12/6/96 help

[Guest Tim Cooke]

Having not seen any other AJPW 1996 TV (except for a few throw away shows from August), I watched the Tag League final again and very much enjoyed it, especially the final 17 minutes.  Sooner or later I will get to see the tag matches earlier in the year to help make even more sense of this fantastic match.  These are the items that I know.  I want to know if there is anything else that I need to know or am missing:

 

- From the 17:00 mark, the match basically shadows the 12/16/88 Tenyru/Kawada v Hansen/Gordy match with Misawa playing Tenyru, Akiyama as old Kawada, and Kawada getting to see how far he had gotten to grow.  Rich stuff.

 

- Throughout the year with Akiyama as Misawa's new #2, Misawa has had to save Akiyama's ass numerous times.  In the tag league final, when Misawa needs help, Akiyama is no where to be found.

 

- Akiyama pinned Kawada earlier in the year.  After a pretty disappointing year, Kawada needs to prove he is still worthy of showing up not only Akiyama with a win, but Misawa as well.

 

- Kawada gets the pin on Misawa, #2, setting up what should have been an epic first singles pin.

 

Are there any other specifics in the body of the work that I am missing?  Like in 6/3/94, Misawa's neck and Kawada's leg play greatly into the opening of the match or time killing segments.  

 

Thanks for the help.

[Guest Jubuki]

The double German suplexes on Kawada, obviously.  There's also the early tiger driver that touches the league decision they had.  Also, check Taue's actions throughout - he's the one who's beaten Misawa in a singles match, but the match tells a different story.

[Guest wolverine]

"- From the 170 mark, the match basically shadows the 12/16/88 Tenyru/Kawada v Hansen/Gordy match with Misawa playing Tenyru, Akiyama as old Kawada, and Kawada getting to see how far he had gotten to grow.  Rich stuff."

 

I've been meaning to get this match for the past 6 months, but haven't gotten around to it.  Basically, I know that this laid the groundwork for 12/6/96, but I am only going on what I've read.  Watching their 5/23/96 and 7/9/96 matches, as well as the Misawa/Akiyama vs. Doc/Ace 6/7/96 also helps add to 12/6's richness.

 

"- Throughout the year with Akiyama as Misawa's new #2, Misawa has had to save Akiyama's ass numerous times.  In the tag league final, when Misawa needs help, Akiyama is no where to be found."

 

True, this theme was present in the matches I mentioned above, as well as the League matches from the RWTL that I haven't gotten around to.

 

"- Akiyama pinned Kawada earlier in the year.  After a pretty disappointing year, Kawada needs to prove he is still worthy of showing up not only Akiyama with a win, but Misawa as well."

 

Akiyama pinned Kawada on 5/23 for the tag belts, basically showing how far Jun had come along, to pin somebody at Kawada's level (and also because Taue was getting the TC the next night, so somebody had to be the fall guy).  As far as Kawada's disappointing year, I've read that has to do with him falling out of political favor with Baba after suggesting that the company engage in interpromotional matches.  After the success that New Japan had with the UWFI feud, I would guess that Kawada felt a need to freshen up the product.  In a way, I can see why Baba didn't do it, because Takada had just lost the IWGP to Hash at the April Tokyo Dome, so him coming to AJ and winning the TC would've made the belts look weak in a way.  But then again, I look back at Kawada's match with Gary Albright on 10/25/95 and unbelievable heat that match drew, as well as it being an awesome match, that the potential was certainly there if they wanted to capitalize on it, but they didn't.  They could've run the Tokyo Dome when they were still hot, as opposed to in 1998 when the promotion's lustre had all but died.

 

"- Kawada gets the pin on Misawa, #2, setting up what should have been an epic first singles pin."

 

That's right, except they fucked it up by making the match 6 minutes at the CC '97 Triangle match.  That's one night that Baba's booking didn't shine.  Realistically, Kawada should've won the TC in May '96, but because of what I mentioned earlier, the spot was given to Taue for a few months, but he was only a transitional champion, since Kobashi had jumped in front of Kawada because of the political bullshit.  Bottom line is that Kawada should've been the first of the natives to beat Misawa for the TC, not Taue.  It's too bad it didn't work out.  And by the time Kawada had beaten Misawa twice for the TC (5/98 and 1/99) it was past the point of being significant.  Then Misawa's stupid booking in 7/99 has him beat Kawada again in a match that drew zero heat (I wonder why).

 

"Are there any other specifics in the body of the work that I am missing?  Like in 6/3/94, Misawa's neck and Kawada's leg play greatly into the opening of the match or time killing segments."

 

I haven't seen the match in a while, but I remember it being beautifully done, with the only flaw being Taue screwing up the crotch spot on Akiyama towards the end.  Actually, if you haven't read it already, I'd suggest taking a look at the thread about "6/3/94 something something" in this forum, since I posted Lorefice's detailed review and analysis of this match.  He can summarize the storylines and match a lot better than I can.