Riding Space Mountain

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have had a blog for a while, but I have been posting intermittently since its inception, I think a year ago. However, I am making concerted effort to publish blogs more frequently and with more analysis. The blog will also feature articles on my other two passions: heavy metal and European History. So if you are interested in either, just a little extra bang for your buck. Basically, it will just be a place to put all my WWF Tag Team match reviews in one place from there I will venture into other styles. I hope once I watch more wrestling to be able to do better broad analysis between wrestlers. I hope you enjoy! The first one I compiled is for the heel run of the Hart Foundation.

 

The tentative schedule is Killer Bees, Islanders, British Bulldogs, Strike Force, Demolition (first heel run), Dream Team & New Dream Team, Rougeaus, Brainbusters, Hart Foundation (babyface run), Demolition (1989-90), Rockers. Then from there, I don't know where I will go.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1985-1987.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

For everyone who has ever thought to themselves, damn the High Flyers are friggin awesome; I wonder if Brunzell stuff with the Killer Bees is that good. I hate to crush dreams, but it is not. At least I saved you some time! Brunzell is content just to be the hot tag and work somewhere around 25% of the match. Blair is just generic as they come. Overall, the Killer Bees come off as very mediocre contributing very little to the matches they are in.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...compendium.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

If you have been reading my reviews, you know I have become a huge fan of Islanders and think that Tama was one of the big misses in pro wrestling history. I think Islanders/Strike Force feud from 1987 was one of the best 80s WWF feuds because it felt more like a territorial feud in how it was presented and built rather than a program. It is shame that Tama was let go in 1988 as there should have been big things of the horizon for him as a single or tag team star. Here are the Islanders reviews in one place.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...ems-of-wwf.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have been away in Quebec (it was Tres Bitchin as the French would say) and just got home from a disappointing Tigers loss to the BoSox, but alas it is time for another installment in this series as it has been way too long. The Bulldogs disappointed me to an extent. When they were healthy their offense was top notch, but structure was not always there. That being said the Dream Team/Bulldogs is one of my favorite WWF Tag Programs and really displayed what a motivated Bulldogs could do. After the Dynamite injury, they pretty much went into the shitter having a disappointing program with the Islanders. Though they did manage to have a pretty good match with Demolition before they exited for Japan.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1985-1988.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Here comes The Ax! Here Comes The Smasher!

 

Slow day at work, means that I can finally get this blog up. I know that Demolition has been a firebrand on this site. I have to say I fall in the middle. I recognize Demolition's strengths: match layout and more competitive matches with less of an exhibition-feel. However, their matches can meander and fall flat. There are plenty of faults, but they guys should not be dismissed just because they look like their Road Warriors. They should be judged based on their own merits. I would highly recommend their matches against Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88 and against the Rockers 10/88 MSG show as their two stand-out matches.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...es-ax-here.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have been busy with a non-wrestling related vanity project in the form of Vivid Technicolor Radio. It is a podcast me and my childhood friend are doing on music videos and the machine behind pop music. We just released our first episode. I thought it was good insofar as we sounded intelligent and there were not that many dead spots. However, I think it could have been funnier (not everyone can be Johnny Sorrow there first time out) and a even more insightful. Once, I feel like we start hitting stride, I will probably double my posts here with anything from that.

 

In the meantime, I have reached the halfway point of my series on WWF 80s tag wrestling by looking at the lackluster and underwhelming Fabulous Rougeaus, who never ceased to bore me. They did imporve wit their heel turn, but by the time they figured it out against the Rockers, it was too late and they were programmed to their death against the Bushwhackers. An ignominious end to an ignominious team.

 

Since it is the half way point, I did some rankings of the matches and teams so far that we had seen. I excluded all singles matches and non-WWF tag matches from the rankings.

 

Best Tag Teams of 80s WWF so far:

 

1. The Islanders - Great babyface and heel run that got cut short by Tama leaving. Excellent feud with Strike Force.

2. British Bulldogs - Even though I was down on them for their Hart Foundation work, they had an excellent series with the Dream Team and proved they could still go against Demolition in '88.

3. Demolition - Great matches, but not real money feuds so far as their program with Strike Force was disappointing. Still great matches with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Bulldogs cant be denied.

4. Hart Foundation - Bret Hart is a great ring general, but he is much better at playing the subtle heel than the out and out heel. I like Bret a lot and he showed a lot of promise, but he did not always deliver.

5. Rougeaus - Rockers match saves them from the last spot.

6. Killer Bees - Inoffensive, but not much going on.

 

Best Tag Matches of WWF (1985-1991) so far:

 

1. The Fabulous Rougeaus vs The Rockers - London 10/89

2. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 9/87

3. WWF World Tag Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86 2 Out of 3 Falls

4. Islanders vs Strike Force - MSG 10/87 2 Out of 3 Falls

5. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - MSG 10/88

6. WWF World Tag Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II

7. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam '88

8. WWF World Tag Champions Hart Foundation vs Strike Force - MSG 11/87

9. Survivor Series '88

10. Rick Martel & Rougeaus vs Tito Santana & Rockers - Summerslam '89

11. Islanders vs Demolition - MSG 2/87

12. Survivor Series '87

13. WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs British Bulldogs - MSG 7/88

14. Demolition vs Killer Bees - Houston 9/87

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...n-boys-wwf.html

 

Viva Le Quebec!

[Superstar Sleeze]

One of my favorite short-live babyface tag teams is Strike Force. We really lucked out when Zenk decided to be a chump. I have already spoken about the quality of matches with the Islanders ad nauseum. Instead, their break up angle was the first for babyfaces of the Hulkamania Era with Rockers much more famously following suit. Their matches with each other and other singles stars in the mid-card were always heated. Tito was having great matches with Mr. Perfect all the way into 1990. Santana along with Valentine, Backlund and Savage are mortal locks in my Top 5 80s WWF workers. Martel's run here with Strike Force extends his claim as one of the all-time best 80s babyface workers.

 

Crank up Girls in Cars (or Careless Whisper, if you are so inclined, thanks to Dave Musgrave!), watch Strike Force kick some Islanders' ass and shout ARRIBA!

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...to-santana.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Guess who's back in circulation. I have spoken my piece on here about the Hart Foundation on multiple occasions. This was good for me to collect all my thoughts in one place. This focuses more on booking than most my blogs because I think the greatness of Hart Foundation is predicated more on great booking than any other tag team. Bret Hart is a great wrestler and he proves in his singles matches, but his "tag team legend" is a construction of Vince McMahon's excellent booking. I don't think this a blight on a record, but in a lot of ways they are more wasted years and when you are vying for greatest of all time you cannot afford wasted years.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1988-1991.html

[marrklarr]

Guess who's back in circulation. I have spoken my piece on here about the Hart Foundation on multiple occasions. This was good for me to collect all my thoughts in one place. This focuses more on booking than most my blogs because I think the greatness of Hart Foundation is predicated more on great booking than any other tag team. Bret Hart is a great wrestler and he proves in his singles matches, but his "tag team legend" is a construction of Vince McMahon's excellent booking. I don't think this a blight on a record, but in a lot of ways they are more wasted years and when you are vying for greatest of all time you cannot afford wasted years.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1988-1991.html

 

Good analysis. Bold thesis. Have you had a chance to examine HF's first title run? If so, how does it compare?

[Superstar Sleeze]

It was actually the first installment of this series: http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-1985-1987.html. I basically go after the Hart Foundation's over-inflated legacy in this one also. I think the big point of contention is if you think the Bulldogs/Harts work holds up. If you do, then you can construct a case around that, but I did not. I think Bret shined a lot brighter in the Steamboat and Savage singles match. What I thought was really special about Bret even though I thought the matches were underwhelming was how amazing a ring general he was. He was clearly the leader of every single tag match he was in. You wrestled Bret's match. It was those qualities that you witness that with hindsight make it almost obvious that he was going to go on to be a great wrestler. I know others have said it (Loss I believe), but if there was such a thing as a 90s NWA touring champion, Bret Hart would be the guy I would pick. He was a perfect fit for the style especially for how good he was at working subtle heel in face vs face matches.

[marrklarr]

So you're basically saying that the Harts are a good team, just not as good as they are remembered. If you ranked the WWF teams of that era, where would you put them? Also, do you think they were better during their heel run or face run?

 

I like your observation that HF is overrated due to Bret's singles success while the Rockers -- a superior team -- is underrated despite Michaels' success. If the Rockers had a title run, do you think this would be different?

 

On a side note, you pay Vince kudos for his patience and restraint with Bret. I can't help but wonder if this giving him too much credit. What looks like brilliant long-term planning might just be Vince dithering and unable to commit to Bret as a singles star until he absolutely had to. What do you think?

[Superstar Sleeze]

I will answer your questions when I have more time as they will require me to really sit down and flesh out what I want to say. I don't want to skim due to time constraints.

 

I still wanted to post my latest blog on the BrainBusters.

 

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard are one of the best tag teams of all-time with an incredible run in the NWA. When they went up North, they immediately started a great program with the Rockers that put both tag teams on the map. It established the Rockers as the best pure babyface tag team on the roster and the Busters as the next heel challengers for Demolition. While I think the Demolition feud fell flat due to Ax indulging his worst habits of guzzling his opponents. It was nonetheless a successful one year run that bolsters both the legacies fro Arn & Tully as they proved that they were not just NWA workers, but workers that could get over anywhere.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...n-wwf-1989.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

So you're basically saying that the Harts are a good team, just not as good as they are remembered. If you ranked the WWF teams of that era, where would you put them? Also, do you think they were better during their heel run or face run?

 

I like your observation that HF is overrated due to Bret's singles success while the Rockers -- a superior team -- is underrated despite Michaels' success. If the Rockers had a title run, do you think this would be different?

 

On a side note, you pay Vince kudos for his patience and restraint with Bret. I can't help but wonder if this giving him too much credit. What looks like brilliant long-term planning might just be Vince dithering and unable to commit to Bret as a singles star until he absolutely had to. What do you think?

I was saving this for my last blog, but since I have watched all the matches (save for Demolition/Colossal Connection) I will just unveil the teams portion now:

 

1. The Rockers - It is not even close.

2. The Islanders - Good matches with everyone. Incredible feud with Strike Force. Killer matches with Demolition, Hart Foundation, Dream Team & Bulldogs. Best team no one pays attention to.

3. British Bulldogs - I slagged them, but that was me being a harsh grader. Great Dream Team feud. Good work against Demolition. Offensive Dynamos.

4. Dream Team - Loved the Bulldogs stuff. Thought they had great matches against Steamboat & Tito and US Express. New Dream Team had a good match with Rockers.

5. Demolition - Loved heel Demolition, even Smash & Crush were pretty good (see Rockers 90 match). Babyface Demolition was pretty dreadful. Matt, I will watch the Colossal Connection this week and revise if fitting.

6. Strike Force - This may seem low given how much I gush over their feud with the Islanders, but outside of that feud they did not do much.

7. BrainBusters - Great run with Rocker, but not much else.

8. Hart Foundation - Mechanically sound often left me feeling cold.

9. Fabulous Rougueas - Bland as faces and ineffective as heels. They are saved from cellar by the Rockers.

10. Killer Bees - Bland

 

Bret Hart as a singles wrestler is really dynamic and I prefer him as a babyface that is not above roughhousing or even taking a shortcut. As a tag team, I think they had a far stronger run as heels and they really felt like a tag team with Jimmy Hart. They had better matches as babyfaces with Demolition and The Rockers, but outside of that they either did not exist as a tag team or had a lackluster run. The heel run showcased them as a tag team even if the matches were not as good. Again, the Bulldogs matches are tough because they were heralded as great so if you like them then the heel run is a slam dunk case.

 

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Pre-Russo (an to certain extent still to this day), title reigns mattered. Since very few wrestling fans are going to go back and watch all the primary source material. They will see two tag title reigns for the Hart Foundation, wow they must have been good to have two reigns. I mean total smart marks with have this impression because they will believe that them winning the Tag Titles is indicative of their success as a draw, in workrate, and company confidence. Vince was not just dolling out victories so they will see this as affirmation of the Hart Foundation's success. Since the Rockers did not win the tag titles, they are seen as a mid-card act, which besides the Hart Foundation feud they were. There are a lot of people that hold mid-card status against workers. I usually don't so it is easy for me to say the Rockers are the greatest WWF Tag Team of all time, but for others I think they conflate wrestling hierarchy and workrate together.

 

The reason I give Vince all this credit is because there are plenty of instances of mid-carders in the WWF (it is may more prevalent now) getting lost in the mid-card mire. Vince just does not have anything for them and they wander the mid-card aimlessly. Bret always seemed to have a purpose. In 1985-87, he was a crown jewel for Jimmy Hart as the top heel tag team and worked the big angle with Savage and Honky Tonk. He was turned face in 1988 in a a memorable angle with Bad News, who was on his way ti upper midcard with a couple title shots in '88 against Savage. He finished out '88 in the second tier tag team feud before Vince really committed him to singles in a lot of draws and/or protected finishes against Perfect, DiBiase, Valentine, Martel and others. In '90, we see him shift back to tag team ranks against Rockers and then Demolition before finish out as a tag champ. Bret as a baby face was very well protected and hardly ever jobbed. He lost to Perfect by chicanery on TV before Perfect was going to feud with Hogan. They still felt the need to protect Bret. Not only that Bret was one of the few tag wrestlers that consistently got single experience against heavy hitters all the way back to Steamboat in '86 and Savage '87. Shawn and Marty were typecasted as "Tag Team Specialists" by Gorilla and how they were booked, but you never got that feeling with Bret. I definitely got teh feeling from the booking that the plan was always to make Bret a big singles star they just needed to find the right time to pull the trigger.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Now I am just churning them out at (white) lightning speed, as we take a look at a worker who has become one of my all-time favorites and one that to me is a mortal lock in Top 5 WWF Workers in 80s. His work with Backlund and Santana are the most obvious elements of his career that stand out to highlight for great he was. However his work with Beefcake and afterwards is also really good. Outside the Islanders/Strike Force, Dream Team/British Bulldogs is the runaway feud of the 80s WWF Tag wrestling scene with great matches all around. In addition, Dream Team had great matches against Santana & Steamboat and US Express. After this Valentine, help transform Beefcake into one of the most over babyfaces in WWF in the late 80s and having great matches with Santana, Blue Blazer and Ronnie Garvin. He was the Hammer, no frills, tough as nails he was going to land stiff shots, sell and bump and work a heated style. Yes, they eventually changed him in Rhythm N Blues, but when he was working there from 1979-89 he was The Hammer. It is akin to Tito being El Matdor at the tail end of his career. He never compromised his style in the ring, but forced others out of their comfort zone into more heated, intense matches that featured wrestler struggling towards a victory. The Hammer did it his way and in the WWF that is truly special.

 

If you have read the blogs, you will notice I often watch singles matches of the tag wrestlers so even though a lot of the following single matches did not take place when the participants were in tag teams per se. I still wanted to acknowledge how good they were. So here are the best of the best of the singles matches I watched.

 

Best Singles Matches Involving Tag Wrestlers:

 

1. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage - SNME 11/87

2. Rick Martel vs Tama - MSG 9/87

3. Greg Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89

4. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89

5. Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88

6. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90

7. Rick Martel vs Bret Hart - Primetime 10/89

8. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - SNME 11/89

9.WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs Tito Santana - SNME 7/90

10. Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - Odessa 3/89

11. Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86

12 Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - MSG 4/89

13. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - Main Event 11/90

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...mer-swings.html

[Ricky Jackson]

Great stuff, man. Need to see some of those Valentine matches.

[Superstar Sleeze]

The Wrestling With Past inspired to go watch the 4/18/91 show because I was excited to see so much depth and diversity on an All Japan show. The Stan Hansen performance in that tag team both as playing Ricky Morton and that gripping dramatic stretch run just keeps inching him closer to usurping Flair's spot as my choice for GOAT. I have them ranked a bit different than Loss. They would all be around 4 stars for me, so I was making choices on the margins. I thought the Misawa/Jumbo beginning dragged it down a bit in comparison to the other matches. I liked the Taue/Kawada war, but preferred the brawl from 01/15/91 (my review of that is included) where Kawada fought from underneath. I thought the Hansen&Spivey/MVC tag was just as well worked as the other matches, but I felt really delivered something a lot more different in terms of a Hansen FIP segment and that awesome finish run.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...-of-heaven.html

[Kevin Ridge]

Toru Tanaka > Hitomi Tanaka > Masato Tanaka > Minoru Tanaka!

[Superstar Sleeze]

LOL.

 

Before I was on these boards, I wrote pieces called 2 Out Of 3 Falls where I would take three wrestlers and rate their matches against each other. Ditch's Best Of 00's Japan poll is perfect for this. My first installment of this poll looks Kawada, Tenryu and newly inducted WON HOF member Kensuke Sasaki in their 2000 contests against each other.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...aki-kawada.html

[Kevin Ridge]

You provide the sleaze, I'll provide the page views.

[Superstar Sleeze]

False advertising is illegal. I make sure to deal the Sleeze whenever possible.

 

I complied the Pillman matches into a new blog. His work in the early 90s clearly blows his Loose Canon work outta the water in the ring. However, in terms of heeling it up in the ring, I thought he was really fuckin' good. Meltzer said on the Austin Show he was obsessed with being a main event heel. You could see in his performances how hard he worked at being a heel. I loved his use of the slap in all his matches. It made for such a pop when the babyface got his receipt. The Badd match stands out as his last classic where he really facilitated the importation of the Japanese style to American wrestling audiences. With the right time and opponent, I think he had another masterpiece as the Loose Canon in him, but was never afforded the opportunity before the wreck. I was really impressed with the work even if there were not that many must-see matches. At the same time, it is hard to watch the act knowing behind the scenes he was literally descending into madness.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...an-pillman.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Covering Halloween Havoc '93 through Superbrawl IV, I found Steve Austin to be very inconsistent in his performances. He is someone who clearly knew his fundamentals and had a great grasp on psychology. I don't think he really knew who "Stunning" Steve was and that inhibited from putting on transcendent performances consistently. Some nights he looked like a cant miss main event others an interchangeable midcarders. I do think he needed so more go-to spots to get heat because sometimes his heat segments would drag. Like most here, I do not think it is the number of spots or moves that did him in. Sometimes, he just did not project the confidence to garner the heat necessary especially in the two clunkers against Dustin when we know they were capable of an awesome match from Havoc '91. Definitely check out his matches with Pillman in singles and tags and his tremendous performance in Thundercage at SuperBrawl IV.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...n-wcw-1030.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Demolition, WALKING DISASTER! Personally, I thought their babyface run was a walking disaster marred by gobbling up opponents, bad opponents and extended squashes. I surprisingly liked the Smash & Crush team and thought they had some good efforts against the Road Warriors and Rockers. Definitely, think Smash & Crush would have been a viable team well into the next year if they kept them together.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...aster-1989.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Keiji Mutoh is one of the most hit or miss wrestlers I have ever encountered. Sometimes I will be left shaking my head in shock at someone who can be so talented could shit the bed so hard. Other times, I will be who is this wrestler and what did he do with Mutoh. I do think his 2001 stuff holds up for the most part. I am most impressed that someone at his age not only revamped his image, but reinvented who he was a wrestler. I thought he delivered a classic with Kawada and then a real Match of the Decade contender against Tenryu. Check it out in 2001: Shining Wizard!

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...eiji-mutoh.html

[Superstar Sleeze]

Yoshihiro Takayama is all man. I have been a mark for his heelish style in the puroresu scene since I first saw it 6-7 years ago. While I enjoy his individual performances, I don't it always mesh too well if every puro star. However, when it does you get a Match of Decade Contender like 2000 Triple Crown match with Kenta Kobashi. Come enjoy the best of the Bleach Blond & Bad Giant of Japan.

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...o-takayama.html

 

1. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00

 

2. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01

3. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01

4. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokoyo Dome Non-Title

5. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00

6. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00

7. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00

8. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02

9. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01

10. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayma - Tokyo Dome 05/02

11. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final

12. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals

13. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin

14.. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01

[Superstar Sleeze]

Masa Fuchi is my new hero. He had one helluva performance in the All Japan versus New Japan tag match in 12/00. He stole the show with his cocky, prickly antics and followed by his great selling. All Japan falls off a quality cliff in 2002, but from 2000-2002 it was still providing quality wrestling even though it was not sustainable due to the age of the stars, Kawada, Tenryu and Mutoh. I greatly enjoyed the tag matches I reviewed here as unusual suspects really elevated their game to match the likes of Tenryu and Kawada such as Taiyo Kea, Masa Fuchi and Nobutaka Araya. On the flip side, I did not find the Kojima all that great though he did finally have a pretty good match against Tenryu.

 

Check out All Japan strikes back!

 

http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...aki-kawada.html

 

Updated rankings:

 

1. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama - All Japan 05/26/00

2. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - Budokan 6/8/01

3. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka - NJ PPV 12/14/00

4. Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 04/01

5. IWGP Champion Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada - 10/00 Tokyo Dome Non-Title

6. Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya - AJPW 6/30/01

 

7. Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori - Champions Carnival Final '00

8. Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Taiyo Kea - Budokan 07/23/00

9. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Kensuke Sasaki - 01/04/00

10. Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada - Vacant All Japan Triple Crown 10/28/00

 

11. GHC Champion Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa - Budokan 09/23/02

12. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - Vacant GHC Title 04/15/01

13. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 07/07/02

14. IWGP Champion Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayma - Tokyo Dome 05/02

15. Keiji Mutoh vs Yuji Nagata - Sumo Hall 08/12/01 G-1 Climax Final

16. Genichiro Tenryu vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 02/24/02

 

17. Yoshihiro Takayma vs Osamu Nishimura - G-1 Climax Semifinals

18. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kensuke Sasaki - G-1 Climax Round Robin

 

19. Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase vs Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata - Tokyo Dome 10/08/01

20. Toshiaki Kawada vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 06/06/01