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[1994-05-21-AJPW-Super Power Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue


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  • 1 month later...

I've seen this match before, but it never grabbed me quite like it did this time. It was probably topped later, but not very many times, and this is a match that I think has a worthwhile place in the discussion of top All Japan matches.

 

First of all, Kawada is out of this world in this match as a heel. The cheapshots on Misawa before they faced off were great. I also really like his interaction with Kobashi, much of it centered around the knee injury from December. One of my favorite moments in this is the look he gives Misawa on the apron when he and Taue decide to work over Kobashi's knee. In short, "This has nothing to do with you, stay out of it". He toys with Kobashi a lot, and seems to be relishing his chance to work him over, which leads to a great payback where Kobashi kicks him in the knee as he's glaring at Misawa, which causes him to double over in pain. Also, a brilliant moment came toward the end when Misawa had been in for a while and finally tagged Kobashi. Kawada didn't have much left himself, but he had just enough to dropkick Kobashi in the knee. He was out to make a point.

 

Kobashi, to his credit, gets in shots of his own. The match is also laid out in a way to make him look strong, which I really appreciated. In addition to getting the win on Taue, he also was put in a position to save Misawa quite a few times. It looked to be a story of growth happening within the match, because for the first half of this, it's Misawa always saving Kobashi. It's cool now that these teams have had two matches in six months and Kobashi, the lowest ranked guy of everyone in the match, has beaten both Kawada and Taue.

 

This is also the first "Holy cow, that's a long finishing sequence" All Japan match of the year. I think jdw has alluded to this being the longest finishing stretch in All Japan up until this point.

 

But in some ways, this was a great match before it even started. These two teams having a rematch after a fought hard tag league match just a few months before, and one where each pairing -- especially Kawada/Kobashi and Misawa/Kawada -- seems to carry extra weight. In the case of Misawa/Kawada, what stood out is Misawa's patience wearing thin over Kawada's cheapshots. Because this will be important in a match I'll get to soon, I'll also note that Kobashi took a few shots at Kawada's knee out of spite, and Misawa had the perfect opening to go after it a few times. But he didn't.

 

If anything hurt this, and this is a very slight issue, it's that there were a few moments where they had the crowd ready to explode and didn't follow up. I really wanted to see an extended Misawa/Kawada fight -- similar to the one in the Kobashi/Fuchi tag from the previous year -- but they never quite got there. The crowd seemed to be waiting for that, but Misawa seemed annoyed more than angered.

 

That aside, classic match and something that will finish pretty high for the year.

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I go so far as to prefer this to the Misawa/Kawada classic a couple weeks later.

 

Here's my take from my last viewing, in '07:

 

"This match rules all, it's got almost zero downtime in 40 minutes, it's got every last element of greatness you come to expect from All Japan in the mid-90s, and it has most of those elements in spades. Several amazing nearfalls, several amazing exchanges, a throwback to the Jumbo vs Misawa tags in how they do leg work, plenty of chippy spots that bring the hate, lots of build off the 12/93 tag... I mean this raised the bar on 'epic'. This is more epic than any Jumbo vs Misawa tag, it's more epic than the 12/93 tag, it's more epic than the big '93 singles matches, and it's super smartly worked and consistent IN ADDITION TO being epic. The opening third of this was more involving than the opening third of almost any match in the decade, and the opening third is 13 minutes long!"

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This is also the first "Holy cow, that's a long finishing sequence" All Japan match of the year. I think jdw has alluded to this being the longest finishing stretch in All Japan up until this point.

Yeah.

 

Remember that the TV version of this was about 22 minutes long, starting sometime after the 18 minute mark (the very last part of Kobashi In Peril before the hot tag to Misawa leading to the Elbow Suicida on Taue and Kobashi's payback spot of putting Kawada's knee through the table... what a fucking GREAT! moment to JIP a match). If you by luck got this before the WON hit your mailbox (which I did), and watched it before knowing how long it was (Hoback and I did on a day before going down to Tijuana for AAA), and didn't know who won and lost, and didn't initially pick up on the time counts... at a certain point you're thinking "Holy fucking shit!!!" once you pick up on the time counts and they were more than 10 minutes into the work to the finish... then 15 minutes... yow! I'm thinking there probably weren't more than a handful of gaijin in this country lucky enough to see the match without knowing the result and time. :)

 

They basically had their 6/93 match (though this was even better for those 29 minutes) then tagged on an extra 11 minutes of *additional* work to the finish:

 

29:12 - 06/01/93

40:25 - 05/21/94

 

As far as going though a wall in World Tag Title matches, these were the only ones that had gone 30:

 

31:57 - 07/19/90 Gordy & Williams vs Tsuruta & Kabuki

31:18 - 03/04/92 Gordy & Williams vs Tsuruta & Taue

31:04 - 07/26/93 Kawada & Taue vs Gordy & Williams

 

This one went 25% longer, but didn't take that 25% and put it into the body of the match (i.e. killing time) but instead stuck it on the end with Really Great Shit.

 

The 30-40+ Epic AJPW Tag Matches eventually got over done, overworked and to me annoying. The two that really worked the best were 5/94 (the first) and 6/95 (a climax). In a sense, 12/96 was a *shortened* version of those two matches: they worked a simlar first 15-20 to those two matches, but knocked 10 minutes off the backend. One of the reasons it really worked in 12/96 even with losing that 10 minutes because it was Misawa going 1-on-2, so you it didn't need the time for Kobashi (or Akiyama in the case of 12/96) to get his Cool Shit in as well. The work to the finish was focused on Misawa, but had all the time it needed to breath in those 10 fewer minutes without overstaying its welcome.

 

Anyway...

 

I've always loved this match. A really brutal period in my life (my brother had just passed the month before), but guys like Hoback helped me keep my shit together... and things like being able to watch this with him with us losing our minds were really helpful. Have a real soft spot in my heart for this match.

 

John

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Lively crowd from the very start. Kawada blasting Misawa in the face with a kick as he was reaching out for the tag was awesome. He does it again when Kobashi irish whips him. Great stuff. Taue who so far has been okay in the match makes his mark by folding Kobashi's leg in the guard rail and kicking it repeatedly. Both Taue and Kawada working over Kobashi's knee and Kawada gives Misawa another shot on the apron.

 

Taue with the snake eyes on the turnbuckle with Misawa having none of that. Taue returns the favor on flying elbow a attempt. Super heated elbow exchange with Misawa and Kawada. Misawa tagged out there a bit too early. Crowd was totally ready for more. Kobashi hits the moonsault but his knee is still hurting from earlier so he can't make the pin attempt. Everyone is just ignoring tags and desperately breaking up pinfall and big moves attempts. Kobashi tags in at one point and takes a drop kick to the knee. He then kicks the hell out of Kawada's knee. Kobashi another moonsault but again he can't make a complete cover due to the knee.

 

That end sequence was insane. Pretty amazing to just watch that and see all the incredibly close two counts that you think will win it. I don't know where this will end up for my match of the year but it's best tag match so far and overall in top three.

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Wow, this is probably the best match of the year so far for me. Kawada's cheap shots in the early going set the standard. Kobashi gets his knee destroyed for a good time and Misawa is there to save him. By the matches end it's reversed and the injured Kobashi is out to save Misawa. There is a great tease throughout involving Misawa-Kawada. They get in a nice little stare off in the center of the ring that gets the crowd really riled up. However, I like that they save it for 6/3/94. Kobashi's massive push continues as he gets the win over Taue which I'm happy with. This was a great all around performance from all four men notably Kawada and Kobashi. It was just a terrific and awesome classic.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I think the Queendom tag is a hair ahead of this, because of the utterly unique and transcendental story being told. But I do think this is an improvement over 12/93. That was about Kobashi sort of backing into his biggest win. Now he's pinned Hansen and is pretty much an equal to both of his opponents. Rivalries with both guys are given time to develop, and with the '93 RWTL finish and all the nasty knee work here it seems that a Kawada/Kobashi feud is in full force now. Misawa does an excellent job at playing the Man--making saves, countering attacks, but showing enough vulnerability to put the Holy Demon Army over while also letting Kobashi get his share of the spotlight. Taue contributes some of the most heart-stopping near-falls and kickouts ever before he finally succumbs. Definite #2 MOTY, hands down.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 months later...

The opening quarter hour flew by with high grade Kings Road action. It was soon apparent that something special was taking place. The Misawa vs Kawada interactions were electric as their feud approached its zenith. In terms of build up to the TC match this did its job perfectly. There was also a dual storyline with the continued growth of Kobashi and his breakthrough results in '94. A FIP segment emphasised his (diminishing) underdog status, with his dodgy knees being damaged. In an elongated stretch he mainly fought with Taue. After an epic 40m finally bringing it home for his team. It was a real war as they left it all out there. Some killer near falls. They could've done about 5m of trimming. It would've cut down on move repetition without taking anything away. That's a minor quibble because from 25m onwards they hit classic level and maintained it through to the end. They'd set the template and would next year turn MOTYC into GOATC.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 6 months later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1994-05-21-AJPW-Super Power Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue
  • 4 months later...

Dangerous K, man. Another legendary performance by him in yet another classic tag bout featuring these four men. Absolutely love how calm, cool & collected he comes off as; such a killer vibe, and fits into the thing perfectly w/ the Misawa Triple Crown match looming on the near horizon. Kobashi as the FIP is of course amazing, and the knee destruction of his by Taue & Kawada is terrific. Kawada's body language cannot be praised enough during that, but little did he know that if he was gonna be a prick, Kobashi was gonna answer right back - the dropkick to Kawada's bum knee was such a terrific moment. Misawa's hot tag was also terrific; ELBOW SUICIDA~! - also loved how Kobashi continued the kneework on Kawada outside the ring during it. Then after a while of Misawa running wild on Kawada, Taue coming in & being a nasty bastard, just throwing Misawa around like nothing was one of my favorite things about the whole match - also that spot was brilliant where he has Misawa set up for the chokeslam, only for Kobashi to come in & break it up, which then lead to Taue making him pay for that by kicking him right on the back of the knee that he & Kawada had been working on all match. So much amazing stuff in this match! Perfectly paced & structured, and superb performances from all 4 involved. *****

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  • 1 year later...

All Japan World Tag Team Champions Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue - AJPW 5/21/94

I remember 12/3/93 & 6/9/95 clearly but this one has never resonated with me quite like those two. Lets see how it goes on this watch especially now that Ive watched a lot of All Japan. 

We start with Kawada & Kobashi which is a unique pairing. Kobashi outsmarts Kawada holding onto the ropes to fake him out and then hits  a shoulder tackle. They each tag out and in a similar manner, Misawa fakes out Taue on a wristlock sequence stopping to elbow the hell out of Taue. Misawa and Kobashi have their way with Taue hitting their low-key stock spots (Senton and Legdrop). Taue gets a Tenryu-style enziguiri.  Kawada comes in and toys with Kobashi and smokes him with his Spinning Heel Kick. I thought the overconfident Kawada was about to make the cardinal mistake of letting Kobashi tag out but he ROCKS Misawa with a Boot to the face. Kawada continues messing with Kobashi as Misawa is hot. At one point, Kawada blows right by Kobashi and SMOKE Misawa with another Kick of Fear right to the face! Wicked! Then he turns around and tries to take Kobashi's head off with the same move. Kawada unwisely has his back to Misawa on an abdominal stretch and Misawa comes in and BLASTS him with elbows to a chorus of boos. Japanese fans are harsh. Kobashi tags out and Misawa is out for blood. He overwhelms Kawada with elbows. Misawa looks really good. Theres a good slingshot splash by him on Kawada. Misawa looks to spring backwards with a reverse elbow but Kawada catches him with a wicked kick! Misawa sells the back. Tag out to Taue. Taue CHUCKS Misawa halfway across the ring in the suplex position in an impressive spot. Kawada hits a senton at this point as an F-U to Misawa. I forget the how the tag out happens, but the heat segment does not last too long. Taue's throw was the most impressive thing about it. Kawada immediately quells Kobashi's fire. They are struggling over a suplex and then afterwards Kawada kicks Kobashi's knee. Unlike in 12/3/93, Kobashi does not fire back instead Kawada is able to chop him down. He tags out to Taue and this is when it gets really good. Taue is such a great henchman. He does a kneecrusher on the table and then wrenches the knee over the railing and then pins the steel gate so that knee is trapped and then starts kicking the gate. That actually looked really painful to the knee. Back then Holy Demon Army slams Kobashi's knee to the mat repeatedly. Thus far, Kawada's asshole Kicks to Misawa's face while Misawa was on the apron and the Kobashi knee work has been the most memorable. Apparently the finish stretch is when this gets really good so lets see what happens.  

Kobashi's heat segment is really great. Awesome Kobashi selling as he was trying to desperately to get away from the cruel clutches of the Holy Demon Army. Misawa had to save him twice from painful holds twice to a chorus of boos, but when Taue put Kobashi in a Tree of Woe they booed that too. So they dont rule-breaking no matter who it is. The announcer even mentions the booing during the Tree of Woe which I dont think I have ever heard before. There is a great spot where Kobashi gets a hope spot in and is trying to crawl to make the tag, but Taue has his foot and Kawada charges across the ring and blasts Misawa off the apron with an elbow. Kawada is a total prick. Kawada gets in and toys with Kobashi with playful kicks, bad idea. Kobashi PUNCHES him right in the face! Dropkicks the knee! A Double Dose of His Own Medicine! Tag out to Misawa!

Misawa rolls baby! Looking for that Tiger Driver after some elbows. Diving Elbow through the ropes onto Taue. Kobashi kneecrusher on Kawada on the outside. Kobashi is pissed. He really wants Kawada to feel his pain. Kawada starts kicking Misawa in the head from his back and a Jumping High Kick stuns Misawa long enough to tag out to Taue. Taue rolls Snake Eyes. Misawa smokes Taue with an elbow, but Taue sidesteps the next move and DRIVES Misawa head first into the mat. He is thinking Nodowa but Kobashi comes in and Taue owns him complete with a kick to the bad knee. I love Taue. Taue gets in on the fun and Kick of Fear to Misawa's face and Bulldog. Tag out to Kawada who Chops the Shit out of Misawa's neck. All the focus is now on the head & neck of Misawa. Kawada slaps on the Stretch Plum which is logical for the current strategy. Misawa starts to hulk up and when Kawada does Kawada Kicks, Misawa unleashes the beast and the crowd pops huge. No-Selling is awesome. It can be a cheap heat trick but when done right it can create those goosebumps. They trade some WICKED Elbows! Both of them Pop the other Huge in the face with elbows! Misawa wins and Kawada ends up on his ass. Misawa tags out to Kobashi. I wouldnt say there have hit the finish stretch yet. That was pretty solid heat segment on Misawa and it felt like a great breakdown to a thrash metal song but he have not hit the fiery outro just yet. 

Kobashi trade chops with Kawada. Kawada really wants to go toe to toe with these dudes. Kawada hits a wicked Short Spinning Heel Kick to bail himself out and tag out to Taue. Kobashi & Taue is when the finish stretch begins. Things get really heated in the corner. Kobashi chops and Taue throws his ass down. Rinse, lather, repeat. They sure worked the crowd into a lather. Kobashi turns the tide especially on a DDT, but his knee is fucked. He is punching, desperately trying to get it to work. He goes for the Moonsault and the crowd comes alive! Moonsault but his knee is fucked. Epic sell by Kobashi. The finish run has officially begun and it is INSANE! I just let it wash over me and went along for the ride, it was killer. I am going to rewatch it now.

Kobashi wisely tags out to Misawa, Taue unwisely stands up and eats a DIving Elbow from Misawa and Spinning Clothesline and Misawa is grooving. Misawa flicks the sweat from his eyebrows, shit is on folks. Misawa hits that the springboard reverse elbow. Misawa FACELOOOOOCCCKKKKKKKK! Kobashi rushes in to cut Kawada off at the pass. Sleeper. Kawada breaks free to break it up. Kobashi wrangles him back in the sleeper and they roll out. Misawa FACELOOOOOOCCCKKKKKK! Taue is fading. Kawada smokes Kobashi on the floor with a lariat. Misawa bodyslam and you think he is going for the routine Frogsplah but Kawada BOLTS over there and heads him off at the top rope. Taue joins in and hits a Superplex. They start Feeding Misawa to each other. First it is a Kawada Lariat, but Misawa armdrags out of NODOWA and Kawada runs over and TRUCKS HIM WITH  A LARIAT! DANGEROOUUUUSSSSSSS BACKDROP DRIVER! KOBASHI SAVES! THIS IS INSANE. NODOWA~! ON KOBASHI! POWERBOMB ON MISAWA! 1-2-NO! I CANNOT STOP TYPING IN CAPS LOCK! KAWADA POWERBOMB! KOBASHI LAST MINUTE LUNGE AND BOWLS KAWADA OFF MISAWA! 

Kobashi suplexes Taue on the floor. Kobashi saves Misawa from certain doom when he lariats Kawada to stop a powerbomb. Misawa shifts his weight on a Back Drop Driver. Misawa elbows and ROARING ELBOW~! HE OBLITERATED KAWADA! Kawada dropkicks Kobashi's bum leg! KOBASHI IS PISSED~! He rattles off a ton of kicks to Kawada and Back Drop Driver on Kawada. Kawada Sweeps The Leg! To tag Taue! Taue Powerslam! 1-2-NO! Taue lifts Kobashi in a Firemans Carry and Misawa comes in and elbows Taue. Kobashi German gets two. They play Pinball with Taue. TIGER DRIVER~! Kawada saves Taue! This is ferocious! 

Bodyslam. FIst Pump. MOONSAULT! Shitty cover because his knee is fucked. Kobashi feels like shit, he NEVER GIVES UP! Moonsault, BUT CRASHES AND BURNS! Kawada comes in illegally and Back Drop Drivers Kobashi. Misawa says Fuck You but Kawada dumps him to the outside. 

DAAAAANNNGEERRROUS NODOWA/BACK DROP DRIVER COMBO! 1-2-NO! That was insane. I thought Kobashi was dead. Misawa saves the second time. Misawa Germans Kawada as Taue NODOWAS Kobashi! Misawa kicks Taue in the head to break up the pin. Kobashi covers after a Baba-style neckbreaker lariat, but Kawada saves. JACKKNIFE POWERBOMB! Bodylsam. Fist Pump. Moonsault. 1-2-3! Kobashi has now pinned Kawada and Taue. 

The Kobashi push is on. Lots of growth from Kobashi here. On 12/3/93, Misawa basically handed Kobashi the pin on a silver platter with a barrage of elbows. Here, Kobashi had to survive his hurt knee, which he injured further on a Moonsault, survive Kawada/Taue's double team finish and then on his own mount a comeback. Yes Misawa held Kawada at bay, but it was Kobashi who never gave up overcame the obstacles and overwhelmed Taue on his own. Huge Moment for Kobashi! On top of that, Kobashi had the most epic save of the match on the second Kawada powerbomb that looked like curtains for Misawa but Kobashi in a last minute save he bowls Kawada over. That would have been Kawada's first pinfall over Misawa and major momentum going into the Triple Crown. Here's the wrinkle, Kawada still has confidence going into 6/3/94 because if Kobashi does not save then Kawada wins. Kawada thinks he can win in a singles bout. Kawada as fully embraced being a dick heel in this. In 1993, it was like trying on a new pair of pants but he has broken them in and is kicking fools in the face left, right and center. Taue is a great henchmen but he kinda took a backseat in this one. Misawa was terrific in this. He would light Kawada up when it called for it and he would be that game-changer, but he also let Kawada get one up on him in the finish run which in turn let Kobashi shine. Personally, I liked 12/3/93 better. It is more of a sprint, efficient and I really liked the the chaos caused by Kawada's knee injury. I thought Kobashi's knee injury was an interesting revenge plot by Holy Demon Army but it was not as pervasive as Kawada's knee. ****3/4

 

  

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  • 1 year later...

Man, any time you throw these four men in the ring together and you are going to get magic. We are just weeks before Kawada and Misawa have their iconic match and they really brought the hate to each other here. Misawa brushing off Kawada's trademark kicks are one of the many highlights to be found in this 40+ minute classic. Kobashi puts on a tremendous babyface performance here, and Taue looked like he was having the time of his life being a massive bully. This had so many ebbs and flows to it, and they never went overboard with the near-falls. It's a long watch with plenty of explosive moments, but this never felt excessive. A top 10 match of the 1990s, my only complaint is that their 6/9/1995 encounter is just a touch better. ★★★★★

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