20 AJPW Matches you must see before you die

3. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon/Dan Kroffat – May 25, 1992

Nippon Budokan is considered one of the best wrestling venues in the world, partly due to the building’s acoustics. Because of how it’s designed, crowds can sound much louder as a match progresses, leading to a far more excited crowd than you’d find in a cavernous stadium.

Such was the case in this tag team title match between two foreigners on one side and two four-year AJPW veterans on the other. The crowd in this match was astonishingly loud, going wild for even the smallest and most insignificant of moves. In fact, Kikuchi got a standing ovation from the crowd literally 30 seconds into the match. That’s how much emotion the crowd had invested into these wrestlers.

What’s more, both teams show off some fantastic tag team psychology, with the illegal opponent from one team grabbing the other opponent to prevent them from breaking up a pin attempt several times throughout the match. It’s basic stuff like this that makes tag team wrestling so exciting and enjoyable.

It might seem basic in terms of move variety by today’s standards – these aren't the sort of crazy chain reversals you’d find in a more modern match in WWE or elsewhere. But this match isn’t awesome because of the moves; it’s because of the crowd. They’re so into the match that at one point they go nuts over a dropkick, one of the most basic of wrestling moves.

This is one of the loudest wrestling crowds I have ever seen, and they become especially unglued during the last ten minutes of the match. Then there’s the match’s conclusion, which leads to an eruption so loud you’d think it was CM Punk returning to WWE in Chicago. Even ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin recommended this match on his podcast once.