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| Big Tuna | Dec 7 2012, 01:55 AM Post #61 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, 3/1993 This is part of the Champions Carnival again, and the date is unclear. This is JIP and 10 minutes of awesome stuff. Kobashi does well for himself, although he is clearly not on Misawa's level. Kobashi runs through most everything he has, and Misawa survives and begins to destroy Kobashi with elbows. Kobashi survives a lot, despite it being pretty much done for several minutes. Misawa wins with the Tiger Suplex. ***1/4 Steve Williams vs. Terry Gordy, 3/1993 Again, part of the CC and without a date. Solid 10 minute slugfest, and they are not afraid to kill each other despite being tag partners, and at this time, championship tag team partners. They have basically the same high level offense, so it comes down to who can string stuff together first, and that man is Gordy. Doc kicks out of one Powerbomb, but Gordy hits a second one to win. *** This next match comes on the heels of Misawa again beating Kawada in the tournament, in a match that further saw their friendship disintegrate. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue, 4/13/1993 This is the last 17 minutes of a 30 minute draw, and it is AMAZING. They go completely balls to the fucking wall and throw everything at each other. With every match except the January 1991 brawl, it's felt like they were holding back, and this is clearly what for. Feels like a gigantic epic final meeting between hated rivals (and in a way it is). They use tons of callback spots to all their other matches, and everything is smooth and crisp to the likes of which Taue hadn't previously shown himself able of, and there's also tons of amazing new spots. Kawada hits the Powerbomb, but the bell rings to call for time limit. **** Post-match, KAWADA AND TAUE FUCKING SHAKE HANDS. HOLY SHIT. This is like...I don't know. I wish I could think of a tag team in America that was as badass as the Holy Demon Army. I guess the best example would be if Stone Cold and Triple H went to a draw at No Way Out 2001 and that's when the Two Man Power Trip formed. That's the only tag team this fucking badass. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, 4/14/1993 This ruled. Kobashi is super aggressive now, and Kawada's usual anger problems have been made even worse by ANOTHER loss to Misawa two weeks prior. Kobashi takes an insane beating as a result. Kobashi goes to the bad knee to try and stop his ungodly ass whipping, and it works. For a while. Kawada doesn't need a good leg to punch you full force in the face though. Kawada's leg prevents him from getting a good pin off the Powerbomb, so he hits another one for the win. ***1/4 Toshiaki Kawada/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue/Masanobu Fuchi/Yoshinari Ogawa, 4/21/1993 This is Kawada's last match on the Misawa/Kobashi side of the fence, as at the end of this tour, he will announce that he's forming a new team with Taue. They're still willing to fight the fuck out of each other here, since it's Japan and it's Kawada, and he'll fight anything that breaths. There's some awesome shots of Kawada's face on the apron as Kikuchi and Kobashi are isolated, like he's beyond frustrated with this always happening, although he's much more friendly with Kikuchi, whereas he seems to just fucking loathe Kobashi, and it's one of the reasons he's forming the superteam with Taue. And yeah, Fuchi is awesome stretching Kikuchi out. Kawada just about murders Ogawa when he gets the chance, so that's wonderful too. Ogawa gets a flash cradle on Kikuchi to win. *** Kawada is PISSED. He refuses to acknowledge Kobashi, but he hugs Kikuchi goodbye and says something. Since I don't speak Japanese, I'm assuming he's saying he likes and respects him, but he's going to fucking kill him unless he comes with him, and Kikuchi has loyalty to his big brother figure Kobashi and father figure Misawa. Kawada raises their hands and looks maybe a little sad, and leaves them alone in the ring. The next chapter has begun. |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 7 2012, 01:11 PM Post #62 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, 5/13/1993 New more heelish Kawada debuts against the best underdog in the fed, and gets to just fucking destroy him. Kikuchi takes an astronomically huge beating, and yeah, he has a ton of fire and his comebacks are amazing. Kawada is fantastic at conveying how easily he takes this match, allowing Kikuchi to get up on his own power since he has no doubt he'll be able to destroy him again. Sort of taking pleasure in it as the match goes on. Without having to be in Misawa's shadow and being back up to the ultimate good guy, he's now free to really be a sadistic prick. Kawada stretches Kikuchi to a disgusting extent with the Stretch Plum to win. ***1/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, 5/14/1993 This is the debut of Taue and Kawada as a team, and Kawada makes it clear that he will destroy Misawa's guys. In terms of the HDA/2MPT comparison, this is like 2MPT killing the Hardys. They're already huge dicks, but killing, and I mean completely laying waste to, the most beloved underdog team in the company really cements it. Kikuchi knows how Kawada is now, but Kobashi wants a clean-ish match, but Kawada beats the piss out of him. Kikuchi DIES completely, and that rules. Kobashi keeps trying to man up against Kawada now that he's the new #2 to Misawa, but he gets slapped down almost constantly. Kikuchi has a great doomed hot tag at the end. Kobashi makes a save, so Kawada knees him in the face for like 30 seconds, punches him in the eye, and Chokeslams him like Taue. He kneels with his knee on his throat as Taue Chokeslams Kikuchi to win. DIS TEAM. ***1/4 Miracle Violence Connection [c] vs. Holy Demon Army [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 5/20/1993 This match. There's no way this match is ever going to be bad. Unfortunately, this is one of the last MVC tags, as Gordy has his OD in 1993 that ends his time as a top level singles wrestler forever. So that totally fucking blows, because MVC could have made a run at being the best team of the 90s. Also unfortunately, it takes them about half the match to truly click since it's a first time match, and there's downtime in the middle. That being said, not only do they have another match together before Gordy's OD, but the last third of this is really fucking great and makes this into a great match. Taue has a surprisingly good hot tag, and then the Kawada/Doc stuff is wonderful. Kawada is in the position now of holding back Gordy so Taue can finish off Doc. Kawada hits an Enzuiguri to feed into Taue's Chokeslam for the win. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 7 2012, 05:19 PM Post #63 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Holy Demon Army/Yoshinari Ogawa, 6/3/1993 This is the first Misawa/Kawada six man, and their second meeting on opposite sides. Also, two days prior, HDA beat Misawa/Kobashi to retain the belts after Kawada pretty much emasculated Kobashi in front of 20,000 people or so. Misawa and Kawada are pretty much enemies by now, but Misawa still tries to be sporting with Kawada to try and mend things (which stops forever after their July 93 title match). Kawada and Kobashi hate each other now and have great showdowns. A little too much Ogawa to take this from the obvious "great" into "classic", but everyone else rules. Kikuchi is FIP, HDA kill him, Misawa's hot tag rules, etc. Kikuchi beats Ogawa with a Bridging German. *** Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, 7/9/1993 Kawada makes another example out of a young guy under Misawa. Akiyama has a ton of fire and is one of the best rookies ever, but he is in over his head in maycabe. That being said, they do a ton of really cool and impressive stuff and Akiyama comes out looking like 10x better than when he came in. How fucking great is 1993? In every major promotion, there's a guy who can be argued as the best in the entire world and you could understandably agree, between Bret, Vader, Kawada, and probably Hashimoto or Tenryu for NJPW. I'll know when that gets reviewed, I guess. Anyways, Akiyama works the arm, because that's kind of the only hope he might have. Kawada eventually starts clobbering him, and his arm selling in transition is great once again. Akiyama has an awesome comeback INCLUDING A FLYING FOREARM! YEAH! Kawada ends up completely decimating Jun's throat with a Lariat to win. ***1/2 Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Miracle Violence Connection [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 7/26/1993 This is the last MVC match. There's some shockingly good Gordy/Taue matwork to start before the match begins to break down and get aggressive. The MVC controls most of the match with their power, and as is usual for them, everything looked really brutal. Taue uses technique to offset power, and Kawada slowly chops down the trees with well placed kicks and forearms and chops. This time Taue is the one isolated, and Kawada has the great hot tag. Good finishing run, and Taue sneaks on a Chokeslam on Gordy while Doc is out on the floor, and Kawada Powerbombs Gordy to win.***1/4 Stan Hansen vs. Kenta Kobashi, 7/29/1993 This is famous for the finish, and rightfully so, but the match's body also rules. Two guys with much hatred in their hearts beating the shitpissfuck out of each other in increasingly violent ways. Both men have amazing dives, and about halfway through, there's this great sense of desperation by both guys, trying to get the knockout blow whenever they can, with some great exhaustion selling too. This is one of the rare Meltzer ***** matches where I wouldn't blame anyone for agreeing, as it's actually aged super well. Awesome finishing run, and yeah, the finish. Kobashi is caught sitting on the top buckle when trying a moonsault, and Hansen goes to the apron, AND FUCKING LARIATS HIM OFF THE TOP IN A DISGUSTING BUMP. Needless to say, that is the end. ****1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 7 2012, 09:15 PM Post #64 |
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The Can-Am Express vs. Kenta Kobashi/Satoru Asako Asako is basically a quintessential midcarder. He does nothing bad, but nothing worth talking about usually. But here, the Can-Ams bust up his face, and work it over in really rough fashion. They do this in addition to their amazing double teams and single offense, and it builds surprisingly well to a Kobashi hot tag. Unfortunately for Kobashi, his new idiot rookie partner is trapped and Furnas finishes him off with the Tiger Driver. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Steve Williams/Tracy Smothers/Joel Deaton, 8/23/1993 This is building up Williams as a new top singles foreigner in the wake of Gordy's departure and Hansen starting to slow down a little. Smothers is solid as always. Deaton doesn't contribute a lot, but he's in there with a Japanese team that's basically a cheat code for ***. It's almost not fair at this point, as 3-5 years in, Misawa and Kawada are making runs at the top 25 for the entire decade, and will probably finish in the top 10. But this is what happens when you have 4-6 of the best wrestlers in the world constantly fighting for this many years. It's cheating in the same way WWF 2000-2001 is cheating, where it's really not fair to other wrestlers not in that promotion and period, but it produces so much amazing wrestling that it's hard to be truly mad. Anyways, lots of great Williams stuff, since it's about him. Kikuchi shines too, as expected. Misawa beats the Deaton queer with the Tiger Driver. **3/4 Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi, 8/31/1993 This has a few legendarily dangerous Kobashi headdrops, but it's an awesome match before that too. Great amount of focus and continuity as well, due to both men having strategy of working over the head and neck, so they always go back to that on most of their offense. Williams' control is his best yet, and Kobashi's comebacks rule. He lacks the fire of Misawa and Kawada, and for that, he will always be #3 in the pecking order of my favoritism, but he does his stuff well. Final 10 minutes is full of several amazing highspots, especially the finishing minutes. Doc gets a Backdrop Driver that Kobashi takes basically on his goddamned forehead. Doc hits a second one, and Kobashi tries to FIGHTING SPIRIT~ his way up, but he can't stand up. Doc hits a third for good measure for the win. **** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 8 2012, 05:50 PM Post #65 |
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Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 9/24/1993 A year later, this exists to show how far Akiyama has gone in a year. Kobashi has also grown up a lot in a year, and is less sporting with the kid than he was in his debut match. Akiyama has lots of cool stuff and as usual, is full of fire. He puts up more of a fight in the finishing run this time, but is still outgunned. The Pumphandle Powerbomb fails, showing Akiyama's growth yet again. Kobashi invents the Orange Crush for the win. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Holy Demon Army/Masanobu Fuchi, 10/3/1993 This is beautiful. A perfect six man combination. Delivers on Misawa/Kawada, Kawada/Kobashi, Kawada/Kikuchi, the theme of Kobashi trying to step up, and Kikuchi being tortured. All the high notes you'd want hit get hit here. Everything looks really brutal, and everyone puts on the performance you expect from them at this point. Misawa foolishly tags Kikuchi in during a hot tag, which about hands it to Kawada's team. Kikuchi has the gall to kick out of Backdrop Driver, so Kawada kills him with a Lariat to win. ***1/4 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, 10/23/1993 HATE. Kawada tries to no-sell Kobashi to psyche him out, and then gets pissed when he can't power through Kobashi's strikes. Kobashi tries to attack Kawada's bad leg, which pisses Kawada off enough that he goes for the leg in revenge and does a Half Crab while STANDING ON KOBASHI'S HEAD. Nobody was really in control, they just killed each other a lot. They told a lot of story with strike exchanges, as Kobashi was unable to really knock Kawada down, but when Kawada turned up the pressure, he could just about murder Kobashi. For the style of match this was, it was probably too long at 25+, but still mostly great. Kobashi passes out in the Stretch Plum, and Kawada pins him to win. ***1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 8 2012, 07:17 PM Post #66 |
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Holy Demon Army vs. The Can-Am Express, 11/17/1993 This is part of the tag league, and thank god, because this probably would not have happened otherwise. This is another beautiful Can-Ams formula tag, as they attack Kawada's bad knee from the opening bell, and that is the focus. His selling is top notch as always, and this plays into the final match beautifully (which I already reviewed). They isolate Taue at a point too, but he has to hang on until Kawada can get back on the apron with his hurt leg to accept the tag. His hot tag isn't so hot, since it's more restrained since he can't run around, but it's still great. Taue hits Kroffat with the Chokeslam for the win. ***1/4 Holy Demon Army vs. Steve Williams/The Big Bossman, 12/1/1993 This also delivers. Bossman is super motivated here, and fits right in. Kawada vs. Doctor Death is once again great, and Kawada's bad knee is still being sold and worked over. Bossman brings his awesome punches and big man selling, making it feel like a huge deal with the HDA can knock him down with strikes. Taue beats Bossman with an awkward looking Chokeslam, due to Bossman's weight. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Holy Demon Army/Takao Omori, 1/20/1994 FUCK YOU OMORI. He's inoffensive in this, since he's fighting some of the best wrestlers ever here, and best in the world at this time. Misawa treating Omori like less than nothing was awesome, and Akiyama/Omori was surprisingly good. Most likely because Akiyama has always ruled. Then all the usual pairings were good. This is a clear b-level show, so it's hardly great, but it's these guys for 20 minutes, so it's low level great. Akiyama was a great FIP. Finishing run ruled, since it was basically just HDA vs. Misawa/Kobashi with the rookies fighting on the floor. They isolate Kobashi and Kawada keeps Misawa from saving, so Taue can finish off Kobashi with a Chokeslam. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 8 2012, 09:11 PM Post #67 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, 4/1/1994 This is again a Champions Carnival tournament match. And it's these two for 15 minutes, so it delivers as expected. Akiyama is as good a fiery young guy as you'll get at this time, and Kawada is the biggest asskicker alive by now, as Vader's tapered off someone what in WCW, and that was his only competition. He brutalizes Akiyama and feeds his comebacks really well. Akiyama does his best job yet of staying with Kawada, and has learned to start trying to avoid big moves. Kawada beats him up enough to hit the Powerbomb though, and that gets the win. *** Steve Williams vs. Jun Akiyama, 4/10/1994 More good CC action! Since the finish of this is never in doubt, they take the time to do lots of cool matwork. Akiyama takes over first, because he's fast enough to be the one to end the matwork with offense. This is also the first time he's busted out his trademark Akiyama High Knee, which is a really great looking piece of offense and something that completes him as a wrestler like Misawa's elbows or Kobashi's chops. He throws what he has at Doc, but it's not enough at this point to stop him, and once Doc survives, it's only a matter of time. He wins with the Backdrop Driver. *** Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama, 4/11/1994 The progression of Akiyama vs. Kobashi continues, as now Akiyama is able to actually control the match and dominate Kobashi for a bit. Lots of great counters and spots, and it's probably kind of a spotfest. Awesome finishing run, but like the last match, Akiyama doesn't have the arsenal needed to put away a top level guy. Kobashi survives, so Akiyama is toast, and Kobashi wins with the Moonsault. ***1/2 Steve Williams vs. Kenta Kobashi, 4/15/1994 The winner of this goes in to the Finals against Kawada on the next night. This is another fantastic big man power match between them. No pretense about limbwork or story or anything besides Bully Gaijin vs. Homegrown Babyface, they just kill each other. The match layout puts over the finishers of both men, as the way they both block and avoid them throughout the match gets over that whoever scores first is going to win. Then you also get good strength vs. strength battles in the middle. Surprising to nobody, the finishing run has tons of cool spots. Doc scores first with the Backdrop Driver and gets the win. ***1/2 Toshiaki Kawada vs. Steve Williams [1994 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS], 4/16/1994 This is an all time classic and easily Doc's best match ever. It has a lot of that Hansen/Kawada boxing match type vibe, but this has more clearly defined roles than that match. Williams has the knockout blow in the Backdrop Driver, and Kawada is also smaller. He's more aggressive though, and his only hope is to slowly chop down the tree while also avoiding the Backdrop Driver, which they get over with him desperately grabbing the ropes to block it in the opening minutes. Kawada then desperately throws out his Backdrop Driver early on for some distance. He recovers on the floor, and then starts taunting Kawada when Kawada tries to strike him down, and begins to dominate after absorbing a few blows and dropping Kawada with only one. Doc keeps doing this until Kawada is sufficiently weakened and he can start throwing some bombs in the form of a Tiger Suplex or other throws. Doc does the classic cocky gaijin trick of being so sure of his win that he allows Kawada to get up at his own pace, and it costs him every time. But because he can keep cutting off Kawada easily, he keeps doing it. That being said, it takes more and more to cut off Kawada each time, and Kawada continues to methodically cut the tree down. Williams begins to get exhausted around 20 minutes, and it's when Kawada makes the comeback to start the finishing run. DOC HITS THE BACKDROP DRIVER, BUT KAWADA ROLLS OUT! Doc thinks he's toast now, like Kobashi was after one, so he allows him to get back in at his own pace. Kawada hangs on though, and is now able to knock Doc down with stuff since he's been worn out. Doc survives two Kawada Powerbombs, which is normal, as Kawada historically had a problem (especially vs. Misawa) of throwing those out too soon and then being unable to hit the final one when it mattered. Doc lets Kawada get up at his own pace again, and tries his football tackle, but Kawada intercepts it with a Gamenguri, and hits a third Powerbomb for the win. Not only does Kawada beat the new top gaijin, but in a way, he overcomes what he;d him back in the past, and the stage is now set for another challenge to Misawa. ****1/2 Misawa/Kawada happened again on 6/3/94, and despite Kawada not making his usual mistakes, Misawa won AGAIN. |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 9 2012, 02:01 PM Post #68 |
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Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Akira Taue/Tamon Honda, 6/3/1994 This is too long to be great at 22 minutes, but it is good fun. They just don't have enough cool stuff for 22 minutes in a 2 on 2 tag when rookie Honda is one of the four in the ring. Kobashi and Akiyama already gel really well as a team though. Akiyama is a good FIP and Kobashi's hot tag is great. Honda cannot contend by himself, and Kobashi wins with the Moonsault. **3/4 The Can-Am Express vs. Jun Akiyama/Takao Omori, 7/28/1994 The Can-Ams brutalizing Omori was a lot of fun, just on the basis of "fuck Omori", but their work vs. Akiyama was legitimately great, one of those instant chemistry type deals. Furnas and Kroffat carried Omori by barely letting him do offense and using their control seg on him, thus allowing Akiyama to come in with his awesome hot tag. Good finishing run, aside from Omori deciding to do a full front flip off a Doomsday Bulldog. After Jun hits a flying forearm to Furnas, that faggot Omori rolls him up to win. **3/4 Holy Demon Army/Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi/Giant Baba, 7/28/1994 Fun midcard match. Their usual high level is somewhat neutralized with old man Baba in there, but it's still Kawada, Taue, Kobashi, Kikuchi, and Fuchi in 1994, so you're getting a great match, even if it's that kind of low end great. Kobashi and Kikuchi are both isolated, and Kawada continues to increase his level of violence in the wake of the 6/3/94 loss to Misawa. Kikuchi is stupidly tagged in during the finishing run, so he drops the fall. Kobashi breaks up the pin on a Chokeslam, but Kawada gets rid of him, and Taue Powerbombs Kikuchi for the win. *** Also on 7/28, Williams beat Misawa to end his 23 month long Triple Crown title reign, with the genius strategy of neutralizing Misawa and moreso the elbows until he started to make mistakes due to frustration. |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 10 2012, 03:28 PM Post #69 |
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Stan Hansen vs. Jun Akiyama, 9/3/1994 This is under 10 minutes, but really fucking amazing. Hansen is super pissed, so Akiyama is pretty much fighting for his life for the first time. Hansen is embarrassed, so when he catches him, Akiyama DIES. Hansen fucking slams him onto a standing guardrail, which is insane for 1994. Akiyama begins a comeback, but only ends up knocking Hansen back into the ropes, which allows him to come off with a Lariat to win. *** Steve Williams [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 9/3/1994 Kobashi's first Triple Crown match! This is somewhat of a bad omen, given that it's way too long and gets a little too crazy by the end, but it's still mostly great. The length comes from the slow start, as it takes them like 10 minutes before the match picks up. Matwork isn't bad or anything, but you want this to be two big bulls fucking smacking each other around. Once that happens, it's great. Williams' control seg is great, Kobashi has awesome comebacks, etc. Finishing run also gets crazy. Kobashi kicks out of one Backdrop Driver, and for some reason, Doc is more surprised now than when Kobashi survived two last year. He does a second one for the win, which sort of implies Kobashi is weaker now than in 1993, and AJPW is usually REALLY careful about booking through offense like that. ***1/4 Dan Kroffat [c] vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [AJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship], 10/22/1994 This rules for the 6 minutes that air. Classic Kikuchi, fighting back from underneath, taking deathworthy bumps, showing tons of fire. He breaks out a sweet Tope Suicida too. Kroffat is great in a singles environment too, being more than willing to just murder the poor kid on offense. Kikuchi survives a Cobra Clutch Suplex, but then Kroffat puts him away with the Tiger Driver. *** Steve Williams [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 10/22/1994 This is great, but also too long at like 30+ minutes, preventing it from being another all time classic like their match in April. It's better than Doc/Kobashi from September though, because they have more strategy and storytelling throughout, even if it is overlong. Kawada coming in with a new gameplan this time in the attack upon the knees was smart, since logically, Williams would be ready for him trying to extend him again like in April. Williams eventually catches him and starts killing him with power, while smartly selling the leg every now and then. Kawada keeps going to the knee, and eventually, Williams goes down! The finishing run starts now, and Kawada continues to avoid the Backdrop. They do lots of big stuff, and this is where it becomes somewhat overlong. Kawada starts blasting Williams with head strikes at the end, and hits the Gamenguri AND KAWADA FINALLY WINS THE BELT! YEAH! ***1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 10 2012, 05:22 PM Post #70 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. The Can-Am Express, 11/24/1994 The tag league returns! This is the kind of rare match the league affords us, and it is fun. Can-Ams don't work as well opposite the Ace instead of some young smaller guys, so this is not on the level of the Can-Ams vs. Kobashi/Kikuchi matches. It is still undeniably great. There's some enjoyable matwork on Misawa's end. They eventually manage to isolate Kobashi and proceed to dish out their usual painful control seg. Finishing run was surprisingly great. You know it's going to be good, but the Can-Ams got way more offense than I expected. Misawa puts Kroffat away with the Tiger Suplex. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Holy Demon Army, 11/25/1994 I have actually not seen this particular match! This is great, as expected. The focus here is mostly on Kawada/Misawa, in a match together for the first time in like 5 months. The loss still eats at Kawada, even though he's Triple Crown Champion now, and he acts like he's the one with something to prove, trying to pin Misawa whenever he's down. Really great counters down the finishing run, but they're clearly holding back since this is a b-show and goes to a draw. Kobashi looks the strongest he has yet, this time being the one to hang on through the onslaught and fighting off both guys. Misawa and Kawada get into the match in the last 30 seconds, and Kawada drops Misawa with a Backdrop, but there isn't enough time. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace, 12/10/1994 If Misawa and Kobashi win this, then they win the Tag League, since this is back before there was a guaranteed finals match. Misawa and Doc do not like each other, and that adds a lot. Ace looks the best he ever has, hitting hard and moving fast, but fuck. There's just something that isn't right. Misawa gets the best of Ace in the control seg, and Williams just about murders Misawa on a few things. I loved that they had actual nearfalls, and big ones, during the control seg to actually get you to believe Misawa NEEDS the tag. Kobashi really comes through to help him survive before he can make the tag. Finishing run is great work, probably because it's mostly Doc involved. Misawa/Ace finishing run is great, since you can imagine this loser being beaten by any of Misawa's big offense. Tiger Driver finally does the job. ***1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 12 2012, 06:16 PM Post #71 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama/Satoru Asako vs. Holy Demon Army/Yoshinari Ogawa, 1/2/1995 Not great, but decent. Asako and Ogawa drag it down some, but Misawa/Akiyama vs. HDA provides a great preview for their series in 1996. Akiyama is an awesome fiery underdog young guy, which is the perfect role opposite Kawada, who wants to kick the shit out of him. Misawa and Taue also do their stuff for a bit, and Kawada beats Akiyama with a Powerbomb. **1/2 Toshiaki Kawada [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 1/19/1995 This goes to a 60 minute broadway. It was originally supposed to be Kawada winning a normal match, but the area this was in suffered an earthquake and was also Kobashi's home area, so Baba wanted to give them something special, so this became a draw. It has flaws, but is still very good. It's a lot like Kawada trying a Flair Formula Draw in a way, which is pretty neat. He gets overpowered by the local powerhouse, and goes to his big stuff early to hang in. This match kind of shows off why Kawada was never received as a megastar on Misawa or Kobashi's levels, the Savage to their Hogan and, I guess, Austin or Rock. Kawada is clearly a level above Kobashi, but in his only successful Triple Crown title defense (which we'll get to more in 1998) until like 2003, it's more about putting Kobashi over as a future top babyface than putting Kawada over as top dog. The point hasn't come where he SHOULD have beaten Misawa and losing hurts him (that's probably 1997) or when he finally beats Misawa but then quickly loses the belt to Kobashi (in 1998). Cracks in booking are starting to show, as they seem dead set against establishing Kawada as Misawa's actual equal, which eventually harms him as a singles draw in a few years. As for the match. They use the time smarter than most Flair broadways that aren't Flair/Butch Reed, meaning it's better than most of them. It's a lot like Flair/Luger, now that I consider it, and it's better than all of them except Starrcade 1988. Both men have weak knees, so that is a focus. Kobashi has a weakness in his selling game in that everything fucking kills him and makes him scream, so it comes off as fake, and it's another reason he's not on the level of Misawa, Kawada, or Jumbo. He also has to compete in terms of long term leg selling with Kawada, one of the best leg sellers ever. They lose focus in the middle before getting to the dueling leg work. They start to blow through stuff after 40 minutes, and it gets kind of ridiculous. They run out at 50, so Kawada takes back over. Last 5 minutes sees Kobashi acting like the champion and just trying to make it to 60 minutes, which is also weird. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Holy Demon Army [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 1/24/1995 Another 60 minute draw. I have no idea why this is happening. This is better than the singles match, but in terms of this series, it's probably their worst match that I've seen, and I've seen all but one of them, which is in December 1995. It's still great, but the series is so great, that this gets lost. It's like when you talk about Triple H vs. The Rock matches, you don't give something like SummerSlam 1998 attention compared to their Raw sprints or Backlash 2000 or Judgment Day 2000. Doesn't mean it doesn't rule, it's just a lesser level of great because it's a little bit flawed. The flaw here is them not seeming like they have enough for a legendary 60 minutes. Well, no. Misawa and Kawada do, and they can carry the other guys, but when Taue and Kobashi have to fill time with their own stuff, it's not as good, simply because they're not as good. It's a lot more what you want in a broadway than the singles match, as they start slow and keep the build on until an amazing finishing run. They build to Misawa/Kawada well, since that doesn't happen for like 15-20 minutes. The usual elements of this matchup are there. Kawada has trouble handling Misawa, but Kobashi needs Misawa to bail him out. It gets slow around 30 minutes, since they've done double control segs by then, and the match hasn't truly picked up. Finally gets going around 35 minutes when Kobashi's leg gets hurt, so that's only like 5 minutes of downtime in 60. Kawada takes Misawa out on the floor, freeing them up to brutalize Kobashi for a while. Misawa finally gets back in in the final 10 minutes to save, and starts throwing elbows like he's fucking Misawa. Final 10 minutes is well and good, but this feels like they never get going to the level they're capable of. Like a b-show version of their superior broadway in October. ***1/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 12 2012, 08:06 PM Post #72 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace/Rob Van Dam, 2/17/1995 Ugh he's back. Doc carries his team to a borderline great match, held back by RVD being RVD. Ace is the best he's ever been, but he still has kind of a low ceiling. Akiyama does awesome, but Misawa is hardly in, and this feels like Kobashi going through the motions. Akiyama beats RVD with an Exploder. **3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi [c] vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 3/4/1995 This is great, but too long as well at some 30-40 minutes. It delivers in what you'd want with Misawa and Kobashi vs. Doc both being good, and Ace trying his hardest, but it's just too fucking long. And for this length, the Americans hardly look like they have a shot. They work on Kobashi's knee early, but he sort of blows it off for the finishing run. I don't want to say Kobashi is a bad seller, he's just lazy. Like Shawn Michaels. They're both capable of great selling, and Kobashi has a GOAT level sell job in June of 1995, but most of the time, they just blow it off. Wouldn't be so bad if Kobashi wasn't constantly in matches with an all time great seller in Kawada. Sort of like how in 2004, Shawn's flaws (poor selling, weak strikes, fills time in the first 2/3rds) got exposed big time by tagging a lot with Benoit, who excelled at selling, striking, and filling time without it coming off as blatant. The finishing run has enough great stuff to put it to *** though. It makes sense to elevate Ace a lot here, since they could use fresh upper mid level guys, even if Ace does suck. They do it by having him go a while with Misawa and kicking out of a Moonsault, which is the best way to get a limited guy over, emphasizing how tough he is. He's basically a goner once Misawa can isolate Doc on the floor, and Kobashi hits the Diving Legdrop to the back of the neck that Cena now uses a lot for the win. *** Toshiaki Kawada [c] vs. Stan Hansen [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 3/4/1995 This was a disappointing match and terrible booking. They go like 30 minutes, and it feels super bloated and unfocused as a result. They had amazing matches in 92 and 93 that were these 15-20 minute slugfest wars of attrition, but they can't do that for 30 minutes, so it gets slow and drawn out. Like, they didn't try to add anything else, they just added in 10 more minutes of stuff, and it all fell apart as a result. Speaking of the result, the first piece of fucking terrible AJPW booking in the 1990s. Kawada hasn't beaten Hansen before and couldn't beat underling Kobashi in an hour, but here he fucking loses to Hansen on only his second defense, and it's not really anything that lets him save face. Lariat to a clean pin for the belt. One of those decisions that ensured Kawada would never be on the same level, perception wise, as Misawa. Can't help but putting on the fantasy booking cap here, but if Kawada beats Kobashi in January and Hansen here, then he can beat Misawa in the June tag match THEN go to foolishly want a singles match with Misawa, in which he loses the title. That way the feud stays a live, and he comes out of this reign not looking like a total mope, which is what happened. **1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 12 2012, 09:22 PM Post #73 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jun Akiyama, 3/21/1995 More Champion's Carnival fun! This is their best match yet. They take the usual theme of Kawada kicking the shit out of young Jun and amp it up all the way, with some insane crowd reaction, Jun's best fiery comebacks yet, great layout to highlight Akiyama's growth, and some of Kawada's best shitkicking. After getting jumped by Kawada in every match they've had in 2 years, Akiyama jumps Kawada to start. Akiyama does an awesome job avoiding the Powerbomb, very reminiscent of how Kawada avoided the Backdrop from Jumbo, because they knew that it would be the death of them, even if they did kick out. Akiyama kicks now, but he's basically dead from it, and Kawada puts on the Stretch Plum repeatedly until it gets the win. ***1/2 The Can-Am Express vs. Kenta Kobashi/Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, 4/8/1995 This is the last time this match ever happens, and the last 2 vs. 2 match that Kobashi and Kikuchi had together. In that sense, it's tragic that it's only 8 minutes, but it's still unquestionably great. This is what you expect. Kikuchi is tortured, the Can-Ams have amazing offense, Kobashi's hot tag delivers, etc. Kroffat beats Kikuchi with the Tiger Driver. *** Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi, 4/13/1995 This is another time limit draw between the two, but now it's only 30 minutes, so they don't have to fill as much time. Focus is Kawada destroying Kobashi's knee, and this is the match that really establishes Kobashi's bad knee going into the 6/9/95 tag title classic. Before the knee work begins, they have a hotter start than January too, and aren't just doing stuff slow to kill time. Kawada goes for the knee only once Kobashi starts overpowering him. And then yeah, it's Kawada in control of a knee, so it's great. There's a lot of additional hate there too, with Kawada still being mad about their December 1993 thing where Kobashi stole a win from him after he and Misawa destroyed Kawada's knee. Kobashi's selling is nonexistent, but then he goes after Kawada's leg in revenge, and Kawada's leg selling makes up for it. Finishing run has lots of cool stuff, and Kawada proves how great he is by having his bad knee prevent him from winning and thus creating the draw situation, as his cover gives out after a Powerbomb near the time limit. ***1/2 Stan Hansen [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 5/26/1995 This isn't great, but at least it's shorter now. They play a fun cat and mouse game, and Hansen is really dominant against the Ace, despite being clearly past his prime by now. He still has some fun stuff, but you get the sense that their match is structured like this for a reason. Finish is really weird and indecisive for Hansen's final TC title match (I think), as Misawa gets him down in a headscissors and grabs a cradle for the quick pin. At least the belts are back with Misawa now. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 14 2012, 10:49 AM Post #74 |
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At this point, AJPW lost one of their TV deals and there's a period of a few months or something before they got another one to cover B-shows, so only big shows are making air at this time. Not a huge problem, since they're picking up all the all-time classic stuff in 1995 (which may be AJPW's best year for all-time classics), but it misses all the cool b-show tags and six mans. Dan Kroffat [c] vs. Rob Van Dam [AJPW Junior Heavyweight Championship], 6/9/1995 This is the first great RVD match, unfortunately. It's mostly due to Kroffat (aka Lafon) being the fucking man and being the first guy to channel RVD's gifts (athleticism, mind for cool spots) into a coherent match and not putting him in a situation where he needs to sell any body part. They also have really good opening matwork, which makes sense since RVD has shown himself able to be led through matwork in matches with Benoit, Eddie, 2001 Angle, Austin, etc. Kroffat hits like a Super DAT NIGGA DEAD for the win. *** Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 7/24/1995 To the surprise of nobody ever, this is a classic match. Seeing it in the full context of their series and AJPW though makes me appreciate it to the level I never did when I saw it like 4-5 years ago. Misawa's eye is still hurt, so Kawada attacks it. That doesn't happen for a while though, as interestingly, Misawa works more as an injured challenger than the champion, as Kawada is much calmer. Misawa is desperate to end it early, and Kawada is calm about it, because he knows his game plan, a complete reversal of their 92-93 matches. Kawada eventually hits the eye, and uses it as a distraction so he can go to town on Misawa. This pisses Misawa off, and he has awesome hope spots, before Kawada goes back to the face to cut him off. Great thing about them is that Misawa's hope spots are him trying for his big stuff, which he normally is great about saving for the finishing run, so that he can hit tons of bombs in a row after the opponent has exhausted their arsenal, but he's so desperate to end it here. Kawada was made for a match like this, since he will kick a dude's face off in a normal match against a guy with a healthy face, let alone someone he hates who has a injured one. Misawa is fucked up, so after like 15-20 minutes of it going like this, he starts dropping bombs to go for the win. Not blowing his load on an early Powerbomb or Backdrop, but getting more intense, because now he's actually pinned Misawa. But here's the thing. It was a tag match. A month and half before when he pinned Misawa, he also had Taue with fucking Chokeslams and double teams and the goddamn Chokeslam off the apron before he got the win, and one on one, he doesn't have the kind of firepower needed to that level of assault, and since he knows either of his biggest bombs would be wasted on Misawa at this point, it allows Misawa to make a comeback, and good Christ, what a comeback it is. So Kawada HAS to throw out a Powerbomb after some Backdrops, and yep, Misawa gets his arm up. They go into a strike battle, which Misawa manages to pull through and win. Kawada throws off another Backdrop Driver, but it's basically a last gasp, as Misawa starts bombing him with elbows. He tries the Gamenguri combo that beat Doc in October, but Misawa avoids it. He hits a few Tiger Suplexes, and Kawada gets up at one point with this AMAZING facial expression as he looks down. Somehow he manages to convey with a look that he knows his gameplan didn't work, that the final comeback fucked him up, and that the trick is going to be somehow shutting down that final comeback. He gets up to embrace his death and gets killed by a Running Elbow and Misawa retains. I used to think this was just really good, but now I think it deserves a place with their top matches along with 6/3/94, 7/93, and 3/93. This reminded me a lot of Cena/Punk MITB, where the match starts with one story and they organically and slowly turn it into another story by the end. Really complicated and hard to do, and it makes sense that two of the greatest in-ring feuds of all time are the ones to pull it off. ****1/2 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Akira Taue [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 9/10/1995 This is another genius Misawa title defense. Taue lost in April when he went after Misawa's face at the height of that injury, so he tries it again, but Misawa is almost immediately read to shut the fuck down. Misawa gets pissed too and immediately makes with his top level stuff. Taue gets a kick to the knee as a cheap way to get some kind of distance, but it winds up working really well, so he keeps going to it whenever he's in trouble and to make openings, like Kawada did in July with the eye. Like Kawada though, he comes to realize that he doesn't have enough to put Misawa away on his own, and lacks the firepower to cut off the final Misawa offensive. Misawa hammers him with stuff, and like in July, Taue has to get up for the end, knowing he's beat, and Misawa looks fucking pleased with himself now, avenging his loss. He beats Taue with a Rolling Elbow to retain the belts. **** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 16 2012, 06:09 PM Post #75 |
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Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 10/15/1995 This is another hour draw, but it's the best one that they did, and probably the best hour draw in the 90s. They pace themselves much better here, and get a lot more story in. Early on, Misawa tries to smoke Kawada and Taue with bombs as payback for the last time this match happened. Kobashi gets in, but Taue takes him to the floor and does stuff. Misawa tries to save with a dive, but Kawada stalls him on the apron, allowing Taue to murder him with the CHOKESLAM OFF THE GODDAMNED APRON. This takes him out for a long time, allowing HDA to focus on Kobashi's bitch ass. They go even, since the HDA don't abuse their advantage and keep it one on one. Misawa finally gets in like 15 minutes later to save Kobashi from the Stretch Plum, but collapses right after, and Kawada goes out to Lariat him on the floor to continue the beating. Once Misawa finally gets back on the apron, they've now managed to isolate Kobashi. Misawa gets in with a hot tag, but he is clearly weakened and immediately goes for the kill, leading to good nearfalls about halfway in. They get Taue almost beat, but Kawada attacks and injures Kobashi's arm on the floor. Misawa goes to check on his partner, allowing Kawada to run back over and tag back in. They then absolutely destroy Kobashi's arm and he has one of his best selling performances ever. Misawa gets in, but has to deal with two guys, and is also shut down, and HDA come out of this looking like the most cohesive unit ever. They invent a DOOMSDAY CHOKESLAM HOLY SHIT FUCK YEAH! The finishing run begins to come about now, and the HDA pretty much control it, since they've been able to weaken each man in periods from the beginning. Kobashi comes in with his arm taped, and for once, keeps selling. Really amazing counters and nearfalls in the final 10-15 minutes, as in the final 10-15 minutes, it finally becomes 2 on 2, and shit breaks down. Exhaustion selling from Misawa and Kawada is off the charts great. In the final 5 minutes, Misawa and Kawada are crawling around and grasping at each other and the other two, and constantly collapsing, and selling like you should after 55 minutes of an AJPW epic. Misawa and Kobashi dominate this run, until Taue can land a big counter with 5 left, leading to Kawada frantically trying to pin Misawa again, since Misawa beating him in July more or less nullified the big pin in their last match. Time limit expires. Classic match. ****1/2 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 16 2012, 11:04 PM Post #76 |
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Toshiaki Kawada vs. Gary Albright, 10/25/1995 Albright is a guy coming over from shootstyle company UWFi. He mostly doesn't fit in with the AJPW style, but Kawada is enough of a genius to adapt himself to shootstyle. Gary is a big fat guy, so Kawada tries to use counters and knee work like he did against Doc. But he does it in a shoot-style-ish rhythm, where they keep sizing each other up, going forward for exchanges, and backing off when something causes them to get broken up. Gary has amazing looking throws and targets the arm. Kawada sells like fucking Kawada. The best thing about this is how much struggle there was in everything, and it immediately makes Albright look like a fucking beast. Kawada wins with a Jujigatame. ***3/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 10/25/1995 This match. This is pretty much a huge warning sign of how bastardized the style would become in a matter of 5-10 years, as they work more of a Kobashi match than a Misawa match, and it's just a total bombfest that goes on far far too long and has way too many kickouts for where they both are. The goal is to really elevate Kobashi against the Ace, but it comes off as forced instead of a natural progression, given that not even Kawada got to kick out of this much stuff. Misawa eventually wins with the Tiger Driver '91, which Kobashi has not earned yet at all. *** Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Holy Demon Army [1995 REAL WORLD TAG LEAGUE FINALS], 12/9/1995 This is their last meeting, and the only one I have not seen. It's not great. After having the best hour draw of the entire decade, and before that having one of the five best tag matches of all time at minimum, having a merely good match seems like a gigantic step down. After something like 5.5-6 hours of work together in the last two and a half years, it's obvious that they finally ran out of cool things to do, as this feels like a best of. Still two of the best teams ever doing their thing, so it's a low level great match. Given that their last two matches were long, I appreciate that this was 20 minutes of pure action. HDA goes to what worked in October, as they keep Misawa off the apron and work on Kobashi's arm. Sort of breaks down at the end and they forget the arm, and just do stuff. Kobashi wins with a Moonsault on Taue, and HDA have been denied the Tag League again. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 17 2012, 02:59 PM Post #77 |
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Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 3/2/1996 1996 is the year Akiyama gets elevated to play with the big guys, and this is the start. The Misawa/Kobashi tag team has split up since Kobashi is now a title contender on his own and not Misawa's little buddy anymore. HDA being HDA, they try to treat Akiyama like shit. Akiyama being Akiyama, he takes a hell of a beating, but also refuses to be bullied, and the Akiyama/Kawada moments carry this from good to great. You get some great Kobashi/Kawada stuff in this, but the focus is really on Akiyama. In the finishing run, he does way better than anyone could expect from him, especially vs. Kawada. They end up barely beating Akiyama, having to break out the Backdrop/Chokeslam deal before Taue then uses the Dynamic Bomb for the win. ***1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi, 3/31/1996 This is part of the CC tournament, again. Not that much from the 1996 Carnival, but there's three big matches that are online. Two from 3/31/96 and then the final in April. This is only 23 minutes or so, meaning they have much less blatant filler and bullshit overkill than their October match, and they get to have a bombfest that is much more justifiable. This is much more of a classic Misawa format, letting Kobashi run through his stuff and then being all like "Oh, cool. That's all you have then?" and coming back once Kobashi has shown all his cards. And yeah, it's these two, so there's lots of insane headdrops and spots. Misawa sort of puts Kobashi in his place at the end by winning with a generic Diving Reverse Neckbreaker, which is great, because fuck a Kobashi. *** Toshiaki Kawada vs. Akira Taue, 3/31/1996 This is where the story of the HDA in 1996 really picks up. In 1996, Taue has his maycabe best year ever, while Kawada is in a large slump. In theory, a 30 minute draw shows equality, but Taue really dominates most of this match. Kawada can't really get going, and it seems his partner of 3 years has him totally scouted. Kawada is able to avoid defeat by rolling out or getting the ropes, but Taue stops him completely from coming near a win for most of the match. Kawada starts to rattle off his big bombs, but the time runs out. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 17 2012, 07:10 PM Post #78 |
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Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams [1996 CHAMPION'S CARNIVAL FINALS], 4/20/1996 Doc is back in a big way in 1996 after spending most of 1995 out of the company due to legal problems. As opposed to the 1949 and 1995 CC finals featuring these two in them, there isn't a ton of story here. So it's not the all time classic that those matches were, but it is one hell of a heavyweight slugfest. They do an awesome job gradually bringing up the pace, and Taue wins super clean with the Dynamic Bomb after a killer finishing run. ***1/2 Holy Demon Army [c] vs. Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 5/23/1996 In the wake of Kobashi splitting up with Misawa, Misawa then picked Akiyama as his partner, and it rules because he is one of the pluckiest young guys ever. HDA try their now usual game plan of taking out each guy, starting with Akiyama, but they underestimate his skill, so it fails, plus Misawa knows how this works now after the last three HDA vs. Misawa/Kobashi tags, so he cuts it off. Kawada's facial expressions tell as good of a story as the actual match, as he slowly goes from being a prick to Akiyama because he thinks he can to being freaked out because the kid is actually a threat at the end. Control segs on Akiyama are super super violent and mean spirited. Misawa keeps having to save him, and on a fluke, Kawada hurts his leg. Misawa and Akiyama go after it to make openings, and Misawa basically hands it to Akiyama like he did on 12/93 to Kobashi. Taue remembers this and goes nuts, but Misawa holds him at bay long enough for Akiyama to hit a third Exploder for the HUGE upset. ****1/4 Mitsuharu Misawa [c] vs. Akira Taue [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 5/24/1996 Fun stuff. Not on the level of their 1995 matches, as it's under 20 minutes of them doing stuff. Not a ton of deep story or focus, just two great wrestlers having a normal match. Taue continues to have an amazing year, as he has Misawa pretty much entirely scouted. Misawa does his stuff, and Taue surprisingly catches him out of midair with a Chokeslam TO WIN THE TITLES?! HOLY SHIT WHAT? Taue beating Misawa in a singles match before Kawada furthers Taue's amazing 1996. *** |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 17 2012, 10:31 PM Post #79 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Steve Williams/Johnny Ace [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 6/7/1996 This got five stars from WON and the MOTY award, and while it's not THAT great, it is pretty fucking great and easily the best Ace match ever. More than Kobashi, Akiyama is a total rookie as Misawa's partner. When Kobashi got called up, he had 5 years under his belt, as well as lots of singles experience against top guys. Akiyama, not so much. Just about three years. So he makes a lot of mistakes that Misawa has to save him from, and it means he gets isolated a lot. Misawa pretty much tries to hand Akiyama the win like he did to Kobashi, but Doc keeps stopping it, because he's trying to do the same for Ace. Ace mostly stays out of the way and doesn't try anything out of his reach. Only real flaw in his game is his refusal to try and die when taking bumps. Which makes sense, but then why is he even working AJPW main events? Misawa takes at least 5 headdrops here that should paralyze a man. Finishing run is great, and Misawa does most of the work for young Jun again, allowing him to hit Ace with Exploders until a third pins him. ***3/4 Akira Taue [c] vs. Toshiaki Kawada [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 6/7/1996 This is disappointing. Not in a way that it's bad or anything, because it's these two in the mid 90s, so that's not a thing that's going to happen, but just not at a level they can do. Somewhat of a story with Kawada's 1996 slump vs. Taue's golden year, but it feels very held back. Taue wins with the Chokeslam. **3/4 |
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| Big Tuna | Dec 19 2012, 01:23 PM Post #80 |
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Mitsuharu Misawa/Jun Akiyama [c] vs. Holy Demon Army [AJPW Unified Tag Team Championship], 7/9/1996 This is great once again! This time, Kawada and Taue are not taking any of Akiyama's bullshit and murder him early, forcing Misawa to get in. They basically use the strategy that worked against Misawa and Kobashi, forcing Misawa to go it alone in a 2 on 1, which would logically dictate a 2 on 1 for the rest of the match. And then yeah, it's the HDA, they're the best tag team ever, so their control segs are great. The prolonged control on Misawa allows a rested Akiyama to briefly clean house, but Misawa again must save him from the Apron Chokeslam. Akiyama is incapable of winning himself, but he proves himself a little bit, as he is able to hold Kawada back long enough for Misawa to beat Taue with the Tiger Suplex. ***1/2 Masanobu Fuchi [c] vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi [AJPW Junior Heavyweight Title], 7/24/1996 THE CONCLUSION! it's these two, but now for 20 minutes, so they get time to appropriately deliver one last home run before Fuchi is delegated to lower card veteran matches, and Kikuchi's push stop soon due to injuries finally catching up with him. But yeah, the classic tones are hit. Kikuchi has a ton of fire, Fuchi is a dick, Fuchi is a violent dick, Fuchi stretches Kikuchi, etc. They play off of the "ten million Backdrops" finish from 1993, but with Kikuchi fighting back now. He turns it around to where he's the one pounding Fuchi with impact stuff, but Fuchi refuses to die. But because it's Fuchi, he doesn't fight back with forearms, but with eye gouges and slaps and spitting, so it's really fantastic as a last stand. He hits three Bridging German Suplexes in a row, which is insane, TO WIN THE TITLE FINALLY! YEAH! ***1/2 Akira Taue [c] vs. Kenta Kobashi [AJPW Triple Crown Championship], 7/24/1996 I'm not a huge fan of this, but it's a great match anyways. More of that slower building style than they're used to, and for Kobashi, it feels like he's clearly not a fan of it, but because of the result, he's going with it. They build to a great finishing run, but due to the lack of any big big stories, the length feels a little unwarranted at around 25 minutes. Last 5-10 minutes is totally fucking killer. Classic Kobashi stuff, but also breaking out some moves that would define the second half of his career from like 1997-2006 or whenever, with Lariats and big headdroppy suplexes. Kobashi hits the Moonsalt, and wins his first Triple Crown as a result. *** |
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There's some shockingly good Gordy/Taue matwork to start before the match begins to break down and get aggressive. The MVC controls most of the match with their power, and as is usual for them, everything looked really brutal. Taue uses technique to offset power, and Kawada slowly chops down the trees with well placed kicks and forearms and chops. This time Taue is the one isolated, and Kawada has the great hot tag. Good finishing run, and Taue sneaks on a Chokeslam on Gordy while Doc is out on the floor, and Kawada Powerbombs Gordy to win.
7:02 PM Jul 10