AJPW Real World Tag League 1995
Tamon Honda vs. Gary Albright - AJPW Real World Tag League 1995 - Day 16 09/12/1995
An Olympic level wrestler against Gary Albright? I’m into the potential of that. Even as a match between an undercarder and a B-Level foreign star . The match mostly consisted of basic amateur holds. Honda controlled the match with Albright taking his time before throwing his weight around. Honda was able to hold on himself with a long facelock that looked very uncomfortable. Good effort but that was a small window to get the win as Albright eventually finished him off. **1/2
Real World Tag League 1995 Final Match: Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Real World Tag League 1995 - Day 16 09/12/1995
Last time I watched this, I had written around 53 words, explaining my thoughts about the match and it was perfectly acceptable as that’s how the match was. It wasn’t filled with the great details of the matches I've previously praised to such a high degree. This was a simple, well-worked version of their other matches. The run-time drags somewhat, the work comes across as familiar, in a tedious way. They hit their usual notes of HDA attacking the arm of Kobashi, Kawada getting in shots against Misawa and Taue throwing people left and right. It had its moments but ultimately, I was left flat. ***
AJPW Year-End Awards
Match Of The Year: Super Generation Army (Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa) vs. Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada) - AJPW 09/06/1995
Narrative perfection. It’s a match that is an easy top 10 greatest match of all time for any wrestling fan that knows what they are talking about. That’s not an elitist saying either. Watch the match and you’ll find it’s pretty much factual.
Wrestler Of The Year: Mitsuharu Misawa
It's unfortunate that I don't award a “Most Outstanding” award because Kawada would no doubt get it. Looking at my spreadsheets, Kawada is in 8 out of the ten top matches for the year, including the MOTY, of which he was the best wrestler in it. However Kawada won fucking nothing. Fuck. Even during his Triple Crown Title reign, Kawada didn't get one single win before losing it to Hansen, who then dropped it to the eventual WOTY, Misawa. Only getting a draw against Kenta Kobashi. Misawa has a credible argument despite not having the insane output of Kawada. Mitsuharu Misawa won the tangible achievements with regaining the Triple Crown, having a string of quality title matches against Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Kenta Kobashi all in Budokan Hall. Mitsuharu Misawa also had a strong run in tournaments, winning the Champion Carnival and the Real World Tag League. Even outside of the accomplishments, Misawa had a great year in setting up long term feuds with Kenta Kobashi and having the current feud of the year with Akira Taue.
Feud Of The Year: Akira Taue vs Mitsuharu Misawa
Whether it be mid-tournament matches, the Champion Carnival finals, Tag Matches or main event title matches, these two clicked perfectly in 1995. No more reasons are needed.
Most Disappointing Match Of The Year:Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 09/12/1995
It has to be the final match of the calendar year. After having their best match only six months prior, the four pillars go out and have a fine match. Fine isn't even the level of some of their house show matches that make tape via fancams. It wasn't even bad, just disappointing.
Top Five Matches Of The Year:
1) Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa - 09/06/1995
2) Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - 15/4/1995
3) Toshiaki Kawada vs Mitsuharu Misawa - 24/07/1995
4) Gary Albright vs. Toshiaki Kawada - 25/10/1995
5) Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi - 13/4/1995
Comments
Post a Comment