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[1990-07-27-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen


Loss

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  • 2 months later...

Last few minutes. I'm guessing this was Misawa's first shot at the Triple Crown after unmasking and beating Jumbo. Now, I'm thinking this should have gone on in full for that reason alone, although no one really lobbied for it. I know the rep Hansen/Misawa matches have, but the crowd is definitely into this. Misawa does a plancha to nowhere in a scary spot and eventually gets finished off by Hansen. This didn't look bad at all from the last few minutes. The most interesting thing about this to me - more than anything else - is Misawa's fan support.

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I know the rep Hansen/Misawa matches have, but the crowd is definitely into this.

I think that rep is pretty unfortunate. This match is clipped on every dvd I have it on so I can't speak for this one but I think the 1992 Triple Crown match is solid and the 1993 Triple Crown match between them, and I may be alone in this, is my favorite AJPW match of 1993.
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Misawa vs Hansen was uneven.

 

-This match in full is largely Misawa working the arm, which leads to absolutely zilch because the finish is still One Lariat.

-CC '91 round-robin match has a dull start but a good finish.

-3/4/92 TC match is forgettable, one of the worst TC matches of the decade.

-CC '92 final is forgettable.

-8/22/92 TC is really good.

-CC '93 matches are better than the '92 one but still not thrilling.

-5/21/93 TC is really good.

-10/93 TC is a total letdown in the context of how they got there.

-5/95 TC is a total letdown.

 

10 matches, with only 2 standouts. I've seen people here-and-there give kind words to some of the 'other' 8 (ie. CC '93 final) but never high praise. Considering how many of those are high-profile, and how reliable these two were in the clutch otherwise, this series didn't click the way one would expect.

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'92 CC and 8/92 TC are not classics (although the TC is great), but I always thought Hansen selling for and putting Misawa over in these two, particularly his elbows, did nearly as much for Misawa as the Jumbo win 2 years earlier. Hansen went out of his way to paint Misawa as the type of force that he just didn't do for anyone on the 80s set or on this level in the early 90s.

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Haven't watched any of them but the 5/93 TC in ages. But it struck me at the time that the 5/93 was far above everything else they did, pretty much the "perfect" match the two could work. The 8/92 sticks in the mind because of the finish and the title change, but the body of the match blurs with all the rest. The 10/93 match sticks in the mind for blowing, which tends to highlight how forgettable that the 3/92 TC is since I don't even remember that one blowing as much as David says it does.

 

They weren't really a good match up.

 

John

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I really disagree about the '92 matches. I thought the 3/4/92 TC match was excellent when I watched it on the yearbook and found the carny final solid as well. I wasn't the only one to praise the 3/4 match in that context.

 

As for this match, it was hard to tell how good it was based on the clip. But I will say that Hansen didn't seem ready to treat Misawa as a serious threat. It's weird to watch Misawa work without the elbows as his touchstone weapon.

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Definitely interesting. Assuming things played out that way I don't think there's any question the resulting product would've been less compelling than what came of it.

It's hard to know everything that they would have done. By 1992, the Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co. rivalry was getting a little long of tooth over the "sameness". Baba typically didn't make changes unless forced to:

 

1987: Choshu leaves = Tenryu going opposite Jumbo

1990: Tenryu leaves = Misawa being moved up as Jumbo's rival

1993: Jumbo getting sick = Kawada going opposite Misawa

 

Let's say Jumbo didn't get sick at all in 1992 and continued to perform at say 98% of what he did in 1991 (a modest decline getting a year older). What had we seen in 1992 that perhaps warranted some attention:

 

* Misawa wins TC for the first time

 

Well... lot's of non-Aces would win the TC for the first time. They either win it from the Ace (Tenryu beat Jumbo, Taue beat Misawa), or others (Misawa beat Hansen, Kawada beat Williams, Kobashi beat Taue). The belt *always* went back to the Ace the first time the Ace challenged for it. The newbies held it for a very small number of defenses before losing it. Misawa was losing it, and Jumbo was getting it back... likely for another run of some length like his 1/91 - 1/92 run.

 

* Kawada had a number of TC challenges

 

10/91 vs Jumbo, 6/92 vs Hansen, 10/92 vs Misawa. While not winning the TC, or remotely close to winning it by 10/92, he clearly had emerged as one of the consistent and top challengers for the TC. Two of those were at Budokan, the second getting to main event the 20th Anniversary Show... big slot. That's getting a bit big in the britches to remain Misawa's partner and not lead his own group.

 

* Kobashi challenged for his first Big Boy Title

 

6/92 teaming with Misawa to go after Jumbo & Taue's World Tag Titles. He was at to the point where he was ready to be someone's #2 on a top tag team.

 

Baba would likely at the end of 1992 and into 1993 been reaching the point where he would have needed to split Kawada off from Misawa and move Kobashi up to Misawa's #2. I think we can bounce concepts off the wall and find some interesting "these are the likely options" that would have made 1993 into 1994 very interesting.

 

As interesting as 1993 and 1994 turned out to be with Misawa & Kobashi vs Kawada & Taue? Perhaps not. But that storyline was itself increasing played out by 1995 with the exception of some great Big Matches (and even one of them was played out from 12/95).

 

John

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No question the story had passed its natural climax by the end of '95 and certainly after Kobashi was split off from Misawa. I wonder if Jumbo doesn't get ill, at what point does Misawa get a chance to take over as ace and the events of '93-'94 take place instead from '95-'96? Does Jumbo stay on top so long that Kobashi eventually gets the run? Quite the MMQB convo, but fun to think about.

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I have to admit this is the first thread in which I've seen a lot of love for the 8/92 match. It has a unique finish that gets the elbow over as a killer and is a pivotal moment, but I didn't think much of the match. I agree with Loss that the 3/92 match is much better.

 

Anyway, not much to say about this but the ending stretch was very good from what we saw, though it is disappointing if the match was really all about armwork. The 3/92 match was the same layout but Hansen's Lariat had a much greater air of desperation about it, like Hansen was sacrificing his own arm to get the home run swing. This is a little more routine.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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This match actually sets up the 8/92 TC match well. I know the 92 match is about a real Misawa injury at the time, but it's also sweet revenge for Misawa in getting a win with an elbow after having that arm worked. As far as this match in full, I can't say a whole lot positive about it. It's not that it's a bad match. Just that you expect more from the pairing. I have this feeling as I go through the 90s again that's going to be the case with these two.

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The clip comes in at a really interesting point, it's exactly where the match turns and the arm work gets negated. The first 10 minutes I really like actually. Hansen sells the arm well and has to use his other arm for offense, and Misawa works it over really well. But I hesitate to say it's an issue of Hansen not selling the arm work or jay blowing it off, because the whole tone of the match changes. I mean, he completely blows off the arm work, but it doesn't come off as a fault of his, but rather the fault of the match structure. So what were left with is two very good but very different segments of a match but together as one.

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  • 1 year later...

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen vs Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW 7/28/90

 

Impressed that two months after the Jumbo upset that Misawa is already pretty over. The Misawa chants with his entrance happen not as loud or as long but they are there. Stylistically this is a bad match up. The long drawn out extended comeback vs the bull in China chaos. What makes this match work better than any other match I've seen between these two they just pick one style and stick with it. It is a Hansen template.

 

1990 was the year of Hansen selling his ass off: Doc, Gordy, Kobashi now Misawa. Watching 1990 Misawa is so fresh. The moves aren't in order (the senton is the last move he hits) and he can really surprise you.

 

This is the start of the match: Hard lariat grabs cowbell Rams it into the left elbow then takes a chair from the crowd and slams it into elbow. Quick who did it? Misawa! Love that because it is so not mid 90s Misawa. There is so much urgency here. I thought the arm work was great from Misawa a couple points where it dragged. Hansen was a god here doing his wounded bear routine. Throwing wild bear paws and head butts. I loved the exchange where Hansen and Misawa slug it out and Hansen bashes the bad elbow in to turnbuckle.

 

The other surprising thing is Misawa controls like 75% of the match. Heel in peril makes sense because people like an underdog but they don't like a loser. So giving Misawa the vast majority the match makes him a credible challenger and someone worth investing in. Once you have established yourself then you can take more heat and the crowd will hang with you.

 

The back half of the match is great even if the armwork isn't paid off. Hansen finally grabs a chair and bounces it off Misawas head. Even that doesn't last long. Misawa hits a beautiful dropkicks. Never been a fan of Misawas kicks but they are great here. Besides that chairshor, the other eye popping moment was Misawa flying into abyss of the floor on a plancha insane. Misawa gets a frog splash after a bodyslam. I like how a big deal is NOT made because he is a heavyweight so he should be able to do that. Misawa doing the senton after frogsplash feels weird. Finish is kinda out of nowhere Hansen press slams off the top, shoulder tackle LARIAT!!!

 

Liked the urgency of this a lot, layout with Misawa was the smart call and was fresh, Hansen working underneath rules, lots of hard hitting. ***3/4

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  • 1 month later...

While Hansen and Misawa may not have been each other's best rivals, I do think their matches are underrated. I loved this. Misawa went after Hansen from the get go, playing his game by taking things to the outside and just absolutely brutalizing him and his arm. For a match focused almost entirely on limb work, they made this engrossing as hell. And while Hansen was still able to finish off Misawa with just one lariat, I think it fit the story perfectly. Hansen selling and showing ass has always been to portray him as a wounded animal-vulnerable and in trouble, but still very dangerous. And seeing as how Misawa's mega-push was coming later, this match did a terrific job in making him a legitimate and credible challenger.

 

A fun, crazy brawl with great limb work and an excellent story.

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It would have been really shocking if Misawa had won so early the triple crown but neither disturbing nor not credible, I think. Misawa is really popular, it's spectacular. As always, Stan makes a dynamic and fantastic entry. I like the fact that Misawa immediately goes after his opponent and especially to his arm. As well as being effective, the work on the arm is pleasant to watch. It shows he knows he's less strong that Hansen and that he can't go toe-to-toe with him, he needs a strategy. And it pays off, he dominates 90 percent of the match. As always, Misawa is graceful and excutes his holds very well. Hansen with a chair is scary, I was reassured when Misawa had avoided the chair shot when he was between Hansen and the ringpost. I'm glad of the match construction.

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  • paul sosnowski changed the title to [1990-07-27-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Stan Hansen

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