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Post by elliott on Dec 8, 2017 21:25:56 GMT -5
Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi (AJPW - 10/19/90)
This is by far my favorite of the classic AJPW 6 man tags. This is the one where Kobashi breaks his nose and Jumbo's team works it over. Just brutal shit with Kobashi getting measured and punched and stomped in the face over and over. This is nasty. Awesome match. Strong Contender for my list.
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Post by Cap on Dec 9, 2017 15:44:11 GMT -5
Second
Yeah, this one gets that little something extra with the nose and then the working around it. Great match on the whole. So much talent in the ring and then you give them something unique to work around, golden. In this time period having something that makes the match really stand out among all the other big epic matches is so important. Could make my list for sure.
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Post by bossrock on Jan 7, 2018 19:40:07 GMT -5
Third
To me this is the best match of the series. It isn't overly-long like the '91 encounter and perfectly intertwines three separate stories: the hatred between Taue and Kawada, the battle for supremacy between Misawa and Jumbo, and Kobashi looking to prove himself. Plenty of action and one of the hottest finishing stretches in history make this a strong contender for number 1. If not the greatest tag of all time, then at least the greatest trios match.
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Post by tetsujin on Feb 12, 2018 20:08:49 GMT -5
A great six-man tag with tons of action, character work from all of them and... crossovers! Love how the different rivalries came together in this. I'm a Kobashi guy, so watching him fighting with his famous burning spirit (for maybe the first time in his career?) with Jumbo & company destroying his nose AND STILL having trouble at beating him, earning the crowd's respect, is incredible... But gotta admit, what I really love about this match is the Kawada/Taue dynamic. Both guys fucking hate each other at this point, Jesus. I wished Misawa and Fuchi were more involved, though.
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Post by stunninggrover on Mar 18, 2018 18:21:47 GMT -5
All Japan had many great six-man tag team matches in the 1990s. It’s hard to pick which one was the best. However, I feel this one was the best six-man tag from the year 1990. It’s a great 25-minute match that took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Kobashi took quite a beating. The Misawa & co vs. Jumbo & co feud continues!
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Post by jetlag on Apr 27, 2019 2:55:59 GMT -5
A few things about this:
1. It's the first Fuchi performance where he acts like a vicious bastard.
2. It's also the first time where Taue really brings something to the table, from being the weak link, to acting like a dick, to having heated interactions with Kawada.
3. A previous six man had a finish involving Kobashi and Mighty Inoue, so they tease the same thing by having Kobashi go against Fuchi at one point.
Another thing is the structure and them really making use of the length. In the opening they shuffle through all the matchups in some nice, fast paced wrestling exchanges, the best move being of course Taue kicking Kawada in the face to start their story. They tease Jumbo working the back but then Taue gets it. The in peril sections here are done better than in previous tags because they have slightly more showy selling. Still haven't developed better build to hot tags, but they are getting there.
The section where Fuchi is stomping and punching a bloody Kobashi in the face was some beautiful violent pro wrestling. I also really dug how Taue just drove his face into the mat. Taue was getting it that night. His reckless dive also ruled. However, the section also kind of sets up the only problem of the match, which is that Kobashi wasn't vicious enough later on against Fuchi. I mean, dude, this guy chucked the edge of a steel chair in your nose. You sure a rolling pin combo is the best way to exact revenge?
The end run was as great as these matches can have. Lots of awesome flurries of strikes and brutal shots, my favourite being Jumbo near decapitating Kobashi with a lariat and the crowd going wild for it. It had almost a boxing like feel where guys would throw but could get caught with a good surprise shot. I also actually liked the somewhat deplaced nearfall section with Kobashi and Taue. As these guys are so close in their standing that their exchanges actually felt like two young guys trying to prove who's superior.
So yeah. Blood, hatred, heat, battling for supremacy, elbows to the kidney. The best AJPW match of 1990.
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Post by KB8 on Oct 15, 2020 11:53:52 GMT -5
This really has all the hallmarks of your classic 90s All Japan. You get the intertwining story threads, the primary and secondary (and I guess tertiary) feuds delivering the business, the heat and hate and all that good stuff everybody and their granny has talked about for the last twenty-odd years. This is one of the more special All Japan six-mans as well in that you get that extra hook to separate it somewhat from the crowd. Kobashi is 23 here and clearly the runt of the litter, so Fuchi decides to be a disgraceful old fuck and break his nose. It leads to a spell of Kobashi having his face stomped and kicked and punched by the three bastards while he crawls around bloody-nosed. Fuchi jabbing him in the nose with the edge of a chair looked as brutal as that spot can look, then he'd just stand on his face like he was putting out a cigarette. It didn't last as long as I remembered, but it was an awesome segment and has always stood out to me from this period, probably because it was one of the very first matches from Japan I ever watched. Kawada and Taue were only really starting to hate each other to death at this point but their exchanges were great. Taue instigated it by booting Kawada off the apron unprompted, and you could see that need to retaliate just bubbling in Kawada. They went after each other repeatedly, slammed and suplexed each other in amongst the crowd, threw cheapshots from the apron, it all ruled. Some of the Jumbo/Kobashi stuff was awesome as well. There was a great bit in the first half where Jumbo tried to break up a Kobashi half crab on Fuchi, but Kobashi wiped him out with a lariat instead (to an amazing crowd reaction). You knew Jumbo would pay him back for that tenfold and he about decapitated him later when he had the chance to. Jumbo/Misawa was still red hot, every match-up brought the goods, the finishing run was one of the more epic for the time...this was a Jumbo v Misawa six-man and all that entails.
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Post by puropotsy on Mar 2, 2023 20:46:04 GMT -5
Sublime match. I’ve watched it before and wasn’t feeling it as much for the early portion but everyone got a chance to shine and Kobashi really got elevated here. Jumbo continued to bring the best out in everyone and had a great exchange with Misawa. Kawada and Taue continue to beat the shit out of each other. And Masa Fuchi is a little prick. Love it.
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