[1991-10-10-AJPW-October Giant Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Good match, but something didn't quite work for me. I think it was Kawada's performance. Taue led his team in heeling so strong on Kawada that he had reason to be pissed off and come back all charged up and instead seemed really subdued. Kikuchi was really the workhorse of his team, and he was great at it, but the match wasn't really worked in a way to make him the centerpiece. Ogawa also did an excellent job, but this seemed a little too one-sided in favor of Jumbo's team. By the time they started working toward a finish, they seemed past a lot of that, and the last few minutes are the best part of the match.

[Ditch]

Good but not great, which is why it didn't make my 'recommended for the set' list. The next 6-man is a big step up.

[Loss]

I did like that Misawa pinned Taue for the finish. Much less obvious than Kikuchi or Ogawa eating the fall, which was what I expected.

[Ditch]

It says something about how conservative Baba's booking was that it felt big when 3 year pro, #2-in-stable Taue would drop falls in a 6-man. And now that I think about it, did Kawada *ever* drop the fall in a 6-man after becoming Misawa's #2?

[PeteF3]

Good match, with Kikuchi and Ogawa getting to show their stuff off more than Loss had me expecting. Kawada was kind of a weak link for the first time since that 1990 Tiger Mask unmasking abomination of a match, but I also suspect with no further knowledge that he got knocked legit silly early on in the match. I know he's a great seller, but that would have been something else. If anything brought this down to just "good" levels, it's that I thought Misawa's big comeback was a little on the underwhelming side. He goes through a great torture sequence at the hands of Taue including taking the Golden Arm Bomber on the floor, but the tag out and hot tag back in are both handled a little anticlimactically.

[Kevin Ridge]

Average match for the most part. Another AJPW match where the person you suspect loses does not happen with Kikuchi and Ogawa involved. Misawa gets the pinfall over Taue. Misawa continues his rise in 1992.

[soup23]

Good six man as these always are but a little sporadic as everyone seemed to have a moment either in peril or dominating and as a result the match felt a little scatterbrained as a whole. I do always enjoy in these matches when one of the main candidates to take the fall doesn't so this has that going for it.

[garretta]

Another big win for the Misawa side, and things feel a little more even in general, with Jumbo submitting to Misawa and almost getting pinned by Kawada, now Taue getting beaten here. (I know that the Jumbo/Kawada singles match actually took place two weeks after this, but I've already watched it.)

 

This seemed almost like a showcase for the third-stringers, as Ogawa and Kikuchi did most of the work and looked very good doing it. There were enough teases of the other combinations to remind viewers of past battles, and no one looked like they were the so-called "designated jobber", which always makes for an exciting bout.

 

I understand what Pete's saying about Misawa coming back from his beating on the floor too quickly, but I think this was one of those times when realism was sacrificed for the sake of a crowd-popping finish.

 

Almost everyone seemed to have a version of a sleeper or front facelock-style submission, which makes sense considering the stories being told in the last few matches. Even though Misawa's facelock didn't directly lead to Taue's loss, it certainly played a part in it, so now the last three matches we've seen between the sides in chronological order on the Yearbook have seen a Jumbo sleeper submission over Kikuchi, a Misawa facelock submission over Jumbo, and Misawa pinning Taue after severely weakening him with the facelock, plus Kawada nearly putting Jumbo out with the sleeper on several occasions during their 10/24 singles match. It'll be interesting to see how this trend plays a role in upcoming matches.

 

If the six-man still to come five days later is better than this, it'll be a Match of the Year candidate. Looking forward to it!

[G. Badger]

Going back to when I was watching the Misawa- Jumbo feud on a weekly basis, here's my take:

 

Another very, very good 6-man tag team match. They're really gearing up for the Kawada/Jumbo match and it's damn clear that Kawada & Misawa have arrived as real contenders. Taue & Jumbo don't take that much punishment here and I do agree that Taue has gotten worse. Not in the sense that he sucks to watch but, he doesn't have the varied offense as he did early on. He seems to be content doing the stomping game alot & only doing moves against Kikuchi like the Samoan drop. He does amp it up here though as I believe he chokslams Misawa on the floor. Kawada gets better with each match as I understand his character more & more. He is tired of the bullshit being run by Taue & Tsuruta- all of their double teaming, cheap shots, and the benefits that their status grants them.

[dawho5]

I liked the torturing of Kawada's midsection early on. Ogawa being involved as heavily as he was in that mad me think he'd get some kind of payback. Kawada, in one of his few instances of showing much fire here, goes with a Jumbo sequence to get his revenge on Ogawa. Jumbo's reaction is as awesome as I expected. Misawa using his lucha-based offense on Ogawa is always a fun thing to watch. I really dug seeing the Ogawa-Kikuchi matchup heavily featured in this and how often both were in the match. I think part of the reason this isn't as strong of a match is Kawada, but I also think that knowledge of his later self is creeping in there a little bit. He's not quite there yet all the time. He's going to have lapses as he grows into it and one just happened to fall on a match that was meant to feature him vs. Jumbo. That first tiger driver was such an incredible nearfall, had me believing Taue was down.