The Furious Flashbacks – AJPW Champions Carnival 1995 Part Three

The Furious Flashbacks – AJPW Champions Carnival 1995 Part Three

The triple disc goodness continues. Misawa-Kawada and Misawa-Taue!

Kenta Kobashi v Takao Omori

You know how on disc two I was talking about Kenta playing underdog when he partnered Misawa but then big brother to Kikuchi? Well given a suitably weak opponent Kobashi gets to dominate. And Omori has no points thus far in the tournament and isn’t going to get any either. Omori gives it a fairly spirited go and works over Kobashi’s arm and although he’s this huge bulk of muscle Kobashi sells for EVERYONE. And not like Misawa does where he’ll give an opponent a chunk of a match but he never looks in any trouble. Kobashi really puts over his opponents moveset. Kobashi gets tired of having his arm worked over…CHOP! GET OFF MY ARM, YOU FUCK! Kobashi fairs well for a one armed man and chops the shit out of Omori. Should have worked the right arm buddy. Stalling vertical gets 2. It’s amazing seeing Kobashi when he was mobile. I’m so used to him moving slowly but striking hard. He starts torturing Omori and stretching him and chopping him some more. Omori tries to fire up and hits a missile dropkick and a lariat. Kobashi again gives the impression he might even lose. Omori dodges the burning lariat so Kobashi backfists him. Neato! BACK SUPLEX…for 2. Omori actually pops the crowd with that one. They thought it was over. The idea being he might just be able to catch Kobashi with a lucky shot. Savage Elbow gets 2. Problem is, he’s throwing everything at Kobashi and Kobashi just kicks out and beats him up some more. It’s clear he’s not in Kobashi’s league. But at least the crowd buy it. Omori dares to backdrop out of a powerbomb so Kobashi lariats him…for 2. Rocker Dropper! POWERBOMB! Legdrop! Omori pops the crowd again by having the spirit to kick out. NECK CHOPPING! Oh dear, that killed the “Omori” chant dead. Dragon suplex and Omori takes the loss. **3/4. Wasn’t quite hitting the ‘good’ level of match but Omori’s spirited attempts at taking down Kobashi were appreciated. Even if Kobashi barely got out of second gear to finish it.

Jun Akiyama v Akira Taue

Akiyama has to consider himself in contention if he can upset Taue. After all Taue put Kawada away but it was a tough match and he can’t be 100%. Of all the big name guys in the tournament Taue is arguably the one who might slip up. Of course that isn’t the case as he went all the way to the finals! Akiyama gets a little early joy by keeping it simple and just working at the arm. After all Omori got a little joy with that too. But when Omori did it, it wasn’t excruciatingly boring. Akiyama’s continued insistence on just holding an armbar for 5 minutes gets him the dreaded fast-forward and Taue shakes things up a bit by kicking Akiyama square in the face…twice! BE. MORE. INTERESTING! Taue isn’t much better in this one and works on facelocks and abdominals. At least he makes the latter look REALLY painful. He literally pushes Akiyama’s face onto the mat. From an abdominal stretch. What a prick! Taue also has a habit of just throwing his opponents around and he launches Akiyama for 2. Akiyama is much faster and that’s always been something opponents can capitalise on against Taue because he’s so slow. Akiyama gets to pop off a few moves like the Northern Lights and a belly to belly. It isn’t until he wings Taue’s with a diving knee that Taue looks in real trouble though. That is the opening for the Exploder but Taue shows what form he’s in by countering into a DDT. Akiyama in turn counters the Dynamic Bomb. Oh ho ho! Game on! Taue takes exception and PLANTS Akiyama with a powerbomb. Akiyama in the corner and Taue runs up and KICKS HIM IN THE FACE! Then the Nodowa Otoshi finishes easily because he’s basically chokeslamming an unconscious man. **1/4. Sure was boring until Taue decided to act like a jerk! Akiyama took an awesome ass kicking at the end there.

Dan Kroffat/The Eagle/Johnny Ace v Giant Baba/Stan Hansen/Yoshinari Ogawa

Hansen gets confused by being announced last again. You are the champ mate! The Eagle is former Smoky Mountain Wrestling talent Jackie Fulton under a mask. He wrestled unmasked in Japan as well under the name George Hines. He used to tag with the Patriot (Del Wilkes) in an All-American gimmick and they held the All Asia tag titles before losing to the Can-Am Express. Johnny Ace is better known as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations John Laurinatis. The gaijin must be pretty dumb because they try to isolate Baba. I think I’ve seen Baba actually take a job maybe twice, ever. So it’s perhaps not a sound strategy to try and beat him. Hansen gets a tag and tries, and fails, to make a chinlock exciting. The gaijin then try to isolate Hansen. Getting closer! Try that ratty looking kid on the apron. Hansen is in horrible shape, which really shows up when he’s on the defensive. He would have been in his mid 40’s by this point and could barely take an Irish whip. While he was limited he understood his limitations and generally stuck to them. Ogawa gets a tag and Eagle picks him off. There we go! Now the gaijin work over Ogawa and they might actually get a win doing that! Of course Eagle blows it and Baba comes in to beat them all up. I know the fans get a kick out of seeing him but surely Baba should have hung up the boots by this point. Eagle foolishly tries to lariat Hansen. Stan gets REALLY pissed off about that and nearly beheads the poor kid for the win. *. That pretty much sucked. Not enough Kroffat. He could have easily carried this one by hurting Ogawa a lot.

Toshiaki Kawada v Mitsuhara Misawa

These guys could just turn up and I’d be happy. But they never dog it. It’s like they want to just tear the house down EVERY single match they have. The crowd is hopeful of seeing Kawada get his big win over Misawa here. And he starts the better by blocking a big elbow and getting a kick in. And by “getting a kick in” I mean he straight kicked Misawa right in the face and BROKE HIS ORBITAL BONE. So Misawa now has to wrestle 29 minutes with a BROKEN FACE. Oh, Tosh, you motherfucker! Misawa gets a breather and Kawada just stands there. He’s like a fucking machine! Kawada politely stays off the face with some chops and Misawa ELBOWS HIM IN THE FACE AND SPIN KICKS HIM IN THE NECK. SLINGSHOT ELBOW SMASH! Misawa lands on his already broken face and this is already rocking the fucking house. Kawada starts throwing chops with intent and he tries to remove Misawa’s arm! Holy fuck, this is brutal stuff. For a moment it looks as if Kawada, who is a sick fuck, is setting up for a Curb Stomp. If he’d actually done that this would have been ***** already. And Misawa probably would have elbowed him into a concussion for it. Misawa does his jumping back kick and almost lands on his head. He’s clearly not happy with the injury. Kawada comes at him. Misawa ducks under but BACKDROP DRIVER from Kawada! Holy shit, just drop him on his broken head why don’t ya? Misawa is all: screw you guys, I’m going home. He bails to think about various ways in which he can exact revenge for this head-droppery. Hmm, when I break away after Baba’s death and form my own company I’m not inviting that bone breaking fuck. He’ll be stuck here with Masa Fuchi and Bart Gunn. Revenge will be mine!

Kawada, being one of the biggest jerks on the face of the Earth, decides to grind away at a headlock surely knowing how incredibly painful that is. It’s amazing psychology but wouldn’t it have been nicer on the broken bone to work the leg or something? Nah, that wouldn’t make sense! I admire their dedication. Another headlock and Misawa looks in AGONY. Misawa has had enough and ELBOWS Kawada down. He gets a bit sloppy with a spin kick and you think that the slight sloppiness due to the injury will kill any chance of *****. Misawa is just stiff as fuck though when he does connect with stuff and that’d be due to the injury. How many receipts do you need for a broken face anyway? Misawa attempts a diving elbow smash off the apron and Tosh kicks him in the ribs. Ah, not the face then? What a gent. TWISTING PESCADO FROM KAWADA! And his leg hit Misawa across the face. OOOWWWWWW! Kawada wants something evil on the floor but Misawa blocks it (you broke my face, you fuck) and counters into a TIGER DRIVER ON THE FLOOR! Get up from that, Dangerous K! Of course he does. And Misawa helps him do so because he wants to fuck him up some more. They entirely blow a tilt-a-whirl. Maybe Misawa just didn’t want Kawada’s leg that close to his face again. Misawa compensates somewhat by nailing the flying lariat. Kawada avoids both the Tiger Driver & suplex. SHORT KICKS!!! YOU’RE FUCKING KIDDING ME! NO SOLD. SHORT KICKS!!! NO SOLD. ELBOWS! CHOP TO THE BROKEN FACE….FUCK OFF!!! HIGH KICK! YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! Misawa is down, naturally.

They counter and KAWADA KICKS HIM IN THE FACE AGAIN! RUNNING KICK TO THE FACE!!!! NOOOOO!!! I can’t watch. Kawada is officially the biggest jerk in the world though. Just wow. Misawa escapes the powerbomb into a rana and KAWADA KICKS HIM IN THE FACE AGAIN! HOLY SHIT! How is he even still standing? LARIATOOOOOOOO! Misawa is motionless and the ref is urging Kawada to pin him…FOR 2! Just stay down, he’ll only kick you in the face again. STRETCH PLUM and Misawa needs the ropes! You know his face is broken right Tosh? Crowd is going nuts here. Oh, he kicked him in the face again. DAAAAMN. Misawa gets pissed off…ROLLING ELBOW! KNEES and that sets up the BUTTERFLY SUPLEX. And Kawada didn’t really jump there he got thrown. Misawa with more ELBOWS! FACELOCK! Kawada kicks out of a pin so Misawa FROGSPLASHES HIM…for 2. Kawada starts getting more generous and kicks the ribs a few times instead of the face. POWERBOMB!!!! And Misawa lands on his fucking neck just to round off a lovely day for him. That gets 2. I love this match. STRETCH PLUM! The ref thinks Misawa is quitting but he’s actually….reaching for the rope, which he gets. Tosh elbows Misawa right on the broken side of his face. To which Misawa retorts by kicking him across the temple. This is a war. TIGER DRIVER….FOR 2! Kawada takes a few elbows to the back and a German suplex scores. TIGER SUPLEX…GETS 2. Misawa just can’t put Kawada away here. Tosh knows its desperate though and grabs the ropes for dear life. He knows he’s got Misawa hurt too but Misawa is in the process of unloading on him so he has to survive until he gets another opening.

Misawa wants the Tiger Suplex ’85 but can’t get it. Kawada chops him in the face. GAMENGIRI TO THE FACE!!! NOOOO!!! Fuck me. Misawa tried to turn away from the impact but that looked to get him kicked across the nose. Want another broken bone? BRAINBUSTER!!! It’s over. It must be….MISAWA KICKS OUT! Time is now running out. They only have 30 minutes. POWERBOMB WITH SLIDE….FOR 2!! Kawada can’t believe it. He thought he must win it there. After all Misawa is exhausted AND has a broken bone in his face that he’s spent the whole match trying to protect. He wants the backdrop driver but the time limit expires. Holy shit, I’m exhausted just watching these guys. ****1/2. I fucking LOVE these guys. This would have a legitimate shot at maximum snowflakes had Misawa not had so much trouble adjusting to the BROKEN FUCKING BONE in his face. The fact they wrestled 29 minutes with Misawa having such a nasty injury and Kawada still continuing to work like there was nothing wrong was amazing. Yeah, Kawada is a total asshole for taking advantage of Misawa’s situation but it just made the match so shocking. It’s a must see!

Dan Kroffat/Johnny Ace/The Eagle v Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga

Piece of advice up top for the gaijin; isolate Shiga! He’s half the size of Akiyama and Akiyama isn’t a big man at this point in his career. They try working Akiyama instead and he does some great stuff with Kroffat. So great that I’m really keen on seeing that as a singles match. Crowd rallies behind Shiga when he comes in. He only debuted in early ’94. Kroffat doesn’t take long to take over. Shiga tries but gets an absolute beating from the gaijin. They let Kobashi get the tag though because just beating Shiga up would get boring. Kobashi-Ace is surprisingly good too! They’re both quick and big so not only is it fast but impressive looking. Shiga gets a tag! He wants a piece of Kroffat for bullying him! And Kroffat takes over with ease again. Lot to learn there, grasshopper. He’s sure plucky though and keeps trying his flips in the hope that one of them might come off. And Kobashi is always there to watch his back. Shiga keeps getting back on that horse even though every time he gets in the ring he gets picked off and beaten up. Its like those Japanese game shows where the guy gets an absolute beasting and the audience just laughs and tries to encourage him. They’re chanting his name! Even when Johnny Ace tries to murder him with a Razor’s Edge. Ace, determined to kill Shiga, drags him out of the ring and into the audience where he slams him on the floor. Kobashi decides that’s uncalled for and steps in. Not even Ace wants to fuck with Kobashi, which should show how strong he’s gotten by 1995. Ace is quite happy bullying Shiga in the ring. Kobashi takes exception and strolls in to STOMP ON THE BACK OF ACE’S HEAD. Akiyama tries the same thing and Ace just throws him out of the ring. Haha. Shiga gets a high crossbody on Kroffat! The ref has totally lost control here and people are diving in all over the place. Akiyama gets revenge on Ace with a back suplex and Kobashi is in to kick his ass! Kroffat makes it a double team though and SHIGA SAVES! Ace throws him out of the ring. Shiga is funny here. He knows he’s so much smaller than everyone else but he’s got guts. I like that Kobashi even tries to get Shiga the pin. He goes as far as to protect Shiga on an Eagle top rope splash. Taking the bullet, as it were. Akiyama sneaks in with a Northern Ligthts on Eagle for 2. No one else seems to be around so Akiyama casually takes advantage of the time and space to hit an Exploder for the pin. ***. I enjoyed that. A fun little match with a nice storyline of the underdog, Shiga, fighting giants. Ultimately the only reason he wasn’t beaten was because of Kobashi’s big brother mentality and Akiyama was good enough to beat the scrub off the other team.

Toshiaki Kawada v Takao Omori

Kawada’s face breaking antics having stopped Omori going after him, which goes to show just how stupid Omori is. Or naïve. One or the other. He actually controls the early going although the crowd is completely disinterested and just waiting for the eventual comeback. Kawada looks really grumpy, like Mrs Baba docked his pocket money for breaking Misawa’s face, but mopish teenager grumpy rather than hurting people grumpy. Omori tries to take advantage but Kawada can’t be bothered to sell his stuff at all. He’ll bump it and then just lie there challenging Omori to try and be interesting on his own. Say, a neckbreaker drop, yawn. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kawada dog a match this badly before. It doesn’t help that Omori’s offence is so bland. Kawada slaps on the Stretch Plum and Omori jobs to it because he’s a fucking little bitch. Or rather he gets the ropes and Kawada drops him on his head, twice and then slaps him in the Stretch Plum again for the win. *. Lame match from Kawada until the last 45 seconds. I guess someone told him he couldn’t work so stiff in this one and he decided to just dog it instead.

Doug Furnas v Stan Hansen

Clash of styles anyone? Doug’s whole modern athlete shtick runs headlong into Hansen’s Old School southern brawler routine. For modern audiences imagine Kurt Angle v JBL. It doesn’t help that Furnas gets nothing at all. Sometimes the booking in All Japan was a little suspect. When they got a good thing going they didn’t always run with it. Kroffat & Furnas are good examples of that. They hit on a great team and could have pushed them but didn’t want to overshadow the Big Four domestic competitors they were dead set on building the company around so they went to the WWF. As I said at the top this is a real clash of styles. Furnas tries very hard to incorporate his moveset but it just doesn’t fit the match Hansen is doing. They tease Furnas going for the Frankensteiner but Hansen counters into a powerbomb (like he could take that move anyway) and finishes with the lariat. Total squash.

Akira Taue v Mitsuhara Misawa

This is the final group match. The winner tops the group and whoever loses presumably ends up in a three-way elimination qualifier with Kawada & Hansen for a place in the finals. Or if it’s a draw they both go to the finals. WINK! They start quickly and Taue really sets out his stall to be quick and competitive. One of the big criticisms of Taue is that he’s too slow. The other perhaps that he lacks a certain killer instinct that guys like Misawa and Kawada have. Well he certainly finished Kawada earlier, not to mention Akiyama. And the speed in the early going shows he’s been working on his flaws. Misawa finds himself outdone at every turn and even when he gets an opening, like a quick sleeper, Taue is reversing out of it into his own hold. For those used to the high impact AJPW matches…this is quite the eye opener. It’s a slick chain wrestling match with grand psychology. Misawa starts showboating to try and annoy Taue and suckers him in for both an elbow smash and then the ELBOW SUICIDA! Diving elbow smash! That gets 2. And despite all Taue’s strong chaining and domination with the wrestling it’s Misawa who scores the first near fall. Taue goes after the Nodowa and gets elbowed for it. When it comes to big moves and heavy striking Misawa is tough to beat. In fact as soon as it becomes about the bigger moves Misawa pretty much dominates. Interesting to note how Taue did particularly well in the wrestling segment considering he’s the ‘big man’. Taue tries to trade to show he belongs in there and Misawa dumps him on his ass with elbow strikes again. Taue has some weight behind his moves though. Eventually something has to do damage and it’s a shotgun dropkick. But Misawa is the one who gets himself into trouble by missing a flying move of his own. Taue is certainly adept at exploiting mistakes and Misawa is confident enough to believe he won’t make them. Especially after his successful baiting earlier. Here’s an interesting question for you; did Taue allow Misawa to bait him earlier to make sure he attempted such high risk ventures later when he’d be more vulnerable?

That’s what I love about psychology. It does some down to interpretation as to how deep you want to think about what’s going on. Misawa looks suitably pissed off and despite Taue occasionally getting the upper hand he’s taken over the match since it went up a gear. The big doubt about Taue now is whether he has that higher gear like Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi have. There are also question marks over his stamina. Certainly not issues Misawa suffers with. Taue starts picking his spots but never really unloading with anything major. The crowd feeling isn’t the same here as with Misawa-Kawada where the finish could come from anywhere because of both men’s intensity. They fuck up a near falls sequence with Taue failing to work out how to flat back a sunset flip. He is a big fella to be fair. They do a DDT counter to the Nodowa Otoshi but it doesn’t look right at all. Misawa adds in a far more definitive frogsplash for 2. And again it’s Misawa hitting the move for the near fall. He’s been more intent on winning this match whereas Taue is out to prove he’s good enough to be in it. Misawa hooks up a facelock and the ref makes it more interesting than it actually is before Misawa gives up and gets a pin for 2. Taue gets a huge block in to stop the diving elbow smash. That’s a huge win for him. He levels Misawa with a boot and the NODOWA OTOSHI…gets 2. That really popped the crowd who bought into Taue possibly scoring the upset. Taue decides he needs something memorable like the Nodowa off the apron. Misawa is well aware how much that would suck to take and blocks it all the way.

Misawa is happy to take the lesser move of the Nodowa on the floor but after teasing the apron it doesn’t seem quite so harsh. I think we can call that a tactical mistake in terms of entertainment. Like teasing blowing up a tank in a movie then only blowing up a car. When does my tank blow up? DYNAMIC BOMB…for 2. Oh, my tank was certainly under fire there! The move that put Kawada away. Of course Kawada took a Nodowa off the apron first. Taue goes for the Nodowa again so Misawa throws himself through the ropes taking Taue with him. He’s smart enough to know those big impact moves are starting to take their toll. Not that he’s going to job to the Nodowa. RUNNING ELBOW! Misawa decides it’s time…TIGER DRIVER…for 2. And the time limit expires. So both guys go to the finals. ****. I found a few holes in this match that I didn’t remember from last time. It’s still really good but Taue can be quite underwhelming compared to his co-workers sometimes. I also feel like, in the long run, Taue was just a distraction for Misawa in his longer running feuds with Kawada and Kobashi. Yeah, it’s nice Taue got his push but is he really in the same league in singles? I personally don’t think so. Even if his psychology is routinely sound.

Sidenote – as per usual AJPW neglect to put the final match on the tape release. What is it with them doing that? Misawa beat Taue in the finals if you were interested.

The 411: Another fine entry from the ’95 Champion’s Carnival. Misawa-Kawada is excellent as always even if the match is scattered with unusual errors thanks to Misawa’s injury. The last match on the tape is also very strong so you get two good matches. I know people are inclined to pick up comp’s instead of event shows when it comes to AJPW in the 1990’s but this is a good show.
Final Score:  8.8   [ Very Good ]