(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada – AJPW, April 11, 1994

The feud between Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada has become something of a romanticized legend among some circles in the pro-wrestling fandom. In an era when the biggest companies were either creating cartoon characters, putting angles and stories ahead of matches at all costs, or generally moving towards a more exaggerated presentation, AJPW kept things real…or, about as close to real as possible in wrestling.

Instead of having wild characters or a ridiculous premise, Misawa and Kawada built their feud on simple and classic ideas. They were real-life friends turned bitter enemies. One was older and got more attention while the second worked just as hard but got less recognition. Their feud was built on jealousy, shared struggles, competition, a desire for recognition, and a willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of the sport. Misawa himself once admitted that he intentionally jeopardized his friendship with Kawada so that they could both channel their energy into creating better matches.

The results speak for themselves: many people still regard the Misawa/Kawada singles and tag matches from the 1990s to be among the best matches to ever take place. But not every match was an instant classic. The ones that were had more than just great action: they also had wild crowds and good promotion that built those matches up and give fans reasons to spend their money on tickets. The match we’re looking at today only had two of those three things: it had great action and a great crowd but it didn’t have the great build. In fact, it had no build at all and its existence as a match actually threw previous booking out the window. But was it still good enough of a match that it still holds up after almost three decades later? Read on to find out.

Previously I was writing for a site called TJR Wrestling and now this series is coming to Blog of Doom. For now you can check out the series in its entirety here.

The story

This match has a confusing reason for being. It took place on April 11th, which was during AJPW’s annual round-robin singles tournament the Champion Carnival. And yet it wasn’t a tournament match but instead was a straight singles match. Further complicating things was the reason Misawa was no longer part of the tournament come this match.

When the CC first started, Misawa was both the defending AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and one half of the World Tag Team Champion. Anyone with more than one functioning brain cell could see that Misawa would be an easy favorite to win. But having Misawa in the CC created booking challenges for Giant Baba. Does he push his champion to be more even more dominant, or does he elevate a new challenger, possibly even at the champion’s expense?

Baba couldn’t risk having Misawa look weak but he didn’t want Misawa beating some of the other tournament participants. Thus he did something decidedly un-Baba-like: he booked an angle. Early into the tournament, Doug Furnas gave Misawa a Frankensteiner and allegedly injured Misawa’s neck so badly he couldn’t wrestle in tournament matches any further. This worked injury was so convincing that it was alleged that even AJPW’s locker room was in on it and Furnas got heat from many people – including Stan Hansen – for allegedly injuring the company’s top star.

Misawa was “forced” to wrestle in tag matches for the rest of the tournament and all of his scheduled singles matches after the Furnas won were losses via forfeit. On one hand this gave the CC tournament a bit more freedom since a Misawa win was no longer on the table. On the other hand, this booking protected Misawa but made the two finalists that year – Steve Williams and Kawada – look somewhat weaker than they would’ve been had they faced Misawa in the group stage.

Speaking of Kawada, he still wrestled a full tournament schedule and didn’t get the benefit of only being in tag matches during this busy period. Then, as if sensing that the audience was feeling swindled for not having a promised Misawa/Kawada singles match, Baba booked such a contest anyway, though not for any tournament points. And so, Misawa and Kawada faced off in what was basically a cold match after that night’s tournament matches concluded.

The match

They lock-up and Misawa gets a clean break on the ropes. Misawa wrestles out of a rear waistlock and goes for Kawada’s arm. Misawa works the arm until Kawada drops him with a lariat for a two-count. Kawada stomps and kicks Misawa’s neck and locks him in a chinlock for a bit. He follows with some chops in a corner but Misawa fires up/gets pissed off and hits back with elbows. That gets a big pop as Kawada rolls to ringside to recover.

Misawa applies a chinlock but Kawada escapes via…something; it’s hard to tell because this is fancam footage from 1994 and the camera shakes. Kawada applies another rear chinlock but Misawa gets a ropebreak so Kawada stiffs him some more. Misawa reverses an Irish whip and lands a dropkick that sends Kawada back outside. Misawa does his rope flip onto the apron and goes for an elbow but Kawada elbows him first as Misawa flies through the air.

Back in the ring Kawada applies a single leg crab only for Misawa to get a ropebreak. Kawada responds by clubbing Misawa’s neck some more and then applies the same hold on Misawa’s other leg. That half crab turns into a torture crab as Kawada stands on Misawa’s head. Kawada follows with a kneedrop on Misawa’s head for another two-count, cheap-shots Misawa’s back, and then applies a cobra twist. Misawa fights out and then hits some elbows. He applies a front chancery but Kawada drives him into a corner to escape and then kicks Misawa’s face in. Kawada follows with his always-sick-looking leg lariat for another two-count.

Kawada applies another chinlock but again Misawa gets to the ropes. His stomps get more aggressive but then Misawa fires up and begins a comeback. He hits stiff elbows and a flying spinning clothesline for a one-count. Misawa follows with a kick combo and teases a German suplex but Kawada literally kicks out before it can land. Kawada tries a yakuza kick. Misawa blocks and goes for a rolling elbow. Kawada avoids and connects with his yakuza kick and a running lariat. One, two, Misawa kicks out.

The crowd chants Misawa’s name as he resists getting powerbombed. Kawada responds with his patented step kicks and tries the powerbomb again, but when Misawa stays in place Kawada hits an exceptionally stiff forearm to the back of Misawa’s neck. Misawa goes down but Kawada doesn’t give him time to breathe as he hits multiple chops to the neck followed by a vertical suplex for yet another two-count.

Another yakuza kick and a dropkick send Misawa to the floor and then Kawada launches him into the barricade. Kawada follows with a scoop slam on the ringside mats and then a kneedrop from the apron to the floor. Then he tosses Misawa in the ring and lands his Folding Powerbomb finisher. One, two, Misawa kicks out again. Kawada attempts a Dangerous Backdrop. Misawa blocks with elbows. Back-and-forth they go hitting hard until Misawa drops Kawada with a big elbow smash and then both men go down.

Kawada gets up first and hits a yakuza and then a scoop slam/spine punt combo. He locks in a Stretch Plum submission hold but Misawa powers out. Misawa charges for a running elbow but runs into a gamengiri kick for a huge pop and another two-count. Sleeper hold with bodyscissors. Misawa’s arm drops once…twice…thr – no, Misawa stays alive and gets a ropebreak. Kawada lands brutal chops to the neck while maintaining wrist control and then does more step kicks. Misawa fires up, no-sells the next chop flurry, and drops Kawada with elbows. The crowd chants Misawa’s name some more as the two wrestlers slug it out. Misawa drops Kawada with a running elbow smash, dropkicks him to the floor, and lands his elbow suicida.

The twenty-minute mark passes as Misawa hits a diving elbow smash for another two-count. He follows with his grounded facelock submission hold, sees Kawada inching towards the ropes, snapmares him in a different direction, and reapplies the hold. Kawada manages a ropebreak and then kicks out at 2.5 so Misawa tries the facelock yet again. Same result. Kawada goes for another leg lariat as an Irish whip counter but Misawa has him scouted and slams him to the mat. Kawada blocks attempts at both a Tiger Driver and a Tiger suplex despite taking more elbows to the face. Kawada reverses a corner whip and kicks Misawa’s back as Misawa attempts a springboard back elbow. One, two, Misawa kicks out once more.

Kawada goes back to the single leg crab but Misawa gets a ropebreak. Misawa powers out of a powerbomb and both men go for their signature strikes. Misawa’s elbow connects with Kawada’s leg and Kawada comes out worse for wear. Misawa tries another Tiger Driver. Kawada blocks and drills him with a leg lariat. Misawa hits back with elbows and kicks of his own followed by a corkscrew plancha to the floor.

Kawada reverses a whip into a barricade but Misawa bounces out and hits another elbow smash at the announcer warns that there’s FIVE MINUTES REMAINING! Kawada cuts Misawa off in a corner and lands a superplex for a two-count. Lariat by Kawada. Another two-count. Kawada hits kicks in a corner and goes for his Dangerous Backdrop. Misawa reverses it into a pin in midair for another two-count. Misawa hits another elbow but Kawada hits back with another gamengiri. One, two, Misawa survives once more.

Misawa escapes a powerbomb and ducks a lariat. Kawada elbows out of a German suplex and lands one of his own for a very close two-count. Stretch Plum submission hold. Misawa slumps down but still kicks out of Kawada’s next cover.

Two minutes left.

Kawada reapplies the Stretch Plum and wrenches it with all his might. Misawa knocks him away and drops him with another elbow.

One minute left.

After struggling on the mat for a bit, Misawa drops Kawada with a rolling elbow for another close two-count. Kawada blocks one Tiger Driver but can’t block a second after eating more elbows. One, two, Kawada kicks out. Then the bell rings to signal that time has run out and both men sink back down, exhausted.

Match result: 30-minute DRAW

Review

It’s Misawa and Kawada going one-on-one in their primes; they can’t possibly have a bad match. And they didn’t; this match was exactly what one would expect of two of the fabled Four Pillars wrestling in a random one-off match with minimal build. It wasn’t bad…but it wasn’t exceptional either. It had some moments of great action and counter-wrestling and if watched in a vacuum and without context this would look like a pretty damn great match that made both guys look food.

But once one understands the match’s background and circumstances it becomes a weirder match that doesn’t make that much sense. Why was Misawa able to go to a 30-minute draw against a relatively healthy Kawada while “out” with a neck injury? Why did Kawada have such a hard time keeping Misawa down? If Misawa was able to wrestle more or less like normal in this match and fans got the Misawa/Kawada singles match they had been clamoring for, what was the point of taking Misawa out of the tournament?

I know, wrestling isn’t usually supposed to make you think; but when you’re watching a match that features action over story and has something of a linguistic and cultural barrier to overcome, then a little background is needed to understand the match fully. So even though the match had all the calling cards of a fun 1990s All Japan match – intense exchanges, easy-to-follow action, a sense of realism, and a clear three-act structure mixed with a wild unpredictability – most of the action ended up feeling unnecessary. It was as if All Japan was trying to give the audience some fanservice despite it contradicting existing storylines.

If we take the match’s action and result and combine them with what was already going on at the time, then this match worsens Kawada’s position in the company. He didn’t get to face Misawa in the actual tournament so his reaching the finals ends up being an achievement with an asterisk. When he finally gets to face Misawa one-on-one for the first time in almost a year, he doesn’t win but DRAWS after thirty minutes. And this is against an opponent who allegedly had a neck injury that forced him out of that big tournament in the first place. Not only that, but as the match was winding down it was Kawada, not Misawa, who was on the defensive. How does any of this booking help anyone aside from Misawa, who was already so far above everyone else in the company?

Final rating: ****

The match was fine but it would’ve been much better with some key changes. Given that another world title match between Misawa and Kawada was inevitable (because no matter how screwy the booking was this rivalry drew millions of yen), and that Misawa was so untouchable as both a wrestler and as a star, it made no sense for this match to go the way it did. Even if AJPW did angles extremely rarely, Kawada, who still had to face “Dr. Death” Steve Williams in the tournament finals, didn’t need to go to a 30-minute draw in a match that had no bearing on the immediate matter that was the Champion Carnival. He didn’t need to take so many hits and look competitive against a guy who should’ve stayed in multi-man tags until the tournament ended. But if there was some kind of business/creative justification for this match existing and going to a draw, then this match should’ve ended with a different visual. If fans are supposed to leave a match with a specific impression – in this case, the idea that Misawa actually has credible challengers – then it should’ve ended with Kawada looking strong on offense instead of him trying to escape Misawa’s control.

So even though this was a good match, it was one that had no place taking place where and when it did.

Thanks for reading. You can email me with any questions or comments, and be sure to check out my 5-Star and Almost 5-Star Match Reviews series here.