[1991-03-23-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

When Jumbo's team dropped Kobashi knee first on the guardrail, I wanted to yawn, because even this early in the feud, that's the most tired transition they have. But when Misawa tagged in for the first time, the match improved exponentially. The battle between Misawa and Taue took center stage, and they worked one great crowd pleasing sequence after another. It was an interesting pairing, and one I wouldn't have expected. I also liked the Kobashi/Kikuchi teamwork, and Taue did a hell of a job selling for Kikuchi to build to the finish and make it seem like he had accomplished something in beating someone much lower on the totem pole than him. This aired JIP, and from the looks of this, that appears to have been a wise decision, because the first few minutes of this are good, but feel like a re-run.

[shoe]

Another great 6 man from All Japan. I loved that finish. Plus how Kobashi held the ropes down for the Kikuchi dive was an awesome spot.

[Childs]

The cool thing about these six-mans is that they often managed to shift the focus to a different match-up without losing the overall intensity. As Loss mentioned, this one put the spotlight on Misawa vs. Taue, given that Kawada was absent. This is probably the least of the six-mans that have appeared on yearbooks since Misawa vs. Jumbo got going, but that's no real criticism.

[PeteF3]

For whatever reason (and I see it's not just me) the work over Kikuchi and Kobashi was among the least interesting work of any AJPW 6-man. I'm all for Kikuchi getting destroyed and Fuchi taking legs apart, but it seemed pedestrian this time around. This perked up big-time when Misawa was in or Kobashi and Kikuchi were throwing double-teams at everyone. That just made the Jumbo Army more desperate. Taue puts Kikuchi down with the golden arm bomber-thing that's sort of being pushed as a one-shot insta-kill at this point, which never really worked and that move was junked. A wise decision.

[Kevin Ridge]

I’m missing Kawada out there with his current issues with Taue. Misawa versus Taue was rocking it though. Jumbo gets it from a couple dropkicks and splash from Kobashi. Misawa was good in this but I did miss Kawada’s possible involvement. Match was up and down based on who was in the ring.

[soup23]

This really picked up towards the home stretch and I really agree with everyone else that Taue vs. Misawa took center stage and did good for themselves. I like how established Misawa is looking now.

[garretta]

This was end-to-end action no matter who was in the ring. It was kind of hard to follow at times, but in a good way, as you never quite knew what was coming next. I never expected Misawa vs. Taue to be as intense as it was, and the Kobashi/Kikuchi doubleteams were tremendous, as noted above.

 

It's about time for the youngsters to take one of these, though; I think there have been five six-mans on the Yearbooks with Misawa and friends on one side and Jumbo and friends on the other since June of '90, and Jumbo's crew has taken four of them. I get that they're making the Misawa side earn its way up the ladder, but eventually it has to pay off in wins or people will tire of this feud, and that would be a shame, because the action in these matches has been first-rate in all of its forms: singles, regular tags, and six-mans.

[dawho5]

Taue bites off a little more than he can chew knocking Misawa off the apron. OR DOES HE? Wait, no, Misawa is massacring him with those elbows and I think he did. Kobashi and Kikuchi double teaming the entire opposing team into oblivion and then the dive fake-Kikuchi dive is so awesome. Kikuchi making the big comeback is great stuff as well. Taue really comes out of this match looking good.

[Jetlag]

JIP to Kobashi getting his leg kicked out of his leg. Fuchi is super here as you'd expect, dumping him knee first on tables and whatnot a bunch. Why do you never see that spot anymore?? It looks reckless and hurty. Kobashi tags Kikuchi in and Kikuchi also takes a big damn beating, even a headbutt from Taue which split himself open. I love Fuchi's selling during the beatdown which sets up the nearfalls later in the match. After some great in peril work from Kikuchi he finally manages to tag Misawa in who signifies the filler portion of the match is OVER by absolute destroying everyone on the opposing team. Misawa, you embodiment of manliness. Then Misawa and Taue beat the shit out of eachother good and it's awesome. Another tremendous nearfalls and breath taking counter ladden finishing stretch built around Kikuchi before the inevitable happens. Taue debuts a somewhat new move which looks like it almost ripped Kikuchi's head off. Ahhhh, that early 90s AJ greatness! Fuck the haters, it doesn't get old.