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Post by shodate on Mar 8, 2019 12:12:36 GMT -5
Hansen gordy vs tenryu kawada rwtl finals 88 - This is a great match obviously but dont think of it as an all time classic still making my list. The dynamic and narrative are simple here. Young lionish kawada trying to prove himself. Two out of control texan monsters trying to beat them to death and fight everybody. And tenryu played the ace bascially. The early exchanges are great speed vs sheer brutality. Kawada going toe to toe with hansen and working extra brutal. Kawada just having enough of hansen and murdering him etc. Tenryu playing ace type role. Then hansen just stomps the leg recklessly and they just destroy that leg at every point he tries to fight back or win. Also they create the go at it alone formula here and its also the best example of it. just tenryu getting beten to death answering by violence of his own and ultimately trying to surviueand won as soon as possible. great strikes and extra intensty and agression. violent and dank as fuck ie those stomps to kawadas leg and tenryu ending stan with slaps great strikes and execution no botches just as sadistic as possible really violent. great limb selling transtions and structure fun narrative. This just has something missing ****3/4.
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Post by shodate on Mar 8, 2019 12:32:07 GMT -5
Atlantis vs villano 3 aspetatus match - This is an masterpiece. The build up was good but not great to me. But this has a feeling of one of the most important and biggest matches in history. Atlantis one this night was as huge as any mexican wrestler ever. All time great crowd. Which is emotionally invasted in each and every second of this. Some fun matwork and it truely picks up with that tope on which both guys busted. It looked like they got concussed with the doctors coming in making this seem a huge deal. It was just both guys head shoot connecting. After that its just a fight to win as both guys milk every hold and nearfall enchancing the drama of it in front of a truely invasted crowd. I liked how rough sudden the pins attempts looked and how there was struggle in the kickouts. You can say this has negative influnce as it structured many shitty self concious aspetatus matches. But the nearfalls work here as this is treating as a hugly important match with huge stakes and everything is organic and invasted. Great performance by villano with brutal violent strikes great agression holding the match together good coshive flow to the match and nice character work by villano. Its hugely dramatic so depends alot on if youre invasted. That tope was a spot of the decade contender. Great selling overall and awesome selling of the good backwork by villano. Its the villano show but atlantis more than held his own. The ending gets a hashimoto vs takada domeish gigantic reaction maybe the loudest to afinish ever. The post match has women crying in crowd while villano delivers an inspiring realistic sportish speech. He holds his son as his father is emotional an kisses.his father unmask him as its an inspiring celebration and post match good job by atlantis putting over the importance this is the best post match in history and puts savage warrior to shame. Its roughly 5 times better than savage warrior regarding the post match. Also they milk they hold dont tap outas early and struggle which help put it and the importance over as people submit fastly in lucha *****.
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Post by shodate on Mar 10, 2019 12:28:19 GMT -5
inoki vs choshu 8/2/84 - one of the most overlooked matches of all time. its a 30 min choshu mat based match. choshu isnt a guy you associate with that style of wrestling and he disspoints on the mat. in this match tho he lived up to his background. inoki was his usual awesome self. this had a big fight feel from the start as this was a big inoki match. it was bascially the blowoff to choshu army vs inoki and co feud. lived up to the hype and then some. starts with both trying for postions and avoiding giving the other guy an inch. their section in the famous gautlent was my fav part of that match but this is both better and epicer. the matwork here is great its everything. punishing hard fought with great struggle and experssions by both realistic and mma ish in how they dont make foolish decesions on the mat and how to get into postions. at one point inoki just gets over choshu and he covers his face and we get some great strikes there it has a moment where inoki asserts himself.good leg sciorrs and we also have choshu deadlifting inoki to break a hold. which is the best and most realistic struggle filled version of that spot ever. great leg stomp in hold by inoki. they went for arm and leg submission right out of the gate. they try to sumbit each other while also smartly using holds that wear them down for the cross armbreaker and sasori. neat takedowns logical counters progression etc.this match seemd on the verge of top ten of all time at one point. choshu has inoki in sasori and we get epic struggle visuals experssions by inoki. choshu does lariats while using submissions to beat the legend as inoki makes this struggling wobbling with legs awesome punches filled epic comeback. that sasori and comeback was one of the best and most organically epic spots i have ever seen with going down legend vs young guy dynamic. it doesnt follow on that but stays great again on mat. great strikes kicks enzis punches slaps etc. again logical struggle filled matwork. inoki catches choshu as he was on a lariat rampage with a manji and pins em to huge reaction. he used wits while asserting himself as the ace. the crowd is invasted in every second of this as we get shots of people waving standing up for mins and buying every hold never dying down while the actual hold and work of it was great. one of the best crowds of all time. maybe choshus best singles ever. certainly his best long singles ever and upthere not far behind for inoki.really epic great long grappling style all time classic. motdc for 80s which means one of the best matches of 80s *****.
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Post by shodate on Mar 10, 2019 15:03:07 GMT -5
andre the giant vs stan hansen 81 - The godzilla battle of wrestling and maybe the best pure slugfest ever. Starts with these two wenting right at each other and its a huge spetcale. Used to think that this was great but what put it over the top asan all time classic to me. Was the progression in their series aswell as the logical progression in the match. These two had 2 other out of control brawls in the past 2 respective years. With the 80 match being a candidate for best short match ever. Hansen is bascially a out of control guy fighting all the time. The change in startegies with hansen being the guy to have pushed andre the most. And that leading to a cerebal smart apporch by andre. Like using his size and the arm work etc. While hansen is moving forward fighting back all the time. And this is the best spetacle ever maybe just the sheer size and stan being an underdog. Great use of restart and dq urgency displayed by both and desperation even struggle. Good armwork that was sold fine. Also hansen has brutal as fuck shots. But man andre is just something else here his sheer size and him throwing shots at hansen not in a giant baba way but with even minimal force and it looks demonic and stiff in a way anything else never did. Also great slams and hansen wenting right at andre like a shoot fight brutal and violent as hell. Also the lariat with hansen hand hurting but it being a last arnesal with pure instict and desperation as his mind stopped working and the sell with both going down and solid arm sell by hansen which andre mascarred was maybe the best spetacale moment ever and fit nicely into the narrative also great crowd heat and the heat between the wrestlers both at such a high level and meshed here but it barely happens. It did happened here tho great executions focused and dank as fuck offense stomps kness most dangerous looking strikes and maybe the best lariat ever great arm work slams. And overall great selling that grudally increased great narrative aswell ****7/8.
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Post by shodate on Mar 10, 2019 23:55:32 GMT -5
Inoki vs fujinami 8/8/88 - I am trying to put into words just how much i like this match. i will start with the critisms surrounding it. i think the 60 min draw worked perfectly with how they worked it and sold the exhusation. also the last fifteen minutes were overall on par with rest of the match and fujinami winning here wouldnt have changed anything for me nor itending fifteen minutes sooner. the way they worked the match wouldnt have fit fuji winning anyway. i may rank this as atop ten match of all time. certanily a goat contender and i think the goat as far as a certain vision of pro wrestling that put emphesis on grappling mat based holds and realistic strikes etc is this match. this match had one of the greatest crowds of all time. for sustained heat i will only put the 84 gautlent ahead of it. 80s new japan has the best and most emotinally invasted crowds in history probably would put it ahead of 80s ajw due to the voice not being too loud or annoying and actually meshaing with the work. the actual match has both guys having clear startegies use leg and arm holds respectively to beat the other guy while smartly wearing that body part down we get tons of epic struggle ie the all time great figture 4 spot and both guys stealing holds. even great drama and the dragon slepper selling. all time clinic in body language and selling of exhusation. unique neat matwork thats realistic hard fought struggle filled and brutal with great counters ex theleg scissors. this maybe the best match to ever put emphesis of epic fight to death and struggle its so struggle filled every second they grind every hold even milk it and thecrowd is invasted in it like life and death on the line. we get shots of people standing up formins inappluding. the grudally increasing selling is awesome. great bridge by inoki maybe the best ever and there is a video out there that shows how intense they train to achieve that.nice stealing of manji. great showing of urgency and desperation ie top rope stomps and dropkicks. excellent execution example great enzigurh and good suplexes. also the stand up exchange where inoki just stands up and murders fujinami with strikes as he wont go down and inoki wont stop to fuji eventually hitting a huge flying forearm on inoki was epic awe inspiring and beautiful. great slaps and punches awesome strikes poetic match. maybe the best 60 minutes time limit draw ever the time flew by only other contender to me is thesz gagne. The crowd didnt die but instead just started clapping maybe not being in holds in the last mins the work was still great and on par with rest of the match due to epic tiring and exhusation selling. Great moment of hoisting in postmatch by choshu to inoki and fuji got aswell great techinque skill shown on mat with holds. Also disagree on the inoki fujinami confratation vid where they yell at each other having a fifth grade bully slap by inoki. It was a hard slap not as loud as fuji due tocamera shot and inoki didnt hit thatwith palm. The palm makes the loudest sound in slap doesnt mean its hardest. Fuji hit a louder slap due to hitting it with palm and yeah it was hard but not a bass rutten type palm as rutten tries to legetimely ko a guy and uses different techinque. It was also aworked confrotation not shoot/real *****.
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Post by shodate on Mar 11, 2019 11:33:31 GMT -5
New japan vs uwf 3/26/86 - As of now this is my pick for the best multiman match of all time. Perfect structure as this starts off with everyone getting a chance and a pair and exchange. This is a really hate fueled match. We got maeda just being the relentless murderer here just kicking the soul out of everybody.we get alot dream match up. Great pair and character work by everybody. Inoki nails being ace and vurnable. Great execution and strikes by everybody. Great details andnarrative. Even takada is great in this being the fired up young lion going at everyone with stiff brutal shots. Great grappling exchanges as we get realistic hard fought no nonce matwork in the fuji vs fuji exchange and fun inoki stuff. Two words to sum up this match hatred and urgency. Everything is urgent and hatefueled with no wasted second brutal strikes etc. Awesome performance by fujiwara brutal headbutts slick armbar counters and great body language. This is just a fight and the greatness lies in the urgency also great narrative of maeda trying to take inoki down. One of the hottest most emotionally invasted crowds ever. Also the overall narrative made the ueda spot even better. That spot and safriciese gets better everytime i think about it maybe my fav spot ever. IN the end kimura and takada tries to ambush inoki and he does a great job putting them over and also great tension and awesome fighting odds inoki stuff. He never looked in danger and it was the point of ueda and maeda double elimination as he knew other two cantbeat inoki thought inoki sold perfectly for the two and mixed being vurnable according to their standings at this point in there carrer. Also i am undersolidng the strikes it was just simple structure of a hate fueled interpromotional dynamic and that narrative nailed to perfection. They nail all the dynamics and just fucking potato each other brutal hard as fuck shots the violence and everything flowed well logical progression great execution even great selling by everyone inovelved for the way this was worked in terms of structure also good focus unique logical spots and smart counters that worked with narrative. Great facial experssion also nobody is better than inoki at playing ace and nobody is better than fujiwara at defensive selling and body language and takada is a great young boy in underdog type deal/role. An all time classic *****.
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Post by shodate on Mar 20, 2019 12:15:34 GMT -5
Ric flair vs ricky morton GAB 86 - This was digusting to watch in a way unlike any wrestling ever to me. It was visceral and so digusting i have watched deathmatches and ian rotten matches and am a fan of shoot style and battlearts and have seen hundreads of those hell ajpw/noah with the deadly headrops but have never cringed at watching a match like this before. Hell even matches which had thumbtacks going through people or hella more violent matches didnt made me grab my body in cringe like this. This isnt that much violent so the reason why this made me cringe out of all the wrestling i watched is due to a bodypart and the bodypart that was the focus of this match NOSE. it is such a soft part of body and you never want it hurt shatter or break so watching two men trying to rip the meat of the nose of their body and turning attacking wrenching and stretching it in different ways just the thought of that makes me cringe. so imagine me watching this. above all else the two men rubbing and trying to cut each others skin part of nose etc made me grab my own nose and feel their pain in a way that not many things have done before. so this match makes my list on the strength of that alone. beyond that this is somewhat the perfect match isnt it. it builds off their feud and works the narrative of their feud in a perfect way in the ring. perfect focused attack on the nose and face. brutally violent great structure with perails control segements and transtions all nailed well. very threatical but not over the top good looking strikes etc so this had it all. this never drags or feels boring. and also kinda escalates in terms of violence and intensty. great narrative or morton trying to take revenge early then flair getting an advantage after targeting the injurd nose after ric himself got his face almost ruined swollowed etc. great intensity and urgency also liked flairs character work in the end being the ultimate bully doing a lowblow from the ropes then pinning ricky cheatly. also morton is a great fip with great sympthy. amazing entrance very good crowd heat etc ****7/8.
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Post by shodate on Mar 20, 2019 12:47:37 GMT -5
Sangre chicana vs ms1 9/23/83 - yeah still the ultimate bar fight of attration. incredibly simple in structure but the way they nail it and work is the key. you can blame this match for inspiring the structure of many shitty aspetatus matches but this nailed it perfectly and is the no 1 at it. really minamalist and simple at times. starts with the most simple yet realistic ambush/beatdown in lucha history. ms1 doesnt brawl with chicana with alot urgency but the atmosphere and arena which makes it look like a boxing bare nuckles fight take place in a bar and the way ms1 hits every move with the sheer simplistic roughness uncooprativness and hardness makes it work. he is just trying to murder chicana who gets hit at the apron head first and kicked right in the skull with his flesh wounding as his head ramps with the concerte floor is awesome. chicana bleeds a fuckton and makes you believe he is really shooked and wounded as old ladies at arena try to clean the blood from his face. great rudo charabter work of a rudo by ms1. ms1 doesnt give him a chance as chicana gets thrown around straight and hes a great bumper. hes battered and his whole body is soaked in blood as ms1 squshes him as sangre gets zero offence. then in the second round ms1 continques the dominace as he punches chicanas bloody head and ms has a fucking great crisp greatly executed punch. then we get the most simple/perfect transtion in history. as sangre throws two thiralla in manilla level haymakers and ms1 goes outside the ring from the sheer force and sangre does those punches while doing a wobbly type awesome selling showing us hes still wounded. then a reckless dive where chicana just throws himself away at ms1 full body force fast as fuck.then he gets a countout. and after 2 falls that set the tone perfectly we get an epic war of attration. every bump is rough hard uncooperative brutal etc. sangre does an all time great sell as he never drops selling even on offence his offence is brutal as hell but he still works and looks like a wounded animal wobbling around trying to pick himself up like a true fucking fight. we get an epic punch showdown two fast blink and you will miss and violent dives one where they crash to seats. and then some lawler mantell exhusation sell difference is they are bleeding to death soaked in it from the war. the perfect transtions great missing hard as hell dive great submission and an awesome postmatch where sangre destroys ms1 and gets the hair reminding us what a war this was. great structure transtions and perfectly executed awesome strikes also all time great selling and great exhusation type of deal also it gets alot urgent and never loses the selling and the bar fight try to murder each other feel some huge bumps which never felt cartoony also rough violent dank as hell and never loses the transtions and realism. really minalistic but its not what they do its how they do fucking amazing *****.
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Post by shodate on Mar 22, 2019 12:31:59 GMT -5
fujinami vs maeda 6/12/86 - yeah this obviously. this is an all time classic and the reason for that is these two were perfect at the role they played in this match maeda the destroyer and fujinami the surviver. this is bascially a match between a squash and a competitive match.as fuji never gains the upper hand for me point in this.he gets enough offense to show hes still alive but no real transtions as maeda easily cuts all of his comeback. somewhat unique structure as fuji does an epic performance selling and not staying down no matter what. somewhat an epic beatdown by maeda as he hits hard as fuck kicks to fujis face whole match and at one point breaks his equaliberam and bloody him up. great leg attack by both as maeda targets the legs and find a weak point and capatilizes on it by getting leg locks. great selling by fuji as he shows continous trying to fight through pain while trying to get the ropes. maeda smartly tries to submit fuji with leg submission while switching it up with some other holds to wear him down more and more ie i think a triangle. fuji makes a comeback with a german suplex which maeda answers by one of his own then a butterfly suplex the struggle at suplexes here is awesome as the crowd gasps at every one of them. fuji sells so greatly as we get epic facials slowing down trying to fight through pain and never blowing off the selling even on offense. he sells the kicks as sudden death. maeda is top form here as he continously kicks fuji to death at a focused point trying to knock him out and we get epic gusher and use of blood. fuji tries to attack the leg and get a submission ie the sasori gatame but his own legs fail him.somewhat continous selling of leg by fuji as maeda legs doesnt get much damage. this has an all time great crowd totally behind fuji as we get shots of people standing up and waving hands in appleauding for minutes. also this is really urgent fast paced but mixes in selling well. as both guys go for heavy shot from the start as this has alot urgency and a competivness trying to win all the time. great arm submission as the continous deep sitting and limb wrenching kicking is in here. the crowd gasps for fuji in every submission. really neat realistic struggle based matwork with fun touches such as mafa grabbing the leg but fuji catching him fastly. there is struggle at every inch in the match also awesome strikes execution violence struggle dynamic character work crowd urgency structure focus this has it all. the finish sucks tho and brings it down from goat contender as even when fuji was trying to survive all the time the spot just wasnt that brutal for me to buy maeda being knocked as he just missed a leg kick as fuji connected with a reverse one and he didnt really fall on his head. even tho maedas selling was great it was easier to buy fuji being koed as he was just bleeding like paint it was gruesome also great takedowns and slams ****7/8.
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Post by shodate on Mar 22, 2019 13:05:05 GMT -5
Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda 5/27/98 - uh the lawler mantell version of ishikawa ikeda. even if they didnt do it better but what has really ? anyway many people arent able to get into 90s battlearts due to the loud as fuck commentary. i was one of those as i wasnt able to get into this. like a striking based match with stiffness really downgrades if you can barely hear anything. recently i found a version of this with no commentary on a ishikawa doc and it enchanced the match for me. this is as stiff and i would say even more violent then their 2005 match without commentary which is a huge thing and really supirisng. but what makes this great is a whole lot of other things then just the pure brutailty which is at a gruesome level. watching this as violent as this was i found that we can found more violent matches but the important thing is that how these two create a flair of violence. this is just a fight to death. starts with some neat grappling as ishikawa easily gets the upperhand in that and gets some nice body shots and even gets on top of ikeda at one point and ikeda responds with a kick. we get some hard slaps and also the grapppler vs striker dynamic present in all their matches. ikeda in this match just kicks the shit out of ishikawa as yuki tries to get up survive get up and fire back but fails at all that so goes back to grappling. at one point both guys get in the turnbuckle and just start potatoing each other with hard as fuck shots. some so hard that i m suprised that their hands didnt rip from that. also ikeda has some great combos in this using variations of kicks to the liver skull leg etc just destroying yukis internal organs. some shots just make a bone breaking skin ripping fucking concerete sound. ishikawa gets overwhelmed and smartly gets a brutal as hell armbreaker that hurts ikedas arm. and then goes for an arm submission and ikeda does this great trying to fight through pain exhusated selling of it and he gets a rope break. then he just break every bone of ikedas body with stiff as cement kicks and ishikawa just comes back and stands up from that and then they just trade hard ar fuck slaps bone breaking forearms and hand ripping palms right to skull meanwhile using the battlearts ten count rule and selling exhusation pain and beating considerably more and more as their strikes get weaker. then yuki gets a fucking lariat to neck as both do epic exhusation selling trying to ko each other. in the end ikeda just rips with a lariat at yukis skull then kicks him in head staright until he stops getting back up and is koed as he wins. just a really classic match from a classic rivilarly and stone cold lock ****3/4.
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Post by shodate on Mar 23, 2019 15:27:36 GMT -5
hashimoto vs takada njpw battle formation - The quannisetial japanese minamilist epic heavyweight boxing type match to sum it up. I think way highly of hashimoto then i used to. Overall this has the coolest most inspirational atmosphere ever. Really a match that makes you feel the emotion. The actual work is great tho not better or as good as some other hash matches ie vs tenryu. The entrance was really cool and hashimoto has an goat theme really inspiring emotional. Also cool inspiring atmosphere as they play anthem during them and hash has a peaceful proud and focused warrior look peace etc. He has such a presence aura and he builds to every big moment. This match has the advantage of one of the greatest crowds of all time and one thats invasted in every seacond and wants to see the hero hash trimpuhant. This is new japans hero cementing himself and njpw. Takada also felt like a threat due to hashs epic selling and just the way they worked this. This is really short yet feels so epic. Every moment is great and feels naturally huge due to hashs milikng face expressions taunting and presence. The crowd also felt invasted in every second especially hash beatdown which felt on a higher level than any wrestling as the roof just went off. This had a solid narrative as both guys are aces who try to cement their promotion as true sport and hash is the conquering hero vanishquing enemy. This had great urgency great offense and execution awesome kicks and strikes great hash selling . Had a sense of competitvness trying to win and urgency whole match pretty violent too with hash kicks. Maybe the best spirnt as this was a titanic struggle to death and hash mixed being vunrnable yet coming as a huge mountain to claim better than anyone ever. He was just so focused never stopping staring opponent in entrance cementing himself disrespect taunts kicking a down opponent great expression. The match every moment came off as the hugest deal in history. The way the roof went nuts while hash got offense is hard to describe. Takada tried to get koes with kicks and mix in submissions hash sold everything as death blow huge and the epic selling desperation trying to fight through pain as he reaches the ropes. He also looked for an opening was ultra focused getting a figure four takada did great sell of and just annilated him with kicks to get an opening for huge ko blow all the time. Like a boxing match kinda and the unique leg sweep was smart and great as hash looked for every opening and just sweepped at the last second. It still came as unpreditcable exiting and putover the desperation trying to win anyway theme. The brainbuster and hanging in air was also epic and resulted in one of the gigantic pops ever. We got shots of people standing and dancing in crowd fuckin for mins as the roof was wenting off place and did whole match es.pecially for any hash offence. Great building to every moment as takada submit to a great arm submissions. Great milking and really laser focused tight no downtime at all match. Great struggle in submission. Great selling by hash as every moment felt epic. All time great short match nuclear crowd invasted to see hero win living and dying emotinally invasted in every second. Epic match every felt huge and mattered felt epic also kinda epic selling. Great emotional celebration by the winning hero post match nice moment of handshake putting over the pure sport feel competitvness in the whole match also realism. Utterly realistic brutality. great character work and characterstics touches ie hash making everything feel huge all of it mattering being smooth well executed and great strikes for takada. Just a nuclear match great transtions too really an epic legendary battle what a war ****7/8.
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Post by shodate on Apr 1, 2019 22:14:34 GMT -5
Misawa vs Kawada 6/3/94 – This is the perfect heavyweight match and possibly the perfect match period. There are things that can be nitpicked and we can fantasize how it could have been made even better somehow, but the same can be done with literally every other match. More important than any individual detail is the overall sum of the work and what the match symbolizes. This is the Citizen Kane or Hamlet of wrestling matches, at least as far King’s Road vision of wrestling is concerned. The magic combination of a pure sports build, learned psychology, realistic selling, and perfect escalation that was first teased with Robinson/Baba and further fleshed out in Jumbo/Tenryu is perfected here. It is a crowning achievement of absolute genius from which the entirety of mainstream wrestling history since has unfolded underneath. Without this match, there would be no Misawa/Kobashi, no WWE main event style, and no 10’s NJPW. Yet for as many matches have been influenced by this or outright copied it, the work done on 6/3/94 is just so perfect that it has lost none of its luster. The first thing that pops out upon viewing it is the crowd. They might not be the loudest or the ones who’ve sustained their heat for the longest, but in terms of actually reacting to the work and adding to the atmosphere, they might be the best ever. Even when the work has slowed down and they’re not screaming their heads off, you can feel them paying very close attention to the match as they would if it were a massive cultural event, not just for AJPW but for the entire wrestling landscape. The closest wrestling comparison for the atmosphere is that of Atlantis/Villano 3, but even that doesn’t quite match it. This was worked pure sports all the way through, with Misawa and Kawada so intent on winning that they never once took their eyes off each other even with the crowd collectively losing their minds. Masters of the craft that they are, Misawa and Kawada work the opening lock-ups and learned counters perfectly to tantalize the crowd’s appetite without giving them too much. Both men are very careful and cautious to get across just how serious the match is. Their body language shows that they both know that this can be their night, but only if they wrestle at their absolute best. Even when they slow the pace down to work holds, the work doesn’t lose an ounce of intensity and crowd retains the feel of one focused on the match. The ebb and flow mirrors that of a real fight, both men starting out cautious and then progressively bringing out bigger bombs until a blazing crescendo. Kawada scores the first big victory by busting open Misawa’s ear, which leads to Misawa to uncharacteristically attacking Kawada’s bad leg, which leads Kawada to get revenge by going after Misawa’s injured shoulder, which leads to Misawa coming back, which leads to the greatest final two minutes of a wrestling match ever recorded on tape. The execution from the workers and reaction from the crowd during all this is perfect. Kawada desperately trying to stay in the game even with Misawa brutalizing his leg feels like an epic sports moment, as does Misawa rising up for his usual comeback with blood dripping out of his ear, and this is only the half-way point. Kawada went after Misawa’s neck/shoulder with a laser-like focus, and Misawa’s selling was perfect in balancing getting over the power of Kawada’s while looking like the toughest man on the planet for coming back from them. The kid dancing in the stands after the first powerbomb kickout is famous, but it’s but one of many moments in the match where the crowd is worked to perfection. The moment right afterwards where the crowd chants in unison for Misawa while he fights off a stretch plum always gives goosebumps, for example. The final few minutes so are well-known that they barely need to be written about. Kawada makes a critical mistake of allowing Misawa to roll outside to take a breather after downing him with a desperation kick to his injured shoulder, and the two then have a legendary staredown before Misawa makes his way back into the ring. An exhausted Kawada unleashes his full arsenal of kicks on Misawa, but Misawa comes back with some payback for the punch earlier and a barrage of some of the hardest elbows of his career before dusting off the Tiger Driver ’91 to put the exclamation point on his win. A definitive ace performance from Misawa as he overcomes a determined Kawada on the 5 year anniversary of the upset title win by Kawada’s mentor, Tenryu. The finish has the feel of an all-time boxing knockout, with Misawa and his fans celebrating as soon the pin is counted, whilst Kawada spends several minutes laying motionless in his corner. After Kawada finally comes to, the two then shake hands, having cemented themselves as two of the greatest heroes in wrestling history.
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