AJPW TV 1997 Complete Collection- 14 Disc DVD

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 1/5/97
(Taped 1/2 Tokyo)
Hiro Hase vs Kentaro Shiga
Battle Royal

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 1/12/97
(taped 1/2 Tokyo)
Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Ryukaku Izumida vs Steve Williams/Johnny Ace/Bobby Duncum Jr
Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Satoru Asako vs Kenta Kobashi/Lacrosse/Mossman

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 1/19/97
(Taped 1/17 Matsumoto)
Steve Williams/Johnny Ace vs Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue (PWF/Intl Tag Titles)

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 1/26/97
(Taped 1/17 Matsumoto)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Tamon Honda
Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama/The Eagle vs Stan Hansen/Takao Omori/Bobby Duncum Jr

1997/02/02 – All Japan TV (taped: 1997/01/20 – Osaka)
01. Triple Crown: Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
30 minutes – Source: VHS

1997/02/09 – All Japan TV (taped: 1997/01/20 – Osaka)
01. Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue
02. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & The Eagle vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue
03. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (1997/01/26 – Tokyo)
30 minutes – Source: VHS

1997/02/16 – All Japan TV (taped: 1997/02/16 – Tokyo)
01. Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Rex King
02. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace & Maunakea Mossman vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako
30 minutes – Source: VHS

1997/02/23 – 1997/02/16 – Tokyo)
01. Akira Taue & Giant Kimala II & Ryukaku Izumida vs. Stan Hansen & Takao Omori & Tamon Honda
02. Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi & Masao Inoue
30 minutes – Source: VHS

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 3/2/97
(taped 3/1 Tokyo)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams (PWF/UN/INTL TItles)

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 3/9/97
(taped 3/1 Tokyo
Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs. Gary Albright/Yoshihiro Takayama - PWF/Int'l Tag Team Titles

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 3/16/97
(taped 3/1 Tokyo)
Johnny Ace/Maunakea Mossman vs Stan Hanson/Rex King
Jun Akiyama/Kentaro Shiga vs Kenta Kobashi/Yoshinobu Kanemura

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 3/23/97 Champion Carnival Tv Special
(taped 3/22 Tokyo)
Akira Taue vs Johnny Ace
Kenta Kobashi vs Takao Omori
Toshiaki Kawada vs Tamon Honda
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Gary Allbright

All Japan on Nippon Tv 4/27/97 Champion Carnival Tv Special
(taped 4/19 Tokyo)
Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi (Champion Carnival FINAL: Triangular Match) ****1/2

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 5/4/97
(taped 4/19 Tokyo)
Yoshinari Ogawa/Kentaro Shiga vs Hayabusa/Yoshinobu Kanemura
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs The Tornado (PWF Jr Title)

All Japan on Nippon Tv 5/11/97
(taped 4/19 Tokyo)
Jun Akiyama/Tamon Honda vs Akira Taue/Masao Inoue
Stan Hanson/Gary Allbright/Takao Omori vs Steve Williams/Johnny Ace/Johnny Smith

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 5/18/97
(taped 5/18 Tokyo)
Shoehi Baba/Rusher Kimura/Daisuke Ikeda vs Masa Fuchi/Haruka Eigen/M.Inoue
Steve Williams/The Lacrosse vs Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 5/25/97
(taped 5/18 Tokyo)
Ogawa/Shiga vs. Sabu/Rob Van Dam
Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace/Patriot vs Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Takao Omori

All Japan 30 on Nippon Tv 6/1/97
(taped 5/27 Sapporo)
Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace (PWF/INTL Tag Title) ****1/4
(taped 5/31 Sendai)
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Kentaro Shiga vs Steve Williams/Richard Slinger/The Lacrosse ***

All Japan on Nippon Tv 6/8/97
(taped 6/6/ Tokyo)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (PWF/UN/INTL Titles) *****

All Japan on Nippon Tv 6/15/97
(taped 6/6/ Tokyo)
Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace/The Patriot vs Steve Williams/Gary Allbright/Lacrosse
(taped 5/31 Sendai)
Jun Akiyama/Takao Omori vs Masao Inoue/Tamon Honda (Asian Tag Title)

All Japan on Nippon Tv 6/22/97
(taped 6/6 Tokyo)
Hayabusa/Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori/Kentaro Shiga
(taped 5/27 Sapporo)
Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama

All Japan on Nippon Tv 6/29/97
(taped 6/29)
Daisuke Ikeda/Takeshi Ono vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Yoshinari Ogawa
Jun Akiyama/Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue/Tamon Honda

AJ TV 7/6/97 '97 Summer Action Series
taped 6/29 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kawada & Omori vs. Hansen & Smith.m *
Kobashi & Ace & Mossman vs. Williams & Albright & Lacrosse. ***

AJ TV 7/13/97 ''97 Summer Action Series
taped 7/5 Nanao
Hase & Ikeda vs. Kikuchi & Shiga. **
Kawada & Taue & Ogawa vs. Kobashi & Ace & Mossman. **3/4

AJ TV 7/20/97 '97 Summer Action Series
Taped 7/5 Nanao
Misawa & Asako vs. Akiyama & Honda. **1/4
Hansen & Smith & Omori vs. Williams & Albright & Lacrosse. *3/4

AJ TV 7/27/97 '97 Summer Action Series
taped 7/25 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Taue. ****1/2

All Japan on Nippon Tv 8/3/97
(taped 7/25 Tokyo)
Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace vs Steve Williams/Gary Allbright (PWF/INTL Tag Titles)

All Japan on Nippon Tv 8/10/97
(taped 7/25 Tokyo)
Hiro Hase/Jun Akiyama vs Jinsei Shinzaki/Johnny Smith

All Japan on Nippon Tv 8/17/97
(taped 7/25 Tokyo)
Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Daisuke Ikeda
Toshiaki Kawada/Tamon Honda vs Yoshihiro Takayama/Lacrosse

All Japan on Nippon Tv 8/24/97
(taped 8/22 Tokyo)
Yoshinari Ogawa vs Maunakea Mossman (PWF Jr Title)
Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Tamon Honda vs Steve Williams/Lacrosse/Gary Allbright

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 8/30 '97 Summer Action Series 2
taped 8/26 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kenta Kobashi vs. Hiroshi Hase. ****1/4
World Tag Titles: Steve Williams & Gary Albright vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama. ***1/4

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/7 '97 Summer Action Series 2
taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama. ****

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/14 '97 Summer Action Series 2
taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Hase vs. Tatsuo Nakano. Clip.
Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama. 3/4*

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/21/97 '97 Summer Action Series 2
taped 9/6 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga. ***1/4

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 9/28 '97 Giant Series
taped 9/27 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kenta Kobashi vs. Takao Omori. **1/4
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunakea Mossman vs. Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse. **

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/5 '97 Giant Series
taped 9/27 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith. *1/2
Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. *
9/15 Korakuen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Hiroshi Hase vs. Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama.

Best of AJPW 1997 V.34 *
[H258]
Video Quality: VG-EX
Run Time 2:00

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/12 '97 Giant Series
taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Triple Crown: Misawa vs. Williams. ***

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/19 '97 Giant Series
taped 10/11 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Akiyama & Shiga vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. ***
World Tag Titles: Kobashi & Ace vs. Kawada & Taue. ***

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 10/26 '97 Giant Series
taped 10/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi. *****

All Japan on Nippon Tv 11/2/97
(taped 10/21 Tokyo)
Shoehi Baba/Stan Hanson/Jumbo Tsuruta vs Masa Fuchi/Tamon Honda/Kimala II
Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshihiro Takayama

AJPW NTV 11/9/97 '97 Giant Series taped 10/21 Tokyo Nippon Budokan
Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse vs. Johnny Smith & Bobby Duncum Jr. & Rex King. **
Akira Taue vs. Johnny Ace. Both men worked really hard. They weren't graceful, but they were effective. They worked pretty stiff and they used their spots well, throwing in all their special spots like Taue's tope and Ace's moonsault. Timing was really good, and Ace was pulling his big spots out of nowhere to counter Taue's nodowa otoshi. ***3/4

AJPW NTV 11/16 '97 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Misawa & Akiyama vs. Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield. Smith & Wolf dominated the match in order to get heat, and that combined with the fact that they took the heavy favorites so deep was enough for it to work. Smith worked most of the portion that aired and he was very good as always. ***1/2
Kawada & Taue vs. Hansen & Bobby Duncum Jr. Slow paced and boring. Waste of tv time. *1/4

AJPW NTV 11/23 '97 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/23 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
League Bout: Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace 23:06 of 29:50. Slow building match that was elevated by a surprisingly receptive and vocal crowd that was reacting to all the big moves and near falls. It was nearly a great match despite not really knowing exactly what it was, it wasn't one of their new style workrate junior style headdropping matches, nor did it have much in the way of old style psychology or story. It was just an extremely well worked match that was still and had excellent heavyweight offense and bumps and super timing. One thing that helped elevate the match is Ace gave one of his most effective performances of the period. He's not the worker the others are, but he knew when to interject and use his big moves. For instance, stopping Misawa's elbow suicida to Kobashi by coming in and decapitating him with a lariat. Akiyama was fine, but this wasn't one of his standout performances. Misawa was motivated though and helped to make up for it, pretty much carrying his team for once. Kobashi was obviously an improvement over Ace, but as with Akiyama, it wasn't one of his gonzo crazy performances, just a standard big tag match performance, though thankfully his standard is quite high. ****1/4

AJPW NTV 11/30 '97 World's Strongest Tag Team League taped 11/27 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Kawada & Taue vs. Kobashi & Ace. Less than 1/3 of a 30:00 draw aired. Looked very good.
Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki 15:10 of 21:34. A few years earlier the notion of such a match being taken seriously in AJ rings would have been laughed off, but at this point Misawa and Akiyama just wanted to do flashy junior style offense oriented matches, so they were closer to ideal opponents. Hayabusa & Jinsei were allowed to compete, pulling all their flashy acrobatics no matter how contrived. Their high spots were actually worked into the match well, though. The main problem is Hayabusa & Shinzaki had absolutely nothing to use early on, as they can't strike with Misawa or really be credible doing any of the usual lead up. They pretty much skipped over that part though, and did tons of great spots, albeit without a lot of substance. It was a very exciting match with a rabid crowd that bought into Hayabusa's team having a chance, and was psyched when Hayabusa had a credible near fall on Akiyama with his phoenix splash. The build, selling, and psychology could have been a whole lot better, but in this new style of All Japan, this was a superior tag match. ****

AJ TV 12/7/97 '97 Real World Tag Team League Final
taped 12/5 Tokyo Nippon Budokan Hall
Taue & Kawada vs Misawa & Akiyama. ****3/4

All Japan on Nippon Tv 12/14/97
(taped 12/5 Tokyo)
Shoehi Baba/Rusher Kimura/Mitsuo Momoto vs Masa Fuchi/Haruka Eigen/T.Kikuchi
Johnny Smith/Wolf/Kimala II vs Kenta Kobashi/Johnny Ace/Maunakea Mossman

AJ Pro Wrestling 30 12/21/97 '97 Real World Tag Team League
taped 12/5 Tokyo Nippon Budokan &11/23 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Williams & Albright & Windham vs Hansen & Duncum Jr. & Omori (12/5). Highlights.
League Bout: Williams & Albright vs Windham & Bradshaw (11/23). Highlights.
League Bout: Taue & Kawada vs Hayabusa & Shinzaki (11/23). ****1/2

All Japan Pro Wrestling Special 12/28/97 1997 Year in Review
top five AJ matches of 1997
1. 10/21 TC: Misawa vs. Kobashi
2. 12/5 Tag Final: Kawada & Taue vs. Misawa & Akiyama
3. 8/26 Hase vs. Kobashi
4. 11/27 Tag League Bout: Misawa & Akiyama vs. Hayabusa & Shinzaki
5. 3/1 World Tag Titles: Kawada & Taue vs Takayama & Albright



NJPW World Pro Wrestling 11/15 nWo Typhoon taped 10/31 Hiroshima Sun Plaza
Junior 3 vs. 3 Elimination: Ka Shin & Liger & Samurai vs. Kanemoto & Takaiwa & Otani. ****1/2
Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Keiji Muto & NWO Sting. Muto, Yamazaki, & Hashimoto all looked very good here. Only 1/3 aired, but it looked good to very good.
IWGP World Heavyweight Title: Kensuke Sasaki vs. Masa Chono. Very heated. Chono instilled the psychology and both sold long to put the moves over. These guys just aren't very good workers though. Great heat. Somewhat boring though. ***

NJPW 11/22/97 FINAL POWER HALL in Fukuoka Dome taped 11/2/97 Fukuoka Dome
Don Frye vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. Good back and forth match. **1/2
Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda vs. Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Michiyoshi Ohara. Norton's knee went out so they went home early, which just put us out of our misery. 3/4*
Tiger King (Sayama) & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Tiger King was way out classed to the point he was hurting the match and embarrassing himself. Everyone else was very good though. Lots of great spots with execution below normal due to Tiger. ***1/2
J Crown: Shinjiro Otani vs. Wild Pegasus (Benoit). ***3/4

NJPW World Pro Wrestling 11/29/97
League Bout: Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda vs. NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Too much Sting & Yasuda. Those two didn't look good and Tenzan & Kojima didn't work enough to save it. *1/4
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai & Kendo Kashin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Typical match with great work and great spots back and forth. Focus was Ka Shin pushing Kanemoto. ****
Kensuke Sasaki & Shinya Hashimoto & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Hiro Saito & Tatsu Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara. Snooze. *

NJPW World Pro Wrestling 12/6/97
SG Tag League Bout: Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. NWO Sting & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Really long and boring match with no one looking good. More of the Goto & Ohara angle including them kidnapping Hiro Saito. 1/2*
El Samurai vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa. All the big spots back and forth. Looked great in this edited down form, but we know better. ***1/2 range
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Ka Shin vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto. Another great match that built Ka Shin up for this title shot. ****
SG Tag League Bout: Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi. Solid match with good action. ***

NJPW World Pro Wrestling 12/13/97
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs. Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara
Jushin Thunder Liger & Kendo Kashin & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto & Tatsuhito Takaiwa
Shinya Hashimoto & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & NWO Sting
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki