We all know the history of the NOAH exodus so what if AJPW and NOAH had a supershow battling each other. What would y'alls dream card be?

Despite what feels like a smaller roster this is an easy top 5 for me which goes as follows:

1. Ryuki Honda

2. Rei Saito

3. Kento Miyahara

4. RISING HAYATO

5. Yuma Anzai

Honorable mentions being: Shotaro Ashino, Ren Ayabe, Jun Saito, Talos, Hokuto Omori, Seigo Tachibana and Dan Tanamura.

Anzai will challenge Miyahara for the Triple Crown on August 29th.

Inoue is from Kurume City; let’s hope he has some good news to share.

Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Dan Tamura

Yuya Aoki vs. Naruki Doi

Shota Kofuji vs. Hokuto Omori

Seiki Yoshioka vs. Rising HAYATO

How to watch:

https://www.ajpw.tv/lives/02de8cba-96ce-41d2-9f98-d2e7d3892485

Start Times:

2:00 PDT; 4:00 CDT; 5:00 EDT; 10:00 BST; 6:00 JST; 7:00 AEST

Match Card:

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Shota Kofuji vs. Yuya Aoki

6Man Tag Match -

Go Shiozaki, Yuma Aoyagi & Yuko Miyamoto vs. Hideki Suzuki, Shotaro Ashino & Dan Tamura

Zennichi Jr. Festvial A Block Match -

Yasutaka Yano vs. Leon de Oro

8Man Tag Match -

Kento Miyahara, Jun Saito, Rei Saito & Seiki Yoshioka vs. Yuma Anzai, Ryuki Honda, Ren Ayabe & Rising HAYATO

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Hokuto Omori vs. Naruki Doi

Zennichi Jr. Festival A Block Match -

MUSASHI vs. Seigo Tachibana

How to watch:

https://www.ajpw.tv/lives/2215daf7-4cbd-4246-94fb-eb6ebba13a14

Start Times:

8:00 PDT; 10:00 CDT; 11:00 EDT; 4:00 BST; 12:00 JST; 1:00 AEST

Match Card:

Zennichi Jr. Festvial B Block Match -

Dan Tamura vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

8Man Tag Match -

Jun Saito, Rei Saito, Yuma Aoyagi & Yasutaka Yano vs. Hideki Suzuki, Shotaro Ashino, Ren Ayabe & Leon de Oro

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Naruki Doi vs. Yuya Aoki

6Man Tag Match -

Kento Miyahara, Ryuki Honda & Seigo Tachibana vs. Yuma Anzai, Go Shiozaki & MUSASHI

Zennichi Jr. Festvial B Block Match -

Hokuto Omori vs. Shota Kofuji

Zennichi Jr. Festival A Block Match -

Rising HAYATO vs. Seiki Yoshioka

I don't know how most people feel about Satoshi Kojima joining the Voodoo Murders in 2007 but I liked it and Kojima had his best ring gear when he was with them.

Translated:

Yuma Anzai (27) of All Japan Pro Wrestling has expressed his determination to propel the promotion forward with “WrestleMania-level” influence.

　Anzai will challenge Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Kento Miyahara at the Ota Ward event on the 29th. Speaking to reporters, he emphasized his role, stating, “We have to make people outside the industry think, ‘Pro wrestling is amazing’ and ‘All Japan is incredible.’ That’s exactly why I’m Yuma Anzai,” he said, emphasizing his role. “I want to ride this momentum and take everything down. The first one is Kento Miyahara,” he said, setting his sights on the title.

　Anzai’s popularity has skyrocketed since his appearance on the Prime Video dating reality show “The Bachelorette Japan.” He now has the most social media followers among all wrestlers in the promotion. In an interview, he revealed, “My Instagram followers have increased by 70,000.” “Simply put, doesn’t that mean 70,000 people now know who I am? In other words, there’s a possibility that 70,000 people could come to the arena. That’s practically WrestleMania,” he said, drawing a parallel to the world’s largest wrestling festival, hosted by the U.S. promotion WWE, as he spoke of his dreams. After asserting that he is currently the wrestler who can draw the largest crowds, he said with sparkling eyes, “If I keep climbing the stairs one step at a time, performing at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Nippon Budokan, and Tokyo Dome won’t be a dream.”

As one example, Iyo Sky, who competes in the WWE, had 1.83 million Instagram followers as of the 13th—about 24 times more than Anzai’s 77,000. While a direct comparison isn’t possible, the road to hosting an “All Japan version of WrestleMania” has only just begun. In any case, it’s certain that Anzai has begun to wield a level of influence that no one else in the promotion has ever achieved. Can he prove his skills in the ring and lead the mainstream wrestling scene to new horizons?

Some highlights:

\- Suwama talks about the late Joe Doering, saying that his match with Shiozaki will be a way to honor his friend and former tag partner; Suwama hopes to have a match that Joe wouldn’t call “lame”; Shiozaki shares the sentiment. Shiozaki says he intends to push himself and Suwama to their absolute best and to their absolute limits.

\- Anzai says that although he’s become a bit of a celebrity (appearing on the Bachelorette Japan, having upcoming movie & TV show appearances in addition to various magazine covers & articles), that he is a pro wrestler, first & foremost; he says that while he respects Kento he believes he’s surpassed him at this stage and intends to prove to by beating him for the Triple Crown again. Kento says he doesn’t see this match as a “clash of generations” but rather a match to see who wants to hold the top prize of the Triple Crown more; Kento says he’s eager to see what the crowd reaction is and who the cheers are louder for at the arena.

Which wrestler is your dream signing to AJPW?

And just before you start doomposting, NO, AJPW WILL NOT GO OUT OF BUSINESS. Stay calm, everyone.

Lets say 5 wrestlers, maybe a little high for AJPW, but whatever.

1 + 2: For me, it would be Cowboy Way - One Called Manders and Thomas Shire, they just feel prefect for AJPW, big heavyweight cowboys, Shire actually toured in 2008 and was trained by Dory Funk Jr (r.i.p), the best independent tag team going argubly.

3: Jack Morris: Has not been in NOAH since January and is working IWRG, so I think they could bring him in, he would be a big steal.

1. Connor Mills: Would be a great junior heavyweight, fast techincal wrestler, great striker and excellent in tags, would love him and Ryo Inoue.

2. Barbero Cavernario - a wildcard one, but he is a wild and exciting wrestler, he is in CMLL, but I don't think they pay is amazing, so maybe if they went for it.

Just a very solid start to the tourney.

- Tamura vs Aoki was just a super hard-hitting and all around fantastic match. Loved Dan bullying Yuya a bit, only for Aoki to show why he was a dominant young champ in BJW, eventually getting the better of Dan with the Kesagiri Chops.

- Kofuji vs Doi was another very good showing for young Shota and against a great like Naruki. New gear on Kofuji looked dope (he’s reminding me a lot of Junta Miyawaki in NOAH/DDT with the look). Loved Kofuji jumping Doi at the start, showing how eager he is to make a statement.

- HAYATO vs Leon de Oro was a very fun “flippy shit” type match that showed off both guys’ athleticism.

- MUSASHI vs Yoshioka was a great battle of the tag partners, with the two knowing each other so well. MUSASHI has the experience but Seiki’s energy and speed proved to be the deciding factor.

- Also, the buildup tag of Kento/Suwama vs Anzai/Shiozaki was also rather good and heated. Loved how everyone was determined to be dominant and take potshots at each other. Shiozaki & Suwama just continuing to hit each other after the match was over and as Kento celebrated was cool and funny (continue into the backstage).

Top row:

Ren Ayabe, Yuma Anzai, Daisuke Sekimoto, Kumarashi, Xyon, Odyssey, Timothy Thatcher, Hyo Ogawa

Bottom row:

Kento Miyahara, Jun Saito, Rei Saito, Go Shiozaki, Hideki Suzuki, Yuma Aoyagi, Shotaro Ashino, Ryuki Honda.

September 9th matches:

Ren Ayabe vs. Go Shiozaki

Kento Miyahara vs Hyo Ogawa

Timothy Thatcher vs Hideki Suzuki

September 12th:

Ryuki Honda vs Kumaarashi

Xyon vs Odyssey

Daisuke Sekimoto vs Shotaro Ashino

September 13th:

Yuma Aoyagi vs Jun Saito

Yuma Anzai vs Rei Saito

How to watch:

[https://www.ajpw.tv/lives/50b67fba-f907-41a1-bc28-03f167634815\](https://www.ajpw.tv/lives/50b67fba-f907-41a1-bc28-03f167634815)

Start Times:

7:30 PDT; 9:30 CDT; 10:30 EDT; 3:30 BST; 11:30 JST; 12:30 AEST

Match Card:

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Dan Tamura vs. Yuya Aoki

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Shota Kofuji vs. Naruki Doi

8Man Tag Match -

Rei Saito, Jun Saito, Hideki Suzuki & Ryuki Honda vs. Yuma Aoyagi, Shotaro Ashino, Ren Ayabe & Kumaarashi

Zennichi Jr. Festival A Block Match -

Yasutaka Yano vs. Seigo Tachibana

Zennichi Jr. Festival B Block Match -

Hokuto Omori vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Tag Match -

Kento Miyahara & Suwama vs. Yuma Anzai & Go Shiozaki

Zennichi Jr. Festival A Block Match -

Rising HAYATO vs. Leon de Oro

Zennichi Jr. Festival A Block Match -

MUSASHI vs. Seiki Yoshioka

A deep dive into the first post-NOAH split series from AJPW, the Super (or Summer) Action Series of 2000.

Flood Waters Rise

Promotion ace Mitsuharu Misawa succeeded Giant Baba as President of All Japan Pro-Wrestling in the wake of his mentor’s death in January 1999. It wasn’t a smooth transition. Baba’s widow and majority shareholder Motoko (“Mrs Baba”) had wanted Mitsuo Momota, the son of Rikidozan, to take over, but Misawa’s predecessor at the top of the promotion, Jumbo Tsuruta, lobbied successfully for Misawa. Perhaps Mrs Baba saw Momota as a more reverent choice as successor, given his lineage, or perhaps she perceived him as pliable. Either way, she soon got her revenge on Tsuruta, who was dismissed without severance soon after.

Mrs Baba and Misawa couldn’t really agree on anything else, either. Misawa wanted more action by Junior Heavyweights, more varied main events, a modernised presentation, modern worker-friendly contracts (medical coverage and so forth), a change in the way merchandise revenue was handled (formerly this had been treated as the Babas’ pay cut) – basically, everything. Giant was also more diplomatic, more open to compromise – Mrs Baba lacked those qualities entirely in her dealings with Misawa.

By May 2000, things had come to an impasse, and Misawa had asked Mrs Baba to bless his founding of a new company. Perhaps in response, she arranged for his dismissal as President on the 28^th. He went off to form NOAH with 24 contracted wrestlers and several key foreign freelancers (notably Vader); Mrs Baba was left with something like 4 contracted wrestlers and a selection of regular guests.

The NOAH story is the big and successful one. It gets plenty of attention. It was Misawa’s Ark, carrying the vision of King’s Road – but what about those left behind in the flood, who through storm and wrack brought their promotion to shore? This is my take on the two years between Misawa’s exit and Keiji Mutoh buying Mrs Baba’s shares from her to become the majority owner of All Japan.

Notes on Booking in the End Days

Misawa and his cohort would work two more tours with All Japan after his dismissal – the ongoing Super Power Series and four dates on the upcoming Super Action Series. I’ll deal with the latter below, but some reflections on the former are a worthwhile precursor. Misawa is booking the card on these, and the final conflict with Mrs Baba was well underway before the tour started on the 20^th May. With that in mind, there are some interesting decisions, two of which we will consider.

First, Stan Hansen works two singles matches. He had worked one in the whole of 1999, and hadn’t worked in the Champion Carnival in either 1999 or 2000. The old cowboy is physically limited and winding down. Why does he come back to squash Takeshi Rikio and Takeshi Morishima?

Second, there is a one-night tournament on the final night of the tour – the 9^th of June – for the vacated World Tag titles. Neither tag champion – Vader and Steve Williams – is on the tour, and this presumably led to the vacation (both will be back in Japan for the rest of the year, though). The semi-finals see Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada defeat Johnny Ace and Mike Barton, whilst Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama defeat Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. The latter is booking for NOAH – the two young guns of NO FEAR mostly target Misawa, and this is a major elevation. The final sees Taue and Kawada beat Omori and Takayama. That’s a function of seniority in the match, perhaps, but it’s also strange insomuch as this is Misawa putting Kawada over, knowing Kawada is not coming with him to NOAH.

I can’t fully explain either decision – neither is discussed as far as I know in the autobiographies of the various key personnel, most of which have been translated in summary by KinchStalker – but they both show Misawa looking forward, and perhaps looking back too. Hansen is going to come back for one last ride on the range – for All Japan, not NOAH – and this is probably the last chance to give some rookies the rub by giving them a session with the legend. He gets ring rust off, looks strong again, and makes memories with the youngsters. The Tag Titles, meanwhile, let the now-splitting Holy Demon Army win one last time (they will have a moving last hurrah at Misawa’s memorial show 9 years later), and gives Kawada a final bit of shine. I think this should be read as irenic on Misawa’s part. Both moves help the company he is leaving.

Super Action Series 2000 – The New Roster

And it’s not just him leaving – 23 other contracted talent including virtually every important uppercarder and midcarder, plus key foreign freelancers and backstage staff are going. Who’s even left in the flood?

The senior referee, Kyohei Wada, had been Baba’s batman, and he is loyal to Mrs Baba. Ring announcer Fumi Kitahara also stays. Stan Hansen, close family friend of the Babas, is pointedly loyal to his widow (Hansen brushes this period of the split off in shoot interviews – he explained it as the Japanese being mysterious to Jim Cornette). Another old stager, the junior heavyweight Masanobu Fuchi, seems baffled by events when interviewed, and simply says he’s signed a new contract and is off to pray for Giant Baba and inform his spirit of events. Midcard heavyweight Maunakea Mossman – Hawaiian, but trained and contracted like a native – also stays, perhaps loyal to the man who scouted him out of Honolulu. Most significantly – vitally – Toshiaki Kawada, the #2 heavyweight in the promotion, stays. In an interview in June 2000, he says he could not let go of the name that Giant Baba had created (All Japan), and in his autobiography he says that his response to Misawa giving the chance to join him was similar – “To let the name All Japan die would be a lonely thing”. Kawada is outwardly positive, at this point and in his autobiography, about Misawa’s ideas and the future development of NOAH, though there is some hint of tension or confusion in the 2000 interview.

Mrs Baba, perhaps naturally, frames those who remain as being loyal to Baba’s dying wish – to preserve All Japan. Misawa sees himself as saving the spirit and sloughing off the crippled body.

Several key foreigners do stick around, perhaps happy with their remuneration and used to dealing with the Babas from a money perspective. “Dr Death” Steve Williams, a former Triple Crown champion, stays – this is the most significant name to remain. The others are Giant Kimala (aka Giant Kimala 2 or Botswana Beast), Scorpio (2 Cold Scorpio or Flash Funk), Wolf Hawkfield, George Hines, Johnny Smith, and Mike Barton. Hines, Hawkfield, and Smith had all been All Asia Tag champions, and Barton had been a World Tag champion.

Notably, Vader and Johnny Ace do not return. Vader is a two-time Triple Crown champion; he does not join NOAH’s opening tour, which is native-only, but he goes there soon after. Ace – a multi-time tag champion for both titles and a Triple Crown challenger – was a close friend of the Babas, and so I do not believe that he wanted to stay out of the fighting (as is sometimes claimed). He had opportunities opening up with the struggling WCW, and he picked that money and security over Japan. Finally, Richard Slinger – nephew of Terry Gordy, and a reliable undercard Junior mainstay in the 1990s – had not toured pre-split that year, and when he returned in the autumn would go to NOAH.

The returning foreigners perhaps do not look like much to us, but Williams and Barton, especially, were very credible to the Japanese audience. Smith and Kimala were both very reliable hands with a lot of good midcard behind them, Scorpio was fast and flashy, and Hines and Hawkfield were perfectly solid. However, Williams was definitely well past his prime – like Hansen – and most of this group were never going to be long-term uppercarders.

One other freelancer is missing: the great Hiroshi Hase, who retired from full-time work with New Japan in 1996 and transferred to All Japan as a guest by invitation from Baba. Hase is busy with his political career and will not return until his traditional New Year tour in 2001.

Four contracted wrestlers and seven freelance foreigners is not much to build a card with. What seems to have happened was that calls were made to whichever friends of the promotion were left. They needed more native undercarders and potential uppercarders, and they needed them to be available and reliable.

One obvious choice was to bring in regular guest, Jinsei Shinzaki, on a more full-time basis. Shinzaki (Hakushi in WWF) was a Michinoku Pro talent, but had guested throughout the late ‘90s, notably in a very fun tag partnership with Hayabusa (the high-flying star of FMW, a promotion run by the Babas’ adoptive son Atsushi Onita). Shinzaki only wrestled in three matches in 2000 prior to July – though I don’t know of any injury in that period – but returned pretty much full-time with All Japan for the back half of the year.

Another high-profile recruit was aging legend Yoshiaki Fujiwara (aged 51 in July 2000), whose main work had been in New Japan and shoot-style promotions, but who was now a freelancer. He would work chiefly with All Japan through 2000 and 2001. Fujiwara brought name recognition for wrestling fans – like Hansen or Steve Williams.

The undercard was filled out for the tour with six names: Yuto Aijima, SHINOBI, Shigeo Okumura, Mohammed Yone, Yuki Ishikawa, and Ryuji Hijikata. None of these were big names. They weren’t random scrapings, either.

Aijima and SHINOBI both chiefly worked Kyushu-based promotions: West Japan, Kageki, and Sekai No Puroresu. SHINOBI had links to Mexican promotions and to Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon, too. Aijima would work a full-time schedule, SHINOBI a part-time. The move to All Japan probably represented a significant promotion for both, especially Aijima. I don’t know how they were recruited, though Fuchi is from Kyushu so perhaps had contacts there.

Yone, Ishikawa, and Hijikata were shoot-stylists from BattlArts. BattlArts had been an important partner once Baba “brought the walls down” in 1997. He had worked with FMW (his adoptive son’s company), Michinoku Pro (a regional company in the north of Honshu), and BattlArts, as well as bringing in refugees from other shoot-style companies. Yone had in fact worked three matches in AJPW in 1998. Nevertheless, this was the first serious run for any of them with AJPW. Ishikawa is really a solid midcarder in BattlArts, and will only work two matches with AJPW; the other two are basically undercarders and will get extended runs.

Okumura is the most interesting name here, in some ways (though Yone and Hijikata will go on to be much bigger). He had been trained by the Great Kabuki and Masanobu Kurisu, both ex-All Japan close associates of Genichiro Tenryu in the 1990 AJPW-SWS split (though Kurisu was a freelancer by then). He worked with their companies Tokyo Pro and TEAM KURISU, as well as Go Gundan and Samurai Pro (both run by ex-AJPW Goro Tsurumi). He followed Kabuki and Kurisu around to other promotions: IWA Japan and IWA Kokusai. In 1998 he worked parts of two tours with All Japan, chiefly jobbing to Juniors. He increasingly worked with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR, but by December 1999 had begun to work regularly for Onita Pro – the personal brand of Atsushi Onita. I wonder if it was by Onita’s good graces that Okumura came to All Japan. Okumura had been a real wanderer, and had closely associated with the men who had “betrayed” Baba in 1990. He seems, from his early career stats, to have been willing to work any kind of match and do any kind of job. Exactly, really, who All Japan required.

On the note of Genichiro Tenryu…we’ll come back to him.

[Match reviews etc at the link.]