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[1993-01-24-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jun Akiyama & Yoshinari Ogawa


Loss

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lots of spots and sequences I associate more with U.S. style, like hiptoss reversals, fast in-and-out tags in quick sequence, sunset flips, etc. Fantastic match. The amount of offense Kobashi has is pretty staggering. This blew me away. Also, Akiyama gives an incredible performance, and while Kikuchi beats him, the booking point seems to be focused more on his performance, so his stature likely improved, even in losing.

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One thing to keep in mind when watching this, which is really hard to now that we're 18+ years into his career which may even be close to over:

 

Jun debuted 09/17/92.

 

This is 01/24/93.

 

He had worked the October series and the Tag League. This is just his third series.

 

Granted, Kobashi was at his peak. Kikuchi was quite possibly at his peak. Ogawa, for whatever we want to say about him, was solid and after all those years knew how to work opposite Kobashi & Kikuchi, and within a match oppoposite them. So you could argue that Jun was getting soft landed into a great setting.

 

I'm not sure I'd buy that. Watch the shit they're doing. It's not terribly easy, and if you don't hang with them you'd stick out like a sore thumb. In fact that happened with Kikuchi later in the year: fans kind of stopped buying him in there, and he wasn't able to re-click with them.

 

I don't know... maybe watch this back-to-back with the famous MX vs Southern Boys. That one does have the advantage of a clear heel team, while this one isn't quite as heelish without Fuchi in there. But for what they do, and the drama down the stretch as they work to the finish (and I tend to think this one is much longer in working to the finish), this doesn't exactly take a back seat to one of the most famous and well thought of US tag matches of the 90s. And this gets buried under the avalanche of the coming Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Taue and Misawa & Akiyama vs Kawada & Taue series. It's like an after thought (or pre-thought).

 

This might be the one match to point to when people ask, "How good was AJPW when it was at it's best?"

 

*This* good: that a match like this gets largely forgotten in time because the Four Corners went to an entirely different level.

 

Hell, maybe add in Hase & Sasaki vs Mutoh & Hash to the mix along with the MX-Souther Boys. Again, not saying this is better. But can this hang with those two much more famous matches, signature tags of their respective promotions in the decade?

 

Heck, Loss like the title change with the Big Belts later in the series, and that's another match forgotten that gets no run.

 

John

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  • 2 years later...

The young ins getting their shot. I feel like Kikuchi is past his peak. Again, I’ve only been interested in him when he’s up against Jumbo/Taue and getting thrown around or his matches against NJPW guys in next decade. It is amazing to see that Jun had only been wrestling a few months by this point as he seems like a total pro.

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  • 4 months later...

Scary how good Akiyama is at this point. I wouldn't put this up against the best Kroffat/Furnas matches as far as All-Asia tags go, but it's not terribly far behind. Akiyama already has quite a bit of stuff he can do on offense and he sells well down the stretch. The psychology of a long All-Japan match isn't always about consistently selling body part A that was worked on in the opening minutes, but can be more about seeing a wrestler's "energy bar" give away, like in a video game. The best AJPW matches are ones where that energy bar is treated in a consistent way--enough near-falls to keep you on your toes, but when you get to the finish, you say, "Yep, that's the end." I don't know if I'm explaining this well but it's something that separates the best of AJPW from the worst of modern-day indy 2.9 wrestling--near-falls for the sake of near-falls. This is all a roundabout way of saying Jun is picking up in this aspect very, very quickly among all the other shit he can already do.

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  • 2 months later...

Even just a couple minutes in Akiyama looks significantly improved, and that's overall, not just relative for someone who just debuted. You'vegot Ogawa & Akiyama working quickly with tags to control Kobashi, who's the clear focus as ace of the match. Surprisingly little heat for a match this good. The story here was definitely Akiyama looking like he belonged and could hold his own as more than a role player when called upon. Super hot closing stretch with Akiyama eating a Kikuchi dropkick while perched on Kobashi's shoulders. Kobashi slams Kikuchi on him for a near fall, before 2 Germans put him away. Fun stuff. More 1993 AJ!!

 

****

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  • 8 months later...

Good match. The first half was alright and in the second half they really kicked it into high gear. This should have ended with the doomsday device dropkick and backdrop slpash. It would have been fine if the first german suplex afterward finished it, but to have to do two is overkill and only serves to set the bar higher and higher which will eventually cause problems.

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  • 2 months later...

Great stuff. Kobashi playing the ace role which is neat at this point in time. I was surprised to see him get beaten up a bit at the onset. I understand that this felt like Akiyama proving he belonged but I also felt it evolved into Kikuchi proving he may not be as weak as it might appear. Kikuchi got pretty much owned for most of the point in time he was in there. Ogawa went back of course to his heelish ways and gets booed for it. I especially loved the finish with Kikuchi hitting an amazing missile dropkick and following that up with a sequence to garner the win. I agree this match could be largely forgotten but it feels really relevant at hitting the strengths of all four guys involved and showing versatility for each at this point in time giving unconventional performances. (****)

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  • 1 year later...

I thought this was very, very good. Not quite excellent, but more than satisfactory. Everyone but Ogawa was in peril at one point, and both teams showed good continuity when needed.

 

Akiyama definitely didn't look like a rookie here. He moved very fluidly, and his execution was right up there with everyone else's. His inexperience may stand out when he's in the same ring with guys like Misawa and Taue, but he fit in just fine with this bunch.

 

The action got a bit too back-and-forth at certain times, but the wrestler taking the punishment always took the time to sell at least briefly. It also didn't hurt that I was more emotionally invested in the workers (except for Akiyama, of course) because I'm such a fan of the Misawa's Army-Jumbo's Army feud.

 

The one problem I have is with the finish. Not who pinned who, but the move used to get the win. The awesome Doomsday Device-style dropkick/reverse slam combination by Kobashi and Kikuchi should have been it. I'm not sure why they needed to follow up with two German suplexes. Maybe it seemed like more of a "pure" wrestling finish to Baba.

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  • 6 months later...

#280

 

This was all right. I'm not exactly predisposed towards liking this match. I mean you'd have to be a pretty big All Japan fan to care about what these four workers could do in a midcard match, and to be honest I thought there were better matches earlier in the list that were positioned the same, like the Blondes vs. Scorpio & Bagwell or Kikihara & Sakuraba vs. Lydick & Nelson.

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  • 2 weeks later...

#280 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-300-251/

 

I agree, Akiyama looked really impressive here based on his experience level. I'm sure Kobashi, at his level, had something to do with that (not with his actual individual performance, but more along the lines of directing traffic). I thought Kobashi was great in his role here. There were some really good strike exchanges from Jun and Kobashi. I also thought Kikuchi was quite entertaining on offense with his explosiveness at times, but also his selling during certain spots. I got the impression that Kobashi was the director, and this was built to be a Kikuchi showcase, while in turn building Jun and getting him over. I think they accomplished what they were trying to do with Jun, and I'm glad it didn't end at the doomsday device. I guess for me, it really put him over more, and it's what pushed the drama of the match from good to really good IMO. ***3/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-01-24-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jun Akiyama & Yoshinari Ogawa
  • 1 year later...

I must say. Akiyama is a great addition to these Tsuruta Gun vs SGA matches. A new name, fresh ideas and moves and someone that’s got more flexibility. Akiyama shows that in the big first part of the match. First exchanging some headlocks and takeovers with Kikuchi and then double teaming with Ogawa on Kobashi. Kobashi was pretty great in this I thought. He chained some great moves together in a big stretch. The match overall built superbly to a big closing stretch with Kikichi hitting all he had to pin Akiyama. Great match. ****

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