AJPW on Nippon TV – March 2000

Previously in AJPW…

All Japan received a major dose of bad news on 3/13 when Nippon TV announced it was lowering its rights fees to broadcast the promotion and moving the shows from Sunday at 12:45 a.m. to Wednesday nights from 1:45 to 2:15 a.m., considered an even more death of a time slot.

Even though the group saw its television ratings increase in 1999, that was largely due to huge ratings in the first quarter in the aftermath of the death of Giant Baba and the retirement of Jumbo Tsuruta. Still, the shows were very competitive through the end of the year drawing what has to be considered strong numbers and even stronger market shares, usually winning its time slot, but wrestling has become lower priority within the NTV family.

The news came at about the same time the promotion announced a new format this year for the Champion Carnival tournament. Instead of the more physically taxing format, which created so many unique match-ups, they are doing a more traditional single-elimination tournament, a 16 man tournament which means the eventual champion only has to wrestle four singles matches as opposed to the usual 12 hard singles bouts in previous years.

Great so we’ve started the year with the deaths of Gary Albright, Giant Baba (again), Bobby Duncum Jr. and now the TV slot too?

2000/03/05

AJPW World Tag Team Titles

Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Vader and Steve Williams 02/20/00

JIP to Vader lariating Kobashi. Kobashi is sporting a beard so this is obviously before his Triple Crown victory. Williams slams Kobashi off the second rope but Jun saves the day to the crowd’s delight. Williams is really caffeinated and looks fresh as a daisy as he batters hairy Kobashi around. Jun tags in to unrealistically take it to both big men. Steve kicks out of a rough German Suplex and an even worse Superbomb that looked flatter than a regular powerbomb. I’d like these matches better if Jun’s offence was supposed to be only glancing these huge beasts but his foes have to pretend they’re really in pain from them which takes away from the enjoyment. Jun only just gets Vader over on an Exploder before Kobashi shows him how to do it by properly dropping Steve with a mighty powerbomb. Vader grabs Kobashi’s foot which causes him to stumble into Steve’s spinebuster. Vader Bomb is only just kicked out of, with Kobashi landing a desperate lariat which sadly only leaves him open for a brutal Dragon suplex from Steve.

Christ on a bike. Vader and Steve land a dozen elbows before a devastating chokeslam gives the yanks the titles at 25:14.

My minor complaint about Jun’s offence on bigger guys aside, this was a thrilling final few minutes that was greatly helped by the increasingly anxious fans yelling at Kobashi to not give up. Williams looked amazing out there considering it was twenty minutes into a title match, well done.

Kenta Kobashi shaved his face in front of 20 photographers. After his loss to Vader on January 15, 1999, he vowed not to shave his face clean until he beat Vader, which he did in the Triple Crown match on 2/27.

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title

Yoshinari Ogawa (c) vs. Daisuke Ikeda

JIP to ratboy landing multiple back suplexes but only getting two from a jack knife roll-up. Ikeda manages a sunset flip but when Ogawa kicks out and tries doing the Guerrero/Malenko roll-up sequence, Ikeda instead converts it into an armbar. Oh that looked cool. Ikeda ducks an enziguri but holds onto the leg to apply an ankle lock. The one that looked like you were eating arse in WWF No Mercy. Ratboy is at Ikeda’s mercy here, the crowd is even popping for submission holds. His lariats don’t look special but that could be due to his opponent not exactly flying around for them. A neck-crunching DVD only gets two but the crowd sound relieved Ogawa is still alive. Ogawa gets smothered in a thorough chinlock but somehow grabs the ropes. Ikeda misses a moonsault but Ogawa’s follow-up DDT only gets a one count and a much better lariat in response. Ogawa retaliates with a superplex and a bridging backdrop suplex retains.

This did a better job of showcasing Ikeda here than Ogawa, that’s for sure.

03/12/00

Jun Akiyama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa 02/27/00

These two have wrestled each other thirteen times previously but Jun has never beaten Misawa.

Throughout the previous episode they showed various clips of this match to build anticipation, and it’s the only match this episode so no pressure lads.

Tremendous buzz from the crowd to start as Misawa teases a clean break but instead delivers an elbow…which Jun has no issues with taking or giving back as he lands a jumping knee in response. Misawa sends him out the ring, fakes a dive before landing a flying shoulder tackle off the apron. That’s how this one is starting! Misawa drops Jun with a sit-out dropkick and flying clothesline, as I realise this is during the “Misawa is fucked” period but you can’t tell outside of his miserable facial expressions. Misawa decides to wear down Jun with a face-stretching chinlock. Hard elbows only warm up Jun who successfully side-steps a body press off the second rope. Jun sends Misawa outside with a flying knee and the crowd aren’t really buying those strikes yet. Misawa charges but Jun ducks and sends Misawa’s already-grim face into the guard-rail via drop toe hold. You’re taking Dreamer’s kids? Jun stretches Misawa’s head over the apron and drops a nasty knee. Jun wants the count out but he sees Misawa standing up so he sends him head-over-tit with an Exploder on the apron!

Misawa recovers quickly so Jun has to DDT him down just to get a pin attempt. Jun wraps Misawa in this hold that I don’t know the name of but thankfully they turned this moment into a trading card so someone in the comments can let me know.

Misawa wriggles to the ropes as the crowd applaud his effort. Misawa is really moaning now as Jun knocks him silly into the crowd as the high-pitched “MIIISAWAA” yells are sounding increasingly worried as Jun continues to stretch him with facelocks.

We cut ahead as Misawa can’t do anything about these facelocks that are going on for longer than the dodgy submissions in the Hase match. Jun tries pins instead which allows Misawa to strike him in the corner with another WWF No Mercy classic, the jump up the second rope kick to the head. Crowd liked that, even if Misawa is slow following up and applies his own facelocks. Crowd aren’t buying them, which is a shame as he’s doing his best to make them exciting.

Another minor cut sees Jun dropkick Misawa off the top rope to the outside because I guess this is Misawa taking it easy. Jun lands another jumping knee off the apron before riding Misawa’s head like a skateboard into the guard rail. Bloody hell. Oh, then Jun busts out a Gotch-style Tombstone.

Fuck, he really spiked him with it too. Misawa is so dazed he doesn’t spot Jun jumping off the ropes behind him.

Exploder suplex ends that combo with a very-near-fall so it’s back to the stretching. Misawa lands a funky enziguri before dropping a standing knee directly onto Jun’s nose and breaking it in the process. Misawa’s frog splash and German suplex only fire up Jun who resembles the front cover of Andrew WK’s first album. Misawa’s elbow strikes can’t knock Jun down but he is able to just-about Tiger Drive him to the mat for two. Crowd are wild now, they sound like F1 cars driving by. Jun escapes the Fusion but instead ends up taking a disgusting release German suplex. Jun stands up and wanders into another Tiger Driver but kicks out AGAIN. Misawa charges up his elbows and charges forwards like Akuma’s Raging Demon but despite connecting flush with them, Jun blinks and sends Misawa into the corner with two consecutive Exploder Suplexes before both men collapse.

Crowd are wild now, like Booker T-while-commentating levels of wilding. Jun taps his buttons faster and lands a third Exploder for another kickout before a sheer-drop Brainbuster…also is kicked out of. Furious Jun lands a fourth Exploder to finally at last get a victory over The Ace at 23:40!

That’s handy as Kobashi promised Jun the first shot at his Triple Crown so it would have been awkward if he’d lost. That aside, this was wonderfully heated and put together with Misawa simply not as tough and hard as Jun on this occasion, simply unable to keep up with the knee-throwing exploder guy’s passion. AJPW fans not caring about submissions aside, this was all gravy.

03/19/00

Jun Akiyama vs. Kentaro Shiga 03/11/00

I’m unfamiliar with Shiga but he looks bullyable. Shiga starts off with a rolling standing armbar but it didn’t work for Vitor Belfort and it doesn’t work for skinny Shiga. Jun heads outside and side-steps a crossbody, allowing Shiga to eat shit and judging by the size of him he could do with a good meal. A visibly annoyed Jun sticks Shiga into a headlock and stickman passes out! The ref needs to resuscitate him as opposed to ending the match or something safe. When Shiga comes to, Jun picks him up and hurls him into a guard rail. Jun is treating Shiga like a dog’s favourite chew toy as Jun wails away with double stomps of disdain. Crowd aren’t into this but they sound concerned which I’ll take. Shiga manages a low dropkick and low-effort lariat to send Jun down. Shiga goes from a Fujiwara Armbar to a Cross Armbreaker, which Jun counters by slapping Shiga repeatedly and then spiking him with a Gotch-style Tombstone. Jun doesn’t go for the pin and instead simply stands there until Shiga makes his feet before sticking the sorry bastard into another headlock and keeping it on until the ref stops the match and other wrestlers have to jump in to save Shiga at 8:45.

Oh this was an amazing heel beatdown to establish Jun as a piece of work for the big showdown with Kobashi. Shiga passing out and carrying on was silly but the crowd accepted it and that’s what matters. If I was a booker I’d have this match every week to keep me in a good mood.

10 Man Battle Royal 03/11/00

Haruka Eigen vs. Junji Izumida vs. Kenta Kobayashi vs. Makoto Hashi vs. Mitsuo Momota vs. Naomichi Marufuji vs. Rusher Kimura vs. Takeshi Inoue vs. Takeshi Morishima vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Takeshi Inoue and Kenta Kobayashi are making their debuts here.

That’s all I’ve got. Kanemaru wins at 9:36.

Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 03/11/00

This is the main event of a Fan Appreciation night as the Super Generation Army team up one last time.

Sadly this airs as a music video montage. Maybe that’s for the best but it sucks we got ten minutes of a dopey battle royal so we only get to see Kawada drop Kobashi with a backdrop driver for two seconds. Misawa pinned Fuchi after a Tiger Driver at 27:31.

03/26/00

Champion Carnival Round #1

Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori 03/26/00

Jun dodges a dropkick from Omori as he enters the ring and lands a wild knee. Omori throws the ref at Jun, lands a lariat and NOW the ref rings the bell as Jun absorbs another lariat for the win and that’s it after seven official seconds!

Crowd goes crazy, with multiple chants for Omori breaking out. Wow. Well it’s a Japanese tournament, you need to have something crazy happen or you get arrested.

The Carnival is single-elimination this year so Jun is out but if he already had a scheduled title shot then what were AJPW going to do? Have him win the Triple Crown then challenge himself?

Champion Carnival Round #1

Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams 03/26/00

JIP to Steve trying to act tough and taking a chokeslam for his troubles. Akira tosses Steve around on the outside with a DDT on the concrete only getting two. Akira squeezes Steve for a while until he gets his breath back enough to tope his foe into the guard rail. Not satisfied with that, Steve back suplexes Akira into the front row and then Oklahoma Stampedes Akira into the ring post. Would have been nicer if the crowd gave two shits but still. Steve squeezes Akira on the mat for a while as the amazing performances Steve has been putting in are clearly not consistent as this is chugging along at a snail’s pace. God is there a lot of holding and praying in this match, you’d think someone’s son was dying. Akira kinda chokeslams Steve off the middle rope for two and no one reacts. This sucks because Steve is taking bumps but he’s not taking them smoothly so crowd is shitting on him when he’s trying as opposed to the times when he’s not trying. They’re right for the wrong reasons. Steve delivers a desperate scoop slam but no one pops. Akira’s massive! That should have got something! Akira kicks out of Oklahoma Stampede and now the crowd cares. Doctor Bomb is kicked out of and now the crowd act like they’ve been here the whole time. Steve summons his energy to deliver a backdrop Driver to end this at 15:17.

Weird match because Steve is apparently a guy who saves up all his energy for the finishing stretch which is fine when he’s in a tag match or they show the last few minutes but sucks when it’s nearly the whole match and we can see him wheezing and snoring. And when he put in the effort the crowd still shit on him! Eh. This should have been in highlight form, I’d have loved it.

Overall: If AJPW’s ambition was to have Jun be the next big thing in March then mission accomplished. Next title shot, beat Misawa, lost in seven seconds, it’s all here.

Highlight Of The Month: Jun vs. Misawa, weren’t you paying attention?

I’ve been Maffew.