dawho5

Kobashi vs. Misawa 10/25/95 for the Triple Crown So, Kobashi hits an Orange Crush 3 minutes in. Then immediately powerbombs Misawa on the floor. Guess we're doing the Misawa extended comeback match. Kobashi hits a dragon suplex for two. Misawa looks to be coming back, but Kobashi ducks an elbow and works the right arm for the space of one submission. That's kinda odd. Misawa hits a backdrop out of a strike exchange and then starts destroying Kobashi with elbows. Kobashi sells for a very short, then comes right back and puts Misawa in a surfboard. Two problems with this. 1. Kawada took those same elbows in a tag and was "out" for about 5 minutes before he fought back again. 2. When Misawa and Kobashi struggle over a surfboard, I think of Kawada and Kobashi struggling over a surfboard and how much more they get out of it. Back to the match. Kobashi works a sleeper for a long time, then hits a half nelson suplex before re-applying the sleeper. Kobashi is killing Misawa here as far as the severity of these moves, and the crowd is starting to believe that Kobashi has a chance to put Misawa away. They don't yet, which may suggest a not so small error in how strongly Misawa was booked up to this point. Misawa elbows out of an apron backdrop attempt by Kobashi and finally goes on offense. He starts with a tigerdriver, which is probably good since he's taken about 2 matches worth of damage for most people. Misawa's offense does a number on Kobashi, and he is (if the crowd and my own reaction is not off) believably back in it after about 1/3 of the time spent on offense Kobashi has had. This with the biggest bombs Kobashi has thrown at him before he ever really started. Kobashi ducks a kick and hits a german for a nearfall to go back on offense. Oddly enough, Kobashi's biggest nearfall in the match is following a German -> Misawa elbow -> Kobashi dropkick sequence. The moonsault that came before it may or may not have been more convincing. Misawa again resorts to throwing elbows and suplexes until Kobashi is ripe for a tigerdriver 91. I get why they did what they did here. Kobashi was not at the level he needed to be to really pull off a slow build to a big run of nearfalls before Misawa finally put him away. He had to do lots of damage and fast to get any credibility going. It still makes for an awkward build and a match I didn't think was particularly great. I do like the continuing theme with Misawa's big matches. Since 92 and 93, the only person who has been able to truly push him has been Hansen. And Misawa will really streamline his offense down during crunch time with Hansen. Not a lot of wasted energy trying to lift with the tigerdriver. Not taking too many risks down the stretch with his more athletic moves. Just simple, elbows, maybe throw some suplexes in there, wear him down in a way that's not leaving you too vulnerable or taking too much energy to execute. Then Kawada, Taue and Kobashi all get that same treatment in 95. It's smart booking to me for Misawa to not really be comfortable being pushed around that time, since there wasn't anybody but Hansen or Doc who could push him. And it gets over the idea that now the other 3 are actual threats to Misawa. That's not saying I don't think he could have been booked a tad less strongly throughout that time.

Misawa/Kobashi vs. Holy Demon Army 10/15/95 They start out big with Misawa immediately hitting a nasty tiger suplex on Kawada about a minute in. Kawada is screwed and he knows it, so he rolls outside. The faces don't attack him, which allows him to roll back into the ring and tag Taue. Misawa tries to hit the tiger suplex on Taue, but that's not happening. Misawa tags to Kobashi after working on Taue a bit. Kobashi ends up on the floor, Taue hits a tope. Misawa wants to dive at Taue, but Kawada kicks him in the head to stop that. Taue has to fight a bit for it, but the apron nodowa is successful and Misawa is down & out on the floor. Kobashi is concerned, then just plain angry as he gets back in the ring. He takes on his two opponents admirably for a time, but then ends up taking a long beatdown at the hands of the Holy Demon Army. During which Kawada and Taue will turn their attention to Misawa and put the hurt on him while he's on the floor. Can't have him feeling ignored. Misawa finally gets back on the apron, Kobashi fights off both Kawada and Taue so he can tag. Misawa is on fire, taking apart Taue with some big nearfalls. He puts on a stepover facelock and Kobashi puts a sleeper on Kawada. Kawada is out after a good long while in that sleeper, perhaps Kobashi got some revenge for the choking out of Misawa there. Taue is now in peril for a while as Kawada is trying to shake off that sleeper outside. Kawada charges Kobashi while he's on the apron and starts going after the arm with a jujigatame while Misawa is still working over Taue. Kobashi rolls to the outside and starts selling the arm big time as Misawa comes to check on him. Kawada is nowhere in sight...oh wit, he's getting the tag from Taue. Love the distraction to get the tag. Kawada caps off a strke exchange (a very good one at that) with a gamengiri, then powerbombs Misawa for a nearfall. A second is powerbomb attempt is broken up by Kobashi, who is tagged in. Kawada goes back to the arm and we go to Kobashi in peril part 2. The heels work over the arm, with Kobashi rolling outside after some Kawada offense only to find Taue waiting for him on the floor. Tough luck there. Misawa is tagged after a Kobashi lariat, but the heels end up catching him on the top rope and do a great nodowa double team spot with Misawa on Kawada's shoulders out of the corner. Misawa counters an apron nodowa, looking ready to dive, but Kawada has an enzuilariat to stop that. Misawa frankensteiners out of a Kawada powerbomb and tags. Kobashi and Kawada decide to see who can kick the crap out of the other's limb more (Kawada's leg, Kobashi's arm). They go into a really nice finishing sequence that ends with Misawa again just trying to bludgeon his way to victory, but coming up short on time. Yeah, this was a really good match. The way each team was going out of their way to take somebody on the other team out of the match worked so well. It wasn't "work over the leg" type taking them out of the match. It was "come close to killing them" All Japan style isolation. And I liked even more that it was Misawa that started it with the super early tiger suplex. Then Kawada and Tue one-upped them with Kawada kicking Misawa in the face to set up the apron nodowa. Then (I think) Kobashi choked Kawada out a la Kawada on 7/8/95 to isolate Taue. And once all that was done, Kawada gets creative with the attack on Kobashi's arm to set up the faces for another control segment. Just when it looks like Kawada and Taue have finally got Misawa and Kobashi where they want them, Misawa decides to take over the match to get his team back into it after nearfalls on Kobashi and himself. The heels get a few shots in, but a big part of the stretch run is Misawa taking over and giving Kobashi time to recover for a quick run of nearfalls before handing it back to Misawa. Then Misawa is nearly out of gas, and when Taue fights back a little too much on a tigerdriver Misawa just starts blasting him with elbows in a desperate attempt to get a 3 count in the final minute. Really good stuff, lots of drama, could have ended at any point past 30 believably, which is amazing.

I would agree that great heels are very often the really crafty guys. Flair and Heenan come to mind pretty quickly. The other thing that makes a great heel to me is how vicious their personality is. It's not that they attack weaknesses and openings. Everyone does that. It's that they attack those openings and weaknesses to extreme levels, which tends to make you root against them. As far as what makes great faces, it's whatever it is they have that the crowd really wants to get behind. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about Cena that the WWE fans latched onto and have really never let go of for over a decade. But they did. Same for any of the really big iconic faces. What did Liger have that made him THE face in Japanese juniors wrestling? Yeah, Misawa was chosen to be booked as the ace, but why did the fans get so insanely behind him in that role? What made fans want to see Hogan so badly? Those kinds of things are really undefinable to me, but to be a really top-notch face they are necessary. Heels can be more "created" than faces can be, or so I think.

Misawa vs. Taue 9/10/95 for the Triple Crown Misawa starts out hot, hitting an elbow suicida, teasing a tigerdriver, then hitting a tigerdriver for a nearfall before the 5 minute mark. Can't say I get the why of that unless they are going for "Taue is dangerous so he has to put him away early." Taue ducks a rolling elbow and this a nodowa for a nearfall to get control after going to the knee outside. Misawa makes a Taue DDT look particularly nasty. Taue hits a tope then teases the apron nodowa. Misawa fights too much and gets pushed into the guard rail from the apron. Misawa comes back in the ring with a rolling elbow followed by a German suplex hold for a nearfall. Taue attacks the knee again to slow Misawa down. There is another apron nodowa tease before a big dynamic bomb nearfall. They do the rolling elbow miss -> nodowa setup from before, but this time Misawa uses it to go back on offense after escaping the nodowa. He hits a big release German, they go back and forth and taue hits the nodowa, but it comes right after he is hit with a rolling elbow so he can't capitalize. Taue again goes to the knees, but Misawa counters the powerbomb attempt with a frankensteiner. Misawa with another nice release German suplex, taue headbutts Misawa out of some corner elbows and then hits a really nice release German (his second of the match). Misawa stands right up and hits a rolling elbow. Both are down for a while again, Misawa hits a spinning back elbow and a rolling elbow for the win. I enjoyed this. Not as much as the Misawa/Kawada sprint, but still good. Taue came close to hitting the apron nodowa twice and had a late shot at a second dynamic bomb that may have done Misawa in. He kept using the knee as a way to keep Misawa off-balance and cut his offense off. Never really "worked the leg" for an extended period of time in any way. The few things he did to the eye targeted the wrong eye, I thought that was odd. Misawa again had to just bludgeon his way to a finish over a strong challenger, rather than go for his more refined offense (tigerdriver, frog splash) late. That says one of two things (or both) to me. He's taking enough of a beating that he isn't going to risk being backdropped out of the tigerdriver when he goes for it. And/or he's tired enough that the effort it's going to require for a tigerdriver is too much, so he just has to rely on his basic stuff. Either way, it puts both Taue and Kawada over in the last 2 matches. Next is the second hour tag match of 1995. That is a day's work in and of itself, I think.

Kobashi vs. Taue 7/24/95 They tease the sleeper really early, but Taue does a stunner to put an end to that. Kobashi does a guillotine whip to Taue! Kobashi follows Taue to the floor, but that backfires and he eats a floor nodowa. Taue goes right to the Dynamic Bomb in the ring for an early nearfall. Huh? Kobashi rolls to the floor, Taue rolls him in and covers for a nearfall. Okay, why the nearfall after just rolling him back in? Taue hits some more offense, then teases the nodowa twice. Kobashi catches Taue with a back kick to the gut after an atomic drop, then follows with a big jumping legdrop. Kobashi starts on offense, Taue makes the mistake of going to the floor and gets powerbombed. Kobashi hits a jackknife powerbomb in the ring for a nearfall. Then after all of this they go into the usual early match stuff for a bit with a couple of sleeper teases worked in. Then Taue looks like he's setting up Kobashi for an apron nodowa, but Kobashi fights it off. Kobashi gets more offense, then goes into the MASSIVE sleeper sequence. You really have to see it to believe how into this the crowd is. He sets up Taue for the moonsault, but Taue rolls away. Kobashi isn't being denied right this minute and hits a moonsault for an insanely awesome nearfall. The kickout and crowd were soooo big. Then he inexplicably goes for a nearfall after a bulldog. A powerbomb sends Taue to the floor, where Kobashi tries to powerbomb him again after picking up the mats. Taue backdrops out to go on offense. There's the nodowa nearfall we teased earlier, and the crowd liked that too. A couple of counters later and Taue is teasing another nodowa as the bell rings. Then Kobashi fights it off and does that non-lifting nodowa toss thing afterwards..all after the bell. This match was kind of strange. They started out using finishing run spots (including a dynamic bomb!), then slowed down for a short time before paying off a few teases, then went to even steven reversals before the bell. The crowd loved the late nearfall sequence, and they really bought into Kobashi being close to putting Taue away. The match worked, but some of the weirdness of it bothered me. Misawa vs. Kawada 7/24/95 for the Triple Crown They start with some collar and elbow tie-ups, then avoiding each other's common spots. Misawa proceeds to run headfirst into a Kawada high kick. Then Kawada hits an abisegiri right to the injured eye! Misawa starts throwing elbows, but Kawada is merciless going after the eye. Kawada hits a powerbomb on the floor before going back into the ring and hitting a gamengiri to the eye. It's still too early for the powerbomb, though and Misawa turns things around. Misawa is throwing big elbows, then a couple of German suplexes that have Kawada reeling. A tigerdriver is teased, kinda early for that but I get it. Kawada is still aware enough to roll away when Misawa goes up top. Stepover facelock for Misawa, then he's trying another German. Kawada is hanging onto the ropes, but Misawa is stubbornly refusing to give up on the German. He gets hit with a chop and an enzuilariat for that mistake, which is usually the kind of thing that happens to Kawada in these matches. Kawada has a burst of offense, including the scissors sleeper that he has to re-apply after the ref makes him break it for choking. There is a strike exchange and misawa looks like he's going back on offense until he runs right into a drop toe hold. Kawada follows with a kick to the injured eye. Kawada goes into a big nearfall sequence that has the crowd buying his chances by the end of it. There's Kawada making that mistake with the backdrop while Misawa is grabbing the ropes. Kawada starts elbowing Misawa in the eye while Misawa is on his back! Misawa hits a rolling elbow for a nearfall that the crowd doesn't really buy. Kawada hits a dangerous backdrop but can't follow it up. Misawa ducks a gamengiri and starts hitting desperate elbows and suplexes until he finally gets a 3 count. The last tiger suplex is absolutely magnificent. Okay, this match rules. It's not as good as 6/3/94, but I love it anyway. Misawa is doing fine and the match looks like an upgraded version of the rivalry with the early counter sequence running a little long. The Kawada makes the statement that defines the match: "I'm gonna use the eye to beat you." And he forces Misawa into a very unfamiliar role, the guy who has to work from underneath. Misawa is busting out big moves early to try to make up the damage and making the mistakes he usually takes advantage of. Kawada is cutting off Misawa's comeback attempts (albeit using the eye as a crowbar to do so). Kawada looks like he has Misawa ready to fall, then the gamengiri misses. Misawa is on autopilot for the finish, and as soon as he has Kawada (who is exhausted from trying to put Misawa away) on the ropes he just bludgeons him into submission. I thought that Kawada came out looking pretty good with the big, believable nearfall sequence and Misawa's desperation rally-type finish.

Just so you guys get a visual representation of how much of a shameless silly bastard I can be...I give you this: http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab224/dawho5/stachepic_zpscb1072b9.jpg It was after a month and a half of growing out the 'stache for March Mustache Madness at work, hence the safety goggles. So when I do stupid crap like this thread, please understand.

On that Hash vs. Choshu match, it looked like Choshu's right arm was hurt going into the match. He was selling it as soon as he hit his big punch and never stopped. Then they were icing it on the way to the back. I got the feeling that Fujinami stopped it when he saw Choshu was just going to keep hitting lariats with an already injured arm until he made it worse.

Was not a huge fan. It played out to me like a '90s New Japan mat based opening transitioned into an extended WWE style finisher reversal-off. Tajiri using a MD2 after reversing a high angle facelock into a high angle facelock was alright. Hoped for more variety in the finishing run anyway. I remember Tajiri having a nice brainbuster and superkick, as well as lots of rare things he would pull out for big matches. None showed up here. I'm all for less is more, but they needed a bit more for this to be a good match.

Given that, if rapper counts, then John Cena may actually surpass Undertaker. Also, Mr. McMahon was pretty damn over for a long time with the gimmick of...well, being a cartoony version of himself. But at the same time the day job is 1,000x more successful in his case.

I enjoyed the Hell out of Hansen in the '94 CC. The whole thing he had going with his ribs was great and he did a great job of selling that while still getting in his offense. Other than that I agree with you on anything after 7/29/93 (so far). But how long had he been wrestling at that point? Also, I think the booking had a lot to do with the two TC bouts in 95. Why did they have him in two 30+ minute matches worked in a late 80s NWA Title match style in 1995 All Japan when the crowd clearly wasn't looking for that?

Well, I have to bring people down to my level somehow, Ditch. Makes me seem less lost.

Yeah. If you'd have told me that I would like an RVD match more than a Misawa vs. Hansen match, I can guarantee I wouldn't have believed you. Strange what odd/bad booking can do, no?

Misawa/Kobashi vs. Holy Demon Army 6/9/95 for the World Tag Titles Yeah, this was okay. Or the greatest tag match ever wrestled. Not going to do any kind of review or look at stategy or anything. 99% of the people on this board have probably seen it at least once. Watching it after seeing all the stuff going in made it all the more incredible. Misawa/Kobashi/Asako vs. Kawada/Taue/Honda 6/30/95 JIP and Kawada is tagged in vs. Kobashi. They do the spot where Kawada can't suplex Kobashi and gets suplexed after a big fight. Misawa is tagged in and the crowd is happy. Misawa gets the better of the exchange and tags Asako. Kawada gets the best of him, then puts both Kobashi and Misawa on the mat with elbows and kicks. Asako takes advantage and hits a suplex to go into the Kawada in peril segment. Kobashi has to roll out of the ring after a strike exchange, but fights out of a Taue floor nodowa. Meanwhile, in the ring Misawa and Kawada are going back and forth until Misawa hits a rolling elbow. Kobashi hits a powerbomb on the floor, leaving Taue down & out. Kawada finally tags to Honda, who has a pretty good exchange with Kobashi. Taue is tagged in, Asako breaks up the corner nodowa. taue isn't interested in taking the second rope flying shoulder, but Kobashi is just as disinterested in taking a nodowa. Kobashi tags Misawa, who has a series of erally nice exchanges with Taue. Taue tags in Kawada after a DDT. Misawa hits a powerbomb on Kawada (WHA??) for a nearfall. Asako is tagged, Honda interferes from the apron then is tagged. Misawa ends up setting Honda on top for an Asako frankensteiner. Kobashi comes in and looks like he's going to fight off a Honda German, but Kawada stops that by kicking him in the face. Kawada jumps in again and looks like he may be able to put Misawa and Kobashi down again to let his team finish, but Misawa turns the tables and clears both Kawada and Taue out of the ring. Kobashi hits the dragon suplex on Honda for the win. Always loved the chaotic 6-man Japanese tag finishes, and All Japan did them really well. Enjoyable tag for sure. Also, Asako and Honda did pretty well for being as overmatched as they were. Misawa/Kobashi/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Kikuchi/Ogawa 7/8/95 JIP, Misawa and Kawada are tagged in at the same time. Kawada goes straight to the injured eye with step kicks. What a dick. Kawada wins a strike exchange, then goes into his scissors sleeper. Only he's choking Misawa. And he refuses to let up! Misawa is out and Kobashi has to chop Kawada in the neck to keep him away. Kobashi takes on Kikuchi in the ring, then Ogawa is tagged in, then Kawada while Kobashi is looking a little tired. Kobashi comes right back to life when Kawada hits the ring, and they have one of their really intense exchanges. Misawa is up now and chomping at the bit to get in the ring with Kawada. He comes in after Kawada knocks down Kobashi to give Kobashi the window to tag, then UNLEASHES HELL on Kawada in the corner once he gets him there. Kawada is barely conscious after all those elbows. We get an extended Kawada in peril segment with a particularly awesome abdominal stretch by Kobashi. Akiyama misses a jumping knee in the corner and Kawada gives him an obligatory kick to the head while both are down before tagging. Ogawa and Kikuchi take the beginning of the Akiyama in peril segment while Kawada recovers. Right before they tag Kawada back in, they do this sweet top rope knee drop -> top rope double stomp -> top rope knee drop tag sequence. Kawada takes his time in the ring to toss some elbows at Kobashi and Misawa on the apron just because he can. Ogawa is tagged in and runs into a hiptoss off the ropes. Akiyama tags Misawa, who goes into his patented lucha-offense-on-Ogawa routine, but interference from the heel team allows Ogawa to tag Kawada. Kawada hits a lariat, then has Misawa in a stretch plum. A powerbomb is countered with heels to the face and Kobashi is tagged. Kawada avoids Kobashi's big spots before tagging out. They do the six-man chaos stuff, eventually Misawa is in the ring with Ogawa. A tigerdriver attempt is interrupted, so Misawa hits a backdrop while his teammates clear things out before Ogawa falls to the tigerdriver. The Kawada/Misawa/Kobashi stuff in this match was awesome. Misawa's fired-up revenge on Kawada was so much fun to watch. The Kawada vs. Akiyama stuff was pretty good too. I'd not seen more than 1 Kikichi match prior to this, but he's damn good. Ogawa was, well, there, as usual.

For the life of me, I can't remember which post I was reading while lurking around that day. Crap. Found it. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/21638-good-not-great-wrestlers/page-8 Only made me think of that because up until probably the late '90s I had to suffer through those awful kinds of glasses myself. When you go through high school at 125 lbs., you don't need that kind of extra incentive for the jackass athletes.

I was reading though a thread and saw a pic that jerry von Kramer posted. It brought me back to the days of evil-ly oversized and akward glasses being the only kind you could ever find. My question was this. Were the people who manufactured glasses frames like the kayfabe authority figure who inadvertently helps the heel in an already lopsided situation? OR Were they the evil bastard authority figure who was openly on the heel's side in this action? Myself, I lean towards the second. They had to know the glasses frames they were making were gawky and stupid lookin'. I mean, did they not have mirrors?

"It's Shabbas today!" "You're not even Jewish!"

Kobashi vs. Ace 5/26/95 Kobashi's leg is heavily taped after that 6 man tag. They go through a really good Ace shoulderblock, Kobashi nosell sequence, then Ace hits a back elbow to put him on his ass. Theres a bit more exchanged and they do the dueling dropkick spot. Ace counters a suplex with one of his own. Kobashi goes back on offense and gets his suplex back immediately. Ace hits a floor DDT, Kobashi ducks the lariat follow and hits a backdrop on the floor. Ace starts hitting low dropkicks and working Kobashi's injured leg. Kobashi gets back in control with a nice lariat. Ace counters a sleeper with an Ace crusher. Kobashi gets his sleeper back. Ace counters a Kobashi apron suplex attempt with an Ace crusher across the top rope. He follows with a missile dropkick nearfall the crowd really likes. The crowd gets even more excited for the Ace moonsault and guillotine Ace crusher nearfalls. Kobashi counters a gutwrench pickup with a slick senton type move. Kobashi gets a nearfall off a tiger suplex, but Ace cuts off the moonsault by going to the leg. Kobashi stays on offense and gets a jackknife powerbomb nearfall. A powerbomb and moonsault nearfall follow (and the crowd loved both), but the bell rings and we have a time limit draw. Odd to see Kobashi in the senior role in this kind of match. Ace got put over big by hanging with Kobashi for the 30 minute draw. He had some good exchanges with Kobashi, too. Hell, Ace even threw some pretty good looking high kicks. Ace not going to the leg until he was in trouble right before the finishing sequence was a nice touch too. Hansen vs. Misawa 5/26/95 for the Triple Crown You know, if somebody had told me that I would watch these two matches from the same show, I would have had a pretty good idea which I would like better. I would have been dead wrong. They start out hot, brawling back and forth and the crowd is eating it up. Then they start working a submission-based match for the better part of 15 minutes. Sure, Hansen threw in his usual brawling stuff, with a good segment working the ribs/stomach of Misawa, I would guess to give the idea that he was working his breath because Misawa could go a lot longer than Hansen would want the match to be. Then he went back to the neck submissions he had been working earlier. Misawa turns it around during a chinlock and hits a series of armbreakers. There's a tease of Hansen fighting off Misawa's attempts at going to the arm, but we get a nice, long segment of Misawa working over the lariat arm. You know, if that had EVER worked in a match in the past to make Hansen not use the lariat or not get the 3 with it, I could see it. Misawa is a smart guy with an injury right in the path of said lariat. However, it has not ever worked that I've seen. Hansen will lariat the crap out of the opponent anyway, sell a bit, then get the 3. Misawa is past needing that anyway. I have trouble buying it. Hansen hits a knee that hits Misawa's bad eye (gonna say coincidence because he hit it exactly twice. Hansen is too much of a nasty, dirty bastard (in-ring persona) to NOT go after the eye if that's part of what's going on. That proves to be a tease as Misawa goes back on offense and hits 3 consecutive stepover facelocks before a nearfall. A missile dropkick misses and Hansen....does a crab hold. Misawa tries selling it like it's big after all the gut/ribs work, and the crowd obliges him with a reaction. Misawa gets to the ropes and Hansen....tries to put on another crab, this time in the center of the ring. Again, in line with earlier stuff, just HUH? Misawa rolls out early only to take a spinebuster, and a nice one at that. They go through a nice sequence of misses: missile dropkick -> elbowdrop -> plancha (ooh, ooh, guess who did what!) Hansen puts on a beatdown outside the ring, hits a powerbomb in the ring, then a dangerous backdrop (!) for a big nearfall. A powerbomb hold gets him another nearfall and it's lariat time! Misawa ducks it and works to a rolling elbow nearfall. A frog splash also gets a nice nearfall, but Hansen brawls to his big shoulderblock. Lariat is ducked, German is elbowed out of, Hansen thinks Misawa is going for a headscissors when he's trying to do a crucifix. They do the 3 count anyway. Yay? Okay, I just want to say that if this match had happened in the 1988-1990 period, it would have fit right into what was going on at that time. But this was 1995. I have this feeling that, given Hansen's lack of as much control as most of Misawa's other opponents after the face injury, Hansen was told to actually stay away from the eye. And this is the match that they ended up working instead of the epic brawl that would have taken place had Misawa not injured his face. Then again, there is the very similarly worked Hansen vs. Kawada TC match that this edges out if only for crowd reception of some things. Did baba really not get that booking Hansen in this style of match was a mistake? Give him 20-25 minutes to go out there and do Stan Hansen things in the ring instead of trying to fit him into a role he did not play well enough to warrant having him play it in a match for the TRIPLE CROWN! I watched RVD vs. Kroffat before this match, guess which one I liked better.

I always like when that bald, English speaking ref is working a Stan Hansen match in All Japan. They have this great chemistry that developed over the years. Hansen ignores the ref every time he is admonished, the ref gets more and more pissed and starts yelling at Hansen. Hansen finds a way to throw it right back at the ref in a way he can't do much about. For example: "NO OUTSIDE!" Hansen goes outside anyway, for probably the third or fourth time at least that match, lays whoever it is out with something, rolls back in the ring and then looks at the ref and yells, "GET HIM UP REF!" That is gold, and I think it adds something to a lot of Hansen matches.

Kobashi/Hansen/Akiyama vs. Kawada/Ace/Omori 4/15/95 They start out with the standard going through the teams tags, then Hansen starts getting worked over for a short time by the opposing team. Omori takes over on that duty, which makes sense. They tease Akiyama giving up the momentum, but it ends up being Kobashi instead. He gets his leg worked over after getting it caught in the ropes. Kobashi makes his comeback the usual way (Kawada goes for a knee crusher, Kobashi elbows out, I think there's maybe one time previous to this Kobashi hasn't gotten out of legwork in this exact way). Hansen and Kawada have a nice exchange after Hansen clears the ring. Hansen hits a nice powerbomb on Kawada, but Ace and Omori finally double team him, allowing Kawada to tag Ace. Ace has a bit of a roll going until he goes up top and is stopped by Akiyama. Then we go to the finishing sequence with everybody but Hansen and Kawada getting big nearfalls. Kobashi wins with the orange crush bomb. Fun tag, really nice exchanges with Kawada vs. Kobashi and Hansen. Looked like Kawada and Hansen were given their time to shine, but it was more about the other 4. Misawa vs. Taue 4/15/95 Champions Carnival Finals Taue starts off in true Taue fashion, going right after the injured eye. Misawa is ready for it, but Taue knows Misawa's counters. Misawa goes for his flying lariat off the ropes and gets thrown face-first into the mat. Taue keeps going after the eye whenever Misawa shows any signs of fighting back. Hell, he uses submissions purely for the fact that they end up with his forearm across the left eye. Misawa ranas out of a powerbomb and hits some elbows to come back in a big way. Misawa's dives and top rope moves are incredible. I think MAYBE just him and Hijo del Santo are the two guys I've sen who never need to adjust their balance or pause when the other guy is ready to take the move. They are always ready and waiting to launch the instant it becomes viable, and that makes the high flying stuff so much easier to watch. Taue sells a rolling elbow like he just got KOed, then rolls to the floor after the nearfall. Misawa teases a tiger suplex, but Taue starts raking the eyes, then rakes his boot across the left eye once Misawa is on the mat. Taue dropkicks Misawa to the floor. I think I know where this is going. Misawa fights off the apron nodowa and hits a frog splash for a nearfall in the ring. The German and tiger nearfalls that follow really get the crowd riled up. Misawa floats over on a Taue attempt to suplex him to the floor, but that leaves him...on the apron. Taue hits an overhead chop to the eye. I think it's time, but wait, Misawa is still holding onto the top rope. Taue isn't having it and tears Misawa's arm down to hit the floor nodowa! Now he just has to get him in the ring to put him away. Taue has him too close to the ropes and Misawa is hanging on for dear life. An elbow gives Misawa time to go back to the floor. Taue gets him back in the ring for a massive German suplex whip nearfall. Misawa isn't giving up the nodowa, so Taue DDTs him, then hits the Dynamic Bomb for a nearfall. The crowd is eating this shit up. Misawa's elbows are getting less effective so he hits a rolling elbow before bailing to the floor again. Taue wants the nodowa off the top turnbuckle, but Misawa armdrags him. Taue backdrops Misawa out of a tigerdriver, btu Misawa still has a rolling elbow for him. Misawa hits a German suplex whip for a nearfall, then a tigerdriver for a nearfall and the crowd is going insane. Taue starts clawing at Misawa's eyes! Misawa this vicious elbows in return! Taue barely kicks out of a tiger suplex, so Misawa does it again and gets the 3! Holy shit! That match was off the charts good. The drama of it all was amazing. Was Misawa's eye going to hold out against the all-out assault from Taue? Could Taue hit his new big stuff on Misawa? Once he did, could Misawa come back from it? Or was Taue finally going to put him away? Everything was played out so well. Loved this.

I'd agree. As a training martial artist in a traditional art, I understand completely. The Chinese words we use for different things are pronounced completely different by different people, to the point where you wouldn't even recognize the word sometimes. As long as the people involved understand the what of it, what it is called is pretty meaningless.

I was thinking about how the New Japan announcers during Flair's run during the '95 G1 called him "Mr. America" a lot, and how promotions would try and put those kinds of labels on people, either directly or through booking (the blowjob wrestler thread contributed a little to this also). That got me to thinking about who really deserved those kinds of labels in the eyes of the fans. For instance, if I look at American wrestling, Rey Mysterio is THE cruiserweight of the '90s and 2000s. No other small wrestler has had the longevity or success Rey has. And he's a pretty damn amazing worker, even if a lot of his talent goes unused in his American matches. Also, I have to think Stan Hansen, Vader and Terry Funk would be your iconic gaijin. Dr. Death may make his way onto that list for me as I progress through my AJPW. Gordy and (please don't kill me) Bruiser Brody were two guys who may have gotten that status if they hadn't run into the troubles they did. Ric Flair is pretty obvious as the touring NWA champ. There are a few more that stand out to me, but I'm curious as to what wrestlers other people who have watched far more wrestling than I have would list for something like this.

Loving this 95 Champions Carnival. I really enjoy how the matches are wrestled with a lot more urgency than the 60 minute title matches. I'm starting to with they had kept the singles matches around 30-35 at max and been able to have 25 minute sprints in the CC matches. I do love how the strategies being used are different in the singles matches because of the time limit though. Taue vs. Misawa 4/12/95 Champions Carnival Taue takes control early by going to Misawa's injured eye. Misawa turns things around with elbows then hits one of his nice dive sequences. He has a nice run with an early tigerdriver as part of it. Taue backdrops Misawa out of a sleeper to go back on offense. Taue has a nice floor segment with no guillotine whip to the guard rail. He saves that for the turnbuckle in the ring to take advantage of the eye. Misawa hits a German off a nice counter sequence to go back on offense. Taue backs Misawa into a corner on a tigerdriver tease, then throws him down face-first when Misawa tries a second rope elbow. A bulldog follows, leading to a few Misawa nearfalls. Misawa reverses a nodowa with a DDT that Taue makes look really painful. They exchange nearfalls leading to Misawa rolling to the floor. Taue tries to set up the apron nodxowa but getsx knocxkedx offx thex apron after an extended fight over it. He lariats Misawa's legs out from under him and just hits the nodowa on the floor instead. Misawa is (of course) the first to kick out of the sitdown powerbomb. Taue kicks out of a tigerdriver right before time limit. Great stuff with Taue attacking the eye when he really needed to stop Misawa and Misawa fighting off the apron nodowa to keep from being run over late match. Kawada vs. Kobashi 4/13/95 Champions Carnival This played kind of like a condensed version of their 60 minute draw for me. I thought it was a quite a bit better match in 30 minutes than the 60 minute version. The early exchanges were as intense as ever and awesome. The dueling legwork (even structured very very similarly) was great. The extended finishing sequence begins with Kawada failing to nosell a Kobashi powerbomb and looking really in trouble. Kawada hits a dangerous backdrop (quite the transition there) to turn things around. A ridiculously good kickout by Kobashi on a throwing powerbomb follows. Kobashi hits a stretch bomb, Kawada has amazing kickouts on a moonsault and a neckbreaker drop. Kawada is threatening the dangerous backdrop (after already hitting one) and Kobashi is stalling as time runs out. So much stuff they did worked better in this match. Probably because they had 30 minutes less to fill. They still did the awesome submission battle, this time with a surfboard that Kobashi put an exclamation point on. The strike exchanges were intense and there were even a few where none of the strikes hit. The Kobashi stalling at the end fit, as time was under 1 minute and he was on the verge of losing. Great match, but I've come to expect that of these two.

Misawa vs. Akiyama 95 Champions Carnival Pretty similar to the Kawada match in a lot of respects. Akiyama doesn't ambush Misawa, but ends up getting a couple of nice early opportunities. Akiyama uses a lot of elbows, don't know if that was just Akiyama or if he was going after Misawa's eye. Given his babyface nature in AJ, probably the first. Misawa, of course, dominates Akiyama when he gets the elbows on him. Akiyama has a nice blue thunder bomb to counter a Misawa second rope back elbow. This leads to an exploder nearfall. Misawa hits probably the sweetest jumping elbow drop I've ever seen to the back of Akiyama's neck. Akiyama uses a northern lights suplex to counter a tigerdriver. Then he kicks out of a tigerdriver. Misawa busts out a kneeling figure four, slaps on a double chickenwing without releasing it and stands up for the lucha submission tapout. Holy crap...did I really just see that? Misawa has offense that is seriously awesome that doesn't get used enough. Akiyama looked good for being Akiyama here. Misawa still had little trouble getting the win. Kawada vs. Taue 4/8/95 Champions Carnival They start off by quickly setting the tone. Even though they are tag partners, there will be no mercy shown. Taue catches Kawada with an early nodowa, and Kawada hits the floor. Taue teases a dive, but Kawada is too aware. Taue has little trouble winning the ensuing strike exchange with an enzuigiri. Kawada is selling the back of his head (as he should be), and Taue goes to work on the neck/back of the head of Kawada. Kawada gets himself back in it and ups the ante by putting on his patented head-stepping crab and forcing Taue's legs apart into an odd sort of splits just for good measure. He follows with his sadistic surfboard variation and rolls it into a lucha-flavored pinfall attempt. Taue takes Kawada's dickish behavior and gives him back a bit more, using the guillotine whip on the railing, then twice in the ring. It's a bit excessive, but it makes sense with the escalation that's going on. There is a series of nearfalls by Kawada as they go into the finishing run, followed by a powerbomb and backdrop tease, then a really nice strike exchange with Taue finally getting the advantage after a few choke tosses and a big slap across the face. Kawada bails to the floor only to get DDTed after Taue peels away the top layer of mats. Taue gets a few nearfalls after what looks like a blown nodowa spot. Kawada wins a short chop exchange with a gamengiri to turn things around. Big powerbomb nearfall for Kawada, but Taue hits the floor after a gamengiri. Kawada apparently didn't see that Kobashi match and goes out on the apron to kick Taue as he gets back in the ring. taue weathers the storm and punches Kawada right in the face before hitting the apron nodowa. Kawada smartly rolls all the way across the ring to the floor on the other side, forcing Taue to toss him back in again. The nearfall is close anyway, so Taue hits a nodowa with Kawada seated on the top turnbuckle. Kawada is able to counter a nodowa with an enzuilariat, but Taue is smelling blood. A legdrop by Taue leads to the sitdown powerbomb for the 3. This was awesome. The escalation reaches it's high point right about the time you realize Kawada is going to lose. Then it's just Kawada fighting with everything he has to try and slow down the inevitable as Taue patiently works towards finishing him off.

Kawada vs. Akiyama 3/21/95 Champions Carnival Akiyama jumps Kawada during intros and hits not one but two dives. Kawada turns things around and puts a pretty severe beating on Akiyama. Akiyama hits a couple of nice nearfalls before Kawada revisits 1992 and hits his sweet kneelkick to go into his closing stretch. a stretch plum puts Akiyama away. Fun match with Akiyama playing the spunky youngster to Kawada's grumpy ass-kicker. Taue vs. Kobashi 3/21/95 Champions Carnival They start with a nice, heated exchange, then go into some slower paced stuff, then bring things up a bit from the earlier exchange with a bit more intensity. Kobashi takes control and works over the upper back/neck. Taue tries for a comeback and hits a legdrop, but we all know there's gonna be a revenge legdrop. And boy is it a nice one. Kobashi is in control a bit longer and hits a brutal sounding chop to the back of Taue's neck. They have another really nice exchange, this one quite a bit more heated than the first 2. Kobashi starts trying to steal Taue's strikes and non-lifting nodowa. Taue starts hitting Kobashi style chops and jumping knees! Kobashi makes a mistake and goes low with a dropkick, which is answered in kind to Kobashi's bad leg by Taue. They go through a sequence of corner stuff that elaves both down. Taue gets control after a nifty counter sequence and gets a few nearfalls (also, hits nodowa #1). Kobashi gets a few nearfalls and misses the moonsault. Then he makes the real mistake and chases Taue out to the floor. Taue ends up in the ring first and greets Kobashi on his way back in with a nodowa off the apron. That changes things a lot, Kobashi is selling that like death (and he should). Kobashi fights back, but eats nodowa #2 and immediately rolls to the floor. Where he is powerbombed. Tough day to be Kobashi. Kobashi keeps fighting back and gets a big slap to the face from taue for all his fighting spirit. Nodowa #3 is kicked out of, but the BIG sitdown powerbomb that follows it is not. Taue helps Kobashi up after the match, what a nice guy. Kobashi was pushing really hard to get a singles win on Taue. So hard that he got himself into more trouble than he could get out of. Even so, he never gave up even when he was clearly out of the match.

Kobashi vs. Misawa 3/26/95 Kobashi is sprinting to try to put Misawa away early on. He hits an early neckbreaker drop for a nearfall and keeps working over the neck of Misawa. Misawa gets a short control segment after a monkey flip where he hits that awesome spinning plancha he does. Kobashi blocks a rolling elbow and hits one of his own. Misawa hits a rolling elbow to even the score on that count. Kobashi starts a run of nearfalls with a big lariat. He hits a sweet german suplex hold in that run. They go through a pretty intricate counter sequence before Misawa catches Kobashi coming off the ropes with a sleeper that turns into a stepover facelock. A tigerdriver is teased, and Misawa gets too ambitious with a second rope back elbow. Kobashi turns that into a release German that flips Misawa over. Kobashi hits a moonsault for a nearfall, but Misawa keeps rolling away from a second attempt. Kobashi catches a spinkick and turns it into a powerbomb/backdrop hybrid looking thing. Misawa comes back with strikes, finishing with a rolling elbow. Tiger suplex for a nearfall, frog splash to pay back the moonsault for a nearfall. Kobashi kicks out of the tigerdriver to a huge reaction. Tiger suplex '85 puts Kobashi away. I don't think the outcome was ever in any doubt. Kobashi's early sprint and Kawada in 92/93-esque false finishing runs were pretty good. This seemed like an effort to make Kobashi seem like a real threat in the near future to Misawa. Kobashi had lots of early offense and Misawa had to rely on his extended comeback to get the win. Misawa vs. Kawada 4/6/95 Champions Carnival So yeah, watching the match did not think that Misawa got his orbital bone shattered. Then again, if it had been a kayfabe injury Kawada would have gone after it like a heartless bastard. Misawa is a crazy fucker, but you have to love him for it. After the injury, Misawa almost kills himself on a plancha that goes almost completely vertical, luckily Kawada was on point and caught him. Kawada takes it easy early with lots of neck submissions instead of the normal offense. They do have a nice sequence where Misawa rolls Kawada out of a stretch plum, Kawada does the same out of the SOFL, then Kawada has a short control segment which includes the stretch plum, and (did you guess what happens next?) Misawa works the stepover facelock into his short control segment. Don't know if that was part of the original layout, but either way it was pretty nice. The finishing sequence was still absolutely incredible. The tiger suplex nearfall right near the end of the match was holy motherfucking shit HUGE MASSIVE and GODDAMN PERFECT! Kawada timed that so well...that to me rivaled any nearfall I've ever seen for the sheer closeness of timing. They end with Kawada trying to get a dangerous backdrop that would have been a good bet to put Misawa away as time expires. Not the best match they ever had, but you compare it to anything outside Misawa/kawada matches and I'd say it holds up pretty well. And you know what, go watch the finishing run. You throw an ending on that involving a pinfall and I'd say it ranks above 7/29/93. Oh, and you also need to see that tiger suplex nearfall. I think half the crowd was pretty sure it had just ended too.