Greatest wrestler in thje '90s?

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Look at the dates on the matches against Kobashi. 93 was a year Kawada had something to prove, which is why he busted his ass in those tag matches. I think Misawa peaked as a worker a bit earlier than 97, if you take Kawada and Misawa IN THEIR PRIMES. I'd personally take Misawa.

 

 

Keep in mind that this thread is a matter of opinion, I've never liked Kawada as much as Misawa because he seems to use the "Sell the move after a lairiat" spot a lot more than Misawa and I've always hated that spot.

Kawada was giving great performances throughout the entire decade, 91-98, not just 93. Kawada has worked better matches thatn Misawa with a large variety of different workers and styles, his peak performances was better than Misawa, therefore the majority of people who's seen enough All Japan feel he is the superior worker.

 

Who the hell said Misawa peaked in 97, cause their a dumbass.

 

As far as "sell the move after a lariat" spot that you hate, I haven't the slightest fucking clue as to what your talking about, but if that's why you like Misawa more that Kawada.......well that's some critique for evalutating workers.

[Guest wolverine]

Coffin, this is fun, but trying to make sense out of this guy's b.s. is just a waste of space. Ah well.

[Guest Coffin Surfer]

Coffin, this is fun, but trying to make sense out of this guy's b.s. is just a waste of space.  Ah well.

The idea of a Misawa better than Kawada topic is intriguing if only the guy could come up with some basis behind it, but I don't see that happening. Oh well, I tried.

[Guest Jubuki]

Wow, the thread devolves into lunacy without a single contribution from me. And who says it's all my fault? Jingawha?

 

Kawada was a better worker than Misawa. If your criteria include selling, adapting to opponents, storytelling, and carrying, Kawada is your man on all counts for virtually every night of his entire career. Misawa's only clear edges come as a draw and as an offensive, high-flying worker (and even that is much closer than most like to pretend it is). Otherwise, there was nothing Misawa did as a professional wrestler that Kawada couldn't do just as well or better than him.

 

The "synergy" argument's a little contrite and ridiculous in this case as well - it's patently obvious to anyone who has seen, say, Albright's matches with Kawada and Misawa, as well as his work against Anjo, Takada, or Tamura, who the better, smarter worker was in AJPW. Kawada's match with him is much closer to the latter set of three than it is to Misawa, even if one sets aside the style and simply focuses on the build of the match in more general terms. Kawada was willing to compromise his place to help Gary, not just in terms of what he could do in the ring but in how he looked to the fans. There was some doubt as to whether or not Albright could push himself up into the top gaijin role within the company at that point - Williams had been injured the spring of '95 and was just working his way back by March 96, and Hansen was clearly on his way down despite the transitional TC reign the previous year. Misawa didn't have to drop the belts to him, but he also didn't work his match with Gary as though Albright was going to be more than an afterthought down the road. Suspension of disbelief was something desperately needed in Misawa's match - instead, it was Kawada's match that worked credibly from a variety of angles, largely because Kawada was willing to take the match in that direction and make himself look weak at critical points, while Misawa couldn't be bothered to do the same. Failing to put over opponents while winning is not the sign of a 'better' worker.