(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. KENTA – ROH Glory By Honor 2007

When he was in his prime Mitsuharu Misawa’s career was the gift that kept on giving. Now, though, his career story has become the tragedy that needs to be repeated so that it doesn’t happen to others.

You’re unlikely to find a bigger fan of 1990s All Japan than me. It’s my favorite style of wrestling and I think so many of the matches that took place during that decade blow most of today’s wrestling out of the water. But the fabled King’s Road style came at a severe cost, one that wouldn’t be seen or felt until years and decades later.

Nowadays there are some people that, admittedly, struggle to look back at those same matches and not wince knowing how Misawa’s life would end. And so, Misawa and his cohorts have attracted some notable detractors who’ve criticized their in-ring style since it was so physical, taxing, and diametrically opposed to one of the core tenets of pro-wrestling: make it look like it hurts without actually hurting one’s self.

Nevertheless, Misawa was passionate about wrestling and kept going long after his physical prime. He was beloved by certain fan circles, to the point that he was given an incredible reception when he came to the United States for the first time in years. But was the match deserving of the reception it got, or was it a case of novelty overshadowing any negatives?

The Story

Things had gotten dire for NOAH come 2007. The company took a major hit in 2006 when their former world champion and genuine GOAT contender Kenta Kobashi was sidelined with kidney cancer. Although Kobashi was far removed from the world title scene so that the company would pivot towards other stars, he was still critical to the company as a draw. Even if he was jerking the curtain in opening matches people still flocked to see him because, fuck, it’s KOBASHI. But with him gone pressure increased on Misawa and those in the main-event scene…of which there were few. A series of unsuccessful booking decisions and a noted failure in Takeshi Rikio as world champion left Misawa with few options when it came to creating someone around whom he could build. When all else failed he still had one (somewhat) safe bet: put the title on himself. This would alleviate any pressure on up-and-comers still rising up the card and would help draw in crowds at home since most people knew Misawa from the 1990s and would tune to see him more than anyone else (Author’s note: I was vacationing in Japan earlier this year and whenever I mentioned “puroresu” or “Zen Nihon [All Japan]” to anyone, pretty much all of them said they like[d] Misawa over everyone else. Even after all these years following his untimely death he’s still widely known even among more casual and lapsed fans).

But Misawa putting the title back on himself also put even more physical stress on himself. The dual pressures of being office and talent at the same time made it hard for him to do well in both. As the years passed he found it harder to take time off to rest or be with his family. He was a known chain smoker and his body was riddled with either undiagnosed or untreated injuries. He was said to have vision, neck, and nerve issues, including osteophytes which made him experience severe pain from something as simple as brushing his teeth. But he soldiered on because he was central to so many people. Not only did his fellow wrestlers depend on him for their livelihoods but so too did all the non-wrestling talent and all of their families. All of them relied on Misawa, which is why he pushed himself whenever possible and wrestled in his usual taxing style, even as his body wore down more and more with each passing week. If the age-old adage about wrestling was indeed true – that one year as a pro-wrestler ages the body the same as three years ages a normal person – then one year wrestling as Misawa would age a normal person at least six.

Anyways, Misawa’s third world title reign was supposed to drum up more business since the previous champion Marufuji hadn’t exactly set the world on fire (despite putting on a MOTDC match with KENTA in his first defense). Speaking of KENTA, he was the man handpicked to challenge Misawa in the champion’s seventh defense. But while KENTA had already been in ROH a few times before (and had barn-burners against Low Ki and Bryan Danielson), Misawa had not. And since the ROH was a smart crowd they knew who Misawa was…which is why they gave him a hero’s welcome. Not quite on the same level as Kobashi’s in 2005 but still pretty big for a guy who had never wrestled on a big stage in North America (that is, except for when he was still masked in the 1980s and some odd appearances in California for Pro Wrestling IRON).

So the crowd was going into this expecting something that was more of a rare treat than anything else. Misawa was very much a shell of his former self here: overweight, hobbling, and a bit stoop-shouldered. But he carried the weight of NOAH on his back just as much as he carried the GHC Heavyweight Championship around his waist. So the question was, could he and KENTA live up to the hype of a Misawa title defense on American soil, despite all the negative factors at play as well?

The Match

This took place on November 3, 2007. Dave Meltzer never gave it a formal rating but did note that “it was somewhere in the **** range”.

This is for Misawa’s GHC Heavyweight Championship. Misawa gets some clean breaks but then KENTA hits back with boots. Misawa wins a standing strike exchange, bounces off the ropes, and runs into an armdrag. A quick exchange leads to a stalemate and a standing ovation from the crowd and loud “MI-SA-WA” chants. KENTA works Misawa’s left arm and follows with a dropkick for a one-count. A deep chinlock leads to a two-count so he lands stiff forearms, only for Misawa to answer in kind. KENTA backs Misawa into a corner and slaps him hard but again Misawa retaliates with stiff elbows. Misawa gets some shots in but KENTA fires back with a kick combo. Then KENTA drapes Misawa onto the top rope and hits a top-dope diving knee to the back of his head.

KENTA hits a back elbow and locks in a Figure-4 neck lock until Misawa rolls to the ropes for a break. KENTA channels Kawada with some stiff spine kicks and then lands a springboard into a nonchalant foot kick for a two-count. KENTA spams near-falls to drain Misawa’s energy but Misawa fires back with a few more elbows, including one that sends KENTA from the top rope to the floor.

Misawa sends KENTA into the barricade and once back in the ring he lands some jump kicks and a standing senton for two. KENTA gets a ropebreak to stop a facelock so Misawa drops him with elbows. We get another strike exchange and once again Misawa wins. Misawa blocks a corner charge and rushes out of the ring only to run into a swinging powerslam. Misawa reverses an Irish whip but KENTA hits first with a flying forearm. He lands another kick combo followed by a running single-leg dropkick for two. He follows with two corner yakuza kicks and a springboard shotgun dropkick for another near-fall. KENTA lands his tornado hotshot and teases another springboard attack but Misawa elbows him mid-jump, sending him to the floor. Then Misawa turns back time for a moment and hits an elbow suicida, much to the crowd’s delight.

Back in the ring, Misawa catches KENTA and lands a Tiger Driver for two. KENTA blocks a frog splash and attempts a Falcon Arrow but Misawa blocks and teases a diving Tiger Driver. KENTA blocks that and charges again but Misawa hits another elbow. Misawa dives but KENTA gets a kneelift. KENTA follows with a running knee and a Tiger Suplex for another close near-fall. Misawa blocks a Go 2 Sleep so KENTA lands a martial arts rush. He attempts a Busaiku knee but Misawa blocks. Misawa tries another Tiger Driver but KENTA counters with a successful Go 2 Sleep. One, two, Misawa narrowly survives.

Misawa blocks another GTS and attempts the Frozen Emerald as the crowd chant “NOAH”. KENTA escapes the first one but can’t block a second…but he can kick out and does. Both men charge. KENTA hits first with a Busaiku knee. KENTA tries one more kick combo but Misawa ducks and lands a rolling elbow. Misawa follows with a running elbow for two. Then Misawa hits a one-two elbow combo and a Screwdriver Frozen Emerald to get the three-count and retain his title!

Winner and STILL GHC Heavyweight Champion after 18:33: Mitsuharu Misawa

Review

Solid match but disappointing by Misawa standards. It was obvious he couldn’t do all that much compared to his prime and had turned into a veteran that plays the hits more than anything else. But even as that kind of wrestler Misawa still moved and bumped around far more than one would expect. He sold for KENTA like crazy and did everything he could to make KENTA look good without actually losing. He hit almost every move in his arsenal and followed the DBZ philosophy of escalating towards bigger and more potent finishers until something could get the job done. This led to a few short bursts of intense action but otherwise the match was rather pedestrian with much of its purported greatness being driven by the crowd admiring the sheer novelty of Misawa wrestling in North America.

The crowd really amplified the big-fight atmosphere but Kobashi-Joe this was not. The novelty wore off soon when it became clear that KENTA stood little chance of winning. Try as he might he was outmatched by someone a few inches taller, at least sixty pounds heavier, and far more experienced. KENTA’s only solution seemed to be to surprise or blindside Misawa, but that didn’t work either since Misawa just tanked hits to the head and neck until KENTA ran out of ideas, got desperate, and ran into a barrage of finishers to finally put him down.

In many ways this was like a NOAH version of the tried-and-tested Hogan formula: have the champion take tons of hits, kick out of the challenger’s finish, and then make a swift and emphatic comeback. The only main difference was that Misawa used a few more moves rather than just one to sell the idea that KENTA was tougher than normal and needed to be felled with something special.

Final Rating: ***1/2

Despite being sound in execution this is a skippable match. It didn’t feature anything truly unique aside from “Misawa in the US” which, if we’re being honest, lacked the same special aura of Kobashi’s ROH appearance from two years earlier. Misawa and KENTA both played the hits which got a big reaction from the live crowd but looking back from today this match doesn’t offer all that much. And since you can search almost any big Misawa match and find video of it on either YouTube or DailyMotion, then there’s no real impetus to go out of your way to see this.

The funny is that, chronologically, this isn’t even the last genuine great Misawa match. That honor goes to a tag match he was in a month later which included an even louder and more emotional crowd than this one. Then again, considering that other match saw one of Misawa’s greatest rivals make his big return after beating cancer and this match here was more of an exhibition than anything else, then it’s no wonder that this one is largely forgotten.

Thanks for reading.