Superstar Sleeze

Naoya Ogawa vs Tadao Yasuda - Inoki BOM Ba Ye 12/31/00 What a stacked card that drew 40000+ to the Osaka Dome on New Years Eve. Inoki vs Renzo Gracie main events with Mutoh, Frye, Shamrock, Sakuraba, Hashimoto and Fujiwara on the undercard. I’m surprised how middle of the pack this is on the card. I know Yasuda got pushed hard in 2002 but was he really pushed yet? My Cagematch research made it seemed like he didn’t get the big push until next year. Would’ve been interesting to see Fujita in this slot. Unlike the UFO show in 2002 this is clearly a work. Although I’m 99% sure Yasuda had to stand there and take live rounds from Ogawa. He was not KO’d but he got cut up, his face looked like shit and he looked out of it. I guess it was a worked shoot. As after Ogawa pulverized him with punches he submitted with a choke. Yasuda bumrushed him at the bell with Sumo Slaps and the shoving the ref down by Yasuda is all you need to know this is a work. Ogawa uses a great front kick to corner Yasuda and unloads to set up the finish. It is 1:37 so nothing anyone has to see but an interesting card. It shows how hot New Japan was at the time that they could this and the 1/4 Dome so close and draw big. Americans may have not liked This style but it drew big money.

Naoya Ogawa vs Shinjiro Ohtani - Zero-One 3/2/02 I watched Ogawa vs Matt Ghaffari (USA Olympic Wrestler) from the UFO 2002 Dome show because I thought it was a work but I’m 99% sure it was a shoot. Ogawa KO’d with a crazy straight left to the nose. Ogawa handled self well against a dude who was clearly a one-dimensional wrestler. Also on that show Fujita kicked Yasuda’s ass in a shoot. Inoki looked oddly nonplussed about that finish. I figured it be like watching your two sons but it looked like he wanted Yasuda to win. Inoki was very happy about Ogawa’s win. Hashimoto was also there and put Ogawa on his shoulders. No point in reviewing actual shoots on here as this is Pro Wrestling ONLY goddamnit where we WORK! This is the main event of the first year anniversary show draws pretty well with Ogawa on top and Hashimoto in the semi-main event against Masato Tanaka. They take a break from featuring Tom Howard and his UPW boys. Kazunari Murakami is at ringside and he is beefing with his former partner Ogawa. Now there’s a match I wish we saw! Perhaps it happened in IGF but it definitely didn’t happen in 2002 which is a bummer. I have no idea if it would have drew well (probably Ogawa Drew pretty well in 2002) but goddamn it would have been a banger. One of the better Ogawa matches I have seen in a bit this was raucous mayhem. Ogawa gets on the mic immediately antagonizes Murakami and throws a mic at him. Murakami gets up on the apron to create the kerfuffle that gives Ohtani the opening to pounce and overwhelm Ogawa early with a plancha to the outside and face washes (one trying to get back in the ring was great). Ohtani goes full-court press but the ref peels him off. Ogawa composes himself and just going into Killer mode, great front kick and punts once Ohtani is down. Murakami back up and it is Ohtani famous springboard DROPKICK! I love how Murakami is creating these openings for Ohtani. Ohtani hits a ballshot. I approve. Cobra Clutch is Ohtani’s near fall and Ogawa needs the ropes. Ohtani gets cocky trying to shoot Ogawa into the ropes and does a jumping spin kick. Ogawa stops and flattens him with a STO!!! Ogawa crushes him with a Saito Suplex. The only odd transition is Ohtani getting a kneebar and then a cross armbreaker on Ogawa on his own. Ohtani goes for a powerbomb but is backdrop. He scrambled to his feet and charges only to get flattened by SPACE TORNADO OGAWA~! STO CITY! LETS FUCKIN GO! Ogawa wins! They do the pull apart with Murakami which sadly doesn't go anywhere. This match is virtually perfect in 7 minutes. Little things like how the back drop was used to set up the first STO. Ohtani didn’t sell it like a slam or make Ogawa come get him. He panicked. He lost the advantage and he scrambled to reassert himself but haste makes waste as my mother always said. In his desperation he left himself open to the STO. That is just one example of how pretty much every transition was organic and logical. Awesome pro wrestling! ****

Naoya Ogawa vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - Zero-One 6/14/01 The third major Zero-One show and they have loss the boost NOAH (esp. Misawa) gave their first two shows as they drop to about 8000 people. This also marks the debut of Tom Howard who with his UPW trainees would be a key part of Zero-One for the next two years. Hashimoto would defeat Howard in the main event. Outside running Ogawa vs Hashimoto the next two biggest native match-ups for Ogawa would be Fujiwara and Ohtani. They show footage of Ogawa choking Yasuda out at Inoki Bom-Bae-Ye which I’m unclear if it was a work or shoot. They try to hype Fujiwara up as an OG badass that trained with Gotch but he is older now so it doesn’t look good for him. The best parts of this match are the beginning and end. When the ref is checking them, Fujiwara slugs Ogawa and rips him down by the leg. Fujiwara can’t capitalize on this sneak attack as Ogawa is too big and defends well. The middle is a bit of slog and I posit this is the fault of MMA. UFC/PRIDE showed us what a real fight looks like and it is unfortunately not a bunch of Volk Han submissions wizardry. It is usually a slog in the guard (obviously there are great MMA fights but a lot it feels that way to me). They try to pass each other’s guard Ogawa tries to get his back to choke him out, Fujiwara pulls out some toeholds and leglocks. The ending is much better. Ogawa hits two STO’s but Fujiwara gets the flash Fujiwara armbar for big heat. Ogawa polishes him off with thread consecutive Space Tornado Ogawa to win by Knock Out. Awesome finish! Post-match some random Japanese dude attacks Ogawa but checking Ogawa’s Cagematch this never materialized into anything as his next fights I recognize all the names and I didn’t recognize this guy. ***

NWA intercontinental Tag Team Champions Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa vs Tom Howard & Matt Ghaffari - Zero-One 12/15/02 Someone should make a documentary on Tom Howard he had a really interesting early 2000s between his students and being the main gaijin talent and booker for Zero-One in its first two years. He seems like he is a great carny. He has gone from Mark Kerr to The Predator to Nathan Jones to now Greco-Roman Silver Medalist, Matt Ghaffari. There is some key background to this match. Ogawa defeated Ghaffari in UFO in August of 2002 which Wiki lists as shoot fight, which surprises me. Can anyone confirm or deny? Ghaffari has um gained um some weight it looks like. He has a massive jiggly Buddha belly, but because he is former Olympic Medalist he is still an amazing athlete. This match is quite the spectacle and it is really driven by Howard & Ghaffari. I love Ogawa more than most, but I am not surprised when he takes a backseat but for Hashimoto The Destroyer, the Ultimate Ass-Kicking Ace to be shown up by Howard & Ghaffari was shocking and in a weird way a little unsettling. The Howard stuff I had seen before and he is a really excellent Major Guile come to life doing his weird US Military Kung Fu. He kept his hands behind his back and showed Hashimoto up dodging and sticking and moving. He nailed a perfect superkick that looked amazing. Ultimately Howard did get his comeuppance with Hashimoto showing him the Hand of Doom and Howard did his classic military crawl scurry away from him. The part that was for lack of a better term disturbing was the way Ghaffari manhandled Hashimoto and rubbed his jiggly belly all over his face in a pinning combination. The Japanese fans laughed! They laughed at Hashimoto The Destroyer! It was an emotionally moving moment. It made me feel uncomfortable, but it made me feel so kudos to them. At the very beginning of the match, Ogawa slapped Ghaffari but after Ghaffari did the classic wrestler spin around their opponent but he licked his hand and spanked Ogawa. Again a humiliating moment for a legit badass. Ogawa chose the worse of three options in my opinion, he no-sold it. Since he was not a heel he should have not scurried and sold humiliation. However, as a badass babyface, he should have gotten pissed, bowed up and decked Ghaffari. It was very interesing to watch Hashimoto and Ogawa humbled. The finish protected Hashimoto & Ogawa well and utilized the same crooked ref that they used to get the NWA title off Hashimoto onto Dan Severn. Hashimoto & Ogawa started to the get the upper hand on Howard & Ghaffari. Ogawa flattened Ghaffari with an STO and then DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE~! (we will see how that ages as a reference ). We find out the ref is crooked as Ghaffari does not kick out, the ref counts three but the ref claims he did kick out and announces it is two. So clearly the American ref is on the take. They hit their cool double team finish the German/STO combo BUT Ghaffari is so fucking huge he just crushes Hashimoto and the ref. Howard missile dropkick to Ogawa. Ghaffari steamrolls Ogawa and Howard. Belly to belly and then a MASSIVE SPLASH TO OGAWA'S HEAD wins the match for Howard & Ghaffari! Crazy spectacle match where American gimmick wrestling meets Japan and it is wild! Howard & Ghaffari could have been an all-time act in either Japan or the States. I wish they got a longer run. I dont think Howard is an all-time great wrestler per se but he is very entertaining, he has gimmick and his unique highspots down pat. I wish we could have seen Howard in many different environments. Hashimoto & Ogawa are two of the biggest personalities in the history of wrestling and it is hard to believe they took backseat to anyone let alone these two, but they did. They did their part well dont get me wrong but Howard & Ghaffari were the stars. Very cool & unique match. ***3/4

Nathan Jones vs The Predator (Sylvester Terkay) - Zero-One 12/15/02 Cage Match Surprisingly Half-Way Decent King Kong vs Godzilla match! The Japanese crowd was laughing but I think it was at the American ref shouting two. This is the second time I have seen Japanese crowds find this practice funny. Pretty standard Clash of Titans big shoulder tackles, no bumps and Iron Claws galore. Jones takes the first bump of memory serves me correctly. Jones has great whippy chops with his crazy swimmer arms. He takes some great bumps into the cage. When The Predator chain gets involved shit gets real. They two hit each other pretty fucking hard with that chain. There was one Jones punched with chain wrapped around his hand I don’t know how he didn’t knock out Predator. They traded MONSTER chokeslam. Jones got up for it. Jones sent Predator down. Some big top rope moves. Pretty good use of the Cage. Terkay finished with some Brody King Kong Kneedrops. All in all it was pretty good! It is too bad nobody thought they do psychology, what to do with their bodies in between spots and how to feed because they are actually both quite athletic and good at big man offense. Jones says he is leaving for WWE but says once he has beat Brock he is coming back. I’m intrigued by the Jones WWE run I think he was gone by the time I got back into wrestling. Pretty good monster vs monster match. ***

NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Champions Nathan Jones & Jon Heidenreich vs Shinya Hashimoto & Naoya Ogawa - Zero-One 10/26/03 I am no expert in Zero-One but it seems that NWA I-C Tag Belts were actually the main prize. Again I don’t know how much of that is their allegiance to the NWA but TNA holding the World Title hostage. It makes sense though as Hashimoto & Ogawa feel like co-Aces. As we saw last year, their mutual hatred for the foreign invaders under Tom Howard has united them as a tag team. Before this match we see the Behemoths, Jones & Heidenreich pummel & pulverize Ohtani & Tanaka en route to winning the titles. Forget Heidenreich & Animal, they should have done Heidenreich & Jones as 21st Century Road Warriors complete with face paint and started them as babyfaces. I think that could’ve been big money. This match was way better than I expected and it is pretty much due to Nathan Jones who is the worst wrestler in a conventional sense of the match. Heidenreich moves better than Jones, executes better than Jones and is a pretty good verbal seller. Heidenreich fed really well for Hashimoto and that running overhand chop by Hashimoto at the beginning was great. Jones is just a freak of fucking nature and it is on full display here. The Double Iron Claw was one of those 80s moments that rules so hard! Then Hashimoto & Ogawa were trying to chop him down with kicks and he just starts slinging chops was ultra-hot! At one point Jones hurls Ogawa at Hashimoto! THIS SHIT WAS KING KONG CRAZY~! You know logically Ogawa would crush this dude and you see that at the outset his punch/kick Combos are killer but Jones just sledges him to the ground. That’s the thing Jones dwarfs Ogawa who is fucking huge himself. I love Hashimoto & Ogawa wrestling small and trying work Jones’ leg. Then Jones & Heidenreich do all these monster double teams on Ogawa that are killer! The Predator (Slyvester Terkay) comes out doing his Bruiser Brody gimmick and apparently has turned on Howard’s boys and distracts Jones. Hashimoto pulverizes Heidenreich. The best spot of the match Hashimoto and Ogawa take turns round kicking Jones up against the ropes then DOUBLE KICK JONES TAKES THIS INSANE BACKWARDS FLIP BUMP TO THE FLOOR! Hashimoto/Ogawa hit their STO/German double team to win the match and the titles! Nathan Jones looked King-Size here literally and figuratively. Just saw on the next big Zero-One show we get Jones vs Predator in a Steel Cage good, bad or ugly that gonna rule! We get Hashimoto & Ogawa vs Howard & the Iranian wrestler Angle went up against. Fuck yeah! Some great 80s shit in this match. ***1/4

Riki Choshu & Manabu Nakanishi vs Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami - NJPW 5/5/01 Fukuoka Dome Weird match both in execution and booking. Looking at everyone’s cagematch history match seems really random. The show drew 25000, Don Frye, Yasuda and Nagata are on the card but they are each wrestling people you’d expect them to beat. There’s an All Japan vs New Japan match but All Japan is represented by Mutoh & Hase and it is against Chono & his gang so not really a new permutation. Ogawa vs Choshu sounds like a draw but a pretty big number. It seems like Choshu was out by 2002 and starting his new promotion in 2002. Perhaps this was the only person Hashimoto trusted Ogawa with but Inoki always seemed high on Ogawa so I don’t think he fuck him over. Strange booking. The match also sucks which is super disappointing given that Ogawa/Murakami are usually raucous mayhem. It starts off very promising. Ogawa slugs Choshu at the bell and applies a rear naked choke. Nakanishi has to pry him off with some clubbering. Murakami tags in. He I just not that frenetic Tasmanian Devil you want. He is throwing good jabs but it is the blizzard of punches. Ogawa comes in and the match energy goes way down. I can’t tell if he is sandbagging or he has been knocked loopy because he is just not moving right. It is really awkward and heatless. Nakanishi tapped Murakami out with a double wristlock. Ogawa basically never wrestles for New Japan again so it doesn’t make sense for them to win, Choshu is old so that doesn’t make sense but Nakanishi also doesn’t go anywhere. So the whole thing doenst make any sense. No reason to watch this.

BLASPHEMY~! Murakami is one of the best cocky shooter pricks of all time and I fucking love Ogawa big muthafucka that Judo slams everyone with charisma out the yin Yang! Naoya Ogawa & Kazunari Murakami vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Takeshita Rikio - Zero-One 4/18/01 Why did no one tell me Ogawa & Misawa!?!? Holy shit! The big fight energy was off the charts for this one! Even thought this never reached the zenith it could have due to inter-promotional bullshit and egos, this was super fun while it lasted. I don’t want all wrestling to be like this but when it is a blood feud please bring this fucking energy! Inject this shit into my veins! To my knowledge this is the biggest crowd Z-1 ever drew. Ogawa wants fucking Misawa bad! Misawa is the most over dude by far but he plays the heel because of the promotional dynamics. Ogawa is so good at jaw jacking. Admittedly I have not seen much Rikio but he fucking brought in this match. He didn’t back down from Ogawa, bowed up and said me first. Murakami came out like a bat out of hell! It has been far too long since I’ve seen Murakami. He is an all-time favorite. The scrap between Murakami & Rikio may have been the best part of the match. Murakami’s punches looked awesome and Rikio’s shoves were incredibly. There need to be more uncooperative shoving in wrestling! Misawa/Murakami was solid I feel like Murakami took it easy on him. Misawa’s elbows were wicked over. Murakami tagged out. Misawa tagged out to boos. Ogawa and Rikio was a lot of fun. Great STO! Misawa comes in. The battle between STO and Backdrop Driver was great with winning. Melee ensues. Rikio bowls over Ogawa; Murakami is throwing wild haymakers at Misawa. Misawa threw three massive, organic, gritty suplexes to win. Fracas to close. Awesome it is too bad they switched over to Tom Howard/UPW because I could have watched way more of Hashimoto/Ogawa vs NOAH! This ruled! ***3/4.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Kintaro Kanemura - WEW 5/5/03 Exploding Barbed Wire This is a Kodo Fuyuki memorial match. I read that after the fact. They are having an emotional moment for their friend and co-worker so I don’t want to critique it too much even though I’d say this match leaves a lot to be desired. Kanemura comes out in Fuyuki’s robe. Hashimoto is given Fuyuki’s ashes by his wife and he dives into exploding barbed wire. Hands it to Kanemura and he does the same. This made a lot more sense after I read what’s what. Hashimoto beats the shit out of Kanemura who puts up little to no fight perhaps that’s a tribute to Fuyuki I haven’t seen his matches in a long time. Hashimoto The Destroyer on full display. Kanemura shoves Hashimoto into barbed wire for a third explosion barbed wire baseball bat that goes on for a couple minutes. Hashimoto no-sells kicks his ass. Fourth explosion. DDT, Brainbuster. This did nothing for me but if the friends & family of Kodo Fuyuki were moved that’s what matters.

Shinya Hashimoto & Tadao Yasuda vs Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue - Zero-One 4/18/01 HONDA VS YASUDA~! Exists! Yasuda is pretty bitchin’ on a normal day but this might have been his best individual performance of all time. He was out there trucking fools! This is when Zero-One was feuding with NOAH for two shows before slumming it with Tom Howard & UPW, Yasuda bull rushes Honda into the corner twice. Second time Honda hooks in a Guillotine Choke. This felt electric! Hashimoto and Inoue goes as you expect with Hashimoto chopping him down with the edge of his hand. Honda attacks and this allows Inoue to get his Torture Rack but he can’t hold it. Hashimoto vs Honda rocks. Hashimoto beats him down with kicks but Honda rallies with sick headbutts. I was like this is such a DVDVR/Segunda Caida match and I’m glad Phil loves this. YASUDA COMES IN AND BURNS THE HOUSE DOWN! HE TRUCKS HONDA! He hits him so hard he loses control of him and he tags out. Yasuda uses Sumo Slaps on Inoue to set up Butterfly Suplex. Ground & Pound! Honda rips him off with a GERMAN! OH FUCK YEAH! Hashimoto tags in and pummels Inoue and does that weird inverted Triangle. Finish was anti-climatic. Yasuda comes in to deliver more pain but kinda pauses and all of sudden the ref calls the match off. Was that the planned finish? Didn’t look like Inoue hurt his shoulder? I think this was to showcase Hashimoto The Destroyer but they kinda hung Yasuda out to dry and leg to a confusing finish. Should have just had Inoue tap out. Finish sucked but the rest of the match rocked! Yasuda ruled! Honda’s German was what I was here for wish it went longer. ***

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn vs Naoya Ogawa - UFO 3/14/99 (Special Referee: Dory Funk Jr) This is in the midst of Dan Severn’s long reign as NWA Champion during their darkest days. I don’t know what Inoki’s thought process was here. Perhaps starting up UFO around Naoya Ogawa he wanted him to have a belt to defend. Ogawa defeated Don Frye and Gerard Gordeau in the first two UFO events. All three of the first UFO events did 8000 or better. Ogawa is definitely a draw. To me this is my platonic ideal of a pro wrestling match. There are way better matches but this is perfectly solid wrestling. If this was the baseline match everyone was churning out I’d never complain. It is so claustrophobic. It is body on body. Full court press grappling. There is very little distance between the combatants at any time. It is like the perfect judoka vs wrestler match. You have Ogawa stuffing double leg takedowns with front chanceries. Severn blocking STO’s with suplex takedowns. It is such a great grappling match dripping with struggle. Ogawa has awesome charisma. I love how it gets so out of hand the wrestlers tumble over the top rope to the floor. Junior has to reset them. Severn’s selling of exhaustion at the end may be the best selling of exhaustion ever. His double leg takedown attempts get weaker and weaker eventually Ogawa pounces with a rear naked choke and wins the match! Have there been better matches of course but I could watch wrestling like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. ***1/2

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Dan Severn - Zero-One 3/9/02 The penultimate NWA world title defense before TNA took the belt over. The match is pretty heavily clipped even though we get the 6 minute post-match in full. They go with a screwjob finish to protect Hashimoto. The NWA President which I assume is Howard Brody at this time gets up with like two minutes before match ends and tell the ref it is time to do business. The ref had been calling it down the middle until that point. He slow counted Hashimoto couple times and fast counted Severn German Suplex for the win, They seem to intimate that Severn was not happy about the finish and wanted to come back. I forget did TNA strip Severn because he didn’t want to play ball or did they just want to do a reboot? Hard to tell if they were planning to continue this angle or they already knew TNA was coming down the pike. As for the match, clipping didn’t help. I’ve seen Severn a handful of time. He seems like someone I would like: big, burly dude with legit credentials but he didn’t connect with me here. His clubbering needs work and more charisma. His overhead belly to belly suplexes looked good. I liked all the trips Hashimoto was using. Hard to rate. I liked that Japanese crowd found the American ref’s call of two funny and started to get in on the act. Shouting two very loudly and then laughing. Weird piece of history but nothing worth seeing.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto vs Nathan Jones - Zero-One 1/6/02 I have been absent for a few days but you will have to excuse me because I got ENGAGED LAST THURSDAY!!! Lots of partying and planning. Hopefully I can still maintain a presence here. I didnt like this match as much as Jetlag and I wish I did but I just couldnt quite see the match through that prism. It is not horrible, but it is not good either. I know I must have seen Nathan Jones in 2003 but I had no recollection just how fucking massive he is. I thought he was a musclebound bodybuilder who was like 6'2 or something. The dude is wicked tall and built like a brick shithouse. Vince would have been a fool not to do something with him. Great look. His offense was not bad per se. Like other reviewers mentioned his elbow drop and shoulder tackle looked good. As KB8 said, he just had no clue what to do in between his moves nor did he have a clue how to feed. It led to a lot of stilted moments. Hashimoto mostly used strikes to try to set things up. I appreciated trying to chop Jones down and kick Jones as he ran by. He started working some arm locks and trying to break down Jones that way. Ultimately he just dropped him on his head of a ton of DDTs. Also the finish was weird because after all those DDTs, he did a Inoki/Mutoh style leglock and then hit an Enziguiri to win. Felt anti-climatic. It is tough to be Nathan Jones. His size necessitates being in the main event immediately, but unless you are a natural (which he clearly isnt) you get exposed immediately. My only remedy would be to put him under a hood for a year or two and let him get his reps that way and when he unmasks you can do something with him. I also wonder if Hashimoto was planning to use the NWA World Title as his main title in Zero-One until TNA screwed up those plans. Japanese promotions care more about lineage than Americans do who will invent titles. It took NOAH a while to establish GHC and Zero-One did not ever really get a major singles title during Hashimoto's run. I wonder if that was the original vision before TNA came along. Hashimoto & Ogawa in TNA during the weekly PPVs definitely would have been something!

Keiji Mutoh vs Taiyo Kea - AJPW 8/30/02 Budokan Kea’s second straight Budokan main event, defeating Tenryu on 7/20. He goes up against All Japan’s other Ace and his former co-Tag Team Champion (they lost the belts to Kronik on 7/17). Kea impressed in both those aforementioned matches but reverted to his normal self here. He brought none of the energy or charisma he showed in those matches here. The Tenryu match in particular I thought he played the part of the hungry young lion well. Here he was stuck in first gear. Mutoh was pretty content to wrestle a standard championship style match, in the midcard this would be fine but on the main event of a Budokan show you expect a little more. Pretty standard New Japan start trading holds. Mutoh starts bleeding from the mouth and overall looks to be more of the aggressor than Kea. This changes on the outside where a Kea Kick to the back of the head leads to a TKO onto the railing! Gnarly spot on the already injured mouth. Kea piledriver. Butterfly lock. Standard stuff. No oomph. No urgency. Mutoh hits a barrage of DROPKICKs and then a top rope Frankensteiner. Mutoh is targeting the arm. Kea tries to mount a comeback but Mutoh pops off a Frankensteiner into a Cross-Armbreaker which I love. Kea blocks a Shining Wizard. Kea gets a Crossface and top rope splash. The high spots are well-done and make sense but it feels like they are going through the motions. Shining Wizard! TKO! Levels the playing field! Feels very modern. Everything before this doesn’t matter now here’s the finish. Kea’s finish is the Crossface and some back drop drivers. Mutoh wriggles free from TKO and BLASTS HIM WITH A SHINING WIZARD!!! Three great Shining Wizards to win! Perfectly acceptable, solid match. Must have been a tough pull for Kea to swallow, he was Mutoh’s championship partner, got big spots on Budokan cards and a win over Tenryu but he loses to Mutoh here and gets squashed by Goldberg the next day. It looked like him & Kojima winning the tag Belts was supposed to be a big deal but he got injured and missed all of 2003 and was never seen again. Mutoh seems perfectly content to wrestle this style, solid championship style wrestling with a barrage of Shining Wizards to close. ***

Bob Sapp vs Ernesto Hoost - AJPW-Wrestle-1 01/19/03 Tokyo Dome Well I think I just witnessed the two greatest entrances of all time. Hoost stole Bob Sapp’s Madonna Holiday entrance complete with dancing J-Pop girls. His dancing was gloriously terrible. All the girls fawn over him. I was like what can Sapp do possibly top this. He fucking floats in like an Angel over the Tokyo Dome dropping Magic Fairy Dust! All the girls Ditch Hoost and flock to Sapp! ALL THE FUCKING STARS FOR THIS! The peak of Bob Sapp’s shoot career was his two shoot victories over Hoost in K-1 in 2002. Hoost is a Dutch Kickboker with a 99-21 record so seems pretty damn good. Hoost’s take on pro wrestling is it is fighting mixed with entertainment apparently entertainment means dancing. He is totally committed to his shitty dancing. Sapp Bumrushes at the bell which I believe was his actual shoot strategy. Hoost drop toehold and STF which gave me hope for the match, but that soon went away. Sapp Oklahoma Stampede is pretty good and Hoost’s verbal selling is over the top but I think his heart is In the right place. After that match lulls. Sapp gets distracted by Hoost’s Dutch coach who Sapp beats up. Hoost crowns Sapp with a chair and with the world shittiest school boy wins the match. Don’t watch the match BUT YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE ENTRANCES!!! ******

Great Muta vs Bob Sapp - Wrestle-1/AJPW 12/17/02 I finally found it! The Bob Sapp Madonna Holiday Entrance! Something that captured my imagination since the first time I saw it in college. I didnt know if this entrance was for an MMA bout, pro wrestling match or HUSTLE, but it something that has stuck with me for years. I find fantasy booking helps me fall asleep, my version of counting sheep. The Bob Sapp Madonna Holiday entrance is something I have re-envisioned multiple times over. To me it is one of those moments that truly captures the essence of pro wrestling and what makes pro wrestling the most unique form of entertainment in the world. Hands-down the greatest entrance in pro wrestling history! The match itself is actually pretty good. It is a clash of the titans, hit all your bombs, and get the hell out of Dodge match. Muta immediately dropkicks the knee but when he tries the dragon leg screw, The Beast plucks him and POWERBOMBS him! Bob Sapp has the worst lariat in history but he is so damn big who cares. They do some arena brawling with Muta using a chair. Muta applies a Short Arm Scissors so Sapp can do the Backlund spot. This is a great example of how insanely strong Backlund is. As Sapp struggles to get Muta up for the slam. I watched this only two hours ago, but the finish stretch has elided in my head. There is MIST~!, Shining Wizards and Powerbombs! Fun spectacle! ***1/4

Keiji Mutoh & Goldberg vs Kronik - AJPW/Wrestle-1 01/19/03 Tokyo Dome I dont know what was wrong with WCW 2000 but Kronik vs Goldberg drew 20,000, I guess Russo just needed to book Mutoh. Not only is this Kronik's last match together, this both Bryan Clark's and Brian Adams' last match individually. I would have imagined that Adams wrestled until he died I was surprised to find out he died four years after this, I thought it was around this time. If you asked me if Wrath was still wrestling, I would have guessed yes, shocked he retired so early. Maybe they thought they couldnt top the Tokyo Dome. Not sure if this counts as an All Japan event or a Wrestle-1 event. It was promoted by Keiji Mutoh. This is the second Wrestle-1 event. Kronik did not wrestle at the first one. Goldberg did beating Rick Steiner, which I will skip. Muta vs Bob Sapp was the main event of the first show which I will check out. This is the semi-main with Sapp main eventing against kickboxing rival Ernesto Hoost (based on some Wiki research looks like this was a work). As for the match, this was another borefest. So the Mutoh/Kea match was clearly the best Kronik match. Goldberg is such a unique presence. He is the Terminator. Not good or evil, just cold steel. They show him walking to the Dome and then he gets dressed and does his usual entrance. He is such a great offensive wrestler and so explosive. This match really did not play to Goldberg's strengths. It should have been half as long. The opening Mutoh/Clark segment was boring. Goldberg's Military Press of Adams was pretty impressive. Adams clothesline Goldberg over the top (Goldberg should not be taking those bumps unless earned). Lame arena brawling ensues. Goldberg hit a great shoulder tackle. Heat segment on Mutoh by Clark was pretty lame. Goldberg back in. He just wrecks fools. Great armbar takedown. Once in the armbar nobody really knows what to do so Clark escapes and just ends up back in it. So lame. Mutoh's hot tag was his usual 2001 schtick: drop kick to the knee, dragon leg screw and figure-4. Back to Goldberg and Kronik hits their Double Chokeslam to get their one nearfall. Mutoh dropkicks to break up the second attempt. Goldberg spears Clark through the table and Jackhammer for the win. Goldberg was the best part, but because it was so long he had to do things that were not Goldberg-esque like sell & bump routine spots and repeat spots to fill time. Another weird thing is Goldberg tagging out to Mutoh in desperation. Mutoh only knew how to wrestle his style match and it was a style clash with his partner. Kronik looked pretty good in their first All Japan match but have looked checked out here and their last match.

AJPW World Tag Team Champions KroniK vs Mike Barton & Jim Steele - AJPW 8/30/02 Budokan Kids this is why you don’t do Kronik you will get hooked! I was really curious what a WWF midcard match in 2002 All Japan would like and it looked pretty much how I expected. Zero heat. These dudes were wrestling to crickets. You could hear a pin drop. Kronik pretty much phones this one in. Their Mutoh & Kea match they were motivated this they barely tried. Brian Adams cut a promo before the match saying All Japan is the number one federation in the world now that Kronik has arrived. Kronik is the most dominant tag team and he puts all the old gaijin on notice name checking Doc, Rotundo, George Hines, Johnny Smith and of course Barton and Steele as washed. Barton says Kronik is a bunch of Johnny come latelys and he and Jim Steele are All Japan. Nothing like a bunch of white dudes arguing over who is more All Japan 4 life. The match itself is dreadfully dull. Barton looked like the only one trying. I’ve seen maybe 3 Steele matches in my life and he did his usual except he had died spiky bleached hair that made him look like Mr. Kennedy. Lots of no bumping early. Barton & Steele were given a “shine” which was Barton hitting a DDT and Suplex. Steele missed on charge and took a spill to the floor. Heat segment was even more boring. Although Brian Adams Military Press continues to impress. Clark misses a charge back Suplex. Barton’s hot tag is pretty good. Reverse top rope crossbody nice power slam. Short heat on Barton who doubles over Adams with a LEFT~! Steele does the most mid-80s hot tag possible with a swinging neck breaker and Russian Leg Sweep. Barton & Steele do a pretty good double splash in series. Steele’s looks the best and gets the only pop of the night. Adams hits the Full Nelson Slam and the Kronik Double Chokeslam wins the day. Pretty lame match with Goldberg over for this weekend. I wonder if Ultimo Dragon was Kronik’s handler that would pop me. Yeah don’t watch this.

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea vs KroniK - AJPW 7/17/02 Yes because I’m a total weirdo I’m watching Kronik in 2002 All Japan. Crazy fun fact this the 5th to last match for both Adams and Clark period. I figured Adams would stop soon because he you know died and all but I wouldn’t have been surprised if Clark was wrestling to this day. I plan on reviewing both for their final matches together. Much to my surprise, this is did not suck. It was NOT 6/9/95 but it did not suck. I would say it was distinctively average. It was a lot of spots some of them high some of them just strikes but they always kept it moving. There was no narrative. Kronik was way more giving than I expected. Clark bumped on every DROPKICK and pretty much every spot. Adams was a little stingier but still went over on a biel easy and ate Mutoh’s offense. The match actually would’ve been better if they bumped less. Then it would have created a mountain for Mutoh and Kea to climb. Kronik kinda wrestled as monster babyfaces early big shine energy on the Adams press slam of Mutoh and the double hip toss on Kea. They do an eye rake earlier. Honestly they were just doing shit. Really fell in love with the round kick even though he sucked at them but he had a really good chop. Was he always good at chopping? Basically ran through this 2001 Mutoh sequence you know the drill DROPKICKs to the knee, Dragon Leg Screw Figure-4. Clark broke it up. Kea was pretty much a non-factor in that match he had some good strikes. He gets taken out. Mutoh hits the moonsault which most people bit on because he’s Mutoh and they probably figured Kronik was just here for a one shot, Kronik hits their double chokeslam. Kick out. MELTDOWN~! Clark pins Mutoh to win. Crush & Adam Bomb are in the same lineage as the Holy Demon Army and Misawa/Kobashi! HELL YEAH! if this has a narrative I’d give it *** it was not bad. Meltdown looked killer and am surprised that was the finish not the double team. Surprisingly not bad.

Genichiro Tenryu vs Taiyo Kea - AJPW 7/20/02 Budokan Tenryu is Triple Crown Champion having defended the title three days prior in an epic match against Kojima. Here he takes on All Japan’s other next generation prospect the little talked about Taiyo Kea. I dont know why this is not a title match besides the fact Kea wins and I guess they didn’t want him to be champ but they Never follow it up with a rematch. Weird booking aside this match was really damn good and I had no idea what to expect. I think the only Kea match I watched besides this was first post-split Budokan main event. The first strike against Kea is he doesn’t really look interesting or have a hook. I have never once been damn I really want to check this guy out. There’s the unfortunate hair situation which is out of his control. I thought he was tremendous in this match. Amazing young lion fire that makes me wonder why we don’t talk about Kea. The first obvious reason is post-split All Japan is not exactly a hot commodity so that hurts him a lot and also never really getting that big run like Kojima or SUWAMA got. Kea gives Tenryu a good stiff chop on a rope break. That wakes me and Tenryu up. We both realize Kea has come to play. Tenryu’s reaction is to throw a water bottle at Kea, mine is to get to the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed the strike exchanges in this, crisp & stuff but didn’t feel ritualistic. It was not something they had to do because that’s the house style it felt like they were in a dogfight and battling for control. Tenryu is able to work some hold to consolidate an early advantage. Tenryu goes to powerbomb Kea. You know how it is kinda 50/50 looking whether he is actually going to get the guy up well this is the time he doesn’t. He just fucking drops Kea on his head. Fucking gnarly. The type of shit that would go viral today. Tenryu then drops him on his head with a brainbuster. 1-2-No. Spider German but Kea scrambles up and kicks Tenryu in the leg while he is in the tree of woe! Genius! Kea works the leg and gives Tenryu a stiff kick to the head for good measure. Great leg work in and out of the ring. Tenryu keeps trying to mount a comeback with potatoes, he was tagging him good. Kea was bowing up and giving as good as he got. Loved the finish run! Especially the order of moves. Kea rocks Tenryu with head shot and hits two TKO’s. Tenryu kicks out. Tenryu being the bigger star and champion you think he is going to close out now. Tenryu tucking decimates him. Powerbomb and Brainbuster. The heat on the Brainbuster kick out was wild. Kea comes back with more head shots and a reverse TKO gives Kea probably the biggest singles win of his career. Kea main events the next Budokan show against Mutoh, marquee match with Goldberg and then wins the Real World Tag League with Kojima. Unfortunately it looks like he injured for all of 2003 which definitely stymied his momentum. I am curious to see if this was just one off where Tenryu just brought something out of Kea or if he has a good match against Mutoh. Terrific young lion vs veteran champion! ****

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Great Muta - AJPW 10/27/02 The big October Anniversary show at the Budokan, the biggest main event they could deliver without Kawada or any outsiders. The beauty of Mutoh is once you have run his matches in to the ground with someone you can always run one with The Great Muta. This doesn’t touch their ‘96 WAR classic but it is on par with their April title match. It is the Great Muta so lots of slow-paced brawling which sometimes works and sometimes is boring. This is more the latter. Lots of looking under the ring he finds that wicker witch’s broom again but doesn't use it. He spews some mist. He finally kicks into gear with a bell Shot. It takes a lot to make Tenryu bleed he finally gets there with the bell hammer and array of other things. Tenryu clobbers him a water bottle but Muta fights through. I wish Tenryu fought back more or sold more interestingly. Tenryu takes back over by spewing the water in the eyes of Muta! He runs through his offense: Punch/Chop, Enziguiri, Brainbuster (which beat Mutoh in April), Top Rope Reverse Elbow and Powerbomb. Just not enough heat or struggle. Too neat. Muta knees out of brainbuster. Gets chair but Tenryu gets the chair and throws it at him! MIST~! That was cool. Tenryu blocks the Shining Wizard. DROPKICK to the knee which in most matches is ho hum but in Mutoh match means a lot. Tenryu hits his Spider German which is a crazy thing to do at 50. Tenryu goes for 3rd Brainbuster but Mutoh hits the Bicycle Kick. There is so weird awkward shit down the stretch. Muta Shining Wizard the ref but im not sure he was supposed to because the ref didn’t really sell like a traditional ref bump and it look awkward. Some of the pauses after the Shining Wizards to Tenryu were clunky. He won with a moonsault. It was fine there was so good stuff but this 2002 work says leave the memories along the 96 WAR match and 01 All Japan match are classics watch those. ***

The Great Muta vs The Great Koji (Satoshi Kojima) - AJPW 07/20/02 Budokan I wish I knew the backstory to this one. Mutoh has been doing a lot of losing recently. He dropped the Triple Crown to Kawada in February only to turn around and lose to Tenryu in April for the vacant Triple Crown after Kawada was forced to vacate. Kea & Mutoh successfully defended their tag team titles in January against Barton/Steele but dropped them three days prior to this match to fucking Kronik. I am morbidly curious about Kronik in All Japan. Kojima had been featured on pretty much every major All Japan show of 2002 to this point, two good losses to Tenryu with the July match probably being the All Japan match of the year and a strong win over contemporary rival, Kea. I get why you would want to do Mutoh vs Kojima, but why do the dueling Great Muta gimmicks, I do not. Great Muta has these match every so often whether it is with Liger or Onita. They never seem to be all that great. This is no different. Kojima goes for a Halloween theme for his take on Muta since orange is his color. They pay off the big spot right at the beginning. DUELING MIST~! Orange for Kojima and Green for Muta. They seem to get over their chests and they dont really sell it. Under the ring they go. Muta find an old witch's broom. Kojima gets control of it, sweeps up some streamers because he is a neat freak and hit Muta with it. Customary Muta ramp spot but it is Kojima doing it. Muta takes over raking the paint off Kojima's face in a cool spot. He tears a shirt off a young boy and chokes Kojima with it. He takes two young boys and drives them into Kojima. He busts Kojima open. They are going for all the bells and whistles. I am someone who loves a lot of bells & whistles it is how they are doing it. There is not a lot of heat. A lot of it is how Muta and Kojima sell the moment and both are muted. Wrestling the Great Muta is strange because the selling is really bizarre. Sometimes it can work because it gives you that Creature from the Black Lagoon rises again vibe or it can give you heatless, this dude is lazy, phoning it in vibe and you never know what you are going get. When Kojima hits the Ace Crusher or a German Suplex, it doesnt feel big or heated. I liked Kojima's no sell of the Dragon Leg Screws. That felt like a valiant hero bowing up to the Horror Movie Monster, but most of the match was missing that. I think in part it was because of the first half of the match Kojima was trying to wrestle as a Muta clone, but he was better cast to be the valiant hero trying to slay the beast. The finish was pretty good. Kojima goes for the lariat, Muta blocks and Kojima falls to one knee BANG! NO! KOJIMA BLOCKS THE SHINING WIZARD! LARIAT! 1-2-NO! That was pretty good. Then Muta finishes with an epic combo of the Green Mist-Shining Wizard-Cross Armbreaker (Kojima was selling the arm from the blocked Lariat). The finish was good enough to put this firmly in good territory and I liked some of the bells & whistles (the young boy spot, the dueling mist). I think they were better off just having Kojima be Kojima and try to valiantly fight from underneath against the otherworldly monster. ***

Goldberg vs Taiyo Kea - AJPW 08/31/02 The first thing the reporters ask Goldberg when he gets back is why no Jackhammer or Spear? I was thinking the same damn thing. Ultimo Dragon is his booking agent! Goldberg says he only does what Dragon tells him! Glorious! The build to WrestleMania XX should have been Goldberg and Dragon as an odd couple doing wacky antics en route to winning tag team gold. Goddamnit Vince you suck! This is a better squash than Kojima. Kea at least tries to bow up to Goldberg. I dont know much about Kea. I think the only match I watched was him main event the first Budokan show post-split. Honestly AJPW's future kinda hinged on him. I am not the biggest Kojima fan, but I think he could have carried the banner but he needed at least one preferably two people his age to help him. Kea just never seemed catch fire. Three fun spots in this one. Kea tells Goldberg to run the ropes so they can do the shouldertackle spot but Goldberg says Fuck You and clobbers him. Then Kea goes for a waistlock and Goldberg like lightning rolls through into a heel hook. The finish was sick! Goldberg invites Kea to throws some kicks. He catches a kick. Palm strike! PALMS KEA CHEST PICKS HIM UP AND HURLS HIM DOWN! SICK! Goldberg says once he heals up, he will come back to Japan and you will see the real Goldberg. He had a pretty heavy wrap on one of his thighs. I assume thats why he did not do a spear or Jackhammer. This one is fun. ***

Goldberg vs Satoshi Kojima - AJPW 8/30/02 Kojima got pushed pretty hard in 2002, a big two match series with Tenryu, the Triple Crown match is excellent, MOTYC level and he has a big match against Great Muta that's on my list to watch. I think it makes sense why he and later Kea are the sacrificial lambs for Goldberg. I am assuming the plan was for Goldberg to do more dates for All Japan but plans fell through. Would have been interesting to see what Tenryu or Kawada could have gotten out of Goldberg. Mutoh I feel would have been a horrible Goldberg opponent. Goldberg does the full Goldberg entrance. He does look like a total badass. Goldberg really nailed who he was on the Stone Cold podcast before fucking it up. He is the lion they fed the Christians to. Fuck yeah! He is not human. He is an animal. A terminator. Soulless. He later expanded on it like he was some sort action all-American superhero. I was like nope thats what you want to be, but you are not. You are a fucking animal that tears through opponents. Not his best squash match. No spear makes me sad. His spear is the spear to end all spears. He does not even do a Jackhammer. It is just spinny twisting thing he does out of the Jackhammer position. The collar & elbow throwdowns were the best thing. His body scissors into a legbar looks good per usual. Kojima got absolutely nothing and didnt really go much. Very skippable squash match.

Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh - AJPW 4/13/02 Vacant Triple Crown Title Toshiaki Kawada continued his streak of snake-bitten Triple Crown runs having defeated Mutoh for the title in February but had to vacate immediately after due to injury. Pretty sensible title match to fill the vacancy as these are the two biggest stars in All Japan and the most recent two champions. Mutoh and Tenryu have pretty crazy chemistry together. This match continued their streak of very good matches however when two of your other matches I have rated at ****3/4 and at ***** this has to be considered a little disappointing even though I enjoyed it overall. The famous 6/8/01 match starts with a bang Shining Wizard at the bell and Tenryu is climbing out of a hole. Here they do a traditional New Japan style open. Tenryu hits the first big move a Shining Wizard and does the Pro Wrestling Love pose. Mutoh sells this as more of an insult than something that hurts which I dig. Mutoh uses DROPKICKs to get Tenryu to the outside. Crazy plancha where it looked like Tenryu ate ass and then a Shining Wizard up against the railing. Mutoh used a cross armbreaker on the floor which Tenryu started tapping out to immediately which I dug as a way to sell how painful the hold is. If it was in the ring it’d be over. Mutoh worked the arm the rest of the match which was a smart decision in my estimation since the previous match was knee focused. He used the Dragon Leg Screws as takedowns to set up wristlocks and armbars as opposed to hurt the knee which I thought was a cool touch. I really liked one of Mutoh’s cutoffs where he used a Frankensteiner to set up a cross armbreaker attempt. Another good example was Tenryu missed his second attempt of a reverse top rope elbow so Mutoh pounced with a DROPKICK and another cross-armbreaker. It was cool to see Mutoh work a different body part. For his part I didn’t feel Tenryu held ups his end. He’d go on to have a killer match with Kojima in July 2002 but I thought his selling was spotty and his high spots didn’t have the same zing. I liked the transition out of heat with a lariat to the back of Mutoh’s head when Mutoh tried the Back Handspring Elbow. The first top rope Reverse Elbow and Powerbomb had very little heat and that should have been a mini-climax. I really didn’t like how he blew off the cross-armbreakers after Frankensteiner and the missed Top Rope Elbow. He was fine but I thought Mutoh was wrestling a laser-focused match and if Tenryu was wrestling at his usual level that this could have been special. At this point, they go into a fireworks finish stretch and abandon the body of the match. Tenryu does a better job selling attrition than Mutoh. Mutoh hits a barrage of Shining Wizards after a DROPKICK to the knee. He really clocked him on the 3rd, gets two. Then it becomes a game of Tenryu lariat/brainbuster vs Mutoh Shining Wizard/Moonsault. Mutoh throws in a Kappou Kick and Bicycle Kick for good measure both which popped me. Mutoh blocks the lariat at one point. Knees Tenryu in the cranium on the brainbuster. Mutoh for the life of him cannot hit a moonsault. The first two Tenryu moves and on the third he connects but with Tenryu’s knees! Great stuff! Lariat and then a brainbuster where Tenryu fights through Mutoh’s knees to land it and win the Triple Crown! There’s a lot to like here Mutoh’s arm work and the finish stretch is creatively done. I really thought Mutoh might win on the third moonsault but to have him eat knees was creative and compelling. Tenryu warning the brainbuster was great. Peculiar selling choices by both Tenryu and Mutoh keep this at ***1/2.