[1991-05-24-AJPW-Super Power Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Steve Williams & Terry Gordy

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was a better match than the March one, but Williams and Gordy sure know how to kill a crowd by taking too much offense. Here, at least it's building to a Kawada hot tag, but what's frustrating about it is that Doc and Gordy aren't all that good at coming up with something interesting to do to work Kawada over in the meantime. This is a face in peril tag where the peril part is a little boring, and I think that's what exposed them working for Watts in '92 as well. You get a lot of hold grabbing with no real rhyme or reason, completely made by the opponent's selling. When Misawa finally tags in, they can't even string together much offense. The build to Misawa locking in the front facelock near the end and finally getting the pinfall was excellent, but I just like Doc and Gordy as a tag team less each time I see them, mainly because they don't sell enough.

[Ditch]

Was this for the titles? Because they had a title match in July with Misawa/Kawada winning.

[shoe]

I thought it was a solid tag though you expect more given the talent involved. Loss point about the MVC in 92 is right on.

[jdw]

Was this for the titles? Because they had a title match in July with Misawa/Kawada winning.

Not a title match. C&P from Masa since my spreadsheet is home:

 

April 18, 1991---Nippon Budokan, Tokyo

World Tag Team title match

04/18/91: Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey beat Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (20:40 Hansen beat Williams)---Hansen & Spivey became the 15th champions

 

July 6, 1991---Yokosuka City Gym, Kanagawa

World Tag Team title match

Steve Williams & Terry Gordy beat Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey (20:38 Gordy beat Spivey)---Williams & Gordy became the 16th champions

 

July 24, 1991---Ishikawa Prefecture Industrial Hall, Kanazawa

World Tag Team title match

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada beat Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (28:00 Misawa beat Gordy)---Misawa & Kawada became the 17th champions

 

So this was between Gordy & Doc's 2nd and 3rd title reign.

 

John

[PeteF3]

Fuck, Loss made my post way before I had a chance. Yes, Doc & Gordy get a little less exciting with every subsequent match--it seems most of their great matches are made by their opponents. Yes, they take way too much of the match--which would be okay, but most of what they have to offer in control are random clubbering and half-assed half crabs. In fact I can now see the criticisms others made of Adonis & Murdoch (which I didn't agree with then or now) in the MVCs. Still, the closing stretch is pretty great with Gordy frantically trying to save Doc from the facelock, but being unable to save him from the tiger driver thanks to plucky Kawada. As uninspiring as the MVCs on offense were, it still feels like a monumental comeback for Misawa to get the victory.

[Kevin Ridge]

The finish with Misawa trying to get the facelock on was good. Easily highlight of match when he got tagged in. Criticisms of MVC in the match makes total sense. They hit a big move, put on a bad looking submission and don’t sell enough.

[soup23]

Im an outlier here as I thought this was a great tag and didn't have a problem with the amount of offense that Gordy/Williams put in. They were dominating and mixed in a ton of stiff strikes to neutralize Kawada/Misawa and build tot he hot tag. Gordy in particular is someone that I have been slightly down on lately but I thought he had a lot of strong strikes and pace in this match. Finish sequence paid off the match structure well and again made Misawa look like a big fn deal.

[garretta]

I agree with Soup here. If Doc and Gordy had sold more, Misawa eventually getting Doc up for the winning powerbomb wouldn't have been as big a deal. In order for the finish to work, Misawa and Kawada both had to be dominated by a team of nearly invincible badasses, and Doc and Bamm Bamm fit that bill here. No, their offense wasn't flashy; it reminded me more than a little of the type of offense seen in early 80s WWF tags, only executed better. But it served its purpose, as both tags were red-hot, and when Misawa almost knocked Doc out with the cobra hold, then lifted and planted him, the crowd went crazy for the improbable comeback win.

 

I've never seen the MVC here in the States, but from what I've read, wasn't part of their problem that JR talked them up to the point where by the time they got in the ring, the fans were already sick of hearing about them? Then they turned around and won both the NWA and WCW World tag titles to set up a series with the Steiners that turned out to be underwhelming, to say the least. I'll see for myself when I get to '92. but most of that was probably the Sooner partisan in JR marking out for Doc, as he's done since 1985. Between that and Watts' favorable booking of them as double champions, it's easy to see why American fans got sick of having them shoved down their throats.

[dawho5]

Here's the thing for me about MVC. They were good to absolutely great at putting together memorable finishes. After watching as much 1990-1993 AJPW as I did, they just draaaag that middle of the match out laying in restholds and not really giving the opponent chances to fight back. If the opponent doesn't get their bursts of hope that look like they mean something, nobody is going to give a shit. It is to their credit that they can pick up dead crowds with their finishing runs, but the fact that they are repeatedly responsible for killing the crowd in the first place irritates the fuck out of me.