The Comprehensive All Japan 1990's Thread

[jdw]

Was just thinking the other day that it seemed odd that the Can Ams were never pushed beyond the level of a midcard tag team.

 

They were pushed up to the "title contender" level. Here are the World Tag Title matches while Doc was gone:

 

06/09/95 World Tag: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue ∆

07/20/95 World Tag: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas

08/30/95 World Tag: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Johnny Ace & The Patriot

10/15/95 World Tag: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi

01/24/96 World Tag: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Stan Hansen & Gary Albright ∆

02/20/96 World Tag: Stan Hansen & Gary Albright vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue ∆

 

They vacated the All Asia Tag Title at the start of 1995 with the storyline that they were moving out of the division after being in it for 5+ years.

 

No one really bought them challenging the bigger / better teams. They did have the good match with Misawa & Kobashi in the 1994 Tag League. They had a mediocre match with Kawada & Taue on 1/29/95. Doc & Ace got the title match at the 3/95 Budokan, Kawada & Taue got the one after that, and then the Can-Ams got the shot in Kawada & Taue's first defense.

 

 

Was it just a matter of them being too small to be gaijin main eventers?

 

 

Sorta. All Japan also had a really structured ranking system. They are All Asian level guys, and moving up was tough. Ace never really was bought as a partner of Hansen's to the degree that Spivey was. It wasn't until he teamed with Doc (at Doc's peak in the company), and kind of improved in a "he can do some shit" level that he became an acceptable partner in top tags. Even then the company was kind of shitty in smartly building him up as more credible. They were kind of loathed to have Kobashi do a singles job for him, which really was needed at some point in 1995.

 

For the Can-Ams, it would be even tougher. It's hard to see either of them being put over one of the Four Corners in a singles. You could get creative in putting over the team, and perhaps they could have / should have. The company was pretty over-the-top as the year went on in having someone knocked goofy for long stretches and the other team being able to win due to it. There wasn't a good payoff on that until 12/06/96. Instead, in 1995 the guy killed dead tended to comeback. Was annoying in the 1995 Tag League Final, especially coming after the 10/95 title match where all four took turns getting killed dead while their partner had to go-it-alone. You could work a storyline where the Can-Ams can't win "straight up", but if they happen to destroy Kobashi or Misawa outside the ring, they're such a good "team" with a fury of "stuff" that they could take the other guy out before the partner recovered.

 

Timing is the problem.

 

Kawada & Taue needed to win in June, and Kawada specifically needed to beat Misawa. Holding that off longer would have been insane.

 

The Can-Ams are the first challenger. You can't really have Kawada & Taue drop it to them. Also, the concept works far better against Misawa & Kobashi with (i) Misawa getting knocked out, and (ii) Kobashi going long as the ultimate babyface before (iii) finally getting pinned by the duo. That doesn't work as well once Kawada & Taue to win the title as neither of them is Kobashi in that role opposite the Can-Ams.¹ So...

 

I don't know how / where one works in a chance for the Can-Ams to win the title in 1995. The time might have been 1994, but the promotion was trying to get Doc & Ace over as a new top gaijin team.

 

 

¹ Of course Kawada can play one-on-two to an off the charts level as 12/03/93 reflected. But he wasn't the "face" in that, nor losing to a team at the Can-Ams' level.

 

 

Kroffat being Jr. Heavyweight champion while being clearly bigger than Kawada seems bizarre.

 

 

I don't think any of us really worried about the Jr weights in All Japan. Did Kroffat look fine matching up with Fuchi and other AJPW "juniors"? Sure, and that was all that matter.

[pol]

Thanks for all your insight in this thread, jdw. I don't know how you're not sick of discussing this stuff after 20 years, but it's appreciated.

 

I rewatched 6/6/97. I remembered this as being a spotfest of head drops but it's really not at all. It really feels like the prototype for the modern New Japan big match. Take away the dangerous moves and it's a rather characterless match for these two though - your stock 'Misawa eats a lot of stuff, then comes back' story without the wrinkles that make their better matches special. Still a good match by normal standards, but I can understand the dislike for it in terms of the changes it foreshadowed in the house style.

[jdw]

Thanks for all your insight in this thread, jdw. I don't know how you're not sick of discussing this stuff after 20 years, but it's appreciated.

 

There are always different things that pop up that haven't been talked about in a while, so it's fresh to think about it again. The Can-Ams move up into the heavies doesn't come up since it was something of a blip, and most all of us, myself included, tends to think of them more for their All Asia period.

 

Which hits a side tangent: there was this golden age of the All Asia Title (limited to its run in All Japan rather than the JWA period which was richer). It basically was the Footloose & Can-Ams period. The titles didn't really mean a whole hell of a lot prior to that, nor were they pushed much on TV. You can look at Dan's season sets of All Japan in the 80s prior to the Footloose winning the title and you'd have a hard time finding All Asia Title matches, let alone finding them regularly airing. Some examples:

 

10/24/87 Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki

 

Footloose's first challenge wasn't on TV.

 

07/30/87 Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Isamu Teranishi & Masanobu Kurisu

 

A decision belt to fill the vacant title. 4 minutes of the 19 minute match aired.

 

10/30/86 Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Ashura Hara & Super Strong Machine

 

Title change... didn't air.

 

07/10/86 Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Ashura Hara & Goro Tsurumi

 

JIP on TV

 

04/21/86 Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue vs Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi

 

Didn't air.

 

Of the five title matches in 1986-87, three of them didn't air, and the other two aired small parts.

 

Change?

 

01/29/88 Footloose (Kawada/Fuyuki) vs. Mighty Inoue vs. Takashi Ishikawa (5:52 of 20:42 aired)

03/09/88 Footloose (Kawada/Fuyuki) vs. Mighty Inoue/Takashi Ishikawa (9:24 of 17:41 aired)

04/21/88 Footloose vs. Mighty Inoue/Takashi Ishikawa (8:06 of 19:24 aired)

07/19/88 Footloose vs. Nakano/Takano (7:55 of 15:45 aired)

09/09/88 Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano (title change didn't air)

09/15/88 Footloose vs. Shinnichi Nakano/Shunji Takano (title change aired)

 

Five of six aired. While they still were JIP, you started getting more of them.

 

By 1992-93, they were fixtures on TV. 12 minutes of the 05/25/92 Can-Am vs Kobashi & Kikuchi title changed aired. 20 minutes of the 07/05/92 Kobashi & Kikuchi vs Fuchi & Ogawa. All 23:14 of the 01/24/93 Kobashi & Kikuchi vs Akiyama & Ogawa aired, which is the high point of stuff airing. The two title changes after that got little/no run on TV, and by the following year the tv time of the program was cut in half.

But from 1988 through early 1993, the belt and division were given more air time and respect than ever before or after.

[benjaminkicks]

So I'm getting towards the end of 1991 in my chronological watch/rewatch now. About to watch Jumbo/Kawada on 10/24. I've been looking ahead to what lies in wait in 1992, and I have a question: Am I wrong for thinking 1992 was an off year for All Japan, at least compared to what came before and after?

 

It's the 3rd year of Misawa vs. Jumbo, but even though I don't think those matchup are stale yet, from what I understand this is when Jumbo starts to slow down, yes?

 

I guess I'm just really excited to get into the "meat and potatoes" stuff, like once Kawada joins up with Taue, and I'm having trouble think of as many classics from 1992 compared to the other years. Is there just more great hidden gems than flat out classics that year? Because that I'm down for that, but I've been watching a lot of matches for every year, and I wonder if anyone will advocate me taking a less comprehensive approach to 1992, so as to get to the later stuff quicker? If so I'd love an easy 15 to 20 match list of essential matches from the year.

 

The biggest thing to look forward to looks like Misawa stepping up into his new role as Ace, though in my eyes he already seemed ready for that step by the end of 1991. But I'm curious if people think the booking of Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Taue had grown stale by 1992, and it was only Jumbo's need to step down that got things really moving again?

 

Again, I've only seen bits and pieces of 1992, and I'm filling in the rest with what I've perceived from word of mouth, so I could be way off on this. If I am, let me know. Thanks.

[BigBadMick]

I second that request. 1992 does seem rather unsung in AJPW.

[WingedEagle]

'92 only seems lacking in the sense it doesn't have anything like Hansen/Kobashi, Misawa/Kawada, 12/3/93 or 6/9/95 that people talk about as all timers, but for its still a great, deep year. I'd argue that the May 6 man is as great as any they produced before or after, while you get the last big tags of Jumbo's career, the first big Misawa/Kawada and other greats sprinkled in. 1992 All Japan can hold its head high.

[dawho5]

Yeah, it's a year with a lot of consistency to it, but it doesn't reach the later highs. It's the last year you get to see a lot of Masa Fuchi or Kikuchi in major roles, which makes it particularly awesome.

[jdw]

Based on his ratings, Loss liked 1992 more than 1991:

 

1991
1 - 4.75
2 - 4.50
3 - 4.25
6 - 4.00
5 - 3.75
4 - 3.50
7 - 3.25

 

1992
1 - 4.75
4 - 4.50
6 - 4.25
5 - 4.00
8 - 3.75
5 - 3.50
2 - 3.25

 

The yearbooks didn't do the decade in chron order, so Loss happened to watch 1992 first:

 

1990: Oct-30-2012 (first AJPW of the set discussed)
1991: Jan-19-2013
1992: Jul-07-2011

 

So seeing the same Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co. for two years probably didn't impact him like it did us at the time. In turn, 1991 was "last" for him, so maybe it was a bit tiresome by that point. Don't recall if he talked about it in the comments, but there were so many AJPW matches he talked about it's easy for it to get lost.

 

On the other hand...

 

When we compiled the old star ratings list, Meltzer was similar in 1992 over 1991:

 

1991 had 86 matches rated at *** or above:

- 7 matches MOTYC (****1/2+)
- 24 matches **** to ****1/4
- 34 matches ***1/2 to ***3/4
- 21 matches *** to ***1/4

 

 

 

1992 had 87 matches rated at *** or above:

- 12 matches MOTYC (****1/2+)
- 20 matches **** to ****1/4
- 33 matches ***1/2 to ***3/4
- 22 matches *** to ***1/4

 

 

The ****+ breakdown (5-4.75-4.5-4.25-4) was:

 

1991: 1-1-5-8-16
1992: 3-2-7-7-13

 

1992 is a little light on "fresh" things. Misawa-Kawada for the Triple Crown and Kobashi-Kikuchi winning the All Asia Tag at the fresh things that stand out. If you've been watching the TV every week since 1990, there's not a lot of new folks dropping in that are super interesting like you'd get in prior years. Jun at the end of the year. The State Patrol come in for a match with the Can-Ams for the All Asia which was actually watchable what aired.

 

It was a good year at the time, just a little long of tooth with one of the rivalries while the gaijin are largely the same guys doing some of the same stuff.

 

One could get heavily focused on Stan's last real run with a singles belt in the company as a way to prep for 1993 Stan:

 

01/10/92 Hansen vs Taue (aired 01/12/92)
01/24/92 Hansen vs Kikuchi (02/02/92)
01/28/92 Hansen vs Tsuruta (Triple Crown) (02/09/92)
03/04/92 Hansen vs Misawa (Triple Crown) *** (03/08/92)
03/27/92 Hansen vs Kobashi (Carny) ***3/4 (03/29/92)
04/02/92 Hansen vs Spivey (Carny) (04/12/92)
04/06/92 Hansen vs Kawada (Carny) **** (04/19/92)
04/14/92 Hansen vs Williams (Carny) (04/26/92)
04/17/92 Hansen vs Misawa (Carny Final) **** (05/03/92)
06/05/92 Hansen vs Kawada (Triple Crown) ***1/2 (06/21/92)
07/08/92 Hansen vs Kobashi ***1/2 (07/19/92)
07/31/92 Hansen vs Taue ***1/2 (Triple Crown) (08/16/92)
08/22/92 Hansen vs Misawa (Triple Crown) *** (08/30/92)

 

WON ratings ***+ ratings listed

 

There's some good stuff in there. None of it gets to the high end level of 1993, but they make for comps to the next year.

[Loss]

So that it's known, after rewatching the full version of Can-Ams vs Kobashi-Kikuchi, I'm comfortable saying that it's as good as any match from the 1990s. I watched it back in December and wrote down some stuff since I was having computer issues at the time. I'll post it one day.

[jdw]

I put Can-Ams vs Kobashi & Kikuchi as high on the list, if not at the top, of Most Fun To Watch.

 

Best... I think we're probably in the same boat on Dream Rush.

[pol]

Someone uploaded all? the matches from an Akiyama comm. DVD to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL85CGtFeIc-Wm5Rv03Q3EYk-AEMiKZoqt

 

Any new stuff there? I'd never seen the Perez, Dibiase, Omori and w/ Omori vs. The Fantastics matches before. There's also a good number of classics in digital quality, which is nice.

[InYourCase]

The same guy (ClassicsPuro83) has also uploaded one full Misawa comm. DVD and is in the process of uploading a second. The video quality for some of these matches is ridiculous. Going through the Akiyama stuff right now and it's quite fun.

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL85CGtFeIc-UYkUVbWQCxWjYLqNtK4c4n

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL85CGtFeIc-VY3sHW55Lk5qaFWpNV7vmp

[WingedEagle]

InYourCase, thanks for linking to those. Great to have those collected here.

[fxnj]

Kawada/Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Baba/Dory/Andre

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ID_APdDNJDA

 

Really cool match I hadn't heard of before with the old guys trying out the epic Jumbo/Misawa six man formula and making it work pretty well. Andre is nearly immobile at this point but it's still awesome to see him just for the novelty of watching him work with the young guys. Also has fun commentary. I can't seem to find this on any TV listings and Ditch doesn't have it so I wonder if it's newly discovered.

[jdw]

It's been around. Looking at Lynch's list, there are two versions of the 3/4/92 Budokan "television" on back-to-back six hour tapes:

 

February-March 1992
March-April 1992

 

The first version just has the double main event: Misawa vs Hansen and Jumbo & Taue lifting the tag titles from Gordy & Dox.

 

The second version is the last block on the second tape and has the tag match.

 

Honestly don't recall watching this back in 1992, so my video story may have have had the two-match version.

 

I'd have to look at the K-Tapes at home to see which version Koji got, or if he got both. One may have been a 90 minute "special". Jeff was kind of consistent in moving "specials" over into the Boot section of his Japan lists rather than rolling it into the TV section. On the other hand, the six hour tapes, if I recall correctly, were the format he got from his sources... so he seems to have gotten something twice.

[Woof]

As someone who has only dabbled in All Japan in the past but who is looking to do a deeper dive chronologically soon, I found this thread very helpful. I'm just wondering if maybe somebody could enlighten me on a few things that I'm a little fuzzy on before I begin.

 

What was the All Japan booking structure like in terms of events and television? It seems clear to me they had weekly TV, but obviously weren't on the "weeks of TV-PPV-weeks of TV-PPV..." schedule the major US companies used. The concept of the "tours" isn't something I'm fully able to get my head around yet, so some clarity there would help. How exactly did they present their product?

In regards to the "Four Pillars", I know that their ascention essentially began when Misawa unmasked in May of 1990, but if I wanted to start my viewing there, what exactly was the status of the four guys at that point? What little I've been able to read makes it seem like they got thrust into the main event almost immediately because of the mass exodus that took place, but truly, how far removed from that scene were they at the time? Because the footage I *have* watched makes it seem like it wasn't so big a jump in regards to fan response. Where they merely the next tier of guys who got pushed upwards, or did they "jump" a tier to get there? If somebody could just give me a quick overview of the company's hierarchy circa May 1990 that would be a huge help.

Thanks.

[jdw]

As someone who has only dabbled in All Japan in the past but who is looking to do a deeper dive chronologically soon, I found this thread very helpful. I'm just wondering if maybe somebody could enlighten me on a few things that I'm a little fuzzy on before I begin.

 

What was the All Japan booking structure like in terms of events and television? It seems clear to me they had weekly TV, but obviously weren't on the "weeks of TV-PPV-weeks of TV-PPV..." schedule the major US companies used. The concept of the "tours" isn't something I'm fully able to get my head around yet, so some clarity there would help. How exactly did they present their product?.

 

All Japan ran 8 series a year:

 

* New Year Giant Series

 

Long series usually from Jan 2 through the end of Jan.

 

* Excite Series

 

Short series starting in mid-Feb and running through either the last week in Feb or first week in Mar.

 

* Champion Carnival Series

 

Long series from mid/late Mar through mid-Apr. From the 70s through 1982 and again from 1991 on, the promotion ran a singles tourney in this series.

 

* Super Power Series

 

Short series from mid/late May through early Jun. Often one of the bigger matches of the year would be at the Budokan during this series.

* Summer Action Series

 

Long series through most of July, at times starting in late June.

* Summer Action Series II

 

Kind of shortish series in Aug to early Sep.

* October Giant Series

 

Long series eating up most of Oct, sometimes starting in late Sep.

 

* Real World Tag League

 

Long series from mid-Nov into Dec. Final card of the year got located at Budokan starting at some point in the 80s, and tended to be the big show of the year.

 

The promotion over time expanded the number of shows at Budokans they ran a year, from 4 in 1988-91 to 5 in 1992 to 6 in 1993 and 7 in 1994. They never added one to the New Year Giant Series.

 

The Budokan cards tended to be the biggest shows of the series. But other big matches would take place on other shows.

[jdw]

Okay, so what does that mean. Let's take 1993 as an example, and fill it in a bit.

 

1. New Year Giant Series

 

This ran from 1/2 - 1/31. It opened with two nights in Korakuen Hall, the first a TV taping. This was the final full years of the 60 minute TV show, so they taped at a lot of cards. TV tapings in this series on 1/2, 1/8, 1/15, 1/21, 1/24, 1/26 and 1/30.

 

There was no Budokan, nor a Triple Crown match.

 

The big match was the World Tag Title match in 1/30 in Chiba between Misawa & Kawada vs Gordy & Williams. Booking concept? Misawa & Kawada got the tag titles back in December by winning the Tag League. Gordy & Williams had won the Tag League in 1990 & 1991. It would be nice to say that Baba had this planned out as a logical match up by either the teams going to a draw in the Tag League, or Gordy & Williams winning the match to set it up. Not the case: Misawa & Kawada beat them. They were tossed together because by this point Baba knew he needed to get the belts off Misawa & Kawada with this being the last good spot to do it. Gordy & Williams were the only team in the promotion that could lift it of them, so not really something plotted out long term.

 

Other cards would have matches to tease stuff later in the series, such as Gordy & Williams vs Misawa & Kobashi on the 1/21 taping to lead into the 1/30 title match, with Kobashi in the place here of Kawada. They would uses matches along those lines or six-man tags as standard early series matches to heat up the big ones.

 

The All Asia Tag Title got defended on the 1/24 taping with Kobashi & Kikuchi defending against Akiyama & Ogawa. Jun debuted the prior September, with this his first title match. All 23:14 of it got aired, which was kind of cool on several levels.

 

Taue and Kobashi hooked up on the 1/26 taping. Kobashi had never beaten Taue at this point, so the outcome wasn't massively in doubt. Taue going over is a decent set up for headlining Budokan in the next series.

 

 

2. Excite Series

 

This ran from 2/19 to 3/4. As indicated, it's a short series.

 

TV tapings on 2/19, 2/25, 2/28 & 3/3. Budokan was the 2/28 card, which is an example of this still being in the era where Budokan didn't always end the seven series it was run on. That would change in the coming years.

 

Budokan was the focus of the entire series, with nothing of note tossed on the other cards that I recall. The other three tapings were run of the mill tags.

 

Budokan was "loaded" up: Misawa vs Taue for the TC, Hansen vs Kawada, Kobashi vs Spivey, Fuchi vs Kikuchi for the Jr. Title, and Gordy vs Akiyama in one of Jun's "growing up" matches to take place during the year.

 

 

3. Champion Carnival Series

 

This was a long series running from 3/25 to 4/21 based around the singles league/tournament. Tapings were 3/25, 3/27, 3/30, 4/12, 4/14 & 4/21.

 

When the Carny was brought back in 1991, it was split into two different "Blocks" or groups. The winner of each block advanced to the Final. In 1993, they went with a single group/block, everyone wrestling everyone else, and the two with the highest points would face again in the Final.

 

They tended to load up the Carny and Tag League cards in Osaka and Nagoya to draw crowds into their two larger arenas outside of Budokan. Osaka got Misawa vs Kobashi + Kawada vs Taue + Gordy vs Williams, while Nagoya got Misawa vs Gordy + Hansen vs Taue + Kawada vs Kobashi. The Osaka card had the obvious theme that would be coming out Carny: future members of the new native teams facing each other while the top gaijin team did the same.

 

The Carny Final was at Yokohama Bunka Gym, moving to Budokan the following year.

 

4. Super Power Series

 

This ran from 5/14 to 6/3. Taping were 5/14, 5/20, 5/21, 5/29, 6/1 & 6/3.

 

5/20 & 5/21 were two shows in Saparro at the beloved Nakajima Sports Center. All Japan ran back-to-back shows in the Super Power Series in 1993 & 1996, which I applied the slang term "Sapporo Double Shot" to as each had historic/memorable/historic matches. This one was split into tag team night the first night, and singles night the second:

 

5/20: Gordy & Williams vs Kawada & Taue (WTT), Misawa & Kobashi vs Hansen vs Spivey

5/21: Misawa vs Hansen (TC), Kawada vs Williams, Kobashi vs Gordy, Taue vs Spivey, Fuchi vs Kroffat (Jr)

 

The two new native teams against the top two gaijin teams since 1990 faced each other on the first night. Kawada & Taue were the completely new team, so they got the title shot.

 

The second night was Native vs Gaijin in singles. Hansen got the Triple Crown shot off wining the Carny and pinning Misawa both in the League part and in the Final. That one was smartly booked. Kawada vs Williams is coming off their draw in the Tag League. Kobashi continues his singles push coming off the win over Spivey at the prior Budokan.

 

Gaijins didn't do very well at all.

 

Budokan was 6/1 headlined by the first Kawada & Taue vs Misawa & Kobashi match after Kawada joined hands with Taue, and thanks to earlier in the series it was for the World Tag Title. Hansen vs Gordy was the semi as the top two gaijin facing off.

 

Much of the other TV revolved around getting across the new Misawa & Kobashi & Co vs Kawada & Taue & Co feud. The tapings on 5/14, 5/29 & 6/3 were all main evented by tags or six-mans involving various combos from the group.

 

Patriot & Eagle got an All Asia Tag Title shot at Kobashi & Kikuchi the night after Budokan, off television. A sad an unfitting end to the Kobashi & Kikuchi team, but the belts had to come off them with Kobashi now Misawa's top partner.

 

 

5. Summer Action Series

 

This ran from 7/2 to 7/29. Tapings were 7/2, 7/9, 7/12, 7/19, 7/26 & 7/29.

 

The Kawada & Taue vs Gordy & Williams rematch got rolled out on the 7/26 card. Much like Jumbo, Gordy's last title match for the company happened in a tag title re-match that no one knew at the time was the end.

 

7/29 was Budokan, so we final have a series that ends of the big show. The first Misawa vs Kawada singles match since Kawada left Misawa's group.The match was supported by Hansen vs Kobashi in another one of Kobashi's high profile singles matches of the year, and Taue vs Bubba in something of a test for Bubba coming in from the WWF.

 

With the exception of the 7/26 card, all of the tapings had some variation of Misawa & Kobashi & Co vs Kawada & Taue & Co airing.

 

 

6. Summer Action Series II

 

This ran from 8/20 - 9/9. Tapings on 8/20, 8/23, 8/31, 9/3, 9/5 & 9/9.

 

Gordy was suppose to challenge Misawa for the Triple Crown on Budokan, playing off Gordy having been one of the two people to pin Misawa at Carny (Hansen the other). Of course Gordy had the overdose on the flight over, and was done as a competitive wrestler in AJPW. Rather than just give the title shot to Williams, they ran Williams vs Kobashi on 8/31 with the winner getting the title shot. A famous match.

 

Patriot & Eagle vs Akiyama & Kikuchi for the AATT on the same card, with us now into the period where the AATT is again being ignored. The Kroffat and Fuchi rematch for the Jr title was on 8/23, and sadly this title also is fading into the background.

 

Misawa vs Doc on the 9/3 Budokan was supported by Kawada & Taue defending against the reformed supper team of Hansen & DiBiase. Predictable booking given how Baba tended to treat "new" super teams in their first title shot.

 

The 9/9 taping had Kroffat & Furnas vs Patriot & Eagle for the AATT and Fuchi vs Slinger for the Jr title, but that taping got combined with the 9/5 taping on one program, leaving no time of note for either title match. As I was saying about these titles.

 

The focus was mixed in the series, between more of the top native teams feuding but also working in Hansen & Dibiase while also giving time to Williams given Gordy's absence. Doc started growing in the role, while Ted kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

 

7. October Giant Series

 

9/29 - 10/23 with tapings on 9/29, 10/2, 10/14, 10/17 & 10/23.

 

The booking for the year is starting to run out of steam. We get the third Big Match between Misawa and Hansen to headline the Budokan on 10/23, with this one falling flat. Hansen & DiBiase vs Kawada & Taue gets an instant rematch on 10/14

 

For some reason they didn't want to run Misawa & Kobashi at them as an interesting sandwich between Hansen-Kobashi at the prior Budokan and Misawa-Hansen to climax this series. They even had the pretty obvious finish to put heat on the Triple Crown match. Odd also since the title change was flat, and Kawada & Taue probably wasn't as good of a match up for Stan & Ted as Misawa & Kobashi were. Oh well... I didn't book All Japan.

 

Misawa-Hansen at Budokan was supported by Kawada-Kobashi and Ted-Akiyama, continuing themes for Kobashi and Jun that ran through the year.

 

Like the prior series, some focus remained on the natives feud, but there was also continued focus on Hansen & Ted and Doc Growing Up. The all consuming feel to the focus in the first two series after the native teams were after Carny had by now had seen the promotion return to spreading the focus around more.

 

 

 

8. Real World Tag League

 

11/13 - 12/3. Tapings were 11/13, 11/17, 11/24, 11/30, 12/1 & 12/3.

 

The Tag League is a one-block "league" or round robin. There was no "Final" until 1995, so what people call Finals from 1977-94 aren't really Finals. They are the Last Match of the League / Year for the promotion. The way Baba booked these, the Last Match always ended up determining the Winner. It's worth remembering the the Winner didn't always participate in the Last Match. The following year, Misawa & Kobashi would "win" the Tag League by "sitting in the club house" and watching Kawada & Taue lose to Baba & Hansen in the Last Match and fail to get enough points to tie or beat Misawa & Kobashi.

 

The tradition from 1989-94 was that the holders of the World Tag Title would vacate the belts and that they would be awards to the winners of the Tag League. The holders had a shot of winning them back, which happened in 1989. The tradition was started in 1989 based off Tsuruta & Yastu vacating their titles *during* the League in 1988 after a result that they weren't happy about.

 

Usually only certain teams have a chance to win, which is obvious when the teams are announced. Baba doesn't do upsets when it comes to who wins the League. Big Teams only need apply for the silverware.

 

In 1993, only four teams had a shot:

 

Misawa & Kobashi

Kawada & Taue

Hansen & DiBiase

Gordy & Williams

 

Strike that, Gordy was out on overdose. Williams teamed with Bubba. Bubba wasn't really at the level of anyone that Baba had ever let win the Tag league. So they were out:

 

Misawa & Kobashi

Kawada & Taue

Hansen & DiBiase

Gordy & Williams

 

Wait, then Ted hurt his back early in the League, had to pull out, and retired as an active wrestler.

 

Misawa & Kobashi

Kawada & Taue

Hansen & DiBiase

Gordy & Williams

 

So basically the Tag League was ruined as two of the top four teams were out, and only the two new native teams had a shot. Now set aside that pretty much everyone knew that the League would come down to their match, which was going on Last at Budokan. There still was an outside make-believe shot that they may have done something like a draw that allowed either Gordy & Doc (two time Tag League winners) or Hansen & DiBiase (the 1985 winners) to win while in the clubhouse. So... ruined.

 

Except, Baba subbed in to be Hansen's partner and people really dug them. In turn, Bubba partnering with Williams "worked" to the point that they terrific matches with both of the native teams.

 

Misawa & Kobashi

Kawada & Taue

Hansen & DiBiase --> Hansen & Baba

Gordy & Williams --> Williams & Bubba

 

We ended up getting three excellent matches out of the replacement teams.

 

Beyond Budokan, the other card in a good sized venue was in Osaka. Like the Carny, it was given a loaded up card with the Big 4 teams paired against each other: Kawada & Taue vs Baba & Hansen, Misawa & Kobashi vs Williams & Bubba.

 

The Last Match ended up being a pretty good payoff for the entire year, to say the least. You can't really say that about the rest of the big matches of the league, but the Last Match did fine.

 

* * * * *

 

Anyway, hope that's a useful walk through of one year without spoilering everything.

 

No two years are completely alike, some fell more alike than others.

 

In April 1994, the television was cut down to 30 minutes (which meant about 24 minutes of match time). The use of television changed forever, and the promotion really failed to use it well. The work of the crew in regular TV tapings eased back in 1995, with the big boys seeming to save their bodies for the Big Matches. The big matches continued to be at a high level for some time to come, depending on one's view of high level quality. The promotion would get more TV time in late 1996 with a cable contract, but what would have been a dream in 1993 was a big sad in 1997 given how folks had to work the lesser tapings and matches.

 

People come and go, like any other promotion. Tenryu was there when the year turned in 1990, but was gone by April. Jumbo had been there forever, but was gone suddenly in November 1992 never to return as a competitive wrestler. Same would happen to Gordy in 1993.

 

Titles get pushed nicely, then fade. If you watched the weekly TV, the All Asia Tag Title and the Junior Title are cool titles with nifty little divisions in the 1988-93 time frame. They fade after that, though occasionally pop their heads up. More the Jr. title after that then the AATT.

 

So... there's only so far one can go with giving an overview on how things are done since they change / evolve.

[fxnj]

http://www.ntv.co.jp/G/prowrestling/allthatkobashikenta/

 

It's basically just a re-airing of famous Kobashi matches matches that have already been released on DVD, but this match airing tomorrow caught my eye

 

9/10/1995

Nippon Budokan

(4v4 Survival Tag Match)

Toshiaki Kawada/Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen/Kenta Kobashi

 

Does anyone know if this fragment or the rest of the match is already out there? Sounds really interesting just to see Hansen and Kobashi tagging.

[DGinnetty]

I don't think this match ever aired uncut. It was clipped on the 9/24/95 weekly TV episode.

The 9/10/95 comm tape only had 2 matches on it, neither one this tag match.

 

I haven't seen this come up on any commercial release either.

 

The Hansen/Kobashi portion of this match runs over 28 minutes of the 60+ min match, with the final 20 min against Baba/Kawada

 

Based on the times for the other matches on this episode, not all of them will fit uncut.

 

Dan

 

P.S. Anyone else think it is a shame that NTV doesn't have a streaming service like NJ?

So much footage from 94 to 96 that noone got to see uncut, because they were cut down to a 30 min timeslot....

[dawho5]

Agreed, there is a very short clip of the ending of a Misawa/Kawada singles match from that time period that makes me think it could have been one of their better matches. I think it was the one that should have been a CC match but for whatever reason didn't count. I want to say 4/11/94. Either way, Misawa is bleeding as we cut into the match and I have this burning need to know how and what happened when he started coming back.

[fxnj]

You're probably thinking of their CC 1996 match and I agree. I get a little disappointed every time I look at a new Classics listing and see that match not airing.

[DGinnetty]

Just checked the 9/10/95 match on the Kobashi special that aired yesterday.

 

They aired 11:34 of the 19:41

They showed a clipped version of the 12/9/95 tag final, and uncut versions of the 7/24/96 TC win and 1/20/97 match against Misawa

 

Episode 4 had clipped versions of a 5/18/97 6 man tag, 6/12/98 against Kawada, and 7/24/98 against Akiyama. This left time for an uncut version of the 10/31/98 match against Misawa

 

All these shows have a 1:05 intro, with two 2 minute breaks elsewhere in the show. The episodes are 1:58 long, which gives them room for 113 minutes of footage per episode.

 

Episode 5 looks to be 4 complete matches:

December 5, 1998 Budokan

Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama vs Stan Hansen, Vader

1999 June 4 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center

Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue vs Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi

February 27, 2000 Budokan

Vader vs Kenta Kobashi

April 15, 2000

Budokan

Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori

Combines match times is 88:28, plenty of room for pre and post match stuff and commercials. ****edit: all matches uncut*****

Episode 6

February 17, 2002

Budokan

Jun Akiyama, Hiroshi Nagata vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi

March 1, 2003 Budokan

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi

April 25, 2004 Budokan

Kenta Kobashi vs Yoshihiro Takayama

 

89:04 bell to bell time, again plenty of room for the 3 matches to be uncut. ****edit: all matches uncut"""""

 

Episode 7

July 10, 2004

Tokyo Dome

Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama

July 18, 2005 Tokyo Dome

Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki

December 2, 2007 Budokan

(Kenta Kobashi comeback)

Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama vs Kenta Kobashi, Yoshihiro Takayama

February 19, 2012 Sendai Sun Plaza Hall

ALL TOGETHER

Keiji Mutoh, Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori

106:39 bell to bell. It would be tight, but they might be able to get all 4 matches uncut. I tend to doubt it, as they will probably have the complete Kobashi intros for both Dome shows.

Dan Ginnetty

[Woof]

Totally forgot to thank JDW for his insight on All Japan last year. It was extremely helpful. So thanks, man.

[ProHeadlockGrader]

Please move this if it's not acceptable as a reply to this thread on 90s AJ but I have a question. Why did Baba close off relations with all other promotions near the start of the decade? I've done a bit of reading on this topic on this site and in various things written by Meltzer like observers and his Tributes books, but cannot find a satisfactory answer for why All Japan cocooned itself the way it did aside from a list of things that pissed off Baba about other promotions

• There wasn't anywhere to send young boys out on excursions because quote "there is nothing more to be learned in America"
• Crockett Jr. screwed Baba by cancelling several Flair tours in the late 80s when Baba was pushing NWA champions hard even though the organization was in the shits
• There was a goofy angle in America when AJ had a relationship with them where Tenryu and the Road Warriors couldn't wrestle JYD/Murdoch/Hayes at Clash of Champions V 02/15/1989 for the NWA six man titles because Kevin Sullivan blocked off the challengers in their rooms and took over the match and Baba thought this was too goofy for his serious sports style (Meltzer says this is the straw that broke the camel's back and he mentions it in both Baba and Hawk's obits as something big but I don't believe it considering he works with WWF a little of a year later)
• Baba was promoting a Hulk Hogan WWF title match for the AJ/WWF dome show but Vince made Warrior the champ and didn't clue Baba in on it so Baba looked like an idiot even with the Hansen/Hogan main event
• WWF either cuts off ties with AJ and then forms a relationship with SWS or forms a relationship with SWS while still in cahoots with AJ. I'm not sure how it is but neither would make Baba a very happy giant

 

If I was Baba, I would be pissed off at foreign companies too and even Tenryu's boys, hell especially them when he publicly said none of them are coming back while he was alive. But he let things decline with the same pool of talent at the top of the card instead of doing any invasion storylines like everyone else in Japan. Were there any reasons he was so apprehensive about working with other companies in Japan until the late 90s, and even then only bringing in Hayabusa and Shinzaki from FMW in for the tag league? Was it too corny for him (this is something I don't buy when he was more than happy to do Choshu's boys vs All Japan in the 80s.)? He didn't want to work with anyone to the point of burying Kawada when he publicly suggests interpromotional cards, so again, what made Baba decide to have All Japan stick to themselves?