[1994-03-27-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Toshiaki Kawada vs Johnny Ace

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Solid match. Johnny Ace didn't seem to be very over though, even though Kawada gave him quite a bit of the match. They worked the stretch plum finish really well.

[Kevin Ridge]

Just alright for me. Kawada gets Ace in the stretch plum and I figure it's over there but Johnny survives. Kawada goes back to the same hold later and finally get's the victory. This wasn't a long match but I would have been fine with Kawada getting the submission earlier. This would have done better as a sprint from the opening bell.

[Exposer]

Johnny Ace just doesn't do it for me here. He works hard but that's about it. Overall, this is a solid outing. The finishing run is great but that's to be expected in this promotion.

[soup23]

This is a perfect match for a yearbook setting. I don’t think anyone would say that it is great but it serves a two fold purpose. One, Kawada handling a lesser opponent. Kawada will more than likely be one of the top 3-5 wrestlers of the year on some lists just based off his Carnival final, 5/21/94 tag match, and 6/3/94 performances. This match helps add some depth to his case in my opinion because of the way he controlled the match, gave Ace a good bit of offense and created hope spots for him, and how effectively he worked in one of his lesser known finishers in the stretch plum. The second purpose is to show Ace rising through the ranks and how he became one of the main gaijin mainstays from 1994-1998 in the promotion. Ace looked good here overall, he took a nice bump on the DDT on the floor. He executed his second rope Ace crusher well. They are a few awkward moments which can be expected from ACE in every match, but overall this was a solid performance from both guys that really helped add some context to the 1994 AJPW year.

[PeteF3]

I'm always interested in seeing where the AJPW mid- and under-carders are, but this is pretty much Kawada vs. a broomstick. Ace's execution is SO awkward and loose--I don't equate stiffness with high-quality wrestling, but I at least want to see some consistency across a promotion. Other than the match layout and the timing of his kickouts, there just isn't anything I can point to and say, "This is what Ace does well." It's a good mid-card performance from Kawada, but in the end this is only marginally better than the last Ace singles match I saw, the Mean Mark match at Capital Combat.

[...TG]

Interesting of course, but even this Kawada mark was disappointed. The pillars were so great in 1994 that it didn't matter, but All Japan really needed some gaijin depth at this time. Johnny Ace just doesn't cut it for me (or the crowd).

[Zenjo]

Did Johnny Ace go to the same barber as Beautiful Bobby? One of the more underrated aspects of these Yearbooks is being able to behold the wonderful array of mullets from the era. Although I have to admit that whilst watching a Karloff Lagarde Jr match last night it was a bit overpowering even for me.

 

Ace fitted nicely into the Japanese image of an All American jock. He'd go on to be a strong tag competitor but was never up to much in singles. His rarely understated selling being a stumbling block. The build here was solid fare, particularly when Tosh was on the receiving end. The stretch was weak, being kicked off by a 2nd rope Ace Crusher that was far too powerful for that juncture of the match. In the final minutes Kawada was bleeding after a careless elbow to the face. Watch out Johnny, you might dislodge his dentures! Ace ended up tapping out, which in AJ screams midcarder.