[1997-05-27-AJPW] Jun Akiyama vs Mitsuharu Misawa

[Ma Stump Puller]

Clipped by around about 6 to 7 minutes. This is the first real time that Akiyama has taken Misawa to a reasonable distance, and while it's still obvious that the Emerald Ace is going to win, that doesn't mean his opponent isn't going to lay down easily. We start from the middle of the match, which starts hard with Akiyama beating down on Misawa with a ton of big bombs: knee drops, a big Northern Lights Suplex, a pair of German suplexes, nothing does the trick but noticeably does get near falls. Misawa takes control with a big dive to the outside and top rope dropkick. Misawa teases the Tiger Driver but Akiyama braces, making Misawa have to do a Butterfly Suplex instead, of all things. Misawa gets a Tiger Suplex setup but again Akiyama has his number and walks to the ropes to escape, using the break to nail a backdrop for a equaliser. Misawa tries for his second rope back elbow but gets expertly countered into a Blue Thunder Bomb in a amazing spot. Akiyama secures his vicious back elbow to the head and pulls out a powerbomb and a Exploder. Misawa sells this like death, having to hold the ropes for dear life as Akiyama attacks him with a back elbow in the corner, follows it up with a big knee for a second Exploder for a insanely near 3 count that gets the crowd going hard for it.

Akiyama tries for a top rope Exploder but Misawa counters, but his elbow is then countered into another near fall via roll-up. Akiyama tries to bring his striking but Misawa fucking wrecks the guy with a rolling elbow/back elbow combo into a Tiger Driver for a near fall, which then directly goes into a second one for the pin. This is a amazingly well kept hidden gem of a match, despite having the start cut. The whole thing is a intense ride of Misawa trying to handle someone who has counters and preparations for everything he has and can bomb him to death almost as well as he can, with a crowd that never dies down for the entire thing. There's no real flashy stuff or big fancy spots but this is super strong work by both men in how vicious Akiyama is, and how Misawa presents him as a true near-equal, barely escaping with the pin. Fantastic and heated. There's a few too many near falls but they work around this by having a lot of work be based around counters and momentum switches than just eating stuff all the time.