[1992-08-27-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Solid match, but a little too one-sided for me.

[Tim Evans]

Lot of empty seats in the crowd and not a lot of crowd heat. OK match.

[shoe]

I thought this started slow, but their was some cool moments like Kobashi and Doc working it amateur style on the mat. Kobashi getting pressed over Doc's head a few times and then giving him a jack hammer. Godlberg couldn't do that in his dreams. Still we got a hot finish.

[Kevin Ridge]

Standard tag match. Crowd was pretty quiet.

[WingedEagle]

The early portion was fun to see as Kobashi holds his own with the MVC for a while. Gordy & Williams as a team really haven't impressed me in Japan. They're pretty slow and plodding, just pounding on the natives and somewhat serving as a base for their offense to revolve around. Williams kicks out of a tiger driver for big near fall. Kobashi gets to kick out of a top rope northern lights suplex for a big pop before eating another northern lights and the stampede. Is this as "bad" a tag as Misawa & Kobashi can have?

 

***1/4

[PeteF3]

Pretty good match--on some level I could see this as another knock against the MVCs as a team as they do guzzle things and it's not really impressive in the face of other AJPW tags, but I enjoyed myself. Kobashi gets a chance to shine again, until he takes a big belly-to-belly off the top that more or less finishes him. I wonder if the inevitable result was what hurt the crowd heat--I'd think Stevie Wonder could have seen the finish coming.

[DR Ackermann]

I enjoyed the match but there was something missing here. The way they structured the match and the way they wrestled would indicate that there was a lot of animosity between the two teams, but the actual execution was done without much emotion or intensity and there was't much heat. Blocking the Oklahoma Stampede the same way twice was a bit much. Although I liked the way it was done the second time better than the first. When he was able to actually do the move, Williams looked dainty running back and forth across the ring and the there wasn't much impact. Fun but kind of disappointing and awkward.

[garretta]

I'm not sure if it was this thread's influence or not, but I was let down here. Why do the MVC never seem to be in real danger at any time during their matches? Misawa and Kobashi got a close nearfall or two on Doc, but I never really felt that they were close to actually winning the titles. Not even the Steiners have been able to do much with them in that regard. At times they look like Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy squashing Ricky Ataki and Joe Mirto, even against the best competition WCW or AJPW has to offer.

 

Having said that, I liked Doc's belly-to-belly off the top on Kobashi, which looked really good. You'd think that he and Bamm Bamm would break out more flashy power offense like that from time to time, but they never do, for whatever reason. Bamm Bamm especially sticks to restholds like chinlocks and front facelocks unless he's pushed, which he seldom is. I'd much prefer the high-impact style they both executed so well in the States, but maybe the partying and drugs have already begun to catch up to Bamm Bamm. I'm not sure what Doc's excuse is.

 

Which titles were on the line here, if any? I'm guessing that the NWA belts were on the line at least. Was WCW's agreement with New Japan exclusive? Was it legally permissible for Baba to book a WCW World tag team title match?

 

By the way, Loss, as you can tell, I found this match. It was in the middle of Disc 22.

[Makai Club #1]

Sadly, this is just yet another Miracle Violence Connection match that doesn't live up to snuff. Kobashi being the focus was neat, especially coming off a Misawa title win. There just wasn't much to gravitate to. The crowd heat was tepid, really and it's like the MVC felt it and matched it for quality. Fine but disappointing. **3/4