AJPW '93 - King's Road Global

AJPW Puro Spirit TV #7
February 19th 1993
Attendance: 13,000 – Shizuoka, Chubu, JP
TV Rating: 1.67 [tv Asahi – JP] + 0.14 [ITV – UK] + 0.06 [Fox Sports Networks – US]

---

Championships and holders
» AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship: Mitsuharu Misawa
» AJPW National Openweight Championship: Kenta Kobashi
» AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship: Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas [Can-Am Express]
» AJPW World Jr. Heavyweight Championship: Ultimo Dragon

---

Pre-Show
0. Dark Match: Al Perez & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida vs. Mark Youngblood & Mighty Inoue & Jun Akiyama
- Youngblood > Izumida (Diving Tomahawk) --- 10:11
- Rating: 45

---

Full-Show Recap
»» This week’s Puro Spirit TV opened with… Giant Baba! The legend came to the ring with a big announcement: none other than the return of the Inter-Nations Tournament for the AJPW National Openweight Championship. Once again, eight countries will be represented in a single-elimination cup where Toshiaki Kawada, the champion and Japan’s own wrestler, must defend the belt throughout the whole cup.
As in August 1992, four of the participants will be non-AJPW wrestlers invited to compete. Baba also announced Dan Kroffat (Canada) and Johnny Smith (United Kingdom) as participants, while the USA representant will be decided in a 15-man Battle Royale next week. Also next week, the non-AJPW wrestlers will be announced.

1. Giant Warrior & Johnny Smith & Tommy Rogers (Fantastic Bruisers) & Fire Cat vs. Jackie Fulton & Mitsuharu Misawa & Steve Williams & The Great Sasuke
No doubt we’re betting on the whole card, as we’re even seeing the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion in the opener. And much thanks to him, ‘Dr. Death’ and Sasuke, this one was a great match.
The three paired with the returning Jackie Fulton in a winning effort against Jackie’s foes. Poor Fire Cat had to be in their team, though. Warrior was the one pinned after falling victim of Misawa’s Rolling Elbow.
- Misawa > Warrior (Rolling Elbow) --- 12:45
- Rating: 82

2. Cactus Jack vs. Joel Deaton
Another singles match for Cactus, another win. This time, with a little more competitiveness, as Deaton fought for The Outlaw Stable’s pride in a wild brawl type of match (the fans are not liking wild brawls since I changed the product).
In the end, Jack once again used the Stump-Puller Piledriver to beat one-half of the Wild Bunch. He then threw Deaton out of the ring at Billy Black’s feet.
- Cactus > Deaton (Stump-Puller Piledriver) --- 10:18
- Rating: 58

3. Dean Malenko & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Naoki Sano & Richard Slinger
The Jr. Heavyweight division is also becoming better, one can say. In a highly-technical tag team match, Malenko and Yamazaki had fun beating and stretching Sano up… and Slinger got some (a lot) of it too.
The later stages of the match saw the former NJPW dojo friends stiffing each other while Malenko overwhelmed Slinger, finishing it with a Sitout Double Underhook Powerbomb – the first non-submission win of Malenko since returning to AJPW over a year ago.
- Malenko > Slinger (Sitout Double Underhook Powerbomb) --- 11:11
- Rating: 79

»» After the match, Kazuo Yamazaki and Naoki Sano continued to get very heated towards one another and, probably, physical contact only didn’t happen because Dean Malenko was around. However, the confrontation was more than enough for Giant Baba to come and announce a Special Singles Match between Yamazaki and Sano for Battle Ready on March 5th.
Remember: they battled to a 30-minute time limit draw at their last clash (Junior Crown League Day 2 – 10th September 1992).

4. Gran Hamada & Ultimo Dragon vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa [Tsuruta-gun]
The veteran Fuchi got another one up on the World Jr. Heavyweight Champion Ultimo Dragon. A highly technical contest put teachers and students together and, of course, the fan favorites had to deal with all the sneaky offense from Tsuruta-gun’s dirtiest players that got them the advantage at certain times.
It was interesting to see Fuchi and Ogawa preventing Hamada from tagging the champion in for most of the second half of the match. However, he managed to do so and Ultimo got the control back. Though, in the end, Hamada tagged in again, only to be surprised by Fuchi with a School Boy Pin that got Tsuruta-gun the win.
- Fuchi > Hamada (School Boy Pin) --- 15:34
- Rating: 75

»» The bell sounded and Yoshinari Ogawa felt he could disrespect the losers. Masanobu Fuchi laughed when Ogawa told Gran Hamada he was just a washed-up Lucha veteran trying to have the relevancy that Fuchi holds. He even mocked him for the closure of his federation, ULL. Then, he told Ultimo Dragon that at Battle Ready, he’ll learn a real lesson while being mentored in the ring by the greatest World Jr. Heavyweight Champion of all time.
Gran Hamada prevented Ultimo from getting physical with Ogawa.

5. Dory Funk Jr. & Stan Hansen (The Outlaw Stable) & Eddie Gilbert vs. Giant Kimala & Haku (Savage International) & The Gladiator
Once again, Gilbert was on Hansen’s side! It took a while for both men to fully trust each other, but Hansen eventually managed to do so after Gilbert’s help last week. Dory Jr. acted as the glue. The opposition… they needed no glue.
Kimala, Haku and Gladiator were focused on one thing only: causing chaos. Hansen was the most resilient man and Gilbert was as determined as ever, but The Outlaw Stable was overwhelmed by the monster trio, that targeted Dory in the later stages of the match. A Savate Kick by Haku set up for Kimala’s Running Big Splash. And it was over.
- Kimala > Dory Jr. (Running Big Splash) --- 15:21
- Rating: 76

»» It was clear that Savage International (specially) had the intention to continue last week’s attack. But the mission was aborted as Terry Funk and Wild Bunch got to the ring to help their stablemates… and Eddie Gilbert.
Speaking of which… Stan Hansen grabbed a microphone. And T.O.S.’s leader had no other choice but to thank ‘Hot Stuff’ and praise his latest actions. Then, Hansen told Gilbert he knows how immature a younger wrestler can be, but how part of that immaturity is actually ambition. «And, honestly, son… ambition is something I can applaud. And your kind of commitment is valued. That’s why I know you can be a Outlaw!» Hansen offered his hand to Gilbert. He shook it instantly and both hugged! Eddie Gilbert is officially in The Outlaw Stable!

6. Akira Taue & Jumbo Tsuruta (Tsuruta-gun) & Terry Gordy vs. Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada (Super Generation Army) & Terry Funk
The main event felt like it. Another battle for Jumbo’s pride from Taue’s part. The two were accompanied by Gordy in the battle, but not against the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa. Kobashi, who pinned Tsuruta last week, was the main foe. For Gordy it was Funk. Kawada just loves violence…
The match started out slow, with every bit of a different kind of aggressiveness being brought by Gordy. But after a while, it started to escalate. Funk was bleeding by the middle of the match, after being thrown to the ringpost by… yeah, you guessed it. And Taue and Kobashi got into a really stiff striking battle. Tsuruta matched with Kawada easily, and he was close to be pinned by the National Openweight Champion following a Gamengiri.
Taue tried to avenge that near-fall and, until the end, was the main force of his team, winning the match following an Ore Ga Taue to Terry Funk. Akira Taue is looking like a really legitimate threat to Misawa’s reign.
- Taue > Funk (Ore Ga Taue) --- 18:30
- Rating: 87

Show Rating: 84

---

Weekly Recap
»» UWF-i – February 13th: Nobuhiko Takada is, once again, the Real Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. Well… he won the UWF-i sanctioned title, that is. It happened at Sekai Gannen 2nd, when Takada beat The Great Kabuki. That means that we can see another federation’s World Champion at Champion Carnival, starting March.

»» AULL – February 18th: The world of Lucha Libre is a bit more poor, as Alianza Universal de Lucha Libre has closed doors. Not the biggest Lucha federation around, it still featured legends like Mil Mascaras.

---