[1998-03-29-AJPW-Championship Carnival] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

After seeing their head dropping fiasco in 1997, it was refreshing to see them go back to this type of match of working holds and letting things breathe. I can understand people watching this match in isolation and get a killing time vibe, but I thought it did a lot to bring the series back into focus and to build anticipation for the showdown at the Tokyo Dome that was incoming. Misawa once again is beat on for the majority of the match and his midsection is worked over. The final 5-6 minutes of this match were dramatic even though a draw seemed inevitable and only the #4-5 finishers of each man got busted out. This is probably middle of the road overall in the series but I was happy to watch it and still thought it was a great match. (****)

[Loss]

I agree that this isn't in the upper echelon of Misawa-Kawada matches, but it doesn't really need to be. This feels on par with the broken orbital bone match in '95 as a good time capsule of what these two could do at this point in time, but I think I'd peg it even slightly below that. I like the slower pace, and I like that they are able to do it here without boring me to tears like they did in their 6/97 match. After seeing this feud play out in various singles matches, tag matches and six-mans for the previous five years, it feels awfully played out and stale here. So while the match is technically good, it's also such a stale matchup for me at this point in my 90s watching, and it's hard to look past that. This is nothing that I'll remember even five minutes from now, which I'll admit says a lot about the high standard they set, as this is much better than many matches between other wrestlers that no one calls a classic but that get a decent amount of play for being good. Sometimes, the level of their best stuff works against them.

[Childs]

Yes, their rivalry felt tired. But shit, I can count on one hand the matches from the first quarter of 1998 that were better than this. I give them credit for always dialing up the effort, even in these 30-minute Carny draws that had become a mini-tradition. I never don't want to see Kawada cutting off a Misawa attack with a perfectly timed counter kick. It's like "Die Hard" on late-night cable or apple pie a la mode. I'm curious how I'll react to their Dome match, which I haven't seen in ages. But yeah, this was a welcome return to basics after their messy Triple Crown match the previous year.

[Zenjo]

When the 20m announcement feels like 15m it's never a bad thing. Another fine addition to the rivalry of the 90's. Whilst it may not have seemed likely it was going to a finish it never had the feeling of counting down the minutes. They worked it like they weren't bothered about the clock. It took however long it took to wear the other man down. In this instance 30m wasn't long enough for that to happen. I often find myself preferring organic time limit draws rather than having all the timings clearly planned out beforehand. Kawada certainly had the best of it, inflicting plenty of damage to the neck. Some wince-inducing blows and all the interaction was seamless. The crowd were into it as the rivalry brought importance. They achieved the level they set out for. There aren't many wrestlers who could have matches as good as this without going full out.

[PeteF3]

Yeah, I've complained about draws being telegraphed before, but this was one of the rare times when a draw is telegraphed almost a month before the match even starts. For goodness sake, these two are headlining the Tokyo Dome a few weeks from now, there's no fucking way that either guy is pinning the other here. This has a hot start and a hot close even if the finish is predictable, with a softer middle. Loss has it nailed--this is a big improvement over the '97 match but the rivalry still feels played out and Kawada's big meaningful singles win long overdue.

[TravJ1979]

I don't think these two are capable of a match below three stars. The announcers keep talking about the Tokyo Dome match which treated this like just another Carnival match. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a classic which is fine because they didn't try to make it one.

[Jetlag]

Solid match with lots of neat exchanges throughout. However, it was reaaaal long and also felt really inconsequential. Kawada opens by hitting a big brainbuster, which allows him to work on Misawa's neck for a little, then Misawa nearly KOs him a couple times, then Kawada works his back some... and so forth. It doesn't feel like it's building anywhere, and there was very little urgency. Really one of the most obvious 30 minute draws I've watched. I enjoyed the finish, which saw them bust out things like a Chaos Theory, big knee drop or neckbreaker drop for nearfalls to keep things a little fresh. I also dug the double Tiger Driver spot, „yeah, it's 28 minutes into the match now, I could go for a pin... but I know you're way tougher than this, so have another you son of a bitch.“