By Justin Baisden

Well… I'm sure that a good many of you are looking for some material from me aside from New Japan stuff. I figured that I would go with an excellent tape, complete with the best match that I have ever seen. I don't know why but AJPW was notorious for putting the best matches at the beginning of the commercial release and kind of working on a sliding scale as the tape progresses. Odd…

TOSHIAKI KAWADA/AKIRA TAUE vs STEVE WILLIAMS/JOHNNY ACE (Double Tag Titles) Let me make thing one clear right off the bat, Dangerous K (Kawada) is easily the most kick ass wrestler on the planet today. There is no one, and I mean NO ONE in any heavyweight division of any fed that can touch this guy. Personally I never liked the idea of gaijin in big title matches. As good as the match is, it would be all the better with all "natives" in the match because the fans respond better (in my opinion at least). At least Williams crippling offense is welcome in AJPW. The match starts out with Kawada and Taue doing what they do best, literally KICKING THE SHIT out of people. In this case, the unlucky bastard is Johnny Ace. The poor Dynamic Dude eventually makes the tag to Williams. Williams and Ace work over Taue with a lot of submission stuff. Hmm… I can feel the temperature dropping, feels like a lack of heat. Taue finally gets in an enziguri and tags in Kawada. Kawada gets Irish whipped into the corner and Williams follows up with an avalanche. It carries him over to the apron and he nails Taue. Kawada makes him pay for that and clocks Williams with a high kick to the face. Williams crashes into the guardrail and it looks like he's hurt his arm. Awww… TIME TO DIE! Kawada and Taue absolutely murder Williams arm. Stiff kicks, stomps, kneedrops, and an arm bar or two just to hear Williams scream like a little girl. "JOHNNY, JOHNNY SAVE ME!!!" WUSS! Irish whip but Williams nails Kawada with the arm they worked over for the last ten minutes. UGH… that's just terrible coming from a pro like Williams. Tag to Ace and he cleans house. He hits Taue with a sidewalk slam for 2 and ½. He hits a flying lariat for 2 and ½. He goes for the Cobra Clutch suplex but Kawada cuts that off. Kawada and Taue hit Ace with the backdrop-Nodowa combo (is there a proper name for that move?) and that gets a two count. Tag to Kawada who goes for a roundhouse kick but Ace ducks and fires off a lariat. Tag to Williams who gets in a WICKED spinebuster for 2 and ½. Williams hits the Oklahoma Stampede for 2 and 9/10. Tag to Ace and they hit a beautiful Doomsday Device but Taue makes the save. Taue hits Ace with the Nodowa Ososhi and then drags Kawada back to their corner where he makes the tag. THAT'S BRILLIANT! Why doesn't everyone do that? Screw this crawling to your partner shit, just drag him and then tag his prone body. Taue hits The Dynamic Bomb on Ace (yes I'm aware of the irony) for 2 and 9/10. Taue goes for a short clothesline but Ace ducks and hits a released German suplex. Williams and Ace hit Taue with a Double bomb but he kicks out and 2 and ¾. Ace hits the Ace Crusher for 2 and 9/10. Ace hits The Cobra Clutch suplex but Kawada makes the save at 2 and ½. Kawada fires off a jumping head kick and puts Taue on top for 2 and ¾. Taue and Kawada hit a WICKED Powerbomb - Chokeslam for 2 and 99/100. Kawada fires off a running high kick for 2 and 9/10. Who's the legal man in here? WHO CARES! Taue nails Ace with two consecutive Nodowa Ososhi's and that gets the win and The Double Tag Titles. This match kicked major ass in the last half but the first half was dragged down terribly by Williams and Ace. It was really good but I can't give it **** in good conscience. ***3/4

KENTA KOBASHI vs MITSUHARU MISAWA (Triple Crown) OH BABY! HERE WE GO! Kobashi in my opinion, is mere millimetres from Kawada as it concerns being "king of the wrestling hill." If it wasn't for his two terrible knees (which he never lets heal because he always wants to wrestle) Kobashi would be the absolute best wrestler on the planet. There isn't much I can say that hasn't been said about Misawa. He's a legend in heavyweight pro wrestling and has been part of what many consider to be best singles match ever and the best tag team match ever. However, those two matches are for another review, for now let's get to this match. First let us establish one thing, THIS CROWD IS HOT! This crowd would sustain a level of heat throughout this match (with a few major spikes) that few matches have ever been privy to. Misawa brings the pain with his stiff elbow smashes while Kobashi goes with the brutal chops. Irish whip and Misawa hits a dropkick. Kobashi to the outside and Misawa follows up with an elbow suicida. Kobashi gets to the apron and Misawa actually hits him with a belly to back suplex from the apron to the inside of the ring. Hmm… you don't see that too often. Irish whip and Misawa goes for the twirling clothesline but it's ducked and Kobashi hits a spin kick and a jumping DDT. Irish whip into the corner but Misawa blocks and clocks Kobashi with an elbow smash. Misawa heads to the second turnbuckle on the inside and fires off a corkscrew dropkick. DAMN! Remember these are heavyweights pulling this stuff. Misawa hits a slam and then gets in a frog splash for 2 and ½. They go back and forth with more stiff chops and elbow shots. Ugh… this is painful to watch. Misawa gets the better of the exchange and Kobashi heads to the floor. Misawa comes off the apron with a flying elbow but Kobashi moves and Misawa ends up elbowing the guardrail. The crowd does what they can for the poor man… "MI SA WA, MI SA WA, MI SA WA!" Kobashi absolutely mauls the injured arm. All sorts of great stuff, including a couple of hammerlock DDT's. He slaps on a jujigatime but Misawa gets to the ropes. Kobashi keeps bringing the pain on the arm and then pulls out the first big move with a disturbingly brutal half nelson suplex. Misawa landed right on his head. Kobashi follows up with a kneeling arm bar and THE CROWD IS GOING NUTS! Kobashi is PUUUUULLING on the arm but Misawa eventually makes the ropes. They get back to a vertical base and Misawa tries for an elbow smash but Kobashi rolls through into a FUJIWARA ARMBAR! OH MY GOD!!! Misawa is smack in the middle of the ring. He slowly inches back little by little until he gets a toe on the bottom rope. "MI SA WA, MI SA WA, MI SA WA!" I'm sure Misawa is looking for some morphine instead of chanting but I guess you've got to settle. Kobashi fires off a released German suplex but Misawa rolls through. He goes for a running elbow smash but Kobashi catches him with an ippon seoinage (Andrew, did I get that right?) and floats over into A JUJIGATAME! HOLY SHIT!!! THE CROWD IS CLIMBING THE WALLS! I'M CLIMBING THE WALLS! THIS MATCH RULES!!! Misawa is WRITHING in pain. Slowly but surely he gets to the ropes. Kobashi lays in some more stiff chops on the arm and Misawa tries to retaliate with a roundhouse kick but Kobashi catches him and hits a BRUTAL capture suplex. Misawa has got to be looking for some kind of sniper to kill him by this point. Kobashi hulks up and charges in for LARIATOOOOOO!!! But Misawa manages to elbow Kobashi's outstretched arm. Kobashi is selling it like someone just stabbed him in the arm with a butcher knife. Kobashi rolls to the floor but Misawa IS PISSED! He hits a baseball slide and follows up with a 360 pescado. Back in the ring and Misawa hits his twirling clothesline. He follows up with some head dropping of his own in the form of a released German suplex. Misawa hits the tiger driver for 2 and ¾. Misawa to the top and goes for a missile dropkick but Kobashi actually manages to hit a lariat in mid air! SHIT, MISAWA IS DEAD! 1… 2… 2.999999! The heat is beyond anything I've ever seen/felt/heard. Kobashi hits a brutal powerbomb for 2 and 9/10. Kobashi with THE ORANGE CRUSH for 2 and 99/100. Dear god… will Misawa's pain never end? He rolls to the apron but Kobashi is right there. He goes for a powerbomb from the apron to the floor but Misawa reverses into a rana. They get back in the ring and Misawa hits two consecutive rolling elbow smashes but as he rotates for the third one, Kobashi hits a released German suplex. Kobashi charges in for LARIATOOOOOO!!! but Misawa gets in a shot to the gut. He fires off a rolling elbow smash and follows up with a released Tiger suplex for 2 and 9/10. Misawa goes for an elbow but Kobashi ducks. He goes for a spinning chop but Misawa ducks that, cinches him up and hits TIGER DRIVER '91!!! IT'S OVER!!! 1…2… 2 AND 999/1000! SWEET MERCY!!! Kobashi is so gone it's not even funny. He tries to desperately lariat Misawa from his knees but Misawa grabs the arm and hits a released Tiger Suplex '85! The heat is at a fever pitch, Misawa hulks up… he's waiting… waiting… waiting… Kobashi gets to his feet and BOOM!!! RUNNING ELBOOOOOOOOOW! 1… 2… COUNTO THREEEE! The time of the match is 42:38. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest match that I have ever seen! *****

HIROSHI HASE vs KENTARO SHIGA I've always been impressed with Hase. He always brings the goods no matter the opponent that he's facing. I mainly remember his Steiners vs Hase & ??? matches the most though. Simply incredible stuff! He's had a couple of good matches in AJPW but only did certain shows so he never got pushed very far. Ah well… his name alone demands respect. Speaking of respect, here's Kentaro Shiga, who gets NO RESPECT from Hase whatsoever during the entire match. Hase puts on a clinic in how to separate someone's leg from their body. He bitchslaps Shiga around for a while and then ends it with the Northern Lights suplex. It was a complete squash in every sense of the word but it was fun to watch Hase do his thing. **

AKIRA TAUE vs JUN AKIYAMA I really like Akiyama. He's young AND healthy. That's a rare combination now a days. Akiyama comes out quick with elbow smashes. Irish whip and Akiyama goes for a dropkick but the whily veteran Taue holds the ropes. Taue fires off a couple of rough high kicks just so the young punk Akiyama knows his role. Akiyama heads outside but Taue hotshots him ON THE RAILING! UGH… that wasn't pretty at all. Taue goes for the Nodowa Ososhi from the apron to the floor but no dice. They get in the ring and Akiyama takes control with some forearm shots. Irish whip into the corner and Akiyama hits a flying forearm. He goes for a Northern Lights suplex but Taue blocks and fires off a high kick. Taue hits a released German suplex for a two count. Jump to the end where Taue goes for the Nodowa Ososhi but Akiyama reverses with an ippon seoinage. He follows up with a jumping knee smash and then hits THE EXPLOIDAAAAAAH! 1… 2… 3! HOLY SHIT! MAJOR UPSET! **1/2

Final Analysis: There are two points that I want to cover, the "upset victory" in the final match and the Triple Crown match.

Watching Akiyama vs Taue, I was shocked beyond belief. Taue was holding The Triple Crown a mere year and ½ ago and now he was jobbing to Akiyama. Akiyama, at this point at least, was still up and coming. He was working more or less as the second to Mitsuharu Misawa after Kobashi broke away to work alone. It was established at the 1996 Real World Tag League that Akiyama was able to "play with the big boys" but wasn't quite at that level of the "big four" just yet. You'll have to excuse my ignorance in this assumption, but it seems that this victory, especially in such a short time (five minutes) was meant to elevate Akiyama to a new level. Interesting that it would take another three years before Akiyama was totally taken seriously as a Triple Crown contender. Then Misawa's brain addled booking had Akiyama lose in the Champions Carnival 2000 in seven seconds. I could go on forever about that one but I'll save it for if/when I ever review Champions Carnival 2000.

Now we come to the fantastic Kobashi vs Misawa match. For those of you who don't know, the "best singles match ever" is generally considered to be Misawa vs Kawada from 6/3/94. That match was absolutely incredible. Yes it even beats out Steamboat vs Flair from Wrestlewar 1989. Remember the crowd heat I said few matches get? Well 6/3/94 had it and more. That match is my second favourite match though. Kobashi vs Misawa takes it for a few reasons. The primary one being that there was a far more elaborate moveset used in Kobashi vs Misawa. A lot of people don't like the "head dropping" that tends to come with AJPW. However, I think that those moves add just that much more high impact to what is usually an excellent encounter. If you're going to work a stiff style, then work it all the way, not just in your elbows, kicks, or chops. The secondary reason I feel Kobashi vs Misawa to be a better match is because the right guy went over in this match. Without spoiling 6/3/94, I think the wrong man went over (watch the match to see what I mean). I think Misawa was the right choice in this situation. He had just come off a loss in the RWTL 1996 (My second favourite tag match ever) and needed to get a major rebound. Also, in my opinion Kobashi got The Triple Crown for the wrong reasons. The primary one being that Kawada's push to The Triple Crown got the shaft because of his negative views on how AJPW was being run. There's another one I could go on about for a while. But anyway, both 6/3/94 and Kobashi vs Misawa are right there as the best ever, I just like Kobashi vs Misawa a bit more.

This tape gets my highest recommendation. Why in the world would you want to pass up the greatest match ever?