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[2000-01-09-AJPW] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Hiroshi Hase


soup23

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This is quite the odd match. The opening is worked in a real classical New Japan sort of way from the 1980's and 1990's. Misawa takes it to the mat at first to prove he can do that, Hase does the same with a strike exchange but those are the only two bits of contested action in the first fifteen minutes. The rest of the time results around Hase working the arm of Misawa. I have to say that I never tired of watching this due to Hase mixing things up. Misawa isn't someone that I think of as a great facial seller but he did well here. I can see this extended sequence testing the patience limits of many but it felt so unique that I remained invested. MIsawa doesn't look as much hurt as frustrated. Hase has a distinct game plan and refuses to betray it up until the last few minutes of the match where he deserts it to start throwing bombs. Misawa using the elbow can be seen as no selling the work that was invested into it and that is a valid criticism but I do usually give Misawa a pass on those things based on the character work he had built up over the ten previous years. Misawa is the sheriff in town and he will rely on what got him in charge in the first place until it betrays him. I also thought that Hase mainly performing stretches and more submission based work on the arm made it plausible that Misawa could still use it to effectiveness in the latter stages of the match. Hase put his all into this game plan and it didn't work out in the end. I didn't think this was a classic by any means, but it felt more refreshing and purposeful than the Hase vs. Kawada match from the 99 Dome show. This also worked better after seeing the spirited war between Akiyama and Takayama. ***

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  • 5 months later...

This was incredible. I'm a little stunned that this match has been so panned through the years because I think it was easily the best I've seen so far in this project. Hase brought New Japan to All Japan's door in this one in a big way. He knows Misawa can't compete with him on the mat, so he's determined to keep him there. He spends most of the match targeting his arm and elbow in an attempt to get him in position for the cross armbreaker. Each time he tries, Misawa senses it and is able to just barely block it. Each time Misawa tries to take the match back to the usual All Japan style where he's comfortable, Hase refuses to let him, immediately grinding things to a halt, grabbing his arm, and taking him back to the mat. I can't say I've ever seen Misawa dominated quite this way in a match -- I've seen other guys eat him up, but not quite the same way. I counted at least four times that Misawa tried to slip into the rote All Japan finishing stretch and Hase simply would not allow it to happen. NO. SIT DOWN. I AM GOING TO HAMMERLOCK YOU. So in terms of action, this may be the least "busy" match I've seen from Misawa, and if people can't get into it for that reason, I can understand that. But there's some really great storytelling going on in this one that I think has been missed. There's the underlying psychology of NJ vs AJ (even though Hase had been in the company for over two years at this point), but more than that, the approach is Hase sticking to his gameplan no matter what Misawa throws at him to try to take the match in a different direction. Finally, Misawa realizes he needs to give Hase a false sense of security and make him think it's safe to abandon his laser focus on Misawa's arm, because if the match stays in that direction, Misawa will lose his title. So Hase ends up in a vertical strike battle, which is exactly where Misawa wanted him to be, then he's able to hit a knockout elbow and win. This was a great way to put over the contrast in styles, along with Misawa's resourcefulness in terms of facing a very different type of opponent and having to outsmart him since Hase was very much outwrestling him. As I mentioned, this is slower-paced than the usual All Japan fare, but I see that as a key part of the appeal. The match wouldn't work any other way. ****1/2

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This is outside my comfort zone but Loss pointed it my way so I thought I'd give it a shot. I MAY be reading too much into this one, but I can't help it with post 96 Misawa, really. It all sort of becomes heightened reality.

 

There are things that Misawa (and to a lesser extent the other pillars) can get away with in my mind. They are, after a certain point in time, ascended to some degree. They're on a different plane, a boss level encounter relative to a normal match. I actually have no idea how Hase is positioned at this point, but the sense I had was that he was also someone who had been through his share of wars, a grizzled veteran (mustache and all) who had the unenviable task of chopping down the tree that fought like a god.

 

I love how he tried to go about it, constantly going to the arm, slowly, surely working his way up towards larger and larger attacks. At first, he does all he can to prevent Misawa from getting any distance. Misawa on the other hand, keeps trying to forearm his way through it, which is insane until you realize that Misawa is mythic and ultimately, if he is allowed to punch forward, to forearm his way, he will eventually power through any mountain you put in front of him. It's Hase's job to prevent that here.

 

From Loss' initial discussions, I was expecting a lot more motion, maybe a few minutes of holds, but ultimately them moving in and out of them more. It took me a while to warm up to things, to really see how Hase was controlling the motion and flow of things with his holds, how Misawa was extremely giving in his struggle to get out. The constant shout with every new hold of "Give up" helped. It was ultimately Misawa's gradual weakening of his resistance that really made the match though.

 

When he was able to hit bombs later in the match, they didn't pay off for him. Hase was prepared for them, ready to absorb big blows and immediately put the hold back on. When Misawa created distance and went to the top rope, ultimately, he was going to get caught. It was clear that Misawa wasn't going to regain control in any way but by forearming his way through the pain and through Hase's face. Unfortunately for Hase, it was also clear that he wasn't going to win with the holds alone. There was a sense after the powerbomb and the hold being restablished afterwards that Hase could have absolutely waited Misawa out and won on points.

 

You can't beat Misawa on points, however, and that led to the finish. Misawa was weakened enough that Hase was able to launch four major bombs in a row. Normally that would feel like excess. No, it WAS excess. It was absolutely excess but within the context of this match and within the context of the narrative I have in my head about 2000 Misawa (scraggy "beard" and all), it worked. It felt like Hase's only pathway left yet also something he had potentially planned for, to strike again and again when Misawa was finally softened up. It couldn't work in the context of this battle, however. It wasn't a matter of Hase abandoning his gameplan. It was a matter of the gameplan only being able to take him so far. It had been all he could to do to get Misawa to this point, but it meant that the rest of Misawa's body wasn't broken down enough for this to put him away. When Hase went back to the well immediately, the forearms came hard and fast, Misawa finally punching his way through the darkness, fury unleashed, and that, unlike any of the bombs that Hase was ready for, was something that could not be answered.

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Decided to fire this one up today after seeing it talked about so much...

 

I came into looking at it as two grizzled veterans too. Going into this, I've seen a lot of Misawa from the 90's (and 80's as Tiger Mask, +the some NOAH after this), but really only some of the highly pimped stuff of Hase. There is a great exchange of blows in the beginning where Hase feels the impact of Misawa's elbows and goes down, and then he delivers a big boot to back him off. Then he starts to work over the arms of Misawa. The logic I saw here was that he is taking out one of Misawa's biggest weapons (the elbows he just felt). I liked the progression of the arm work, because as he worked the arms, they became weaker and harder to defend for Misawa. So, Hase was able to get more elaborate with the submission work and attack them more viciously. The first blow from Misawa, out of the initial set of arm work, was an elbow to the face of Hase. Misawa immediately goes to his arm wincing pain after throwing the blow. Misawa throws a second blow trying to power through it, but it takes him down to one knee allowing Hase to take the advantage again. I love stuff like this. The progression continued with Hase's attack now more clearly focused on the weakness he's seen of the right arm. Misawa decides he doesn't care about the pain in his arm and powers his way through again (eventually getting the better of Hase). But, because of the damage done, Misawa takes too long climbing to the top rope, and Hase catches him. Misawa is able to reverse that too. But, I liked how this story continued throughout the match. Misawa continuously tried to win his way (big moves and stiff blows), but Hase tried to outsmart him and pick at him until he could weaken him enough to tear him apart. When Hase thinks he's got Misawa where he wants him, he takes his shot. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't enough. I thought this was pretty great.

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I had never seen this, so I'm glad it's on a revival tour inspired by the new project. It was an excellent match. I always like it when an outgunned wrestler comes in with a specific plan, and the crowd really took the ride with Hase, popping whenever he went back to the arm after a big move by Misawa. Hase picked the right moment to throw all his cards on the table with that run of four suplexes. And then Misawa's finishing run of elbows, from the undamaged left to the final right, looked badass. The match wasn't as stirring as the best All-Japan, but it worked well as a smart counterpoint.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I rewatched this again before me and Loss recorded the podcast and it was raised in my eyes. I still am weary of how Misawa is still able to use his elbow even though it was mauled throughout the match but using the logic that Misawa's elbows have really been prevented as the ultimate mythological weapon in AJPW, it does make sense. ***1/2

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I loved this match. Hase completely dominates Misawa throughout the match and destroys his arm with multiple submission holds. Misawa stubbornly continues to try using his injured arm, but Hase manages to counter it every time. Misawa wrestles so poorly in this match and continues to use his right elbow with no success that I felt myself rooting against him for his stubbornness. However, Misawa is eventually able to get Hase rocked enough with his left elbows that he is able to finish him off with a right.

 

I can see people criticizing this for Misawa continuing to use his right arm that was targeted throughout the match, but I thought it was worked brilliantly into the story of the match as I interpreted it. Misawa truly believes that his right elbow is his best offense and he can beat anybody with it and continued to stubbornly use it even though it wasn't working for him. When he finally is able to connect with his running elbow, he proves that this is true and shows why he continued to go for it the entire match.

 

****1/2

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  • 2 weeks later...

I liked this a good deal at points, while at others I think I liked it more in theory than in execution. Hase constantly going to the arm, refusing to let Misawa play his own game, to the point where Misawa finally has to use the left arm to throw his elbows to set up that one big right that could KO anyone -- I liked how they built to that payoff. Still, the groundwork in the first ten minutes or so never really grabbed me, though I get that it was necessary and it was all certainly part of the story they were going for. I think criticisms of Misawa's selling are valid, but he's probably built up enough cred to get away with it. There's always a sense of "this'll hurt me, but it'll hurt you more" when he goes to the elbows, and now and then he'll throw in these subtle little touches that remind you he's not quite 100%. I think soup's point about him looking more frustrated than hurt is pretty accurate as well; not that I never got the sense he was in any real danger, just that you knew it was only a matter of time before Hase took his eye off the ball and Misawa would be able to make him pay.

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I liked it a great deal. The focus by Hase was excellent and the armwork kept gaining traction throughout the match. Almost like watching savings pile up, the armwork took on more and more meaning and power as the match moved along. Misawa did a good job of portraying annoyed and maybe flustered but not over his head which leads to the contentious nature of the finish. I would say there is a little bit of an insubstantial feeling that the ending gives me that drops this in my eyes. Yes the arm work story is a good hook but what does it mean if Misawa just throws the elbow and wins anyway. Well I guess that depends on the taste of the viewer. I would say it drops my view of the match if only ever so slightly although I see its merit all the same.

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I found this match disappointing. On the mat, Misawa didn't show the amount of struggle from underneath that a wrestler of his high level should. He was very compliant in allowing Hase to put him in holds, and then he didn't make the efforts to escape them other than scooting for the ropes. We should see some amount of pushback from him, such as grabbing Hase with his free arm, and not just lying there. I've never been a huge fan of Hase, but he should be credited for his variety of holds used on Misawa's arm. Since the elbow was increasingly his finisher over the years, I can accept Misawa sticking with it, but I would have rather seen him use something else. Not a bad match, but not what it could have been.

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Man did these guys look old. Misawa looked fucking terrible.

 

I liked this, but then I tend to like long matches filled with matwork. Has there ever been a match where a guy focused on a single body part for as long as Hase did here? If you're a psychology freak then this is your wet dream. I can see the length being a problem for folks, and it is a pretty boring tactic, especially for the crowd, but I thought Misawa's selling was masterful. Yeah, he could have fought back more and yeah he used the elbow after it had been worked on for so long, but what choice did he have? He was a wreck. He had a slugger's chance so long as he could throw an elbow, but Jesus, look at him. The last Misawa match I saw before this was from 1992 and before that some classic matches he had against Kawada in '93 and Kobashi in '95. Five years after the Kobashi match and he looks like a wreck. And he wasn't even 40 yet. It was obvious that his injuries were preventing him from working out and that his cardio was shit. He was almost as slow as Hansen in that '99 RWTL final, so to my mind it was the elbow or bust.

 

Misawa's elbow is an interesting conversation in itself. During the course of these Yearbooks, etc., we've seen the full spectrum of Misawa's elbow from the perfectly timed single elbow knockouts to the superman elbows found in this match. It's interesting to me that he could use the match so poetically at times and so excessively at others. It makes me wonder who laid out the differing extremes. But I really did think his selling was masterful even if he was too crook to get up off his back. Though, to be fair, Misawa always did like that visual of being laid out on the mat. I guess he thought it was the best way to portray helplessness or vulnerability.

 

Another point that I think was already raised was that after inflicting so much damage on Misawa and jobbing the way he did, Hase was pretty much neutered by the finish, but that was a consequence of him being a part-timer and couldn't be helped. At least he gave it a shot.

This was interesting enough to be my Match of the Month so far even if I enjoyed the Satanico vs. Tarzan Boy build more as a whole.

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  • 3 weeks later...

This was simultaneously terrific and frustrating. The pieces of a great match were very much here to be tied together but I don't think they quite got there. Hase's arm was so focused, so persistent and at times so light. It didn't always look that vicious, but they stuck with it so rigidly and for so long that you can't help but be drawn into the psychology. It didn't look or feel at all like your peak AJPW-style big match. The comeback built really well with a lot of drama behind Misawa's efforts to remain the man and Hase's cuttoffs. At the same time, I don't think Misawa sold the arm nearly enough to put over all of the work that led up to that stretch run. You could've built to this particular comeback & the finish in a number of ways. I just think they set the table for something very different. Tie those two pieces together and you've got something very special. Still very good because this is freaking Mitsuharu Misawa and Hiroshi Hase. But it could've been so much more.

 

***1/2

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  • 4 months later...

I liked the match overall and it was different than the usual All Japan epics. However, the arm stuff took me out of it a little. Hase spends most of the match attacking the elbow and Misawa just no sells it when he gets on offense. I know that's normal for him and all but Hase did such a good job at it and it amounts to nothing at the end. Misawa didn't do much most of the match till the end when he was throwing bombs and suplexes. Good match but frustrating.

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  • 4 months later...

Im on the side where I see Misawa continuing to use his elbows as a way of showing desperation, since none of his other offense is working until the last few minutes of the match. I thought this was excellent. I can watch this type of match all day, where an opponent has to keep the stronger wrestler contained and forces them to work their style.

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Oh boy, there is a lot to love from Hase in this match, from his awareness to his determination. Clearly, Misawa is not as slick as Hase on the mat so he has to rely on his primary form of offense, the elbow. Knowing this, Hase takes the obvious route and proceeds to annihilate said elbow in the form of extensive armwork. He takes him down, tangles him up, and rolls all over the canvas with Misawa in tow, working the arm like a full-time job. Misawa doesn’t do much in terms of trying to escape or countering – he mostly lays there and takes the punishment, though at times, he seems desperate to get away. Then again, he’ll often say “fuck your armwork, Hase” and throw a couple of elbows but Hase brushes them off and takes him back down. I love that Hase immediately brings the focus back to the arm following much of Misawa’s offense, first with the overshot diving body press and then off the German suplex hold.

 

Misawa’s selling of the arm, or lack thereof, didn’t necessarily bother me -- I mean, I love Misawa's stubborness to keep using the elbow, knowing he can't take Hase on the mat and coming to realize that Hase has an answer for most of his other offense. The elbows obviously don't have the same impact on Hase so he has to keep on battering him, switching to the other elbow at the end to get some good shots in, before finally downing him with the running elbow. Sure, he could’ve done more to sell it but it’s Misawa, he’s the ace, so Hase staying in the driver’s seat for as long as he did is more than most get against Misawa.

 

As Hase continues snagging the arm off of Misawa’s signature bombs, you finally see him start to crack with desperation. There’s a great visual of Hase almost hugging the arm, a look of real frustration on his face as he’s trying to get him to submit. But no matter what he does, Misawa’s still throwing those dang elbows. So Hase himself says “fuck this armwork” and drops Misawa with a bunch of suplexes. I wasn’t a big fan of Hase’s relatively quick demise following all that dedicated work on top but again, it’s Misawa. You take what you get, and what I got was a lot of cool shit from Hase. This was great.

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Ive been thinking about this match today and I actually think Misawas lack of selling the elbow makes for a more compelling story. His elbow being neutralized and him having to fight back a different way is an easier story to tell, and one thats always effective for me, but his refusal to stop using the elbows tells a story of stubbornness and grit rather than resourcefulness, which I appreciate more.

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  • 2 months later...

I had never seen this match before and hadn't really heard about it until I read this thread. I gave it a shot and I thought it was good but nothing special. My expectations might have been too high going into the match. The story was great but I agree about Misawa not selling the arm hurt the match. They did all of that work to work the arm and make it seem like Hase had a chance only for Misawa to continue using the elbow without any ill effects.

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  • 4 months later...

This was great. I liked seeing Misawa have to navigate around Hase's strategy and not vice versa. The armwork didn't bother me too much. I maybe wanted slightly more emotion from Misawa SHOWING that he was powering through it, but that is minor, as he did a pretty good job of showing that anyway.

 

****

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-01-09-AJPW] Mitsuharu Misawa vs Hiroshi Hase
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