AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992

Akira Taue vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992 - Day 6 10/01/1992

I don’t recall Taue vs Hansen ever being touted as a great match in the company. Even the Misawa and Hansen matches have well touted matches. So a fresh new match up is welcome to the new year. Taue gets a ton on Hansen who sells excellently for him. Hasen is usually the rough houser but Taue is in control, using his size to control Hansen. Taue really zones in on the neck, blocking the air waves with chokes, legal or otherwise. I loved Hansen trying to break the holds by ramming Taue into the barricades on the outside but being unable to break the grip. The spot dragged on a bit too long, it felt awkward at the end but once Hansen started to get some offence and they exchanged big blows, the match got back on track. Cut the headlock spot a little short and maybe a have a hotter crowd and this could’ve been better. ***1/4

Tsuruta-gun (Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa) vs. Super Generation Army (Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada) - AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992 - Day 6 10/01/1992

With Taue dealing with Hansen, in comes Ogawa to be the third partner. Adds a different dynamic to the match. There was an awesome moment where Fuchi began punching Kobashi so Kobahi just floored him, leading to Tsuruta just honing in on the leg as an act of revenge. Great Kobashi defiance met with a great transition to a great FIP section for him. Tsuruta-Gun all take turns on poor Kobashi whether it’s Fuchi and Ogawa applying holds or Jumbo destroying the leg with brute force. The Misawa vs Jumbo spots were great. The Kawada vs Ogawa stuff was pretty fun as well. It plays off the matches last year nicely. ***1/2

Masanobu Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992 - Day 14 21/01/1992

The current Junior Heavyweight champion against the #2 in the company makes for an interesting match. Sadly it’s JIP so we miss bits. Not sure how much though. Still, this was a great match for what it was. Fuchi did some good work on the leg of Misawa. Locking it up with his submission holds, and smashing Misawa’s leg in the table. Misawa does a great job of selling it as well. The crowd react with “Fuchi” chants as well which stunned me. Fuchi really pulled out every trick he knew to get an advantage and keep Misawa down. Misawa’s elbows were wicked and proved to be enough of a factor to swing the momentum. Loved the urgency in the finishing stretch with Misawa looking to end it quickly and Fuchi desperately trying to go back to the knee to get some space from Misawa’s offence. That neck crank  at the end looked so painful and worked as a finish. ***3/4

Non-Title: Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992 - Day 14 21/01/1992

Another awesome Kawada vs Jumbo match. These matches may not have the significance of the Misawa matches, but they are just as good, imo. Kawada going for the legs at the started only to get sparked out by Jumbo was a hell of a way to start the match. Jumbo stays on top but when Kawada unloads on him, he is so vulnerable and sells excellently. Some brutal offence in this as well, like the kitchen sink counter, Jumbo does. The Kawada kicks to the face. Great finishing stretch with a nasty backhold driver to finish off the match. ****1/4

Triple Crown Title Match: Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW New Year Giant Series 1992 - Day 19 28/01/1992

A fun match. Hasen winning the Triple Crown was an awesome moment, indeed. And given this is Jumbo’s last Triple Crown title defence, it was an end of an era. There was some great duel limb battles with Hansen going for the leg and Jumbo going for the arm. Both guys selling was good as you’d expect. But similar to most of their othermatches, it just didn’t reach that next level from very good to great. ***1/2

All Japan 90s Project