[1990-07-07-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Well this is truly 80s All Japan vs 90s All Japan. I really liked this match. Jumbo can't cheapshot Misawa on the apron soon enough! The reaction Misawa gets coming into the ring for the first time is amazing. It's clear they have something special at this point. Jumbo's realization of this is taking him off of his game.

 

Misawa is FIP for a while here, as Jumbo and Yatsu work over his leg. Misawa is really good in this, both in his short-term selling of the knee attack and also in rallying the crowd behind his comebacks from the attack. Still, as soon as he tags in Kawada, he's no longer selling the knee injury. It becomes forgotten too quickly. This is also the best Kawada has looked so far, as he's starting to show more aggression. Still, there's a moment where Jumbo is tagged in and Misawa can't lift him for a German, and Jumbo is clearly feeding Kawada a lariat or kick or something to help hoist him over, and he misses the cue completely. These are small things that don't really bring the match down, but it's clear that neither guy had come close to peaking yet. Misawa didn't magically take off the mask and become Misawa as we know him, nor was Kawada always the Kawada we generally know him to be. It's cool to see that evolution happening.

 

Jumbo is terrific here. I think his selling and the timing of his kickouts on nearfalls make both Misawa and Kawada look better than they actually were at this point. That Kawada was able to get a believable nearfall on Jumbo in this speaks volumes. I am really enjoying this aspect of All Japan on the yearbook -- it demonstrates that creating a promotion so strong in the ring a few years later didn't happen overnight. It took a lot of thought, good booking, and wrestlers taking advantage of opportunity along the way. There are occasionally warts, but it's fun to see the path they took all the same.

[PeteF3]

Yatsu's still around?? Wow, this is unexpected.

 

This was slow going for awhile as we seemed to be retrogressing stylistically for awhile. Pretty telling that Jumbo has to work 85% of the match or more for his team. Kawada in addition to being tentative at times still hasn't quite decided if he wants to be a heavyweight or a flyer, though I'm just fine with Misawa & Kawada busting out the old Heavenly Bodies tag finish. Jumbo is awesome as grumpy-vet-in-peril down the stretch, eating doubleteams and giving Kawada a credible near-fall that realistically has no chance of happening but comes oh so close. Kawada counters one backdrop, but that indecisiveness about style actually pays off for the finish, as he's a bit too pokey climbing the turnbuckles and eats a backdrop superplex for the pin. This picked up in a hurry, though the writing is on the wall that Jumbo is going to need a new partner sooner than later.

[Ditch]

Yatsu had a couple good outings after leaving AJ but he definitely lost a lot of steam from where he was in '88.

[soup23]

Really interesting match and I love Loss's description of the strengths and weaknesses of the match. There was some selling issue and a lot of errant kicks being thrown around. However, there was also a lot of good sequences and it was the best of people we have seen so far in 1990 (Yatsu and Kawada). Jumbo was also really relishing his role at the time. Real good match that has a changing of the guard feeling to it.

[shoe]

I thought this was a solid bout. It got a little tedious in spots, it got a little sloppy too. For the most part it was a good tag. Misawa coming out gets the superstar reaction he needed.

[Kevin Ridge]

Biggest thing I took out of this match was how much the crowd are behind Misawa already. Big chants for him. Jumbo was getting some chants at one point and the rest of the crowd just starting chanting Misawa. Kawada hit a moonsault at one point. Couple missed moves at time and felt match went a bit too long. Kawada gets a close two count on Jumbo. Misawa focuses too much on Yatsu at end allowing Jumbo to put away Kawada.

[Zenjo]

Yatsu was still around although his body had retired. An off night for Kawada, I've never seen him miss so many kicks. The other two continued their rivalry in this low key outing and made it acceptable.

[garretta]

Great tag team bout that definitely furthers the Misawa/Jumbo rivalry. The youngsters had control for most of this, with Jumbo and Yatsu both playing veteran-in-peril very well. Eventually, however, experience told the tale as Yatsu drew Misawa's attention outside long enough to allow Jumbo to catch Kawada up top and back superplex him to get the win.

 

I thought Yatsu looked better than most of you say he did. Yes, he was noticeably out of shape compared to the other three, but he was hardly a millstone around this match's neck. Besides, the attraction here was Misawa/Jumbo; while Yatsu's perfectly decent performance certainly helped the bout, only a truly awful performance from him would have seriously hurt it in the eyes of most of the fans in attendance.

 

Can't wait to see the next chapter in this feud, whatever it may be.

[drew wardlaw]

The first time Jumbo tags in he comes with with a really understated swagger that he's still the man and he's going to take it to the young kids here. I think he loses it some time during the match and I was kind of expecting more intensity from him in the Misawa interactions. He gets the cheap shot in but I don't know, maybe I was just expecting more. Overall though, very solid. Interesting from a historical standpoint and good as a standalone.

[Jetlag]

This was looooooooong and not exactly mindblowing. The feud and the New Generation was so hot at the time that these 4 hardly could do anything wrong, but the early going still left a lot to be desired. It seemed that what the youngsters had in mind for the body didn't quite mesh with the old guys. Kawada seemed especially disinterested in working with Yatsu. There are some blatant filler sections, until Kawada lands a series of stubborn stiff moves on Yatsu, whiffing half his kicks. Acceptable finishing run somewhat salvages the match. We get to see Misawa using his elbow combos and well timed interferences for maybe the first time.

[dawho5]

Kawada still seems like he's trying to break the juniors mold here. He's got more heavyweight things he can do, but ends up going back to his juniors highspots against Jumbo down the stretch because they are what he has left to do. It ends up costing him the match, which may or may not be good booking. More likely it's just Kawada didn't have what he needed yet to carry off a finishing sequence without going back to where he had been. Misawa is still half Tiger Mask. He's got some of the signature Misawa traits, but he also seems like he's trying to figure out how to go about distinguishing himself from the mask. I liked the later part of the match where he goes wholesale into using elbows to stop Jumbo's comebacks. You can see he's finding something there. Jumbo is great, letting Misawa and Kawada have enough to look good, but giving back in spades when it's his time. Yatsu is just....there. He doesn't seem to want to let Kawada do much at all besides hit him a few times. Kawada seems like he gets a little pissed off about it.

[WrestlingFan]

This match is of course not at the level of the six man tag match that will comme afterwards but it's good anyway. The crowd reaction when Misawa enters in the match is huge, which is captivating and exciting. I like the fact that Jumbo does an elbow to Misawa when he's on the apron, it takes us back to the legendary match when Misawa smashes him with an elbow. Jumbo didn't forget and wants to avenge for it, that's storytelling. The lack of Misawa's long term selling is not disturbing beacause it's not noticeable. Misawa uses a sidexuplex, which I think is a trademark move of Tiger Mask. It's positive because the transformation of Tiger Mask II to Misawa is progressive. Kawada shows some aggressiveness with Jumbo, we recognize the Kawada we're used to know. The latter does not adopt a move set different from the one used in recent months.The fact that Yatsu drags Misawa away outside of the ring to prevent him getting in the way of Jumbo. There are boring moments in the middle of the match but the beginning and the end are fun to watch.

[Makai Club #1]

The first big match of the Kawada/ Misawa partnership. Not their first televised match together but this is likely the true start of Kawada being Misawa’s #2 and he serves him well. Kawada is still in a Junior Heavyweight phase, hitting a bloody moonsault of all things onto Jumbo Tsuruta as well as a springboard cross body but he’s starting to mature in the striking department. Early on, he whiffed a few spinning heel kicks but when Yatsu came in, Kawada transported himself two years into the future and blasted him with precise, violent kicks and a lariat. Jumbo bounces back after losing to Misawa, blindsiding him on the apron at the first chance he got, then attacking his knee before besting Kawada in the finish. He and Yatsu were on their last days as a unit but they worked well as the heel side, despite Jumbo’s clear popularity. Yatsu offensively was solid but his role was to establish Kawada most of all. I do wish that we got more wars between Yatsu and Kawada as the fighting #2s but Taue wasn’t a bad choice (replacement?), I suppose. Misawa is red hot but his performance is probably the most flawed as his selling isn’t too great and he got outshined by Kawada a little. But he gets protected in the loss, so it was good booking by Baba. ***3/4