[1993-04-12-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Good action, but disappointing. It doesn't build drama nearly as well as Kawada/Taue, and less of the match is shown. Misawa gets the win with a tiger suplex.

[smkelly]

The clipped version I have runs around ten minutes. It is an awesome ten minutes but the spots and bumps feel disconnected from what they'd eventually build themselves into within the context of their decade long feud. It was also very "My turn"-"Your turn" orientated in a way that made it a lesser match than their later and more fabled encounters. The elbow Kobashi took on the way down from the top was awesome.

[jdw]

More good news from Samurai TV.

 

March's AJ Selection episode has 2 macthes from 4/12/93

 

Misawa vs. Kobashi

 

Kawada vs. Taue

 

I believe both matches were jip on the reg TV show

 

With a 60 min timeslot, there should be room to fit the complete 30 min draw and the 21 min match!

 

Dan Ginnetty

[PeteF3]

Really good action but also can't really hold a candle to the previous bout. I agree that this was pretty spotty and my turn your turn. Kobashi kicking out of not one but two tiger drivers did seem pretty pivotal in his development, and I did like the finish--the closest AJPW main event equivalent to a flash pin.

[WingedEagle]

Misawa working elbows to control the match and fight off Kobashi's offense. Great, diverse offense by both here. Kobashi looks good merely holding his own with Misawa as he doesn't exactly need to be winning this kind match just yet. He goes for the diving shoulderblock but Misawa elbows him. Kobashi kicks out of tiger driver to big pop. Tiger drivers down the stretch put away Kobashi. This wasn't Kawada/Taue but I'll never turn away from these 2.

 

***3/4

[soup23]

This was more spotty and not as good as Taue vs. kawada but the clips shown were very good and Kobashi was fiery going after Misawa. Misawa is really becoming and embracing the stoic character he will have throughout his career.

[garretta]

I liked this more than the rest of you. I really got into the idea of the plucky youngster Kobashi coming so close to defeating the ace Misawa, and it helped that until now Kobashi has been Misawa's number three in the feud against Jumbo/Taue. Misawa may have expected this kind of a battle from his chief lieutenant Kawada, but not from one of the junior members of his side.

 

There may have been a few too many nearfalls, but they all worked in the context of the story being told: never-say-die Kobashi showing Misawa that he's more than just a flunky.

 

I hope to see a rematch in the future at some point, preferably with the Triple Crown on the line,

[Jetlag]

I watched the full match. It was a handheld and a pretty fun one where you see everything going on and also get the fan reactions near the camera, which is always really nice.

 

The match started out extremely similiar to their 91 match with Kobashi getting the better of Misawa in a smart way and then hitting a big dive and a DDT on the floor. It follows in the same fashion as the 91 match with Misawa making an easy comeback and some blatant restholds. Kobashi was controlling Misawa more and running through his offense, which I'm not hugely into, but I did like that the match felt as if Kobashi was really trying to play his cards right to beat the man.

 

Finally, the match gets something going when Kobashi desperately tries to avoid Misawa's facelock and goes for the Sleeper in response. I liked that Misawa was basically going for the kill halfway into the match, and it was interesting to watch Kobashi coming up with different ways to stay on the top. The match became more strike heavy which I liked more than Kobashi's bulldogs and all that crap. There was a cool moment where Kobashi hit Misawa in the back of the head with a dropkick and followed up with some big legdrops, and Misawa absolutely brained Kobashi with some elbows. I think the match would've been more epic if Misawa's comebacks hadn't been so easy and Kobashi hadn't thrown out his Moonsault so early. As it stands this feels a lot like a grander upgraded version of the 1991 match with some new stuff thrown in and more intensely fought in parts, so I liked this a lot, but in total I felt like they threw out a little too much and should've stuck more to some of the themes they were working into. The underdog stuff is cool but I would've liked them to emphasize a little more on the in-ring stuff that they did and lost in the shuffle.

[Zenjo]

Now available in full and what a difference that makes.

 

Kobashi came in full of energy and gained the initial ascendancy. Yet after the opening minutes the rest of the first half was rest hold city. Most underwhelming. The second half was terrific however as they moved through the gears. The fans got right behind the charismatic underdog as he pushed the champ all the way. Kenta was in such a great place at this point in time. Showing growth and establishing himself as a main eventer. With a better base this would've been as good as his Carny match against Hansen.