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- Sir O - 04-15-2002
Match review by some dude named Chris Coey.
The match is Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue for the World Tag Titles, June 9, 1995. That's one year and six days after one of the greatest singles matches ever, when Kawada challenged, and lost to, Misawa for the Triple Crown Title, on June 3, 1994.
Prologue - Balance
The time-limit draw was ubiquitous as the feud built to June 9; Taue had drawn Misawa in the Champion Carnival before losing the final match to Misawa later in the month. Kobashi and Kawada had drawn not only in the Carnival but also for Kawada's Triple Crown during the New Year's Giant Series. Misawa and Kawada had drawn during the Carnival as well, in a match that saw a kick break Misawa's orbital bones in the first minute, only to have him battle through the injury to salvage the decision. In tag settings, both their '94 RWTL match and their January match had gone to draws - clearly, the sheer number of ties suggested to the audience that all four men were evenly matched. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Taue specifically had been soaring, as he beat both Kawada and Kobashi during the Carnival. During the Kobashi match, Taue debuted his Nodowa off the apron, and in the match versus Kawada, he took a bad beating early on but showed the ability to come from behind and win under pressure. Kawada's draw versus Misawa was another case of Kawada's failure to finish Misawa, even when Misawa was wounded, but it also showed Misawa's skill at battling adversity (at least his own). On top of that, Misawa had also recently beaten Stan Hansen for the Triple Crown, starting his second reign with the titles. Finally, and most importantly, Kobashi's leg was badly injured for a long stretch going into the match. While there seemed to be balance between the teams in results, there was very little balance in reality - Taue was now a legitimate threat to both opponents rather than just Kobashi, and Kobashi's injury seemed to say he couldn't carry his weight against the Holy Demon Army in this title defense. For each decision that suggested balance, there was a circumstance that pushed the equilibrium in either direction. Everyone bent under the tension. Something had to give.
Part 1 - Basics
Kobashi and Taue start, as the last pinfall had ended over a year ago, Taue garnering the fan's respect due to his recent surge. Kobashi gets a simple advantage, so Taue kicks the leg, his face saying, "This isn't how I want to do this, but I think you know as well as I do that this is what's going to happen." Kawada is soon tagged, and he defies the chops that visibly pained Taue. They don't hurt him any more or less, but his obnoxious glares and refusal to cooperate have as much psychological effect as his return of fire has physically. Kawada tries the Irish whip, Kobashi reverses, and Kawada takes the opportunity presented to slam a foot directly into Misawa's face. The echo of broken bones reverberates through the crowd as Misawa crashes to the floor, clutching the injured eye. Kawada's response to the tension was to make the first strike, and the result is that his opponents are both flustered and more than a little angry. Misawa wants the tag, and and his slow step into the ring is irreversible - the champions no longer control the match.
Part 2 - Attrition
The following moments are punctuated by anger, and that works directly into Kawada's strategy. A second cheap kick, this time to Kobashi, only intensifies the champions' rage, a condition that the usually disinterested Misawa doesn't really like. Taue takes the brunt of the abuse for a while, but Kawada has a new level of trust in Taue. Kawada knows firsthand the kind of punishment Akira can absorb, so Kawada waits, knowing that someone will make a mistake. Kawada almost makes one of his own as a stab at a cheap shot goes awry, but Kobashi soon creates the space for the challengers to begin their attack on his bad leg.
What follows is a frenzied smashing of the leg, interrupted briefly by a tag to Misawa. At every opportunity, Taue and Kawada attack Misawa in tandem, which has two purposes. Obviously, it disables Misawa for a time, but the real intent is to draw Kobashi into the ring for more damage. Neither Misawa nor Kobashi, as good as they are, can fight the odds created, but they have no control over the odds. Kobashi becomes vulnerable, allowing Taue to throw Misawa onto the injured leg. Kawada ascends the turnbuckles, and as his knee crashes down on the leg, a second impasse is reached. Misawa knows he cannot win alone, but because of what has ensued from the previous step, his situation doesn't appear to leave him with a choice. Here, Misawa makes a miscalculation based upon Kobashi's condition, taking yet another irreversible step.
Part 3 - Footrace
As Kobashi is immobilized on the floor, Misawa is left in a bad situation against 2 men who have almost beaten him in singles competition. On the other hand, "almost" is not "has done;" Misawa has always either tied or beaten both men in every situation where he was involved in a decision. Only Kobashi has lost any decisions for his team, and Misawa knows this. Instinctively, he believes that the final pin will come against Kobashi in his injured state, and he senses that the team's best chance to retain the titles must, for the time being, go through Kobashi.
This may sound counter-intuitive, but with the shape Kobashi is in, he only has one burst of utility left. Misawa's goal is to hang around and let Kobashi recover enough to take the tag as soon as possible. Misawa cannot try to win at this stage, as Kawada & Taue are both entirely too fresh, and, if Misawa were to fail to get the victory, he cannot count on Kobashi to maintain positive momentum. Instead, Kobashi must make the immediate charge so that if Kenta fails to get a pin but can simply do some real work for the team, Misawa can take up the effort and finish off the challengers. Also, as long as Misawa is on the apron, he can prevent a pin on Kobashi; Misawa doesn't have a similar cushion while he is legal.
Kobashi fights through the pain and angrily snatches his opportunity, whipping Taue with a lariat and nailing Kawada with one as Kawada returns the favor. The delay is just enough for Misawa to stun Kawada and get the tag. As Kobashi starts his attack, he immediately thinks of the moonsault to finish, but he isn't able to get either Kawada or Taue into position without Misawa's help. Misawa tags back in to help wear down Taue, and while it succeeds for a while, a tired Kawada catches Misawa with a Dangerous Back Drop to suddenly erase any momentum in the match. From here, it is a footrace to a tag, and Kobashi makes the first strike by bolting across the ring to knock Kawada to the floor. Kobashi gets the tag and hits a German suplex on Taue for a 2. Kawada blocks another moonsault attempt and tosses Kobashi before running back for the tag from Taue. Kawada's suplex attempts backfire, though, and suddenly the champions are double-teaming him to try the moonsault. The moonsault connects, but at 33:56 Kawada kicks out, and the champions are no longer able to win the match. Kobashi is through, and when Misawa sees the kick-out, he sees his miscalculation - it was not that Kawada was the wrong man to pin, and it was not that Kobashi was the weak link who would lose the titles - Misawa knew Kawada wanted revenge, but the revenge he wants has nothing to do with Kobashi's injury.
Part 4 - Fire
Misawa receives the tag and immediately starts trying for moves to put away Kawada - the tiger suplex is blocked, as is the tiger driver, but a German suplex and the second tiger suplex attempt connect for a very close count. The second tiger driver connects, but Kobashi is unable to run interference long enough, and Taue breaks the pin. As each successive pin attempt fails, Misawa's situation becomes more and more apparent - he is the London protagonist, struggling to build a fire with numbing hands as the snow and temperature continue to fall around him. There are simply too many things going against him - Taue's relative freshness compared to the other 3, Kobashi's ruined state, and Kawada's single-minded drive looming over everything.
It would have been simple for Kawada and Taue to eventually allow Misawa to tag Kobashi and score the easy victory on him, but there was no reason to take the easy path. They had beaten Kobashi for years. To Kawada, Misawa was the only prize that mattered, above the win, above inflicting pain on Kobashi's leg for what happened in December '93, above the tag titles. The pinfall was vindication - he was telling Misawa, telling the All Japan promotion, and telling the fans he was just as deserving of All Japan's top spot, just as credible a champion despite never beating Tsuruta in a big setting, just as capable of playing the no-nonsense face dominating the landscape. Being Tenryu's protege stole that chance from him, and now, 5 years after Tenryu's departure, not quite 3 years since Misawa's first successful Triple Crown defense over Kawada, and almost exactly 2 years since Kawada pinned Kobashi with a power bomb in their first tag meeting, the chance to defeat Misawa was materializing. Kobashi's injury simply made it easier to dispose of Kobashi and get to Misawa. And, as Taue's apron-to-floor Nodowa sends Misawa crashing to the ringside mats, the finish is obvious - the champion's struggle will not stop Kawada from pinning him.
Part 5 - Denouement
As with any story, loose ends must be tied up before the conclusion can arrive - Kobashi is still struggling, somehow, but a Nodowa/Back Drop combo sends him to the mat for the final time. Misawa throws elbows, trying to get the fire started again, but a jumping high kick knocks him senseless, and a high-angle power bomb leaves him frozen for the pin. The image of Kobashi vainly reaching out while Taue restrains him, an echo of their 6/93 match, will be burned in my mind forever. While Taue humbly accepts belts and trophies, Kawada slumps in the corner, having already received the only reward he wanted.
For me, this is the spectacle of wrestling: a match steeped in history, but also a match so great in its storytelling, so perfect in execution, that history isn't required to make it meaningful and memorable. Some people may think that the Sports Entertainment trend will be the end of stories, matches, and drama like this, but there's really no way that can happen. McMahon can ride his rocking horse all he wants, but he can never please his audience; they will always want more, they will never be satiated, and once they find something new to please them, wrestling will return to what made it worth watching in the first place - the spectacle. Unlike those fans, I am just happy with the inevitable. (42'37") *****, 7.5 Crunch.
---------
And, since I stole, I'll give props to Chris Coey and his site. He's an asshole, but a smart asshole...
And watch some damn puro, people!
- Hybrid - 04-15-2002
im gonna get me some waffles
- Sir O - 04-16-2002
Maybe you'll enjoy this one a bit more...
This time, we'll change gears take a look at Big Japan Pro Wrestling, which at its peak from about 1998-2000 was the best garbage federation ever to exist. Unfortunately, with the loss of Tomoaki Honma and injuries to Ryuja Yamakawa, along with a working relationship with CZW that did much more harm than good, they really haven't been as good. But, they do on occasion put out a diamond in the rough, such as the Barefoot Thumbtack Deathmatch from their Samurai TV show on 6/18/01, between veteran deathmatch wrestler Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and young rising star and overall psychopath Jun Kasai. The match is reviewed by Stuart Max of Wrestling Viewpoint!
Mitsuhiro Matsunaga vs. Jun Kasai in a Thumbtack Barefoot & CZW Caribbean-style Barbed Wire Death Match
Even in semi-retirement, Matsunaga continues to innovate these cutting edge Death Matches. This one sees barbed wire wrapped around the ropes, the old W*ING Caribbean Barbed Wire style that is usually outdated (since the No Rope Barbed Wire concept became the hip thing courtesy of Onita), but doesn't really matter in this match. That's because the main concept of this match sees a bed of several thousand thumbtacks in the center of the ring. This doesn't seem too bad, but when you consider neither guy is allowed to wear shoes OR socks, then everything becomes clear. These two had a couple of dangerous Death Matches last year that were crazy, Matsunaga winning both. Kasai wears the face bandanna and goggles. He takes off his pants, meaning he's going to wrestle in generic black wrestling tights and no kneepads. Mr. Danger follows to a big response from the cult audience. He carries a barbed wire bat and twirls it in the thumbtacks, causing a ton of them to stick to the bat. He leaves the bat in the center, wanting an even playing field. Kasai eats a banana and fittingly, gets yellow streamers from the crowd upon being introduced. Kasai is almost pulled into the tack bed instantly, but staggers back and takes a walk, pausing to eat some more banana. The two struggle near the board, both crouched down and fighting for territory. Matsunaga tries a kneeling ipponzei, but Kasai blocks. Kasai moves on to Matsunaga's back and is taken on a piggy back ride. Matsunaga walks over to the tack bed, trying to position Kasai for something. Kasai manages to push Matsunaga's head into the tacks for the briefest instant, but not too much damage appears to be done.
Matsunaga just lifts Kasai off his feet and walks over to the tack bed again, waving to the crowd. I keep expecting Matsunaga to throw Kasai over and back-first into the tacks, but what happens is even sicker than that. He just throws Kasai (bare) FEET-FIRST INTO THE THUMBTACKS! Kasai skips around like a little girl, howling in pain. He picks thumbtacks out of his feet! Matsunaga gets the barbed wire bat (full of thumbtacks remember) and hits Kasai with two shots to the back! Matsunaga then pours some thumbtacks into Kasai's mouth. He follows with a... punch! Imagine how Kasai feels after that, his gums pierced by razor-sharp tack ends. Matsunaga pours more tacks in Kasai's mouth, not done yet. Rather than punch this time, he drops Kasai with a hangman's neckbreaker! Again, imagine how Kasai feels, a bunch of thumbtacks going down his throat. Insanity. Mastunaga kicks some tacks out of the ring with his own bare feet. He lifts Kasai for a crucifix powerbomb, but the Crazy Monkey kicks and thrashes. Matsunaga ends up stepping in the thumbtack bed, allowing Kasai to drop down and dropkick said leg! Outside the ring, Kasai hits Matsunaga with a steel pole. They go on one of those lame and overdone arena tours, wandering through the corridors and not doing much. They go back to this ring where Jun Kasai finally tops anything else he's done. How is that possible? You have a guy who lost his mind long ago. You have a guy who lost his mind not so long ago. This man has bare feet and his mind is ever-full of ideas that the common human being would shudder fiercely just thinking about. And then you have ropes wrapped in barbed wire. Crazy Monkey will self-destruct in 5 seconds. Kasai twists Matsunaga's arm, holds on to it and hops up top. He then proceeds to do a ROPEWALK ACROSS THE BARBED WIRE! Kasai's face just screws up in total agony as he does it, but you know he loves it deep down. He hops off the ropes, probably leaving flesh on them in the process, and chop's Matsunaga's head.
Kasai grabs some tacks and then headbutt's them into Matsunaga's cranium! The Crazy Monkey puts a ton more thumbtacks in a baseball cap and then makes Matsunaga wear it. That's not enough though! Kasai grabs a chair and you know the rest. Smack! Kasai does a monkey dance then ruthlessly drops Mr. Danger in the thumbtack bed with a German suplex hold for 2 1/2! Matsunaga has a billion thumbtacks stuck in him by now. Kasai thinks logically for once, using a simple bodyslam on Matsunaga, which impales the icon some more. Kasai pours some tacks on Matsunaga's body and then goes up top. He puts on the goggles, salutes and hits a diving body press for 2! Kasai hurt himself as much as Matsunaga doing that, but he's TWELVE eggs short of a dozen. "More, more, more!". Kasai sunset flip's Matsunaga into the thumbtack bed for 2, meaning he himself ends up SAT IN THEM! You can imagine Kasai's response and he runs around the ring. The fans chant "Kasai!", but he tells them to shush. Kasai hits Matsunaga's foot with the barbed wire bat and does likewise to Mr. Danger's back. The fans chant "Danger!", getting behind Matsunaga now. Kasai sends Matsunaga off the ropes and swings the bat low, but Matsunaga hops over the swing, just managing to avoid jumping into the thumbtack bed again. Kasai just kicks him though and Matsunaga topples over into the thumbtacks. Both of them stand on some chairs next to the thumbtack bed and after some struggling, Matsunaga RUSSIAN LEGSWEEP'S KASAI OFF THE CHAIRS and to you-know-where meaning you-know-who ALSO gets impaled with more thumbtacks as he goes down with Kasai. Matsunaga goes back to 2000 and applies a W*ING Scorpion Deathlock, that being a Scorpion Deathlock with a barbed wire baseball bat added to the formula. Kasai is "stronger" now though and doesn't tap out. Matsunaga says "screw it" and decides to end it in a brand new creative method. He pours thumbtacks on every inch of the canvas, meaning there is NO escaping. He applies a Cobra Twist and takes Kasai down into GROUND ROLLING CRADLES AROUND THE RING! Like Pacman with dots, the thumbtacks are engulfed, with Pacman's mouth being their goddamn flesh! Matsunaga ceases the rolling cradles, leaving Kasai in a pinning predicament for the 3 count and win (19:42)!
Good... god! This wasn't the most insane match ever, but it was the most *creatively* insane match ever. These two just did everything they could think of to have the most entertaining non-workrate Death Match probably ever. The match wasn't totally devoid of workrate, which separates this match from many others, such as the previous one. The match had an inkling of build and continuing psychology from their previous matches as it was Mr. Danger vs. the guy who is pretty much outdoing Matsunaga (although take contexts into account; Matsunaga was doing balcony dives in 1992, when Kasai was in school). Besides the Korakuen Hall Tour Guide, this was thorough Matsunaga entertainment as his new disciple (even feuding on-screen, you know Kasai worships Matsunaga) took it to him. If there's one disappointing thing about this match, it's not the content, which exceeded my expectations because Matsunaga is washed up, but was bumping around like it was 1993 in this match. It was that Kasai has followed the left (decent) path rather than the right (good) or center (terrible) path. The center path is the path of John Zandig and Mad Man Pondo. Garbage wrestlers with no talent at all, who use gore simply to cover up their lack of talent. The center path is the path of Tomoaki Honma and Ryuji Yamakawa. Garbage wrestlers with the world of talent, who use gore as an *addition* to the match, not as the *entire* match. The center path is the medium and a broader path, where it's somewhat of a hybrid, not the elite level and not the hideous level. Kasai approaches the higher end of the middle path moreso than the lower end as he has a ton of natural talent, but only uses a half of it. This was one of the sickest, most insane, but also one of the most creative and entertaining Death Matches ever. You have to see it if you dig this type of stuff.
[*3/4]
Post-match angle has Zandig shaking hands with Matsunaga and saying, "Matsunaga, most dangerous!". Kasai isn't happy and exclaims, "No, no, no... me, most dangerous!". Zandig tries to make everyone happy and says, "Three most dangerous!". He attempts to lift their arms, but Kasai has none of it. Kasai grins and suddenly Pondo and Dahmer attack Zandig from behind. Zandig takes the two out and then says Kasai should respect Matsunaga. Kasai and Teioh have words, then backstage, Zandig preaches respect some more, then shouts "baka!" a couple of times.
- Spitfire - 04-16-2002
Death matches are cool :thumbs-up:
though I've only seen FMW ones....
too bad they don't let the chicks wrestle like they do in FMW, I've seen a couple insane matches put on by women (one with electrified barbwire) that was better than anything I've seen in US promotions
- Keyser Soze - 04-17-2002
I'm gonna go get some donuts. You want some donuts?