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Post by Cap on Dec 8, 2017 15:28:42 GMT -5
Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa (Triple Crown Championship - AJPW - 10/31/1998)
I feel like people kind of came late to this one, but maybe I am wrong. Its another sure-fire classic in my book. Misawa very much feels like he is trying to survive the onslaught of Kobashi in this one. This is why this feud holds up so well to me. I think the storytelling they do in the ring is just so good, so clear, so translatable. Sure, some will criticize this for excess, but man I can't hate on this match.
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Post by elliott on Dec 8, 2017 19:22:13 GMT -5
Seconded. I want to be fair and open because I know lots of people will vote for this match and I wanted to just go ahead and second whatever Cap puts up, but I do not like this match. Not a contender for me at all but I'll second the nomination anyway.
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Post by bossrock on Jan 5, 2018 16:47:22 GMT -5
Thirded. This actually might be my pick for number 1. I understand the excess criticisms, but I don't think I've ever seen a better display of offense and escalation in any other match I've seen. The story is the same as the others in their feud, but I think this one gets the point across the best: Kobashi is Misawa's near-equal and always looks like he's going to put him away but fails because of two things. One, he's unable to hit the surefire move that will beat him. Two, Misawa manages to pull some crazy maneuver out of his hat to permanently turn the tide. And while Misawa has to hit bomb after bomb to put Kobashi away, it's only a matter of time before the latter's reserves run out.
A surefire classic and tough match to beat.
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Post by microstatistics on May 2, 2018 1:34:45 GMT -5
This match was way better than I remember. These two know how to pace and build a super long match better than anyone. I have this at #3 in their singles feud (behind 1/20/97 and 3/1/03)
My PWO review:
"I really liked the growth from 1/20/1997: in that match Kobashi was trying to be dominant, in this he IS dominant. soup23 makes a good point about Misawa having to bust out fancy sequences and moves just to free himself. Still he gets eaten alive for most of the match though. But his resiliency keeps him in it and he takes advantage of a momentary lapse from a fatiguing Kobashi with the tiger driver off the apron and turns the match on its head. I also liked the "excess" with Kobashi continuing after the TD91 which also showed his growth. In 1/20/97, he was basically finished after the TD91 but here he is still able to mount a comeback. I used to dislike the finish (thinking it was anticlimatic) but thought it was great this time around with Misawa having to KO Kobashi with brutal elbows in, like fxnj said, ugly fashion and him barely scraping through rather than it being anything cinematic."
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Post by superstarsleeze on Mar 26, 2019 17:50:20 GMT -5
Growing in the late 90s/early 00s I don't remember this being a part of canon. I thought canon stopped with Kobashi/Kawada 6/12/98. Then picked back up in 2000 with Misawa/Akiyama. I'm genuinely curious if I remember this correctly?
This falls short of 1/20/97 because of excess, but I love the growth Kobashi shows in this compared to 1/20/97. It is a full court press. He is suffocating Misawa snuffing out any rally or counter quickly! But that escalation is amazing! The apron spot is incredible. Top 50 match for me.
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Post by jetlag on May 3, 2019 3:18:30 GMT -5
Classic, well executed slow burning epic which is only marred by once again overreaching with the absurd length (for a bombfest) and whacky overkill. I want to say they still did the best job they possibly could keeping things believable, as Misawa is the master of the comeback and Kobashi sold his downfall very well and the match never felt dragging, try-hard or overly bloated, so if it happened in 2018 it would probably warrant about 9 ¼ stars. Really enjoyed the early build with both guys busting out some more grounded wrestling moves such as a cool chickenwing crossface into russian legsweep or Misawa turning his facelock into a double armlock, liked Kobashi teasing an early fish with the Backdrops, liked Misawa getting caught hard when he went for a second dive sequence, liked how both guys would eat shit when they tried no selling a suplex, REALLY liked the consisent use of the turnbuckles and Misawa countering the Burning Hammer. Excellent pro wrestling that made sense but was ever tinged with absurdity and madness and that shade of self destruction you always get from watching Misawa get dropped on his head a bunch and lying motionless on the floor backstage.
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Post by mvz on Oct 20, 2021 14:05:22 GMT -5
I watched this last night and since I saw there was some discussion around their 2003 match I thought I would drop in to say that I preferred this match to that one and that the excess feels more egregious in 2003.
I am finding that I prefer 90s All Japan tags and multimans to singles matches; this is one of the better singles matches involving the pillars only that I have seen.
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Post by [Darren] on Oct 20, 2021 14:40:51 GMT -5
. I am finding that I prefer 90s All Japan tags and multimans to singles matches; this is one of the better singles matches involving the pillars only that I have seen. I’m going to give this one another shot. I also came to a realization during this final stretch that I love AJPW tags and a lot of the big singles matches are holding up less. which might have more to do with my attention span than anything else. |
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 28, 2023 10:52:44 GMT -5
This was a great match that suffers in comparison to the January 1997 classic. It is two guys who slow-build a match and eventually start throwing bombs and it is hard to dislike that. It won’t be high on my list but it will be there.
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Post by lemming on Dec 1, 2023 9:26:39 GMT -5
I voted this #22 this year.
Maybe the best example of 'wrestling as Shonen manga battle', this builds naturally from the two title matches between this pair the previous year. In January '97 Kobashi had pushed Misawa all the way, but the match was worked with him positioned as the underdog trying to hang with the ace. In October their match was worked evenly, though Misawa prevailed again. Kobashi's growth has continued and here he is now dominant and it's Misawa who works as the underdog - at times acting almost like a junior heavyweight relying on his high flying repertoire as he is consistently coming off worse in their stand up exchanges. (Logically, you'd think there was nowhere left for this rivalry to go after this other than Misawa finally putting Kobashi over for the title in their next encounter. But of course that wouldn't happen for another half a decade...)
This actually has a steady, slow-burn build and escalation, but famously goes wild with the bombs in the final stretch. I can see why folks might not love that, but I think it works given how that stretch is built to and the bombs are sold. The biggest spot (tiger driver off the apron to the floor) is used as the key pivot point in the match - a hail Mary from Misawa that gets him back into a match he was on course to lose, turning the tide. The finish stretch is a direct callback to the Jan '97 match: there Kobashi kicked out of the TD91 but was swiftly put away afterwards. Here, following another TD91, Misawa tries to finish him in the exact same way and Kobashi is able to anticipate and avoid it, allowing him to make one last (doomed) flurry before Misawa puts him away with a gritty barrage of elbows.
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