[1994-02-19-AJPW-Excite Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Steve Williams & The Eagle

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Ditch]

Doc works like he's got Misawa at the next Budokan show with the Triple Crown on the line, but that is not to be. I think if you compare Williams here with Williams a year earlier, you can clearly see that he's improved significantly and now deserves to be #2 (or even #1) gaijin.

 

Also, The Eagle is in this. Who gives a shit. I could have been the partner and it would have rocked based on Williams' performance.

[Loss]

1994 All Japan hasn't really been much better than "good" so far. I anxiously await the Carnival where I am hoping things will pick up. Yes, Doc gives a good performance, but it didn't really stand out to me in a huge way. Maybe watching '93 then '94 would make it resonate more. This match felt like the setup of a Misawa/Doc match, but it didn't really seem like something that is essential viewing on its own. I'm a little surprised that so many people felt it needed to be here.

[Ditch]

This is not any sort of outstanding match. I'll add that things pick up steam in the last week of the CC.

[Kevin Ridge]

Very average for me on this one. Nothing really stood out. I await for better AJPW stuff on set as we move along.

[Exposer]

This was pretty good with Williams as the stand out. Not much to brag about or talk about. It really seems like a match to set up Doc-Misawa.

[soup23]

I thought Williams looked like an animal here and really got over. Misawa rolling to the floor after the back drop driver is a great spot that gets paid off in their triple crown match later on in July. I thought this tag was very well done with good role playing and Williams becomming the #1 gaijin.

[PeteF3]

Pretty good, and I actually liked Akiyama more than Doc here, though Doc has definitely improved tremendously. Funny to see the exploder used as a routine transition move, getting little reaction. Something has always seemed "off" to me about the Patriot and the Eagle in AJPW. They have physical skills, but they work too loose in comparison to everyone else and sometimes I think they're proof that someone's moveset can be too big. Patriot has two over finishers, but they both tend to bust out a lot of high-end stuff that doesn't look high-impact, and as a result their offense on the whole isn't particularly over. There's a balance to be struck between the traditional WWF focus on a few key moves and what these guys are doing.

[Zenjo]

Solid B show main event with low key Misawa vs Williams build up for later in the year. I didn't give a shit about random gaijin, but it was good whenever Doc was in the ring. The fans enjoyed it too.