[1992-01-24-AJPW-New Year's Giant Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Masa Fuchi & Akira Taue

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Not often you see a Misawa selling performance like this with Kawada and Kobashi being supportive from the apron, but that's a big chunk of this, with Jumbo's team doing a number on Misawa's knee. Fuchi is so great in tag and six-man settings, because his M.O. always seems to be to find someone who isn't the star of the other team and create some intra-match feud with them. On 1/10, he did this with Kobashi. Here, he did it with Kawada. So then when Kawada and Fuchi finally do end up in the ring at the same time, their interactions get way more heat than they would otherwise. Bit of a surprising result to see Taue pinning Kobashi with a powerbomb, but I guess their card placement was way more similar at this stage. Another great 90s All Japan match, probably just behind Jumbo/Kawada as the best AJ match so far.

[MJH]

Taue > Kobashi until, what, the TC switch in '96? It probably wasn't Kobashi > Taue until the '98 TC defense, really.

[silverwidow]

Taue > Kobashi until, what, the TC switch in '96? It probably wasn't Kobashi > Taue until the '98 TC defense, really.

Obviously you mean on the pecking order, not as workers. Yeah, probably the 7/96 TC change.

[MJH]

God yes. I've been calling for the whole "Four Gods" thing to be knocked back to three (or replace him with Jumbo) for a while now.

[Ditch]

God yes. I've been calling for the whole "Four Gods" thing to be knocked back to three (or replace him with Jumbo) for a while now.

Taue was solid as a rock. I've watched enough puro to know dogging when I see it; to watch one mediocre worker drag down the performances of those around him. That was NOT an issue with Taue. Least man in a match, yes, but usually only because SOMEONE had to be, and the others were tops in the world. He wasn't in the exact same tier as the other three, but he was an exceptionally good worker for quite a while and deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.

[MJH]

It's not a knock on Taue; the amount of workers who deserve to be mentioned in the same breadth as the other three is ridiculously short. And there's plenty of matches where Taue was pretty damn great. But... as you yourself admit, Ditch, you just can't put him on the same level as the other three. The fourth all-time great worker to come through All Japan was Jumbo.

[Ditch]

It's not a reference to them being the four best in company history. It's to them being four great wrestlers getting the spotlight at the same time.

[Tim Evans]

Jumbo has really impressed me so far. I like his grump character and Fuchi is great as always. Weird seeing Taue and Kawada not teaming.

[Kevin Ridge]

Loved this match. Long beat down on Misawa until he crushes Fuchi with a forearm and makes the tag. Fuchi was loads of fun in this match. Not being completely familiar with the pecking order at this time there was added suspense on who would win and who would take the loss.

[MikeCampbell]

Ho hum, just another outstanding trios from the Misawa/Tsuruta feud. Misawa's stoicism means that he isn't normally known for great selling, but he was pretty great here, and Jumbo and co. were awesome heeling things up on him. At least until he killed Fuchi with the elbow and then just casually walked over and tagged in Kawada. Kawada was great as the fired up partner, taking the fight to Jumbo and Taue. The finish stretch is fun, with Kobashi staying alive longer than anyone though he could have, I was surprised that he survived Jumbo's backdrop, but Taue finally kept him down.

[Zenjo]

Certainly not lacking in the duration department. JIP and it looked like they were moving towards a 15m finish before a long leg work section on Misawa began. They did a full out stretch too. Always watchable, just not as good as they were aiming for. Taue sucked in this one but not in this set.

[WingedEagle]

Standard, stellar 6 min from the best in the world. Pretty neat to see Misawa sell and work as FIP for such an extended run. For some reason I didn't think Taue debuted the nodowa until May, but he clearly used it here after a power bomb to finish off Kobashi. Rewatching much of AJ from this era its crazy how much I overlooked Taue. Much of my first run through these matches was influenced by what I read in the WON and elsewhere so I naturally looked for what Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi were putting out there, but Taue was so different and great in his own right that his stuff feels fresher this time around.

 

****

[PeteF3]

This didn't seem like one of the high-end 6-man tags, but consider what that means. That said I liked a number of Clash matches more than this. Jumbo is pretty spectacular here and Misawa, after several matches as a background force, finally gets a long FIP segment and a chance to unload and elbow the fuck out of people. Kobashi gets a really great closing stretch with Taue, getting a bunch of hot kickouts before succumbing to a second Golden Arm Bomber. Kobashi's still the #3 man jobbing to Jumbo's #2, so that makes some sense particularly with Kikuchi absent.

[garretta]

Jumbo and friends destroying Misawa's knee was the story, and Fuchi was the star, as he came up with more different ways to torture Misawa than ten other people. It's tough to hit precision dropkicks to a small area like a knee or thigh, but Fuchi did it consistently here. Kawada and Kobashi were great fired up partners for Misawa, and Taue brought plenty of muscle to back up Jumbo.

 

It seems like the two sides are trading wins in multi-man matches, so neither side truly has the advantage at this time, but the action is still stellar. This particular match wasn't quite on par with some others, though, especially considering its length; judging by where we joined it, they had to have gone at least 40-45 minutes total.

 

Could someone please invest in different color tights for either Jumbo or Fuchi? Their faces look enough alike that when they both wear black trunks, it's tough to tell them apart.

[Childs]

Could someone please invest in different color tights for either Jumbo or Fuchi? Their faces look enough alike that when they both wear black trunks, it's tough to tell them apart.

 

You're kidding--Jumbo was like 6-foot-4 and Fuchi was a cruiserweight. They worked completely differently. Jumbo shouted "Oh!" a lot.

[garretta]

I'm aware of all of that, and I stand by my statement. To be fair, most of my trouble came when they were on the move or far away from the camera.

[ohtani's jacket]

#343

 

This morning I watched a pretty damn good Christmas Day match between the Warriors and the Cavs, and this match was awfully similar -- just two great teams going at it. I wish more promotions would adopt the concept of full-blooded six man rivalries. It adds another layer outside of tag matches and singles bouts and brings a team sports feel to wrestling that's really only possible in multi-man bouts. This wasn't as transcendent as their very best stuff, but it was still really great New Year fare for the Korakuen faithful and would make a great rainy day bout if you're looking for one.

[JKWebb]

#343 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-350-301/

 

So, the best part of this match is the punch Misawa delivers when escaping the FIP segment! Yes! The match was carried on the shoulders of Misawa's great selling of the knee throughout the match once he was injured, but there was some other great stuff here too. I love Kobashi's selling and emotion during the first half of the match. Jumbo looked really good and dominant per usual. The guy has to be one of the best hot tags of all-time. He's one of my favorites entering a match fired up anyway. There was a really great exchange of blows between Kobashi and Jumbo early-ish on. I liked when Misawa got all fired up throwing elbows all over the place, but he got carried away and suckered back into the match too quick. Jumbo was ready for him, and took him back down. Lot's of great stuff to enjoy here. Oh yeah, and I agree with garretta, Fuchi was awesome torturing the knee of Misawa.

[soup23]

This was an awesome six man for me. Misawa is in peril and trouble and they target that. What Loss brings up about Fuchi hold true as kawada gets the hot tag and him and Fuchi go off on each other with great vigor and a hot crowd. Taue pinning Kobashi at this point makes sense to me and shows just how tough victories are to come by for the young generation. **** (8.2)

[dawho5]

Fuchi is so great here. Kawada's reaction after Fuchi hits him on the apron is perfect. He's got momentum coming off of the Jumbo bout and he's using it. The FIP on Misawa is the highlight, with Fuchi again the star of the show. Misawa's one elbow comeback and clearing of the ring after being tagged back in are great. Finishing run is really hot and Kobashi gets to look like a beast for surviving what he does. All of that and this is only an above average six man from this time frame.