[1992-07-31-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Stan Hansen vs Akira Taue

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

Watched this for the first time in a while. Didn't like it the first couple times, but I didn't DISLIKE it either. This time I was able to pick up on how good this is for a match between limited athletes, like the '84 Baba vs Hansen matches. Taue looks credible going toe-to-toe with Hansen, he makes sure to get payback when Hansen uses a weapon, and he does simple moves that are impressive against someone Stan's size. Both dish out some hard strikes. Stan is fairly generous, giving Taue most of the match, though he pretty much comes back at will because it's not like Taue's offense is overwhelming or anything. Heh, Hansen uses the enzuilariat that was so famously used on Taue the year before by Kawada.

 

This isn't a good 'Triple Crown' match. I mean Taue blows a BULLDOG of all things, and there's a total lack of Kings Road structure. But it's a solid heavyweight match.

[Loss]

Had trouble really getting into this. Interesting glimpse of where Taue was at this time and a solid match, but not much more than that.

[Tim Evans]

I liked how Taue stood up to Hansen with the chairs on the outside. The finish was kinda flat though.

[shoe]

I liked the 1st couple of minutes, but after that not really memorable.

[Kevin Ridge]

Felt this was as good as the Hansen/Misawa matches though it lacked the drama. Taue has still got a way to go though in the ring but thought Hansen gave him enough. Never really felt Taue had a legit chance of winning though.

[WingedEagle]

Taue is far from elite in 1992, but he's one of my favorites because of how surly and different he comes across compared to some others in Japan. I like him working Hansen's lariat arm just like Misawa in the Carnival final. They trade chair shots as Stan gives him quite a bit on offense. The blown bulldog was pretty ugly. Standard Hansen finish, but Taue's on the rise.

 

***

[PeteF3]

This was pretty good and Taue standing up to Hansen right from the start and getting a nice run of offense was enjoyable to watch. Still, "pretty good" puts this at the least of the Triple Crown matches and the criticisms earlier in the thread are all evident: there is no way anyone could possibly be buying Taue as being on Hansen's level at this point, and Taue's offense in general is pretty wonky. It doesn't help that a lot of his offense is power-based bomb-throwing stuff that Hansen isn't really built to take and Taue doesn't have the strength to execute.

[Zenjo]

It was watchable, no more. Continual action, but not in a good way. Taue didn't look at all ready for this yet.

[dawho5]

There were some good parts in the finishing stretch, but that's where the match falls apart. Hansen taking a swing at some poor kid trying to save his chair after Stan went over the guard rail is fun Hansen character work. I really dug Taue getting his arms in the way of a lariat and falling over from the force of it anyway. But yeah, overall not a memorable Triple Crown match in any way. I would agree with "solid" as a way to describe it.

[garretta]

I thought that Taue held his own quite well here with his focused attack on Stan's lower back. Still, there was never a sense of imminent danger like there has been in Stan's matches with Misawa and Kawada. At best, it seems like Taue was a one-off, with no real hope of a future Triple Crown program for at least the rest of this year regardless of who the champion might be. It's going to be interesting to see how he can possibly earn another shot sometime in the future..

 

I still can't get over how much Stan has improved his wrestling skills, or at least shown them off more for the Japanese audience. If he'd let himself wrestle more like this in the AWA when he was World champion, Verne might have felt a lot better about having him as champion. Then again, probably not.