[Remedial Wrestling] #1: Misawa/Kawada and Friends

[Goodear]

So the thread kind of went off on a tangent huh?  Get your Fuchi discussion out of the way, we got one more tag match to do kids!  

 

So this is pretty not-so-bad.  

 

Psyche!

 

So this is 50 minutes of pure bliss that pretty much takes every complaint I've had about these matches and said, "Oh sorry Mr. Goodear, let us fix that for you".  And then they did!  Limb work matters!  Tag team positioning matters!  Strategy matters!  Taue and Kawada are both pricks!  I know why one team won and the other didn't!  Take my exclamation point away from me!  The key is getting worn out!

 

Knocking people off the apron is like my new drug.  It felt so good.  Yummy good.  Like fried egg on a hamburger good.

 

Kobashi's knee was just one week away from retirement and boy howdy did it not make it.  When Taue threw Misawa down on it, I was reminded of pro football injuries in the best way possible.  When Kawada dropped a middle rope knee on his knee, I was like, "Fuck yo knee."  God damn it though, why all the moonsault tries Kobashi?  I mean I get it because its a major weapon... but lord I wanted him to knock it off.

 

You want Fighting spirit at its best?  I dare you to watch Kobashi come back from leg kicks and not get the pimples that reside on gooses.

 

So with Kobashi remanded to really nice parking spaces for life, Misawa is picked apart.  Like murdered legally.  But for all the shit he took, I marked out the most for Taue thumbing him in the eye.  I had to rewind that shit because it comes off like such a dick move that I had to get confirmation.  Taue was at his poor executing, crappy head chopping best.

 

I loved the first powerbomb kick out because it almost looked like Kawada craddled him too high and Misawa just folded over.  I wish that the finish would have come right after with another powerbomb myself and shifted the desperation elbows and trips before the first powerbomb but how much do you want me to whine about stuff?  Oh and the roll out through the ring after the apron chokeslam was the sauce.  Like it was perfect to buy Misawa time to kick out and still protect the move.  Which wasn't a super hot death bump but built up enough to treat it like one.

 

Oh!  Oh!  And the dive section at the start of the match where Misawa does his fake out dive and then Kobashi came off the apron with a shoulder and THEN Misawa hit the elbow suicida?  Woah my god, what a kick ass sequence.

 

 

6/9/95

 

Taue vs Kobashi - Taue clean break.  Chop exchange 1 to 1 Kobashi dodges jumping big boot.  Kobashi’s leg wrap highlighted.  Arm wringer by Taue, Kenta counters, Taue kicks him in the knee.  Kobashi looks at him like ‘oh you shit’.  Taue hits the shit dog.  Tag

Kobashi and Kawada, Kawada eats chops but blocks whips, turns and chops, Kobashi reverses whip and Kawada kicks Misawa off the apron.  Cause DICK.

Misawa in, exchange, they block and parry and Kawada runs over and kicks Kobashi off the apron.  Cause DICK.

Tag to Taue.

10 minutes

Taue tries to whip Misawa in but Misawa stops in an Irish and hits the elbow.  Tag to Kobashi.  chinlock after shoulder block.  10:27 Taue has the greatest expression after taking a chop.  Highlight for selling during FS.  Kobashi boot.  Suplex block.  Tag to Misawa.

Taue fires back but Misawa hits harder.  Tags.  Much quicker exchanges and keeping guys in corner.  Suplex now works. Abdominal stretch.  Taue flips out.  Tag to Misawa.  Mixing up the elbows.  Spin kick botch.  Awesome flippy bit where he head fakes Taue so Koashi can come off the apron with a shoulder.  Then hits elbow suicida.  Tag to Kobashi.

Much more tag match than a series of singles matches.  

Kobashi misses middle rope shoulder.  Kawada goes to the knee.  Boot.  Kobashi selling here is really good as far not being able to stay vertical.  Kawada knee and half crab thing?   Tag to Taue.

Knee stomps.  Scorpion.  drag away from ropes.  tag to Kawada.

Chop exchange ends when Kawada attacks the knee.  Misawa thinks about coming in.  Knee crusher try but Kobashi escpaes to tag.

Slug fest.  Elbow knocks Kawada off the apron.  Elbow for Taue.  Boston Crab.  Desperate to isolate on guy because Kobashi is hurt?  Kawada runs in and kicks Misawa in the face.  Misawa has to go outside to recover but Taue goes after him.

Bent over kicks.  Measured.  Mauls Misawa in a corner with kicks and knees.  They don’t all look great.  Misawa Hulks up!  Taue comes in, throttles Misawa and then drop kicks Kobashi in the knee when he was fighting with Kawada.  Taue much more active than last tag match.  Kawada stands on Kobashi’s knee.  Misawa fires back again with elbows but gets attacked from behind again by Taue.  Kobashi comes in but Taue kicks his leg out.  Then throttles Misawa and throws him down on Kobashi’s knee!  Kawada comes off middle rope on the knee!  FUCK YO KNEE.

22 minutes.

Pivot kick to Misawa.  Taue hits snake eyes.  Andre knee lift for 2.  Kobashi still down on the floor.  Kawada gets step over cross face.  Rope break.  Koashi is retaping the knee on the outside.  Taue with a closeline and the chuck drop for 2.  Tag to Kawada.

Kicks Kobashi down as he gets to the apron.  Running lariat to Misawa for 2.  Isolation wrestling bro.  Powerbomb try but Kobashi comes in to get booted down.  Release powerbomb for 2.  Stretch plum.  Kobashi tries to save ut gets cut off, only to lariat Taue, finally punches Kawada off… more emotion in this save than some finishes.

Misawa finally tags and Kobashi is fired up! But will the knee let him?  Multi chop.  Kawada runs through a chop.  Leg kick but Kobashi fires back with some of his own!  Kawada kicks him down but he’s back up and multi chop!  Fuck you!  Punch to the teeth!  Knocks Taue to the apron.

Leg sweep from Kawada.  Tag to Taue.  Kobashi multi chop, but throttled, big boot, jumping big boot, Baba chops, Kobashi throttles him back!  Baba line!  2! Powerbomb?  Misawa comes in for a double… kind of bomb.  double elbows to Kawada.  Moonsault?  Thats insane.  Kawada stops him.  Why go for a moonsault?

Tag to Misawa.  Elbow bunches.  Spinning lariat.  tiger bomb countered but elbows for all.  

32 minutes.

Tiger bomb for 2.  Mounted crossface!  Kawada saves.  Kobashi gets him from the apron with a sleeper!  Mounted crossface.  Seems like a last gasp to me!  I love this hold dueling submission thing.  Why has no one stole that?

Kawada breaks loose and makes save.  Backdrop from hell!  

Tag to Kobashi.  Dragon suplex blocked.  German release for 2.  Moonsault?  Blocked again throttled off by Kawada.  Stop trying for it!

Mini kicks.  Backdrop countered by headlock.   Another thing to steal!   Chop exchange and they are officially punchy!  Kobashi gets the backdrop!  But he can’t capitalize.  Kawada kicks his knee from the ground.  Moonsault again blocked.  Misawa gets Kawada with the frog splash though and that sets up the Moonsault again… blocked again.  Misawa drops a senton and FINALLY moonsault for 2.

Kobashi tags.  Tiger suplex blocked. Tiger driver blocked.  German release!  Tiger suplex for 2.  Kawada is in deep shit.  Tiger driver... saved!  Misawa goes for Taue and thumb to the eye?  Chokeslam!  Thumb to the eye is awesome!  Misawa takes Misawa to the middle rope for another ut Kobashi blocks but Kawada kicks him in the leg.  Middle rope chokeslam.

40 minutes.

Kawada Rolling koppo kick.  Taue takes Misawa to the apron.  Kobashi can’t save.  Chokeslam to the floor.  He dead!  (not really a death bump but who cares.)  Kobashi plays human shield but his ass is spent.  Taue sends Misawa back in but he roles all the way out of the ring to by time.  Kawada gets two!  Needed that roll spot or it may have been overkill.

Powerbomb, blocked. Mini kicks, Kobashi grabs Misawa but he’s out of it.  Taue Chokeslams.  Powerbomb for 2!  Misawa sort of rolls over, like Kawada cradled him too hard.  Not so much a kick out.

Kawada powerbomb again?  NO!  Backdrop out.  Leg trip.  Desperation!  Kobashi human shield again.  Desperation!  Choke Driver combo!  Rolling elbow to Taue!  Kawada jumping high kick for 2!  Elbow!  Deperation!  Kawada Backdrop driver for 2!  Jumping high kick.  Powerbomb for THREEEEEEEE!

Closing run could have been trimmed a little bit.  Little tiny bit.  

47 minutes.

[Curt McGirt]

The match with it all: storytelling, psychology (seriously a masterclass in limbwork), hate, stiffness, drama, selling, big moves, a huge upset. The works, really. From the moment Kawada decides to bear the crown of King Dick by punting Misawa off the apron they're off to the races and you are not taking your eyes from the screen. Everything makes total sense. Every save, every moment of offense, every plan of attack. If this were WWE they would be DQed probably ten times over for the amount of saves, but every one works within the context of the match and the story they are telling. It's so simple anyone can understand it -- Kobashi's knee is the weak link, they cripple him up in order to decimate Misawa who is who they REALLY want to pin. Kobashi saves and saves and Misawa comes back and comes back to no avail. Holy Demon Army are the biggest, most stoic Japanese rudos ever, and afterwards Kawada doesn't even act like he cared that he won. Just perfection all around.

[Jingus]

It's kinda funny, almost everyone's in agreement that the finish was just the tiniest bit underwhelming.  It almost felt slightly Onita-like: "huh, why did THAT powerbomb do it and not all the others beforehand?".  But it's kinda like Austin's questionable-looking chairshots at the finish of Mania X-7: they get free passes, because everything beforehand was so goddamn great.  

 

 

and afterwards Kawada doesn't even act like he cared that he won.

 

He always looked like he was in shock, to me.  Not "in shock" the cliche emotion, but "in shock" the dangerous medical condition.  Like he legitimately cannot believe, comprehend, or process what the fuck he just finally managed to get done.

[John E. Dynamite]

I always took Kawada's immediate response as something like "Why are they playing my music? He's still breathing."

[fxnj]

No idea how I didn't see this thread before.

 

I've never thought the finish to 6/9/95 was underwhelming. If anything, the repeated kickouts added drama by really driving home that there was no way Misawa/Kobasi were coming back and thus building anticipation for when Misawa's seemingly limitless stamina finally gave out. As great a moment as it was for Kawada to get his first pin over Misawa, what really puts it over the top as my favorite finish ever is that visual of Kobashi a few feet away still desperately reaching out to break up the pin and leave himself open for more ungodly punishment even at a point when it's obvious he had no chance of winning. It's Kobashi exclamation point on what I consider the most compelling performance I've ever seen.

 

Also a pretty major story of the match not touched on is that the work on Misawa's orbital bone area goes back to an injury he sustained in his CC match with Kawada and which Taue exploited to nearly win the tournament. It feels redundant to say that taking the time to watch more of the lead-ins will illuminate a lot of the less obvious storytelling elements and make it easier to look past most of these criticisms brought up but... yeah.

[Jingus]

Also a pretty major story of the match not touched on is that the work on Misawa's orbital bone area goes back to an injury he sustained in his CC match with Kawada and which Taue exploited to nearly win the tournament. It feels redundant to say that taking the time to watch more of the lead-ins will illuminate a lot of the less obvious storytelling elements and make it easier to look past most of these criticisms brought up but... yeah.

Uh... previous page...

(two big fat paragraphs of summarizing the orbital bone injury and the '95 Carny tournament in general)

And yeah, of course one could write a hell of a lot more than just two paragraphs. I've got the full uncut 1995 Champion's Carnival commercial VHS tape. Right here, I literally went and got it off my shelf (man, this thing is dusty, I haven't watched it in years) and am currently holding it in my hand. And yes, it's a damn shame that most people will never ever watch that magnificently fun Hansen/Misawa/Kobashi vs Baba/Kawada/Taue one-hour broadway.

But, well, this tape is NINE HOURS LONG. why would you expect everyone to go through THAT much trouble? I mean, it says right there in the title of this thread, "REMEDIAL Wrestling". It's just meant to be an introduction for the n00bs, a primer for people who've never watched this sort of thing before. It's hardly fair to expect those kind of cats to sit down and consume every single scrap of footage that AJPW produced during its entire existence up til that point, which is pretty much what you'd need to do in order to super-duper really-surely FULLY understand every tiny second of 6/9/95.

[fxnj]

Sorry, missed that post.

[Goodear]

I really don't know that the eye injury information really helps the match any.  At no point did I think Misawa really sold anything completely differently here than in his other matches considering.  Obviously he didn't win this time out but it felt totally earned when he went down after all the stuff he took that had nothing to do with his eye at all.  Watching the match, I don't see him favoring it really at any point that came from any sort of outside context beyond the match we're watching.

 

I honestly see saying "Oh, and his eye socket was broken too!" as kind of a let down.  Like okay, now Kawada and Taue finally beat Misawa because his partner had a bad leg and he had a bad eye?  Come on, John Cena, stop stacking the odds.

 

As an aside, I was wondering while watching the tag match if when Kawada kicked Misawa in the face while he had Taue in a Boston crab if it was a reference to Maeda shoot kicking Choshu in the face while he had another guy in the scorpion deathlock (I think those are the right names).  

[fxnj]

The thing to keep in mind is that as great 6/9/95 is, its purpose in storyline terms is pretty much as a lead-in to the 7/24/95 Kawada/Misawa TC match. I don't think it would have worked as well in that respect if you gave away Kawada pinning a 100% Misawa in the tag and leaving no question of if he could beat him when he had more time to heal. If you want to see Kawada pin Misawa with no injury shenanigans and in a match that serves as more of a climax than just build-up, you'll need to watch 12/6/96. That match should have been on the original list anyway since it's another serious candidiate for best tag match ever.

[Goodear]

Seems like overkill to me to protect Misawa with an injury storyline while he's taking chokeslams off the apron and stuff from two guys while his partner is obviously hobbled.  I just don't know that the performance really sells that his eye was a problem for him at any point that Taue didn't have a finger in there.  It doesn't seem like a needed story element to me.

[Jingus]

The eye wasn't a storyline, it was a shoot. Legit fractured orbital bone (as far as I know, anyway). And they didn't change any of their booking plans around it, Misawa continued being The Ace for 90% of the rest of the year, he just occasionally worked it into matches as a convenient Achilles Heel at random times.

[Matt D]

Can someone talk about what sort of magazines or news access that the wrestling fans in Japan would've had that would talk about this at the time?

[Goodear]

I'm not explaining myself well.  

 

If the legit injury is part of the storyline they used to build the match around, I don't think it came out of Misawa's performance well enough to make it a positive in the match's favor.

 

If you didn't tell me his eye was hurt, I wouldn't have any idea just watching the tag match.  So t's like a fun bit of "trivia", like Kawada breaking his own arm in a match.  It didn't mean anything to the story of the actual match so I'm not going to award points.

 

I must say the number of times these guys injured each other or themselves is rather off putting.

[Jiji]

He sells differently more than a few times throughout the match, protecting his face, holding it after taking particularly hard strikes to his eye. I just watched the match again a few days ago and that's one of the things I noticed this time that I missed the first few times I'd watched the match.

[fxnj]

Can someone talk about what sort of magazines or news access that the wrestling fans in Japan would've had that would talk about this at the time?

From what I've read by Meltzer, the newspapers and weekly magazines were pretty big during this time period as a way of keeping up with news and they definitely would have mentioned Misawa's injury. But fans wouldn't have even needed those nor would they have even needed to see any prior footage to have picked up on that since I'm pretty sure the commentator makes it clear Kawada and Taue are targetting Misawa's injured eye.

[Jingus]

But fans wouldn't have even needed those nor would they have even needed to see any prior footage to have picked up on that since I'm pretty sure the commentator makes it clear Kawada and Taue are targetting Misawa's injured eye.

Damn... I wish I spoke Japanese... stupid peers pressured me into taking Spanish instead, and I hated every single second of it and barely learned any of it.

[Goodear]

 

But fans wouldn't have even needed those nor would they have even needed to see any prior footage to have picked up on that since I'm pretty sure the commentator makes it clear Kawada and Taue are targetting Misawa's injured eye.

Damn... I wish I spoke Japanese... stupid peers pressured me into taking Spanish instead, and I hated every single second of it and barely learned any of it.

 

 

Turns out they were talking about how Kawada was a fun loving guy who just liked having fun.  Then they mentioned something about an app about 13 times.

[soup23]

Fun series of posts from Goodyear and MattD. I generally agree with TIm Livingston's post on 6/3/94 and still thought it was at least a top 5 match of the 1990's for all promotions when i watched it going through my 1994 footage.  Interested to hear Matt's thoughts on 6/9/95.

 

I will say this as nice as possible, but it seems like these threads get derailed way too easily. I was eagerly anticipating this one looking it up and seeing 8 pages and was immediately disappointed that only goodyear and MattD seem to have taken the task of watching the stuff fresh so far. Instead like usual, we get other recommendations for this project that become convoluted, discussion of other projects when this one was days old, and random tangents on individuals like Fuchi. Fuchi is great and I think Akiyama/Ogawa from 98 would be something Matt would enjoy on some level, but this project is better served for the reader and participates to remain focused and streamlined on the task at hand.

 

EDIT: I will give a shout out to Curt too for soldiering on with this and the lucha footage.

[Curt McGirt]

Hey, I watched two of them fresh again. I think '94 is on the external too, just haven't got around to it.

[Matt D]

I just finished the tag. Thoughts later.

I need a bit. And to reread Goodear's thoughts too. 

[Matt D]

What to say about this?

 

Alright, it was a perfectly wrestled match for the setting and the style. The narrative was excellent. The execution was brilliant. The selling was perfect and it all built into the story. Was it a little bloated? Sure, but it had to be because this match wasn't wrestled in a bubble. It followed up upon the previous matches. There's a point midway through the match that if I was watching this in a bubble, then I would have wanted them to take it home. Maybe two points. That clearly happened in the first of these tag matches. Here, though I was prepared for it and they didn't lose me like they did in previous matches.

 

The narrative, though I don't really need to recap, was this. It was even to start, like most of these matches, with Kobashi and Misawa having a bit of an edge. Kobashi made a mistake and they worked over his damaged leg. He made the hot-ish (never hot enough) tag to Misawa. They started to damage the orbital bone and then use Misawa's body to damage Kobashi's leg to really take over. They beat on Misawa's orbital bone for a while. Kobashi finally came back and was utterly unleashed, shrugging off everything, making these crazy facial expressions, just an unstoppable dynamo. For a while they went tit for tat, with the hurt man recovering at a key moment to break things up. Misawa and Kobashi had the ultimate advantage and it all came to a head with Kawada down and Taue trapped in the corner unable to break up the pin. I guess that would be the start of the finishing sequence in a normal match. Kawada WOULD kick out and they would go around in a circle or two until they hit that moment again and this time, he didn't.

 

In this match though, it went like this: Kawada and Taue were just too much. They weren't too much for Kobashi and Misawa in general, but given their opponents natural fighting spirit, it took too long for Misawa and Kobashi to beat them, and because of that, due to the weaknesses they had coming into this match, that meant that they ultimately could get overwhelmed. It felt like the result was inevitable before the match even began. Kobashi got nailed in the leg. Misawa got nailed in the eye again, and the momentum shifted and this time, finally, it was Misawa that lost the battle of attrition. It was compelling in leading up to a rematch on fair footing; on that level it was absolutely brilliant, but it felt cheap as a pay off to "THE BEST TAG MATCH EVER" and in that context I'm a little shaky on it. They sure protected the hell out Misawa. I'm not sure they really made Kawada and Taue look better in the process, though.

 

The biggest real issue I had with the match was the Kobashi superman run. That's exactly what it felt right. It's funny that I've always heard that this stuff was somehow "more real." Personally, I don't mind it all that much. It felt like something out of a cartoon or comic book or sci fi, but I like those things. Actually it felt like the kid who got the Charles Atlas correspondence course and beat up the guys who kicked sand at him, or even more like it should have come after a montage with "Simply the Best" in the background. What it felt like most of all was some sort of kung fu movie (and Kung Fu Hustle came to mind) where the hero finally found his inner power and peace of mind and was able to develop super powers. It was hugely entertaining and kind of emotional, but not in the same way 99% of wrestling, even comebacks like Hogan's and Cena's are. It felt anything but real. The issue to me wasn't even that, but that it ultimately didn't really matter. Kobashi had this once in a lifetime comeback, this sort of thing that stretches credulity so far past the breaking point that his hair should have turned hot blonde and energy waves should have been coming off of him, and it was awesome, and ultimately, they still lost. It just seemed like a story element that belonged in another match, maybe? Not the one where they were finally putting Kawada/Taue over. 

 

I had thought I might talk about how the escalation here was the sort of thing that could burn out a territory and set impossible expectations. From what I understand, that eventually happened. It's a fair thing to judge a match on, I think, since they were breaking a bunch of "rules" and stretching things further than ever to accomplish what they were trying to do. It's really more than that here though: Everything had to be wrestled perfectly in this match to work. Things had to be balanced. Each move had to mean the right amount relative to the other moves in the match and the promotion in general and the fans had to buy into that. It's like exchanging currency. The edifice of the match needed every part to support it or else the entire style of wrestling would collapse, and frankly, it took both a miracle and genius performers to manage that. They did it here far, far more than they should have been able to but I almost don't think it was worth it. 

 

That's the tragedy of this match to me. They have such attention for detail, such thought in the layout, such care in their selling, such intensity and willingness to just give themselves to pro wrestling. If they worked this match in a style I actually like, it could be like nothing I'd ever seen before, because of the talent and the work put into it. Instead, we get something that is exquisitely beautiful, but that manages to succeed despite its loudness and brightness and not because of it.

 

-Goodear watched this twice and only took notes the second time. I wanted to do that too but I just don't have time this week and I really want this out.

-I like how they point out that Misawa has the green tights.

-You think they could have come up with a better looking proclaimation.

-Kawada is looking a but too well shaved. I kind of like how none of these guys look like they want to be there at all, like they know what they're getting into.

-Misawa's little shimmy and shake to warm up is a lot of fun. Ok, I'm going to try to pull back on these and just enjoy it, but we'll see if it happens. I can't really help myself.

-Kobashi is the sort of guy who gets beat up enogh that it's not a good sign if he's coming in with an injury to begin with.

-i liked the wristlock fight a lot. I like tests of strength more than most people and the look on Kobashi's face when Taue went for his leg was great. Taue has no shame and that's what makes him such a great foil in these matches.

-Kawada knocks Misawa off the apron and Kobashi is shocked and appalled. Taue has no shame but Kawada is just past the point of caring. You just walk into the wrong part of town whenever you face up against him.

-It was a great way to introduce Misawa vs Kawada into this particular match though. He pearl harbored him. Can I even say that anymore? I want to say that.

-They block eachother's stuff andthen Kawada, just to piss off Misawa, kicks Kobashi off the apron for no reason. I laugh.

-Misawa looks like he's aged a lot in a couple of years to me. 

-This is a bit of a shine, I think, with Kobashi and Misawa getting a real advantage once they're able to finally go toe-to-toe. I love Taue's sell of Kobashi's chop.

-Taue makes a great stoogy vulnerable (but dangerous) heel here. i don't think Kawada could play this role nearly as well. I love Kobashi's dedication to selling after something happens to him bu before he hits his own move. 

-Definitely a sense of human chess with these guys. Misawa going high then low and keeping Taue guessing. Teasing the dive and then having Kobashi do it. Then doing it himself. All of this stuff feels totally organic and i'm glad I saw the matches in the build or else it wouldn't mean nearly as much.

-Kobashi is so vulnerable in these that he should really not do high risk stuff. Again with the high low. Kawada looks like he's going to go to the damaged leg and kicks him in the face. It was a good transition and earned by Kobashi trying to fight back but having to sell the leg.

-I could totally go for 8 minutes of heat here, so I hope we get it. 

-Taue is in and you know he's going to slunk around the ring just crushing that leg. The resistance is so good. Kobashi blocks the scorpion deathlock one way so he just turns the other.

-I hope the announcers are talking about how Kobashi just can't get enough power behind his fighting-back chops with the bad leg. We're getting some proper hope stuff with it at least. That's what was lacking in the last match i saw.

-Man, just four minutes of heat or something before the tag? I know we'll probably get multiple FIP in this but come on. Kawada taking a powder so Misawa couldn't get him was good though, especially with the payoff a minute later.

-Misawa is very much ow you should book an Ace. It's how they book Cena now and everyone who would love this stuff complains, maybe even more indestructable. Maybe the problem is that Cena gives TOO much to get sympathy before his comebacks? Anyway, Kawada kicks him out of nowhere  and breaks the hold and TAue gets to take over. Let's see if it lasts.

-Yeah, so now that I know to look for it. I see the orbital bone selling. It's hard to miss. I wouldn't have realized why this was happening otherwise. And the bastard fights back anyway. Geez. Oh Taue clawing him is beautiful.

-Hey, it's the one time I actually buy the Kawada kicks. And Misawa sort of undertaker ups anyway. Forget the Cena reference. He's the fighting spirit Undertaker.

-Kobashi tries to help out and get his legs nailed. Oh! The choke toss onto the leg is the most beautifully dickish thing ever! And then they just keep on it. 

-Yeah, sorry Goodear, you are my brother-in-arms on this journey, but the targeted offense on that eye sock is insane. It makes every bit of Taue/Kawada's usual offense all the more poignant and impactful.

-I really, really want Misawa to go for a tag and Kobashi to just not be there. We need a hope spot with that. Maybe Kobashi can scramble and just get there a second too late.

-The short FIP on Kobashi works because it sort of set up this longer one on Misaway. Taue's belly to back forward throw is my new favorite move, btw. kobashi tried to get up and Taue just kicked him down. That let Misawa try to fight back but he got clotheslined huge. He clotheslined him high too. He targeted the face. I love that they're not escalting things yet. They're just letting the story play out.

-As soon as I say that, he went for the power bomb but kobashi was back to stop it. He got taken out. Holy crap. TAue just tossed him onto the guardrail even as Misawa was kicking out.

-Now the stretch plumb attempt after one Power bomb. Here comes Kobashi again! Plucky, but Taue tries to stop him. He bounces off the rop and has the craziest comeback face ever as he breaks up the stretch plumb.

-Ok I'm typing everything. Sorry. 

-Kobashi's moment to shine was really pretty, ending with that double clothesline.

-now he gave Misawa the chance. The crowd comes alive and this is playing out like a real narrative. Where the plucky young guy gives the hero a chance to fight back. And he makes the tag, which is okay i guess, but I was sort of ready for them to go home.  Let's see where they're going.

-Back to the leg. Kobashi fights back though. 

-It's like Kobashi's reached Misawa's level of power. Like in Dragon Ball or something. 

-He's just too hurt though. Kawada makes the tag to Taue but Kobashi cuts him off with a dropkick to the leg. If Taue just gets his hands on him this is over though. But it's not! He's still going super powered. i don't know. This is all a little much. It's almost worth it for the facial expressions. This isn't even a wrestling match to me. It's like watching a super hero movie where the kid who has been picked on all his life has finally unleashed his inner power after training in the mountains or something. Or he took the charles Atlas Program. My suspension of disbelief that this is a pro wrestling match is just gone. It's like I'm watching Kung Fu Hustle. It's entertaining but it's just so over the top.

-Anyway Misawa and Kobashi do a fun little double tiger driver and then take Kawada out, but he recovers and nails Kobashi on the way in evening the sides. I think Kobashi could only channel that power while Misawa was down. Maybe they had pooled their power to become one, merged warrior like Voltron!

-kobashi makes the tag and Misawa beats on Taue, making sure to sell the eye now and again. They're SO good at doing block spots and what not. no one in wrestling history has ever been better. Misawa hits the tiger driver and as ridiculous as Super Kobashi was, they still sort of have me in this, so that's a testament to the match.

-Kawada breaks up that crossface, but before he can nail misawa in the eye, Kobashi locks a sleeper on from the outside and Misawa goes back to the crossface. They love these ultimately futile double submissionmoves and the crowd really goes for them.

-Misawa fights off both guys and I keep waiting for his eye to get nailed, and maybe he's trying too hard to protect it, because he gets dangerous back dropped by Kawada. Kobashi's there to knock him off the apron before Taue can make the tag though. Misawa makes the tag and Kobashi hits the German. Part of me wishes that they took it home with the SUPER KOBASHI segment. Maybe had him slip on a banana peel because he got too furious or maybe he taged back to Misawa too quickly and they lose because of that. They're still going though.

-I think Kobashi wentfor the moonsault, but Kawada pulled him off and it's a bit of a bitchfest here. "I'll get you. No you'll get me." with the guy from the outside recovering enough to come back in. It's kind of a fun story but it has a limited shelflife.

-Kobashi reverses the back drop. He's really holding his own. He's pretty damn likable. A nice guy.

-Taue tries to interfere but Kobashi is on it and Misawa gets to hit his splash. I could see them going for the finish now. Kawada is up though. Misawa in and senton. NOW The moonsault, and this should finish it since it was SO built up. But nope. Kick out even.

-Now they have to cycle around and getme back because that was a moment. I kind of love how Misawa tries something. I tdoesn't work. He nails him and tries the back version. Desn't work and turns around to nail the back version again. 

-I am a litlte frustrated by this match at this point. In a tag setting, if you go to the trouble of really countering the second guy to set up a pin, I'm not comfortable with too many kick outs. It's sort of lessens the drama of that moment for matches to come. You can do it, but it has a cost on matches in the future. Taue finally breaks up the second tiger driver and finally gets Misawa in the eye. That allows Kawada to recover enough to get Kobashi in the leg. Alright that was all sort of cool. I think I get how I feel this narrative to be, and but let's see how the rest of the match plays out.

-Kawada kicks the eye. Taue goes for the apron chokeslam. Kobashi breaks it up but gets nailed in the leg for his trouble. That lets Taue hit it after a clothesline from Kawada.

-Kobashi desperately hanging on to misawa to block the power bomb was great. 

-And I'm sort of acclimated. At this point I'd say that shouldn't be the finish. But that it's a problem with the style, not the match itself. i believe at this point that consistent to the world they've created, it would take more to end Misawa. 

-Kobashi covering Misawa is beautiful, beautiful stuff.

-they finally kill him dead. This should lead to a last ditch chance for Misawa to fight back. There it is! Kobashi's sacrifice wasn't in vain! But he eats the kick. It's too late. 

-My god are they protecting misawa here. Hopefully the next thing puts him away. I get what they're doing but it's not sustainable. 

Yes. Ok, there you go.

[IpponDropkick]

Threads like this are why I love this place. Fantastic analysis gents.

[Matt D]

I enjoyed going through this, but i do wish we had picked up a few more people. It's not too late to jump in.

[RIPPA]

I think people are watching them but some folks might not have posted thoughts (this tends to be a common trend in like the movie club posts too)

 

Plus - as I think you discovered - there is a time commitment with these matches.

 

This isn't like I was going to be all "Here is a WWE feud where everything is in 15-20 minute chunks"

[ohtani's jacket]

 

12/3/93

 

An really awesome 17 minute match and a very frustrating 30 minute match all in one! 

 

Seriously, this one was more egregious than the last in losing me. I really sort of loved it right until the hot tag to Misawa and Kobashi fighting back and what not. The match should have ended there, or maybe i guess gone into a second FIP or something, like in AWA matches. Instead, they just hit things in and out of giant moments and by the missed Kobashi moonsault I was done. It's really frustrating too because there are so many great little moments and really clever bits and very strong selling and facial expressions and the stuff just looks so good, but when half the match is this back and forth big bomb finishing sequence where they've given up on working any sort of tag team match after spending the first half of the match working a really great tag team match, I just get desensitized. 

 

I sort of love each guy in his role. Taue as a big man bully asshole is really great. Kawada is the surliest wrestler ever and a stubborn idiot to boot. Kobashi is a good FIP with these fiery moments of really quick offense and MIsawa is one of the best hot tags ever because his execution and the energy and emotion he's able to put behind it is just so iconic. You really get the feeling that this person is a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER and not just someone pretending to be one. 

 

That said, everything just fizzles apart for me. My gut tells me that everything's come to a head and that they should bring the match to a conclusion and you know what? Fifteen minutes later they do.

 

I decided to watch this to see whether I agreed with your criticisms and was surprised to see it only ran 23:34 not 30 mins like you made out. The stretch run had a lot of nearfalls and finisher attempts, but that's Japanese wrestling for you. It was pretty obvious that the back drop won the match because Misawa had knocked Kawada out with the rolling elbow and release German and also taken Taue out of the equation with his elbow from the apron. Kawada did an absolutely beautiful job selling his dead weight on the back drop. It was the biggest win of Kobashi's career to date, but I can see how it might not come across that way without him delivering the killer blow. I'm far removed from thinking these are the best matches of all time, but I don't think this one needed to be shorter. Japanese crowds love seeing guys fight when they're taking a beating and the style is very much about taking a beating and continuing to fight. If you're going to keep watching Japanese stuff you need to be prepared for a higher number of moves and denser matches because pretty much every promotion is like that.