[1991-11-16-AJPW-Real World Tag League] Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Hansen and Spivey attack Misawa and Kawada before the opening bell. Misawa doesn't even get his jacket off until a couple of minutes into this. This is an awesome match, with Hansen putting on a huge production and picking fights with both guys, especially Misawa. Hansen's aggression - and Spivey effectively following Hansen's lead - forces them to fight back from a pretty perilous position, and while I'm sure the crowd loved Misawa, I can't help but think Hansen going after him so much got him even more over here. With Spivey being the wild card, I went into the Hansen/Spivey tags on this set not really knowing what to expect, but Hansen works overtime and really could have teamed with anyone and made these matches work. Misawa and Kawada pull off what comes across as an upset because they had to fight so hard to win, and Hansen and Spivey don't exactly accept that result like sportsmen. I really, really liked this.

[Ditch]

Hansen just BROUGHT IT so often when teaming with Spivey from 90-91. Like how Doc started bringing it when he stopped teaming with Gordy.

[Kevin Ridge]

Misawa takes another pre match beating to knock him out. Hansen was crazy out of control here. Spivey almost felt invisible due to Hansen being such a stand out. Spivey has Kawada in boston crab and Hansen just gets in the ring and wallops Kawada with a chair. He proceeds to fire the chair at Misawa on the apron. Terry Funk would be proud of that chair toss. Misawa and Kawada step it up on the end to try match Hansen. Good match and Hansen takes out Misawa after the match too.

[PeteF3]

Another great showcase performance from Hansen, as his relentless assault really forces Misawa and Kawada out of their comfort zone and they have to fight for their lives. And Spivey actually pulls his weight here, too. This is the best organized-chaos All-Japan brawl since the Kawada/Taue 1/15 match, with Misawa getting in what comes across as a fluke 3-count with what's normally a mid-range move. This is another hollow-feeling victory for a tag team in Japan, a point that Hansen makes physically after the match. But needless to say it's a far, far better match than the joshi bout.

[Zenjo]

Hansen was really pumped up and unloaded some stiff offence. The opponents responded in kind and there were some exciting moments. Unfortunately there was also Spivey who wasn't actively bad, but was very much a weak link in this company. I wanted Stan to be in the ring at all times.

[soup23]

This match ruled. Perfect length and pace. Hansen started off as a complete bad ass attacking Misawa and then going into a slap exchange with Kawada. They work him over and SPivey holds his on. Misawa comes firing back on all cylinders and the crowd is losing it. His victory feels really well earned and a big victory for him. Super stuff.

[garretta]

This one was an out-of-control war from start to finish, and the natives should consider themselves fortunate to escape with a win. Hansen's in one of his more psychotic moods, as he jumps Misawa before the bell and gets even crazier from there. He even fires a chair at Misawa right in front of the referee, who doesn't do a blessed thing about it. Spivey isn't just window dressing, as he tortures both Misawa and Kawada with well-executed Bostpn crabs. In the end, Misawa's desperation frog splash from the top takes care of Spivey, for which Hansen exacts revenge by back-suplexing Misawa on the floor and almost dashing his brains out in the process.

 

I like both teams, but I like Misawa and Kawada better when they're in there with Jumbo and company trying to fight for their place in the All-Japan hierarchy. This natch was certainly exciting enough, but Misawa and Kawada spent most of it fighting from behind after Hansen and Spivey backjumped them, and that kind of match doesn't allow them to show off their wrestling skills. I'm looking forward to seeing how they do against their friends Kikuchi and Kobashi later in the tournament, and I'm also looking forward to Hansen/Spivey vs the MVC, which should be a real treat for slobberknocker fans everywhere.

[JKWebb]

The pacing of this match is incredible. They go all at it here, and I loved every moment. Hansen is so good in this. I like how he has to sit on the ropes and catch his breath after going so damn hard in the first portion of the match. This was really great.

[dawho5]

Another Hansen showcase. He goes far enough to make Misawa angry, and I think I can count the amount of times I've seen Misawa angry on one hand. Kawada shows a lot of fire in response as well. We see flashes of the 2/28/93 Kawada vs. Hansen in some of the exchanges here. Overall I'd say this match helped put both Kawada and Misawa over as badasses because they could hang tough to get a win when Hansen was clearly out for blood.

[KB8]

One of the all-time great pissed off screwball Hansen performances. He was a riot in this, jumping Misawa before the bell and about planting him fully vertical with a back suplex. The amount of shit he gave Misawa early had Misawa as annoyed as I've ever seen him. This wasn't stoic Misawa who'd maintain his composure and strike when the moment was right -- Hansen had pushed the wrong buttons and Misawa was going to cave his face in. There was one point where he had Hansen tangled in the ropes and raining down holy hell with elbows. A couple of the Hansen/Kawada exchanges were up there with their very best, culminating with Kawada biting off more than he could chew and Hansen punching him dead in the cheek, which in turn led to an extended Kawada heat segment. Before that Kawada's aggressiveness had served him pretty well, but it was most effective in tandem with Misawa's and as soon as he tried to go it alone he paid big time. Spivey was mostly just there and his Boston crab was pretty loose, so Hansen would keep it interesting by coming in and stomping repeatedly on Kawada's head, and a little later applied one of his own where he sat across the lower back with the full beef of Borger, Texas. Best moment of the match was when he grabbed a chair and, completely unprompted, smashed it over Kawada's spine, then hurled it across the ring at Misawa who went fucking apeshit in response. The way he went for Hansen was amazing; Hansen chucking him over the barricade like a small child even more so. The first elbow Misawa threw at Hansen after the hot tag was truly jaw-shattering. I watched this about ten years ago and loved it, so I'm happy it held up. One of my favourite All Japan tags of the decade.