[1998-08-23-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs Akira Taue & Tamon Honda

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Looks to be a pretty decent match. Taue pins Kobashi going into the TC match which I'm not sure was necessary. Johnny Ace ends up turning on Kobashi, which I'm not sure was necessary either. I guess they wanted Kobashi to team with a native so they could evoke the Four Corners classics of a few years prior, but Akiyama went from being Misawa's junior partner to Kobashi's junior partner - a lateral move at best and a demotion at worst. The turn gets great heat and is really well done though. I don't think a Kobashi-Ace match came out of this.

[soup23]

Match looks like a good bit of fun and Kobashi team look to have the match in hand when Taue and Honda makes a comeback. Taue ends up pinning Kobashi to set up their triple crown match. Ace attacks Kobashi after the match to a big pop and that split is official. Jun Akiyama makes the save and a new team is officially born.

[PeteF3]

Kobashi accidentally knocks Ace off the apron, a la Owen & Bret. Ace recovers eventually, but seemingly gives up on attempting to save Kobashi from a Taue power bomb. Then he helps Kobashi to his feet...and drops him with a clothesline! Ace takes out a slew of young boys and lays out Kobashi with the cobra clutch suplex until Akiyama makes the save. Ace leaves seemingly having formed a new alliance of his own with Johnny Smith & The LaCrosse. A fun angle from a promotion not known for them--this might be the first involving main eventers since 1990. They do their best to work this angle close to the way it would go down in a real sport with the way that the other young boys react.