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| Big Tuna | Dec 19 2012, 01:51 PM Post #81 |
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The Master and Ruler Of The World
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 9/5/1996 This is back to the kind of strategy that made AJPW famous. All through 1996, Misawa has been saving Jun or being the one to hand him wins, so the plan of Doc and his little buddy is to simply take Misawa out of the equation. They don't get to that until later, as the opening sets the stage of where everybody is. They also show that Akiyama's learned from the June match, as he uses his speed against Doc instead of trying to be a fucking hero. He's eventually isolated because he gets caught by that power. Ace continues to be at his ceiling, and in a match where he wasn't there with three of the all time best, he'd look actually great. Misawa gets in and now the gameplan comes in. Usually Doc builds to the Backdrop Driver, because if that's done, it ends the match, like when he won the belt from Misawa. But the first time he can here, he kills Misawa with it, and Akiyama has to tag back in. He is now forced into a 2 on 1, and gets aggressive too so he can survive until Misawa recovers, or he can get Ace alone, but it doesn't last long. Misawa gets back in, BUT DOC IMMEDIATELY HITS ANOTHER BACKDROP DRIVER! Ace hits the Doctor Bomb for 2, but then finally decides to do something of his own, and he hits the awesome Cobra Clutch Suplex on Akiyama to win the belts! I actually like this more than the June "classic", and would say that THIS is Ace's best match ever. ****1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Satoru Asako vs. Holy Demon Army/Yoshinari Ogawa, 9/28/1996 This is slightly held back by the young thirds, but they get a lot of hte themes of 1996 across. Akiyama trying to man up and having shocking success vs. Kawada, Kawada's slump, Taue's massive success, etc. Misawa is sort of in the background, but delivers when the spotlight calls for him to save Akiyama or dismantle Kawada to show Kawada's slump. Kawada simply cannot beat Akiyama, and it takes Taue taking Misawa out with a Chokeslam on the floor, Asako being tossed, and THREE Powerbombs from Kawada to put Akiyama down finally. *** Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [c] vs. Rob Van Dam [AJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship], 10/12/1996 I am pleased to see an actual defense from Kikuchi, as I assumed he lost it very quickly. RVD's trash talk is hilarious, but they have lots of cool spots, as RVD has started to develop his arsenal of good looking stuff. He finally has the signature airbrushed singlet instead of just a plain black one. Not a ton of story, just a cool exchange of spots for 15 minutes. Kikuchi rolls through a German Suplex try by RVD and gets a Victory Roll to win. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 19 2012, 03:39 PM Post #82 |
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Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 10/18/1996 Another hour draw! Like in 1995, they go for too long and it shows. But here, this is MUCH better because they have a great first 20 minutes and great final 20 minutes, with only the middle third being downtime. Great matwork to begin, and they start to get heavy with nearfalls before shutting it down again and working holds again. They're really good at working holds, but it comes off as blatant time killing and telegraphing of a draw due to how bang-bang-bang the usual style of the company is by now. Due to Kawada's storyline of 1996 of being in a huge slump, they also get to have him sort of working FIP here with Kobashi beating up his knee and Kawada being the one unable to end it at the end, which works way better here than in 1995. Still, they don't have 60 minutes worth of stuff. ***1/2 Holy Demon Army vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace, 11/22/1996 This is part of the year end RWTL again! This is great, as these teams finally meet. Kawada is still selling his leg a little bit, so the evil foreigners work it over, and it's Kawada selling a knee, you know what you're going to get. I've tried to compare it to Randy Savage or Bret Hart or Benoit or the other great knee sellers, but there's no comparison, Kawada is the best knee seller of all time. Great work by Doc and Ace on it. Taue again has to save Kawada in 1996. Finishing run is amazing, as it's Doc and Ace throwing everything at Kawada and just destroying him, but Taue keeps saving. Taue finally gets in to start killing Doc with stuff, and giving Kawada openings. Doc eats a Chokeslam, then the Chokeslam/Backdrop Driver, followed by Taue's Dynamic Kick, and Kawada finally reels off a Gamenguri of his own for the win. ***1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 19 2012, 10:37 PM Post #83 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army, 11/29/1996 This is great. There's no doubt about it. However, their match in December is so great that this great match is completely forgotten about. Which is sad, as this rules too. The main story is getting over the power of the Misawa comeback and final flurry, going into the final match in 1996. Akiyama is now able to take it to Kawada and Taue as almost an equal, even if he is not there yet. The HDA use the gameplan of taking Misawa out with the Doomsday Chokeslam, but this time, they also isolate Misawa to force Akiyama into a 2 on 1 later. They deliver an awesome beating, and Kawada looks euphoric at finally having something go right in 1996. But then it's Misawa, so he can do the comeback, while also recovering enough to watch young Akiyama's back on the hot tag. This time, Misawa and Akiyama are able to keep Taue out during the finishing run, and they clobber Kawada with stuff. Misawa wins with the Tiger Driver. ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army [1996 REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE FINALS], 12/6/1996 This is the climax of AJPW's peak years. Their WrestleMania X7, their ROH vs. CZW Cage of Death, etc. They have classics after this, but this is on the short short list for the best match in company history probably. I could go either way between this, the June 95 tag title match, and Misawa vs. Kawada in 94. All classic stories, but this uses the previous two to build to its climax. Akiyama starts off really hot, and in a little callback to June '95, he's the one cheap shotting Kawada off the apron now, putting over just how much Kawada's slump has cost him in the last 18 months. He's able to get back in the match without Misawa's help for once and this time is the one saving Misawa! There's great portions of Kawada vs. Misawa in the first half where Kawada winds up looking completely lost, and has another of his classic facial expressions getting across his frustration, before tagging in Taue, who actually can beat him. This match not only gets over how great all four men are, but the bond between Taue and Kawada. When Misawa saves his tag partners Kobashi and Akiyama and later Ogawa, there was always kind of a dickish way about how easily he did it, but when Taue saves Kawada and tries to help, it comes off like a best friend helping another. But yeah, Kawada is smoked by both Misawa and Akiyama in a way you don't expect this early on. He eats a Tiger Driver and then two Germans in a row from Misawa and Jun. He has an all time great sell where he pops up to try and FIGHTING SPIRIT~ it, but collapses on his ass and falls to the floor. They drag him in and Taue has to save him after a second Tiger Driver. Taue gets in, and the situation calls for Taue to pull out a fucking nuclear bomb to offset all the bombs dropped on Kawada. SO TAUE MURDERS AKIYAMA WITH THE FUCKING CHOKESLAM OFF THE APRON! HOLY SHIT YEAH! Misawa is now on his own without help, a beautiful reversal of the entire year, where both major teams tried to get rid of Misawa so Akiyama would be alone. The match was good, nearing great, before this, but Misawa's dying samurai selling of his inevitable defeat fueling him to fight even harder is some of the best stuff ever in pro wrestling on any continent. Kawada still has some problems putting it away, and Taue has to step back in. Taue tries ANOTHER Apron Chokeslam, but he can't get it. CAMERA ZOOMS BACK AND AKIYAMA IS HOLDING HIS LEG FROM THE FLOOR! FUCK YEAH! He gets killed in the ring, but tries to fight back. He eats the Chokeslam, but manages to stop them from getting Misawa with the Backdrop/Chokeslam combo. He fights them off and tries to shake Misawa, but it looks like fucking Simba trying to wake up Mufasa. He sacrifices himself to the combo, and then Kawada hits a Gamenguri and Backdrop Driver just to make sure. Kawada hits the Powerbomb on Misawa now, BUT HE KICKS OUT! Taue cheers Kawada on, and he immediately pulls him up. ANOTHER POWERBOMB, AND KAWADA ENDS HIS SLUMP BY PINNING MISAWA AND KAWADA AND TAUE FINALLY WIN THE LEAGUE! FUCK. YEAH. FUCK YEAH. ****3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 20 2012, 01:57 PM Post #84 |
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Steve Williams/Johnny Ace [c] vs. Holy Demon Army [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 1/17/1997 This is not as great as their November 1996 match, and not even great at all, but it's a big title match and I found it, so why not? The story is no longer about Kawada, because he's got his groove back and is back to kicking all the ass humanly possible. This is about Ace's failure as a partner, as when Doc hurts his arm, he is unable to step up to save the team, and they just get fucking dismantled. The problem with that is that it goes for like 30 minutes and it's not a story you can stretch for 30 minutes without sizable downtime, because Ace can't carry a match for that long. Williams finally gets back in at the end and assaults KAwada's arm on the floor, but it's not enough to stop Taue from beating Ace, and he does it with the Chokeslam. **3/4 Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue, 1/20/1997 This is absurdly and uniquely short. Total sprint that lasts under 5 minutes. Akiyama goes right after Taue, avoids everything, and hits the Jumbo Knee and an Exploder for the big big upset. It manages to both come off as a lucky pin, but also because Taue didn't take Akiyama as seriously as he should have. **1/2 Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 1/20/1997 This is probably the best match they ever had, and while the climax of AJPW's peak was at the end of 1996, this is most likely the final all time classic they had. I could be wrong, because I haven't seen as much from the 1997-2000 era, but that's what I recall. In their later matches, it became a mindless bombfest that went on too long, but here they have strategy and it feels warranted that they go 40+ minutes. Misawa starts off relatively hot after a short period of feeling each other out, and that makes sense. Kobashi is on the roll of his career, and Misawa didn't have the best 1996, and is coming off losing the Tag League pinfall to Kawada. And fuck sense, because it's just tons of awesome offense. TOPE SUICIDA. They go back and forth with cool stuff, and Misawa keeps retaining the advantage with elbows. Kobashi tries to turn the match into chops vs. elbows, but it doesn't work like he wants, and Misawa smokes him with elbows. The match picks up, and Misawa tries a Flying Forearm off the apron, BUT KOBASHI MOVES AND MISAWA HITS THE RAILING WITH HIS ARM! Kobashi now starts working over the arm, and Misawa sells incredibly well. He tries his comebacks, but they all use the forearms to create distance, so he just injures himself more, and in theory, Kobashi's plan would cut off that deadly final comeback. Kobashi goes back to the arm every time for like 10 minutes, before he makes the transition to using the hurt arm to distract Misawa so that he can drop bombs. Kobashi tries a Lariat, BUT MISAWA ELBOWS HIS ARM TO BLOCK! This evens it up somewhat, and they can move into a pure bombdropping section. Misawa is amazing at little sells to his arm throughout that always keep it on your mind. Kobashi does the same for a bit, but his damage wasn't to the same extent, so it makes sense that it goes away. They do a great job with exhaustion selling too, so the length means something. As I said, it comes down to a bombfest, and in these, it's about the bigger arsenal. At this point, Kobashi has almost as big of an arsenal and an advantage, but Misawa has the nuke. And when he gets the shot, he uncorks the Tiger Driver '91! He can't really cover well though, AND KOBASHI KICKS OUT! He's pretty much dead though, and Misawa has to sacrifice his bad arm with an ungodly Running Elbow to regain the belts. ****3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 21 2012, 01:45 AM Post #85 |
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Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 3/30/1997 CC 1997 is here! Fun match, and their first against each other since Kobashi became a solo act and since Akiyama got elevated. They haven't really fought since 94/95 either, so there's a lot of new tricks they have in store for each other. They're somewhat saving themselves for a future big match, which is understandable, but when they get going off the mat in the second half, it's still really amazing and brutal. Really fantastic finishing run of counters and big offense. Kobashi puts Akiyama down with his big Lariat. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada, 3/31/1997 Since this is a league match between the two, there's no point in advancing the story on a B-show, so they work a 30 minute draw. It's not their best draw in a CC tournament, that'd be 1995, nor is it their best match period in a a CC tournament, as that'd be 1993. It's two of the best ever throwing down for 30 minutes, so it's still great. It does show the trend AJPW is going in though, as there's almost no real deep classic AJPW style story to what they do. It's less cerebral than the great 1990-1996 work they both did, and more purely physical. They do some really neat new stuff though, like Kawada having a control seg working solely on the neck. Misawa was awesome at selling through body language, which should be a requirement for Ace-hood. This does a lot to keep Kawada's momentum going, as by the end, it's Misawa for once who is unable to put him away, and you get the feeling that the next time, Kawada might finally have this. ***3/4 The tournament ended with a three way tie between Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi. Usually, they'd have a final match, but this necessitates a round robin challenge deal, with each match in succession, going Misawa/Kobashi, Misawa/Kawada, and Kawada/Kobashi. Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi [1997 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS - MATCH #1], 4/19/1997 This is another 30 minute draw. It can't help but be a little underwhelming given the all time classic that was put on in their last match, but was still fucking great as balls. Misawa has to work the next match too, so he's trying to keep as healthy as he can, and tries to keep the match in deep freeze at points, because he knows he can beat Kobashi. Meanwhile, Kobashi is all urgent and shit because he gets to rest and because he has something to prove after losing the belt. Misawa breaks out lots of cool new shit, and then yeah, they obliterate each other's heads and necks in the final 10 or so minutes. They do stuff and the bell rings right after Misawa intercepts a Lariat with an elbow to fuck over Kobashi's arm. ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada [1997 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS - MATCH #2], 4/19/1997 Great booking, but too short to be a great match at 6 minutes. By default this makes it the least of their series. Kawada immediately comes out and begins laying waste to Misawa. The Man hangs in with some elbows and tries his comebacks, but Kawada has the advantage of being fresh, and for once, it allows him to cut off those deadly comebacks. Kawada hits the third Powerbomb in a row for the win. And the best part? Kawada's face as his hand is raised, because he knows his first pinfall win in a singles match over Misawa is going to be because Misawa just worked 30 minutes before it. Fuck that's good. **3/4 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi [1997 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS - MATCH #3], 4/19/1997 Points on the screen show Kawada at 2 and Kobashi at 1 for a draw. So Kawada can win the tournament with a draw here, but Kobashi needs a win in this match to win the whole thing. This explains why he is much more aggressive than Kawada initially. He goes for an attack on the leg of Kawada, since that has always worked in the past and he can't afford to waste time. He also smartly uses the leg to distract Kawada so that he can hit his big bombs, which came SO close to working on Misawa on 1/20, and since Kawada is just a little bit below Misawa, it should logically work on Kawada. But here's the thing, Kobashi also has a bad limb, and Kawada is even more desperate not to be denied after FINALLY winning a singles match over the prick, no matter how it happened, so he works that arm. It turns into this beautiful desperate throwing of bombs while both men also sell their limbs very well. There's a shocking lack of overkill in the finish too, which is nice. Kobashi has some wonderful wobbly KO'd on his feet selling, and stumbles into a Gamenguri and Kawada wins! ***3/4 Kawada is now the hottest he's ever been, and has been completely remade after his failures in 1995 and 1996. He won the Tag League after failing at it for 8 years in a row, he pinned Misawa to do it, he regained the Tag Titles with Taue, held Misawa to a draw in March where he got put over huge with the layout, pinned Misawa AGAIN and then pinned Kobashi to win his second Champion's Carnival, which is basically like AJPW's Royal Rumble in terms of prestige. The time to beat Misawa for the Triple Crown was now, and they would have made Kawada a legitimate star capable of carrying and drawing huge shows on his own without Misawa. But they didn't do it. Kawada's momentum never really reached this point again, the win over Misawa came a year too late and came after a year of mostly gimme opponents for Misawa, and then when he (Kawada) put Kobashi over soon after the Misawa win, it didn't mean as much because it wasn't there. We've reached the beginning of the end now, as much great shit as there still is to come over the next 2-3 years. |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 21 2012, 04:52 PM Post #86 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama, 5/27/1997 This is JIP so we only get like 8 minutes, but it's great. Classic Akiyama vs. young protege match, where Misawa is sporting enough to let the kid show his stuff, and because he's Misawa, Akiyama doesn't possess any weapon in his arsenal that can put him down, and he then begins his comeback once Akiyama has used everything he has. TONS of fire from Akiyama though, and he really makes this great with his frantic desperation. Jun kicks out of the Rolling Elbow and one Tiger Driver, so Misawa hits a second to win. ***1/4 Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 5/27/1997 This is also JIP, but with 11 minutes shown. Pretty good. Ace is again carried by all time greats while he is merely above average. This is generally great, but more in a "fun action" way than a "deep AJPW storytelling" way. Really amazing Taue/Kobashi final 5 minutes or so, which is what made this great. Kobashi wins with a Running Lariat to unfortunately rob the greatest team ever of the belts. *** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 6/6/1997 This is great, of course. It's pretty much the greatest singles match up of the generation, so it can't NOT be great. It's just too excessive at the end, and the booking of Misawa beating Kawada when Kawada was 100% ready and Misawa had run through everyone is so frustrating. As always, they have some cool new counters and spots. Kawada is borderline overconfident in his plan of exploding Misawa's head with Backdrop Drivers though, and it costs him, because he's unable to stop the final Misawa comeback. He tries to go exactly blow for blow with The Man, because after the last three times, he has it firmly in his head that he can beat Misawa by going right at him. And while he comes closer than ever, he can't put him down. Kawada has some more amazing moments at the end, as with all their title matches, of knowing he's beaten. Ref fucks up the finish, unfortunately. Kawada throws a last desperate punch, but collapses. He tries it again, but Misawa steps back now and completely drops him with an elbow. That was supposed to be 3 as Kawada does not kick out, but the ref stops before 3. They improvise as Misawa pulls up the dead weight into a German Suplex for the win. Booking was dogshit, but they pulled it off great. **** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 23 2012, 01:25 PM Post #87 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Akira Taue [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 7/25/1997 So yeah, this is another gimme defense, but it's two of the best of all time, so it is still great. Much like Kawada, Taue tries the plan of swarming Misawa at the start. And it works. You know, initially. To the point where most plans work against Misawa, because they fail to take into account the power of his comeback. Taue has the only other real nuclear bomb in AJPW at this point besides the Tiger Driver '91 though, so he tries to hit the Chokeslam off the apron, but it's well scouted by now, and in a singles match, Misawa's not going to be hit by it. The wheels fall off a little at the end, as they pass the clear climax and Misawa keeps pounding Taue with stuff for a few more minutes. He weirdly wins again with a German Suplex. *** Steve Williams/Gary Albright [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 8/26/1997 This is short! Doc's peak is over, but he's capable of bringing it in short matches like this. From the start, everyone goes wild and the champions get the jump by bombing Misawa at the start with their big power stuff. They have a solid control seg and then Akiyama has a great hot tag. Lots of fire and spunk as usual. The point is clearly, and stupidly since they're past their prime and don't mesh that well, to get the new gaijin team over, as Albright wipes out Misawa with a Dragon Suplex in only like 8 minutes to win. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Jun Akiyama [AJPW Triple Crown Championship] 9/6/1997 This is the only other non-gimme match of Misawa's reign. I mean, there's no way Akiyama is winning, but it could have been a much bigger deal. It's the rare mis-step from Misawa as Ace, as he treats this like any other match and Akiyama looks more like a generic midcarder due to his treatment here than the upper midcard next top guy that he'd been treated as since early 1997. Like Kawada in June, Akiyama never becomes the star he could have been as a result. Sure, he's still an all time great by now, but he's more in that Taue rung of a main event utility guy who always delivers than in a Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada rung. Still though, it's these two for a while, and the match is good. Misawa getting offended by a young guy trying to now take HIS spot like he did to Jumbo is so cool to see. Really cool idea in the finish, as for now, it's been like 2-3 years of these big epic matches where guys like Kobashi, Taue, Kawada, Doc, etc. have realized at the end that they're fucked against Misawa's onslaught off his comeback. Here, Jun is too young to think he's not unstoppable, so he keeps getting up and looking like he still believes he has a chance, and it's kind of endearing. Misawa wins with a second Tiger Driver in a row. ***1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 23 2012, 09:06 PM Post #88 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada/Hiroshi Hase vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama/Akira Taue, 9/15/1997 This is a really fun trios incredibles match. It's great seeing Misawa and Kawada together again, and to see Kawada vs. Taue again. Kobashi and Akiyama also work great together again, previewing their future team in 1998-1999. Hase jumped from NJPW to AJPW in 1997, but didn't do a ton of note before this. This is needlessly long though, as they did not need one hour. Tons of really fun interactions, and they did a great job building up Kobashi/Misawa as the next title match, as Kobashi kept getting the best of him. But god damn, one hour was excessive. They did a mostly great job pacing it though, as the wheels didn't fall off until like 45-50 minutes. Good build in the first segments then great control work on both sides, then a great "finishing run", which ended up being like 35 minutes long. Still, they got like 20 minutes of great stuff before it got to be too much. Kobashi trying to help Taue hit Misawa with the Chokeslam off the apron AND KAWADA SAVING MISAWA FROM IT was so cool. I liked Misawa/Kobashi and love Misawa/Akiyama and Holy Demon Army is the best tag team ever, but fuck, Misawa/Kawada were such a cool tag team. Kawada saving Misawa from the pin on finishers from Kobashi, Jun, AND Taue was awesome, and then he slaps him in the back of the head and yells at him to tag in. After the save, he has this look on his face and it's all like "NAH FUCK THAT, NOBODY PINS THIS COCKSUCKER BUT ME". This is the second best AJPW draw of the decade, after the October 95 HDA vs. Kobashi/Misawa one. Things pick up big time in the final moments, and then the draw happens. ***3/4 Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace vs. Holy Demon Army, 10/11/1997 Kobashi and Ace are now the champions, and thank god that's not online, because them vs. Doc/Albright sounds horrible. Kawada does his thing and is the greatest, but this is more of a Taue/Ace match, meaning it's mostly amazing, since Taue can get something great out of Ace, as he is also fucking great. Kawada and Taue adapt their game plan for Misawa tag matches here, taking Kobashi out early, since that's what worked earlier in 1997 to take the belts off of Ace and Doc. Kobashi comes back though, symbolically putting him up there with Misawa in a BRILLIANT idea to build up the Misawa/Kobashi title match later in the month. Also loved how Kobashi vs. Kawada carried the action while Taue carried the psychology. Ace was also present. Horribly, the story at the end has him manning up and actually beating Taue with his shitty Cobra Clutch Suplex. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 10/21/1997 Undoubtedly great, just not at the level of the January match. Each match from here gets more excessive, but I like this the best so far of their non-1/20/97 matches so far. They basically just did spots here, but did enough cool stuff in a logical enough sequence that it worked great. Really great subtle story too, where Kobashi has a taped up leg again and sacrifices it on big stuff like dives and floor moves and the Moonsault in the first 2/3rds to weaken Misawa, but since his gambit fails, he's left with less mobility than usual against a Misawa who hasn't thrown all his bombs yet, so he's kind of a sitting duck. The moment that turned this from "great" to "classic" is at about 25 or so minutes in, Kobashi is limping as he tries to get up, and Misawa looks and nods and smiles little, sort of relieved to be able to be all like "yeah I fucking got this". It then went back to just "great" when the finishing run went on too long. Tiger Driver '91 puts Kobashi away this time, since the arm of Misawa wasn't hurt like in January. ***3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 24 2012, 02:11 PM Post #89 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace, 11/23/1997 RWTL time once again. This is a quality match to be sure, but it's not overly amazing, as it's a b-show effort. Too much Ace and not enough of the three all-time greats here. The Kobashi/Ace team has pretty much no chemistry at all as a unit, but the Kobashi/Misawa and Kobashi/Akiyama stuff is amazing. Kobashi vs. Akiyama especially emerges here as a super awesome pairing, and you understand why Misawa intended that to be the next Misawa/Kawada promotion carrying rivalry, before the split into NOAH in 2000. The focus was AGAIN on Misawa's neck, which both allows for Misawa selling and an Akiyama hot tag, so that was the best possible layout. Finishing run is surprisingly great. They managed to make me think Ace had a shot at beating Misawa unless Akiyama could save, which was shocking. He did save though, and it allowed Misawa to be Misawa, and he ended the match with a Tiger Driver. ***1/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki, 11/23/1997 Hakushi and Hayabuda were brought in for the Real World Tag League this year, and they have this really really fun match to show for it. Kawada and Taue have NO patience for the indy guys' acrobatics and flippy stuff, and unleash a really insanely violent mauling. Kawada pissed off and mauling someone is one of the best things possible in wrestling history. HDA is clearly winning, and it's never in doubt, but the journey was SO MUCH FUN. The FMW guys have a great finishing run with their cool highspots before they get killed. Hakushi surprisingly survives a Stretch Plum and Lariat from Kawada, and then the Powerbomb ends him. **** Holy Demon Army vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace, 11/27/1997 Only 8 minutes are shown of a 30 minute draw, but it's very good. Lots of quality Kawada/Kobashi work. Ace's mannerisms to hype the crowd up look like a young Ultimate Warrior, shaking around and looking like a lunatic, but not expertly refined as Warrior's insane motions became. Ace is about to maybe beat Kawada, but thankfully, the bell rings. Cannot wait for this horrible push to end. Fuck you, Mrs. Baba. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army, 11/28/1997 Hey, this is great! This is also a preview of the 1997 finals. They probably never should have ran this after the 1996 tag league, but they didn't have any other superteams, and it was either this or a Kobashi/Ace Finals match, and Jesus Christ, no thank you. Still, this was these four. They injure Akiyama's back on the floor, and he gets back in some 10 minutes later, and puts on an awesome selling performance. This of course leads to great Kawada and Taue work upon the back. Misawa has a typically great hot tag, and to the surprise of nobody ever, the finishing run delivers. Jun gets back in and keeps selling really well. And because he's actually gutting it out and not blubbering and crying like a young Kobashi, you can actually get behind him. They keep Misawa on the floor and destroy Akiyama's back with finishers now. He stays alive, but Kawada knocks him out with the Stretch Plum and pins him to win. **** Mitshuaru Misawa/Jun Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army [1997 REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE FINALS], 12/5/1997 This is really disappointing. It's more good to low level great, but because of these four and them still putting forth a great league match, you want more. Takes a while to get going, doesn't have the great story of Akiyama's back like 11/28 or any of the great 1996 storylines. After like 15 minutes, they finally go back to Akiyama's back. He sells well, but they repeat tons of shit from the last match, and it feels like a repeat. Finishing run was really great though. Ends kind of abruptly too, as Akiyama falls to Taue's Dynamic Kick out of nowhere. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 24 2012, 05:28 PM Post #90 |
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Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace [c] vs. Holy Demon Army [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 1/25/1998 This is great, obviously, but Ace holds it back from being overly great. His peak of work ethic and motivation was clearly in 1996, and he's been declining since. This has a lot more Kobashi in than Ace though, which is why it can achieve greatness. After the initial stuff, Kobashi's knee becomes the focus, and Kawada and Taue are old pros by now when it comes to dismantling Kobashi's knee. Ace's hot tag was dogshit, but it didn't last long, and Kobashi got back in to sell a lot. This time Kobashi is the one getting caught at the end, which makes little sense, because he's the future Ace and Johnny Ace is a useless sack of shit, but hey, Mrs. Baba and what not. Taue goes way out of his league and hits a Flying Dynamic Kick off the top to pin Kobashi for their rightful titles back. *** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Jun Akiyama [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 1/26/1998 Hey, this is great! Akiyama comes out of this much better than in their September match. It's shorter too, meaning less dead time. Akiyama is more of a dick too, which is nice. He has the balls to use the Tiger Driver on Misawa, and gets his ass kicked for it. He breaks out some cool new stuff like a Diving Forearm to the back of the neck, a proto-Angel's Wings, and the Blue Thunder Driver. Awesome finishing run, and because Akiyama has Misawa really well scouted, Misawa invents the Emerald Flowsion to win. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Maunakea Mossman vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace/Johnny Smith, 2/14/1998 This is to build up Misawa/Ace, but Ace contributes almost nothing to this being good. Mossman looks good, and would become future AJPW 2000s star Taiyo Kea, but since this is about the 1990s, he's just a random dude. Kobashi vs. Akiyama gain is SO FUCKING GOOD. Smith is a Benoit clone, but he's not awful or anything and hangs alright with the top guys. This fails to be great because the end has too much Ace, and he beats Akiyama with a Cobra Clutch Suplex. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 25 2012, 12:14 AM Post #91 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, 3/1998 The exact date is unknown, as this is the Carnival yet again. This is their last match ever, which is a shame, as they had a truly epic main event in them once Akiyama became a main eventer. That happened AFTER the AJPW/NOAH split though, so goddamnit. Wrestling in the 2000s in Japan would have been so much cooler if Makoto Baba died before Giant Baba. But this is 1998, and they are both still alive, and these two still have a really great sub-20 minute affair. This goes exactly how you would expect, and it is great. They have their closest match yet, as Akiyama comes VERY close to the win. Kawada winds up just about murdering him with a Brainbuster to end it though. ***1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada, 4/1/1998 Hey, this is great! How is that even surprising anymore? Obvious 30 minute draw. They both do great neck work and have their usual near spots and counters and exchanges, but this is very much one of those "Misawa and Kawada do stuff" matches. They're incredible at never making it feel like they're blatantly filling time usually, but that happened here in spades. Misawa going to the traditionally bad leg of Kawada for an opening was great. They didn't really do much after that though, and were clearly saving for their Tokyo Dome match in May. *** Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 4/1998 This is a much better 30:00 draw. They spend the match firmly establishing them as equals, which goes to both set up their team and big title match later in the year. Solid matwork, before they move into a story, and then into throwing some bombs. Akiyama has some great knee work on Kobashi after the first 10 minutes. Jun has great and varied knee work that makes the time fly by before the final 5-10 minutes of bomb throwing. Kobashi is a little better than Jun and more experienced, but Akiyama has the knee to create openings, and they keep going to that idea. It allows him to get to the draw. ***3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama [1998 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS], 4/18/1998 Akiyama lucked into this by getting draws with all the top guys and beating everyone beneath him, and Misawa is Misawa, so he got in fairly easily. Misawa comes in with a bad leg, so Akiyama goes after it if he is to have any hope. Misawa knows this, so he goes wild with elbows whenever Akiyama tries it. Akiyama finally gets to the knee and goes to town, much like he did to Kobashi. Finishing run is awesome of course. Akiyama uses the knee for openings, but still lacks a big offensive nuke to put down Misawa. Akiyama survives the two Tiger Drivers, but falls to the Running Elbow. **** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 25 2012, 01:02 AM Post #92 |
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These two matches are from one of AJPW's two Tokyo Dome shows in 1998 and 1999. The first Dome show on 5/1/1998 probably represents the peak of AJPW's business in the 90s, as well as the climax of the main story for most of the last 8 years in the main event. Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase, 5/1/1998 Fun bombfest. Match is hardly a classic, but it's two energetic guys with great offensive arsenals and good mat skills doing their thing for 15-20 minutes. Akiyama invents the Wrist-Clutch Exploder to seal the deal and get his first real big singles victory. *** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 5/1/1998 This is it. They have a few more matches between now and the 2000 split, but this is the end of the 8 year story arc. Should have come a year sooner, but this is the match that represents that Misawa's time as the sole Ace is over, as it's a total deconstruction of him and his style and the way he usually wins. Kawada understands more than anyone that his final comeback has to be shut down, but he's known that for 4 years and been unable to do it on his own. Misawa comes in with a somewhat hurt knee from the CC Finals vs. Akiyama, so he tries to work on that. But first, Misawa immediately tries to nuke Kawada with big stuff from the start, the act of a guy who knows he might be fucked if he lets Kawada do his thing. He's selling the knee from the start though, and it's a matter of time before Kawada goes after it, forcing Misawa to do that kind of thing early. Kawada initially goes for the neck, since Misawa's had a week neck for at least a year now, but the elbows allow Misawa to fight back and start to drop bombs, so Kawada goes after the bad leg to save himself. And when he gets on the leg, Kawada proves he can destroy a leg too, which makes sense since he's one of the 5 best wrestlers of all fucking time. But Misawa can survive because of his elbows, and he can fight back and get Kawada off the leg with his elbows. There's this great feeling of hate in the air, as Misawa gets more and more pissed as Kawada's plan gets smarter and smarter. But anyways, yeah Misawa uses the elbows for distance, SO KAWADA ATTACKS THE ARM! FUCK YEAH STRATEGY! Before this, Misawa was landing three or four blows for every one of Kawada's, but the arm and knee injuries allow Kawada to hit three or four kicks for every blow of Misawa's! GENIUS. Kawada puts on a Misawa level finishing stretch, constantly gutting it out and getting up with FIGHTING SPIRIT~ to knock Misawa down even worse before selling the pain. Misawa tries, but he can't throw large flurries of elbows, and his knee is fucked up, so by the end, all he can do is try to counter Kawada to get distance, but Kawada isn't letting him get distance for his usual comeback. Kawada finally wrestles the perfect match with some of the best strategy of all time. Misawa kicks out of one Powerbomb, but Kawada hits a second, AND KAWADA FUCKING PINS MISAWA TO WIN THE TITLES! YEAH! ****1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 26 2012, 10:53 PM Post #93 |
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Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 6/5/1998 This is good again, but that fuck Ace holds it back from being anything but lower-level great. Isolating Ace was a smart layout, as it prevents an Ace hot tag, which is just so fucking bad. It also allows Ace's contribution to be getting killed and allows a Kobashi hot tag. They had several amazing Kobashi/Kawada interludes, to build to their title match a week after this. Later on, the evil Kobashi/Ace team works on Taue's knee in a great piece of revenge that also shows off how Kobashi is no longer the weak underling of 1993-5. It's not that long, but he sells well on the transition, and then the teams have their best finishing run against each other. To the point where it's what makes this great. Kobashi gets stuck alone at the end, and eventually gets beat with the Dynamic Bomb. ***1/4 Toshiaki Kawada [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 6/12/1998 The result is asinine, but the match is superb. Great opening matwork to begin, and this is very clearly a Kawada style epic. The LAST Kawada style epic, unfortunately. Matwork to establish the themes, which is that Kobashi has raw power on his side and never quits, but Kawada is faster and smarter. There's struggle over everything, and they tease spots early before hitting them later on. Kawada has amazing work on the neck, and yeah. Great playing off of previous matches too with the Stretch Plum and Kobashi trying to go for the knee. INCREDIBLE finishing run, full of payoffs from previous stuff in the match and incredible wobbly Kawada selling. Kawada injured Kobashi's arm in the final third and had amazing work on that. Kobashi sacrifices his arm with Lariats, and...pins Kawada with one to win the title. God fucking damnit. ****1/4 Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Jun Akiyama [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 7/24/1998 Really great match, their first epic together. Akiyama has the Wrist-Clutch Exploder, but Kobashi is stronger, has more experience, and especially has more big match experience. So Akiyama goes to what got him the farthest against Misawa, and goes to work on Kobashi's habitually hurt knee. They have their typically great forearm/chop exchanges, and Kobashi sells the knee well. Akiyama goes to it to cut off every comeback Kobashi attempts for most of the match, until Kobashi has out break out the big guns to prevent that. It allows him to make a real comeback now, and it's a very Misawa-esque match layout, and Kobashi doesn't seem out of place, proving he has it inside him to be the Ace now that he's cut out all his crying and overly emotional bullshit from the mid 90s. Great finishing run, and Kobashi wins with a Burning Lariat. **** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 26 2012, 11:49 PM Post #94 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Takao Omori/Yoshinari Ogawa, 8/23/1998 Misawa is back now because due to the booking over the last year and a half, the company doesn't draw as well without him. This isn't super great, since Asako and Ogawa and Omori are there with three of the famous five, but they don't embarrass themselves or anything, and Kawada mauling a opening match guy is a lot of fun. And hey yeah, Misawa and Akiyama vs. Kawada delivers lots of great sequences and spots and counters. Ogawa is fun as cheap shot taking sneaky Japanese heel Waltman, but lacks the insane bumping ability or offensive arsenal to hang for a long time by himself. Finish is horrible, as he manages a roll up on Akiyama to win. This is the debut of Akiyama's weakness to flash pins that is a fun thing in the 2000s, but it's another of those reasons Akiyama never became the Ace he could have been. Even if in 2012, he's clearly the best wrestler in Japan. **3/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Kenta Kobashi/Maunakea Mossman, 8/23/1998 Taue is next in line for a shot at Kobashi's belt due to the pin in June, so this serves as your traditional build up tag. Kawada is still mad about losing though, meaning he kills everyone. Mossman shows promise as a face in peril, but that can also be chalked up to him being against the greatest tag team of all time. Taue vs. Kobashi is built up very well, and HDA also get to do their thing, as they keep Kobashi out long enough to pound the less experienced and battle hardened Mossman with stuff. Taue wins with the Chokeslam. ***1/4 Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Akira Taue [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 9/11/1998 Kawada's plan of trying to outlast Kobashi failed, and Akiyama's plan of trying to outsmart him also failed. So Taue, as his custom with stories like this, goes in the entirely opposite direction and immediately goes after Kobashi with brute force. It didn't work against Misawa, but he's Misawa. Taue bets on Kobashi's threshold being lower, but it's only a little bit lower, so he survives the initial onslaught. As with Misawa, he then goes for the nuke in the Apron Chokeslam, BUT TAUE ACTUALLY HITS IT NOW! YES! Kobashi is basically dead, but he keeps barely getting to the ropes to survive in the ring. He hits a Lariat, a Moonsault, and another Lariat to win. Only real flaw was how the Apron Chokeslam wasn't immediate death, because that move should be. ***1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 27 2012, 01:03 PM Post #95 |
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Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 10/11/1998 This is the first big match as a team for the Kobashi/Akiyama team, named Burning, and my god does it deliver. It's these four for 30 minutes. Burning is like a babyface HDA, as finally the babyface side has something close to a team of equals. Great matwork to stat from everyone. This is also somewhat of a return to 1996, as Kawada gets outgunned and Taue gets to play enforcer again, which is fun. They attack Akiyama's knee for a few minutes, and it's Kawada and Taue, so the destruction of the knee was great, even if it didn't mean that much. It allows Kobashi to face a 2 on 1 though, and the HDA's usual strategy looks to play through, but Akiyama comes back and Kawada for once faces the 2 on 1. Great finishing run, and Taue again plays enforcer, and manages to turn the 2 on 1 back into HDA's favor and Kawada neutralizes Kobashi on the floor. Taue hits several Chokeslams and Dynamic Bombs, and Kawada gets in to finish it with a Brainbuster and Gamenguri. ***1/2 Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 10/31/1998 This is almost classic. It has some incredible storytelling and big spots, but it just goes on too long at 40 minutes for the move heavy bombfest style that they were working. The story in the first 2/3rds is that Misawa now cannot handle Kobashi. After being so soundly deconstructed at the Dome, Misawa no longer seems like The Man as this starts, as Kobashi gets the best of all the strike exchanges and dominates the match in terms of offense. Misawa's facials are fantastic at getting his anger at this across. They pace the match well for this 30ish minute period, it builds well ,and they never blow their load. Misawa gets to the point where everything is being blocked and he's much more weakened than Kobashi when Kobashi begins dropping bombs to try and end it, so he needs a nuclear bomb to even it out and then some. SO MISAWA HITS A TIGER DRIVER OFF THE APRON TO THE FLOOR JESUS FUCK. From here, it's ridiculously slow for the next 7 minutes. Misawa now is able to go wild with his elbows and head drops, but they spend more time just laying around after stuff, going beyond good selling. Misawa finally ends it with a Running Elbow to win the titles. ***1/2 Fun fact! Kobashi was supposed to hold the belt until March 1999, in which case he would lose it to Vader, who debuts on the next tour. But due to tickets and what not declining because Kobashi merely beat a less than red hot Kawada, then established as not on Misawa's level after 1997, for the title, Misawa was the only real drawing card until then, so they had to bring him back early and put the belt back on him. |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 27 2012, 02:28 PM Post #96 |
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Vader/Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa, 11/14/1998 Real World Tag League is back! Hilariously, Vader and Hansen protested teaming together because they didn't think anyone would be able to beat them realistically. Which is probably fair. Vader is super motivated, getting to work real matches for the first time in a few years, and it breaths some life into old man long past his prime Hansen too, which is great! Ogawa is Misawa's new partner, and yeah, holy downgrade. This is a coming out party of sorts for the monster team. They totally steamroll Ogawa out to begin, and Misawa just gets fucking hammered for the 7 minutes this goes. He fights as well as can be expected from the Ace, even an aging one, but gets hit with the Lariat, some Vader Chokeslams and Powerbombs, and then soundly gets beaten with the Vader Bomb! FUCK YEAH! *** Holy Demon Army vs. Vader/Stan Hansen, 11/18/1998 The great thing about Hansen being there is that because he's old and past his prime, these matches don't go that long, so there is no room for filler at the 11 minutes this went. AND HOLY SHIT, KAWADA VS. VADER IS FUCKING HAPPENING. And good lord, it delivers. Vader and Taue also have some surprisingly decent stuff. Kawada is a genius when it comes to putting Vader over as a monster while also making himself come off as super badass. Vader turns the HDA's typical plan around on them, taking Taue out of commission with a Powerbomb on the floor. Kawada tries to fight, but eats several big Vader bombs (not Vader Bombs), and walks into the Lariat from Hansen for kind of an upset! ***1/4 Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Vader/Stan Hansen, 11/21/1998 ALSO GREAT! Akiyama and Kobashi vs. Vader are both really fantastic, and motivated Hansen vs. both men also delivers. Burning had to do constant double teams to get Vader in any kind of bad position, and when that failed, they tried to just keep him on the apron or the floor while they teamed up on old Hansen. Problem was, Vader is back in prime form now, and one man alone cannot contain him, so he breaks through. He does the work for Hansen at points, while also keeping Kobashi at bay, and Hansen wipes out Akiyama with a Lariat for another win! ***1/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama, 12/2/1998 Hey, this is great! Sort of a b-level performance since there's no need to waste big story advancements or cool new counters and exchanges on a show like this when these teams are practically guaranteed to have a big time rematch in the future. Still, all the pairings worked, and they had lots of cool stuff to tide you over and make you want the rematch even more. Great finishing run, and Akiyama gets some revenge by pinning Taue with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder. *** Vader/Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [1998 REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE FINALS], 12/5/1998 So yeah, this was great again! Kobashi and Akiyama cannot match power with the big guys, but by evading them and using speed and double teams, that is their only hope of survival, let alone winning. Great face in peril performance by Akiyama, and Hansen and Vader were more than willing to just fucking slaughter him to make it work. AWESOME finishing run, and a great finish too. Vader is about to whip Kobashi into a Lariat, but Akiyama hits Hansen with a Flying Forearm to the back of the neck from up top, and he falls into a Kobashi Lariat for the win. ***1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 30 2012, 10:26 PM Post #97 |
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Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 1/7/1999 Hey, it's AMAZING! Shocking! This is JIP, but 19 minutes still air, so it's just a little clip, and actually helps, as it's 19 minutes of pure storytelling and action. Kobashi has a face injury that's taped up around his eye, so to make sure the team of face kickers doesn't do anything, Burning begins by targeting Kawada's notoriously bad leg. He sells really well, since he's fucking Kawada. Taue puts on another great performance as the enforcer due to the bad knee, but when HDA takes over, they're just pissed off now and Kawada of course goes after the injury as only Kawada can. Akiyama has his usual fiery awesome hot tag, but he gets cut off and isolated. Kobashi makes a sweet hot tag too, and Taue adopts everything to target his face, including inventing the Reverse Chokeslam. This allows Akiyama to finally come through for Kobashi on saves and turning the tide, which does a lot to make this seem like a team of equals as intended. Kobashi unfortunately ends the final HDA reign of the 1990s with the Burning Lariat to Taue. ****1/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jinsei Shinzaki, 1/15/1999 Holy fucking what? This is a real match? Misawa/Kawada is being built up for the TC, so this did a fine job of that. Hakushi is obviously the weak link, and Kawada and Taue again treat him like the most unworthy piece of shit. Misawa vs. Kawada is obviously great. Their story is done, but they still have the greatest rivalry of their generation and are magic together. In classic HDA style, they force the weak link to be the hot tag after working over Misawa, so that he will fall into a 2 on 1. He performs admirably, and the finishing run is great. Kawada predictably wins over Shinzaki with a Powerbomb. *** Vader vs. Kenta Kobashi, 1/15/1999 YEAH! These two work great together, and Kobashi now being baffled by a stronger power wrestler in his company is great. Vader pretty much smokes him, and it is glorious. They'll do better in 2000, but yeah, good power match. Kobashi kicked out of the Vader Bomb, since that's what he does, so Vader murdered him with a Big Splash off the middle rope to win. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 1/22/1999 Not their best, but it's still fucking great. It's best known for two individual moments, the first of which is Kawada BREAKING HIS FOREARM BECAUSE HE HIT A ROLLING BACK CHOP TO MISAWA'S NECK SO HARD. He is obviously useless for a little bit, BUT THEN CARRIES ON FOR ANOTHER 20 MINUTES. GOOD LORD. A lot like their 1997 match in that there's not a ton of story, but they have enough new counters and ideas to make it great. Doesn't count as a story, but Kawada doing for the legs and arms like at the Tokyo Dome and Misawa cutting him off, having learned his lesson, was great. Kawada had these incredible failed FIGHTING SPIRIT~ sells. The second big moment comes when Kawada cannot lift Misawa all the way up for a Powerbomb due to his broken arm and invents the GANSO BOMB instead. He then hits a Brainbuster for the win. ***3/4 Kawada will never defend this due to his broken arm, and the title is vacated in February. |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 5 2013, 04:53 PM Post #98 |
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Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Mitshuaru Misawa/Yoshinari Ogawa [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 3/6/1999 This is on the short list for best Ogawa match ever. BURNING treating him like the useless plate of shit that he is was nice. Misawa puts out another incredible performance, as not only is he now in a fight with Kobashi over who the Ace is, but he has to work twice as hard, since Akiyama and Kobashi can both steamroll Ogawa. Ogawa hangs on through trickery and cheating and speed, and it's a fun change of pace. Them having Ogawa, this ratfaced little shit, be the FIP against Burning was a bad move, since everybody loves Kobashi and Akiyama and nobody likes Ogawa. It'd be like X-Pac working FIP in 2000 against Rock and Jericho. Kobashi and Akiyama ruled at the control seg though, so whatever. Match dragged in the middle at a point, but it picked up a lot at the end. Akiyama finally ends Ogawa's bullshit with an Exploder to win. *** Vader vs. Akira Taue [Vacant AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 3/6/1999 This was fun. There's a certain ceiling for a Vader/Taue match, as Vader is a more straightforward power guy and works best against other power guys or strikers, and Taue is a very psych-heavy guy. They worked with what they had well, as Vader kills Taue with his strength, and Taue has to try and muster enough strength to lift Vader. It's Vader, so his assaults are fantastic and violent. Taue rules as usual too. It's really only a matter of time though, and Vader wins the belts with a Powerbomb. ***1/4 Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, 3/28/1999 This is part of the CC tournament, so it doesn't touch their two big 1999 title matches. That being said, it's the best big man of the 1990s against the best Ace of the 1990s for 12 minutes as a primer for their May title match. Vader mauls Misawa early and often, and he spends most of the match selling the otherworldly ass beating that the champion dishes out. Misawa has some comebacks, but Vader keeps swatting him down like a fly and pretty much beats Misawa into corpse-hood 10 years early. Misawa is able to get out of a Powerbomb though and he gets a lucky Running Elbow for a flash pin that Vader kicks out of immediately after 3. ***1/2 Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 4/4/1999 Another great preview of their 2000s work. This is their only match as teammates, so there's more learned stuff here, but not as much outright hate. They do lots of great strike exchanges and big moves and the stuff you want from Kobashi vs. Akiyama though, so whatever. Kobashi wins with a Lariat. ***1/4 Vader vs. Kenta Kobashi [1999 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS], 4/16/1999 This is even better than in January, as they have less time to fuck around and jump right into the slugfest everyone wants. Vader mauling Kobashi is great, and Kobashi fights back like a man instead of his bullshit crying and pretend fighting spirit stuff from 1993-1997. Still, Vader gives him too much here, as he should be killing everyone and working even with nobody. They also go a little wild with the kickouts at the end, as Kobashi survives a Powerbomb and Vader Bomb. Vader then hits the Running Body Attack for kind of an anti-climactic finish. ***1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 5 2013, 08:39 PM Post #99 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroshi Hase, 5/2/1999 This is the return to the Tokyo Dome for AJPW and Kawada's return from injury. This is great, as it's Kawada vs. Hase. It's a showcase for Kawada's incredible GOAT-level selling mostly, as he repeatedly has these unique and varied sells of Hase's big bombs. This also has lots of good matwork too, as Kawada gets to work with somebody who can really go on the mat and when not pressured to deliver a big epic, he'd rather build a match up from the mat. Finishing run is really great, and has nothing egregious, which is a miracle for post 1998 AJPW. They had a great little story as well, where Kawada was hesitant to use his forearm that was previously injured, but when he has to at the end due to Hase neutralizing his leg strength, he risks it and it pays off. Kawada wins with the Brainbuster. ***3/4 Vader [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 5/2/1999 This fucking pairing. I believe every Ace needs a Monster to slay. Hogan and Savage had Andre. Bret had Diesel and Yoko. Cena had Umaga. Joe and Danielson had Morishima. Super Dragon had Joe. Misawa has a rogues league of guys that most Aces would kill for in Kawada, Taue, Kobashi, Akiyama, Jumbo, Hansen, Doc, Gordy, etc. But he never had that monster, the guy who laid waste to everyone else until the Ace stepped up and cemented that he is The Man. Vader is that monster, and they have a perfect chemistry together. I love some Vader/Sting, truly, but I don't see how anyone can watch this and say Vader/Misawa isn't the best Vader pairing ever. Vader destroys Misawa, he sells like a motherfucker, they use the size difference to their advantage to build drama, etc. This was my model when writing Vader/Benoit in 2000, which is still one of the best things I've ever written. Misawa takes more risks than he's taken in most of the last decade just to stand a chance. Vader eventually gets frustrated by his inability to catch Misawa at points, and it causes him to make mistakes and overreaching by going to the top. It costs him twice, and allows Misawa to get a last ditch pair of Running Elbows for the win and the title. ***3/4 Around this time, after Giant Baba's death in January 1999, Misawa was given the book and he went about trying to remedy the lack of other big name guys. He does so by elevating the NO FEAR team of Takayama and Omori in a good news/bad news situation that gave us Takayama, one of the best Japanese guys of the 2000s, but also forced an Omori push for a few years. He also brought in some newer gaijins in June. Unfortunately, Mrs. Baba still had power. Mitsuharu Misawa/Akira Taue vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi, 6/4/1999 Misawa/Kobashi is happening AGAIN in June 1999, as AJPW is terrified of going outside these four, I guess. Still though, this can't help but be great, even if not on the level of the HDA vs. M/K stuff. Not a ton of story, just lots of fun exchanges. Kawada/Misawa is fun again, and Kawada/Taue delivers in that rare match up. Taue cannot help but go down after a Gamenguri from Kawada and a Lariat from Kobashi. *** Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Johnny Ace/Mike Barton [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 6/9/1999 Barton is the former Bart Gunn, and he actually manages to carry Ace. This is surprising at the time, but I remember him having a shockingly great Hardcore Title match vs. Bob Holly earlier in 1999, so perhaps not. Either way, it's clearly a case of something just clicking with a guy one day, as he's dogshit all through the Smoking Gunns run, and every match he's in after that, he seems to impress. And yeah of course Burning brings the goods. Ace is...Ace is there too as the other three are great. He's back to just being a warm body instead of a contributor like in 1996-7. Barton is a great FIP and has some awesome desperation comebacks. Ace's hot tag is shitty, but it's not long and starts the finishing run. Barton lands some surprise kidney punches on Akiyama to turn the tide, and Ace beats Akiyama with the Cobra Clutch Suplex?! WHAT?! BURNING was a fucking money superteam, and this American team, while certainly wrestling out of their league in the performance here, has no right to beat them. Poor fucking Akiyama. You look at him in 1996 and wonder why he never became a huge fucking star on the level of Jumbo, Misawa, or Kobashi, and then you watch 1997-1999. *** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 6/11/1999 This never needed to happen, and never should have happened. Akiyama could have been elevated more with this title defense. The story told in 1997-8 between Misawa and Kobashi was beautiful, and set up a fourth match in which Kobashi overcomes Misawa to become the Ace. But they gave them another match before the time was right for that, so they worked an overlong forced epic, not committing really to any story between them and it just being two dudes wrestling. They go 45 minutes and it's a "top this" match that peaks at about 25-30 minutes. They then keep going and egh, whatever. This is their worst match ever together and THE match you point to as the peak of late 90s AJPW excess. Misawa wins with the Emerald Frozion. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Jan 5 2013, 08:56 PM Post #100 |
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The Master and Ruler Of The World
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, 7/17/1999 This is a 7 minute slugfest, but it's more effective than 45 minutes of Misawa/Kobashi at getting both men over. Takayama's push has begun, and he hangs with Kawada in terms of violence, and sells very well. They do lots of great little touches to establish the midcarder vs. veteran story, and Kawada sells very well to put over young Takayama. Some really fine matwork happens as well. Very much a shootstyle-y match, which Kawada proved himself to be great at in 1995. Takayama fucks up though trying to head kick with Fucking Kawada, and is knocked out and to the floor with one. Kawada wins by count out in another AJPW rarity. ***1/2 Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Vader/Gary Albright, 7/23/1999 Awesome 15 minutes. Akiyama vs. Vader emerges as a great match, and like the 1998 RWTL, there's a fun power vs. striking story going on. Kobashi has a mask on to protect his broken nose like a pussy, and Vader OBVIOUSLY goes fucking wild on that. Kobashi and Akiyama both make fine faces in peril and hot tags, showing the versatility of this team. Finishing run is great, but I would have liked more Akiyama, as it was all Kobashi doing stuff. Great babyface finish, as Albright hits a Big Avalanche, but Kobashi runs out with a fighting spirit Lariat to win. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 7/23/1999 Much like the last TC title match, this is the worst title match they've had. Total lack of any story and just a go-go-go greatest hits compilation. Of course, it's much better than Misawa/Kobashi in June, as they only have 20 or so minutes to fill and their greatest hits is a greatest hits compilation of the greatest pairing of the decade, if not all time. You get the fun selling by both guys, great exchanges, etc. Misawa hits the Tiger Driver '91, and then a Running Elbow to retain the belts. ***1/4 |
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7:02 PM Jul 10