Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa [24 July, 1995, All Japan Triple Crown]

My previous reviews of matches from this feud can be found here and...hmmm...the second one seems to be MIA at the moment. You can dig around for it yourself when the archives are back up in full working order if you missed it the first time.

Anyway, this is a fairly pivotal match in their series, as it's their first singles match since Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time ever in The Tag Match To End All Tag Matches on the 9th of June. As such, this match could determine whether Kawada had really surpassed Misawa after years of chasing him, or whether Misawa was still The Man in All Japan, capable of rebounding from the tag loss and proving that he was still Kawada's superior.

Kawada seems to wrestle with the same thought in mind, as his methods betray a sense of fear and doubt in himself and the appropriate willingess to hurt Misawa by any means necessary to go along with that doubt. Early segments of the match establish parity between the two, as they both come up with counters to each other's early attempts at offense as usual. They soon move to trading elbows in the middle of the ring, still on equal footing, but Kawada knows he can't let this continue, so he switches up from the standard elbow to the head and targets the orbital bone that he broke with a kick in their Champion Carnival match four months previous. Misawa immediately crumples to one knee and Kawada begins his savage attack, laying in kicks to the head while Misawa rests against the turnbuckles despite the referee's protests. After another kick to the eye, Misawa rolls out of the floor. Kawada sees another chance to extend his advantage and can't afford to take the honorable route and just wait in the ring for Misawa to return. He pushes the referee aside and heads out to the floor where he powerbombs Misawa and follows up with a knee drop off of the apron. He's had to fight a little bit dirty to get the edge on the Champion, but doing so has indeed given him the upper hand for the time being as both men return to the ring.

But even when Kawada is in control of the match, Misawa still comes across as the one more in control of his emotions and his body. Kawada is brash and violent, still the lower man on the totem pole, trying to dethrone Misawa both literally and figuratively. Misawa is the Champion and the Ace and carries himself as such. When Kawada tries to continue the beating with another flurry of kicks in the corner, Misawa realizes the danger of the situation and uses a little bit of fighting spirit to shake off the kicks for the time being and get out of the corner to avoid letting himself get too deep in the hole. Kawada tries to change things up and goes for a German suplex to put Misawa down again, but Misawa isn't nearly out of it enough for that and blocks the attempt and responds with a rolling elbow to put Kawada down.

Kawada gets to his feet, but Misawa is now ready to assert firm control of the match, as he coolly and calmly pounds the shit out of Kawada with a series of brutal elbows to the head. The Champion is back in the driver's seat. This is a crtical moment in the match, as the severity of the blows seems to haunt Kawada for the rest of the match, almost as if he'd been concussed. Misawa immediately tries to irish whip him, but Kawada is so out of it that he can't even run, and just collapses in the middle of the ring. Kawada's selling from this point on is just brilliant, as even when he's in a good enough state to sit up or know where he is, he's shaking his head, trying to get the cobwebs out. And when he's not in such good shape, when Misawa's just pounded his fragile head with his elbow or against the mat, Kawada's got the kind of glassy look in his eyes that only he can pull off. The ferocity of the strikes was reminiscent of the series of elbows that rattled Kawada's brain enough to let Misawa hit the Tiger Driver '91 for the pin to conclude their previous Triple Crown match on the 3rd of June, 1994, and here they damaged Kawada enough that he began having to rely on instinct to defend himself against Misawa's more calculated assault.

Misawa immediately tries to capitalize with a German suplex of his own, but Kawada is able to escape after only a two count. Now Misawa's trying to put Kawada away early while he has him on the ropes, as he tries for a Tiger Driver to follow up, but Kawada is able to block that. He winds up eating another German and it's a moment that reveals a lot about the state he's in at the point in the match. He tries to shake off the effect of the German long enough to get one kick in on Misawa before selling the effects of the German, but as he jumps up to try to do this as he has so often in the past, he can't pull it off. He falls on his ass. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and Kawada is in trouble. Misawa capitalizes with a facelock, but Kawada is able to make it to the ropes. Misawa tries for another German, but Kawada clings to the ropes for dear life long enough to get his head together and spin around with a chop to the head. He follows up quickly with a lariat to the back of the head, a boot to the face and a lariat that gets him a two count. He's weathered the storm of Misawa's offense enough to regain control of the match but he knows his position is precarious and has to do whatever he can to maintain the advantage while he tries to clear his head. And so he goes for a sleeper with a body scissors on the mat, but turns it into a choke before the ref forces him to break. He comes back with a clean sleeper, but Misawa makes it to the ropes. Kawada goes for the stretch plum but Misawa blocks it and tries to come back with elbows. But Kawada is able to cut this off quickly and puts Misawa down with a drop toe hold before kicking him in the face again.

Here the differences between their offensive repertoires come into play. As I said earlier, Kawada is the more instinctive and impulsive of the two, which necessitates his offense be simpler, as compared to the more vast and complicated array of moves that the cool customer Misawa brings. There's nothing much simpler for a man still suffering from head trauma to do to hurt his opponent than just grab him by the waist and throw, and that's what Kawada does. He nails two consecutive brutal backdrops, dropping Misawa right on his head and neck. He goes for a pin after the second and gets a two count. While Misawa won't stay down, and surely isn't anywhere near being pinned given his usual resilience, Kawada is now firmly in control of the match and able to go for his more complicated offense. And by "complicated" I mean "powerbomb." Kawada goes with what brought him to the dance, the move that's won so many big matches for him, the move that pinned Misawa a month and a half ago. But Misawa isn't beaten yet, and knows the damage the powerbomb can do, so he blocks it with a back body drop. Kawada settles for the stretch plum to wear Misawa down further, and this time he's able to apply it. After a while he lets go and gets a two count. Again he goes for the powerbomb, but again Misawa wants no part of it and grabs the ropes to prevent it. Misawa fires back with an elbow, but Kawada isn't giving up control that easily as he hits a ganmengiri and follows up with a German suplex of his own. After a short kick to the face of a bent-over Misawa, it's time to try the powerbomb again and this time he hits it, but Misawa is able to kick out at two. An immediate attempt at another is thwarted, but a scoop slam and kick later and Kawada hits his third powerbomb of the match, including the one on the floor. Three powerbombs is what beat Steve Williams to win the Champion Carnival the previous year. Three powerbombs is what Kawada couldn't hit on Misawa in the previous Triple Crown match. But here, three powerbombs still isn't enough to put away the Champion. Now Misawa has seemingly weathered the best that Kawada has to offer and he begins to show signs of reclaiming this match.

Kawada tries to follow up with another powerbomb, but Misawa blocks it. Kawada tries another backdrop, but Misawa grabs the ropes and Kawada's control of the match is slipping away. He hits an enzuigiri and Misawa slumps down against the ropes. But when Kawada tries to follow up with another backdrop, Misawa inches a little closer to taking over, as he turns into into a cross body. Kawada tries to fire back with strikes, but now Misawa has had enough and it's time for him to impose his will on the match. They trade elbows and then kicks to the face, but Misawa wins the battle and hits another rolling elbow to put Kawada down, once again traumatizing his head. Kawada manages to fight back and hit another backdrop, but the match has clearly slipped away from him, as he is unable to recover after hitting the move. His body is beginning to give out on him. Misawa ducks an attempted ganmengiri and blocks a kick before hitting an elbow to the head and absolutely spiking Kawada with a release German suplex. A second German is blocked, but Misawa is able to hit a Tiger Suplex for two. Kawada is now just defending himself on instinct. He gets up and throws a punch in a move reminiscent of his response in desperate moments of losses past. Misawa responds in kind and puts Kawada down again with the rolling elbow. Kawada is clearly fighting against his own physical limitations at this point, as he tries to stand and can't. There's a desperation in his eyes as he drags himself to his feet, using the ropes to support himself. He wants to prove that the tag match victory over Misawa was not a fluke, but he just can't overcome the Champion tonight. Misawa launches Kawada across the ring with a release Tiger Suplex and tightly hooks both legs for the pin. Kawada manages to break free after a two count, but he's not in much shape to do anything else. Misawa tosses him with another relase Tiger Suplex and Kawada is folded up and bounces until he's tangled up in the ropes on the opposite side of the ring. Kawada gets to his feet and withstands another rolling elbow, but Misawa puts him down for good with a running elbow.

This one doesn't match up with their classic encounter from '94, but aside from that, it is one of my favorite of their singles matches. While the Kawada mark in me isn't a big fan of seeing Misawa reestablish himself as the man in the feud, I just can't quibble with how well both men pulled off that particular story. Kawada's selling was golden all the way, and Misawa's stoicism worked well in establishing himself as still the man to beat contrast to Kawada's demeanor of increasing desperation.  ¶ joe | 1:08 AM |