[1985-09-03-AJPW] Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask II

[cactus]

When it comes to the execution of the high-flying moves, Misawa was no Sayama. He hits some nice dives and counters here, it makes you wonder if fans at the time were less impressed by Misawa's version of Tiger Mask even if Misawa was by far the better worker. Kobayashi acts like a heel by attacking Misawa before the match, but the crowd was firmly behind him on this night. He has a lot of swagger about him and you can see why the crowd was rooting for him. He's able to cut Misawa off with a variety of spin kicks and work him down with some holds that start to outwear their welcome. The only part of this match that I straight-up didn't like was when Misawa crashes and burns to the outside after a failed corkscrew body press to the outside. My gripe wasn't with the dive itself, but how Misawa brushes it off. The crowd was clearly concerned by Misawa's fall and his no-selling wasted a good opportunity to create some drama. Kobayashi nearly wins this after landing both a Fisherman's suplex and a rolling clutch pin, but his opponent is too close to the ropes. This was a good way to make Kobayashi look strong, even if he isn't victorious on this night. This being the 80's in Japan, this ends in a no contest when both guys are unable to make the count after a spill to the outside. Overall, this was a fun juniors match with a molten-hot crowd. ★★★

[KinchStalker]

I think you got the year and month switched up there.