(Almost) 5-Star Match Reviews: Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada – AJPW, February 28, 1993

Stan Hansen is one of the most iconic and recognizable wrestling legends to spend most of his career outside of the WWE umbrella. Many older fans might remember him for his body of work in the US throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but to many younger fans he has another leg to his career across the Pacific.

Simply put, Hansen is the most venerated gaijin/foreigner to wrestle in Japan. Though guys like Hulk Hogan, Freddie Blassie, Bob Sapp, and André the Giant might’ve made more money over there, few men command as much respect as Hansen. He was feared the county over for his toughness and in-ring meanness. He was the ultimate example of using any recklessness or physical handicaps (in his case his poor eyesight) to his advantage. In a medium defined by cooperation, Stan Hansen gave off the impression that he was either going into business for himself or got the stamp of approval to do as he pleased as long as it drew money, which it did.

That said, Hansen’s great match record in All Japan – where he enjoyed immense success – is…a bit checkered. He managed to have some outstanding matches with guys like Kenta Kobashi but he also had some disappointments with others like Mitsuharu Misawa. So how would he do against Toshiaki Kawada, a man who had his own distinct style and seemed to have outstanding chemistry with pretty much everyone?

The Story

Hansen and Kawada had faced each other one-on-one only three times prior to this and Hansen won all three of them. Their last singles match was the prior June and was Kawada’s second-ever world title shot. Kawada was a rising star of sorts while Hansen was the established old guard from the generation above him. Kawada was part of Misawa’s Chosedaigun stable, a pseudo-Four Horsemen sans forth man who were trying to fill the gaps in the company’s main-event scene following Genichiro Tenryu’s ill-fated departure to form his own promotion. It was expected that Kawada would move up to the main-event slot eventually, but with each passing month of Kawada teaming with clear future ace Misawa fans wondered when AJPW would finally pull the trigger on Kawada’s own main-event push.

Some wondered if this would be that moment, though that was still unlikely given whom Kawada was facing. Hansen was a monster with an incredible reputation. His lariat was the ultimate weapon, a finisher so terrifying it made Randy Orton’s RKO look like a light fall onto a feather bed by comparison. If there was ever a wrestler with a finish that hit with the power of a loaded gun, it was Hansen.

Needless to say Kawada had every right to be concerned about getting hit with that almost guaranteed-OKHO super-weapon, but could he still pull out a surprise victory all the same?

The Match

This took place on February 28, 1993. It was rated ****3/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Hansen rushes Kawada before the opening bell. They brawl around the ring trading strike combos. Kawada’s already in desperation mode trying to cut Hansen down but Hansen shoves him across the ring. Hansen drops an elbow but Kawada gets up first and lands a scoop slam/soccer kick combo. He follows with a front chancery and some step-kicks but Hansen lands a few jabs to send him staggering. Hansen returns fire with punts of his own which send Kawada to the floor. He teases a ringside backdrop but Kawada resists and sends Hansen head-first into a ringpost and then lands a kneedrop from the apron to the floor.

Hansen tries returning to the ring but Kawada clubbers him the moment he steps through the ropes. Hansen resists being double-legged and blocks a corner charge with a stiff boot. Hansen with a running back elbow for two and then the same from a diving elbow drop. Hansen teases a powerbomb but Kawada gets into a corner to break it up and peppers Hansen with kicks for a two-count of his own. Kawada locks in a half crab but Hansen gets to the ropes and lands more random strikes. Hansen wins a kick exchange and locks in his own half crab. Kawada gets a ropebreak but Hansen continues hitting such stiff shots that Kawada howls in pain. Even the toughest man on the planet wouldn’t be able to keep quiet from those shots.

Hansen works Kawada’s leg some more using the bottom rope for added pressure. Kawada breaks free and uses his free right leg to kick when Hansen tries legwork once again. Kawada tries a bunch of basic holds but can’t do all that much since Hansen’s close to the ropes and he’s struggling to keep himself standing from all of Hansen’s offense. they collide again and Hansen knocks Kawada down. Hansen kicks Kawada’s face and may or may not have knocked more teeth out.

Another kneedrop gets Hansen another near-fall, as does a successful Backdrop suplex. Kawada blocks a piledriver so Hansen stiffs him and drops another knee for yet another two-count. Kawada kicks out of a DDT, eats more shots to the chest, and reverses a corner whip but Hansen bounces out and knocks him down with a shoulderblock. Then 300-pound Stan Hansen dropkicks Kawada out of the ring and follows with a suicide dive to the floor.

Still unsatisfied, Hansen removes some of the ringside mats and attempts a suplex, only for Kawada to reverse it and suplex Hansen instead. Hansen makes it to the apron but Kawada cuts him off again and hits a running apron enzui lariat to keep Hansen out of the ring. Moments later Kawada covers for a two-count and then lands a scoop slam/diving kneedrop combo another close near-fall. Kawada lands a snap suplex and locks in the Stretch Plum. Hansen starts going limp but his body slinks into the ropes forcing a break.

Kawada maintains momentum with a barrage of strikes anywhere and everywhere he can. Then he makes one of the biggest mistakes of his life and bitchslaps Hansen and, of course, Hansen returns in kind and drops him. Hansen follows with head-butts but then Kawada fires back. Hansen throws him down with a schoolyard throw and now Kawada’s pissed. He fires back with what look like genuine hate-filled forearms but again Hansen knocks him down. Hansen follows with more elbow and knee drops, including one with his kneepad removed, for two. Then Hansen lands a powerbomb and a second-rope body splash for another near-fall. He teases the lariat. The crowd roars. Kawada ducks one lariat and hits a boot plus a lariat of his own. One, two, Hansen kicks out. Hansen escapes another Stretch Plum so Kawada lands another high kick. Kawada desperately hits more lariats but only gets a two-count. He lands more chops and kicks and goes for a rope-assisted jump kick but Hansen blocks it and throws him down. Hansen charges again. Kawada hits first with a gamengiri. Hansen staggers for a second…and then lands the mother of all lariats! That lariat sends Kawada flipping end over end like Rikishi and Hansen’s own momentum sends him to the floor.

Kawada appears to be dead in the ring as Hansen recovers. Realizing Kawada could probably kick out somehow, Hansen readies another lariat only for Kawada to land a gorgeous leg lariat out of nowhere. Kawada covers but barely gets two. He tries getting up but Hansen hits a running enzui lariat to drop him and get the three-count to win the match.

Winner after 24:02: Stan Hansen

Review

I wouldn’t call this a classical match but more of a primitive one. The action here wasn’t just basic; it was simplified, trimmed down to the easiest moves imaginable: kicks, forearms, easy holds, and the baby’s first wrestling moves of techniques. But that’s all that was needed here. This was a rugged, violent brawl. It looked like a real fight was either going to break out at any time or they were fighting from the start and mixing in the odd wrestling move to remind people that this was a contest. Hansen played the meathead menace to a T as he was able to do the same amount of damage, tell the same story, and get the same reactions, from hitting one or two strikes as most wrestlers would get out of an entire complicated move combo.

This, combined with Hansen’s known reputation for poor eyesight and stiffness in the ring (either intentional or unintentional, depending on your perspective), made the match into a tense do-or-die situation for Kawada. He was forced into a fight situation and not a ‘hit techniques in a display of skill’ situation. He went down a simpler route because he needed to. He had to fight from beneath because Hansen blindsided him from the start and hit him as hard as possible. It became easy to root for Kawada given the beating he was taking. For a guy who usually came across as cold, malicious, and bitter in his matches, Kawada managed to do the impossible and become an underdog Face-In-Peril. Not quite on the same level as ultimate babyface Kobashi but still somewhat comparable.

And while the action itself was somewhat unfocused and the matwork segment forgotten towards the end, the ending more or less compensated for it. Kawada’s heroic final salvo made it look like he might turn things around and win despite facing down insurmountable odds, only for Hansen to run him the fuck over with arguably the best lariat he has ever thrown. It’s a brutal match that perfectly encapsulates Hansen’s less-is-more philosophy.

It also makes for a great argument for spontaneity adding to matches. Within minutes it became clear that both guys weren’t working with anything remotely resembling an outline; they just knew the finish and worked backwards from there. As the veteran in the match (as well as the closest thing it had to a traditional heel), Hansen called the action and did what he felt was right in the moment rather than stick to a script, framework, or checklist of what to do. So while it’s far from the smoothest, detailed, layered or consistent of matches, it still had that gritty realism and sense of brutality that sold the idea that these two men were inhumanly tough for putting themselves and each other through such punishment.

Final Rating: ****3/4

Though Meltzer hasn’t always been right when it comes to ratings (especially since 2001-2) he was on the money here. Though this match has some weak aspects to it, particularly in terms of style and pacing, there’s still something compelling here thanks to the chemistry between these two men. Kawada was game to take everything Hansen threw at him without complaints and rolled with the (at times very real) punches. Hansen left things to instinct and spontaneity to tell this simple story of being this unchained brawler who appeared to have little regard for his opponent’s well-being.

This made the match refreshing: most fans these days know full well how fake wrestling is and thus temper their expectations accordingly. Most people know they’re not going to get a real fight and even the stiffest of today’s wrestlers hit hard “but in safe places”. Hansen wasn’t one to consider any of that: he hit like a freight train and kept everyone watching him on their toes because it was next to impossible to predict what he’d so and when. And since it’s unlikely that we’ll ever go back in time to a period when wrestlers went into a match with no outline save for a predetermined finish, matches like this one make for a much-needed change of pace in today’s controlled, copy-and-paste environment.

Thanks for reading.