All Japan singles matches

[Guest Dangerous A]

Which one of these 3 great singles matches is your personal favorite from All Japan. If you have a different All Japan singles match, you can list that one too, but I think these 3 are batted around as the cream of the crop.

 

 

6/3/94-Misawa vs Kawada

 

1/20/97-Misawa vs Kobashi

 

6/8/90-Tsuruta vs Misawa

[Guest Tim Cooke]

6/3 is easily the best. 9/1 Jumbo v Misawa is better than 6/8...

 

1/20 is maybe the most frustrating "GREAT" match that I have ever seen with the exception of 11/26/92 AJW.

 

Tim

[Guest Dangerous A]

Just wondering Tim, what do you mean by 1/20 being the most frustrating GREAT match that you've ever seen?

[Guest Black Tiger]

I have to go with 6/8/90. I've never seen 9/1/90 and only have a clipped version of 6/3/94.

 

The part in that match that sticks out for me at least is when Misawa backs him into the corner and then slaps Jumbo showing the ultimate sign of disrespect. It clearly defined what role Misawa was playing.

[Guest wolverine]

6/3/94 is clearly the best. I would go with 1/20/97 second, and Hansen vs. Kobashi 7/29/93 third.

 

And yes, 9/1/90 Misawa vs. Tsuruta is better than 6/8/90.

[Guest Jubuki]

I'd be the oddball who says Hansen/Kobashi is the second-best men's match AJ ever had.

 

Misawa/Kobashi is super for what it is, but it's frayed, so to speak. There are so many loose ends, a lot of things that get played on but aren't taken to completion the way they were with Misawa/Kawada or Hansen/Kobashi. The arm stuff, kicking out of the TD 91, the moves Kobashi only busted out vs. Misawa that were pointless as "Misawa-only" moves when they never did the job, the elbow finish, etc.

 

It's pretty clear, in his match, that Hansen wasn't going to keep up with the more athletic style and pace that the others could bust out on their best nights, but he *performed* no differently and played his role that night as well as he could play it, regardless of the type of bumps he gave and received. The style simply moved away from what he could do best...but I'm not so sure it moved in the best possible direction. Some people have called Misawa/Kobashi the apex of that evolving style; I think of it as Misawa & Kobashi hitting the wall with what they thought made a match better.

[Guest J*ingus]

What was the finish of 7-29? I've got several Hansen-Kobashi matches, but they're all out of order on different "best of" tapes and I'm not sure which one it is.

[Guest Jubuki]

SPOILERS AHEAD! Don't read if you don't want it ruined.

 

 

*

*

*

 

Kobashi went to the top for his second or third moonsault, I forget which. I think he'd missed one and hit one and was looking for the final shot with # 2, but Hansen stopped him on top and clobbered him off the turnbuckle with a Lariat. Their 4/16 match, though, has probably the best Western Lariat ever, though - one minute Kobashi heads this way, the next he heads that way...

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Misawa/Kobashi is super for what it is, but it's frayed, so to speak. There are so many loose ends, a lot of things that get played on but aren't taken to completion the way they were with Misawa/Kawada or Hansen/Kobashi. The arm stuff, kicking out of the TD 91, the moves Kobashi only busted out vs. Misawa that were pointless as "Misawa-only" moves when they never did the job, the elbow finish, etc.

I couldn't agree more about Misawa/Kobashi 1/20. I also feel Kawada/Hansen is the much more solid match, though I switch back and forth on which one I think is overall better.

 

 

Anyway my fav. mens singles matches.

6/3/94

6/8/90

1/20/97

7/29/93

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Best is 6/3/94,IMO.

 

About 1/20/97...

 

I recently re-watched it, because i'd heard from a couple of places (WrestlingViewpoint!, RollingGermans) that it was the best match ever. I have to say i was underwhelmed. Sure, it was a great match, with awesome effort, but i just dont think its as good as 6/3/94 or some of the tag matches. It seems crazy to me that the Elbow is the finish to the match. Why not the Tiger Driver 91? and whats the point in Kobashi working on Misawa's arm for a large portion of the match if it ends with the elbow?

[Guest wolverine]

I couldn't agree more about Misawa/Kobashi 1/20. I also feel Kawada/Hansen is the much more solid match, though I switch back and forth on which one I think is overall better.

 

Do you mean Kobashi-Hansen 7/29/93 here or are you referring to the Kawada-Hansen 2/28/93 match? I'm pretty sure it was just a typo, but I'm curious.

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

I couldn't agree more about Misawa/Kobashi 1/20. I also feel Kawada/Hansen is the much more solid match, though I switch back and forth on which one I think is overall better.

 

Do you mean Kobashi-Hansen 7/29/93 here or are you referring to the Kawada-Hansen 2/28/93 match? I'm pretty sure it was just a typo, but I'm curious.

My bad, Kobashi/Hansen. Though Kawada/Hansen was a great match too.

[Guest wolverine]

"Though Kawada/Hansen was a great match too."

 

Yes, indeed. From strictly a brawling standpoint, it's probably the best match I've ever seen. Not pretty, but stiff as all HELL, that's for sure. ****1/2-3/4 range

[Guest Dangerous A]

Wolverine, are you talking about Kawada's triple crown loss to Hansen? I haven't seen that match yet, but it's on the way.

[Guest wolverine]

"Wolverine, are you talking about Kawada's triple crown loss to Hansen? I haven't seen that match yet, but it's on the way."

 

No, I'm not. The one I'm talking about is from February 1993, the TC match is March 1995 (and it's quite bad in comparsion from what I understand).

[Guest BobbyBacklund]

Unrelated, but I'm not that experienced with puro, and I found the Kawada-Vader match to be very underwhelming and unspectacular. Can someone tell me either what I am missing, or if they agree?

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Kawada/Vader (From Excite Series 2000) was a decent-good match, just too short, IMO

[Guest wolverine]

Unrelated, but I'm not that experienced with puro, and I found the Kawada-Vader match to be very underwhelming and unspectacular. Can someone tell me either what I am missing, or if they agree?

 

Well, it took place in 2000, not exactly their primes anymore. I'm not a big fan of AJPW past 1997, really.

[Guest Dangerous A]

"No, I'm not. The one I'm talking about is from February 1993, the TC match is March 1995 (and it's quite bad in comparsion from what I understand)"

 

 

I agree. The Feb 93 match was an easy ****'s. The other match was good, but only ***'s and nothing more.

[Guest wolverine]

Oh, I thought 2/93 was a lot better than ****. Tremendous performances by both men. One of the best AJPW matches of 1993 and of the decade.

[Guest wolverine]

After re-watching the wonderful thing that is Hansen vs. Kobashi 7/93 today, I must say that I'm pretty close to switching my initial views of #2 for AJ singles bouts. The Hansen match has that 'X Factor' that the 1/20/97 doesn't, in that it tells a better in-ring story, with the first transition in the match (Kobashi's face first dive into Hansen's boot) being one of the best things I've ever seen in wrestling. The selling by Hansen here is really remarkable, in that he did all of the little things to put the kid over, while still looking strong himself. This is the complete opposite of what Williams was doing with Kobashi a month later, with all of the no-selling fuckery going on there.

 

I'm a pretty big mark for underdog vs. top-dog type matches when they're done right, hence my fandom for matches such as Hansen-Kobashi, and the Aja-Toyota Tokyo Dome match. When everything comes together as perfectly as it did in those two matches, it's really something to behold. It's just fucking fun, period.

[Guest BigTim2002]

OK. So, basically, you have 6/3/94, the greatest singles match of the 90s, and then 1/20/97, which rocked, but not quite the world, and then, well, you could say that they are different styles, but for the best story, of pure hatred between two people, it has to be 6/3, because, it's MOTHERFUCKING KAWADA/MISAWA in their primes, so how can you pass that up?

[Guest Jubuki]

How are they different styles, exactly? It's only "different" because Kobashi had a lot of quirky offense. They're both All Japan through and through.

 

Chris, also unaware that there were heels around at that time to invoke 'hatred'

[Guest XdojimeX]

"Chris, also unaware that there were heels around at that time to invoke 'hatred'"

 

The whole 'hate' thing has been worked to death for sure (THANKS DEAN~! ) but Kawada and Taue we're definitely working from the rudo tip opposite M & K, so I wouldn't call it that much of a stretch to cast them as the "heels" of the rivalry. Certainly not as clearly defined as their American and Mexican (and even New Japan) counterparts but the roles we're there.

[Guest Jubuki]

Fans, even Japanese fans with their elaborate levels of respect, tend to not chant a wrestler's name too loudly when they're heels. Chono doesn't get chants, for example. The only heelish people at that point were the gaijin. Kawada & Taue weren't heels so much as they were foils.

[Guest XdojimeX]

"Fans, even Japanese fans with their elaborate levels of respect, tend to not chant a wrestler's name too loudly when they're heels. Chono doesn't get chants, for example. The only heelish people at that point were the gaijin. Kawada & Taue weren't heels so much as they were foils."

 

Agreed. Just arguiing semantics that the general antagonistic role of foil Kawada and Taue played could be intrepeted as what could be called a "heel" in the All Japan environment as far as natives go.