The Comprehensive All Japan 1990's Thread

joeg · April 19, 2017

Sorry to bump an old thread. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about the All Japan google drive. hell of a resource.

SmartMark15 · May 6, 2017

On 4/19/2017 at 2:56 AM, joeg said:
Sorry to bump an old thread. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about the All Japan google drive. hell of a resource.

How do I get in on this? Please and thank you.

SmartMark15 · May 6, 2017

On 5/6/2017 at 11:13 AM, MattOL said:

On 5/6/2017 at 11:02 AM, SmartMark15 said:

On 4/19/2017 at 2:56 AM, joeg said:
Sorry to bump an old thread. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about the All Japan google drive. hell of a resource.

How do I get in on this? Please and thank you.

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/0Bwpbsa8C2iSmZXJuaE44bm40eHc?usp=sharing

I honestly can not emphasize how absolutely grateful I am. Truly. Stuff like this is what makes me so grateful to be in a community like this. Cheers.

brockobama · June 12, 2017

Been meaning to ask this for a long time and this seems as good a place as any to do it: where did the El Clasico and El Super Clasico titles for 6/3/1994 and 6/9/1995 come from? Obviously it seems like they're ripped right from football/soccer, but it seems like an odd thing to me, using a pair of Spanish sports titles to refer to a pair of Japanese matches. Who coined these terms? How long have they been around?

NintendoLogic · June 12, 2017

The only person I've ever heard refer to those matches by those terms is jdw. I believe he's a Real Madrid fan, so that's where he got it from.

brockobama · June 13, 2017

Makes sense. I've seen them called that elsewhere, but it was from people who I know are big PWO lurkers.

TimCooke · September 20, 2022

Yea El Classico jdw. He's a Barcelona fan (or was the last time I talked to him).

Ma Stump Puller · September 20, 2022

Might have something of a recommend list for late showings 95/2000 given I binged pretty much every match from that timeframe lol. I was very fascinated with how the company morphed and changed leading to the NOAH exodus so it became a bit of a hobby to find a lot of that halfway house material.

Ma Stump Puller · February 18, 2023

Alright, you wanna skip all of that early 90's shtick? You looking for the real weird deep cuts from the later years and not merely Four Pillars and maybe some Hansen or Akiyama? Here's the cut. I'll be including my commentary with the recommendations. I'm not going to throw out a ton of matches, just ones that usually don't crop up: if we included every good match, we'd be here a little too long for my liking. 1995 also wasn't a year that particularly interested me but there's some stuff worth mentioning.

AJPW Oddities #1: 1995

Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (24.01.1995)

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Giant Baba, Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Ace, Johnny Smith & Steve Williams (29.01.1995)

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A entire episode of AJPW TV is dedicated to showing this in full, no cuts involved. Williams quickly takes over with big scoop slams, shit-talking Baba and co, and even hitting a great dropkick meanwhile. Eventually everyone gets involved as stuff gets heated, even Baba tries to step in to beat Williams's ass. When Baba does get in, he's able to take him down with a school-boy before raking the eyes lol. As expected, the less established guys like Smith take a good blunt of the actual dominant ring work here, and I have to give him some credit for making Baba's chops look actually half-good for once. Seeing Ace and Williams fly around the ring for his offence as well was bizarre but very awesome at the same time. This falls into a fairly predictable formula: the Gaijin lads hold a majority of the action here, with the other team being able to squeeze out small pockets of resistance, albeit the bigger fish eventually take back control. Kobashi spends most of the middle selling for the trio and while some of the action is worth mentioning, a lot of it is just kinda middling work: if it isn't Williams angrily chopping his ass or Ace being a stiff ass with his chops, it's not very interesting. Ace does hit a picture perfect moonsault through, which was pretty cool to see. We get a few hot tag teases before Kobashi finally tags in Misawa to a good reaction at first, but quickly simmers down as Williams take control again after dodging a spinning elbow into a big spinebuster. Eventually we get a big brawl after Smith lands his dropkick/kip up spot and it leaves him vs Baba. As you can expect Baba beats him up pretty much one-sided, but his DDT pin attempt gets broken up. Kobashi gets in a powerbomb assist as well, allowing Baba just enough time to land his signature neckbreaker for the win. Post-match brawl has Williams and Ace go out on top with a Doomsday Device onto Kobashi. All in all, this is obviously used to get Ace and Williams over as a new tag threat for the Super Gen Army going forward, but it's a solid enough match, albeit simmers out around about the middle half. Some of the fat could've been trimmed off here. Baba is a obvious liability: he's still ungodly over but 1995 was most definitely a time where he shouldn't have been main eventing anything. The other guys work around him masterfully but you can still tell he's very limited by this point, only taking body slams as a actual bump. Everyone else puts in a standard performance: Williams makes this a lot better with his colourful antics and Ace is definitely getting better in this format. Kobashi and Misawa put in a pretty B-show performance and don't do much beyond bump and sell: they still have great timing and whatnot but this is definitely a lull in terms of match quality. Smith is.... here, basically. Don't expect anything incredible or anything but this is still quite good

Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Danny Kroffat & Stan Hansen (17.02.1995)

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Not sure why they kept trying to make Kroffat/Hansen a thing but the experiment continues regardless in the buildup to Hansen's challenge for the Triple Crown. Kawada and Hansen start with a predictively explosive sequence which has Kawada actually take Hansen off his feet with a big clothesline, highlighting how far he's gotten in a few years. Kroffat tries to get cute with a cross armbreaker but Kawada eventually just gets pissed off and drags the guy (standing up, mind you) to the corner to tag in Taue. It's not quite as good as the infamous "Gotch carrying Inoki" spot but it's still reasonably awesome to watch. Taue takes over with his typical big man moves until Kroffat counters a rest hold into a leg lock, which leads into Hansen continuing said leg work. This goes on for a bit during the middle section of the match until they just kinda drop it and Taue wiggles out to tag in Kawada. The real beef of this match comes from Kawada and Hansen's interactions: as you can expect, these are done pretty well, and Hansen shows a rare sense of vulnerability against the older, stronger and meaner Kawada, who's able to rock him with stiff kicks. Hansen is still Hansen through, and can take the advantage with his endurance and experience, allowing him to hold out long enough to get in loose strikes and blows to take Kawada off his game. There's a great spot where Kawada counters a Irish Whip into his signature spin kick, which Hansen sells like complete death: even when Taue gets in and tries to do stuff, Hansen's just out like a light. This leads the pair to get him leaning on the ropes so Kawada can kick him while Taue's got him in a front choke in a real old-school Southern-style heat spot. Hansen tries to fight back with his punches but Kawada isn't having any of that, leading to a extended kick sequence where he just blows him away with big shots. Even when the ref is counting him down, he refuses to relent on kneeing the guy in the face. Hansen's selling is also fantastic here: he gets fired up and angry but at the same time his pain is all so clear at the same time, and it REALLY gets the crowd going in the later halves when he's almost crying at points, trying to push though to scrap more. The road to the finish has Kawada try to put Hansen down with multiple Gamengiri shots, but Hansen just pulls out a Western Lariat at the last second. Both men are exhausted through and bow out, leading to Taue putting away Kroffat with two chokeslams. A really solid semi-main event that has Hansen direct all of the traffic here despite his age. Kawada is at his meanest against him with some great strikes, but also putting over Hansen's overall sturdiness that allows him to ride the waves just long enough to get comebacks; while he's strong enough to rock Hansen, he's not good enough to truly take him down, sowing seeds of doubt about his chances. Taue and Kroffat are fine enough here but noticeably play a backing role, not really getting a lot to shine. Kroffat is the obvious odd-one out but he's a decent enough worker to get through the more agile sequences. This only gets great when Hansen's on the backpedal, but he's still awesome regardless.

Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen (30.03.1995)

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Clipped by about 7 minutes or so. This isn't as good as the brawl they'd have in 97 but Ace and co can always be relied upon to have a good old fashioned Southern-style punch/kick scrap between them. Hansen mostly focuses in on the legs to keep Ace down and grounded: as I've said before Hansen isn't the best at working limbs to anything very compelling but I think he somewhat gets this dynamic over. Ace gets some room to breathe at points with some big shots but can't keep any semblance of control without Hansen knocking him back down again. The tables turn when Hansen misses a shoulder charge and falls to the outside, which while he recovers fairly fast, it gives enough time for Ace to recover before a powerbomb attempt, countering it into a nasty senton onto Hansen's face. Hansen recovers after countering a suplex attempt and motions for the Western Lariat, but Ace gets a last second Ace Crusher, which probably would've gotten him the pin had his leg prevented him from covering before Hansen rolls to the ropes, which is a nice way of protecting both men. Ace tries for a moonsault but his bad leg keeps him away from hitting it in time before getting interrupted. He tries again for it and succeeds but Hansen dodges out of the way. Ace's shitty leg gets even worse and forces him to be stuck kneeling, allowing Hansen to hit like a Sliding-D style Western Lariat instead in a awesome desperation spot. This, naturally, gets him the pin. Good short bout that gets both men established: Ace is the younger, more bombastic lad but Hansen is the smart vet that plays the long game and ultimately wins because of it. Both guys worked well here with no real downtime, and I was impressed by Ace's agility and versatility at points, pulling out some stuff you wouldn't expect from a man his size. As stated, there's a better match between the pair but this is also quite decent, and the limb work ACTUALLY plays into the match in a major way, shocker! All in all, a fun CC-style match that shows off Ace's slow climb in quality.

Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen (13.04.1995)

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Shown in full. Akiyama is still just a few years in the business but he's clearly starting to get a bit of a name for himself (this year in particular would be the start of him slowly being thrown into bigger matches) but he's against Triple Crown Hansen, so he's not going to get much of anywhere here. Akiyama decides to follow the main strategy for handling the wild cowboy: namely working his lariat arm. I usually groan at such a thing because it's so overused, and such a bad clutch that causes Hansen matches to drag a lot, but I think Akiyama does a lot better at limb targeting than most who have attempted it in the past, focusing on fancy key locks and cross armbreakers. Hansen in turn manages to give the kid a lot of room here, tangibly making him more of a threat progressively as his best weapon (I. E. his strikes) is drained away from him. At the start, he can easily slap away Akiyama with a few good chops and punches like he's nothing: as time goes on he needs to get more and more radical because that advantage is stripped away. Akiyama escalates by slamming Hansen's arm into the barrier and turnbuckle pole, so Hansen has to fire back with a nasty DDT on the outside. Akiyama almost dies from a powerbomb but just kicks out. Hansen tries to maintain momentum but Akiyama lands a awesome jumping knee counter, following it up with a running one that knocks his opponent out of the ring, hitting a plancha to the outside as well. He then goes for a good looking apron elbow to the face just for good measure. When Hansen tries to get in and roughhouse Akiyama, he gets pissed and starts just hurling elbows in a fury, ending in a thunderous top rope knee for a near fall. He tries for a Northern Lights but Hansen gets a last second neckbreaker. The last minute is just a mess of explosive moves, namely Hansen almost ending Akiyama with a vicious back suplex. Despite Akiyama getting in one last jumping knee, Hansen is able to no sell it just long enough to land his Western Lariat for the pin. VERY well done for a 10 minute sprint as we get some huge bombs in-between some good limb work. Very enjoyable all in all and Akiyama was really starting to get a groove in terms of offence, incredibly over as well as he struggles against the far tougher man. Hansen for his credit gets some good brawling in but also puts over Akiyama's guts, putting himself in danger in a few bits here but never anything exaggerated, always staying in control but noticeably having to dig fairly deep in places. Great stuff.

Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace (13.04.1995)

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Johnny Ace vs. Patriot (24.07.1995

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This is a pretty fun outing that has the two tag buddies just go at each other for a title shot. Patriot is the neutral face here, helped by Ace taking the lead with some good offence and solid cut-off spots throughout. Patriot keeps in the game long enough to land a backdrop counter and Ace bumps huge after a dropkick, falling to the outside. Patriot also lands a real stiff lariat at one point for a near fall, which was pretty awesome looking. Other than that his offence is pretty meh and nothing really that interesting, in my opinion; I'm generally down on Patriot as a worker here and this didn't change anything about those views. I do like the underlying narrative of both of them knowing the other well enough to counter and dodge each other a ton: we get some inventive counters to finishers (like Ace springs off the ropes Bret style to escape a potential Full Nelson Slam attempt, or him countering a running lariat into a Boss Man Slam out of nowhere) as well as just general smart work at times to get the advantage, and these are done really well to convey changes in momentum as well as teasing near falls. There's a few too many of them near the end when they just keep landing bombs and not hitting the mark in classic AJPW fashion. That said, seeing Patriot land a vicious powerbomb, or Ace hitting a mid-air dropkick to Patriot diving off the top rope are epic spots that get the drama building well here. Ace hits a Ace Crusher: near fall. He hits a moonsault: near fall. He hits a fancy running corner Ace Crusher: near fall again! I can get why this was here but this was bordering on parody at that point. Eventually Ace wins with a Pedigree (they call it a Tiger Driver but erm, it isn't at all given how he does it) which was pretty funny. Either way, this was a solid outing that had the two really throw out the bag and a half in terms of counters and bombs. Patriot is definitely the weaker of the two here given his more limited work and wonky selling (the dropkick I mentioned before, he gets up before Ace does there and acts like nothing happened) and I liked the chop sequences but they never went anywhere either. I still enjoyed this at the end of the day but it definitely has major flaws.

Danny Kroffat vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (10.09.1995)

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There are clipped versions of this in circulation but the one I've seen isn't, so take that for what you will. What's clipped is mostly inconsequential; a lot of starting work to define the babyface and heel, as well as some generic arm work that doesn't really pass into anything else. This marks a pretty big turning point for Ogawa as he grabs his first title in AJPW after 10 years of wrestling, and against someone that he's never been able to handle in singles competition prior to this outing. The match itself is predictively solid: these two work quite well together and this is by far their best outing together Kroffat plays his usual cocky self alongside a strongly played babyface proto-Ratboy Ogawa, who ends up on the backend of this a lot and needs to pull out some of his usual antics to try to get the advantage, namely flash pins and quick counters. Kroffat pulls out non-clean breaks and low blows in response, as well as wearing him down with working holds and whatnot. Between this you get his signature playing to the crowd and insults, which was a lot of fun. Ogawa's work is mostly combinations of moves to try to take the bigger guy down, and while his punches are a bit too loose for my liking, most of what he pulls out looks perfectly decent. The pair also know each other well enough to get out some strongly paced counters to the other person's finish, so we get a lot of dodges and flash pin counters to work here on top, adding a good layer of strategy to the whole thing. Ogawa smartly works the crowd more and more with his near falls, going from flash in the pan counter pins that they don't really bite for into outright overpowering near-fall bombs, such as a Tiger Driver and backdrop pin. Eventually the finish has Kroffat come off the top rope for a sunset, but Ogawa rolls through into a front pin for the conclusive pin with big fanfare. This isn't a particularly classic outing (nor is it anything incredible) but functions just fine as a solid Jr outing, which was a goodsend for a very much abandoned function of the company (which reflects even here given his title defences were mostly unaired). They don't really go all out with any part of it, but Ogawa's tricky counters were done really well and Kroffat was a good heel here, making sure not to take too much shine from his opponent while being a tangible threat with his own work. Not bad at all, sadly about as good as you are going to get from AJPW's Jr division.

Jun Akiyama, Masao Inoue & Satoru Asako vs. Ryukaku Izumida, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (25.10.1995)

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Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala vs. Dory Funk Jr. & Mighty Inoue (25.10.1995)

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Johnny Smith & Rob Van Dam vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (18.11.1995)

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Gary Albright & Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa (29.11.1995)

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This is the big match of the entire tournament par the finals: both teams are fighting for a definitive spot to get in the latter (which will obviously be the Demon Army) so there's good tension. Hansen vs Kobashi is always a good dynamic, and having them scrap for every bit of advantage (including Hansen punching Kobashi mid-air when he tries for a double axe-handle only to sell his own hand because of the awkward shot; just a great little bit in general iirc). As expected Kobashi does most of the selling and bumping as the beefy duo work on Kobashi on the mat, slapping on holds and wearing him down. Albright hammering him with elbows to the ribs looked fairly nasty. They work over his back with bombs alongside that, with Hansen hitting his signature stiff kicks, elbows, and back suplexes. This is noticeably utilising a fair bit of technical work: something Kings Road in particular had introduced around this time within the style to add longevity to the workers.

Through it wouldn't be as noticeable as it would be in 1997-2000, seeing Kobashi grab on submission holds and shoot around with Albright a bit shows that it was starting to leak in alongside the UWF arrivals. Kobashi and Hansen do their usual routine of the latter beating him down while Kobashi tries pulling out comebacks, but just can't get the big shot in long enough to reliably tag in his partner. After a somewhat messy powerbomb reversal where he ends up nearly falling on Hansen's face, we get the Misawa hot tag, which was solid, especially given him and Hansen have bad chemistry. They work here better as equals until a DDT clears the field for Albright to hurl the guy around into a cross armbreaker. Albright's teasing of the Dragon Suplex after the rope break is solid, as is Misawa's comeback using his agility to land multiple solid kicks into a Burning Lariat tag-in.

There's a fantastic bit in the second half where Albright dodges a spinning chop to grab on a German suplex, of which Kobashi literally crawls his way to the corner to escape any pin attempts. Kobashi holding on to Hansen with the last of his energy just long enough to allow Misawa to strike the both with elbows was also a good little bit that got over their dynamic. Albright keeps hunting for the one big hold to finish the match, but Kobashi manages to grab on a miracle sleeper: without Hansen to interrupt, he eventually gets Albright to the point that he can go for the last-ditch pin for the win. This does feel slow in places and the inclusion of Albright means that we see some uncharacteristic grappling mostly from Kobashi, who's not really anything special in that field. That said, I think this is still a nice outing that showcases the two teams in terms of dynamics well, even if it isn't anything out of the blue. It's full of small solid sections that build to a rather unconventional ending, but the parts still come together quite well in the end to get over the Hansen/Albright duo.

Ma Stump Puller · February 20, 2023

AJPW Oddities #2: 1996

Tamon Honda vs. Toshiaki Kawada (12.01.1996)

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One of Honda's first real tests in AJPW in singles. He's obviously not got much of a chance of actually winning, mind you, but this is a good try to see how much Kawada can fool the audience otherwise Honda amazingly dominates the early portions of this with his technical work, consistently getting Kawada down to the mat, which he's a fish out of water in as he grabs the ropes at every occasion, not even trying to outmanoeuvre him. He does eventually grab on a rest hold, but this ends with Honda recovering on the ropes and nailing him with a huge German Suplex. This beginning is great, getting over Honda's technical skills and how dangerous he actually can be when not stuck doing headbutts, and it's a great sign of the worker he'd become in NOAH with more refinement to this act, it's fascinating seeing such a thing here just starting off.

The middle part has Kawada eventually recover after dodging a headbutt and use his own advantages in, well, his kicks. He even does some grappling before just kicking him some more. Honda is helpless until Kawada takes a bit too much time gloating and Honda gets in a modified Dragon Screw, only he holds on to the leg after the initial move, looked super nasty. After this, it's a simple story of Kawada's leg being wrecked and Honda knowing this and pursuing it as hard as he can. Kawada makes the mistake of kicking with it on instinct on occasions, which messes it up even more. Obviously Kawada is a great seller so he makes the limb work seem exciting and legitimately painful, making sure to not let Honda work it over: he even goes to the ground to keep him neutralised and away from it, and uses his other leg to bat Honda away like a wounded animal.

The second half goes into more of a traditional fighting spirit section with Honda and Kawada trading kicks and headbutts: Honda does some nice work finding ways to get the former down with some agility and resilience, with him even pulling out some of his own kicks when he's working the leg of Kawada again. The finish has Honda get tripped up when attempting to work Kawada's bad leg again and being wrapped in a less than convincing toe hold for the rather deflating win. This is actually pretty solid: Honda bothers to do more than just the occasional headbutt here and Kawada's selling makes this a lot engaging than most Honda bouts. That being said, this is pretty simplistic in structure, the finish makes Honda look like a complete pushover, and Kawada doesn't do much beyond kicks and ground work: we don't see any actual big moves from him. I get this was another Kawada/shoot style flirtation, but it didn't land well here.

Johnny Ace, Lacrosse, Patriot & The Eagle vs. Kenta Kobashi, Kentaro Shiga, Mitsuharu Misawa & Satoru Asako (22.01.1996)

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Gary Albright vs. Jun Akiyama (31.03.1996)

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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada (14.04.1996)

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Giant Baba, Kentaro Shiga & Satoru Asako vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Masao Inoue & Yoshinari Ogawa (20.04.1996)

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Gary Albright & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Giant Kimala & Kenta Kobashi (03.06.1996)

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Unaired but a fancam has the full thing in good quality. You can kinda tell this is a house show just by the fact of these teams looking as they do. Albright and Kawada make some sense as rivals turned partners, but Kimala and Kobashi......yeah I don't see it, personally. Kobashi and Kawada start off with some pseudo-shoot style work as Kawada gets in a cross armbreaker and a double wrist lock. Kobashi responds by sitting in half guard for a bit before turning the guy over for a Cloverleaf submission. We get some standard Kimala stuff as he screams after getting hit while landing wild brain chops and the like. Both Albright and Kawada work on the guy for a bit until he gets out. Kobashi and Albright work more shootish style as Kobashi throws out some half-decent arm work but it's short lived. Kobashi has his strikes but his opponent can just default to his kicks if he's in any issue. I do like Kobashi slowly struggling through a suplex attempt to land his own, as well as Kimala's hot tag with a top rope slap to the back, splashes, and a stomach claw of all things.

Kimala lands some shoulder slaps before Kawada gets right pissed off and lands some good low kicks to knock the guy over. The two work on Kimala for the next few minutes with some outside brawling and arm work: all fine and all. Kimala surprisingly gets the crowd on his side with his selling as Kawada just beats on him with kicks to the bad arm and head, though I'm not sure if that's more the latter getting him that appeal instead, especially when he starts landing vicious leaping knee drops onto his exposed arm. Albright adds work in with submissions, with him managing to slap on a armbar into back mount. Kobashi finally gets in when he tries for a back choke. We get a good combo as Kobashi dropkicks Albright out of a Dragon Suplex and Kimala follows up with a nice neckbreaker. Good hot tag to Kobashi as he runs down the other two with lariats and chops until a cross armbreaker gets thrown on by Albright; Kimala comes in to land a leg drop, which the crowd explode for.

Kawada boots Kobashi in the head for about half a minute for the mad lad just to no sell and go into chop exchanges. Great back and forths for the last few minutes until the finish has Albright belly to belly Kimala into a armbreaker for the win. This was a pretty good match bar the slow beginning: Kawada just brings so much to these usually drab B-show matches with his intensity and striking that it's unreal. Kobashi steps up and we get a lot of fun work between the pair. Albright got to show his stuff with his usual suplexes and big man work: while he's a bit slow at points when he's on, he's really snug, able to get a crowd going with nothing more than a belly to belly. Kimala really got to show his stuff here and looked really motivated to do so, getting the crowd exploding for his comebacks and being a good underdog. It's unironically one of his best performances, no joke.

Brian Dyette & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (29.06.1996)

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Gary Albright vs. Masanobu Fuchi (22.08.1996)

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Gary Albright vs. Takao Omori (05.09.1996)

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Danny Kroffat, Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Giant Kimala, Kenta Kobashi & Patriot (28.09.1996)

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There's some noticeable weak links here (Kroffat and Kimala aren't particularly A-list material, and Patriot is so-so) but they do fine enough and get some pretty decent ring work in for what it's worth. Most of this is decent but middling ring action, only really getting fiery when Kobashi or Williams are in play. The former in particular gets some great, varied offence here, even doing a bow and arrow submission of all things! Kroffat plays a good third wheel in these matchups, getting interference and boos from the crowd for his consistent breaking up of pins. We get Williams swearing hard after a huge military press to Kobashi, which looked pretty damn great. As you can expect, the middle part of this match is Kobashi being the natural underdog and getting worked over, Kroffat working over his legs while the bigger guys run him over. He's such a slimy heel as well, smiling to a booing crowd while cranking on a headlock, lovely stuff.

Kobashi gets in pockets of resistance but the big lads just work over those bad legs more, making the guy scream in pain and drop whatever he's trying. He eventually tags in Patriot, but he can't hold out against all three for long. This is probably the only match I've watched where the crowd chants for fucking Giant Kimala, of all people, as the supreme underdog babyface. He does deserve it, namely because of a great rolling senton and top rope splash. Kobashi gets into a scrap with Ace near the end that amazingly ends with Ace on top and with a near fall, however this doesn't amount to much after a assisted powerbomb by him and Patriot, and a fantastic Burning Lariat finishes Ace off for the pin. Not perhaps as amazing as older and more well known 6-man affairs around the same time but hey, this is fairly above average for a non-Pillar orientated format at the time. Kroffat gets legit heat, Ace and Williams are fairly ready to bump around and hit hard and Kimala and Patriot, while not super dynamic performers, really pull their weight here. Kobashi is the MVP: super good selling and really got some great comeback spots here, leading to the big finish when he finally gets his shots in on the team that bullied him for most of this. Definitely a Kobashi paced match, however it's all the better for it.

Gary Albright vs. Toshiaki Kawada (12.10.1996)

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Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi & Patriot (same day)

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This is a fairly B-show title match, namely focusing around Kobashi getting worked over by the pair, namely Kobashi selling the leg like mad after a military press from Williams tweaks his leg on the way down. Not sure if this is 100% just selling or if Kobashi was legitimately hurt, because it did look pretty nasty. Either way, there's some good heat here involving limb work and just him getting beat down in places. Patriot is still fairly basic in terms of what he can do but he'd dynamic enough in his style that the crowd easily get behind him when he's running wild, and he wrestles pretty safe in general. We don't get a lot of legitimate tag team action if that makes any sense: Ace and Williams mostly stick to just breaking up pins or attacking the other team when necessary, with Kobashi and Patriot having a few double team moves like a crossbody/suplex combination or a assisted powerbomb for close near falls.

There's a really great bit where Williams rushes in to take out a weakened Kobashi, and he only has the strength to shamble around when he tries to pick him up, which gives Patriot the time to recover and attack before he could do anything. The ending stretch (the last 5 minutes) is pretty solid and full of really close near fall instances, namely a top rope backdrop by Williams, a Doctor Bomb and a assisted powerslam. Ultimately Ace manages to get Kobashi away from the ring long enough for Williams to nail a Tiger Suplex of all things for the finish, retaining the tag belts. While the start was a bit eh, this really picked up after a bit and the crowd were hot as anything for Kobashi and Patriot, both men getting respective moments to shine and chants of their own. Ace and Williams played good foils, consistently isolating the other duo and throwing out some big bombs. Ace was the weaker of both men: I'd be lying if I said I didn't believe that Gordy was a better partner for Williams overall: but he holds his own fine enough here. Kobashi was REALLY over by this point, needless to say. Decent title defence but it's clear that Williams is starting to slow down (like, a lot here, he needs to shout on Ace to kick out of stuff at times because he can't get in the ring fast enough) and Ace will get better with the advent of GET and Movement, but he's not there yet. Still, this was quite fun.

Danny Kroffat & Rob Van Dam vs. Kimala II & Ryukaku Izumida (18.10.1996)

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Akira Taue, Dory Funk Jr. & Giant Baba vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (same day)

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Shown in full via DVD, abet entrances are cut and there's dubbing for Taue's theme at the end. Bit weird having sworn enemies in Misawa and Tsuruta tagging along, but hey, this isn't exactly high-stakes. Tsuruta does just fine in his role of basically popping the crowd with the usual signature offence, but shows surprisingly half-decent technical work despite some ring rust even if it is mostly rest holds to make sure he doesn't overstrain himself. Dory is.... very limited by this point, but he makes sure to get over Akiyama by staggering to the corner and backing off after a single elbow shot, as well as doing the same with Misawa. Sure, you can say these were just him stalling for the sake of it, but it works in this context as both men are pretty heavy hitters by this point. He's still got the best uppercuts in the game, through, as he nails Misawa with some solid ones. He doesn't have a lot beyond that, but he definitely doesn't bring things down a lot given the slow pace already.

Baba is even more limited, but he's experienced and over enough to get around that with some neat bending of the rules. Misawa is, well, not going to be 100% here either, but he does a really good looking springboard headbutt (crossbody, really, but his head hits Taue more-so than anything else) and hits some nice elbows, as well as having great chemistry with Taue. Akiyama gets some shine as he's able to take the fight to the vets but ultimately can't do a lot. Second half has Taue get knocked around by everyone while his tag partners try their best to keep him in the game: this ultimately pays off as he finally gets a second wind and defeats Tsuruta with a chokeslam while everyone else is occupied. This is a fine enough 6-man match, but not a lot worth checking this out for. This is mostly interesting when guys like Taue, Misawa, or Akiyama are in the ring: everyone else is either too old to work properly anymore, or in the case of Tsuruta, incapable. Not to say that the old guys have some charm in Baba's frequent rule-breaking and humor, or Dory Funk's uppercuts, but this is all they can do, and it shows in their very limited performances. Tsuruta tries to work the best he can, but it's obvious he's just not where he used to be, botching stuff like his Scissors Drop, a move he's done for decades. Would say this is probably one of his better bouts during his post-prime run though, even if that's not saying a lot.

Gary Albright & Sabu vs. Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (22.11.1996)

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I love and hate Sabu being here: he's a fantastic spot monkey and has some amazing athleticism in him, but at the other end, he's so opposed to Kings Road as a whole in terms of principle that everyone else kinda has to tip-toe around him and change things up. Albright and Sabu work over the rookie Omori while Hansen mostly stays out of actively being in the match: not a shocker considering his age by this point: but he can still work short, stiff sequences. He manages to fight off Albright for a bit, but Sabu gets a big flying kick off a chair to stun him, which looked pretty good. Outside of that, Sabu basically just sells for whoever he's with, he can't really do proper offence like everyone else can. We also get some great selling from Omori after a German from Albright, swinging in the air for a quick tag but failing to get his balance and falling right back down.

Albright gets his ass beat for most of the second half, with Hansen and Omori brutalising him, namely Omori smashing him with a chair so hard it sounded like a gun shot. Hansen also throws him into a table as well just for the sake of it. Albright finally wakes up with a belly to belly and a hot tag, and we get Sabu doing some decent high-flying, albeit it looks a bit sloppy. Omori tries to get some shots in with some European Uppercuts and a diving elbow, but he gets double teamed and finished off with a pretty awesome looking triple jump springboard moonsault, namely Sabu using Albright's body in replacement of a chair, nails it perfectly for the concluding pin. This is pretty alright: a obvious downgrade in comparison to both matches later in the night, but pretty fun for what its worth, with some early signs of the wild persona Omori would take on and Hansen getting some nice brawling work done. Albright is a bit eh (he can't really "sell" in the conventional way, he's either out of it or back up to his feet, he can't truly articulate pain or exhaustion) but has some nice big moves as the assigned tank of the four and Sabu doesn't doesn't botch at all. Alongside this, the Burning match against these two is also definitely worth checking out.

Masanobu Fuchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Satoru Asako & Tamon Honda (29.11.1996)

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Giant Kimala & Sabu vs. Maunakea Mossman & Yoshinari Ogawa (06.12.1996)

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Ma Stump Puller · February 20, 2023

AJPW Oddities #3: 1997

Akira Taue, Jun Izumida & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Bobby Duncum Jr., Johnny Ace & Steve Williams (02.01.1997)

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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Tamon Honda (17.01.1997)

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Honda really doesn't have much of a chance of winning but this is a rare occasion to see what he's got to bring to the table against the Ace himself. This starts off with some fairly nothing arm work from Misawa that doesn't really go anywhere before he blindsides Honda with a few elbows from a seemingly clean break, showcasing a rare heelish side to him. This unfortunately seems to be a extended callback to Misawa's days as Tiger Mask II as he throws on a LOT of rest holds here: I get the idea was to get sympathy for Honda by having Misawa dominate in a dynamic manner however this really drags on for a good while, only broken apart by Misawa occasionally throwing out a few elbows. Honda gets some offence in to even things out, but naturally Misawa overcomes with more strikes, his elbow going over Honda's headbutts. Probably the only spot worth of note is Misawa viciously overshooting for Honda's German suplex and landing right on his head: when people bring up the point of "unnecessary head trauma" in terms of Misawa in particular, this is a good example. This is a no stakes singles bout that isn't really going anywhere, but Misawa regardless feels the need to do such a thing to get the crowd going.

In all fairness, it works: the crowd is woken up and Honda's jumping knee drop to him afterwards adds to this well. Honda picks things up with some diving headbutts, but gets in a nice powerbomb attempt for a near fall. Eventually he tries his luck too much when he goes for another German, which Misawa is well scouted for by this point. He uses some rough back elbows before trying to end things quick with a Tiger Driver for the three.... which gets a 2. 9. The crowd is ecstatic for Honda at this point, chanting his name, but ultimately a final running elbow is enough to take him out for the three. Man, this would've been so much better if you had NOAH Honda than AJPW Honda, who's a lot more.....well, not shitty. Misawa tries (and succeeds) in getting Honda to be cheered for with his selling and by doing the heavy lifting, but this is such a boring match for the first 8 minutes that this is very hard to recommend to a casual viewer. Honda is really meh and his offence mostly isn't particularly convincing next to Misawa's perfect elbows, so his big comeback sequences beyond the aforementioned spots don't get much of a reaction at all. The finish was good, but the structure of this is way too rest holdy for my liking, so this is getting bumped down. Outside of Kawada/Misawa comparisons to how they chose to work against Honda (Misawa's pacing was more boring but had a better finishing stretch, Kawada had a more interesting premise but the finish sucked) this is just a very so-so matchup.

Kenta Kobashi & Masao Inoue vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (16.02.1997)

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Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (01.03.1997)

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This is the first televised appearance of Yoshihiro Takayama, a former UWF lumbering giant of a man. This is certainly one way to debut: through he was shown in hype packages in the weeks before this, the first time people got to see him in action in a AJPW ring was in a big title match, and the crowd react strongly to him doing his signature top rope lean in to the ring. Naturally the match is paced around him in turn, with him completely destroying Kawada with a huge kick to the head after some knees. Not to be outdone, Kawada smacks him across the back when he tries to apply his signature cross armbreaker, which does rattle the AJPW rookie a bit. Albright tries to grapple with Taue but he has none of it after a bit and lands a huge Enziguri to shake things up. This doesn't stop Albright from wrecking him with a belly to belly, however. We also get some heel work from Takayama as he refuses to let go of a leg when Taue reaches the ropes, and gives some stiff slaps. A good portion of the match is the Demon Army just trying to suss out this giant threat, who's taller than Taue and has the striking power to overwhelm them both. We do get some good offence as Taue lands a huge German into a big boot, which is enough for Takayama to tag out again to Albright to recover.

Albright does well, landing a great German of his own on Kawada and a rear naked choke, with Takayama following that up with his own, through he rakes the face more with his and even tries to attack the ref when he tries to break it up. A good bit of the middle section is Taue being down and out, namely because of Takayama's raw power, leaving Kawada to sell a one man show against two beefy foes. Even when Taue gets back in, he's weakened, meaning Kawada has to do some pretty great daring escapes to save him from pins and whatnot. Kawada and Takayama also have a fantastic solo exchange near the end, with the former relying on heavy strikes and the latter using his UWF skills to mangle him into a submission. Takayama is put over strong here, with him kicking out of multiple Gamengiri shots and surviving a horrific Dangerous Backdrop. Ultimately, with Albright occupied and Kawada's ruthless offence, he's able to apply a Stretch Plum for the win. This is a pretty great title match, with very little downtime and a LOT of close shaves and big bombs that you'd expect from both pairs. Takayama is a bit sloppy at points and hasn't quite figured out the steps that he'd have mastered in a few years but he's quite good. Albright isn't quite as versatile but he's fine enough at what he does. Demon Army are great as always, through Taue and Takayama have some noticeable chunkiness between each other. Kawada is amazing, a solid seller, puts over Takayama amazingly just in the first few minutes, and his offence was very solid all-round. Definitely suggest checking this out if you can.

Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (22.03.1997)

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Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen (30.03.1997)

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Hayabusa & The Tornado vs. Kentaro Shiga & Maunakea Mossman (02.04.1997)

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Gary Albright vs. Toshiaki Kawada (same day)

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Hayabusa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinari Ogawa (19.04.1997)

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This is a pretty good showcase of Hayabusa once more, albeit with the addition of Ogawa and a very green Yoshinobu Kanemaru: not even a year into his wrestling career at this point. It would be unfair to say he's bad here, but he's definitely the weakest in the whole match, given his rookie status and whatnot, which means you get a lot of wrestling for the most part; albeit he does some pretty crazy agile spots off given his lack of muscle mass and height, doing a full 360 on a backdrop and landing on his feet perfectly, so there's definitely signs of the talent he'd be later down the line. Shiga works with him fine and manages to get a good rise out of the crowd by playing more of a heelish role here, not breaking clean and taking pot shots. Ogawa naturally joins in with this by raking the eyes or whatnot as he typically does. This does help the pacing more as it gives more life to Hayabusa's big spots when he does manage to get around these two. Most of his stuff is good: there's a spot or two here that's not the best done but for the most part, it's very solid. Kanemaru's leg gets worked over hard by the duo in the latter half of this, with Kanemaru selling well and some great, dickish action by Ogawa, making Kanemaru reach over to Hayabusa for the hot tag before kicking his arm away.

Both Ogawa and co have some pretty innovative spots to work over the leg as well, rather than just slapping on holds the whole time, making this seem fresh. Eventually Kanemaru makes the big tag to Hayabusa, who runs wild with agile stuff before the duo gang up on him. My only complaint would be that Shiga does a weird flying back kick from the corner that almost misses the target completely, but makes it up with a double Tornado DDT: one from the corner, one from a springboard position. Kanemaru also nails a great springboard moonsault, albeit he needs to grab the ropes to make sure he doesn't overshoot. Probably the highlight of the match in terms of spots was Kanemaru jumping off Hayabusa holding up Shiga to a prone Ogawa on the ground, which reminded me of a crazy mid-2000's TNA X-Division spot. Ultimately Ogawa no sells that after about 10 seconds and nails a backdrop pin for the win while Hayabusa was busy. There's a great bit where Kanemaru is still curled up after the backdrop selling and Ogawa just boots him away lol. This was a pretty great match, a very early sign of the NOAH Jr heavyweight style we would see in the future. Even Kanemaru and Shiga, both not great at this point and time, really step things up here to give some great looking spots while mixing in some timeless "underdog vs heel" narrative and good limb work. If you can, check this out, definitely a highlight for everyone involved and a sleeper hit.

Daisuke Ikeda, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen, Masanobu Fuchi & Masao Inoue (18.05.1997)

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Hayabusa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga & Takao Omori (06.06.1997)

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Shown in full minus entrances. The start of this is mega hot as Omori and Shiga smartly lure Hayabusa into a trap by having him face away from Shiga hitting a top rope dropkick from their corner: the camera isn't focused on him when he does it so we get surprised as well! Lovely bit of trickery there. They both double team him until he nails a springboard moonsault for the big counter. Middle portion of the match cools down afterwards with a lot of technical work but some agile spots as well when Hayabusa gets back in. There's a good bit that has Akiyama just completely destroy Shiga when he tries to outstrike the guy with a boot to the face, and he just snaps: a critical part of his development in general was the idea that under the surface of his usual self was a vicious and aggressive part of him who just beats the shit out of his opponent. Here, we get a small look into that as he completely wrecks Shiga with a slap to the face before slamming him onto the mat outside and boots him hard.

He also beats up Omori with elbows when he tries to get involved. It's great for not only getting over that dangerous part of him that would become more and more prominent over time, but also how far he's come. The visual of Shiga's bloody mouth afterwards is a great touch. Shiga spends the next while getting worked over by the pair until Shiga dodges a spinning kick from Hayabusa that hits his partner, allowing for the hot tag. Shiga takes control in a pretty decent control spot with Omori before he dropkicks Shiga mid top rope dive, taking the advantage. He's more or less out after a Phoenix Splash but Omori saves him at the last second. It's all for nothing through as Akiyama nails a Exploder on Shiga for the win after Omori gets knocked back with a dropkick. Perfectly fine as a TV match but I wasn't too interested in this for the most part. There's a lot of downtime and Omori and Shiga just aren't reasonable threats for the other pair despite their best attempts. Omori also isn't great yet and honestly doesn't add a lot here outside of some nice spots. Not a bad match but I just wasn't feeling this one much beyond Hayabusa and co

Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa (29.06.1997)

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Shown in full minus entrances. This is a nice Battlarts vs AJPW matchup here, with a interesting clash of styles. Kikuchi at this point isn't the same as he was at the start of the 90's but he's still a decent hand. This is another AJPW attempt at testing the waters by adding in more shoot style into their matches: something which becomes apparent with the addition of so many UWF lads over the next few years. Ikeda is good enough but Ono is a bit meh as he can really only do strikes and sprawls. Ogawa takes control over the latter and uses some sneaky techniques to keep his headlock maintained, mainly holding on to Ono's hair. This devolves into a bit of a brawl before settling back down again. Ikeda and Ogawa don't really click in the ring and there's some noticeably weird pacing moments where both men can't really figure out what to do lol, it's very awkward in general until they go into a strange front headlock after a messy sprawl.

Kikuchi gets some pretty solid offence in but Ikeda is able to recover and take him on with big kicks, but Kikuchi shows some good resilience in being able to take them on just fine. Him and Ono have decent grappling exchange with leg holds until him and Ikeda beat him down with strikes. The pair hit a stiff looking Doomsday Device and Ono gets on a Octopus Stretch, but Ogawa is able to break it up. A attempt to tag him in fails but Kikuchi ducks a clothesline from Ikeda, which is more than enough for Ogawa to drag his dazed self out of the ring while he lands a German suplex combo on Ono for the pin. This could have been a lot better if it wasn't for the plodding start and miscommunications: Ikeda is solid but Ono is noticeably not as well adjusted to a non-pure shoot style and struggles to make his exchanges look convincing. Kikuchi and Ogawa put in a decent enough performance, especially the latter end where Kikuchi is taking tons of abuse and firing back as best as he can, but there's nothing much here that really astounds workrate wise from the pair. Good enough for TV but ultimately not particularly fantastic beyond the ending stretch, which is mostly because Kikuchi is solid at his usual shtick.

Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (25.07.1997)

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This is a pretty awesome match that sadly gets massively overshadowed by a really good Misawa/Taue bout, which is a big shame because this definitely didn't deserve that. Williams and Kobashi have always had a really great chemistry between each other and we see that in full display here as they go into stiff exchanges, both selling hard for the other in places and really getting a lot out of each other in terms of fire and emotion, and the running narrative of Williams acting like he's hot shit but needing Albright to consistently get involved when Kobashi starts to stir proper and get the advantage is typical, but quite well done here. Speaking of him, Albright is good, albeit his style never really works well for tags: outside of some really good suplexes and double team moves he isn't very dynamic in the ring, especially in his short control sequences, mostly just sitting in holds. Kobashi has his usual big chops and incredible selling: he even makes the rest holds look like world ending attacks when it matters, getting the crowd fired up for a grounded sleeper. His power moves on the pair were seriously impressive: nailing big powerbombs and Germans on these two is extremely hard, regardless of them helping you or not.

Ace is by far the weakest here: while he's fine enough working with Kobashi and his consistent badgering of Williams is quite funny, he's still a very awkward wrestler that can at times look great, but mostly seems to misstep or make his offence look just plain weird looking at times. Thankfully they play to his strengths by having him be consistently having to fight from underneath from the pair instead of leading, which he does far worse at in general. As you can imagine, Kobashi and co basically spend most of the match getting thrown around by the other guys involved, and the comebacks they pull out are inventive and really get the crowd invested in the bout near the end, especially with the false finishes: there's a pretty big one near the end with a last second rescue by Ace that was amazingly well timed. The ending is particularly brutal as Kobashi gets a top rope powerbomb for his troubles for the big pin. While one could say that the guys here weren't "in their prime" like Dr Death or Kobashi (you can tell the pace had slowed since their early 90's stuff) they still pulled out a really great, meaty bout where everyone got some huge shots in, as well as some nice double team stuff throughout. It's definitely not a ground-breaking match or anything but this was really fun.

Tamon Honda & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Lacrosse & Yoshihiro Takayama (same day)

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This is a good buildup match for Takayama v Kawada for a few months away, especially considering they have a strong history with each other as Kawada tapped him out in his debut showing. Let's just face it, no one really cares about Lacrosse and Honda here, they play very much secondary characters to the main beef here, Honda has his moments with the headbutting gimmick but Lacrosse is basically here to do most of the selling and working under to build up Takayama. There's just great interaction between Kawada and Takayama here as he tries to do his usual slow knees to beatdown Kawada like before, but he just SNAPS and starts kneeing and slapping the shit out of him in a fury, so much so that the ref needs to step in and get him back, even hitting a great looking big boot before nonchalantly tagging in Honda right after so Takayama can't even get his own offence in. Takayama beats up Honda because he's not Kawada, but he can still interfere and help out when things get tricky.

A lot of the Lacrosse/Honda stuff is pretty basic but there's a nice spot where he has Honda in a armbar and Honda reaches for the ropes, only for Takayama to knee the dude right in the face multiple times, needing Kawada to help out again. Honda tries to step up to Takayama and a German manages to weaken him enough for Kawada to tease using a Stretch Plum for the tap out again, but Lacrosse gets in the way. The finish has a bit of a brawl before Kawada is able to survive Lacrosse's power moves to catch him in his own Stretch Plum, but not before taking out Takayama with a Gamengiri to stun him into a sleeper by Honda allowing Kawada to get the submission win on Lacrosse. This works fine enough as a stepping stone to Takayama finally getting his hands on Kawada and there's some great, stiff exchanges here between the two of them, some real intensity as well. Lacrosse and Honda are obvious weak links but they step on the gas a bit here and I was pleasantly surprised by how they did here, nothing great but definitely stepped up to the mark. Solid tag bout overall.

Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (26.08.1997)

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Akira Taue, Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Hiroshi Hase, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (15.09.1997)

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For obvious reasons, I can't go over a 60 minute match reliably in detail so this'll be just a generalised overview. Obviously most of the people involved can't really do the big epics to the quality of their early 90's six man shows anymore (especially Misawa, whom while still obviously great, was noticeably starting to pace himself far slower) but this was VERY good, as you'd imagine. Hase being here really shakes things up in terms of interactions: he's a solid hand as well so it helps to have someone who's not as fatigued; seeing him swing Taue like he's nothing is pretty nuts, and having Taue be so dazed afterwards that he goes to the wrong tag corner and gets socked by Kawada is a awesome little spot: him and Kobashi have some really solid exchanges as well, with him selling top notch for his offence. Akiyama is also quite good, being nearly there in terms of hanging with the main guys but not quite hitting the mark: he can go toe to toe with them but he can't properly reel his opponents enough that he can get any proper advantage, namely only getting big shots when his opponent is softened up by someone else or he's stealing their offence, once again enforcing the clear Kings Road hierarchy that AJPW does so well.

Taue positions himself as the big bully as per usual but he gets his ass kicked a lot here when he tries to push his luck, especially against Kawada and Misawa whom are able to get past his offence and really beat him down despite throwing virtually everything at them. Here's a bit maybe 20 minutes in where I think Kawada was legitimately KO'd after a very stiff brainbuster: the guy goes completely limp and everyone else has to cover hard for him, delaying everything. Even when Kobashi tries to throw him in the railing outside, the guy can't even move any, he just falls over. Maybe that's just him selling amazingly well, but it was pretty scary to see regardless, even if they do make it into a great angle by having him try to survive everyone's attempts to finish him off and him doing anything he can to stop such a thing happening. Oh yeah, Kobashi is really great here, either being the big leader and heading up the heavyweights in big strike exchanges, or saving guys like Akiyama from Kawada and the rest of his team by himself. You really get the impression that he's a big deal here with how much he's able to pull out: him and Taue doing a Doomsday Device-lite assisted top rope chokeslam? Throwing Misawa around for a huge and super rare Orange Crush? Fantastic shit in general. The second half with everyone hitting double team moves was also pretty awesome to see, albeit it does turn into a bit of a finish-spamming sequence with everyone hitting big moves over and over until the time limit. In short, don't go into this expecting a perfect match: while this is still extremely solid, it lulls in places and definitely isn't perfect. It's still 60 minutes of some of the best of this era wrestling though.....you can't really moan about it too much.

Daisuke Ikeda, Satoru Asako & Tamon Honda vs. Giant Kimala, Rex King & Sean Morgan (27.09.1997)

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Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takao Omori & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (21.10.1997)

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Barry Windham & Justin Bradshaw vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (15.11.1997)

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Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki (15.11.1997)

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Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa (16.11.1997)

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Kimala and Izumida can't really have a chance of winning this, but they convince the crowd that they (could) grasp a win, especially given how they performed against a somewhat similar team last time. The match is actually pretty good, with Akiyama cocky against the lower card duo until he underestimates Izumida's strength and gets sent flying around the place. Kimala is obviously not great but Akiyama gets a good reaction out of him heelishly stomping his exposed feet and Kimala's consistent rope work to choke or just lean on the guy while screaming crap is always a joy to watch. It's also weird seeing Misawa legitimately be on the backend of these two but he gets in his obvious comebacks, and he's always one elbow away from getting any lead back. The narrative focuses around Izumida being the weaker of the two, with him consistently losing the lead while Kimala is the clear leader of the duo, landing big shots and using his goofy unpredictability to get the better of the duo multiple times. Despite Kimala being a undercard act played for laughs, Akiyama and co legitimately can't get a read on the lad.

He gets a lot of airtime against the two and he's really on the ball here, with a lot of momentum switching sequences and some fast paced stuff from a guy of his size. He lands like a jumping facebuster at one point when Akiyama has him in a hold and it looks pretty damn rough, but in a good way. There's nothing sensationally workratey about this but it's just a lot of well-done, solidly paced wrestling, which the audience very much buy into at some points. Highlights have to be Izu's nasty Meteorite to Akiyama's head, as well as the duo doing a awesome bearhug/top rope neckbreaker combo. Izumida hits some spirited comebacks but is ultimately overwhelmed and nearly pinned with a top rope dropkick to the back of his head by Akiyama, which was brutal and perfect for a lower-stake finish. This is easily a career highlight of the underdog duo, helped by Misawa and Akiyama being very generous about their bumping and selling. A VERY underrated outing and pretty damn great when it gets going proper.

Barry Windham, Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Bobby Duncum Jr., Stan Hansen & Takao Omori (05.12.1997)

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Ma Stump Puller · February 21, 2023

AJPW Oddities #4: 1998

Be warned folks, 1998 and above is all of the years where I went omega-nerd mode to find unconventional stuff during my extended watching

Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori (10.01.1998)

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Masao Inoue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Satoru Asako (same day)

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It's weird seeing the Super Generation Army so far late into the 90's: they weren't really set out for that long in, and without the dynamic of them all being young rookie upstarts, it just doesn't feel the same, especially considering all of the main members are established mega main event men by this point being paired with far lesser talent. I'm not the biggest fan of Asako given how he has a tendency to be sloppy, but does fine here working over Inoue with holds, and gets some fire against Kawada. Inoue's back gets worked over for a good majority of the bout: both men focus on cranking it with submissions and whatnot. Asako's strikes leave something to be desired as he smacks Inoue legit with a spinning back kick to the throat: you can hear him legitimately gagging afterwards: but outside of that, it's a perfectly fine control spot, with Inoue selling quite well with some stumbling around at points in reaction to strikes. The second half turns Asako into the underdog after Kawada and Inoue beat him down for a bit, focusing on the back as well (in particular a Boston Crab spot that Asako screams like death for, or a release back suplex that crumbles him right on the middle of it) Misawa tries to drag the team back but dirty work by Inoue keeps him from unloading.

Misawa and Kawada have a naturally decent exchange, basically the "best of" at this point with a lot of hard strikes. The finish has both sides brawling, with Asako having to endure multiple attempts at submissions and pins, mounts a huge comeback, and pins Inoue with a top rope Frankensteiner. Honestly? A really awesome match. It starts slow with the ring work but it quickly picks up, and the finish is just a mad dash by both sides to wear down the other. Kawada and Misawa don't interact that much: about two minutes or so: and mostly play on the outside, allowing the newer guys to show off their stuff a lot more. Asako gets the crowd on his side with strong babyface work (even getting a chant going! ) and Inoue plays along just fine abet flagging in places. Not the best out of these men but a greatly paced match that built to a strong ending sequence. Great showcase of the younger guys.

Giant Baba, Maunakea Mossman & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada (23.01.1998)

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This is a extended showing to get certain dynamics over for the year, as well as get Mossman fairly established as a heavyweight (not officially, anyway: that comes later this year with the Mossman Trials). This is also Baba's last main event showing for his birthday (with some special guests in Gerald Brisco and Bruce Prichard appearing in the crowd) and it's fun seeing the guy having a really well done extended exchange with Kobashi, as they trade chops, have a test of strength, Baba getting his fighting spirit over by taking some big chops before landing a Russian Leg Sweep. Most of it is Kobashi doing the actual work, mind you, but Baba definitely doesn't slack off here and really gets everyone going with his own weird fighting spirit sections, and the two, ultimately making these uber enjoyable. A lot of this beyond those exchanges is pretty par for the course, with the usual heated exchanges between the top guys. Fuchi in particular is still quite able in the ring, managing to torment Mossman here with some nasty submissions. At the same time, Fuchi is able to go full comedy mode against Baba, fumbling at his attempts to handle the big boss in the ring, even bumping for a great arm drag transition. Baba then also takes a beating from Kawada with a ton of sharp kicks. Dangerous K kinda pulls them back at points but he's still fairly stiff here.

As expected, Mossman takes the blunt of the actual selling and bumping here, which he does fairly well in-between getting in pockets of resistance: he's never taken as a true equal to the likes of Kobashi or Kawada but he can still send them reeling and dodge around their offence when he gets the chance. It's nothing special by King Road hierarchy bouts but it's still fairly enjoyable to check out. Baba and Kobashi have another good exchange, ending in Baba taking a rolling cradle pin and a brainbuster, which was pretty nuts given the guy was 50 and would be dead by next year. Baba gets beaten up by Kawada until he's able to hit a last second DDT for the hot tag to Misawa, who then manages to fight off Kobashi and Kawada separately, even hitting a cool Frankensteiner counter to a Kobashi powerbomb. Mossman is given some grace at last by flooring Kobashi in a kick sequence, but eventually gets knocked out of a Northern Lights attempt. Everyone hits their big signatures until Baba gets the pin with a leaning big boot and neckbreaker. This is fine enough as a opening year show, but Baba is the star of the show, and this is his last properly good performance, even if he's limited as anything and mostly carried physically. His selling is weird and he's not very light on his feet, but his charisma, ring-psychology and raw emotive connection with the crowd make this into a very top notch showing for him. Kobashi gets the best out of him by far, with Dangerous K not having as much luck...maybe more to do with Baba not giving as much leeway. Outside of that, this is mostly paced like a regular B-show six man, nothing much to mention in that specific regard. This is the Baba show and he makes the very most out of that.

Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (25.01.1998)

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A lot of the early stuff is typical antics between the four, with even a random kick exchange between Kobashi and Kawada for some reason. Naturally Kobashi is the lesser of the two and ends up just damaging his own legs at the end of the day, but he can't really resist a strike exchange lol. The latter spends a good portion of this dealing with his shitty leg, with the opposing duo working over it. Kobashi's selling is naturally very good, because he doesn't just lay down and take the abuse, nor does he no sell. He gets in offence of his own before stumbling or having to cramp over, which usually means he doesn't have enough time to sustain any advantage. Either way, it's pretty nuanced and doesn't fall into cartoonish antics. Ace also has his hand worked over after Taue smashes it into the railings, and I have to say, the guy does a good job of getting it over, either trying and failing to no sell and walk through the work, or just selling a ton. Kobashi actually has to be the guy who doesn't sell for a bit before Taue drags him out and dumps his knee on a table a few times. We get the usual "Kobashi tries against the odds" bits here and there until Ace gets in for a good hot tag, taking the heads off both Demon Army members with joint lariats. He even takes Taue's Snake Eyes on the ropes albeit done a bit sloppy. Him and Kawada have a good exchange between elbow and boot, with Ace taking a ton of abuse before falling to a second corner high kick to the face.

Him countering a spinning back kick into a surprise Ace Crusher was a good way to incorporate a dub spot so the next 10 minutes of bombs looks better from a pacing standpoint. GET go into a bunch of big bombs for near falls, with some nice double team stuff on their end. Demon Army keep getting in the way of Kobashi's big charges until Taue tries for a apron chokeslam but gets pushed off alongside Kobashi for a outside dub spot. The bit where Kobashi tries for a apron powerbomb and gets kicked in the back of the head by Kawada good enough that Taue can finally get the chokeslam in was awesome. Kobashi is completely limp and can barely struggle, needing Ace to run in at the last second to interrupt stuff. Demon Army are literally inches from victory but a last stand by Ace gives his bro enough time to hit Kawada with a Burning Lariat, but ultimately falls to a Dynamic Bomb and big top rope boot to the face for the pin. This is probably the best of the GET v Demon Army showings, if not for the innovative work here alongside a hot crowd. The beginning drags a bit but eventually builds to a slightly less-fast paced affair and more of a slow build as the Demon Army (also slowly) break down the pair. Ace is surprisingly solid, Kobashi is great. Taue and Kawada rule as the spoilers and their teamwork is top notch throughout: lots of small things to appreciate here, and it doesn't turn into a mindless bomb-fest either.

Gedo & Jado vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (14.02.1998)

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Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama (28.02.1998)

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Kakihara's debut for AJPW begins with him tagging with fellow Kingdom/UWF-I pal Taka. Kakihara is as he usually is: a cocky striker with some good MMA work and agility, immediately setting the tone by keeping Akiyama back with kicks, but struggling on the mat against the more established amateur wrestler. Akiyama does well to accommodate Kakihara's more shoot-style approach by doing a lot of technical work with him and signposting (as in, rubbing his left leg noticeably after Kakihara throws a wild low kick) to attack his legs with kicks to establish a narrative around them. He also tries some leg hooks to work them over, but Akiyama manages to reverse the holds and equalise. The latter part of the match is Takayama v Kobashi, which if you know both men, goes like you'd expect: Takayama throws knees and kicks with mean-mugs for the camera, Kobashi hits chops and gets intense. I do like how Takayama immediately cuts to the chase by flooring his opponent with a German off the bat and into a cross armbreaker as it really gets over how dangerous the guy is, how easy it is for him to establish dominance, further displayed when he beats the shit outta Akiyama for interfering and KO's him, then gets the better of Kobashi in a slap exchange. Kakihara's section is great as well, him getting all proud about beating up a weakened Kobashi like it was all him lol. He doesn't really do a lot beyond kicks but it gets the point across that he puts a bit too much trust in his offence to keep him down, which leads Kobashi to mount a comeback.

The finish has Takayama try to keep control but fails, gets blasted with a hot tag Akiyama, which flusters him enough to get in Kakihara. This leads to the big conclusion of the match narrative as Akiyama easily counters Kakihara's now predictable offence and taunts him when he gets tripped up and beat down, which gets a huge buzz from the crowd. Kakihara isn't completely out: he still gets in some armbars and other holds to try to recover: but he's grossly outmatched when Kobashi gets back in and overcomes his staggered offence, ending with a Burning lariat for the three while Takayama is too busy attacking Akiyama to care much. Really good strike based match, but with guys like Kobashi and Akiyama you also get a coherent structure that helps the less mindful duo to pace themselves. Takayama in particular really comes into his own as a rampaging monster here, throwing down with both men with little issue. Kakihara is.... admittedly limited in what he can do given his limited pro-style experience but it gets paced around well. All in all, a really solid tag match with strong psychology and a lot of stiff blows, definitely a underrated gem that was most assuredly a sleeper hit for everyone involved.

Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi (21.03.1998)

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A 30 minute singles bout with Johnny Ace of all people doesn't exactly scream "fun" but thankfully this is clipped by 5 minutes or so. Ace works over Kobashi's bad leg to keep him grounded and hurt.... which also covers for why Ace is able to actually contend with Kobashi rather than being rightfully overpowered from the get-go. There's some good sequences by Kobashi but man, Ace is bland as white bread when working on top. Just loose "kicks" where he sticks his leg out and lets Kobashi run into it (there's even a spot where he runs into it three times in a row and does the exact same thing every single time, which went beyond anything cool and just looked cartoonish) or fairly basic offence. He does do some cool stuff when not on that gameplan: a Ace Crusher from the ropes and a top rope lariat, for instance: but it's mostly boring. Ace tries all of his finishers on Kobashi and none of them get the three.

They do the "can't get the pin on the bad leg" spot that even then had been done a million times or so by this point, and it's not really suspenseful because Ace rolls out of the ring in 2 seconds, so you don't get the tension from the opponent slowly moving away from the pin. Kobashi slaps a long rest hold on which ends with not him getting the advantage, but Ace again. More Ace Crushers but no catch. Finish has Kobashi escape a Cobra clutch suplex to nail a Burning Lariat, but his leg is just banged up enough to not get the pin in time before the bell sounds for the end of the match time limit. Kobashi is exciting and sells well for Ace: he nails some great stuff, like a double powerbomb and some innovative moves to get around the bad leg. The issue with the match is that it's just very dry, and Ace's transition work between spots is clunky and not at all good. Kobashi sells the leg like death, but Ace doesn't really do much with it beyond some dropkicks and loose holds at the very start, no focus on it at all afterwards, with Kobashi having to be the one to sell it when he misses a moonsault or can't get a pin right. I guess this was supposed to be a way of getting Ace over as the next big Gaijin as Hansen and others weren't fitting the bill by this point. If so, they didn't really make any progress in that. A lackluster main event in general.

Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada (26.03.1998)

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Aired in full as a commercial taping. What I love about this in particular is that they cut the BS and potential filler early, with Kawada just running right into strikes. Akiyama however is able to shake these off and get a good jumping knee, which knocks him down. Kawada's selling is great: he gets caught with a elbow early and he just stumbles into the corner, barely able to stay standing. Akiyama takes advantage with a VERY early Exploder, which gives him more leeway to work on top. There's a nice little bit early on where Kawada tries escaping from a tight headlock with a backdrop, but Akiyama stays solid and keeps the hold firmly on, establishing confident control. Kawada keeps selling like death for Akiyama's shots: even when he tries to get back into things with his usual boots and whatnot, Akiyama's elbows just cause him to crumble from the prior neck and head damage sustained. The middle part has Kawada take over after a proper Dangerous Backdrop, with him also focusing on the head with some stiff knee drops and a particularly nasty front guillotine neck crank and a follow-up DDT when he meets resistance afterwards. They then go to Akiyama targeting the legs, pulling out a Dragon Screw and Scorpion Death Lock, as well as numerous dropkicks.

Loved Kawada just falling over pathetically after he gets thrown for a Irish whip; you'd just never see such selling like that these days. This plays into the match as well: Kawada's kicks don't do as much damage as they did earlier on and he limps and hops when having to try to run for anything, which gives Akiyama perfect openings to take over the pace of the match with his more dynamic bombs. Loved the double Exploder into Stretch Plum bit, as well as Akiyama just acting like "fuck, what do I do now? " when he can't get the pin off it. Even when Kawada tries to get a comeback and Akiyama just shuts him down with a brainbuster, it STILL doesn't get the definitive pin. Kawada inevitably gets a comeback which he has to struggle every bit for but is able to maintain through numerous sharp Gamengiri shots, as well as a powerbomb and extended Stretch Plum segment. Akiyama's selling looks great here as he has to slowly crawl to the ropes before getting pulled back, forcing him to endure it for even longer. Despite the big chants of the crowd, he goes down to a follow-up brainbuster: he's good, but not quite as good as Kawada yet. All in all, this is probably the best match between these two: it's not a young rookie or upstart Akiyama getting bullied, it's a near equal that frankly takes almost full control in the first half. Kawada makes him look like a world-ender, especially with the leg work. The heat might not be as strong here as it was with those matches, but it's still a fantastic outing by both men that builds off their natural chemistry very well. Assuredly a must-watch.

Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams (29.03.1998)

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Headhunter A & Headhunter B vs. Shigeo Okumura & Tamon Honda (01.05.1998)

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Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams (05.06.1998)

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Akira Taue vs. Bobby Duncum Jr. (12.06.1998)

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Masao Inoue & Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield (same day)

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Gary Albright, Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hiroshi Hase, Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (18.07.1998)

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This is another fun outing for the Triangle of Power lads (through without their de-facto leader) as a noticeably more mat-focused affair as AJPW threw in shoot wrestlers to combat the over-use of head bumps and scary stuff like that with a more methodical approach (one sadly mostly ignored afterwards in NOAH) and it's pretty interesting stuff. Ace can't really do it at all and just resorts to the usual work, but Hase gets a chance to work some pop-shoot style and good mat work with Albright early on, as well as Kakihara when he gets in. It's not ground-breaking material but it's good work regardless, with a lot of nuance playing into the transitions and shots for submissions. Of course Kobashi doesn't even bother with that and they just start working over his shitty knee with shots and strikes. Takayama gets in his usual clinch knees (which Kobashi sells surprisingly well, almost pulling a Kawada in how he just stops after a knee to the face and falls limp to the ground). More Hase mat-work, with him dominating a far-less capable Taka on the mat before smartly letting Ace grab him to the outside for a brainbuster. Middle section has Kobashi be the heater predictively, as well as more Hase matwork.

Triangle get heat with annoying interruptions and work over Hase with bombs and submissions. We get a nice Uranage out of nowhere and hot tag to Ace, who lands some nice fiery offence to get the crowd going. Last section has Kakihara keep getting slapped into submissions but the Triangle keep interrupting them to much annoyance from the crowd. Nice work near the end (Ace actually gets Takayama to a exciting exchange after he just has enough of his knee strikes and starts throwing his own back) as everyone goes into finish mode and starts throwing shit around. Albright wrecks Kobashi with a powerslam and German suplex, but Hase just breaks it up. Albright gets pissed at the newer members of his team for sitting around and letting that happen. They make up for that by interrupting Kobashi trying for a comeback, with Kakihara focusing in on his shitty leg, allowing Albright to get the big win with a Dragon Suplex. This is interesting by how it's structured as a far slower affair with lots of techincal work, which is hit and miss. Hase can make it work, but Ace just doesn't bother and Kobashi has some novelty technical work, but that's just not his avenue. The newer UWF lads are still not great at this moment and time; clearly still adjusting to a more pro-wrestling style than what they were used to doing. All in all, this has good moments but struggles to really find a definitive narrative beyond reinforcing the Triangle of Power as a strong, but noticeably dysfunctional stable, something that will grow ever stronger.

Akira Taue & Jun Izumida vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama (24.07.1998)

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Akira Taue vs. Maunakea Mossman (22.08.1998)

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Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi (23.08.1998)

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Maunakea Mossman vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (11.09.1998)

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Mossman's last Trial, and it's against the Ace himself. This isn't clipped: because it obviously doesn't go long: but it's a relatively alright match. We all know Misawa is going to win as soon as the match even starts, it's just a matter of how generous he'll be with his opponent. Mossman gets nuts at once, knowing that he can't beat his opponent in the long game, so he nails his tornado DDT and hits multiple dives outside to try to get the advantage as well as using the railings to damage him. Misawa throws himself at the gates so damn hard that the door for them flies open, it's brutal stuff from himself and not necessary yet he does it anyway to get Mossman over. When Misawa gets in the ring, things change: a few elbows and a top rope dropkick establish who's the boss here. Misawa cranks on his signature facelock and tries to make him tap out, but it doesn't work. Mossman nails some kicks and actually gets Misawa down in a strike exchange, which was pretty rare generally.

These kicks are a fairly hard issue for him to get around and noticing this, Mossman uses them to get a lot of his offence in from here on out. He gets countered at points but smart strikes mean that he can stay in the game, and he nails some great offence, including a big German suplex and a Hawaiian Smasher for the close three count. Misawa finally counters the kicks and nails big elbows and a Tiger Driver for a close three count, but two big elbow smashes after countering his kicks do the job. Honestly, a really solid short match. Misawa sells a ton for Mossman and gets him over as a threat, but ultimately his one-dimensional offence and reliance on kicks dooms him as he's able to adapt and counter. Mossman is alright, he's good when throwing strikes but his big moves aren't really impactful, especially that splash and Smasher: it just looks too limp compared to his more dynamic opponent, probably why he'd adjust his stuff in future to accommodate for that issue. This is a solid bout but it's clear that even this Misawa is working at maybe 40% what he can do and this is very much his B-show self. It did the job: get Mossman over as a heavyweight: so little complaints beyond that.

Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (04.10.1998)

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Gedo, Jado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Giant Baba, Jinsei Shinzaki & Naomichi Marufuji (31.10.1998)

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Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Stan Hansen & Vader (14.11.1998)

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Gary Albright & Giant Kimala vs. Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda (05.12.1998)

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Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (same day)

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Ma Stump Puller · May 26, 2023

Rip I forgot to keep updating this lol. I'll get to it shortly, 1999 is way too juicy to keep untouched

Mr JMML · May 28, 2023

Please keep it up this is great.

drokk · May 29, 2023

Seconded. I've been an extremely sporadic enjoyer of the pro wrestling this past decade and while reliving some of the AJPW classics can be fun, they certainly can be a considerable time investment. As someone who has only checked out the more well known stuff, these write ups are great for when I wanna delve into stuff lower on the card which I feel has been unexplored as a whole.

Ma Stump Puller · May 30, 2023

On 5/29/2023 at 3:54 AM, drokk said:

Seconded. I've been an extremely sporadic enjoyer of the pro wrestling this past decade and while reliving some of the AJPW classics can be fun, they certainly can be a considerable time investment. As someone who has only checked out the more well known stuff, these write ups are great for when I wanna delve into stuff lower on the card which I feel has been unexplored as a whole.

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On 5/28/2023 at 11:43 PM, Mr JMML said:

Please keep it up this is great.

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Thanks! I started watching around this era for that exact reason, there's a lot of quality in going off the usual path taken. You'd never know that PCO vs Taue or Shiga/Misawa were things until you dived pretty deep lol. Can't wait to talk about those ones.

Ma Stump Puller · May 30, 2023

AJPW Oddities #5: 1999

Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (15.01.1999)

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Maunakea Mossman & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (16.01.1999)

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Akira Taue, Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda vs. Maunakea Mossman, Stan Hansen & Vader (20.02.1999)

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This is a regular 6-man built around the impending Vader/Taue Triple Crown match. This means a lot of making the pair look good against lesser talent, as well as some brief encounters between the two. I don't think the two guys work particularly well with each other: Vader's whole thing here is throwing out strikes, something Taue has never really mastered well, so he's always throwing these weak chest slaps or outright botching in places: he completely misses his Tenryu-style Enzuigiri early on. Mossman looked solid here with a lot of agility paired up with his signature kicks; good outing if a bit generic. Hansen works well as the heater here, coming in for limited interactions and bumps; mostly focusing on assisting the other guys here with outside work or whatnot. Honda spends the vast majority of the match getting worked over by all three men until countering a Mossman Northern Lights into a DDT. Taue runs in for his own signature spots and looked good doing it: him doing his old Snake Eyes on the rope routine but doing it to Izumida's head was a funny bit. He also has some good moments here working with Mossman, going between kicks and lariats. All of team Taue naturally mostly throw only him around to preserve Hansen and co. We also get some Izumida and Hansen action, which is honestly a dream match because those two were STIFF here, Christ. Love the guy.

Vader is also fine here with his usual big hammer blows and the like, but he's a bit clumsy in places and kind of stumbles through spots at points. He does get the fall after a Vader Bomb as we go to a post-match brawl with Taue: it's pretty crappy as Taue does weird chest sumo slaps and Baba-lite brain chops, both don't look very good at all. It's fine as a build-up match but this was pretty by the numbers by filler 6-man stuff. Izumida looked great, Honda very much less so given he wasn't really bothering to do a whole lot. Mossman and Hansen do their jobs as sidekicks but Vader felt lacking in his ring work; while his Japan comeback as a whole was a tremendous success, you get the idea that Vader's starting to struggle hiding his ever-rising limitations when not in matches with great talent around him.

Masahito Kakihara vs. Masao Inoue (20.02.1999)

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I was just dreading this going in because Inoue's AJPW work is....well not very good at all and Kakihara having to sell and act like he's a threat is a hard task. I will say that he's really good at playing the chicken-shit who's so afraid of Kakihara that he hesitates to even shake the guy's hand before the match and is uber scared of even locking up: that was pretty funny. Inoue does show that he's more capable than expected by reversing a cross armbreaker and escaping a nasty SDL variation but is ultimately outclassed. He gets the advantage with some cheap shots as well as a nice grounded sleeper, using the ropes to keep Kakihara on the backend with chokes and knee leans. Inoue actually kicks Kakihara's ass for a decent part of this with lots of sleepers, rear naked chokes, as well as using his signature eye rakes when Kakihara escapes and does stuff (him getting on a shin lock, for example) to maintain control. It's nothing incredible but it's interesting seeing Inoue work this less than a traditional match and more like a shoot-style affair, even if it's not exactly strict by any means. Eventually his opponent gets a definitive comeback after a Choshu backdrop counter to the headlock, answering with hard kicks. Inoue does get some near falls with a lariat and backdrop of his own but those don't get him much of anywhere. There's a good bit near the end where Kakihara keeps hammering for the cross armbreaker and Inoue keeps finding ways to escape, either using the ropes or rolling him up for a big near fall. Eventually a running palm to the face gets him down long enough for a armbreaker submission win. I actually thought this was pretty good: seeing the novelty of Inoue working on top mostly with surprisingly robust holds and heel work was done well, as was Kakihara's smooth offence and mat-stuff. The two build to a strong ending which gets over Inoue's toughness despite mostly being a undercard joke even at this point. Kakihara selling is the critical element here and I think he does that job solid for what it's worth. Not a must watch or anything but a nice outing for both men and another accolade to add to Kakihara's seriously undervalued AJPW run.

Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori (27.03.1999)

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Takao Omori vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (28.03.1999)

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The beginning of NO FEAR as these two will join forces after this 30 minute Carny draw. This is definitely a match where you know the guys are going to draw (Takayama isn't ready for a singles career and Omori, through solid, would never be "the guy" ever) and it's wrestled like that, with a lot of iffy hold exchanges: the lads aren't really trying for anything or aim for a specific joint, it's just work for the sake of work. Omori does work the legs after Takayama misses a knee strike in the corner but like the grand majority of leg work, there's no real endgame; it's just there to fill for time and get something going. They also just hurl good worked punches at some points just for the sake of it, but I'm not complaining about that. Takayama limps at points and Omori's leg work certainly isn't terrible or anything, but there's no big point where it especially plays into later-stage stuff. Takayama gets some good spots where he takes over when headstrong Omori overextends with his work, which gets the crowd going well. Omori still gets control (in particular he lands a great running dropkick to him on the apron) ultimately for a good half of this here. Takayama gets some space with a boot to the barricade, even choking the guy with the whole thing which was a nice little spot.

Takayama takes control in the second half, and while his offence is fine, it's quite repetitive and tires: it's a lot of him just hitting boots or knees. He does land a weird dropkick from the top rope once despite the leg work but outside of that, he's pretty boring on top. Omori keeps trying to wiggle out of stuff while withstanding some close calls via Takayama leg drops or submissions but they eventually build to a finishing stretch after some bombs, but not even multiple Axe Bombers can get the definitive fall. Takayama tries to make Omori tap out in a kneebar after he misses a top rope knee drop, but he gets to the ropes. Even a knee + two huge German Suplex shots can't get the job done. He tries for a third but Omori counters into a Dragon Suplex that he can't even get the pin for because he's so exhausted. They have a good long tease for the actual pin fall to make people think this might be it, but it isn't. The pair eventually realise that time is running out fast, so they go into full punches to the face while kneeling before Omori quickly locks in a small package, but the bell sounds for the 30 minute mark. Match is good enough but these two aren't really built for long paced matches whatsoever. They end up repeating a lot of stuff over and over by the second half and despite some moments of intensity, this never crossed the line to being something intense like they were trying to do.

Johnny Ace vs. Jun Akiyama (03.04.1999)

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Gary Albright vs. Vader (04.04.1999)

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Johnny Ace vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (08.04.1999)

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Akira Taue vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (same day)

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Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori (11.04.1999)

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Akira Taue, Jinsei Shinzaki & Masao Inoue vs. Masahito Kakihara, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (16.04.1999)

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Taue has fallen pretty far from grace compared to his Triple Crown days, being stuck on a random six-man. This is a Untouchables v weird Demon Army composite regular 6-man match, and it's fairly decent for what it's worth. Shinzaki comes in with his taped up torso again and naturally that gets worked over a bit, but it's mostly Inoue who spends the match getting his ass kicked as per standard. Ogawa shines in these kind of conditions where he's allowed to be more of a shithouse via limb work, making sure to get plenty of heat. Kakihara does well with his own "cocky shooter" gimmick, landing some hard shots to the injured party. Shinzaki isn't exactly a masterclass of selling stuff like this but does fine in the usual comeback sequences and gets his shit in, all typical work out of the lad as expected. Untouchables mostly have to carry this in terms of workrate as Inoue is...well not good and Shinzaki is restricted to mostly selling and spots.

They do a fairly great job at it, using multiple tags and double team work to keep the trio consistently in the game, even when brawling with a hot tag Taue. Even Misawa gets in on the action a fair bit, almost sinking to the same levels as his more heelish tag partners. Taue gets his usual stuff out and he's fine, even if noticeably a bit chunky in places: him countering a Misawa diving back elbow into a chokeslam in particular was awesome, however, those two always had very underrated chemistry together. The lead-in for the finish has Shinzaki throw in all of his usual stuff before Inoue gets in for his top rope dropkick and Backbreaker, even if he drops it particularly quickly. Poor Inoue tries his best against Kakihara's strikes but ultimately gets flattened with a running palm for the win. This was a pretty entertaining match that didn't really have a ton of high-paced moments, but kept to the basics mostly: not a bad thing when you have guys like Ogawa and co that can make that slower style look great. Everyone did their job fine, even through Inoue was a clear weak link here and only here to count the fall. Kakihara shines with how well he makes simple shit like strikes look devastating, and his cocky persona always shines great in situations like these. Good work even if mostly a one-sided carry via the trio Untouchables.

Hakushi, Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Ace, Road Warrior Animal & Road Warrior Hawk (02.05.1999)

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Had this happened during the early 90's, it could have been something quite amazing. Obviously the odd-one out here is the Road Warriors: as much as their presence is still tremendous, they have slowed with age/substance abuse immensely by this point and were in the middle of them leaving the WWF after a infamously poor comeback run there. They still work fine enough in trios through and they keep to the simple stuff with them in the ring, getting the best out of their limitations with tests of strength and power moves. Ace is the glue that holds them together and does most of the serious bumping and workrate stuff, which he's solid as per standard. The Burning duo and co do struggle a bit with the pacing given the Road Warriors and their infamous need to no sell and spring right back up from anything that's not a finisher, at times stumbling or having to pause as their opponents don't really know what to do with such a thing. Kobashi does fine with this with his own intensity but Akiyama and co aren't so effective at working around such a issue. Highlights include Animal landing a solid dropkick, Hakushi taking a mad bump from the apron to a table outside, Ace awesomely countering a running shoulder press from Kobashi into a Ace Cutter, etc.

The match kinda stumbles near the finish line as they go into mostly working holds on Hakushi's arm, which is....just kinda meh and is only there so everyone can get a breather for the bomb-filled finish, which is admittedly quite decent. Ace gets the two to do a assisted Ace Cutter on Hakushi via military press, which was cool, as well as the latter escaping a Doomsday Device by simply just ducking Hawk's clothesline, through the second one is successful. This ultimately gets the unsurprising win (Road Warriors aren't losing to these guys clean lol are you crazy?). As a whole, this match was decent enough: everyone did their part well and this felt at least a bit fresh with the Warriors showing up. Kobashi and co don't really break the wheel any here and mostly give standard performances. That said, the pacing is a bit rushed at times because of the obvious no selling, and there wasn't really much of a story to this at all: Ace's team were supposed to be heels but didn't really do anything to show that beyond some random middle fingers. Fine for a spectacle, but this was definitely a sign of the times.

Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshinari Ogawa (09.06.1999)

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Johnny Ace & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi (09.06.1999)

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Man I love Movement, they get zero hype apart from the occasional Jetlag shout-out and me and that's tremendously annoying because they were putting on some of the best tag-format matches around this time. The first 5 establish Movement as not being as functionally good as Burning as they fail a pre-match brawl and Ace has to suffer through a few minutes of getting worked on before recovering. Barton is pretty iffy in places but he also does well as the tough-guy enforcer after his Brawl 4 All status, especially given his Steve Williams beatdown. Burning mostly control the first half but the foreigner troop get pockets of offence throughout, including some good strikes and a delayed brainbuster by Barton. Akiyama tries to isolate Ace with some outside brawling but is met with a suplex on the exposed floor and a brutal Ace Crusher right into a folded chair. Akiyama is now the one isolated and worked on as Ace gets in his usual heel spots: the Tree of Woe choke, the Abdominal Stretch, etc. Ace does all of these pretty damn well and Akiyama sells the uncomfortable ways he gets twisted around here as Ace just keeps egging Kobashi more to do something about it like a shithead. This alongside the Camel Clutch by Barton showcases more of that late-AJPW style changes that were becoming more and more common, focusing more on slow heat-seeking antics than workrate, breaking down Akiyama's back in this case. His selling is solid even if Movement's offence is a bit basic at points, through we get some good double team spots. Kobashi gets the hot tag to fight off the pair but Ace catches him off the second rope for a Ace Crusher, allowing Movement to keep control. Kobashi eventually counters some left hooks from Barton into chops = half Nelson for a Akiyama hot tag instead and he runs wild with knees and suplexes.

Everything goes well until Ace counters a knee with a Ace Crusher during interference. Kobashi gets tagged in and he runs off fumes until Ace yet again interferes during a Burning Lariat attempt and lands a good Crusher on the floor. He teases off the apron but gets sent flying with a nice knee shot from Akiyama. Kobashi sells Barton's left hook REALLY well, acting half-conscious as he flops to the mat. Ref is slapping him awake, all of the women in the crowd are getting worried: it's such great stuff for what is essentially just a wiffed punch. Ace primes for a top rope move but Kobashi just moves enough to chop him and get the tag. The last few minutes are all bomb throwing from the pair with some inventive double team moves. The clincher comes from Kobashi just being done at this point, allowing Movement to isolate him out and Ace gets the win with a half-Nelson head-spike for the win. This does fall into the excesses of Kings Road near the end but the rest is fairly well done Movement-style tag format as they work on isolating the pair as Ace essentially babysits Barton when he gets into sticky situations. Burning are as solid as usual with some top-notch selling from the pair. Workrate is a little more subdued here but I think that works given how they work that via Ace's consistent momentum switches. Lovely stuff.

Jinsei Shinzaki, Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Masahito Kakihara, Naomichi Marufuji & Yoshinari Ogawa (11.06.1999)

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Jr scramble!!! This was fine for a lower mid-card outing. We get some good heat from the get-go as Ogawa disrespects Shinzaki by throwing his towel at him, and as a response he gets immediately booted out as soon as the match starts. Outside of that, we got to see some decent exchanges as Kanemaru and Maru do some goofy lucha spots and everyone hates Ogawa so they all take turns beating his ass. It was funny seeing young Maru be completely ineffective against the bigger heavyweights here, but instead being used to distract and allow Ogawa to get in his cheap tricks. I'm not a fan of Kakihara bumping for Kanemaru of all people (given Kanemaru was as light as a feather) but it does lead to a cool combo sequence with him and Maru throwing kicks. A lot of this was built less on match narratives and more on spots and sequences to fill time, which was more and more apparent during the late 90's era of AJPW. This definitely does suffer slightly because of it and there's definitely no one here that can go do crazy spots to make a pace like that work, so it's just lots of reasonably good bits but nothing that comes together fully.

Also we have to focus a fair bit on Shiga, who is still quite bad at, well, wrestling, so it effected the quality badly. Maru is already quite something when it comes to fancy spots at least, getting a top rope Frankensteiner and double jump springboard moonsault near the end. Kanemaru and Ogawa have a decent back and forth until Ogawa manages to come out on top with his Enzuigiri and two backdrops. Not great at any point, but a decent undercard outing full of colorful sequences. Shinzaki is kind of wasted here I would say: he only comes in to basically do his usual spots and then nothing else, then again you have guys like Kakihara who are also just used to throw some kicks and not a whole lot so it wasn't exclusive to just him. Not bad, but this did feel indicative of how AJPW's jr division could've been used a lot better.

Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuharu Misawa (04.07.1999)

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Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (same day)

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Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (07.07.1999)

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Kentaro Shiga vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (16.07.1999)

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"Clipped by 3 minutes. This was apart of a draw between the members of Untouchables and Burning: they picked colored balls out of a box and they'd need to face whoever's ball matched their own. Sadly, Shiga gets shafted as he's forced to battle the Ace, who, needless to say, isn't exactly troubled against someone like him. While the AJPW 1999 omnibus only has about a minute or so of action, the original TV broadcast has most of the match: it's not long either but still. Misawa does a good job bumping for Shiga's offence as the gusty underdog keeps the pace fast with lots of charges and reversals, giving him room to get in his own array of DDT's, which he spams nearly as much as Misawa's elbows. We get a nice suplex counter into a tornado DDT alongside a corner springboard into one, which Misawa uses the ropes to break the pin out of. The struggle of the match is Shiga trying to get his Tornado DDT off, which Misawa counters numerous times and outright powers out of even when everything looks good to go. He lands it near the end but only gets a 2 count. Shiga's way of getting past Misawa's elbows is not to dodge or spring out of the way but instead to just run into them endlessly until he....tires out or something?

It doesn't work out too well for him and it really doesn't help that his offence can barely keep Misawa down, let alone do lasting damage. He humours Shiga for a bit before no selling a top rope dropkick and going into hard elbows. Shiga tries to keep up, but he gets dropped with a final running elbow and Tiger Driver for the win. This is a decent hierarchy match that had Misawa basically just go into B-show mode here, with very little actual hard bumps or moves beyond some basic rolls. Misawa keeps a good measure of control over the match and you kinda get the feeling that he's on the backend here match-wise, underestimating Shiga's capabilities and letting him get a lot of space to land counters and shots. The latter does good with the opportunity: his strikes look fairly bad through, and his repetitive DDT attempts do tire after the 7th attempt. Definitely enjoyable though, Misawa does these matches in his sleep.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (17.07.1999)

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Jinsei Shinzaki & Johnny Smith vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshinari Ogawa (23.07.1999)

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Akira Taue vs. Pierre Ouellet (same day)

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Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Maunakea Mossman & The Gladiator (21.08.1999)

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Johnny Ace, Maunakea Mossman & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga (29.08.1999)

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Ace starts this off by going out of the ring to give his Movement shirt to a disabled fan at ringside, which was a really nice gesture and awesome to see. Ace then follows up that goodwill by offering a respectful handshake to Shiga; he then beats his ass with some nasty stiff chops lol, love this guy. Ace gets more fire and reactions out of Shiga than what I've seen in a LONG while as they brawl for a bit outside. Shiga also sells some hard slaps to the head well while on the top rope by literally hanging off it afterwards like he died. We get some Mossman interactions as his leg is taped up, so Akiyama hones in on that with some good strikes and submissions, even throwing out a old-school STF. The start of the middle half is just middle of the road spot work as everyone gets their shit in. Kobashi shows off with chops and delayed suplexes, Barton....does stuff, you know the drill. Ace does add some continuity by consistently failing to ambush Kobashi (he's not falling for that this time) and them building up their feud against each other. Mossman gets his bad leg worked over by the Burning trio for the rest of the middle half until Ace gets in and starts beating up Shiga again for some decent near falls. We get some small sloppy bits here but nothing offensive. Kobashi and Ace get in with some small exchanges, including a nice out of nowhere Ace Crusher out of a running shoulder press.

Kobashi is noticeably a bit slower than usual but still gets in his stuff. Akiyama manages to make Barton look like a monster with a big sell to his punch to the gut, doubling over in complete pain. Akiyama also makes Mossman look fairly good until making a big hot tag to Shiga, who gets in some decent enough offence and gets put over huge by kicking out of Movement's double-teaming. Shiga lands some shaky counters to Mossman solo before Burning aid with a cool-looking assisted second rope leap powerbomb and Shiga gets the win with a tornado DDT that Mossman kicks out at 3.1 for. Pretty obviously a B-show but the trios get their stuff in well; barring Shiga and Mossman not having the best performances here with some shaky sequences. It's not really essential either, but a decent enough match that makes a concerted attempt to get Shiga over.....so not exactly the most noble of efforts, but still. Ace is great though.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Vader (30.08.1999)

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Haruka Eigen, Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda vs. Hiroshi Hase, Jun Izumida & Mitsuo Momota (18.09.1999)

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Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (09.10.1999)

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Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Takao Omori (23.10.1999)

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Gary Albright vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (same day)

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Johnny Smith & Maunakea Mossman vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda (25.10.1999)

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This is for the vacant All-Asia Tag Team titles as the Untouchables won and then dropped the belts because they also had the Jr heavyweight AND Triple Crown between them, a bit too much to work with there, especially with the impending exodus next year. You can see how far down in the toilet the titles are now given all of these lads are low-mid card at best. "Clipped by a pretty big amount, about 15 minutes? I'm not sure what a match as long as this would look like and frankly, I'm not sure if I actually do want to see a near 30 minute AJPW Inoue/Honda match. The Smith/Mossman team aren't exactly wrestling masters either. That said, I think they have a fairly competent lead with the footage shown, with Inoue selling and bumping a ton for the more coordinated duo, with saves here and there to keep him from just being washed at once. Inoue isn't a very good wrestler but he's solid at the stuff many others ignore: selling, making the crowd empathise, all things he's good at and used here to get the crowd behind him over time. Even when he gets in his shit, he sells the immense pain he's under, consistently stumbling around and struggling to survive. It helps that the duo get a bit stiff in places with him; including Smith just hammering him with a hard elbow to the back in the head at one point to get a Northern Lights attempt completed. Honda and Inoue also get some odd-couple double team combinations (like a reverse Alabama Slam into rolling Senton) and struggle immensely, but eventually Honda gets Smith in a sleeper and Inoue is able to reverse a backdrop into a Torture Rack for the big upset.

This wasn't a amazing hidden gem but a very competent tag match that got over the underdogs pretty well, with a lot of the traditional near-falls and big bombs that you'd expect. Honda and Inoue milk the dynamic as best as possible, with some especially good babyface work by Inoue nearing the end. Honda does his usual headbutts and suplexes, nothing new out of him here sadly. Mossman and Smith do get some nice work done here and don't overtly wrestle heel, through their consistent breaking up of potential big wins for the underdogs kinda makes them that by proxy. Either way, it's a strongly paced match that doesn't blow any existing expectations away. Nice to see that these champs will be staying arou-oh wait they both left next year and the titles were vacated again until 2001? Great.

Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda (13.11.1999)

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Johnny Smith & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (same day)

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Clipped by 14 minutes. Smith and Vader are a rather weird combination to have together but given there were really no one else who could fit the role (Williams had left for his dreadful WCW stint, Ace and Bart were already a duo and Albright was tagging with Hawkfield) this is the best they've got. Crazy spot at the start as Vader jumps for three German Suplexes right off the bat, Vader leaps out of the ring after a elbow and Misawa follows that up with a dive. Vader just gets up afterwards and contends with Ogawa, who needless to say can't pull off quite the same miracle, through he does land a Enzuigiri. Vader takes over with a terrifying German where Ogawa just slams head first to the mat, just disgusting. They do a nice false finish afterwards where Smith knocks Misawa out and Vader lands a splash for a VERY close near fall that gets the crowd hard. They loudly chant for Ogawa as he fights back with eye pokes and punches, but a quick hammer blow slaps him out of that. Vader gets mad at Misawa, hurling out abuse while spitting at the guy. There's some neat tag psychology here as well as Misawa considers breaking up a powerslam pin, but decides better of it, knowing that Ogawa will kick out and it would be a waste of what little effort he can muster left against Vader. It's small, but helps sell the duo as a actual unit. Good extended selling by Ogawa: he literally has to be dragged by Misawa to their corner for the hot tag like a lifeless body.

Vader beats down on Misawa and hits a Vader Bomb, forcing Ogawa to use up his break up to save the guy. Second part has Untouchables gang up on Smith with near falls for the most part bar Vader interference. Not really impressed by Smith here but he does fine enough, just not at THIS level of quality expected, he's fine though. He takes over after a extended Chickenwing and hits his signature offence, but Ogawa keeps kicking out of everything. Rat Boy has some last second roll-ups, but eventually a rat is gonna get cornered and Ogawa gets nailed with a piledriver and a British Fall for the win. This is mostly a Ogawa showcase as he's in for most of this, as well as selling and delivering offence. In that regard, he's great: slowly watching his layers of resistance peel away over time is done really well: he's not just going between super active to almost dead, he's pacing things here like a true master of the game. Vader is pretty clunky but works as a big power guy, throwing the duo around with ease. His strikes look a little silly at points but mostly were fine. Misawa is his expected self here, as is Smith. All in all, a pretty solid affair that gets Ogawa quite over as a guy who's got a lot of heart, even if he's lacking in the bomb department. Good stuff for the Untouchables again.

Akira Taue & Stan Hansen vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (27.11.1999)

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Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (same day)

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Jun Izumida vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (same day)

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Gary Albright vs. Masao Inoue (03.12.1999)

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Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Masahito Kakihara & Naomichi Marufuji (03.12.1999)

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Ma Stump Puller · June 18, 2023

I might do one for 2000. I haven't watched all of that year though (up to the last Pillar show pre-NOAH) and I want to do something more detailed for that chunk than just random matches given how weird that specific year was.

dkuchler31096 · June 20, 2023

I'm liking these oddities posts just scrolling through. Maybe if there's a thread for like post split NOAH since a lot of that stuff is out there to do it with that too

Ma Stump Puller · July 14, 2023

This'll be the last version unless I can bother to watch lots of Muto-Era 2001 AJPW, and, erm, that's a tall order that I'm going to have to not be sober for. This only covers the first six months to the Ark-Exodus, I have something bigger planned for that.

AJPW Oddities #6: 2000

Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (09.01.2000)

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Akiyama throws his shirt at Takayama before the match starts, cocky as anything. he then immediately gets blasted with a big boot and has to use his speed, getting in the ring right after Takayama throws him out before following up with a big jumping knee to send the big lad to the barricade. He tries to brawl with Takayama and pays for it after a big knee to the gut sends him flying, with terrific selling on his part: guy just does a full 180 for the bump and goes to the outside because of the immense pain. Takayama takes over with some forearm strikes and a penalty kick so stiff that he actually hurts his own leg doing it: what a sentence that is! They play this into the narrative of the match as Akiyama takes advantage by working said leg. As per usual Akiyama is great at limb work and making things varied, going over working holds alongside really fun little spots, like trapping Takayama's leg in the railing, stomping and landing a dropkick to it, even just outright wrenching the toe back at points; you start to see the methodical and brutal Sterness Akiyama come out here, the guy that will become one of NOAH's biggest acts. He even throws on a Scorpion Death-Lock as a regular hold before transitioning into a STF, then going into a Figure Four after all of that doesn't work. It's great. Takayama also sells fairly well, not too exaggerated but also enough that you can buy that Akiyama's work is having a major effect as he clings to the ropes and buckles after any sustained offence to the worked leg; given his UWF-I experience he's solid at making that kind of stuff look legit. Takayama finally gets the advantage by booting Akiyama's bandaged arm, which staggers him. Again, the selling is really top notch here as Akiyama gives out some pure pained yells and screams as Takayama just yanks and pulls it around, using the ropes to really lean his body weight against it: simple stuff but it works here.

Takayama throws out some great suplexes and while Akiyama is scrambling for any sort of range, he gets him in a pretty nasty arm-wrench Crossface, which barely gets to the ropes. He follows that up with a big backdrop + leg drop, yet breaks the pin on purpose. He tries for a running knee but Akiyama at the last second gets a dropkick to the bad leg, knocking the lad down. Akiyama throws virtually everything left: a Dragon Screw, a Exploder: but nothing keeps him down, and we build to a nice finishing stretch where they both tease landing their big bombs, some sneaky near falls from Akiyama before a fluke Victory Roll to counter the Everest gets the deal. Top notch action that never really slows down any for the duration. Both men have some well-worked offence but as stated above, absolutely sell when it matters: Akiyama in particular was a big highlight with his versatility: being able to mix a cocky attitude before then transitioning to more desperate as time goes on is not easy but gets done with ease regardless. Takayama is kept strong by the roll-up ending and general resiliency given he takes all of Akiyama's best and then some. A great sprint that ONLY clocks in at 10 minutes total, easiest watch ever.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (same date)

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Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda (31.01.2000)

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Untelevised but a full version of the match exists in the VHS commercial tape. This is a pretty typical opener with everyone taking it easy. Inoue gets his ass kicked predictively throughout this match, with the beefy UWF-I lads beating him down with stiff strikes. They get some decent stuff going as Inoue tries and fails to handle their offence, namely because Inoue's quite good at being a downbeat loser underdog and selling his ass off to get that narrative over rather than trying to look strong or no sell. Eventually Inoue gets the advantage with a long eye rake, leading into a Honda tag. Honda doesn't do much better despite a headstart and ends up getting beat down with kicks and submissions as well. The lads finally get the advantage when Inoue takes things outside with some tackles on the railings. We get some double team work on Kakihara before Taka runs in for the hot tag, him and Honda having a decent back and forth, ending with a running neckbreaker taking the advantage. Inoue comes in for the one or two moves he can do that don't look like ass before a big Taka knee puts him back on the defensive. Despite Honda breaking up submissions and using interference to rally for a comeback, he's also not able to get the advantage despite his headbutts. We get a nice boot into back suplex by Taka and co for a near fall before Honda positions for his German, Kakihara counters into a smooth kneebar, which Inoue breaks up.

Kakihara's running slap gets countered into a hammerlock back suplex, and with the help of Inoue slapping Kakihara's hands away from the ropes, he's able to land his delayed German suplex for the significant upset win. I don't think this was particularly great in any real way, but there's some decent elements to this. Honda and Inoue are a niche tag team but their underdog dynamic is natural and easy to show off: alongside two legit fighters as their opponents, it's a easy dynamic to work here. That said, Inoue had a better tag bout against these two in 1998 and Honda is still pretty much all headbutts with the occasional sign of his more grounded NOAH style, his greatness had not yet come and he was still a pretty boring one-note wrestler. The action was very slow to start off with but built nicely for a opener until we got a feel-good ending with the underdog lads snatching a win. If you can handle the obvious limitations of Inoue and co then this'll probably be fairly good, nothing super interesting through. It's just a weird undercard that impresses more than it should.

Jun Izumida vs. Toshiaki Kawada (same day)

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Steve Williams & Vader vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (12.02.2000)

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This is to decide the top contender for the tag titles held by Burning. This would turn out long-term to be a bit screwy as the winners of this don't end up holding the titles very long at all due to unforeseen circumstances. NO FEAR actually get the pre-match brawl before Vader and co can, but they quickly get overwhelmed by the pair, with Omori taking the blunt of the big boi offence. Takayama tries to get in the way a few times but the fresh duo can scare him off effectively enough that he's not a issue for most of the beginning and middle. Vader and Williams don't really have a gameplan here outside of just hitting him really hard, but it's fairly effective, needless to say. Takayama saves Omori from a Doctor Bomb and allows him enough time to counter a Oklahoma into a falling neckbreaker, leading into a big rush by the duo after Takayama gets the hot tag: duo hit some double team moves on Williams, ending in a Takayama leg drop for a near fall. Vader just casually dumps Omori on the floor with a powerbomb before getting in the ring to interrupt a Takayama German, leading to another extended segment of the pair working over a isolated member. After a splash and big body tackle from Vader, it's easy work for Williams to take the win with a Dangerous Backdrop. Lads celebrate by clotheslining each other (because of course they do) before heading out.

Looking at results like these, it's quite easy to see the issue that Misawa and co had with young talent being disproportionately represented: NO FEAR are intended to be a group on par with the Demon Army and Untouchables at this point, with Takayama and Omori both respectfully getting good singles pushes as well, yet they get so easily jobbed out for a rag-tag pair who, no offence to them, aren't near their primes by this point? It's a obvious issue that needless to say, I'm glad did eventually get addressed in the way it did. As for the match, it's pretty much just a scramble of moves until the end, with a basic narrative of Omori and co failing to master the bomb-brawling style that Williams and Vader have perfected by this point. It's fine enough, but as stated the latter pair are a bit chunky at points and you kinda mentally check out after Vader just keeps repeating the same power spots over and over. Omori and co put in a fine performance despite barely doing anything but sell outside of small pockets of work. All in all, this is a larger symptom of how AJPW's traditionalist style was starting to really get antiquated as a whole. As a isolated match, it's not bad, the pacing is just very much not my tempo.

Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (17.02.2000)

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Clipped by about 7 minutes, namely to the middle half. This is typical Taue/Misawa dynamics as Misawa has to get around the bigger man but they pace it a lot more faster than typically, with Taue taking a top rope dropkick in the first 30 seconds after a suplex counter, as well as a flying elbow shot to the outside. Misawa tries for a Tiger Driver and gets countered into a Nodowa Otoshi attempt Misawa escapes and attempts a running elbow, only to be met with a flying neckbreaker for a near fall. Misawa lands his signature Frankensteiner powerbomb counter to a Dynamic Bomb and once again gets beaten to the draw by a great Taue dropkick. A big boot leads into a second Nodowa Otoshi that he manages to land despite some struggle. Misawa is taken to the outside and booted over the barricade with, well, a boot, leading into a top rope big boot when they get inside (Taue BARELY manages to escape planting his leg beforehand, how he gets away every time from that happening I don't know) that and a Dynamic Bomb only get near falls, leading to a distraught Taue to try a top rope Nodowa Otoshi but Misawa holds on to the ropes. Furious, Taue just boots him off to the outside, leading to a pretty rough bump. He also follows this up with a pretty awesome apron flying boot.

Both men tease apron supermoves before Misawa takes a painful back bump on there. Misawa takes the advantage after countering a barricade throw with a elbow, as well as a big apron variation as well. Despite Taue's best attempts, the elbow is still a critical weakness of his, leading to a Tiger Driver and multiple running elbow shots, which cost him the match. The cuts may bug some but this is still a fairly underrated bout between the two men that really gets over Taue's freakish versatility in the ring despite his size and decline. The guy could clearly still go, even if his selling isn't the best here: he spends a bit too long just sorta standing around and waiting for the next move to be believable. Misawa hurls himself around for most of this yet sells his comeback attempts pretty solid, he puts in a decent performance in terms of offence. Nowhere near as good as their earlier bouts together I'd say this was better than the majority of their NOAH encounters. If anything, it's fun seeing Taue do Taue things and just wreck people.

Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama (20.02.2000)

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Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga (11.03.2000)

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Really love grumpy Akiyama, especially how this has been booked thus far, showing small glimpses of the brutal heel he'd become later in his career. His greatest accomplishment: the destruction and defeat of Misawa, something Kobashi has never done: being overshadowed by Kobashi then winning back his Triple Crown title in the same night, the seeds of envy being planted quite early in the halls of Burning as a unit. Shiga is a eternal underdog and Akiyama has some anger to burn off, so he'll have to do. Shiga catches him early with a nice cross armbreaker into a modified Fujiwara armbar, Akiyama reaches the ropes. This gets the lad pretty peeved and after some boots from Shiga, Akiyama dodges a plancha to take back advantage. Akiyama basically drags Shiga back in and starts just hurling kicks and strikes, just angry as anything. He even tries choking him out with a sleeper, which Shiga sells like death while Akiyama just casually looks on. He does eventually wake up but gets just thrown around on the outside for his troubles, as well as some nasty Tenryu-style boots to the head. Shiga gets some small comebacks using his speed to counter Akiyama slacking off, especially when he tries to big league him by trying to tank his strikes. Akiyama may be a big deal, he's certainly not on Kobashi's level yet, and this consistent need to try to prove himself better is what gets him in hot water. Shiga lands his Tornado DDT but modifies it into a Fujiwara armbar in a pretty cool spot. Akiyama has to really struggle out of the hold and he finally starts to take Shiga seriously, landing a Gotch-style Tombstone and a Exploder.

Shiga clings on to dear life despite this; this gets him PISSED off as anything that this little squirt keeps fighting back. Akiyama grabs on a tight side headlock and squeezes hard, so much so that the ref calls this in his favour despite Shiga not tapping out, with the post-match having the trainees have to wrench the hold off. Interesting how this submission would later evolve into the King Crab later on. Very well done short match that has some terrific storytelling in-between this just being a squash. Akiyama wins the fight, but ultimately loses in his attempt to break Shiga's will given that he never tapped, never gave up, and that just will not do. This also results in a noticeable rift in Burning as Akiyama wouldn't turn heel per se, he wouldn't team with Shiga or Kobashi either. Akiyama is terrific as a bully and Shiga is a really good underdog, so the dynamics are obviously very well done here. Shiga sells a ton and his comebacks are mostly believable (outside of a pretty eh lariat) Akiyama is a brutal brawler here, noticeably picking up a lot of Hansen-like mannerisms as he scraps and brawls with the smaller guy. Showing that off as well as portraying vulnerability is a VERY hard balance, I think he pulls it off great here. Another top-notch showing from Akiyama, who knew?

Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (24.03.2000)

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Unlike the Shiga match Akiyama is a lot more neutral here, playing a more generic style and showing respect to Kanemaru beforehand with a handshake. He isn't really eating him up like that aforementioned match and gives him room to show off his agility here, with Kanemaru even getting a hot start by knocking Akiyama around with dropkicks and big leaps, eventually ending in a springboard moonsault to the middle of the ring after teasing a dive to the outside. There's some comedy as Kanemaru uses the ref as a shield, hides under the ring, and generally does whatever he can to avoid actually going toe to toe with his foe, getting a future look at the drunken uncle antics that NJPW Kanemaru will bring. Akiyama's control segments are fairly middle of the road beyond him scoop slamming Kanemaru on the wooden Korakuen ground. He's able to get the scoop slam over so much here as a big move that the crowd actually buy him using it as a near fall at one point. Akiyama does try doing the same antics in the Shiga match: namely trying (and failing) to shake off Kanemaru's strikes as well as he thinks he can, but he's overall a lot less venomous here. We get a great spot where Akiyama tries countering Kanemaru on the top rope with a Electric Chair set-up, the latter manages to spin around and land a big DDT off it. It sounds convoluted by me explaining it, regardless it was actually very naturally done in the actual match itself.

Kanemaru lands a moonsault but Akiyama kicks out at 1 before trying to get up, but a low dropkick knocks his legs away. There's some teasing of Kanemaru stealing the Exploder and Akiyama has none of that, finally snapping and going into a pretty nasty extended Boston Crab, with his opponent tapping while Akiyama is essentially sitting on him lol. Not as good as the Shiga match however this is still another fun Akiyama bully match, albeit nowhere near as heated. He's more amused than anything else, which makes sense given they will team up a fair bit in future so this couldn't be too brutal. It's a fine enough TV bout and a nice placeholder for Akiyama's match quality in general, through it isn't anything that special.

Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams (26.03.2000)

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Steve Williams vs. Takao Omori (09.04.2000)

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Daisuke Ikeda & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (15.04.2000)

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Shown in full as apart of a G+ special. This is virtually identical to the type of early NOAH undercard matches the crowd will grow to love and it's no exception in that regard in terms of action. It's kinda weird seeing Ikeda just hang around with guys who CLEARLY aren't on his level at all and it does show in his exchanges where he has to somehow do a evenly matched match with guys like Shiga and act like he's going to get outmatched on the mat by him, which is just uber contrived and beyond unreasonable. Ikeda takes over with some kicks before Shiga lands some limp clotheslines. Marufuji does a lot better with Kanemaru because of their history together: despite some fumbles and obvious pitfalls of being, well, rookies, they do fairly well under the conditions. Kanemaru lands a cool headscissors transition off the apron and then hits a nice follow-up leg drop. Middle section has Maru bump and sell for the duo as they work over him with some fairly simple but good looking double team moves: a drop-toe hold into a gutbuster and a knee to the side of the head while Kanemaru applies a Boston Crab. His general lack of size allows him to be a annoying sidekick to Shiga than anything else, but he does fine enough here, and his offence actually looks impactful compared to earlier material.

Maru eventually gets a comeback with a great moonsault flip over Shiga and a dropkick, leading to a Ikeda hot tag until he's setback after Shiga dodges his big roundhouse, getting his leg stuck on the ropes while Kanemaru lands a dropkick. He endures multiple near falls as the Burning pair land their big signature moves (Kanemaru almost hits Ikeda with his knees mid-flip like, two times? Not great.) he's able to counter a second moonsault with some cutoffs from Maru, leading to him and Kanemaru to spend the last minute solo. Finish happens when Kanemaru is out after a Death Valley Driver, Shiga gets in the way of the pin. Maru jumps off Kanemaru's kneeling body to land a Poetry in Motion-lite move to take him out. Ikeda lands a brutal Kinniku Buster to finish things off for the opener. All in all, actually not half-bad! Shiga is ehh but the younger guys definitely put in good work here and were developing nicely along, with Kanemaru and Marufuji already being fairly decent and agile wrestlers by their lonesome. Ikeda as stated before is a bit of a outlier in terms of presence but he manages to at least be a good hand here, landing some nice offence. Nothing really special, however it's a a good sign of things to come given the younger talent.

Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda (same day)

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Johnny Ace & Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman (same day)

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Kenta Kobayashi vs. Makoto Hashi (31.05.2000)

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Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga (09.06.2000)

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This is a interesting dynamic between Akiyama, the former Burning underdog, and Shiga, who would basically take his place in that regard. Akiyama is obviously no longer as such, especially given his fantastic win over Misawa a few months back: he's now a confident and aggressive almost main event tier threat, showcased perfectly in the exchanges here. He easily destroys Shiga with a Exploder and motions Mossman to not cover him for the pin, instead tossing the guy over to Kobashi like he's just complete trash. Kobashi and him have some heated exchanges, with the latter destroying Akiyama with vicious chops to the head. Akiyama may be a big dog to guys like Shiga, but his overconfidence here bites him in the ass. Like he tries rocking Kobashi with a lariat and gets easily countered into a pair of Half-Nelson Suplexes for his troubles, he's just asking for trouble because he's so obsessed with being better than the old-heads that it's hurting him. There's some subtle heel work as Akiyama refuses to let Shiga have any moments to impress, hitting him from the apron and assisting Mossman whenever he can. Kobashi gloats Akiyama into throwing too much at points, which allows him to handle that interference a lot better. Eventually Kobashi's fighting spirit gets Shiga amped up for a hot tag, which was pretty solid, even if his Tornado DDT's are still quite limp.

He tries for a cross armbreaker but Akiyama eventually gets in after beating down on Kobashi's bad legs. The two lads land a nice dropkick/Stun Gun combo into the corner, which was pretty nasty looking. Kobashi tries to power out of Akiyama's Exploders, a trio of them are able to finally put him out. Shiga is then easily handled by Akiyama, despite him trying to fight back with some weak slaps. He lands a Tombstone variation of a Gotch-Style piledriver for the win, slapping Shiga's face afterwards. This match isn't particularly special in any workrate regard, but it's a good character piece that foreshadows Akiyama's meaner side starting to overtly creep forward, as well as the NOAH Burning Kobashi/Shiga duo that would be a fairly large thing going forward. Mossman and Shiga are bleh mostly, not really very remarkable in any real way. Akiyama is solid, as well as Kobashi, however they do nothing really unexpected or fantastical here, it's just a regular performance by their standards. Nothing special but perhaps of interest as a primer for heel Akiyama leading forward.

Kenta Kobayashi vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru (same day)

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