Rolling Germans Retro Rant: Champions Carnival 1995 - Part 1
Posted by Justin Baisden on 04.10.1995
It's all good...
CHAMPIONS CARNIVAL 1995 – PART 1
I’ve been meaning to sit down with this tape set for quite a while now. Originally, I was going to do the entire set in one review. Of course common sense eventually took over and made me realize that I don’t have twelve hours to blow on watching all three tapes and then doing the write up. So I’ll be doing one tape per week for the next three weeks.
This is a highly toted tape set; the problem was I couldn’t find a person that had all three parts. Of course I had to find someone with commercial masters because anything else just isn’t acceptable. : -P Finally I lucked out with Triple Crown Tapes (they rule, GO NOW!) having all three parts of the set in master format.
There was a pretty hefty set of talent working this tournament. The participants were Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue, Jun Akiyama, Stan Hansen, Takao Omori, Johnny Ace, Dan Spivey, Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas. With that aside, let’s get this thing rolling.
The tournament starts in Korakuen Hall in front of "the smartest fans in Japan."
STAN HANSEN vs TAKAO OMORI
Omori has really come a long way since this point. I have to admit I wasn’t impressed when I first saw his stuff. It probably had to do with his teaming with the slug Yoshihiro Takayama. He’s making great progress in NOAH and I’m sure he’ll get the push and recognition his talent deserves in due time. Hansen was in interesting case at this time. He had just defeated Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown a couple of weeks before the tournament got underway. I’m forced to question the timing of the move but as history would show, it was a smart move because Misawa would defeat Hansen a couple of months later. It was way too early to have Kawada defend the titles against Misawa so you get Hansen as the transition champion. Hmm... the match? You’ve got the relative rookie against the Triple Crown Champion. How do you think it went? Omori tried hard but Hansen had none of it and put it away with the Western Lariat. Bah… waste of time. *
DOUG FURNAS vs MITSUHARU MISAWA
Furnas had been a relative mainstay in AJPW for the last few years along with him partner Dan Kroffat (AKA Phil Lafon). They had moderate success over the years capturing the All Asian Tag Titles on five occasions. Despite that success, you can take one look at this match and know exactly what the outcome will be. The first half is basically Furnas with chops vs Misawa with elbows. Furnas gets things going with an overhead belly to belly. He goes for a rana but Misawa reverses into a powerbomb for 2 and ½. Misawa goes for an elbow but it’s ducked and Furnas hits a HUGE Released German suplex for 2 and ¾. A flying shoulderblock gets 2 and ¾. He goes for another German but Misawa gets the standing switch and a German suplex of his own for 2 and ¾. Misawa fires off the Rolling Elbow for 2 and 9/10 and in a weird moment, Misawa detracts completely from his usual moveset and slaps on a figure four – neck crank combination for the tap out. "HI EVERYBODY" "Ho… mer… Simp… son" "OK… that was a little strange." *3/4
TOSHIAKI KAWADA vs JUN AKIYAMA
RIGHT FRIGGIN ON! Nothing says ass kicking goodness like Dangerous K! All the better that he’s facing that young upstart punk Akiyama. Actually he’d been around for just under three years by this point but he’s still a young punk DAMN IT! Akiyama attacks before the bell (see what I mean?) with elbow strikes. To the outside we go and Akiyama hits a pescado. Irish whip into the guardrail is reversed but Akiyama no sells the rails and fires off a flying forearm. He runs into the ring and comes right back out with a flying bodypress. Shit… who like a fire under Akiyama’s ass? Back in the ring and Kawada puts an end to this crazy offense as he BITCHSLAPS Akiyama and unleashes a BRUTAL kick to the chin. Jesus… that was just sick! To quote Shawn Michaels "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM?" Dangerous K is all about stiff kicking goodness but Akiyama is all about being a no selling young punk and throws Kawada to the mat. I LOVE THIS SHIT! To the outside we go and Akiyama goes for a suplex on the floor but it’s blocked and Akiyama eats hardwood (is it hardwood flooring?) Back in the ring and Kawada goes to work with a second rope double stomp on the back. Kawada just obliterates the back and Akiyama takes it like a man. Kawada goes for a powerbomb but it’s blocked. He charges in but Akiyama meets him with an Ippon Seionage. He puts Kawada on the top and hits a SWEET Super Northern Lights suplex for 2 and ¾. Akiyama fires off a released German suplex for 2 and 9/10. THIS CROWD IS SMOKIN! Akiyama goes for the Exploder but Kawada blocks and charges in only to be hit with a Uranage and then THE EXPLOIDAAAAAAAH! 1… 2… 2.999999! Akiyama goes for a German suplex but it’s blocked and he eats a NASTY heel kick right to the mouth followed up with a Torture Style Stretch Plum. "AKI YAMA, AKI YAMA!" is ringing out through the building. THIS CROWD IS JACKED! Kawada hits a powerbomb for 2 and 9/10 and goes back to the stretch plum! Akiyama slowly inches to the ropes but Kawada pulls him back. "AKI YAMA, AKI YAMA!" Kawada is ripping this guy apart! Akiyama again inches to the ropes and he… just… about… DOESN’T MAKE IT! Kawada pulls him right back in the middle and there’s no where to go. Kawada gets the tap out and I’ve just watched a hell of a match. ****1/4
AKIRA TAUE vs KENTA KOBASHI
WOO HOO, THE FUN NEVER STOPS! It’s chop city for the first few minutes. Kobashi takes the advantage off a spin kick and his patented delayed vertical suplex for a two count. More chops and I’m cringing at how stiff these guys are working. Taue takes control off a running knee smash. Kicks a plenty as Taue fires off a running high kick followed up with a Dynamic Kick. Taue rolls Snake Eyes and the crowd eats it up. Irish whip into the corner but Kobashi hits the charging Taue with a kick and a BIG TIME lariat. Kobashi hits a nice jumping DDT and tries for the lariat but Taue ducks and hits the Nodowa Otoshi for 2 and ¾. A nice powerbomb nets 2 and 9/10. Taue goes for a high kick but it’s ducked and Kobashi hits a German suplex for 2 and 9/10. Kobashi hits the big Jackknife Powerbomb for 2 and 9/10. This crowd is heating up. Kobashi hits a slam but actually misses the Moonsault (sacriledge). Taue takes Kobashi to the apron and hits THE NODOWA OTOSHI FROM THE APRON TO THE FLOOR! KOBASHI IS FUCKED! THIS CROWD IS JACKED! Taue rolls him back into the ring and gets 1… 2… 2.999999! WHAT? Kobashi has got to be sick in the head to go on. Taue goes for another Nodowa, ducked by Kobashi, goes for a spin chop, ducked by Taue and it’s another Nodowa Otoshi. This is getting sick. Kobashi rolls outside and Taue doesn’t give him a second as he hits a BRUTAL POWERBOMB ON THE FLOOR! This is turning into overkill. Now the funny part; despite Kobashi being slaughtered, the crowd is chanting for TAUE! What the hell is this? Philly? Hmm… maybe Toronto. They get back into the ring and Kobashi makes a desperate attempt at offense with some chops but he’s done. Taue hits another Nodowa Otoshi and puts Kobashi out of his misery with a Dynamic Bomb. THIS MATCH ROCKED BELLS! This was super stiff and the crowd heat was off the wall. Kobashi took the ass kicking of two lifetimes. I gained a whole new respect for Taue as he came off like a totally focused bad ass, nearly murdering the hapless Orange Crush. ****1/2
DOUG FURNAS vs DAN KROFFAT
Oh lord… talk about dropping off the top of the mountain. There was some funny shit as Kroffat goes for a sunset flip but Furnas escapes by pulling down Kroffat’s pants. HA! Now that’s 3M innovation. Furnas takes it with a German suplex and life goes on. *1/2
JUN AKIYAMA vs TAKAO OMORI
These two were partners around this time, and had just won the All Asian Tag Titles in a five team round robin a few months prior to this tournament. Omori gets creative with a side headlock for a first few minutes. He breaks things open with a running powerslam a la British Bulldog for 2 and ½. A German suplex nets 2 and ½. A flying elbow gets 2 and ¾. Omori goes for a lariat but it’s ducked and Akiyama hits a NASTY released German suplex for 2 and ¾. Omori is in trouble as Akiyama PLOWS him with a running knee smash followed up with a Northern Lights suplex for 2 and ¾. Akiyama hits a super knee smash followed up with BLUE THUNDER for 2 and 9/10. Of course it’s put away with the EXPLOIDAAAAAAH! The match started way too slowly considering who was in the ring. Omori’s working on the side headlock was innovative but played no role in the end and when it all comes down to it was just filler. Omori definitely wasn’t the guy that should have been carrying this one. Still, the match was solid after the slow first portion and Akiyama managed to pull out something decent from what could have been a pretty bad match. **1/2
JOHNNY ACE vs DANNY SPIVEY
JIP into the hot ending as Spivey hits a sidewalk slam for 2 and ¾. Ace makes the comeback as he hits Ace Crusher II and puts it away with a Moonsault. Whoa… there’s something I’ve never seen out of Johnny Ace before. Clipping sucks, NEXT!
KAWADA/TAUE/BABA vs MISAWA/KOBASHI/HANSEN
OK… I’ll level with you here. This is a sixty-minute draw. It was a pretty damn good sixty minute draw but considering the style of review I usually stick with, play by play would take up pages upon pages and I’m not really in the mood to go through that. So we’ll take a different approach. From what I could tell, the main story here surrounds Akira Taue. If you look back at the match with Kobashi, Taue was getting a tremendous response from the crowd. His ring work in that match and in this six man seemed to be a lot better with a definite boost in enthusiasm from Taue. As history would show, this tournament, starting with the match with Kobashi and moving all throughout, would be the big breakout for Taue. It’s a theme to look for as I continue into the next part of this tape set next week. As for the match itself, it had some great heat, which was no surprise considering how over with the crown the talent was. The usual stiff action came into play, save for Baba’s plodding offense. I’m not as up to speed on older AJPW but I would venture to guess that Baba was quite the performer and is justified in his status as one of the most over entities in Puro history despite he waning ability as the years went on. There was one spot that blew my mind as Kawada managed to pull out a handspring elbow of all moves in the final few minutes of the match. I sat back and wondered "is there anything this man can’t do?" Kawada looked to be significantly heavier here than he is in present day. I’m willing to bet Kawada could incorporate quite the varied offense into his already substantial moveset if he put his mind to it. He’s an even greater worker today than he was back then (in my humble opinion of course) and could really open up with the varied offense. As was the case with the rest of the matches involving the top natives, the crowd was hot and the work was stiff. This was as solid a draw as one would expect and a suitable way to end the tape. ***1/2
Final Analysis: As will be the case with the rest of the tape set, there’s a few matches that are tolerable but there are at least two matches you can consider to be extremely good. Despite the lower rating, I loved the hell out Kawada vs Akiyama. Those guys really beat the shit out of each other. It was obvious from the get go that Akiyama wasn’t going to go over but in the later stages, you really got the feeling that it could happen. As for Taue vs Kobashi, that match was absolutely brutal. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kobashi take such a pounding before. Taue impressed me to no end in that match, as he looked great and a lot more motivated than in previous matches I’ve watched him in.
As part of the set, this is a great tape to have. However, even if this tape was on it’s own, I would definitely give Champions Carnival 1995 Part 1 a high recommendation.
