Quebrada

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

column #18

March 12, 1997

All Japan

One of the two most exciting times of the All Japan year is upon us. This year’s Champion Carnival tour will run from 3/22-4/17 with the final taking place on 4/19 at Tokyo Budokan Hall. The Carnival, a round-robin singles tournament, began in 1973 with Giant Baba defeating Mark Lewin in the finals. It continued as a yearly event until 1982, with Baba winning 7 times, Abdullah the Butcher winning 2 dark years (1976 & 1979) and Jumbo Tsuruta winning in 1980. No tournament was held from 1983-1990, but it was revived in 1991, with Tsuruta winning his second. All the subsequent Carnivals were won by workers involved this year as Stan Hansen took it in 1992 & 1993, Toshiaki Kawada in 1994, Mitsuharu Misawa in 1995, and Akira Taue last year.

The Carnival has been expanded from 12 participants in 1996 to 13. The extra worker was most likely added because there’s a lot of workers that AJ wants to protect. Adding a bottom rung guy will add 2 points (a win is worth 2 points and a draw is worth one) to pretty much everyone’s record, thus making everyone’s showing seem stronger.

As usual, the Carnival can go in many directions and I certainly don’t have all the answers, but it looks like there are three legitimate contenders to win it-Kawada, Taue, and Misawa-with anyone else being a dark horse.

Mitsuharu Misawa is still the man in All Japan, but I wouldn’t have him win the Carnival. I think the Carnival should be used to set up the next title shot, which should either be on one of the two Sapporo shows in May or the June Budokan Hall show. I don’t think Misawa needs to win the Carnival again. He’s already got the Triple Crown and his ring work brings him all the credibility in the world. AJ has a lot of problems, but not having a strong enough champion isn’t one of them. Misawa was 7-2-2 last year for 16 points. A Carnival win would further establish Misawa’s dominance, which would just put him that much farther ahead of the pack. Since everyone knows that Misawa rarely does a job, winning the Carnival would make people think that his challengers have even less chance of beating him for the title. The last time the Triple Crown holder won the Carnival was Hansen in 1992, so is the title holder overdue?

I could see Toshiaki Kawada winning this year. He pinned Misawa on 12/6 in tag, so that combined with wining the Carnival would make him a really strong contender for the Triple Crown. On the other hand, the last time AJ ran Kawada vs. Misawa at Budokan Hall was July 24, 1995 with Misawa winning in 24:16. AJ hasn’t been getting legitimate sellouts at Budokan Hall for every show anymore, but that title matchup should pack the house legit regardless of how strong Kawada looks coming in. Kawada has never pinned Misawa in a singles match, so everyone knows it’s got to come sometime soon. People would attend just to see a great match and the possibility of Kawada’s first win. Kawada was 6-2-3 for 15 points last year. Misawa and Kawada have had draws during the Carnival for the past 4 years (1994 non-tourney). They meet on 3/30 in Nagoya. Misawa may pin him this year, but another draw is a possibility. Kawada’s due to get a renewed singles push this year, it’s just a matter of when and how.

The other front runner is last years winner, Akira Taue. Taue’s singles push has been decreased since losing the Triple Crown to Kobashi on 7/24/96 at Budokan Hall. That match, which went 27:25, is really the last long singles match Taue has worked. His 1/20/97 loss to Jun Akiyama came in just 4:48. I’m not saying that Taue can’t do a long match any more by any means, just that his stamina may be a factor somewhere in the tournament. Taue’s got a couple things on his side. Baba puts a high stock on seniority, and Taue’s the oldest (35) of the big 5. We all know about Baba’s preference of size and Taue’s also the largest of the big 5. Maybe the main thing with Taue is that he needs more wins than the other top guys because, unlike Kobashi, he doesn’t have the workrate to back him up. It’s not that Taue isn’t respected by any means, he’s simply not thought of as highly as the other guys in the big five because AJ is a workrate league and they are simply better workers. Since Taue owes Misawa a job, having him win the Carnival is probably the most logical thing. Winning back to back would more than make up for his lack of singles push over the past half year. Let Taue defeat Misawa in the league portion, so Taue would have two wins in a row over Misawa. Then in the finals, have Taue vs. Kawada and have Taue win. This would add to Kawada’s problems in singles, as his partner would have two consecutive pins on Misawa in singles and he’d be 0-for-life. Then, when you match Kawada vs. Misawa later in the year, people might actually be more interested because Kawada would be "overdue."

I think Kenta Kobashi has a chance to make the finals, but I’d be pretty shocked if he won the tournament. With Kobashi, it always goes back to the Baba reasoning that the older guys should be pushed. Taue, Misawa, & Kawada are older and it’s no coincidence that I have them as the possible winners. Looking deeper at Kobashi, he just had his title run. The way things work in AJ, that title run should keep him strong for months and again it goes back to the fact that holding the Triple Crown showed his growth. Most importantly though, Kobashi and Misawa just fought on 1/20 in Osaka with Misawa winning the Triple Crown in 42:06. Since this was a classic, they might try running it again, but I really can’t see Kobashi vs. Misawa being run 3 times (1/20, 3/28 Nagaoka-league portion of Carnival, and either 5/97 or 6/97 would be Kobashi’s shot at the Triple Crown) in the first 6 months of 1997. Baba says Kobashi will never fight Hayabusa, so he’s either working the audience or the idea has been totally scrapped. Hayabusa and a masked man called Tornado will meet Maunakea Mossman & Satoro Asako on 4/2. Those guys are a far cry from Kobashi’s standing. I don’t think the Hayabusa thing will have anything to do with Kobashi’s push in the Carnival. Last year, Kobashi was 7-2-2 for 16 points, which meant he finished tie for third with Misawa & Hansen. Kobashi shouldn’t finish with fewer points this year, and should definitely be in the hunt throughout.

Coming out of last year’s final, it appeared that this years Carnival would be won by Steve Williams. Williams made his return to AJ after roughly a year’s absence. Since they care about athletic credibility in Japan, they don’t book "storybook" comebacks. Basically, no one would expect a guy who’s barely wrestled in a year to win the Carnival, so he proved everything he could by just going to the finals. To continue that push, he would win this year because now he’s been wrestling full time for the whole year. I don’t know if that was ever the plan, but if it was, it’s certainly been changed. Doc’s conditioning is really poor. He’s old, slow, and his mobility is pretty bad. His flexibility has declined to the point where he’s having trouble rolling with moves. He’s slipping to the current level of Hansen. With that said, he won’t win the Carnival for one reason, he just had a title shot on 3/1. Maybe if the match was a classic, they’d be willing to go back to it again, but this match was far from a classic. Among other problems, Williams wasn’t selling right and he wasn’t no selling right. Given the fact that Williams is over the hill, it still sounds like the match wasn’t even close to the level you would expect. Williams was 7-2-3 last year for 17 points. I don’t know how much he will slip. His point total may not slip much at all, especially with the extra win for most this year, but I’d say that the finals are a long shot.

I sure hope that Stan Hansen doesn’t get one last run. Hansen was great at one time, great for a long time. He’s had a lot of classic matches in the past, but the key word is the past. The guy is washed up beyond belief right now. He’s been reduced to a barely mobile stiff guy who can’t sell a move that requires an athletic bump. I don’t think he’s the type of guy that should be put in the comedy match, but if he wants to hang around there’s really no other place for him. I know Baba will protect Hansen in the tournament, which will highly frustrate me. I think Hansen should be used to put over some of the middle of the pack guys, which would give them credibility. I’d certainly have Akiyama beat Hansen. I think this is possible, but I wouldn’t put money on it. I’d also have Ace beat Hansen, but I doubt that would happen. Last year Hansen was 7-2-2 with 16 points. They’ll either go one of two ways with him. Either he’ll have his last "glorious run" and make it to the finals or he’ll "show his age" and fall from the top level. I’m certainly hoping for the latter.

Baba is too conservative to have Jun Akiyama win. Akiyama, 27, has been pushed faster than any of the current top stars, but he’s not going to be moved up to their level in the Carnival. To me, Akiyama is the most enjoyable AJ worker to watch. He’s still young, so he’s more interested in doing good stuff with the up and comers like Mossman. I think the youth keeps him consistently motivated and even though Kobashi is still both the best in AJ and my favorite in AJ, the more motivated Akiyama will outwork him in the six mans and lower level matches. Akiyama was an abysmal 2-8-1 for 5 points last year. There’s no question that he’ll move up. The question is how far. I think he’ll beat Kimala II, Omori, Izumida, & Honda, so that’s 8 points right there. He might do a draw with a top star like Kobashi, Kawada, or Misawa, which would show his growth. He should get a win or possible two over the middle of the pack guys such as Ace or Albright. So that would give him 10-11 points. A win or draw with Williams or Hansen isn’t out of the question. I’d say 9 points would be the bare minimum and 14 would be the absolute maximum. Baba will continue to put experience over workrate and Akiyama will have to pay his dues.

Johnny Ace, who as far as I’m concerned is the best working American wrestler in the world, will be somewhere in the middle of the pack. Ace is far better than the other American’s in All Japan, but he’s still below Hansen & Williams on the pecking tree and on par with Albright. Ace is used predominantly in tag, so he’ll probably end up doing more jobs than he should. Ace was 3-5-3 last year for 9 points. Ace still hasn’t pinned Kobashi, so that may be his upset in the tournament. As I mentioned before, they might give him a win over Hansen if Hansen’s going to move down and join Ace, Albright, & Akiyama in the mid level. I see Ace remaining about stagnant. He probably picks up around 3 points over last year because he’s got an extra match. He’s got the ability to go long, so maybe a draw against a top worker, such as Misawa on 4/17, is in the cards. Hopefully he wins the gimme matches and at least surpasses Albright. *Calling Ace the best working American is the grossest misjudgement of talent I ever made, I hope. He had some really impressive performances in tag in '95 and '96, but was never nearly as good as he showed in those matches, especially in singles, and was already declining by the time I made this brilliant proclamation. His goofy expressions were a hamper to credibility when he finally did get his singles push*

Gary Albright, the man with the killer suplexes, was at the top of the mid level last year with a 5-4-2 record for 12 points. I think Albright also remains about stagnant. I think that within his group, he will probably drop this year. I can’t see Akiyama or Ace doing a lower level job this year, so that means Albright may get the unenviable job of putting over a guy like Kimala II. On the other hand, Baba seeing the decline of Williams and Hansen, might drop them and move Albright up. I just see too many guys that have push or workrate on Albright to think that he’s going to move up. I’d look for Albright to fall into the bottom half this year, maybe even as low as ninth.

Giant Kimala II should finish in 10th or 11th place. He’s a fat bum that used to be Abdullah the Butcher’s tag team partner. This basically entailed working most of the match and then being pinned if the team was losing that night. I have no idea why he has any push, but he does have a little one. The most interesting thing will be seeing how he fares against Omori, Honda, or Izumida. One or possible two of those guys will pin him. He wasn’t involved in the Carnival last year, and in that respect last year’s Carnival was better than this year’s.

Jun Izumida is another of the bottom rung guys. This is his first chance in the Carnival. From what I’ve seen, I hope it’s also his last. He’s 31-years-old and he’s proven nothing. The only think notable about him is the face paint, but it won't distract from the poor quality of his matches. He’ll put up below five points.

Takao Omori has a really impressive track record in the Carnival. In 1995, he posting a whopping 0-10-0 record for 0 points. In 1996, he showed his growth by increasing his record to 1-10-0 for 2 points. Omori never really lived up to his potential. He showed potential when he worked against Akiyama in 1994, but since then he hasn’t really improved. He’s the best of the bottom feed because, although he’s not good, you can get some enjoyment out of his work. He might make big strides this year and get 3 points, but he’s not beating anyone good on the way.

Tamon Honda is another of the bottom rung participants. This guy has the background to be one of the most dangerous pro wrestlers in a NHB competition. Unfortunately, his amateur background doesn’t show up in his ring work. The guy is getting old (34) and he hasn’t shown any improvement. I would say that he’s old enough that it’s about time for AJ to give up on him, but he was an old rookie when he debuted on 10/8/93. I can’t think of anything good to say about him. He does these stupid facials on his really annoying headbutts that make a serious match into a joke. He reminds me of a slimmer version of Hiromuchi Fuyuki at times, which certainly isn’t a compliment. Honda finished in last place last year with a 0-10-1 record. He’ll get a pin on someone this year, but he’s not going anywhere.

The idea of booking a tournament like this is to book it for maximum drama, which will keep and hold interest throughout. This means that you keep as many people bunched together as possible and don’t eliminate guys until absolutely necessary. The final key matches in the tournament are: 4/13 in Kanazawa-Misawa vs. Hansen, 4/14 in Niigata-Kawada vs. Taue & Kobashi vs. Williams, 4/15 in Koriyama-Akiyama vs. Williams & Taue vs. Hansen, & 4/17 in Soka-Misawa vs. Ace. Take note that I only have the key matches in front of me when you read this, so I may be missing some obvious wins against the bottom level guys. If Kawada’s going to make the finals, he’ll probably have to beat Taue on 4/14. This could leave Taue needing a win on 4/15 vs. Hansen and I could easily see him winning that match. Williams will most likely be in the mix until the end. It’s possible he could come in with a lead and then maybe draw Kobashi. This could set him up to need a win against Akiyama. Keeping Williams out of the finals, via draw or win could be Akiyama’s big accomplishment in the tourney. Something big at the end like this will allow him to finish around 6th, yet still show a lot of growth. In theory, I’ve established that Kawada and Taue are leading Misawa coming into the final night, which is Misawa vs. Ace. This would allow for maximum drama. Like Akiyama, Ace will probably finish in the middle of the pack. If they want Misawa in the finals, Misawa will beat Ace in a long match (draw teased) and knock out either Kawada or Taue. I’d have to say that if they are going with Misawa in the finals, Kawada will be the one knocked out. Again, they can go back to Kawada vs. Misawa later in the year. If they don’t want Misawa in the finals, then it will have to be a situation where he needs a pin to advance and Ace holds him to a 30 minute draw. A draw with Misawa would be Ace’s crowning achievement and like Akiyama, more than make up for his middle of the road finish. Of course, you could also go the other way and say that the Kobashi vs. Williams winner is the one who’s ahead and they will make the finals. This would again leave Kawada, Taue, and Misawa to fight over the other spot in the finals, with the one getting that spot most likely winning it all. Another of the endless possibilities is give Hansen one last big run before he hangs up the bullrope. He could beat Taue on 4/15 and make it to the finals. There are certainly endless possibilities when it comes to this and I don’t have all the answers by any means, but look for Misawa vs. Ace on 4/17 to decide if Misawa makes the finals or not. Again, note that I’m only looking at the key matches, so the things I’ve proposed might look incorrect the second you see the full match list.

All Japan Women

The first major flop of 1997 will be their annual spring card at Yokohama Arena on 3/23. This is traditionally an excellent card, but all the stars are another year older and this lineup is really weak for a 17,000 seat arena.

The main event is Kyoko Inoue defending the AJW version of the Triple Crown (WWWA, IWA, & All-Pacific Titles) against Aja Kong. This promises to be an excellent match. It will be very stiff with excellent building and psychology. Since Aja is so huge, Kyoko’s extra tonnage might actually be good for this one match. Aja’s push has been reduced recently. She belongs in the main event, but putting her there coming off major losses to Ito, Toyota, etc. isn't the way to pop a crowd. This is Kyoko’s 1st title defense and I don’t see her dropping the title yet.

The other main title match has the extremely weak championship team of Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa vs. Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida. Watanabe is someone who should be the second person on a WWWA championship team and Maekawa shouldn’t even be in the running. Takako & Yoshida earned the title shot by defeating Toyota & Ito in 20:04 on 2/15 at Hakata Star Lanes. Takako & Yoshida are clearly the better team, but AJW is committed or maybe I should say forced to push some young girls, so lousy Maekawa will probably keep the title.

When you have the combination of Manami Toyota, a capable opponent, and a major show, you can pretty much guarantee it will be a **** match. Unfortunately, the element missing here is that it’s usually a match with some drawing power. Despite her recent push which includes a draw against Aja, I don’t see anyone giving Kaoru Ito a chance to win. Ito has improved as much as any of the older women in the league over the past half of year, so the match quality will definitely be there. I just think Ito will always be thought of as the lowest ranking member of Team Toyota and it’ll be hard to get heat for this match because the outcome is basically a given.

The classic team of Mima Shimoda & Etsuko Mita will face Yumiko Hotta & Toshiyo Yamada. This should be a good to very good match. Mita is coming off a knee injury, so Hotta & Yamada will most likely deliver super stiff kicks to her injured knee. This one could go either way, but Mita will probably do the job for athletic credibility reasons.

In an interpromotional match, the Gaea team of Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato will face Genki Misae & Sayo Endo. I really feel sorry for the Oz Academy duo here. Both have a ton of potential and with the guidance of Mayumi Ozaki should become very good workers. They looked really good at AJW’s Rising Generation Queens Carnival show on 9/1/96, having the second best match on the show with Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa. Against Genki & Sayo, they won’t have a chance to come close to the ***1/2 star match they had on 9/1. As far as I’m concerned, AJW should write the 24-year-old Genki off as a failed experiment and move on. When a female workers prime is generally from 22-24, what’s the point of having a 24-year-old prelim worker that hasn’t showed anyone a thing? Sayo’s in the same boat as she turns 24 on 4/22 and hasn’t shown a thing either. *Based on Neo, it seems that her opponents putting over her size and Genki adopting an offense that helped utilize it was much of the difference between poor Genki and good Genki*

The only other match I know of is Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa in a tag match against two workers from Gaea. Tamada’s effective in tag now, Fukawa’s mediocre and the Gaea workers are probably better than Fukawa so it might be decent.

Last years spring show, Wrestling Queendom’96 drew an announced 12,500. There’s no way they will draw that this year. They are looking at a half empty house for this one. There’s no dream matches, no key interpromotional matches, nothing special like Sakie Hasegawa’s retirement. Aside from the main event, there’s nothing with major arena drawing power. In the period from 1992-1994, they had some stronger lineups at Korakuen Hall. I wish this would be successful, but there’s little hope.

FMW

Atsushi Onita will return to the ring on the next major show, 3/14 at Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center. Onita will team with Masato Tanaka, Tetsuhiro Kuroda, & Koji Nakagawa against Hisakatsu Oya, The Gladiator, & The Headhunters in a tornado street fight death match. This should be the typical wild brawl, with the match quality hinging on what Head Hunters show up. If the Head Hunters finally show up with their working boots on this could be a very good death match, but if not at least Oya, Gladiator, Tanaka, and Onita guarantee that something interesting will happen.

The other key match is Megumi Kudo vs. Shinobu Kandori, which should be the culmination of their feud. The storyline is that although Kandori won the other encounters, Kandori has never defeated Kudo in her match, a death match. This will be a no rope barbed wire match, which means it will probably be more like the 1/5/97 Korakuen Hall blood bath then the 12/11/96 Komazawa match. This match doesn’t interest me in the slightest. Kandori has never shown an interest in selling for anyone, even men, as it might tarnish her tough women image. Since Kudo should finally get a win here, Kandori will most likely use that as an excuse to have Kudo sell for her most of the time. In addition, there’s an obvious style clash. On 12/11, Kandori forced her slow lazy style no- sell style on Kudo. Rule of thumb is to always expect Kandori to not get her way, so this will probably not be enjoyable again. Kudo has proved that she can do a death match properly in the past though. Certainly the Combat Toyoda match on 5/5/96 was excellent with the steeped up psychology and build, which made each gimmick bump they took effective. This should be a double juice match. I’ve never enjoyed someone with the talent and looks of Kudo slicing herself up, but that goes into how people should be used and the reality of FMW is the top stars are going to be in bloody gimmick matches. At least FMW made and released "Squall," the new Kudo modeling tape, prior to this match.

The other women’s match on the card is Eriko "Shark" Tsuchiya vs. Kaori Nakayama. This is the match of the future in the FMW women’s division, if there is a future. Shark is the top female heel in the promotion and Kaori will be the #1 female babyface once Kudo retires. To my knowledge, this is the first ever singles meeting between the two. There will probably be a lot of problems here. The main difference is size. There’s a 32kg size difference and Kaori only weighs 52kg. To give you an idea of how big 52kg is, Chaparrita ASARI, who’s been rumored as a possible opponent for Kaori in AJW, is listed at the same weight. Kaori’s a pretty effective flyer when she has someone that can sell for her, but with the size difference and Shark’s lack of athleticism she’ll probably make Kaori’s spots look really bad. Kaori turns 19 on 3/14 and I don’t think this match will make a nice birthday present.

Hiromuchi’s Fuyuki’s first step toward unifying the independent six man titles should take place here. Fuyuki along with his usual cronies Jado & Gedo will meet the FMW team of W*ING Kanemura, Hido, & Hideki Hosaka. The winners of this match get a title shot at Oya & The Head Hunters on 3/21 at the Miyagi Prefecture Center. For what it’s worth, Fuyuki’s new group, which debuts on 3/29, is going to be called PLAY. It should be average too good when Fuyuki is on the ring apron.

The last main match is Hayabusa & Ricky Fuji vs. Mr. Gannosuke & Katsutoshi Niiyama. Fuji is the best of these four and for some reason he seems to work better when he’s in with guys that are worse than him, so maybe he’ll be good here. I’ve heard Gannosuke has gained a lot of weight, but I haven’t seen it so I don’t know if it’s affected his workrate. Hayabusa will surely do some nice high spots, but the match will lack build, psychology, and transitions into Hayabusa’s spots.

Pancrase

The next show is on 3/22 in Nagoya. This isn’t a major show and from the looks of the lineup they are hoping to further establish the top stars. King of Pancrase Masakatsu Funaki faces Paul Lezenbee in a non-title match. I have little information on Lezenbee, who’s a NHB fighter from Canada. He was described to me as a guy who’s won a few small submission wrestling events, but hasn’t done a lot past that and picking up a few black belts. Lezenbee couldn’t even beat Ryushi Yanagisawa on the last show, 2/22 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall, so why should anyone think he’s got a chance against Funaki? Bas Rutten is finally making his return. Bas was scheduled to return on the last show, but he didn’t appear. This lead to rumors that Pancrase was losing all it’s foreign talent, but the injury was legit. Bas takes on Osami Shibuya. I don’t see him losing unless he’s not fully recovered. In his first bout since the Wallid Ismael victory at UFC, Yoshiki Takahashi meets Semmy Schiltt. This is an easy matchup as they aren’t going to take a chance on losing all that was gained at UFC. Yuki Kondo should beat Takako Fuke. Kondo is going to be the man some day and Fuke’s best days are behind him.