AJ30 1/11/98 taped 1/2/98 Korakuen Hall
Asunaro Cup Tag League Bout: Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga vs Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida. Bad match with no heat. 1/4*
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Ricky Santana. The point of this match was to showcase Mossman vs. Santana, but Santana isn't good and these two didn't work well together. Match was best w/ Doc vs. either Misawa or Jun. *1/2
AJ30 1/18 '98 New Year's Giant Series taped 1/10/98 Hakata Starlanes
Asunaro Cup League Bout: Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori. Less than one third aired, but it looked good.
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Wolf Hawkfield. Boring match with no one stepping up or looking good. Had some stiffness, but nothing beyond that. Mossman and Wolf tried, but Mossman is a lot better than Wolf so he was the best of the 6 just because he put forth some effort. *1/4
AJ Hour #5 2/8/98 '98 New Year's Giant Series taped 1/3/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Johnny Smith vs. Yoshinari Ogawa 16:43
Junior Battle Royal 5:51
Masao Inoue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga 17:03
Jun Akiyama & Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi vs. Skull Von Krush & Gary Albright & Steve Williams 14:27
AJ Hour #6 2/15/98 '98 New Year's Giant Series taped 1/3/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Hiroshi Hase vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 12:21
Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Giant Kimala 14:46
Ricky Santana & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Maunakea Mossman & Takao Omori 16:48
Satoru Asako & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida 14:12
AJ 30 1/25/98 '98 New Years Giant Series taped 1/10/98 Hakata Starlanes
Giant Kimala vs. Skull Von Crush
Asunaro Tag League: Mitsuharu Misawa & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue
AJ 30 2/1/98 '98 New Years Giant Series taped 1/26/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Akiyama. Reviewed in Quebrada #40. ****1/2
AJ 30 2/8/98 '98 New Years Giant Series
1/26/98 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield. Hot crowd with fans really pulling for the upset. Smith & Kobashi made the match. Strong work and nice spots. ***3/4
1/25/98 Yokohama Bunka Gym World Tag Title: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue. Looked very good, but only 5:02 of 32:06 aired.
1/23/98 Korakuen Hall Giant Baba 60th Birthday Memorial Fight: Giant Baba & Mitsuharu Misawa & Maunakea Mossman vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi & Masa Fuchi. Baba worked most of what was shown since the big deal was him working against serious wrestlers. Decent because of the heat. Kawada wrecked Baba. Good for what it was. Probably good overall because the third they showed was almost all Baba's "work."
AJ 30 2/15/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/14/98 Korakuen Hall
Satoru Asako & Masao Inoue vs. Hiroyoshi Kotsubo & Kamikaze. Fair match that was rather uneventful. Asako is and was the best of the 4. Outsiders weren't really any bigger than Asako. Kamikaze's tornado was awesome, but of course it wasn't debuted in AJ as a finisher because AJ undercarders, unless they are rookies or a step up, can't lose to outsiders. No heat. *1/4
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Akiyama vs. Kobashi was the highlight of the match even though Ace vs. Misawa was the important part due to their upcoming TC match. Ace sky high Ace crushered Misawa, but instead of having him pin Misawa to prove he was capable of doing it and add the slightest bit of doubt to the result of their TC, they had him cobra clutch suplex Akiyama for the win. **3/4
AJ Hour #7 2/21/98 '98 New Year's Giant Series taped 1/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 5:59
Masao Inoue & Jun Izumida vs. Smith & Wolf Hawkfield 12:48
Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Skull Von Krush & Giant Kimala 14:05
Takao Omori & Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga & Akira Taue 19:37
AJ Hour #8 2/28/98 '98 New Year's Giant Series taped 1/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Satoru Asako vs. Ricky Santana 7:58
Tamon Honda vs. Johnny Ace 7:23
Mitsuo Momota & Kengo Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 10:50
Maunakea Mossman & Mitsuharu Misawa & Giant Baba vs. Masa Fuchi & Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada 29:27
Maunakea Mossman & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kentaro Shiga & Satoru Asako 9:03
Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda 10:32
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 13:16
Takao Omori vs. Skull von Crush 8:42
Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield 17:40
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Gary Albright & Ricky Santana & Steve Williams 10:42
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 23:09
Triple Crown Heavyweight Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 23:09. Akiyama's second Triple Crown shot is the best of his matches against Misawa, and probably his best singles match of the decade. I know I'm not supposed to love this match because Misawa is too lazy to craft a man against the up and coming opponent storyline, or even something else of any real depth, but Misawa isn't Jumbo. When Misawa doesn't have any great ideas, he does a spotfest, and when Misawa doesn't have any particular ideas on how to get his opponent over, he makes them look great by doing a beautiful job of taking everything they can throw at him. So yeah, this may not be Jumbo vs. Kawada 10/24/91 (or if we exclude the title, Jumbo vs. Kobashi 5/24/91), but it's every bit of Misawa vs. Taue 9/10/95, except that Akiyama is a better, more exciting worker than Taue and Misawa is even less inclined to add a strong storyline to take advantage. Both men are wrestling on a tremendously high level, and with the exception of a couple lazy submissions Misawa throws in, it's a riproaring contest from start to finish with some of the best work of the year. Akiyama is super motivated, coming out with all guns blazing. They do a nice job of teasing their signature moves early, then the big spot comes when Misawa escapes to the floor to sell, but Akiyama follows him and reinjures his neck with a tombstone on the concrete. Sure, Akiyama attacking Misawa's injured isn't original Misawa psychology, but it is the logical focal point, and Akiyama was the one that gave him this problem in the first place. Though Akiyama doesn't have a lot of neck finishers, he is able to be creative, getting Misawa onto his shoulders and throwing him forward onto his neck (zero reaction, but the subsequent knee drop to the neck went over big) and setting up for a powerbomb but instead Jumbo suplexing Misawa's neck into the turnbuckle (huge pop). I didn't care much for the finish, where Misawa essentially gets tired of bumping and decides to put Akiyama away, but it's less of a lazy out of nowhere finish than the afformentioned Misawa/Taue, as Misawa invents the emerald flowsion. It's really too much for Misawa to need to invent a finisher to beat a guy he just defeated with his Tigerdriver on 9/6/97, but the entire match was somewhat over the top as they were hell bent on trying to erase the problem of no one giving Jun a snowball's chance in hell that plagued that match. Read Full Review ****1/4
1/25/98 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan, World Tag Title Match: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 32:06
1/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Giant Baba & Mitsuharu Misawa & Maunakea Mossman vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi & Masa Fuchi. Digest
1/3/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Hiroshi Hase vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 12:21
Disk One AJPW:
4/22/83: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Shiro Koshinaka
8/26/84 Tiger Mask II (debut): Tiger Mask vs. La Fiera
6/21/85: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
11/27/85: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
3/13/86: Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu
6/1/86: Tiger Mask vs. Genichiro Tenryu
3/9/88: Tiger Mask vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
5/14/90: Tiger Mask II & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshikai Yatsu & Samson Fuyuki. Tiger unmasks
6/8/90: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
Disc Two:
7/24/91: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
9/4/91: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
8/22/92: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen
10/21/92: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
3/5/94: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Giant Baba & Stan Hansen
Disc Three:
6/3/94: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
7/28/94: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams
4/15/95: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue
12/9/95: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue
10/21/97: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
Disc Four:
1/26/98: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama
5/1/98: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
10/31/98: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi
5/2/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader
8/25/99: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama
Disc Five NOAH:
8/5/00: Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
12/23/00: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader
1/13/01: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka
4/15/01: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama
4/7/02: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kodo Fuyuki
1/10/03: Mitsuharu Misawa & Masahiro Chono vs. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue
1/10/04: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi
Disc Six:
7/10/04: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea
1/8/05: Mitsuharu Misawa & Takeshi Rikio vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka
7/18/05: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada
12/10/06: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Naomichi Marufuji
11/3/07: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. KENTA
5/6/09: Mitsuharu Misawa & Go Shiosaki vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima
6/4/09: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue vs. Bison Smith & Akitoshi Saito & Bobby Fish
DVD #1
9/17/92 Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi 12:53 complete
12/4/92 Jun Akiyama & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Toshiaki Kawada 23:53 complete
1/2/93 Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams 8:08 complete
1/15/93 Jun Akiyama vs. Al Perez 13:39 complete
DVD #2
10/23/93 Jun Akiyama vs. Ted DiBiase 12:12 complete
1/29/94 Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 15:47 complete
4/16/94 Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Giant Baba & Stan Stan Hansen & Takao Omori 24:19 complete
9/3/94 Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen 8:23 complete
DVD #3
1/29/95 Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori vs. The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) 17:40 complete
3/4/95 Jun Akiyama & Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue & Masa Fuchi 17:27 complete
1/2/96 Jun Akiyama vs. The Lacrosse 1:41 complete
5/23/96 Jun Akiyama & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada 27:27 complete
DVD #4
1/20/97 Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue 4:48 complete
6/6/97 Jun Akiyama & Hayabusa vs. Takao Omori & Kentaro Shiga 14:08 of 14:51 shown
9/6/97 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Mitsuharu Misawa 24:57 complete
DVD #5
1/26/98 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Mitsuharu Misawa 23:09 complete
4/18/98 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Mitsuharu Misawa 22:05 complete
5/1/98 Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase 26:35 complete
DVD #6
7/24/98 Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi 32:50 complete
9/11/98 Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa 11:10 complete
12/5/98 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Vader 19:03 complete
DVD #7
9/4/99 Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 24:29 complete
10/23/99 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa 22:07 of 27:25 shown
10/30/99 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori Yoshihiro Takayama 14:54 complete
12/3/99 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Stan Stan Hansen 20:15 complete
DVD #8
1/9/00 Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 10:39 complete
2/27/00 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 23:40 complete
3/26/00 Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 0:07 complete
6/9/00 Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga 17:15 complete
DVD #9
8/5/00 Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Akira Taue 4:43 of 19:45 shown
8/6/00 Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi 24:25 complete
7/27/01 Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Mitsuharu Misawa 24:11 complete
9/23/02 Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Takeshi Rikio & Go Shiozaki 22:47 complete
DVD #10
7/10/04 Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi 35:34 complete
1/22/06 Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue 20:31 complete
DVD #11
3/1/09 Jun Akiyama vs. Kensuke Sasaki 22:46 complete
5/2/10 Jun Akiyama vs. Takashi Suguira 21:49 complete
5/2/10 Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 13:38 complete
11/27/11 Jun Akiyama vs. Taiyo Kea 23:08 complete
DVD #12
3/18/12 Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito vs. Go Shiozaki & Keiji Muto 30:04 complete
9/17/12 Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata & Go Shiozaki vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama & Maybach Taniguchi 20:25 complete
10/8/12 Jun Akiyama vs. Takeshi Morishima 21:11 complete
AJ 30 2/22/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/14/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Gedo & Jado. Kanemaru was the only excitement in the match, and he didn't hit all his spots. Jado & Gedo didn't try anything or do anything to get over in their first AJ match. *1/4
Toshiaki Kawada & Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Only highlight was that it ended quickly. Fans popped pig for old man Stan pinning Kawada. Kawada had a great shocked look on his face after he was pinned. 1/2*
Akira Taue & Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright. Nothing special. Williams vs. Taue wasn't bad, but wasn't good either. Williams pinned Taue, so we had two surprise finishes in a row. *3/4
AJ 30 3/1/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/28/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa. Ace's first TC shot. Reviewed in Quebrada #40. ***1/2
Tamon Honda vs. Masao Inoue
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi
PWF Jr. Title: Maunakea Mossman vs. Ricky Santana 22:12
Mitsuharu Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright 18:20
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Satoru Asako & Kentaro Shiga
Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. Wolf Hawkfield & Skull Von Crush
Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Smith
World Tag Titles: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 32:06
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 10:30
Gedo & Jado vs. Kentaro Shiga & Takao Omori 16:21
Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Johnny Smith & Gary Albright 7:16
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Jun Izumida vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda 19:09
Maunakea Mossman & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Mohammed Yone & Daisuke Ikeda 13:05
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masao Inoue & Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen 16:37
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield 18:43
Kentaro Shiga & Satoru Asako vs. Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone 13:37
Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. 13:44
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman 21:29
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Gedo & Jado
Wolf Hawkfield vs. Masao Inoue
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Gary Albright & Steve Williams vs. Akira Taue & Jun Izumida
AJ 30 3/8/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/28/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Gedo & Jado. Solid match, but not that exciting. It was going along ok, but then it just abruptly ended. *3/4
World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright. Pretty lame for a tag title match. Kawada tried, but this is not the sort of opposition that brings out the best in Taue, or adds anything. It was nothing more than an average sprint with 3 oversized goofs and one great wrestler. **
AJ 30 3/15/98 '98 Excite Series taped 2/28/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Takao Omori & Jun Izumida vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Good psychology with Hansen injuring Omori's shoulder then continually working it over, but the match was just boring. Izumida finally made the hot tag and his big offense is headbutts so it was so lame. 1/2*
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara. Match was good when Kakihara was in. Kobashi was nothing special since he was working with shooters, but Akiyama looked good. Closing minutes were really heated. Kakihara does the job, which is mystifying, at best. **
AJ 30 3/22/98 taped 3/21/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Champion Carnival League Bout: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Izumida. Izumida tried to be serious, but he doesn't have the offense to be able to challenge Dangerous K. Basically a short squash that was decent while it lasted. *1/4
Champion Carnival League Bout: Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Ace. Slow paced because they were going so long. No heat. Some awesome spots, but a lot of dead time. Good psychology with Ace working over Kobashi's bad knee and Kobashi putting that over big, but the fans didn't take to it. This could have been a very good match if it was about half as long. **1/2
AJ 30 3/29/98 '98 Champion Carnival taped 3/21/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
'98 Champion Carnival Koshikisen: Akira Taue vs. Giant Kimala. 1/4*
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith. The last 6 minutes aired. Wolf was not good at all, but Akiyama, Smith, and Misawa were and that was enough to make it enjoyable.
'98 Champion Carnival Koshikisen: Stan Hansen vs. Gary Albright. -1/2*
AJ Hour #15 4/19/98 '98 Champion Carnival #2 taped 3/22/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Kentaro Shiga vs. Takeshi Morishima
Giant Kimala & Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura
Toshiaki Kawada [4] vs. Takao Omori [0] 11:52
Jun Akiyama [2] vs. Stan Hansen [2] 15:01
Jun Izumida & Maunakea Mossman & Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Masao Inoue. *3/4
Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright. *
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Wolf Hawkfield 9:09. Wolf jumped Kobashi before the bell with a lariat and powerbomb to seize the advanage. Kobashi went way out of his way to make Hawkfield credible, selling for him almost the entire match. Unfortunately, Wolf was looking about as nimble and coordinated as Frankenstein. Wolf managed one power move after another, with Kobashi struggling to even get his teeth in the match. Finally, after about 9 minutes Kobashi hit a half nelson suplex and a lariat, and that was it! *3/4
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue 15:39. Misawa vs. Taue matches tend to be best as shorter sprints, but this was more a toned down, condensed match than their usual craziness. They used all their regular moves and worked the standard Misawa neck injury storyline, but they held back most of the special moves. It was a very competitive, back and forth match that was very solid and well worked, but it was also a match for a Korakuen sized crowd rather than a Budokan sized one. It's well worth watching and a nice entry into their series, but nowhere near 4/15/95 or 9/10/95. ***1/2
2/28/82 Georgia, PWF Heavyweight Title: Giant Baba vs. Terry Gordy
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 4/28 '96 Champion Carnival taped 4/20/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Gary Albright & Johnny Ace 19:47. The era of the excellent All Japan 6 mans was over, but for one last time some of them fired up. Kawada gave a major performance organizing the match and keeping it moving in the right direction. He had some fiery support from Akiyama, who wanted Kawada in the worst way even though Kawada kept beating him up. These two produced the best and most motivated wrestling, with Akiyama always looking for a way to get one up on the master. The rest of the match was built around Albright's suplexes, and he was actually a plus as he was spotted effectively, getting out after he delivered his crushing throws. Kobashi was his ordinary good self, but Ace was sloppy, and Misawa had a front row seat. ****
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 6/16 '96 Super Power Series taped 6/7/96 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
World Tag Titles: Steve Williams & Johnny Ace vs. Misawa & Akiyama 22:44 of 30:09. Fantastic performance by Akiyama, going all out from start to finish. The early portion isn't outstanding in any regard, but match becomes awesome in the second half when the others steup up their effort and intensity to match what Akiyama has shown throughout. Although Jun is clearly the standout peformer, Ace is, in many ways, what sets the two amazing Doc & Ace tags apart, as in this match as well as on 3/4/95 against Misawa & Kobashi he wrestles as well as he's capable of. He isn't great here, but incredibly reliable with everything at least looking good, which puts him at least 10 notches above Williams. Williams & Ace keep ganging up on the natives, with the match being built around someone getting taken out by a huge power move, leaving their partner to go alone. Williams is the star in the sense that he's the one who is throwing the killer moves, but he's basically Gary Albright here, a graceless lug who can't control his body or really do anything particularly well beyond using his size and strength for a few major power moves. I know that Williams is going to stand around, but he hurts the early portion with the inconsistency of his offense, particularly by having no impact on the majority of his punches and lariats. Misawa wrestles at a very high level, but pretty much does what's necessary. He comes in when Akiyama is in trouble, with the key spot coming after his first hot tag when Williams saves Ace from Misawa's German suplex, back body drops Akiyama to the floor, and Dr. bombs Misawa to set up a quadruple sell that alerts the audience that everyone is on their last leg. They run with this for the highly dramatic final 10 minutes, with Williams recovering first to gain the advantage on Misawa and taking Akiyama out with his dangerous backdrop. It's not so much that there are a ton of near falls, but rather that they set everything up so someone should get pinned, except there's always something that just prevents it from happening. Misawa & Akiyama are trailing the majority of the match, which usually seems to be 2 on 1, with the duo seemingly truly doomed when Williams & Ace thrash Misawa with their sky high lariat before Akiyama recovers. Misawa escapes to the floor, but Williams lugs Akiyama's carcass back in and Ace has him beat with the Ace crusher, but taunts him instead, allowing Misawa to just save when Ace actually tries to win with his powerbomb. Williams quickly takes Misawa out with a dangerous released German suplex, and the odds just continue to mount against the champions, which garners louder and louder reactions from the crowd everytime they manage to survive, or in fact do anything positive. Finally, Akiyama gets Ace in trouble and Misawa takes Williams out with his Tigerdriver on the floor to set up Akiyama's deserved big win. 1996 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year! ****3/4
AJ on FIGHTING TV SAMURAI! 5/9/98 '98 Champion Carnival taped 3/26/98 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Stan Hansen vs. Jun Izumida
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama 18:01. It looked like it was going to be an Akiyama style action packed match when it got off to a fast start with an exploder right off the bat, but Kawada set the tone that everything was going to be sold. Kawada wasn't at his fiercest or most electric, but he was thinking, crafting a very solid match where Akiyama was forced to show some restraint and take the selling seriously. Midway through, Akiyama finally caught a kick and turned it into a Dragon screw, injuring Kawada's knee. Akiyama went right after it, setting up a key spot toward the finish where Kawada had a chance to put Akiyama away with his jumping high kick, but the injury prevented him from even getting off the deck. Some of the intensity and atmosphere was lacking, but it's definitely proof these two could have had an awesome match if they met on a big show. ***3/4
AJ Hour #17 5/2/98 '98 Champion Carnival #4 taped 3/26/98 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Masao Inoue vs. Takeshi Morishima
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa
Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kentaro Shiga & Maunakea Mossman & Mitsuharu Misawa 18:17
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Steve Williams [2] vs. Akira Taue [4] 12:44
AJ Hour #18 5/9/98 '98 Champion Carnival #4 taped 3/26/98 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Gary Albright [2] defeats Giant Kimala [0] 8:48
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Stan Hansen vs. Jun Izumida
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama 18:01. It looked like it was going to be an Akiyama style action packed match when it got off to a fast start with an exploder right off the bat, but Kawada set the tone that everything was going to be sold. Kawada wasn't at his fiercest or most electric, but he was thinking, crafting a very solid match where Akiyama was forced to show some restraint and take the selling seriously. Midway through, Akiyama finally caught a kick and turned it into a Dragon screw, injuring Kawada's knee. Akiyama went right after it, setting up a key spot toward the finish where Kawada had a chance to put Akiyama away with his jumping high kick, but the injury prevented him from even getting off the deck. Some of the intensity and atmosphere was lacking, but it's definitely proof these two could have had an awesome match if they met on a big show. ***3/4
NJ 4/4/98 Antonio Inoki Retirement Show taped 4/4 Tokyo Dome
Clips of first round of Inoki Final Tournament
Antonio Inoki sparring with Nobuaki Kikuta of K-1
Inoki Final Tournament semifinal: Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston. Really short. Johnson has a lot of potential in worked shoots, but Ogawa never improves. 1/2*
Inoki Final Tournament semifinal: Don Frye vs. Igor Meindert. Bad match. Only thing of note was Frye's pull apart with Meindert's second Gerard Gordeau. 1/4*
Inoki Final Tournament final: Naoya Ogawa vs. Don Frye. Frye once again got heat, but that was the only plus. Frye's punches were way too pulled. Sayama threw in the towel, but Frye kept punching Ogawa anyway. 1/2*
NJ 4/11/98 taped 3/21 Amagasaki & 3/22 Nagoya
3/21
Hashimoto & Nishimura vs. NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet. Hashimoto was good, as always, but no one else did anything special. *1/2
Fujinami & Kojima vs. Chono & Tenzan. Seemed like a good match due to Tenzan working with Kojima for almost the entire portion that aired.
3/22
Liger & Samurai & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Kanemoto & Takaiwa & La Fiera. Only 2:40 aired, but it was everything you'd expect from these guys.
Ka Shin vs. Otani. Again less than 3 minutes air, but it was very good while it lasted.
Hashimoto & Kojima vs. Muta & Wallstreet. Everyone came to wrestle. Hashimoto vs. Muta was real good. Muta eggs on and attacks Nishimura, and eventually Nishimura winds up interfering. This was to build heat for the tag title match at the Tokyo Dome. ***
Fujinami & Sasaki vs. Chono & Titan. Fujinami & Chono did nothing wrong, but they are boring and the other two were bad. In another angle to build heat for the Dome, Sasaki walked out after the match and let NWO/Aristrist beat on Fujinami, but Fujinami made a comeback and ran them off. *1/2
AJ 30 4/5/98 '98 Champion Carnival Taped 3/29/98 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Akiyama & Inoue vs. Takayama & Kakihara. *1/2
Champion Carnival League Bout: Misawa vs. Kawada. Read Review ****1/4
NJ 4/18/98 Antonio Inoki Retirement Show taped 4/4 Tokyo Dome
Antonio Inoki Retirement Match: Inoki vs. Frye. DUD
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Sasaki vs. Fujinami. Fujinami wins IWGP title. More nostalgia than anything else. Fujinami tried his best and was the better of the two, but a 44-year-old man can only play Inoki's youthful understudy so well. Fujinami revived and teased some of his old spots. Technically sound, but somewhat dull. **1/4
NJ 4/25/98 Antonio Inoki Retirement Show taped 4/4 Tokyo Dome
IWGP Jr. Title: Liger vs. Ka Shin. Typical Ka Shin style match. Stiff match. Liger's selling was generally excellent, but his offense wasn't much and these two didn't seem to be on the same page at points. Overall, disappointing even considering you expect worse due to the Dome. ***
Takaiwa vs. Kanemoto. Clip
Otani vs. Yasuraoka. Clip
IWGP Tag Titles: Muta & Chono vs. Hashimoto & Nishimura. Really hot crowd. Nishimura got pounded, but kept coming back. A couple of Nishimura's finishers were actually seen as very credible. Hashimoto was good and Muto actually put some effort in for once. The match would have been very good, but Muto hit his head on the canvas accidentally doing a Frankensteiner and he had to tag Chono. Chono and Nishimura had to improvise from there and they showed what kind of workers they really are by blowing some spots. ***1/4
AJ 4/12 '98 Champion Carnival
Champion Carnival League Bout: Kobashi vs. Omori. Omori's best singles match in quite some time, though pretty much all due to Kobashi doing a good job carrying him. Stiff early portion and Omori got his spots in before jobbing. ***1/2
Champion Carnival League Bout: Williams vs. Hansen. Hansen is so slow these days that Doc looks like a speed demon in comparison. Slow paced with no heat until the end. Stiffness is all these two can supply. *1/2
AJ 30 4/5/98 '98 Champion Carnival taped 3/29/98 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Jun Akiyama & Masao Inoue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara. *1/2
Champion Carnival League Bout: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Read Review.****1/4
AJ 4/12/'98 Champion Carnival taped 3/29/98 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Champion Carnival League Bout: Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori. Omori's best singles match in quite some time, though pretty much all due to Kobashi doing a good job carrying him. Stiff early portion and Omori got his spots in before jobbing. ***1/2
Champion Carnival League Bout: Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen. Hansen is so slow these days that Doc looks like a speed demon in comparison. Slow paced with no heat until the end. Stiffness is all these two can supply. *1/2
AJ Hour #19 5/16/98 '98 Champion Carnival #14 taped 4/11/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Maunakea Mossman vs. Makoto Hashi
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Johnny Ace vs. Wolf Hawkfield
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama 30:00. Had all the makings of being their best match. The length forced them to put more focus on developing the match and making the lesser moves interesting and meaningful. The match built slowly, easing into Akiyama reinjuring Kobashi's knee with a Dragon screw off the 2nd. Akiyama really seems to like simple psychology, and is comfortable being the young punk who abuses the veterans achy parts. Kobashi did an excellent job of selling the knee, even well into his comeback. There was a long strength where the knee was simply never forgotten, but the match just peaked with Akiyama stopping Kobashi's moonsault with a reverse Dragon screw off the 2nd. This should have been the pinnacle of the knee attack, but was more like the penultimate knee attack, as they might as well have started a new match from here. The final 12 minutes saw the pace suddenly quadruple for the usual exchange of signature moves, starting with a series of Akiyama's exploders. Every good thing you could say about the work applies, but it was goofy as all hell, forsaking everything they'd done before for a questionable selling spotfest where Kobashi's knee is suddenly in fine form because they want to sprint. I like both matches, but they should have seen the first match through instead of shitting on it for the sake of "entertainment". ****
AJ Hour #20 5/23/98 '98 Champion Carnival #14 taped 4/11/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Masao Inoue vs. Takeshi Morishima
Johnny Smith & Takao Omori vs. Stan Hansen & Giant Kimala
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Akira Taue [8] defeats Jun Izumida [0] 5:46
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Steve Williams [14] defeats Gary Albright [8] 10:04
AJ Hour #21 5/30/98 '98 Champion Carnival #15 taped 4/12/98 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Shigeo Okamura & Makoto Hashi
Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Takao Omori & Masao Inoue
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Gary Albright & Maunakea Mossman
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Kenta Kobashi [14] vs. Jun Izumida [0] 12:29
'98 Champion Carnival League Bout: Mitsuharu Misawa [15] vs. Steve Williams [14] 18:22
AJ Hour #22 6/6/98 '98 Champion Carnival #15 taped 4/12/98 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jado & Gedo
Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Stan Hansen [15] vs. Giant Kimala [4] 4:10
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Jun Akiyama [16] vs. Johnny Ace [8] 11:13. Ace was fired up for this spot oriented sprint, bringing all his big moves, although making goofy faces every time he tried them. Although Ace was somewhat annoying, he was generally effective and Akiyama's work was very good as expected. You knew it wasn't going to be deep, but it was a quality Akiyama style match that they both took it seriously while they were out there. Akiyama was mostly bumping, but even threw in an elbow off the top to the floor. ***
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Toshiaki Kawada [14] vs. Akira Taue [8] 9:17. Kawada, of course, had no mercy for his friend and partner Taue, dominating this story match by working over Taue's knee en route to a quick figure four submission. It was an effective although obviously disappointingly short and one-sided match, but as Taue forfeited half his tournament matches and the rest were pretty much under 10 minutes, they couldn't do the match they wanted to and had to just get Taue through and hope he could heal up for Tokyo Dome. **1/4
4/18/98
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith 13:49
Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Wolf Hawkfield 14:20
'98 Champion Carvival Final: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 22:05. The third big Misawa vs. Akiyama match in 7 months takes what was the most promising of new programs, and turns it into an autopilot series where Akiyama puts Misawa through the ringer then jobs when Misawa gets bored. An excellent match, sure, but on talent alone. Misawa & Akiyama deliver a beautifully executed action packed match filled with their great moves where they actually find a nice balance between a spot oriented sprint and a well sold heavyweight match, but another very lazy match from the psychological standpoint. The story is Akiyama takes it to Misawa, and Misawa makes brief comebacks with his big moves. Akiyama primarily works the knee, which he injures with a Dragon screw off the middle rope, but while this is different than the tired neck storyline, the problem is it doesn't set up any big move in Akiyama's arsenal. At some point Akiyama has to move away from the focus and use his exploder, so the neck would have played into the typical headdropping match better, though then it would have just been a replay of what they'd already done. Misawa has no strategy at all, to the point the match seems to argue he doesn't need one because he's Misawa, and he has the big artillery. Akiyama is really excellent here, once again showing he belongs in these big matches, but as the veteran, the huge favorite, the face of All Japan, it's up to Misawa to take more interest in this match and figure out how to capitalize on all Akiyama has to offer. Instead, while Misawa technically makes no mistakes, he certainly doesn't live up to the standard set by his predescessor Jumbo Tsuruta when it comes to crafting a match that makes us care about the up and coming wrestler pushing him. A match this good should leave me feeling really fulfilled, but instead it just seemed rather empty. Read Review.****
3/29/98
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Kentaro Shiga & Takeshi Morishima 9:30
Johnny Smith & Giant Kimala & Satoru Asako vs. Gary Albright & Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith 10:31
'98 Champion Carnival League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 30:00
*reviewed in Quebrada #48*
Highlights of all the Carnival matches from 3/21 & 3/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 3/26 Chiba Kooen Taiikukan, 3/29 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan, 4/11 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, & 4/12 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
'98 Champion Carvival Final: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 22:05. The third big Misawa vs. Akiyama match in 7 months takes what was the most promising of new programs, and turns it into an autopilot series where Akiyama puts Misawa through the ringer then jobs when Misawa gets bored. An excellent match, sure, but on talent alone. Misawa & Akiyama deliver a beautifully executed action packed match filled with their great moves where they actually find a nice balance between a spot oriented sprint and a well sold heavyweight match, but another very lazy match from the psychological standpoint. The story is Akiyama takes it to Misawa, and Misawa makes brief comebacks with his big moves. Akiyama primarily works the knee, which he injures with a Dragon screw off the middle rope, but while this is different than the tired neck storyline, the problem is it doesn't set up any big move in Akiyama's arsenal. At some point Akiyama has to move away from the focus and use his exploder, so the neck would have played into the typical headdropping match better, though then it would have just been a replay of what they'd already done. Misawa has no strategy at all, to the point the match seems to argue he doesn't need one because he's Misawa, and he has the big artillery. Akiyama is really excellent here, once again showing he belongs in these big matches, but as the veteran, the huge favorite, the face of All Japan, it's up to Misawa to take more interest in this match and figure out how to capitalize on all Akiyama has to offer. Instead, while Misawa technically makes no mistakes, he certainly doesn't live up to the standard set by his predescessor Jumbo Tsuruta when it comes to crafting a match that makes us care about the up and coming wrestler pushing him. A match this good should leave me feeling really fulfilled, but instead it just seemed rather empty. Read Review.****
NJ 5/2 taped 4/14 Kagoshima
Liger & Ka Shin vs Otani & Takaiwa. Ka Shin was lagging behing, but the other three looked great. Otani vs. Liger was the highlight of the match. More blown or partially screwed up spots than normal. ****
Hiro & Tenzan vs Sasaki & Nakanishi. Sprint. Sasaki was the hot worker, so obviously it wasn't that great. Hiro scored the big upset, pinning Sasaki with his diving senton. **1/4
Hashimoto & Yasuda vs Chono & Titan. Titan was horrible and only Hashimoto was good. Heated, but otherwise it was crap. *
Tenryu & Koshinaka vs Fujinami & Kojima. Kojima takes a tremendous beating here as they purposely broke his nose. The fans got behind him as he was getting pulverized. Kojima eventually made a hot comeback, though he didn't get as much offense in as I expected and he still wound up getting pinned in the end. Still, the great show of fighting spirit helps him get over. Brutal match. ****
NJ 5/9 BATTLE RISE taped 4/21 Ube
Liger & Samurai & Ka Shin vs. Kanemoto & Otani & Takaiwa. Exciting match with great work and near perfect execution, but certainly not a match of the year. Basically just a spotfest with no real selling or psychology. ****1/4
clips of Honaga's retirement matches
Hashimoto & Kojima vs. Kimura & Goto. Kimura & Goto just suck. *3/4
Fujinami & Nishimura vs. Sasaki & Hirata. Sprint. Stiff match. **3/4
Chono & Tenzan & Saito vs. Koshinaka & Tenryu & Ohara. Fast-paced with great heat. Very stiff match. Strong showing by Tenryu. ***1/4
AJ 4/19 '98 Champion Carnival taped 4/18 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Champion Carnival Final: Misawa vs. Akiyama. Misawa wins Carny. ****
AJ 4/19 '98 Champion Carnival taped 4/18 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Champion Carnival Final: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 22:05. Misawa wins Carny. Read Review.****
AJ 4/26 '98 Champion Carnival taped 4/18 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Smith was the best here. The match was build around Smith, and he showed he belonged in top matches before jobbing in the end. Kawada was nothing special, but still was considerably better than Taue and Ace. **1/2
Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Wolf Hawkfield. Takayama gets dropped on his head at a terrible angle accidentally by a Gary suplex. He was very lucky that he wasn't seriously hurt here. Kakihara has a strong performance that really stands out here, but no one else is very good. *1/2
Disc #1 & 2
6/5/86: Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Kuniaki Kobayashi
7/31/86: Tiger Mask vs. Great Kabuki
7/3/87: Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask 13:11
7/19/87: Tiger Mask vs. Ted DiBiase 4:50
1/2/88: Tiger Mask vs. Curt Hennig 11:20
3/8/89: Tiger Mask vs. Ricky Steamboat 13:47
5/17/90: Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Davey Boy Smith & Johnny Smith
7/27/90: Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 16:16
1/26/91: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue 7:24
Disc #3 & 4
2/26/91: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada 21:17
4/18/91: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 23:17
4/20/91: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi 48:30
6/1/91: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy 13:08
4/2/92: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
Disc #5 & 6
6/5/92: Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi 27:12
4/21/93: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Stan Hansen 26:11
7/29/93: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 25:53
10/22/94: Mitsuharu Misawa & Stan Hansen vs. Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi
7/24/95: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 24:16
Disc #7 & 8
10/25/95: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 35:51
5/23/96: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 27:26
6/6/97: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 31:22
11/27/97: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki 21:34
4/18/98: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 22:05
3/28/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader 10:52
Disc #9 & 10
6/11/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 43:40
7/23/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 21:58
9/4/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 18:11
9/4/99: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader 7:21
1/9/00: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Hiroshi Hase 24:42
4/15/00: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshinari Ogawa 13:21
Super tape! Highlights the first five great Triple Crown matches between Misawa & Kawada (10/21/92, 7/29/93, 6/3/94, 7/24/95, 6/6/97 all from Nippon Budokan) as well as what led up to each of Kawada's challenge. Read Overview.
5/1/98 Tokyo Dome: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada finally takes the TC from Misawa. Read Review. ****1/2
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Maunakea Mossman vs. Daisuke Ikeda
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura vs. The Headhunters
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo
Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. The Gladiator & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hideki Hosaka
Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright
Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala & Jinsei Shinzaki & Jun Izumida
Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada wins TC. ****1/2
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada wins TC. ****1/2
Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Hase
Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. The Gladiator & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hideki Hosaka (FMW team)
Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura (Shin Tokyo Puroresu) vs. The Headhunters. 4 minutes shown
Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala & Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro) & Jun Izumida
Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Digest
Maunakea Mossman vs. Daisuke Ikeda. Digest
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Kawada. Reviewed in Quebrada #48. ****1/2
Kobashi & Ace vs. Hansen & Vader. Kobashi is by far the best here. Vader not surprisingly works his ass off, but he's not in shape for this kind of match and it really shows. Stan also works incredibly hard, but the tank has long been on E. Ace doesn't look good once again. The match worked though, especially since the fans were really into Kobashi vs. Vader. Unfortunately each had a teammate to take the match down. ***1/2
AJ 5/10/98 Showdown at the Egg taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
Hiroshi Hase vs. Jun Akiyama. Bad AJ booking at it's worst having Hase out there this long in 1998. Too many submissions that weren't advancing the match that could have been eliminated if this was the proper length. **
AJ 5/17 Showdown at the Egg taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo (Fuyuki Promotion). Everyone worked hard. Smith was by far the best here, and he basically saved the match. Jado & Gedo looked good in points. Wolf was annoying and mediocre. Gedo flashed back to his WAR days, pulling out a plancha and his Orihara moonsault off the 2nd. **1/2
Maunakea Mossman vs Daisuke Ikeda (Battlarts). Ikeda did a good job of carrying this and looked sharp. Mossman did all his spots, but he still has problems. A little shaky early, but turned into a good match. ***
NJ 5/16/98 BATTLE RISE taped 4/26/98 Hakata Starlanes
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Typical exciting match from start to finish. Samurai was the featured performer here. Kanemoto was excellent. ***3/4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Osamu Nishimura. Exciting match with Nishimura getting one near fall after another. Looked to be good, but only 4:43 or 17:43 aired so that's almost certainly on the high side.
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masa Chono & Big Titan. Bad and boring match. Hashimoto had one good sequence, but that was it for the good in this match. Hashimoto challenged Fujinami to a title match after the match. 3/4*
Sasaki & Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tenryu & Koshinaka & Ohara. Kojima was the best of the six. Tenryu was very solid and worked real stiff. ***1/4
AJ 5/17/98 Showdown at the Egg taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo (Fuyuki Promotion). Everyone worked hard. Smith was by far the best here, and he basically saved the match. Jado & Gedo looked good in points. Wolf was annoying and mediocre. Gedo flashed back to his WAR days, pulling out a plancha and his Orihara moonsault off the 2nd. **1/2
Maunakea Mossman vs Daisuke Ikeda (Battlarts). Ikeda did a good job of carrying this and looked sharp. Mossman did all his spots, but he still has problems. A little shaky early, but turned into a good match. ***
NJ 5/23/98 BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. V taped 5/16/98 Matsudo
Super Junior V League Bout: Kaz Hayashi vs. Felino. They did some really fast Lucha sequences. Match had some great spots, but the pacing seemed off. Selling wasn't all that good. ***1/4
Super Junior V League Bout: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Match continued the story between the two, picking up right where they left off in their last singles match. The spots were hard to come by here. Takaiwa had nothing to bridge to his high spots though. Still, the Teases and counters of the big spots were excellent. Everything was so well planned and it seemed like each spot put them in perfect position to do the next spot, so there was no wasted motion. Liger worked stiff. ***3/4
Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Masa Chono & Big Titan & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Bad sprint with too much punching and kicking. Koshinaka looked pretty good, but Goto, Titan, & Ohara all sucked. 3/4*
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Osamu Nishimura. Sasaki & Nishimura sucked, blowing spots and everything. Fujinami was destroyed by Hashimoto to make it look like Hashimoto would easily defeat him in their 6/5 title match. Hashimoto had Fujinami in an udehishigigyakujujigatame on the floor after the match and didn't want to release it. *1/4
AJ 5/24/98 taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida. Shinzaki looked good doing his spots to Baba and Hayabusa & Shinzaki worked well together. Kimala & Izumida dragged the match down. Baba did too, but to a much lesser extent since the fans were obviously popping when Jinsei was doing his spots to Baba. **
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Not as horrible as usual due to Kikuchi & Jumbo working some passable serious sequences. Eigen teasing a tope then chickening out was actually somewhat funny. 1/4*
AJ 5/24/98 taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida. Shinzaki looked good doing his spots to Baba and Hayabusa & Shinzaki worked well together. Kimala & Izumida dragged the match down. Baba did too, but to a much lesser extent since the fans were obviously popping when Jinsei was doing his spots to Baba. **
Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Not as horrible as usual due to Kikuchi & Jumbo working some passable serious sequences. Eigen teasing a tope then chickening out was actually somewhat funny. 1/4*
AJ 305/31/98 taped 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome & 5/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
5/1: Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. The Gladiator & Hideki Hosaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Started out hot with Gladiator and Taue, and had a few other moments along the way, but pretty much died from there. Too many stiffs taking away from what would have been at least interesting, Taue vs. Gladiator. *1/4
5/23: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Satoru Asako. Last 4:30 of 27:09 aired.
4/2/97 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium: Maunakea Mossman & Kentaro Shiga vs. Hayabusa & The Tornado
4/19/97 Nippon Budokan: Yoshinari Ogawa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
6/6/97 Nippon Budokan: Jun Akiyama & Hayabusa vs. Takao Omori & Kentaro Shiga
9/6/97 Nippon Budokan: Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
10/11/97 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Maunakea Mossman
11/15/97 Korakuen Hall, 97 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Giant Kimara & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
11/23/97 Miyagi Prefecture Sports Center, 97 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
11/27/97 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, 97 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
5/1/98 Tokyo Dome: Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala & Jinsei Shinzaki & Jun Izumida
1/16/99 Korakuen Hall, Asia Tag Title Match: Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki
2/13/99 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Asia Tag Title Match: Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. Digest
5/2/99 Tokyo Dome: Yoshinari Ogawa & Maunakea Mossman & Masahito Kakihara vs. Hayabusa & The Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask
6/4/99 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, Asia Tag Title Match: Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama
AJ 30 6/7/98 taped 6/5/98 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center & 5/1/98 Tokyo Dome
6/5 World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace. Clip
5/1: Steve Williams & Gary Albright vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara. Williams was good here carrying the match. Takayama was taking really lame bumps and sucked as always. Kakihara was fine, but didn't come close to saving this. *3/4
5/1: Headhunters A & B vs Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura. Hunters dominated this won. A few good spots by the Hunters, but not much beyond that. *1/2
AJ 30 6/14/98 '98 Super Power Series
6/5/98 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa (Michinoku Pro team). Kanemaru made fun of Naniwa's mannerisms. They did a lot of nice things, but the execution wasn't perfect and it just kind of fell flat. ** range
6/12/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan World Junior Heavyweight Title: Maunakea Mossman vs. Satoru Asako. Not as good as their 9/15/97 match, mainly because the execution was down. They tried really hard and Mossman's spots looked good, but it just didn't come together. **1/2
Mighty Inoue Retirement Ceremony
AJ Hour #23 6/14/98 '98 Super Power Series taped 5/23/98 Korakuen Hall
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Giant Kimala & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota
Bobby Duncum Jr. & David Heath vs. Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Takao Omori & Shigeo Okamura
AJ Hour #24 6/20/98 '98 Super Power Series #1 taped 5/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Maunakea Mossman vs. Takeshi Morishima 6:16
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 12:09
Masa Fuchi & Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Gary Albright 7:02
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi & Satoru Asako 27:09
AJ Hour #25 6/27/98 '98 Super Power Series #1 taped 5/31/98 Funabashi City Gym
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Mitsuo Momota & Kengo Kimura & Giant Baba vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 20:50
Jun Izumida & Giant Kimala vs. Heath & Duncum 14:50
Kentaro Shiga & Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Satoru Asako & Johnny Ace & Kenta Kobashi 21:54
AJ Hour #26 7/4/98 '98 Super Power Series #1 taped 5/31/98 Funabashi City Gym
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Maunakea Mossman vs. Takeshi Morishima 7:41
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 11:19
Masao Inoue & Jun Akiyama vs. Gary Albright & Steve Williams 16:42
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Tamon Honda & Takao Omori 26:30
AJ Hour #27 7/11/98 '98 Super Power Series taped 6/5/98 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
1hr 25min. Q=Ex
Maunakea Mossman & Hashi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Takeshi Morishima 9:02
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 13:55
Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama 30:00
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda 12:35
AJ Hour #28 7/18/98 '98 Super Power Series taped 6/5/98 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
1hr 25min. Q=Ex
Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Super Delfin & Naniwa 11:55
Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida vs. David Heath & Bobby Duncum Jr. 1152
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Masao Inoue & Kentaro Shiga 12:56
World Tag Title: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace 30:26
6/21/98
Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi wins TC.
6/28/98
Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Mimota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida
Takao Omori & Masao Inoue vs. Steve Williams & Wolf Hawkfield
6/12 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi. Unless Tamura vs. Kousaka is better, this is the Match of the Year. Kawada is just awesome here. He's responsible for about 90% of the greatness here. Kawada totally leads Kobashi through this, and it's the style that AJ is so famous for, excellent build and selling and ungodly stiffness, not just a bunch of meaningless head dropping like we've seen of late. Kobashi wins TC. Read Review. *****
Mighty Inoue retirement ceremony
5/31 Funabashi AJ Tag Titles: Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Takao Omori & Tamon Honda. Highlights
6/5 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams. Highlights
World Tag Title: Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Johnny Ace. Read Review. ****1/4
6/12 World Junior Heavyweight Title: Maunakea Mossman vs. Satoru Asako. Highlights
6/5: Super Delfin & Gran Naniwa vs. Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Highlights
AJ 30 7/5/98 '98 Super Power Series & '98 Summer Action Series
6/12/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda. Akiyama looked like a god next to these guys, and he wasn't even going full force. Honda vs. Takayama was terrible. Gary did nice suplexes, but can't do anything beyond them. Still, he was the second best in this one. *1/4
7/4/98 Toda Shi Sports Center Sports Center: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masao Inoue vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara. Kawada made Takayama look good. Match fell apart when Inoue was in. Kakihara didn't really work during the 1/4 that aired.
7/4/98 Toda Shi Sports Center: Akira Taue vs. Bobby Duncum Jr. Too short to help Duncum at all even if he had shown anything, which he didn't. Only thing this had to offer was Duncum trying a Gladiator like dive over the top to the floor, but he came up way too short and had to have gotten hurt some. 1/4*
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 7/19 '98 Summer Action Series
7/15/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. Not much of a match as Taue doesn't work well in this environment, and the opposition doesn't work well, period. Kawada was good, the only good of this match. If only Kakihara was in the title match instead of one of the other ex-UFW-I guys. *1/2
7/19/98 Niigata Shi Taiikukan: Jun Akiyama & Hiroshi Hase vs. Kenta Kobashi & Maunakea Mossman. Jun showed no mercy by destroying Kobashi's knee. Hase helped him out a bit in that regard, but he had to stay out of the spotlight because the match was building to Akiyama vs. Kobashi TC. Akiyama was the standout here. *** range
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 7/26/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/24/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama. ****1/4
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/2 '98 Summer Action Seriestaped 7/15/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kenta Kobashi vs. Masahito Kakihara. ***
Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori vs. Hiroshi Hase & Maunakea Mossman. **3/4
AJ 30 8/9/98 '98 Summer Action Seriestaped 7/19/98 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara. Sub Kakihara for Albright and you have 3 of the 4 guys who were in the title match, but suddenly it's a good match. Kawada & Kakihara were killing each other. Taue once again wasn't good, and his offense looked like shit next to Kakihara's. As always, the less said about Takayama the better, but Taue really reduced the match from it's potential (although, at the same time, I'm sure he would have managed to be much better if this had been the title match). ***
World Junior Heavyweight Title League Final: Satoro Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Highlights. Ogawa takes the title.
AJ 30 8/16/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/24/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan & 7/5/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
7/24 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Johnny Ace & Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Giant Kimala & The Headhunters A & B. Hunters worked hard, but don't have it anymore. Smith was good, but beyond that this sucked. 1/2*
7/24 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Akira Taue & Jun Izumida vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. Surprisingly heated as fans were into seeing Izumida try to pin Takayama, and vice versa. *1/4
7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Smith. As feared, this had absolutely no heat as the fans gave Smith no chance in hell of winning this. Smith worked over Kobashi's knee, but his knee spots were very dull. *3/4
AJ Hour #29 7/25/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/4/98 Toda Shi Sports Center
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Takeshi Morishima vs. Okamura 8:30
Headhunters vs. Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida 13:11
Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa 14:28
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masao Inoue 16:05
AJ Hour #30 8/1/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/4/98 Toda Shi Sports Center
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Johnny Ace 13:45
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 14:36
Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 13:56
Maunakea Mossman & Tamon Honda vs. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga 16:35
AJ Hour #31 8/8/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/5/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Gedo & Jado vs. Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 11:37
Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida vs. Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota 13:35
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Johnny Ace & Kimala & Maunakea Mossman 14:54
Kenta Kobashi vs. Johnny Smith 14:23
AJ Hour #32 8/15/98 '98 Summer Action Series taped 7/5/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Shigeo Okamura 9:08
Headhunters vs. Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 13:15
Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi 15:03
Takao Omori vs. Wolf Hawkfield 10:19
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda 12:52
Satoru Asako & Tamon Honda vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue 14:18
World Junior Heavyweight Title League: Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 11:15
Jun Akiyama vs. Maunakea Mossman 5:51
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Hiroshi Hase 19:28
7/24 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama. Obviously really stiff with great execution. Suprisingly a story match, with Akiyama debilitating Kobashi's knee, rather than a spotfest as you'd expect from Akiyama. Akiyama carried the match, and was clearly the better of the two. ****1/4
Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue vs. Hiroshi Hase & Maunakea Mossman. A good match, marred by hideous booking as Hase was pinned by Kawada. Yeah, that's right, with Mossman & Omori in the match and Hase having never faced Kawada in a singles match, they had Kawada pin Hase. Kawada was the man here, as he instilled the story and was the best worker. Hase didn't have stamina or fire of his heyday, but his work with Kawada was very good. Mossman wasn't much here and Omori wrestled like a robot. **3/4
7/19 Niigata Shi Taiikukan
World Junior Heavyweight Title League Final: Satoro Asako vs. Yoshinari Ogawa. Highlights. Asako was clearly the better of the two even though Ogawa wound up being the one getting the slot as Misawa's #2. Ogawa takes the title.
7/15 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Asia Tag Titles: Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. The Headhunters. Highlights
World Tag Titles: Kawada & Taue vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. Highlights
Kobashi vs. Masahito Kakihara. Another booking debacle as Kakihara wasn't anywhere near the respect his work or his push in other leagues warrants. Kakihara carried the match which was a quasi-shoot, and it was good despite Kobashi not excelling in this style. Kakihara attacked Kobashi's bad knee, which worked for him a lot better than for Akiyama because he has the submissions to back it up, although they didn't get the heat they would have because no one submits in AJ.
7/5 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa vs. Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi. Highlights
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/23/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/22/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Misawa's return from injury after missing two series. Misawa showed he still had his athleticism early to get the crowd into it, but the evil Ace soon kneecap dropkicked the bad knee. Misawa looked great here considering he wasn't close to 100% and had to be a little rusty. Akiyama was still the best in the match though. Smith was quite good. Match lacked intensity. ***1/4
Maunakea Mossman vs. Akira Taue. Stiff match. No heat. They didn't work incredibly well together. Mossman didn't get enough offense in, as the match wasn't even all that competitive. **
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/30/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace. Kobashi & Taue worked together a lot to build to their TC, with Taue being pretty fired up. Ace's turn was corny, but the announcer did a great job of putting it over. Akiyama made the save, but Smith and Wolf sided with Ace, so it put the natives and gaijins at odds.
Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Fans were into Inoue pushing Hansen, but it was a poor match with slow, unathletic spots. *1/4
Takao Omori & Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara & Gary Albright. Highlights.
AJ 30 9/6/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/29/98 Tokushima
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Maunakea Mossman. Good work. Kobashi was into this one, and pulling effort out of the others. ***
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara & Gary Albright. Match was alright, but kind of dull. Kakihara looked good, but his partners didn't. **
AJ 30 9/13/98 taped 9/11/98 Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue. ****
AJ Hour #35 9/5/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Makoto Hashi 6:43
Giant Kimala & Ragin vs. Masao Inoue & Takeshi Morishima 11:12
Maunakea Mossman vs. Wolf Hawkfield 16:10
Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Satoru Asako & Jun Akiyama 21:32
AJ Hour #36 9/12/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Kentaro Shiga vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru 11:12
Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida vs. Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota 15:47
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Stan Hansen & Johnny Smith & Bobby Duncum Jr. 13:52
Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace 14:02
AJ 30 9/20/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 9/11/98 Nippon Budokan
8/22/98: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa
9/11/98: Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama
AJ 30 9/27/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 9/11/98 Nippon Budokan
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Maunakea Mossman
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara
AJ Hour #40 10/10/98 '98 Summer Action Series II taped 9/8/98 Kamagaya Citizen Gym
1hr 15min. Q=Ex
Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Gran Naniwa & Super Delfin 11:36
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi & Jun Izumida 16:20
Maunakea Mossman vs. Johnny Smith 12:53
Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda 13:35
8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Akira Taue & Tamon Honda. Ace turns on Kobashi. Digest.
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Sankan Heavykyu Senshuken: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue. ****
8/22/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. Misawa's return from injury
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Maunakea Mossman
8/23/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa. Digest.
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
9/11/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara
AJ Hour #41 10/17/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/3/98 Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Giant Kimala vs. Takeshi Morishima 9:11
Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara vs. Akira Taue & Tamon Honda 11:11
Maunakea Mossman & Gary Albright vs. Jinsei Shinzaki & Jun Izumida 17:58
Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith & Johnny Ace vs. Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga & Jun Akiyama 21:00
AJ Hour #42 10/24/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/3/98 Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan
1hr 5min. Q=Ex
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi & Satoru Asako 12:48
Giant Baba & Rusher & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 15:28
Takao Omori vs. Stan Hansen 7:38
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue 18:32
AJ Hour #43 10/31/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/4/98 Koraken Hall
1hr 5min. Q=Ex
Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naomichi Marufuji 11:41
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida 14:28
Toshiaki Kawada & Takao Omori vs. Stan Hansen & Johnny Smith 15:44
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue & Tamon Honda 13:21
AJ Hour #44 11/7/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/4/98 Koraken Hall
1hr 5min. Q=Ex
Takeshi Morishima vs. Makoto Hashi 7:01
Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs. Giant Kimala & Wolf Hawkfield 14:10
Satoru Asako & Shinzaki vs. Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 14:30
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara 14:26
AJ 30 10/4/98 taped 10/4/98 Korakuen Hall
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue & Tamon Honda
Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Gary Albright
AJ 30 10/11/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/11/98 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan
World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
AJ 30 10/11/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/11/98 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan
World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
AJ 30 10/18/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/11/98 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki
AJ 30 10/25/98 '98 Giant Series
10/24/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki
10/5/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara
NJ World Pro Wrestling 10/31/98 nWo typhoon taped 10/18/98 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Akitoshi Saito vs. Don Frye
Koji Kanemoto vs. SASUKE
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata
IWGP Tag Titles: Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
AJ 30 10/18/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/11/98 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki
AJ 30 10/25/98 '98 Giant Series
10/24/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Mitsuharu Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki
10/5/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara
AJ Hour #45 11/14/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/24/98 Koraken Hall
1hr 25min. Q=VG (video calibration keeps flashing)
Giant Kimala vs. Takeshi Morishima 11:14
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 16:31
Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara 14:09
Kenta Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Takao Omori 19:07
AJ Hour #46 11/21/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/24/98 Koraken Hall
1hr 20min. Q=Ex
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi 15:00
Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Satoru Asako 12:14
Stan Hansen & Maunakea Mossman vs. Akira Taue & Masao Inoue 12:20
Toshiaki Kawada & Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida vs. Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 24:48
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Makoto Hashi 5:32
Masao Inoue vs. Takeshi Morishima 7:37
Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura 10:26
Jun Izumida & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda vs. Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith & Maunakea Mossman 17:20
Giant Baba & Jinsei Shinzaki & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Gedo & Jado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 16:16
Satoru Asako & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga 14:07
Gary Albright & Giant Kimala vs. Stan Hansen & Wolf Hawkfield 9:32
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama 15:05
Triple Crown Title Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 43:29. Great match!
10/24/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Misawa & Takao Omori vs. Kobashi & Jinsei Shinzaki. Main point is Kobashi pins Misawa with his new inverted Death Valley bomb finisher, later named the burning hammer.
10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. The best thing about Kobashi not being Misawa's partner, is that they totally have their stuff working opposite each other down pat. They delivered the best men's heavyweight match of 1996 on 3/31, the best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 1/20, the 3rd best men's heavyweight match of 1997 on 10/21, and now, even with Misawa clearly not at 100%, they produced another awesome match which is probably the third best match of 1998. Most of the credit, as usual, goes to Misawa as he laid out a tremendous match that was more too the style of 1/20/97 than 10/21, which was a plus, IMO. Misawa's psychology was the best it's been this year. Kobashi is still a great worker, and overall he was at his 1998 best here, following Misawa's lead without getting goofy. Match followed the typical storyline of Misawa getting destroyed most of the match. It developed slowly because they were going so long, but the build and utilization of the spots was excellent. Kobashi attacks the neck, as a key is obviously whether he can deliver the inverted Death Valley bomb. Misawa's new Tigerdriver off the apron to the floor was the highlight. ****1/2
10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan World Tag Titles: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Kobashi & Jun Akiyama. Probably the best AJ tag match of the year. An excellent slow building AJ style long tag match. They did the little things right, the timing was excellent, and the match had great ebb and flow. Kobashi & Akiyama did little to distinguish themselves as a great team, but individually they are excellent, as is Kawada, but his teamwork with Taue after all these years is obviously light years ahead of the new team. Kawada was also, not surprisingly the best seller and most responsible for the psych. What's funny is that the early portion of this match has strikes back and forth as stiff as as Tenryu/Hashimoto 8/1, but it's just taken for granted because it's AJ and the main eventers work stiff and "realistic" there. The second half where things really picked up was mainly what was responsible for the excellence, as the first 10 minutes was more we have time so we'll stiff each other to wear down before we start playing our cards.
10/11 Nagoya Aichii-ken Taiikukan: Misawa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki. Even against Misawa, Shinzaki was still Shinlazy. The first 10 minutes of this match were almost a complete waste, but they picked it up in the second half and Misawa got a good match out of Shinzaki. This was mainly a work and spot match because that's all Shinzaki has to offer, although Misawa handled the praying powerbomb spot in an interesting way. Shinzaki did a swandive plancha over the guard rail which was choice. The main aspect where the match failed was that you never believed for a second that Shinlazy had even the remotest chance of winning.
#023
6/9/95 Tokyo: Stan Hansen vs. Giant Kimala
6/9/95 Tokyo Tag Title: Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada
#024
10/31/98 Tokyo Triple Crown Heavyweight Title: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
AJ 30 11/1/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa wins TC. ****3/4
AJ 30 11/8/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Giant Baba & Jinsei Shinzaki & Masamichi Marufuji vs. Jado & Gedo & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara
AJ 30 11/1/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa. Misawa wins TC. ****3/4
NJ World Pro Wrestling 11/7/98 NWO typhoon taped 10/24/98 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
IWGP Junior Tag Title: Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Koji Kanemoto & Kendo Kashin
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kensuke Sasaki & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet
Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima
AJ 30 11/8/98 '98 Giant Series taped 10/31/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Giant Baba & Jinsei Shinzaki & Masamichi Marufuji vs. Jado & Gedo & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara
NJ World Pro Wrestling 11/14/98 SG TAG LEAGUE VIII taped 10/26/98 Nagasaki Prefectural Gymnasium
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Dr. Wagner, Jr. vs. Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Brian Adams & Hiro Saito
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Yuji Nagata vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima & NWO Sting
10/30 Hiroshima: Yuji Nagata & Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Don Frye & Brian Johnston
Masao Inoue & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Satoru Asako 18:28
Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Morishima 11:15
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 19:28
Masahito Kakihara & Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Gary Albright & Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida 17:16
Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs. Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga 17:04
Real World Tag League 1998 Match: Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada [2] vs. Headhunter A & Headhunter B [0] 8:38
Real World Tag League 1998 Match: Stan Hansen & Vader [2] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa [0] 7:10
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 11/15/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tag League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Tag League Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. The Headhunters
11/15 Korakuen Hall Tag League Match: Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn vs. Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama. Digest
NJ World Pro Wrestling 11/21/98 nWo typhoon taped 10/30 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Kendo Kashin
Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani
Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Keiji Muto & Brian Adams & Satoshi Kojima
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Scott Norton vs. Shinya Hashimoto
AJ 30 11/22/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/21/98 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Tag League Match: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Tag League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn
NJ World Pro Wrestling 11/28/98 SG TAG LEAGUE VIII taped 11/16/98 Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin 16:14
Big Titan & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & nWo Sting vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Kensuke Sasaki & Tadao Yasuda 11:43
Super Grade Tag League VIII Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Tatsumi Fujinami [2] vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata [0] 16:05
Super Grade Tag League VIII Match: Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka [2] vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima [0] 14:56
AJ 30 11/15/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/14/98 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
'98 World's Strongest Tag Team League: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
'98 World's Strongest Tag Team League: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Headhunters
AJ 30 11/22/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/21/98 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Tag League Match: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Vader
Tag League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn
AJ Hour #48 12/6/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/15/98 Koraken Hall
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masao Inoue 19:46
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 15:39
Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada & Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen & Vader & Maunakea Mossman 14:38
AJ Hour #53 1/17/99 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/14/98, 11/15/98 & 11/21/98
1hr 5min. Q=Ex11/14/98 Korakuen
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa 7:10
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Headhunters 4:55 of 8:38
11/15/98 Korakuen
Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori 4:50 of 15:39
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Headhunters 11:50
11/21/98 Hiroshima Sun Plaza Tag League Match: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 5:06 of 13:49
AJ Hour #52 1/9/99 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/27/98 & 12/4/98
1hr 15min. Q=Ex11/27/98 Iwate Prefectural Gym
Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori vs. Gary Albright & Giant Kimala 12:25
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 17:55
12/4/98 Chiba Park Gym
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. Headhunters 3:58 complete
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 20:04
AJ 30 11/29/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/27/98 Morioka Iwate-ken Taiikukan
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen & Vader & Maunakea Mossman
Tag League Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn
AJ Hour #49 12/12/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 12/2/98 Matsumoto City Gym
1hr 5min. Q=Ex
Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Satoru Asako & Naomichi Marufuji 14:24
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Tamon Honda vs. Takao Omori & Masao Inoue 12:32
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Headhunters 8:13
Stan Hansen & Vader & Maunakea Mossman vs. Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara 12:08
AJ Hour #50 12/19/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 12/2/98 Matsumoto City Gym
1hr 5min. Q=Ex
Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen 13:26
Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn vs. Giant Kimala & Jun Izumida 13:30
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 21:40
AJ Hour #51 12/26/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 12/4/98 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
1hr 10min. Q=Ex
Kentaro Shiga & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 13:46
Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Giant Baba & Kengo Kimura & Mitsuo Momota 10:27 of 15:41
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori 15:57
Gary Albright & Giant Kimala & Maunakea Mossman vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masao Inoue 12:02
AJ Pro Wrestling 30 11/29/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/27 Morioka Iwate-ken ? Taiikukan
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Tamon Honda vs. Stan Hansen & Vader & Maunakea Mossman
Tag League Match: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn
NJ World Pro Wrestling 12/5/98 SG TAG LEAGUE VIII taped 11/26 Tsuruoka Shi Taiikukan
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Keiji Muto & NWO Sting & Hiro Saito vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
SG Tag League Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki
AJ 30 12/6/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 12/5/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'98 World's Strongest Tag Team League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Vader. They delivered all you could ask for. Vader gives an excellent performance carrying his team and Hansen doesn't screw it up. Obviously the problem with the match, with any match involving a monster team, is it's completely one-sided. Vader & Hansen really don't take any legitimate bumps, but you knew that coming in. The crowd was going nuts anytime Kobashi & Akiyama did anything, which granted wasn't too often but shows the monster gimmick worked. In particular, they were exploding when Vader's knee was injured. The '95 final was way better in every other regard, but this at least felt like a tag final due to the fans. Kobashi & Akiyama gave regular performances, both very good but I would not say either were that impressive. The gaijins stepped it up a lot more than the natives, though obviously they were still the weak link, Vader is the only one that really impressed me in all he did to carry his team. One wicked spot where Akiyama tries to use his northern lights suplex on Vader, but Vader uses his weight to drive Akiyama straight down into the canvas nose first with Vader coming down on top. Finish was improbably but basically all they could do given the result and the limitations of those involved. ***1/2
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshihiro Takayama
NJ World Pro Wrestling 12/12/98 SG TAG LEAGUE VIII taped 12/4/98 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa 11:58 of 18:02. Takaiwa's standing is rising through his losses to Liger, though I'm not sure it was making for the greatest wrestling this time. Technically, the wrestling itself was excellent as usual with Takaiwa using brute strength to counter Liger's athletic moves, for instance catching him in the air doing a pescado and dropping him on the guard rail. The problem was once Liger decided he had to switch to his strikes and power, Takaiwa pretty much decided he wasn't going to sell any of it, including screaming off a top rope fisherman buster and kicking out of an avalanche style brainbuster at 1. Takaiwa was just so jacked up he was banging his head on the turnbuckle for motivation. Liger did a nice job of selling Takaiwa's knee attack, but this played no part once Takaiwa moved on, and ultimately, Liger returned the favor on a kick out a 1 spot and put Takaiwa away with the shotei. The actual wrestling may have been better than in any of their previous excellent matches as Takaiwa is improving in that department, but this was pretty much the bottom of the barrel do to the sort of superhuman goofiness I'd expect from Kanemoto.
SG Tag League Match: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima
SG Tag League Match: Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Scott Norton vs. Manabu Nakanishi
AJ 30 12/6/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 12/5/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
'98 World's Strongest Tag Team League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Vader. They delivered all you could ask for. Vader gives an excellent performance carrying his team and Hansen doesn't screw it up. Obviously the problem with the match, with any match involving a monster team, is it's completely one-sided. Vader & Hansen really don't take any legitimate bumps, but you knew that coming in. The crowd was going nuts anytime Kobashi & Akiyama did anything, which granted wasn't too often but shows the monster gimmick worked. In particular, they were exploding when Vader's knee was injured. The '95 final was way better in every other regard, but this at least felt like a tag final due to the fans. Kobashi & Akiyama gave regular performances, both very good but I would not say either were that impressive. The gaijins stepped it up a lot more than the natives, though obviously they were still the weak link, Vader is the only one that really impressed me in all he did to carry his team. One wicked spot where Akiyama tries to use his northern lights suplex on Vader, but Vader uses his weight to drive Akiyama straight down into the canvas nose first with Vader coming down on top. Finish was improbably but basically all they could do given the result and the limitations of those involved. ***1/2
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshihiro Takayama
AJ 30 12/13/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/30/98 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
AJ TV 12/20/98
'98 World's Strongest Tag Team League digest
AJ Hour 1/23/99 '98 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/30/98, 12/2/98, 12/4/98, & 12/5/98
1hr 5min. Q=VG11/30/98
Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama 6:30 of 30:00
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 6:33 of 12:33
12/2/98: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 8:06 of 21:40
12/4/98
Stan Hansen & Vader vs. Headhunters 3:58
Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn 8:09 of 20:04
12/5/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & vs. Stan Hansen & Vader 19:03
Naomichi Marufuji & Satoru Asako vs. Makoto Hashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru 15:54
Headhunter A & Headhunter B vs. Kentaro Shiga & Masao Inoue 8:00
Giant Baba & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura vs. Haruka Eigen & Masanobu Fuchi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 16:03
Gary Albright & Giant Kimala vs. Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda 12:29
Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace vs. Maunakea Mossman & Takao Omori 12:44
Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada & Yoshihiro Takayama 17:11
'98 World's Strongest Tag League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & vs. Stan Hansen & Vader 19:03
12/11/77 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik. Dory gave a typically strong performance, but couldn't save the match with such unskilled opposition. Butcher & Sheik bled, but that was all they could do. *1/4
12/13/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk vs. Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka 21:41. Dory was typically excellent here, and brought the best out of Snuka. Their stuff was quite good, with Snuka utilizing his athleticism including a swandive body press and Dory making him really work to keep his headlock. Brody was on offense most of the time he was in, though he found a way to bleed. Terry was alright, but really pales compared to Dory. He did a plancha, but he did one of his completely ridiculous oversells, a 360 degree spin after Brody kicked him. Funks worked the knee setting up the key spot where they had spinning toe holds, but Brody shot Terry to the floor and whipped him at Hansen, who took him out with the western lariat. Dory continued on his own, persistent on the knee, but Snuka was able to tag while in a subsequent spinning toe hold. Dory attacked after the bell, but Hansen beat him up then Baba & Jumbo jumped in and fought Hansen, who juiced. ****
12/13/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody 17:43. Jumbo & Tenryu were good at having action oriented match with the gaijins, making up for their technical deficiencies by keeping things moving and doing a number of good well executed simple spots. Though Hansen & Brody aren't exactly limited and are capable of a deeper match, this is certainly the kind of match they can excel in, especially since their moves are so over. Even though I prefer the other style, it's nice seeing a double dropkick from Hansen and Brody every once in a while. Surprisingly Tenryu carried things for his side, allowing Jumbo to eventually make the hot tag. Once this occurred the match really picked up; great action in the final three minutes. ****
11/30/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu 30:00. One of those matches where it was obvious they were going long. Started slow and the pace never seemed to pick up, continuing to be technical in the boring wear the opponent down with rest holds kind of way. The crowd didn't react that much until Jumbo tagged in at 27:30 and used some finishers. It was a solid match, but what makes Choshu good is fire and intensity and for the most part that was sorely lacking here. ***
11/24/89 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura. Well thought out match that told a good story. If Baba & Rusher weren't so disgraceful on offense it might have been a great match, but man their offense is just terrible! As Baba was about to enter the ring Tenryu caught him with a tope, causing the match to begin without ring announcements. Tenryu & Hansen were nasty, and the match was quality as long as they stayed on offense. They beat Rusher up for 8 minutes while Baba was selling on the floor, causing him to juice a gusher. Baba eventually came in and cleaned house, but he has about 2 minutes worth of stamina and Rusher was still on the floor recovering. Soon the tide turned when Hansen chaired Baba in the stomach. ***
12/9/95 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, '95 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Yushoketteisen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 27:00. Overshadowed because they had so many great matches in such a short period of time. This may have been the worst, and a half dozen in one year is too much, but these are the two greatest teams ever and 1995 was a peak year for all. Everything that made the other matches great except for crowd heat was present here, the big difference to me is the best stuff came early. Kawada stalled the start to incite Kobashi then when Kobashi finally got him in a headlock Kawada exploded with a backdrop driver, high kick to Misawa, and jumping high kick. Taue worked on Misawa while Kawada and Kobashi were legal, with Kawada assisting every time Kobashi was down. This led to the dynamic duo taking Misawa out with an elevated nodowa otoshi on the floor at 5:00. Kobashi's left arm was injured when Taue pulled him off the apron into the security rail, and they worked it over for several minutes while Misawa was out of it on the floor. When Misawa would make it back to the apron they would knock him off, which elicited some boos. Eventually Misawa got back in the match when Kobashi blocked Kawada's udehishigigyakujujigatame so Taue came in and broke his clasp, turning it into a double. Misawa did enough damage that Kobashi was able to make the hot tag at 13. The first half was tremendous, but they either used up their story points too early or didn't capitalize on them quite enough during the second half. The final half contained most of their top moves, but the fans didn't react as they should. For instance, at one point Kawada turns Kobashi's lariat into an udehishigigyakujujigatame and even though they'd worked over Kobashi's arm for all that time, the fans didn't buy it. It would have helped if Kobashi didn't rope escape so quickly, but Kawada didn't even get too negative a reaction for refusing to release. The tide turned when Misawa blocked Kawada's powerbomb on the floor and took him out with a Tigerdriver. Taue was getting the better of Kobashi in the ring, but finally Misawa's team was able to do some double teaming. *spoilers* Given they were beaten on almost the entire match, it was not very credible that they were able to put Taue away within two minutes. ****1/2
12/5/98 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, '98 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei League Yushoketteisen: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Vader & Stan Hansen 18:58. They delivered all you could ask for. Vader gives an excellent performance carrying his team and Hansen doesn't screw it up. Obviously the problem with the match, with any match involving a monster team, is it's completely one-sided. Vader & Hansen really don't take any legitimate bumps, but you knew that coming in. The crowd was going nuts anytime Kobashi & Akiyama did anything, which granted wasn't too often but shows the monster gimmick worked. In particular, they were exploding when Vader's knee was injured. The '95 final was way better in every other regard, but this at least felt like a tag final due to the fans. Kobashi & Akiyama gave regular performances, both very good but I would not say either were that impressive. The gaijins stepped it up a lot more than the natives, though obviously they were still the weak link, Vader is the only one that really impressed me in all he did to carry his team. One wicked spot where Akiyama tries to use his northern lights suplex on Vader, but Vader uses his weight to drive Akiyama straight down into the canvas nose first with Vader coming down on top. Finish was improbably but basically all they could do given the result and the limitations of those involved. ***1/2
DVD #1 1977/1978
Finishes of 1977 league matches: Billy Robinson & Horst Hoffman vs. Mighty Inoue & Akihisa Takachiho, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Rocky Hata, Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Billy Robinson & Horst Hoffman, Rusher Kimura & Great Kusatsu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba, Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Billy Robinson & Horst Hoffman, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Kintaro Oki & Kim Duk,
12/15/77 World Open Tag Title League Match: Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik finals 14:40
Finishes of 1978 league matches: Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Billy Robinson & Wild Angus, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Blackjack Lanza, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Blackjack Lanza, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik
12/15/78 '78 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. 45:00
DVD #2 1979/1980
Finishes of 1979 league matches: Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Wahoo McDaniel & Frank Hill, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik, Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr., Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras vs. Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik, Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba,
12/13/79 '79 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Abdullah The Butcher & The Sheik vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. 17:15
Finishes of 1980 league matches: Ricky Steamboat & Dick Slater vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tor Kamata, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. The Sheik & Great Mephisto, Billy Robinson & Les Thornton vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Jim Brunzell, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Jim Brunzell, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tor Kamata, Abdullah The Butcher & Tor Kamata vs. The Sheik & Great Mephisto
12/11/80 '80 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba 43:50
DVD #3 1981/1982/1983
Finishes of 1981 league matches: Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, Harley Race & Larry Hennig vs. The Sheik & Mark Lewin, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda,
12/13/81 '81 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. 21:41
Finishes of 1982 league matches: Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Super Destroyer, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Harley Race & Dick Slater, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Harley Race & Dick Slater, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta & Giant Baba vs. Harley Race & Dick Slater,
12/13/82 '82 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. 12:30
Finishes of 1983 league matches: Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Ron Fuller & Barry Windham, Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Goro Tsurumi & The Mongolian, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr., Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Mil Mascaras & Dos Caras, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ron Fuller & Barry Windham, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda
12/12/83 '83 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsruta & Genichiro Tenryu 17:54
DVD #4 1984/1985
Finishes of 1984 league matches: Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu
12/8/84 '84 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen 18:42
Finishes of 1985 league matches: Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Rusher Kimura & Ashura Hara, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Curt Hennig, Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Harley Race & Jesse Barr, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Harley Race & Jesse Barr, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race & Jesse Barr vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Nick Bockwinkle & Curt Hennig, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Harley Race & Jesse Barr, Giant Baba & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu
12/12/85 '85 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu 30:00
DVD #5 1986/1987
Finishes of 1986 league matches: Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba & Tiger Mask II vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr., Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu, Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu,
12/12/86 '82 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Jumbo Tsruta & Genichiro Tenryu 8:13
Finishes of 1987 league matches: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Mark Youngblood & Chris Youngblood, Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. TNT (Savio Vega) & Abdullah The Butcher, Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Tom Zenk & The Terminator, Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy, Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima, Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. TNT & Abdullah The Butcher, Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima, Great Kabuki & John Tenta vs. Tom Zenk & The Terminator, TNT & Abdullah The Butcher vs. Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara,
12/11/87 '87 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka 8:46 of 16:51. No finish
DVD #6 1988/1989
Finishes of 1988 league matches: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Shunji Takano & John Tenta, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh, Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada, Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Jerry Blackwell & Phil Hickerson, Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh
12/16/88 '88 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada 21:02
Finishes of 1989 league matches: Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki, Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu, Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu, Abdullah The Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu, Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas
12/6/89 '89 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu 28:57
DVD #7 1990/1991
Finishes of 1990 league matches: Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Dick Slater & Joel Deaton, Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr., Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kamala vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace, Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue, Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams, Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Skywalker Nitron & Butch Masters, Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue, Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada, Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada
12/7/90 '90 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey 29:59
Finishes of 1991 league matches: Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs. Dory Funk Jr. & Al Perez, Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey, Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Rusher Kimura & Mighty Inoue, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue, Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey, Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Johnny Ace & Sonny Beach, Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kamala vs. Giant Baba & Andre the Giant, Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
12/6/91 '91 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs. Mitsuhara Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada 25:24
DVD #8 1992/1993
Finishes of 1992 league matches: Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Abdullah The Butcher & Giant Kamala, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Dan Spivey & Kendall Windham, Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama vs. Dory Funk Jr. & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Joel Deaton & Billy Black, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas, Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama, Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada, Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Th The Patriot & The Eagle, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace, Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. The Patriot & The Eagle, Terry Gordy & Steve Williams vs. Stan Hansen & Johnny Ace
12/4/92 '92 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Mitsuhara Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue & Jun Akiyama 23:52
Finishes of 1993 league matches: Steve Williams & Big Bubba vs. The Patriot & The Eagle, Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Dan Spivey & Johnny Ace, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas, Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. The Patriot & The Eagle, Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams & Big Bubba, Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue, Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Giant Baba & Stan Hansen, Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. The Patriot & The Eagle, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams & Big Bubba, Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams & Big Bubba
12/3/93 '93 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Mitsuhara Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 23:34
DVD #9 1994/1995
Finishes of 1994 league matches: Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. The Eagle & The Falcon, Mitsuhara Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas, Dan Spivey & Jim Steele vs. Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori, Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuhara Misawa & Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuhara Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace
12/10/94 '94 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Match: Giant Baba & Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 26:30
Finishes of 1995 league matches: Stan Hansen/Gary Albright vs. Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas, Misawa/Kobashi vs. Rob Van Dam/Johnny Smith, Kawada/Taue vs. Johnny Ace/Patriot
12/9/95 '95 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue 24:04
DVD #10 1996/1997
Finishes of 1996 league matches: Kobashi/Patriot vs. Hansen/Omori, Kawada/Taue vs. Kamala/Izumida, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace, Hansen/Omori vs. Sabu/Albright, Kawada/Taue vs. Williams/Ace, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kobashi/Patriot, Hansen/Omori vs. Kamala/Izumida, Albright/Sabu vs. Kobashi/Patriot, Kawada/Taue vs. Akiyama/Misawa, Hansen/Omori vs. Sabu/Albright, Kawada/Taue vs. Izumida/Kamala, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Williams/Ace,
12/6/96 '96 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama 31:37
Finishes of 1997 league matches: Izumida/Kamala vs. Hayabusa/Jinsei Shinzaki, Williams/Albright vs. Omori/Honda, Kobashi/Ace vs. Windham/Bradshaw, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Wolf Hawkfield/Johnny Smith, Kawada/Taue vs. Hansen/Duncum Jr., Omori/Honda vs. Hayabusa/Shinzaki, Hansen/Duncum vs. Windham/Bradshaw, Williams/Albright vs. Hawkfield/Smith, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Kamala/Izumida, Williams/Albright vs. Windham/Bradshaw, Kawada/Taue vs. Hayabusa/Shinzaki, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Ace/Kobashi, Kawada/Taue vs. Ace/Kobashi, Misawa/Akiyama vs. Hayabusa/Shinzaki
12/5/97 '97 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama 30:52
DVD #11 1998/1999
Finishes of 1998 league matches: Kawada/Taue vs. Headhunters, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Vader/Hansen, Johnny Ace/Bart Gunn vs. Takayama/Omori, Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Headhunters, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Ace/Gunn, Akiyama/Kobashi vs. Vader/Hansen, Takayama/Omori vs. Kamala/Albright, Kawada/Taue vs. Ace/Gunn, Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Misawa/Ogawa, Vader/Hansen vs. Ace/Gunn, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Headhunters, Kawada/Taue vs. Kobashi/Akiyama, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Omori/Takayama, Hansen/Vader vs. Headhunters, Ace/Gunn vs. Kobashi/Akiyama
12/5/98 '98 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Vader & Stan Hansen 19:03
Finishes of 1999 league matches: Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Honda/Masao Inoue, Taue/Hansen vs. Albright/Hawkfield, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Smith/Vader, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Kobashi/Akiyama, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Honda/Inoue, Hansen/Taue vs. Omori/Takayama, Misawa/Ogawa vs. Omori/Takayama, Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Taue/Hansen, Albright/Hawkfield vs. Kobashi/Akiyama, Taue/Hansen vs. Vader/Smith
12/3/99 '99 World's Strongest Tag Decision League Final: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Stan Hansen & Akira Taue 20:15
Highlights of all the Triple Crown & World Tag Title matches from 1998