[1996-09-29-AJPW-October Giant Series] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Giant Baba

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Epic 6-man that came out of nowhere. I believed that September 1996 was deep into the point where AJPW's big boys were no longer going all out for 6-mans, but I guess the fact of this being Baba's 36th anniversary match gave them a needed push. You know these guys mean business right from the first minute, which sees Kobashi eat a pair of insane backdrops from Kawada that he sells masterfully. Later on, Kobashi gets some payback when he lands a nasty AF overhead belly-to-belly that sees Kawada land on his forehead from a sick angle, leading to Kawada looking slightly out of it the rest of the match. Couldn't tell how much of the selling from these guys was them being legit knocked loopy, which is my favorite kind of selling. As the match progresses, it becomes pretty apparent that Kawada/Kobashi is the main pairing instead of the usual Misawa/Kawada due to Kawada and Kobashi being a few weeks away from their title match. Misawa throws some nasty elbows and works an epic double knockdown spot with Kawada late in the match, but he's surprisingly subdued overall. Baba is awesome here eating a body slam from Honda and and a monster suplex from Kobashi. His chop exchanges with Kobashi are a real highlight and he brings all kinds of great facials throughout the match. Taue spends most of the match in the background, though that seems like an intentional strategic decision as he comes across as a total monster when he becomes more of a factor later in the match against his tired opponents. Loved when his flexed his high flyer skills on Misawa with a buttery smooth dropkick. Honda is obviously the weakest guy in the match, but he still turns in a pretty fun performance going nuts with the headbutts any time he's in the ring.