ORIGINAL TAPES - ALL JAPAN THROUGH 1997
8/26/84: Tiger Mask (Misawa) vs. La Fiera. Misawa's first match as Tiger Mask. Very good match with nice spots and good flow.
11/27/85 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Good match, but disappointing especially considering the classics Dynamite had with the original Tiger Mask.
3/9/88 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan NWA International Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Tiger Mask. Excellent match with perfect execution. Great build and psychology. Tiger knew he was overmatched, so his strategy was to keep Jumbo in check, predominantly by controlling him with a headlock. Jumbo kept trying to backdrop out and eventually he did, which lead to really hot action including some incredible flying by Tiger. Tiger looked really impressive, and the fans really got behind him due to the way the match was laid out. ****1/2
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
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.
Kobashi & Kikuchi vs. Tsuruta & Taue. Choice match with great heat and timing. Kikuchi was the best worker in the match, but Kobashi was the most over. Jumbo got the most out of his spots, while Taue was just kind of there. ****1/4
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. ***
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. Had its share of lulls, but when they got pissed at each other it would really erupt. Kawada made it intense, doing some exceptionally heated segments with Jumbo. Their expressions made the match seem important. Kawada was really electrifying with the speed and fury of his strikes. As usual, Kikuchi did an excellent of getting tossed around for the majority of the match. 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. The match got really dramatic after 20 minutes with the performers making you believe they were driven to and desperate for the win. Kawada, Kikuchi, & Jumbo were all excellent. ****
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
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
Ryukaku Izumida vs. Curt Beyer
Mighty Inoue vs. Mitsuo Momota
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takao Omori
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Joel Deaton & Haruka Eigen
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako vs. Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi & Masao Inoue
Ryukaku Izumida vs. Masao Inoue
Kendall Windham & Pete Roberts vs. Mark Youngblood & Chris Youngblood
Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue vs. Joel Deaton & Haruka Eigen
Destroyer Intai Jiai: Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota vs. The Destroyer & Curt Beyer
Satoru Asako & Takao Omori vs. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith
Stan Hansen & Big Bubba & Johnny Ace vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams & Richard Slinger
4 vs 4 Survival Tag Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
7/29/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
9/3/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams
9/19/93
Mitsuo Momota vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Ryukaku Izumida
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen
Akira Taue vs. Satoru Asako
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Masao Inoue
Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
9/24/93
Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen
Mighty Inoue & Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Takao Omori
Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama
Giant Baba & Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi & Ryukaku Izumida
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. Akira Taue
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
'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
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. *****
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
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. *****
Special price $16 or $21.50 COOP*
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
'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
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
Tommy Dreamer vs. Akira Taue
Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith
Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda
Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. 60:00 draw. Great match.
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukan Jiai: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen. This was around the time Hansen started to not have it anymore. On the night he was finally getting the title back, he pretty much laid an egg. The whole match was built around Hansen's western lariat vs. Kawada's powerbomb. It was not nearly as stiff as their brilliant 2/28/93 match, and the psychology disappointed me as well. The biggest problem is the match went way too long for Hansen, who just didn't have it physically. He tried to be athletic doing a dropkick, a shoulder that somewhat resembled a tope, a shoulder off the apron, and an elbow drop off the apron. Aside from some suprising offense like this, the match was rather repetitive. The selling was excellent though with the exception of one spot where Hansen rolled to the floor and was overexaggerating. Hansen was putting over Kawada's head kicks like he was a bobble head doll except in a way they looked killer rather than comical. Many of Kawada's kicks were focused on the lariat arm, with a key spot that really kicked off his attack being Kawada stopping Hansen's western lariat with a kenka kick. Kawada abused the ganmengiri and enzuigiri, which while one of his big moves had little to do with the story, perhaps because they can easily be done to this opposition. The heat was terrible for AJ during this period. The fans weren't even popping when Kawada was trying for his powerbomb even though they'd set the match up so the first to hit their finisher was going to win. When Hansen finally hit his western lariat it was anticlimatic because the spot looked mistimed. It was good that Hansen sold his arm huge since Kawada had done so much damage to it, but I couldn't believe he was able to pin Kawada after all that time. It did put the western lariat over huge, but using an out spot that protects the finisher in my opinion does more to make the person who still couldn't kick out look bad than the finisher look that good. It's probably worth seeing every triple crown match, but this one shouldn't be near the top of your wish list. **3/4
Super slow motion highlights of the Budokan main events from 6/3/94-3/4/95 to the theme song of one of the wrestlers involved. A good one to show your friends who say how fake wrestling is.
'95 Champion Carnival Final: Misawa vs. Taue. Tremendous match! Fairly simple match, but superbly worked with great execution and great psychology. Close to 5 stars, but Taue has some limitations that prevent him from ever reaching that level in singles. ****3/4
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. Extremely disappointing. Slow, dull, and storyless match that lacked direction and intensity. I'm not sure what they were thinking with this one. Neither seemed in any hurry to get to anything, and although Misawa eventually did his better moves, the match didn't exactly build. Hansen was moving in slow motion, and barely did anything. In the past he'd worked around his lack of offense, but to do that you need to work toward the key spot and make it seem so deadly that this one move will take you out. Here, he just did some kicks to the back. When he did go for his western lariat it was all of a sudden, and Misawa went around his back, taking him over with a headscissors for the pin. Not much reaction to the title change because it was hard to believe the great Hansen lost to this, and moreso because it was shocking that they ended it before making an effort to turn it into anything of note. Misawa had worked the lariat arm some, but not in a focused or interesting way, and certainly not in a way that would qualify as trying to do something with the match. His motif was the facelock, anyway. Hansen gave Misawa a cheapshot after the match then western lariated Akiyama & Asako, which got a far bigger reaction than anything they did during the match. 25:06. **
Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Ace. It's hard to believe I'd praise the psychology of Kobashi vs. Ace over Hansen vs. Misawa, but not only did Kobashi at least make the attempt, he actually delivered one of his smarter matches. No head droppings or no sells, just good solid surprisingly patient wrestling for a long period of time. Kobashi & Ace were ranked equally on their respective sides (native/foreigner), so they simply told the story of equality. Ace was very good offensively when he was on a run, but confused at when to stop selling and start firing back during the exchanges. He's not the most convincing seller, but he did his best to deliver an all around match. Mirror spots and parody were in adundance early, and a factor throughout the match. Kobashi was limping around with a ton of tape on his left knee and thigh, and Ace's big run started when he ducked a lariat and dropkicked the worse knee. Kobashi was on offense more, but the more imposing Ace was doing more damage with his offense, and he didn't have a weak spot for Kobashi to exploit. This lead to Ace eventually taking over the match, and being the one that came closer to victory in the later stages. He did his moonsault first for a near fall. Kobashi got to anxious to return the favor, climbing when Ace wasn't that bad off, which cost him because Ace stopped it with a dropkick to the back of the knee. Kobashi finally hit the moonsault just before the time limit, but the damage it inflicts on his knees gave Ace just enough time to kick out. Kobashi was hardly boring here, and certainly delivered most of the quality. It's too bad he didn't choose smarts over excitement more often. 30:00. ***3/4
7/2/95
undercard digest
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Satoru Asako vs. Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Kenta Kobashi & Ryukaku Izumida vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi
Mitsuharu Misawa & Giant Baba & Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen & Patriot & Johnny Ace
7/21/95
undercard digest
Asia Tag Senshuken: Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi
Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken Next Challenger Decision League: Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace
Mitsuharu Misawa & Tamon Honda & Satoru Asako vs. Stan Hansen & Patriot & Johnny Smith
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue. The two best Misawa vs. Taue matches, and probably Taue singles matches period, came in a row. This superb follow-up to the Carnival Final is likely the greater of the two.
Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Danny Kroffat vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi. First Misawa vs. Kobashi title match is an excellent though slightly disappointing (partly their fault, partly they were overshadowed by the heated semifinal) start to one of the great title series ever.
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright. One of Kawada's crowning performances is this masterful job of carrying Albright to what's certainly his best AJ match, and likely the best match of his career.
9/29: Party for Baba
9/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: ceremony for Baba
10/15 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Masao Inoue vs. Maunakea Mossman. Highlights
Johnny Smith & Rob Van Dam vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Dory Funk Jr. & Mike Anthony vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Mighty Inoue. Highlights
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tamon Honda & Satoru Asako & Ryukaku Izumida
Gary Albright & Patriot & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi. Great 60:00 draw.
Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen
Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dory Funk, Jr. & Satoru Asako
Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Patriot & Rob Van Dam
Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum, Jr. & Danny Kroffat
Steve Williams & Johnny Ace vs. Gary Albright & Maunakea Mossman
Giant Baba Debut 36th Anniversary: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Giant Baba
Ace & Williams vs. Kawada & Taue-Kawada & Taue win double tag titles, Kobashi vs. Misawa-Misawa wins Triple Crown *****, Hase vs. Shiga, Akiyama vs. Taue-Akiyama's first singles win over Taue
Triangular Carny Final match 1: Misawa vs. Kobashi-30:00 draw ****1/4
Triangular Carny Final match 2: Misawa vs. Kawada. Kawada's 1st singles pin on Misawa, but the match is onesided and extremely disappointing
Triangular Carny Final match 3: Kawada vs. Kobashi-Kawada wins Champion Carnival '97 ****1/2
Hayabusa & Kanemaru vs. Ogawa & Shiga
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada 6/6/97 Tokyo Budokan Hall *****
World Tag Team Titles: Kawada & Taue vs. Kobashi & Ace 5/27 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center-Kobashi & Ace win Double tag titles ****1/4
Ikeda & Kanemaru vs. Asako & Slinger 6/6 Budokan
7/25 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue. Great 20 minute sprint. Strong heat and great work. Misawa does the counter of the year, backflipping in midair to escape Taue's dreaded nodowa otoshi off the apron! ****1/2
Full match list coming soon
25th Anniversary party 9/26/97
97 Fan Day
Charity auction
Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuo Momota vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Masao Inoue. Highlights
Takao Omori & Kentaro Shiga vs. Tamon Honda & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Highlights
Maunakea Mossman vs. Satoru Asako. Good exciting match. Asako had a really strong performance her to carry this to a very good match that was most likely the best of Mossman's career up to this point. Mossman does a ton of spots as always, but his execution isn't top notch and he looks too big for his style. ***1/2
Giant Baba & Haruka Eigen & Don Arakawa vs. Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi & Jun Izumida. Arakawa sets new standards for awful "comedy." Unbearably awful. -***
Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Hiroshi Hase vs. Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Hase does a 30-rep giant swing to Taue. Jun KO's Kawada with his own suichoku rakka shiki brainbuster, and Kawada does some of the best selling of his career to put it over. Hase didn't really seem to fit in, and he was in too much with Taue. Final 10 minutes were excellent with everyone going all out, but overall it should have been a lot better and much more intense. ****
10/21/97 Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kobashi-This was named Match Of The Year by Tokyo Sports and by AJ. Tremendous match that was between the 2nd-4th best match of 1997! This match really shows the greatness and diversity of these two, as it had everything. All the elements that make the top AJ matches great, combined with the best high spots you'll see in a heavyweight match. Kobashi uses everything he can think of, including a dangerous released ½ nelson German suplex on the floor to debilitate Misawa's neck. Not as good as their 1/20 epic, but still a MUST SEE ***** match.
10/21/97: Hansen & Baba & Tsuruta vs. Kimala & Honda & Fuchi-Notable because it's a special match for the 25th Anniversary show with the legends Hansen & Baba & Tsuruta teaming up. Not as bad as the regular comedy match, but still the typical slow-motion boredom. -*1/2
10/11/97 Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Williams-A good match, but well below the standard of the Triple Crown because Williams doesn't have it anymore and doesn't seem to care. Misawa works really hard, as always, but the match is only worth what he puts into it and what he can get out of the washed up Doc. Williams strategy is to take out Misawa's knee, but the only thing he does that can get any heat is attempt his dangerous backdrop. This needed to be shorter. ***
Contains the entire 30:52 Misawa & Akiyama vs. Kawada & Taue tag league final from 12/5/97. This match was the requisite year end classic/match of the year candidate. BEST TAG MATCH OF 1997! It wasn't as good as the 1996 final because the storyline and heat weren't as good and it was more spot intensive, but the 1996 final is no worse than the 2nd best men's tag match ever, so that's not a knock. The tape also contains the finishing sequences from the tag league matches that occured on the nights the cameras were rolling. So it has 11/15 Korakuen Hall (Misawa/Akiyama vs. Wolf/Smith), 11/16 Korakuen Hall, 11/23 Sendai Miyagi Sports Center (Hayabusa/Shinzaki vs. Kawada/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kobashi/Ace), 11/27 Sapporo Nakajima (Kobashi/Ace vs. Kawada/Taue, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Hayabusa/Shinzaki), & 11/28 Sapporo Nakajima (Kobashi/Ace vs. Williams/Albright, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Taue). The highlights range from :45 seconds to 4 minutes (the best matches get more time), so you are actually seeing something
*Special Price $18 or $23.50 COOP. $27 for this on same T-160 tape with the ***** '96 Real World Tag Team League Final Commercial Tape (obviously I'll put the 1996 final on the tape first so you can see them sequentially) or $33.50 for 96 & 97 Real World Tag Team League comms in COOP of '97*