Loss Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 If someone wanted to see all of the best and most important post-split All Japan Pro Wrestling (from summer 2000-present), what matches would you recommend? I've seen some stuff pimped in the immediate years after and in the last year or two, but not much in between. I realize the glory days are over so I'm not looking for the hidden Misawa-Kobashi-level classic, but I'm guessing that we could squeeze out at least 50-60 hours of stuff that is fun-good-great and worth watching during that time, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I liked the 2005-2006 era when they built the stables around WWE castoffs. The matches weren't great but it was a fun product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted October 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I'm afraid to even ask but how are latter day Ultimo Dragon, Kaz Hayashi and Keiji Muto? Just a step down from their prime or actively bad? Or just there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Kaz is good for awhile and still okay today. Mutoh has his moments but is generally lackluster after 2002. I haven't seen an Ultimo Dragon match since maybe 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawho5 Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Tenryu had a good couple of years there. I haven't seen any footage, but I've read good things about Akiyama after he came back. And there was a period where Minoru Suzuki and a few other quasi-shoot guys were on top there and had running feuds going. The matches, from what I've seen, were at least entertaining in their own way. Most of the Mutoh and Kojima matches I've seen disappointed me, but there are those who enjoy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Kojima seemed to really benefit from feeling like a star when the promotion was devoid of any real star power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucky Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Masa Funaki's run was awesome. I love his matches with Kono, Suwama and Akiyama. The cage match from one of the sumo hall shows vs Kono is a personal favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Tenryu had a good couple of years there. I haven't seen any footage, but I've read good things about Akiyama after he came back. And there was a period where Minoru Suzuki and a few other quasi-shoot guys were on top there and had running feuds going. The matches, from what I've seen, were at least entertaining in their own way. Most of the Mutoh and Kojima matches I've seen disappointed me, but there are those who enjoy them. Tenryu's run as Triple Crown champion in 2002 was a hidden gem. This is one of my favorite matches, a really solid contest against Satoshi Kojima. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Skinner Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I haven't seen any of Kojima's AJPW work so if anyone could point me in the direction in some of his good stuff there, that'd be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Have you looked at Ditch's list for post-2000? Roughly 35 matches to start with there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I probably can't provide a complete picture but here's some stuff I really like: Toshiaki Kawada vs Masa Fuchi AJPW 7/1/2000 - Cool to see Kawada stretching out Fuchi like Fuchi stretched out Kawada and pals in the early 90s.Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Maunakea Mossman AJPW 7/23/2000 - Last great Hansen match.Genichiro Tenryu vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW Triple Crown Decision Match) AJPW 10/28/2000 - Gritty title match. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (Real World Tag League) AJPW 12/6/2000 - Solid match if you're into Araya. Toshiaki Kawada & Nobutaka Araya vs Genichiro Tenryu & Masa Fuchi AJPW 6/30/2001 - Maninly worthwhile for Tenryu vs Araya portions. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs Taiyo Kea & Kazushi Miyamoto AJPW 4/27/2002 - Neat tag with team WAR picking on the rookie. Yoji Anjoh & Mitsuya Nagai vs Taiyo Kea & Masa Fuchi AJPW 9/16/2002 - One of my favorite things about the AJPW of this era is the oddball midcard matches like this. Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Hase & Jinsei Shinzaki vs Genichiro Tenryu, Arashi, Nobutaka Araya & Nobukazu Hirai AJPW 9/16/2002 - WAR vs former NJPW guys and Shinzaki. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobukazu Hirai vs Satoshi Kojima & Kaz Hayashi AJPW 10/6/2002 Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs Satoshi Kojima & Kendo Kashin AJPW 1/13/2003 - I fucking love the AJPW vs Zero1 feud.Genichiro Tenryu vs Kazushi Miyamoto AJPW 2/16/2003 - Miyamoto puts up quite a fight attempting to get revenge for how he was treated in the 2002 tag.Satoshi Kojima, Arashi, Nobutaka Araya & Kendo Kashin vs Shinjiro Ohtani, Masato Tanaka, Ryouji Sai & Kazuhiko Ogasawara AJPW 2/23/2003 - Massive AJPW vs Zero1 tag.Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs Satoshi Kojima & Kendo Kashin AJPW 5/25/2003 - Fuchi vs Kashin is hilarious.Shinya Hashimoto, Kohei Sato & Hirotaka Yokoi vs Satoshi Kojima, Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura AJPW 6/11/2003 - Really fun Hashimoto performance where he acts as coach/team captain.Shinya Hashimoto vs Satoshi Kojima (AJPW Triple Crown Championship) AJPW 6/13/2003 - More AJPW vs Zero1. Probably Kojima's best singles match.Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinya Hashimoto (AJPW Triple Crown Championship) AJPW 2/22/2004 - Pretty good as far as dream matches go. Kensuke Sasaki vs Osamu Nishimura (Champions Carnival) AJPW 4/5/2008 - Nishimura had a pretty good showing in 2008Suwama vs Osamu Nishimura (AJPW Triple Crown Championship) AJPW 6/28/2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kardo Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Cage Death: Yuji Nagata vs Masayuki Kono AJPW Pro-Wrestling Love In Ryogoku Vol. 14 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan Seigigun (Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata) vs Stack Of Arms (Masayuki Kono & Minoru Tanaka) AJPW 40th Anniversary Year Excite Series 2012 - Tag 1 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan AJPW Pro-Wrestling Love In Ryogoku Vol. 14 was a pretty good show in itself Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucky Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 I also really enjoyed the Sekimoto and Okabayashi run there. Your mileage may vary on that style, but as a longtime BJW fan, that was an exciting time to be following All Japan again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Also Jamal is interesting. You can really watch him grow from that guy that sucked in the WWE as 3MW and grow into the guy that becomes Umaga. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxnj Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Akiyama and Funaki both had really good TC runs, especially the match where Akiyama beat Suwama for the title. Also, it got yanked from YouTube but Kawada/Sasaki 2007 is a favorite of mine for Kawada's epic tears of blood http://i.imgur.com/GQ6IE6h.png The match quality picked up a lot in the last few years when they started bringing in Akiyama and the BJW guys, but I think most of Mutoh era AJPW was more about the wacky characters and giving the live crowds a good time than it was about great matches. The Voodoo Murders gimmick, for example, is hella fun live but the amount of good TV matches they've had is pretty tiny given how long the gimmick has been around. If you haven't seen it, though, definitely check out Akiyama's AJPW as that absolutely is a promotion that's had plenty of smartly worked MOTYC's this year. Even the undercards often have a few minor gems and rarely have bad matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Part of the problem is no one seems to cover it, so it's hard to get a handle on what to seek out. If someone could do an Akiyama list from the last four years, that'd be grand for GWE purposes. I recently watched a Carnival match between him and Suzuki that was good but no better than the sum of the parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kardo Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 There was a really good Akiyama vs Omori match somewhere in that 2012 period too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Skinner Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 As far as the current AJPW goes, if you guys haven't seen Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori vs Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara from earlier this year, I highly recommend you do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 I actually just finished an Akiyama-Omori match from 6/15/14 that was excellent. Jun in particular looked like he's still right up there with the best in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W2BTD Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Akiyama is without question still one of the best in the world. I would not blink if someone put him in a Top 5. Of stuff not mentioned, seek out Akiyama's series of matches (singles & tags) vs Kento Miyahara from last year. Had that feud had taken place in a promotion that wasn't effectively completely dead with little hope of serious revival any time soon, Miyahara would be on a path to stardom right now. Akiyama does an incredible job of getting a kid over as a "star" within the context of what a "star" can be in that universe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 I really like the Akebono-Miyahara TC match from this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxnj Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 I actually just finished an Akiyama-Omori match from 6/15/14 that was excellent. Jun in particular looked like he's still right up there with the best in the world. It gets even better from there. Him and Omori against Xceed from the RWTL 2014 final and the tag title match from August are both must-see, and his Royal Road run from this year is a good opportunity to see him work smaller singles matches. At 46 he's possibly the best pure offensive wrestler out there and definitely one of the smartest in laying out a match. The only thing stopping him being a front runner for wrestler of the year is lack of footage. You mentioned lack of people covering it and the sad reason for it is that 2015 AJPW is a glorified Indy in terms of popularity. This is reflected in the TV coverage it gets where just a couple shows are taped every month and some key matches end up lost. Just in the last few months Akiyama has had some great sounding matches against Shiozaki in August (they're first time meeting in AJPW and part of the build to the tag title match), a Royal Road match against Aoki (who's also been having a hot year as a career mid carder finally breaking though), and in October teaming with Kanemaru against Xceed for Shiozaki's last match with the company. I was actually at that last Shiozaki match. Up to that moment, I had always assumed the only way Akiyama's body could have held up as well as it has would be if he took it easy when the TV cameras were off, but I was promptly proven wrong as he still cranked out a ****+ match, with his exchanges with Shiozaki being the highlight. In comparison to the 4 kings who took crazy bumps to create matches that feel epic and brutal, Akiyama is like a magician in how he manages to give matches a similar feel while preserving his body. Instead of using dangerous suplex variations and long near fall runs, I notice that he keeps things simple and instead focuses on his execution, on giving a nice snap to everything that he does and always making his opponent work for the advantage. He makes simple things like tie ups and chop exchanges feel like a grueling struggle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 and his Royal Road run from this year is a good opportunity to see him work smaller singles matche I loved his matches vs. Yuji Hino and Akebono on the Finals show, is anything else out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxnj Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 Yeah, his first round match with Shiozaki was taped but I'm not sure if it's online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lust Hogan Posted October 23, 2015 Report Share Posted October 23, 2015 I liked Fuchi vs. Chono 9/2/00. Some dislike Chono's performance but I thought the match was good. With the 7/17 Kojima vs. Tenryu match I enjoyed the build for that match. Kojima really wants to beat Tenryu so he gets Stan Hansen to teach him the ways of the lariat. I think he lariats watermelons or something. Later on towards the end of the match Kojima gets desperate and has to try the Hansen lariat to put Tenryu away. Fun stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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