JerryvonKramer Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 http://placetobenation.com/all-japan-excite-series-2/ Are you excited? Parv and Steven watch four more exciting matches from 90s All Japan Pro Wrestling! 10/19/90 Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi 01/15/91 Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue 04/20/91 Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi 09/04/91 Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi The PWO-PTBN Podcast Network features great shows you can find right here at Place to Be Nation. By subscribing on iTunes or SoundCloud, youll have access to new episodes, bonus content, as well as a complete archive of: Where the Big Boys Play, Titans of Wrestling, Pro-Wrestling Super-Show, Good Will Wrestling, and Wrestling With the Past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Parv's Points having its own music is the most self gratifying booking since HHH at Summerslam 03. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 That 1991 6-man had the female fans in the audience looking very, very dismayed for Kobashi. You really didn't see the kind of visceral reactions Kobashi got from most Japanese crowds at the time. Kitchen sink was used a lot in WCW. I believe it came from the idea of "throwing everything at them except the kitchen sink." Taue was being a complete dick to Kawada in that 1991 match, but not so much to the other two. Great stuff so far, keep up the good work guys! Kikuchi was the "little guy" partner for Kobashi. Kobashi always played the big brother who saved Kikuchi from the bullies. He basically plays Kobashi for Kobashi in tag matches. Also, here's a link to a 1991 Hansen match for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acb3ZFdGF3I You get to see some very awesome character work from Hansen and a pissed off Misawa all in one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soup23 Posted November 1, 2014 Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 My thoughts of these matches: Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 10/19/90)My favorite 6 man of the year. May have not been as frantic or loose as the two previous but to me it tightened up the focus and hit all the high points of the previous 6 mans and then some. I think Kobashi has a lot to add to this series by this point in proving himself. ****1/2 (#10 match worldwide in 1990, #4 in All Japan) - I would recommend watching this one again Parv. I started it on first watch and had it below the May and August six mans, but on second watch I really picked up a lot of little nuiances and did think this had some good growth from Kobashi. Toshiaki Kawada vs. AKira Taue (AJPW 1/15/91) Agree with all the comments here. Really unique match for All Japan in the 90's and more of a blow off brawl. 12 minutes of going toe to toe. Kawada has fully transformed into the prick we know him as. ****1/4 (#32 match worldwide in 1991, #10 in All Japan) - I think this match benefits more from watching all of the All Japan stuff than just starting out as in Parv's case. It is a really different match than most of what you see throughout the decade and would feel at home in Techwood Studio in 1986. I think I am in the minority in preferring the 4/18/91 match to this one overall. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 4/20/91) Everyone else has written up why this is amazing but it really is a superb match that would be a top 10 90's AJPW candidate. This felt like the 6 man equivalent of the 9/30/90 tag as in that match Taue and Kawada belonged but here I really felt like they were the stars. Kawada vs. Taue have had some extremely dickish interaction with each other and Taue knocking him off the rope had me salivating and the ensuing brawl with Kawada headbutting him. Let's not forget about Kobashi and Fuchi either. In that skirmish between Kawada/Taue, Fuchi gives one dick kick that is amazing and the flicking off of Kawada as he delivers a dropkick is super. Kobashi took his first beating in one of these matches that felt like one of his performances that we would see in tags for years to come. Jumbo and Misawa were also excellent and stayed out of the spotlight enough but still felt integral to the entire match. 50 minutes that flew by. ****3/4 (#4 Worldwide, #1 In All Japan 1991) - Tim Cooke has an amazing write up on this match in the match discussion thread. This one is really close to the full five for me. I can already see Parv being pretentious about my top four matches of 1991, but here is how they landed. ***** 1. Randy Savage vs. Ultimate Warrior (Mania 3/24/91) ****3/4 2. Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes (Clash 11/19/91) 3. Masa Chono vs. Keiji Muto (NJPW 8/11/91) 4. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW 4/20/91) I think that was a solution of watching all of 1991 in a vacuum. 1991 was stock full of really good ***1/2 matches but few stuff in the year really hit me at an emotional level like other years throughout the decade. I will be discussing the Clash tag soon on the next WTBBP but the simplified reason why those are #1 and #2 compared to the other two more technically proficient matches is my emotional connection to them. Each of those top two matches are my favorite of all time, but I also think they are executed perfectly in the template they set out to accomplish. One minor quibble for the 4/20/91 tag in why I don't have it at ***** is that it didn't hit on that emotional level, it was maybe 5 minutes too long, and Misawa took a little bit of a backseat. Still, between this and the great matches on the 4/18/91 AJPW show, they were on a good run. Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi (AJPW 9/4/91) Man, what an unheralded feud sometimes. Everyone knows about 7/93 but the other matches between these two seem to get shafted sometime. When the 96 match is probably their 4th best together, it is a great series. This started out well with the lariat and Joe Higouchi doing his best referee work refusing to work. Kobashi wisely rolls to the floor but of course Stan keeps on pounding him. Kobashi's comeback really had me going here especially with the moonsault nearfall. I don't want to make this a current wrestling debate and I do like Okada but the way Hansen hit the lariat on the outside to regain control was so much more believable and effective to me than some of the Rainmaker spots I have seen in the past two years. Kobashi was a defeated man once that happened but he took Hansen to the edge and Hansen knew it. My #4 MOTY so far. ****1/2 (#6 Worldwide, #3 All Japan 1991) - I was surprised that you didn't dig this one Parv although I was fearful on the "whiny" aspects of Kobashi based on you ideology of what a face/heel should act like. I do think this match showed Kobashi taking a step forward. These two had a fine, semi-competitive match on 1/2/91 but this was Kobashi getting beat up but not being put away so easy. Most point to the 5/91 Jumbo match as that tipping point, but I think this match exemplifies it more. I do hope you enjoy their later matches as this is probably along with Kobashi/Misawa as my two favorite rivalries in All Japan in the 1990's. Stray thoughts: - I had heard kitchen sink before but it isn't common - Dungarees...... Never ceases to amaze me how Parv thinks everyone knows Brit vernacular. The latest WTBBP talks about him being at an Open Day without skipping a beat and I still don't know what the hell an Open Day is - I like the ranking of the workers so far. I do think this series of matches slightly skewed your thoughts on Misawa because he wasn't featured as heavily and the 9/1/90 match was kind of a distant memory. Will be interested to see if you prefer the 10/24/91 Kawada match vs. Jumbo to that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2014 Well the thing is that I just run into things that I had no idea that people elsewhere didn't know: braces, "hard", dungarees, open days ... how am I meant to know that you don't know what those things are? Learn how to speak English damn you all! As per last time, here are mine and Steven's ratings on this batch recorded for posterity. 05/26/90 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi 10/19/90 Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi Parv: **** Steven: ****1/2 01/15/91 Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue Parv: ***1/2 Steven: ****1/4 04/20/91 Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi Parv: ***** Steven: ****3/4 09/04/91 Stan Hansen vs Kenta Kobashi Parv: ***1/2 Steven: **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pol Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 Really enjoyed this. I love Taue's awkward yet effective looking offense. The hundred hand slap move is a reference to him being a former sumo wrestler. He also has the Sumo Lariat, which I'm not sure you'd ever see used in a sumo match. Wait till you see his awkward tope and awkward missile dropkick! Re: Hansen, I'd actually been thinking recently about how Hansen fit in to the main event scene in All Japan. You'd have all these Japanese guys with their own personal issues having (a lot of) matches, then occasionally this larger-than-life cartoon character shows up (in a promotion with a generally down-to-earth presentation) and just destroys guys. His character doesn't really seem to have motivations and despite often being world champion he never really seems to factor into the main storyline of the promotion - he's more like a force of nature than an actual person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 Parv's Points having its own music is the most self gratifying booking since HHH at Summerslam 03. Wouldn't expect anything less. On top of it the music sucked. Horrible sci-fi sounding laser beams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Boricua Posted November 2, 2014 Report Share Posted November 2, 2014 Parv's Points having its own music is the most self gratifying booking since HHH at Summerslam 03.Wouldn't expect anything less. On top of it the music sucked. Horrible sci-fi sounding laser beams. So that's where Loss' lasers went to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 3, 2014 Report Share Posted November 3, 2014 Don't worry, Parv, I understand most of your vernacular I actually watched the All Blacks vs. USA from Soldier's Field yesterday and the American commentary was awesome. A whole new way to describe rugby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2014 Parv's Points having its own music is the most self gratifying booking since HHH at Summerslam 03. Wouldn't expect anything less. On top of it the music sucked. Horrible sci-fi sounding laser beams. Guessing you didn't play Megaman 2, eh, Pete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted November 3, 2014 Report Share Posted November 3, 2014 Lol nope. Even with your mediocre theme music I enjoyed the show and Parv's points. I've got a question though. What is the difference between a Parv's point, and a point you make w/o Megaman 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted November 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2014 Offical "Parv's points" are substantive comments about the match or the workers. Unofficial ones tend to be more superficial ones leading into the match along the lines of Kawada looking like a cool, hardbitten detective with a hangover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 I'm waiting for the novel Parv writes about a hard-boiled detective who doesn't carry a gun but kicks people in the face really hard when they piss him off after a long night of drinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I started watching AJPW in 1994 and have drifted in and out since. Steven, I'm wondering if you think the matches listed would serve as a bare bones refresher course, or are others needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I can only speak for myself, but I think the matches they've picked represent the time in the promotion very well. It's not giving a complete picture, but the matches present their feuds in a digestible way that us easy to follow and get into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks Bill. Nothing essential missing so far, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 Dove straight in with the 20/04/91 six man tag. That 50 minutes of wrestling flew by. Absolutely first class stuff. I'm coming home, All Japan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks Bill. Nothing essential missing so far, then? Nope, nothing essential. It still wouldn't hurt to ask someone like dawho5 for some more matches to check out from that time period. But, you're being fed a beefy diet with the matches they are covering as is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 I only started covering the in-between stuff around 94. I think I actually missed a few of the good 6-mans they aren't covering my first go round. Not that I won't make up for that in spades in the coming months, but still something I am missing myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 I love this series. You guys get along great and when you have that going for you I could listen to people talk about these matches for days. Parv, you're driving me crazy with Kenta Ko(great american)BASH-i. Its KoBAHSHI! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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