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[1993-05-14-AJPW-Super Power Series] Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi


Loss

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  • 1 month later...

Maybe this is where Kobashi realized that years later when his body breaks down, he can do the chop battles and little else and still get a nice crowd response. He and Kawada bring the amped up aggression toward each other, perhaps because Kobashi takes exception to Kawada's alliance switching. They are the highlight of this match. Kawada slugging him hard with closed fist to stop the chopping is awesome, and later, he gives Kobashi the most brutal brainbuster I've ever seen. I'm guessing this was Kawada and Taue's first noteworthy match as a team. Taue and Kikuchi seem to be kind of an afterthought, even though Taue pinning Kikuchi is the finish. This isn't a great match, but it's a good one. Nice match to give context to some other stuff on the yearbook.

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  • 4 months later...

Every time I think Tenryu is running away with WOTY, Kawada goes and does something like this. Didn't think it was a great match, but Kawada's performance was ALL that. Punching Kobashi in the teeth to end a chop flurry was SO great, and that brainbuster Loss mentions really looked brutal. It's as if he did it just because he could. I mean who's going to stop him? The way he held Kobashi at bay at the end by casually sitting with a knee across his throat was awesome, too.

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I'd forgotten how good a cut this is...

 

But, yeah, similar to what I said about Kawada/Kobashi 4/14. This is brutal and just perfectly done for what it is (an extended squash). You just don't get stuff that looks this much like a fight anymore. Those nodowas, too, are some of Taue's best.

 

Oh, Taue's post-match quote being 'que sera sera' made me laugh...

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  • 1 year later...

The Kobashi/Kawada sequences were clearly the highlight and had a totally different feel from the Carnival match following Kawada's split from Misawa's group. The punch to end the chops and brainbuster of doom were awesome, but the nodowa / power bomb combo was also pretty cool and showed Kawada & Taue gelling on day one.

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  • 2 months later...
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  • 1 month later...

Not a great match, but it wasn't meant to be. This was all about putting over the brand new Kawada/Taue team and establishing them as a mainstay in the Double Tag Titles division, so they get a relatively easy win over the All-Asia champs. That means no epic saves or last-ditch kickouts that one would expect from a lot of AJPW matches. Kobashi and Kawada brutalize each other before Kikuchi gets dispatched by Taue. This match comes off as sort of a farewell to Kikuchi as a superworker, as this team has probably seen its best days already.

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  • 1 year later...

Thought this was one hell of a debut for the Holy Demon Army. We get an awesome Kawada/Kobashi chop exchange early that sees of Kawada's coming awfully close to Kobashi's throat and chests beat red. Those chops were just brutal throughout. Kikuchi is in for a spell to get destroyed as this was all about establishing Kawada & Taue at the tag title level. Kawada with his awesome back spin kick that crushes Kobashi for a near fall. Kawada back after some Kobashi chops with his KO punch, settling into the All Japan version of a heel / tweener role. We get Taue's awesome vertical bodyslam, which sets up Kobashi kicking out of a Nodowa & powerbomb sequence before Kikuchi falls to a pair of Nodowas.

 

I enjoyed the hell out of this as you get fiery performances from Kobashi & KIkuchi while firmly establishing Kawada & Taue as a force to be reckoned with heading into Gordy & Williams and subsequently Misawa & Kobashi for the start of the big feud.

 

****

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  • 1 month later...

Great match in my book. Kawada has turned and him vs. Kobashi has that 5/90 six man Jumbo vs. Misawa vibe to it. Just fresh hate that seeps off the page. They were the highlights here but Kikuchi and Taue were no slouches and Kawada/Taue gelled immediately as an effective team. They pick up a big win here and look to provide chaos to the All Japan structure as a whole. ****

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  • 2 months later...

I loved the intensity in this match. For an extended squash designed to put Kawada/Taue over this was a brilliant wrestling match. Kobashi's punch to set up Kawada's punch was nice too. Kikuchi is looking less and less relevant based on the 5/13 singles with Kawada and this match. He's so far behind that he's not even seen as a threat anymore. I guess it's okay in the long run because him, Ogawa and Fuchi would have been gone from TV unless they were in a six man once late 93 hit anyway.

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  • 1 year later...

As almost everyone else has said before me, this was about putting over Kawada and Taue strongly, and that mission was certianly accomplished. No hints of a precious feud, no lingering trust issues, just a couple of real mooses taking care of business. They not only made quick tags. they pulled out some nice doubleteams right at the end. Their match against the MVC ought to be something else again.

 

There was a time not long ago where I thought Kikuchi was turning the corner, but that time has passed. If he isn't going to move up in the pecking order now that Kawada's on Taue's side of the fence, he isn't going to, and 'the way Kawada and Taue dispatched him made it crystal clear that he's going nowhere. Kobashi looks like he could be a decent number two for Misawa once things shake out, but this was really the wrong match to judge such a thing.

 

Holy Demon Army for Kawada and Taue, huh? They're holy something, all right, and they unleash the depths of hell on their opponents. Sounds like a winner to me!

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-05-14-AJPW-Super Power Series] Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

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