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All Japan Excite Series #7


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http://placetobenation.com/all-japan-excite-series-7/

 

excite7.png

 

Parv and Steven crack open another four-pack of excitement, drink it all up.

 

04/12/93 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue

06/01/93 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue

07/09/93 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama

07/19/93 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi

 

 

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Just wanted to take a special time out to thank Word Hoard again for the awesome logos he's been doing for all our shows, but I really think he excelled himself on this one. It's knock-out fantastic:

 

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Ratings:

04/12/93 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Akira Taue

Parv: ****
Steven: ****1/4

06/01/93 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue

Parv: ****3/4
Steven: ****1/2

07/09/93 - Toshiaki Kawada vs Jun Akiyama

Parv: ***1/2
Steven: ***3/4

07/19/93 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi

Parv: ****
Steven: ****1/4

 

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Great show as always. I have loved Kobashi in every match I've seen him wrestle in 1993. Kawada has less great stuff to his name very likely because he was always in the secondary role through 92 and was less developed for at least 1990. That and when he had shots against somebody like Jumbo or a big name gaijin in the first three years he seemed to hold back quite a bit.

 

Misawa's dive sequences are more about avoiding a big whiff. When people started moving out of the way he'd grab the ropes and flip over to set up the apron dives. Athletic stuff like that and the diving elbow or frog splash are Misawa staples all the way until the end of his run in All Japan.

 

It seems like underdogs in All Japan take a larger portion of the offense in a match than almost anywhere else. I think it has something to do with Misawa's way of portraying the ace role. He would let the action come to him and counter, which very often meant somebody like Kawada would get in 75% of the offense in a singles match. It almost seems like a way of putting the challenger/underdog over by making them look good for being able to take it to the other guy for so long despite losing. I also think that this reflects in a lot of finishing stretches where if you have the little time bar down on the bottom of your screen it's almost detrimental to your viewing enjoyment. When you see about five minutes left in the match and somebody puts together a long string of nearfalls the first reaction is, "that guy is taking the fall."

 

As for Fuchi, he was always going to be an afterthought after a while. He was a junior heavyweight, which automatically put him lower than even Kobashi in 1991. And his style of offense doesn't work in the post-Jumbo era. Once Misawa & co. start getting away from weardown submissions and a lot of the 70s/80s stuff Fuchi has a lot harder time fitting in to matches against them. Not to mention they all outrank him by a long, long way. I'm not saying it never happens, just that it becomes more rare. Akiyama is a perfect Fuchi opponent for sure though. I do think that Fuchi, along with Jumbo, had a very critical role in teaching the younger generation how to work from 1990-92. There is a great Fuchi vs. Kawada match from 7/18/1991 that I think both of you would love. It shows how Kawada could work outside the box as early as mid-91 as well as showcasing how great Fuchi was during that era.

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Parv's point about Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue being a lot of great, but less structured stuff bookended by a hot opening and closing stretch reminds me of a lot of 90s All Japan tags, especially the 6 mans. It's hard to complain too much because all that stuff in the middle is really great, but it does take many of the matches down a notch for me.

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Couple thoughts after listening to this:

 

* 4/12 Kawada vs. Taue is available in full as a handheld. Dan Ginnetty just got it about 2 months ago.

 

* The AJPW tag style will change in the Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue after the 12/3/93 match. What essentially began with Choshu in 1985 will go in a different direction beginning with their 5/21/94 match.

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