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All Japan Excite Series #3


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http://placetobenation.com/all-japan-excite-series-3/

 

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Strap in for more excitement. Parv and Steven watch four more matches from 90s All Japan Pro Wrestling!

 

09/04/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

10/15/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi

10/24/91 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada

11/29/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

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Cannot. Wait. To. Listen. To. This. Actually not sure that I've seen any of the matches on this batch. But this has quickly become a favorite 'cast of mine.

I posted the facebook link, so feel free to play along at home. I am glad you enjoy the show, it's a lot of fun going through this stuff with Parv.

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Cannot. Wait. To. Listen. To. This. Actually not sure that I've seen any of the matches on this batch. But this has quickly become a favorite 'cast of mine.

I posted the facebook link, so feel free to play along at home. I am glad you enjoy the show, it's a lot of fun going through this stuff with Parv.

 

 

Awesome, I may just have to check those out.

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09/04/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

My Rankings: ****1/2 (#17 overall for 1991, #6 for All Japan), this was the last match of 1991 overall I ranked at ****1/2

 

I think this maybe more than any other match watched in the series so far is missing context of added matches surrounding it. The submission stuff had been building and was a neat theme in the Summer of 1991 making All Japan different and not mundane since Misawa and Co. vs. Jumbo and Co. had been waged for over a year. This culminated that and it was great to see Jumbo submit to this front facelock. Not sure if this or the 12/90 tag match is my least favorite from the series of these four but that shows how great the run of other matches was.

 

10/15/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi

My Ranking: ****1/4 (#21 overall for 1991, #7 for All Japan)

 

This was my 2nd highest ranked 6 man of the year and a great way to insert Kikuchi into the mix. I am still unsure where Kikuchi will land on Parv's favorite list as he is a good spunky underdog that can sell but I think he does have some offense to impress Parv too.

 

 

10/24/91 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada

My Ranking: ****1/2 (#10 overall for 1991, #4 for All Japan)

 

I thought I was ever so slightly on this match since some throw it up as top 20 of the 90's for All Japan. Parv was way lower on that and I think he is misguided for two reasons.

 

1. He seems to criticize the basic build of this match. I loved the grounded nature of this match and thought that would be something that Parv would appreciate. The basic nature of this match resisted the standards changing overall in wrestling. Also, Jumbo just submitted to a front facelock so wearing him down with holds especially centered around the neck feels like a great strategy to me.

 

2. I think you have to understand that Kawada is still a decent amount below the hierarchy of Jumbo. Parv seemingly had them in 1 and 1A stature. Misawa got a great upset win for 6/8/90 that caught Jumbo off guard but he hasn't been able to achieve that again in singles competition and he also failed on his Triple Crown challenge on 4/18. I think Kawada getting this much of a chance against the ace in Jumbo for the Triple Crown at this point in his career was good and something that never would have happened in 1989. You can contrast this to the 5/24/91 Jumbo vs. Kobashi match to see a match where Kawada is clearly ahead of Kobashi but not in the league with Jumbo just yet.

 

11/29/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

My Ranking: ****1/2 (#5 overall in 1991, #2 in All Japan)

 

You guys touched on most of the points for this but I loved how the draw snuck up on me and think this is a great match to show how all four contributed to making the match great.

 

I still think you are being premature Parv in announcing that no one will overtake Jumbo. Again, that may be true and I dont begrudge you of that, but it feels like someone saying that Flair in 1982 would not be the greatest wrestler of all time, there is still the glory days for Kawada/Kobashi/Misawa ahead and I don't think you can find more psychology rich matches than what you have in store in the mid 1990's.

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I thought Jumbo vs. Kawada was great as a midcard guy doing whatever it took to hang with Jumbo. You have to remember that Kawada was way below Jumbo in 91. Him and Taue were always going to be at a disadvantage against Jumbo or Misawa and they had to find ways of working around that.

 

The 2001 tag match is Nagata/Iizuka vs. Kawada/Fuchi 12/14/2000. It has my favorite indirect way of ending heel heat ever, screw hot tags.

 

Another great 2000s Fuchi match is Tenry/Fuchi vs. Kawada/Araya 6/30/01. Not just Fuchi being a complete dick to the youngster, you get the added bonus of Tenryu doing the same. One of my favorite tag teams ever.

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So, this is the second podcast that involved me that I actually listened to myself (the Thanksgiving Special was the first). What became clear to me is that we need a wrap up to the show.

 

Whether it be some awards or what have you. We can't rank the main guys every episode.

Suggestions? What do you guys want to hear?

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  • 4 months later...

Doing this while I'm compiling Jumbo ratings. Will try to remember to do it after each show:

 

 

 

09/04/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

 

Parv: ****

Steven: ****1/4

 

10/15/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi

 

Parv: ****

Steven: ****

 

10/24/91 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada

 

Parv: ***1/2

Steven: ****1/4

 

11/29/91 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue

 

Parv: ****1/2

Steven: ****1/2

 

 

 

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