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And what always gets forgotten is that right before the match, the "burned out" crowd gave Austin the biggest pop of the show. Taker/Shawn didn't somehow rob them of their voices; HHH and Orton just worked a match no one wanted to see. Lack of a buffer match had nothing to do with the match sucking. The idea that crowds need a buffer match might be the dumbest thing invented by WWE. How many people have actually been to cards and thought "Man, I sure wanna see a shit match right now to cool myself off?"

Sorry, just saw this post, but that's pretty surprising for me since the narrative I've always heard was NOAH was drawing huge during those years while Inoki was nearly running NJ out of business by pushing MMA stars no one wanted to see. Why else did the Yuke's sale happen with Inoki getting exiled?

Have you seen Baba/Robinson and Baba/Sammartino? Despite the matches being so old, they fit right in the same group as the Jumbo/Tenryu stuff as clear forerunners to the Shitennou with slow build, intense exchanges, and big near falls. I think it's been mentioned Baba had a huge influence in laying out the big matches of both the Jumbo and Misawa eras, which would explain the similarities.

Dunno about the other 2 but AJPW's 4 kings isn't a good example of multiple guys on top since Misawa was always very clearly positioned as the ace and even when he lost the title, it felt like the guy who took it from him was trying to prove they deserved the spot. 80's NWA was also pretty good with Ric Flair as the top guy. In a way, I prefer having someone as the undisputed ace so you can have clear passing of the torch moments like when Kobashi finally got his big title match win over Misawa in NOAH and set off their boom period. But I don't really follow WWE's soap opera bullshit, so whatever.

I've read a lot of criticism for this match and each time I watch it I expect to be horribly disappointed, yet each time I always end up amazed at what these guys did. I'll admit that I first watched this around 2010ish when all that stuff about concussions was coming out and I got a massively perverse enjoyment just from seeing the crazy shit these guys were doing to each other, but I still contend that there's a beautiful story under all that and I discover a little more of it every time I see it. This time, I was really struck by the ways that Kawada was able to project this incredible desire to win while still finding ways to get the crowd into Misawa's comeback. I love that moment early on when Misawa shows a slight expression of pain after elbowing Kawada and Kawada viciously goes after it immediately thereafter like a shark who sees blood. The way that Misawa then makes a comeback using that same elbow works great as a "fuck you" spot, but it doesn't feel like a waste of time when Kawada briefly goes back to it to cut off Misawa. The transition towards the second half comes when Misawa sells his neck after a strike exchange as if it aggravated some old injury from the Kobashi matches, and again Kawada goes after it with all he can. The spot with 3 consecutive backdrop drivers is absolutely insane and I have no idea how people can criticize them for selling too much when they're doing shit like that to each other. I can kind of see that spawning the claims of this being the point the point where King's Road had nowhere else to go and became a more a spot-oriented style, but I think the resulting "Thrilla in Manilla" vibe, where it feels like it's two old rivals pushing each other within an inch of death, only adds to the match. I'd also say that if you compare the usage of those moves to even something like their 7/95 match, this one was actually farther from the myth of the style degenerating into spotfests built around head drops. Also, I think it's pretty clear the triangle choke Kawada did later was not meant as a "submission attempt on the arm he hadn't worked" what with the referee checking if Misawa was still conscious and the camera being focused on his facials. The crowd did seem caught off-guard but they definitely didn't shit on it when they soon started chanting Misawa's name and were stomping their feet when he reached the ropes. If you think about it, it's actually a pretty brilliant spot both from the working perspective of giving the audience an opportunity to appreciate Misawa's tenacity and from the kayfabe perspective of Kawada just trying whatever he can to keep Misawa down when he couldn't even get him up for a powerbomb after the aforementioned 3 backdrop drivers and a stretch plum. I also don't think the "delayed selling" should be counted against the match purely for its presence. It worked excellently to get across how deep both guys were digging and to get across their history where they both knew a single string of big moves could end the match. I love how they play up the finish to their 92 and 93 TC matches when Misawa starts pulling out the tiger suplexes and Kawada is just desperate to not stay down because he knows the doom that would spell for him. My favorite moment of the match is when Misawa hits a tiger suplex and Kawada immediately pops up, tries to support himself with the ropes, but still slowly slumps down like a tree that's been chopped down. His desire to win continued to burn but his body couldn't keep up. Right there is the central theme of the match, as anyone who saw their prior matches knows that Kawada didn't seem able to keep up with Misawa's classical perseverance in a long match, and this was him trying to overcome it with his sheer will to win. The only criticism in here I can agree with somewhat is the referee botching the finish, but even that, knowing what we do now about taking shots after getting concussed, just adds to the sense of of primal brutality that they had created throughout the match. That visual of a groggy Kawada being hoisted up for a sloppy german after he had already been KO'd by Misawa's elbows almost transcends merely being apart of the match and becomes its own philosophical statement. It is like an exclamation point to Kawada and Misawa having pushed the concept of pro wrestling pushed to its limit. When I watch matches like this there is a slight sense of guilt knowing the ill effects that this style has on the body, but when I see these guys being forced into that finish by a veteran referee in front of hardcore fans who had been screaming madly from the opening bell, I am overcome with a calm resignation in understanding that it simply is what it is. Edit: Also just remembered this quote from Misawa's Japanese Wikipedia page. Though it would be worth putting here, especially with someone implying before that this match's rep is just Meltzer craziness "三沢が川田と対戦した1997å¹´6月6æ—¥ã®ä¸‰å† çµ±ä¸€ãƒ˜ãƒ“ãƒ¼ç´šçŽ‹åº§ã®ã‚¿ã‚¤ãƒˆãƒ«ãƒžãƒƒãƒã¯ã€é¦¬å ´ãŒã€Œã‚ã¾ã‚Šã«ã‚‚ã™ã”ã„ã€ã¨æ¶™ã—ãŸã»ã©æ¿€ã—ã„è©¦åˆã¨ã—ã¦çŸ¥ã‚‰ã‚Œã‚‹," which Google Translate says the match is known for being so violent it had Baba crying and saying how great it was.

Yeah, I have no idea why people are focusing at Angle/Benoit RR when that came after all the stuff that gave the era its name. If people are in the mood to be revisionists and call it a "failed Heyman project" it might be a better idea to instead tell me how shitty the No Mercy and Survivor Series tags are.

Wouldn't recommend the Misawa/Ace TC match beyond the last few minutes, where you get the hilarity of seeing Misawa going into epic war sell mode and pull out the TD 91 against fucking Johnny Ace. Otherwise, I don't think there's anything there that you don't get better in stuff like Misawa's TC matches with Akiyama. In it's place, I'd recommend gettng the version of the Misawa/Kobashi TC match that aired on classics a few years back that includes some very interesting/disturbing footage of both guys getting carried to the back and Kobashi needing to get feeling pressed back into his legs.