Puroresu Pulse, issue 48

Archive

Section 1- Results

All Japan: The Dudleys won the Real World Tag League, beating Mutoh & Akebono in the final. They’re unbeaten to date.

Dragon Gate: Magnitude retained the Dream Gate title over Arai, as per expectations.

NOAH: Taue fended off Morishima with yet another chokeslam variant on Sunday to retain the GHC title.

Section 2- News

All Japan: They’ve taken several big hits in the last few weeks. First they found out that Akebono will no longer be allowed to wrestle there after the January tour. Then Jamal got signed by WWE, forcing a vacancy of the tag titles. Then Albert jumped ship out of nowhere. Akebono vs Kojima for the Triple Crown is still expected for January. AKIRA will be the next challenger to Kondo’s junior title.

New Japan: A-Train/Albert/Giant Bernard/The Guy What Has A Lot Of Back Hair made his first appearance on Tuesday and will face Nakanishi on 1/4. While Lesnar will never do full tours, he will, and I have a sad feeling he’ll replace Scott Norton. Also added to 1/4 is that Chono & Tenzan will put the tag titles up against Omori & Koshinaka.

NOAH: Taue vs Akiyama has been signed to headline the 1/22/06 Budokan show. KENTA vs Ace Steele for the junior title has been signed, taking place before KENTA vs Low Ki in ROH, so Ace has about as good a chance to win as the Buffalo Bills do of winning the Super Bowl. Friggin’ Bills. Last but not least I have a vague sense that Low Ki will be used less in the future, as he’s been jobbed out a *lot* in the last few months.

Section 3- Plug

I wrote a column about the steroid scandal (covering WWE and Japan), which is best accessed from here: http://www.puroresupower.com/pph/

Section 4- All Japan in peril

Just a few short weeks ago I was on the Puroresu Power Hour discussing what I thought might be an upcoming boom time for All Japan. Akebono was packing venues and showing a knack for pro wrestling, Kojima was doing decently as champ, there was some young talent coming up, the Dudleys arrived to add to a solid gaijin crew, etc. Things changed in a hurry.

King’s Road was announced. First off it ensures that Kawada and Tenryu won’t return, and that hurts. Secondly it takes Miyamoto, one of the top prospects. Third it takes some of the top office workers, who are key to doing the nitty-gritty behind-the-scenes things a major wrestling promotion requires. Finally it will be going after much of the same audience that All Japan currently draws from, that in turn being a fraction of the original pre-NOAH All Japan fan base.

Akebono, who was at least a novelty and perhaps a ticket back to the spotlight, will be leaving just as he hits his stride. That will hurt ticket sales, reduce All Japan’s media coverage, and mostly eliminate the value of putting Kojima over him next month.

Jamal and Albert were both important as credible big men, and their departure will leave All Japan either looking for new gaijin or relying on guys like Chuck Palumbo and Bull Buchanan. That isn’t exactly promising. And the tag titles being vacated doesn’t help either.

Kojima’s reign will hit the one year mark after his January title defense, and he didn’t bomb out like Rikio. The question is, what now? He went over Mutoh and Sasaki, the Dudleys don’t work as Triple Crown challengers, midcarders like TARU, Arashi and D-Lo aren’t credible, Taiyo Kea has no momentum to challenge let alone win, and Suwama wouldn’t draw much for an anticlimactic first title match. The Champions Carnival will be crucial to building up someone to beat Kojima or at least be a worthy challenger. After *that* match things look far bleaker than any doomsday scenario I’ve presented for NOAH or New Japan. Right now All Japan is #3 in Japan and that might not survive 2006.

Section 5- Best of All Japan vol. 2, part 2

Michael Fitzgerald covered this nearly a month ago, so my apologies for tardiness on it. For reference: https://insidepulse.com/article.php?contentid=44294

Can-Am Express vs Kobashi & Kikuchi, All Asia tag titles, 5/22/92

I’ve never been one to think of this as ‘five star’ considering the length and that it’s not particularly deep, but this is quite possibly the most easy to enjoy All Japan match for non-puroresu fans AND quite enjoyable for those of you who like puro to begin with. Unbelievable crowd heat, fast pacing, high-end wrestling, crisp sequences and a hot finish all wrapped up to make this a classic.

Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi, 6/12/98

There hasn’t been a better Triple Crown match since, and this was the best of Kawada vs Kobashi. After their two hour draw title matches in ’95 and ’96, neither of which was special, this came along to properly take advantage of their chemistry. It’s an absolute war, but without going to absurd overkill lengths like so many matches following it. The wandering-around selling during parts of the finish annoys me, and the match wasn’t quite as tight as the best Misawa vs Kawada bouts, but those are about the only flaws I can see.

This is a match between two consummate professionals with rock-solid fundamentals, pacing, structure, and most importantly compelling drama inside the squared circle. It’s light-years ahead of spotfests and glorified spotfests that lead people to say that wrestlers like Kurt Angle or AJ Styles are among the best ever. Kawada and Kobashi have wrestled plenty of times, but they don’t let themselves get predictable and they don’t strug off each other’s offense after one move down the stretch.

By taking big moves and stiff strikes and (for the most part) selling it properly they make it meaningful. Kawada and Kobashi come off looking like the toughest SOBs ever to step between the ropes, and they would have done so even with a couple less head-drops and powerbombs. What they do isn’t as important as why and how they react, much like the difference between a generic action movie and a great wartime drama. I say all this coming from the point of view that there were many better matches from All Japan in the ’90s; the promotion was just that good.

Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa, 10/31/98

I don’t like this as much as their ’97 encounters, but it’s oodles better than their first title match three years before this and their ’99 and ’03 bouts that followed. The main story is the neck work, which is done decently but with just a bit too much time spent in chinlocks and sleepers of one kind or another. Finishing stretch is a wee bit overdone for my taste, and could have been tightened up a lot. All that aside it’s still Kobashi vs Misawa, it’s still an epic battle, and it’s still one hell of a chunk of pro wrestling.

The main backstory to know here is that while Misawa had pinned Kobashi a year earlier and at the ’98 Champions Carnival with the tiger driver ’91, Kobashi had debuted the burning hammer a few weeks earlier. Thus Kobashi had a supermove to win with in addition to the lariat, making him more of a threat than ever. Misawa won the CC but then dropped the title to Kawada at the first ever All Japan dome show in May, which was followed by Kawada dropping the title to Kobashi. This was in the middle of a title cycle between the three that lasted from ’96 to ’99 where each established that they could beat the others at any time, unlike when Misawa lorded over them during his first two reigns. This and the above Kobashi vs Kawada match are the most important matches to see from ’98 All Japan.