1994

[Phil Schneider]

We chose as our first champ

Toshiaki Kawada v. Mitsuhara Misawa 6/3/94

SC REVIEW

Nominate some contenders, discuss the match ect. below

[Curt McGirt]

After rewatching that again (after many years) I don't think anything else has a chance. There's such an awesome dynamic going on there that had a longevity that somehow gelled perfectly in that one match. The only other one I can think of coming close is the Kawada TC win but that still doesn't have the same feel of this one. I kind of underrated it for awhile but now it feels fresh and shockingly awesome, on many levels. 

EDIT: Also have to say that like Eric I myself started watching puro via a five hour death match tape (of BJPW, some of which still isn't online) and this was probably the first thing I watched when I got proper internet access, after coming back to wrestling from a bit of a layover. Good things come to those who wait, sometimes

[RIPPA]

I guess one could argue that Sasuke/Benoit is a contender. Outside of that *shrug*

I am still amused (but also not surprised) that this didn't win MOTY (the Mania Ladder Match did)

[Go2Sleep]

There's a reason the date of this match is etched in everyone's mind. I don't think there's any reason to ever challenge this one, but there's Owen/Bret Mania 10 and I think the most highly regarded Vader/Dustin match from one of the COTCs, I guess. 

[Matt D]

SC pocket counterpoint. I wrote this in 2014 when I was not familiar with either wrestler, very much. I'm putting it here a a time capsule. I'd have to rewatch the match to tell you what I thought today. It probably wouldn't be too far off though

Quote

Misawa vs Kawada

This is not the best match of all time.

This might be the first draft for that match, though. Jingus or John could talk more about this, but I think I read of the idea that in any novel or screenplay or whatever else, the first draft is always 30% overwritten. That is incredibly true for this match and it's such a damn shame. Unsurprisingly, most of the bloat comes towards the end and I just wish there was someone out there with a cosmic editor's pen who could have made a red line through a few of Kawada's jumping kicks and one of the rolling ones and that god damn second powerbomb before the stretch plum and Misawa's spinning clothesline and his late match crossface and them rolling out of the ring and one of the Germans in the match.

The first twenty minutes was almost picture perfect to me. The only thing I would have changed would be to give Misawa a few more hope spots that got harshly cut off by Kawada to make the switch to the leg by Misawa all the more meaningful. Hope spots are, again, one of those primal tools of pro wrestling and they make everything mean all the more and it was pretty much all one-sided without them for that otherwise excellently worked first chunk. The way they built to blocks and some of the reversals was just awesome. The build to the first Kawada powerbomb was downright legendary. 

That's the thing that kills me about this match. They didn't need that particular finishing stretch. It wasn't even a case of them going home earlier like in other matches where if they just ended it after a certain move the match would have been so much better. It was just a case of them compressing and removing some things. It wasn't about earlier here, it was about tighter, about extracting a lot of the waste that didn't necessarily build to bigger moments. I really, truly think they could have gotten away with a block on a second rolling kick instead of a third and it would have helped the match, not hurt it. They could have gotten by with the brilliant moments and the amazing execution and the incredible selling, but instead, they just tacked on all of this other stuff in the last fifteen minutes and it kills me. Not enough that i want to try to video edit the match (but i bet someone could make another studio "Cut" of this and it'd be the best damn thing ever, and i'm not sure I've ever felt that way about a wrestling match before). What an incredible pair of performances and what a damn shame of a match. They had art there and they squandered it. 

notes:

Spoiler

-I kind of like Kawada's stretching. 

-I've been watching too much lucha. Kawada's hair is different and I half wonder if he didn't lose a hair match.

-They really do a hell of a job getting those streamers out.

-Do you think Jimmy Hart could get over huge in Japan? Like 1983 Jimmy? He'd be running around the ring and you'd take three months before someone like Misawa just got his hands on him and they'd just delay satisfaction and delay satisfaction and then he'd just KILL him and... oh hey, they're starting.

-I'm a little worried about how this is going to go without Kobashi to sell. 

-Spin kick. Backdrop driver. Symmetry. Fairly fun open.

-I like this. They each throw a bomb and then we slow it down to matwork.

-And then Misawa potatoes him after getting out with athlicisim. Oh god, he just flipped. Run! Oh wait, he flipped back. Clever stuff. Ha! he caught him on the way down with the hyperelbowofdoom. Good for Kawada.

-There's like 30 camera guys there and none of them caught Kawada charging off the guard rail with that clothesline.

-This has been a very high end opening stretch.

-I want Kawada to start grinding him down again,and he does just that. This is how you build a match. They're really working the hold too.

-Now I hope they build to another hope spot.

-Those are just killer chops to the neck, and the crazy crab stretch thing is nice too. Kawada's methodologoical pace is spot on. Misawa's hope spot is one elbow but at least it's something. I'd like to see a little more but this is a long match and maybe they're pacing it (more likely they're building to a 15 minute finishing sequence).

-Another hold. Okay. Misawa getting to the outside and catching his breath wasn't exactly a hope spot, but that's ok. now they get to build to him getting out of this Cobra Clutch hold thing.

-He's out and he starts kicking back, going right to the hurt leg. I can kind of see the desperation there and how it makes Kawada look good. He didn't have any choice maybe? MAYBE. It's a stretch but I kind of buy it? They could have been more dramatic about the damn thing, especially as it's a full on comeback. A few hope spots when he tried to get out and had no chance would have been better to build to Misawa going to the leg. 

-Ha! He got super agile kicked in the face.

-I like how he shifted positions when Kawada was kicking him in his hold.

-I'm okay with them going back to the mat here because Misawa is still recovering and he's working on the wounded body part. I can get how even Misawa might want to capitalize and get revenge. Kawada sure kicked him a lot when he was in charge, after all.

-Kawada with a bodyscissors that helps him get to the ropes.

-Very nice selling by Kawada here in the quasi reset. Ha. Misawa faked low and kicked high. 

-Kawada takes the advantage with a go around and desperation forearm to the back of the head. This is worked very differently than what we've seen so far and I like it.

-Kawada tries to grind him back down but he tosses him of the rope and hits a spin kick. First tease of a tiger driver. He went for it too early though and this let Kawada take over. Still selling on offense.

-Tosses him into the turnbuckle and Misawa just clubs him. Then returns the favor with a no-sold dropkick by Kawada. Ehh, I can kind of buy it? Frustration and adrenaline and general toughness. Then he went for his own jumping kick thing and that I have a tougher time with, but it kind of reminds me of his last ditch hope move from the other match and it did work better here than then.

-Powerbomb attempt. Blocked, but then Kawada dropkicks to the back of the head. They're doing a much better job building to the big moves here.

-Knee drop when you have a bad leg. Silly Kawada. You stuborn ass.

-Still not a fan of the hyperchops from tough guy Kawada. It works as part of the wear down to the power bomb though. Misawa still gets out of the attempt though.

-Kawada catches the spin kick but Misawa turns it into ANOTHER kick.

-Why is his ear bleeding? Kawada's leg selling is really dedicated. Ha, and he blocks the jumping kick this time. Finally hits the tiger driver. Kick out. This was all built to very, very well. Misawa deserved to hit the big move first.

-This has basically been twenty minutes of a very good match, even a brilliant match, and if they started a four or five minute finishing segment here, I could really go for it.

-We're back into Misawa going for a hold though. I'm not sure why. Then they go out and n the way back in from the top, Kawada hits a sort of ridiculous hit.

-We still delay his power bomb. This is going to be the biggest pay off for a powerbomb in the history of wrestling. He tries to punch Misawa to set it up. He goes for it again, tries another punch and gets knocked down and then SUDDENLY HE APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE and they hit each other a lot. This ends with a big boot and a lariat. I actually sort of wish he had already hit the powerbomb and they were now seeing which of the two could hit their big move the second time for the finish or something.

-Instead, we get another back drop driver and finally the power bomb. I'm kind of okay with that not being the finish but it definitely should have been a few minutes ago.

-Another jumping kick and let's see if he sells the leg. He does. Another one. We're past the point of stubborn. He had full control there. He could have hit Misawa with anything. Maybe do a clothesline?

-Big German and misawa goes out.

-Second Power Bomb. We're back to diminishing returns. I can't even tell you how much less that meant than the first one. It would have been different if it was the finish. Right into the Stretch Plum. I wish he had just done that instead of the power bomb after the German. This time the rope break and back into it was good.

-Crowd chanting for Misawa. Good use of the hold. If they just compressed this stuff. Man.

-Misawa hits an elbow out of nowhere and both guys are down. Kawada Kick. Both guys down. Misawa elbow. Both guys down. Flying spinning clothesline. Again, the fighting spirit stuff is pretty great. If they just cut 30% out of this, not in the selling but in the amount of moves.

-Misawa hits a German. Tiger suplex. That could have been the finish and this still would have been fairly great.

-German blocked. Rolling kick from Kawada and the announcer is kind of hilarious in losing his voice. Poor guy. Hey! Now they're chanting for Kawada. Turncoats.

-Another rolling kick and that makes so much more sense than the jumping ones. Let's take this thing home already. It's kind of like drumming, though. You can only put a fill in at the end of every four measures or what not. I feel like they sort of lost the moment andow they have to get it back.

-Roaring Elbow block and headbutts and kicks in the corner, and punches back and yeah, the roaring elbow hit again but I'm just sort of past the point of caring again. Throwing bombs. And Kawada falls. And Oh Kawada's fighting back again. A third rolling kick blocked. Another elbow. So about my idea from before... holy crap, there's the Tiger Driver 91. Well that certainly ended.

[odessasteps]

Insert obligatory "matt refuses to watch 1994 WCW" reference here. 

[Go2Sleep]

What do lucha people think of Eddie/Art Barr vs. Hijo del Santo and Octagon?

I remember liking it well enough for a 90s AAA match and it gets a lot of hype, so I'm curious if the hardcore lucha fans here think it's worth a look.

[J.H.]

Which Gringo Locos v.Santito/Octagon match though? Because the non hair v. Mask one might actually be better

James

[Brian Fowler]

It doesn't have much of a chance, but I think my favorite 1994 match (not the best one, necessarily, but my favorite) is Dustin vs. Buck, Bunkhouse Match from Spring Stampede. It's just an old school bloody fist fight. A wild brawl in a style of wild brawls that was being replaced by the Tupelo Concession Stand inspired, ECWesque "brawl all over the arena" style (hell, there was one of those on the same show)

WCW was rapidly moving towards being a totally different promotion, but this, at least to me, was one of the last gasps of the NWA heritage style. And it's gloriously hate filled.

[Pete]

This isn't the best match of 1994 but it's probably my favorite. A feast of Inter-promotional hatred, Onita/Goto working a million miles an hour, and insane crowd heat for everything. Definitely worth a watch.

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah, that match is killer. Onita is such an awesome fired-up underdog there.