The Furious Flashbacks – AJPW Champion’s Carnival 1994

Posted by Arnold Furious on 06.30.2008

Another one of those wacky All Japan compilation tapes with no tournament final on it

The Furious Flashbacks – AJPW Champion’s Carnival 1994

Another one of those wacky All Japan compilation tapes with no tournament final on it

I’ve been watching a lot of IWA-MS, SMW and WCW lately so I felt the need for something dramatically different. I was a big All Japan fan before I really got into any other form of Japanese wrestling. AJPW is the reason why I love NOAH so much these days. It’s the same style. And it was the superb performances during the 1990’s of All Japan’s stars that made me a fan of the company.

I hasten to add that this tape isn’t the entire tournament. Merely part of it.

Giant Baba/Stan Hansen/Takao Omori v Steve Williams/Dan Kroffat/The Eagle

The Eagle is a guy I’m quite familiar with because he wrestled in the US as Jackie Fulton. Kroffat is one half of an awesome tag team with Doug Furnas. He was the really good one. Doc is on the verge of a monster push, which is why they’ve got him going toe to toe with the heavy hitters on the other team. He’d win the Triple Crown off golden boy Mitsuhara Misawa before the year was out. Omori is out of his element as he’s only got about 18 months experience at this point and everyone expects him to take a beating from the gaijin. The crowd are impressed that he doesn’t lose in the first 2 minutes before tagging Hansen. He’s already a 21 year veteran by this point and is very much losing his mobility. He’s very well respected though and the crowd are hot for him v Doc because there’s very much a feeling that Doc is ‘the next Stan Hansen’. Baba gets a tag on Kroffat and swats at him in slow motion while Kroffat takes huge bumps. Crowd goes nuts. Khali would get over in Japan. Of course Baba could actually wrestle as well and takes Kroffat to the mat. Kroffat v Omori starts really well as Kroffat slaps him around like his personal bitch. Remember what I said about Omori being somewhat out of his depth? His only option when Doc tags in is to dodge because Doc is like a juggernaut and Omori is roadkill. Doc gets himself picked off courtesy of Baba booting him around a bit. That doesn’t last as Baba gets caught in the gaijin corner and chopped. BOOO! Crowd don’t like that one bit. After all Baba is a huge legend in Japan. He won the Champion’s Carnival 7 times as well as 7 world titles although he never held the Triple Crown. Eagle is clearly out of his depth against Baba. The size alone is enough but the experience with it gives him a huge advantage. With the Eagle struggling its an opening for Omori to get a chance to showcase his talents. I really want to see Team No Fear right now. Hansen provokes Omori into coming off the top rope. Double axe handle? Lame! Baba comes back in and hits a neckbreaker. Any move he hits seems that much more devastating because he’s so big. Untidy DDT gets 2. Doc breaks that up and gets HEAT for it. The crowd don’t like Doc’s heel antics ONE LITTLE BIT. Hansen meanwhile pops off a powerbomb on the poor Eagle. Kroffat spills in to break that pin up. 10 minutes gone.

Omori in but Eagle catches him with a back suplex. Doc gets in there and FUCKS UP OMORI! He even has the audacity to go after Hansen AND Baba on the apron. Press slam on Omori gets 2. Kroffat adds in a superfly splash for 2. They’ve got the weak guy where they want him like the others had Eagle but let him tag out. Eagle is fit again and manages a spin kick for 2. Frequent tags from the gaijin. Baba is unimpressed and strolls in to knock Eagle over and try to drag Omori for the tag. Doc back in to mess Omori up again. Kroffat in – SUPERKICK ON THE CHIN! OWWW! Omori was right in the corner as well. Nowhere to go. Eagle comes in and lifts Brian Lee’s Cancellation (as they had worked in SMW together) for 2. Omori gets the tag because Eagle isn’t good enough to stop him doing so. Baba comes in and dominates the masked man. Kroffat comes in to stop him so Baba chops him in the neck. Doc runs in and dropkicks Baba then picks him up but can’t hold him for the Stampede and Baba falls on top for 2. Hansen in – GRUMPY OLD MAN DUEL! Doc considers the backdrop driver but Hansen counters into a DDT. Omori dives in with a revenge missile dropkick on Doc for 2. He makes the foolish decision of slapping Doc though and gets powerslammed for 2. Omori is getting respect for hanging with better wrestlers but it’s more down to him kicking out than doing anything competitive. He pops off a shock German suplex for 2 though. Kroffat nearly lost a big fall there. Doc has seen enough and charges in after Hansen. Baba helps and big boots Doc over. Hansen and Baba manage to single out Kroffat. LARIATOOOOOOOOO! No one kicks out of that so at 18.13 Hansen gets the pin. ***. I love All Japan. Even with two guys with virtually no mobility and another guy with only 18 months experience they still put on a decent match.

Akira Taue/Yoshinari Ogawa v Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

Wow, Kobashi looks so young and small. He chops Taue in the neck quite a bit. This match isn’t on my tape listing so I had to look it up. Shining Road has it on 1st April 1994. Which means it’s after Taue v Kobashi had happened twice (both 30 minute draws). Kikuchi v Ogawa is really mediocre stuff. Taue tags in to kick Kikuchi IN THE FACE. That was like a Yakuza kick only from a guy 6 inches taller with longer legs. Kikuchi gets himself powerbombed and miraculously kicks out. Kobashi in to help out but Taue seems to have his moveset really well scouted after their two 30 minute bouts. Worse still Ogawa gets a bunch of offence in too. Kobashi powerslams him for 2. He realises Ogawa is the weaker of the two opponents and figures he can give him a pasting. Meanwhile Kikuchi does his best to not get totally destroyed by Taue on the floor. It gives Kobashi time enough to moonsault Ogawa for the pin at 23.59 (about 5 minutes of which is shown here).

Steve Williams v Jun Akiyama

Hey, an actual Champion’s Carnival match! Doc has pretty much beaten everyone he’s wrestled including Taue and is heading to the finals. Akiyama by contrast is about 18 months into his career. Although he started against Kenta Kobashi so he’s not short on confidence. Doc nevertheless manhandles him using his size and strength. He’s not too shabby on the mat either so Akiyama has his work cut out. In fact everything he tries to get going gets smothered by Doc’s grappling intensity and overwhelming power. It’s only when Doc makes a mistake, missing a charge, that Akiyama has an opening but he’s an opportunistic young man and pops off a quick German suplex for 2. HIIIIGH KNEEEEEE! That gets 2. Doc has had too much recovery time though and starts no selling. Uh oh, you done pissed him off. Akiyama isn’t going to be phased by that though and dropkicks Doc to the floor. Doc is smart to the pescado though and just moves allowing Akiyama to hurt himself. Doc takes advantage by stretching him and pisses the crowd off by not releasing holds when Akiyama gets the ropes. You can hear the sympathy generate immediately afterwards. Doc retorts with chops. What a bastard, eh? He makes the mistake of bitch-slapping Akiyama back to life though. Doc flattens him in the corner and Russian Sickles him. He goes for the finish but Akiyama is wise to the backdrop and grabs the ropes. Doc wastes time up top and gets caught with a dropkick on the way down. The crowd actually believes Akiyama can win this now and chant his name loudly. Doc gets caught in the Northern Lights for 2. Akiyama starts fucking with Doc’s mind with a judo throw. He comes off the top but Doc just catches him into the OKL…countered! Akiyama escapes the finish but then runs right into the powerslam anyway…for 2. Akiyama with another judo counter but Doc is wise to that now and gets a judo based armdrag. HEAD DROP BACKDROP DRIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Akiyama is DEAD. Doc gets the pinfall. ***1/2. Tremendous fun. They built Akiyama up from nothing to a genuine threat to a major player in AJPW. Then put him back in his place.

Kenta Kobashi v Stan Hansen

Now here’s a storyline just waiting to happen. Hansen has always had the better of Kobashi but now there are question marks over his health. Could this be the window of opportunity for Kobashi at last? Hansen was certainly ready for the changing of the guard. After all Misawa beat him for the Triple Crown in 1992. Kobashi tries similar approaches to Misawa leading with strikes. He tags Hansen with a huge thrust kick that rocks the big man’s head back. Hansen seems to love the battle and takes everything Kobashi wants to dish out before retorting with less impressive strikes of his own. The suggestion is made already that Hansen doesn’t have the same weight behind those strikes as in his better days while Kobashi is also better conditioned. Hansen will happily slap the taste out of anyone’s mouth though especially if they hit him first. KOBASHI CHOPS HIM IN THE NECK! OOOOHHHHHHH! Kobashi slows it down again with a facelock. When Hansen gets the ropes he kicks the old man about a bit then chops him some more. Hansen decides a defensive approach may be called for and backdrops Kobashi out of the ring. Slowed him down a bit. Not by much though. As Hansen follows out Kobashi thrust kicks him again. Kobashi mounts with strikes but Hansen headbutts and gets his own back. This match has been so fucking stiff. I love it. Kobashi slows it down with a chinlock showing his versatility or perhaps his youthful fatigue. Either Hansen gets bored of it and starts hitting shoulderblocks. Kobashi kicks him in the head. He really doesn’t have the flexibility to wrestle this way anymore so it’s crazy to watch. Kobashi is still mostly reliant on chops even then and lays in a couple of huge ones before Hansen headbutts him, which knocks Kobashi over. Hansen nails Kobashi with a few large forearms for good measure. Hansen acts like a jerk and smashes Kobashi with a chair AND A TABLE. Who hits someone with a table? He just whacked him around the ear with the tables legs. Hansen takes the table into the ring and throws it out again. The table lands on Kobashi’s head and neck. You really wouldn’t want to wrestle Hansen when he’s this worked up. But to be fair Kobashi got him worked up with the heavy striking. He exposes the floor – POWERBOMB ON THE FLOOR!

The crowd don’t like that. Kobashi looks dead and stares vacantly at the ceiling. There’s a very long delay on getting Kobashi back inside but at least they’re selling the big move. Hansen misses off the apron and crashes into the rail giving Kobashi an opening boot him in the ribs. Hansen took a needless risk and now finds himself in trouble because of it. Kobashi suplexes him back inside. Hansen goes for his own suplex but his injured ribs don’t allow him to lift Kobashi. So Kobashi knees the ribs some more and hits his own suplex. We now have a clear cut storyline with Kobashi goes after the injured ribs whenever he’s in trouble and even when he isn’t. He then has the temerity to hit the LARIATOOOOOOOOO on Hansen! That gets 2. Crowd pops huge for it. He’s perfected the move over the years and does it much better now than back then. Kobashi continues on the ribs and hooks a Boston crab. Hansen uses the ropes and gets out into a back suplex. Kobashi got planted with that. It buys Hansen some time. Kobashi ducks a lariat but that gets him back suplexed again. Hansen goes for the powerbomb but his ribs hurt and he can’t get Kobashi up. He opts for clocking him with a Misawa-esque Running Elbow instead. Hansen gets psyched up, FIGHTING SPIRIT, POWERBOMB WITH SLIDE! That gets 2. Crowd goes nuts and starts chanting “KO-BASH-EE” very loudly. Hansen goes up top??? But Kobashi gets knees up on the splash thus further injuring Hansen’s ribs. Hansen SLAPS HIM for that. LARIATOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Kobashi is fucked and got caught full on with that but Hansen had to put so much behind it he hurt his own ribs in the process. By the time he’s able to get back up so is Kobashi. He goes back to the ribs and hits a slam. Crowd mark out as he goes up – MOONSAULT…FOR 2. You’ve got to be kidding me. ANOTHER MOONSAULT…for 3! Kobashi wins in 26.55 and it’s a huge win for him. Hansen was on his way down the ladder by 1994 but was still a huge stepping stone. Kobashi forced the old Stan Hansen to come back here as well. He forced the legend out by hitting him until he got angry. Then forced him to make an error and took advantage. ***3/4. I love this shit.

Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi v Mitsuhara Misawa/Giant Baba/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

Misawa is Triple Crown champion so he’s announced after Baba. Quite the honour. Misawa has beaten Kawada twice in defence of the title and would face him again a few months after this in the best match, ever. So they have issues. Misawa has also defended against Taue so it isn’t just by proxy, as half of the Holy Demon Army, that Taue has a beef with Misawa too. Baba doesn’t really worry about titles anymore so he’s pally with the champ. Like when Hogan & Andre hung out before the 1987 heel turn. Taue is also after Baba’s title as best big man in the company and so they start out against each other. Kikuchi has the vibe of a guy who doesn’t belong but he goes after Taue aggressively from the off. Taue is generally too big to get dominated by anyone for long. Fuchi is the weak link on the HDA side because he’s ancient. He still fancies his chances against the smaller Kikuchi. Misawa gets a tag and the crowd WANT Kawada big time. Fuchi obliges them. Oh, that match in June is so good. Misawa gives us a little preview with an elbow on the ropes. Kawada retorts and gets a great back kick in that lands flush on Misawa’s chin. Kawada continues to kick Misawa in the head. Not that it’ll do any good. What I really used to love about Misawa is even when someone fucked up he’d still find the perfect way to sell it. Kawada accidentally wings his neck here and he just drops like a sack of shit. The move didn’t look right at all but the selling was brilliant. Misawa is always prepared to take really silly bumps too like a Snake Eyes where he headers it clean into the buckles. No protection whatsoever. He blocks a second one, showing he learned, and elbows Taue over. Around 1994 Misawa was pretty much the best wrestler on the planet. It was either him or Bret Hart. Baba comes in to slowly punt at Taue’s midsection. His wrinkly upper body is making me feel quite ill. He must have been pretty old by this point. A quick check reveals he was 56. And he was a massive guy too. Imagine Kane wrestling until he was 56? I try not to. By comparison Fuchi is a spry 40 years young. Misawa makes short work of him by being too damn fast and hard hitting. A combination Fuchi can’t cope with. Kikuchi is fast too, which leaves Fuchi struggling again with pace. Kawada comes in and Kikuchi thinks he can have a go at him too. WRONG! Kawada kicks him in the face. Twice. Hard. He doesn’t get back up. Kawada straps him in a half crab and steps on his head. Yes! Misawa strolls in so Taue gets a tag. Snake Eyes for Kikuchi. He doesn’t block. Nor does he block the lariat that follows. He’s getting destroyed out there. Fuchi was smart and tagged out when he got in trouble. Kikuchi tried to fight his way out. Taue grabs Kikuchi and throws him into the crowd, which breaks the timekeepers table. Unceremonious! Fuchi tries to murder Kikuchi with a couple of stretches that illegally use the ropes. Kawada then slams him off the apron. These guys are really beating the shit out of Kikuchi.

Taue comes in to stretch the poor guy some more. He’s already dead! Taue pitches him halfway across the ring for 2. Kikuchi finally gets a counter on Fuchi and desperation tags Baba. Fuchi is slow enough for him to hit convincingly. Taue comes in and he eats a clothesline too so Kawada tags in. Baba sportingly tags Misawa who hits the flying clothesline into the facelock. Taue piles in to break it. Misawa goes for the Tiger Driver and they counter back and forth until Kawada kicks him in the face and tags Taue. Misawa just grabs him and hits the Tiger Driver…for 2. That showed the difference in skill between Taue & Kawada. Although it’d change in 1995 when they pushed Taue as the big star instead. Hell, he went over Misawa. Kawada didn’t get that win until 1998. Here it’s Kawada that’s the star though. Kikuchi comes back in and even he nearly scores a win on Fuchi with a Northern Lights suplex. They run a near falls too where Kikuchi looks like he might just get the big win. Misawa even helps out with an elbow ahead of a German suplex and Kikuchi still can’t get the pin. He hits another one as Misawa elbows everyone else out of the ring and Team Misawa win at 23.47. ***1/4. Little bits of Misawa-Kawada were a real highlight but it was the battle between Kikuchi & Fuchi that showed where the battle was won. Even though Kikuchi got his ass kicked for most of the match he had the most fighting spirit to keep coming back.

CLIPS – We see Furnas & Kroffat in action. Damn, I wanted to see the full match. They win. Kroffat, like the dick he is, celebrates by standing on his opponent.

Jun Akiyama v Kenta Kobashi

Akiyama’s inexperience will count against him here as Kobashi has gotten to the level where he can beat Stan Hansen. Akiyama did look very strong against Steve Williams though so this isn’t a total mismatch. Of course the two have huge history because of Akiyama debuting against Kobashi. It seems their careers will always be tied to each other. Akiyama’s failure to crack the very highest level has left his popularity waning these days. And yes, I do know he was champion but I was also in the Budokan when he got almost no reaction when he came out 2 years ago. They start really slowly here trying to find a focus. Eventually they resort to chopping the shit out of each other. Always a winner. Akiyama tries his best to no sell and hang with Kobashi but Kobashi is a right brutal fucker with his strikes so Akiyama gives up and hits a hip toss to stop the strikes. Pretty smart really. Kobashi is decent on the mat though, although he rarely goes to the mat himself on purpose because of his striking ability, and controls. He then hauls Akiyama up for more strikes and an EVIL looking abdominal stretch. Seriously. He twists him up like a pretzel. Akiyama looks in trouble already but he still has a speed advantage and tries to work that in. He is able to use the ropes and levels Kobashi with a clothesline that Kobashi doesn’t see coming because of Akiyama’s usual reliance on knees. Again smart from Akiyama because he’s altered his usual approach to specifically throw Kobashi off his game. It works to the point where he catches him in the EXPLOIDAAAAA for 2. Yeah, you’re not winning with JUST an Exploder against Kobashi. He tries to follow up so Kobashi knees at him (heh) only for Akiyama to get his kicking going. Northern Lights gets 2. Crowd was on the brink there. OOOOHHHHHHH! Akiyama starts borrowing from Misawa’s highly successful playbook and throws elbows to set up a German suplex…for 2. He’s certainly bringing it to Kobashi here and I think Kobashi was caught off guard a little. So much so he’s almost caught by another Northern Lights only to counter it into a DDT. Recognise that spot RVD fans? Yeah, Robbie V worked All Japan too. Kobashi gets sick of this shit and levels Akiyama with the LARIATOOOOO! He takes the time to recover instead of pinning and that could have been a finish. Error of judgement from Kobashi perhaps. ORANGE CRUSH…FOR 2! That was one of Kobashi’s trademarks. Akiyama avoids a powerbomb and we get a double down. Kobashi has more left though and powerbombs Akiyama at the second attempt…for 2. CHOPS! SPINNING BACK HAND CHOP! Kobashi wants the moonsault. Up he goes. MOOONSAULTOOOOO!!!! Kobashi gets the win. ***1/2. Not quite the epic these guys would get in later years but it was loaded with nice little bits of psychology.

Steve Williams v Stan Hansen

Hansen is on a ‘passing the torch’ tour. Doc is on his way to the Triple Crown. Should be a no brainer. Because Hansen is fairly immobile that means Doc has to do a lot more work though. He basically bumps himself over the top rope in the opening exchange, which is a good start. He then lies around on the mat so Hansen can kick, knee and elbow him. Hansen seems a lot less energised than against Kobashi but then Doc isn’t taking it to him like Kobashi did. He unleashed the lion, I guess. In fact Doc has done almost nothing here just absorbing strikes and rest holds. We get the 5 minutes gone announcement and I don’t remember Doc having one single piece of offence. Hansen then chinlocks him for another 3 minutes and Doc finally gets something by powering up and dropping Hansen into the buckles. They run that spot twice because anyone lifting Hansen is impressive. Doc continues to absorb punishment though and this is easily the most one-sided match on the tape. They go outside where Hansen meets his old rival; the guardrail. Because of the damage done to his ribs in the Kobashi match that one moment is enough to turn the entire match around. That’s 10 minutes gone. 9.30 of which has been Hansen beating on Doc in very methodical fashion. Doc comes with the spinebuster though and his focus has been far better in 1 minute than Hansen’s in 10. Doc breaks out a bearhug and the crowd gets a bit feisty again rallying behind the legend of Hansen. Doc eventually gets bored and turns it into a belly to belly for 2. Doc with another high impact with the Stinger Splash. The commentators are chuckling away at this for some reason. Doc powers Hansen up again but this time it’s for nothing as Hansen escapes and hits a back suplex. Doc splashes him off the ropes for 2 and the commentators are still laughing. DOCTORBOMB! That was out of nowhere for 2. Hansen recognises the backdrop driver is coming and blocks it with elbows then switches his weight and falls on top for 2. Hansen fires up – LARIATOOOOO! Hansen gets the win. Well, that was surprising. *1/2. It was also boring. What it does do though and make Kobashi’s win seem *that* much more important because Hansen can still beat a top tier guy like Doc.

Toshiaki Kawada v Mitsuhara Misawa

This is from the Champions Carnival. Sort of. You see, Misawa was injured and so forfeited the tournament. But then decided he was going to compete anyway. So he’s already forfeited this match and Kawada already has the points. But he wants to beat Misawa one on one so bad we’re having the match anyway. Make sense? Crowd LOVES Misawa because he’s competing despite a neck injury. When Kawada clocks Misawa with an early clothesline the crowd is all “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH”. Kawada makes a point of kicking the neck. Well if it wasn’t injured before it sure fucking is now. Misawa is all FUCK YOU, BITCH and elbows him out of the ring. I believe it is on. Misawa won’t give Kawada an inch of space because he’s so pissed off with him for attacking his injured neck. Misawa tries the eye for an eye approach and gets a chinlock but Kawada kicks him in the head repeatedly to break the hold. The thing with Kawada is he can kick you from pretty much anywhere. He grounds Misawa with a chinlock and grinds away at that injured neck. Misawa gets out using the ropes and hits a dropkick then fakes out Kawada and goes for the elbow off the apron but Kawada sees it coming and blocks. Double down on the floor. Kawada, if he was going FULL ON PIMP, should have kicked him square in the neck. As it stands I think he just got a forearm in there. Back inside Kawada gets his half crab but it’s not bothering Misawa any. He’s not cranking it or doing anything else so Misawa just gets the ropes to get rid of him. He regrets that as Kawada’s first move is to kick him in the head and slap him back in the half crab anyway. This time he steps on the neck. Now THAT is the Kawada I know and love. Misawa gets the ropes again but this time he’s worn down a little. Kawada kneedrops the neck for 2. Kawada with the Shades of Wilbur Snyder. Not as evil as Kobashi’s earlier on I might add but he does wrench at it. Misawa gets sick of being abused and elbows Kawada away. Kawada KICKS HIM IN THE FACE! Then he SPIN KICKS HIM IN THE FACE. Modified camel clutch, which is one arm and more chinlock than clutch and therefore actually qualifies as “modified”. Misawa gets the ropes again. Misawa gets all fired up – FLYING CLOTHESLINE! He used to get so much speed on that thing. Revenge spin kick sets up a German attempt but Kawada slips out and kicks him. Kawada also sees elbows coming and backs off allowing him to wind up a lariat for 2. That’s recognition selling. Beautiful. SHORT KICKS! Misawa drops on the powerbomb to stop Kawada getting him up. Kawada takes offence and CHOPS HIM IN THE NECK. WHEN DO I GET TO WIN? Chop in the neck! Kawada with a suplex and a dropkick sends Misawa outside. Kawada rails him, slams him on the floor and kneedrops him off the apron. DANG! No halves measures with Toshiaki. Back inside – POWERBOMB WITH SLIIIIIDE…FOR 2! Kawada elbows Misawa in the neck again, geez what a jerk, so Misawa fires up and elbows him back.

Kawada boots him under the chin, slams him and punts him in the back. I love these guys. Kawada gets a standing version of the Stretch Plum but Misawa gets out easily only to run into a GAMENGIRIIIIII! That gets 2. Crowd thought he’d got Misawa there. The impact on the neck was intense. Kawada tries to put him to sleep with the Coquina Clutch. Misawa turns it over and gets the ropes. He looks groggy. Kawada chops him in the throat FOUR TIMES. Then TWO MORE. SHORT KICKS! MISAWA NO SELLS!!!! MORE CHOPS TO THE THROAT. NO SOLD. ELLLLLBOOOOOOOOWWWW! Kawada knocked on his ass with one more. He comes back with his own. ELLLLLLBOOOOOOOW DUEL! Misawa gets a running one. Kawada falls outside. ELBOW SUICIDAAAAAAAAAAAA! He hit him right in the eye with that one too. Kawada looks fucked. Back inside Misawa adds in a DIVING ELLLLBOOOOOOOW….for 2. Misawa hooks up a facelock and makes sure to hook the arm too so Kawada can’t get the rope. He looks at Kawada who appears to be unconscious and pins…for 2. Back to the facelock. Kawada can see the rope and edges his foot onto it. Advantage Misawa though. Kawada is looking very weary. So much so when he goes for one his patented kicks Misawa sweeps the leg with ease. He wants the Tiger Driver. Kawada blocks it. ELBOW! Misawa switches to the Tiger Suplex but Kawada backs into the buckles to escape that. Misawa tries for a springboard, which also seems ambitious, and Kawada kicks him in the back of the neck on the way down…for 2. Back to the half crab and this time he sits down on it properly. Then stands back up again. Hmmm, methinks Misawa’s knee wasn’t 100%. Otherwise he’d have been cranking on it like the sick fuck he is. Misawa escapes a powerbomb attempt. Kawada goes for the Gamengiri but Misawa sees it coming and ELBOW STRIKES THE LEG! THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME! He sets for the Tiger Driver but Kawada gets out and hits a spin kick for 2. Misawa retorts with his own, Kawada bails and Misawa adds in an entirely needless corkscrew plancha. Lovely. Kawada whips him into the rail. NO SOLD. ROLLING ELBOOOOOWWWW! To the ropes where Kawada gets a superplex for 2. Both guys are equally tired by this point having absorbed a great deal of abuse. With the time limit closing in the crowd knows someone has to go all out for the win here. They anticipate Kawada but Misawa counters a backdrop driver for a near fall. Misawa with an elbow countered by a GAMENGIRI! Incidentally apologies for the sheer number of times I’ve called that an Enzuigiri in the past. Kawada wants the powerbomb but they switch twice and Kawada connects with a release German suplex that PLANTS Misawa. Crowd has completely lost it here. Both guys are down. STRETCH PLUM! Misawa is out. Kawada wants the pin instead but Misawa has time to wake up and kick out. Should have gone for the submission mate! STRETCH PLUM! He’s not got it on as good this time and Misawa escapes clocking him with an elbow on the way down. DOUBLE DOWN! Kawada is again up first and we’re rapidly running out of time. Misawa meets him with a ROLLING ELBOW! That gets 2. Misawa looks for the Tiger Driver. And TIGER DRIVAAAAAAAAA…FOR 2! Crowd pops everything HARD but the time limit expires at 30.00. Five more minutes? No? Awww. ****1/4. They’d actually have a match light years better than this just 2 months later that’s widely regarded as the greatest match of all time. It’s my personal favourite btw. This one lacks the insane bumps and has less in terms of stiff striking. Which may suit some fans better. It also shows they didn’t have to work one particular style. They could mix it up a bit.

Mitsuhara Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi v Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas/Johnny Smith

Johnny Smith is a name not everyone is familiar with. They billed him as Davey Boy Smith’s brother in Stampede and then again in AJPW. Although he had a long career in England before wrestling in either place. He teamed with Dynamite Kid, which is enough to make him well regarded over in Japan. Akiyama does his best at taking on the entire gaijin team in their corner. He gets an absolute kicking for it. I’m sure one of the announcers says “Caravan of Courage”. Ewok love? Kroffat suckers Akiyama into position for the Fujiwara armbar but everyone piles in to break it up. Furnas & Kroffat continue the abuse on Akiyama until Misawa strolls in to help. Akiyama gets a backslide for 2. He’s fucked though and has the common sense to tag Misawa who flies in with an elbow on Kroffat. Flying clothesline sets up the facelock. Both gaijin spill in to break that up. Smith with a missile dropkick and a nip up. Misawa snapmares him right into the facelock. Again the other two come in to break it up. Furnas goes for his rana but Misawa POWERBOMBS THE SHIT OUT OF HIM…for 2. I like how the two other natives came in to dropkick their opposing number. Kikuchi in to get powerslammed immediately for 2. Furnas is a powerhouse you see. He also has a great dropkick and flips Kikuchi over with a release German suplex. Crowd is impressed. Kroffat goes after Misawa, which is perhaps a mistake. And get even cheekier by hitting a Tiger Driver. Misawa takes offence and breaks it up. Misawa gets the tag and wails on Smith. Furnas runs in to stop that. Akiyama gets a tag and high knees Smith. Northern Lights gets 2 with Kroffat breaking it up like a jerk. Kroffat loved being a jerk. He was so ace at it. Smith meanwhile is left to be picked off by Akiyama with the Exploder for the pin. **1/2. Looked solid but unspectacular.

Giant Baba/Stan Hansen/Takao Omori v Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi

We’ve seen both these combinations before. Hansen goes right after Taue (who also beat him in the Carnival) and he looks like he’s after a measure of revenge. Of course Taue also has a ‘best big man’ deal going with Baba. It’s just a shame that Baba is so old by 1994 that he looks like he’s moving in slow motion. The problem with a lot of Japanese wrestlers is they have so much respect for the legends of the business that they sell like crazy for relatively weak offence. Of course Baba also owned the company. That probably didn’t hurt any. Omori tries to take on Kawada, which is probably a mistake. He still lands a lot more offence that he has any right too before tagging out to Hansen. Announcers seem tickled by that. As much as I do get, I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand Japanese humour. So much of it is lost on me. Fuchi comes in to work over Baba and he must hit him with a dozen kicks and punches before Baba hits him once and knocks him over. Omori in with a nice looking neckbreaker. AJ Styles does the same one but quicker. Taue tries to work over Hansen by going after those injured ribs. This does NOT lead to heat on Hansen. Instead Omori gets a tag and he gets wailed on. Kawada’s chops gets progressively stiffer as time moves on. Omori gets a tag though and this match has been badly suffering from continuity. Baba is in so Kawada spin kicks him into the STRETCH PLUM! Now THAT would be a big win. Hansen breaks it immediately though. Taue in and he just about manages the Nodowa Otoshi on Baba but again Hansen runs in to break it. Baba gets a DDT out of desperation and tags out. Remember Misawa being willing to bump from Taue? Well Omori may be willing but Taue just throws him face first into the buckles anyway. Omori is basically in this match to take a beating because he’s the only guy who’ll take the bigger bumps that make it interesting. It’s coming to something when Masa Fuchi is kicking your ass. Baba gets a tag and he’s slightly more mobile than Andre was in the late 80’s. Mainly because he’s a little smaller and is carrying a lot less weight. But his bumps look the same and so do his slow strikes. Sad to see but what can you do? Taue gets picked off by a mean looking Hansen and Omori gets a Savage Elbow for 2. OOOHH, so close! Fuchi gets himself involved so Baba & Hansen double team him. Hansen goes for the lariat but Kawada runs in and attacks him. Now everyone is in the ring. Hansen headbutts Taue and back suplexes him for 2. This is running a little long now. I was always thrilled when the Misawa v Kawada factions ran for 30-40 minutes but these guys I’d say 10-15 would be optimum. Omori and Taue fuck up a duck down spot off an Irish whip and the crowd chuckles because it looks so stupid. Taue powerbombs Omori…for 2. NODOWA OTOSHIIIIII! You know he’s finished. **1/4. Omori was just in there to lose. Seemed strange how they worked so little into this match compared to other bouts on the tape. The Stretch Plum on Baba was great as was Omori getting help and almost winning. Otherwise this is a pass.

Kenta Kobashi v Steve Williams

Ok, the night before this Doc lost to Stan Hansen and Kawada beat his tag partner Taue. That put Doc on 17 points along with Kobashi. Hansen on 18 points and Kawada leading the way with 19. Therefore whoever wins this match faces Kawada for the whole Champion’s Carnival. Why the odd numbers when it’s 2 points for a win? Well if it’s a draw you get a point each. Doc and Kawada went to a draw but Kawada beat Kobashi. It’d be fair to say that Kawada would probably rather face Kobashi in the finals. These guys start it out really slowly with that stupid double wristlock counter that doesn’t make any sense. They go to strikes with Kobashi using his kicks to keep Doc off balance. It must be because this is such an important match that both guys are tentative and unwilling to take risks. Of course Kawada doesn’t really care; look at the match he just wrestled in. He’s got his feet up watching this and laughing. Doc busts out a press slam, which impresses the crowd. He boosts Kobashi up again and throws him out of the ring clipping the ropes on the way down. If you did that to Kobashi today the entire Internet would come around your house and stab you up. And the crowd would probably riot. Doc seems to be focusing on the back and runs it into the ring post a few times before hooking up a BORE-HUG. Kobashi gets out but runs right into a clothesline. Doc wants a gutwrench suplex but Kobashi counters it into his own. That back can’t be too bad then. Kobashi CHOPS HIS NECK. Doc, by way of responding, perches Kobashi up top and then belly to bellies him off the ropes. Doc is ALL fired up but the crowd are chanting for Kobashi. He smartly grabs the ropes to block the Oklahoma Stampede. Well, that’s what you get for running into the ropes when you’ve got a guy all set for a running powerslam. He tries it again and Kobashi slips out and hits a German suplex for 2. He’s got you scouted there pardner. Kobashi wants a powerbomb, Doc backdrops out so Kobashi lariats the back of his head for 2. I really wouldn’t want to upset Kobashi. He sets for the moonsault that pinned Hansen but Doc smartly rolls into the middle of the ring where Kobashi can’t reach. I would have marked hard if Kobashi has Phoenix Splashed him instead. Kobashi hauls him Doc for the powerbomb for 2. He slams Doc in the corner and goes for the MOONSAULT…for 2. HAHA, false finish! Love it. Doc gets defensive with his judo but then starts looking for the backdrop driver. He Kobashi off his feet but Kenta punches him in the face. BLOCKED! Doc gets the DOCTORBOMB…for 2. Kobashi ducks a big lariat and lands with a series of CHOPS! Doc kicks out. We’re gotten really frantic since the first attempt at a moonsault. They trade on slaps. Those are some meaty slaps. Doc breaks out a half Oklahoma Stampede, more a scoop powerslam, for 2. Crowd is getting really behind Kobashi now. Kobashi grabs a headlock to slow Doc down but gets caught in the BACKDROP DRIVAAAAAAAAAAAA! That was a HEAD DROP. Both men are slow up but Doc stalks Kobashi and catches him in another BACKDROP DRIVAAAAAAAAAAA for the pin at 22.10. Sweet bridge on the finish. ***3/4. Match was nuts down the stretch. Crowd desperately wanted to see Kobashi get to the finals but appreciate his effort in defeat. He’ll be back. Well he won’t make the finals until 1999 and won’t win until 2000 but nevertheless.

CHAMPIONS CARNIVAL –

A little history for you here. Champion’s Carnival started in 1973 and ran until 1982. They stopped the tournament for a while but brought it back in 1991 because they had just lost Genichiro Tenyru. They felt a tournament would be an ideal way to build challengers for Jumbo Tsuruta. Rather confusingly Tsuruta won the 1991 tournament. Kobashi, Misawa & Kawada all featured but Misawa came up short against Stan Hansen who lost to Tsuruta in the finals.

In 1992 Misawa made it to the finals but was beaten by Hansen who dominated winning every match he competed in. Kobashi finished 5th on his side of the draw, which featured Hansen. You can see now why there was such a massive pop for his victory over Hansen in the group stages of this tournament. 1993 was the same as ’94 in that it was a single block tournament. Hansen & Misawa tied and that was once again the finals, which Hansen once again won. Of course Misawa took the Triple Crown in ’92 so it wasn’t such a major loss for him. Kawada placed 5th, Kobashi 7th. Akiyama competed and came last with 0 points. This year sees Kawada & Williams both in their first finals.

Of course this being one of the wacky AJPW tape releases the final match isn’t even on here. The way the tape is cut together it looks like Doc won. In fact that would be Kawada. Oh well.

The 411: Irritating to not have the last match on the tape. There is some good stuff though. Kawada-Misawa is always good and this tape showcases a different match between the rivals. Also entertaining is Kobashi’s almost run to the top complete with big victory over Stan Hansen. There are a few entertaining multiple person matches to complement that and Hansen v Doc aside there’s nothing bad on the tape. Hearty thumbs up although I’ve seen better AJPW tapes from the time and certainly better cut together ones. This is lacking the ‘main event’.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]