[2007-06-03-NOAH] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Bison Smith

[Ma Stump Puller]

This was the only Misawa GHC match that I was completely unable to review back when I was going through his title reign; namely because the match itself, much like many mid-2000's Puro content had been scrubbed off the internet completely bar a occasional snippet uploaded onto somewhere like Veoh (RIP) leaving a very noticeable gap in content. This made it so elusive that even the most famous video on Misawa's reign doesn't cover the match whatsoever! Thankfully some random Japanese salaryman just happened to have a low quality upload of it from a week or so ago so it does once again exist online. This is about as complete as the match appeared to have been, which means that we're predictively missing about 8 minutes of what was probably downtime. I do imagine that the PPV DVD of this that's floating around probably has the full thing though good luck trying to find it for a reasonable price. This was mostly pretty decent by 2007 Misawa standards since the guy was obviously not going to have the workrate from prior decades. He's much less mobile and carrying a lot of wear and tear but with a guy who is as simplistic as Smith is (despite some quirky moves he pulls out now and then) Misawa can easily just play the usual Western Monster shtick he did well enough with Vader back in the 90s, flowing right back into his role from then like he never left.

They use a lot of that playbook here with staggered no-selling from Smith, easily overpowering his senior foil when it came to strikes and grapples while Misawa could only look on in his signature Stoic gaze, trying to find anything to play against him. We do get some moments when that shell cracks; a uncharacteristic moan when being forearmed in the chest for instance; bringing some humanity to the ailing ace. Similarly we get the opposite when Smith mistimes and gets his leg dramatically caught falling off the top rope, letting Misawa uncharacteristically ignore the ref to throw in multiple mean back elbows to Smith's foot in desperation. This takes away his base and allows Misawa to start building a lead with his usual heavy-set offense of the time. I thought this was for the most part pretty by the numbers even down to the horrendous motif of the Tiger Driver being so pathetically reduced in stature that Misawa just does it like 15 minutes before the actual finish for a near fall bit and not a single person in the crowd buys it. That has to sting after seeing so many 90's epics having that move be the conclusive finish lol. Now what I WILL say is that Misawa takes some horrific bumps here namely one where his opponent press slams him from the ring to the ramp which results in probably one of the most disgusting "THUNK" sounds I've ever heard. Now Bison also takes one, mind you, but it's a backdrop and nowhere near as high-impact. I have no fucking clue why Misawa was green-lighting these spots, dude also took a ramp-Bisontenial/Styles Clash that thankfully was modified to be a bit safer. Still, this is just nuts. It's a real showcase of how reckless he was seemingly having to take things to warrant being in the main event game.

It doesn't take much for Misawa to get the crowd right into this by teasing a count out with those kind of spots, easily garnering massive sympathy merely by trying to stand on his own two feet. Smith follows up with a crazy top rope shoulder smash to Misawa on the outside alongside a equally crazy bit where he dove over the guardrail to hit him with another one. While I don't think Bison Smith was a crazy good worker I do heavily respect his atheticism for a guy that large to be moving as fast as he does here at points. They work the last half around the threat of his claw which, sorry to say, no one really bites. The claw was barely believable in its peak, let alone 30 something years later with a guy who hasn't beaten anyone worth their salt with the move: it worked with Kobashi's legendary selling in their matches but that's the exception to the rule alas, making this segment very cold by comparison with the crazy spots that came before. The crowd react much more for a big second top Emerald Flowsion which staggered Bison enough for Misawa to wear him down with a series of elbow strikes until finally finishing up with one to the back of the head a-la the Samoa Joe match for the pin.

This kinda showed the contrast between Misawa and Kobashi; while the latter has a explosive and fairly short outing with Bison filled with intensity and fire, Misawa opts for a more traditional heavyweight match, more grindy and slower to fit the pace of both the gravitas of the event and Misawa's own struggling body. It's certainly not one of Misawa's better title outings, trailing off a bit in places and struggling to get crowd investment until Misawa starts taking stupidly dangerous bumps to add drama. It's a bad way to see what was one of the ring geniuses of the 90's (i mean this was someone who could get a crowd to explode with basic facial expressions, mind) reduced to taking dangerous stuff with a body that certainly was not up to that task. Bison did well enough, but his performances while strikingly dynamic are really hollow under the surface; there's really no humanity to his work, he just tends to do his big spots and grunt around the place, one never really gets the feeling that he's selling anything or trying to tell a story with how he works. The physical struggle that AJPW (and especially Baba-era) were so good at conveying is non-existent with the guy, probably because he seems to be too gassed to emote and work at the same time. Is this a bad match, though? I don't think so, but part of me wishes Misawa had spent one of these very valuable title bouts getting over a up and coming talent rather than a mid-card bruiser who was never going to be more than that. 

 

[paul sosnowski]

Quebrada has it.

NOAH Hokkaido Sataeero SP Northern Navigation '07 Final 6/3/07 Hokkaido-ken Sogo Taiiku Center
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