hard

* they needed to transition to 3 native and 1 gaijin teams eventually... if not 4 native teams

 

If they ever got to the last, that meant splitting each of the Four Corners into a group leader *and* having not only a solid #2 for each (i.e. Jun for Misawa), but also #3 and #4's for depth. If they didn't have the talent in the promotion to fill out those 16 slots (they didn't), they needed to look around to do it.

 

John

[Ditch]

Takayama needed three solid years in AJ before he hit his stride and was ready for the upper tier. He was given lots of matches with top guys and that helped him, as evidenced by the 9/4/99 singles match with Misawa that was a preview of 2000s Tak. He was developed (re-developed?) about as well as possible.

 

Tanaka's height was enough of an issue that even post-split AJ saw him as a midcarder. He's a natural junior with a smaller frame than Kawada (who's only 2cm taller). Clearly he would have been a better long-term prospect than Inoue, Izu and Honda, but I'm just not sure if he would have been anything more than a right-hand-man and sporadic title challenger. He's a spotty worker. Effort helps and he's got that in spades but it would have taken a lot of work to drill psychology into him. Same with Mike Awesome, who they could have gotten from FMW but allowed to go to ECW.

 

Ikeda is an interesting case. I'd compare Ikeda-in-AJ (and NOAH) to Chris Hero in ROH: guys who can work the mat and deliver hellacious violence on a small stage, but seem to reel it in on the bigger stage. Ikeda probably saw himself as a midcarder-for-life in AJ/NOAH and thus rarely felt compelled to bring the punches-and-headbutts aspect of his Battlarts work. Or perhaps he wasn't allowed to. Anyway, he had the potential and was never given a serious push. Not sure he deserved a push after watching him sleepwalk through so many midcard tags. Guys like Honda and Izumida were more consistent.

 

In fact, I think Honda absolutely could have been used more despite his age. He was phenominal during his push in 2003, and solid during earlier mini-pushes in '99 and '01. NOAH essentially gave up on him starting in 2004 (aside from a brief tag title fling in '06), but he wasn't banged up or anything. He could still bring it at least as late as '06, and plenty of people (ie. Phil) still loved him last year. That seems like a long enough time to be worth the investment.

 

It really is something to think about how much better '90s AJ could have been with the benefit of hindsight; it was already an incredible decade. Though certain old-timers knew about those problems when the '90s were still going on

[jdw]

Takayama needed three solid years in AJ before he hit his stride and was ready for the upper tier. He was given lots of matches with top guys and that helped him, as evidenced by the 9/4/99 singles match with Misawa that was a preview of 2000s Tak. He was developed (re-developed?) about as well as possible.

He was brought in on 3/1/97 if I recall correctly. He wouldn't have been available before the NJPW vs UWFi feud was done, but he is one of the guys that I would, in hindsight, bring in when it was over. If you're doing an UWFi vs NJPW feud, then you'd want to hold him off until Takada was brought in... but since Takayama would have had some longer term, regular role, the important thing would have been to bring him in as soon as possible to develop.

 

In a sense, that's what they did after UWFi died at the end of 1996.

 

I'm not pimping his as being ready in late 1996 to be Taue's partner holding the Double Cup. On the other, I do think he quickly could have been a #3 on someone's group and worked towards being a #2. He really wasn't developed in that way by NJPW. Team No Fear did get a push, but a rather odd one compared to the usual top native teams going back to the begining of AJPW: there was no #1 on the team.

 

 

Tanaka's height was enough of an issue that even post-split AJ saw him as a midcarder. He's a natural junior with a smaller frame than Kawada (who's only 2cm taller). Clearly he would have been a better long-term prospect than Inoue, Izu and Honda, but I'm just not sure if he would have been anything more than a right-hand-man and sporadic title challenger. He's a spotty worker. Effort helps and he's got that in spades but it would have taken a lot of work to drill psychology into him. Same with Mike Awesome, who they could have gotten from FMW but allowed to go to ECW.

I wouldn't have worried about the size. Kawada broke through that despite being shorter than Baba, Jumbo and Tenryu.

 

I also wouldn't worry about being spotty. Tanaka was 23 in 1996. Taue was 23 in 1984... four years before his pro wrestling debut. Tell me which one was a better worker at 23? Working with the top guys in AJPW made Taue a better worker. Why wouldn't we think it would make Tanaka better?

 

Ikeda is an interesting case. I'd compare Ikeda-in-AJ (and NOAH) to Chris Hero in ROH: guys who can work the mat and deliver hellacious violence on a small stage, but seem to reel it in on the bigger stage. Ikeda probably saw himself as a midcarder-for-life in AJ/NOAH and thus rarely felt compelled to bring the punches-and-headbutts aspect of his Battlarts work. Or perhaps he wasn't allowed to. Anyway, he had the potential and was never given a serious push. Not sure he deserved a push after watching him sleepwalk through so many midcard tags. Guys like Honda and Izumida were more consistent.

I suspect the stuff to watch is his work *before* AJPW. I also think that midcard AJPW by the time he got there was meaningless stuff, not exactly the stuff that one would compare with say 1993 midcard AJPW stuff. Ikeda came in, got stuff, saw his future, and just did his thing. If you're casting out a net and tell guys like him you're projecting him to being one of Jun's rivals long term, he knows he has to work to earn that spot. He certainly had the skills and tools to do it. Izumida didn't.

 

In fact, I think Honda absolutely could have been used more despite his age. He was phenominal during his push in 2003, and solid during earlier mini-pushes in '99 and '01. NOAH essentially gave up on him starting in 2004 (aside from a brief tag title fling in '06), but he wasn't banged up or anything. He could still bring it at least as late as '06, and plenty of people (ie. Phil) still loved him last year. That seems like a long enough time to be worth the investment.

I mentioned Honda in another thread... probably the 1994 pimping thread, talking about his match with Ace. They certainly could have done more with him, especially putting him under someone's wing more clearly (and using TV better to get that across).

 

 

It really is something to think about how much better '90s AJ could have been with the benefit of hindsight; it was already an incredible decade. Though certain old-timers knew about those problems when the '90s were still going on

We talked about it a lot at the time. It was frustrating. Some things you missed, like seeing any potential in Takayama. Some you saw as obvious, like the brief Jun-Omori window. Others had some flashes like Honda in his match with Gary, but there really wasn't enough to jump out at you as "This guy needs to be put under Taue so he can learn to work with and around his limitations."

 

BTW, one interesting thought in all this is what would have happened if Takada was given enough time to avoid fighting Gracie. 10/11/97, it was the dawn of Pride. Of course they backed up a Brinks Truck for him, and that money might have been there in 1998 or 1999 if he was occupied in AJPW in 1997, and Takada certainly loved money.

 

John

[Ditch]

To me this all circles back to *1995*. Who was available, looked like a high-end talent, and would have fit better than Albright? Once Albright is in there, Baba has less to spend on other free agents. If we're gonna second-guess we need to be fair about it.

 

If we're saying that UWFi natives stay with UWFi, well, there goes a bunch of names. Hayabusa wasn't a proven commodity and was the face of FMW, he wouldn't jump in '95. Tanaka was unproven. Ikeda was unproven.

 

Seems like the only answer is Vader.

 

I wonder if Vader's asking price came down a lot by late '98; maybe that's the only reason why Baba brought him in. And maybe there wasn't enough money to hire '95 Vader. In which case maybe Albright *was* the best available.

 

edit: Also, while everyone agrees that late '90s AJ had a lot of problems, the time to really start fixing things was '95, in order for things to be in place for late in the decade. And other than "find better guys to train" and "spend a boatload of yen", not much else Baba could have done in '95.

[jdw]

To me this all circles back to *1995*.

Understood. That was the thing I led off with:

 

It depends on the time frame people are available, and how they fit in.

Vader is just a starting point to (i) make money, (ii) freshen up the top, and (iii) buy time to develop/steal more talent.

 

Which was the rest of the folks and things they needed to do that I talked about.

 

Vaders price wouldn't have been massively high in 1995. His WWF deal wasn't a monster simply because WWF deals weren't monster at the time: extremely low guarantees and a promise of % based on where they worked on cards. More work, and slotted at Vince's whim vs a very good guarantee and less dates working for Baba. At the time, Japan gigs were considered plums that high. On the other hand, Vader was use to making $650K+ from WCW and a nice chunk from UWFi as well. He'd be making less from Baba, though probably more than from Vince given the push you'd expect him to get (which wasn't that far removed from what he got).

 

I don't think Baba looked at Gary as an option in some big grand plan to freshen up the product, since he really didn't seem to be in the market to go out and grab a lot of talent. Came across more as something that popped up, and he grabed him. They were looking for quite some time for a partner for Hansen, and Gary seemed to them to fit it. Seems clear they saw the error of their ways not long into 1996.

 

It was in the WON a week before the Vader-Orndorff fight that Gary was expected to be Hansen's partner starting in October.

 

I wouldn't have bitten on Gary. I think I mentioned earlier what I more likely would have done in 1995 after Doc went out:

 

* Hansen rejoining hands with Ace

* Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Taue vs Hansen & Ace to fill 1995 / early 1996

* Doc returns at Carny '96

* Ace turns on Hansen to go back to Williams

* Kobashi moves over to team with Hansen

* Jun moves up to team with Misawa

* Misawa & Akiyama vs Kawada & Taue vs Hansen & Kobashi vs Williams & Ace after Carny '96

 

At least as far as mentally blocking things out in Mar/Apr 1995. Which would have led to one not searching around for a Hansen Partner in the Summer of 1995 because you know where you're going with him.

 

Which in turn if Vader pops available as he did, you're not already distracted by Albright.

 

Setting that aside, even if I had Gary in hand, I would have bit on Vader because of the money that he could make you and the time he buys.

 

John

[Tim Evans]

This was really awesome for the reasons Loss said. Albright looks like a bad ass and Kawada is awesome. Crowd went nuts for everything. Was this Gary's first match in All Japan?

[PeteF3]

I'm not ready to proclaim Kawada the #1 Four Corner just yet, but if you're going to make that case then I'm not sure if there's a stronger match in his favor than this one. While I still like the AJPW main event style over New Japan, the big advantage NJPW had was its willingness to throw different styles at us--shootstyle, brawls, etc. With this, Kawada provides another example of the possibilities of using the AJPW Style ™ with something else entirely--he had a bloody brawl with Taue in '91, and he has a shootstyle match here. Great stuff, and there isn't a single NJPW/UWFI Dome match that's a pimple on this one's rear end. Unfortunately, this match would end up being an outlier as far as All-Japan goes, and they'd only continue to keep themselves in their little bubble.

 

Years later, but thinking of Names to Bring In...Bam Bam Bigelow was about to be released from his WWF contract and there was no perceptible rush by WCW to sign him. Now, granting that it's iffy how much Bam Bam had left in the tank to work the AJPW style, and granting that he worked one tour for Baba and apparently committed some sort of faux-pas and was not invited back as a result...if you want depth to spice up the mid and upper-midcards, he seems like a good bet to go after. Plus if you can land Vader as well, the promise of reforming the Vader/Bigelow tag team seems like it would be a hot ticket.

 

And for a little changing of the course of wrestling history...Meltzer himself tossed around the idea of All-Japan as a potential landing spot for Steve Austin.

[The Russian Daydream]

I enjoyed watching this a lot. As has been mentioned, Kawada adapted and worked Albright's style really well, while still remaining true to his regular work. His selling of Albright's holds in particular was tremendous. The crowd heat, along with the commentator going mental whenever they teased a suplex or submission really only drew me in further.

 

As much fun as I had watching the match though, I'm still undecided on he 'good' it actually was. My biggest negative is that neither man really sells the limb a hold had been applied to or a blow targeted at for more than a few seconds. With all the kicks Kawada directed at Albright's leg, surely he should have been limping. Both guys managed to apply some really convincing submissions, which were sold as agony, but then neither obviously favoured the injured arm or leg beyond the initial sell of the hold. This is perhaps a factor of the blurring of the shoot-pro wrestling line, where, for me, long term selling throughout a match is something I look for in a great pro wrestling match. On the other hand, in a real fight, guys try to no-sell as much as possible to avoid showing vulnerability. I guess because this match is a bit of both, I'm not sure how to look at it.

 

All in all, this was such a fun match to watch, which is all that really matters to me at the end of the day.

[ohtani's jacket]

#360

 

It's been many a moon since I last saw this.

 

Great match. One of Kawada's best. The thing I like about it most is that Kawada's not trying to work shoot style. The only weapon he takes into the fight to contend with the newcomer's style is the armbar. Aside from that, he uses a lot of his signature offence even in the submission wrestling. The bout is made by the fact that Kawada has the grittiest style of the big four and is a great seller. I especially liked the way he sold the Albright German he tried to pop up from. More wrestlers should try popping up and collapsing. That's a smart spot. I also liked the headscissors counter he did. It was a great counter but still felt like a pro-wrestler finding their way in the dark against a "shoot guy" unlike the shoot trained counters that the UWF guys would do. At no point did it seem like Kawada was anything more than an All Japan trained pro-wrestler trying to adjust to a guy with an entirely different fighting style, and I thought he did a beautiful job of conveying that.

[Childs]

The thing I liked best about Kawada's selling here was that he really put over the idea Albright could end the match at any moment. I never got the sense any of the other AJPW guys understood that was the way to make Gary feel special. So this match existed in its own bubble, in a good way.

[JKWebb]

#360 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-400-351/2/

 

Oh my god, that suplex Kawada pulls on Albright is awesome, and the body slam is the same. I love how he falls backwards after struggling to lift the big guy. As mentioned above, Kawada's selling of Albright's German suplex is perfect, and it may be my favorite German suplex spot of all-time. The look on Kawada's face when he has Albright in the Dragon Sleeper... also priceless. Of the shoot style matches I've seen, I'd have to say this one is my absolute favorite. I LOVED this. I see the points that the AJPW style is worked in, and maybe that played a big role in my enjoyment of it. However, it was intended to be an AJ great adapting to this style, and I thought Kawada's performance was fantastic. His selling during the submission spots... he looked like he was going to die from pain. His offense was HUGE. I know Kawada was in better matches, but this will be one of his performances that I won't forget and will always recall or reference. Really pumped to have seen this for the first time today. I couldn't understand it of course, but the commentary was really fun too. This is absolutely a really great match. I could see going ****3/4. I might have to watch it again right now, but it's classic level for me at this moment. Also, to the point Loss made, it stood out just fine as a standalone.

[Zenjo]

If you're arguing your Kawada GOAT case then this is an essential stopping off point. His performance was off the charts.

 

Judging by this there must have been a large crossover between AJ and UWFI fans. The atmosphere was incredible throughout with Allbright being super over. Tosh put over all the suplay like death with both his selling and the desperate urgency to avoid them in the first place. He fought back with an emphasis on strikes and submissions. Nobody else on the roster could've integrated into shoot style as well as this. Particularly without making it feel alien. He was also at his most theatrical and emotional, tapping into the crowds frenzy. Gary did what he did best and Dangerous K moulded it into a classic. The duration, structure and balancing were pretty much nailed on. And heatwave. One of the highlights of the year.

[Microstatistics]

Kawada's masterpiece. Not his best match but easily his best performance. One of the definite wrestler vs shooter matches with Kawada trying to find ways to survive the suplexes and submissions of the monster Albright. Top 10 AJPW match for the decade. ****3/8

 

[Superstar Sleeze]

Toshiaki Kawada vs Gary Albright - AJPW 10/25/95

I've this match a couple times and I thought it was great, but not necessarily a classic. They instantly blew my expectations out of the water with this kickass match. When I was watching this 10-15 years ago, I didnt get how big of a deal UWFi was. I watched Vader vs Takada and knew about the UWFi invasion of NJPW, but I didnt fully grasp. Now that I have I become more steeped in puroresu history and watched a lot of UWFi, I get it, but I also part of the novelty is that 90s All Japan did NOT do matches like this. It was the Four Corners and later Akiyama with the top gaijins of Hansen, Doc and Ace in a mix and match. So this was the closest thing All Japan did a big money interpromotional dream match in the 90s. I prefer Hashimoto vs Takada to this, but this blew Mutoh vs Takada out of the water. 

Huge Fight Feel! Budokan is rocking! It feels that Albright is instantly over as a monster. Holy shit! Listen to the reaction of him grabbing a reverse waistlock! You think he just hit the greatest highspot in the world! He just wrapped his arms around a person's body. That's when you know you are fucking over. I like how Albright evaded the typical Kawada kick to get out of the German Suplex. Then Alright just pounced and Kawada retaliated with a deep heel hook. Loved the urgency set the tone for the match. Kawada did a greta job playing by Albright's rules respecting his size advantage and his shoot credentials without looking overwhelmed. Kawada brought the fight to Albright early on. That enziguiri rocked him and that flurry of strikes was so over and I dont think Kawada looked better in the 90s. Then Albright finally got hold of him. The takedowns and suplexes took their toll. An early cross-armbreaker caused Kawada to powder. I liked Albright immediately going for the Fujiwara armbar. I liked how they built to the German Suplexes. He was hitting other suplexes but Kawada was avoiding that one. After a belly 2 belly and a powerslam, Albright hit the massive German. Kawada did one of his classic selljobs and collapsed to the outside. That was his only saving grace as by the time Alright rolled him back in, Kawada could kick out. 

With the German not winning him the match, Alright tried to up the ante to the Dragon Suplex but Kawada hoists him into the Back Drop Driver. STRETCH PLUM~! Watch the Stretch Plum, you can tell Kawada is having the time of his life. I think he is out to prove to Baba and everyone there's more to wrestling than just King's Road. Also he feels like a super duper star. He was first in the shadow of Misawa and then Kobashi, but in matches like this and against New Japan in 2000 that Kawada feels like a huge star instead of second fiddle. He was so over on this night. After the Stretch Plum, he goes for the Powerbomb, nothing doing and MACK TRUCK LARIAT! Albright does not bump. That was just man on man! Wow! Albright counters the next Lariat with a kneelift. They go to the ground, Albright gets a double wristlock and then rides a harmmerlock on the bad arm of Kawada. Albright wants the Dragon Suplex. Kawada breaks free, Spinning Back Chop, KAPPO KICK! Albright armdrag goes for a Cross Armbreaker but Kawada counters into his own for the flash win. 

I think the finish was a little too easy and quick. Albright had wrist control and almost the cross armbreaker applied it was too easy for Kawada to just stand up and apply his own. One thing I am forever grateful towards Shoot Style wrestling is how it forced pro wrestling to respect the cross armbreaker. So at least the hold was feared, sold well and used as a finisher in this match. Kawada going over was the right call but I thought Albright looked great in the loss and no reason why he couldnt be used the down the line.  I am interested in Misawa's 96 title defense against Albright. Albright's size and suplex arsenal was on display but Kawada showed off his striking game and his ability to counter. A big feather in Kawada's cap proving he could classic matches outside of his Four Corners opponents and in a different style. Check out his match against Naoya Ogawa from Zero-One 2003. I'll be honest I had been enjoying the other three Corners a lot more when I was watching '93 and '94 back. I think the other three has such big personalities. Kawada just wasnt clicking with me. He really did here. I saw the fire in his eyes and pep in his step. He had been missing that in some matches. If you want to make the case for Kawada being the best of the Four Corners, it starts here and showing his versatility, urgency, passion and asskicking nature. ****1/2