It is the end of 2018; thus,\nit is time to reflect on the year in pro wrestling. Today, we will look at a\npromotion that is on its way back to prominence. It is a promotion that is in a\ntransition period. This is, of course, All Japan Pro Wrestling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All Japan is a promotion\nthat set the wrestling world on fire in the mid-90s, with numerous classic\nmatches featuring Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada and many\nothers. Then, in 1999, AJPW founder and owner Giant Baba passed away. Baba was\nvery popular with the wrestlers when he was in control. The heir to the\ncompany, his wife Motoko, was not. When she took over the company, many top wrestlers,\nled by Misawa, left to form Pro Wrestling NOAH, leaving AJPW in the dark for\nyears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AJPW still has not\nreturned to its former glory, and it likely never will, but 2018 showed a lot\nof promise as to what is in stores for them in the future. If I could use one\nword to describe AJPW in 2018, it would be \u201cstable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2016, Kento Miyahara\nestablished himself as the ace of AJPW, and has carried the company on his back\never since. This is much akin to Hiroshi Tanahashi being the centerpiece to a\nrecovering New Japan Pro Wrestling in the late 2000s. 2018 was a year where Miyahara\ncontinued to be the main attraction, but the company also worked to build around\nhim, pushing newer talent and pushing other, established talent to near the\nsame level as Miyahara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the beginning of the\nyear, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship found itself around the waist\nof Joe Doering, who, aesthetically, is as close to a modern Stan Hansen as any\nwrestler in the world right now. He fits the mold of what a top gaijin\n(foreigner) should be in AJPW right now. A big, mean dude who beats the heck\nout of people, and puts on good, believable matches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, eventually, the\nchampionship had to find its way back to the stable ace Miyahara. This came on\nMarch 25 at the final day of the Dream Power Series. This win assured that Miyahara\nwould be champion heading in to Champion Carnival, which was the G1 Climax\nbefore the G1 Climax existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Champion Carnival was\neasily the highlight of the year for AJPW. This is due in big part to the\nconsistent excellence of the A Block. This block consisted of Miyahara, Doering,\nShuji Ishikawa, Yuji Hino, Ryoji Sai, Naoya Nomura, The Bodyguard, and current\nNJPW star Shingo Takagi. The tournament started off with a bang, with Takagi\ndefeating Miyahara in the main event of the first night, earning himself a\nfuture title match (at least we all thought that until he signed with NJPW). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The B Block was not a bunch\nof slouches either. Suwama, Zeus, Jun Akiyama, and Pro Wrestling NOAH star\nNaomichi Marufuji killed it pretty much every night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finals saw Marufuji\ndefeat Miyahara in a legitimate match of the year contender. This of course\nearned Marufuji a title match a month later on the final day of the Super Power\nSeries at Korakuen Hall. They had another brilliant match, this time with\nMiyahara winning and retaining the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This whole two month\nstretch for AJPW showed that maybe they are ready to compete with the bigger\ncompanies like Dragon Gate, or maybe even NJPW. During the Champion Carnival\ntour through the Super Power Series, NJPW was having their Wrestling Dontaku\ntour. This is one of the lower points of NJPW\u2019s year business-wise, but nonetheless\nAJPW outdrew them at Korakuen Hall for the last three nights of the Carnival.\nThings were really looking up during this first half of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end of the second\nMiyahara-Marufuji match would end up being an omen for the rest of AJPW\u2019s year.\nMiyahara wins and he is celebrating with his belt. At this point, everyone is\nwondering who will be next to step up to challenge for the belt. Would it be\nZeus, who Miyahara beat to win his first Triple Crown title? Would it be\nSuwama, the last man to beat Miyahara for the belt? Nope, it was Dylan James,\nat the time one half of the World Tag Team Champions with Ryoji Sai. This match\nwas the first example of a theme for AJPW for the rest of 2018: good, but not\ntoo terribly exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of not that\nexciting, I guess I should talk about AJPW\u2019s junior heavyweight division in\n2018. Atsushi Aoki won the junior heavyweight championship on February 3,\ndefeating Tajiri (the same Tajiri that was in WWE). From there, Aoki held the\ntitle for 204 days, featuring bland match after bland match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The junior title has been\non a wild ride over the last few months. First, Koji Iwamoto, who is not bland\nand kind of exciting, defeated Aoki to win the title on August 26 at Summer\nExplosion, which is a show I will talk more about later when I get back to the\nheavyweights. But, for the time being, this was exciting. There was a fresh\nface on top of the division, there will be good matches, it is gonna be great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Iwamoto lost the title\nin his first defense to Shuji Kondo. This is like the Dylan James thing again.\nKondo is good, but we want fresh faces, and he is not it. Plus, Kondo\u2019s reign\ndid not end up amounting to anything. He had one successful defense, albeit in\na very good match with Hikaru Sato, then he dropped the belt back to Iwamoto on\nNovember 29. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, it\u2019s good that\nIwamoto has the belt again, but why did we need two months of Kondo as\nchampion? Why couldn\u2019t Iwamoto hold the title all the way through and establish\nhimself as the true top guy of the division? At least Iwamoto\u2019s first defense\nwill be exciting, as he faces Yusuke Okada, another good up-and-comer, on\nJanuary 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second half of the\nyear for the heavyweights was not as weird and a bit more exciting than the\njuniors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tag team division had\na wild start to the year before finding stability in the second half. Dating\nback to last year, the tag titles went all over the place, with many short reigns\ndue to unfortunate injuries to Jake Lee, and then Yuji Okabayashi. Shuji\nIshikawa and Suwama won the titles on January 3, just to lose them immediately\nto Miyahara and Yoshitatsu, who then immediately lost them to The Big Guns (Zeus\nand Bodyguard), who, again, immediately lost the titles to James and Sai. The\nonly reason these two lasted more than three weeks with the belts is because\nthey held them through Champion Carnival, thus not defending them for an\nextended period. Finally they lost the titles to Suwama and Ishikawa, now\ncalled Violence Giants. They ended up being the Miyahara od the tag team\ndivision, in that they brought stability and legitimacy to titles that desperately\nneeded it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other tag team titles\nin AJPW, the All-Asia Tag Team Championships, had no issues with stability. Akiyama\nand Yuji Nagata won the vacant belts in February and were the best dad team in the\nworld. It was just two past-their-prime but still very good wrestlers running\nthrough everyone for five months. This awesome team was designed to legitimize\nthe belts for a little while before they eventually put over a couple of young,\nup-and-comers. Those young guys were Yuma Aoyagi and the break-out star of 2018\nin AJPW: Naoya Nomura. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This title change was\npart of maybe the most newsworthy show for AJPW in 2018: Summer Action Series on\nJuly 29. This show had three title changes: the All-Asia Tag title, Bodyguard\ndefeating Ryoji Sai for the All-Asia Heavyweight title, and, in the main event,\nZeus defeating Miyahara for the Triple Crown title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early 2016, AJPW\nneeded a new top guy after Suwama was injured and could not defend the Triple\nCrown. This was when the company decided to pull the trigger on making Miyahara\nthe guy. He won the vacant title by defeating Zeus, and it was an early example\nof Zeus\u2019s over-arching story of the last few years: he is rapidly improving by\nthe year but is always fingertips away from really being a top guy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when he defeated\nMiyahara to finally win the big one, it was seriously the most emotional title\nwin of the year in any promotion (Kenny Omega be damned). Plus, it was a killer\nmatch in front of a hot Osaka crowd, who were all there to see their home-grown\nboy Zeus (he is an alumni of Osaka-Pro Wrestling) win. After the match,\nBodyguard carried Zeus around the ring on his shoulders and they both\ncelebrated with their new belts. What a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It really was a great\nmoment, but that is all it was: a moment. I do not think AJPW was ready for\nZeus to be champion, even if Zeus himself could carry the company for a little\nwhile no problem. What I mean by this is, Zeus won the title, and suddenly was\none of the best wrestlers in the world. At every opportunity, he put on great\nmatches, even when not working with other great wrestlers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, the main problem of\nZeus\u2019s title reign showed on August 26 when he made his first title defense against\nIshikawa. It was a great match, fitting of an AJPW main event, but the building\nwas half-empty. What sets this show apart from any other show during this title\nreign, was that Miyahara was not on the show in any capacity, not even a random\ntag team match on the undercard. It was up to Zeus to sell the show as\nchampion, and he failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, AJPW was\nnot ready for anyone but Miyahara to be the main attraction. So, September\nrolled around and the Royal Road tournament (AJPW\u2019s version of the New Japan\nCup) came around. There were plenty of stories to come out of this tournament.\nZeus and Nomura had one of the best matches of the year in the promotion on the\nsecond night, with Zeus coming out on top. The biggest story was Kengo Mashimo,\na product of Kaientai Dojo, coming in and beating all the big dudes in the\ntournament. He choked out Ishikawa in the first round, beat Doering with a\nroll-up in the second, and made Zeus tap out in the semi-finals. He was a made\nman, earning himself a tag title match by beating Ishikawa and possibly a heavyweight\ntitle match by beating Zeus. But, in the finals, he ran in to Miyahara, who was\non a mission to get his belt back. He went through Yoshitatsu, Lee, Yuji Hino\nand finally Mashimo to win the tournament and earn his rematch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That rematch came on\nOctober 21 in Yokohama. After a 34-minute war between two equals, Miyahara was\nfinally able to catch Zeus with his second straight-jacket German suplex of the\nmatch, get the win, and regain the title. This match seriously ruled. The story\nof both men played in to the psychology of the match perfectly, it built\nextremely well with some great near-falls. Miyahara re-established himself as\nthe guy and got to finish the year as champion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final big thing of\nthe year for AJPW was the Real World Tag League tournament. It was not too\nterribly exciting, but there were some great matches. This tournament was\nreally meant to set up a bunch of big matches for the New Year\u2019s War shows. The\nnewly formed team of Doering and James, called the Bomber, won the tournament\nand will face Violence Giants in the main event on January 2. Kai, tagging with\nMashimo, pinned Miyahara, earning himself a heavyweight title shot in the main\nevent on January 3. Both of those shows will be at Korakuen Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, it was a pretty\ngood year for AJPW. There were some great matches, but there was also a slight\nfeeling of stagnation. Besides Miyahara, most of the main eventers are in their\nlate 30s-to-early 40s. There are no younger guys ready to step up and be in\nthat main event scene. 2019 will be a very important year for guys like Nomura,\nAoyagi, and Lee. They need to step up into that role and bring new excitement\nto the promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
End of Year Awards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Wrestler of the Year:\nKento Miyahara<\/p>\n\n\n\n Show of the Year:\nChampion Carnival Finals \u2013 April 30<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feud of the Year: Kento\nMiyahara vs Zeus<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tag Team of the Year:\nViolence Giants (Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Match of the Year: Kento\nMiyahara vs Naomichi Marufuji \u2013 Super Power Series, May 30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is the end of 2018; thus, it is time to reflect on the year in pro wrestling. Today, we will look at a promotion that is on its way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[717,2],"tags":[718,721,722],"class_list":["post-10804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ajpw","category-featured","tag-all-japan","tag-korakuen-hall","tag-zeus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-2Og","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/KentoMaru.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10808,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10804\/revisions\/10808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}