Posts Tagged ‘All Japan Pro Wrestling’

7 results.

AJPW – Jun Akiyama vs. Kento Miyahara

by Jeff on October 13, 2014 at 10:18 pm
Posted In: Blog

What’s this, All Japan Pro Wrestling has made its return to the HEAT blog? Why yes, yes it has, and you can thank the new Voices of Wrestling forum for that.

Despite New Japan’s star power and plethora of top shelf workers, Jun Akiyama continues to be my favourite Japanese wrestler, which means I still pay a modicum of attention to All Japan results. Akiyama had an excellent match with Takao Omori a few months ago, which resulted in Omori capturing his first Triple Crown Championship. Akiyama is back to making people look good, this time working to turn Kento Miyahara into a star.

Watch the match for yourself, but I think it’s working.

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AJPW – Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ted DiBiase

by Jeff on August 22, 2014 at 5:28 pm
Posted In: Blog

After I watched the Flair/Tenryu match that I posted earlier this week I fell into a YouTube rabbit hole. I actually like this match better, as Genichiro Tenryu takes on Ted DiBiase, pre-Million Dollar Man. This match took place on October 23rd, 1983, and features a clean-shaven Ted DiBiase, which is so surreal looking to me.

This match also highlighted that I’m not a big Flair fan. I mean, I get that he’s a big deal and is essentially a god to a large percentage of wrestling fans, but he’s just… not for me. He’s an excellent professional wrestler, but I had way more fun watching Ted DiBiase wrestle Tenryu. DiBiase showed some really interesting offence that wasn’t typical to his later WWF performances, and Tenryu hadn’t settled into his later pattern of brainbusters, DDTs, powerbombs, and disapproving old man glares.

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AJPW – Ric Flair vs. Genichiro Tenryu

by Jeff on August 20, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Posted In: Blog

From December 9th, 1984, Ric Flair defends his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against All Japan star Genichiro Tenryu in a 2 out of 3 falls match. And yes, I keep posting AJPW matches. No, it’s not on purpose, it just seems to be the case that matches that are catching my interest lately are from All Japan. There’s a few more G1 Climax 24 matches I intend to watch, though, so I’m sure New Japan will get some more representation on the blog as well.

Flair in Japan is always a little weird to me, whether it be All or New Japan. I’m not sure his style really meshes with the Japanese style, as Flair matches are usually built around convincing the audience that Flair’s opponent is going to beat him, then snatching that hope away when Flair cheats to win. In Japan, Flair is mostly just a guy whose offence isn’t all that impressive, and who gets his ass kicked… but then he wins or there’s a fuck finish to protect his title. It’s strange to watch.

This match DID surprise me with Flair busting out an actually effective Figure Four. Then again, in ’84 it probably hadn’t ascended to its later status of “worst protected finisher of all time.”

I don’t have a lot to say about Tenryu in the context of this match. He’s the same Tenryu as always, but younger, so he’s a little quicker.

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AJPW – Satoshi Kojima vs. Mitsuharu Misawa

by Jeff on August 13, 2014 at 9:38 pm
Posted In: Blog

I didn’t know this match existed until earlier today, and it was one of those situations where I needed to watch it IMMEDIATELY. Satoshi Kojima is a wrestler that I dig quite a bit, and who just had a fantastic string of performances in the G1 Climax 24. Sadly, a lot of Kojima’s prime is lost on far too many wrestling fans because it took place in All Japan post-NOAH split. For example, this match.

I didn’t know Mitsuharu Misawa ever returned to AJPW after the NOAH split, and I certainly didn’t know that he wrestled Kojima during Kojima’s prime. It’s also before Misawa started to really show the effects of the All Japan style on his body, so this is a pretty impressive showing all around. Except for the part where Misawa fucks up his fake dive taunt. That’s kind of funny and kind of sad simultaneously.

But enough of my ravings, just watch these guys shit-kick each other in a hidden gem from post-NOAH-split All Japan.

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AJPW – Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada, June 3rd, 1994

by Jeff on June 3, 2014 at 9:22 pm
Posted In: Blog

I know, I know, more All Japan. This popped up in my Facebook feed, as Puroresu Spirit’s Match of the Day. 20 years ago today, Misawa and Kawada had one of their classic encounters for the Triple Crown. Literally every match I have seen between these two has been, at worst, very good.

So watch two guys who don’t like each other beat the everliving fuckshit out of each other.

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AJPW – Ric Flair vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, 2/3 Falls

by Jeff on May 29, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Posted In: Blog

On June 8th, 1983, Ric Flair defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against All Japan Pro Wrestling ace Jumbo Tsuruta. Japan still cares about the NWA Title to this day, and matches like this are why. Also, I’m not TRYING to make all of the videos I post All Japan matches, it’s just kind of happening.

Fun things about this match:1. The referee is wearing all green, because green screams authority.
2. Jumbo Tsuruta selling the Figure Four is an act of cartoonish hilarity. So great.
3. In the after-match “guys help the wrestlers who are in need of significant medical attention” segment, keep an eye out for a very young Toshiaki Kawada. He’s not a head-kicking badass yet, but ten years later he and Misawa will be attempting to murder each other on a regular basis.

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All Japan Pro Wrestling – Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 6/9/1997

by Jeff on September 5, 2013 at 3:31 am
Posted In: Blog

My cable box shit the bed for a while today, so I spent a couple of hours watching the History of the Triple Crown DVD set I picked up from RudoReels as a Christmas gift for myself. I’m about halfway through that beast of a set, and I stumbled upon this gem. Mitsuharu Misawa, in the midst of his run as pro wrestling’s green-clad god and the subject of many of Dave Meltzer’s 5 star wet dreams, defends the All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown against a new challenger, Jun Akiyama. At this point, Misawa is All Japan’s undisputed ace, while Akiyama has been rising up the ranks since his debut in 1992 against Kenta Kobashi. This is Akiyama’s first match for the Triple Crown, and much like his debut, his first championship match is excellent. Also, there’s a shot during his entrance where he looks like the spitting image of Inoki, which I was amused by. Inoki and Akiyama – chin brothers.

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