AJPW Summer Action Series I 1995
Jun Akiyama vs. Yoshinari Ogawa - AJPW Summer Action Series 1995 - Day 1 30/06/1995
This was pretty rad. Akiyama goes toe to toe with a peer rather than getting the shit kicked out of him by a veterean (Mostly Kawada). Ogawa tries to avoid the exploder most of the match until Akiyama hits it. Simple, fun match. ***
AJPW World Tag Team Title Match: Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada) (c) vs. The Can-Am Express (Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas) - AJPW Summer Action Series 1995 - Day 16 20/07/1995
The Can-Am Express worked hard to give the Holy Demon Army a tough challenge, more than matching them in wrestling ability while using their agility and double team. But this was just a match to get Kawada and Taue a V1 and they did a fine job at getting through the first barrier. ***
Triple Crown Contendership League Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue - AJPW Summer Action Series 1995 - Day 18 24/07/1995
Such a great match that the crowd was hot for since the start. The crowd’s energy matched what would normally be the closing stretch. That’s how into this match they were. The time limit expiring never seemed like an option until the finish which is a positive. Both wrestlers worked very hard against each other. Taue was throwing all of his biggest hits at Kobashi, including trying to hit a Nodawa on the apron with Koashi cinching in the headlocks and ungodly chops. Taue gets a ton of support despite this being one of his more brutish performances - he was an absolute dick in this. I loved Kobashi breaking Taue down with his side of the hand chops and building towards the moonsault as it brought a lot of drama while respecting the toughness of Taue. The finish was decent enough, even if the match had peaked by that point. ****
Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Summer Action Series 1995 - Day 18 24/07/1995
Excellent match with two terrific performances from both wrestlers. Unfortunately, it's yet another defeat for Toshiaki Kawada despite being at his most violent and purposeful. His careful and brutal assault of the eye of Misawa - something that Misawa always seems to injure - with his strikes and submissions was brilliant and made for a great match. The desire to get the win was very much on display for Kawada. The urgency and determination towards the end when Misawa was launching his counter attack proved that most. The striking was smartly used from both. Misawa’s elbows always saved him in tough situations and he went all out with them. Barrage after barrage of rolling elbows. And if that didn't work, Misawa would throw Kawada right on his next via Tiger Suplex. Kawada's sell for the finish was brilliant. A face plant after a big running elbow shot signified right away that Misawa won. ****1/2
AJPW Summer Action Series II 1995
Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Akira Taue - AJPW Summer Action Series 1995 - Day 17 10/09/1995
I’m sad to say that this wasn’t anything that captured my full attention. You have the obvious quality moments like Taue kicking out at Misawa’s knee whenever he needed a quick advantage or Misawa’s excellent selling and comebacks. But overall, this was lacking something. Taue really had no chance of winning with Misawa regaining the title not too long ago. Taue’s time would come in 96, not here. On this show, he eats a Misawa elbow and it's lights-out for him. ***1/2
NJPW Summer Struggle 1994
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. The Great Sasuke - NJPW Summer Struggle 1994 - Day 8 08/07/1994
While I don’t match the all time classic praise that it gets from most people, it’s still a highly impressive match. 15 minutes of relentless action that never pivots into mindless spots (which Sasuke excelled in, too). It was very entertaining as the action changes from Sasuke hitting his great dives to Liger’s grappling. ***3/4
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