HTQ Request from WON

[Tim Cooke]

Dave's review of Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue 6/9/95 if it isn't too much to ask.

 

Thanks,

 

Tim

[goodhelmet]

Speaking of which, I just finished making Loss a copy of this match. Loss, I'll send it tomorrow so it should get there by Saturday.

[Loss]

Yes, can you believe I still haven't seen this match?

[Tim Cooke]

Well, it should highly impress you- even if it is almost 10 years after the fact!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the party

 

Tim

[goodhelmet]

Well, it should highly impress you- even if it is almost 10 years after the fact!!!!!!!!!!!!  Welcome to the party

 

Tim

Tim,

 

What is your take on this match?I personally think it is the best match I have ever seen. I know 12-6-96 also gets tons of praise but I just connected with this one more + I like Taue more than I like Akiyama.

[Tim Cooke]

I think 12/6/96 > 6/9/95. But that isn't fair since they are both top 5 matches of all time for me.

 

I like Akiyama in his role on 12/6/96 more than I like Kobashi in his role on 6/9/95. Kobashi was fantastic and certainly didn't do anything wrong but Akiyama's story was so deep with his 1996 being based around him being young and out of place and Misawa having to save him throughout the year. When Misawa fights off both Kawada and Taue and goes to make the tag and Akiyama is not there, the look on Misawa's face and the way he looks around to try to find him before realizing he will just have to fight the good fight himself is a beautiful moment.

 

It is the moment that defines everything I love about All Japan. That moment is the equivilent of "The Wire" on HBO compared to 6/9/95 and the Fox show "24." 24 is my favorite show on network TV and my favorite show on TV currently. But The Wire is so deep and so awe-inspiring that if I had to choose, I would choose the 12/6/96-Wire combination.

 

I think Taue is also better in the 12/96 match. Taue doesn't get to work as much with Misawa in 6/9/95 as he does in 12/6/96 and when Misawa and Taue work together after Taue got good, it is great. Plus Akiyama was a better fit for Taue to work against as well.

 

So 12/6/96 is tops for me. If I were asked today at this moment, my top 5 is:

 

1. 12/6/96

2. 6/3/94 Misawa v Kawada

3. 10/15/95 Misawa/Kobashi vs. Kawada/Taue

4. 7/24/95 Misawa v Kawada

5. 4/15/95 Misawa v Taue

 

Tim

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

6/11 ALL JAPAN: 1. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada won the tag titles from Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi. They only aired a few clips of the first 21:00 and the entire second 21:00. This was every bit as good if not better than their January match. Thus far in my opinion, matches with Kawada and Kobashi are the top three for matches of the year, this being no worse than second. Misawa & Kobashi sold most of the way during the second half after Taue gave Misawa a nodowa (choke-slam) and he landed on Kobashi's injured hamstring. Kobashi was on the floor and they traded off on Misawa until Kawada went with the stretch plum but Kobashi saved. They did most of their usual spots but did a better job of teasing and dramatizing them. Kawada used a backdrop driver on Misawa at about 30:00 but Kobashi managed to tag in. Misawa used a german suplex, tiger suplex and tiger driver on Kawada, with Kawada kicking out of the first two and Taue saving on the third. Taue gave Misawa a nodowa and then a nodowa off the ropes. Kawada used a spin kick to the chin to set up Taue doing the nodowa off the apron to the floor. Kawada used a power bomb on Misawa while Taue used a nodowa on Kobashi but Misawa kicked out. Kawada went for a second bomb but Misawa flipped him over. At the end Taue used a nodowa again, Kawada with a kick to the chin again and a backdrop driver to set up the winning power bomb. *****+

[goodhelmet]

Let me edit when I say I like Kobashi more than Akiyama. Yes, Taue was in both matches.

 

AS for 6-9-95, I think I'll watch it and expand more on why I love it so much but this should do for now. To me, it epitomizes how you can never see a wrestler wrestle, or know anything about the participants but still see a match that is deeper than anything else on the market. Just as you thought Akiyama fit better with Taue, I thought 6-9-95 was all about Kawada and Misawa continuing their story.

 

In 6-9-95, Kobashi is damaged goods. Taue and Kawada abuse his leg and Misawa tries his best to ease Kobashi's suffering. When Misawa is going one-on-one with Kawada, he usually gets the bext of him but he can't compete with both guys the entire match. In the middle of the match, you actually witness the transformation of the sympathetic figure shifts from Kobashi to Misawa. Kawada gets the pin, but he doesn't gloat, he doesn't cry, or cheer. It is just business as usual because he knows it will be meaningnless until he proves it in a singles match.

 

This is what you see going on in the match without knowing the backstory. Hell, the transtitions and different ways they dissect Kobashi's leg are what I like to see in my wrestling matches. to me, this match is similar to the way I reacted to 6-5-89. I had never seen the Jumbo-Tenryu matches that came before this match yet I thought it was one of the most effective stories I had ever seen.

 

 

These two matches are unique because they don't need the backstory to make them great. However, when you see the matches leading up to them, there is even more depth than before. Add the fact that I had seen Jumbo-Funk from '76 and you see how the crowd reacts to the neck being dropped on the top-rope. But even if you didn;t have that extra depth, you would still be able to praise thespot for the way Jumbo sells it as death. In 6-9-95, If you know this was Kawada's first pin over Misawa, it makes it jsut a little bit more special. THese are great matches that become greater. THe work stands on its own, yet the story becomes deeper with repeated vieiwing.