Quebrada #23
by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)
5/17/97
All Japan
Mitsuharu Misawa defends the Triple Crown against 1997 Champion Carnival winner Toshiaki Kawada on 6/6 at Tokyo Budokan Hall. This will certainly be a super match, if not a classic. The outcome may be more in question than it has been in years past or it may be less in question. For the past 5 years, or since their first meeting on 10/21/92 to be exact, everyone has been wondering when Kawada’s first win over Misawa would come. The win came on 4/19, in extremely non-memorable fashion. I still question if this will even be counted as a win because it wasn’t on an even playing field. If the 4/19 win is counted then the feeling that this may be the night that Kawada finally gets over the mountain will be erased. This would mean that there will be less anticipation for the win and people probably won’t expect Misawa to lose twice in a row.
In any case, there’s no question that Kawada still needs to beat Misawa for the Triple Crown. Baba’s booking has certainly been more unpredictable of late. One can point to Akiyama defeating Taue on 1/20, Kobashi and Williams both defeating Misawa in the league portion of the Carnival, and Kawada’s win in the triangular Carny Final as examples of this. It’s irrelevant to this topic whether any of these upsets were smart booking decisions, the point is that they did happen. Misawa, who used to get pinned about as rarely as any full-time performer in Japan, has done more singles jobs in the first 5 months of 1997 than he did in some years. It seems to me that Baba wants to make him seem vulnerable. Having the result be in question, would theoretically help attendance and crowd heat.
I think Kawada may very well beat Misawa for the Triple Crown in 1997, however, I don’t think this is the match. I simply see it as being too soon for Misawa to drop the prestigious belts. He’s already done his share of jobs this year. As long as he jobbed to Kobashi & Williams in the Carnival, they may as well go back to those matches as his title defenses before having him drop the straps. If they don’t then the only real point in those upsets was that Misawa had to lose to someone so he could be tie with Kobashi & Kawada and they could run the triangle match in the final.
Daisuke Ikeda, the best full-time worker in the quasi-shootstyle Battlarts promotion, will work the entire current All Japan tour (5/17-6/6). This makes Ikeda the first wrestler from another Japanese promotion to work an entire All Japan tour in many a year. Unfortunately, he’s going to be totally wasted. Ikeda’s certainly a talented worker. He’s very proficient in the fairly realistic Battlarts shoot style, a style that can translate into the AJ style better than most if not any other style. The shoot style he’s working has pretty good psychology and building, obviously not on the All Japan level, but better in that aspect than most of what we saw from UWF-I. I’m not saying Ikeda should be pushed to the top by any means, but he could fit in here. Some entertaining undercard matches would be a welcome change. Instead of trying to provide this, Baba is having Ikeda team with him in the comedy match. Ikeda’s childhood hero was Baba, so I’m sure he sees this as an honor. The thing is that they are going to kill his shooter myth in these terrible comedy matches. He won’t get a chance to impress anyone. After he works with the likes of Baba, Haruka Eigen, & Rusher Kimura it will be hard for any All Japan fan to take him seriously if the promotion should chose to use him in regular matches later on. Baba should do more with his interpromotional matches. Right now he’s just using the out of league talent as bodies to fill up the undercard.
All Japan Women
Kyoko Inoue and Kaoru Ito went to a 60:00 draw in the main event of the 5/11 show at Nagoya Aiichi Gym. The match was for AJW’s version of the Triple Crown. Despite Ito’s recent mega push, this result comes as a surprise. The general consesus was that Ito wouldn’t win the title, so most people figured she would simply do a job.
After the match, an unsatisfied Kyoko announced that she was forfeiting all three titles. She said that the champion should be able to pin the challenger, so she considered the draw as a loss. Kyoko wants a rematch with Ito. The title situation will most likely be settled during the Sapporo double shot on 6/17 & 6/18. It sounds like they may run a singles tournament for the vacant titles. Kyoko vs. Ito sounds like a very good match, which is pretty much always the case when they go the distance in Japan anyway. The match was said to be very stiff, which isn’t too surprising if you’ve been following Kyoko recently. Ito is a pretty tough woman herself as she’s even been used in legitimate Vale Tudo rules matches in the past. The main question mark as far as match quality should be the stamina of the competitors. Ito is not someone that generally works long singles matches. I’ve never seen her in a singles match that was ½ this length. Kyoko used to have a ridiculous amount of energy, but that was before she gained a lot of weight. This sounds like a very intriguing match and it’s something I am in a hurry to see.
Manami Toyota worked on her bad neck reforming her former WWWA championship team with Toshiyo Yamada to defeat the current WWWA tag champions Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa. Toyota scored the pinfall on Maekawa in 18:48 with her Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex finisher. Unfortunately, this was a non-title match. I’m glad Maekawa is finally doing a job here.
Jungle Jack, a team comprised of the "luminaries of the AJW class of 1986" Aja Kong & Bison Kimura, were reunited for one night. Jungle Jack was the top heel team in the promotion during the early 1990's. Back then, AJW actually had heels and they had heat on them. The two-time former WWWA tag champions defeated the team of Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue. Aja Kong scored the pin on Hotta at 23:12. Hotta is a bigger star than Takako, but she’s coming off reconstructive knee surgery so that’s most likely the reason she did the job.
The last team that was back together was Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda. Mita & Shimoda made short work of the stiff Genki Misae & Yuka Shiina when Shimoda pinned Shiina in 7:44. Mita & Shimoda are getting a shot at WWWA tag champs Watanabe & Maekawa on 5/18, which they will hopefully win.
The obvious thing to notice about the card is that the youngsters are going longer. Tanny Mouse & Saya Endo had a 20:00 draw in their Japan Grand Prix preliminary match. I doubt this match was anything close to good, but these two can only improve by working longer matches. Momoe Nakanishi pinned Jd’s Yuko Kosugi in 9:35 in their AJ Junior title match. Granted this is a short match, however, Momoe’s match on the last major show where she won the AJ Junior title was 4:35, so this match was double the length. Nanae Takahashi, an 18-year-old rookie teamed with veteran Mariko Yoshida to defeat Rie Tamada & Yoshiko Tamura when Yoshida pinned Tamura in 16:27. Having Takahashi 4th from the top on a major show says worlds about the decline of AJW. However, putting her with the veteran Yoshida in a long match will help her improve a lot more than working a 3 minute dropkick and snapmare match would.
I was quite surprised by the attendance of this show as well. It was obvious that AJW had no chance of selling out the 11,000 seat building because they have presented stronger lineups here in the past and still not even come close to packing the building. 6,500 is considered "good" for All Japan in this building these days and they have more drawing power than AJW right now. Really, only New Japan has a chance of selling this place out. The crowd was bigger than I expected, although not good, based on the kind of drawing power I think Ito has. The company clearly screwed up by not showing Ito’s upset win over Toyota on tv and having her job at Korakuen Hall. I wonder how inflated the 4,750 figure they announced is though. It’s interesting that, in theory, AJW only drew 250 less for this show than they did for the 3/23 show, which is traditionally the biggest show of the early part of the year, if not the whole year. I guess the question of drawing power needs to be considered.
The following is a list of AJW’s major shows starting when Manami Toyota regained the WWWA title and going to the present. From this list, it should be clear that AJW was doing a lot better with Toyota on top.
date location attendance main event
12/4/95 Tokyo Sumo Hall 10,500 sellout Toyota wins WWWA from Kansai
1/22/96 Tokyo Ota Ward Gym 4,500 sellout Toyota retains WWWA against Hotta
3/31/96 Yokohama Arena 12,500 (16,000) Toyota retains WWWA against Kyoko
5/11/96 Yokohama Bunka Gym 5,100 sellout Inoues over Toyota & Shimoda non-title
6/22/96 Sapporo Nakajima SC 4,500 (6,100+) Toyota & Shimoda win WWWA tag from Inoues
8/12/96 Tokyo Budokan Hall 4,500 (16,000) Discover New Heroine & U* Tournament part 1
8/13/96 Tokyo Budokan Hall 6,000 (16,000) Discover New Heroine & U* Tournament part 2
10/6/96 Nagoya Aiichi Gym 6,100 (11,000) Toyota retains WWWA against Aja
12/8/96 Tokyo Sumo Hall 10,500 sellout Kyoko captures WWWA from Toyota
1/20/97 Tokyo Ota Ward Gym 3,850 sellout Kyoko defeats Takako to create Triple Crown
3/23/97 Yokohama Arena 5,000 (16,000) Kyoko retains WWWA against Aja
5/11/97 Nagoya Aiichi Gym 4,750 (11,000) Kyoko vacates title after 60:00 draw with Ito
Of the five sellouts on this list, Toyota has been involved in 4 while Kyoko was in 3. This doesn’t sound like a big difference. However, there are a couple things to notice. The most obvious thing is to notice is that Toyota didn’t headline any of the four major disasters. In comparison, Kyoko headlined 2 of them.
Another thing to notice is that not only did Toyota outdraw Kyoko in their respective title defenses vs. Aja, she did it in Nagoya. Nagoya is a less populated area that’s much tougher to draw a large crowd in than the larger, more densely populated places like Yokohama or Tokyo. Moreover, the Nagoya show didn’t have 1 interpromotional match. The Yokohama show not only had interpromotional matches, but it had the advantage of being traditionally the biggest show of the year.
Kyoko’s sellout that didn’t involve Toyota was in front of a scaled down arena. AJW got roughly 1000 more people in Tokyo Ota Ward Gym last year for their Junior All-Star show which had all undercarders than they got for the Kyoko vs. Takako unification match. The unification match had a major advantage over any main event on the list in that it had the gimmick of the creation of the triple crown. Toyota’s title defense vs. Hotta in the same arena didn’t have that mystique. A title defense is something that’s happened countless times, while the creation of a prestigious Triple Crown-a first-can only happen once.
Kyoko has failed to draw more than 5,000 in any of her title defenses. The 5/11/96 show headlined by a non-title match where Toyota & Shimoda met WWWA tag champs the Double Inoues outdrew the Inoues in the unification match to create a triple crown. A unification match should certainly have more drawing power than a non-title tag match, so it’s got to be the Toyota factor. If you are not convinced that Toyota was the key to drawing the crowd on 5/11 then lets look at the undercard of that show. The show contained has nothing else with any drawing power. Mita beat Genki in a squash. Ito beat Shiina in a squash. Watanabe beat Tamura in a squash. Hotta beat Saya in a squash. Tanny & Maekawa beat The Goddess Shiratori & Flor Metallica in an interpromotional match of undercarders with no drawing power. Yoshida beat Fukawa in a match where no one in the building gave Yumi a chance. Bison & Chiquita Azteca (Esther Moreno) of Jd’ beat ASARI & Yamada in a match with a bit of drawing power. Jd’ is lucky to draw 500 outside of Korakuen Hall though, so it’s not like people are lining up days in advance to see "the luminary" Bison or the washed up Esther. Aja beat Tamada in a ridiculously one-sided match. Then you have Toyota in the main event. After looking at this incredibly weak lineup, I don’t think it’s even necessary to rehash the results of the 3 shows Kyoko has headlined in 1997. Kyoko has had a stronger undercard to work with than the 5/11/96 show, but failed to outdraw it.
Things have been going south for the promotion for a while. Neither Toyota or Kyoko has had a ton of help underneath, especially since key interpromotional matches aren’t being booked. The day to day aspect of the business has been poor. When it comes to the major shows though, Toyota has meant more on top than Kyoko.
Manami Toyota came back from her neck injury, but it wasn’t healed. Toyota’s neck got worse during her comeback to the point where her match on 5/14 was cancelled. Toyota’s neck is said to be in bad shape. AJW has really handled injuries poorly over the past couple of years. They continually make the mistake of rushing everyone back, only to have the injury reoccur. Toyota was banged up much of last year and the injuries caused her workrate to drop. They really need to let her heel while they still have the chance. Instead of letting her recoup, they are only taking her off the house shows. Toyota will continue to work the major shows, so it’s questionable if this injury is really going to heal while she’s "off." No one wants to see her become a shell of her former self like Toshiyo Yamada.
I think the smartest thing to do would be to let Toyota sit out until the major show at Budokan Hall on 8/20. I would have Kyoko regain the Triple Crown and have her first title defense take place on 8/20 vs. the returning Toyota. They should build huge to Toyota’s comeback. Make it a big event everytime she works like they did with Akira Hokuto back in 1994. The storyline of the title match could be that Toyota is really fighting the odds. She couldn’t beat Kyoko in their last super match when she was "100%" so now it would be an even greater challenge because she would be coming off an injury. The Toyota vs. Kyoko match with Toyota as champion wasn’t a fresh match. However, it hasn’t been done with Kyoko as WWWA champion. Toyota would finally be the underdog. They need something major if they don’t want to avoid last year’s Budokan debacles. I think this could do the trick. I don’t see anything else within the league that has anything close to Budokan sellout potential.
FMW
Megumi Kudo defeated Shark Tsuchiya in her retirement match on 4/29 before a sold out Yokohama Arena. Kudo got the pin on Shark with her spinning Kudome driver at 21:47. The win made Kudo a six time WWA women’s champion and four time Independent women’s champion. In this respect, it was a fitting way to end her career. Retiring as champion is the highest honor one can receive. It’s an honor only bestowed on such legendary women as Mildred Burke, Jaguar Yokota, and Lioness Asuka.
Aside from that, it doesn’t sound like there’s much good to be said about this match. The match was a no rope, 200 volt, double hell, double barbed wire barricade, double landmine, glass crush, electrical barbed wire death match. The match seemingly went the way I knew it would or should I say the way I feared. In other words, Kudo did all the selling, was the one taking the sick bumps and getting carved up, then made the short comeback for the win.
Kudo was blown up twice by being whipped into the explosive barbed wire. She was viciously powerbombed from the ring into the exploding landmine by Shark. I believe she received a concussion taking this bump. Shark, of course, used her knife to carve up Kudo’s face. To top it off, Shark set Kudo on fire.
Kudo made the Onita-like quick comeback and Shark was blown up once. So, Shark took her token bump for the day.
Kudo got a wonderful retirement ceremony, yeah right. Instead of getting flowers and gifts like they do in AJW, she was carried out by Hayabusa and the other men. Before Kudo left she told her successor Kaori Nakayama to do her best. Doing your best if the mantra of the Japanese culture. It’s more important than winning or losing. It’s something that Kudome always did. Kudo was unconscious for a few minutes. She was strapped off in a gurney and taken to the hospital in an ambulance where her burns, wounds, and concussion was treated. I’m told the post match pictures were quite disgusting as you could see skin peeled off of the bloody Kudo’s arms.
Kaori Nakayama has some big shoes to fill. I don’t envy her for the punishment she’s going to have to take in the process.
New Japan Best of the Super Junior Tournament
The Best of the Super Juniors tournament runs from 5/16-6/5. To me, this is always the high point of the year for New Japan. This is the only time I would want to see a New Japan handheld. The participants have been slightly changed since I last talked about this. Block A now consists of Chavo Guerrero Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., Tatushito Takaiwa, Gran Naniwa, Koji Kanemoto, & Jushin Thunder Liger. Block B will consist of Rob Brookside, Scorpio Jr., Hanzo Nakajima, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Chris Jericho, Shinjiro Otani, & El Samurai. The idea of the selection process appears to be to see who is a comer and who isn't. This tournament will allow the newcomers to gain experience and should help them improve as workers.
This is still a weak group. Maybe I should say a really weak group. It’s not that these wrestlers aren’t good, but it’s that they don’t meet the previous standard of excellence this tournament has set. Some depth may have been added from the first lineup I discussed, but TAKA Michinoku was subtracted so the tournament hasn’t improved in my opinion. The main problem is that the non New Japan wrestlers aren’t highly respected. There’s no one that’s not in New Japan that is going to draw a crowd to this tournament. Another main problem is that the defending champion, Black Tiger (Eddy Guerrero) is injured so he can’t defend his championship. Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) would have really improved the tournament because he’s a two-time former champion and a super worker. Unfortunately, Kevin Sullivan has (or maybe I should say had) a strangle hold on him and WCW isn’t letting Benoit leave for a month.
I’m assuming the tournament is following the same format as last year. If so, there will be semifinals where the Block A winner wrestlers Block B second place & Block B winner wrestles Block A second place. In the league portion, Block A definitely only wrestlers against block A and Block B definitely only wrestles against Block B.
Block A is the stronger block as it has three New Japan juniors plus Gran Naniwa. Chavo, Wagner Jr, & Dean have absolutely no chance of going to the semifinals. They will trade wins over each other. It’s possible that either Takaiwa or Naniwa will do a job for one of those three. I’d lean toward Takaiwa for political reasons. I think Naniwa finishes ahead of Takaiwa, Chavo, Wagner, & Dean. He is the best worker of the non New Japan wrestlers. He’s a guy that would be pushable to the semifinals or finals. He’s only 20 and he’s only the #4 member of the Sekigun, so this probably isn’t his year. I think he’ll either go 1-2 or 2-1 against the New Japan workers in his block. 2-1 could be enough to put him in the "post season," but 1-2 will surely keep him out. The thing that Naniwa has going for him is that Liger has just opened up a major junior feud involving Liger’s group, Kanemoto’s group, the Sekigun, and the DX. The DX member, Hanzo Nakajima, isn’t going anywhere, so if that fued is a factor then Naniwa would clearly be the one from Michinoku that is pushed. Most likely the two semifinalists will be Liger & Kanemoto. They both lead junior groups in New Japan. They both have had the IWGP Jr. title on more than one occasion. Liger has booked himself into the finals every other year. Last year he went to the finals, so if the pattern holds true Liger won’t make it to the finals this year. If Naniwa sneaks into the semi’s then I think it would be over Liger rather than Kanemoto. Liger’s got the J Crown, so he doesn’t need to win this tournament.
Block B seems more clearcut. Hanzo Nakajima, Rob Brookside, & Scorpio Jr. will be job boys. Hanzo should finish above the other two, but I don’t see 3 wins for him. Tajiri & Jericho will be in the middle. There is a slight chance that either could make the semifinals. New Japan is working with Big Japan, so that may help Tajiri a bit. New Japan seems more interested in this useless relationship lately as they are loaning their stars to some Big Japan shows. The 6/7 Big Japan show at Yokohama Bunka Gym has Liger & Samurai vs. Otani & Tajiri. Tajiri most likely comes in 4th. He may be thrown a bone, but he may just beat the guys under him. If he’s thrown a bone it’s most likely a win over Jericho. Tajiri was pretty impressive in his match at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4 vs. Otani, but it was only an 8 ½ minute high spot fest. The way that was booked may mean that they don’t think too highly of him as a wrestler. It’s hard to say. Jericho probably finishes third. Liger must like him some as he thought enough of him to give him the failed Super Liger gimmick. He’s got the disadvantage of WCW, in that they won’t really care what Liger does with him since "no one will ever know." I don’t think he’s on the level that he should make the semi’s, but you could say that for basically all the non New Japan talent involved. El Samurai & Shinjiro Otani should form the top group. Samurai is a lock to advance to the semifinals. Otani most likely will also. If someone else sneaks in, it will be in Otani’s place.
6/1 in Odawara is the key night as it has Liger vs. Kanemoto, Samurai vs. Otani, Naniwa vs. Takaiwa, & Tajiri vs. Nakajima. I see the first two matches deciding who will win their respective blocks. Even if Naniwa & Tajiri aren’t advancing to the semifinals, they should be kept strong enough that these matches could have bearing.
I firmly believe El Samurai will win the whole thing. Kanemoto & Otani got their J Crown shots in February. Liger has been building to Samurai’s ever since. Samurai defeated Liger on 3/25 and Otani on 4/12. He’s clearly the next guy in line for a J Crown shot. Winning the tournament would allow him to get a title shot in July, most likely at the Sapporo show. This seems like the most likely situation.
When it comes to the semifinals, it’s real questionable. Samurai vs. Kanemoto would be the most logical final with El getting the win over Kanemoto to top off the recent victories over the other top New Japan juniors. It’s also logical because it pits the two opposing groups against each other. The thing is that if it’s 1A vs. 2B & 1B vs. 2A then those two would have to win their blocks and most likely beat their teammates in the semifinals. I have a hard time believing they would run Samurai over Liger & Kanemoto over Otani on the same night. A non New Japan native has made the finals 4 years in a row. A non New Japan worker might at least get into the #2 spot of one of the blocks this year. If so, it might be Kanemoto vs. Jericho or Samurai vs. Naniwa. It’s hard to say. There are a number of ways the tournament could go. Injuries are always a factor. There’s a good chance someone will get hurt and wind up forfeiting some matches. It will be an interesting tournament that will surely produce some great matches.
Previous Best of the Super Junior winners:
1996-Black Tiger
1995-Wild Pegasus
1994-Liger
1993-Pegasus
1992-Liger
1991-Honaga
JWP
Candy Okutsu, 22, will retire on 8/17 due to her chronic back problems. This is really a shame. Okutsu, who debuted in 1992, was the best of all the women who debuted in the 1990's at one point before her back injury. She already tried taking time off the heal her back, but the problem isn’t going to go away. Even though her lack of size was a major liability toward becoming a headliner, her working ability along with her youth made her someone that possibly could have been one of the top women in the promotion in a couple years. At worst, she would have been used as a "gimmick performer," like ASARI, in that she would be the dominant junior heavyweight who meant something on the card even if she wasn’t in the top couple matches.
Women’s Junior All-Stars Show
All Japan Women will once again be promoting the Junior All Stars Show on 7/19 in Osaka. The idea of the show is to try to get the young women over. All the matches will most likely be interpromotional matches, thus giving the fans a reason to attend since there are no big names or major matches. Last years show was a success, selling out Tokyo Ota Ward Gym (4,800).
Gaea is going to steal the show as they are sending all their youngsters, even the ones who are already stars. The whole Oz Academy along with Meiko Satomura, Toshie Uematsu, Sonoko Kato lead their group. I would say that Sugar Sato is the best of the bunch. Sato is only 18 and she has a great deal of potential, especially if the innate coolness of Mayumi Ozaki rubs off on her. Meiko Satomura is the other one of this group that I really like. She’s only 17 years old. She’s similar to Toshiyo Yamada (who's similar to young Chigusa) in that she mainly utilizes stiff kicks, but she’s a very skinny athletic woman. I think they are both better than the 19-year-old Sonoko Kato & 22-year-old Uematsu although it’s fairly close.
JWP is sending only 5 women, but it’s a pretty decent group. The best of the bunch from JWP is Tomoko Kuzumi. Kuzumi, 22, is an aspiring Manami Toyota, so how could she not be cool? She’s very athletic and can do Toyota’s move set. I haven’t seen her enough to make a fair estimate on how good of a worker she is. She’s definitely someone that’s exciting. Another quality young worker they are sending is Reiko Amano, who’s in the Oz Academy. She’s not real exciting, but pretty solid. Tomoko Miyaguchi, Kanako Motoya, & Sari Osumi round out their group. Miyaguchi & Motoya definitely have potential to be good.
AJW is sending a bunch of stiffs. The best of their group is Yoshiko Tamura. She’s not too good either. She’s more someone that’s got athletic potential, but isn’t too developed as a worker. I’m not even sure if second best would apply to anyone in this group. I would say Yuka Shiina is the least mediocre of the rest of their group, but I’ve never been impressed by any of her matches. The proven fodder will be there as both Genki & Saya are attending. There’s also Tanny Mouse, who excites only those with tale fetishes. After that there are all the real young ones. You have Momoe Nakanishi, Nanae Takahashi, Miho Wakizawa, & Miyuki Fujii. The oldest that bunch is the 18 year old Fujii. They may turn out good, but they are a long long way away. You don’t want to see any of them wrestle at this point unless you mark out for dropkicks and bodyslams.
Jd’, LLPW, Big Japan, & Yoshiaki Yatsu’s SPWF are also sending women to the show. FMW isn’t participating because they are running a show in Osaka that day. IWA isn’t sending the pale one Emi Motokawa.
Last years main event saw Michiko Omukai & The Goddess Chikako Shiratori (if this team could wrestle a third as good as they look they would be among the best) defeat Rie Tamada & Meiko Satomura. Omukai, Shiratori, & Tamada weren’t sent this year, so they have graduated and become "stars." Other women who graduated to "stardom" include Chaparrita ASARI (that’s legit), Kumiko Maekawa (based on push it’s ok), Kaori Nakayama (FMW’s not participating but I don’t think they would have sent her as she’s their top face), Yumi Fukawa (maybe not included due to injury), & Yuki Miyazaki. AJW kind of needed Tamada to avoid embarrassment, but you can’t justify including a 24-year-old.
All Japan TV 4/20/97 taped 4/19 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
This show aired the first two matches of the triangle Champion Carnival Final.
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi. Thes final 15 minutes aired on tv. It was clear that a lot of good stuff was skipped as it was already a hot match when tv picked it up. This was a very good match, probably a great match, but it’s really hard to fully appreciate a great psychological All Japan match when only ½ airs. I think the thing that should be immediately pointed out when watching this years Carny Final is that the sum of the parts is going to be greater than any one isolated match because the storyline is continued throughout. Misawa hit his diving neckbreaker drop off the 2nd. Misawa tried for his Tiger Driver, but Kobashi back body dropped out. Misawa tried a flying move, but Kobashi side stepped out of the way. Kobashi hit a Dangerous Released German suplex. Kobashi ducked an elbow and once again planted Misawa on his head, this time getting a near fall with a Dangerous Tiger suplex ’85. Misawa’s neck was already injured from taking a Jun Akiyama exploder earlier in the Carny, so for psychology this was the best body part to work on. Misawa ducked a lariat, but Kobashi hit an enzui lariat. Kobashi used his jackknife and cradle for a near fall. Kobashi tried his lariat, but Misawa elbowed his lariat arm. Both sold the collision of their big striking moves. Kobashi tried a Dragon suplex, but Misawa powered out then hit an enzui discus elbow. Misawa hit 2 released Tiger suplexes, getting a near fall after the 2nd. Misawa Tiger drivered Kobashi for a 2 3/4 count. Misawa tried his Tiger driver, but Kobashi back body dropped him. Misawa landed on the apron and elbowed Kobashi down. Misawa did his diving neckbreaker drop, but Kobashi lariated him in midair. This was another collision of their big moves. Both took the impact, so both sold it. Misawa tried to drag Kobashi up for a Tiger driver, but Kobashi wouldn’t get up. Misawa gave Kobashi his new rolling guillotine leg drop. Misawa went right back to the Tiger driver and this time Kobashi couldn’t resist it. There was a big pop when Kobashi kicked out of the Tiger driver at 2 3/4. Misawa went for the running elbow that put Kobashi away in their 1/20/97 match, but Kobashi lariated. Again, another collision of the big strikes. Very deep stuff. Kobashi crawled over to Misawa with his injured lariat arm, but wasn’t able to cover Misawa. Kobashi jackknifed Misawa, but was too weak to go into his cradle or cover immediately. Kobashi crawled over for the pin, but Misawa kicked out at 2. Kobashi used his discus chops followed by his Orange bomb for a 2 3/4 count. Kobashi went back to the lariat, but Misawa blocked it so both sold. The idea is that even though Misawa blocked it with his arms, Kobashi’s lariat is so powerful that it still takes it’s toll. Kobashi recovered first and covered Misawa, but Misawa got the ropes and the 30 minute time limit expired. Very good match, but it didn’t seem quite at the level of some of their other matches. The heat was not what you would expect from a Carny Final. Kobashi once again didn’t delve too deep into his move set. I think there were a few spots that looked like they could be finishes. In general the near falls were obviously near falls and I think the crowd sensed this also. The story, build, and psychology were down from the 1/20 Misawa vs. Kobashi match, but still much better than most anything you will see. Watching this a day after I saw the 1/20 match, probably made it seem worse than it was. 30:00. ****1/4.
Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Misawa was selling exhaustion and previous injuries even before the match started. On it’s own, this match was a huge disappointment. Kawada had to dominate though because how could an injured and exhausted Misawa hang with a fresh Kawada? Kawada used stiff blows and didn’t sell the few elbows Misawa threw. Kawada seemed really fired up here. He was definitely in Misawa punting mode. The key carry over move was Kawada hitting a really stiff running high kick, which was the move he unfortunately broke Misawa’s orbital bone with during the 1995 Carny. Kawada tried a powerbomb, but Misawa turned it into a huracanrana. Misawa brushed away a kick and blasted Kawada with his discus elbow. Kawada ducked an elbow and went for a Dangerous German suplex, but Misawa quickly elbowed his way out. Misawa tried an elbow, but Kawada ducked it and was now able to hit a Dangerous Released German. Misawa got up quick, in my opinion too quick, and hit a running elbow. Kawada fired back with a jumping high kick. Kawada delivered his powerbomb for a near fall. Misawa blocked Kawada’s enzuiguri. Kawada applied his stretch plum, a move that injures the neck, which really got no reaction. Since the audience knew about Misawa’s bad neck, it was surprising that the crowd wasn’t popping. Kawada eventually let Misawa out and covered him for a near fall, which also got little reaction. Kawada powerbombed Misawa again for a near fall. Kawada went back to his strech plum, which coming after a powerbomb should have been seen as a possible finish, but wasn’t. Kawada let Misawa out and covered for a near fall, again little crowd reaction. Kawada powerbombed Misawa for the win. This also didn’t seem to get much reaction, but the show ended really quick after the win so maybe everyone was still in shock that Kawada finally got his first singles win over Misawa. I think this was a good match. It was very good for what it was supposed to be, but it was way too short. I would never have had Kawada’s first win over Misawa come in this tainted fashion. It seems like they have been working toward this win for 100 years and the big payoff is this? We get classic after classic from these two only to see a not so dramatic glorified squash match as Kawada’s first win? In a typical great Misawa vs. Kawada match there is awesome drama and a ton of near falls. Here, there wasn’t much drama and I can only recall Misawa getting 1 near fall. This was more of a letdown than anything else. The only thing memorable about this match is that Kawada won. Baba better hope he can convince people that this thing wasn’t Kawada’s first real win because if he can’t he blew off the most intriguing thing he could have presented. To make things worse, the first win wasn’t the climax of the live show, so it’s effect and drama were lessened. 6:09. **3/4.
Jd’ special on Gaora 4/12/97 taped 1/16 Osaka
This was the best of the Jd’ shows I’ve seen, but that says more for the quality of Jd’ than for the quality of this show.
The Goddess Chikako Shiratori & Miyuke Sagabe vs. Alda Moreno & Emi Motokawa. This match was typical of Jd’. It had some good spots high spots, some really poorly worked spots, green work, and little direction. These Jd’ matches are more a collection of spots than anything else. The co-master of spot blowing Alda had a "good day," so she was a little entertaining. Shiratori is actually the best worker in this match, which says something for the quality of the talent involved. Shiratori looked good here as a worker, but I am not fooled. She did the tag in, do the couple spots I’m good at, then tag out routine. Sagabe worked most of the way for her side. She’s a really green 17-years-old, who at this point is far from a good worker. She may be bad, but Emi Motokawa is just awful. You would think she might actually show improvement as she’s been working interpromotional matches all the time since Kyoko Ichiki left IWA, but at this point I see none. Emi’s worked against AJW women like Shimoda, Yoshida, & Watanabe recently, so maybe they can get her to the point of watchability. Basically the match was good when the more experienced Shiratori & Alda were in together. When Sagabe and Emi were in together, it was terrible and looked like the worst indy stuff you could find. Emi pinned Sagabe at 12:48 in one of the worst finishes ever. *1/2.
Yoko Takahashi vs. Kumiko Maekawa. This was a kickboxing match between Jd’ "tough woman" Takahashi and AJW’s "tough woman" Maekawa. Takahashi used to be in AJW and she was pushed as their kickboxer in 1994, but they wised up and junked her. Maekawa took over her role, filling it with equal ineptitude. This was by far the worst kickboxing or shootboxing match I’ve ever seen on a women’s wrestling show. There wasn’t one decent strike landed in the whole match. Do your self a favor and fast forward through this turd.
Jaguar Yokota & Esther Moreno vs. Cooga & La Infernal. Even at 35, Jaguar is still one of the better women’s wrestlers. She is in phenomenal shape, nearly the equal of Kudo. She is worlds above anyone in this promotion. It’s a shame that she never faces any good opposition. The match started off good. Cooga slammed Jaguar and covered, but Jaguar did her legendary quick bridge out of the move to a standing position. Jaguar then did her twisting high cross body. Cooga hit her somersault block off the top. Jaguar hit her German suplex for a near fall on Cooga. They brawled out of the ring with Jaguar getting thrown into the chairs. Jaguar got a near fall with a huracanrana. The match began to lose direction, falling back into the typical Jd’ pattern of just a "spectacle" that’s taking place. Co-master of spot blowing Esther Moreno also had a "good day" but was still not very good. Esther did a rope walk and backflipped off the top. It was supposed to be a backflip arm drag, but Esther didn’t do the arm drag until after she landed so it was really lame. Jaguar did a superfast headspring to counter a clothesline. Jaguar suicida’d both opponents then Esther quebrada’d. Cooga hit her swinging DDT off the 2nd. Cooga followed with a tombstone piledriver and covered, but Jaguar bridged out. Jaguar avoided a Cooga lariat and hit her underhook piledriver. Esther moonsaulted Cooga. Esther tried to moonsault Cooga again, but missed. Cooga fisherman suplexed Esther. Cooga whipped Esther into the ropes, so Esther jumped to the 2nd and tried a quebrada. The quebrada was really screwed up though and would up as a kick. Cooga did a bridging back suplex. Esther got a near fall with a frankensteiner off the top. Infernal lariated Esther, who took a flip bump. Infernal Liger bombed Esther. Cooga Tiger drivered Esther for the win. Infernal is really really lousy. The match was good when Cooga was in, but was poor when Infernal was in. No build or psychology. Some nice stuff, particulary by Jaguar, but a poorly laid out match. 16:25. *1/2.
Megumi Kudo vs. Bison Kimura. I covered this match in the last column, so I won’t go into much detail here. The match showed that Kudo is a better worker of the two even if she’s the one who was "involved in the same training class as such luminaries as Aja Kong and Bison Kimura." Bison seems about ready to retire. It probably seems like she’s worse than she is because she generally doesn’t have much to work with. Pretty disappointing match. I would have preferred less brawling in this one. The funniest part of the whole show was when Bison tripped over a table out of the ring. Kudo won with her Kudome Driver at 13:17. **1/4.
AJW TV 4/6/97 taped 3/23 Yokohama Arena
Momoe Nakanishi vs. Nanae Takahashi. This was the final of the All-Japan jr. title tournament. Both women did a ton of dropkicks. This wasn’t a boring match, but the same move was repeated over and over again. The finish was really lame as Momoe slammed Nanae and covered with a lateral press and Nanae couldn’t get both shoulders up. Incredibly short with no build or psychology. Momoe won the AJ jr. title. In the old days, many the women who had this title developed into major stars and/or great workers like Jaguar Yokota, Lioness Asuka, Chigusa Nagayo, Noriyo Tateno, Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto, Suzuka Minami, Toshiyo Yamada, & Mima Shimoda. Recently holders of the title such as Yuki Lee, Akemi Torisu, Saemi Numata, Mizuki Endo haven’t exactly followed in their footsteps. ASARI & Okutsu turned out well and hopefully Nakanishi will too, but it’s way too early to tell. 4:35. 1/2*.
Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima vs. Genki Misae & Saya Endo. Sato & Nagashima of Gaea, but more specifically the extremely cool Oz Academy, were defending their All Japan tag titles here. Only about 2:30 aired. Sato and Nagashima deserve a ton of credit because they did something very rare. They actually made a Genki & Saya match enjoyable. Sato missed her reverse elbow off the top, so Saya German suplexed her for a near fall. Sato gave Genki her dragon screw and tried for the figure four, but Saya broke it up. Sato caught one of Saya’s kicks and did a nice dragon screw. Nagashima tried an assisted somersault senton off the top, but Saya moved. Saya gave Sato a released German suplex. Saya whipped Sato into the corner then whipped Genki for a clothesline, but Sato ducked. Saya then tried to kick Sugar, but Sugar caught her leg and we saw the famous dragon screw to figure four sequence for the win. Good phychology with Sato continually going back to her dragon screw until she finally got the dragon screw and figure four combination for the win. This match was all Sugar Sato. Sugar Sato is the best woman under the age of 20 in wrestling, although Meiko Satomura is close. 10:49. What aired was good, but it was most likely an average match in unedited form..
Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa. Watanabe & Maekawa were defending their WWWA tag titles in this 2/3 falls match. Despite the suckiness of the unworthy champion Maekawa, the quality veterans were able to make this a very good match. Yoshida was particularly good here and really stole the show. Watanabe tried her springboard, but Takako knocked her to the floor. Takako & Yoshida did simultaneous topes. Maekawa was in the ring all of 20 seconds before she got crossed up and screwed up one of Takako’s spots. Maekawa hit a nice spinning roundhouse kick. Maekawa tried a whip into corner followed by a hook kick, but she was so slow on the kick that Takako was out of the corner before Maekawa’s leg was half way up in the air. Takako bridging back suplexed Maekawa out of the corner for a near fall. Yoshida did her handspring counter for a clothesline. Yoshida then ducked Maekawa’s roundhouse kick and tried to German her, but Watanabe broke it up with a clothesline. Yoshida hit both opponents with her running plancha. Takako and Yoshida combined on a sky high nodowa for a near fall on Maekawa. Yoshida DDT’d Maekawa off the second for a near fall. Maekawa delivered a thrust kick for a 2 3/4 count on Yoshida. Yoshida set up a move off the top, but Watanabe grabbed her in screw driver position. Maekawa and Watanabe did a missile dropkick/screw driver combination for a near fall. Maekawa then hook kicked Yoshida and scored the pin. Maekawa is being put over too big for someone of her talent. 4:56.
The second fall started with Maekawa getting an immediate near fall on Yoshida with a kick. Yoshida tried a running reverse cross body, but Maekawa kneed her in midair. Maekawa missed a hook kick and was out of position, but Yoshida is a veteran, so she was able to go to her Death Valley driver quick enough that it didn’t look too bad. Takako got near falls on Maekawa with a back drop and nodowa off the top. Takako & Yoshida tried to double powerbomb Maekawa, but Tomoko knocked them off. Maekawa then hit a floating mule kick on Takako for a near fall. Watanabe tried an elevated Thesz press/crotch, but Takako victory rolled Maekawa which caused Tomoko to miss. Takako & Yoshida hit the double powerbomb this time, but Watanabe made the save. Maekawa ducked the destiny hammer and tried a roundhouse kick, but Takako ducked. Maekawa then connected with a thrust kick for a near fall. Maekawa hit a lame axe kick, then tagged Watanabe. Takako did a super fast wakigatame for Watanabe’s lariat. Watanabe got near falls with a lariat and her screw driver. Watanabe tried an underhook suplex, but Takako landed on her feet and Yoshida missile dropkicked Watanabe. Takako hit her Destiny Hammer on Watanabe for a near fall. Takako & Yoshida double powerbombed Watanabe for a near fall. Takako destiny hammered Watanabe. Takako followed with another destiny hammer on Watanabe for the pin. 5:39.
Watanabe dragon screwed Yoshida and tried for the figure four, but Yoshida got a heel hold on. Watanabe dragon screwed Yoshida again, this time successfully following with the figure four. Maekawa got a near fall on Yoshida with her thrust kick. Maekawa gave Yoshida stiff kicks while Watanabe had Yoshida in the camel clutch. Maekawa hit two bicycle kicks for a near fall on Yoshida. There was no crowd heat whatsoever. Takako hit her bridging back suplex on Maekawa for a near fall. Takako ducked Watanabe’s Thesz press off the top. Maekawa tried to axe kick Takako with Yoshida holding, but Takako moved and Watanabe got kicked. Takako destiny hammered Watanabe for a near fall. Takako (with Yoshida’s assistence) gave Watanabe the sky high lariat. Takako & Yoshida DDT’d Watanabe off the top for a near fall. Watanabe got a near fall on Yoshida with her screw driver. Watanabe tried to underhook suplex Yoshida, but Takako destiny hammered Watanabe. Yoshida immediately applied La Magistral for a near fall on Watanabe. Yoshida used her La Magistral again for another near fall. This got much less reaction than La Magistral usually gets, which is all the more surprising when you consider it’s one of Yoshida’s signature spots. Yoshida Death Valley drivered Watanabe for a near fall. Yoshida tried another Death Valley driver, but Watanabe screw drivered. Watanabe Niagara drivered Yoshida for the win at 15:32. Yoshida was the best of these four. She got the best reaction from the crowd, although the crowd wasn’t highly into this match. Very good match when Maekawa wasn’t in. Maekawa clearly had problems with her set up and transition between holds. Tons of near falls. I have problems with Maekawa not having to do a job in a 3 fall match. 26:07. ***1/2.
Kyoko Inoue vs. Aja Kong. Kyoko was defending the AJW version of the Triple Crown here. I think this match gets a bad rap because it shows the decline of the promotion in general. The match itself is definite quality, but we have all come to expect greatness from AJW’s major show main events. Kyoko’s unfortunate decline was evident here. This match was different from their other encounters because Kyoko can no longer play the small woman role. Aja is generally better with small women, so that probably made Kyoko’s decline more obvious. I wish Kyoko would lose some of the weight she gained, but I don’t think the added weight has killed her workrate by any means. However, I do think (despite just having a 60:00 draw) it’s clearly hurt her stamina, endurance, and athleticism. She’s changed her style. She’s working much stiffer now and doing more high impact moves. Kyoko’s still a great worker, but not a top ten worker anymore. Aja used a series of leg sweeps. Aja whipped Kyoko into the ropes and Kyoko jumped to the second for her springboard reverse elbow. Kyoko whipped Aja into the corner then DDT’d her off the second. Kyoko DDT’d Aja on the floor. Aja gave Kyoko a hellacious chair shot. Aja gave Kyoko another stiff chair shot, which shook Kyoko up legit. Aja did her splash off the second for a near fall. Kyoko blocked a suplex and planted Aja with a DDT. Kyoko did her reverse elbow off the top for a near fall. Kyoko tried a German suplex, but Aja elbowed out. Kyoko charged at Aja, but Aja caught her and body slammed. Aja missed a missile dropkick. Kyoko then hit a missile dropkick. Kyoko climbed to the top rope, but Aja knocked her to the floor. Aja teased a suicida. Aja tried to suplex Kyoko back into the ring while Kyoko tried to suplex Aja to the floor. Neither got the spot off. Aja then stiffed Kyoko with the can twice. Aja piledrove Kyoko through a table. The announcers seemed to get this spot over as killer. Kyoko got up from this kind of quick. Aja hit Kyoko with a piece of broken table. Aja used an umbrella, but Kyoko didn’t sell it long enough or well enough. Kyoko tried to reenter the ring, but Aja caught her with a baseball slide. Aja toped. Aja hit the missile dropkick this time for a near fall. Kyoko ran and tried to do what I guess was supposed to be an arm drag off the top, but in any case, it was blown. Aja delivered a backdrop driver. Aja tried for another backdrop driver, but Kyoko turned it into a headlock takedown. Aja hit a lariat. Aja went to the second, but Kyoko did her cradle headscissors off the top. Aja took a lousy bump for Kyoko on this, so Kyoko wasn’t able to make it a pinning predicament. With Aja against the ropes, Kyoko did her 3 consecutive lariats spot. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver, but Aja wouldn’t go up for it. Aja ducked a lariat then Kyoko ducked a lariat and went right into a released German suplex. That was the best worked sequence of the match. Aja got on the middle rope, but Kyoko suplexed her off. Kyoko powerbombed Aja for a near fall. Kyoko powerbombed Aja again for a near fall. Kyoko tried her Niagara driver, but Aja slipped out and urakened. Aja crawled over and covered, but Kyoko kicked out at 2 3/4. Kyoko blocked 3 urakens, so Aja spun in the opposite direction and urakened. Kyoko ducked a uraken and hit a released German. Kyoko powerbombed Aja for a near fall. Aja brainbustered for a near fall. Kyoko lariated Aja for a near fall. Aja ducked a lariat and delivered a dangerous backdrop for a 2 ½ count. Aja back body dropped Kyoko off the top for a near fall. Aja tried a superplex, but Kyoko landed on her feet. Aja hit a lariat. Aja went to the 2nd rope, but Kyoko pulled her off and hit her rack bomb (move that she won the WWWA title with) for a near fall. Kyoko powerbombed (Kyoko is one of the strongest women, but I don’t think she could perform a Niagara driver to someone that big) Aja. Kyoko powerbombed Aja again for the win. There wasn’t exactly a huge pop for the finish. Very stiff, high impact Aja Kong style match. Both were about equal as workers in this match. 29:29. ***3/4.
As always, they aired the finishes to all the matches on the card at the end of the show. The pop for Ito’s mega upset win over Toyota appeared to be the loudest on the show.
Pancrase TV special on Gaora 4/6/97 taped 3/22 Nagayo Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
This was a decent show where they aired all the matches on the card. Certainly not as good as the typical Pancrase show, but it wasn’t a major show so that’s a major factor.
Takafumi Ito vs. Satoshi Hasegawa. Ito, who’s the more experienced of the two, controlled the action and even did a belly-to-back suplex. Hasegawa never appeared to be in trouble at any point though. Ito won the 10:00 match by a 3-0 decision.
Kunioku Kiuma vs. Haygar Chin. Kiuma, 20, is one of Pancrase’s young studs. I see no reason why he won’t be a big star here. Kiuma dominated this match, which was expected as by Pancrase standards Chin isn’t very formidable opposition. Kiuma got the cross arm breaker on, but Chin made the ropes. The finish came when Chin tried to get out of a legscissor by turning, but couldn’t keep his arms locked and was cross arm breakered at 7:44.
Keiichiro Yamamiya vs. Ryushi Yanagisawa. Yanagisawa, who outweighs Yamamiya by roughly 30 pounds, used his size advantage to controll Yamamiya on the mat. Yanagisawa got an ankle lock on and Yamamiya was forced to grab the ropes to break it, thus losing a point. The lost point was the difference here as this went the time limit. Yamamiya was a game competitor who looks like he can be good when he gains a little experience. Yanagisawa time up judge by point in 10:00. After the match they aired a TAKA Michinoku interview, building to his 4/27 match vs. Yamamiya that he would go on to lose. They showed highlights of TAKA in Battlarts, but also showed TAKA vs. Delfin highlights including his awesome super quebrada.
Yuki Kondo vs. Kim Jong Wan. Kondo is the man! He’s now the King as well. This match, as most of Jong Wan’s are, was a joke. Kondo got the cross arm breaker on for the win faster than I could write the names of the participants down on my paper. I think I could have lasted longer. 0:25.
Bas Rutten vs. Osami Shibuya. This was Bas’ first match since October due to both his wife giving birth and injury. Bas was in great shape as usual, although he didn’t seem quite as developed as he normally is due to the layoff. Shibuya seems to have improved a lot since I last saw him. I didn’t expect him to fair this well with the former King of Pancrase. Shibuya didn’t make the mistake of standing and taking Bas’ kicks. He got quick takedowns, thus nullifying Bas’ best offense. Bas had some problem with his stomach, so the doctor checked him out. Shibuya did more to try to win when he was on top. Shibuya at least came somewhat close to hooking in a finisher. Basically the main thing here was that Bas’ kicks were taken away. Shibuya might eat one kick to get a takedown, but that was about it. Shibuya, 20, looks like a comer. Time up draw at 15:00.
Yoshiki Takahashi vs. Semmy Schilt. This was Takahashi’s first match since his big win over Wallid Ismael at UFC. Takahashi was over huge in Japan and in my estimation Pancrase made a big mistake by booking this match. Schilt, who’s 6'9" tall, had a huge height and reach advantage over Takahashi. Takahashi’s best asset is his striking. Strikes just aren’t the best way to beat a guy who looks like a giant next to you. Moreover, Schilt was a full contract karate champion. Schilt can apply a great front chancilry because he’s so big that he can easily get the required leverage. The foot height advantage along with the reach advantage were just too much for Takahashi. Schilt won at 7:00 via TKO after a palm blow.
Masakatsu Funaki vs. Paul Lezenbee. Funaki’s King of Pancrase title wasn’t on the line here. Funaki really outclassed Lezenbee. He didn’t totally dominate him, but he was always in control. Funaki won with an ankle hold at 4:36.
Champ Forum Michinoku Pro 4/6/97 taped 3/1 Osaka
This was a very good show which aired the 5 match Sekigun vs. Kaientai Deluxe series. The matchups were decided by drawing lots.
Masato Yakushiji (Sekigun) vs. Dick Togo (DX). This was the obvious mismatch of the series as Togo is the leader of the DX while Yakushiji is the #5 guy in the Sekigun. Togo dominated early, hitting his senton, a released German suplex, and a DDT among others. Yakushiji came back with a short spin kick. Yakushiji did a missile dropkick then toped Togo. Togo caught Yakushiji in his turning powerslam for a near fall. Togo tried to powerbomb, but Yakushiji countered it with a Toyota roll (roll up body sunset flip) for a near fall. Yakushiji did a rana into a huracanrana. Yakushiji got a near fall with a flying Frankensteiner. Yakushiji tried a huracanrana, but Togo powerbombed. Togo powerbombed again. Togo hit his senton off the top for the win. Yakushiji’s spots were kind of sloppy. There was no heat since everyone knew the older Togo was going over. On paper, this should have been a better match, but the positioning of the two forces it to be one-sided. 11:04. **3/4.
Gran Hamada (Sekigun) vs. Shoichi Funaki (DX). Joined in progress. The psychology of the match saw the Battlarts submission wrestler Funaki working over Hamada’s "bad" left knee. Funaki knee breakered Hamada then went into the figure 4. Funaki used a metal object on Hamada’s knee. Funaki piledrove Hamada on the floor. Funaki whipped Hamada into the corner, but Hamada got his knee up. Hamada tried his swinging DDT off the 2nd, but Funaki turned it into an inverted atomic drop for a near fall. Very cool innovative spot. Funaki got a near fall with a lariat. Hamada countered a press slam with a huracanrana. Funaki got a near fall with a fisherman buster. Funaki took an great bump for Hamada on the Frankensteiner off the top. Hamada jumped off the top and performed his swinging DDT for the win. It still amazes me that a 46-year old can be so good in a style based predominantly on athleticism. Funaki is very good. Learn to like him. Nice match, but it was way too short for my liking. 8:07. ***1/4
Great Sasuke (Sekigun) vs. MEN’S Teoh (DX). The psychology of this match was centered on Teoh working over Sasuke’s bad knee. Teoh snuck attacked Sasuke and hit 3 backdrops. Sasuke & Teoh did a series of athletic counters culminating with Sasuke’s handspring cross body. Sasuke applied a cross arm breaker, but Teoh rope escaped. Sasuke was doing more mat wrestling than normal. Aside from Funaki, Teoh is the strongest mat wrestler in the DX. Teoh kneebreakered Sasuke off the apron. Teoh kneebreakered again then went into the figure 4. Teoh picked up Sasuke for a kneebreaker, but instead rammed his knee into the ring post. Teoh did his spinning toe hold. Sasuke did a handspring elbow to knock Teoh to the floor. Sasuke did a quebrada. Sasuke tried to suplex Teoh back into the ring. Teoh landed on his feet and tried to suplex Sasuke, but Sasuke reversed and applied the Japanese leg roll crotch hold. Sasuke got a near fall with a fisherman suplex. Teoh landed on his feet for Sasuke’s Thunder Fire powerbomb and hit a kneecap dropkick. Teoh tried a kneebreaker off the second, but Sasuke Frankensteinered him off the top. Sasuke missed a quebrada and Teoh went right into a Oklahoma side roll for a near fall. Teoh hit a discus forearm. Teoh tried a discus forearm, but Sasuke quebrada’d. Sasuke Thunder Fire powerbombed, but Teoh kicked the ref over. A guy with Tiger Mask hood on came into the ring and started beating on Sasuke. Tiger Mask 4, a Sayama protege, is a member of Sasuke’s Sekigun group who has unfortunately been out with a knee injury. This Tiger was wearing a BWO T-shirt though, so it was clear he was a heel rather than the real Tiger Mask 4. Tiger Mask tombstone piledriver Sasuke with Teoh spiking it off the 2nd. Tiger dragged the ref up and Teoh did his nodowa bomb (choke slam turned into a powerbomb) for the win. Tiger Mask unmasked as Hanzo Nakajima. Good psychology. A screw job in Japan? Not only don’t I like a screw job, but the way the screw job was done made no sense to me. Teoh is working over Sasuke’s bad knee the whole match, so why forget about that? I would have had Hanzo come in with a chair and bash Sasuke’s bad knee once or twice. Teoh would then apply his spinning toe hold that no one has seen him with a big match with in recent memory. The ref would come to and see Sasuke submitting to the spinning toe hold. This would have made the psychology of the match stronger and also helped get one of Teoh’s moves over. The way the did the finish, the good idea of building the match around Teoh working over Sasuke’s bad knee was wasted. Nice technical match. I liked Michinoku Pro better with Hanzo in Europe. 15:27. ***1/4.
Super Delfin (Sekigun) vs. Shiryu (DX). Joined in progress. Delfin plancha’d Shiryu. Shiryu’s mask was already ripped. Delfin brainbustered. Delfin did his flying elbow for a near fall. Delfin hit his swinging DDT off the 2nd. Delfin then tried his Delfin clutch, but Shiryu cradled him. Shiryu dropkicked Delfin to the floor. Shiryu ran across the ring apron and dove through two sets of ropes to the floor on the other side of the ring with his somersault suicida (same idea as the dive Juventud did on Nitro). Very cool invention. Not as great as TAKA’s super quebrada, but it’s fresh. It’s at least one of the nicest moves you’ll see. Shiryu fisherman bustered Delfin for a near fall. Shiryu hit another fisherman buster for a near fall. Shiryu tried a double springboard move, but he blew the spot. Shiryu hit an Arabian moonsault for a 2 ½ count. Shiryu did a side backbreaker to set up his moonsault. Delfin kicked out of the moonsault at 2 3/4. Shiryu whipped into the ropes, but Delfin got his boot up. Delfin then tried his swinging DDT off the second, but before his head hit the mat Shiryu avoided it by doing a headspring. Shiryu quickly rolled Delfin up for a 2 ½ count. Shiryu La Magistralled for the win. Nice Lucha work. Lots of good high spots. I wish more aired. 16:25. ***1/2.
Maybe it’s me, but I really don’t see the point of this booking. You have a 5 match series, yet you have the heels win 3 of the first 4 thus making what would be the deciding match, basically meaningless to the already decided series.
Gran Naniwa (Sekigun) vs. TAKA Michinoku (DX). Naniwa clotheslined TAKA to the floor then plancha’d. Champ Forum skips. TAKA got a near fall with a diving neckbreaker drop. Naniwa tried a suplex, but TAKA rolled into a kneebar. TAKA did a kneebreaker into a dragon screw into a another kneebar. TAKA put Naniwa’s knee on the bottom rope and delivered a springboard kneedrop to the knee. TAKA got a near fall with a brainbuster. TAKA German suplexed for a near fall. TAKA forearmed Naniwa to the floor. TAKA hit his awesome Super quebrada. TAKA did a nice overhead belly-to-belly. TAKA tried a springboard move, but Naniwa dropkicked him in midair. Naniwa tried a Frankensteiner off the top, but couldn’t get it. Naniwa knocked TAKA off the top the floor. Naniwa missed his plancha. TAKA applied a figure 4 out of the ring. TAKA hit a kneecap dropkick then a springboard enzui dropkick. TAKA got a near fall with this Michinoku Driver II. TAKA tried for the Michinoku Driver II, but Naniwa turned it into La Magistral for a near fall. Naniwa tried for his Doctor bomb, but couldn’t get it off. Naniwa Frankensteinered TAKA off the top. At the 2 count, TAKA turned it into his own pinning move. Naniwa ducked a clothesline and hit a released Tiger suplex. Naniwa did a splash off the top. Naniwa got a near fall with the Doctor bomb. Naniwa hit a spinning Doctor bomb for the win. Very good match with excellent flow and execution. Good building. Tons of near falls. These two can really work. 17:22. ****.
All Japan '97 Shinshun Giant Series Commercial Tape January 1997
Johnny Ace & Steve Williams vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada 1/17/97 for Ace & Williams Double Tag Titles.
The early portion was fairly stiff, but nothing eventful really happened. This match built very slowly. Williams really sucked in this match. He may have been on drugs. If not, it’s just that he’s declined to the point where he wrestles like he’s stoned even if he isn’t. Williams gave Kawada an avalanche and he was supposed to do a TAKA imitation and land on the ring apron, but Williams has no athleticism, so he got stuck on the top rope. Williams then hopped over the top rope and gave Taue a running forearm. Kawada high kicked Williams off the apron. Williams started acting really weird, swearing at the cameraman to get out of his face. When Williams got up, he took a swing at the camera man. Aside from that, Williams couldn’t roll with the moves, his selling wasn’t too good, his reflex and reaction time were poor, and his exection was down from normal. Even though Williams wasn’t good, this had a strong second half and turned into a very good match. Kawada & Taue did a backdrop/nodowa combination. Williams gave Kawada a diving shoulderblock then powerslammed Taue. Williams hit his spine buster and cradle on Kawada. Kawada threw roundhouse kicks, but Williams caught one and did his dragon screw into a ½ crab. Williams took Taue out with a forearm. Ace then handed Kawada to Williams so Doc could powerslam him off the second for a near fall. Ace dropkicked Kawada then Williams delivered his Oklahoma Stampede. Williams lariated Kawada. Williams then hoisted Kawada onto his shoulders so Ace could deliver the sky high lariat. Ace covered, but Taue made the save. Taue nodowa’d both. The nodowa to Doc looked pretty bad because Doc didn’t go up for it. Taue got a near fall on Ace with his dynamic bomb (Liger bomb). Ace ducked a Taue lariat and did a cross between a backdrop and a German suplex. Williams and Ace gave Taue a spike powerbomb for a near fall. Ace hit his Ace Crusher on Taue for another near fall. Kawada and Williams went at it outside the ring with Kawada whipping Williams into the bars. Ace hit his cobra suplex on Taue. Kawada got back into the ring and enzuiguried Ace. Williams tried to return to the ring, but Kawada enzuiguried him back to the floor. Kawada & Taue gave Ace their powerbomb/nodowa combination for a near fall. Ace came back by Ace Crushering Kawada, but the comeback was short lived as Taue connected with a jumping high kick for a near fall. Taue then gave Ace 2 nodowa’s in rapid succession for the win. Kawada & Taue won the Double Tag Titles. The crowd didn’t react to this match like it was a major match. The first half of the match was below average, but everything came together in the second half. This was disappointing for a Double Tag Title match, but still definite quality. 26:12. ***1/2.
Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 1/20/97 for Kobashi’s Triple Crown
This was an incredible match. It very well may be the best men’s heavyweight singles match of all-time. It was one of those matches that was just great in every aspect. There were so many elements working perfectly in the match. This was a match where if you know All Japan and understand the significance of what they are doing, it’s clearly one for the ages. They began with an elbow and chop exchange. The elbow is Misawa’s big strike and the chop is Kobashi’s, so anything involving an elbow or chop with them is important. Kobashi won the first exchange when he knocked Misawa down with his shoulder tackle. Misawa won the second by knocking Kobashi down with a dropkick. Misawa hit his elbow suicida. Back in the ring, they did a nice sequence where Kobashi forward rolled under a lariat and they went back to exchanging their stiff blows. Misawa won this one when he DDT’d Kobashi. Kobashi hit two nice discus chops. The match slowed with them doing some submission holds and more stiff blows. Misawa had Kobashi in a surfboard, but Kobashi stood up and powered his way out. Kobashi was able to reverse the surfboard, but Misawa quickly broke it with a combat kick. Kobashi tried a diving tackle, but Misawa caught him with his elbow. Misawa did a spinning missile dropkick, which is a cool move that I have never seen before. Misawa teased his Tiger Driver, opting instead for a simple underhook suplex. Misawa & Kobashi had another exchange of stiff elbows and chops respectively, which was won by Misawa when he put Kobashi down with an elbow. Misawa did an elbow off the 2nd followed by a splash off the top for a near fall. Misawa applied his facelock, which still gets a pop from the crowd years after he beat Jumbo Tsuruta with it. The elbows, chops, facelocks, etc. definitely fall in the simple but highly effective category. Misawa used a series of elbows to knock Kobashi to the floor. Misawa faked his elbow suicida. Misawa tried a diving elbow off the apron, but Kobashi moved and Misawa’s arm cracked the security rail. The key to this is that Misawa’s risk taking has caused injury to his elbow arm. Misawa got up to the apron, but Kobashi lariated him off and this time Misawa’s head and back hit the security rail. Misawa sold this really well, like he was KO’d, which I guess should come as a surprise to no one. Kobashi used the security rail to work over Misawa’s injured arm. Kobashi used armbreakers and short arm DDT’s to Misawa’s "injured" arm. Kobashi delivered a Dangerous Released Tiger Suplex ’85. Kobashi then tried for an armbar submission, but Misawa got the ropes. Misawa tried to comeback throwing elbows with his "injured" arm, but Kobashi caught his "injured" arm in the wakigatame. Kobashi used another arm breaker then followed with a Dangerous Released German Suplex. Misawa got up and charged Kobashi, but Kenta ipponzei’d him. Kobashi immediately cross arm breakered the "injured" arm, but Misawa got his foot under the ropes. Misawa tried a spinning roundhouse kick, but Kobashi caught his foot and suplexed him on his head. Kobashi went for his lariat, but Misawa caught him with a front kick. Kobashi tried his lariat again, but Misawa forearmed Kobashi’s arm with his "injured" arm. This was sold like a collision of epic proportions since both use the respective moves as finishers. So, we had Misawa make a key mistake and injure his arm. Then Kobashi worked and worked the injured arm to try to get the win and further injure it so it would be "useless" to Misawa. Now, Kobashi has made the key mistake that Misawa made earlier, he allowed his lariat arm to be "injured." With Kobashi selling out of the ring, Misawa hit a baseball slide and followed with his twisting somersault plancha. Misawa hit his jumping lariat. All the spots were being sold very long and very well. Misawa tried a Tiger Driver, but Kobashi blocked. Kobashi tried his lariat, but Misawa blocked it and hit a Dangerous Released German suplex. Misawa hit his Tiger Driver for a near fall. Misawa forearmed Kobashi down then tried a flying move, but Kobashi lariated him in midair. This played off the upset finish from last year’s Misawa vs. Taue match. Kobashi’s lariat arm was "injured" here though so he was unable to cover quick enough to score the big win. Kobashi went for the powerbomb, but Misawa blocked. On the second try, Kobashi hit the powerbomb for a 2 9/10 count. The crowd was buzzing by this point. Kobashi hit his Orange bomb for a big pop and a near fall. Misawa blocked a lariat with both arms, but Kobashi still took him down. Both sold this spot due to the previous arm "injuries." Kobashi tried to powerbomb Misawa off the apron, but Misawa turned it into a Frankensteiner. Great spot. Tremendous selling here. Misawa hit forearms then waistlocked Kobashi. Due to exhaustion, Misawa was only able to belly to back suplex Kobashi. Misawa hit a discus elbow which knocked Kobashi down, but Misawa also fell down. Both got up about the same time and Misawa hit another discus elbow. When Kobashi staggered to his feet, Misawa threw another discus forearm, but Kobashi ducked and this time hit the lariat. Both staggered to their feet at about the same time and Misawa went back to the elbows, this time hitting three. Misawa’s momentum from the third forearm took him so that his back was to Kobashi. Kenta seized the opportunity hitting a Dangerous Released German Suplex. Kobashi ran at Misawa, but Misawa headbutted him in the gut then hit an enzui discus elbow. Misawa dragged Kobashi up. Although Kobashi fought it, Misawa was still able to hit a released Tiger suplex for a near fall. The crowd was chanting KO-BA-SHI! KO-BA-SHI! Misawa ducked Kobashi’s discus chop and Misawa hit Tiger Driver ’91. Tiger Driver ’91 is Misawa’s most deadly and effective finisher. The last time he used the move was October of 1995 to beat Kobashi. The place went nuts because no one has ever kicked out of the move. Misawa only uses it in desperation because it’s a dangerous move since he drops his opponent right on his head. This was surely the finish. Kobashi became the first person to ever kick out of the move. Another unbelievable pop from the crowd. Could this be the night that Kobashi finally gets his first win on Misawa? Kobashi hit 2 lariats from his knee, but he was "too hurt" to put anything on them. Misawa no-sold the weak lariats. Misawa ducked a lariat and hit his other rarely used finisher, the Tiger suplex ’85. This is normally a half-nelson German suplex, which is the same move as Mayumi Ozaki’s Tequilla Sunrise finisher. Misawa put Kobashi away with this in the 1995 Carnival. However, rather than bridge it, Misawa did a released version, once again planting Kenta on his head. This is another sure finish, but Misawa didn’t go for the pin. The idea is that he’s both frustrated and afraid. He can’t believe Kobashi broke his 100% successful finisher the Tiger Suplex ’91, so he doesn’t even want to give Kobashi the chance to break this finisher, which he also only uses when the stakes are at their highest. Misawa prefers to go back to his trusty elbow, a move that’s got him big wins in the past. This time, Misawa doesn’t just use an elbow or a discus elbow, he clocks Kobashi with a running elbow. Misawa covered and Kobashi was unable to kick out. Misawa regained the Triple Crown. Unbelievable match. One of the best singles matches ever. Super psychology and storyline playing off previous Kobashi vs. Misawa matches along with a lot of All Japan history. Very deep. The selling was phenomenal, especially by Misawa who is the second best seller in the sport. The build was great. The crowd reacted to perfection. Very stiff. Everything was executed perfectly. Excellent set up and transition. I really have no complaints about this match. Kobashi sacrificed a lot of his move set for increased psychology, which to me is a good thing. This was not a "glamourous" match, but it was as good a match as you’ll ever see when it comes to getting everything they tried as far as work and desired crowd reaction right. Will it win match of the year? Probably not because it didn’t have spots that would leave your jaw hanging open. Moreover, the match wouldn’t have a lot of meaning to people who haven’t seen a lot of All Japan. I mean, someone who doesn’t watch AJ would say, "Wow, an elbow and a chop. Big deal." The thing is, the elbow and the chop are their moves. They have meaning beyond just being a transitional spot. Kobashi breaking the Tiger Driver ’91 has huge significance, but it would go over your head if you weren’t familiar with the product. Get this tape! When you watch the match, think about what’s being done and why. Think about how one move logically leads to another and the brilliant set up of each spot. Listen to the crowd reactions the big holds get. Pencil this one in as match of the year and hope like hell something this superb comes along to knock it off. 42:06. *****.
Hiroshi Hase vs. Kentaro Shiga 1/2/97
Hase, who was clearly the best heavyweight in New Japan for basically his whole tenure in that division, was making his long awaited return to the ring. If you are looking to pinpoint the time when the New Japan heavyweight division started to really suck, it was the day after Hase left to work in the Diet (Japanese equivalent to the US Senate). Anyway, Hase wasn’t in tip top shape like he was during his active career, but that’s something that can be expected after a long layoff. This was basically an education and discipline match for Shiga. Shiga is really really small, so Hase pretty much no-sold his offense and slapped the young punk around. Hase used his famous giant swing followed by his Northern Lights suplex finisher for the win. It was great to see Hase again, but this match was not one of his better ones. 9:31. **1/4.
Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue 1/20/97
This match was basically there for shock value and to get heat for near falls early on in the matches. Akiyama elbowed his way out of some spots including Taue’s attempted nodowa off the apron. Akiyama did his whip into corner and jumping elbow then tried his Northern Lights suplex, but Taue kneed his way out. Taue hit a front kick then a released German suplex. Taue tried to nodowa Akiyama off the apron again, but Akiyama avoided it. The went to the finish with Akiyama trying a German, but Taue giving him a stiff elbow to get out of it. Akiyama ducked a high kick and hit a jumping elbow. Taue tried his nodowa, but Akiyama arm dragged out of it. Akiyama hit his high knee. Akiyama then explodered Taue for the major upset win. This was Akiyama’s first singles win over Taue. The finishing sequence was good, but the match was much too short. You can’t do anything as far as psychology in a sub 5 minute match. 4:48. **.