ORIGINAL TAPES - ALL JAPAN 1998-PRESENT
Super tape! Highlights the first five great Triple Crown matches between Misawa & Kawada (10/21/92, 7/29/93, 6/3/94, 7/24/95, 6/6/97 all from Nippon Budokan) as well as what led up to each of Kawada's challenge. Read Overview.
5/1/98 Tokyo Dome: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada finally takes the TC from Misawa. Read Review. ****1/2
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada wins TC. ****1/2
Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase
Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. The Gladiator & Tetsuhiro
Kuroda & Hideki
Hosaka (FMW team)
Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura (Shin Tokyo Puroresu) vs. The Headhunters.
4 minutes
shown
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala & Jinsei
Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro)
& Jun Izumida
Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka
Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Digest
Maunakea Mossman vs. Daisuke Ikeda. Digest
*Special price $36 or $47 COOP (2 unique)*
6/12 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Unless Tamura vs. Kousaka is better, this is the Match of the Year. Kawada is just awesome here. He's responsible for about 90% of the greatness here. Kawada totally leads Kobashi through this, and it's the style that AJ is so famous for, excellent build and selling and ungodly stiffness, not just a bunch of meaningless head dropping like we've seen of late. Kobashi wins TC. Read Review. *****
Mighty Inoue retirement ceremony
5/31 Funabashi AJ Tag Titles: Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda. Highlights
6/5 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams. Highlights
World Tag Title: Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Johnny Ace. Read Review. ****1/4
6/12 World Junior Heavyweight Title: Maunakea Mossman vs. Satoru Asako. Highlights
6/5: Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa vs. Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Highlights
7/24 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama. Obviously really stiff with great execution. Suprisingly a story match, with Akiyama debilitating Kobashi's knee, rather than a spotfest. Akiyama carried the match, and was clearly the better of the two. ****1/4
Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue vs. Hiroshi Hase & Maunakea Mossman. A good match, marred by hideous booking as Hase was pinned by Kawada. Yeah, that's right, with Mossman & Omori in the match and Hase having never faced Kawada in a singles match, they had Kawada pin Hase. Kawada was the man here, as he instilled the story and was the best worker. Hase didn't have stamina or fire of his heyday, but his work with Kawada was very good. Mossman wasn't much here and Omori wrestled like a robot. **3/4
7/19 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
World Junior Heavyweight Title League Final: Satoro Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Highlights. Asako was clearly the better of the two even though Ogawa wound up being the one getting the slot as Misawa's #2. Ogawa takes the title.
7/15 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Asia Tag Titles: Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. The Headhunters. Highlights
World Tag Titles: Kawada & Taue vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. Highlights
Kobashi vs. Masahito Kakihara. Another booking debacle as Kakihara wasn't anywhere near the respect his work or his push in other leagues warrants. Kakihara carried the match which was a quasi-shoot, and it was good despite Kobashi not excelling in this style. Kakihara attacked Kobashi's bad knee, which worked for him a lot better than for Akiyama because he has the submissions to back it up, although they didn't get the heat they would have because no one submits in AJ.
7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi. Highlights
8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Akira Taue & Tamon Honda. Ace turns on Kobashi. Digest.
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue. ****
8/22/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Misawa's return from injury
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Maunakea Mossman
8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa. Digest.
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
10/24/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki. Main point is Kobashi pins Misawa with his new inverted Death Valley bomb.
10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. The best thing about Kobashi not being Misawa's partner, is that they totally have their stuff working opposite each other down pat. They delivered the best men's heavyweight match of 1996 on 3/31, the best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 1/20, the 3rd best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 10/21, and now, even with Misawa clearly not at 100%, they produced another awesome match which is probably the third best match of 1998. Most of the credit, as usual, goes to Misawa as he laid out a tremendous match that was more too the style of 1/20/97 than 10/21, which was a plus, IMO. Misawa's psychology was the best it's been this year. Kobashi is still a great worker, and overall he was at his 1998 best here, following Misawa's lead without getting goofy. Match followed the typical storyline of Misawa getting destroyed most of the match. It developed slowly because they were going so long, but the build and utilization of the spots was excellent. Kobashi attacks the neck, as a key is obviously whether he can deliver the inverted Death Valley bomb. Misawa's new Tigerdriver off the apron to the floor was the highlight.
10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Probably the best AJ tag match of the year. An excellent slow building AJ style long tag match. They did the little things right, the timing was excellent, and the match had great ebb and flow. Kobashi & Akiyama did little to distinguish themselves as a great team, but individually they are excellent, as is Kawada, but his teamwork with Taue after all these years is obviously light years ahead of the new team. Kawada was also, not surprisingly the best seller and most responsible for the psych. What's funny is that the early portion of this match has strikes back and forth as stiff as as Tenryu/Hashimoto 8/1, but it's just taken for granted because it's AJ and the main eventers work stiff and "realistic" there. The second half where things really picked up was mainly what was responsible for the excellence, as the first 10 minutes was more we have time so we'll stiff each other to wear down before we start playing our cards.
10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan: Misawa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki. Even against Misawa, Shinzaki was still Shinlazy. The first 10 minutes of this match were almost a complete waste, but they picked it up in the second half and Misawa got a good match out of Shinzaki. This was mainly a work and spot match because that's all Shinzaki has to offer, although Misawa handled the praying powerbomb spot in an interesting way. Shinzaki did a swandive plancha over the guard rail which was choice. The main aspect where the match failed was that you never believed for a second that Shinlazy had even the remotest chance of winning.
1/22/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada wins title despite breaking his wrist and forearm during the match. Read Review. ****
1/2/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Heavykyu Battle Royal. Clip of Vader badly bloodying Kobashi above his right eye
1/7/99 Kochi-ken Min Taiikukan: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Kawada & Taue were pretty nasty here. I particularly liked the knee drop Kawada did to the area on Kobashi's head Vader had bloodied. Fans got into it when Akiyama made the hot tag. They probably should have shown this whole match. It was technically good throughout and became highly dramatic with so many nice near falls, but I never quite had the feel for the overall quality. That said, if I were to guess I'd say it was an excellent match. Kobashi & Akiyama win titles.
1/15/99 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Kenta Kobashi vs.Vader. Read Review. ****
1/15/99 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan World Junior Heavyweight Title: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Masahito Kakihara. Read Review. ****1/2
1/16/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Asia Tag Titles: Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Some nice moves, but that was the be all and end all because only one team could give you anything good. It was a fun match when Hayabusa & Shinzaki were on offense, highlighted by an awesome swandive body press over the guard rail by Hayabusa. On the other hand, it was really boring when Honda & Izumida were on offense. Shinzaki did a sick blade job early on, but it pretty much only provided shock value. Hayabusa & Shinzaki deserve a lot of credit for making this worthwhile, but it was still over 23 minutes of things happening for little if any rhyme or reason. ***
3/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Sankan Heavykyu Oza Ketteisen: Akira Taue vs. Vader
Sekai Tag Senshuken: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa
Jumbo Tsuruta Intai Ceremony
2/13/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Asia Tag Senshuken: Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
Highlights of league matches
4/16/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan '99 Champion Carnival Yushoketteisen: Kenta Kobashi vs. Vader
Triple Crown: Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
Giant Baba Intai: Giant Baba & The Destroyer vs. Bruno Sammartino & Gene Kiniski. Not a match. Clips of Baba wrestling these guys are played on the video wall and they have a retirement ceremony
Yoshinari Ogawa & Maunakea Mossman & Masahito Kakihara vs. Hayabusa & The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask
Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota & Masao Inoue vs. Giant Kimala & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Gran Naniwa & Makoto Hashi
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Johnny Ace & Animal Warrior & Hawk Warrior
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroshi Hase
Akira Taue & Stan Hansen & Steve Williams vs. Gary Albright & Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
Johnny Smith & Tamon Honda & Masa Fuchi vs. Koji Nakagawa & Yukihiro Kanemura & Gedo
Satoru Asako & Takeshi Morishima vs. Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
*Special price $38 or $47 COOP (2 unique)*
*2 tapes*
6/11/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
6/4/99 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Sayonara Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center Kinen Jiai: Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi
Asia Tag Senshukenjiai: Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
6/9/99 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn. Ace & Gunn win titles.
Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kentaro Shiga
6/11/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
*I have a very limited quantity of additional 1st Gen SP copies of this two tape set that are available for $30. I also have a very limited quantity of xeroxs of the video's cover (one unique cover)*
7/16/99 Chiba Matsuda Shi Undo Koen Taiikukan: Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn & Johnny Smith vs. Gary Albright & Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
7/23/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama. Omori & Takayama win titles.
Sankan (triple crown) Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Vader & Gary Albright vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
7/16/99 Chiba Matsuda Shi Undo Koen Taiikukan (showdown) Untouchable vs. Burning Single Taiketsu
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kentaro Shiga
Masahito Kakihara vs. Kenta Kobashi
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama
7/17/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
10/30/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sankan Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader. Vader wins title.
10/9/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masa Fuchi. Digest.
10/16/99 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan 2: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Digest
10/23/99 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
10/30/99 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
10/25/99 Niigata Nagaoka Shi Kosei Kaikan 68th Asia Tag Oza Yushoketteisen: Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Johnny Smith & Maunakea Mossman. Honda & Inoue win titles.
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
1/23/00 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken Jiai: Vader vs. Jun Akiyama
1/9/00 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Hiroshi Hase
1/10/00 Kumamoto Shi Sogo Taiikukan Sekai Tag Senshukenjiai: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Vader & Johnny Smith. Digest
1/17/00 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada
1/17/00 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue & Vader
1/23/00 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
*Special price $20 or $25.50 COOP*
Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara
Battle Royal
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Izumida
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Akira Taue & Takao Omori
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
2/12/00 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Sekai Tag Oza Chosensha Ketteisen: Vader & Steve Williams vs. No Fear
2/17 Sapporo Hokkaido-ken Sogo Taiiku Center
Sankan Heavykyu Oza Chosensha Ketteisen: Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Vader
2/20 Kobe World Kinen Hall Sekai Tag Senshuken: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Vader & Steve Williams
2/27 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama
Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Vader vs. Kenta Kobashi
3/24/00, 1st Round: Johnny Smith vs. Tamon Honda 1:40 of 15:12
3/26/00, 1st Round: Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 0:07. Given the length it was not totally ridiculous. Akiyama ran the ropes, but was caught by surprise when Omori pushed the ref into him. Before he could recover Omori landed an axe bomber. Akiyama staggered up, but Omori got him with two more for the win.
3/26/00, 1st Round: Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams 17:15. These guys need a more active athletic type. It was only going to be good if they beat the hell out of each other, which didn't happen. One good segment was when they were outside the ring and Taue tried to nodowa Williams off the apron and Williams tried to backdrop driver Taue in the stands. Otherwise it adequately executed but dull. **
3/31/00, 1st Round: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 16:05. They didn't bother with a beginning or middle, they more or less started with the finish. Misawa was in bad shape quickly and since they couldn't do their usual carny draw due to the tournament format they tried to make you believe it would be a short match. The near falls started before the five minute mark. There was some story as Kawada injured Misawa's eye with a back kick then went after it with punishing strikes. This led to a big spot where Misawa tried a diving elbow, but got caught with a jumping giri. A very good match, but so disappointing by their own standards. They did their famous spots, and more, but in taking out 15 minutes they removed the build, selling, and generally the significance. ***3/4
4/8/00, 2nd Round: Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Smith 2:41 of 17:43
4/9/00, Semifinal: Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams 10:33. Boring and messy. They booked Omori into the finals by giving him a few opponents he could possibly beat, but he was not exactly exciting anyone about those prospects with Williams leading him to restholds and a few awkward looking sequences. *3/4
4/11/00, Semifinal: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 7:35 of 26:08. Why show what's almost certainly the best match of the tournament in its entirety when you can show two Death matches instead?
4/15/00 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Final: Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori 25:12. Kobashi leisurely controls the first 8 minutes until Omori catches him in the badder knee with a dropkick. Omori stays on the knee, highlighted by a kneebreaker through a table. Omori's knee attack is hardly inspiring, but at least he's totally focused on it. Around 17 they just leave the knee and do all the big spots back and forth for the duration. Omori isn't much of a worker and his offense is uninspiring, but the fans reacted to him in his underdog role. Omori does his best and Kobashi keeps it together, but Kobashi is not the spectacular wrestler he used to be and could never carry a match very well. The execution is sharp, perhaps surprisingly so given Omori, but it all seems rather routine. Certainly a solid match, but it never pulled me in and I never believed Omori could win. ***1/4
This tape contains digest versions of the 7/1/00, 7/2/00, & 7/9/00 shows plus one complete match.
7/1/00 Tokyo Differ Ariake: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masa Fuchi. Ridiculously stiff. Read Review. ***3/4
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
This tape contains digest versions of the 7/11/00 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan & 7/23 Tokyo Nippon Budokan show
Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiru Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen & Maunakea Mossman. Really rough match. They beat each other's chests red. Hansen couldn't do many things at this point, but he could still hit hard. Of course, it made a big difference that Mossman proved he was worthy of a top spot. Granted, there's still a lot of room for improvement, but he carried his team and was able to credibly stand toe to toe and exchange with Dangerous K. Since the slugfest style allowed Tenryu & Hansen to stay within what they can do, Tenryu gave a very good performance and Hansen was effective. The level of difficulty wasn't exceptionally high and as always there were a few spots where Tenryu & Hansen looked bad and/or ancient, but overall the execution was great. It was weird seeing Kawada consistently interjected himself illegally to try to get the fans to root for Mossman since he was the only wrestler in the match that wasn't over. Otherwise, the match really didn't develop much of a story, but it was fun seeing Mossman try to take it to Kawada. ***3/4
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
Clips of M2K vs. Damian 666 & Halloween & Super Calo
9/2 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Masaaki Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda & Susumu Mochizuki vs. CIMA & SUWA & Sumo Dandy Fuji Nichi. These trios always show good teamwork and work well together. The match was too short and a big sloppy, but generally it was very good even though the crowd could have cared less. CIMA did an awesome spot where he gave Susumu a quebrada except in midair before he did this he dropkicked Masaaki off the apron, so basically his backflip was off Masaaki's chest. CIMA also did a cool move that was a combination of a DDT & Russian leg sweep. SUWA was pretty much invisible, but Fuji didn't hurt the match and the other four all did a good job. ***
Clips of Genichiru Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen
9/2 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Toshiaki Kawada & Steve Williams vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Stan Hansen. A smart match because the many weaknesses of Williams & Hansen were minimized by simply doing a match where everyone pounded the hell out of each other. There were hardly any moves, but everything they did was high impact. The problem was there were no dynamics at all, so the standing and striking got rather repetitive and monotonous when it went on for around 20 minutes. The match picked up after this and to their credit they all had the stamina for the home stretch so the lack of movement helped out. The match would have been better if it was 10 minutes shorter, but Hansen was still as good as current Hansen gets and Williams also didn't let anyone down. Unfortunately, Kawada & Tenryu weren't impressive by their own standards for big matches. ***
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
Clips of Taiyo Kea matches
9/2 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Taiyo Kea & Jinsei Shinzaki & Mohammed Yone vs. Mike Barton & Johnny Smith & The Cedman. There was no real direction to this match. Everyone did their thing and looked fine, but it never came together as a whole. Smith & Shinzaki looked good. Standard match that was decent to watch. **1/4
Clips of Sabu's matches
9/2 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Sabu vs. Damian 666. Fun match. Damian would keep trying to do his immitations, but Sabu would know what he was doing and counter with a big move. As Damian doesn't have much offense, this worked out pretty well. Of course, it was sloppy and probably much worse in the complete version. There was so much tape on Sabu's chin it looked like it was taped onto his face. He did a swinging DDT onto two chairs that were facing one another, and wasn't afraid to (or was allowed not that Giant Baba was gone) use his regular spots involving tables and chairs. Not a good match, especially with the lame finish, but not a bad one to watch. 6:44 shown
Clips of The Cedman's matches
Clips of Masa Fuchi's matches
9/2/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Masa Fuchi vs. Masa Chono. Fuchi came out first even though he was the home wrestler. The fans were all excited to see Chono, but mostly wound up rooting for Fuchi. This had by far the best heat of any match up to this point since Misawa & co. left. One of the reasons is they did a big start where Fuchi used his backdrop and crossface. The match slowed considerably after this with Chono taking a powder, but they had gotten the fans riled up right away and for the most part they stayed very into it. Chono using his heel tactics on Fuchi when he reentered helped keep the fans rooting for their guy. Neither wrestler has any offense and they can't bump, but the match was what it needed to be and the heat made it seem good. Although they wrestled intelligently, the crowd was getting weaker as the match progressed and there was little reaction to Chono's key low blow counter. The match picked up after that with Chono using a cradle piledriver and starting to use his finishers, so the noise picked up considerably. Basically the match quality wasn't any good considering it was the first AJ vs. NJ match in over a decade, but there was enough interest in the program to give the match a special aura that made an otherwise fairly dull match very watchable. **1/4
*Special price $18 or $23.50 COOP*
11/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tag League: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Danny Kroffat (Real Shooter) vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (Varsity Club) 1:07. At attempt to help rebuild Doc's image and once again have an imposing gaijin team.
Tag League: Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai (Team Strongs) vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele (Super Power) 11:08. Kakihara & Nagai should be a good team, but a shooter team only works if you put them over. This was some bad start putting them against supposed tough guys who are clueless in shoot style and only going to sell so much. The teams worked fairly well together and kept things moving to cover certain wrestlers faults, but starting Team Strongs in this manner made them dead on arrival. **1/2
Tag League: Genichiru Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (New Revolution) vs. Barry Windham & Kendall Windham (Texas Red Necks) 9:59. Tenryu showed up and carried his team. Araya was just there to get beat on. Windham's just did some unskilled brawling, but were better as a team than individually. Effort was pretty good and match was passable since they kept it short.
Tag League: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi (King's Road Racer) vs. Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (Future Stars) 10:27 of 30:00. With this name, I guess they are hoping Smith will become a star by his mid 40's. Must have been quite stiff because their bodies were showing the signs of getting smacked around. Appeared to be quite good, but good Kawada needs to be seen in its entirety.
11/27 Niigata: Shigeo Okumura & Mohammed Yone & Gran Naniwa vs. Mike Barton & Barry Windham & Kendall Windham 8:42 of 14:13. Style and pace was dictated by whomever was on offense. They tollerated each other and more than worked together. Barton vs. Naniwa was actually pretty good. Decent match.
12/9 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Gran Naniwa vs. Ryuji Hijikata 4:30 of 9:28. The moves were nothing special, but they put together some pretty good sequences and counters.
Masahito Kakihara vs. Danny Kroffat 2:55. Kakihara's win meant something because Kroffat has a good history as a junior and is now a supposed shooter. Even in this short time it was obvious Kroffat is a shell of his former self though.
Genichiru Tenryu & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Mohammed Yone 12:09. Stiff match with everyone playing tough guy and just standing toe to toe trading shots. Simple match, but at least it was good within it's narrow focus. Yone took quite a beating. **1/2
12/6
Tag League: Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Danny Kroffat 4:43 of 12:04. Despite all the shooters, it was not particularly realistic.
Tag League: Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda 9:07 of 17:40. Simple but fairly effective match. Pretty one-sided though. Rotunda gave a better effort than usual, but the crowd was totally dead.
Tag League: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya 21:08. This is the kind of match we should get often, and it would still be an interesting promotion if they took the time to make it such. Fuchi is still effective when he's got a role and there's a story to tell. Araya was the "young" guy that didn't belong, so he was given a rude introduction to the main event. Kawada & Fuchi kept him in and stiffed him, going to the face repeatedly. Rather than bail him out, Tenryu rooted for Araya and let him try to prove his worth. At one point it looked like Araya was going to get by Fuchi and finally make the tag, but the crafty vet pulled out a leg trip from the ground. After Araya missed his moonsault, Tenryu "slapped the fighting spirit into him" ala Inoki. Finally Tenryu hurt Fuchi when Araya was legal and told Araya to get him. Fuchi looks really silly when he gets into his head bobbing selling, and there were a few spots in this one where the selling was so fake and exaggerated the crowd just laughed at them. Kawada & Fuchi made the match, with Tenryu hardly working but at least putting effort in when he was in. Fuchi's chest was beat red and Araya must have been in much worse shape but it doesn't show as much on his darker skin. ***1/2
12/9 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Tournament Semifinal: Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda 8:20. After these teams drew each other Williams lariated Kea and Rotunda took Smith out. Rotunda would hit smith anytime he started to get up, leaving Kea to fight the first 6 min on his own. Kea was very motivated and looked good. Smith, who eventually made the hot tag, also brought energy. The gaijins beat them up as good as could be expected and this would have been a good match if they didn't have to save something for later. **1/4
Tournament Semifinal: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele. Nothing special. They went through their spots, but their styles don't mesh. Ironically it was far more heated than the previous match, which seemed better and to have a lot more going on. Fuchi looked pretty corny bumping for Steele. Some good near finishes at the end even if they were pretty basic moves.
2000 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen Yushosen (Final): Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda 21:27. Iizuka & Nagata were at ringside scouting Kawada & Fuchi for the upcoming NJ PPV (which turned out to be a memorable match). Not much talent, but they got the most out of their abilities. They kept 3 or 4 guys involved throughout the match, building little rivalries and keeping people in focus. In the later stages, you knew the status of both guys on the team that was losing. They put the big moves in the right spots, which was really important since they don't do flashy moves. A smart match that made the individuals look better than they are, and Varsity look better as a team than individually. Kawada was on top of his game, even putting some of his little touches in. This won't exactly go down as one of the great tag finals, but considering one of the teams is far below average and the other has a 46-year-old wrestler that was phased into the comedy match long before the split you could hardly ask for more. ***1/2
1/2 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Heavyweight Battle Royal
1/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Junior Heavyweight Battle Royal
1/10 Osaka, 4 vs. 4 Survival Tag Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi & Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Taiyo Kea & Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai & Mohammed Yone
1/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Sekai Tag Senshuken: Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith. No Cut
1/7: Masa Fuchi vs. Nobukazu Hirai
1/7: Shigeo Okumura vs. Kyoshiro Suizenji
1/8: Shigeo Okumura & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Yuto Aijima & Kyoshiro Suizenji
1/2 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiroshi Hase vs. Masa Fuchi
1/10 Osaka: Genichiru Tenryu & Yuto Aijima vs. Hiroshi Hase & Johnny Smith
1/2 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Genichiru Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada & Shigeo Okumura vs. Mike Barton & Jim Steele & George Hines
1/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiroshi Hase & George Hines vs. Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai
1/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Nobutaka Araya & Ryuji Hijikata & Nobukazu Hirai vs. Kim Duk & Jim Steele & The Cedman
Stan Hansen retirement ceremony. The retired wrestlers that attended were The Destroyer, Lord James Blears, & Pete Roberts
Giant Baba Sankaigi Tsuito Kogyo Tokubestsu Jiai: Terry Funk & Atsushi Onita vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kimala. A notable match due to Onita returning to All Japan after 17 years and it being the first garbage match in AJ in over a decade. Of course, the wrestling was terrible. The fans liked the match for the legends, novelty, & nostalgia. It sucked, but it was really wild and bloody for AJ. At least they kept it short. *
Mil Mascaras & Hijo Del Santo vs. Arkangel De La Muerte & Blue Panther. Obviously, the match was at it's best when Santo was in. He and Panther can still really go. They put together some really nice sequences, and Santo was taking more chances than usual. His tope was superb, but what was cool is it sent Panther over the guard rail in a believable manner. Santo also gave Panther a corbata off the apron. Lucha is not exactly the All Japan fans cup of tea; they applauded politely for the best spots and that was about it. They certainly respect the legendary Mascaras, who gave his typical selfish performance although it was more acceptable today since his return to All Japan was the only reason the other three got the payday. **1/2
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobutaka Araya vs. Kim Duk & Shigeo Okumura. Duk look ancient, and wrestles that way too. He did hit hard, but he's got the same amount of agility and flexibility that Hansen has right now. It was horrible when he was in with Fujiwara. At least Araya and Okumura were okay. 9:12 shown. *
Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone. Why was this so short? I pretty much liked everything they did, but there were two different matches and they were lucky to have enough time to do one properly. In the beginning, it was a fairly realistic and highly technical match. Kakihara & Otsuka were showing varying ability here, and excellent battle of positioning. Suddenly, with Nagai & Yone, the match exploded for a few minutes of almost equally good spot action then ended. The potential was certainly there, but the structuring wasted it. 8:21 shown. ***1/4
Johnny Smith & Jim Steele & George Hines vs. Mike Rotundo & Curt Hennig & Barry Windham. Rotundo, Hennig, & Windham all looked okay, but they were out of place because they still wrestle like it's 1985 (minus most of the ability they had then). The way Steele was wrestling, I wished the vaunted Steele trap was something they left him in to spare us the misery. In spite of him, the wrestling was adequate even though it wasn't exciting. 9:06 shown. *1/2
Steve Williams vs. Mike Barton. A lot better than I expected. Both were at least decent and put forth strong efforts. They worked very stiffly, particularly the chops. Williams was kind of like Rick Steiner, except his match was actually good. The spot where he backdropped Barton into the guard rail was nasty. Barton is athletic enough to help make Williams look good and provide a few flying moves that you aren't going to get from Williams. One such spot was a shoulderblock off the top to the floor. 11:16 shown. **3/4
7/14/01 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Nobutaka Araya. 4m (all times in this listing are approx time shown)
Sekai Tag Senshukan: Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Yoji Anjo. 10m
Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Keiji Muto vs. Steve Williams. 8m
8/19/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kazushi Miyamoto Debut Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Kazushi Miyamoto. 4m
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shigeo Okumura. 3m
Taiyo Kea & Masa Fuchi & Nobutaka Araya vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Arashi & Koki Kitahara. 5m
8/26 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Terry Gordy 10 Count
Taiyo Kea & Hiroshi Hase vs. Mike Rotundo & Steve Williams. 8m
Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura & Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Araashi & Koki Kitahara. 9m
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoji Anjo. 9m
9/8 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Masa Fuchi & Yuto Aijima vs. Osamu Kido & Hiroshi Tanahashi. 9m
Asia Tag Senshuken: Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Arashi & Koki Kitahara. 4m
Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Masa Chono & Mike Barton. 12m
Sekai Tag Senshuken: Genichiru Tenryu & Yoji Anjo vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea. 12m
10/7/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Taiyo Kea & Masa Fuchi & Kazushi Miyamoto vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Arashi & Koki Kitahara. 6m (all times in this listing are approx time shown)
Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai & Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Steve Williams & Mike Barton & Mike Rotundo & Jim Steele. 4m
10/8/01 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Masa Fuchi vs. Kazushi Miyamoto. 2m
Sekai Tag & Asia Tag Double Title Match: Genichiru Tenryu & Yoji Anjo & Arashi & Koki Kitahara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai & Johnny Smith & George Hines. 7m
10/22/01 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Sekai Tag Senshuken: Genichiru Tenryu & Yoji Anjo vs. Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea. 8m
10/27/01 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, AJ vs. WAR 5 vs. 5 Single Match
Genichiru Tenryu vs. Taiyo Kea. 5m
Hakushi vs. Koki Kitahara. 5m
Yoji Anjo vs. Abdullah The Butcher. 4m
Arashi vs. Masa Fuchi. 5m
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kodo Fuyuki. 11m
Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Keiji Muto vs. Masa Chono. 9m
12/7 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
2001 Sekai Saikyo Tag league match highlight. 20m
Tag Final: Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Mitsuya Nagai . 7m
10/19 Niigata
Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Kendo Kashin vs. Jimmy Yang
Keiji Muto & Terry Funk & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Abdullah The Butcher & Nobutaku Araya
MLW World Heavyweight Title: Satoshi Kojima vs. Mitsuya Nagai
10/20 Miyagi: Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea & Terry Funk & Tomoaki Honma vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Abdullah The Butcher & Nobutaka Araya & Hideki Hosaka
10/21: Terry Funk & Masa Fuchi & Kaz Hayashi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Kendo Kashin & Gran Naniwa
10/24: Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima & Taiyo Kea vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Nobutaku Araya & Nobukazu Hirai
10/25 Hamamatsu: Keiji Muto & Taiyo Kea & Tomoaki Honma vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Arashi & Nobutaku Araya