Quebrada #40

by Mike Lorefice (M.L.Liger@juno.com)

http://ohmygod.simplenet.com/quebrada

6/5/98

Starting with this column I'm capturing images from the matches I'm reviewing. I think it will help bring the match to life and illuminate some of the points I'm making. I can also show pictures of some of the spots that people may not know. Anyway, if you view the column from the webpage you can view roughly 60 images of the matches reviewed here.

AJ '97 Giant Series

Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams

10/11/97 Fukuoka Kokusai Center

From AJ '97 Giant Series Commercial Tape Volume 1

This was better than the debacle these two had for the TC on 3/1/97 at Budokan Hall, and it was a good match, but I still found this to be unacceptable for a TC match. Misawa worked really hard here, as always, but even the best have to have something to work with. Williams is a total disgrace as a top gaijin. His physical condition is miserable, but his total lack of desire is far more frustrating. His old antics don't work or get heat anymore, but he doesn't appear to care or have any desire to find something that will work. The sad thing is, AJ will miss him when he is gone because he's leaving too soon for them to elevate another gaijin into his spot. The departure of Williams means there will be a vacancy in the top gaijin spot, and who knows how long it will be before anyone can really fill it.

Williams won their last meeting, a Champion Carnival League Bout on 4/2/97, so that and his standing was enough to set up this title match. This was the first of Misawa's two Triple Crown defenses on this tour, so they picked an arena that doesn't get TC matches to host the lesser of the two and put the major defense at the home base in Tokyo. The crowd appeared to be grateful that they were getting a Triple Crown match, as they seemed excited during the ring introductions, but the excitement died as soon as the bell rang.

The first nine minutes were basically a waste, consisting of way too much dead time. This portion served to build boredom in the audience, rather than anticipation. At the 9:00 mark, Williams "injured" Misawa's knee by clipping it with a punch. Williams followed with one of the slowest and most pitifully applied scorpions you will ever see, but at least he got some heat when he refused to break the hold after Misawa grabbed the rope. Williams knee work was generally bad, as everything was done very slowly and deliberately. Basically it was good that Doc was concentrating on a body part, but watching Doc do it was totally uninteresting. The pinnacle of this badness came when Misawa was trapped in the corner and Doc did his best imitation of The Great Lazy. He just slowly kicked Misawa in the knee and then waited around before repeating the sequence. Maybe it's overkill for everyone to concentrate their offense on Misawa's neck, but if you are building to dangerous backdrops, and big suplexes are the only spots Doc does these days have any heat, wouldn't it make more sense for Doc to weaken Misawa's neck before attempting these spots?

Misawa came back at 13:00, turning Williams press slam into a really nice DDT. He tested his leg and it was good enough to go, so he began mounting his offensive. Misawa hit his elbow suicida, but Williams came back by turning Misawa's running elbow into a spinebuster on the arena floor. Williams worked for his backdrop driver, but as soon as he had Misawa set up for it, Misawa scrambled to the ropes for dear life. Williams tried for the backdrop driver again, but Misawa switched it. Misawa tried to make a comeback, but Williams caught him off the ropes with a powerslam and followed with a released Tiger suplex, which both sold. The match probably would have worked better if it started with a released Tiger suplex by Doc because they needed a hot spot early to get the crowd into the match as well as develop the neck storyline. A dangerous backdrop would also work for getting the crowd into it, but with Doc's small move set, there would be nothing for them to build to. One of the great things about Misawa is that he has such a deep move set. He can roll out a Tiger driver at the 5 minute mark sometimes and it gets the crowd, who might have otherwise waited for the big spots later in the match to make noise, to start popping. There was a weak Misawa chant that didn't exactly compare to the support he usually gets. Williams tried to invent the dangerous backdrop off the apron, but Misawa stopped it and elbowed Williams off the apron to the floor.

Williams regained control, giving the cut throat sign to no reaction before using a suichoku rakka (verticle drop) brainbuster and his Doctor bomb for a not so hot near fall. Williams finally hit his dangerous backdrop just before 19:30, with Misawa escaping to the floor. Williams rolled him back into the ring about a minute later, but Misawa had recovered enough by now to kick out a 2 3/4.	Misawa came back with elbows, which both sold. He used more elbows and his Tiger driver, but it wasn't enough to put Williams away. Misawa applied his facelock, and this late in the match it actually had a chance to be the finish, but it did nothing but kill the heat. Williams tried to come back with a punch, but Misawa cut him off with a series of elbows for a near fall. Finally, Misawa did Tiger drivers in succession for the win.

Typically Misawa's Triple Crown matches are more enjoyable when the opposition is on offense because they are pushing him and he is selling superb, but that wasn't the case here. This was only worth whatever Misawa put into it and was able to get out of Doc, and Williams did nothing but take the match down. Williams didn't screw anything up in the sense of blowing spots, but he just doesn't have it anymore. His big "improvement" here was that he seemed to have all his faculties, so he was able to answer Misawa this time. It was also an "improvement" that he attempted to work a body part so they could extend the match (read, he killed time early). This match would have worked a lot better if it was 15 minutes long and Williams opened with neck work that would have lead to his killer suplexes. Certainly 24 minutes, even with the very slow pacing, was too much for Doc, as he was gassed for the finish. 24:21. ***

Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi

10/21/97 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

From AJ '97 Giant Series Commercial Tape Volume 1

All Japan picked this as their 1997 match of the year. It was a hell of a match between two of the best wrestlers on the planet. It had all the elements that make the top AJ matches great, although the stiffness was more super than normal. What set this match apart was that it had the best high spots you'll see in a heavyweight match. Misawa eliminated most of Kobashi's flaws, particularly instilling the psychology and selling to ensure the match never "degenerated" to merely off the charts work. The main psychology was a continuation of what we've seen in all of Misawa's key matches since late March 1997, trying to debilitate Misawa's injured neck, but Kobashi may have even surpassed the all out neck attack we saw from Kawada in the classic 6/6/97 TC match. The neck attack especially made sense for Kobashi because decapitating Misawa with his lariat finisher would give him the best chance of taking the TC. From the standpoint of what the wrestlers did, this match had everything and then some. What was surprising was that these two had a hard time getting heat. The problem seemed to be that after the 42+ minute epic these two had the last time they had a TC match (1/20/97), the fans were positive that this was going to be a long match as well.

The steaks here were incredibly high. This wasn't just for the Triple Crown, which is certainly enough in its own right, but we were going to see a first one way or the other. For Kobashi, a win meant he finally would beat Misawa in a TC match. It would be sweet revenge after Misawa ended Kenta's first TC reign so quickly (just a win over Stan and a draw with Kawada). It would also mean that he was 2-0-1 in his last three matches against Misawa, which is awesome success against present day Misawa. A win for Misawa would make him the first wrestler to ever successfully defend the Triple Crown twice on the same tour.

Kobashi got the first advantage with his discus chop, but he didn't follow with a neck move and his advantage was short lived. He got the advantage again, turning Misawa's spin kick into a backdrop, but this time he immediately followed by dropping Misawa on his head with a released half nelson German suplex. Misawa escaped to the floor, but Kobashi followed him out and worked for his powerbomb, only to have Misawa turn it into a corbata at the last minute. Misawa then crushed Kobashi with his running elbow, the finisher of their 1/20/97 match, so it was Kobashi who wound up doing the long selling on the floor. Misawa's attack was so stiff and crisp, and interestingly enough, many of his spots focused on Kobashi's neck. I would have liked to see Misawa start working Kobashi's knee or thigh here, but he picked a better time to begin that attack. Kobashi's selling isn't tremendous, but he made a concerted effort here to put Misawa's spots over big, including selling Misawa's elbow suicida for a long time before Misawa pressed forward. Misawa went to his facelock, and even after the earlier neck spots to set it up, it had the heat of a chinlock in ECW.

Kobashi came back with a chop to the neck. He suplexed Misawa over the top rope to the floor, which really popped the crowd, but Misawa landed on his feet and took Kobashi's majorly bandaged up thigh out with an elbow. These bandages were so thick that they could have passed for a cast. With the shape Kobashi's knees and thigh were in here, it's amazing he could still work at a high level, much less deliver a classic. Misawa immediately followed by attempting to backdrop Kobashi off the apron, but Kobashi switched it. Both men were selling the previous damage to the point where they looked like battle weary warriors, and it was less than 10 minutes into the match. Kobashi dusted off his plancha for a big pop. It's a special move for him these days, and they put it over as such. Kenta then hobbled around while rolling Misawa into the ring for a near fall. Kobashi went back to the neck, applying a ground no henkei no manji gatame (version of the octopus on the mat). As tremendous as this match had been, you could just feel that the fans had seen so much greatness from these guys in the past that they were burned out. It was like watching AJW in 1996. You could sense the league was withering before everyone's eyes. It hadn't completely withered yet though, so greatness could still be achieved, but it didn't generate the excitement it had in years past

Misawa tried to come back with elbows, but Kobashi fired back with chops to the neck and won the exchange. Kenta's chops to Misawa's neck in this match were just excellent. They really had snap on them and looked totally realistic. They were also Kenta's motif, as he would use them every time Misawa tried to comeback in hopes that reinjuring Misawa's neck would allow him to immediately cut Misawa off. Kobashi launched an all out neck attack with the running neckbreaker drop, a great DDT, and even a facelock of his own, the latter of which had as little heat as Misawa's did earlier. Kobashi tried a dangerous released ½ nelson German suplex on the floor, but the ref actually helped stop it because it was so dangerous, and Misawa grabbed the security rail for dear life. Kobashi used guillotine legs on Misawa until he let go of the guard rail, at which time Kobashi hit a beautiful dangerous released ½ nelson German suplex on the floor! Kobashi rolled Misawa back into the ring, but Misawa escaped right back out. Kobashi punished Misawa with another guillotine leg for his trouble then got him back in the ring for a near fall. Misawa's selling of his neck was tremendous, and Kobashi's neck attack was getting fiercer, like a shark who sensed blood.

Just when you thought Misawa was in critical condition, he turned Kobashi's powerbomb into a huracan rana. Kobashi no-sold this, kicking out before two and running over to chop Misawa in the neck. I didn't have a problem with this no-sell because a huracan rana isn't a big move or a finisher in AJ rings. However, if Kobashi did the same no-sell spot in Mexico, I might be throwing something at the TV. The no-sell allowed Kobashi to retain control, and he successfully executed his powerbomb and jackknife hold for a near fall. A big Misawa chant erupted, but his efforts to turn the match around with elbows failed miserably.

Misawa finally regained control with a spinning kick to Kobashi's face. Kobashi did the same thing as before, barely selling it and trying to retain control with the chop, but Misawa was ready for it this time. He blocked Kobashi's chop and laid Kobashi out with a rolling elbow. Misawa raised the bar on his dives, hitting an elbow suicida off the top to the floor. Misawa worked for his Tiger driver. He put everything he had into getting it off, but still failed. However, he eventually executed one for a near fall.

Kobashi avoided Misawa's finishers, eventually coming back by ducking the rolling elbow and dropping Misawa on his head with a released German suplex. Both men got up at the same time and ran at each other, seemingly looking for the lariat and running elbow finishers, but Kobashi wound up with a sleeper. Kobashi fought and fought for a powerbomb. When he finally got the powerbomb, it turned out to be an addition to his neck wrecking arsenal because he slammed Misawa's head square into the top turnbuckle! Kobashi followed with two dangerous released ½ nelson German suplexes, and the place was rocking as they counted "1....2..." but Misawa got his foot on the ropes. Kobashi was feeling the emotion of the crowd looking for the upset. After Misawa cut him off the first time, Kobashi was able to dust off his old moonsault finisher and he came within a fraction of a second of finally lifting the Triple Crown from Misawa.

Kobashi once again used neck chops to thwart Misawa's attempt to turn the match around with elbows. Kobashi tried to end it with his lariat, but Misawa stopped all three of Kobashi's attempts and finally came back with elbows. Misawa used his rarely used #2 finisher the Tiger suplex '85, but both men sold and he was unable to make a cover. Kobashi tried to comeback, but Misawa elbowed him when he tried for the lariat. Kobashi was extremely persistent though, using several more neck chops to set up the lariat, which Misawa once again stopped with an elbow.

Kobashi and Misawa charged at each other from opposite corners, with their lariat and running elbow respectively, and both hit their finisher in a collision of epic proportions. Both men sold this huge and the crowd was really hot. They got to their feet at the same time, showing the finishers did equal damage, with Kobashi winning the exchange again, but Misawa avoiding the lariat again and hitting a dragon suplex, rolling elbow, and a Tiger driver that still wasn't enough to put Kobashi away. Misawa decided to go to what worked on 1/20/97, the running elbow, but Kobashi still managed to kick out at 2 9/10. Misawa was frustrated now, and he continued to try to knock Kobashi out, but Kobashi no sold Misawa's rolling elbow and decapitated him with a lariat. The lariat was the finisher when Kobashi finally beat Misawa on 3/28/97, but Misawa kicked out by a fraction of a second this time. Kobashi fired up and tried for another lariat, as it actually took several lariats to do the trick on 3/28/97, but Misawa stopped it and laid Kobashi out with a rolling elbow. Misawa was too drained to cover Kobashi, so he eventually just dragged him up. However, Kobashi came back with a koppou kick.

They went back to the lariat and running elbow spot again twice in a row, with Kobashi running into the elbow both times. Kobashi was still able to kick out, and still tried to come back with chops to the neck, but now Misawa's strikes were the stronger of the two, and he was winning the battles because of that. Kobashi tried to fight off the Tiger driver, but ran out of strength, and Misawa dropped him on his head with the Tiger driver '91! Misawa slowly crawled over to Kobashi and covered him. On 1/20, Kobashi became the first and only person to ever kick out of the Tiger driver '91. Could Kobashi show the ultimate resilience and kick out of this move again? 1....2....3. Nope, Kobashi KO'd, so the deadliness of the move was reasserted. Misawa became the first man to ever defend the TC twice on the same tour! Both men lied there on their back out of it for more than 2 minutes before Misawa finally made it to all fours. They were totally spent, and looked like they had barely survived a world war as they were helped to the dressing room.

Just a super match with unbelievable moves, perfect execution, major stiffness, and on and on. This was named 1997 Match of the Year by Tokyo Sports, beating out their 1/20 match by a 16-6 margin. The 1/20 match was actually the better of the two, as that seems to be the 2nd best men's heavyweight singles match ever (trailing Misawa vs. Kawada 6/3/94), but this was a classic in its own right. It showed the diverse talents of the two performers, as they pretty much combined the best aspects of heavyweight and junior wrestling. Hardly anyone can wrestle one match that's worth *****, but these two are on the level that they can have two very different matches with each other during the same year that are both on the highest possible level. This was a great match on television, but in unedited form on the commercial tape it's absolutely a must see. 32:55. *****

This match and Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada 6/6/97 are very close in excellence and appear to have been the 2nd and 3rd best matches of 1997 (Liger vs. Otani 2/9/97 might be better than one or both in unedited form). One thing that cheapens a comparison between the two is that the 3/28/97 match where Kobashi gets his first win over Misawa was only seen by those in attendance. One of the things that made the 1997 Kawada vs. Misawa matches so great is that each one picked up where the last one left off. Kawada used the same strategy, being incredibly aggressive and really taking it to Misawa in all three matches. During the Carny league bout, the strategy worked in that he got the better of the match, but time ran out before he could put Misawa away. During the Carny final, Misawa came into the match injured and tired from just being extended to a 30:00 draw with Kobashi, so aggressive Kawada just totally dominated him and made short work of him (granted, they totally misfired on the booking of this match). On 6/6, Kawada came out aggressive again and tried to end it early. It took two rolling reverse elbows, the move Misawa beat Kawada with in their 7/24/95 TC match, and a regular elbow for Misawa to merely get his first advantage. However, in the end, it was the resilience of the mighty champion that rose to the top despite all the devastating moves he suffered during the match. Any mention of the finish brings to mind the clearest edge of the Kobashi match, the perfect finish of could he do it again and the superb way the finisher was reestablished. Even without considering the great post match, this certainly tops the bizarre anticlimactic finish of the 6/6 Kawada match where the match continued for one more move after Kawada was seemingly pinned. The Misawa vs. Kobashi matches we saw from 1997 have a fresher look to them though because the diversity of Kobashi allows them to work matches that have more of a different look to them. However, 6/6 was a new match in its own right, and it's more impressive that Misawa and Kawada can have a new match together after all this time. The storyline of 6/6 is stronger than 10/21. It's an excellent combination of the new and the old that perfectly captures where both men were at that moment in their careers. The Kawada match had the advantage of the neck attack being fresher, which made Misawa coming from all those dangerous backdrops even more impressive. Both Kawada & Kobashi destroyed Misawa's neck, but Kawada first set out to take away Misawa's elbow arm. This was a really good strategy because it's an attempt by Kawada to take away the weapon that always leads to his demise. Misawa's selling of his injured elbow arm was great, but I wish Kawada wouldn't have left the arm so soon after failing to put Misawa away with his juji gatame. In any case, Misawa & Kawada are the two best when it comes to selling, and that was a big advantage of the 6/6 match. Of all the great things about 6/6, the selling, which Hadi says is unparalleled, is what really made the match for me. One of the reasons the selling was better on 6/6 is that Kawada's facials are awesome, while Kenta's are not what they were when he was the young babyface and he doesn't have much diversity to them so we are used to seeing them. The Kawada match had by far the better heat, with the crowd reacting to basically everything. The Kawada match really should have had the better heat though because Kawada is much more of a Misawa peer than #4 native Kobashi. I also liked the fact that Kawada was able to use the suichoku rakka brainbuster to the triangle hold, both new spots for him, and get the crowd to buy it as a potential finish because that was the finish of 4/29/96 Takada vs. Hashimoto match. Any mention of moves though brings to mind the huge edge of the Kobashi match, the diversity of the moves over the repetition of the record number of dangerous backdrops we saw on 6/6. Ever more impressive than the diversity was their ability to incorporate these high spots, especially the ones that are predominantly junior moves, into the context of their match. Any mention of the context of the match though brings to mind that the psychology of the Kawada match was far superior. Misawa & Kawada are simply the two best psychologists in the world. Even though the Kobashi match was great at incorporating the high spots, the timing was better in the Kawada match. 10/21 was far more glamourous, but 6/6 was believable, especially with the incredible level of stiffness. The stiffness was tremendous in both matches, but the Kawada match had the edge there. Overall, 6/6 Misawa vs. Kawada is the better match, and appears to be the 2nd best match of 1997.

Mike, "We saw the best Misawa vs. Kawada on 6/3/94 and the best Misawa vs. Kobashi on 1/20/97. Both 6/6/97 and 10/21/97 were the best 'seconds' you'll find."

Hadi, "Those 'seconds' are better than anyone else's 'firsts,' which signifies the greatness of these three workers."

AJ '97 Real World Tag Team League

'97 Real World Tag Team League Final:	Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Kawada & Akira Taue

12/5/97 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

From AJ '97 Real World Tag Team League Special Highlight Commercial Tape

This was a rematch of last year's final. It was definitely a tremendous match, the requisite year end classic, but it was clearly not as good as last year's. Of course, falling short of arguably the 2nd best men's tag match of all-time is nothing to be ashamed of. There were many reasons the match fell a little short, most of which had little to do with this as an isolated match. The storyline of this match was way down from last year, but it really had to be. Last year's match played off and summed up the series of matches the two teams had that year, as well as a portion of AJ history going back as far as 1988. The teams didn't have any series this year, so there wasn't much to play off and nothing to sum up. They just had the one match in the league portion, which they did play off of, but the depth of storyline wasn't there. The depth in All Japan has continually declined since the matches moved from psychology to spots. They pushed ring work more than they had in years past and the work was super, crisp execution, great bump taking, stiffness, working to get the holds off instead of just doing the spots, the whole 9 yards. The timing wasn't as good though, but that kind of goes hand in hand with the decline in storyline and psychology.

In a sense, Kawada & Taue didn't really have anything to prove because they had won the tag league last year and they had defeated Misawa & Akiyama in the first rematch a week earlier. However, for Kawada, it takes more than a couple wins over Misawa in tag to make up for the years that he and Kobashi dominated this tournament, as well as a career of finishing 2nd best. In the league bout on 11/28/97, they really exploited Akiyama's injured ribs and he eventually succumbed to Kawada's stretch plum. Kawada & Taue didn't want to defeat a team that wasn't 100% in the finals. It seemed that they were going to be good sports and not exploit the young punk's ribs, but Jun pissed off Kawada and that was the end of Kawada & Taue being nice.

You could see the difference in Jun just by the way he carried himself. He had grown up a lot over the past year and he really looked like he belonged in this match. Misawa wanted Jun to grow up as much as possible. He expected more of him now than he ever had before and he wasn't going to save him left and right, although in some cases he was unable to save Jun even if he wanted to. One way or the other, the match was going to be decided by whether injured Akiyama could hold up his end.

You could tell from the buzz of the crowd that this final wasn't as anticipated as last years final and as finals of years past. Even though it had been a while, these fans had seen this match before. The crowd was still into seeing the match, maybe even pumped up for it, but the heat was definitely down.

Misawa & Kawada had their first confrontation at 2:30 with Kawada throwing several stiff blows. However, they just raised the ire of Misawa, who came back with a series of elbows, the last of which "injured" Kawada. Kawada tried to slam Jun then punt him, but Jun knew the spot well and saved his ribs by standing up as quickly as he could to avoid the kick. Jun took control and punted Kawada's in the back when he was down like Kawada always does to everyone else.

Misawa & Kawada dueled elbows, but Kawada won this exchange by switching to chops and a koppou kick to Misawa's bad neck. Kawada felt the effects of Misawa's blows though, immediately crawled over and tagged Taue, who began what would turn into a fierce neck attack doing things like dropping Misawa on the top turnbuckle with his nodowa otoshi. Misawa tried to come back after Kawada rocked him with strikes in the corner, but Kawada stopped him cold with a pinpoint knee drop to the back on the neck. Kawada put Misawa in the stretch plum, but Jun came in and started punching Kawada. The ref told Jun to stop, so Jun elbowed the ref out of his way and repeated slapped Kawada across the face. Kawada started Jun down after the hold was broke, and you could tell Jun was in for it the next time Kawada got a hold of him.

Taue tried to nodowa otoshi Misawa off the apron, but Misawa stopped it and ultra Tiger dropped (somersault body block) Taue off the apron. When Taue tried to reenter the ring, Akiyama knocked him to the floor with a running elbow. He then tried to running elbow Kawada to the floor, but Kawada jumped off the apron and gave Jun another one of those looks.

Akiyama & Kawada finally met in the ring at 11:30, and Jun took the advantage trying to put Kawada in his own juji gatame. However, Kawada avoided it and everything else on the mat was back and forth. Kawada turned Jun's rolling elbow into an ipponzeoi and tried to kick Jun when he got up, but Jun caught his leg and Dragon screwed him. Kawada sold this big, putting over a leg "injury."

Kawada regained the offensive, slamming Jun and punting him in the injured ribs for the first time in the match. This "injured" Jun, but Kawada was hurting as well and he fell to his knees because his leg "gave out" as he was going to the corner to tag Taue. Taue continued working on Jun's ribs. Kawada tagged back in and did footstomps to the ribs, including one off the apron after Taue had slammed Jun on the floor. Misawa just stood on the apron while Kawada & Taue were destroying his partner's ribs. Taue DDT'd Jun, with Jun taking the bump directly on the top of his head like Misawa. Taue tried to whip Jun into the ropes, but Jun collapsed so Taue covered him. Misawa appeared to be coming in for the save, but Taue and referee Kyouhei Wada discouraged him, so he just encouraged Jun to kick out. Jun tried to come back with a kneecap dropkick, but Taue made it to his corner first and tagged Kawada, who not only stopped Jun from tagging, but launched a fierce attack on Jun's ribs. Jun came back with an elbow just before the 20 minute mark and stretched as far as he could, just reaching Misawa for the tag.

Misawa came in and cleaned house. He got a series of near falls on Kawada, but Kawada avoided the Tiger suplex, the move Misawa beat him with in their 10/21/92 Triple Crown match, and the German suplex, the move Misawa beat him with in their 6/6/97 Triple Crown match. Taue dropped Misawa on his head with a released German suplex, but Misawa summed up his remaining strength and put Taue down with an elbow. This gave Misawa enough time to make the tag, and upon doing so, he collapsed.

Jun came in, probably sooner than he would have "liked to," selling his ribs heavily and took control of Taue. Jun's selling of his bad ribs was excellent in this match. He continues to develop all around, while Kobashi is awesome in some areas but never gets better in others. Jun's ribs weren't strong enough to execute his Northern Lights suplex, so the injury cost him the advantage for a while. He regained control when Kawada was in, catching him with his jumping knee attack and two exploders, the latter of which Taue made the save on. Jun took Taue out with an exploder then Misawa & Jun double teamed Kawada, culminating with Misawa successfully executing the German suplex for a near fall.

Jun controlled Taue, getting a near fall on him with a German suplex, but Kawada saved with a kick to Jun's wide-open ribs. Misawa put Kawada down with elbows and tried to roll Jun to their corner so he could tag in. However, Taue caught Misawa from behind with a kick to the neck then released German suplexed Jun back into the center of the ring. Taue then tagged Kawada, who came in and just destroyed Jun while Misawa was down selling the kick to the neck. Kawada powerbombed Jun, but Misawa finally got up and made the save. Kawada gave Misawa a high kick then jumping guri (jumping high kick that is like an enzuiguri except it isn't enzui because it's to the front of the head) for his trouble, and the announcer said, "Misawa down! Down! Down!" It looked bad for Jun as Misawa was selling on the floor and Kawada had him in the stretch plum, the move Jun lost to in the league bout. Kawada released the stretch plum and made the cover, but Jun just kicked out. Kawada lariated Jun then folded him over, trapping both legs, but Jun kicked out at 2 9/10. Taue came in and hit his dynamic bomb, but Misawa got up and made the last second save. Kawada immediately blind sided Misawa with a kick to the neck, but Misawa came back countering Kawada & Taue's powerbomb/nodowa otoshi spot with a corbata to Kawada & an arm drag to Taue. Great counter! Misawa laid both opponents out with elbows then left things up to Jun. Misawa had done his part, having a hot sequence when he wasn't even the legal man to buy time for Jun to recover. Jun was still really hurting though.

Taue nodowa otoshi'd Jun, but when he tried a second nodowa otoshi, Jun stopped it and exploder'd him. Jun was too gassed to even make strides toward a tag. He tried another exploder, but the fresher Taue out powered him and turned it into his nodowa otoshi. Jun staggered to his feat where he was helpless prey. Taue immediately KO'd Jun with his jumping high kick. Misawa didn't attempt to make the save and Wada counted 1...2...3. Kawada & Taue had captured the Real World Tag Team League for the 2nd straight year! There was no big celebration by Kawada and Taue in the ring. They had done it before, and they knew they were still the best. They had the ceremonial drink in the locker room for the photographers, but that was about it. One would think that the combination of the win over Ace and scoring the pin in the tag final would propel Taue to a title shot, but this is a company run by the senile so they gave the next title shot to the loser instead of the winner. Like Dave Meltzer wrote, if I was filling out my Observer ballot right now, I would give this match of the year. 30:52. ****3/4

AJ '98 New Year's Giant Series

All Japan Pro Wrestling 30 2/1/98 taped 1/26 Osaka Furitsu Gym

Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama. This was much better than their September TC match. The work was tremendous. Misawa's selling was also tremendous, as always, making Jun's selling look pretty weak in comparison. However, the main difference was just how much Jun has improved and grown up since their last meeting. The main psychology was Jun trying to debilitate Misawa's neck, a continuation of the injury he gave Misawa in last year's Champion Carnival. The storyline of the match was to show that Jun has got to the point where he has a legitimate chance to beat anyone at any time. The storyline was a logical continuation of their last match, but the storyline of their last match was faulty because they tried to play it like Jun was a contender when he wasn't at that point yet. By having Jun be too competitive in his first Triple Crown match then having his second Triple Crown match come so soon, he had to once again be more competitive than he had a right to be. It made for a great match, but if this continues the point where Jun can't gain anything in a loss to the top guys will be reached to soon. As far as the match itself goes, both the storyline and the psychology really worked even though they were standard. Even though Jun came into this match with no push, he was so over from the get go. The fans were chanting Misawa and Akiyama's names before the match started, and their support was about equal, so you heard some interesting sounding things like "Misayama."

The opening was really hot and excellent. They did great spots, but the execution of everything was so tremendous that you could mark out for a headscissors because the transition into it was so good. Unlike their September TC match, Akiyama was really aggressive here, coming out with all guns blazing and hitting his jumping knee attack, which lead to teases of both men's finishers. Akiyama dropkicked Misawa off the top to the floor for a big pop, and Misawa began selling his neck. Misawa tried to come back with a running elbow, but Jun flattened him with a lariat. Akiyama tried his diving elbow, but Misawa elbowed him in midair. Misawa's forearm was hurt on this, so he sold the damage as well. Misawa made the most of every second he was on offense, using the down time to sell his forearm injury. Jun blocked Misawa's Tiger driver, then turned Misawa's running elbow into his exploder. Misawa escaped to the floor, but Jun followed him out and hit a deadly tombstone on the floor.

Jun took it to the mat at 4:45, applying a figure 4 headscissors, since he doesn't have any submissions moves that are over, to further the psychology of debilitating the neck. The facials of both men during this spot, but more so Jun, were pretty nonexistent. The spot would have been more effective if Jun showed that he was really trying to either win or further injure Misawa with this hold. The result of the weak presentation of the move, was that a rapid crowd suddenly got very quite. Jun's neckbreakers worked, but his reverse chinlock was the same problem as the figure 4 headscissors, and the front facelock didn't advance the match at all.

Misawa tried to comeback with a reverse rolling elbow to the throat, but Jun weakly sold it, then had a sudden recovery and went back on the offensive. Misawa tried to come back with his regular elbow, but Jun stopped it and used Misawa's own Tiger driver on him, with Misawa kicking out at 1. Jun elbowed Misawa, but Misawa's gave Jun a priceless look saying, "I'm the one who knocks punks out in these rings, kid."

Misawa did his only sequence of matwork in the match, and like Jun's short mat sequence earlier, this didn't work either. The reverse chinlock was a rest hold and the crowd reacted as such, not even getting hot when he turned it into the famous facelock. Misawa needs to either lose the facelock or beat someone notable with it to get the heat back on that spot.

The match picked up just after the 11-minute mark with Misawa's elbows, and stayed hot for the duration. Jun came back catching Misawa off the ropes in spinebuster position, but dropping him on his neck instead, which Misawa sold incredibly well. Akiyama popped the crowd with his rolling lariat, and followed with his Northern Light suplex for a near fall. He teased another Tiger driver, using the pedigree instead. Misawa got up on one knee cringing in pain with his hand on his neck, only to have Jun crush him with a diving enzui elbow. After they teased it once, Jun got a rolling German suplex, which he soon turned into his blue thunder for a hot near fall. There were more loud chants for both men. Misawa tried to come back with his elbow again, but Jun once again fought off the famous Misawa comeback. Jun tried another exploder, but Misawa countered it.

Jun got so aggressive that he was caught with a back body drop to the floor. Misawa attacked Jun on the floor with his elbow suicida and an awesome slingshot splash plancha, the later of which goes back to his Tiger Mask II days (I think Sayama invented the spot). However, the highlight may have been Misawa's senton because it resulted in great selling by Jun, making this face that looked like he had a really bad case of indigestion, which was the peak of Jun's selling in this match. Misawa was working pretty fast for him during his comeback, but nothing close to what Kanemoto or Otani do, and he was still selling the previous damage when Jun was down. Jun was able to kick out of Misawa's German suplex, then both sold.

Jun came back with a Dragon screw that wasn't that impressive, and both sold again. Jun's next barrage of moves to Misawa's bad neck began when he cut Misawa off on the 2nd rope, got Misawa on his shoulder, and dropped Misawa forward onto his head. Jun followed with another great, superbly executed addition to his arsenal, doing a Jumbo suplex (powerbomb position into an overhead throw, named after Jumbo Hori) but throwing Misawa face first onto the top turnbuckle for a big pop. Jun immediately dropped Misawa on his head with a dangerous released German suplex for another big pop. All these big spots to the neck were working because Jun's credibility was increasing to the point the fans believed, to the extent that you ever can when Misawa is in the match, that Jun might win. Jun hit yet another jumping knee attack for an even bigger pop. Jun then hit his exploder and covered, with the house ready to come down if the ref's hand went down for three, but Misawa kicked out at 2 9/10. Another exploder! 1....2....9/10 again. Another chant of both names erupted from the audience as Jun paused to figure out what he could possibly do to beat the man. He still had one major spot left, the one that injured Misawa last year, and that is what Jun tried. He set up the nadare shiki no exploder (exploder off the top), but Misawa fought it off and Jun had to settle for an overhead bodylock superplex. Jun, like Kawada in June, pulled out a suichoku rakka DDT, covering Misawa twice in a row, but he still couldn't get over the hump.

Jun was really frustrated now because he's used everything he can think of on Misawa. He tried yet another exploder, but Misawa countered by kind of turning it into a cartwheel. It didn't work the way it was supposed to, but it was ample enough to set Misawa on his way to comeback by flattening Jun with his rolling elbow. Both sold after this spot, of course, because Misawa had plenty of previous damage to put over and Jun was nearly KO'd by one huge shot. Misawa got his revenge, dropping Jun on his neck with a high impact version of the side suplex drop. Misawa hit his Tiger driver, which had always been enough to beat Jun, but this time Jun not only kicked out, but came back with a belly-to-belly suplex and tried for the KO. Misawa fired back though with more powerful elbows, putting Jun down, but Jun was still "conscious" enough to kick out. Misawa, seeing that Jun had withstood two of his favorite finishers in a row, as well as a German suplex earlier, decided it was time to raise the bar. He invented a new finisher, called the Misawa special, which he set up kind of like a running powerslam, but dropped Akiyama straight down on his head like a Northern Lights bomb.

Jun lost, but was really over by doing as much as he possibly could, really more than the fans could have asked for, to beat Misawa. He threw so much out that they made the match great, but the match would have worked better in the grand scheme of things if he wasn't so competitive. Jun can still push Misawa further on offense, but most of the improvement that is left for him to show in future matches is showing he can withstand more of a beating. The fact that Misawa had to create a special move to beat Jun makes the match notable and shows just how tough Jun has become. It also shows that the booking is screwed up because going from winning with the Tiger driver to having to create a new move is like skipping step B, C, D, & E and just jumping from step A to step F. 23:09. ****1/2

'98 Excite Series

All Japan Pro Wrestling 30 3/1/98	taped 2/28 Tokyo Nippon Budokan

Triple Crown: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Johnny Ace. This was a very good, yet completely senseless match. Ace really had no business being in a title match because he has never beat a member of the big 4. He had his chance last October when he met Taue on the undercard of Misawa vs. Kobashi, but they gave Taue the win for God only knows what reason. They heated Ace up after announcing his title shot, but he still couldn't pin Misawa in tag. He came into this match with little credibility, yet if you showed this match to someone who knew nothing of AJ, you could pass Ace off as a mega-star outsider coming in to challenge Misawa for the belts. It's not that Ace was great, very over, or looked like a star. It's that the role he played in this match was made for either a guy who has been turned back many times before and he needs to really push Misawa past the limit before he jobs to stay strong or someone in their first challenge that is a major star and world champion of another promotion, like a Vader. They were so concerned that Ace would look credible before jobbing that they set the bar in his first TC shot about 3 feet higher than it should have been. He was able to clear it the first time, but 2 or 3 times down the road, who knows? The booking worked in the manner it was supposed to, as Ace got pops for his spots and the crowd "believed" he might win on a few occasions. However, the match was a failure on a number of levels.

This was supposed to be a match of the year candidate. You don't have guys out there rolling out new dangerous spots in a 33 minute Triple Crown match if you are looking for anything less. Ace failed to show that he could reach the top level. His stamina is so lacking. His facials are both goofy and laughable. His judgement is still questionable because he puts himself in positions where he looks bad because he is somewhat clumsy and doesn't have the athleticism he once had. They failed to give all of this to Ace for a real purpose. Health is a real issue in AJ these days and you can't look past the fact that this match was way too tolling on Misawa's body. When you put Misawa through the meat grinder, there better be a reason for it. What was the end to their means? Oh yeah, it was another mediocre showing by Ace in the Carny. He still can't beat Kobashi or Stan. Since the bar for this match was set so high, he showed regress by failing to take an even more banged up Misawa this deep again, which would have meant drawing him. He also fell behind Jun. Now he did get some things like his first win over Taue and a draw vs. Kawada, but they more things that kept him competitive than things that showed he was taking it to the next level. If this match had been used to elevate Ace to the next level, then I could have tolerated it. However, the push Ace got in this match at the expense of Misawa's health was a meaningless single match push.

The match itself had a lot of good and bad. There were many spots that looked tremendous and got big pops, but there were also many that looked so weak for a TC match. As with all the gaijins in AJ, Ace can't come close to matching the native challengers. Among other things, the stiffness and execution were way down when compared to Misawa's matches against Kawada & Kobashi.

The first big spot came when Misawa tried his elbow suicida, but Ace kicked him in midair. Both men sold this huge, with Misawa continually trying to shake his bad neck into place. Misawa's bad neck played right into Ace's hands because all his big moves are meant to damage the neck. Ace would put Misawa's neck to the test even more than Akiyama did in January. They fought over a suplex with Misawa suplexing Ace over the top, but Ace very clumsily landing on the apron to counter. Ace then jumped off the apron and planted Misawa's head on it for tremendous DDT! Misawa fought off Ace's new Ace crusher off the apron, but Ace got it off the second time, though it didn't look nearly as good as you would expect.

The matwork, most of which seemed to be edited out, was so obviously just a bunch of rest holds that not even one fan was fooled into popping for any of it. Misawa stopped Ace's slow wheel kick in the corner and pushed him over the top rope to the apron, which looked bad because Ace got stuck on the top rope. Ace quickly jumped off the apron doing a great Ace crusher where Misawa's neck was clotheslined by the top rope for a big pop and hot near fall. Misawa took the offensive for a little while, but Ace came back by catching his high cross body then dumping him over the top to the floor.

You could tell Ace was gassed because he started getting slow on the less important spots like his high kicks. While some of the blame needs to fall on Ace for not being in close to top condition, it was obvious this was going to happen given that it was a high profile match of this length. Thus, it's obvious to anyone that, as with Hase, there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for putting them out there this long. It is supposed to take Misawa a long time to beat Kawada because Kawada is the #2 star and he needs his losses to Misawa to be long because until 5/1/98, he was in the same role challenging Misawa for the Triple Crown for five years. Ace & Hase have never done anything in singles in All Japan rings, so you can push them more effectively in other ways. There was no need for this match or Hase vs. Akiyama at the Dome to go longer than 22 minutes. Why is it not obvious to The Babas that a main idea of booking is to maximize the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of your performers?

Ace continued to focus on Misawa's bad neck, popping the crowd with vicious lariats in the corner. He invented a nadare shiki no Ace crusher (Ace crusher with Misawa on the 2nd rope) for a big pop and a 2 ½ count. Misawa arm dragged his way out of the first cobra clutch suplex. After some indifferent strikes, Ace invented a new version of the cobra clutch suplex where Misawa's head hit the bottom turnbuckle.

The strongest moments of the match came when Misawa tried to come back, hitting Ace on the top of the head to stop his powerbomb, but Ace pulled a Buh Buh cutter style Ace crusher out of nowhere. Ace played it great, ½ exhausted and ½ shocked that he just pulled out the move that was going to bring him the TC if he could only make his way over to Misawa to cover him. 1....2....Misawa weakly escapes. Misawa, selling like mad, tried to arm drag out of the cobra clutch suplex again, but this time Ace held onto it then cobra clutch suplexed Misawa right on top of his head. All the credit for this spot has to go to Misawa because this move looks tremendous when he takes the bump, but often looks terrible because Ace uses the spot against guys like Williams & Albright who couldn't even jump over a crack in the pavement. Misawa escaped to the floor, but Ace brought him right back into the ring for a 2 ½ count.

Misawa stopped Ace's Ace crusher and released German suplexed him. Ace popped up, but Misawa stopped him with an elbow and Tiger suplexed him for a near fall. Ace tried to fight back, but suddenly Misawa was too strong. Misawa did two Tiger drivers, but it wasn't enough to put Ace away.

Just when it looked like Ace could be done, he stopped Misawa's charges into the corner with high kicks then Ace crushered Misawa for a near fall. Ace looked totally goofy and clumsy for a short stretch, but he was apparently playing possum as he caught Misawa out of nowhere with a great jumping front kick, which both sold. As was the case the entire match, Ace would try to lay Misawa out with elbows, but they didn't have the force of Misawa's elbows and Ace wound up getting the worse of the exchanges. This time Misawa finally appeared to knock him out with his rolling elbow. Misawa covered, but Ace lifted his shoulder in time. Misawa had had about enough of Ace's resilience, so he dropped him on his head with the sacred, or at least it was before he had to use it against guys the caliber of Ace, Tiger Driver '91 for the win.

This match just further reaffirmed that point that AJ has gotten way too spot intensive. The psychology is down, and the meaning of the spots have gone down with it. Conditioning the crowd that moves like the facelock aren't going to win the match and that new and more dangerous versions of the current finishers won't either is not a smart thing to do, especially when your stars are getting old. All the new spots by Ace got pops, but they were relegated pedestrian way too soon because none of them could put Misawa away. One has to wonder how many new variations of Ace's spots are left for Ace's next big match, and if the spots he invented here will still be getting big pops after more matches where they don't cause or lead to the finish.

Even though Ace's performance here wasn't great, the potential for his improvement is still there. Conditioning and judgement are things that can be improved. Whether he has the desire to improve at this point is questionable, but maybe with Williams gone he will work harder to seize that opening. By just taking the simple step of not putting him out there for 10-15 minutes too long, the Babas can make the guy seem better than he did here. The question is, now that the bar has been set so high, can you get away with Ace's next TC challenge being 20 minutes long? This match was for some reason booked like getting Ace over was do or die. Let's hope that this wasn't Ace's high. 33:34 (22:18 aired). ***1/2

Correction from Quebrada #38: The Oz Academy debut show is on 6/21, not 5/21 like I wrote. You'd think one of the times when Nikkan Sports updated their Battle News they might happen to fix their inaccuracy, but instead they just removed the lineup for the 5/21 Oz show after it "took place." Right now they just have the 6/21 show listed in their battle schedule, so who knows if the lineup for the "5/21 show" is going to be the same lineup for the 6/21 show.

Special Thanks to: Hadi Motiee & Frank Jewett