Toshiaki Kawada Produce “HOLY WAR vol. 2”, 7/8/2018 [Sun] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo 312 Spectators (crowded)
(1) Minoru Fujita (FREE) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
◆Winner: Minoru (7:12) via referee stop, with the BONEYARD.
(2) 3WAY Match: Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka) vs. Ryota Nakatsu (BASARA) vs. Yoshihiro Horaguchi (K-DOJO)
◆Winner: Nakatsu (8:16) with a Hadakajime (Rear Naked Choke) on Kuishinbo.
(3) Joshi Offer Match: Dump Matsumoto & ZAP vs. Hiroe Nagahama & Miyuki Takase
◆Winner: ZAP (7:18) with a Liger Bomb on Takase.
(4) Ore no Talk Battle: Toshiaki Kawada and Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH)
(5) Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue (both FREE) vs. Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata (both FREEDOMS)
◆Winner: Honda (15:01) with the Dead End on Hirata.
(6) Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara-gumi), Mitsuya Nagai (DRADITION) & Minoru Tanaka (FREE) vs. Hideki Suzuki (FREE), Super Tiger (RJPW) & Takatoshi Matsumoto (Reversal Gym ALPHA)
◆Winner: Minoru (14:54) with the HEAT Clutch on Matsumoto.
(7) Shiro Koshinaka (FREE), Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & KAZMA SAKAMOTO (FREE) vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666), Shogun Okamoto (FREE) & Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
◆Winner: Kiyomiya (14:19) with a Tiger Suplex Hold on KAZMA.
The calendar is updated for this months major scheduled shows as they are right now. Then if you look on the second page the major scheduled title matches for the month are updated to current as well.
~ The “Jr. TAG BATTLE OF GLORY 2018” was announced to be held throughout the month of August. From August 3rd through August 25th. The competing teams and matches will be announced soon.
~ Then it was made official that Atsushi Aoki will defend the World Junior Heavyweight Championship belt against Yohei Nakajima on July 1st in Sapporo.
AJPW “2018 Dynamite Series”, 7/1/2018 [Sun] 14:00 @ Hotel Emisia Sapporo in Hokkaido
(-) World Junior Heavyweight Championship Match: [47th Champion] Atsushi Aoki vs. [Challenger] Yohei Nakajima
~ 3rd title defense.
Toshiaki Kawada announced the full event card for his next self-produce show that will be taking place on July 8 at the Shinkiba 1stRING.
The basic theme for this show will see “veteran vs young” and the main event for the show will feature Shiro Koshinaka, Masato Tanaka and KAZMA SAKAMOTO taking on the team of Yuko Miyamoto, Yusaku Obata and Kaito Kiyomiya. The middle portion of the show will feature a talk battle as Kawada will meet with Katsuhiko Nakajima. Kawada knew Nakajima when he was just a young kid in the ring and wishes to discuss his career now that he is in a leading position in his adulthood.
Below is the announced card at this time..
Toshiaki Kawada Produce “HOLY WAR vol. 2”, 7/8/2018 [Sun] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
(1) Minoru Fujita (FREE) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
(2) 3WAY Match: Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka) vs. Ryota Nakatsu (BASARA) vs. Yoshihiro Horaguchi (K-DOJO)
(3) Joshi Offer Match: Dump Matsumoto & ZAP vs. Hiroe Nagahama & Miyuki Takase
(4) Ore no Talk Battle: Toshiaki Kawada and Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH)
(5) Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue (both FREE) vs. Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata (both FREEDOMS)
(6) Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara-gumi), Mitsuya Nagai (DRADITION) & Minoru Tanaka (FREE) vs. Hideki Suzuki (FREE), Super Tiger (RJPW) & Takatoshi Matsumoto (Reversal Gym ALPHA)
(7) Shiro Koshinaka (FREE), Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & KAZMA SAKAMOTO (FREE) vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666), Yusaku Obata (ZERO1) & Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
The full event card was announced for the next POWER HALL show that is scheduled to take place on July 10th at the Korakuen Hall. Among the additions is a 6 man tag featuring the veteran alliance of the Heisei Ishin-gun taking on the TOYKO GURENTAI and then the NOAH power combination of Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya taking on BJW’s Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura.
Below is the card in full at this time…
Riki Choshu Produce POWER HALL 2018 ~ Battle of another dimension~, 7/10/2018 [Tue] 18:30 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(1) AJPW Offer Match ~ THE NEW GENERATION: Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi
(2) BLAZE OF GLORY: Minoru Tanaka (FREE), Mitsuhiro Yoshida (GJPW) & LEONA (DRADITION) vs. HAYATA, YO-HEY & Tadasuke (all NOAH)
(3) NATURAL BORN WARRIORS: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya (both NOAH) vs. Hideyoshi Kamitani & Takuya Nomura (both BJW)
(4) TRIO WITH SKILLS: [Heisei Ishin-gun] Shiro Koshinaka, AKIRA & Akitoshi Saito vs. [Tokyo Gurentai] NOSAWA Rongai, MAZADA & FUJITA
(5) Semi-final ~ A NEW ENCOUNTER: Tatsumi Fujinami (DRADITION), Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH) & Shotaro Ashino (W-1) vs. Shingo Takagi (DG), Koji Doi (W-1) & Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
(6) Main Event ~ JOIN THE REVOLUTION II: Riki Choshu, Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW) & Yoshitatsu (FREE/AJPW) vs. Jun Akiyama (AJPW), Daichi Hashimoto (BJW) & Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio (W-1)
~ The latest W-1 TV is up. As it features highlights from the May 27 show, the announcement fo the W-1 GRAND PRIX 2018, and Kumaarashi’s going over the heel turn which leads him into the W-1 Single title challenge on June 13.
Then the President Kaz Hayashi announced that the “WRESTLE-1 GRAND PRIX 2018” will take place over two days. Four matches will take place on July 1st at the Odawara Arena and then the semi-finals and final match will take place on July 18th at the Korakuen Hall. The first round matches will be announced at a later date.
WRESTLE-1 GRAND PRIX 2018
Scheduled to compete
☆ Kaz Hayashi
☆ Shuji Kondo
☆ Masayuki Kono
☆ Koji Doi
☆ Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio
☆ Shotaro Ashino
☆ Takanori Ito
☆ Loser of W-1 Championship Match on 6/13 (Soya or Ashino)
Nine wrestlers were announced as the first part of those competing in this years “Midsummer Fire Festival 2018”. This years league will begin on July 8th at the Shinkiba 1stRING and run through until the final on July 29th at the Korakuen Hall.
☆ Masato Tanaka [current IC Tag Champion]
☆ Yusaku Obata [current World Heavy Champion]
☆ Kohei Sato
☆ Yuji Hino (FREE) [current IC Tag Champion]
☆ Super Tiger (RJPW)
☆ Yuko Miyamoto (Dark Promotion 666)
☆ Shogun Okamoto (FREE)
☆ Chris Vice [current UN Heavy Champion]
☆ Hartley Jackson
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Toshiaki Kawada Produce Show “HOLY WAR ~ prologue ~”, 4/26/2018 [Thu] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo 298 Spectators (crowded)
(1) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
◆Winner: Hidaka (8:13) with the Shawn Capture. (2) Masao Inoue & Gabai Jichan (both FREE) vs. Buffalo (Makai) & Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka)
◆Winner: Inoue (11:30) with a School Boy on Kuishinbo.
(3) Ore no Talk Show: Toshiaki Kawada & Naomichi Marufuji
~ Kawada and Marufuji discussed several things.
~ One with Kawada and his victory in the Champion Carnival, and Marufuji now heading to the finals of the very same tournament this year.
~ Then Marufuji’s days in the dojo, as he celebrates his 20th anniversary as a pro-wrestler this year and his time in the All Japan dojo in the late 1990’s.
~ Marufuji offered Kawada to compete at his 20th Anniversary show on September 1, as Kawada has not officially retired yet, but Kawada did not directly accept or deny the offer.
~ Kawada announced that the second show will be held on July 8 at the Shinkiba 1stRING.
~ Kawada, Marufuji, Tamon Honda, and Kyohei Wada (in the ring) took part in an honoring ceremony for Motoko Baba before the start of the show. While the rest of the wrestlers competing today stood around ringside.
(4) Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata (both FREEDOMS) vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666) & Isami Kodaka (BASARA)
◆Winner: Miyamoto (10:48) following a Fire Thunder on Tomoya. (5) Mitsuya Nagai (DRADITION) & Minoru Tanaka (FREE) vs. Hideki Suzuki (FREE) & Takatoshi Matsumoto (ALPHA)
◆Winner: Nagai (13:17) with a Stretch Plum on Matsumoto. (6) Shiro Koshinaka (FREE), Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara-gumi) & Tamon Honda (FREE) vs. Go Shiozaki (NOAH), Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH) & Kazusada Higuchi (DDT)
◆Winner: Shiozaki (16:14) following a Gowan Lariat on Honda.
~ After the match, respect was shown between Shiozaki and his former teacher Honda.
~ The previously announced Union MAX title match will now be contested as a double title match. As Isami will be defending the Union MAX belt and Tanizaki will be putting the DOVE World Heavweight belt on the line as well.
~ Then the full event card was announced for the Oji show on April 7.
BASARA, 4/7/2018 [Sat] 18:00 @ Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR in Tokyo
(-) Best Stretch Man V3 & Best Stretch Man Amazaon vs. Hercules Senga
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): FUMA vs. Takato Nakano
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Akiyori Takizawa (ASUKA)
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): SAGAT vs. Ryota Nakatsu
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): Yasu Kubota (FREE) vs. Yusuke Kubo
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): Ryuichi Sekine vs. Tank Nagai
(-) BASARA’s 12.12.12. (12 Min. Match): Isami Kodaka vs. Manabu Hara (FREE)
BASARA, 5/3/2018 [Thu] 18:30 @ Korakun Hall in Tokyo
(-) Ryuichi Sekine & Ryota Nakatsu vs. Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) & Minoru Fujita (FREE)
(-) Count Down to Extinction ~ Hardcore Tag Match: FUMA & SAGAT vs. Jun Kasai (FREEDOMS) & Kunso (DOVE)
(-) Union MAX & DOVE World Heavyweight Double Championship Match: [9th MAX Champion] Isami Kodaka (6th title defense) vs. [10th DOVE Champion] Naoki Tanizaki (1st title defense)
~ Matches were announced for the shows on April 14 & 15 in Hokkaido. The shows will feature the semi-finals and final match of the on-going “Ikkitosen – strong climb” league.
BJW “Ikkitosen 2018 ~STRONG CLIMB~”, 4/14/2018 [Sat] 13:00 @ Susukino Mars Gym in Hokkaido
() Takuya Nomura & Yuki Ishikawa vs. Yuya Aoki & Takuho Kato
() Tatsuhiko Yoshino vs. Kota Sekifuda
() Barbed-wire Board 6 Man Tag Death Match: Yuko Miyamoto, Isami Kodaka & Kankuro Hoshino vs. Masaya Takahashi, Takayuki Ueki & Toshiyuki Sakuda
() Fluorescent Light-tube Tag Death Match: Masashi Takeda & Takumi Tsukamoto vs. Abdullah Kobayashi & Ryuji Ito
() Ikkitosen Semi-final Match: (B BLOCK #1) vs. (A BLOCK #2)
() Ikkitosen Semi-final Match: (A BLOCK #1) Daichi Hashimoto vs. (B BLOCK #2)
BJW “Ikkitosen 2018 ~STRONG CLIMB~”, 4/15/2018 [Sun] 18:00 @ Susukino Mars Gym in Hokkaido
() Kazumi Kikuta & Takuho Kato vs. Takuya Nomura & Yuki Ishikawa
() Great Kojika & Yuichi Taniguchi vs. Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
() Kazuki Hashimoto & Yuya Aoki vs. Tatsuhiko Yoshino & Kota Sekifuda
() Barbed-wire Board 6 Man Tag Death Match: Masashi Takeda, Takumi Tsukamoto & Kankuro Hoshino vs. Masaya Takahashi, Takayuki Ueki & Toshiyuki Sakuda
Toshiaki Kawada held a press conference, at his ramen shop “Mengerous K”, to announce the full card for his upcoming self-produce show on April 26.
The show will feature 5 matches featuring veterans versus younger wrestlers as well as a special 30 minute talk show between Kawada and Naomichi Marufuji, as Marufuji was an understudy to Mitsuharu Misawa back in the late 1990′s. The main event will feature Shiro Koshinaka teaming with Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Tamon Honda to take on the team of NOAH’s Go Shiozaki and Kaito Kiyomiya teaming with DDT’s Kazusada Higuchi.
Kawada iterated that this show was put together on a sort of short notice, but that he put together a card for the show that has a unique concept behind it regardless. With the main event specifically he himself is interested in the reaction that it may receive once they all face each other in the ring. Kawada thanked everyone who will be taking part in the show and he hopes that everyone who comes out enjoys it.
Toshiaki Kawada Produce Show “HOLY WAR ~ prologue ~”, 4/26/2018 [Thu] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
(1) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
(2) Masao Inoue & Gabai Jichan (both FREE) vs. Buffalo (Makai) & Kushinbo Kamen (Osaka)
(3) Ore no Talk Show: Toshiaki Kawada & Naomichi Marufuji
~ Keiji Mutoh is already undergoing rehabilitation after a successful double knee replacement. It has already been less than a week and he is already walking with the use of canes.
~ Then more matches were announced for the April 7 show in Niigata and for the April 18 show at the Korakuen Hall.
WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2018 CHERRY BLOSSOM, 4/7/2018 [Sat] 15:00 @ Ago-cho Mikawa B&G Ocean Center in Niigata
(1) Ganseki Tanaka vs. Masayuki Mitomi (EPW)
(2) Takumi Baba vs. Joji Otani (GUTS)
(3) Masayuki Kono vs. Tsugataka Sato
(4) Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio & Jun Tonsho vs. Seiki Yoshioka & Seigo Tachibana
(5) Seiki Yoshioka & Jay Freddie vs. Andy Wu & Alejandro
(6) Daiki Inaba, Koji Doi, Kumagoro & Takanori Ito vs. Shuji Kondo, Manabu Soya, Kaz Hayashi & NOSAWA Rongai
WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2018 CHERRY BLOSSOM, 4/18/2018 [Wed] 19:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() Hana Kimura & Natsumi Maki (Actwres Girl’Z) vs. Hiroe Nagahama & Asuka (both WAVE)
() Daiki Inaba, Andy Wu & Takanori Ito vs. Shuji Kondo, Masayuki Kondo & NOSAWA Rongai
(-) WRESTLE-1 Result Championship Match: [5th Champion] Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio vs. [Challenger] Seigo Tachibana
~ 1st title defense.
(-) WRESTLE-1 Cruiserweight Championship Match: [11th Champion] Seiki Yoshioka vs. [Challenger] Alejandro
~ 4th title defense.
(-) WRESTLE-1 Tag Championship Match: [12th Champions] Koji Doi & Kumagoro vs. [Challengers] Manabu Soya & AKIRA
~ 3rd title defense.
~ All Japan announced their new streaming service will be providing the Saitama show on 3/25 as well as all of the “2018 Champion Carnival” events.
~ The service will cost 900 yen ($8.49) a month and will be view-able on PC, smarthphone, and tablets.
~ Enrollment for the service will begin on March 19 and all shows provided this month will be offered free of charge. Which includes the big Saitama show on the 25th. Then April will come with the first monthly charge. Which includes the entirety of the “Champion Carnival” shows.
~ The full event cards were announced for the remainder of the “Champion Carnival” tour. April 16 through April 29, the April 30 show remains unannounced due to the setup of the finals of the league. The following shows will be shown live on AJPW TV: 4/7, 4/15, 4/20, 4/21, 4/22, 4/25, 4/29 & 4/30.
~ It was announced that Miyamoto will be defending the EXTREME belt against Mike Bailey on April 1 at the Korakuen Hall.
DDT “April Fool 2018”, 4/1/2018 [Sun] 12:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
() Gota Ihashi Trial Series: Gota Ihashi vs. Koji Kanemoto (FREE)
() Japan & USA Gay Wrestling Summit! 2018: Danshoku Dieno, Super Sasadango Machine & Makoto Oishi vs. Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page
() Loser Exile Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owaschi vs. (to be announced)
(-) DDT EXTREME Championship Match: [40th Champion] Yuko Miyamoto vs. [Challenger] Mike Bailey
~ 2nd title defense.
~ Kenichiro Arai & Hide Kubota were announced to be defending the HEAT-UP Universal Tag belts against the winners of the “Powerful Tag Tournament 2018” Yoji “Dokonjo” Kondo & Daichi Kazato on May 5.
Pro-Wrestling HEAT-UP “Gotemba Kodomo Teikoku”, 5/5/2018 [Sat] 12:30 @ Gotemba Shimin-Kan, Small Hall in Shizuoka
(-) HEAT-UP Universal Tag Championship Match: [Champions] Kenichiro Arai & Hide Kubota vs. [Challengers] Yoji “Dokonjo” Kondo & Daichi Kazato
~ 3rd title defense.
~ An update on Fujita Jr Hayato as he just underwent a successful surgery due to repair a ligament rupture to his left knee. He will begin rehabilitation and there is currently no time frame for when he will be able to return to the ring.
It was officially announced that Taiji Ishimori has become a freelance wrestler effective today, March 12.
After spending the last 12 years competing in the Pro-Wrestling NOAH ring, 10 of which as an official member of the roster, Ishimori has decided it is time for himself to step away and take a new step in his career. During his time in NOAH, Ishimori has achieved much success in being a multi-time former junior singles (3 times) and tag champion (6 times) and even capturing the record for most defenses with the singles belt at 10 in total. He even just recently held the X-Division belt in Impact Wrestling.
Ishimori mentioned that during his recent time in Impact that he was reunited with KENTA, now Hideo Itami in the WWE, and one thing that he took from their meeting is that there is still much for him to do. This has led to him wanting to take his career into his own hands and try new things. Ishimori stated that he is thankful to all the NOAH fans, staff, and wrestlers for their support throughout the years and he even wished all the best to his now former tag team partner Hi69.
Ishimori mentioned that he has received offers from an overseas promotion, but before he would accept an offer he believes there are somethings he can still accomplish while in Japan. Though his ultimate goal though is that of a “global expansion”.
Masayuki Uchida stated that he thankful for all that Ishimori has done for NOAH throughout the years and contributing to the recent revival of the promotion. He is respectful of Ishimori’s wishes and acknowledged that the door would be open for him to compete in the NOAH ring again, if he so desires.
Update #1: Apparently Ogawa has made his intention known that he wants to vacate the GHC Jr. Tag belts following Ishimori’s announcement. (Of course it is now on the GHC committee on where they honor this request or not.)
Ogawa stated that he is not in favor of the situation as he does not feel like he has personally earned the belt with Ishimori’s intention following the loss. Ogawa said that he is sorry to his partner Minoru Tanaka for his current decision, but that he is just not in favor of holding the belt given Ishimori’s now obvious prior decision to quit NOAH.
Update #2: President Masayuki Uchida announced that the GHC committee will honor Ogawa’s request to return the GHC Jr. Tag belts. This follows after Minoru Tanaka also accepted Ogawa’s request.
Update #3 : Then following these changes it was announced that tag tournament will be taking place on April 14 & 15 to crown the new champions. Currently no teams have been announced at this time.
Toshiaki Kawada announced that he will be hosting a self-produce show on April 26 at the Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo.
No matches were announced for the show at this time, but he mentioned that there will be at least 6 in total. As for some names involved he mentioned Shiro Koshinaka, Naomichi Marufuji, and Tamon Honda as a few he wishes to see compete. If there happens to be fan support for this show he would like to hold them regularly at least once every 2 months.
Kawada stated that he not be able to compete due to the injuries building over the years, but that he has stayed connected to the business through guest commentary and public events. He has visited several promotions throughout the last several years and wishes to try his hand at showing his own concept for a combined pro-wrestling event.
Toshiaki Kawada Produce Show “HOLY WAR ~ prologue ~”, 4/26/2018 [Thu] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo
WRESTLE-1 NEWS
The latest W-1 TV is up which features highlights from the 3/14 show at the Korakuen Hall. Ashino vs. Soya, Mutoh’s “Final Moonsault”, and the finals of the CRUISER FES.
~ The full event card was announced for the March 17 show, as Shotaro Ashino will be unable to compete due to a sprained lumbar.
WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2018 TRANS MAGIC, 3/17/2018 [Sat] 17:30 @ Yokohama Radiant Hall in Kanagawa
(1) Ganseki Tanaka (ACE) vs. Masayuki Mitomi (EPW)
(2) Tsugataka Sato vs. Jun Tonsho (ACE)
(3) 3WAY : Kaz Hayashi vs. Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio vs. Seiki Yoshioka
(4) Yusuke Kodama & Drunk Andy vs. MAZADA & FUJITA (both Gurentai)
(5) Seiki Yoshioka & Hiroshi Yamato vs. Alejandro & Andy Wu
(6) Daiki Inaba, Koji doi, Kumagoro & Takanori Ito vs. Manabu Soya, Shuji Kondo, Masayuki Kono & NOSAWA Rongai (Gurentai)
~ The a couple matches were announced for the ACE show on April 1. Hajime will be unable to compete after being diagnosed with a fractured jawbone after the March 10 show.
Pro-Wrestling A.C.E. Vol. 11, 4/1/2018 [Sun] @ GEN Sports Palace, W-1 Dojo in Tokyo
() Takumi Baba vs. Shoki Kitamura (ZERO1)
() Jun Tonsho & Akiyori Takizawa (ASUKA) vs. Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani (both DNA)
~ It was announced that Seiki Yoshioka will be defending the W-1 Cruiserweight belt against Alejandro on April 18 at the Korakuen Hall.
WRESTLE-1 TOUR 2018 CHERRY BLOSSOM, 4/18/2018 [Wed] 19:00 @ Korakuen Hall in Tokyo
(-) WRESTLE-1 Cruiserweight Championship Match: [11th Champion] Seiki Yoshioka vs. [Challenger] Alejandro
~ 4th title defense.
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I guess I should go ahead and get this out of the way…I really didn’t want to do this. Not because of quality, God no, this for my money is a top 10 wrestler in the history of the business and I love many a match Kawada’s been involved in. There were a couple of reasons I was hesitant, and they were as follows. One, this is a nearly 30 year career we’re talking about here with a ton of very specific times and viewpoints. Secondly he’s had a ton of great matches, a ton of great matches. And with both of those led to a conundrum in that, how am I going to whittle this insanely awesome career to just 7 matches, and how can I avoid it being a bunch of Misawa and Kobashi matches? Well I ended up making a bit of an executive decision to go with all singles matches first of all, sadly cutting off a lot of his early career in Footloose and skipping over his prolific team with Taue. So there goes that, but I have to also give a disclaimer of sorts as truly, no matter what I say or write, what else can be said about him? He’s a legend for a reason. This is just scratching the surface of his amazing career and every person reading this to read up on him and watch more of his matches. Especially against Kobashi and Misawa because their matches are classics no matter who you are, but watching the great years of tag and trios buildup in addition to their singles encounters obviously.
So anyway, Kawada in the started off his career in the 80s, and was the only one of the four pillars of AJPW’s beloved “Four Pillars” to have a true excursio to a foreign country and for almost all good reasons. And it’s well known that his time in North America, wrestling with Samson Fuyuki in Texas as Japanese Force or under a myriad of aliases in Canada, including as the Black Mephisto in Stampede wrestling, Kawada was pretty much miserable and generally not working as much as he could. But he never gave up or quit until Giant Baba was ready to have him back despite hating it. Upon his return, he wrestled mainly in 3 distinct tag teams. First with Fuyuki as Footloose, 2nd his team with Misawa, and then after turning villainous with Akira Taue for perhaps his most famous and well known team. And that all in a lot of ways, would lead up to this match…vs. his greatest rival. Now there are so many resources, so many different people that have told the story of Kawada and Misawa that again I highly encourage you to read that I won’t go into in overly detailed fashion here (tomorrow I will a little bit more since spoiler alert, it’s another important Misawa match) since it would read like War and Peace and most reading this likely know but really all you need to know is their rivalry was extremely personal, started in the high school they both attended that saw a jealousy in Kawada grow and grow and in many ways culminate in this incredible match. Of which there really are no words for. Just saying that the expression “save the best for last” definitely isn’t applying to Kawada’s story because this became a legendary match for a reason and is the match many consider the best in his and Misawa’s series and among the greatest of all time and I’m not an outlier as it ranks among my favorites as well. Does it hold up today? YES. Without further hype or adieu, please watch and check out the definitive, Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa from June 3rd, 1994.
From fighting Misawa in such a historically well-regarded match Kawada had great success in both the singles and tag ranks, until in October 1994 he pulled out a great win when he defeated Dr. Death Steve Williams to win the Triple Crown title for the first time. Unfortunately his title reign wasn’t quite the triumph you’d hope for, as he only had one successful defense…a time limit draw to Kenta Kobashi, before dropping the title to a well past his prime Stan Hansen who turned out to be a transitional champion to get back to Misawa. Despite continuing his run with a legendary tag team and having tremendous fan support, Kawada unfortunately ran into a few political problems when in early 1996, Kawada publicly criticized Giant Baba and All Japan’s policy of not working with other companies, when at the time New Japan and UWF-i’s interpromotional war did record breaking business. Rocking the boat rarely works in wrestling and led to Kawada never quite getting the due many thought he deserved for a long time. But he wasn’t completely forgotten, getting a huge pin on Misawa in a very famous World Tag League Final, ending Misawa’s 4 consecutive year World Tag League Title streak. And in 1997, Kawada gained a pinfall singles victory over his rival, squashing him in just over 5 minutes on the Final day en route to winning the Champions’ Carnival. Of course it didn’t really mean as much considering Misawa had just wrestled a 30 minute draw with Kenta Kobashi before Kawada slid in to pick up the pieces, in addition Misawa yet again defeated Kawada for the Triple Crown title a month later. After a year back in the tag scene, a historic Misawa Triple Crown Title reign, and a 30 minute draw in the Champions Carnival, the stage was set for today’s match.
After their whole lives of wanting to be pro wrestlers, wrestling at the same high school together, Misawa always getting more from their company from the very beginning, being Tiger Mask while Kawada toiled away in the places he hated, to Misawa getting titles and being Jumbo Tsuruta’s successor, this rivalry went far beyond any sort of kayfabe or in-ring feud for Kawada. A true win over Misawa would mean something to Kawada and everyone knew it, including the two participants. So it’s only fitting that on All Japan’s biggest show in its history, there was no meaningful undercard matches, this show was about Misawa and Kawada for the Triple Crown. And it sold out the Tokyo Dome with nearly 60,000 fans in attendance, nearly split with diehards chanting for both of their heroes. Truthfully it wasn’t their greatest match in terms of overall quality. Nobody would say that compared to the true ***** classics of theirs. But especially for Kawada, this was their most important. And truly THE definitive moment and shining match of his career. You can tell that Kawada’s performance truly had a “NOT THIS TIME” feel to it which makes this a great watch. But please especially watch the ending if you want proof of what I said to be true. There simply hasn’t been such a gutteral and “real” reaction to a wrestling victory since, and I find it hard to believe there will be again. Amazing moment for Kawada and even as a fan this is why I love wrestling. So here it is, Kawada vs. Misawa, from the Tokyo Dome with no time limit! After Misawa had a record 8 defenses and Kawada looking for his most meaningful win of his career. From May 1st, 1998. I’ll close it with Kawada’s own words after his historic win…
“This is the best moment of my life! …I’m happy everyone could enjoy this great moment with me.”
Man, what a thrill. After 15 years of always being looked at as “2nd best” in the promotion the gritty Kawada finally overcame his rival in an emotional moment for the ages, now he could FINALLY embark on his truly great title reign that he’s wanted after his first ended without a winning defense.
And with that his title reign kicked off against the partner of his arch-rival, you may have heard of him. Kenta Kobashi.
Kobashi and Kawada’s rivalry was probably the least personal and stated of the 3 beloved pillars to Western fans, but in between numerous battles in Champions’ Carnivals, as well as legendary matches between each others main tag teams, there was a lot of in-ring heat to be had between these two. And their most famous match before this was quite a lead-in despite happening nearly 3 years prior. During Kawada’s first title reign his only defense of the Triple Crown was a 1 hour draw vs. the same Kobashi. So in addition to obviously defending it now, Kawada was in his own way a challenger looking to overcome another hurdle in his quest to being the greatest of all time. Kobashi had his own story going in, as he had only one reign at this point which had quickly be ended with a Misawa elbow, and was looking to use his lariat to do the same to his longtime rival.
The match itself is a classic to nobody’s surprise. And in a contest that will be debated until the end of time by puroresu fans all over the place in terms of which truly was their best match together, this is my pick over the also amazing 1 hour draw. They really separated themselves from other matches of the King’s Road ilk with stuff like Kawada channeling Volk Han with a flying submission attempt, but also bringing in the great stuff of the other matches that we all love, with each others’ faces and body language telling the story of the match as it builds and builds and again in a pace slower than many others of this ilk early on, the finishing stretch of the last 5 minutes of this match is an absolutely incredible display by both men and further cemented both men’s status as among the greatest legends the sport has ever seen. Please watch this incredible match and incredible story, as one month after taking the Triple Crown from Misawa, Kawada defends against Kenta Kobashi from Budokan Hall on June 12th, 1998.
Well, his big title victory over Misawa definitely didn’t lead to the kind of great run we all wanted for him, as again he lost the Triple Crown without a single victorious title defense. And the 2nd half of the year wasn’t exactly him making the climb up the ladder either after his loss, and he was seeming more and more destined to be an outsider to the true main event scene. Until the first big show of the new year, he pulled a huge upset by defeating Misawa in his 2nd straight Triple Crown Title match against him, suddenly vaulting himself over the hump and seemingly setting himself up for the big run he was desperate for. But it wasn’t to be, as Kawada suffered a broken arm during his match with Misawa and inadvertently invented the move possibly most associated with him, as on a Powerbomb attempt Kawada couldn’t lift Misawa all the way, dropping him on his head and hitting the Ganso Bomb. He gained the title for all of one week as despite his extreme toughness shown in the Misawa match, he couldn’t defend the title, AGAIN dropping the title without a successful defense, this time via forfeit. The rest of 1999 was horribly injury plagued, and upon his true return in 2000 he went on a losing streak to the main event of AJPW, falling vs. Vader, Kobashi, & Misawa and again settled into his tag team role.
…Until another twist breathed new life into Dangerous K, as Misawa attempted to lead everyone on the roster away from All Japan, into his own new company, Pro Wrestling NOAH in June 2000. Kawada, through loyalty to Baba, or perhaps due to too much animosity towards Misawa to follow behind him again, Kawada was the only native Heavyweight to remain in All Japan, and one of only two overall. The fourth pillar stayed behind, left in a big position as to pick up the pieces of once the greatest promotion in the world, Kawada expressed little desire to take on any sort of executive role, though during his first press conference, he announced that All Japan was preparing to move forward with what he had called for years ago. Interpromotional wrestling. And so it begun, through many starts and stops and twists and turns and comments in all sorts of directions publicly including the shocking return of Genichiro Tenryu (A story for another time, just know that Giant Baba hated him for leaving AJPW and publicly said that he would never step foot in an AJPW ring again, so his emotional widow bringing him back got quite a bit of attention) we get to today’s match.
On August 10th, 2000 Masanobu Fuchi, the other native wrestler to remain in All Japan hit the ring at a New Japan show and after a handshake with Riki Choshu, declared that All Japan and New Japan would have that interpromotional war. A month later, Kawada stepped into the fold as well, setting the stage for the first AJPW/NJPW showdown match in history, announcing his intention to decimate the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at the time, Kensuke Sasaki. The Title was not on the line for this match, as it was about more than professional awards or anything like that. This was in essence something that has been built up for nearly 30 years in Japan! Since the formation of both companies. And you can tell what a big deal the match is just by looking at it. The NJPW crowd is insane for Sasaki and against the outsider Kawada, various members of the respective rosters are in their corners just to watch this clash of the titans. If there ever was a big match feel, this was it. A truly amazing experience. As for the action itself…I think by now if you’ve seen Kawada you know what you’re getting. And what you’re getting is great. A true classic, here is Toshiaki Kawada taking on IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki from a SOLD OUT Tokyo Dome from Do Judge, October 9th, 2000.
The battle raged on on and off for over a year with the AJPW/NJPW dream feud, but for what it’s worth Kawada had a fairly strong showing when matched up against the NJPW faithful, rarely taking pinfalls outside of once to the recently mentioned Sasaki in the finals of an IWGP Heavyweight Title tournament and once to Keiji Muto. And that’s a good way to jump ahead to the end of the feud and what happened afterwards which was an important moment in the company’s, as well as Kawada’s history. On January 11th, 2002, Muto and his buddies Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin jumped from NJPW to AJPW, shocking everyone, though Muto immediately being placed in a position of power likely helped that along. Things started off well for the new era of AJPW for Kawada, as in a surprise he got his win back over Muto from the summer a month later, capturing the Triple Crown for a 4th time. Unfortunately I have to say this again, but things immediately took a turn for the worse, as for the 4th time his reign ended without a single successful defense, as he suffered an injury that would sideline him for over a year.
While he was gone things All Japan faced some significant changes under Muto’s vision, and there’s really no way to sugarcoat it. Nearly none of which were well received by longtime King’s Road fans as Muto brought more of a sports entertainment flair to the promotion influenced by WWE, bringing in many big men such as John Tenta, even Goldberg (which wasn’t cheap) and bringing in an Ape Man character to wrestle, in addition to the only two champions during Kawada’s absence being Muto himself, and fellow NJPW alumni and also Zero1 star/owner Shinya Hashimoto, it got to the point that conspiracy theories ran rampant that Muto’s true goal for his jump to AJPW was as a Sleeper agent for NJPW to destroy the hated rival AJPW. And even upon Kawada’s return in 2003 a report surfaced in famous Japanese wrestling magazine Weekly Pro Wrestling that Baba-era AJPW holdouts Kawada & Fuchi made an appeal to Mrs. Baba to rid All Japan of Muto and Kojima and any other outaiders, an ironic twist for one of the biggest supporters of interpromotional work in years past. Now obviously nobody knows for sure, it’s hard to believe with the timing of what happened next that something didn’t happen. And regardless of whether that is true or not, there’s a reason Kawada was never known as much of an executive, and what is 100% true is not only was Muto not forced out, he bought all of the Baba-family stocks and to the dismay of Royal Road fans, owned AJPW, leading to speculation that Kawada would be the one exiled.
But thankfully those fears proved unfounded, as after a few months and an injury to Triple Crown champ Hashimoto, Kawada won a 4 man tournament to capture the Titles, and the 5th time proved to be the charm, as he engaged in a spectacular title reign that all knew he was capable of, amassing 10 successful defenses, a Triple Crown record. Not only solidifying himself as the man, but elevating the titles back to glory and truly sealing his legacy as a truly great champion. And he was successful from an aesthetic standpoint as well, putting on entertaining matches, which of course leads me to yet another dream match here, as Kawada finally got a shot to the defend the title against the man that never lost it in truly a highlight of his title defenses as well as a highlight of Japan in ’04. This was one of Hashimoto’s last great performances (RIP) and Kawada was beginning to slightly wear down, but was putting his heart into this title reign and was going to squeeze every last drop he could out of himself to make this great, although I think most would say on this day Hashimoto was the one who put this over the top. So here it is, people. Toshiaki Kawada defending the title in a blowoff of a very successful Zero1 feud and a great showing as it was a dream match. Kawada takes on Shinya Hashimoto from February 22nd, 2004.
So I think it’s safe to say, after a career involving some of the greatest matches of all time. Some of the biggest dream matches possible in Japanese wrestling, selling out the Tokyo Dome as a main eventer, playing a huge role in bringing an entire company from the brink of death, Kawada became revered as a true legend in the pro wrestling industry. But there’s one thing he’d yet to accomplish in his storied career…
After his excellent reign with the Triple Crown mentioned before, things were going well for Kawada. He had brought back prestige to the title and the company, and by the time he dropped the title to Satoshi Kojima in early 2005, Kojima got a huge rub and became a main eventer, solidifying himself as the company’s next ace. With that said, if someone would have thought Kawada would finally leave All Japan, I’m sure most thought it would be to go to NOAH to get one last huge house against one of his old buddies at the Tokyo Dome. And indeed, he did work one show for NOAH for that payday at the Dome vs. Misawa (which will be delved into more during Misawa’s week), and in one show he had another falling out with Misawa via his promotion after he cut an unscheduled promo that made the show go long during NOAH’s special primetime slot on TV. But out of all the companies in Japan that the generally ultra serious Kawada would go to, at face value the over the top sports opera known as HUSTLE would not be a likely choice. It’s hard to understand why Kawada chose to make his home base in HUSTLE from 2005 on, I wish I could say I had the answers. But reasonable theories include him looking to lessen his workload in his older age after years of the dangerous King’s Road style, possibly just looking to reinvent himself as completely the opposite of who had been known for for many years and mostly in the same company, and the obvious answer: Dream Stage Entertainment who owned both HUSTLE and Pride Fighting, probably offered him a lot of money to join up, in addition to letting him work freelance dates when he wanted to wrestle normal people.
I guess I should give a brief description of HUSTLE for those who don’t know. It was a crazy place to say the least. If you’re aware of wacky promotions like DDT and CHIKARA, HUSTLE made those groups look like World of Sport by comparison. There were all sorts of things featured prominently, from Ninjas, to Aja Kong in exuberant amounts of makeup, to a swimsuit model turned terrorist turned dominatrix turned both who gave birth to Akebono after being impregnated by Great Muta’s mist, gay guys, heck the top babyface was an army-esque general who shot lasers and killed people. And as sure as some of you are shaking your heads and saying: “Zero this was a great series, why are you wasting our time with this stupid HUSTLE crap?” Well to those people I say A. Shut up. and B. I’m normally not a fan of comedic wrestling at all and have never liked either of those other two companies’ attempts at comedy much. But I love HUSTLE! I miss the craziness of it all, and there are very good odds I’ll never be able to get my be able to feature my all time wrestling crush Yinling the Erotic Terrorist and a hero of many people like Razor Ramon HG on one of these again so I have to take it.
We’ll both of those people are featured in this match, along with Kawada! Kawada quickly turned his back on his student Taichi Ishikari who had followed him from All Japan as well as friend Shinjiro Otani and joined the main heel group of HUSTLE, the Monster Army as Monster K. He participated in some storylines during his near 4 year stay in the company as both heel and face as HUSTLE K, perhaps his most famous moment in HUSTLE was when he sung karaoke live at a show. But mostly he wrestled under a gimmick as the new generation Bruce Lee, which for a “WWE” style gimmick…you could do a lot worse. But here in 2005 he was merely Generalissimo Takada’s #2 in command, coming out to Timothy Thatcher’s theme song. It’s the biggest show of the year for HUSTLE and the story as evidenced in the pre-match video which set up the story of this which was more or less all about HG and Takada wanting to take out the HUSTLE Army guys. And it’s funny because HG was a TV personality before he was a wrestler (though he technically wrestled in college clubs with the likes of Tanahashi and was a guy who really loved it) and obviously his outrageous gay gimmick is what he’ll be known for. But we’ve seen guys like Danshoku Dino do this same deal and not be a very good wrestler. But HG? Not too bad! Plus he makes an excellent target for Kawada to beat the crap out of which was the highlight to this match outside of some cool stuff with Ogawa 2 years after their famous and highly memorable Zero-One MAX match that I wish was online. But anyway, enough talk. It’s Kawada, it’s HUSTLE, you can’t talk about his career and leave it out, as he teams with the amazing Yinling-sama and Yoji Anjo to take on Shinjiro Otani, Naoya Ogawa, and Razor Ramon HG at HUSTLEMANIA ’05 from November 3rd, 2005. (And plus TWO differentclips of Kawada singing!)
So really the HUSTLE years saw Kawada very much tone it down in terms of his wrestling, though to his credit Kawada never came across as someone who was a shell of himself or adopted an “old man” role that many do. To the very end in NOAH’s first ever Global League, he was still recognizable as the Kawada we all know and love. A sports comparison I would make would be NBA Big man Tim Duncan. He’s not the perennial MVP candidate he was but was still “that dude”.
What wasn’t recognizable however was his booking, especially during the middle years. To me a horrible time in particular for me was a week in 2007, where in the same week Kawada was booked to infamously take a stinkface from Razor Ramon RG, and then back in All Japan the same night, he lost to Vampiro in under 5 minutes in a time where I’m pretty sure if there were any traditional King’s Road fans left they probably burned whatever tapes they had at that point. But thankfully he had a bit of a resurgence the following year as he competed in NJPW’s G1 Climax, where he had a solid showing, finishing tied for 2nd in his blocks and having strong matches vs. the likes of Yuji Nagata, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Hirooki Goto that may or may not be on NJP World. And in 2009, he had a very surprising turn of events when he went back to the company he had worked closely with 5 years earlier, Zero-One and won their World Heavyweight Title in a bit of an upset over Masato Tanaka. Now it wasn’t an overly long reign and by his own admission the death of his old rival Misawa hurt Kawada’s passion for the business and it showed, but he did do what he could during this title run for Zero-One and in many ways was the last time we’d see him as his old self.
So that brings us to today’s match during said reign in Zero-One. And it’s extremely interesting in a lot of ways too. First of all, this match was a very distinctive Royal Road style match with a lot of flavor to it that really you don’t see in terms of the strike exchanges and such to contrast in the NJPW style predominant today that showed that Kawada still belonged up there as a World Champion still. And two is his opponent honestly. As if there was a successor to the 90’s All Japan ways I’m not sure you could get three guys in without the name of Daisuke Sekimoto popping up. He works Kawada’s style and to nobody’s surprise is very good at it, though 5 years ago he wasn’t quite to the level of greatness as he’s known for these days. It’s a great battle between generations and really let’s be honest…it’s KAWADA VS SEKIMOTO. That’s really all I need to say. After this Kawada had a run in the first ever Global League that mostly didn’t air online but was at least respectable. But that was it. To this day he never had any kind of retirement match and tour or anything like that, and during a sitdown talk battle with Genichiro Tenryu stated he wanted to wrestle again, but his body was hurting and he liked running his noodles restaurant. So I as a huge fan would like to see him wrestle again obviously, but can certainly not blame him after the level action he provided the world. Truly, it was good times. But anyway, the match. Enjoy a look at Kawada in his last few months and realize he was still pretty freakin’ cool! As he defends the Zero-One World Title vs. Daisuke Sekimoto from their big show, January 1st, 2010.
Final Thoughts: Breaking news: Kawada was good. Actually one of the better Japanese wrestlers of all time quite frankly, in the ring and in influence and stardom as well. Sadly he never quite reached the heights of his top two rivals in Kobashi and Misawa and politically got himself into trouble multiple times as a result of his candid, honest, and outspoken nature. But I am so thankful for that big title reign he had so he’ll never be able to be labeled as any kind of choker or anything like that. And of the Four Pillars of Heaven he’s in by far the best shape. Despite the pain and the toll wrestling has taken on him he lives a well adjusted and normal life after wrestling. Considering his two careers in the King’s Road and HUSTLE, there definitely won’t be anyone like Dangerous K again in puroresu. Seek even more of him out because trust me, his catalog of great matches will keep you busy for a long time.
Tenryu Project, ¾/2014 [Tue] 19:00 @ Shinkiba 1stRING in Tokyo 192 Spectators
(1) Special Talk Battle: Genichiro Tenryu vs. Toshiaki Kawada ~ The two men met with a handshake in the ring. The two reminisced about their days together in All Japan and those who have either passed away or retired within the last 25+ years. ~ Kawada stated that there is still something inside of him that wants to return to the ring, but his body is pain because of the years of physicality that he went through. He feels that he cannot compromise on returning to the ring in an unsatisfactory physical condition. ~ As of recent Kawada has been focusing solely on his ramen shop and that it keeps him busy every day. It is something that he has really taken a strong bond with doing. ~ Kawada stated that the chances of himself returning to the ring is low, but if he did return he would like to be in the ring with Tenryu once more.
(2) Ryuichi Kawakami, Kazuki Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. FugoFugo Yumeji, Keita Yano & YamamotoSAN ◆Winner: Kawakami (16:24) following the Scarlett Flowsion on Yano.
(3) NOSAWA Rongai & Katsunari Toi vs. Shinose Mitoshichi & Raiden ◆Winner: Toi (9:07) following a Diving Foot Stomp on Raiden.
(4) Arashi, Buki & Classic Kid vs. TARU, Yasu & Hide Kubota ◆Winner: Arashi (7:03) via foul, TARU.
(5) UWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship Match: Dragon JOKER vs. Kengo ◆Winner: Kengo (12:26) with a Frog Splash. ~ Kengo becomes the 25th generation champion.
~ VOODOO MURDERS will have the matchmaking rights for the next Tenryu Project show on April 1 at Shinkiba.
Akira Taue paid a special press visit to Toshiaki Kawada’s Noodle Shop in Setagaya, Tokyo. The former All Japan World Tag Champions met to discuss Taue’s upcoming retirement on December 7.
Kawada stated that he has no plans to return to the ring at this time and is enjoying his “rest”. He did say though that he promises to come and support Taue on his upcoming big day.
[All Japan News] All Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that Toshiaki Kawada will be appearing, though not competing, at their upcoming Korakuen Hall show on July 28th. Kawada will be watching the show at ringside as well as being a part of an autograph session with the fans in attendance.
Suwama has been vocal as of late for a few former wrestlers to come back for the rebirth of All Japan, and Kawada has been on the top of list. Kawada has not competed in the ring since the summer of 2010 and made his first appearance in a ring in May of this year for Kobashi’s retirement show.
With Akira Taue holding his retirement at the end of this year there has been much talk that Kawada would return to be apart of Taue’s final match. Then from I have seen it seems that Kawada has been putting on some weight again since dropping quite a bit during his time away. Does this mean that we could see Kawada return to the ring? I guess we may know sooner than later.
[Match of the Day – Kenta Kobashi Series] Here is the seventh match of this eleven match series, as we countdown to Kenta Kobashi’s official retirement on May 11th.
Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Triple Crown Championship Match, from June 12, 1998 at the Nippon Budokan.
There probably is not much more that I have not said already. Kobashi and Kawada have been face to face numerous times to this date and have found themselves on a stalemate as well when it comes to going a full 60 minutes in a match.
This would bring us to the match between these two as Kawada aimed to prove that he was a strong champion after putting away Misawa in a high profile match. Kobashi would be coming in as well looking to finally defeat Kawada decisively in a high stakes match of his own.
[Match of the Day – Kenta Kobashi Series] Here is the fourth match of this eleven match series, as we countdown to Kenta Kobashi’s official retirement on May 11th.
Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue, AJPW World Tag Championship Match, from June 9, 1995 at the Nippon Budokan.
All 4 of these men, better known as the Four Corners of Heaven, at the time were the main guys to be building themselves as the must sees of All Japan. Kawada, Taue (aka the Holy Demon Army), Kobashi, and Misawa all had something to lose and prove against the rival team in this match.
Misawa was the strongest “corner” of the 4 at this time and Kobashi was left as the man who was the ever growing fan favorite, which is much seen in this match. Kobashi and Kawada were very much equals at this time having two draw matches against one another in 1995, for the Triple Crown on 1/19/1995 and another during the Champion Carnival on April 13, 1995. Both Taue and Kawada both wanted to finally have a win over Misawa, and they would just about go to any means to get a win over him. Which was seen in this very match. (The Champion Carnival tournament that year really set Misawa higher above the two in the pecking order of things, with wins over Taue and Kawada it would make them both desperately trying to go over Misawa.)
This would also be a World Tag Title defense for Misawa and Kobashi in which they have defended for nearly 3 months shy of 2 years (if you don’t count them re-winning the belts because of the annual tag league). Kobashi would definitely show his never give up attitude and would take one hell of a beating before it was all said and done. Kobashi also went into this match with an injured knee, which got picked a part multiple times, and Misawa suffered from a broken orbital socket in his face, thanks to a well placed kick from Kawada back during the Champion Carnival that April.
Let’s just say that there was a lot going into this match and it is key match in not only Kobashi’s career, but Kawada and Taue’s as well.
Bonus Match: Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue from May 21, 1994. http://youtu.be/QFnSVX7o3Us
(1) Minoru Fujita (FREE) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
(2) 3WAY Match: Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka) vs. Ryota Nakatsu (BASARA) vs. Yoshihiro Horaguchi (K-DOJO)
(3) Joshi Offer Match: Dump Matsumoto & ZAP vs. Hiroe Nagahama & Miyuki Takase
(4) Ore no Talk Battle: Toshiaki Kawada and Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH)
(5) Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue (both FREE) vs. Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata (both FREEDOMS)
(6) Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara-gumi), Mitsuya Nagai (DRADITION) & Minoru Tanaka (FREE) vs. Hideki Suzuki (FREE), Super Tiger (RJPW) & Takatoshi Matsumoto (Reversal Gym ALPHA)
(7) Shiro Koshinaka (FREE), Masato Tanaka (ZERO1) & KAZMA SAKAMOTO (FREE) vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666), Shogun Okamoto (FREE) & Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH)
(1) Ikuto Hidaka (ZERO1) vs. Junta Miyawaki (NOAH)
(2) Masao Inoue & Gabai Jichan (both FREE) vs. Buffalo (Makai) & Kuishinbo Kamen (Osaka)
(3) Ore no Talk Show: Toshiaki Kawada & Naomichi Marufuji
(4) Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata (both FREEDOMS) vs. Yuko Miyamoto (666) & Isami Kodaka (BASARA)
(5) Mitsuya Nagai (DRADITION) & Minoru Tanaka (FREE) vs. Hideki Suzuki (FREE) & Takatoshi Matsumoto (ALPHA)
(6) Shiro Koshinaka (FREE), Yoshiaki Fujiwara (Fujiwara-gumi) & Tamon Honda (FREE) vs. Go Shiozaki (NOAH), Kaito Kiyomiya (NOAH) & Kazusada Higuchi (DDT)
