AJPW '93 - King's Road Global

Results:

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Highlights – Before the Intermission:
»» Sabu and Kazuo Yamazaki both had a good start in the A Block. Sabu beat Fire Cat in a flight-filled match, while Yamazaki beat lucha legend Perro Aguayo. After said match, Sabu kept his feud with Aguayo very much alive, attacking him while he was going to the back. They’ll meet up at Day 2.

»» In the B Block, Dean Malenko had one of the best performances of the night, submitting a resilient Richard Slinger with a Texas Cloverleaf. Negro Casas and Masanobu Fuchi, two veterans, had a great technical match that could have been better received, had the crowd been properly warmed up. Casas won with the La Casita fast pin and Fuchi was fuming. Not a good start for the former World Jr. Heavyweight Champion.

Marquee Matches – After the Intermission:
A Block Match
6. Naoki Sano vs. Yoshinari Ogawa
Probably the most heated match of the night, and the best one too. Tsuruta-gun still has their arrows pointed at the World Jr. Heavyweight Champion, Naoki Sano, and Yoshinari Ogawa, who Jumbo Tsuruta and Masanobu Fuchi call «the future ace of the division» loves to get in Sano’s nerves. He did so in the first Prelude show, and he looked to capitalize.
But he was very much awa re of Sano’s superiority, and so, Ogawa looked to surprise Sano with flash pin attempts from early on. They didn’t seem to be enough, and that made him progressively more desperate. Therefore, Sano was the one capitalizing. Ogawa survived the first Sole Kick, rolling to ringside, but he didn’t avoid the loss after a Brainbuster + Sole Kick combination.
After the match, Kazuo Yamazaki met Naoki Sano in the ring. He simply pointed at the belt, telling Sano he plans to win the league, but lift his hand. The two will have their match at Day 2.
Result: Naoki Sano (2) def. Yoshinari Ogawa --- Pinfall --- 16:09 min.

B Block Match
7. The Great Sasuke vs. Ultimo Dragon
The two became rivals as soon as they stepped into an AJPW ring in January, so, main eventing felt natural. However, both of them felt the pressure a bit too much. While the match wasn’t bad (it was decent), it may have dragged and there were definitely other bouts in the card that stood out.
Sasuke vs. Dragon was better for the lovers of high-flying wrestling, as Dragon and Sasuke tried to awe the fans the best they could. And they did that, to an extent. Both brought resiliency to the match, with Dragon notoriously escaping a Michinoku Driver earlier in the bout. Later on, Sasuke kicked out of a Cancun Tornado. However, after roughly 18 minutes, when Sasuke thought he had Ultimo down and out and looked to end it with a Senton Atomico, Dragon got the knees up, creating a very painful landing for Sasuke. Then, Dragon locked a Dragon Sleeper in the middle of the ring! Sasuke never tapped out, but he was out and the referee noticed it! Ultimo wins the first match ever between the two, and racks up two points!
Result: Ultimo Dragon (2) def. The Great Sasuke --- Technical Submission --- 17:53 min.

Results:

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Highlights – Before the Intermission:
»» The A Block started out strong, with some great matches. The impromptu team of Eddie Gilbert and Stan Hansen won their teaming debut, beating Jackie Fulton and Johnny Smith. Then, Miracle Violence Connection won the shortest, but for some, the best match of the night: a hard-hitting contest vs. Wild Bunch.

»» B Block had a slower start, with none of the two first matches being particularly remarkable, with the favorites: The Funk Brothers and Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada winning. After Super Generation Army’s duo win, Terry Funk stormed the ring with his cowbell. But when everyone expected him to hit Toshiaki Kawada, he threw the cowbell down. Dory Funk Jr. joined and Terry claimed he wants a great and fair contest between both teams at Day 2. Unexpected, but classy.

Marquee Matches – After the Intermission:
A Block Match
6. Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers [The Fantastics] vs. Johnny Ace & Mitsuharu Misawa
Ace and Misawa are two good friends, with the gaijin being the favorite partner of the current Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion whenever his Super Generation Army stablemates are unavailable. But The Fantastics are a very talented tag team with a 8-year experience. While any team with Misawa is a favorite, one couldn’t count The Fantastics out.
And from the beginning, Fulton and Rogers proved they weren’t going to let anyone label them as the underdogs, wisely targeting Johnny Ace with some effective double teams, even though whenever Misawa was legal, the task got harder.
Then, Ace and Misawa started using double teams, a Dropkick (Ace) + German Suplex (Misawa) combination stood out, with Rogers roughly kicking out. However, the experience was able to prove valuable enough to get the two points. Cutting the ring in half, the duo of Fulton and Rogers decimated Ace, finishing him with the Rocket Launcher. Misawa watched the pinfall, but knew his teammate was done.
Result: The Fantastics (2) over Ace & Misawa --- Pinfall --- 15:23

»» After the match, Mitsuharu Misawa helped Johnny Ace to his feet and shook hands with the winners. Ace did it too.
Then, Stan Hansen got to the ring, looking mean, of course. Misawa was ready for anything, but Hansen just wanted to talk. The former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion warned the current holder of the three belts: «On Thursday, it’s Misawa and Ace versus Gilbert and Hansen… and I want to make sure you know that you have a bullseye on your back, Misawa. I will pin you in our clash… and I will get myself a rematch for the Triple Crown!»

B Block Match
7. Akira Taue & Jumbo Tsuruta [Tsuruta-gun] vs. Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas [Can-Am Express]
A match of proving grounds, but not just for Taue and Tsuruta, who could pin the Unified World Tag Team Champions. Can-Am Express also have to prove they can handle themselves as the champions, facing one of Japan’s most feared duos.
Tsuruta-gun, largely bigger than Kroffat and Furnas, used the size to their advantage in the early goings. And even though Furnas had fully recovered from his back injury by now, they weren’t shy in putting it to test delivering some double team moves focused on that area. For a portion of the match, Kroffat really had to fight by himself.
That made him the star of the match from the fans’ perspective as he survived everything Tsuruta and Taue did to him while he was alone. Tsuruta acted somewhat as the ring general while Taue executed during that time. Then, Furnas recovered and he made them know he was ok. The champions knew they had to isolate one of their opponents, so Taue was sent to the outside while they worked on Tsuruta, who kicked out at two after a Double Diving Dropkick.
Then, Taue tagged in, and the same happened. However, Tsuruta interfered after seeing Can-Am Express close to win the bout, giving Taue a bit of momentum. When he looked able to capitalize, trying to hit the Nodowa Otoshi on Kroffat, the Canadian kneed him in the face, prompting Furnas to hit a Frankensteiner on Taue and then Dropkick Tsuruta off the apron. Kroffat climbed the top turnbuckle: Diving Senton! 1…2…3! The champions passed a huge test!
Result: Can-Am Express (2) over Tsuruta-gun --- Pinfall --- 20:42