It's time once again for me to ignore current American wrestling and the ways in which it annoys me and write a review of something better. So here's the second in my alleged series of reviews of matches I happened to recently watch for the first time from the feud between Toshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu Misawa. This one is from fairly early in their feud and is the first tag team meeting between the teams of Kawada & Akira Taue and Misawa & Kenta Kobashi, from the 1st of June, 1993. Because this match is the first match between the two teams, it doesn't get overly complicated. It leaves plenty of room for the feud to progress and build off of what happens in this match. Still, they manage to have quite a match within the confines of a fairly simple structure.

Taue and Kobashi start off the match with a collar and elbow tie-up. Taue powers Kobashi into the ropes and they get a clean break. After trading some basic offense and coming out even, they tag in their partners, who engage in a similar sequence. But when Kawada pushes Misawa into the ropes, there is no clean break. Kawada breaks the hold and starts chopping. Misawa of course responds with elbows and the match really starts to get going. The two begin trying to hit some bigger strikes on each other, but being former tag team partners, and having also wrestled each other twice in the past eight months, they are each about to block or avoid the other's early offense for a standoff similar to the one between Taue and Kobashi, but far more intense.

The main story of the match gets underway when Kawada and Taue are able to isolate Kobashi. Kawada and Taue are the Tag Team Champions, and Misawa is the Triple Crown Champion, so Kobashi is clearly the weaker of his team. Kawada is intent on getting Kobashi into the Stretch Plum early and Kobashi is determined to avoid it. This struggle builds toward one of the turning points of the match. The first time Kawada tries to apply the move, Kobashi quickly escapes and grabs for the ropes. I'm not aware of Kawada having beaten Kobashi with the move recently prior to this match, but Kobashi puts it over as dangerous with his first frantic escape. This was before the time when it became inconceivable for one of All Japan's top stars to lose by submission, so the Stretch Plum was still taken very seriously. Taue and Kawada continue to beat on Kobashi for a little while longer before Kawada tries to apply it again, but this time Kobashi is able to reverse it into a rolling cradle for a two count and make a tag to Misawa. This segment of the match did resemble the traditional "heat segment" from your standard Southern formula tag match, but this match would deviate somewhat from this formula, and this beating wasn't so long or severe as to make this "hot tag" to Misawa a particularly major moment.

Misawa doesn't really come in and clean house, and after taking some offense from Kawada and Taue, he tags out and the second and more heated beatdown on Kobashi commences. This time Kawada and Taue bring out some of their bigger offense and also begin to do a little double-teaming to further extend their advantage over Kobashi. And the majority of their offense compliments each other well, as they both use moves that punish the back as their biggest moves, so Taue's chokeslams soften Kobashi up to be finished off with Kawada's powerbombs and vice-versa. After Kobashi has absorbed some significant offense, Kawada goes back to the Stretch Plum, but Kobashi is able to armdrag out of it. But Kawada goes for it again and is finally able to secure the hold and this leads to one of the better formulaic spots in the match. Kobashi slowly drags Kawada over toward Misawa in hopes of making the hot tag to Misawa. Kobashi finally gets close enough to begin reaching out with one hand for the tag, but Kawada twists him, pulling that hand away from the corner. Kobashi goes for the other hand and they repeat the process. Misawa wises up and gets to the other side of the turnbuckle to make the tag in a hot moment straight out of an American tag team match.

Misawa getting the tag from his weaker partner and coming in to take control of the match is a climax that had been build to by the two previous segments, but instead of signaling that the end of the match is near, it simply begins a new segment building toward a new climax; that of Kobashi finally getting to go on the offensive. Misawa beats on Kawada for a while and stays in firm control of the match, but Kobashi is slowly phased back into the match, building toward his breakout. After a short while on the offensive, Misawa puts Kawada in the stepover facelock and Taue comes in to break it up. This leads Kobashi to come in and stop him, putting him in a sleeper hold. And later, when Kawada is able to make the tag and Taue begins to get the advantage on Misawa, Kobashi comes in again to double team and even the score, with the duo hitting some bigger tandem moves to gain the upper hand. But when Kobashi finds himself alone in the ring with Kawada again, Kawada still clearly has the upper hand. But they build to Kobashi's comeback well, with Kawada allowing him a few brief spots of offense within the beatdown this time before finally getting hit with the lariat that finally turns the tide in Kobashi's favor. This was a great double-layered storyline of first building toward Misawa saving his partner's ass and then progressing logically to Kobashi finally being able to save his own ass.

And so Kobashi begins a flurry of offense, highlighted by three DDTs to Kawada, building toward his biggest move of the match thus far, and a potential finisher, the moonsault. But Taue is able to break up the pin and his window of being in control of the match begins to close. Kawada has weather the storm of Kobashi's comeback and all he knows to do is to try the moonsault again. But Kawada and Taue are able to prevent it every time and begin to try to finish him off. A brief offensive from Misawa is insufficient to stop Kawada and he and Taue begin to go in for the kill. Kobashi tries to do whatever he can to get Kawada in position for the moonsault again, but eventually this backfires on him, as Taue chokeslams him off of the ropes. Misawa stops Kawada's pin attempts, but Taue chokeslams Misawa while Kawada simultaneously powerbombs Kobashi, effectively ending any chance of Misawa saving the day. Kobashi kicks out of the first powerbomb, but the second finishes him off and Kawada and Taue retain the Tag Team Championship.

These two teams would go on to have some classic matches, including one six months after this and another a year and a half after that, but this was where it all started and was a very fine start indeed. The simple story of Kobashi's progression toward the level of his opponent and his partner, both in this match and in the promotion, was very well-executed and established a solid foundation on which the future matches between these two teams would be built.  ¶ joe | 11:58 PM |