Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

[1993-07-29-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada


Loss

Recommended Posts

  • 2 months later...

These two had a really tough act to follow, but they still had a really awesome match. At times, it feels slower than it deserves to feel because of the match before it -- whereas Hansen/Kobashi was all-action, this match is more focused around Kawada attempting to tear off Misawa's arm and possibly feed it to him, and Misawa sells this throughout the match. Kawada makes a great showing at first, with Misawa putting him over strong with lots of classic NWA champ match layout. I love the timidity early on with Misawa getting caught very quickly with a couple of kicks. As the match progresses, Misawa feels like he outwrestled Kawada, because he did a better job pacing himself. I really enjoyed the dead lift of the finish. This is a match Misawa won with an exclamation point. Kawada pushes him, but Misawa comes out ahead.

 

Whereas Hansen/Kobashi had the guy who won giving his opponent most of the match, this match had the guy who won being patient, letting an eager challenger tire himself out, then capitalizing when he had very little left. Both were right. Both worked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

I disagree that Misawa sold the elbow throughout the match. He was still doing rolling elbows, but, I will say this, it works. Misawa pretty much KO'd Kawada in their previous match and Kawada definitely wanted to avoid that. This is one of those things that All Japan used to do really well. Building layers of accumulated knowledge throughout a decade long feud. Excellent match.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Misawa's selling struck me as rather curious. Shortly after Kawada's arm work, he throws elbows with no apparent ill effect. Later in the match, long after Kawada had abandoned the arm, he does a rolling elbow and acts like his arm is about to fall off. This is their third-best Triple Crown match, but it's pretty far behind 6/94 and 7/95. This is notable mainly for establishing the recurring theme of Kawada throwing punches when he gets frustrated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

The crowd were unsurprisingly a bit burnt out after the Lord Mayor's show. The build was very restrained and patient. I was waiting for it to burst into life. It developed into decent enough finish where Misawa unloaded a devastating salvo of suplay and came through with conviction. He had paced himself like a long distance runner. Not their best bout of the year but even their lesser matches were still good stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

It is subdued to start before Misawa hits and elbow and then Kawada kicks him in the chin. Yeah, tough to follow Hansen/Kobashi but this is still pretty good on it's own. Kawada is still going about trying to figure out how to beat Misawa. This and the 92 match is a great lead up to their 94 encounter. Part of what endears me to Kawada is how he goes overboard and gets reckless. Like he has a solid game plan to win but goes off it when he gets desperate. He's total putty by the end before Misawa finishes him off with a Tiger Suplex.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Not as good as their two earlier singles matches, but very good in its own right and a good contrast to Kobashi vs. Hansen. Up until the closing stretch, every effort is made to portray these two as equals or near-equals. Both guys are tentative to start, and there are lots of faceoffs/"toe to toe" spots. Plus Kawada seems to have the early advantage. As things progress, however, Misawa reasserts himself. Kawada makes a gallant effort on the arm but not enough, and eventually Misawa is absolutely murdering him with some sick Germans. Kawada hangs on but Misawa basically lifts up his carcass and tiger suplexes it to put him away. Two straight matches with the established star getting pushed, but Misawa's victory actually feels more decisive. As this went on, my mind started to work over how unfathomable it was that Kobashi's payoff would come so much sooner than Kawada's. That question is still there, but by the end of this it's more clear that Kawada actually has a longer way to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Interesting to watch after the previous match but still really great. The opening arm work was good for me and built how over Misawa's elbow is. I wouldn't say he extensively sold the elbow down the stretch but that to me was the point. Kawada was defiant and really took it to Misawa but he didn't have that one knockout blow he could execute and Misawa was able to weather the storm and go on the offensive for most of the last 5-10 minutes of the match. Kawada looks courageous kicking out of some of Misawa's arsenal but Misawa is the man still here. ****1/4

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I really enjoyed this one. It was more of a brawl than I expected. Scratch brawl; war might be a better word, as these two beat the living hell out of each other for almost half an hour.

 

Kawada surprised me with how varied his attack was. I knew all about his kicks and knees, but he really tried to tear off Misawa's arm early on and almost made it. He also used the dropkick to devastating effect, more than I've ever seen him do before. You wouldn't think that a moose like Kawada could throw dropkicks well, but throw them he did. His punches were great too, most notably the first one which was totally unexpected and folded Misawa up like a deck chair.

 

I liked Misawa trying to go knee for knee, kick for kick, and punch for punch with his challenger. If Kawada wanted a fight (which he did), Misawa felt honor bound to give him one, and that's how he prevailed: by knocking Kawada out. He could have stood to sell the arm a little more, I suppose, but part of being a champion is ignoring pain and doing what needs to be done to win, and that's what it felt like he was doing here.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of great matches ahead for these two, maybe some better than this one. But this was a great way to spend a half hour and get back into this Yearbook. I'm looking forward to more!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

#424

 

I thought this was a good match. It was a bit slow and methodical at times, and the build didn't quite match the finish despite Misawa continuing to sell the elbow after the bout, but I liked that Kawada had a game plan. He's pretty clearly the best mat worker in All Japan. The work itself is pretty basic but his holds look nasty and he looks nasty doing them. Ultimately, he didn't have enough in his arsenal to best Misawa. Misawa was a bit like Michael Jordan here, or maybe a Pete Sampras or Michael Shumacher, to run with some 90s examples of champions who always had that little bit extra up their sleeve, or in reserve, no matter how hard their opponents tried or how stiff their challenge was. Misawa was probably a bit too dominant given how many times he suplexed Kawada at the end, but this was his absolute physical prime and I guess he deserved to show off his class a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • GSR changed the title to [1993-07-29-AJPW-Summer Action Series] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada
  • 6 months later...

A little slow to start but things really picked up Kawada grows more and more defiant in the face of impending defeat. It seemed to me that throughout this match, Misawa just came across as the better man, always matching and topping anything that Kawada dared to throw at him. You get the feeling that maybe if Kawada strung together just the right amount of offense together and with the right momentum, he could pull of the win. But once Misawa gets his elbows in, it's night night. Probably my favorite moment of the match was Kawada getting bombed on and just diving for a takedown as a last resort.

****1/2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 7/29/93

Here we go! I know I have seen this before, but I dont remember it. I have really loved the build to this. I know because it is All Japan they arent going to let it rip right away but man I wish they kept out guns blazing and just had a 10 minute brawl after what went down in that tag a couple weeks prior. 

I think the beginning of the match is very telling. Both men on rope breaks go for their signature break and the other blocks it. Neither man was coming to wrestle clean and this made apparent that Misawa was the first to do this. He was not reacting. He was instigating. Kawada was the first to lay in some leather with a Cowboy Kick off a rope break. It was a cheapshot. Misawa responds with an elbow and Kawada grits his teeth through it. Kawada catches Misawa a kick to the jaw that drops Misawa to a knee. I feel like all this psychological stuff was to make you believe Kawada was every bit Misawa's equal and willing to go the extra mile. They introduce some arm psychology which is common in Misawa matches because his elbow is such a weapon so it is  logical for an opponent to want to neutralize that. Kawada wrenches the arm over the shoulder, a Japanese favorite tactic. I thought the Cross-Armbreaker was treated with respect, good struggle over the clasp and when Kawada got it in, good struggle from Misawa to escape. I liked Misawa's all kick-flurry as means to mount his comeback punctuated with a dropkick. Misawa has underrated kicks. They look good, make contact and make a good sound. Kawada catches him with a powerslam to take back over. Kawada actually starts to enter his finish run, which makes sense given that he had the lead almost lost to that kick flurry so he may be anxious to put the match away and not choke. We see his Mack Truck Lariat and an Axe Bomber after a failed Powerbomb attempt (a play off that prior July tag). He teases his powerbomb twice. I really liked the Catch of Misawa Elbow/Arm Drag/Cowboy Kick combination. I like how Misawa has to earn his Frogsplash it was not enough with just a spinwheel kick. He really needs to slug him with an elbow (great falls on his ass sell by Kawada) and hits not one but two frogsplashes. He gets the FACELOCCCCKKKKK for two. They have added some nice psychological wrinkles in the beginning. It has become a little Greatest Hits but they are definitely hitting each other with vim & vigor. Interested to see where they go in the second half. 

Misawa senses it is time to go home and rocks his shit with an elbow and Tiger Driver for two. Tiger Suplex gets a big reaction and Kawada's struggle for the ropes is epic. I love that when Kawada does make the ropes he quickly gets behind Misawa once he is free and BLASTS him an Axe Bomber. Theres a great struggle for the Stretch Plum it takes Kawada three tries and specifically his specialty jumping high kick to apply it. Then comes the Powerbomb for two. I think this is the best part of the match. The Powerbomb is pretty much Kawada's finish so you are left thinking where can he go now that Misawa has kicked out of that. Kawada was clearly thinking the same thing so he just PUNCHES HIM RIGHT IN THE FACE! Well thats one way to solve your problems. He gets a German for two. Goes back to the Powerbomb and when that doesnt work, he punches him again in the face for two. Kawada is feeling empowered by the power of the punch goes for a third time this time Misawa is prepared blocked it and SMOKES him with an ELBOW! A lot of people have said why did Misawa sell after that elbow if Kawada had not worked his arm recently. I think he was trying to put over just how hard he hit him. Kawada did his powder off the elbow to put over that he was fucked up. I think they wanted to really show this was THE ELBOW that was the game changer. Tiger Suplex 1-2-NO!  I think that should have been the finish. They get cinematic down the stretch. I am sure Shawn Michaels would enjoy this if you showed him. Roaring Elbow->Kawada does these limp kick outs. Kawada double legs him out of defiance. Whats weird is Kawada hits a Dangerous Back Drop Driver and his Jumping High Kick, but Misawa is the one who gets up first and just starts German Suplexing him to the death. He really folded him up on a couple of those drawing Oooooohs and Aaaaaahs from the crowd. I guess they were trying to show that Kawada had Fighting Spirit but was too spent to capitalize it was very odd. The whole Kawada deadweighting going limp as Misawa threw him one last time for the win was a little much. 

The finish stretch aside I think there were a lot of cool macho psychological elements to this. I think the beginning was great about this. I think Kawada's stooping to using a closed fist three times was a very cool and I loved how Misawa adapted and overcame and showed the Power of the Elbow. I liked how they really had to earn their offense. I thought this was humming a long really well, but I found the finish stretch to be peculiar at times and overwrought. Still excellent and definitely an unsung classic because of how awesome this entire rivalry is. ****1/2

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was a really good follow up to their Champions Carnival ‘93 match where Misawa knocked out Kawada with the elbow. Kawada gets rid of that loaded gun and attacks the arm for the first stretch of the match with hammerlocks and armbars. Misawa sold the arm through it not being a killer blow like it was for the Hansen and aforementioned Kawada match so it was a good touch to add to the match. Kawada threw some big closed fists to gain control several times which was awesome. He just didn’t have enough to put away Misawa. One thing I liked about this match is that the strikes early in the match put over the hatred for each other. A very good addition to the series but it was a step below their other matches up to this point. ****

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...