(Almost) 5-Star Matches Reviews: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama – AJPW Champion Carnival 1998

When it comes to wrestlers and their legacies, few people in modern times encapsulate the idea of a slow-motion car crash better than Mitsuharu Misawa.

Once the unquestioned ace of AJPW during that company’s widely-heralded 1990s golden age, Misawa experienced a downward spiral that ended in legitimate tragedy. His in-ring style influenced an entire generation of wrestlers and wrestling fans. Even those who might not know who he is might know him from his wide array of crazy moves that found their way into WWE’s video games over the decades. Guys like Eddie Kingston have fawned over Misawa and his accomplishments. Talk of ‘Four Pillars’ in AEW stems from the original Four Pillars of All Japan which included Misawa. Even Will Ospreay, a guy some fans consider the best wrestler active today, devoted a part of his career to surpassing Misawa’s number of 5-Star matches.

But despite all of this praise and reverence towards Misawa, both from within the wrestling business and among its fans, his career includes a dark side: he died in the ring in 2009 after wrestling far beyond his body begging for him to stop.

Misawa’s death left a foul taste in some fans’ mouths, especially since, in theory, it could’ve been avoided. Though it was considered a freak accident at the time, many observers have noted that Misawa’s in-ring style coupled with how long he was on top caused his body to deteriorate to the degree that his spine became weak enough to sever on impact.

One could argue that it was the frequency of Misawa’s bad bumps that did him in, rather than the severity. After all, there are wrestlers who have taken worse individual bumps and have survived. So if Misawa’s death was due to being forced to continue wrestling in-style well past his expiry date, one should look at how he ended up in that questionable position in the first place. To do that, we need to look at one of many instances in AJPW history that could’ve changed the company’s direction but instead left the status quo intact, much to Misawa’s chagrin.

The story

Akiyama had been Misawa’s regular tag partner since early 1996 after Kobashi broke away from the green machine to strike out on his own. By becoming Misawa’s new right-hand man Akiyama received a major main-event rub. It enabled him to continue his monumental growth, to the point that fans on both sides of the Pacific were raving about his tag matches alongside Misawa. Some observers even began changing AJPW’s nomenclature, replacing the ‘Shitenno/Four Pillars’ reference with gotsuyo (五強, “Five Strengths”) to include Akiyama among them.

But Akiyama, like Kobashi and Kawada before him, couldn’t stay as a tag team guy forever; AJPW needed him to emerge as a singles guy. This was especially true for Misawa: All Japan’s hard-hitting style was taking its toll on him and he couldn’t stay the ace forever. Though a passing of the torch was a long way off for anyone in All Japan, the company’s cloistered and protected world title scene was translating into fewer sellouts and therefore less money. If they wanted to widen the field of contenders without devaluing the title (a challenge that many a wrestling fed and armchair booker has faced), they needed to make Akiyama into a believable contender.

And so his singles push began. Akiyama went through similar trials as the stars above him, losing more than he won in typical AJPW long-game fashion. He lost his first title match against Misawa in September 1997, which was to be expected since no one, not even a wunderkind like Akiyama, would win in his first world title match under Baba’s booking. Four months later at the end of January 1998, Akiyama came closer than ever before and all but solidified himself as a main-eventer. He pushed Misawa to the limit and nearly won, that is, until Misawa planted him with his new super-finisher the Frozen Emerald, commonly mistranslated into English as the Emerald Flowsion/Frozian/Flowsien/Fusion.

Determined to bounce back, Akiyama entered the Champion Carnival, AJPW’s premier singles tournament. Akiyama had an impressive showing, winning against everyone in the tournament save for a loss to Kawada and three 30-minute draws against Misawa, Kobashi, and ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams. Not quite the meteoric booking of, say, a Brock Lesnar or an attached-to-Inoki’s-hip Shinsuke Nakamura, but still and impressive showing given AJPW’s wrestlers needed to maintain credibility above almost everything else.

Misawa, meanwhile, entered the CC as defending Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion. Had had an impressive showing as well, scoring wins over everyone except Akiyama, Stan Hansen (draw), Kawada (draw) and Taue (his only loss). In the end, both Misawa and Akiyama finished the single-block round-robin tournament with 19 points each, enough to advance to the finals.

Two wrestlers with the same score and almost identical parameters but with very different career trajectories. One man was at the very top while the other was a rising star nipping at his heels. Could Akiyama overcome his losing streak against Misawa or would the Emerald Emperor reign supreme once again?

The match

This match took place on April 18, 1998. It was rated ***3/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

After shaking hands they lock-up and Akiyama immediately lands a dragon screw leg whip. Misawa hits back with elbows but Akiyama reverses an Irish whip and lands a Tsuruta jumping knee which pisses Misawa off something fierce. He lands another barrage of elbows followed by a Tiger Driver for a two-count and Akiyama bails to ringside. Akiyama drags him to the floor and whips him into the barricade. Misawa charges for an elbow but Akiyama ducks and attempts an Exploder suplex. Misawa resists so Akiyama switches to northern lights suplex instead. Different move, same impact on the same unforgiving surface.

Misawa gets up but Akiyama dives onto him from the top rope. Akiyama tries a ringside Exploder but Misawa kicks off the side of the ring to send Akiyama into the barricade. Clever move. Misawa kicks Akiyama away and goes for an elbow suicida but Akiyama moves aside. He knows from watching everyone else not to stand in place for Misawa’s ~BIG MOVE~. Akiyama returns to the ring and is met with elbows, forearms, and a spinning lariat. Misawa goes to the mat with a front facelock and when Akiyama gets to his feet Misawa downs him with a spinkick. Akiyama kicks out at two following a senton and then starts trading forearms with Misawa. Both guys bounce off the ropes and hit with all their might until Misawa drops Akiyama with a running elbow.

Misawa lands more stiff shots and goes for a corner whip but Akiyama reverses it. Misawa goes for a counter but Akiyama hits first. Then Misawa kicks Akiyama to block a charge and prepares for a diving dropkick, but as he sits on the top turnbuckle Akiyama rushes him and hits an avalanche dragon screw. Misawa blocks an over-the-rope suplex into the ring so Akiyama dropkicks his knee, sending him to the floor. Akiyama follows with a brutal knee crusher that drives Misawa knee-first into the steel guardrail and a dropkick to the same knee as it’s laced through the space in said guardrail.

Back in the ring Akiyama works over that knee with various strikes, stretches, and submissions. Misawa gets a ropebreak to escape a sharpshooter so Akiyama dropkicks the knee and applies a Figure-4 leglock; not fully, though as Misawa holds Akiyama’s foot with his free hand. Akiyama breaks Misawa’s resistance but then Misawa rolls to the ropes. Akiyama lands a standing knee crusher and attempts another avalanche dragon screw but this time Misawa elbows out and lands a diving dropkick right to Akiyama’s face.

Misawa hobbles over and hits an Ace Crusher variant followed by a facelock. Akiyama gets a ropebreak so Misawa snapmares him, elbows his neck, and reapplies the same hold. Akiyama kicks out of a follow-up cover so Misawa lands another Tiger Driver for another two-count. Misawa tries a rolling elbow but takes too long so Akiyama dropkicks his bad knee. Akiyama hits another dragon screw and goes to the top rope but Misawa gets up to try and cut him off. He fails as Akiyama lands a diving knee to Misawa’s face followed by a running bulldog for a two-count. Akiyama hits a diving elbow to the back of Misawa’s head but only manages another two-count. He follows with a reverse powerbomb hotshot into the ropes, a release German suplex, another dropkick to the knee, and a successful Exploder…all for two.

Akiyama hits a diving knee and another Exploder but Misawa kicks out again. Akiyama charges from the opposite side of the ring…and runs into an elbow smash. Akiyama charges again. Misawa ducks, smashes him into the turnbuckle, and lands a release German. Misawa repeats that sequence and bridges for a two-count. Bridging Tiger suplex. Two-count. Misawa attempts another Tiger Driver. Akiyama counters with a Sheerdrop Brainbuster for yet another two-count. Misawa can’t reach the ropes and Akiyama lands another Exploder. One, two, Misawa kicks out once more. Akiyama tries another Exploder. Misawa blocks and hits a huge elbow combination. Akiyama blocks a Tiger Driver so Misawa hits a senton leg drop. A third Tiger Driver by Misawa gets another two-count so Misawa resorts to something simpler. Running elbow smash. Misawa gets the three-count and wins the tournament!

Winner of the 1998 Champion Carnival after 22:05: Mitsuharu Misawa

Review

This was a solid match but still somewhat disappointing given the names involved. Akiyama’s title challenge from January 1998 and his February 2000 match in which he finally pins Misawa are both way better than this. Things looked to be going Akiyama’s way for about 2/3 of the match: he had Misawa’s number more often than not, wrestled strategically, and seemed to land more hits than he missed. He looked like he belonged in the ring as a singles competitor…and then Misawa just started brushing things off. Akiyama’s focused and aggressive work on the knee started having less impact as Misawa channeled his inner stoic and pushed forward. His head-spiking bombs failed to make a dent as Misawa did the All Japan equivalent of hulking up. Then Misawa endured a torrent of signature and finishing moves and then made a sudden and decisive comeback to get a win that he really didn’t need.

The result was a prime example of a solid and compelling match flattening towards the end because the conclusion didn’t flow with the action that preceded it. Akiyama needed the win more than Misawa. He already had momentum coming off an incredibly close loss in January and had proven himself close to the level of other established stars.

A win here would’ve at least cemented Akiyama’s place on the field of worthy world title contenders, a field that, at the time, kept shrinking with the likes of Dr. Death leaving for WWE and Stan Hansen getting older. Instead, Misawa racked up another big win, ostensibly to give him momentum going into his scheduled title defense against Kawada at AJPW’s first Tokyo Dome show two weeks later. But that ended up being a flimsy justification because, a) the Misawa-Kawada feud had enough head and interest on its own, to the point that Akiyama winning here wouldn’t cool off Misawa’s momentum whatsoever; and b) had Akiyama won it he wouldn’t get an immediate title shot as he’d still have to go through the ringer to prove the CC win wasn’t a fluke.

And given how things actually went down in All Japan over the next six months it’s no wonder the company ended up in financial trouble, regardless of high match quality. Kawada beat Misawa in the Tokyo Dome to win the title, which also gave Misawa much-needed time off to heal. But because Misawa was All Japan’s sacred cow and everyone else – including #2 Kawada – were so far beneath him in the fans’ eyes, business plateaued shortly afterwards. Kawada ended up being a transitional champion to Kobashi and held the title for only about a month. Kobashi’s first title defense was against Akiyama who lost once again, despite putting on the best match of his career. Despite Kobashi putting on barn-burners against different people, AJPW’s fortunes didn’t improve outside of Tokyo, which forced Misawa to return after only four months off. And come the end of October, the title was back in Misawa’s possession.

This whole situation shines a spotlight on the problems surrounding All Japan’s creative direction and how difficult it was to make sound decisions when wins and losses mattered so much. All Japan had great matches that still hold up well but the reason the company stopped having said great matches is because bad booking prevented another group of wrestlers from taking up the Four Pillars’ mantles. Good booking decisions would’ve meant Akiyama winning here so that he could mesh both with Misawa & co. AND any other potential new arrivals or fresh stars. But because AJPW’s business began to plateau and conflicts began to emerge in the boardroom between Misawa and Motoko, progress couldn’t be made.

Akiyama looked like he was on the cusp of winning but at the last minute Misawa was booked to win emphatically for no reason other than to maintain the business status quo. It was a Band-Aid solution to a long-term problem that was only going to get worse given Misawa’s growing list of injuries. And considering the way his story ended, AJPW really shot themselves in the foot by not taking more risks with new main-eventers to at least try and sell to their audience the idea that Akiyama could be more than just a tag team specialist.

Final Rating: ****

This was a good match that ultimately ended up having plenty of inconsequential action because of its weird finish. The action took the match’s story in one direction but everything that happened in the last 1/3 went in the opposite direction. If both guys knew the story they were trying to tell, why negate that story with a closing act that negated everything that came before it?

But if you’re able to just watch this match in a vacuum and ignore the ‘well that was all pointless’ nature of the conclusion then odds are you’ll still find something to enjoy here. Misawa and Akiyama had solid chemistry, told a decent story in the ring, and didn’t go overboard with the excessive head-spiking that would become par for the course in the years ahead. If you like your wrestling sport-like and with a solid sense of believability, you’ll be happy with what these two put on here.

Thanks for reading.