[1991-04-05-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

What a difference a year makes! Misawa and Kobashi have both improved as wrestlers, but more than that, they both have a much better idea of who they are. They have a match that is leaps and bounds better than the 1990 outing, and the biggest difference is the confidence both guys have that they're on the right track. Really good match with a hot crowd. It's not among the elite Misawa/Kobashi matches, but it's such a leap in match quality from the year before that it can't help but stand out.

[shoe]

This was a real good give and take match with a lot of neat touches throughout. I loved how Misawa used the drop toe hold to get to Kobashi's arm. I saw Steamboat do this with Savage and this was even smoother. Another cool little thing was Misawa attempting atomic knee breakers to escape headlocks. Overall I really liked this.

[PeteF3]

I definitely got a "house show" vibe from watching this (DUH!)--okay, but more than that. It was worked as such as opposed to something you'd see on television, which isn't a "Misawa Was Lazy" argument either. A lot more basic hold-working and basic psychology--but it all worked. Kobashi tried to unleash a bunch of big guns from the start while Misawa was more content to slow things down, as per custom. Definitely won't be among the high-end AJPW matches but very effective for what it was.

[Kevin Ridge]

I echo the thoughts of how much improved this was over 1990 yearbook match were they struggled. With the lights down it had the house show look but they were doing some big moves and delivering action. Kobashi gets a moonsault and Misawa looks to hit a Tiger Driver 91 too.

[soup23]

Low tech version of their match but good stuff overall and it was refreshing to see how much they had improved and gained confidence in themselves in just one year. Kobashi is still fiery but a little more focused and restrained. Misawa has taken the biggest leap from a junior wrestler that could look frantic and be inconsistent to someone who has enough confidence in his ability to work a match in this fashion that is 80% dominated by matwork.

[FLIK]

Amused by how basic this was for the first 10-11 mins and then they just start spamming big moves in the final 2-3 to take it home. Not a memorable match in any way except that it's Misawa vs Kobashi at a time when Misawa vs Kobashi didn't mean what it would later on. Still, the match works for what they were aiming for.

[garretta]

I was impressed with Kobashi in particular here; he didn't take a backward step from Misawa, and even controlled him for long sections of the bout. His work on Misawa's head was very good; even the side headlock wasn't a dead spot, as the sheer length of time it was applied made it a dangerous hold. I'm not sure I like the idea of Misawa getting up from a DDT on the floor, but DDTs aren't deadly finishers in Japan, which is something I'm still getting used to.

 

Misawa being so wary of the side headlock that he goes to kneebreakers and suplexes to try to either get out of it or avoid being caught in it again was the sign of an intelligent wrestler, and I liked that it took two powerbombs to put down Kobashi; he'll be a force to be reckoned with even while he's still relatively young and green.

 

This may not have been a classic, but it's a better babyface/babyface match than you were liable to get in the States around this same time.

[JKWebb]

Fun match. I love how intense the side headlocks are, and watching this today just makes me want to see more headlocks locked in like that today. It was a little short, or maybe the ending just felt a little abrupt, but overall I really enjoyed the action and thought it was worked really well.

[dawho5]

Kobashi was always great working a side headlock. Definitely better than Misawa working any kind of hold for any amount of time. Just not a strength of Misawa's and I'm pretty sure he knew that given how often he didn't do it. But how else do you wear down an up-and-coming stablemate like Kobashi without looking like a complete prick?

[Jetlag]

This was interesting to compare to the handheld junior matches from W*ING in the early 90s. This had a fast beginning with Kobashi blitzing Misawa with a huge dive and a DDT and then Misawa transitioning back to control without much fanfare. We follow this with some "I armlock you some and then you headlock me some" work which was ok but pretty dry. Finally, a good transition gets going when Misawa works his way back to control, but is caught with another DDT in a cool spot. Kobashi follows with a completely unnecessary apron dropkick, no wonder you're a cripple now, dummy. They put on a quality finishing with a few good struggle/reversal spots and Kobashi seemingly having the upper hand on Misawa. I didn't mind the finishing stretch as they were always trying to prevent the other guy from hitting his stuff, so it didn't come across as your turn/my turn.

[cactus]

With this being a non-televised event, they work a lot of holds. They do decent job of keeping them interesting, with Kobashi holding onto a headlock even after getting his shin dropped over Misawa's knee. The short finishing stretch is very explosive, with both guys dropping bombs.  Obviously not to the level of their later matches, but it's clear these guys have great chemistry between them.

★★★¼