Blessed Be The Doctor, Blessed Be The Nurse

Steve Williams VS Akira Taue - AJPW Champions Carnival Finals 4/20/1996

JJZ: So. Chris. In my opinion this is an ace of a match. These two wrestlers busted so much ass. A true 50/50 match. Now. It's so hard to find matc5h in this era that I haven't seen before. In my heart I feel like I have never seen a singles match between Williams and Taue. Pretty much a hoss battle but very aggressive. AJPW during this time is just special Chris. We both know it without saying it. The fact that Dr. Death and Akira have a match of this quality that I have zero memory of blows my mind. Thank god for 90s AJPW.

CJD: 1996 Champions Carnival finals and I have to agree with you JJZ, I'm pretty sure neither one of us had ever seen this match. How is that possible?? I'm glad though, because this gave me those feelings some of the first All Japan we ever watched in the 90s gave me on grainy VHS tapes all over again. This was magic. From the opening moments to the ground shaking eruption of a finishing stretch. Both men gave an all-time performance. Any sloppiness is totally understandable with what an all out war this was. I knew Doc had major wins over Misawa and Kawada at this point so I knew this was a huge opportunity for Taue. Which is awesome after seeing him as an emerging star a few years earlier in our last match! What I didn't know was this was Doc's return after issues with drugs and depression that Giant Baba helped him through. Reading up a bit more, Doc called Baba a father figure in his life. I know he was to many, but for a gaijin like Williams and the significance his career in Japan had, that's pretty fucking cool. This match was Aces indeed my friend. Very nicely done.