[2003-06-06-NOAH-Navigation With Breeze] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Tahuma Sano

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Graham Crackers]

It's Takuma Sano, not Tahuma.

 

Any and every Sano singles match is something to be cherished. Most of the wrestlers who had good chemistry with Misawa in NOAH were guys that already wrestled him in AJPW. Despite that, Sano meshed with Misawa really well and Misawa always put him over nicely with some of his better selling in that last decade. This is another match that I hope people aren't going to keep sleeping on.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I was going to foresake this match based on Sano's shitty, lazy performance against Minoru Tanaka. If you had a bad match with Minoru between 2000-2002, you are pretty bad in my opinion. Between your review and the reviews over at puroresu.tv, I gave this a shot. I am happy I did, it was very good and it will most likely make my ballot in the lower half.

 

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Takuma Sano - NOAH 6/6/03

 

Forget Chuck Norris, Sano is the God King of the Roundhouse Kick. I loved his use of it as a cutoff and Misawa always sold it like he just ran into a stonewall. Misawa really put over Sano as a threat even thought he was quite the underdog as a newcomer to NOAH and perpetual midcarder. Sano really made the most of it and delivered his best performance of the decade working very tight and energetically with Misawa.

 

Sano used the roundhouse kicks to gain control early and with a scouting report avoided a Misawa missile dropkick. He then hit his own and took another page out of the Misawa playbook with a suicide dive. Misawa showed this punk what was up when he hit his own suicide dive and missile dropkick. I liked the symmetry of the match especially the roundhouse kick versus elbow aspect. Sano nails a well-timed roundhouse kick and hits a wicked double stomp to the midsection. I really wish he stuck with the midsection, but he decided to go legs with a pair of figure-4s. Misawa just did not sell this well at all. They just looked like they were laying there. Then Misawa just blows him away with elbows. This was the section that really dragged the match down because it was both inconsequential and boring. I loved Sano's reaction to the elbow to start throwing nasty closed fists. When that does not get the job done he starts throwing kicks to the head. Misawa hits a quick, but wicked German suplex so Sano to keep the match in his favor nails a roundhouse kick. I loved Sano's tenacity, he knew he was the underdog and could not let Misawa build momentum because he would be a goner. These roundhouse kicks, which no Misawa really ever used, really threw Misawa for a loop. BRAINBUSTER! 1-2-NO! Sano applies a weird submission, but looks gnarly. Sano's mouth is bleeding, but that should be expected because Misawa was throwing vicious elbows. Misawa Tiger Driver and here comes Misawa! Frogsplash! Sano looks fucked. Misawa selling the midsection. ROUNDHOUSE KICK! Misawa with fuck you elbows. Emerald Flowsion! I absolutely loved the Misawa selling the long term effects of the roundhouse kicks and then BOOM one last desperation one, but Misawa fights through it to hit nasty elbows and win with Emerald Flowsion. If Sano stuck with the midsection throughout, this match would be a sleeper for top 50. I say that it is lock for the top 100 still. ****

[El-P]

Well, that figure-four spot was ill advised on Sano's part. Misawa wasn't selling that stuff very much although he did sell it a bit afterward.

 

Apart from that, it was indeed a really good match with Sano using that round-kick to stop Misawa on his tracks every time he could. Excellent long term selling of those shots and the brutal footstomp by old Misawa too, whose elbows are just too much for that Sano fellow, who had quite a unique career. It's all about hierarchy in NOAH, so you won't get a super competitive match with Misawa in danger to lose, really, but Sano hanging on for a while and pushing the old champion was enough to make this compelling.