[1997-04-19-AJPW] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Kenta Kobashi / Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

See the point about matwork in All Japan in the previous thread. They do try working some holds here, and none of them really has much heat. It drags this match down, because they haven't really done much to condition fans that holds are important. So while the work they did was technically excellent, just as you'd expect, this match loses something for me because it was worked in a way where they were just tossing stuff out. You usually hear that phrase and think spotfest, but in this case, it was holds that hadn't been properly built up to mean anything first. Who would have thought the longer January match would be much leaner than the shorter Carnival one?

 

There's plenty to like here so I don't want to be too critical. I like that Misawa gave Kobashi most of this match, and because of how much Misawa sold for him there is still plenty of intrigue and milage left in the rivalry. This is a good match -- a very good one in fact. It's hard to be disappointed by a match involving these two, but I expect more than laying around in unestablished holds before headdropping for nearfalls from these two. This was almost the All Japan equivalent of the kickout specials at recent Wrestlemanias. Too dumbed down, even if that was one hell of a closing stretch.

 

-----

 

Then we get to Misawa vs Kawada. This is short but I am intrigued by how Kawada will approach a short match with a wounded Misawa. The answer is sort of obvious (prey!), but it's no less fun to watch play out for six minutes or so. Misawa still has some fight in him and puts up a strong effort, but Kawada secures the win, just as he should. Still, the booking made him look ... something. I don't know what. But it says a lot that Misawa is the one getting the name chants when it's over.

[Ditch]

I thought Kobashi did a decent job of targeting the neck and using stuff like the katahajime, which is rarely used in puro, rather than it just being restholds.

[Childs]

Misawa started this off wrestling like he was the boss, flipping the opening dynamic of the January match. I really liked the vicious look on his face as he applied the facelock early. But Kobashi's performance never felt as distinct; I didn't come away with a sense of what he was trying to do. So the match as a whole felt more like them doing a bunch of Kobashi and Misawa stuff than like a well-thought-out battle. They were great enough that it still ended up as a hell of a match. Just not memorable.

 

Kawada-Misawa is such a strange dual experience. On the one hand, it was an interesting way to play out the end of a tournament, and it unfolded logically in that narrow context. On the other hand, it was a terribly underwhelming way to hit what should've been a key note in the decade's greatest in-ring rivalry.

[Kevin Ridge]

There was a three way tie going into final so they did this round robin playoff. Good match but I can understand the criticism of the holds. Though when Kobashi would put on a sleeper there would be an “oh” from the crowd but then it went quiet. Maybe it has more to do with Kobashi not having a real established submission and him being in most of control of match. Misawa took a great beating during this though which moves into the Kawada match.

 

No break for Misawa as Kawada is immediately introduced. Kawada mostly beats him up for six minutes. So Kawada finally beats Misawa in singles match but it’s Misawa who gets the crowd praise since he just went to a 30 minute draw with Kobashi before hand. Also, you would think Kawada would get a much bigger pop for winning. Kawada had to win here but this isn’t the way to book his first singles victory over Misawa.

[soup23]

Kobashi vs. Misawa is echoed by what most have said here. I still would call it a very good match but its natural to be underwhelmed when they had what I might consider the best match of all time 3 months before. Misawa was being targeted more and looked really vulnerable throughout.

 

Kawada's music firing up was a great moment with the camera on a wounded Misawa. This match was extremely logical but yet underwhelming. I appreciate what they were going for, but it just didn't work out.

[PeteF3]

I really liked the pre-match bit with the drawing of letters and the explanation by the announcers, especially the crowd reactions. I don't know if this was "news" to them or not, but it felt like it. You know it's a good talking segment when it transcends the language barrier.

 

So happy to see Loss compare Misawa vs. Kobashi to a WrestleMania main event--that's EXACTLY how it came off to me down the stretch. Bomb, sell, bomb, sell, repeat. It was really good, but it didn't really feel substantial the way the 1/97 match did. Kobashi's arm injury was really well-sold but it didn't feel like the real game-changer that it was in the January match either--it came off more as something else to get in each guy's way so they could fill 30 minutes. I actually liked the matwork at the beginning, but I agree that it didn't really engage the crowd. Misawa's facelock sometimes draws a pop and sometimes gets no reaction at all, and here it was the latter.

 

And dittos again on the Kawada match. It made perfect sense psychologically, but Kawada's first singles win still comes off as a total anticlimax.

[Microstatistics]

Honestly I thought the Misawa vs. Kawada match was really good and an interesting chapter in their rivalry (which AJPW had kind of bungled at this point). Only these guys could cram that level of storytelling into 7 minutes. An exhausted and hurt Misawa trying to survive but being unable to. Kawada's post match mannerisms and the crowd supporting Misawa were perfect. There is no reaction from him, no joy, because he knows his first singles victory was hardly a definite one and so far he has only been able to beat Misawa with the help of Taue or after Misawa had already wrestled a 30 minute draw. *** 1/2

[Zenjo]

We have a drawing of lots beforehand. Entirely random I'm sure. Kawada goes backstage for a quick nap and we have Misawa vs Kobashi first up.

 

Understandably both men came out firing in search of an early victory. The opening 10m had plenty of intent. It certainly wasn't a telegraphed draw. A slight lull after the early storm as AJ fans weren't trained to respond to matwork. Kobashi then began dominating and nearly secured the win. Misawa held on and then turned the tables for a while. Exciting action with the crowd into it. The final few minutes weren't up to much, but it was still very good overall. Both were totally spent at the end.

 

A fresh Kawada swoops in like a vulture. I would've been absolutely fine with the booking were it not Dangerous K's first ever singles victory over his nemesis. Instead of a momentous moment there's a giant asterisk.