by: Aniruddh Nambudiri

This one sucks. Joe Doering was an incredible wrestler who somehow always seemed to have the worst luck set out for him. He never made it big on American television until finally in 2022 he had a hell of a run in TNA before once again, bad luck struck. A brain tumor that initially was diagnosed and treated in 2016 returned in August of 2022 and as I write this on the 26th of June 2026, Doering passed away after a few days in hospice. He passed peacefully after a 10 year battle where he just could win no more. 

This year I was doing a deep dive on Lucha Libre whilst also watching some post-NOAH exodus All Japan that I missed out on (hence the Yuji Nagata article from this year) and in that time, I rediscovered Joe Doering. An imposing brawler, the natural follow-on from a legend like Stan Hansen and a man who carries the Cowboy wrestling legacy in an incredible way. His best work was on a blue mat and he was rewarded for years of great work for the company with two great reigns with the Triple Crown belt. His tag team and feud with Suwama was a central part of All Japan in the early to mid 2010s. A consistent presence in the promotion for 12 years with the only breaks being that initial brain tumor surgery and a short run in WWE developmental that went nowhere. He was beloved and always treated with the respect of being a big star. No one had a bad word to say about him outside of the ring and the outpouring of love has been bittersweet to me. Today, though, is all about his run at the top and with the series of matches that defines his career in Japan. 

Doering had a series of matches with Go Shiozaki in the fight to defend All Japan’s honor. It is very telling that Joe was put in the position to be the man to represent the company, though Shiozaki was still a major good guy after the split from Jun Akiyama. In many ways, he was the closest the world ever got to seeing another Stan Hansen and now he played the role the Lariat would have been in. The western cowboy who feels an affinity to the throwback atmosphere that All Japan brings and as a person who commands the utmost respect from the crowds. The final match of this trilogy on the 3rd of January 2015 seems like a fitting way to commemorate him. 

Go Shiozaki is an all-timer when it comes to Japanese wrestling in the 21st Century. The man with the most reigns of the GHC Heavyweight title in NOAH ended up leaving the promotion in 2013 to form a new version of Jun Akiyama’s stable ‘Burning’. He was immediately given a major push as he reached the finals of the Odo Tournament and he also managed to win the Tag Belts alongside Jun Akiyama. June of 2013 is where we first see the true potential of a Doering and Shiozaki feud as Joe Doering and previously mentioned Suwama challenged for those tag belts. A near 30 minute barn burner of a main event in Korakuen at the end of a tour that paid off Doering’s potential as a solo star, Suwama’s incredible consistency as a worker and as the world champ at the time, Shiozaki coming in as the outside threat who is on the verge of dominating the whole company and Akiyama coming off winning the Champion Carnival and entering another prime. The feud between Burning and Last Revolution remains constant throughout the rest of 2013, including the semi finals of the first Ōdō Tournament with Shiozaki winning again en route to losing to Akebono in the finals. Moving into October 2013 is when we get another match for the tag belts where Burning finally captured the belts in another 30 minute banger where Doering picked up the pinfall win over Shiozaki with the Revolution Bomb. This match is the turning point for Doering and how he is seen by the promotion and now the sprint to the top becomes faster and faster for him. 

In November, Doering pins the new world champion Akebono in a tag match with a familiar Cowboy classic, a hard-hitting Lariat. This meant that he had earned a shot at the Triple Crown. A belt he only had one previous shot at in his last match for the company before leaving for WWE Developmental. It was not pretty against Akebono and he lost after a weird double count-out and restart but the shot in itself was the accomplishment. In the final days of 2013, he and Suwama beat the team of Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara (the second consecutive article of mine he has been mentioned) in the finals of the prestigious Real World Tag League. Doering and Suwama would continue their dominance with the belts and continue a feud with Siozaki and Miyahara, now under the new stable name of Xceed. Going into 2014 Champion Carnival, Doering went from a man making up the numbers to a firm favorite. He had a dominant performance against Jun Akiyama in pool play but was undone in the end by two time-limit draws, one of them against Shiozaki and the other against Zeus (this is not the match where that iconic Doering clip comes from though). 

The turning point comes around June. In the background, the Triple Crown has been a little all over the place. Akebono vacated the belt after health issues and the belt was picked up by Takao Omori who won the 2014 Champion Carnival but Omori lost the belt in his first defense of the belt back to Suwama, the man who lost the belt to Akebono. When Doering and Suwama lost the belts, Doering turned on him and it led to the Summer Action Series in July 2014. Doering got the pin on Suwama in a tag bout and it all led to the 27th of July. In a great match with some hard-hitting offense on both ends, Doering came out the stronger man and a new cowboy was at the top of All Japan. Doering was the new Triple Crown Champion. 

Now is when we pick up the initial story that leads us to the match in January. Doering enters the Ōdō Tournament once again and is given Go Shiozaki once again. In the first round, we get a surprisingly intense and back-and-forth battle. Shiozaki is emerging out of the shadow of Akiyama, who has his own upset in losing to Kento Miyahara, the man tipped as the homegrown superstar of the promotion. In a classic Korakuen main event style match, Shiozaki pulls out the upset and the Triple Crown champion has to leave the tournament in shame. Shiozaki would go on to win. He now has a shot for the Triple Crown. The road is now set straight to the top for a man who came into All Japan with such fan fare. 

We now head to the Yamagata General Sports Center in October 2014 for that title shot. Raising an Army Memorial Series, Shiozaki vs Doering, this time for the title. Shiozaki once again tries to use his strategy of outlasting Doering but Joe is not a hoss without a mind. He comes in with a vengeance and hits Shiozaki with some of the stiffest lariats on this side of Stan Hansen. It rivals the match Shiozaki has with Fujita in 2020 in many ways in terms of pure power. It also has the express goal of putting Doering over as a dominant force and it does so with flying colors. Doering looks great here and takes down a rival who many had tipped to win the world title that day. 

Real World Tag League 2014 brings us the match that finally leads us up to the 2015 date in Korakuen. On the final day of the league with a shot to the final in the balance, Doering and Suwama take on Shiozaki and Miyahara. Once again, after nearly two months of their last encounter Shiozaki gets the better of Doering and earns himself a shot at the Triple Crown on the January 3rd show. January 4th is obviously the day cemented for New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show but that always means that those first four days of January lead to some of the best wrestling of the whole year. Doering and Shiozaki’s unofficial trilogy ever since the initial Ōdō Tournament win for Shiozaki will end in Korakuen. The record is one and one but with a historical favor to Shiozaki, can Doering keep the Triple Crown? 

The Match 

No shenanigans and no theatrics here. These are two wrestlers who are kind of done with being intertwined with each other over the last few years. The last match may have begun with some grappling but not this one. The heavy shoulders meeting in the middle with some heavy chops that follow. Shiozaki can absolutely strike with the best of them, and he manages to rock Doering into the corner but he battles out and a huge shoulder tackle to the floor follows. Doering, despite his size, had unbelievable speed. It always looked scary to see him run full steam ahead. A runaway train for a reason like many of the cowboys before him, but mainly Hansen. Shiozaki takes his time trying to figure out how to even approach Doering once again. A test of strength in the middle that Doering is easily winning, before Shiozaki flips him over before letting go of the wrist clutch. This allows for Doering to land another booming shoulder tackle. 

Doering continues his work on Shiozaki before a loud chop that echoes around Korakuen. Shiozaki tries to meet it but Doering keeps throwing harder before Doering has enough of this game. A few massive blows before another running collision, this time a back elbow. Shiozaki falls to the outside but Doering as a classic keeps it in the ring. Shiozaki finally tries to answer back whilst in a corner but Doering reigns heavy shots and slower offense to systematically break down Shiozaki. The first major move he attempts is a suplex but Shiozaki is still not fully at the level of damage to do so. Shiozaki’s resilience along with the momentum of a final attempt blocked allows him to turn the momentum on Doering and hit the suplex of his own. Now he is back in the fight, a massive chop battle breaks again and Shiozaki hits the ropes. Doering is fully aware though and catches him in a fireman’s carry before Shiozaki breaks out and hits a classic back drop driver. He follows up with a move somewhere in the middle of a Fisherman driver and Northern Lights Bomb. Despite this small confusion, its effective and we get our first pin attempt of the night. 

Shiozaki sets up Joe and throws him the ropes but Joe eats a shot and then two, he is starting to build steam. The key part of Doering as a wrestler is that this is the last thing you want him to do. He has a jumping lariat, crossbody and elbow in these positions that have all proven to be extremely effective in times like this. Shiozaki seems to halt him before Joe powers through with yet another classic shoulder tackle. The offense is simple, but looks extremely powerful. A heavy lariat in the corner, followed by a short-arm version and an axe elbow with Shiozaki grounded gets a two. He goes back to the suplex before dead lifting Shiozaki for a lap around the ring to show the strength he has. He is very much still strong enough for the rest of this match. It is early but Doering wants to muscle Shiozaki up for his signature Revolution Bomb. The move that won him the Triple Crown and his previous match with Shiozaki. When Shiozaki battles, he transitions back to trying the fireman’s carry before Shiozaki hits him with his snap DDT. Doering stands up and Korakuen gasps. Shiozaki hits another and Doering gets back up. The spirit is now firmly with Doering. One more DDT, he stirs a bit on the way up but he stands once again and stares open eyed at a completely perplexed Shiozaki. He cannot believe it. A heavy lariat from Doering before he tries another irish whip into the ropes but Shiozaki catches it and nails him with a wrist clutch lariat of his own. Doering finally stays down but Shiozaki needs time to recover from Doering’s offense and also to figure out how to beat this monster like he had done before. 

Another heavy shot from Shiozaki moves him to the apron. Doering is dazed as he stands up on the outside. The offense and his whole reign is catching up to him. A lariat to the outside as soon as he gets back in. Doering is once again outside and Korakuen now rises and cheers for Shiozaki to pull out some classic offense. He bounces off the ropes and clears the top rope entirely and crashes into Doering on the outside with an incredible tope. It takes a lot out of Shiozaki, but Doering looks completely out of it. This is the advantage Shiozaki can pull out. Doering may have speed but agility Shiozaki has could be his advantage. Back in the ring, Shiozaki pulls him up to the top rope before a top rope hurricanrana crashes Doering to the floor. A quick pin is not enough but now Shiozaki pulls up Doering and puts him in a classic suplex hold. He is thinking of the Go Flasher. He gets Doering up, lets go and Joe crashes to the mat. Shiozaki has to have done it. Going straight to the pin, Shiozaki lies on his chest and shoulders but Doering powers out. What else can Shiozaki do? 

He goes back to the initial back drop driver position that helped him earlier in the match but motions the wrist down for a clutch. He is trying for his even more lethal move, the Limit Break. A devastating wrist clutch driver that looks a lot like the wrist clutch version of the Burning Hammer used by Kenta Kobashi. Kobashi was a historic rival of Stan Hansen, someone very important to the story and career trajectory of Kobashi. To beat the new Hansen, maybe this is what Shiozaki needs to pull out. The wrist is clutched but Doering powers out. He still has the energy in him. Shiozaki tries some strikes before settling on trying a rope run lariat but Doering pops him up and lands a devastating spinebuster. The match dynamic is so interesting here. Doering is a traditional monster but is someone who has been embraced by the All Japan crowd due to both his loyalty and tenure in the promotion. Shiozaki is a new face who was a major star in the promotion that was started via an exodus from All Japan but has the upper hand on the monster. The hope spots have gone both ways and what you get is a match that is showing the sheer power between two forces that have been colliding for the last 2 years. 

Doering is almost out. He tries to run the ropes before not feeling a bounce back. He walks into a shot from Shiozaki and enters another strike exchange. The shots seem to help him wake up and they also stir Shiozaki. Shiozaki tries the Uraken but is met with a hard and well-placed forearm. Doering is back on offense and now the fireworks are here. He has momentum again. He runs the ropes and Shiozaki makes the mistake. He lets a runaway train catch steam. Doering lands a massive crossbody and nearly gets the pin. He is back in the driver’s seat and Shiozaki is stirring. He has him up for the Revolution Bomb and begins the spins that precede it before Shiozaki mid turns spins him down for a DDT. Doering’s head falls straight to the canvas. A running lariat then crashes on Doering before the closest two count of the whole match so far. 

Shiozaki sees the end. He gets him up once again in the suplex hold, and this Go Flasher lands perfectly with the clutch at the end. This feels like a match ender and Korakuen can sense it, but Doering kicks out. Shiozaki’s teeth grit. The rage is visible. He sets up Doering on the top rope with his back to the ring mat. The Argentine hold is in. If Shiozaki wants to be Kobashi and put down his Hansen, you might as well use the move Kobashi made famous and used only in his most dire situations. Go Shiozaki is trying for one of the most mythical moves in the history of professional wrestling, the Burning Hammer. He picks up Doering but it looks like he just does not have the strength to keep him there. He instead throws him to the ground and collapses. He crawls for the cover but the time between the move and the pin was too long and Joe recovered enough to beat the count. 

The lariats now meet in the ring before Joe builds steam up again for another diving crossbody. This one noticeably has less impact than the last one. He stumbles for another try at the Revolution Bomb but Shiozaki sits it and covers Doering. He covers Doering again. He will not stay down. Shiozaki needs to pull out something bigger if he wants to win the Triple Crown and conquer. A kick follows before Doering lands an incredible lariat and falls on the cover. Fully draped on top of Shiozaki, the power is fading. A heavy shot and it still was not enough. They both struggle to get up and the lariats once again meet in the middle of the ring. No longer to muscle down, but just for pride and hope that one keeps the other down. In the end, they both fall. 

Shiozaki lands a spinning open hand shot when they once again get back up but still needs time to figure out what to do. He lands uraken after uraken. Trying to see some effect. Doering seems to see the end of his reign as well. He asks for his end. Shiozaki powers up and in a mirror to Kobashi beating Hanse, lands a lariat on the money and picks up the win. Go Shiozaki has climbed to the top of All Japan and has conquered the monster that is Joe Doering while also avenging his loss. Doering looks like a hero accepting his fate and he goes down with pride. He falls on the mat and knows he will be back but for now, knows its his time. 

This is a great match but more than anything, a great showcase as to why Doering was so good. He added so much nuance to the monster cowboy character yet was still great in that role. He was not re-inventing the wheel, he was showing his version of it. He had a great combination of speed and power and so much brooding charisma. You feel that he is a superstar when he walks out despite him not doing any traditional entrance shenanigans. He is not swinging a bull rope on his way out like Hansen. He simply walks down to the ring with a menacing presence and it works. It always worked. When he was in TNA, they did not need to do much except have him win and that was enough to catapult him to the top of the card and it is so sad how short that was. How everything was in his way. How 2015 was his last full year before the brain tumor diagnosis that changed his whole life. He came back to All Japan due to his loyalty to the promotion and once again became Triple Crown Champion. It was all a sprint until the end came so swift. Joe Doering will be missed dearly by those who saw him wrestle, because if you saw him wrestle you would know he was not just the closest thing we ever got to Stan Hansen, he was Joe Doering. A two-time World Champion who provided a hard-hitting offense that was complimented with incredible work in the ring and a speed not seen in many at his size. Rest in Peace Cowboy.