AJPW on Nippon TV – April 2000

Previously In AJPW…

Let’s continue circling the drain!

2000/04/05

Champion Carnival Round #1

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 03/31/00

Their last AJPW singles match.

On paper this looks nice but then you remember they’ve been having big matches like this since 1992 and you realise why this show only drew 3,250. Imagine if they did Hogan vs. Flair in 1992 and then nearly every year after. Wait, never mind.

Kawada grabs Misawa’s wrist to start to hand-cuff his foe for direct strikes, but Misawa is able to do the same so Kawada kicks him in the mush. Misawa misses the elbow and takes a Dangerous Backdrop very early on, causing The Ace to roll outside in obvious pain. Kawada makes sure it’s real pain by big booting Misawa over the guard rail. Misawa recovers and rolls back inside, only to get worn out after a strike exchange. Misawa rocks Kawada but as he falls he extends his back leg to Goldberg Kick poor Misawa in the soul. The Ace takes more boots to the face from Kawada but the crowd sound like they’re politely telling Misawa to stop being such a wuss.

Misawa blocks a Kawada lariat and converts into a smooth, quick, desperate Tiger Driver for two. Misawa CLOBBERS Kawada in the back of the head before dumping him on the noggin with a German Suplex pin. Only two, but at least Misawa has no issues letting it hang out as he hits his friend as hard as he’s taking it. Kawada rolls out of the way of a Frog Splash and very eagerly delivers his Powerbomb sex pin. Didn’t take long to start landing big bombs. Kawada sticks to strikes because he’s better at them right now, before a Stretch Plumb twists Misawa like strawberry lace. Misawa (now limping) initiates another strike exchange but ignores the big boots and finally sends Kawada to the mat with The Elbow. Kawada rolls outside so he can remember where he parked. An overly confident Misawa tries diving off the top rope but lands face-first on a Kawada boot. Christ.

Misawa gets kicked in the face some more with the crowd treating each of them like they’re shotgun blasts. Misawa kicks out and crowd explodes and dies as Misawa absorbs another Dangerous Backdrop. Brainbuster gets the commentators screaming but Misawa still kicks out. Kawada teases a Ganso Bomb but thankfully Misawa Frankensteiners out of it and right into a deep lariat. Crowd yelling constantly now as Kawada drops Misawa with another Sex Pin Powerbomb but he adds too much Sex so Misawa rolls out using Kawada’s own momentum. Spinning back elbow puts Kawada on his arse while Misawa takes a breather. Once he’s recovered, Tiger Driver is easily kicked out of because Misawa is taking too long to pin. And because I imagine Kawada wanted to be a dick.

Yet another strike exchange is started by Misawa (he must have been a big AEW fan) but won this time with The Elbow. Misawa waits for Kawada to get up just to bounce a second one off his forehead and then a mad Emerald Fusion ends it at 15:35.

I wondered how this match was going to go given both men looked knackered before the bell even rang. These two had no issues making up for their depleted energy by twatting each other as hard as possible, and made sure to not go too long with it so it played like a decent Greatest Hits playlist which was probably the best idea at this stage.

Kenta Kobashi and Kentaro Shiga vs. Vader and Steve Williams 03/31/00

Kobashi why would you bring this sick child to fight these two, what’s wrong with you? Tag titles not on the line because come on, look at the size of him. He fears walking over drain covers.

JIP to Vader front suplexing Shiga onto a guard rail. And then Shiga makes a spirited comeback and knocks Vader down with strikes! No, really. Shiga collapses from the effort required, resulting in clipping as we skip to the Yanks splashing Kobashi until Shiga has to make the save! Vader casually chokeslams the make-a-wish kid to retain at 13:07.

I’m glad this in clips, there’s no way I could have taken this match seriously in full.

2000/04/12

We start the show with clips of Misawa apparently ripping Vader’s arm out of it’s socket during their Champion Carnival match to injure Vader (or to be the reason for Vader taking time out, I’m unclear what happened) and that’s Vader’s last match for AJPW. By the time he was healthy again he was competing for NOAH. Which sucks as Vader was having a hell of a run considering his size & age, and also because he’s one half of the just-won World Tag Team Champions with Steve Williams. So those title are vacated now after zero defences.

It was announced after the 4/7 Misawa win over Vader in Matsumoto that Vader had suffered a broken left elbow and broken wrist from the armbar submission. They announced he’d be having an operation and would be out of action until July at the earliest, and that he & Williams would be stripped of the tag team titles which would be decided at some point during the next tour. We don’t have any details on this beyond what has been said in the Japanese media, but my feeling is Vader probably was legitimately injured going into the Misawa match (there were quiet reports of him suffering a shoulder injury a few days earlier) and they used the opportunity to get over submissions, which All Japan fans don’t pop for like New Japan fans, since they are rarely used as main event finishers.

By the way, if you’ve never seen the clip then you’re not ready for Vader’s gruesome screams of pain as the ref rings the bell furiously. Steve Williams looks pissed with the ref for not doing anything sooner, and we get clips of Vader telling us “he’s not Superman” but he will return to AJPW. I know you’re not Superman because Superman’s not a dirty liar.

Champion Carnival Semi Final

Steve Williams vs. Takao Omori 04/09/00

Both lads have momentum on their side so this is a hard one to call.

Steve charges through the crowd throwing chairs and the fans love it…until he charges the ring and gets taken down immediately. Bell rings with Steve recoiling outside but he bounces off the guard rail to deliver a lariat. Steve attempts an Oklahoma Stampede into the ring post on the outside but Omori shoves him into it, Steve bonks off it and walks backwards right into a backdrop suplex into guard rails/crowd. Camera work got bad there and that weirdly made the spot look cooler because you had to guess how he landed. Steve barely makes it back onto the apron but Omori dropkicks his head in such a way you’d think he was shape-shifting into a javelin before suplexing Steve on the ringside mats. This has been an awesome opening few minutes for Omori. Top rope knee nearly finishes Steve and the crowd were ready to buy it but sadly for them, Steve turns an Axe Bomber into a Main Event Spinebuster. Steve dodges a missile dropkick while he cleans the cobwebs out. Steve tries a tight sleeper to kill the crowd’s excitement but he keeps it in until the crowd start sounding worried. Steve stalls by yelling at Takayama and the ref until a loopy Omori takes a piledriver for two.

Doctor Bomb is halted by grabbing the ropes so Steve pays tribute to Gordy by…fucking up a STF. Maybe he was paying tribute to late 90s Gordy. Omori wriggles out but continues to sell as this has slowed dramatically with Steve in control. Omori kicks out of an Oklahoma Stampede that no one bought so Steve murders the poor sod with a brutal lariat. Omori comes back with an Axe Bomber and follows it up with a quick follow-up that barely connected to win at 10:33.

Well this was a hot opening sequence followed by very little afterwards as Steve must have left his best bits of effort with Vader who took it home with him. Crowd loved Omori winning though so good for AJPW for pushing someone with plenty of love already there.

Steve then drops Omori with a Backdrop Driver because he’s a sore loser. Yeah I don’t remember you doing that to Bart Gunn.

Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa and Daisuke Ikeda vs. Kenta Kobashi, Kentaro Shiga and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

JIP to Kobashi chopping what’s left of Ogawa’s tiny chest. Ikeda saves Ogawa from a German suplex which enables Misawa to tag in and land a Frog Splash for two. Spinning flying clothesline also connects so Kobashi sends Misawa head-over-tit with a half-and-half. The Ace still kicks out so Kobashi launches his partners onto Misawa to squish him. Misawa wakes up and realises it’s only Kikuchi so he suplexes him and tags in bang average Ikeda himself. Bloody hell is he over for his textbook kicks and points. I guess yelling after every move and spiking your hair like Josh Matthews is effective. Kikuchi manages to send Ikeda over with a spider superplex but misses the diving headbutt follow up. Well done, you looked great for two seconds. Shiga tags in to lariat Ikeda who does fall over. Ikeda delivers a Pele kick that splits open Kikuchi’s mouth and I’ve seen tons of those over the years but I’ve never seen anyone bleed from it. Was he wearing Predators? Match breaks down with Ogawa landing two quick backdrop driver onto Shiga to put him away at 22:08.

Eh, this looked solid and decent but not much more than that.

2000/04/19

Champion Carnival Semi Final

Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa

This is of course their last singles match in AJPW. They’ve been beefing for so long, their first singles match happened when Misawa was still Tiger Mask II.

JIP to Kobashi taking an enziguri and getting sent half way across the ring on a German Suplex. Elbow Suicida bonks Kobashi gently into the guard-rail. Missile dropkick from Misawa followed up by a rolling Pescado off the top as apparently Misawa has been eating his Weetabix.

We clip ahead to Kobashi unleashing corner chops, only to take a shoulder tackle off the top. Which Misawa ignores so Kobashi delivers a German Suplex. Which is also ignored, so Kobashi attempts a Powerbomb which is ignored and turned into a Frankensteiner. Misawa divers again over the top to the outside. Are we sure this is 2000 Misawa? He’s moving around like his crush finally said “yes.”

Clipping ahead some more to Kobashi dunking Misawa with a Half Nelson Suplex. Ow. Kobashi tries another but Misawa holds on, but Kobashi is insistent and throws him willy-nilly regardless. Kobashi doesn’t believe he’s hurt so splats him with a fucking Orange Crush pin.

For two.

Crowd moaning in ecstasy. Kobashi can only barely lift Misawa for a Powerbomb so decides to dump in into the turnbuckles like Seth Rollins but less annoying. Kobashi sets up the Burning Hammer!! But Misawa arm-drags out of it so he can land a brutal German Suplex for two.

Clipping ahead, Kobashi escapes the Emerald Fusion with a reverse DDT so Misawa tries to trade strikes with half-man half-train. He takes a lariat to the face but only-just kicks out, so Kobashi charges up his lariat. Both men meet in the middle with their strikes but Kobashi wins that exchange with a cobra clutch German Suplex. Kobashi waits for Misawa to stagger to his feet before landing a lariat to the back of his head and a normal one to the face to advance at 26:08.

Lovely stuff here with Misawa really going for it in an attempt to slay the beast one more time. The clipping was annoying but I’d rather have the bad bits removed on a pre-taped show than have us finally see the cracks appear on these two goliaths.

Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams and Johnny Smith

JIP to Akira delivering a shinbreaker followed by a back suplex. Who stole that sequence, was it Austin Aries? Smith gets worked over but escapes via the power of lariats. Williams hot tags in to try to brawl with Taue, at one point whipping him so hard into the ropes that he loses balance and the crowd laughs. I don’t think that was the point of that spot. Kawada tags in to clean Williams’ beard with kicks. This meanders around for a bit until Kawada locks in a Stretch Plumb on Williams while Smith delivers a reverse DDT on the outside. Smith kinda-lands a reverse DDT on Kawada. He slips before Smith can actually land it but it’s so convoluted that the crowd is forgiving. Smith nearly wins with a comfy lariat to Kawada as the crowd is wildly applauding him now. Williams and Taue brawl to the outside which is for the best, they lumber around so slowly you’d think they were auditioning for Power Rangers’ Megazord battles. Kawada ends it with a Powerbomb pin at 16:01.

Was exciting and interesting when it was Kawada vs. Smith, and boring and plodding when it was Williams vs. Akira.

Johnny Ace and Mike Barton vs. Jun Akiyama and Maunakea Mossman

FEEL THE POWER.

THE MOVEMENT.

FEEL THE POWER OF THE MOVEMENT.

JIP to Mossman stretching Bart with a single crab, with Akiyama flying off the top with a dropkick to the limb. Ace tries to stop Mossman but he knees him right out the ring. Ace hot tags to dispatch everyone with big boots. Mossman lands a huge running leaping DDT onto Ace as Mossman seems intent on making this match watchable by just himself. Bart continues taking a beating from his foes, so Mossman lands a kick flurry to Ace before landing the Hawaiian Crusher (Marc Mero’s TKO) to a huge pop. Ace kicks out so Mossman delivers a German Suplex…which Ace no sells to land the ACE-UH CRUSHUHHHHHH.

Akiyama breaks up the pin so Bart lands his apparently trademark kidney punches to his opponents. Release Powerbomb to Mossman sets up a diving elbow off the top for a close two. Bart’s offence is rubbish for this part of the match. Ace misses a Doomsday Device because Mossman turned into a Victory Roll. Ace turns Mossman into a pez dispenser with a Camel Clutch release German Suplex, and Bart ends it with another crappy Powerbomb at 12:30.

Mossman was on another level out there, which was just as well as Ace looked a step below him and Bart was two steps below Ace. Akiyama seemed intent on letting Mossman do all the work which meant we got an exciting ending sequence and not much else. But at least they turned Mossman’s Hawaiian Crush into a trading card, the AJPW equivalent of being Posterized.

2000/04/26

Champion Carnival Final

Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori 04/15/00

Omori’s first Budokan main event so obviously his pop is eclipsed by Kobashi’s, but he does have supporters going into this. Which is impressive considering he’s behind Akiyama on the totem pole.

We’re opening the show with this match so I don’t know if we’ll get anything else. Misawa is commentating, probably wondering if he can take a bump onto his neck while talking and sat down. Kobashi keeps pressing Omori into the ropes and trying to clean break, but Omori keeps striking Kobashi to make it clear he’s not about that clean break life. Both lads meet in the middle of the ring with strikes, with Kobashi’s chops not slowing down Omori who wins with a dropkick.

We clip ahead to Kobashi striking the side of the neck and then chinlocking the up-start. Kobashi chops Omori so hard he flies over the guard rail. Kobashi applies an abdominal stretch as it feels like not a lot has happened in the last few minutes as the crowd hasn’t been into watching Omori get dominated. Omori finally makes a comeback by dropkicking Kobashi in his bad (worse) knee to halt a suplex. Omori drags Kobashi outside so he can twat his knee across the ring post and onto a Japanese Table.

Back inside, Omori continues his assault on knee island. Crowd are responding positively to it because everyone knows Kobashi’s knees were genuinely in bad shape during this time. Omori’s Figure Four Leglock and Scorpion Deathlock don’t make the crowd think he’s going to win but they do make them worried that the mass of muscles pretending to be human known as Kobashi will be unable to do his cool moves later. Once he escapes the hold, Kobashi’s pained chops to the head mostly miss because he’s so out of it. Kobashi is completely drenched in sweat at this point, not helped by him running into Omori’s boot and neckbreaker. Omori ducks a wild swinging chop to land a Dragon Suplex, then hold onto land another one for a dangerously close two count. Crowd exploding with fear now.

Omori’s facial expression has changed now, he looks manic. Kobashi delivers a desperate German Suplex just to get Omori off him, when he has the energy he splits him in half with a fierce Half Nelson German for two. Kobashi heads up top but Omori is still fresher than him and Powerbombs him off the top, landing a Bomb’s Away knee drop for two. Crowd now pounding the floor to encourage Kobashi to suck less. He hears them and lands a superkick of all things to bounce Omori away, but sadly for him he bounces off the ropes and into an Axe Bomba. Kobashi kicks out but crowd were ready to accept that as the end.

Fuck the crowd are loud now. Kobashi learns from striking Omori and locks in a sleeper hold now. Makes sense! Omori attempts to jawbreaker Kobashi out of it but he takes a German Suplex onto his head instead. Kobashi struggles to lift Omori up for a Powerbomb so Omori is able to wriggle out…and land directly into a lariat!

That gets two but that was a sweeeeeeeeeeeet spot. Crowd sound like they’re being sprayed with a flamethrower now, a mix of annoyance and passion. Kobashi attempts to Powerbomb Omori into the turnbuckles but he misses so he does it again into a different set, making sure Omori lands firmly on his poor neck. I know it’s bad form to repeat a spot after messing it up but the story of the match is that Omori is vexing his opponent to the point of having to change his offence just to keep up so I didn’t think that was bad. Omori selling like he’s regretting his life choices helped, as did his nonchalant foot on the rope to break up the pin.

Kobashi slowly lifts up Omori who decides now is a good time to slap Kobashi in the face a few times. Kobashi spinning chops him so hard he bounces into the ropes like a pinball, appearing in front of Kobashi for another one which bounces him into another half nelson German Suplex. Omori relents one last time by landing he strongest Axe Bomba he can manage…which doesn’t even faze Kobashi who lariats Omori to set up The Mother of All Lariats at 25:21 to give Kobashi his only Champion Carnival victory.

An interesting match because the first half may as well have been skipped because it was so pedestrian until Omori took offence. Even though his style of working the knee wasn’t anything major, the crowd believed it was working on Kobashi which made his work that more believable. The last third of the match really made this memorable and worth watching as Kobashi had to shift gears slightly and vary his offence as much as he was able to do so in 2000. It was almost a shame that Kobashi won and did so using his usual offence. I’m not going to complain about that match-winning lariat though, ruddy nora. Anyway your enjoyment of the match will come down to how much you thought Omori could win.

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshinari Ogawa 04/15/00

Oh I’m glad we have time for this. Highlights only sees Ogawa utilising his headscissors to annoy Misawa. Crowd is loud for Ogawa’s DDTs and backdrop suplexes. Ogawa takes a monkey flip very well, ditto a Tiger Driver. Misawa must have enjoyed throwing ratboy around for variety, he’s about a third the size of the Four Pillars. Misawa suplexes the knacker around to win anticlimactically at 13:21. Nothing here.

Overall: Up and down like a fiddler’s elbow this month: Vader’s gone, tag championships are vacant, Williams has lost his mojo. But on the other hand we got to see the matches people were most looking forward to watching (many for the last time in AJPW) while also building up Omori in his biggest match to date.

…wait where was Akiyama this month? Apart from that tag match where he played second fiddle to Mossman, I mean. We spent all of March glazing him to get him ready for the Kobashi title match but then had to wait while the champ won the Carnival? And why have Kobashi be involved in that tournament when he’s already the Triple Crown champ? And after all that, Kobashi and Akiyama would never have that big singles match in AJPW but the momentum would be greatly appreciated by NOAH soon afterwards.

Highlight Of The Month: Kobashi vs. Omori. The other Pillar singles matches were fun but also slightly sad knowing it’s the last time we do these matches (for the time being) taking place in far smaller venues that years gone by. At least Omori got a hot, hot match out of it that you should give a go (while pretending he has a chance of winning, of course).

I’ve been Maffew, two more of these to go.