All Japan TV 3-18-93 Misawa vs Choshu for the Triple Crown!
Mar 25, 2023 18:17:37 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Mar 25, 2023 18:17:37 GMT
Sanctioned by the Pacific Wrestling Federation; Lord James Blears, chairman
Airs across Japan on Saturday, March 18, 1993 on:
Taped on March 3, 1993 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Kosuke Takeuchi
Ring Announcer: Takashi Yamada
Referees: Red Shoes Unno, Tiger Hattori and Kyohei Wada
KENJI WAKABAYASHI and KOSUKE TAKEUCHI open the show.
They welcome us to this week’s episode of “All Japan Pro Wrestling”!
This week, we’ll kick things off with junior heavyweight action, as Tiger Mask III squares off with Tsuyoshi Kikuchi!
Kenta Kobashi will test himself against Danny Spivey!
And, the feature bout will see Mitsuharu Misawa defend the Triple Crown against NJPW’s Riki Choshu!
TIGER MASK III beats TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI. The match starts off with the two junior heavyweights trading holds and counters on the mat. But as the match progresses, they kick things into high gear, with Tiger Mask breaking out his high flying maneuvers, while Kikuchi tries to ground the masked man and keep things on the mat.
In the end, Tiger Mask catches Kikuchi with the Tiger Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!
We go to a video package of the late Andre the Giant. We see clips of him teaming with Giant Baba, as well as some clips from New Japan, including his legendary match with Stan Hansen in 1981 at Denen Coliseum.
After the video package ends, there’s a 10-bell salute for Andre.
KENTA KOBASHI beats DANNY SPIVEY. Kobashi has no fear, as he goes toe to toe with the bigger, stronger Spivey as soon as the bell rings! Spivey seems amused by this, and knocks Kobashi around, but Spivey is caught off guard when Kobashi battles back, and stuns Spivey with some vicious forearm shots! They go back and forth in the early going, with neither man getting a clear advantage over the other.
As the match progresses, Spivey’s size and strength advantage looks like it might be too much for Kobashi to overcome. Spivey methodically wears Kobashi down with brawling and power moves. Kobashi shows his fighting spirit though, no matter how big a beating he takes, he keeps fighting back!
The fans are solidly behind Kobashi now, hoping to see the underdog pull off the upset! This seems to energize Kobashi, and he starts to turn the tables! It’s short-lived, though, as Spivey stops Kobashi by driving a knee into Kobashi’s gut, then nearly taking Kenta’s head off with a vicious clothesline!
It’s still not enough, though, Kobashi just won’t stay down! Spivey decides it’s time for his Spivey Spike DDT, to try to put an end to the match once and for all. But as soon as he goes for the move, Kobashi immediately pushes him backwards into the corner, breaking up the DDT attempt!
Spivey delivers some clubbing forearm blows, but Kobashi responds with some knife-edged chops that you can hear even in the furthest corners of the Nippon Budokan! Kobashi whips Spivey into the ropes, as as Danny rebounds off the ropes, Kobashi catches him right on the chin with a standing dropkick. Kobashi then drives Spivey into the mat with a Saito suplex, then heads to the top rope.
With Spivey down on the mat, Kobashi delivers his Moonsault from the top turnbuckle, then covers Spivey for the 1, 2, 3!
The underdog Kobashi has pulled off an upset over Danny Spivey!
PWF Chairman Lord James Blears enters the ring, and makes the announcement that the next match will be for the Triple Crown championship!
Several women are in the ring, and when Choshu and Misawa are announced, the women present flowers to both men.
AJPW TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
MITSUHARU MISAWA (champ, 2nd defence) defeats RIKI CHOSHU. This is the first shot at a title for the New Japan contingent, and Riki Choshu has made it clear that he intends to leave Nippon Budokan with the three title belts!
The animosity between these two quickly comes to the surface, as Choshu slaps the taste out of Misawa’s mouth, and the champion responds in kind! Things errupt at that point, as they tear into each other, each man looking for a weakness to exploit in the other.
Choshu looks to put the champion away early, as he connects with a vicious Lariat, but Misawa kicks out at one! After that, Choshu starts to target the knee of the champion, which serves a number of purposes. If he can injure the leg of the champion, it will lessen the power that Misawa gets behind his rolling elbow shots, and it will also soften Misawa up for Choshu’s signature hold, the Scorpion lock!
Choshu controls the next several minutes of the match, mostly focusing his attacks on the knee of the champion. Several times, Choshu goes for the Scorpion Lock, but Misawa is able to either escape before Choshu can lock it on, or reach the ropes to force the break.
As we near the 20-minute mark of the match, Misawa starts to rally. Realizing he’s in very real jeopardy of losing the titles, he slowly makes a comeback! It looks like it might not amount to much, as Choshu just keeps going back to the knee, and that stops Misawa in his tracks. But the champion fights through the pain, and delivers a vicious rolling elbow that knocks Choshu loopy!
Misawa delivers the Tiger Driver, but Choshu manages to kick out at the last second! Misawa realizes it will take more than that, and so he goes for the Tiger Driver ’91! Choshu tries to fight his way out of it, but Misawa delivers some brutal elbow strikes, then hooks Choshu up in the double underhook, and proceeds to drive him into the mat, right on the back of his head, with the Tiger Driver ’91!
Choshu can’t kick out this time, and Misawa gets the 1, 2, 3 to retain the Triple Crown championship!
Wakabayashi and Takeuchi wrap things up, and hype next week’s show. We’ll see more action from Nippon Budokan, with Terry Gordy facing Jun Akiyama, Ultimo Dragon challenging Jushin Thunder Liger for the World Jr Heavyweight title, and Toshiaki Kawada squaring off with Scott Norton!
Credits Roll
© 1993, All Japan Pro Wrestling
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