02/24/2002 AJPW 

AJPW Triple Crown Title Match: Toshiaki Kawada def. Keiji Muto in 27:37

As was typical in this era of Muto, both men worked on the mat early and built to the various strikes. Muto worked Kawada’s leg liberally with dragon screws and dropkicks to the knee, with Kawada doing an excellent job selling. Muto busted out the handspring elbow and moonsault since this was a big match, and the crowd loved both. The way they built to the Kawada powerbomb on Muto was fantastic, including the false start when Kawada didn’t do it after taking repeated blows to the head. Once Kawada finally hit the move, the crowd was convinced he won the match, but Muto kicked out to a massive ovation. They didn’t overdo the nearfalls at the end and instead built a few extremely believable false finishes until Kawada eventually won with a second powerbomb. This match was incredibly built and fantastic by the end. ****1/2 

04/20/1989 AJPW

AJPW Triple Crown Title Match: Jumbo Tsuruta (C) def. Genichiro Tenryu in 16:03

I love both these guys, but this was slow, even by Jumbo’s standard. Where I feel like Jumbo’s mat work normally means something, here he had a chinlock on for a good three minutes, and there wasn’t enough movement early on to captivate the crowd.  It did pick up in the second half of the match, including a spot where Jumbo kept trying to come in from the floor, and Tenryu kept hitting him with strikes. Jumbo eventually powerbombed Tenryu, and Tenryu sold it like he was knocked out. Everything looked great, and Tenryu folded himself up like he was out cold. The second half and awesome finish made up for the slow beginning to some degree, but not enough for me to call this good. **3/4 

03/02/1996 AJPW

AJPW Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa def. Gary Albright in 14:19

For those unaware, Albright was the son-in-law of Afa Anoaʻi, so if he hadn’t died so tragically and suddenly, he’d probably be making cameos in the Bloodline storyline. There was zero doubt who would win this match, but the crowd got into some of Albright’s power suplexes when Misawa went flying through the air with ease. Albright teased a German throughout the match that he never got, but the crowd treated it like a potential kill shot. Misawa seemed to battle from underneath for most of the match, emphasizing the size difference because Albright looked like a fucking human tank. Misawa eventually won with a straight forearm. This match wasn’t a classic, but it was still very strong and fun. ***