Quebrada #2
High hopes of Hase in AJ, AJ/NJ TV 6/96-9/96, my infamous laughable attempt at picking the
top 10 wrestlers in the world
The recent addition of Hiroshi Hase should really help All Japan out. Hase was originally a top
junior heavyweight wrestler with New Japan, but “graduated” to the heavyweights after dropping
the IWGP Jr. Title to Liger on May 25, 1989. Hase was easily the group’s best working
heavyweight until he stopped wrestling in 1995 when he won a seat in the Japanese Diet
(equivalent to U.S. Senate). Hase, 35, will only work a few dates a year with All Japan because
of his political commitments, but they have the potential to be big money matches. AJ’s biggest
shows are traditionally the monthy Budokan Hall shows. Aside from a few recent shows, All
Japan has sold out every show at the 16,300 seat arena for 5 years. The problem with running a
bigger show has been that all the big matches have been done over and over again at smaller
arena’s, so they wouldn’t be able to sell out a 50,000 seat arena. Since no one has seen a Hase vs.
Misawa match, it should be able to sell out a larger arena. Nobohiko Takada is also available for
$27,000 a show, so he could theoretically fight say Toshiaki Kawada on the same card. One
thing that should be noted about Hase is that his style is based on skill and workrate (so is All
Japan’s which makes him a great fit) and he probably won’t be in that great of shape when he
wrestles. Hase is still good enough to have a good to very good match with any of the “big 5"
even if he is rusty and a bit out of shape, but it is doubtful that the match will be the classic that it
would have been if Hase was in his prime.
I got a chance to see most of the Japanese TV shows from June to September. The best of the
Super Jr. Final between Liger and Black Tiger (Eddie Guerrero) was amazing. The match was
one big move after another with great heat. Guerrero was really on the top of his game.
Unfortunately, in the Skydiving J main event, Guerrero looked like he was in WCW. The
Guerrero vs. Sasuke match, which was the main event was kind of lifeless. It didn’t seem like a
major match at all and, although it had some good spots, it was really nothing special. The match
made Sasuke look bad because Dick Togo and TAKA Michinoku of his own promotion,
Michinoku Pro, fought great matches earlier on the show. TAKA Michinoku has quietly become
one of the 20 best wrestlers in the world. He is a super athlete, a great worker, and he’s very
innovative. He lacks size and experience, but has tremendous upward potential. Misawa &
Akiyama vs. Ace & Williams where Ace & Williams won the double tag team titles was great.
Ace is very underrated tag wrester. He might be the best of all the American heavyweight
wrestlers, but for some reason people don’t seem to recognize his talents. I guess he still has the
“Dynamic Dude” stigma, or people can’t get past his sometimes goofy expressions. Of all the
matches, Ultimo Dragon vs. Shinjiro Otani from round 2 of the J Crown was the best, a definite
match of the year candidate. It had heat plus all the big moves, near falls, and an innovative
finish. Otani was going for a superplex, but Dragon knocked him off the top rope twice which
built the heat. The third time Ultimo countered with a top-rope face first superplex which both
men sold big. Ultimo got up first and hit a running Liger-bomb for the pin.
There were three moves on the New Japan TV that I never saw before. El Samurai used a super
reverse atomic drop, which was basically the old inverted atomic drop, but both men were on the
middle rope. Hamada used a leaping swinging DDT off the 2nd where instead of both men
starting in the corner he jumped off the middle rope and grabbed his opponent, who was standing
in the ring. TAKA Michinoku did the best new move, a double springboard plancha. Michinoku
was going to do a regular springboard plancha, but Super Delfin ran around the corner to avoid
it, Michinoku then springboarded to the top rope on that side of the ring and hit the plancha on
Delfin. This was all done really fast, so it looked great.
If you were wondering about the name of this column, a quebrada is a springboard moonsault
bodyblock off the middle rope. The move was invented by Yoshihiro Asai (Ultimo Dragon), so it
is also known as the Asai Moonsault. The move is performed both in and out of the ring.
When I decided to postpone Matt’s recent request for a top 10 to put it in my column, I had no
idea how hard it would be. I started out with a list of 24 wrestlers and other than a couple of
names I really couldn’t justify leaving anyone out. This is based on the wrestlers overall ability,
push was not considered. I could sit here and list the wrestler’s accomplishments, but since this
looks like a very controversial list I think it makes more since to justify each wrestlers inclusion.
Real names and ages in parenthesis. Without further ado, here is in my opinion, the 10 best
wrestlers in the world.
#10 Juventud Guerrera (Anibal Gonzalez) (21)-Although he seems forever stuck in the shadow
of Misterio Jr., Guerrera is nearly his equal. The main thing that separates him from the rest is
his nearly flawless execution of even the toughest moves. Guerrera attempts and has to sell the
toughest moves in the sport while working against Rey Misterio Jr., and unlike Sabu he hardly
misses any spots. In my opinion, his program vs. Rey Misterio Jr. has produced the best match
(3/9/96) and the best fued of the year. If you have only seen him in WCW, where he is totally
wasted, then you probably think this is a joke.
#9 Mitsuharu Misawa (34)-Regarded by many as the best wrestler in the world. Hasn’t lost a step
despite an age that would suggest he is past his prime. No wrestler combines psychology with
work-rate like Misawa. Ability to build a match is almost unparalleled. Can wrestle a 30-minute
match and still get each move to build toward the climax. Early in his career he had the
unenviable task of following Sayama as the 2nd Tiger Mask, but stepped up to the plate and the
rest is history. If you just listed all the 4+ star matches he has been a part of it would fill a book.
#8 Chris Benoit (29)-The expressionless wrestling machine. Doesn’t have great charisma and
doesn’t do a very good interview, but in the ring few are better. He is probably the best pure
worker in the sport. Can match almost anyone hold for hold. His WCW work has dropped him a
lot on my list. He is much better in Japan where he has a defined role (New Dynamite Kid) and
can work stiff. He has had tons of great matches including The Super J Cup Final (4/16/94) vs.
Sasuke, which is one of the five greatest matches of all time.
#7 Shinjiro Otani (24)-The most versatile wrestler in the sport. Can work any style. Works to the
strengths of his opponents so he can have a great match against any capable wrestler. Was one of
the two best (Yugi Nagata) in New Japan in working the UWF-I style. Has great charisma to go
along with his great matwork, technical skill, aerial skill, psychology, and facials. The sky is the
limit as he is only going to improve.
#6 Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai) (29)-Defeated Sasuke for the octuple Jr. Titles on 10/11.
One of the great innovators of the Jr. style. Invented several maneuvers during his career.
Originally tried out for New Japan, but was deemed too small and they didn’t take him. He went
to Mexico and became a great worker and a huge star. All the years of performing daredevil
maneuvers (and the injuries that accompany them) are catching up. Due to his injuries he can’t
wrestle his best possible match every night. He can wrestle up to and in many cases above
anyone when he wants to though. No wrestler can work the Japanese junior style and the Lucha
style as well as Ultimo.
#5 Great Sasuke (Masanori Murakawa) (27)-Trained by Ultimo Dragon. Founder of Michinoku
Pro Wrestling which he runs, recruits talent for, books, and is the top star of. His style blurs the
lines between the Japanese jr. style and Mexican Lucha Libre style. Took daredevil maneuvers to
a new stratosphere. Has to be very seriously injured to miss a match. Will give you his heart and
soul whether there are 50 people in the crowd or 50,000.
#4 Kenta Kobashi (29)-Kobashi is the most talented and best working heavyweight wrestler ever.
Extremely versatile wrestler who incorporates all styles into his matches. This allows him to
work to the strengths of his opponents and mask their weaknesses. Master of psychology. Great
stamina. Will always give you at least three match of the year candidates.
#3 Manami Toyota (25)-Gives 110% every time out and is unhappy if her match isn’t the best.
Fights extremely fast-paced matches despite the fact that her matches are generally 20 minutes
long. Takes way more bumps than she has to. It is a disappointment if her match isn’t at least 4
stars. Unfortunately, it looks like injuries and age (women tend to peak at 22-23 years old) are
catching up to her. Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki 4/11/93
and Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue 5/7/95 were the best matches of their respective years and among
the best of all-time.
#2 Rey Misterio Jr. (Oscar Gonzalez) (21)-Wrestling’s premier aerial wrestler. The greatest
innovator of moves since Satoru Sayama. Matches are nearly flawless with great timing and
superb execution. Can do it all. A threat to have a match of the year any time he sets foot in the
ring. If promoted properly his lack of size would be a bonus, but don’t expect WCW to ever
realize that. Should be one of the top wrestlers for several years, but may not hold up for two
reasons. He doesn’t take any time off to let his injuries heel and he allows himself to be
overbooked.
#1 Jushin “Thunder” Liger (Keiichi Yamada) (31)-One of the great innovators of wrestling. Very
influential wrestler who set the standard that his predecessors have attempted to copy. Knows
more holds than anyone in the sport. Best technical wrestler. Great psychologist. Can work a
great match against any style of opponent. Doesn’t fly as much as he used to, but picks his spots
well. Can work high spots into a shoot style match without losing any realism. Books the juniors
for New Japan. As unselfish a booker as there is. Willing to do jobs to much lesser opponents for
the better of the company. Great at selling his opponents moves. Makes sure his opponent gets
over, usually makes you look like a star whether you are or not. Major injuries caused him to
miss a lot of 1993 and 1995. 1/31/90 match vs. Naoki Sano was probably the best match ever
when it occurred. Has had too many great matches and fueds to list. Has slowed up some, but has
improved his psychology, mat skills, and transitions. Still has a lot of great work left in him.
Note: Originally published 10/18/96, still haven't lived down Kobashi as "master" of psychology
Quebrada #3
Konnan/Antonio Pena split, Kawada/Kobashi 60:00 draw, Pancrase Tokyo Tough
There is a huge amount of turmoil in Luchaland, which probably comes as a surprise to nobody.
The current situation is a lot more important than the usual squablings between promotions. I
will go back a few years in an effort to try to make sense out of this, but there are so many
problems that this may be a bit confusing. AAA was formed 4 years ago when EMLL’s booker
Antonio Pena split with the group. Televisa, which is Mexico’s number one TV network, owned
the company and produced AAA’s TV shows. Pena brought a lot of the top EMLL talent with
him, so he had big draws from the start. Their situation was similar to WCW’s in that they were
a small part of a large corporation, so they could operate in the red and write off debts if need be.
Needless to say, AAA was a big hit from the start. They built the promotion around Perro
Aguayo, Cien Caras, and Konnan who were all great draws. In their 1st year, they were able to
sell out a bullfighting arena that holds approximately 50,000 for their Triplemania card with a
Konnan vs. Cien Caras retirement match as the main event. Konnan lost the match due to Jake
the Snake’s interference, but as you can guess his retirement didn’t last long.
Things ran as smoothly for AAA as they ever do in Mexico, but the Mexican economy kept
getting worse. Televisa was affected by the weak economy and was forced to downsize. In
March of 1995 they ended their ownership of AAA. This left Antonio Pena in total control. Pena
had basically the same duties as Paul Heyman in ECW in that he both ran the group and did the
booking. Without Televisa, AAA had to make cuts. Initially they got rid of the props such as the
models that accompanied the wrestlers, the video wall, etc. They had to run fewer shows because
they couldn’t afford to run money losers. In May of 1995, Pena lessened his workload by
dividing his group into territories. Each territory was run by an established AAA star with Pena
overseeing. Konnan was put in charge of all international bookings. The other established stars
got territories in Mexico, but this didn’t work out well because ½ of them such as Rey Misterio,
Sr. and Misterioso winded up leaving the promotion. AAA had so many wrestlers that it was
hard to give them all enough work (at one point they had something like 200 wrestlers under
contract). This was made worse by the fact that the bad economy forced the local bookers that
Pena lent his wrestlers to for a commission to either run fewer shows or close shop totally. Two
of AAA’s biggest stars, Fuerza Guerrera and Blue Panther basically formed a new league called
PROMELL. They got some AAA wrestlers to jump, but Fuerza couldn’t get his own son to leave
AAA because he preferred working with his friends Misterio Jr. and Psicosis. PROMELL didn’t
experience much success.
Konnan’s took over promoting the border shows and he changed the style significantly. His new
Extreme Lucha Libre was a Mexican version of ECW. The shows had excessive brawling (often
with little structure), stiff chair shots, and table breaking. He re-did some of ECW’s most famous
angles such as Dreamer being crucified. At this point, Konnan aligned himself with ECW and
booked his friends Psicosis, Rey Misterio Jr., and Juventud Guerrera into the promotion. This
new style brought Pena tons of heat from the commission in Mexico. The commission didn’t
approve of several of the angles run and they suspended Konnan and some of his wrestlers on a
few occasions. These suspensions were usually reduced or dropped once the commission’s palms
were greased. The fans in Mexico react differently to angles than anywhere else in the world.
The fans rioted during some of the shows because one of their favorites was laid out. Some of
the shows, particularly in Tijuana, had tremendous crowd heat, but in other areas the fans didn’t
react at all and walked out during the show.
Konnan used basically the same group of wrestlers on all his shows, which pretty much alienated
all the AAA workers who weren’t getting booked. On the regular AAA shows that Pena booked,
there was a split locker room with Konnan and his friends whom he booked and all the other
wrestlers that were getting half the work because Konnan didn’t book them. Konnan also had
problems with the established AAA stars such as Perro Aguayo (not that they got along well
before), Octagon, Cien Caras, and Los Villanos. The aforementioned wrestlers were opposed to
the new style because, among other things, it was a lot more dangerous. They figured that at their
age they didn’t need to be powerbombed through a table to get over. The situation only got
worse when Konnan started booking his friends into WCW. Even though the AAA wrestlers
(other than Konnan) make less than anyone who is anyone in WCW they still make more
working WCW than they do working AAA. You can understand why Konnan would be resented
when he was shutting most of the wrestlers out of the “big money.” To Konnan’s defense, WCW
is only going to book so many luchadores and they can’t promote them using a revolving door
style. WCW can’t even figure out how to use the small group of Mexicans they have now
without dividing the bookings between 30 wrestlers. Between Konnan’s shows, WCW’s shows,
and for Misterio Jr. & Psicosis WAR’s shows Konnan’s crew had little time left to work the
regular AAA shows. This was a big problem for Pena because most of his best workers were
unavailable for his shows. The fans realized they were getting a watered down card and
attendance dropped.
PROMELL, now owned by TV Azteca, became Promo Azteca or ProAzteca depending on
where you see the name. TV Azteca is a major network, but not as powerful as Televisa. Azteca
got Cien Caras to jump from AAA to join his two brothers and reform Los Hermanos Dinamitas.
Luckily for AAA they got a new TV contract with Televisa in late 1995 where Televisa had
some money interest in AAA.
Pena took some of Konnan’s power away including reclaiming the Baja California territory,
which was doing good business. This pulled the plug on what would have been Konnan’s biggest
show to date. The show was planned for 11/1 in Tijuana with a Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Misterioso in
a mask vs. mask match. Pena was also unhappy that he didn’t receive a commission for lending
his talent to WCW. Pena was able to work out a deal with WAR for a commission. Psicosis and
Misterio Jr. were told by WAR they were getting a raise from $1,500 per shot to $2,000 per shot,
but when they got their check they were for $1,600 per shot and they were told the missing $400
was Pena’s commission. Many of the wrestlers are unhappy about low pay.
Konnan & Pena also disagreed about AAA being on the new 24 hour combat sports channel in
Japan. Konnan thought Pena should take roughly $1,750 a week for the show, but Pena decided
to hold out for more money. I am not a businessman, but when you look at all the money AWF is
shelling out for middle of the night slots this seems like a decent deal to me. It’s not like they
have to produce another show. This would also be good for AAA because they don’t have a TV
show in Japan. It would be easier to get their wrestlers booked in Japan if they had TV exposure.
With no TV exposure in Japan, the fans are only familiar with the wrestlers through the
magazines. Instead of being a name that could put fans in the seats, every new guy booked in
Japan, no matter how talented, has to get over in Japan.
Konnan and Pena split and Konnan took his crew to Promo Azteca. The deal reported in the
Wrestling Observer between Konnan and TV Azteca (Promo’s owners) looks pretty good for
Konnan. The following points should assure that most if not all of his crew will jump because
they are guaranteed to make at least what they were making with AAA. The deal states that
Azteca won’t charge any commissions for deals already done with the wresters that jump. WCW
(which pays better) gets priority on all dates with the wrestlers they are currently using. The
wrestlers would be allowed to be booked by any promotion worldwide with the exception of
Televisa shows. This means that they could work EMLL house shows (the matches couldn’t air
because EMLL is also on Televisa), but not AAA. They will earn the same amount per match as
they got with AAA. The group will have two TV shows per week on TV Azteca. One will be the
traditional Lucha Libre style and the other show will be Konnan’s extreme Lucha Libre style.
Konnan will be in charge of the extreme show, which is on a two-month trial basis. I can’t
imagine what will happen is Azteca decides to cancel the show on Konnan. The extreme show
will be held outside of Distrito Federal which means the commission won’t be able to do as
much about the content of the show.
There is going to be a big scramble for talent in the next week or so. Misterio Jr., Juventud
Guerrera, Psicosis, & Super Calo have jumped. I am not sure if this will affect WCW in any way.
I think all these wresters will stay with WCW because that’s where they make the best money.
The only way they will lose their WCW job is if Pena works out a deal with WCW. WCW is
supposed to be interested in EMLL’s Miguel Perez Jr., Felino (brother of Negro Casas and
Heavy Metal) and Mr. Niebla. Perez is a super worker and he is fairly big, so could be a real
asset to WCW. If those three jump, they will most likely end up with Azteca. There was a press
conference televised on TV Azteca this week where Konnan ripped Pena several new holes. This
was reported on RSPW by Bob Barnett. Konnan said you have to perform sexual acts to get
pushed by Pena. He also said Pena is a cocaine addict and he keeps wrestlers as addicted
indentured servants. Konnan should be careful of what he says because the way things go in
Mexico he may be looking to return to AAA down the road. Supposedly Perro Aguayo, Los
Destructores, and the original Mascara Sagrada were there and said they were jumping. This
makes absolutely no sense to me. Destructores and Aguayo have been against the extreme style
all along. Aguayo doesn’t get along with Konnan and probably likes his booking less than any of
the AAA wrestlers. I can see Sagrada because he wasn’t getting along with Pena and jumped to
EMLL. Sagrada also wasn’t happy with Pena for keeping the gimmick and using another
wrestler in it. To Pena’s defense Mascara Sagrada (which means sacred mask) was the first
gimmick Pena ever created, so it obviously has sentimental value and he wanted to keep the
gimmick in his promotion. This isn’t nearly as bad as the imposter Diesel or Ramon’s because
Sagrada wears a mask and a full body outfit. The new Sagrada is also a far superior worker than
the original.
The two top foreign stars in Mexico Konnan and Vampiro will form a tag team. This is
interesting because the two have been rivals since Konnan left EMLL and to put it mildly they
haven’t been the best of friends. I am not sure if these wrestlers have jumped yet, but I expect
Halloween, Leon Negro, Damian, Tinieblas Jr., and probably Pierroth Jr. to jump. Hijo Del
Santo may join the group, but so far he hasn’t. Ultimo Dragon may leave if it will help him get a
job in WCW. Octagon and La Parka probably can’t leave AAA because Pena owns the rights to
their gimmicks. Both got over because they have strong gimmicks, so unless they can get the
rights they aren’t going anywhere. Fuerza Guerrera who was one of the founders of PROMELL
is now returning to AAA. He no showed his first date with AAA though. Latin Lover should stay
with AAA because Pena likes to have wrestlers with the pretty boy stripper gimmick. I don’t
expect Los Villanos or Heavy Metal to jump either. The only thing that is definite about all this
is that there will be a lot of talent movement back and forth for the next month or two.
The 10/18 Triple Crown Title match between champion Kenta Kobashi and Toshiaki Kawada
was a 60:00 draw. I haven’t heard about the quality of the match, but it should be on this week’s
TV show. Based on last January’s 60:00 draw this will probably be a match of the year
candidate. Budokan Hall wasn’t sold out again. I don’t know if this is a sign that Kobashi isn’t
over as a champion or people figured they could watch the K-1 special on TV for free. K-1 had
the return of Masaake Satake, who was the best of the Japanese kickboxers a couple of years
ago, not that this says much. Satake has been out with an injury for a year and a half and his
return match was against top star Andy Hug. That match drew a 27.5 rating, which is
phenomenal. The entire show averaged a 15.6, which is a better rating than the Tokyo Dome
shows get these days. Despite being the premier worker in All Japan and possibly the world,
Kobashi doesn’t really have any big wins under his belt. When he won the title from Taue it was
the first time he ever pinned him in a singles match. He has never pinned Kawada or Misawa in a
singles match. Since perception is more important than ability when it comes to drawing power,
he could be considered a weak champion. This does not mean that the Japanese fans do not
respect Kobashi because he is very popular and they knew he was something special years ago.
All Japan is a traditional group and their philosophy has been to let the youngest wrestler get
pinned in the big matches. Kobashi is younger than Misawa, Kawada, and Taue so over the years
he was usually the one doing the job in the major tag and singles matches. Kobashi had been
teaming with Misawa for the past couple of years and Misawa does about 1 job a year, so every
time the team lost (which wasn’t often) Kobashi went down. Now they have Kobashi teaming
with Patriot, so Patriot does the jobs, but he limits the match and the extent the team can be
pushed. It is possible All Japan is changing the youngest does the job philosophy because on this
show Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba, and Akira Taue beat Misawa, Jun Akiyama, and Tomomi
“Jumbo” Tsuruta when Taue used his nodowa otoshi (variation of the chokeslam) on Tsuruta.
Traditionally Akiyama would have done the job here. Tsuruta who was one of the biggest stars
in Japan from the 1970's-early 1990's, but he got hepatitis and that took him from being the best
wrestler to a guy with no stamina that isn’t even average. Tsuruta is still highly respected, but for
his past and now he generally fights in the comedy match with all the other wrestlers who are
passed their prime. This was actually the first job he has done since he returned from hepatitis.
If you have any interest in legitimate fighting then you should check out Pancrase PPV on
November 3. In my opinion, Pancrase has the most talented group of fighters. Due to the high
talent level and their familiarity with each other (basically all the natives train with Masakatsu
Funaki and all the foreigners trained with now departed Ken Shamrock) it was becoming nearly
impossible to get a submission and most of the matches were draws. They made some rule
changes that started on this show such as standing the fighters up when there was a stalemate or
no action. This resulted in a lot more strikes, which leads to more victories by knock out. The
new style is more like Muay Thai with submissions. While I would rather see a strategic
technical match, that style has less overall appeal because most people haven’t been educated to
it. This show was said to have been far more exciting and brutal than any Pancrase show to date.
It has also been billed by some as the greatest Pancrase show to date. Yuki Kondo vs. Frank
Shamrock and Bas Rutten vs. Masakatsu Funaki were supposed to be incredible matches. Both
were mainly stand up fights with a lot of high impact blows. I look forward to seeing them for
myself.
Note: Originally published 10/26/96
Quebrada #4
More on Konnan/Pena split, AJ tag league preview, Michinoku tag league preview, Liger vs.
Otani 3/17/96 review
There have been some new developments in Mexico regarding the split between Konnan and
Antonio Pena. Last week I mentioned that there would be two TV shows. One show will be
traditional Lucha and the other Extreme Lucha. PROMELL will keep its name and that will be
the traditional show. Mascara Ano 2000 is now president of PROMELL. Top draw Cien Caras
has joined PROMELL to reform Los Hermanos Dinamitas with his brothers Mascara Ano 2000
and Universo 2000. Konnan’s group will be Promo Azteca and they will have the Extreme show.
This basically means that TV-Azteca will be running two separate wrestling companies with
separate TV shows and different styles and identities. This will probably lead to a promotional
feud later on, but right now I don’t think one group will use many of the other groups wrestlers.
Promo Azteca’s talent roster includes all the former AAA wrestlers that work WCW plus
Vampiro. The also got Robin Hood, Frisbee, Halloween (now in WCW), Damian (now in
WCW), and Mini Frisbee (will now be Metro Konnan). WCW wrestlers may be used as foreign
talent. I haven’t heard any more about Perro Aguayo leaving AAA, not that his leaving made any
sense to me in the first place. Tinieblas Jr., whom I thought would jump, decided to stay with
AAA because his pay was doubled from $140 per match to $280 per match. As low as that
sounds, $280 per match is huge pay by Mexican standards and puts him above most of country’s
top stars. You can see why a WCW contract seems like winning the lottery. Pierroth Jr., AAA’s
top heel, is expected to leave for Promo. AAA didn’t tell him about their strategy meeting on
how to deal with what was happening and when he found out and showed up the meeting was
canceled because they were afraid he would leak the information to Konnan.
Some more reasons cited for the split by Konnan were the prominence of AAA heel ref Tirantes.
Konnan didn’t like his gimmick (slow counts for faces & fast counts for heels and missing key
infractions by the heels such as fouls), nor the fact that he is the focal point of several matches,
which takes away from the performers and makes him a bigger star than many of them. Konnan
didn’t like the announcing because instead of calling the matches they make jokes and try to get
themselves over (wonder what he thinks of the job WCW does, particularly with Juventud and
Calo). The press clapped when he cut up the announcing. It’s nice that someone in North
America other than ECW cares about announcing and realizes that it is the key to getting
wrestlers over, which should lead to making money. Aside from the original Sagrada’s
comments about Pena and Aguilla de Acero’s (Sagrada Jr.) sexual preferences, he also claimed
the wrestlers don’t see any money from TV or commercial video (AAA doesn’t do commercial
tapes, but he was talking about a Japanese company video taping a show for Japan release only).
Sagrada said 2% of AAA wrestler’s earnings go to a retirement and injury fund union that
doesn’t even exist. This was all on National TV and covered by the nightly news and print media
in Mexico.
Juventud Guerrera went on tv and spray painted his AAA title belt. Then he called Antonio Pena
a fag and threw the AAA belt in the trash. This sounds like WCW’s NWO spray painting angle
combined with the Madusa jump. To my knowledge this has never happened in Mexico, so it
would be a real shock.
Supposedly IWA Japan is not going out of business. They have shut operations down, but
supposedly will start running cards in early 1997. This is good news, but the shutdown may
cause their remaining fans to switch to another garbage wrestling promotion like Big Japan or
Tokyo Pro Wrestling.
All Japan’s Real World Tag League tournament starts on 11/16. The tournament is being run
differently this year. They have cut the number of teams down to 7 and teams will meet each
other twice instead of once. Having each team fight each other twice is good for the fans in the
smaller Japanese cities because they will get the same big matches as the big arenas. Other than
that, I can’t see this as a good move because it is obvious what will happen, splits. The top teams
will most likely beat the bottom feed and split with each other. The fans have already caught on
to the split idea when it comes to the big interpromotional matches featuring guys like Takada
and Tenryu. In the interpromotional dream matches the first match was highly anticipated
because you had two big stars whom in many cases hadn’t fought each other before. On the other
hand, the rematch had less overall interest and did worse at the box office because you knew the
wrestler who won was going to return the favor by doing the job.
Another reason this tournament doesn’t look that great is the teams themselves. You have three
potential winners in Steve Williams and Johnny Ace, Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, and
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue. The other four teams, Kenta Kobashi & Patriot, Stan Hansen &
Takao Omori, Jun (formerly Ryukaku) Izumida & Giant Kimala II, & Gary Albright & Sabu,
don’t have much chance. Kobashi & Patriot will most likely come in fourth, with Patriot doing
most if not all of the jobs. Hansen was once a great wrestler, but he is so far past his prime now.
Since Hansen is a legend he will be protected and Takao Omori will be doing jobs like he did in
the 1995 Champion Carnival Tournament (he was winless). Izumida & Kimala II have been
getting a push recently, but neither is that good and they aren’t legitimate stars. Albright and
Sabu could be an interesting team. Albright is heavily pushed, so I doubt he will do too many
jobs. On the other hand, Sabu is liable to walk out on the company if they job him too much.
Sabu’s contract is only for one tour though, so if he starts making a bunch of demands he won’t
be back. Sabu will not fit in with this group at all. His weaknesses, such as being devoid of any
psychology and mat skills were all too apparent during his New Japan stint and he was working
with super workers like Koji Kanemoto & Eddy Guerrero there. Not to say that All Japan doesn’t
have super workers, but considering he was allowed to use his props in New Japan ( I doubt you
will see him breaking tables in traditional All Japan) and the New Japan style is more like what
he is used to working, it seems inevitable that he will be exposed once again. Maybe Sabu can
learn psychology and how to build a match, but I’d be surprised if he tried and even if he did it’s
not something that comes right away. This tournament will produce some great matches, but
there aren’t enough contenders and the talent of the non-contenders isn’t Furnas and Kroffat
quality. Overall, I’m sure it will be a good tournament because there will be some excellent and
great matches to balance off the junk, but seeing these high quality matches two more times in
such a short span just increases the burnout factor that much faster.
Michinoku Pro’s annual “Michinoku Futaritobi” tag team tournament began on October 30. This
tournament looks a lot more intriguing because every team has at least one of the group’s top
stars. The six teams are Great Sasuke & Kato Kung Lee (1995 winners), Super Delfin & El Hijo
Del Santo, Dick Togo & Shiryu, Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki, Gran Hamada & Naohiro
Hoshikawa, and Tiger Mask & Gran Naniwa (last year Naniwa & Delfin were runners up). The
only real weak link is Kung Lee because he is well past his prime. This should be a very exciting
tournament with lots of great high spots because everyone in it can fly. I expect this to be booked
like a New Japan tournament (parity and even booking throughout). Super Delfin & El Hijo Del
Santo are probably the favorites and they have already defeated Sasuke & Lee. I don’t know the
status of Santo’s contract with the group, but even if he is only in for one tour I doubt his team
will do worse than the finals.
The year is coming to a close, which means it’s about time to start filling out your awards ballot.
I thought it would be interesting to review one of the top foreign matches each week, so even if
you haven’t seen them and don’t vote for them at least you will have a better idea of why they
are great and on the list.
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani 3/17/96 (aired 3/30) Amagasaki, Japan
Liger was defending his IWGP Jr. Title (which he has since lost). This match started off slow.
Otani worked on Liger’s arm to set up moves for later in the match. Liger hit two consecutive
kneecap dropkicks. Otani stomped Liger’s arm. Basically the story early on was when Otani was
on offense he would use moves and/or submissions that focused on Liger’s arm, while Liger
would work on Otani’s knee. They interspersed some high spots between the submissions, which
is one thing that they do so well in Japan and so poorly in America. There are many matches in
America where they do all the mat work and submissions in one bunch and then go to high spots,
which makes the mat work boring because it lasts too long and there is no chance of submission.
That was not the case here.
Liger used a brainbuster. They did stiff slaps back and forth. From this point on the match turned
into a really hot match with awesome moves, crisply executed spots, great transitions, and great
heat. Otani used two jump spinning heel kicks on Liger and as soon as Liger fell Otani slapped
on the cross armbreaker. Liger whipped Otani into the turnbuckle and used his Koppo kick
(rolling heel kick). In an awesome sequence, Liger whipped Otani into the corner, but Otani did
his famous spot where he rolls over the corner landing on his feet on the ring apron (basically
Flair’s flip bump done a lot quicker and without taking the impact of hitting the turnbuckle).
Liger was charging the corner and right after Otani landed on the apron he dropkicked him which
sent him to the floor. Liger ran across the ropes and it looked like he was going to do a tope but
he did a nice handstand fake, then he went for a plancha but Otani moved out of the way, Otani
got in the ring and did a springboard plancha (announcers called this a swandive body attack).
This was truly a great sequence particularly because the timing was excellent.
When Liger got back into the ring Otani used his springboard leg lariat (a.k.a. springboard spin
kick). Otani attempted a German suplex, but Liger countered with a go-behind and hit an
awesome Doug Furnas like belly to back suplex with an overhead flip. As soon as Otani got up
Liger gave him the Koppo kick. Liger set Otani up with a side breaker and used a splash off the
top rope for a near fall. Liger used the new version of his Ligerbomb finisher where he holds the
opponent at a high angle (like Benoit’s powerbomb) and jumps for a near fall. The crowd really
popped when Otani kicked out of the great Ligerbomb. Aside from being a tremendous worker,
Otani has awesome charisma and really pumps the crowd up during his matches. Liger tried the
Ligerbomb again, but this time Otani countered it with a huracanrana for a near fall.
Otani hit a jump spinning heel kick off the ropes and then used the Frankensteiner off the top
(which is one of Liger’s famous finishers) for a near fall. In a great spot, Otani hit a springboard
dropkick and with a super fast transition put Liger in the cross armbreaker. Even though I don’t
speak Japanese, I could understand the announcers going wild yelling “Gracie, Gracie” to get the
move over. This is a legitimate finishing move in Japan (finisher of Takada who is the number 1
fake shooter in the country) and the combination of the hot crowd and the excited announcers
really gets the move over on TV. Liger got out of it though by grabbing the ropes. Otani then
went for a pumphandle, but Liger got his arm loose and got him in a sleeper. This was a new spot
to me and it was really good because of the speed the counter was done at. Liger did a drop toe
hold and then before you could blink used La Magistral, but Otani kicked out. Liger used his
fisherman buster (cradle suplex set up into a brain buster) for a 2 3/4 count. Liger tried to
fisherman buster Otani off the top rope, but Otani knocked him off then dropkicked him off the
top. Otani used his dragon suplex on Liger, but let go of the pin at the 1 count. Otani dragon
suplexed him again and it looked like he might have won, but Liger had his foot on the ropes.
Otani went for a third dragon suplex, but Liger got a rope escape. Otani tried yet another dragon
suplex, but Liger countered with a back elbow and ran off the ropes. Otani ducked Liger’s
attempted clothesline and kept running off the ropes, on the way back Liger caught him in the
chin with a palm blow for the pinfall. ****3/4
Note: Originally published 11/2/96
Quebrada #5
History of fake shoots and worked shoot promotions, Toyota vs. Kyoko 3/31/96 review
Antonio Inoki’s first venture into the Ultimate Fight world will come on 12/15 at the 69,000 seat
Fukuoka Dome. While the promotion is Universal Vale Tudo, the show is being produced by
Inoki. There is a lot of speculation that New Japan created the group and will be financing the
show. If so, the reasons they are putting the show on will be questioned. This week I will look at
New Japan and Inoki’s history as far as shoots, both real and worked, are concerned. Next week,
I will look at the actual 12/15 show.
New Japan and Inoki’s involvement in fake shoots dates back 22 years. At the time New Japan
was a fledgling organization. Inoki and Hiroshi Shinma realized that interpromotional matches
that were so important that in theory no one would lay down would be great for business and
greatly enhance Inoki’s reputation when he won. The first of these matches came when IWE (no.
3 promotion in Japan at the time) International Champion Shozo “Strong” Kobayashi jumped to
New Japan. Inoki and Shimna promoted the match as New Japan Champion vs. IWE Champion
despite IWE stripping Kobayashi of the title six weeks prior to the match. At that time Japan was
like the U.S. is currently, in that the big organizations would never work together, so even
though it really wasn’t an interpromotional match it was still a never before seen dream match.
The match took place on March 19, 1974 before 16,500 (awesome crowd considering the time
period and youth of organization) with Inoki of course going over.
Inoki continued to enhance his reputation by getting former Olympic gold medalist in judo
Wilhelm Ruska to lay down for him. The match was the first mixed martial arts match in
decades. The mixed martial arts style was much more realistic looking than traditional pro
wrestling, which only added to the idea that the match was real.
Inoki and Shinma’s master plan to make Inoki one of the most recognizable faces on the planet
failed. The match that could get this done was Inoki vs. the greatest heavyweight boxer of all
time Muhammed Ali. It took place at Budokan Hall on June 25, 1976 and was available
throughout the U.S. on closet-circuit. It was supposed to be a work with Ali pummeling Inoki
until he bled heavily. Referee Gene LeBelle (before he built the Monster in the laboratory) would
want to stop the match, but Inoki would refuse to allow him to check the cut. Eventually Inoki
would make a storybook comeback, hit his enzuiguri on Ali, and get the pin. The controversial
finish would be Ali’s out in the U.S., while the comeback would make Inoki an even bigger hero.
Unfortunately, despite the fact Ali would be paid $6 million (more than he ever made for a
boxing match), Ali got cold feet about doing the job and the match was almost canceled. From
here there are various different stories about what really happened, but the majority believe that
the two agreed to a shoot match without a predetermined finish (only legit match in Inoki’s
career). Some rules were drawn up that basically took out most of the techniques that would
benefit Inoki. Chokes, suplexes, & kicks to the head or throat were illegal. Inoki layed down on
his back and for most of the match and tried to take out Ali’s legs. Unfortunately for Inoki this
was 18 years before Yuki Nakai defeated the much larger Gerard Gordeau with this strategy.
Though Inoki actually did a lot of damage to Ali’s legs, and some said Ali’s legs were never the
same after the match, the audience hated this tedious style and that was practically all the
“action” in the match. Inoki did get Ali down a couple times, but Ali grabbed the ropes before
Inoki could get a submission on. You could count the punches Ali landed in 15 rounds on your
hands. Since there was no action, the match was ruled a draw and Inoki’s greatest achievement
turned into his biggest failure. Aside from the fact that Inoki lost the show flopped financially in
the U.S. because it was portrayed as a farce (this was one of the reasons Ali changed his mind
and did the legit match) and wasn’t promoted much by wrestling promoters because Inoki wasn’t
in their organization.
In an effort to rebuild his reputation Inoki got several martial arts stars, boxers, and even a
former Mr. America to put him over in supposedly legit matches. Eventually people forgot or at
least forgave Inoki for the Ali debacle and he became the most recognized wrestler in Japan.
“Shoot” matches were really good to Inoki until a rebel former karate star named Akira Maeda
came along. As a result of Inoki’s famous embezzlement scandal in 1983, Hiroshi Shinma, who
aside from being New Japan’s booker and Chairman of the board, was the mastermind behind
Inoki’s success became the scapegoat and was fired. The greatest junior heavyweight wrestler in
history at that point, Satoru Sayama, was also fired because he was the scapegoat for the
wrestlers failed coup. Shinma’s new group, the UWF, was the most realistic pro wrestling group
to date. They eliminated all the high spots, so everything done was possible (though often
improbable) in a real fighting situation. Maeda was the top star of the illusionist shoot group,
which also included Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, & Kazuo Yamazaki. Sayama came
out of retirement and joined the group, but didn’t get along with Shinma so the workers got rid of
the group’s creator Shinma. The group had similar demographics as ECW in that they appealed
to young adults and could only draw in one building (in their case Tokyo Korakuen Hall).
Sayama and Maeda didn’t get along well and the group wound up folding after 18 months.
Sayama unfortunately retired again, but the other key guys all returned to New Japan. Maeda vs.
Inoki was the obvious big money match, but neither would put the other over or even sell for
their opponent. The former UWF wrestlers were able to educate the crowd to submissions, but
killed the TV ratings in the process causing New Japan to lose their Saturday night prime time
slot on Tv-Asahi. All that being said, the NJ vs. UWF feud had some of the most heated matches
in promotion history, and produced several excellent group tag matches.
October 9, 1986 was another disaster for Inoki even though the show was a sellout and drew a 29
rating. The show had a double main event with Maeda vs. former kickboxing champion Don
Nakaya Neilson and Inoki vs. former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks (who won the
title from Ali). Both were mixed matches with “such high stakes that no one would lay down.”
The problem for Inoki was that even though the New Japan stars were going over, Maeda’s
match was great and Inoki’s was a disaster. Maeda’s popularity was elevated greatly, but when
Riki Choshu returned from All Japan in 1987, Maeda’s chances at being the #1 star of New
Japan were lessened.
In November of 1987 at Korakuen Hall, where Maeda’s popularity was the greatest, he did one
of the most famous (or maybe infamous, definitely a 10 on the cowardly and reprehensible scale)
acts in the history of Japanese wrestling. While Choshu was applying his scorpion on Maeda’s
partner Osamu Kido, Maeda kicked Choshu as hard as he could in the eye. The kick, which
broke Choshu’s orbital bone, left New Japan in a bad spot. If they admitted that the kick was
legit they would be admitting that everything else they do is fake. Maeda was suspended and
supposed to work Lucha in Mexico (since that would be the fakest most embarrassing style for a
legit guy to work), but he quit New Japan forever.
Maeda reformed UWF and took his friends from New Japan Takada, Yamazaki, & Fujiwara with
him. Two of New Japan’s most promising talents, Masakatsu Funaki (at the time billed as
Masaharu) and Minoru Suzuki also joined the group. Since these wresters were over now and
they had educated the fans to the submission style at the expense of New Japan’s TV rating, the
group was immediately a hot ticket. Once the fans understood the realistic style, many liked it
better than the fake New Japan style. UWF and its shoot illusion were not only a rival, but a
competitor. From 1988-89, UWF sold out every show but 1. That is an impressive feat for any
promotion even though they generally ran once a month. One of the most appealing things about
the group was that there were no screw jobs. There would be no count out finish in the major
match of the year like the Hogan vs. Inoki match for the IWGP title in 1984. The crowds began
to boo heavily for all screw jobs in All Japan and New Japan and they had to stop protecting the
stars and have clean finishes. Inoki even went back to his roots and got Russian amateur stars to
with no pro wrestling experience to fight New Japan stars. The April 24, 1989 show at the Tokyo
Dome drew 53,800 which was the largest crowd in Japanese wrestling history at that time. This
was the show that Yamada debuted as Liger on, but the main attraction was the series of New
Japan vs. Russian Amateur matches. Inoki’s reputation was already established, so he was able
to job for Russian Shota Chochyashivili in an effort to give the feud some legs.
Unfortunately despite their great business run which included selling out the Tokyo Dome in
three days in 1989, the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) folded in 1991. Their three
biggest stars Maeda, Takada, & Fujiwara all formed their own groups. All of them were again
“real” because their moves held water. Takada’s UWF-I was the most popular because they had
the initials and most of the UWF stars. Fujiwara’s PWFG, which actually had the best real
fighters in Funaki, Suzuki, and Shamrock was the least successful. Maeda’s RINGS was fairly
successful despite having to establish everyone but him.
By 1993, the Union of Wrestling Force International (UWF-I) was the hottest fad in Japan. The
group averaged more than 15,000 per show from 1993-94 (again once a month). The first Takada
vs. Super (Van) Vader sold out a Tokyo baseball stadium to the tune of 46,000. Yoji Anjo, the
group’s booker, ruined the promotion by talking the talk, but not walking the walk. Anjo made a
grandstand challenge to martial arts legend Rickson Gracie where he said he could beat him in 2
minutes. He eventually went to Gracie’s gym and instead of beating Gracie in 2 minutes, lost
easily and was embarrassed. You would have thought that they could have at least booked the
match for one of their shows. Apparently Gracie thought he was Takada. The company and
Takada were exposed when Takada didn’t challenge Gracie to save company honor (Takada
knew he would also be embarrassed). The emergence of legit groups like UFC, Vale Tudo, K-1,
and Pancrase had exposed people to what real fights looked like and exposed UWF-I as fake.
The rapid decline of the group was apparent when the third match between Takada and Vader
(4/20/95) where Takada was challenging for the title drew an awful crowd of 6,000 in Nagoya
Rainbow Hall (12,000 capacity). The were coming off a great match and hadn’t even fought in
eight months. The group was in financial trouble. It was hurt even more when Takada announced
his retirement then changed his mind the same week. Takada announced he was running for the
Diet (equivalent to Senate) on the last day and didn’t even get 1/4 of the needed votes. The
matches with the three top stars Vader, Takada, and Gary Albright had all been done. Vader,
Albright, Lou Thesz, hot young star Kiyoshi Tamura, and Yamazaki all left.
UWF-I was forced to go to New Japan to be saved financially. Unfortunately, when New Japan
took over the company they decided to kill them off along with their shooter myth. The first New
Japan vs. UWF-I Tokyo Dome show on 10/9/95 drew a record crowd of 67,000 and a record gate
of just over $6 million. Again New Japan was able to capitalize on high stakes matches people
weren’t supposed to see. Everyone figured UWF-I would get destroyed on the undercard and
Takada would win the main event and the IWGP title from Keiji Muto. What actually happened
was UWF-I was embarrassed. New Japan won 5 of the 8 matches including the main event. They
could have won six, but Liger who books the juniors decided to put over his longtime friend and
famous rival Yuhi (Naoki) Sano. Takada was disgraced by losing to a fake wrestler, one of the
fakest in NJ even. To make it worse for Takada, he lost to a dragon screw followed by a figure
four, both moves which don’t hold water. Choshu had succeeded in booking a show that made
New Japan huge money and gave their wrestlers more credibility at the expense of UWF-I and
shooting.
Despite ruining UWF-I at the box office for their own shows, New Japan was able to sell out
another Tokyo Dome show on 1/4/96 for more UWF-I interpromotional matches. This time
Takada defeated Muto with Muto sandbagging even worse, but the rest of UWF-I was downed.
UWF-I lost the other three interpromotional matches including Choshu defeating the only
wrester that was being protected, highly promising Masahito Kakihara, in embarrassing fashion.
Choshu wouldn’t even sell for him.
By the time the next Tokyo Dome Show came around on 4/29/96 New Japan didn’t even use any
UWF-I wrestlers other than Takada. Instead of doing what was best for business they blew off a
years worth of hot matches and had Takada lose the IWGP title to Shinya Hashimoto in the main
event. The group had just sold out the Tokyo Dome 3 times in 7 months with Takada on top, so
why take the title away from him? The only logical reason would be to kill off shooting and
“prove” pro wrestling was better.
Inoki had another failure at the box office with his World Wrestling Peace Festival. This time he
had a shoot match in the main event. Inoki and Severn defeated Fujiwara & Taktarov in a
worked match when Severn got Fujiwara to submit to an armbar. Was this the start of Inoki
building shooting back up?
To show how bad off UWF-I was, on 8/17/96 they drew 5,000 people for a sold show at Jingu
Baseball Stadium which holds 46,000. This was for Takada vs. Anjo and it was during a fair,
which makes the number it even lamer. The group did come back on 9/11 at the same stadium
and draw 30,000 for Takada vs. Tenryu, but that was the biggest match they could present
without the help of New Japan or another shoot group. The crowd was also higher because All
Japan allowed Toshiaki Kawada to work the show.
With UWF-I totally eliminated the only fake shoot group left is RINGS. Except they are now a
cross with some real shoots and some worked shoots, so the totally fake groups are gone. Aside
from All Japan, New Japan’s competition is the legit shoot groups. Pancrase, K-1 kickboxing,
UFC through video rentals, and Vale Tudo. Do they want to get rid of them because they are
exposing the company? Or do they see a new way to make money and want to join them?
Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue 3/31/96 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena
This weeks match of the year candidate is Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue from 3/31/96. With
these two you knew it was going to be a good match before you saw it. They had a 4 3/4 star
match in 1992. Last year they did an awesome 60:00 draw that was an easy choice for match of
the year. This was the first time the two had faced each other since the draw on 5/7/95, and it was
the main event of AJW’s Wrestling Queendom’96 show which is one of the promotions biggest
shows.
The match began quickly with Toyota running and trying to dropkick Kyoko as soon as the bell
rang. Kyoko moved out of the way and then used her giant swing on Toyota. Toyota used her
rolling cradle. The match slowed for a while with a lot of submission holds. When they kicked it
into high gear, they never slowed down.
Kyoko whipped Toyota into the turnbuckle, Toyota jumped on the second and dropkicked
Kyoko. Toyota then used a flying dropkick. Kyoko slammed Toyota and went for her patented
reverse elbow drop, but Toyota pushed her off the middle rope to the floor. Toyota hit a
sensational springboard somersault plancha. Kyoko went to the top rope, Toyota tried for a
superplex, but Kyoko knocked Toyota off the middle rope. Toyota climbed again attempted a
superplex, but Kyoko blocked it and got Toyota in a running powerslam position, Toyota slipped
out and knocked Kyoko off the top, Toyota used a dropkick to the back off the top. Toyota hit
two moonsaults and went for her Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex, but Kyoko countered and hit a
German suplex. Toyota attempted a roll up opponent’s body huracanrana, but Kyoko
powerbombed her. Kyoko went for a powerbomb, but Toyota rolled through and turned it into a
sunset flip. Toyota went for a dropkick off the 2nd, but Kyoko leaped and got her with a flying
headscissors. Toyota reversed an Irish whip so Kyoko jumped to 2nd for her springboard reverse
elbow, but Toyota kicked her in the back which sent her to the floor, Toyota dropkick off the top
to the floor.
Toyota did a Great Muta windsprint clothesline. She went for a second windsprint clothesline,
but Kyoko fall away slammed her on the runway. Kyoko then did a windsprint clothesline.
Toyota reversed an Irish whip, but instead of letting go she pulled Kyoko back and Tiger
suplexed her for a near fall. Toyota used her Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex for a 2 3/4 count.
Toyota attempted a Japanese Ocean with Kyoko on the middle rope, but Kyoko jumped
backwards to get behind Toyota and attempted a German suplex. Toyota broke it up with a back
elbow to the face and got on the middle rope, but Kyoko got up and belly to back suplexed her
off the middle rope. Kyoko clotheslined Toyota, who did the flip bump, for a 2 3/4 count. Kyoko
used her Niagara Driver (Splash Mountain) for a near fall. Kyoko went for another Niagara
Driver, but Toyota rolled out of it and landed on her feet, Toyota attempted a German suplex,
Kyoko go behind, Toyota go behind, Kyoko ran and attempted her springboard reverse elbow,
while she was in the air Toyota dropkicked her in the back. Toyota used her Japanese Ocean
Cyclone suplex finisher, but Kyoko kicked out at 2 7/8. Toyota then used Kyoko’s Niagara
Driver finisher on her for the 3 count.
There wasn’t much in the way of new moves, but there were a lot of new ways to apply the
competitors favorite holds. Each move was set up by the previous move. The counters and
transitions were exceptional and they put the wrestlers in the right place for the next spot. As
ridiculous as it sounds, the match was in a sense believable because the positioning of the
opponent and the timing was always right to deliver the moves. Two garbage wrestlers could
easily do the same high spots, without the counter holds to set them up, and debacle the match to
the 1 1/2-2 star level. Toyota defends her WWWA title against Kyoko Inoue on 12/8, which
should prove to be another classic. ****3/4
Note: Originally published 11/9/96
Quebrada #87
The best and worst singles and tag wrestlers, tag teams, biggest surprises and disappointments,
and list of top matches
Having finished looking at a year’s worth of the AJ Chogei Selection show, I thought I’d put
together some lists that would highlight how the wrestlers performed, and what was really good
and bad about AJ in 1987. AJ Selection isn’t as complete as the AJ TV shows that aired o­n the
network in 1987, it shows complete matches but attempts to showcase the "better" and "more
notable" matches rather than being an entire rebroadcast of the year. Some matches that were
skipped, and o-nes that were never shown anywhere could certainly swing my opinion o-n some
wrestlers, but I think enough was made available that I could make a worthwhile survey.
1987 was not o-ne of the best or worst years in company history; it was a transition year. Riki
Choshu and co. jumped back to New Japan in late February, leaving the company reeling.
Though a plethora of talent remained, it took most of the year to reset the promotion to
something workable in terms of booking. Big moves included Genichiru Tenryu leaving Jumbo
Tsuruta’s side and former rival Yoshiaki Yatsu later joining it. These moves were detrimental in
the short term, but would pay big dividends in 1988 when Tsuruta and Tenryu would begin their
series of classic matches that changed All Japan, and actually for the better.
I’m not sure how much blame can be placed o­n Choshu, but 1987 was a far better year for tag
matches than singles. Most of the big singles matches were good, and o-nly good, which is not
something I’m used to from All Japan, a league that for many later years seemed to almost
guarantee an excellent or better match simply by taking out Budokan. o-nly the junior division,
the o-ne that Choshu had little effect o-n, really delivered in singles. However, there were a
number of really strong tag matches. Perhaps this is because booking and rivalry was much more
important to the heavyweight singles matches of the time than to the tag matches, which have
more built in stories based o-n rank and injury?
Best Singles Wrestlers
Masa Fuchi
Fuchi was the man in singles. His matches might not provide the fireworks associated with the
junior division, but they were some of the finest crafted technical matches of their day. He was a
very smart and efficient wrestler. He wasn’t physically gifted or spectacular, but he developed
the matches with a formula that made this irrelevant. At that time he had no peer in Japan when it
came to developing the counters and making lesser moves important.
Jumbo Tsuruta
We know Jumbo is the best, but based o­n a surprisingly small sample size this didn’t appear to
be o-ne of his standout years in singles. He did have, among other should be winners, two big
Budokan matches against Tenryu that didn’t show up. What did show up were good matches
with Flair, Hansen, & Tommy Rich. All these matches should be good and were, but the Flair
and Hansen matches also should have been at least excellent and weren’t. Tsuruta’s plentiful tag
matches proved him to be in excellent form, even though he’d soon get much better despite
being at an age that he had no right to.
Yoshiaki Yatsu
Yatsu’s singles resume is essentially the same as Jumbo’s. He had three matches, all good,
against Flair, Roberts, & Hansen. Yatsu is not a guy that’s going to blow you away, but in his
heyday he’s a guy you almost had to appreciate. He tried so hard that it’s difficult not to like
him, but unlike a lot of guys that try hard he did have the ability to back it up. He’s not a world
beater, but the effect of his effort grows and by the end of the match you really appreciate what
he gave you.
Worst Singles Wrestlers
Hiroshi Wajima
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d be writing that Tiger Jeet Singh was the better of the
two, but it came when he was programmed with this pile. Wajima is technically the more capable
wrestler, but he gave so many negative efforts. It seemed he was just o-n a big ego trip, showing
he could force even the incredibly selfish Singh to sell for him. Granted it’s hard to blame
someone for not showing up to wrestling Singh, but even legends Ric Flair and Stan Hansen had
title matches with him that were beyond poor.
Tiger Jeet Singh
Singh is king…of no skill brawling. This was before the days when he hit his opponent with the
butt of his sword for the entire match, but this guy still had about the dullest most tedious
"offense" ever and he did his best to ensure that was the entire "match". Not o-ne of his singles
debacles was worthy of a whole star.
Best Tag Wrestlers
Jumbo Tsuruta
Tsuruta excelled regardless of his partner. Whether it was Tenryu, Tiger, or Yatsu, Jumbo found
his way o-nto the top list. Jumbo excellent regardless of the opposition, even getting a standout
match out of the Road Warriors. What stood out to me though was how little time he took off.
Today the stars are often carried by their partner, saving themselves for the key moments and the
singles matches. Jumbo would often work 2/3 of his tag matches, even when he teamed with
Yatsu, a guy whose trademark was his willingness to put out.
Yoshiaki Yatsu
Yatsu had a very impressive year, appearing in 2/3 of the top tag matches with three different
partners. The earlier portion was by far the best because he was the star of the team, so the
matches were more suited to his strengths. His team with Jumbo was actually disappointing
because Yatsu didn’t really have a role; he mainly stood o­n the apron which really negates his
strength since he’s the type that the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.
Ashura Hara
Hara got off to a slow start teaming with nondescript partners, but from June o-n he was always
with Tenryu. He carried this team through many intense hard hitting matches, doing all the little
things and getting Tenryu to be stiffer and nastier in the process.
Shinichi Nakano
Nakano is the o­ne guy that matched Yatsu for effort. He didn’t have Yatsu’s ability, but you
always cared about him because he hung in with better more experienced wrestlers through sheer
willpower.
Genichiru Tenryu
Tenryu is something of an enigma. His resume is always going to be too impressive to ignore,
but never as impressive as it could be if he gave his all. Effort wise he was o-n much better
behavior than in later years. Talent wise, he was about as good a they come. The thing with
Tenryu is he’s a glory hound. You want to praise him because he’s impressive in almost every
match, but you have to realize that the match is set up for him to impress, which means he’s
impressive at the expense of others, particularly his partner.
Ted DiBiase
DiBiase’s brand of solid well-developed technical wrestling made many a match good, but what
stood out about him was his attitude. He might have been Hansen’s #2, but his high profile
matches were more for the benefit of the opposition. He really helped make Tiger look good, and
even put him over in singles.
Terry Gordy
Gordy had something of an odd year in that he was a standout in virtually ever tag match and he
generally had good partners, mainly top gaijin Stan Hansen, but his matches were really nothing
special. I thought Gordy made a slightly more impressive showing than DiBiase did with
Hansen, but his matches just don’t stack up to DiBiase’s. Gordy was o­ne big man that made
moves look better than they should, but more importantly he didn’t use his size as a reason not to
put over his opposition. Instead, he was o-ne of the most willing and able big men ever at taking
bumps and putting over his opponents.
Tiger Mask
Tiger was the first native to introduce the aerial style to heavyweight matches. Keiji Muto was
coming up at this time as well, but he was more a top athlete that had o-ne great flying move
than a true high flyer. In that regard, Tiger was limited by his opposition. These guys weren’t
going to work junior or Lucha sequences, but Tiger was able to be highly impressive without his
full arsenal. He used o-nly moves that essentially anyone could take, basically stuff where he
jumped at them, but the execution was right o-n and no o-ne was doing these moves in the
division at the time so he brought a whole new exciting element to his matches.
Stan Hansen
Hansen had such impeccable timing. If o-ne move was going to make the match, Hansen was the
guy you wanted to set it up. If Dan Kroffat is the master at crafting finishing sequences, Hansen
is his opposite. No o-ne could find so many clever and effective ways to win with the same hold
as Stan.
Worst Tag Wrestlers
Hiroshi Wajima
Wajima’s o­nly efforts were in tag, but at best he was the lesser of two evils, and even those
occasions were rare. Even though Baba was terrible, at least he was capable of something
interesting o-n the few nights a year he picked to deliver. Wajima was just an awful selfish
wrestler that, at best, could look passable for a minute stretch but those were usually when he
pulled a quick comeback.
Tiger Jeet Singh
You get less of him in tag, but he was never involved with anyone good, which is just as well
because no o­ne is capable of carrying him. I’m still looking for o-ne decent thing to say about
his wrestling.
A Sheik
Sheik was Singh’s toady, interfering in his singles matches against Wajima so we would then be
stuck with awful tag matches instead. He was better than Singh, basically by default, but luckily
his reign of terror was short lived.
TNT
There were worse wrestlers, but this guy might have been the o-ne with the least business o-n the
card. He was a nothing that should have been there to carry Abdullah, but he was so bad
Abdullah actually felt obligated to step it up to keep the matches from becoming a total
embarrassment.
Abdullah The Butcher
Butcher had energy and charisma, but he’s not capable of doing anything well. At least in these
days he tried and wasn’t a complete cliché. His style wasn’t suited to the league, even though
they used the blade in these days, and his unwillingness and inability to sell killed the matches
because it meant a whole lotta forking.
Giant Baba
I’m sure Baba picked a few spots, but the o­nly time I saw him show up was in a match with
Tiger against Tenryu & Hara. There Baba was the focus, even though Tiger carried the team, and
he helped Tenryu & Hara get over by allowing them to beat the crap out of him. The rest of the
year he was his usual awful self, slow as molasses rolling up a hill, awkward as all hell, and
generally doing everything in such a pathetic and inept looking way.
Best Tag Teams
Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara
This was a team you didn’t want to meet. Their style was very straightforward and simplistic,
they just beat the crap out of you and enjoyed every minute of it. They had the toughest most
intense matches in the league.
Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano
The ultimate effort team. It’s almost amazing these guys worked so well together because they’d
both prefer to work the whole match. Young Nakano was usually overmatched, but he’d fight
and fight with Yatsu finding ways to stick up for him and bail him out.
Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiru Tenryu
This was really the perfect team. Sure, you had two great talents, but their preferences were
totally in alignment. You had Jumbo who wanted to work and Tenryu who wanted to look great
when he was in. Jumbo carried the load, allowing Tenryu to work brief stints where he showed
off his impressive (for the time) offense. It’s really a shame the o­nly way to push Tenryu was to
break this team up, and more of a shame that Yatsu was put in Tenryu’s spot because everything
that made Jumbo & Tenryu a perfect match made Jumbo & Yatsu a lousy o-ne.
Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase
Similar to Jumbo & Tenryu, these guys were meant to work together. DiBiase could work with
anyone in any style, and would carry the bulk of the match and put the opposition over. Hansen
would make certain points important, and the finish meaningful.
Worst Tag Teams
Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima
Wajima was selfish and lazy except when he teamed with Baba. Then he was just a bad wrestler
that did mostly all the work. Baba never showed up when he teamed with Wajima. This team
was never in a match I rated better than 1 star.
Tiger Jeet Singh & A Shiek
These guys apparently thought they were the masters of the punch, kick, and choke. Well, all
their offense was in that vein, but they couldn’t even make those difficult things look decent.
Abdullah The Butcher & TNT
TNT had exactly zero offense, and just got beat o-n the entire match. Abdullah was a big star,
but the tag league has too many good teams for a team with a green DUD to be any threat.
Abdullah at least got some reactions, though mainly for a silly martial arts pose I could have
done with, while his nondescript partner basically just put everyone to sleep.
Biggest Surprises
Ashura Hara
Hara is a guy I thought of as an old barrel chested slug that had a role because he was Tenryu’s
buddy. Little did I know that in the old days Tenryu was as impressive as he was in tag because
he had Hara to do most of the dirty work for him, leaving Tenryu the best parts. Hara had been a
member of Choshu’s Ishingun, and the influence was extremely apparent. He didn’t have the
charisma of Riki, but I found his simple but effective stuff to be a lot more interesting to watch.
Shinichi Nakano
I knew Nakano was good in the program against Footloose, but I didn’t realize he was an earlier
version of Kikuchi. He wasn’t the wrestler that Kikuchi was, but he had the same kind of fire and
unbending determination. He believed that he belonged in there with anyone, and no amount of
punishment could change his mind. His career quickly derailed after jumping to SWS, but in his
days as an up and coming wrestler he was as fun to watch as anyone in the promotion.
Tiger Mask
I was familiar with the Tiger that wasn’t really cut out to be a Tiger Mask in the junior division.
Misawa was a very good athlete, but he was taking over the gimmick of the guy that was
probably the best athlete the sport has ever seen. Plus he was forced to be the star of a division
even though he was an inexperienced guy that would have had enough trouble simply learning.
Putting him in the heavyweight division freed of the burdens and many of the Sayama level
expectations. It also made up the difference in athleticism and impressive spots. This year Tiger
was impressive in every match. He was carried in singles and very much protected in every
match, but whatever his weaknesses were at that point (I’m sure there were plenty) weren’t
apparent because he was used so well. The closest he came to being exposed was when Jumbo,
Tenryu, & Hara were beating the crap out of each other, but this wound up being the best match
he was in. Instead of being a mindless follower, he brought diversity to that match and he used
his athleticism in his strikes to help make up for what he lacked in sheer impact.
Pete Roberts
A guy I really knew nothing about that wasn’t o­n much, but o-nly had good matches. A good
technician that could mix it up as well.
John Tenta
This guy never showed me anything in the WWF. Granted that’s hardly uncommon, but I didn’t
realize he was o­nce a promising wrestler. That shouldn’t be confused with good, but he was
consistently effective because he knew how to use his size to his advantage and to get reaction
from the crowd.
Biggest Disappointments
Bruiser Brody
I always enjoyed Brody in the earlier days, but upon his October return to All Japan he was more
of a side show attraction. The fans loved him and were extremely glad to have him back, but that
just made things worse because it allowed for him to totally distract from the match. Snuka
would be trying to wrestle, but all anyone cared about was Brody "husking" o-n the apron. Brody
showed flashes of still being a good wrestler, but mostly he just wasted time and basked in his
own glory and adulation.
Ric Flair
Flair made three appearances, putting his NWA title up for grabs. I can forgive him his match
with Wajima because Wajima never did anything decent, but matches against a very willing and
able Yatsu and the real best wrestler in the world Jumbo that should have been at least excellent
were merely good. Flair was far from a failure, but given his reputation of having a good match
every night regardless of the opponent, at best o-ne could say we got the bare minimum.
Stan Hansen
Hansen was in his formative years with a top role, two different excellent partners, and plenty of
matches to choose from. He didn’t have a bad year by any means, but his opportunity greatly
exceeded his productivity. Time and time again his stuff was average to good. We didn’t see
much story or any examples of his famous psychological gems. There were plenty of good bits
here and there, examples of great timing like how he incorporated his western lariat and made
certain spots important, but these were in place of fully realized matches. Without the
psychology, his many weaknesses as a worker are apparent and he’s a middle of the pack guy.
Now, Hansen did have the year’s best tag match and a few other candidates, but they were with
major contributions from others rather than being matches whose greatness you could really
attribute to him like in other years. His top singles match was a mere *** match against Yatsu.
Best Singles Matches
Note: Overall ranking in parenthesis if included in top 8 of the year
Masa Fuchi vs. Pete Roberts 4/5/87
Masa Fuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada 9/15/87 (#4)
Masa Fuchi vs. Shinichi Nakano 10/31/87 (#6)
Best Tag Matches
Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiru Tenryu vs. The Road Warriors 3/12/87 (#7)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiru Tenryu vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano 4/23/87
Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano 6/9/87 (#5)
Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara 6/11/87 (#3)
Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano 7/17/87 (#1)
Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara 7/23/87 (#8)
Yoshiaki Yatsu & Haru Sonada vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara 10/31/87
Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy 11/26/87
Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu 12/9/87 (#2)
Top Matches Reviewed
1987 All Japan #8
PWF World Tag Title Match: Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura
Hara
7/23/87
from AJ Chogei Selection #154 11/13/99
It takes a special match to have the potential to be the AJ match of the year. I’m not talking about
o-n paper, but actually having the personnel and displaying the ideas and quality in the ring that
could lead to greatness. I felt like this match had that, which is what makes it a disappointment,
at least to the extent that a top 10 All Japan match can be.
It’s possible to have too many things working in your favor. This match came just 6 days after
my #1 match, where DiBiase & Hansen found a way to successfully defend despite both injuring
their knees. Tenryu & Hara attacked Hansen’s knee early as a carry over, but they didn’t show
near the ability to keep him in the ring that Yatsu & Nakano did. DiBiase was soon in, but for
whatever reason they attacked his arm. This attack was extremely successful, in fact o-nce he
tagged out at 8:45 he was o-n the floor or apron writhing in pain, never able to return to the
match or even muster up a save.
Hansen quickly took Tenryu to the floor, which just gave Hara free reign to begin the double
teaming. Hara ate a chair shot, but soon he was jumping off the apron to spike Tenryu’s
piledriver. This busted Hansen open, which again shifted Tenryu & Hara’s focus. Instead of
going back to Hansen’s bad knee, it was forgotten about in favor of opening Hansen up further.
Again, this strategy was successful, as Hansen was soon bleeding pretty heavy.
This was a very rough match, the kind Tenryu & Hara were known for, and they managed to
give Hansen the beating of the year. They double teamed him regularly, using all their signature
moves, but in typical Hansen fashion he found a way to survive.
There are very few screw job finishes that I would call great. This match has as well thought out
of o­ne as you’ll find. The result was a double count out, but they earned it by eliminating every
wrestler. DiBiase was already out of the picture, so the question was how to get rid of the other
three. It actually o-nly took two moves, back to back, which makes o-ne wonder why so many
count outs are done so ineptly. Well, actually that’s no mystery, what this finish really entails is
four guys that are willing to put their egos aside and allow themselves to be "out" for 10 seconds.
Hara held a near defeated Hansen o-n the floor and Tenryu charged with an ax bomber. Hansen
avoided, eliminating Hara, then unleashed his western lariat o-n Tenryu, collapsing o-n top of
him. What was also good about this finish is the ref had barely started counting when it occurred,
so there was some real drama in wondering if anyone was ever going to get up, and if so could
they get back in or break the refs count.
Since Hansen compromised his gimmick some in taking such a beating, he went wild after the
match walking through the crowd and throwing things out of his way. He eventually returned to
the ring, breaking the end off a broom in hopes of using it o-n Tenryu & Hara, but they wisely
called it a day. 14:26. ***3/4
1987 All Japan #7
International Tag Senshuken Jiai: Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiru Tenryu vs. The Road
Warriors
3/12/87 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
from AJ Chogei Selection #145 9/11/99
I wouldn’t have guessed the Warriors had this in them, but I’ve learned to never bet against
Jumbo. He figured out how to get the most out of the Warriors. They don’t sell and have little
stamina, but do have some impressive moves and can excite the crowd, so a sprint was the way
to maximize them. This was to Tenryu’s liking as well since tagging in, doing some nice moves,
and leaving the rest to his partner was his m.o. anyway.
They tagged frequently so Animal & Hawk could take some moves without having to show the
accumulation of damage. In this match they did take moves and they didn’t pop up, really their
o-nly shenanigans was Animal pressing Tenryu off at 1 o-nce. The Warriors kept attacking their
opponents’ necks with reverse chinlocks and the like. This was really just to allow them to rest,
but since they kept going after the same body part it could deceive the audience into thinking
they had focus.
I was more impressed with this match the first time. Of the eight matches I went back and
reexamined to review, this was the o-nly o-ne whose rating dropped. That was actually a blessing
because it forced me to look for a #5 match, and in doing so I discovered how badly I
underestimated Jumbo & Yatsu vs. Tenryu & Hara. This Warriors match was the first top match
of the year, which made it the hardest to rate because you have to try to reimmerse yourself in
the mindset and time period to set accurate levels, but I don’t think that was it. The shock of the
Warriors being in such a good match was pretty major, but now that it’s worn off the match’s
weaknesses are clearer. There isn’t as much here as I thought, and Jumbo is the o-nly wrestler
that’s particularly impressive. Jumbo is at his best here though, bringing so much energy and
looking to take whatever high impact or power move the Warriors could throw at him.
The best spot was when Tenryu whipped Hawk off the ropes and bounced off the rope close to
him to get more momentum for his lariat. It was too late to do anything by the time Tenryu
realized Animal had prevented Hawk from hitting the rope and was press slamming him into
Tenryu for a kind of rocket launcher. Tenryu was soon counted out after being spike piledriven
o-n the floor. 11:17. ***3/4
1987 All Japan #6
Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshuken Jiai: Masa Fuchi vs. Shinichi Nakano
10/31/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
from AJ Chogei Selection #155 11/20/99
Fuchi employed the same formula as he did in his previous title defense against Kawada. At
times the match looked identical, which was especially obvious since they showed them back to
back here. I think it caused me to underrate this match initially, but it actually tells quite a
different story and is probably a better realized match considering the dropoff from Kawada to
Nakano. As always, the match started off rather calmly with a nice technical display. Nakano
started working o­n Fuchi’s left leg, which pissed Fuchi off. Fuchi doesn’t show much emotion
in these junior title matches, but he started slapping Nakano and tossed him to the floor, where
he would have followed him had the ref failed to restrain him.
Slowly the match took shape with Nakano employing an arm attack. Fuchi picked it up at about
the same time and in about the same way as the Kawada match, but instead of exploding Nakano
soon brought the arm attack back. This helped conceal the real story, which was centered o-n the
double knockout.
Nakano back body dropped his way out of a piledriver o-n the floor, but Fuchi was backdropping
his way out of Nakano’s subsequent bulldog so Nakano kicked off the post. This could have
been a count out, but they were able to get back in because the ref gave them a ton of leeway. A
few counters later, there was a second double KO when they collided with each other both going
for a shoulderblock.
The excitement in these Fuchi matches is not so much from the moves themselves, but from the
way they are incorporated. Anyone could do some nasty driver and have it mean nothing, but it
takes real ability to make someone shifting their weight o­n a bodyslam exciting. That’s what
Fuchi is able to do though, right after the collision Nakano got a near fall by doing this, and
because Fuchi had nearly been KO’d twice in a minute it was a credible near fall. Another
example of the way Fuchi makes basic holds exciting and credible near falls was an earlier
sequence where Fuchi slipped out of a cobra twist. Two more go behinds later Fuchi did rolling
clutch hold, which is nothing by itself, but off all these counters it had a chance.
A real back and forth struggle took place in the final minutes. The main goal was simply to get
o-n top of the opponent because at this point any pin attempt might get the job done. Fuchi
ducked a punch and back body dropped Nakano to the floor. This set up the third and final
double KO with Fuchi doing his enzuigiri, but Nakano going over the top o-n the body slam and
German suplexing him. AJ did way too many screw jobs this year, but this was o-ne of the least
of the evils because they built to the finish enough that they earned it.
The main downside was inconsistent selling. It’s very difficult to mix scrambles and fast
sequences with the idea both guys are nearly out of it. You can sell an arm or a leg by favoring it,
not using it, or adjusting your posture, but speed pretty much undermines the idea you’ve about
had it. At times they were effective, but there was a sudden recovery between the first and
second double KO’s that didn’t work at all. Fuchi’s arm injury was also forgotten about. The
final problem was the crowd, while appreciative, didn’t get into the final minutes like you’d
hope. I found the match to be very dramatic, but the audience wasn’t backing that up so it felt
like there was something missing. 18:31. ***3/4
1987 All Japan #5
Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano
6/9/87 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
from AJ Chogei Selection #149 10/9/99
Nakano was the youngster that didn’t belong with the veterans. Everyone had a big role, but the
story revolved around how Nakano was fairing. The segments were brief, but all had a purpose
and told the story of the match.
Hara bowled him over right away, but then Nakano put him down several times in a row with
dropkicks. This just irritated Tenryu & Hara though. Hara tried a snapmare into a chinlock, but
Nakano slipped out into a hammerlock and made the tag, his first stint a success.
Yatsu upped the stiffness and showed a few nice suplexes before letting Nakano come back in.
Nakano was unable to do much of anything this time, so Yatsu quickly tagged back in to bail
him out. Though Tenryu is o-ne notch ahead of Yatsu o-n the native totem pole (#2 & #3), Yatsu
had his way with him today because he was the offense for his whole team. Had they asserted
Tenryu over Yatsu, the match wouldn’t have been nearly as effective because that would have
eliminated any chance Yatsu’s team had of winning.
Yatsu gave Nakano a lead and control this time. Hara tried his best to put Nakano back in his
place, but Nakano landed o-n his feet for a vertical suplex and backdropped Hara then tagged.
Yatsu & Nakano put the boots to Hara, but Tenryu was dominating Nakano so Yatsu broke
Tenryu’s Boston crab up with a lariat. Tenryu made the tag first though.
Yatsu was getting the best of Hara, so Tenryu made the save after Yatsu’s bulldog. This lead to
an exchange between Yatsu and Tenryu, an uncharacteristically bad move by Yatsu allowing his
emotions to get the best of him. It allowed Hara to recover and take control before Yatsu knew
what hit him. This set up the segment where Tenryu got the best of Yatsu.
Nakano now had to bail Yatsu out, and he came in getting a near fall with a nasty lariat. Tenryu
soon avoided Nakano’s missile kick though, and Hara was in to bail him out. They hurt Nakano
with their sandwich lariat then Hara did an enzuigiri and Tenryu powerbombed Nakano for the
win. In the end, Yatsu’s team lost as expected because his partner was the weak link, but Nakano
fought so hard and was so resourceful that your opinion of him o-nly improved. 12:10. ****
1987 All Japan #4
Sekai Junior Heavykyu Senshuken Jiai: Masa Fuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada
9/15/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
from AJ Chogei Selection #155 11/20/99
Fuchi really seemed in control in these days. I felt like he knew what he was doing, and he’d just
maneuver until he had his opponent where he wanted him. Though Kawada can carry a match
like no other, this was the beginning of his first push and Fuchi was guiding him.
They started with Fuchi’s technical style that’s about leverage and movement. Kawada is not the
wrestler that Fuchi is o-n the mat, but he had the advantage when they were o-n the move.
Kawada didn’t try to make this match about running around, rather he used this advantage to
gain o-ne o-n the mat. For instance, he whipped Fuchi into the ropes and applied a sleeper so he
could bring Fuchi down and be in control.
Fuchi isn’t about flash, but he can put together 2-4 average moves so well, and that’s much better
to watch than the usual o-ne nice move stuff. He employs more basic pinning predicaments than
anyone I can think of, making them credible by using the element of surprise or countering until
someone is caught.
Fuchi slowly picked the pace up, getting the first near fall at 11:30 following a diving fist drop.
The match quickly took off with Kawada knocking Fuchi to the floor with a kneel kick and
doing a pescado. Surprisingly, the rest of the match was the best offensive stuff of the All Japan
year. Though it sounds even weirder, that’s what Kawada brought to the match. The Nakano
match was more developed and probably better wrestled, but this match was o-n another level
offensively and that made the slight difference when added to what Fuchi does so well.
The finish saw some excellent out of the ring action, with Kawada back body dropping his way
out of a piledriver than delivering a German suplex hold. Kawada quickly reentered and tried a
pescado, but this time he missed and it looked like he’d be counted out after taking an enzuigiri.
However, Samson Fuyuki appeared and put the boots to Fuchi for the DQ. Kawada & Fuyuki
double teamed Fuchi until the seconds broke it up, shook hands, and left together. Less than 6
months later they won the Asia tag titles from Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue. 15:46. ****
1987 All Japan #3
Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask vs. Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara
6/11/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
from AJ Chogei Selection #150 10/16/99
An early match in the Jumbo vs. Tenryu feud. The story their feud used in tags this year was that
Jumbo was really pissed at Tenryu and wanted him in the worst way. As soon as Jumbo tagged
in he put Hara down with an elbow then went over and slapped Tenryu in the corner to incite
him. Jumbo would literally run at Tenryu so he could hit him quicker.
Jumbo’s offense was, of course, very good but fiery Jumbo was that much better. This was a stiff
match, but much of the reason it seemed extra stiff was the intensity and ferocity Jumbo
displayed when attacking. His body language showed that he was really putting the boots to his
enemy, even though in actuality he was using rather generic stomps of average impact.
The key to the match was Hara. He was the bridge between the Jumbo & Tenryu feud and the
showcasing of Tiger. Hara fought a really smart and unselfish match. When Jumbo was in he
would have been kind of an afterthought, especially since Jumbo couldn’t fight him with the
same energy and hatred he fought Tenryu with. But it was the quick tags and regular double
teams that allowed Hara’s slightly overmatched partner to get the best of Jumbo. In contrast to
the cohesive Tenryu & Hara unit, Jumbo & Tiger, being an irregular team, fought more like
individuals not really double teaming and tagging o-nly when they were in trouble. Hara really
looked out for Tenryu as well, doing whatever he could to keep Jumbo from putting a run o-n
him, and to allow there 1-1 segments to be when Tenryu had the upperhand.
More important than what Hara did when Jumbo was involved was what he did for Tiger. Jumbo
& Tenryu would have been fine o-n their own, the story and timing might not have been as good,
some portions not as effective, but we are talking about two hall of fame wrestlers being assisted
by a guy that had some good years and at least this year was an excellent tag wrestler. Tiger, o-n
the other hand, was an up and coming wrestler that not o­nly wasn’t a part of the storyline, but
was a young aerial wrestler in a match with three veterans that were just pounding each other as
always. Hara allowed Tiger to make him look bad, silly. Tiger used the spinning kick, sliding
kick, kneel kick, and so o-n to allow his athleticism to help make up what he lacked in pure
stiffness, but this stuff wasn’t going to distinguish Tiger any. With Hara, Tiger got to thwart him
by being, well, Tigeresque. Misawa wasn’t athletic enough to do many of the land o­n his feet
counters of Sayama, and that was what made Sayama so special in my opinion. At least in this
match, Misawa landed o-n his feet for a vertical suplex and backdropped Hara, countered a whip
into the corner by leaping to the second and back out with a reverse headbutt, and used a couple
feints to allow and out of the ring attack.
Hara couldn’t wrestle with Tiger, and seemed the loser of their battles because Tiger was
thriftier. Tenryu, of course, would then come in with the heavy artillery and dominate Tiger,
though for brief periods so it didn’t look like Tiger was totally out of his depth. What you
remembered about Tiger’s involvement, I think, were the spectacular moves he was able to pull
off in a heavyweight match like the ultra Tiger drop off the top and a fantastic plancha where he
flew a little more than half the length of the ring o-nto Tenryu.
Tenryu’s dominance of Tiger played into the Jumbo vs. Tenryu storyline, with Jumbo’s saves
being more a way for Jumbo to get some shots in o-n Tenryu than anything else. Jumbo would
keep hitting Tenryu until someone stopped him, but Hara was always right in to rock Jumbo with
a lariat.
The big fault of the match is the key spot didn’t work. Tenryu was supposed to catch Tiger in the
air, turning his ultra Tiger drop into a powerbomb to set up a desperate Jumbo save from
Tenryu’s finisher. It didn’t happen, so Tenryu had to pull Tiger off the canvas and drop him back
down for a "powerbomb". Jumbo saved with a lariat, but Hara was right in to lariat him, always
o-ne to make the opposition pay for taking advantage of his team. Hara got rid of Tiger then they
double teamed Jumbo with sandwich lariats until the ref DQ’d them, though Tenryu got another
lariat in for good measure.
One big problem AJ faced when Riki Choshu betrayed them was how to set up the teams. Jumbo
& Tiger would have been an excellent team, with Tiger proving here he was an exciting addition
that could handle the push, but this cheat of a finish shows why it couldn’t have worked.
Jumbo’s partner can’t be protected because the top native isn’t going to do many jobs, especially
in AJ where they wanted the top stars jobs to be special or at least meaningful.
Even if o-nly for o-ne match, I thought these pairings brought out the best in everyone. Jumbo
doesn’t need motivation, but is that much better when there’s reason to incorporate more aspects
into his match, and probably no o-ne is more believable at wrestling pissed off than he is. Tiger
added diversity and unpredictability to the match. Tenryu was motivated by the rivalry, and a
motivated Tenryu makes all the difference in the world. He still did his usual glory hunting, but
in this situation it made sense because he’s ranked a lot higher than Tiger and Jumbo was getting
double teamed. That said, Tenryu certainly sold in this match because Jumbo was basically there
to beat him up. Hara got to do a lot of little things he normally wouldn’t have to, making the
most out of the matches potential. 18:28. ****1/4
1987 All Japan #2
'87 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei Leaguesen: Genichiru Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo
Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu
12/9/87 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
from AJ Selection #160 12/25/99
There was a lot more to this match than I initially realized. It was a 30-minute draw that didn’t
feel long or dragged out because they had stories to tell and enough going o-n to warrant the
length. It had the look of a 15-20 minute match, but they couldn’t come close to settling it in that
time. The stories, not surprisingly, centered o-n the big Jumbo vs. Tenryu feud.
The early portion was all about their first confrontation. The actual wrestling during this portion
was nothing special. It certainly wasn’t bad, actually it was good considering how long they were
wrestling after that, but there was nothing in and of itself that would distinguish it. What made it
great was the anticipation they built for what you wanted to see, all the cat and mouse games,
baiting, and mind games between Jumbo and Tenryu.
Jumbo called Tenryu out early, running to the corner and slapping him the moment he stunned
Hara. Tenryu remained calm, but did tag in a few seconds later o-nly to have Jumbo tag Yatsu to
spite him. Yatsu tagged back when he got the advantage, but Tenryu immediately tagged Hara.
Hara pushed Jumbo off into the ropes near Tenryu to break his headlock, but Tenryu did nothing.
Jumbo plowed Hara over with a shoulderblock and ran off the ropes near Tenryu again - this
time so close Tenryu had to move so they didn’t collide - and kicked Hara.
It looked like Jumbo & Tenryu would finally lock up at 7:00. Yatsu was in control and made the
tag, with both whipping Tenryu into the ropes for a double team, but Tenryu managed to hold
o-n and tag Hara. Jumbo soon ran the ropes by Tenryu, and this time Tenryu opened them with
Jumbo flying through and "landing badly" because he didn’t see it coming. Now Tenryu couldn’t
wait to tag, but Tenryu gets Jumbo’s adrenaline rushing so quickly he recovered and hit two
jumping knees before Tenryu knocked him to the floor with his enzuigiri. Now that Jumbo and
Tenryu had fought a little, Yatsu & Hara could also fight because o­ne or the other didn’t have to
be in the ring to prevent the matchup. Yatsu hadn’t had much role in the Olympic team because
Jumbo would work 2/3 of 15-18 minutes, but today he had time to do a lot of good work even
though the focus wasn’t o­n him.
They built Jumbo vs. Tenryu up so well there was a letdown after their first segment. They didn’t
need to rush into the rest of the story though. If anything, not doing so might even have helped
the match because everyone needed to calm down a little.
What started to really stand out was the stiffness. It was the stiffest of Tenryu & Hara’s matches
this year, which is saying something. They were by far the stiffest team in All Japan, but this
match presented a new level of brutality. It was hear the impact of the blows kind of rough.
That’s just o­ne aspect of the promotion that was improved by the Jumbo vs. Tenryu feud. The
promotion was already heavy hitting, but there’s no comparison between the before and after.
They heated it up again just before 15:00, with Jumbo kneeing Hara in the stomach then
attacking Tenryu o-n the apron with several forearms to the back. Hara came back getting
whipped into the corner but charging out with a big lariat o-nly to have Jumbo duck his
subsequent lariat and blow him away with o-ne of his own. Tenryu bailed his partner out and got
into the lariat game as well though.
Jumbo worked Tenryu’s head, pulling his knee pad down and doing the jumping knee in and out
of the ring as well as several strikes to bust Tenryu open. Jumbo certainly wasn’t going to show
any mercy, and attacking Tenryu’s head also plays into Yatsu’s offense since the bulldog is o­ne
of his top moves. Jumbo was particularly great here, adding a big nasty streak to his fiery streak.
He’s o­ne of the o­nly guys you can tell is having a good match just by watching his expressions.
Tenryu took his beating of the year. That made this match much more memorable because
Tenryu had spent the year working brief segments where he showed the best offense in the
match, and letting Hara or even Jumbo early o-n take the beating and do the grunt work. The
expected storyline would have been either Hara or Yatsu getting overwhelmed, but they actually
delivered a lot with Jumbo vs. Tenryu in a position where you expected them to o-nly be
building it up for future singles matches. And in the end, that o-nly made me want to see their
singles matches more.
I loved when Jumbo whipped him into the ropes because Tenryu bent over and stumbled
awkwardly to show he could barely stand o-n his own. Another excellent point was Tenryu
finally giving hope by ducking Jumbo’s lariat, but Jumbo tagging o­n his way by and coming
back off the ropes with a kick. Instead of Tenryu making his comeback, Yatsu was in with a
legitimate chance to upset him right away with his German suplex hold, but Hara saved.
Hara really stepped up for his team in this match. He was able to pick up for Tenryu and stand up
to Jumbo. After Tenryu finally pulled a small package hope stop, and Yatsu rolled it and nearly
pinned him, they both tagged at the same time. Though there were o-nly a few minutes left, with
Tenryu staggering around o-n the floor and Jumbo & Yatsu being in relatively good shape,
Jumbo’s team had a legitimate chance to finish off Hara. The final minutes were back and forth
though. Hara hung in, allowing Tenryu to recover and even redeem himself some getting a few
near falls o-n Jumbo after they nearly knocked each other out with a double lariat. 30:00 ****1/2
1987 All Japan #1
PWF Sekai Tag Senshuken: Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi
Nakano
7/17/87 Sagamihara Shi Sogo Taiikukan
from AJ Chogei Selection #153 11/6/99
The best story match of the AJ year. Yatsu & Nakano were big underdogs, but 13 minutes into
the match I’d not o­nly forgotten this, I was starting to feel like they had to win. That’s the
ultimate in positive wrestling manipulation, the ability to sucker people into believing the
virtually impossible is possible.
There were essentially three portions to the match. The first more or less confirmed what we
already knew, that Yatsu & Nakano were in over their heads. Yatsu knew he had to give Nakano
all the help could. 5 minutes into the match Hansen took Nakano’s enzuigiri and came right back
with a suplex. Yatsu broke up the pin with a stomp, but Hansen went right back to covering.
After Yatsu broke the cover up for the third time, Hansen finally gave up o-n winning here. This
example was indicative of Yatsu’s determination to protect his partner, but also how
overmatched his partner was. I mean, if you are in a title match and you have to seriously worry
that your partner might not kick out of a generic suplex this early in the match, you are really in
trouble.
At 6:30 Yatsu & Nakano got a great equalizer. DiBiase injured his knee missing a diving knee
drop, setting off a superb knee attack by Yatsu & Nakano. That they were all over the knee was
great, but what really impressed me was how they kept DiBiase in their corner and they stayed
between DiBiase and his corner. DiBiase milked the knee injury for all it was worth. He tried to
crawl and slide his way to his corner, arm outstretched more in the hope he would suddenly turn
into Plastic Man than anything else, but he rarely made it to his blue half of the ring.
Hansen, of course, made several attempts to save, but the referee was doing his job fairly well.
Hansen got his five seconds, but DiBiase was in such bad shape that it seemed like it would take
him 15 to make it 2/3 of the way across the ring. Hansen could knock the opposition over, but
they’d cut DiBiase off in plenty of time. o­ne time Hansen tried rolling DiBiase to the floor
before the ref made him leave. He o­nly had time to roll him out Yatsu’s side, which just
introduced DiBiase’s knee to the post.
Finally DiBiase made a comeback, but in o-ne of his less brilliant moves he tried to follow his
snapmare with a kneedrop. Nakano avoided, leaving DiBiase in even sadder shape. If you give
Hansen enough time to think, he’ll come up with something though. At 12:00 he figured it out,
instead of rolling DiBiase to the floor, do it to the opposition so that buys DiBiase an extra 5 or
10 while they are reentering.
After DiBiase made the tag, Hansen tried to take advantage of Yatsu being o-n the floor. This set
up the classic spot of the match where DiBiase held Yatsu against the post and Hansen charged
for a jumping knee. Nakano had other plans though, running the apron and leaping off just in
front of Hansen, grabbing Yatsu in the air and pulling him out of the way just in the nick of time.
Now Hansen also had a bad knee!
With two gimps standing in their way of the belts, it looked like the upset was certain. The third
portion saw Yatsu & Nakano just continue their knee attack where they left off, with Hansen in
DiBiase’s place. o­ne wondered if DiBiase would even be worth anything for saves considering
how slow he was moving.
When you wrestle Hansen it’s not enough to just be good and smart, you have to avoid the big
mistake at all costs. Being inexperienced, Nakano took an unnecessary risk whipping Hansen
into a neutral corner. Not a big risk given the way Hansen was moving, but what had been
working for Yatsu & Nakano all match was to keep the opposition near their corner and o-nly do
higher risk moves when their partner was holding to eliminate most of that risk. Hansen reversed
the Irish whip, and Nakano bounced out of the corner right into western lariat decapitation.
DiBiase, in fact, wasn’t worth anything in preventing the save. Yatsu beat him over there, but
o-nly had time for a little stomp. Normally touching the opponent is somehow good enough to
break the refs count even though it doesn’t dislodge them from your partner or help your partner
get their shoulders up, which is o-ne of those really irritating farces of tag team wrestling. Today
though, the ref just kept counting.
What seemed like a certainty going in was closer to a miracle in the end, except Hansen has a
way of working that kind of magic. The ending was perfect because there was o-nly o-ne way
Hansen & DiBiase could have won, and Hansen o-nce again found that way, pulling his move
and the win out of nowhere. 14:41. ****1/2
Mariko Yoshida Recommended Matches
The best matches of Mariko Yoshida with comments
w/ Esther Moreno vs. Kyoko Inoue & Debbie Malenko AJW 5/26/91 ****
AJW sent wrestlers to Hamada’s UWF in these days to expose them to a different audience.
Though this was o­n their own show, it’s o­ne of the best examples of the AJW women doing a
more Lucha Libre style and a look at Esther in top form.
w/ Takako Inoue vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa AJW 4/25/92 ***3/4
Yoshida & Takako take the Zen Nihon Tag Senshuken in a great effort match that exceeded
expectations. Yoshida & Malenko are the standouts, giving a particularly fine showing when
working together.
vs. Sakie Hasegawa AJW 6/21/92 ***3/4
Hasegawa was fairly disappointing in the 4/25/92 tag match, missing too many spots, but this
was a great example of how much both wrestlers had improved as they were able to sustain a
high quality over 30 minutes. Like many of Yoshida’s 1992 matches, it’s overshadowed by other
great matches later in the night, in this case Aja vs. Bison and Toyota vs. Yamada. That just
shows how strong the promotion was at this time though, as Yoshida was still very over and the
crowd particularly responsive to the near falls toward the end.
vs. KAORU AJW 8/28/94 ****
Yoshida returns from injury and somehow sells KAORU o-n sticking to matwork and putting
over her injured knee. This is no small feat, as even Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki never came
this close to eliminating KAORU’s goofiness (only a few problems). The result is KAORU’s
best singles match, and a match that, although also showing what Yoshida can do in KAORU’s
more Lucha oriented flying style, is the best precursor to the level of mat wrestling Yoshida
would show up with in ARSION.
w/ Aja Kong & Toshiyo Yamada & Kyoko Inoue vs. Yumiko Hotta & Manami Toyota &
Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa AJW 2/26/95 ****1/4
A kind of survival match where the person scoring a fall would advance to the BEST 4 match at
the Shukan Puroresu Tokyo Dome show and the person losing the fall would be out of the match.
Though the least of the stars, the booking allowed Yoshida & Hasegawa to be the standouts
because they were the two left to battle for the final spot. Since this was 1995 it was worked in
Toyota’s style, but the stakes gave it a drama that Toyota matches rarely generated o­n their own.
w/ Aja Kong vs. Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada AJW 3/21/95 ***3/4
Though the tournament to crown the 100th WWWA tag champs was a disappointment at the time
because AJW’s first major show after the amazing Tokyo Dome spectacular ushered in their
return to isolationism, a show with 4 very good or better matches would be woman’s show of
any year in the 2000’s. This was the best match of the first round, and o­ne of Yamada’s last top
notch performances.
w/ Manami Toyota vs. Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano NJ 4/28/95 ***3/4
NJ set pro wrestling attendance records for two shows in North Korea, but it was the four AJW
women they brought along that put o-n the best match. It was shorter and less developed than
they would have done for their own more demanding and desensitized audience, but they
crammed the match with good stuff.
w/ Reggie Bennett & Kaoru Ito vs. Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda AJW
6/27/95 ***3/4
A big show semifinal, but really it could have been o-n just about any AJW show in those days.
They didn’t do anything out of the ordinary; it was just a ton of talent working well with o-ne
another. Lots of tags and several double teams made this a very collective match, and both the
giver and the taker did excellent jobs of making the moves look good. Yoshida is still the
standout o­n her team, but with Hokuto’s unit it’s pretty much a toss up.
w/ Kaoru Ito vs. Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa AJW 8/30/95 ****
Though LCO & Momoe Nakanishi are the o-nly o-nes remembered for having excellent matches
with, or more aptly in spite of, Maekawa she was great in those times in comparison to the level
she was at when this first gem somehow transpired.
w/ Manami Toyota vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kaoru Ito AJW 6/18/97 ****
Toyota was all banged up, so the others totally carried her. Hotta instilled the psychology, and
Yoshida & Ito stepped up their work rate.
vs. Aja Kong ARSION 6/21/98 ***1/2
One of the first matches that showed the immense potential ARSION had. The worked shoot
style is pretty believable here, and with the top two fighters it seems like either could be o-ne
move away from victory.
vs. Candy Okutsu ARSION 12/18/98 ****1/4
The first in a memorable string of singles matches wrestled in Yoshida’s new style that is what
the Battlarts guys should have come up with instead of being a veritable mishmash of shooting,
Lucha, and just about every other style. It focuses o-n the mat and the more believable aspects
like Battlarts was going to in theory, but does maintain enough pro wrestling that she can try to
finish with a concussive move, her air raid crush. This is arguably Yoshida’s best performance
because she does it o­n ARSION’s biggest show, in their biggest match to date becoming their
first champion in the process, but most importantly because her opponent isn’t really much for
the style but Yoshida still finds ways to make it totally come off.
vs. Mika Akino ARSION 1/17/99 ***3/4
Yoshida led Akino to o-ne of the best debuts ever o-n 7/21/98. Now Akino was getting a title
shot, and they did a match whose quality was worthy of any belt even though Akino was by no
means a credible challenger.
vs. Hiromi Yagi ARSION 2/18/99 ****
This was something of a dream match to me, so I was a little disappointed with it at the time.
Yagi is a rare wrestler, as close as they come to being always good and always making their
opponent better yet she rarely has an excellent match. This was o-ne of those few excellent
o-nes, but with Yagi being such a superior mat wrestler to any of the women Yoshida had
already had very good to excellent matches with, I thought this might be the time when Yoshida
scored a true classic. I’m still not sure if some of this match doesn’t really make sense, or you
have to throw out all your preconceptions and develop a new set of standards, but I do know the
match was technically excellent and ahead of its time.
vs. Mikiko Futagami ARSION 4/14/99 ****1/2
They seemingly blamed Yoshida for the promotion not taking off even though they never gave
her a chance and she was the best thing about the promotion. This was her last successful title
defense that they bothered to release, but she made it more than memorable delivering her best
ARSION match to date and the best match of Gami’s career. Yoshida’s style was still
developing, and here they did a better job of going between the mat portions to the standing
portions as well as selling and countering better.
vs. Yumi Fukawa ARSION 5/4/99 ****
ARS 2000 marked the beginning of Omukai’s big push, but Yoshida’s first round match was by
far the show stealer. Over a year’s worth of hard work for Fukawa started to really pay
dividends, as she had made herself into an excellent mat wrestler. Where she would o-nce grab
the rope, now she would pull out an impressive counter. Yoshida was able to do anything with
her, and she was now the o-ne wrestler in ARSION that could answer. This was even a rare
ARSION match where they made you truly care who won. Unfortunately for Fukawa, they o-nly
delivered o-n the upsets that were just rolled out and no o-ne cared about, and they quickly
started changing styles every few months so her opportunities to truly use much less further
develop her new style were limited.
vs. Aja Kong ARSION 8/6/99
Aja finally bothered to pay attention to her promotion 15 months after it started, and that just
meant she was out to regain her old glory. This was the match that, while late, still might have
been able to validate Yoshida, but instead it came closer to putting the final nail in her main
event coffin. Nonetheless, it seemed like an excellent match although it’s hard to tell since it was
suddenly more important to show mediocre Omukai matches in their entirety.
vs. Yumi Fukawa ARSION 9/26/99 ***3/4
One of the last matches that was at least close to "The Yoshida Style". Yoshida allowed Fukawa
to be portrayed o-n her level, and get the win Fukawa arguably should have gotten that May.
Though there was little encouragement for Fukawa style wise or push wise, this rare opportunity
to show how good she could be and the suitable reward helped set off a 10 month period (until
her unfortunate retirement) where she was the consistent highlight of watching ARSION.
w/ Aja Kong vs. Ayako Hamada & AKINO ARSION 2/18/00 ***3/4
Yoshida is suddenly Aja’s second fiddle. That said, the smart move would have been to continue
her slide and job her here. Hamada & AKINO were coming off their great upset win over LCO
that not o-nly put them o-n the map but made them. Rather than capitilize o-n this, Aja took it as
an opportunity to hoard another title, not even allowing it to come off like Ayako & AKINO had
a chance of winning. Yoshida vs. AKINO was o-nce again excellent though.
vs. Lioness Asuka ARSION 7/3/01 ****
Lioness’ doesn’t debut in ARSION as even a slightly more giving wrestler, but the match is
worked with the intensity and urgency that is necessary to get over the invader angle. The early
portion is really the highlight, with a unique combination of Yoshida’s submission style and
Lioness’ high impact brawling. o­nce they get to the big moves it becomes conventional, but
they are top workers and the execution is excellent.
Z-1 2004/05/08 Hustle-3
ZERO-ONE Sky PerfecTV! LIVE SPECIAL Hustle-3 5/8/04 Kanagawa Yokohama Arena
Okay, so I marked out and ordered this show o-nce I heard of the Foley/Kawada match. Stupid
idea, I know, but I can`t take it back now. So, here`s a review to get some good out of the bad.
The first 15 minutes of the show were them panning the crowd and asking people to do the
"Hustle Hump," that Ogawa and Hashimoto got over in the first Hustle show. Behind the
announcers they have fans waving Hustle balloons and stuff. I guess they`re trying to give the
impression that people care about this show? I bet those fans were given those as they walked in
the door ala WCW. They`re really trying to get over that Hustle Hump because they then had
Ogawa
and
Hashimoto
come
out
to
perform
it
with
the
crowd.
1) Kazu Hayashi & Leonardo Spanky defeated TAKA Michinoku & Low-Ki in 13:22 when
Hayashi
used
the
"final
cut"
finisher
o-n
TAKA
for
the
win.
20 minutes in and this is our first match. Of course, all the Hustle shows have had a good opener
and this was no exception. They started the highspots early with everyone flipping to the outside
and the crowd was really in to that. In fact, most of the this match was chain spots but in a bigger
venue like this, maybe that`s all you can do to get the crowd excited.
2) AAA Match: Oscar Sevilla, Cynthia Moreno, Pimpinella, & Mascarita Sagrada defeated
Gran Apache, Faby Apache, Polvo de Estrellas and Mini Abismo Negro in 11:32 when
Sagrada
pinned
Apache
with
a
Hurricanrana
Wow, this match had two transvestites, two women and a mini!!!!! Talk about diversity!!!! I
didn`t watch all of this match, but from what I saw, the ladies seemed to be the most impressive.
Mini Abismo Negro did some cool stuff as well. Lets just say it was what it was.
In the vein of ECW, the TV scrambles and we`re taken backstage to the Team Monster area. It is
tinted green and foggy, while the other locker room in Yokohama Arena is perfectly clear!!!!
This reminds of the anime Dragon 1/2 where this guy carried around a bucket of dry ice with him
everywhere he went. I think Takada is doing the same thing now with the dry ice and a light kit
with green fils. Mick Foley and Yuji Shimada do a variation o-n the Hustle cheer, "DO THE
HUSTLE!!!!
BANG!!!
BANG!!!!!"
Cut to something I never thought I would ever write: KAWADA DOES A BACKSTAGE
VIGNETTE!!!!!!!!! Ishikari is in the locker room as Kawada warms up, and then is kicked in the
leg by Dangerous K. Ishikari writhes in pain as Kawada paces, thinking about the match.
3)
Dusty
Rhodes
defeated
Steve
Corino
in
6:37
with
an
elbow
drop
Finally, the blow-off from Hustle-1!!!!!! Didn`t really watch the match but what I saw was pretty
much what I expected. However, it wasn`t the worst match o-n the show. That honor goes
to............
4)
Tiger
Jeet
Singh
defeated
Zebraman
in
5:43
with
a
cobra
claw
Typical Tiger match, and you know what that means. Total garbage. Sabu came out with Tiger
Jeet Singh and afterwards they brawled with Corino and Dusty. Seems to set up a match for
Hustle-4.
This
smells
of
Memphis
booking
5) Riki Choshu defeated Adamonster (King Adamo) in 2:35 with a lariat.
Choshu got the biggest pop of the night. That says something about this show. Man, three bad
matches
in
a
row.
To make things worse, another backstage angle at Team Monster headquarters as Nash and Hall
arrive with two girls they picked up the night before. They`re ordered by Takada to eat "Chicken
and Pork" (Ogawa and Hashimoto), and the Outsiders promise they will. These guys must be
laughing
all
the
way
to
the
bank.
6) Mark Coleman & Dan Bobish defeated Shinjiro Ohtani & Wataru Sakata in 10:02 when
Coleman
used
a
side
crank
hold
o-n
Sakata
for
the
win.
Originally, Giant Silva was to be Coleman`s partner but someone did something right and
replaced the big guy with Bobish. Inoffensive tag match. I`ve pretty much come to grips that you
are never going to get a five star match o-n this show, so you take what you can get. Sakata and
Ohtani did a good job of bumping for for Coleman and Bobish. Coleman has gotten stiffer with
his
punches.
After
the
intermission,
Joe
Son
lip
syncs
a
song
in
his
thong.
Disturbing.
7) Dynamite Hardcore Hustle Weapon Match!!!: Sabu, Kintaro Kanemura & The
Gladiator defeated Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Tomoaki Honma in 16:12 when
Gladiator
pinned
Honma
with
an
Top
Rope
Awesome
bomb
Total brawl. About every three minutes a new weapon was introduced. If you care, the order was
1) Table, 2) Guitar, 3) Bicycle, 4) Garbage Can, 5) Giant Silva. This has become like WWF`s
hardcore
matches
where
it`s
all
just
a
bunch
of
self
parody.
Out comes M. Bison, I mean, Takada to give a speech. Nobody cares what he says. They then
showed a package with Foley and Kawada. Kawada said he doesn`t remember Foley from his
All-Japan days. OH!!!!!! Foley didn`t like that comment!!!! Supposedly, Foley mentioned in his
first book (which I`ve read but I don`t remember this) that Kawada was really lazy during his
tenure in All Japan (back when Kawada was still a member of The Footloose, by far the
historical high point of the All Asian division) while Misawa and Kobashi were work horses. No
gaijin
ever
has
anything
nice
to
say
about
Kawada.
8) All-Japan Triple Crown Senshuken Jiai: Toshiaki Kawada defeated Mick Foley in 12:56
with
a
stiff
(and
I
mean
STIFF)
kick
to
the
face.
Ironically, WWE Backlash aired the same day as Hustle-3. In the Backlash match, Foley used
garbage techniques and his bumping to get Randy Orton over, while here, he tried to wrestle a
straight style which really demystified his workrate a little, IMO. It was a fine match, but it was
probably o-ne of the weakest matches in Triple Crown history. To Foley`s credit, he let Kawada
stiff the crap out of him, but he didn`t really have any believable non-garbage offense of his own
to counter (C`mon, he used Mr. Socko!!!! I never thought I would see that in a Kawada match).
It almost seemed at the beginning that Kawada was making a note of this by just taking it to
Foley, not allowing him to get any offense in. This really shows the big gap between American
and Japanese styles and why supposed "dream matches" like Misawa vs. Bret Hart (even after
their disappointing match when Misawa was still Tiger) and Kobashi vs. HHH wouldn`t live up
to
those
dreams.
9) Ohgun (Ogawa/Hashimoto) defeated The Outsiders (Hall and Nash) in 7:37 when
Ogawa
pinned
Hall.
Typical American style match with heel ref Shimada doing fast counts for the Outsiders and
slow counts for Ohgun. He mistakenly fast counted Ogawa pinning Hall when he got out of his
daze. Surprisingly, Hashimoto kept this match from being negative stars. He basically just stiffed
both
of
these
guys,
and
Nash
even
tried
to
wail
back.
After the match, Takada announced he had some Japanese allies as well and said he was going to
bring in someone who had "No Fear." Of course, this is obviously hinting at Takayama and if he
does come in, and takes o-n Hashimoto, then we might have quite the match. Since Hustle-1, I
wondered why they didn`t try to bring in Japanese shooters like Sakuraba, Takayama and
Tamura who actually know how to work.
RINGS 1991-95
Overview and highlights of early RINGS
You won’t find too many groups of people who complain that they are no longer being lied to.
RINGS fans are one such group, and it’s somewhat understandable because the art of deception
they were used to could be so beautiful.
RINGS was always supposed to be real, but early RINGS was simply on par for realism with the
other U.W.F. offshoots, UWF-I and PWFG. In other words, it’s not going to fool too many
people who have watched an extensive amount of UFC & PRIDE. Of course, those leagues
weren’t around when RINGS started in 1991, and most of the audience wasn’t familiar enough
with the differences between works and shoots to know it was fake. A few of the matches were
real, but aside from the all shoot shows in Holland, it was often Willie Peeters, who had
interesting shoots or uninteresting works, doing a shoot in the second or third match with the rest
of the card being works. Many of the early shows were dubious when it came to match quality
because aside from Maeda, who was still at least good in 1991, all the U.W.F. natives had gone
to UWF-I or PWFG.
Volk Han didn’t show up until the final card of the first year (although there were only 3 before
this), putting over Akira Maeda in the main event of a major show at Tokyo Ariake Coliseum on
12/7/91. The result didn’t matter because, whether people picked up on it at the time or not, the
sambo master had just made RINGS a league worth watching. The match was not realistic even
by the standard of the time, but the fans were really into it because they were not only using big
moves early on but also ones they’d rarely seen. Han did a dobitski udehishigigyakujujigatame
(jumping takedown into a cross armbreaker) less than 1:30 into the match, and this was a move
that you just didn’t see in those days. It was the cool style of worked shoot, highlighted by a
cross heel hold, snap suplex nearly into a udehishigigyakujujigatame, belly-to-belly suplex, and a
wicked wheel kick by Maeda to the side of Han’s head. Just a wonderful debut by Han and a
very good match overall.
The style of RINGS didn’t develop into something more pro wrestling oriented because of Han.
In fact, his second match with Maeda on 4/3/92 was definitely not as exciting or inventive. It was
a longer (by almost 50%) slower paced more technical and realistic match, but it was of the same
relative quality and he won. This was the second job Maeda had done in RINGS, and of the 11
he did in the history of the company, 4 were to Han. This is important because, although Han
could never be the draw that Maeda was, their trading wins put them on a similar level in terms
of importance. Han could make a guy look great and put him over, something Maeda couldn’t
do, and it would make them someone capable of beating Maeda even if they never did.
The problem with early RINGS was there was no one else decent to build up, and they seemed to
have no problem building up guys that weren’t decent. The other natives were either kickboxers
or rookies, and the foreigners, my god they were awful. There was a whole clan of guys that
trained in Holland with aging and ungodly boring sambo master Chris Dolman. Most were lousy
kickboxers that had no aptitude for working, especially any sequences on the mat. The only one
that was decent was Dick Vrij, aptly nicknamed “Cyborg,” but he was only interesting because
he hit hard. Vrij was the first to beat Maeda in RINGS, but overall Dolman was by far the bigger
name, legendary as a multiple time world sambo champion, and had the bigger push. There were
plenty of other foreigners from all across Europe and beyond, but for the most part they were
guys you didn’t want to watch. As good as Han was, for many years non-Maeda worshipers
avoided RINGS like the plague.
One improvement was the entrance of Andrei Kopylov from Han’s camp in Russia. Although he
possessed none of the spark and flair that made Han’s matches so exciting, he was a solid
technician that did some nifty things on the mat. In his first match against Han on 7/16/92, 30
seconds into the match Han picked Kopylov up over his head, slammed him to the mat, and
could have won with some bizarre knee lock. However, Kopylov not only lasted a little over 17
good minutes with the master, he made him submit. The propelled him to a Yokohama Arena
main event against Maeda the next month. Of course, Kopylov lost this match, but gave us a
good 18+ minutes where he proved he was at least capable of pushing the top star.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the level he stayed at, a notch below far inferior guys like
Willie Williams (god-awful martial artist that was a famous opponent of Inoki), Dolman (had a
big name and was the head of the camp), Vrij (#2 in Holland, but was established immediately
since Maeda’s first five RINGS matches included going 2-1 against Vrij), & Tariel (I have no
explanation for this 300 pound turtle’s push beyond he was the head of the small pathetic RINGS
Georgia group).
With Maeda knocking Han out of the first annual WORLD MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT
in the 1st round, the tournament was largely ruined. Their match was good, building a level of
drama that exceeded their previous matches, but not quite as good because it was a little too long
and more towards a more “realistic” old U.W.F. match. The less said about the final where
Dolman beat Vrij the better though.
Masayuki Naruse & Yoshihisa Yamamoto debuted against each other on 5/16/92, and were
already able to have a pretty good match with one another by 7/16/92. Naruse would pretty much
stay at that level, a guy who had a number of matches that were better than adequate, but nothing
that really stood out unless he was in with someone awesome. Yamamoto would become a guy
to watch, but the first new native to get a push was Mitsuya Nagai, a striker who debuted on the
second RINGS show. With Maeda out for most of ’93, Nagai got to headline the 4/24/93
Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan show against Han. Although the vast majority of the credit belongs
to Han, it’s none the less impressive for Nagai that they had the best RINGS match to date.
Working with the younger, quicker, and more athletic Nagai allowed Han to explore a faster and
more glamorous style that would ultimately be the style of matches his fans remember him the
most for. Simple rolls into holds and to alleviate pressure from submissions, now sometimes
taken for granted because of regular imitation, were the kind of thing that made the match fresh
and amazing RINGS at the time. Nagai earned a lot of respect here because Han threw
everything he had at him, but he was able to maneuver his way out of trouble many times before
eventually losing.
When Maeda returned in October, he was set on reestablishing himself. This was not a good time
because he fought slug after slug en route to defeating Tariel to win the MEGA-BATTLE
TOURNAMENT. He also totally squashed Nagai in 5:02 of a non-tournament match on
12/25/93 and beat Kopylov on 3/19/94 in an 8:51 match that was good from a technical
perspective but never really got started. At least prior to all this, there was a very good Han vs.
Vrij match on 7/13/93 that was pure adrenaline. Han defined the style a lot more with any other
opponent than he did with Maeda, so he would have better matches with lesser opponents due to
a faster and more exciting style. The problem with Vrij though was that you really couldn’t do
anything on the mat with him. It was all takedown into submission and then escape, but Han was
able to make it a lot more exciting than Kopylov and his acting was a lot better, which all in all
was worth about *1/2 above the Vrij vs. Kopylov match from 5/29/93.
Maeda was never as good when he came back. His next match with Han on 6/18/94, a 19:06 win,
was couple notches down because Maeda was not in as good of shape and bothered by his bad
knee. He kept it slower and simpler, really not doing too much. It had some moments of
brilliance of course, and was good overall, but it wasn’t that explosive and failed to generate an
abundance of crowd heat even though Maeda was still really over and strong at the box office.
Han’s match with one-dimensional kickboxer Hans Nyman the next month was actually a little
better than the Maeda match. It was short, but Han did something Maeda never really did in
RINGS, which was let somebody totally kick his ass and then come back and win. Nyman was
blistering Han, kicking him so hard that Han was “knocked through the ropes to the floor." Just a
very unselfish performance by Han, making a match that had no right to be good just that.
Han’s finest hour up to that point in time came on 1/25/95 when he not only had his best match
with Maeda, but also beat him to win the MEGA-BATTLE TOURNAMENT for the first time.
The match boasted good hard striking in standup and almost always the possibility of a
submission when they were on the mat. This was the most modern looking of their matches up
until this point in time. It certainly didn’t look like old U.W.F. It had more stiffness and realism,
with better positioning including Maeda using the mount now that people were becoming
familiar with the real deal through UFC tapes. Maeda wasn’t improving any, but he clearly put in
the extra effort here and it paid off.
Some of the spotlight started shining on Yoshihisa Yamamoto at the end of 1994. He had his first
two matches with Maeda. Of course, he lost both, but he showed a lot of energy and charisma in
the first and the fans were into it. The second match was similar except Yamamoto wasn’t as
fiery or exciting, which was odd although most guys seem different when in with Maeda because
he more or less calls the shots. That the match was more submission oriented was probably part
of it because Yamamoto is more charismatic during standup. In any case, the match was down to
average, but simply being in the ring with Maeda helped make people take notice of him.
1995 was Yamamoto’s year. Although he lost to Nagai on 3/18/95, Nagai would be left in the
dust by the end of the year with Yamamoto being a real #2 native (Nagai never beat the top
players). The match with Nagai was one of the most memorable because of its realism. It wasn’t
the most exciting match, but of the two dozen I looked back on this was the most credible, the
precursor to the changes of 1998. It was hardly the most heated, but they didn’t let that bother
them and eventually the crowd got into it. While the matwork was the most notable today, the
fast Kakihara like striking sequences that sometimes resulted in knockdowns where they
wouldn’t get all the way up until the 9 count were very important toward generating the drama.
The back and forth finish was really good as well. A very good match that stands the test of time.
Yamamoto’s big break was not really a break at all. In the only real match I’m mentioning in this
part, he lasted nearly 20 minutes with the mythical greatest fighter in the world, Rickson Gracie,
during a Vale Tudo Japan tournament match on 4/20/95. This was hardly a great shoot, they
were in the ropes most of the match, but the power of the Gracie legend was such that
Yamamoto had to be the real deal just for being able to last this long with the “god.”
Realizing they had a golden opportunity, Yamamoto was thrust into a two match program with
Vrij & Han. The first match against Vrij on 7/18/95 was probably the best of Vrij’s career.
Propelled by two Vrij fouls, brutal kicks to the head when Yamamoto was on his knees, they had
a match of Kazunari Murakami intensity that was actually damn good. Vrij’s strikes were just
violent, and Yamamoto is a good enough striker to credibly get a few good flurries in on him.
Yamamoto even cut him under the eye before winning via TKO because Vrij ran out of points.
The second match with Vrij on 9/22/95 failed to recapture the magic of the first. Without the
fouls, it never approached the same level of intensity. It was like watching a mixed match
because Vrij, as usual, was totally in grab the ropes the second he gets taken down mode.
Yamamoto was fearless though, and he shocked everyone by beating Vrij quicker and this time
with a submission. This was really a huge win for Yamamoto because Vrij and Han were the
only active fighters (Dolman had retired) to have two wins in RINGS over Maeda.
Yamamoto’s improved ability really made a big difference because with him and Han on the
card you could now pretty much count on there being two good matches. Yeah, as a whole the
shows still weren’t the greatest, but due to Yamamoto 1995 is the first year one can start
recommending the RINGS product as a whole. When they got together in the ring there might be
one less good match, but they made the show a must by producing some of the best matches in
the history of the company.
Their 6/17/95 match that Han won in 15:15 was very good, and more than hinted at the greatness
they would go on to produce. This was a strong technical match that was made by their attitudes.
Yamamoto showed his hunger, and Han didn’t have a problem with making it look like
Yamamoto could beat him. It didn’t have the realism of Yamamoto vs. Nagai, but there was a lot
more going on without overdoing it.
Their rematch on 12/19/95 was important for a number of reasons. In the end, least of which is
the fact that Yamamoto got his first win over Han here, advancing to the finals of the MEGABATTLE TOURNAMENT in the process. It’s important because it was the best RINGS match
up to that point in time, but the style was the key. This was a new match that set the tone for the
way Han and the young natives would evolve the style. It was all about immediate reaction. It’s
was not about having a lot of talent and athletic ability, but about having the confidence to use it.
It was about believing in your opponent, knowing he could keep making the next move, doing
the right thing to keep the sequence going and avoid being trapped. It was almost an
advantageless match, and it was beautiful.
With Kiyoshi Tamura joining the league the next year, among other things, RINGS had the
perfect guy to continue to evolve this new style.
Jerome lists
AJ/NJ 1989
Highlights, analysis, and top 50 matches from 1989 AJ/NJ TV by Jerome Denis
After watching pretty much a whole year of All Japan and New Japan TV, I decided to establish
a list of my 50 favourite matches, divided in several categories, namely heavies, juniors, tags, six
man and junior tags (how original…..). I prefer this kind of ranking since I don’t think it’s fair to
compare a junior match to an heavyweight match to a tag match, each having their own kind of
style and dynamics. I quickly saw that the different categories were not equals as far as quality
goes, the richest o-ne being the heavy tags, the poorest o-ne being the heavy singles. What I
mean by this is that there are tag matches not included in that list that are well worth watching
whereas there aren’t many other strong single matches. The junior tag category was kinda tricky
since I included matches involving heavyweights (Machine, Takano, Davey Boy), but the
matches are worked against junior opponents in a junior style, so it seemed the right thing to do.
Instead of just giving away five list of matches, I prefer a thematic classification, complete with
other important or interesting matches for each topic.
NB : the number before the air date is the ranking of the match in its own division.
PS : this is a completely subjective list.
All Japan
Jumbo & Yatsu vs Tenryu & the Revolution
This is the main feud of the year, as Jumbo is The Man, seconded by fellow Olympian Yoshiaki
Yatsu and other veterans like the Great Kabuki and Masa Fuchi. Tenryu is the native rival,
leading the Revolution, which is essentially the Footloose (Toshiaki Kawada and Samson
Fuyuki) and « honorary member » gaijin monster Stan Hansen (after he broke up with Terry
Gordy).
22/01 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Tenryu & Kawada
Good match, infamous for Tenryu’s ultra short in-ring time. The ultimate « Tenryu’s sleeping at
ringside » match. Kawada won’t make the tag even after getting his ass handed to him, and it’s
just bizarre to watch.
(1) 28/01 : Jumbo & Yatsu & Fuchi vs Tenryu & Footloose
A little more than half is shown, and it's the best pure heavyweight action you can find from
1989. They work at a junior pace and everyone is o-n, even Tenryu and Yatsu. It's basically a big
work to the finish section with tons of spots and sequences. The Footloose are particulary good
as they carry their part of the team for Tenryu and deliver an awesome performance (not an
unusual thing for them). Fuchi is super fun as the junior lost in the middle of heavyweights, but
still kicking some ass. The heat is incredible too, as it's taking place in Korakuen Hall, temple of
hot puroresu back then.
12/02 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Gordy
This is the main event of an AWA show in Kansas City. Tenryu squashes Wild Bill Irwin earlier
o-n, to tell you how exciting this card was. The Olympians regain the tag titles in a pretty
forgetable match, but who can blame these four workers for going half speed when they are
working before 500 cluless people instead of main eventing Budokan.
(4) 23/02 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Tenryu & Kawada
Tenryu & Kawada was a rather unconsistant team because Tenryu often choose to stay out of the
ring and let Kawada do all the work, which is not necessarely a bad thing technically, but it made
the team a little bit awkward. This was not the case here, as Tenryu was in Korakuen so he was
motivated. This match doesn't go as long as some of their others, but it's quicker and everybody
makes a contribution and as a result, it's better than any of the Olympic Team vs Tenyu &
Hansen matches later in the year. Great stuff.
(7) 08/03 : Jumbo & Yatsu & Takano vs Tenryu & Road Warriors
The main event of the April Budokan show sees the return of the Road Warriors in All Japan.
This match is for the NWA 6-man tag, but the real story here is Jumbo opposing the monstruous
Roadies and his rival Tenryu. The Warriors execute all their big spots and Jumbo made them
look like gold. The heat is unreal as the crowd is going crazy for the Roadies, so Jumbo acts like
a heel to add to the fun and makes this a special match to watch. Great performance by Jumbo.
04/04 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Tenryu
First match involving Hansen, and it’s both about Jumbo vs Tenryu and Jumbo vs Hansen to set
up their upcoming unification match. Extremely stiff and out of control, in a good way.
(8) 16/04 : Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta
It's their brawl at Korakuen two days after the real Triple Crown unification match. It's not
pretty, but it's stiff as hell. They just beat the living shit out of each others for 15 minutes,
without any sequences or exchanges of moves. They build their match to get to the point of
complete chaos, so of course the double DQ is the o-nly way to go. Not great, but certainly a fun
match, and better than their rather dull unification match two days later. Super heat too.
18/04 : Hansen vs Jumbo
Pretty good build and nice finish, but as a whole it’s a little bit dull and not quite as intense as the
Korakuen asskicking. Jumbo unifies the three single titles in All Japan to create the Triple
Crown.
(6) 20/04 : Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu
Their first match of the year probably built to be another great match like their following two,
but as everybody knows, the match is cut short by a powerbomb spot turned ugly, as Jumbo
drops Tenryu badly o-n his neck and the match ends anticlimatically. But what they do before
the ending is excellent.
(1) 05/06 : Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu
The consensus best heavyweigt match of the decade. Everything has already been said about this
awesome masterpiece. Great stiffness, worked at a rabid pace, with an incredible work to the
finish section. The greatness of this match mainly comes from the greatness of Jumbo Tsuruta,
added to the chemistry he and Tenryu, otherwise a limited an inconsistant worker over the year,
had developped at this point. Tenryu gets all the credit in the world to be able to work at this
level, but he is the Razor to Jumbo's Michaels and the Kandori to Jumbo's Hokuto.
(10) ??/06 : Hansen & Kawada vs Jumbo & Yatsu
The o-nly time the challenger team is composed of Hansen & Kawada, and the result is better
than than most match with Tenryu/Hansen. Both work very hard and they play the opposite
roles, as Hansen is dominating Jumbo & Yatsu whereas Kawada is dominated by the opposition.
So Hansen is playing Kawada's big brother, saving him a hundred time before Kawada can
finally react. Tenryu misses nobody.
(5) 03/07 : Tenryu & Hansen & Fuyuki vs Jumbo & Yatsu & Kabuki
A great six man involving two so-so worker (Yatsu and Kabuki), carried by Jumbo o-n o-ne part,
and Hansen and Fuyuki o-n the other. Fuyuki is the most hated member of the Revolution. He is
always a good whipping boy for Jumbo's team, and makes a super underdog in his match.
Kabuki works as good as he can and adds his strange coolness to the match (gotta love those «
automatic » uppercuts). Tenryu works less than his two partners, of course, but he still delivers a
very good performance.
11/07 : Hansen & Tenryu vs Jumbo & Yatsu
Typical good stiff match bewteen these two teams. Hansen & Tenryu give Yatsu an ass kicking
and finally win the titles.
18/07 : Tenryu vs Yastu
Ugly Triple Crown defense by Tenryu, who litteraly sleeps for a good ten minutes before he
decides to do something worthwhile. Hats off to Yatsu who busts his ass, as always, but he’s too
limited to make this good, and Tenryu won’t pick up the pieces. Some good moments, but as a
whole it’s pretty much the match to show to anybody who thinks Tenryu was a great worker.
22/07 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Tenryu
Typical good stiff match between these two teams. Hansen & Tenryu give Yatsu an ass kicking
and finally lose the titles. Wait a minute……
(4) 28/07 : Tenryu & Hansen & Kawada vs Jumbo & Yatsu & Kabuki
The three highest member of the Revolution vs Jumbo and the vets. Hansen & Kawada carry
their team, Hansen the monster and Kawada the underdog. Kabuki is limited, but works his part
very well and is pretty fired up in this match. Tenryu is awesome for heating up his rivalry with
Jumbo. Fast paced match with spots back and forth, this is better than their 03/07 match for the
simple reason that Kawada is there instead of Fuyuki.
(5) ??/08 : Tenryu & Hansen vs Jumbo & Kobashi
From the Bruiser Brody Memorial show at Korakuen Hall, this match showcased a young and
already excellent Kenta Kobashi getting his ass kicked by Hansen & Tenryu. His teamwork with
Jumbo is not as efficient as Yatsu's, but he's already so good in the ring that the result is a lot
better. He's playing the young underdog role who gets in the face of the legends and pays for it,
whereas Jumbo plays his big brother. A great match in the Jumbo vs Tenryu rivalry, and the
biggest match of Kobashi this year.
19/08 : Tenryu & Ogawa vs Jumbo & Kobashi
Very cool match with the participation of Revolution rookie Yoshinari Ogawa, who doesn’t
belong but still tries to kick some Jumbo ass. Tenryu is working at his best level here, and the
opposition is as good as it looks o-n paper. Super fun, really.
(3) 29/08 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Tenryu & Kawada
The best match of the Olympic team, working against a very motivated Tenryu and the ever
great Kawada. These two teams never worked harder, and it's even better than their Korakuen
match earlier in the year. It's pretty much the first time Tenryu uses the little stiff kicks to the
head that made him such a fun wrestler. Probably Yatsu's best performance of the year, too.
(2) 11/10 : Genichiro Tenryu vs Jumbo Tsuruta
The counterpart to their Budokan meeting. Slower paced, but as exciting and great in terms of
stiffness, psychology and moves. Tenryu was better here, as he worked even stiffer at this point
of the year, and was beginning to use more little stiff kick to the back and the head. Great use of
the key spots with great nearfalls before a perfect finish built around the powerbomb and how to
counter it. Awesome match.
(2) ??/10 : Tenryu & Footloose vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Kobashi
Tenryu & the Footloose are the best trio this year, the Footloose handling the strong part of the
work and Tenryu picking his spots, playing the overpowering leader of the faction. In this o-ne
Tenryu is particulary good, stiffing Kobashi unmercifully and not reluctant to work his share
(good God !). Kobashi is the star of the opposite team as the underdog who gets destroyed but
makes the hot tags to the veterans. His inclusion into the mix instead of Yatsu really makes a
difference. Kabuki has his best performance of the year too.
(8) 20/10 : Tenryu & Hansen vs Jumbo & Yatsu
The best of the long series between Tenryu/Hansen & Jumbo/Yatsu. Contrary to the previous
matches during which Tenryu and Hansen kicked their opponents' ass, this match is built around
Hansen’s back injury. Therefore he played the role of the victim for a while. Peculiar role for
him, but he was great at it and milked the injury for all it as worth. Excellent psychology, great
stiffness. Tenryu worked harder than before because of the story.
??/10 : Jumbo & Kabuki vs Tenryu & Fuyuki
Yeah, even with Kabuki, Fuyuki and Tenryu, this match is very good because everybody plays
his part and works very hard (especially Fuyuki). And there’s the Wrestling God in the middle of
all this.
06/12 : Jumbo & Yastu vs Tenryu & Hansen
Final match of the Real World Tag League, and main event of the Budokan December event.
Way too long, but still very good thanks to the chemistry these two teams had developped by
then. Yatsu was pretty goofy here, using a thousand headbutts despite a head injury.
All Asian Tag Team Titles
At this time the All Asian Tag Titles were still an important part of All Japan’s product, and
1989 saw some of the best matches of the company happen in this division, thanks to the
Footloose vs Can-Am Express (Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas) feud.
18/04 : Footloose vs Kroffat & Zenk
Good match, but far from what the Footloose would do with the Can-Am. Kawada vs Kroffat is
just awesome. Funny to see Zenk, o-ne half of the original Can-Am (with Rick Martel) taking the
place of Furnas.
(3) 22/05 : Tenryu & Footloose vs Spivey & Cam-Am Express
This match is more about Footloose vs Can-Am express than anything else, as they are building
up to their match at Budokan in June. Spivey and Tenryu play the monster supporters of both
teams and add a nice story with the dueling powerbombs. Spivey is particulary great for building
heat for him vs Tenryu.
(1) 05/06 : Footloose vs Can-Am Express
Just an awesome match as the two best teams in the world face each other. It means Kawada vs
Kroffat, of course, but it's better than this since both teams have an incredible chemistry. Worked
at a junior pace, with spots ahead of their time, the workers work the crowd in a frenzy as the
Budokan audience is clearly behind the Cam-Am. The whole match looks like a long work to the
finish section. Mind blowing and ageless stuff.
(6) 19/08 : Can-Am Express vs Footloose
This is a non title match from Korakuen Hall, in which Kawada injures his ribs as soon as the
match begins. Fuyuki works extra hard to make up for it, and Kawada pulls it off even in bad
shape. They don't go as long as in their title matches, but the work and the heat are great as usual.
After the match, both teams get into a huge brawl to heat up their rivalry.
(2) 02/09 : Cam-Am Express vs Footloose
Even though it's not as great as their first match, this is still a true classic, with a different twist
as Kawada was injured and Fuyuki worked twice as hard and played the role of Kawada's
protector at several occasions. The audience totally loathes Fuyuki, which adds to the fun. The
injury factor gives a new element to the match, and Kawada is just awesome to see working
despite the pain and at the same time putting it over. Yet another must see match in the best feud
of the year.
(7) 11/10 : Can-Am Express vs Joe Malenko & Kobashi
From the October Budokan show. o-nly the 8 last minutes are showed, but it's a great work to the
finish section, as always with the Can-Am. Malenko is more fired up here than during his slow
paced junior matches, and Kobashi displays his superb athetic spots. Not as awesome as the
Footloose match because Malenko & Kobashi aren't a regular team, but what is showed is easily
o-ne of the best tag match of the year.
20/10 : Footloose vs Can-Am Express
Not quite as awesome as all their previous matches, since it’s worked a lot slower, with less
spots, and doesn’t go as long. It also lacks drama. Still a very good match though.
NB : The Footloose faced the Can-Am again during the tag league, but pretty much nothing was
showed o-n TV.
The British Bulldogs in All Japan
The Bulldogs were o-n their last legs at this point, with Dynamite badly injured and Davey
getting bigger and bigger thanks to the roids. They toured a lot with All Japan and still delivered
some interesting matches though. Up to June, they were looking decent to really good,
depending o-n the day and the opposition, but when they came back for the Real Tag League,
they were like a different team. Dynamite looked really old and sad, and Davey was completely
unmotivated, using chinlocks a hundred times during matches. How sad.
(9) 25/01 Tenryu & Fuyuki vs Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith
One of best performance from Tenryu this year, as he gets fired up working against the legend
Dynamite Kid. Of course, Fuyuki still has to do most of the work, and he's really efficient
working as the underdog. It's also the Bulldogs best performance along with the Malenko match.
Dynamite works extra hard to make his exchange with Tenryu special, and Davey Boy busts his
ass too. The Korakuen crowd is super hot for this o-ne, as the Bulldogs are totally credible
against the second native and his lieutenant.
(1) 28/01 : Joe & Dean Malenko vs Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith
Incredible match at Korakuen Hall. Of course Davey is not a junior, but they worked at a junior
pace and the match was mainly mat based, which is the style AJ juniors like Fuchi or Malenko
mainly use. The Malenkos carry the offense, imposing a submission style to their opposition,
who can work with it beautifully, especially Dynamite. A lot a great counters, great double team
and sequences since both team have an incredible chemistry. The Bulldogs bring their intensity
to the Malenkos. Just awesome to watch these guys work together, and the audience are going
crazy for both teams.
14/05 : Bulldogs vs Can-Am Express
20/05 : Bulldogs vs Can-Am Express
Two very good matches opposing similar teams composed of an agile powerhouse
(Furnas/Davey Boy) and a great versatile worker (Kroffat/Dynamite). Of course Dynamite
looked like the older, slower version of Kroffat.
22/05 : Bulldogs vs Yatsu & Jumbo
The Bulldogs challenge for the Tag Titles, and it’s as good as a lot of Tenryu/Hansen matches.
The final minutes is a remainder of Wrestlemania 2, which is both neat and stupid.
05/06 : Bulldogs vs Gordy & Hansen
Yet another really good Bulldog match. Gordy is the most generous worker alive at this point,
and will bump like a freak for midget Dynamite. Not pretty, but a lot of impressive power spots
and stiff shots.
??/06 : Bulldogs vs Footloose
Pretty much comparable to the Can-Am matches, this is the last very good performance of the
Bulldogs, anywhere in the world I think. Dynamite vs Kawada is always something good to see.
29/11 : Bulldogs vs Singh & Abby
This is from the Real Tag League, during which the Bulldogs were pretty dull if not awful to
watch. But here it’s like working with two legends and horrible workers motivated them. Davey
Boy finally wakes up and Dynamite bleeds all over the place. Bad match, of course, but still fun
to see. Oh, and Singh is the most worthless piece of crap in the universe not named Chyna, as
even Abby is forced to, God forbid, work when teaming with the Indian Asshole.
All Japan Juniors
Although they are a far cry for their New Japan counterparts, Fuchi and the Malenkos still
deliver some worthwhile matches, with the ever welcomed addition of great gaijins like the
Fantastics.
20/01 : Joe Malenko vs Fuchi
Typical Fuchi match, with a lot of submissions and streching. Not that much intensity thanks to
Joe, but very technically sound.
(8) 16/04 : Masanobu Fuchi vs Shinichi Nakano
Very heated match at Korakuen Hall. The veteran Fuchi disciplines young Nakano and stretches
him every way possible. Fuchi is great in his role and makes Nakano a underdog for the crowd to
rally behind. Very solid, totally carried by Fuchi, with a very good work to the finish section.
Nakano doesn't have a large moveset, but he o-nly has to use it during the last minutes to pull off
the upset. Excellent story match.
(10) 11/07 : Joe Malenko vs Dean Malenko
The two brothers in an incredible technical match. A ton of great submission work and counters.
Dean is clearly better, working at a faster pace and being more intense than Joe. The match looks
a little bit too much like an exhibition sometimes, with not much of a story told, but technically
it's just wonderful to watch. Typical Malenko match.
(4) ??/08 : Joe & Dean Malenko vs Fantastics
Only the last 6 minutes are showed, but these are exceptionnal 6 minutes. The Malenkos use all
kinds of great double team moves and sequences with the Fan. As action packed as their
Bulldogs match. Dean and Tommy are the real stars of the match, as their sequences are the best.
Another great gaijin vs gaijin match.
Misc. Big Matches
Here are the last worthwhile matches in All Japan in 1989, that really didn’t belong in any
thematic list.
(7) 08/03 : Ricky Steamboat vs Tiger Mask
An oddity of a match as Tiger Mask was pretty much absent from All Japan's scene and it's his
o-nly notable single match. Steamboat is a great 70's style american heavyweight, but his offense
looks dated compared to Misawa's high flying stuff. But if the result is beneath what people
could except from Steamboat vs Misawa, it's still a very good match.
(8) ??/06 : Jumbo & Yatsu & Nakano vs Hansen & Gordy & Muraco
Very fun match with a rare All Japan appearance by Don Muraco. He's still pretty good, and
even though he can't compete with his partners, he delivers something different and doesn't look
out of place. The star of the match is Hansen, who is totally out of control, kicking ass,
interfering randomly, stiffing his opposition. Poor Shinichi Nakano is the designated victim of
the gaijins, and he delivers his best performance of the year here. Jumbo & Yatsu work as their
respective selves, which is both great and not that great. Super heat.
(3) 02/09 : Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu
The best carry job of the year by Jumbo, who gets a great single match out of his partner Yatsu.
Good matwork at the beginning, stiff work and good psychology, this match delivers everything
you'd want from an All Japan heavy match at this point. Yatsu's execution is hit and miss, as
always, but he works super hard to make this as good as it should be. There's just no comparison
between this match and the Tenryu vs Yatsu Triple Crown defense from July, and it shows all
the difference between Jumbo and Tenryu since Yatsu was game in both matches. It's nice to see
Yatsu, who always work hard despite his liabilities, getting such a good single match.
(5) 02/09 : Genichiro Tenryu vs Terry Gordy
The second Triple Crown defense of Tenryu happens at Budokan and it's Terry Gordy who
carries Tenryu to yet another notable match. He's the o-ne supplying the offense and controlling
the pace, and it's a good thing, because Tenryu would not be afraid to dog it if given the
opportunity. Not very long, but it's the right lenght for these two. It's really stiff and the
psychology around the powerbomb is excellent. It's Gordy lone great performance of the year in
AJ, but it shows how good he was carrying an inferior native.
(6) 15/09 : Tenryu & Footloose vs Baba & Rusher & Fuchi
A super fun match from Korakuen Hall to Celebrate Baba's 30th year in the wrestling business.
Of course, with Baba and especially Kimura involved, there's a lot of mediocre to pathetic
offense and poor selling, but the match is very long and builds well to a super work to the finish
portion (mainly worked by Fuchi). Tenryu and his Revolution pals opposing Baba is fun to see
despite the ridiculousness of some spots. A match carried to excellence by the sole will of Baba
to work hard and the great teamwork of the Footloose and Tenryu.
New Japan
New Japan seikigun vs Vader / the mighty Hash push
There were three main stories in New Japan in 1989 : the feud between Choshu and Vader, the
Russian invasion, and the push of the first of the musketeers, Shinya Hashimoto. At one point all
these stories melted into o-ne thanks to the great booking of Riki Choshu. Even though this
produced very few excellent matches, the feuds were enjoyable to follow.
03/02 : Choshu & Fujinami vs Vader & Bigelow
Really good tag match with Fuji taking the requisite asskicking from Vader, Choshu being
intense as hell and Bigelow delivereing the fat spots.
09/02 : Inoki vs Bigelow
Surprisingly decent Inoki match. Inoki works o­n Bigelow’s arm and Bam Bam sells it like a
king. Good story and build to a logical ending. Damn, Bigelow was good.
09/02 : Fujinami vs Vader
Typical Fuji carrying the limited Vader to a good match. The IWGP champ takes a beating and
makes Vader look like gold before doing the job.
22/02 : Choshu vs Inoki
Main event of the Sumo Hall show. The match itself is pretty decent overall, but the ending is the
most memorable of the year since Inoki jobs clean to Choshu. It’s pretty much a symbolic
passing of the torch as Choshu becomes The Man in New Japan, Inoki becoming something
more like a special attraction after this. Inoki doing a job is always a huge huge thing to watch.
(10) 13/04 : Vader & Rheingans & Saywer vs Choshu & Fujinami & Kimura
The gaijin team is very solid as Sawyer and Rheingans handle most of the work against inferior
workers like Kimura and Choshu. Fujinami makes Vader look like gold as always, and Choshu is
efficient in these kind of short and fast paced match. Vader o-nly has to pick his spots, so he's
looking great. Kimura sucks, but in a tag like this his liabilities are much hidden and he can do
the o-nly few signature spots he can do well.
(9) 19/04 : Vader & Rheingans & Sawyer vs Inoki & Choshu & Fujinami
A very good, short but fast paced match between the veterans of New Japan and the gaijins
monsters. Rheingans and Sawyer carry the work for their team and let Vader clean the ring and
get the special treatment with his limited but good monster offense. Fujinami bumps like crazy
and makes the opposition look like gold yet again. Sawyer is particulary impressive, but
Rheingans is very solid too, with ton of suplex and submission work. Inoki is picking his spots
here, and more efficient than Kimura in the previous match.
(4) 24/04 : Tatsumi Fujinami vs Big Van Vader
Before he injured his back in June against the same Vader, Fujinami was o-ne of the very best
native heavyweight of the country, o-nly taking a back seat to Jumbo and Kawada. Working with
a limited or poor opposition (Lawler or Sid for God's sake) prevented him from having a lot of
very strong matches over the first six months of the year. However, this match from the Tokyo
Dome is his personnal masterpiece, as he got the best match possible from an efficient but still
limited Vader. Fuji bumps like there's no tomorrow and builds a dramatic match with quick
counters and near falls. A testament to the subtle work of New Japan’s best heavy worker of the
decade.
24/04 : Hashimoto vs Vader
IWGP tournament at the Dome final. Young Hashimoto ends up against Vader after upsetting
Choshu earlier in the night. Needless to say he takes a beating, but gets some good shots o-n
Vader’s injured arm before jobbing. Pretty good.
25/05 : Hashimikov vs Vader
Follow Choshu’s booking : Vader loses his IWGP title won o­ne month earlier to sambo master
Salmon Hashimikov. The suisha otoshi is now the biggest move in New Japan.
22/06 : Fujinami vs Vader
Sad match as Fuji injures his back o-n a backdrop. He was supposed to win, but it looks like shit
because his back can’t carry the load of Vader.
12/07 : Hashimikov vs Choshu
Follow Choshu’s booking : Choshu beats Hashimikov for the IWGP title after taking the suisha
otoshi.
10/08 : Hashimikov vs Hashimoto
Follow Choshu’s boking : Hash jobs to the suisha otoshi.
(9) 10/08 : Big Van Vader vs Riki Choshu
More basic than Vader's match with Fuji. Choshu is not as good taking a beating, but the match
tells a good story. Vader may not be a great worker yet, but he knows his role and how to play
his part. Choshu uses both his quickness and his power to try to KO him, so it's a pretty simple
match. Good finish with Vader finally being quicker than Choshu.
20/09 : Choshu & Iizuka vs Hashimoto & Saito
Really good tag match even, though Hash and especially Saito are limited. Iizuka is a junior lost
in the middle of heavyweight, and he takes a giant beating from Hashimoto, who finally wins the
IWGP tag titles.
03/11 : Hashimoto vs Vader
Follow Choshu’s booking : Hash wins a match over IWGP champion Vader, via count out.
05/12 : Hashimikov vs Hashimoto
Follow Choshu’s booking : Hash finally defeats suisha otoshi master and former IWGP
champion Salmon Hashimikov (who beat Vader) in the World Cup Tournament. Hum, hum
hum…
06/12 : Hashimoto vs Williams
World Cup semi-final. Williams is working exclusively in New Japan at this time, and even
though he’s not great yet, he’s making an awesome impression o­n the audience. Slow match
that builds pretty well.
06/12 : Choshu vs Chono
Good match and first notable match of musketeer Masahiro Chono, who pushes Choshu pretty
hard in the other World Cup semi-final. Not spectacular, but efficient.
(10) 07/12 : Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu
Final of the World Cup Tournament, this is also the conclusion of the Hash push in 1989. He
already defeated Choshu at the Dome show, so he's got a chance coming into this match,
especially after beating Vader and Hashimikov. Slow paced at the beginning, but it builds well.
They both have a limited moveset, but they use it efficiently. Nice exchange at the end, with
Choshu paying hommage to his fellow companions Kimura and the injured Fujinami.
Super Strong Machine & George Takano
Even though the New Japan heavyweights cannot compare to the All Japan top guys, the tag
division delivered a lot of good to very good matches, thanks to two of the best worker in the
company carrying the entire division nearly all year long. Super Strong Machine and George
Takano worked against both heavys and juniors, and were always very efficent, with some
excellent teamwork and spots and a will to carry anybody.
(3) ??/01 : Koshinaka & Kobayashi vs Takano & SS Machine
(2) 04/03 : Koshinaka & Kobayashi vs Takano & SS Machine
Even though Takano & Machine aren't juniors, these are more junior matches than heavy
matches. The pace is super quick and the teams exchanges more spots than you can count in a
rather long match. The workers have a great chemistry together, Takano and Machine working as
quickly as Koshinaka & Kobayashi. The work to the finish is incredible, with a ton of nearfalls.
Koshinaka is the best of the match, but everybody is contributing to make it o-ne of the most
exciting match of the year. A little bit like the Can-Am vs Footloose. The first match is a little bit
shorter, but both are at the same level.
16/03 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Saito
Takano and Machine defeat the veteran team to win the IWGP titles. Saito is not pretty to watch,
but Choshu is very efficient and work extra hard. Takano bleeds a bucket.
13/04 : Takano & Machine vs Armstrong & Smothers
Very good match as the Southern Boys are a good opposition for the champions. Lot of spots if
not a lot of drama.
19/04 : Takano & Machine vs Sano & Goto
Another heavies vs juniors match. Sano is just amazing to watch, and Goto plays the underdog.
He could actually work back then and shows it. Very good performance from everybody, even
though Sano steals the show.
03/07 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Fujinami
Takano & Machine work o­n Fuji’s back injury and actually get a win. Very good match because
even though Fuji cannot do much, the story is excellent and Takano & Machine deliver all the
spots.
12/07 : Takano & Machine vs Iizuka & Koshinaka
Yet another very good match against two junior opponents. Very fast paced as always.
13/07 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Iizuka
Choshu pushes junior sambo artist Takayuki Iizuki as his partner, and they work a very good
match against the champions. The best heavyweight tag match of the year in New Japan, with a
lot of spots and a great finish.
??/09 : Takano & Machine vs Fernandez & Sawyer
Last really good match of the team this year. They are dominated by the gaijin team here.
Fernandez actually looks pretty decent, but Sawyer is the real star. Awesome looking finish.
NB : Takano and Machine worked a match at the Dome show against Hase & Koshinaka, which
was probably very good if not better, but it was not shown o-n TV. They had to show the sambo
masters instead……
Hase to Shiro to Liger
Of course, the best matches of New Japan will be found with the junior workers. 1989 is a
peculiar year because it was the transition between the era of Shiro Koshinaka and Hiroshi Hase
and the era of Jushin Liger. Only one worker was there during the whole year and made his
presence felt against every style opponent. This man is Naoki Sano, the most enjoyable junior to
me at this point (Liger’s first matches were not that great because he was still trying to find
himsel).
(5) 03/02 : Koshinaka & Sano vs Hase & Hiro Saito
Tag match to build the rivalry between champion Koshinaka and Hase. Hase and Saito play
heels, and carry the match, so it's a very solid body. Sano is way over everybody's head in term
of spots, and it shows next to Koshinaka and Saito. The match builds nicely to a super quick
work to the finish section.
(6)??/03 : Koshinaka & Sano vs Hase & Hiro Saito
Same teams, same kind of match as the later, with Saito and Hase dominating the match as heels,
with a very solid work. Sano delivers all the great highspots and Koshinaka brings his energy
and intensity to his rivalry with Hase.
(4) 16/03 : Shiro Koshinaka vs Hiroshi Hase
The last great junior match before the Liger era. Not much in term of story as the first half of the
match is mainly an exchange of submissions, but the second half is an awesome collection of
spots and sequences. The execution is always top notch, and the work is basically stainless. Shiro
is the best of the two at this point, and he's mainly responsible for making this match so exciting,
although Hase is still very good.
(6) 22/05 : Shiro Koshinaka vs Jushin Liger
The match is too short to be that great, but what they do in the amount of time they're given is
excellent. They basically work a Shiro match, very fast, very exciting, and maximize the short
time they've been given. Their moveset are not quite comparable, but their chemistry is great. A
passing of the torch of sort, from a great worker to another great worker.
(9) 25/05 : Jushin Liger vs Hiroshi Hase
It's the transitionnal match between the era of Hase and Koshinaka and the era of Liger. It's a
rather short match, so it doesn't get as good as it looks o-n paper. But what they do is still
excellent, even though Liger was still clearly searching his game at this point. Not as exciting as
the Shiro match, but lot of great spots.
Liger vs Sano
The feud of the year is New Japan. The new king of the juniors is threathened by a young
prodigy, Naoki Sano, who’s playing a subtle heel all along the feud. The psychology from one
match to another is absolutely great, that’s why they must be seen in order to really be fully
understood.
(9) 27/06 : Liger & Nogami vs Sano & Sasazaki
Early tag match in the Liger vs Sano feud. One of the rare appearance by Shinji Sasazaki, a
pretty good junior heavyweight, here carried by his superior opposition. Sano vs Liger and
Nogami is a great sight to see, as they work super fast and exchange great spots. Sasazaki is
slower and less impressive, but doesn't get put to shame either. Excellent work by everyone
involved.
03/07 : Liger vs Sasazaki
Even though Sasazaki is not a threat for Liger, the champ gives him a lot to make the match
good. Sano attacks Liger after the match.
(3) 13/07 : Jushin Liger vs Naoki Sano
Their first match at the Sumo Hall that ends on a double ten count. The two best juniors of the
year finally facing off to ignite the best feud of the year in terms of storytelling and psychology.
Contrary to what some may say, the spots and sequences haven't aged at all to me because all is
so clean and perfectly executed. Great stuff.
(10)08/08 : Liger & Nogami vs Sano & Hoshino
Key match in the Sano vs Liger feud, as Liger hurts his shoulder and Sano and Hoshino work
unmercifully on it. Hoshino is old and limited, but he is a sneaky little bastard. When Liger
finally gets to tag out, Nogami takes a classic bump in the railway on a tope and slices himself
open, which will play its importance on future Sano vs Liger matches. Work may be not be
stainless, but the story is great.
(1) 10/08 : Naoki Sano vs Jushin Liger
It's the Sumo Hall match during which Liger was wearing the protecting shoulder pad. The work
may not be as great as usual because of this, but I love the injury story so this gets the crown for
me. Both are just incredible, Liger as the wounded champion and Sano as the subtle heel
challenger. They play off their previous single and tag matches to work the smartest junior match
of the year. Not the best match in term of pure workrate, but my preference goes to this
incredibly dramatic title change, and Liger's first loss.
(2) 20/09 : Naoki Sano vs Jushin Liger
Only the last 7 minutes of this one are showed, but it's just incredible to witness, as these are the
best 7 minutes of the year as far as pure work goes. Not only that, but they continue to play off
their previous encounters with spots and counters like the suplex from the apron to the outside or
the suicide bump in the guardrail. The sequences and nearfalls are awesome.
Misc Junior Matches
The mix of old and new juniors delivered others very worthwhile matches.
11/07 : Liger vs Black Tiger
Two days before his first match against Sano, Liger defends his title against Black Tiger in a
British Rules match, with rounds of three minutes. Mark Rocco is still a decent worker, but he’s
pretty bland compared to Liger. This ain’t 1982 anymore.
(7) 28/07 : Jushin Liger vs Akira Nogami
Liger educates young Nogami by giving him a beating, but also enough offense to shine and get
some credible nearfalls. Nogami is a great athlete and shows a lot of fire, but he needs a carrier
like Liger to guide him during the match.What makes the match is clearly the quality of the work
and spots, as the story is not as good as the Sano match.
(8) 03/08 : Hase & Iizuka vs Sano & Nogami
The Sambo combi of Hase and Iizuka work as much with heavys as they do with juniors, but
here they got their best opposition. Sano and Nogami are the stars of the match and deliver great
high flying action which contrasted with Hase and Iizuka's submissions. The work is excellent all
along, but the match ends with the sickest bump of the year, as Nogami executes a plancha over
the metal guardrail and literally squash Iizuka against it.
(5)??/08 : Naoki Sano vs Akira Nogami
The best junior of the year against the best up and coming junior of the year. I take this match
over the Liger match, as Sano plays more a heel and Nogami tries harder to push him. Sano
carries Nogami to his best single match and gives him a lot considering Nogami is still way
beneath him in the rankings. A superb performance from Sano.
(7) ??/09 : Koshinaka & Sano vs Kobayashi & Hiro Saito
Yet another great match with the team of Koshinaka & Sano. Hiro & Kobayashi carry the match
playing heels, but always use their limited offense with much efficiency. Saito works a lot of
very quick sequences with Sano. Koshinaka brings his great intensity to the match and boosts the
pace. Sano is clearly the standout of the match, but not stealing the show as everyone makes a
notable contribution.
03/11 : Liger vs Iizuka
Ironically o-ne of the o-nly « junior o-nly » match for Iizuka. Pretty much the same thing as
Liger’s match with Nogami, except Iizuka pushes him a little harder with his sambo submissions.
However the match is less spectacular.
Best AJ/NJ TV matches of 1990 by Jerome Denis
Singles - The Usual Suspects
08/06 Jumbo vs Misawa
01/09 Jumbo vs Misawa
I like the second o-ne better because I support grumpy Jumbo.:)
14/09 Great Muta vs Hase
I didn't realize it was Muta's first match ever in NJ and Hase's first with the yellow and blue
tights that showed he was a heavyweight now. There was some damn good wrestling apart from
the blood.
31/08 Jumbo vs Kobashi
Jumbo disciplines Kobashi at Korakuen Hall o-ne day before his second match with Misawa. It's
just great stuff.
19/08 Vader vs Choshu (IWGP)
24/05 Choshu vs Mutoh
01/11 Choshu vs Hashimoto (IWGP)
I'm quite fond of these big Choshu matches. Often very basic, but also very efficient, and Choshu
just had *it* in term of charisma and intensity. Attacking Vader's injured (by Hansen) eye with
punches may not be spectacular, but it's as effective as anything as far as storytelling goes. His
matches with Hash are stiff and epic too. A different kind of epic than AJ's matches, of course,
but I love them nonetheless.
02/06 Hashimoto vs Mutoh
Damn good too, though it strikes me that Muto could be sloppy even in his prime, especially
compared to Chono.
05/06 Jumbo vs Gordy (TC)
19/04 Jumbo vs Tenryu (TC)
Not great, but still very good stuff.
In tags :
01/11 Mutoh & Chono vs Hase & Sasaki (IWGP Tag)
Best tag match of the year to me, a must see.
19/04 Williams & Gordy vs Hansen & Spivey (PWF Tag)
Best AJ tag match of the year, and I guess o-ne if not the best gaijin vs gaijin matches ever in
Japan. Just incredible.
28/05 Chono & Mutoh vs Koshinaka & Hase (IWGP Tag)
26/12 Hase & Sasaki vs Strong Machine & Hiro Saito (IWGP Tag)
13/12 Hase & Sasaki vs Koshinaka & Iizuka (IWGP Tag)
NJ really delivered the goods with these tag matches. The Blood Outlaws o-ne is the lesser o-ne,
but the other two are excellent and super heated.
21/11 Misawa & Kawada vs Kobashi & Ace (RWTL)
01/12 Jumbo & Taue vs Misawa & Kawada (RWTL)
The best two matches from the Tag League, which was a lot better than in 89. Taue and Ace
aren't very good, but the workers around make up for them. Plus, the second match is the perfect
conclusion to this year of Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co., and it's my favourite native tag match
from AJ
01/06 Jumbo & Kabuki vs Misawa & Kobashi
27/10 Jumbo & Inoue vs Misawa & Kawada
Some excellent stuff here, especially the Inoue match.
31/03 Can-Am vs Joe Malenko & Kobashi (All Asia)
01/09 Fantastics vs Joe Malenko & Kikuchi
Great junior flavored action. The All Asia scene was less interesting because the Can-Am left
very soon and the titles were vacated, but these two matches are superb. Kikuchi is just insane.
Six Man, the royal AJ category :
26/05 Misawa & Taue & Kobashi vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Fuchi
The match that launched Misawa vs Jumbo. Legendary and awesome all around.
18/08 Jumbo & Fuchi & Taue vs Misawa & Kawada & Kikuchi
First match with Taue taking his place alongside Jumbo. Yet another awesome match.
19/10 Jumbo & Taue & Fuchi vs Misawa & Kawada & Kobashi
Even better than the other two, and also taking place in super hot Korakuen Hall, this match is
the definitive Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co. match, at least in '90 (but I doubt I will find any
better). Welcome to old bastard city when Fuchi and Jumbo work o-n Kobashi's broken nose.
But this is o-nly o-ne part of this awesome match.
I think these three six man are my three favourite matches of the year, period.
Then you have different combinations of the same feud :
12/07 Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue vs Misawa & Kawada & Kobashi
17/07 Jumbo & Fuchi & Kabuki vs Misawa & Kobashi & Taue
21/08 Jumbo & Inoue & Fuchi vs Misawa & Kobashi & Kikuchi
Also some Tenryu & Revolution vs Jumbo and the Old Bastards. Tenryu is really really stiff
during this feud, much more than in early 89.
02/01 Tenryu & Footloose vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Takagi
11/01 Jumbo & Kabuki & Tiger Mask vs Tenryu & Footloose
25/01 Tenryu & Footloose vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue
24/02 Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue vs Tenryu & Footloose
24/03 Tenryu & Footloose vs Kabuki & Inoue & Nakano
Plus add a great gaijin vs gaijin match :
12/07 Williams & Gordy & Ace vs Hansen & Spivey & Deaton
It was a pretty weak year for the juniors though. My favourite is obviously
31/01 Liger vs Sano (IWGP Jr)
but beyond that there aren't a whole lot of great stuff.
05/05 Liger vs Koshinaka
This one is great. Shiro is not really a junior anymore, but they still pretend he is and they fight
as equals. Korakuen Hall is hot (as always during those days) and finally these two great workers
have the match they deserve together.
19/03 Liger vs Pegasus (IWGP Jr)
19/08 Liger vs Pegasus (IWGP Jr)
01/11 Liger vs Pegasus (IWGP Jr.)
Great stuff, but it left me a little flat. To be perfectly honest, the Choshu main events of the same
shows excited and interested me a lot more than these. Highspots.....
??/02 Liger vs Owen Hart
This o-ne I really loved, and Owen is as good as he could be back then. I wonder when exactly
did he blow out his knee.
Sano & Pegasus vs Liger & Nogami
Excellent match at the Dome, and possibly the debut of Pegasus. It's too damn bad Sano left for
SWS, because he was such a great foe for Liger. His absence left a real void, at least in my eyes.
The top wrestlers with comments o-n their notable matches and a ranked list of the year's best
matches by Jerome Denis
Akira Hokuto, Las Cachorras Orientales
01/04 Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue
Introducing: the two best workers of the year. Akira still looks like a Marine Wolf (sigh). Kyoko
decides in mid-match that wearing a mask is annoying, and perfectly ludicrous since it covers her
joyful and expressive face. They put up an excellent match and wipe the bad taste out of the
Korakuen crowd's collective mouth after the (Toyota vs. Yamada) debacle which just took place
in the same ring.
06/21 Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
Akira has become the evil Dangerous Queen after her trip in Mexico, and she teams with the new
CMLL champion to abuse bitchy mid-carder Takako Inoue, who's way out of her league. Super
fun match, especially if you enjoy the good looking girl being sadisticly beaten by large punkette
and fucked-up No fetishist. Kyoko rules it too, in case you wondered.
08/15 Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs Bull Nakano & Aja Kong
Akira doesn't like her pure and gentle partner. She lets her know her feelings during the match,
which amuses the large opposition. The issue of the match is not exactly in doubt, but it doesn't
keep the workers involved from delivering some great stuff. Akira shows what she means by
"Dangerous Queen", and Yamada works her ass off, like she ignored she still had 20 minutes to
go with Manami afterward.
08/30 Suzuka Minami & Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita &
Mima Shimoda
Best six-woman match I've seen this year. Mita and Shimoda are out of her league against Bull
and her veteran friends, but they just have to show some heart and will to their senpai. After all,
Akira was nice enough to give them the opportunity to tag with the best worker of the year and
to wear good looking outfits. It's basically a sprint, and a damn good o-ne.
11/26 Estuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Miyori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa
Mita and Shimoda jerking the curtain as LCO, paying dues against soft veteran Kamiya and soft
rookie Chikako.
11/26 Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue
My favourite match of the year, and it's pretty amazing as they make their first encounter look
like a dull match. It's full of workrate, clean execution, hot sequences, selling, teases and
whatnot. What can I say except that it's essential viewing to witness the two best wrestlers in
joshi working against each other and having the best single match of the year.
12/13 Kaoru Itoh & Miyori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda &
Saemi Numata
Another curtain jerking effort by LCO, and a chance to look at young Kaoru Itoh's talent.
12/13 Akira Hokuto vs Takako Inoue
Really fun match as Takako has virtually no chance of winning but Akira still makes you think
the impossible is not that out of reach. The biggest and best single match of Takako’s career at
this point.
Mariko Yoshida
01/04 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
Yoshida and Takako enlighten the undercard all year long, but this match against proto-LCO
Mita & Shimoda (who were going nowhere) is merely an introduction to their talent.
04/25 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa
When the two best undercarders (Yoshida and Debbie) meet in a tag match at Korakuen Hall,
supported by good partners (well, semi-good as far as Sakie goes), and everybody work their ass
off, what happens? They put 95% of the other tag matches of the year to shame. The crowd is
going wild. Me too.
06/21 Mariko Yoshida vs Sakie Hasegawa
30 minutes is a long time for anybody in singles. Sakie is not that good of a worker then,
(sloppily) overusing her rolling savate, and working your ass off doesn't always translate into
quality. Mariko is God, and the two youngsters go broadway, get some great heat (Yoshida is
over like hell with the Korakuen crowd) and show up the veterans working the main event.
06/27 Mariko Yoshida vs Etsuko Mita
Nice little All Japan title defense by Yoshida. Mita is Akira's second, so she heels up o-n
Mariko's injured shoulder. Mariko is just a master at making the audience think that she will
loose (read, great nearfalls with dazed look afterward, asking to the referee "It wasn't three, was
it?").
07/15 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Mima Shimoda & Debbie Malenko
Not half as good as it should have been because Debbie screws up her ankle o-n a plancha. Still
some nice stuff though.
07/15 Mariko Yoshida vs Sakie Hasegawa
Just following her tag title defense, Yoshida has to defend the All Japan title against her rival.
Not nearly as great as the 30 minutes draw, but Sakie vs Yoshida is always enjoyable.
08/30 Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota
Semi-final of the Japan Grand Prix. Yoshida upset Kyoko earlier in the night, and there she goes
as the super underdog. Manami doesn't quite understand what this match could have been and
kinda works o-n autopilot. It's still very good because she doesn't screw up, and Mariko is her old
great self.
Kyoko Inoue
04/25 Kyoko Inoue vs Manami Toyota
Long match. Too long apparently, especially since they don't seem to be o-n the same page.
Kyoko badly outworks Toyota; Toyota sells badly. Still good because they can deliver the big
spots.
06/27 Kyoko Inoue & Akira Hokuto vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
It's not easy to enjoy it because it's the worst Yamada/Toyota match of the year. It's also the
worst Hokuto match of the year (excluding her CMLL match with Bull in which she was
injured). It's also the worst Kyoko match of the year. I still enjoyed it to some point, so go figure.
Recommended to sloppiness and blown spot lovers.
07/05 Kyoko Inoue vs Mariko Yoshida
Good Golly Miss Molly!!! Another 30 minute draw and Yoshida ends up in another great match.
But this time she's not the best worker in the ring, amazingly. I can't say enough good thing
about this half-hour of JGP, full of great sequences, killing work and even really fun comedy. I
simply love it. And that's all.
07/15 Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
It takes the awesome talent of Kyoko and the ever improving Aja Kong to finally give
Yamada/Toyota a match that can live up to their reputation of "greatest team of joshi". I think
there's something tricky about the 2/3 falls, because it's a bit of a systematic formula (especially
the second fall). But it's the finest example of this genre delivered by the Zenjo troops.
08/15 Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda
& Cynthia Moreno
Kyoko leads the best undercard team into a very good match against LCO and this particular
Moreno sister, who was a cool luchadora. It's speedy, lucha infected and super fun. The
Korakuen crowd, as usual with Kyoko and Mariko, gets hot.
08/30 Kyoko Inoue vs Mariko Yoshida
For a second time, they deliver an excellent match. The approach is very different from their 30
min draw, as this is a qualifying match for a JGP semi-final, and Kyoko isn't in the mood to joke
around. Yoshida plays a great underdog, nearly loses and wins several times, before scoring the
upset. Check Kyoko's look after the match: if you're not sad for her, you've got no heart.
12/13 Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
Same teams working a straight tag match at Korakuen for the Tag League Final. Taking nothing
away from Yamada and Toyota, Kyoko and Aja are the best team again, even better than in their
previous encounter. Great antics by Aja, who's never been better this year. Kyoko is rewarded
after being a trooper all year long (jobbing two single titles, elevating Yoshida) by pinning
everybody's favourite princess. Awesome.
Mayumi Ozaki
07/09 Mayumi Ozaki vs Dynamite Kansai
The JWP elite is nothing short of great. Dynamite is a mix between Aja and Yamada. Ozaki's
stiff elbows make her the sexiest Misawa ever. The most fascinating thing about Ozaki is her
aura of tought girl. She's small and light, but she looks as tough and badass as Dynamite. I won't
reveal my wet dream of being beat up by Ozaki with "Venus in furs" in the background, so I'll
o-nly mention that this match is quite slow, early JWP style, but extremely good.
08/09 Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito
Final of the tag tournament to crown the first JWP tag champions. It's a "2 count" match, and I
admit it makes things quite interesting. Ozaki vs Dynamite is always a pleasure. Cuty is certainly
the worst worker pushed o-n the top of the cards at this point, but she's not bad and always works
hard. The best surprise in this match is the work of Sumiko Saito, nice underdog and nice
worker.
10/22 Mayumi Ozaki & Candy Okutsu vs Plum Mariko & Sumiko Saito
Good little match that features the august talent of Plum Mariko, the most underused worker in
joshi at this point, and Candy Okutsu, who was very young but worked circles around other JWP
up and comers like Hikari Fukuoka.
11/26 Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
What can be said? That it's the best match of the year, and probably of the decade? That Ozaki
and Dynamite are better than their Zenjo counterparts? That it's the first interpromotionnal main
event, and therefore the heat and intensity were off the chart? Let's say something negative to be
an ass: the final count is blown, which is too damn bad. Who hasn't seen this match by now?
12/01 Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka vs Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta
Second interpromotional main event, this time hosted by JWP. Hikari isn't quite up to the
challenge but doesn't embarrass herself either. Takako takes her chance to shine as a real bitch,
and is the star of her team. Standing next to her, Hotta is all stiff, but can thank the opposition for
making her look really good. Oz is as bitchy as ever. Great heat, good stuff.
Aja Kong
01/04 Bison Kimura & Aja Kong vs Bull Nakano & Bat Yoshinaga
Good little brawling match. It never gets too great because Bat is in the house and they all
wander a bit, but it's still nice.
04/25 Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong
Excellent, impressive brawl by the two queens of grotesque. Bull is still clearly the superior
worker, as Aja kinda kills the pace o-n occasion and does some bad looking stuff. It's a bit long
and slow, but the final minutes are great.
06/21 Bison Kimura vs Aja Kong
I always loved this match, despite all its flaws. There's the headbutt from hell, to which Debbie
Malenko (on commentary) openly cringes. There's the flow of blood o-n Bison's head. There's
unbelievable stiffness. It's a real guilty pleasure of mine, as I love to see Bison get her ass handed
to her. The submission ending, if "logical", doesn't work well as shown by the (lack of) crowd
reaction. They should have bashed their heads in for good all the way.
07/05 Manami Toyota vs Aja Kong
A JGP match. And a dumb o-ne too. Manami leads the way of stupidity, but Aja follows and
even exceeds the princess of bad selling. If you've never seen the Korakuen Hall corridors, Aja
will make for a great tour guide. There's some goodness too, but it's deeply hidden.
08/30 Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada
JGP semi-final. Aja beats the shit out of Yamada, which is always fun. It's a very good match,
and it's also a very good way to realize that Yamada is a better worker than her partner.
08/30 Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota
A disappointing JGP final. Aja and Manami don't exactly rock the house. Like in her match with
Yoshida, Manami gives a very subdued performance. It's certainly nothing bad, but it won't leave
a mark o-n the viewers mind.
11/26 Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong
The final chapter in Aja's chase of the akai belt. Not as good as their previous match, but it's
more emotional to me, if o-nly because of the nifty tribute Aja pays to all of the Jungle Jack
members (especially Bison, whose retirement was a great moment taking place a few minutes
before the match). Bull is still the better of the two by the way.
Toshiyo Yamada
04/25 Bison Kimura vs Toshiyo Yamada
My undying love for Bison is the major reason why I enjoy this match, because it's nothing
memorable.
06/21 Toshiyo Yamada vs Manami Toyota
A no time limit match, which was a scary thought considering the bad job they did with 40
minutes. But this time they are o-n. It's not the most exciting match to me, but no o-ne can deny
the high quality of work. Excellent stuff.
07/05 Bull Nakano & Etsuko Mita vs Toshiyo Yamada & Takako Inoue & Sakie Hasegawa
Very fun handicap match. Hokuto is at ringside in case her kohai gets in trouble. Bull squashes
Takako and Sakie, and Toshiyo is their o-nly hope to shine against the monstruous queen.
Interesting mix.
08/15 Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada
The o-nly match of their legendary series that lives up to the hype, but it sure makes up for
whatever negative things they did during the year. Yamada's performance is nothing short of
extraordinary considering she just worked another great match (even if it was a tag, which
allowed her to rest). Manami's performance is nothing short of mind-blowing since for o-ne
magic night, she hits everything she wants to, and it's a thing of beauty. It's the definitive
Manami/Yamada match that defines their style: speed/workrate/speed/workrate.
Debbie Malenko
01/04 Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta
Debbie, the best gaijin worker ever in joshi puroresu! And she's not exactly holding this title by
default. She simply ruled all year long, carrying young and spotty Sakie o-n her back and piling
good match after good match. This is o-ne of their best, against two veterans who were pushed
back to work with youngsters in the undercard. Very good stuff.
06/27 Debbie Malenko vs Sakie Hasegawa
Good little JGP match between the two partners, and not surprisingly, Debbie is clearly superior.
Too bad she wasn't allowed to shine more.
08/30 Debbie Malenko & Takako Inoue vs Kaoru Itoh & Miyori Kamiya
Interesting match that features both Malenko and the young and already talented Itoh. The result
is quite enjoying, as Kamiya is soft as ever, but doesn't hurt the match.
12/13 Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs Bat Yoshinaga & Tomoko Watanabe
The team reforms (with a Steiner influence o-n their look and antics) to challenge for the vacant
All Japan Tag titles. The opposition is not quite there though, and Bat ends up looking better
than Watanabe. Way too long and flat. Yoshida giving away her belt before the match is
depressing. Fucking injuries…
Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta
06/27 Suzuka Minami & Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta vs Aja Kong & Miyori Kamiya & Terri
Power
07/05 Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs Debbie Malenko & Terri Power
11/26 Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs Takako Inoue & Terri Power
12/13 Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta vs Bull Nakano & Terri Power
Former WWWA Tag champs (with different partners) Minami and Hotta were a nice veteran
team working o-n the undercards. They rarely got an opportunity to shine, as they had the
difficult task of teaching the willing but not-so-good gaijin Terri Power how to work. The results
were uneven, going from painful (the last match), to rather fun (the trio match). Minami is
Zenjo's version of Plum Mariko: I love to watch her but she's stuck in moderately interesting
matches.
Cuty Suzuki
07/09 Devil Masami vs Cuty Suzuki
09/15 Mayumi Ozaki vs Cuty Suzuki
10/22 Commando Bolshoi vs Cuty Suzuki
12/01 Dynamite Kansai vs Cuty Suzuki
I have a soft spot in my heart for Cuty. She's not a very good worker, but she always works hard
to make up for her physical limitations. Plus she's able to bust out some pretty good stuff you
wouldn't except from her (she can execute a dragon suplex, yes she can). These matches are
pretty much all clipped, except for the last o-ne, which is also the best. It's a JWP single title
match (the very first o-ne actually) with the "2 counts" rule, and it works pretty well. Cuty is
both a bitch and a victim, and I enjoy her despite all her (numerous) flaws.
Why???
06/27 Takako Inoue vs Mima Shimoda
Nothing special about this JGP match, but it's a nice little o-ne. There are probably some very
impure reasons why I enjoy it that much.
08/29 Rumi Kazama vs Shinobu Kandori
The main event of LLPW's very first show. It defines what the promotion is all about: Kandori is
a beast who slaps very very hard and who can break your body in half if you piss her off. Rumi
deserves all the credit in the world and knows how to put her own monster over. She kicks hard
and takes her beating, so she deserves her spot in my heart. The match itself, well, is not
particulary good.
11/26 Kaoru Itoh vs Tomoko Watanabe
Kaoru Itoh is certainly not Yoshida, so the All Japan title matches don't look quite the same, but
she shows a whole lot of potential, whereas Watanabe shows a whole lot of sloppiness.
Interesting if o-nly to see Itoh win her first single title.
Surprise! You suck!
01/04 Toshiyo Yamada vs Manami Toyota
It's good for 20 minutes, then it goes downhill fast. Very fast and pretty low. And when they get
to the overtimes, it gets down fast and low. Very low. Embarrassing to watch these two workers
deliver such a dog.
08/29 Noriyo Tateno & Harley Saito vs Miki Handa & Utako Hozumi
This should have been good. This was gonna be good since it involves the old heelish Tateno
(watch from who Takako learned the armdrag) and kicking machine Harley. Handa and Hozumi
seem competent. Except this went more than 35 minutes. Yep. That long. So it went down the
crapper.
10/07 Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs Dynamite Kansai & Hikari Fukuoka
Incredible! Ozaki is her old self, but Hikari nearly ruins the match by herself by blowing spots
left and right. Like her showing absolutely nothing to her opposition wasn't enough. Where are
Saito or Plum when you need them? Unforgivable, but don't put the blame o-n Oz.
10/22 Dynamite Kansai vs Devil Masami
It's edited, and it's a good thing, because 30 minutes is obviously too long for two monsters like
them. Even edited, it's an excellent sleeping pill.
Here are my essential matches of 1992:
Single:
1: 11/26 Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue (22 :16)
2: 08/15 Manami Toyota vs Toshiyo Yamada (19 :43)
3: 07/05 Kyoko Inoue vs Mariko Yoshida (30 :00)
4: 06/21 Mariko Yoshida vs Sakie Hasegawa (30 :00)
5: 01/04 Akira Hokuto vs Kyoko Inoue (24 :54)
6: 07/09 Mayumi Ozaki vs Dynamite Kansai (25 :11)
7: 04/25 Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong (21 :40)
8: 08/30 Kyoko Inoue vs Mariko Yoshida (15:22)
9: 11/26 Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong (20:19)
Tag:
1: 11/26 Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota
(14:38//1:43//24:01)
2: 12/13 Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota (27:06)
3: 04/25 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa (18
:12)
4: 07/15 Kyoko Inoue & Aja Kong vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota (15 :08//5
:50//12 :42)
5: 08/15 Akira Hokuto & Toshiyo Yamada vs Bull Nakano & Aja Kong (19:21)
6: 12/01 Takako Inoue & Yumiko Hotta vs Mayumi Ozaki & Hikari Fukuoka (22:05)
7: 06/21 Akira Hokuto & Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue (16 :17)
8: 08/09 Mayumi Ozaki & Cuty Suzuki vs Dynamite Kansai & Sumiko Saito (18:37)
9: 01/04 Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa vs Suzuka Minami & Yumiko Hotta (15:46)
6-women tag:
1: 08/30 Suzuka Minami & Bull Nakano & Yumiko Hotta vs Akira Hokuto & Etsuko Mita
& Mima Shimoda (17 :52)
2: 08/15 Kyoko Inoue & Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Etsuko Mita & Mima
Shimoda & Cynthia Moreno (15 :38)