I need advice

[Guest]

I am getting tapes from Strong Style Tapes and I am wondering whether it will be worth my money, if I send for them.

 

AJPW Best of Budokan Hall

Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Steve Williams / Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada Vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi Vs Steve Williams / Dan Kroffat Vs Kikuchi / Abdullah the Butcher & Kamala 2 Vs The Heavenly Bodies / Stan Hansen Vs Kenta Kobashi / Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi Vs Mitsuharu Misawa / Steve Williams & Johnny Ace Vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama / Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada / Steve Williams Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada

This certainly LOOKS good but I am wonderin if anyone has seen it.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi

Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (1/20/97) / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (10/21/97) / Kobashi nails Misawa with a reverse Death Valley Driver / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (10/31/98) / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (6/11/99) / Misawa/Kobashi Music Video

I KNOW this will be good and I cant wait to see the first match on that list.

 

All Japan Champion Carnival 1995

Stan Hansen Vs Takao Omori / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Doug Furnas / Toshiaki Kawada Vs Jun Akiyama / Akira Taue Vs Kenta Kobashi / Doug Furnas Vs Dan Kroffat / Jun Akiyama Vs Takao Omori / Johnny Ace Vs Dan Spivey / Mitsuharu Misawa, Stan Hansen & Kenta Kobashi Vs Shoehi Baba, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue / Jumbo Tsuruta, Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota Vs Masa Fuchi, Haruka Eigen & and Ryukaku Izumida / Jun Akiyama Vs Doug Furnas / Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa Vs Shoehi Baba, Stan Hansen & Takao Omori / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi / Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas Vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi / Stan Hansen Vs Dan Spivey / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Jun Akiyama / Akira Taue Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi Vs Takao Omori / Akira Taue Vs Jun Akiyama / Giant Baba, Stan Hansen & Yoshinari Ogawa Vs Dan Kroffat, Johnny Ace & The Eagle / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga Vs Dan Kroffat, Johnny Ace & The Eagle / Toshiaki Kawada Vs Takao Omori / Stan Hansen Vs Doug Furnas / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Akira Taue

I expect this to be good so I wont be surprised if this IS a good collection of tapes.

 

NOAH Navigation in Raging Ocean Special 2001

Masaji Aoyagi, Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota Vs Kishin Kawabata, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen / Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru Vs Donovan Morgan & Michael Modest / Takuma Sano Vs KENTA / Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura Vs Makoto Hashi & Akitoshi Saito / Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio Vs Richard Slinger & Scorpio / Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue Vs Jun Izumida & Akira Taue / GHC Junior Title Match: Naomichi Marufuji Vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa / GHC Tag Team Title Match: Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama Vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa / GHC Heavyweight Title Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Vader

I have heard things about the Takaiwa v Marufuji match so I am SERIOULY considering this tape.

 

NJPW J*Crown Tournament 1996

Great Sasuke Vs Masayoshi Motegi / Ultimo Dragon Vs Jushin Liger / Shinjiro Otani Vs Negro Casas / El Samurai Vs Gran Hamada / Ultimo Dragon Vs Shinjiro Otani / Great Sasuke Vs El Samurai / Great Sasuke Vs Ultimo Dragon

Another tape with HUGE ratings and I am wondering if it is worth it ?

 

APW KING OF INDIES 2001

Doug Williams Vs Adam Pearce / Bison Smith Vs Tony Jones / Donovan Morgan Vs Scoot Andrews / Frankie Kazarian Vs Samoa Joe / American Dragon Vs Spanky / Christopher Daniels Vs Super Dragon / Jardi Frantz Vs AJ Styles / Vincenzo Massaro Vs Lo-Ki' / KOI Day Two / Donovan Morgan Vs Bison Smith / American Dragon Vs Doug Williams / Lo-Ki' Vs Samoa Joe / Christopher Daniels Vs AJ Styles / 19 Man Battle Royal / American Dragon Vs Donovan Morgan / Lo-Ki' Vs Christopher Daniels / King Of Indies Final: American Dragon Vs Lo-Ki'

I KNOW THIS IS NOT A FOREIGN TAPE ! I just wanna know if its good or not.

[Guest wolverine]

AJPW Best of Budokan Hall

Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Steve Williams / Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada Vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi Vs Steve Williams / Dan Kroffat Vs Kikuchi / Abdullah the Butcher & Kamala 2 Vs The Heavenly Bodies / Stan Hansen Vs Kenta Kobashi / Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada / Kenta Kobashi Vs Mitsuharu Misawa / Steve Williams & Johnny Ace Vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama / Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada / Steve Williams Vs Toshiaki Kawada / Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi Vs Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada

This certainly LOOKS good but I am wonderin if anyone has seen it.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi

Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (1/20/97) / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (10/21/97) / Kobashi nails Misawa with a reverse Death Valley Driver / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (10/31/98) / Triple Crown Match: Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi (6/11/99) / Misawa/Kobashi Music Video

I KNOW this will be good and I cant wait to see the first match on that list.

 

I wouldn't recommend buying pre-made comp tapes (unless you have it custom made from someone) due to the VQ loss.  I would recommend buying complete commercial tapes with the matches listed above on them.  I also would recommend buying them from people with masters/originals and getting them done in SP.  Forget SLP, it's not worth it.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

- AJPW Best of Budokan Hall

 

This does look great, and although I've not seen it, I have also looked at it and drooled a little. Thing is, you're gonna have to except some clipping on there, you could lose chunks of some classic matches, which would be horrible as it would spoil the full versions for you when you eventually get round to seeing them.

 

- Mitsuharu Misawa Vs Kenta Kobashi

 

This looks like a great compilation to me, seems to be a good length so no matches will be clipped probably. About the VQ quality, the presense of clips from other matches as well as all the matches in the feud suggests to me that this was orginally a commercial compilation, although I could be wrong. Anyway, a VQ loss is acceptable most times, so you're decision.

 

- All Japan Champion Carnival 1995

 

This is one hell of a tape set, really good stuff almost from top to bottom and a great introduction into AJPW heavyweights fro mthe mid-card upwards. Watch for the amazing performance from Taue throughout, and when you're done with that tape set, get the finals. Good god, get the finals.

 

- NOAH Navigation in Raging Ocean Special 2001

 

Not seen this, but the presense of a universally acclaimed match will mean that this will be a quality introduction to NOAH, and a guarenteed decent purchase.

 

- NJPW J*Crown Tournament 1996

 

Yeah, this is all good, pretty much. Worth the money definately, just not stunning.

 

- APW KING OF INDIES 2001

 

I've got no idea how good this is, but it looks like a tidy intro to some of the big names on the indie scene.

 

Hope this helps

[Guest wolverine]

"About the VQ quality, the presense of clips from other matches as well as all the matches in the feud suggests to me that this was orginally a commercial compilation, although I could be wrong. Anyway, a VQ loss is acceptable most times, so you're decision."

 

There is no commercial compilation of these matches.  These matches are available on these tapes only:

 

New Year's Giant Series '97

October Giant Series '97

October Giant Series '98

Super Power Series '99

 

"get the finals."

 

Their 9/10/95 match is better.

[Guest J*ingus]

"AJPW Best of Budokan Hall"

 

Watch it with this one, I think it could be one that RFVideo put together, which means that the video quality goes straight to hell.  

 

 

"I would recommend buying complete commercial tapes with the matches listed above on them.  I also would recommend buying them from people with masters/originals and getting them done in SP.  Forget SLP, it's not worth it."

 

That's fine if you've got plenty of cash to make Jeff Lynch rich with, but it costs a lot of money to do it that way.  If you don't mind the drop in quality (which I for one don't) an SLP compilation of just the matches you want will cost MUCH less than buying all the commercial tapes with them.  Also, this guy lives in the UK, whichs limits hin to PAL tape distributors, cutting way down on his options on what to buy.

[Guest Black Tiger]

The sites listed in "Read and Don't Forget" are all top notch places that have tapes with great VQ and are generaly very cheap.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

There is no commercial compilation of these matches.  These matches are available on these tapes only:

 

New Year's Giant Series '97

October Giant Series '97

October Giant Series '98

Super Power Series '99

 

"get the finals."

 

Their 9/10/95 match is better.

Fair enough about the commercial release thing, I was only guessing about the status of that tape and wasn't aware there was no commercial release. I still think that compilation is worth getting though, definately.

 

About the finals thing, their 9/10/95 match may be better, but you DO want to get the finals as well. You dont only want to own the absolute best of everything. Personally, I want all matches that are generally considered average or above in quality, or interesting enough to be purchased for whatever reason. Let's face it, I want matches that are absolutely awful as well, just to see and experience everything.

 

Meh, that was completely off topic, but it don't really matter

[Guest wolverine]

"About the finals thing, their 9/10/95 match may be better, but you DO want to get the finals as well. You dont only want to own the absolute best of everything. Personally, I want all matches that are generally considered average or above in quality, or interesting enough to be purchased for whatever reason. Let's face it, I want matches that are absolutely awful as well, just to see and experience everything."

 

Oh, I definitely agree about the CC '95 Finals being a must have.  It's an awesome match, I was just saying that I thought 9/95 was better.  Both are very close to *****.

[Guest Jubuki]

King of the Indies is a waste of four hours.  Get, uh, anything else but that.  And All Japan comps are not the way to go.

[Guest The Son of Sting]

All Japan Champion Carnival 1995 is very good.

[Guest gusmahler]

Whether or not you get comps is a personal decision, IMO.  I think the loss in quality is relatively minor compared to the cost savings.  E.g., to get 1/20/97, 10/21/97, and 10/31/98 (all considered great matches, each making the DVDVR best AJPW mathces of the 90s), one would normally have to pay $10 to $12 for each of the commercial tapes.  Buying them all in one shot is a great savings for one getting started in AJPW.

 

As for the tapes mentioned, I was considering getting the Budokon Hall tape, but I don't know the dates of those matches, and that worries me.  You should love the Misawa/Kobashi compilation (Personally, I have those matches from a different compilation: the top 20 AJPW matches of the 90s, from http://bradbelote.tripod.com/tapelist.html.  The Champions Carnival final of 95 is on that compilation.)

[Guest wolverine]

When I first started buying tapes back in 1999-2000, I didn't know where to go, so I bought some of those "Best of" comps.  Very bad quality from my experience.  Thankfully, I discovered some good dealers like Triple Crown, Ultimo, and Lynch, and I started to know what great VQ was like.  If you've got the cash, it's well worth it.

 

As far as the Misawa-Kobashi matches, I don't think the 10/98 and 6/99 are that great.  They're pimped to the moon, but this was when AJ was going downhill, and the focus was on popping the crowd with head dropping, whereas their earlier matches represented something closer to "early 90's AJ style" which I prefer greatly.

[Guest Joshi Guerrero]

The champions carnival '95 is well worth getting.

 

King of Indies can leave you feeling a little let down as many people spoke so highly of it, but I think it's worth seeing for the Spanky/American Dragon & Low Ki/Samoa Joe matches. You might want to get Super 8 '01 as all in all it's a better show.

 

EDIT: I forgot J Crown Another tape that is well worth geting, I think just about every puro fan has seen it, so even if you think it's overrated at least you can bitch with them

[Guest gusmahler]

When I first started buying tapes back in 1999-2000, I didn't know where to go, so I bought some of those "Best of" comps.  Very bad quality from my experience.  Thankfully, I discovered some good dealers like Triple Crown, Ultimo, and Lynch, and I started to know what great VQ was like.  If you've got the cash, it's well worth it.

 

As far as the Misawa-Kobashi matches, I don't think the 10/98 and 6/99 are that great.  They're pimped to the moon, but this was when AJ was going downhill, and the focus was on popping the crowd with head dropping, whereas their earlier matches represented something closer to "early 90's AJ style" which I prefer greatly.

Thankfully, I discovered some good dealers like Triple Crown, Ultimo, and Lynch, and I started to know what great VQ was like.  If you've got the cash, it's well worth it.

Unfortunately, Ultimo is no longer taking new orders.

[Guest wolverine]

"Unfortunately, Ultimo is no longer taking new orders."

 

I know that.  But if you read my post, you can see the time frame I was referring to.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Triplecrowntapes and Wrestleholics are both very good. Great VQ and dirt cheap prices.

 

J* Crown was the first Puroresu tape I ever got. It remains one of my favorites. Ohtani and Dragon put on a ****3/4 match. Before the J* Crown you ought to get the Skydiving J. It leads up to the J* Crown and has several great matches, including a pseudo shoot between Kazushi Sakuraba and Shinjiro Ohtani.

 

If you want the 1995 Champions Carnival get it from Goldenboytapes.com. They have all three parts, plus the finals on a three tape set, without loss of VQ.

 

I haven't seen any Misawa vs Kobashi, but Misawa vs Tsuruta and Misawa vs Kawada rock the house.

[Guest wolverine]

"If you want the 1995 Champions Carnival get it from Goldenboytapes.com. They have all three parts, plus the finals on a three tape set, without loss of VQ."

 

I got my set of CC '95 from Triple Crown, so I'd go there since they've got the masters.

[Guest Black Tiger]

Wolverine,

 

Do you have all five parts of the Champions Carnival. Part 4 being the Kobashi vs Kawada round robin draw, Part 5 being the Misawa vs Taue final match

[Guest wolverine]

I have Part 1, 2 and the Finals.

 

I have never seen or heard of a part 4.  I don't think it exists, but it may.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

I think it may exist, if it does it's certainly extremely rare. Justin mentioned wanting to get it in one of the parts of his CC 95 review, but I've never actually seen a review of that 'part 4'.

[Guest wolverine]

As much as I love Kobashi and Kawada, their 1/95 60 min draw bored the shit out of me, so I don't know if I'd be interested in that 30 min draw.

[Guest]

You honestly didn't like the 1/95 60 minute draw? I didn't like it either, but after a second viewing I found it MUCH better. Kawada is just awesome in the match. Now, I didn't like the ending at all, nor did I like the last 2-3 minutes, but it is one of my personal favorite matches aside from that. Try watching it again.

[Guest wolverine]

I got rid of it, just like I got rid of the 1/24/95 60 min tag match.

 

BTW, is Jumbo-Kobashi 5/91 awesome or what?  If only there was stuff out there like that today....

[Guest PlatypusFool]

I can't understand getting rid of matches at all. As a wrestling fan, I want nearly every wrestling match on the planet, good, bad, interesting or bland, I want everything. It will never happen of course, and I don't have the cash to make it happen, but if I had stuff, there is no way I'd get rid of it. Everything is interesting in wrestling, even if it's terrible or boring, so I don't want to get rid of anything.

[Guest wolverine]

"I can't understand getting rid of matches at all. As a wrestling fan, I want nearly every wrestling match on the planet, good, bad, interesting or bland, I want everything. It will never happen of course, and I don't have the cash to make it happen, but if I had stuff, there is no way I'd get rid of it. Everything is interesting in wrestling, even if it's terrible or boring, so I don't want to get rid of anything."

 

I don't believe in that.  If I don't want something, I'll try to trade it for something I do want.  It worked out for me.

[Guest Jubuki]

There's a part 3 to the 95 CC, but I've never heard of 4.  3 is a fabulous tape.

[Guest wolverine]

Yeah, I heard the Misawa-Kawada was great.  But I've seen so much All Japan, that I'm kind of burnt out on it, so I don't know if I'll get the tape.  I need more Zenjo and ARSION first.

[Guest Black Tiger]

The only thing I have a problem with on the 1995 CC is the treatment of Takao Omori. They could have at least put him over Doug Furnas or Dan Kroffat.

 

I heard about Part 4 from Justin's review. If it does exhist, its harder than hell to come by.

[Guest]

I got rid of it, just like I got rid of the 1/24/95 60 min tag match.

 

Now I can definitley understand getting rid of THAT match..., one of the "worst" matches those two teams have had. But 1/19/95 is worth taking another look at...I think, anyway. If you have the money anyway. It's ALL about the money.

[Guest wolverine]

Now I can definitley understand getting rid of THAT match..., one of the "worst" matches those two teams have had.

 

I have no problem saying it is THE worst match they've had.  Part of what makes Taue's CC '95 performance so remarkable is looking at him in 1/95 and comparing. ***1/2

 

But 1/19/95 is worth taking another look at...I think, anyway. If you have the money anyway. It's ALL about the money.

 

Well, it's been about 1 1/2 years since I saw it, and I don't anticipate buying it again.  One of the major contributing factors to me not liking it is the horrible production/acoustics/lighting/announcing with a match that seemed like it wouldn't end, all wrapped in one nice package.  I remember when they were doing some highspots in there, the announcer (not Baba) would go: "Ahhhh" or "Ehhhh" or some stupid shit like that and weren't calling any of the moves, and seemed to laugh at a lot of what the wrestlers were doing.