AJ Selection #201 taped 11/29/89 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen
AJ Selection #202
10/1/89 Naha Shimin Taiikukan: Doug Furnas vs. Shinichi Nakano
1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Super Heavykyu Battle Royal
12/4/89 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs. Nasty Boys
AJ Selection #203
1/3/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Shinshun Battle Royal
12/6/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat 17:48. Unfortunately, these aren't the British Bulldogs we're used to seeing. Dynamite has lost considerable muscle mass and seems to have aged 5 years since his last All Japan tour a few months ago. Meanwhile, Davey has now reached the super roidy threshold where you begin to wonder if he can touch his arms to his side. The match starts out really well with a series of spots where athleticism trumps power, but Dynamite begins to fall apart 4 1/2 minutes in, reinjuring his back. Davey slowed the match down after this, unsure how much more his partner could offer. Dynamite was back in briefly 2 minutes later, but seemed very stiff, and Davey began incorporating his full arsenal of WWF preening and posing. Dynamite came in blazing, but seemed to injure his arm lariating Kroffat, as if his whole right side had gone numb. Dynamite was ever the trooper, but was literally crumbling before our eyes. Can-Am did a good job of keeping it entertaining, but weren't exactly sure what they should and shouldn't do given Dynamite wasn't Dynamite and Davey, after a certain point, just seemed to be looking for excuses to do as little as possible. Dynamite lost Kroffat in midair, not having the strength or flexibility to complete his avalanche style suplex. The ref just got Dynamite out of the ring after this, leading to an impromptu finish where Furnas came in with a diving body attack, but Davey shifted his weight for the victory. **1/2
'89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
AJ Selection #204
10/28/89 Sagamihara Shi Sogo Taiikukan: Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat vs. Masa Fuchi & Kenta Kobashi
12/6/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan '89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen
AJ Selection #205
1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tiger Mask & Shinichi Nakano vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith
1/11/90 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Shi Taiikukan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Akira Taue & Isao Takagi
1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jumbo Tsuruta & The Great Kabuki & Isao Takagi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
AJ Selection #206
1/20/90 Ueda Shimin Taiikukan: The Great Kabuki vs. Rip Rodgers
1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kenta Kobashi
1/3/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask & Masa Fuchi
1/3/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shunji Takano vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose & Steve Gatorwolf
AJ Selection #207
1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Mokoshi Okuma & Masa Fuchi
1/3/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
The Great Kabuki vs. Kenta Kobashi
Asia Tag Title Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers 16:02. These teams didn't have their chemistry and timing quite down yet, but it was still a nice showcase for the Fantastics act with the chain wrestling, clever setups, constant teamwork. Fantastics keep everyone on their toes and are always tons of fun. Rodgers was excellent as usual, and the teams began to find their groove in the second half of this junior style tag. They are definitely capable of a lot better, but I'm just happy to see Rogers and Kawada in the same ring. ***1/2
AJ Selection #208
1/11/90 Toyohashi Shi Taiikukan: Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shunji Takano vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Ivan Koloff
1/14/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers
1/11/90 Toyohashi Shi Taiikukan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask & The Great Kabuki vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
AJ Selection #209
1/14/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi vs. Randy Rose
1/20/90 Ueda Shimin Taiikukan: Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose
1/25/90 Koriyama Central Hall: Tiger Mask & Isao Takagi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose
1/14/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Samson Fuyuki
AJ Selection #210
1/24/90 Tooya Shinmin Center Taiikukan: Mighty Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers
1/14/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & The Great Kabuki vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Ivan Koloff & Rip Rodgers
1/20/90 Ueda Shimin Taiikukan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Isao Takagi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada
AJ Selection #211 taped 1/20/90 Ueda Shimin Taiikukan
Tiger Mask & Kenta Kobashi vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith 13:01. Incredibly disappointing match dominated by a Bulldog team that didn't want to do anything. Dynamite showed no explosion, in fact he was totally subdued, pretty much just relying on his brawling. Davey had no flexibility, and was just looking to showcase his power. Really, only Tiger tried to do anything in the first 12 minutes, but the scenario was Bulldogs totally dominated with Tiger & Kobashi getting an occasional athletic counter, so it was hard for the natives to get anything going. Kobashi finally kicked it into high gear for the finishing segment, but that was just a minute long. **
1/24/90 Tooya Shinmin Center Taiikukan
Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Great Kabuki & Isao Takagi
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose
AJ Selection #212 taped 1/24/90 Tooya Shinmin Center Taiikukan
Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask & Shinichi Nakano
Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano
Jumbo Tsuruta & The Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
AJ Selection #213 taped 1/28/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Makoshi Okuma
The Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Isao Takagi
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masa Fuchi vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Tiger Mask
AJ Selection #214 taped 3/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Kitahara vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
2/24/90 Ichinomiya Sangyo Taiikukan: Jumbo Tsuruta & The Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki
3/6/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Barry Windham
AJ Selection #215 taped 2/21/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Jumbo Tsuruta & Shinichi Nakano vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
3/2/90 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
3/6/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
AJ Selection #216 taped 3/27/90 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Tiger Mask & Isamu Teranishi vs. Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat
3/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs. The Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue & Shinichi Nakano
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
AJ Selection #217 taped 1/25/90 Kooriyama Central Hall
Tiger Mask & Isao Takagi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose
3/27/90 Niigata Shi Taiikukan: Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue
3/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Steve Williams
3/6/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Tiger Mask vs. Kenta Kobashi
AJ Selection #218 taped 3/27/90 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
taped 3/31/90 Toyama Shi Taiikukan
Rusher Kimura & Isamu Teranishi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada
Asia Tag Title Match: Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Joe Malenko & Kenta Kobashi 22:06. Malenko pretty much sat out their great 10/11/89 meeting, so this time they give him the match and have Kobashi have minimal involvement. Malenko is in top form here, really seeming to think his way through the match, counteracting his opponents strengths and proclivities with his speed, flexibility, and ability to leverage almost any situation to his advantage. Still, Furnas is such a physical specimin he can just hoist Malenko up with 1 arm, even when that arm is in a keylock! Slower pacing never leads to Can-Am's best stuff, but the sequences and counters are quite impressive. It starts off really strong, but never seems to pick up steam, and I'd even say stagnates for a few minutes because there's only so much Can-Am has to offer in Malenko's style, but then they move on to the finishing sequence and it gets really interesting again. the heat isn't even close to what it was in their first match because the fans aren't into Malenko to anywhere near the extent they are into Kobashi, but Kobashi does work most of the finishing sequence, and suddenly the heat is there. ***3/4
AJ Selection #219 taped 4/13/90 Tokyo Dome
Masa Fuchi & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jimmy Snuka & Tito Santana
3/24/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
3/31/90 Toyama Shi Taiikukan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Shunji Takano & Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey & David Sammartino
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Ted DiBiase vs. Ultimate Warrior
AJ Selection #220 taped 4/19/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Giant Baba & The Great Kabuki & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Makoshi Okuma & Masa Fuchi
taped 4/13/90 Tokyo Dome
Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs. Big Bossman
Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs. Bret Hart 20:00. You'd think Bret might be motivated to be wrestling in Japan, in front of a huge crowd, taking on another wrestler who was poised for huge success in the new decade. But Bret could still stall with the best of them. When they were on their feet, it was generally an entertaining if somewhat basic match, but the problem is they'd set up a nice armdrag counter for Tiger then Tiger would just hold Bret's arm for the next minute. They could have condensed this into a hot 10 minute match, but at 20 there was just way too much dead time. At best, it had it's moments, but there was nothing here that showed me that either of these guys were among the 50 best wrestlers in the world. Fans weren't that into it either. In fact, outside of booing Bret a few times for posing and stalling, they were totally dead until Bret faked a knee injury then cheap shotted Tiger when he showed concern. **1/2
AJ Selection #221 taped 3/31/90 Toyama Shi Taiikukan
Tiger Mask & Shinichi Nakano vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
taped 4/13/90 Tokyo Dome
Jumbo Tsuruta & King Haku vs. Rick Martel & Curt Hennig
Stan Hansen vs. Hulk Hogan
AJ Selection #222 taped 4/17/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat
Giant Baba & Andre The Giant & The Great Kabuki vs. Masa Fuchi & Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano
4/13/90 Tokyo Dome: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Randy Savage
10/28/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tremendous match. Great execution, build, excitement, drama, psychology, and heat. Excellent performance by both men. This is everything a big match should be, and more. ****3/4
4/89 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. Tsuruta drops Tenryu nastily on his shoulder and head with a powerbomb at 15:45, and Tenryu is unable to continue. This was only very good because the injury caused it to end before it got hot. The heat wasn't as good as the previous match, but the result turned the powerbomb into one of the deadliest moves in the country. ***1/2
6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu. Pretty much a flawless match that rates right up there with the best men's heavyweight matches of all-time if you take the time period into consideration. Both men play their roles to perfection. Great psychology, build, execution, timing, near falls, and stiffness. Really heated. Tenryu takes the TC. As far as I can tell this is the best heavyweight match of it's decade. What really makes this match special though, is that the match was so innovative. This is the series, and this match did more than their previous two in this regard, that defined the style that Jumbo, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, etc would go on to have so many great matches in. *****
10/11/89 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan Triple Crown: Tenryu vs. Tsuruta. Another great match, but not as action packed as in the past. Slower paced, slower building, and not as heated as their past bouts. These guys stiffed the hell out of each other though. Jumbo regained the TC. ****1/4
4/19/90 Triple Crown: Tsuruta vs. Tenryu. This was known to be their last meeting because Tenryu has already signed with SWS. It started out really hot with Tsuruta pummelling Tenryu with big spots and it was a sprint, so it stayed hot most of the way. The match didn't have the build or psychology of their previous matches, but the work was great and the match was certainly different from the other four. Tenryu left the ring quickly after Jumbo put him away and Hansen came out and destroyed the ring boys then got into a fight with Jumbo, thus taking all the focus off the departing Tenryu as the key fued was switched to Jumbo vs. Stan. ****
AJ Selection #223 taped 6/1/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Abdullah The Butcher & Randy Rose vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Goro Tsurumi
5/26/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Terry Gordy vs. Davey Boy Smith
4/17/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
AJ Selection #224 taped 6/1/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kenta Kobashi vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
4/19/90 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey 20:53. This violent grudge brawl for gaijin #1 bragging rights is about as good a tag match as you'll ever get from four American heavyweights. Gordy & Williams were looking like the top working team they were always billed as in the US, but never seemed to live up to, and spivey did some of the most effective wrestling of his career. They beat the hell out of each other, with Hansen bleeding from the forehead early but still using headbutts. However, they also worked actual wrestling moves in as well, building to a couple awesome spots involving the finishers. There was a great near fall where Gordy spiked Williams Oklahoma stampedge, but Hansen made a diving save. Later, Hansen finally has his western lariat set up on Gordy, but Williams picks his own partner's leg as he bounces off the ropes, and Hansen goes flying over the top to the floor when Gordy avoids via tripping. Hansen is the least interesting wrestler in the match, by the way, but these sort of spots are what elevates his matches above his actual ability. ****1/4
Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu
6/8/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Abdullah The Butcher vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
5/14/90 Tokyo Taiikukan
Yoshiaki Yatsu & Samson Fuyuki vs. Tiger Mask & Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada unmasks Tiger.
Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
Yatsu vs. Kobashi, Bulldogs vs. Tiger Mask Misawa & Shinichi Nakano, Tenryu
& Fuyuki & Kawada vs. Tsuruta & Kabuki & Isao Takagi, two AJ
battle royals, NJ Tag Tournament featuring Chono & Koshinaka vs. SS Machine
& Sano in great final, Choshu vs. Zangiev, Inoki & Shota Chochoshvili
vs. Masa Saito & Rheingans, Kabuki vs. Kobashi, Fantastics vs. Takada &
Fuyuki, Bulldogs vs. Tiger Mask & Masa Fuchi, Vader vs. Hansen, Inoki &
Sakaguchi vs. Chono & Hashimoto, Sano & Pegasus Kid vs. Liger &
Nogami, Larry Zybyzko vs. Masa Saito, more!
Sano vs. Gerorge.Takano-excellent match, Power & Glory vs. Tenryu & Savage, Yatsu & Haku vs. Tenryu & Savage, Onita vs. Pogo-Barbed Wire Landmine Death Match, Fantastics vs. Footloose (Kawada & Ricky Samson Hiromuchi Kodo Fuyuki), Sano & SS Machine vs. Koshinaka & Chono-1/5/90 Chono & Koshinaka win NJ Tag Tourney in an excellent match, Takada vs. Maeda, Tenryu & Kawada & Fuyuki vs. Tsuruta & Kabuki & Inoue, Windham vs. Taue, more!
Mixed Match: Liger vs. Aoyagi, Vader vs. Hansen, Muto vs. Hashimoto, Williams vs. Hansen, Gordy vs. Tsuruta-Gordy wins Triple Crown, Hansen & Choshu vs. Vader & Hamaguchi, Gordy vs. Hansen, Misawa vs. Tsuruta, Kobashi vs. Bigelow, Kawada vs. Bigelow, Kobashi vs. Williams, more!
1990 Observer Best Major Wrestling Card! Tsuruta & Haku vs. Perfect & Martel, Tenryu vs. Savage, Hogan vs. Hansen, Kobashi & Fuchi vs. Snuka & Santana, Tiger Mask Misawa vs. Bret Hart, more!
6/8/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Abdullah The Butcher vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada
6/1/90 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Bam Bam Bigelow & Davey Boy Smith vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
6/5/90 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen
9/20/72 Honolulu International Center Arena
Giant Baba vs. The Sheik
12/11/72 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
World Heavyweight Title: Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer
5/1/76 Tokyo Nichidai Kodo, Champion Carnival: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Giant Baba. I was really surprised by this match, which showed Baba to be a much more capable singles wrestler in his heyday than I would have guessed. Baba had some athleticism in these days, and was actually making moves look good rather than, at best, weird. Jumbo was also far more athletic here, getting Baba in the side of the face with a dropkick and the chin with his jumping knee. Slow match where they worked the holds, but they did an excellent job of working in a high spot or near fall to keep you on your toes. The match didn't feel long because of how well they spaced the action out, not putting you to sleep and then finally starting to work like Leizi Muto. They picked it up so much around 12 I thought it was going to be over by 14, but they were able to take it back to the mat and calm things down, perhaps making the crowd wait to explode again but certainly not losing them by "going in reverse". They made me consider whether the lost art of knowing how to take it down isn't more important than knowing how to take it up. They made the audience believe in moves that would never beat Giant or Jumbo because they made the when and how much more important than the what. 24:56 of 26:15. ****
8/28/76 Tokyo Nichidai Kodo, 2/3 Falls UN Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Jack Brisco. The first time I've seen the legendary Brisco in Japan, and he was quite a disappointment. I can see what people say about his technical ability, but his selling was so irritating. Every time he got hit in the back he would jerk his stomach out and his head back, like some kind of bobble head and waist doll, making the overselling of Terry Funk look like nothing. The first fall was pretty well ruined by this because Jumbo was on offense the whole time, and really it's hard for anything with Jumbo on offense to not be good. The second and third falls redeemed the match, as Brisco injured Jumbo's knee. Brisco won the second fall with the figure 4, refusing to release which kept the attack going strong into the third fall because it started before Jumbo had come close to recovering. Jumbo finally made a little comeback, but his jumping knee hurt him as much as Brisco. Jumbo was in top form and carried the match, with Brisco showing good focus. 11:09, 6:19, 5:34. ***1/2
2/23/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, International Heavyweight & AWA World Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Nick Bockwinkle. Bockwinkle worked Jumbo's arm for the first 15 minutes. Bockwinkle was never a big offensive guy, but by attacking the arm most of the match he provided the framework and let Jumbo add in the good moves. Terry Funk was the guest referee, which like every other example of an active wrestler being a ref, just detracted from the match. The bulk of the match was technical, so Funk should have had nothing to do, though he kept calling attention to himself by making rulings on the legality. To give Funk something to do, they worked in a few potential double KO's and count outs. Bockwinkle "didn't like" Funk being an active ref, and eventually shoved Jumbo from behind, knocking him into Funk and both to the floor. Joe Higuchi was a second official on the outside, and he nearly counted Jumbo out then took over in the ring because for some reason it took Funk much longer to recover than Jumbo. Funk recovered just in time to count the winning fall. Jumbo unified the titles. 32:00. ***1/2
4/16/91 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, '91 Champion Carnvival Yushoketteisen: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen. Exciting, stiff well wrestled match with great heat. Looked like it was going to be one of their best, but was surprisingly short. Jumbo started with an inspired arm attack, but this wasn't developed nearly as well as it normally would have been because they didn't have the time. They did a great job of making their blows look vicious, throwing them in a more abrupt and jerky manner and opening their hand just before impact so it would make a louder sound. Hansen hit the western lariat before 12, but Jumbo got his foot on the ropes. He tried it again almost immediately, but Jumbo ducked into a schoolboy. I was intrigued by these two spots early, wondering where they'd go from there. Unfortunately, I was then disappointed because they went home on the next spot. It seems odd to pick this match to be short considering they were bringing the Carnival back after an 8 year absense, but maybe it would make sense to me if I was watching in context. 12:53. ***1/2
6/8/90 vs. Tsuruta-Misawa's first pin on Jumbo-great match
6/1/91 vs. Gordy ****1/4
3/4/92 Triple Crown vs. Hansen
8/22/92 Triple Crown vs. Hansen-Misawa wins Triple Crown ****
9/16/90
Giant Baba 30th Anniversary Special documentary
9/23/90 taped 9/7/90 Fukui Shi Taiikukan
9/1/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Asia Tag Champion Decision League Match: Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Joe Malenko & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 11:05 of 16:59. Awesome technical, stiff, intense, fast-paced, high flying junior action. Fantastics are at the very top of their game here, which is best in the world level. Everyone is working with a sense of urgency, with even Malenko wrestling a more modern, action oriented style. Kikuchi is the spark plug, pushing the pace, taking psycho bumps, getting huge responses from the crowd. He's so reckless it's hard to tell when he's risking injury on purpose, and when it simply comes naturally, but it makes for even wilder action. Kikuchi definitely blows a swandive spot, slipping off the top to the floor, with Rogers giving him a piledriver on the outside for his blunder. There's lot of good planned action on the floor as well, dives and suplexes. It's just spectacular stuff, possibly a great match in it's entirety as you could see the Fantastics had great chemistry with Malenko on the mat but little of that portion (if it took place) makes TV. ****1/4
Asia Tag Champion Decision Match: Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace 17:19. Fantastics couldn't come close to following themselves, although it wasn't exactly their fault. Ace pretty much sunk this match singlehandedly, doing a slow, robotic heavyweight style. He started out looking semi-coordinated, and Kobashi, for whatever reason, was in no mood to bail him out. It was pretty shocking to see Kobashi so disinterested in a big match. The Fantastics were good, but they too seemed somewhat laid back, certainly compared to the hyper 9/1 match earlier in the show. They definitely should have shown that complete and edited this, as even if you cut the beginning out it wouldn't have appeared to be anything legendary. **3/4
Jumbo Tsuruta & Taue vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams 10:04 of 19:27
Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Danny Spivey & Giant Kimala
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada 45:00. Terrific draw with energetic aggressive performances all around which was notable for the early, high quality performance by Taue. Taue was still the worst in the match by far, but showed none of his typical awkwardness, and was able to hold up his end. It wasn't a great match when Taue was in, but great with Jumbo and very good with Taue. Taue had a bandage on his head which Misawa elbowed and Kawada stomped, quickly busting him open when Misawa posted him. Taue was the general whipping boy, as Kawada pretty clearly got the best of him, but it was Kawada who was trapped in the ring for the longest stretch, getting badly abused mostly by Jumbo. Misawa was very aggressive in trying to save him, but Kawada could never capitalize and make the tag. Kawada did some awesome selling as you'd expect, and later on surprised by actually hitting a moonsault attack. The match didn't have the look of a draw in that it had a quick pace from the outset and they never seemed to be killing time or holding back for the finish, they simply kicked the pace up an extra notch or two for the frantic stretch run. ****1/2
Giant Baba & Abdullah The Butcher vs. Andre The Giant & Stan Hansen
Funks vs. Hansen & Spivey, Liger vs. Pegasus-4 3/4 Liger regains IWGP Jr., Muto & Chono vs. Hase & Sasaki, Misawa & Kawada vs. Kobashi & Ace, Toyota & Madusa & Minami vs. Nakano & Kong & Kimura, Misawa & Kawada vs. Williams & Gordy, more!
AJPW TV 12/15/90 ’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match taped Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace
’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
Andre The Giant & Dory Funk, Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey & Joel Deaton
AJPW TV 12/22/90 ’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match taped 12/7/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada
’90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Decision League Match: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
Kawada & Kikuchi vs. Taue & Fuchi, Cactus Jack vs. Tsuruta, Misawa & Kobashi vs. Hansen & Spivey, Joe Malenko vs. Fuchi, Doc & Gordy vs. Tsuruta & Taue
Mighty Inoue vs. Rex King
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Motoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen
Kenta Kobashi vs. Cactus Jack
Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Johnny Smith & Richard Slinger
Dan Spivey vs. Terminator Hoss
Masa Fuchi vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa
Andre the Giant & Dory Funk Jr. & Dynamite Kid vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Steve Doll
Champion Carnival Final: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen 12:53
4/20/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi
10/21/92 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
5/2/99 Tokyo Dome, Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
4/18/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. This drew 15,960, which was the promotions all-time record at Budokan at the time. The crowd heat was incredible during the pre and post match, but it didn't have the sustained heat during the match that their 1990 matches did. This match showed that Misawa was Jumbo's peer. It was fairly even early, but Misawa would barely get the best of Jumbo to show his advancement. Jumbo got pissed when Misawa slapped him around like Jumbo likes to do to the young punks, but he wasn't able to prevent Misawa from doing so. One cool spot was Jumbo backdropping Misawa into the middle turnbuckle. The match kind of died for a while in middle as the submissions weren't helping the match in any way, but it picked up just before 16 minutes for a great final third. ****1/4
10/24/91 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada's first TC shot. This was an interesting match because of Kawada's strategy. He knew he was overmatched and couldn't just slug it out with Jumbo. Thus, his goal was to try to control Jumbo any way he could for as much of the match as he could. This didn't make for the most exciting match because a headlock is control, but the strategy made sense because he could only win when if he was in control. The crowd was really into the match, so that made up for the overabundance of submission holds. This was like a great old style match that comes off worse and worse as each year passes because we've come to expect so many spots and so little body work. Both men did a great job of acting, which added so much to the heat between them as well as making the match seem more credible. Kawada did some excellent counters to regain control, and the crowd was really into this, wanting to believe he had a chance and popping big anytime they got the illusion Kawada might win. ****
7/24/91 Ishikawa-ken Double Tag Titles: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada. Well booked match with strong psychology. The place went nuts when Misawa & Kawada took the titles. ****
9/4/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Double Tag Titles: Misawa & Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue. Taue was nothing special, but the other three were great. Misawa became the first native to beat Jumbo with a submission hold, the facelock. ****1/4
AJ TV 11/3/91 taped 10/24
PWF Jr. Title: Masa Fuchi vs. Dan Kroffat. Excellent match
Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Excellent match.
AJ TV 11/17/91 taped 11/16
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey
NJ TV 11/23/91 taped 11/5 Tokyo
IWGP Tag Titles: Rick Steiner & Scott Norton (subbing for injured Scott Steiner) vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase. Excellent match. Muto & Hase win titles.
AJ TV 11/24/91 taped 11/21
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Excellent match
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
AJ TV 12/8/91 taped 12/4 & 12/6/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Excellent match. Gordy & Williams win tag league
NJ TV 12/21/91 taped 12/5
Jushin Thunder Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Negro Casas & El Katana
AJ TV 12/22/91 taped 11/29/91
Dynamite Kid highlights then retirement ceremony
Johnny Ace & Sonny Beach vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala. Highlights
Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Highlights
AJ TV 12/1/91 taped 11/29
'91 Real World Tag Team League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
NJ TV taped 12/18/91
Jungle Death Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
AJ TV
finishes of famous matches from 80's and 90's
NJ TV 1/4/92 taped 1/4 Tokyo Dome
Keiji Muto & Sting vs. Steiner Brothers
12/6/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan '89 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen. The match was excellent when it was Jumbo vs. Tenryu, but Yatsu really dragged down the quality, heat, and intensity. Hansen bled. ***1/4
12/6/90 Tokyo Nippon Budokan '90 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. Brawl. Lots of kicking and punching, but no real bumping or sequences. Fans didn't really get into it until the end. **
12/6/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan '91 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams. It had the heat, intensity (particularly from Kawada), stiffness, and precise execution, but there wasn't any great storyline, psychology, or sequences. The basis of the match was Kawada would be in most of the time getting beat on then Misawa would come in for 2 minutes and totally dominate. Eventually Misawa got stuff powerbombed on the floor, so Kawada had to try to take on both opponents. ****1/4
Satoru Asako vs. Scott Armstong. Clip
Fantastics vs. Osamu Teranishi & Masao Inoue. Good match. Fantastics were great, doing all kinds of double teaming. The building was rocking.
Jackie Fulton vs. Mighty Inoue. Clip
Johnny Ace & Richard Slinger vs. Youngbloods. Average
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Motoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen. Terribly boring, but the fans liked it. Considerably better than todays comedy matches because the old codgers were a bit more spy back then.
Billy Black vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Fair match. Had less heat than anything on the show so far. Black did some nice spots, but his execution was less than perfect.
Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue 22:21. Smart, heated rivalry match. It wasn't so much what they did, but when they did it, as they knew how to keep the crowd involved, and Jumbo got great effect out of everything. |The theme was Kobashi & Kikuchi trading cheapshots back and forth with Jumbo. Kobashi & Kikuchi got off to a hot start with Kenta press slamming Kobashi over the top onto Taue on the floor, and generally controlled the match, for once. Taue was very ordinary, but he was mainly beat on, and the real focus was on the others attacking each other when they weren't the legal man, so he was pretty much an afterthought. Jumbo tried to run interference for Taue, but Kobashi & Kikuchi would follow him back to his corner and attack him. Things quickly escalated, to the point where you'd get spots such as Kikuchi giving Taue (legal man) a running elbow in the corner then sprinting to the other corner and elbowing Jumbo off the apron. Kikuchi kept provoking Jumbo, but faired pretty well here, not getting Kikuchi'd too badly. He was the best worker in the match, but not as over as his partner, or able to get as much out of everything he did as Jumbo. All three were excellent in their own, and in fact many ways, though. Jumbo & Taue tended to methodically pick the opposition apart, but even when they did the same things, Jumbo seemed malicious and nasty, provoking strong reactions, while Taue seemed as though he was just going through the motions even though the effort was there. ****
Misawa & Kawada vs. Hansen & Joel Deaton. Good match, but nothing spectacular. Deaton was much better with Misawa than Kawada. Kawada was really stiff here, kicking the oppositions knees out. ***
AJ TV 1/19/92 taped 1/10 & 1/15 & 1/2
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi
Kenta Kobashi vs. Billy Black
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Masa Fuchi
AJ TV 1/26/92 taped 1/21
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masa Fuchi
Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada
AJ TV 2/2/92 taped ? & 1/24/92
Stan Hansen vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi. Great match
NJ TV 2/8/92 taped 2/4
Riki Choshu & Keiji Muto & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Scott Norton & Rambo
AJ TV 2/9/92 taped 1/28
Triple Crown: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen. Hansen wins title.
NJ TV 2/15/92 taped 2/8 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Akitoshi Saito
IWGP Jr. Title: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger. Liger wins title
NJ TV 2/22/92 taped 2/10
IWGP Jr. & WCW World Light Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid. Excellent match
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto & Akira Nogami
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Shigeichi Tachigi
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Scott Norton & Brad Armstrong
AJ TV 2/23/92 taped 2/22
Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Great match
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Ace
AJ TV 2/23/92 taped 2/22
Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Great match
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Ace
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger
NJ TV 2/22/92 '92 Fighting Spirit taped 2/10 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
IWGP Jr. & WCW World Light Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid. Excellent match
AJ TV 7/12/92 '92 Summer Action Series taped 7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Asia Tag Titles: Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa
Akira Taue & Rusher Kimura vs. Stan Hansen & Billy Black
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Patriot & Richard Slinger
Satoru Asako vs. Dean Malenko. 0:47 shown
Isamu Teranishi vs. Joe Malenko. 0:47 shown
Mitsuo Momota & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. The State Police (Lt. Buddy Lee Parker & Sgt. James R. Wright). 1:41 shown
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Makoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen. 8:26 shown
Dory Funk Jr. & Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams & Fire Cat (Brady Boone). Firecat hardly got to do any flying and didn't look that great because his bumps were too exaggerated for AJ. Kobashi, Funk, & Williams were all solid. Funk is obviously repetitive, but he does what he does well and it still enabled him to fight a good match. They had a lot of patience, but weren't always on the same page. ***
Andre The Giant & Mighty Inoue vs. Terry Gordy & Richard Slinger. Inoue was still pretty good, but with Andre being awful and Slinger never having shown me anything this obviously wasn't going to be good. The match was alright when Andre wasn't in, which luckily was most of the match. *1/2
Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace vs. Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat. Solid match that build into a good one. There was a nice near fall where Hansen turned Furnas' Frankensteiner into a powerbomb. The match was pretty dramatic after this, but unfortunately the match was too short and didn't last much beyond this point. The finish was clever though. Furnas put on a good show here, surprisingly being more impressive than Kroffat, although everyone was at least pretty good. ***1/4
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 26:54. Kikuchi & Kawada brought the best out of Jumbo, the trio giving noteworthy performances in this typically excellent entry into the Misawa's team vs. Jumbo's team series. Those two were so excited to take it to Jumbo that he had to keep putting them in their place. Kikuchi really got no respect here, with Fuchi even standing on his face, but he drew a lot of anger because he kept coming no matter how much punishment you dished out. A typical sequence would have Kikuchi hit Jumbo with a leg lariat, but Jumbo keep his balance and pounce on Kikuchi with a series of furious stomps before Kikuchi could get back up. There was nice offense from Misawa's team in the beginning and the end, but the bulk of the match was a brief sequence where they injured Misawa's knee but he escaped and a lengthy sequence where Kikuchi was mercilessly mauled. The match was always good, but when someone they got fired up or pissed it would really erupt. Jumbo & Kawada were very intense, and Kikuchi simply didn't understand that sometimes you are better off staying down. Misawa & Taue spent most of the match on the apron, which wasn't a bad thing since the other options on their team were better. Kawada was great when he was in, but outside of very early on and his hot tag, there wasn't enough of him, and the match was truly made by Jumbo & Kikuchi. The match got really dramatic after 20 minutes with the performers making you believe they were driven to and desperate for the win. Kikuchi was actually rewarded in this one, pushing Taue during a hot stretch run and reversing Fuchi's cradle for the flash pin. ****
NJ TV 3/7/92 taped 3/1 Yokohama
IWGP Tag Titles: Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase vs. Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow. Vader & Bigelow win titles.
AJ TV 3/8/92 taped 3/4 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
World Tag Titles: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue. Jumbo & Taue win titles.
NJ TV 3/14/92 taped 3/9
Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto vs. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka & El Samurai
IWGP Tag Titles: Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Masa Chono & Shinya Hashimoto
NJ TV 3/21/92 taped 3/11
Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Akitoshi Saito & Shigeichi Tachigi
Shinya Hashimoto & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Tatsu Goto
AJ TV 3/22/92 taped 3/20
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Excellent match
AJW TV taped 3/7/92
Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Suzuka Minami
AJ TV 3/29 taped 3/27
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen
AJ TV taped 3/31
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue. Excellent match
AJ TV 4/12 taped 4/6
'92 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen
NJ TV 4/25 taped 4/21
Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito
AJ TV
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy
NJ TV 5/2/92 taped 4/26
Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto
10/30/75 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Stan Hansen vs. The Destroyer. Hansen looked hilarious with his bleached mop. Pretty well wrestled. The early portion was on the mat with some good quick moves into long locks. Around 10:00 they began doing some basic suplexes. Both used the football stance shoulderblock. Destroyer tried to help Hansen up after the match, but Hansen punched him in the stomach. 12:40. **1/2
11/15/82 Chiba Kisaradzu Kuragata Sports Center: Stan Hansen vs. Ashura Hara. Hara looked something like Hase would a decade later with the long hair, mustache, and tights with yellow in the front. Hara did a few good chops after Hansen controlled him with a chinlock. This just pissed Hansen off though, and he quickly took him out with the western lariat. 2:25
9/8/83 Chiba Koen Taiikukan, PWF Heavyweight Title Match: Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen. They understood Baba's limitations, and tried to work around them. The early portion was weak, but the last few minutes were good for what they were. It was obviously awkward, but a good effort and with Baba that goes a long way. Baba actually hit a double axehandle off the top. Hansen hit the western lariat a little before 8:00, but Baba kicked out at 2 then rolled to the floor. Hansen followed trying to post Baba, but Baba pushed him off so Hansen's lariat arm crashed the post. 9:02. **1/2
12/12/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, '83 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leagusen: Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu. Exciting well executed match with everyone performing to their ability. Jumbo is generally considered to have had a slight down period while adjusting to the faster paced matches of Riki Choshu, but here he was the guy that was pushing the pace and along with Tenryu he really excelled in the style. Jumbo was much more agile here than 3-4 years later, but it probably didn't make much difference since only a few of his moves like the jumping knee, Thesz press, and enzuigiri employed this ability. The jumping knee was the only one of these moves he stuck with, but that was probably more a stylistic change than anything else. Brody really executed his offense well. In essence, his move set was pretty basic and nothing special, but it didn't come off that way because he made the moves look so much more impressive than normal, mainly through his exceptional athleticism for his size. Jumbo has the best looking stomp for a different reason, the impact isn't necessarily more but his body language is so nasty and malevolent. 17:43. ****
12/6/88 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, '88 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leagusen: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada. Great heat because it was a big match, but more importantly because they told a great story that was designed to get the fans behind faces Tenryu & Kawada. Kawada was the youngster that didn't belong, and Hansen & Gordy were out to put him in his place. Kawada was very fiery, trying to take it to the opposition with kicks and even a pescado but his attacks were very short lived. Tenryu tried to play big brother, actually making a hot tag at 2:00, but Hansen pulled Gordy to safety on the floor. The key to the match was Hansen injuring Kawada's knee, kicking it out when Kawada had Gordy in a German suplex hold. After kicking the knee repeatedly, Hansen pushed Kawada in the back as he was going to tag Tenryu, sending Kawada through the ropes to the floor instead with Hansen following through by lariating Tenryu off the apron. Hansen proceeded to destroy Kawada on the floor while Gordy took care of Tenryu in the ring. Kawada kept coming back for more, until Hansen rendered his knee useless. Kawada was down on the floor for several minutes, meaning Tenryu had to fight most of the match 2-1, which resulted in him also getting destroyed and even busted open from Hansen's knee drops. This set Kawada up to finally save his senpai, after Gordy's powerbomb, but Hansen made him pay for it. 21:02. *****
4/17/92 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, '92 Champion Carnival Yushoketteisen: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. Very simple all arm match, but that was its strength because everything was built around the arm with no waste and just a bunch of simple but effective stuff. Misawa even used his elbows to Hansen's lariat elbow. Sure it wasn't the most exciting or diverse match, even diverse attack, but Misawa showed tremendous focus in attacking Hansen's lariat arm for the 1st 15 minutes. They really didn't even "do less" because of the arm attack, they just saved the high spots for the final 5 minutes, which I should add had major heat. Hansen did an impressive job of acting like his arm was in great pain, especially during the offense oriented portion where he was walking around like his arm was in an invisible sling. Hansen had to strike with his right arm, and even had to resort to trying his western lariat with his right arm. It was slow and awkward because he'd never done it before. The first time Misawa was able to get his foot on the ropes. The second time he blocked it, but Hansen immediately unleashed the usual lethal left arm western lariat to a prone Misawa. This was literall the only time Hansen used the left arm in the match, but that's Hansen at his best, finding a way to pull out the one move win. He seemingly had his weapon taken away, but sucked it up and withstood the pain to himself once to get the victory. Just a great finish. 20:06 ****
Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. The Master Blaster & David Eisley
Mighty Inoue vs. Satoru Asako
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota vs. Motoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen
4 vs. 4 Survival Tag Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
*Replica package available*
Williams vs. Hansen, Misawa vs. Gordy, Kobashi & Kawada vs. Tsuruta & Ogawa, Misawa vs. Hansen-Champion Carnival Final, Ultimo vs. Satanico, Sano vs. Chavo Guerrero, Flair vs. Tenryu, Liger vs. Honaga, 4/30/92 Best of the Super Jr. Final Liger vs. Samurai-Liger wins Super Jr. *****, Kobashi & Misawa & Kawada vs. Ogawa & Fuchi & Tsuruta, Hase & Muto vs. Vader & Bigelow, Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs. Hasegawa & Malenko-MY & TI win tag titles, Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue-great match Toyota wins IWA Title, WWWA World Single Title: Bull vs. Aja
AJ TV 2/23/92 taped 2/22
Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Great match
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Ace
Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger
NJ TV 2/22/92 '92 Fighting Spirit taped 2/10 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
IWGP Jr. & WCW World Light Heavyweight Double Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Pegasus Kid. Excellent match
AJ TV 7/12/92 '92 Summer Action Series taped 7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Asia Tag Titles: Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa
Akira Taue & Rusher Kimura vs. Stan Hansen & Billy Black
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. The Patriot & Richard Slinger
AJ '92 Summer Action Series taped 7/27/92 Kyoto ? Shi Min Taiikukan
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Masa Fuchi & Motoshi Okuma & Haruka Eigen
Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa
Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Barry Horowitz
Misawa history interview
Muto vs. Windham, Misawa & Kobashi & Kawada vs. Taue & Fuchi & Ogawa, Steiners vs. Muto & Sasaki, Chono vs. Rude-Chono wins G1 Climax Tournament & NWA Title, Hansen vs Taue, more!
Baba Interview
Highlights of Mighty Inoue vs. Satoro Asako, Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Masao Inoue, Taue & Mitsuo Momota vs. Eigen & Motoshi Okuma
Jun Akiyama Debut Match: Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi. Great debut. Smartly worked and layed out. Intense match. Jun controlled the mat, since he was a great amature wrestler, but Kobashi soon introduced him to the pro style by stiffing him. Jun took Kobashi's best chops though, and came back with Misawa elbows. Jun immediately looked like a star. ***1/2
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta & Masa Fuchi. Kikuchi made the match by playing his typically role of the young punk who just won't back down. Baba sold for Misawa & Kawada, his headliners on the 1992 Anniversary show the next month, so he was even something of a plus. ****
20th Anniversary Party
Masao Inoue vs. Mitsuo Momoto. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Shigeo Okuma & Haruka Eigen. Highlights
Danny Spivey vs. Ryukaku Izumida. Highlights
Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Pete Roberts & Nigel Towers. Highlights
Dory Funk Jr. & Patriot vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala
Yoshinari Ogawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger
Giant Baba & Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
AJW 5/13/90 Korakuen Hall
AJ Title: Manami Toyota vs. Etsuko Mita
WWWA World Tag Titles: Marine Wolves vs. Fire Jets
AJ 10/21/92 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa
Kenta Kobashi & Patriot vs. Steve Williams & Danny Spivey
highlights of famous matches
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Full Match Review 29:50. ****1/2
10/21/92 Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. The main event of AJ's 20th Anniversary show, and where it all began so to speak because this was the first time Kawada challenged for Misawa's TC. Excellent performance by both men. Great match with great work and drama to go along with super heat. Less big spots and not as strong as their future matches when it came to selling and psychology, but that is not a knock since these two would go on to set the standard in selling and psychology with their matches together. Fukuzawa is a God on the play by play here, so combined with the great crowd, this match really has the feel of a special match. Full Match Review 29:50. ****1/2
12/4/92 Nippon Budokan '92 Real World Tag Team League Bout: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama 23:53. Simple old school match that was about controlling the opponent, working the holds, fighting for the escape. It was a lot better than it had the right to be given Jun had been a pro for less than 3 months, but that also limited the match considerably. Akiyama was very carryable, already a solid worker with a lot of desire, but he was lacking offense and they weren't doing anything complicated so as not to put too much pressure on (or perhaps expose) him. Taue did a nice job of providing some leadership and aid, but he wasn't exactly using his experience to providing awesome action in between the basic stuff with the rookie. Still, the storyline and psychology were good with everyone playing their roles well. This was the final match in the Tag League, and Misawa & Kawada needed a win to beat out Gordy & Williams and Hansen & Ace by 1 point. They were not going to let a rookie keep them from their glory. Jun worked most of the match, and he got elevated big time even though he did the job in the end. Misawa & Jun worked well together, but Kawada vs. Jun was the highlight, as Kawada was far less merciful. The crowd was really wanting a great match, and probably gave them more support than they deserved, though it was exciting to see a rookie competing at this level. Akiyama, of course, did the job, but Fuchi & Taue pulled him up and raised his hand because his gutsy performance hanging with the veterans was certainly worth of applause. For winning the tag league, Misawa & Kawada were awarded the Double Tag Titles that had been vacated by Jumbo & Taue. ***1/2
Kikuchi & Asako vs. Can Am Express, Akiyama vs. Kobashi, Taue vs. Hansen, Misawa vs. Kawada-30:00 draw ****1/2, Williams & Ace vs. Hansen & Van Dam, Misawa & Kobashi & Asako vs. Kawada & Taue & Ogawa
3/27 Matsumoto Shi Sogo Taiikukan
Satoru Asako vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue vs. Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Highlights
Doug Furnas vs. Tamon Honda. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Big John Nord vs. Johnny Smith. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Johnny Ace
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue. ****
Steve Williams & Dan Kroffat & The Eagle vs. Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori
4/1 Okayama Budokan
Kentaro Shiga vs. Satoru Asako. Highlights
Masao Inoue vs. Tamon Honda. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen. Highlights
Big John Nord & Johnny Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama 11:25. Nowhere near as good or competitive as their 7/9/93 match, which is disappointing, but still a worthwhile fun little match. Akiyama struggles mightily to keep his head above water. He's simply outgunned, but despite one shot from Kawada equaling three or four shots from Akiyama, Jun does a good job of managing to maintain the advantage. You know Akiyama has no chance of winning, but he keeps finding ways to compete, countering Kawada well and injuring his knee. **1/2
Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & The Eagle
4/10 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Satoru Asako vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Mighty Inoue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda. Highlights
Johnny Ace & The Eagle vs. Big John Nord & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue & Ryukaku Izumida
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Doug Furnas vs. Johnny Smith. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen
Mitsuharu Misawa & Giant Baba & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi
4/11 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Mighty Inoue vs. Kentaro Shiga. Highlights
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Satoru Asako vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Yoshinari Ogawa & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda vs. Johhny Ace & The Eagle & Johnny Smith. Highlights
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Steve Williams vs. Big John Nord. Highlights
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama 14:40. Kobashi just wanted to have a good match, so he allowed Akiyama to wrestle as though he had a legitimate chance of beating him. It was more athletic than their later maches, with better selling despite lesser moves. Obviously their later matches tend to be better because they are longer featured matches where Akiyama was better, and much higher ranked, but this was a lot of fun, and the fans were really into it, particularly supporting Akiyama as he pushed Kobashi. ***1/4
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
4/14 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Satoru Asako. Highlights
Mighty Inoue vs. The Eagle. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue. Highlights
Johnny Ace & Big John Nord vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat. Highlights
Giant Baba & Masa Fuchi & Takao Omori vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Smith
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue
4/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kentaro Shiga vs. Mitsuo Momota. Highlights
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Highlights
Tamon Honda vs. Big John Nord. Highlights
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Johnny Ace vs. The Eagle
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat & Johnny Smith
Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Takao Omori vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi
'94 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams
Awesome highlights of rounds 1 & 2, plus Liger vs. Sasuke-Semifinal 4 3/4 stars, Super J Cup Final: Sasuke vs. Benoit-5 stars-one of the greatest matches ever, Champion Carnival Final: Kawada vs. Williams-4 ½ stars, more!
Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshaiki Kawada & Akira Taue. This match pretty much has it all. Exciting 40 minute sprint with everything that makes AJ great. Not as good as their 6/9/95 match because it doesn't have the depth, but a different match that's certainly one of AJ's most exciting from this time period. *****
'94 Champion Carnival Final: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams 25:48. One of the greatest nights in pro wrestling history saw AJPW & NJPW go head to head in Tokyo with Kawada winning his first Champion Carnival and Wild Pegasus defeating The Great Sasuke to win the inaugural SUPER J CUP . Kawada's match is the antithesis of Kobashi's, it's all about how you do it rather than what you do. They laid out an excellent match that was thoroughly intelligent. It wasn't one of Kawada's deepest matches, but one every wrestler should see as it's really a textbook example of how to make the fans care about what you are doing. They showed the fans the big move that might be coming if they could get it off then did a great job of struggling for the move. It they couldn't get execute, they went back to it later, if they could, they showed you how devastating the move was with their selling. They had the fans believing in the moves, and thus the near falls, so they were getting huge reactions to everything. It was a rough match of course, but they weren't killing themselves unnecessarily, and when they were it was at least greeted with the desired appreciation. ****1/2
Double Tag Team Titles: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue-this match pretty much has it all. Exciting 40 minute sprint with everything that makes AJ great *****
5/18/94 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Kentaro Shiga vs. Bobby Fulton
Masao Inoue vs. Tommy Rogers
Tom Prichard & Jimmy Del Ray vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Mighty Inoue
4 vs. 4 Survival Tag Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda & Satoru Asako
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Stan Hansen & Steve Williams & Johnny Ace
5/31/94 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Kentaro Shiga vs. Bobby Fulton
Satoru Asako vs. Giant Kimala
Masao Inoue vs. Johnny Ace
Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Tom Prichard & Jimmy Del Ray
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Mighty Inoue
Jun Akiyama vs. Abdullah The Butcher
Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen
Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams
Giant Baba & Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Kobashi & Akiyama vs. Taue & Honda, Sasuke & Shiryu & Taka & Sato vs. Liger & Otani & Samurai & Ishizawa, Muto & Chono vs. Norton & Enos, Steiners vs. Hase & Sasaki, Misawa vs. Kawada, Williams & Ace vs. Hansen & Omori, Liger vs. Delfin-1994 Jr. Tournament Final Liger wins for 2nd time, Hase & Chono & Hashimoto vs. Choshu & Fujinami & Fujiwara, more!
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Surpasses Jumbo vs. Tenryu 6/5/89 as the best men's heavyweight Singles match of all-time! Their 6/6/97 match as well as Misawa vs. Kobashi from 1/20/97 and 10/21/97 are all more glamourous, but this match is better because the psychology, build, timing, and selling are off the charts. Everything builds up to one of the great near falls ever at the 25 minute mark and from that point there's nearly 11 minutes of off the charts wrestling with the outcome very much in doubt throughout. Fans totally mark out for Misawa in the post match. What a performance by both men. *****
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada. Best Mens Heavyweight Singles match of all-time! Their 6/6/97 match as well as Misawa vs. Kobashi from 1/20/97 and 10/21/97 are all more glamourous, but this match is a bit better because the psychology, build, timing, and selling are off the charts. Everything builds up to one of the great near falls ever at the 25 minute mark and from that point there's nearly 11 minutes of off the charts wrestling with the outcome very much in doubt throughout. Fans totally mark out for Misawa in the post match. What a performance by both men. *****
Triple Crown: Williams vs. Kobashi. Williams was at the top of his game here, and Kobashi shows why he's the best of the natives at working with the gaijins. Super match containing all the aspects that make AJ great. Williams suplexes are so dangerous that Kobashi could easily have broke his neck if one of the two made a slight mistake. ****3/4
Koshinaka & Kabuki & Kobayashi vs. Muto & Hase & Chono, Misawa & Kobashi & Kikuchi vs. Hansen & Furnas & Zenk, Takada vs. Albright, Vader vs. Tamura, more!
Misawa & Hansen vs. Kobashi & Taue, Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kroffat & Furnas, Misawa & Kobashi vs. Taue & Kawada, Hijo Del Santo vs. Honaga, Sasuke vs. Otani, more!
Masao Inoue vs. Ricky Santana
Satoru Asako vs. Johnny Smith
The Eagle & The Falcon vs. Mark Youngblood & Chris Youngblood
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Mighty Inoue & Ryukaku Izumida
Steve Williams & Johnny Smith vs. Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Stan Hansen & Giant Baba & Masa Fuchi
Sasuke & Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinzaki (Hakushi) & Gedo-great match , Kroffat & Furnas vs. Kikuchi & Asako, Williams & Ace vs. Akiyama & Omori, Shinzaki vs. Terry Boy, Sasuke vs. El Turako, Delfin & Taka Michinoku vs. Sato & Shiryu, more!
AJ TV 10/15/94 '94 Giant Series taped 10/13
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa. This match was built around Akiyama. He was stuck in the ring for about 8 minutes during one stretch, most of which saw him get destroyed. Later, he did his big spots to Kawada, but eventually Kawada kicked him in midair and Ogawa was soon getting near falls on Jun. ****
AJ TV 10/22/94 & 10/29/94 taped 10/22/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Steve Williams vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Traditional style title match, very long excellent slow builder. Kawada was really awesome here with super executions, facials, and selling. Williams selling of his bad knee was very impressive as well. Probably should have been 5 minutes shorter because the pace could have been a little faster and the crowd probably would have reacted better. Still, the place went nuts when Kawada won the Triple Crown! ****1/4
Misawa & Hansen vs. Taue & Kobashi. These were special pairings for the Anniversary show. This was supposed to be a great match, but I didn't get into it that much. The work was really solid and the action was good. The match went on forever though, and never seemed to get hot or exciting. The psychology didn't seem to be that strong, unless it just went over my head. ***3/4
Triple Crown: Steve Williams vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Traditional style title match, very long excellent slow builder. Kawada was really awesome here with super executions, facials, and selling. Williams selling of his bad knee was very impressive as well. Probably should have been 5 minutes shorter because the pace could have been a little faster and the crowd probably would have reacted better. Still, the place went nuts when Kawada won the Triple Crown! ****1/4
'94 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen: Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Danny Spivey & Jim Steele
'94 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Giant Baba & Stan Hansen
'94 Real World Tag Team League Bout: Misawa & Kobashi (14 pts) vs. Williams & Ace (14 pts). Exciting match. Built really well to a really hot finish where the crowd was popping for everything. Williams was really over, as the crowd was looking for both Misawa & Kobashi to avenge their losses to him. Williams & Ace both played the evil foreigners really well, with lots of double teaming. Everyone begrudgingly shook hands after the match and they raised each others arms because the match was so good. ****1/2
'94 Real World Tag Team League Bout: Baba & Hansen (13 pts) vs. Kawada & Taue (15 pts). Baba did a lot of spots for him and tried to work serious, but it's so hard to buy that. Kawada hit him really hard. However, they have to hold back on their spots and Baba can't take many bumps, so the whole time Baba was in it was basically an exchange of blows. The match was a lot better with Hansen in, but he never works a sequence either. Good match, but considering it was the final match of the tag league, it was a big disappointment. Baba & Hansen's win here allows Misawa & Kobashi to finish ahead of Kawada & Taue and win the tag league. ***1/4
12/4/92 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama. Great match that was a lot better than it had the right to be given Jun had been a pro for less than 3 months. Strong storyline and psychology with everyone playing their roles to perfection. This is the final match in the Tag League, and Misawa & Kawada needed a win to beat out Gordy & Williams and Hansen & Ace by 1 point. They were not going to let a rookie keep them from their glory. Jun worked most of the match, and he got elevated big time even though he did the job in the end. Misawa & Jun really worked well together, but Kawada vs. Jun was the highlight, as Kawada unmercifully punked Jun with incredible kicks. Great work. Hot crowd. Misawa & Kawada win tag league, but Fuchi & Taue pull Akiyama up and raise his hand because his gutsy performance hanging with the veterans was certainly worth of applause. For winning the tag league, Misawa & Kawada were awarded the Double Tag Titles that had been vacated by Jumbo & Taue. ****1/2
12/3/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue
12/10/94 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Koshikisen: Stan Hansen & Giant Baba vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue. Baba did a lot of spots for him and tried to work serious, but it's so hard to buy that. Kawada hit him really hard. However, they have to hold back on their spots and Baba can't take many bumps, so the whole time Baba was in it was basically an exchange of blows. The match was a lot better with Hansen in, but he never works a sequence either. Good match, but considering it was the final match of the tag league, it was a big disappointment. Baba & Hansen's win here allows Misawa & Kobashi to finish ahead of Kawada & Taue and win the tag league. ***1/4