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'91 Sekai Saikyo Tag Kettei
League Koshikisen: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams 12/6/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan From AJ Chogei Memorial Fight Collection Sekai Saikyo Tag Retsuden 1989~91 |
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This is one of those matches which shows that everything is relative. For most promotions this would be a classic match, and for most wrestlers this would be one of their best matches. For All Japan and Misawa & Kawada at the time, it was probably closer to run of the mill. It had the heat, intensity (particularly from Kawada), stiffness, and precise execution, but there wasn't any great storyline, psychology, or sequences. It was exciting and it was solid, it's just that, aside from closing out a tag league, I can't say it stands above 100 other tag matches involving Misawa and Kawada. However, that's more a testament to their greatness than anything else, and I can't say this was anything but an excellent match. The first half of the match saw Gordy & Williams get heat on Kawada, with his left knee being the most common point of attack. Kawada would make very brief comebacks and tag Misawa, who looked like a million bucks because he'd come in and clean house for two minutes then tag Kawada right back in. Depending on your perspective, Misawa was either a great partner or a lousy partner. On one hand, he left Kawada to do most of the work, not even staying in the ring long enough for Kawada to really recover. On the other hand, he dominated the opposition every time he was in and sometimes even double teaming couldn't slow him down. Obviously none of the All Japan guys fire up as often as they used to, but I think Misawa dogging it in tag now is overrated because he's been doing the same basic thing in tag most of the time since he became a #1. The thing is he always had a great partner, so Misawa not working his "fair share" didn't stand out so much. Now that he has Ogawa, we're begging for him to tag so we can see some major league offense. Williams appeared to take control of Misawa at 15:00, but when he went for a 3 point stance and jumping tackle, Misawa kneed him in the stomach and made the tag. Williams tried a 3 point stance and shoulderblock on Kawada about a minute later, but Kawada stopped him with a ganmengiri (jumping kick to the face, like a back brain kick except to the front of the head) for a near fall. After that, Williams decided to save the Hacksaw offense for different opposition, as Misawa & Kawada were definitely tough guys. Misawa made a big mistake, going after Gordy for no reason after saving Kawada from Williams cover. If Kawada would have been in control then it might have made sense to take Gordy out so he couldn't make the save, but Kawada was getting his ass kicked most of the match and Gordy wasn't really double teaming that much. Maybe Misawa figured there wasn't much risk because he'd handled Gordy the whole match, but this was pretty much the first time where Gordy took control and Williams quickly came over and tossed Misawa to the floor. Kawada recovered slower than Williams because he was at the disadvantage, but he tried to save his partner from the double team. Unfortunately for Misawa & Kawada, Williams slammed Kawada hard on the floor then stuffed Gordy's powerbomb on Misawa. Misawa was out of the floor for several minutes, leaving the already overmatched and overworked Kawada to try to take on both opponents. Kawada always fought valiantly, but he was in trouble since they could double team him anytime they wanted. He made a brief comeback and tried for his powerbomb, but he couldn't quite get Gordy up. Kawada managed to stay on offense though, and applied a facelock, but Williams came in and broke it up. Kawada got the last laugh this time, blindsiding Williams with an enzui lariat as he was leaving the ring, which resulted in Williams "napping" on the floor with Misawa. Kawada reapplied the facelock and everyone was standup up cheering, believing there was enough chance that it would be the finish for them to display their hope. Of course, Gordy made it to the ropes. Kawada got a near fall on Gordy with a diving elbow drop, but Williams reentered the ring when he tried for his powerbomb, pushing Gordy so he fell on top of Kawada. This would have been a great spot to start bringing the knee back into play with, but like I said there was no great psychology here. Williams powerslammed Kawada and motioned for Gordy to finish him off, which resulted in a stuff powerbomb in the ring. It was the perfect finish seeing how they'd totally eliminated Misawa with the same move, granted that was on the hard floor, but Misawa reentered the ring and axed Gordy in the back to save the day. Misawa, not learning anything from before, went right after Williams instead of getting to his corner so Kawada could make a much needed tag. Luckily, Kawada still had something left and he kicked Gordy then Misawa gave him some elbows until Kawada came up from behind and nearly pinned Gordy in a German suplex hold. What cost Misawa & Kawada the match was that aside from the enzui lariat by Kawada, Williams hadn't taken much punishment in recent times, so the couple of blows Misawa got in weren't enough to keep him down. He wound up throwing Misawa to the floor where they brawled, leaving the legal men in the ring to settle it. Kawada had been in for about 10 minutes straight at this point, which is a long time when most of it is spent getting pounded on by the likes of Gordy & Williams. Kawada was pretty much fighting on will alone, and Gordy almost put him away immediately when he caught Kawada's kick and spiked him. Gordy realized how little Kawada had left and went back to his powerbomb. There was no Williams around to spike it, but more importantly there was no Misawa around to make the save. This time Kawada couldn't kick out, and Gordy & Williams had won their second straight tag league. This was a rather anticlimactic finish because the match ended so quickly after Misawa had finally recovered and almost right after he began fighting on the floor with Williams. I don't think it was a bad finish, but with Kawada having survived all the time Misawa was out, I was hoping for a little more from him than getting pinned by two more moves, the first of which was more of something to go for a pin on than something that was really damaging. 25:24
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