Pro Wrestling NOAH Proudly Presents…
(Misawa Tribute 2)
Welcome, cats and kittens, to yet another installment of the SO 2009iest wrestling review blog in the land, Cewsh Reviews. Your very favorite wrestling review team is back from holiday vacation and tonight we have a special treat for you as we once again pay tribute in passing to one of the greatest wrestlers and greatest men that we have ever had the privilege to watch perform for us, Mitsuharu Misawa. I hope that this review and the one before it can help to shed some light on the life and times of this legendary figure in wrestling history, especially for those of you who are less than familiar with Japanese wrestling as a whole. The loss of Misawa was a loss for everyone who values everything that is right about professional wrestling, and though we may try, we’ll do him no justice here. All we can do is summon our resources and pay tribute to him in our small way, hoping that dick and fart jokes will somehow ease the pain of his passing. Suffice to say he is missed.
But again, all is not dark in this hour of contemplation. The ever voracious Defrost will join us yet again on this voyage to the bottom of the sea, and I will pony up by occasionally reminding you that there is a really interesting wrestling show here underneath the backdrop of Misawatude. We might make you laugh, we might make you cry, we might make you think, but at the very least we are guaranteed to make the next few minutes just a little bit awesomer than the ones before it.
So without any further ado, let’s do a motherfucking tribute review!
Segment 1 – OPENING VIDEO FEVER!
Cewsh: The is actually the exact same opening video as on the other show with the word “Osaka” added in place of “Tokyo”. Which frees me up to have time to reflect on the word “corpulent”. It certainly sounds like it has something to do with corpses, or at least the military, but no. No, it refers to rather weighty people. So all those years after I first saw the word and didn’t know what it meant, that I directed it at military personnel and miscellaneous zombies, I was actually being terribly insulting, instead of simply descriptively accurate. It’s one of the great shames of my life. I’m sorry Corporal Brain Biter. I…I just didn’t know.
Oh, are we back? I’m getting word that we’re back and ready to start the show. Right. Forward the review.
Defrost: Taiji Ishimori is an interesting one. Ishimori is a graduate of Ultimo Dragon's wrestling school. Such potential was seen in him that following his graduation he was given a strong push to the top of the Toryumon promotion. He did not get over. He left and was pushed as babyface ace to Shunji Kondo's heel ace in the offshoot DragonDoor promotion where he failed to get over again.
So after being a proven failure he started to freelance around getting spots with NOAH. His break came when he formed a tag team with KENTA. Being KENTA's new flippy around buddy got him over. The match where they won the first NTV Cup, a tag version of the Jr Heavyweight Tournament mentioned last time, against Naomichi Marufuji and Kota Ibushi in one on the best tag matches in company history. KENTA and Ishimori would then go to Dragon Gate to take on Shingo Takagi and BxB Hulk to return the GHC Jr. Tag Team Championship to NOAH.
Cewsh: When we reviewed the first Misawa tribute show, we introduced you all to a colorful (read: fucking insane) character by the name of Taiji Ishimori. The man who looks like a living, breathing Final Fantasy character, with hair that could injure a moose at 100 paces.
Vice and I enjoy him quite a bit. So when we heard he was opening the show, you bet you bottom dollar (or the one on top, it’s your life) we were excited as hell to see the flippy bastard.
In the early going he hardly disappointed us as he flipped and dived and sprinted and jived all over the place to uproarious enjoyment from Vice and I, as his rather lackluster opponent attempted to keep up and do something meaningful. I say “his opponent” instead of referring to the man by name because he might as well have been a department store mannequin for all that he added to this contest, and Ishimori flipped around him, and nobody bothered to tell anything resembling a story.
Ultimately this match was entirely too short to really accomplish anything, but thanks to Ishimori, it was an exciting breath of fresh air to start the show, and probably the most high flying portion of it, so no huge complaints out of me. Also, his hair is so rad, Vice and I are considering going as him for Halloween. Stay tuned for that.
68 out of 100.
Defrost: This was a short opening match consisting of moves that were either pretty looking or over choreographed and flippy. Really a below average nothing going on series of random moves in a short amount of time type of match.
Taiji Ishimori Over Akihito Ito Following A Roll Up.
Defrost: This is a weird one. I kinda think this is an all heel match or maybe three heels and Aoyagi. Genba being a heel and Ogawa's deviousness were mentioned last time. Ricky Marvin was unmasked as the man all in black who had been attacking KENTA over and over and busts out the Testicular Claw and ref abuse in this one. Aoyagi is an old karate guy who got in on the ground floor of FMW feuding with Atsushi Onita. Afterward he left and was in a tag team with Akitoshi Saito in New Japan and ended up in NOAH at the beginning before retiring more or less. Outside that angle with Onita not really all that big a deal. He is an old returning guy so I hesitate to call him a heel.
Cewsh: What. The. Fuck.
I expect a lot of things from Japan. Japan has exposed me to everything from tentacle rape, to old men paying young women to kick to in the balls for fun. Actually, judging from that last one, this one shouldn’t surprise me, because these men immediately set out to have a ball punching competition.
Yes, seriously.
These four men, all apparently massive dickish heels, set about seeing which team can punch the other team in the dick the most times and still have it be hilarious. I wish I could tell you what the score wound up being, but I honestly lost track as the grapefruit gauntlet continued. Actually, you know what? Let’s go back and take count:
Ricky Marvin Strikes First With The Dreaded Ball Grab.
Hirayanagi Gets His Team Back On The Board With A Deadly Uppercut.
Hirayanagi, In A Strange Move, FAKES A Nut Shot. To The Benefit Of No One.
The moral of the story, however, is that getting punched in the balls by someone who thinks it’s funny is apparently a worldwide threat, not just one in Steve O’s living room. The idea of having this match on a show literally commemorating the death of one of the great legends of Japanese wrestling really says everything you need to say about Japan. It is crazy, and it is awesome.
Man, what to make of this match? It wasn’t actually BAD as such. It just required me to accept that getting a fist full of a man’s junk in your hand and dancing all around is a legitimate offensive maneuver and could actually be part of the story of a match. If you get your head around that, it’s actually pretty awesome. Ball bustingly awesome? You bet your testicles it is.
Scrotum.
72 out of 100.
Defrost: The match is built around the two teams battering each other's ball sacks. So I'd label this a comedy match. I mean it is the second match on the show. It was designed to not lose anyone. No need to have people heading to buy Misawa shirts or ramen noodles prior to the intermission.
Marvin and Osawa Over Aoyagi and Hirayangi Following A Moonsault From Marvin To Hirayangi.
Defrost: The Super Generation Army was a stable led by Mitsuharu Misawa consisting of Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Tsuyoshi Kikicuhi. All Japan cards consisted of mostly of 6 man tags and the like saving the big singles matches for big tour ending shows or the Champion's Carnival. So instead of Jumbo and Misawa constantly wrestling each other they had stable wars basically. Kawada and Kobashi had been Tiger Mask II's regular partners so they were with him as was Kobashi's All Asia Tag Title partner Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. The matches were amazing. Kobashi and Kikuchi defending the All Asia Tag belts against The Fantastics and Can-Am Express were amazing matches on top of helping Misawa fight his battles. The other feud of note with Kikuchi was the NOAH vs. New Japan Juniors feud. Kikicuhi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru won the IWGP Jr Tag Titles in that one and a lot of what happened there set the table for how the NOAH Jr Division was about to explode.
Cewsh: The first thing you need to know about this match is that Takeshi Morshima is fat. Not phat. Fat. We don’t know exactly how many tons of fun he is, because nobody in the history of time, space, and creation has had enough fun to measure him.
A Wild Snorlax Appears!
The second thing you need to know about this match is that Makota Hashi comes to the ring wearing a red mask with a huge long nose on it (Think every animated version of Richard Nixon in existence) for no visible reason.
The third thing you need to know about this match is that Kikuchi beats on Taniguchi outside of the ring and grabs a microphone. He puts it in between their heads and headbutts the shit out of him, resulting in an enormous bang that sounds like a gunshot. Then he grabs the mic, talks some shit into it, and goes to do it again. This time there’s no sound. He looks at the mic in puzzlement for a second shouts “Hello?!” and then DESTROYS Taniguchi with a headbutt that sounds like an bomb going off. The thing you need to know about this is that it was fucking hilarious watching a crotchety old legend essentially being a more badass version of the Rock.
The fourth thing you need to know about this match is that it was pretty good.
70 out of 100.
Defrost: Kikuchi makes weird faces. This is a decent little match. Kikcuhi's antics and the teamwork with Hashi was entertaining, and Morishima has started to understand his place. What I mean by that is since Morishima started tagging with Kensuke Morishima has started to work like a monster. No selling with either guys wanting him to get tagged in only to be destroyed or doing everything to avoid Morishima being tagged in. This match had some of that plus babyface Kikuchi getting spots in on the monster. Good little match.
Morishima and Taniguchi Over Kakuchi and Hashi Following A German Suplex From Taniguchi To Kakuchi.
Defrost: Another one of the Three Musketeers in NOAH to pay tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa. Masahiro Chono came out of the New Japan Dojo at the same time as Keiji Mutoh. Both were sent to the United States for seasoning. Where Mutoh became famous working in Florida and the Carolinas as the Great Muta, Chono spent his time in the midwest, Pacific northwest, and Canada. Along the way he came under the tutelage of the legendary Lou Thesz and would wrestle the 74 year old in his final match.
The finals of the 1991 G1 Climax, the tournament that made New Japan for a decade, saw Chono defeat Keiji Mutoh to win and the banning of pillows to sit on in Sumo Hall for Pro Wrestling shows. The first of five G1 Climax victories for Chono. The following year he would repeat as G1 Climax Champion defeating Ravishing Rick Rude in the final. However, this tournament was also for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship that had been vacated when Ric Flair went to the WWF. Chono would come into WCW defending his title at Halloween Havok 1992 against Rude with Kensuke Sasaki and Harley Race as the special referees and at Starrcade 1992 against The Great Muta. In something I can never remember with two other wrestlers the first Rude vs. Chono match was a MOTYC. Their second match may be the worst match either man ever had. Very weird. At the 1/4/93 Tokyo Dome show, either The Fantastic Story in the Tokyo Dome or the WCW/NJPW Supershow III depending on what country you were in, he lost the title to Great Muta in a title vs. title match where Muta's IWGP Championship was also on the line.
Chono returned to the United States in 1996. In a surprise he joined the nWo on an edition of Monday Nitro. In America his biggest match of this run was probably against Chris Jericho at nWo Souled Out in 1997. However, it was as leader of nWo Japan that he saw his most success. nWo Japan was obviously the Japanese branch of the famous stable. The main angle revolved around the relationship between Chono and Keiji Mutoh. At the outset of the group there was a drive to recruit The Great Muta. A month later Keiji Mutoh came to the nWo as himself and not Muta seemingly to join the nWo, but he attacked Chono instead making it clear that Mutoh was New Japan all the way. However, in the big nWo Japan vs. New Japan ten man tag that followed (Masahiro Chono/Hiroyoshi Tenzan/Buff Bagwell/Scott Norton/nWo Sting vs. Shinya Hashimoto/Keiji Mutoh/Kensuke Sasaki/Manabu Nakanishi/William Regal) Mutoh would "accidently" cost his team the win.
A month after that The Great Muta would defeat Chono at the Tokyo Dome, but after the match shook Chono's hand. Shortly thereafter Muta joined the nWo on an episode of Monday Nitro, but Keiji Mutoh proclaimed his loyalty to New Japan and kept fighting against the nWo confusing everybody especially when nWo Japan was in Mutoh's corner for his challenge of IWGP Champion Shinya Hashimoto. Over time there seemed to be issues with Great Muta though. Chono almost attacked him with a bat after one match. Tenzan accidently hit Muta only to get the mist in the eyes. When Chono accidently hit Muta he left Chono by himself to deal with their opponents. However, it was a trap. as New Japan thought they had Chono where they wanted him out came Keiji Mutoh who everyone thought was going to finish Chono off, Instead he helped Chono and proved to be a full member of the nWo all along. Not long after Chono and Mutoh won the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
They would have to vacate the titles since Mutoh needed knee surgery. This would open up Chono for a shot at Tatsumi Fujinami who Chono disposed of to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first, and only, time. Chono would be forced to vacate the title due to a chronic neck problem stemming from his first defense of the NWA Title. In his absence Keiji Mutoh assumed control of nWo Japan and took it in an entirely new direction turning the group babyface. This angered Chono who declared war on Mutoh and nWo Japan starting a new stable Team 2000. Chono would make his way through nWo Japan throughout 1999 while Mutoh had to take on all comers for his IWGP Heavyweight Championship. By the end of the year Mutoh had lost the title to Genichiro Tenryu and Chono had beaten everyone in nWo Japan except Mutoh. So at the 1/4/00 Tokyo Dome show Chono and Mutoh met in a match where the loser's stable would have to disband. Chono would make Mutoh submit to the STF to end the nWo once and for all in Japan.
This decade has seen Chono branch out. He opened a chain of stores selling his ARISTRIST brand of clothing and jewelry. He has his own TV talk show. He has moved on to booking shows as well including his recent 25th anniversary show where he tagged with Keiji Mutoh and Kenta Kobashi in the main event. He continued wrestling for New Japan as well as making appearances in other promotions. He faced off against Mitsuharu Misawa in Misawa's first match in a New Japan ring and made a challenge of Kenta Kobashi's GHC Heavyweight Championship both matches taking place in the Tokyo Dome. And he could be seen on TNA TV since he was the guy wrestling Hulk Hogan when Jeff Jarrett attacked him.
Back to the chronic neck problem. Injuries have been a major problem in Chono's career. It is one of the major reasons he only once won New Japan's version of the world title. Chono's first defense of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was in the main event of a sold out show in the Yokohama Arena. In the match he was set up for a Tombstone Piledriver. Instead of going to his knees Chono's opponent in that match went to his ass and Chono hurt his neck. Chono's opponent, the man who botched the piledriver in such a way, Steve Austin.
Cewsh: What is there to say about a match like this?
Shiozaki, Chono and Kobashi comprising one team is astonishing, and pretty much a dream team of past and present stars in Japan, and while the other team are filled with, let’s face it, midcarders, they’re the kind of mid level guys who can play great foils to the real attention getters here. Not to mention that Saito and Shiozaki still have a very heated, though respectful, rivalry going that manifests itself as a whole lot of elbowing throughout the duration of this match.
This match wasn’t extraordinary, and it didn’t have to be. Getting Kobashi, Chono and Shiozaki on the same team was the draw and letting them go to work was the fun. You’ll never hear me complain about anything like that.
78 out of 100.
Defrost: Watching Kobashi and Rikio wrestle reminds me of just how miserable a failure Rikio was after beating Kobashi to end his epic 2 year long reign as champion. Best match so far on this show right here. The two things that stood out to me were the really good babyface comebacks and the really hot finishing stretch. Kobashi and Chono know what they are doing, but Go was great getting beaten down and coming back and was great at the finish. So good on him. Best match on the show up to this point like I said and an above average match wherever you'd look.
The Awesome Team Over Those Other Dudes Following A Spurt Of Awesomeness.
Defrost: Jado and Gedo are the top heel Jr. team in Japan. They started in New Japan, but spent most of the 1990s in promotions like WAR and FMW. People such as Chris Jericho and Lance Storm speak highly of them from there time there. Jericho talks a bit about them in his book as a matter of fact. After bouncing around a bit they returned to New Japan and are several times over IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions. They are now booking New Japan.
On a side note in the WCW vs. nWo: World Tour video game Dim Sum is the avatar for Gedo.
Cewsh: In my time watching wrestling, I’ve seen quite a few heels. I’ve seen great ones, and shoddy ones. Chickenshit ones, and bad ass ones. I’ve seen Piper, Flair, Funk, Aguayo and Chono. I’ve seen them at their best and at the worst for years and years. Where am I going with this? I’ve seen all of those things, and I’ve never seen anything like Jado and Gedo in this match.
This match is entirely, from start to finish, about Jado and Gedo being the biggest fucking assholes ever to step into a wrestling ring. They fuck with the referee, they jeer at the fans, the mock their opponents, and they basically stab one of the other guys in the head and spend the whole match opening the wound back up and laughing about it. The heel it up, and heel it up, and heel it up until I actually wanted the faceless team on the other side, who I started the match thinking nothing about, to destroy them just to shut them up. And when they finally made the heroic comeback and picked up the amazing victory I actually had to suppress a wild cheer for them finally overcoming those dastardly bald twats and their evil ways. It was a masterful performance, and from what I hear, it wasn’t even special for them.
Maybe this wasn’t the best match on this card, or even a fantastic match by the standards of Jado and Gedo, but what they showed me in the ring was extraordinary, and the sort of thing that all burgeoning heels should watch and learn from. Just fantastic, fantastic work by two of the best at what they do.
83 out of 100.
Cewsh’s Download Seal of Approval.
Defrost: Great, great match. Kanemaru being beaten down and bleeding all over the place and just surviving the brutality and not staying down. A great series of double team moves and four man spots in the middle after Kanemaru was finally able to tag. And when it looked like Kanemaru was finally finished off you had Suzuki come in with two Mitsuharu Misawa staples, The Tiger Driver and Elbow Suicida to save the day. Great stuff. Go to Youtube and watch it. I demand it. Best match of the two tribute shows up to this point with two matches left.
Also This Was Fucking Sweet.
Kanemaru and Suzuki Over Jado and Gedo Following Some Serious Fucking Bleeding.
Defrost: IWGP Heavyweight Champion, GHC Heavyweight Champion, Triple Crown Champion, NWF Heavyweight Champion, IWGP Tag Team Champion, GHC Tag Team Champion, All Japan World Tag Team Champion, All Asia Tag Team Champion. Only one man has ACCOMPLISHED this. That man is the great Yoshihiro Takayama. One of the things Misawa did as booker of All Japan was to give a push to Takayama who had floundered in All Japan after signing there when UWFi went under. He was partnered with Takao Omori to form Team No Fear. They would go on to win the All Asia Tag Titles beating Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinsaki and follow that up by beating Bart Gunn and Johnny Ace for the World Tag Titles to hold both sets of belts in All Japan before losing them to Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa.
After the All Japan/NOAH split No Fear won the newly created GHC Tag Titles and Takayama would make it to the finals of the tournament to crown the first GHC Heavyweight Champion but would fall to Mitsuharu Misawa's Emerald Flowsion. Takayama would end up defeating Misawa's partner Yoshinari Ogawa for that title a year later before falling to Misawa yet again.
After this he declared himself a freelancer and started to work more for New Japan and doing shoot fights like his famous one with Don Frye. In accordance to Inokism he won a tournament for the revived NWF Title and beat Yuji Nagata for the IWGP Title in 2003 before losing the IWGP Title to Tenzan and then the NWF Title to the supernova who had just beaten Tenzan to become youngest IWGP Champion ever, Shinsuke Nakamura. He would win the IWGP Tag Titles with Minoru Suzuki, but would have to vacate the title after suffering a stroke following a match with Kensuke Sasaki.
For a while he worked as a color man, famously being kicked out of New Japan for describing Nagata's blade job in detail and proclaiming that he never wanted the Kobashi/Kensuke chop battle to end. He has come back to wrestling obviously even if he shouldn't have. He won the Triple Crown, losing it to Satoshi Kojima. His matches now seem to end with an homage to Takayama/Frye. That coupled with the head drops he takes makes his matches scarier than most.
Cewsh: In the middle of this match, Vice had me pause it and watch the legendary MMA fight between Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama. It’s legendary because those two crazy bastards spend the entire first round going batshit crazy on one another and not bothering to protect themselves at all, just eating punch after punch until the end happened. This is relevant because it explains each and every single Takayama match since.
This match is no different. Essentially it is the story of the rapid up and comer Suguira, who went on to beat Shiozaki for the title soon after this show, coming out with guns blazing trying to knock off one of the biggest legends in Japanese wrestling. Rather than do anything about it, Takayama just takes his best shots and responds with bombs of his own, until the match becomes a swirling vortex of chaos, sucking in everyone watching to see who will land the last blow. The genius in that is that it keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you really believe that either man could win at any second, and when Takayama finally prevails, it seems awesome and he seems like Dr. McHardass Supreme.
That said, this match basically followed Takayama’s formula for EVERY match, and while Suguira looked strong in the end, this match really wasn’t about him and it was fairly clear right from the start. With other bigger matches on the card, this one sort of slips by as an afterthought, and considering who was involved, I can’t help but have expected better.
77 out of 100.
Defrost: In a vacuum this is a good fun ten minute match. It is just that such a stiff match involving head dropping suplexes with a guy who has brain damage on a tribute show for someone who died in the ring is a bit disconcerting in all honesty. But in a vacuum this is a really enjoyable match.
Takayama Over Suguira Following The Stink Face. Or Possibly A More Legitimate Manuever.
Defrost: Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!!
Deep breath.
Cewsh: Easy Frosty! You’re going to pull something.
Defrost: Toshiaki Kawada was Mitsuharu Misawa's greatest rival. Both scripted and in real life. They went to the same High School with Kawada a year behind Misawa. Both were fans of Pro Wrestling and Kawada was a great amateur wrestler winning the High School National Championship by beating Keiichi Yamada. Yamada might be better known to readers as Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Misawa and Kawada were close at one point. Misawa was able to convince Kawada to join All Japan instead of New Japan which was the promotion Kawada favored as a fan. At some point though their close relationship turned sour. They had a falling out that led to an actual fight backstage. There seem to be several versions of what exactly happened there, but all accounts agree that it was Kawada who came out the winner. I am partial to the version where Kawada knocked Misawa out with one punch myself. When it came time for the split Kawada stayed with All Japan. No one knows whether Kawada turned Misawa down or Misawa never asked Kawada to come to NOAH.
Kawada was the man who unmasked Tiger Mask II. Kawada was Misawa's tag partner in that match and he demanded Kawada remove his mask so he could administer a thrashing to their opponents. From there Kawada would be Misawa's right hand man in the war with Jumbo Tsuruta. Tagging together in battles with Jumbo & Co as well as making separate tries for Jumbo's Triple Crown they proved to be great together as protagonists in a great feud fueling the faith Giant Baba had in them. Kawada and Misawa won the World Tag Team Championship from the Miracle Violence Connection (Steve William/Terry Gordy) on 7/24/91 at the Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall #1, I just wanted to write that. All Japan has an annual Round Robin tag team tournament called The Real World Tag Team. At the time the World Tag Team Champions would vacate the title with the winners becoming the new champions. So Kawada and Misawa vacated the titles, but failed to win the tournament. However, one year later they would win the tournament to reclaim the belts. They would soon lose them to the Miracle Violence Connection and dissolve their alliance.
During this time Mitsuharu Misawa had defeated Stan Hansen to begin his epic first reign as Triple Crown Champion which is still the longest of any holder of that title. Three times in that reign Misawa defended against Kawada. Misawa's first ever World Title defense was against Kawada in the main event of the All Japan 20th Anniversary Show in Budokan Hall on October of 1992 two months prior to them winning The Real World Tag League and regaining the tag team titles. The second meeting would occur in July of 1993 with Misawa winning again. Then came 6/3/94. The greatest singles match in the history of Professional Wrestling. A lot has been written on this match and a lot can be. The Reader's Digest version is thus: Giant Baba was a booker who liked to have things build upon one another. King's Road Style. Moves are built upon each other in a manner that everything is a struggle until one participant is able to wear down his opponent to the point he can finisher him to death. This was also extended out to series of matches. Moves that were effective in the past would be harder to pull off. That is not to say a finisher would not be the finish, no one was kicking out of the Tiger Driver '91 for instance until things got head drop crazy at least, but there would be more of a struggle over things. The pinnacle of that in a lot of ways was 6/3/94 the third Misawa defense of the Triple Crown against Toshiaki Kawada. Built off their past matches, built of the recent successful defense of the Tag Titles by Misawa and Kenta Kobashi over Kawada and Akira Taue it was a work of art.
Mitsuharu Misawa would lose the Triple Crown in his next defense to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams who in turn would lose it to Toshiaki Kawada on 10/24/94. Kawada's first World Title defense came against Kenta Kobashi in what may be the greatest 60 minute draw of all time. He would lose it to Stan Hansen in his next defense. Mitsuharu Misawa would quickly regain the title and go on another year long run as World Champion. During this period though Kawada got himself on Baba's bad side. He made comments in the media criticizing Baba's isolationist policy since New Japan was making money hand over fist with the matches Nobuhiko Takada was having with Keiji Mutoh and Shinya Hashimoto. So through for a long time Kawada found himself on the back burner. He would lose again to Misawa. Watch his tag partner Akira Taue take the title from Misawa and then lose to Taue himself. He would see Kobashi win the Triple Crown and go 60 minutes with him again in another classic. Kobashi would lose the Triple Crown to Mitsuharu Misawa who would begin a 16 month reign with the title.
It was the 1997 Champion's Carnival where Kawada got back on track. On the final day of the tournament Kawada found himself tied with Misawa and Kobashi at 19 Points apiece. So they set up three matches. Misawa vs. Kobashi, Misawa vs. Kawada, and Kawada vs. Kobashi, in that order, with the man ending with the most points as the winner of the tournament. A win was 2 points and a draw was 1 point. In the first of the three matches Misawa and Kobashi went to a 30 minute draw. As they were on the mat recovering from a grueling battle out came Kawada for his match with Misawa. Less than 7 minutes later Kawada had his first singles victory over Mitsuharu Misawa. He would then also beat Kenta Kobashi to win his second Champion's Carnival.
The main event of the first All Japan event held at the Tokyo Dome was Misawa defending the Triple Crown against Kawada. This time however the ending was different. Kawada was dropping bombs on Misawa, but could not put him away. Everything he did Misawa kicked out of and was still fighting. Things looked like it would go Misawa's way yet one more time until Kawada would have no more and powerbombed Misawa until Misawa stayed down and Kawada was champion. Kawada would then immediately lose the title to Kobashi. However, he would win the title one last time before the split some months later. He beat Misawa again in the match Baba called it the greatest match he had ever seen. It would also be the last match he would see as Baba died a week later. The amazing thing about the match is that Kawada broke his arm at the onset of the match yet the match was still great. Kawada would have to vacate the title due to the injury. Kawada would lose the last match in All Japan between himself and Misawa in the 2000 Champion's Carnival when Misawa used his new finisher, the Emerald Flowsion, on Kawada.
As already mentioned Kawada stayed when Misawa took most everyone else and left. He was the key cog in the New Japan vs. All Japan feud coming in to wrestle the then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki on the October 2000 Tokyo Dome show. Kawada won in a great match and the defeat prompted Kensuke to forfeit the title which led to a tournament on the 1/4/01 Tokyo Dome Show where the final for the title was Kensuke vs. Kawada. What a twist! Kensuke would get his win and his title back. Meanwhile in All Japan Genichiro Tenryu and Keiji Mutoh coming in and the three way series of matches between them and Kawada really helped keep the company afloat after the split. Tenryu would be the first post split Triple Crown Champion defeating Kawada for the vacant title. Mutoh would take the title from him when Mutoh assembled what he would called the 6-Crown, and Kawada would take the title from him, however a month later Kawada would be forced to vacate the title due to a knee injury.
Reading this you may have noticed a pattern with Kawada's World Title reigns. Whether it is injury or booking they never last long. That was until Kawada defeated Shinjiro Ohtani to win the title after it had been vacated by Shinya Hashimoto on 9/6/03 and finally mark the beginning of a lengthy reign as World Champion for Kawada lasting 17 months and breaking Misawa's record for most successful title defenses in a reign with 10 successful defenses including what I believe to be the first defense of the Triple Crown outside of All Japan when he defended the belts against Mick Foley for Hustle. Once Kawada lost the title to Satoshi Kojima he spent most of his time staying healthy and doing comedy in Hustle, and freelancing around for big shows here and there. The biggest of those shows was NOAH Destiny. Drawing over 50,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome it was NOAH's biggest show ever. The main event was Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada. First time since the split, and it would turn out to be their final match. It was not the all time classic they were known for, but they did put together a damn good match by stringing together classic spots from their earlier matches. It would also be Kawada's only appearance in NOAH prior to this show because of the unauthorized promo he cut after that match. NOAH's TV partner was not pleased since the had been timed to the second and Kawada had taken it off script. The TV being unhappy led to the NOAH office being unhappy and that was that.
The Holy Demon Army was formed when the World Champion teams of Mitsuharu Misawa/Toshiaki Kawada and Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue dissolved. Out of that came the great tag rivalry between The Holy Demon Army (Kawada and Taue) and the team of Misawa and Kenta Kobashi. Although Kawada and Taue won the tag titles first and won their first defense against Misawa and Kobashi it was Misawa and Kobashi who dominated the first part of the feud. Following Stan Hansen and Ted Dibiase as Tag Champs by winning the first of three consecutive Real World Tag Leagues in 1993. They would be tag champions all the way to 6/9/95 and another defense against Kawada and Taue. For two years Misawa and Kobashi had either beaten The Holy Demon Army or gone the full 60 minutes. 6/9/95 ended with Kawada scoring his first ever pin fall on Misawa. It is also considered by many people to be the greatest wrestling match of all time. Personally I favor the finals of the 1996 Real World Tag League where Kawada and Taue won their first tournament by beating Misawa and Jun Akiyama. As teams came and went Kawada and Taue were a constant all the way to the split where they were in their 6th reign as champions.
Kawada's partner Akira Taue has been likened to a Mini Baba. Because he is like Baba. but smaller. Get it? He was a Sumo Wrestler who came into pro wrestling which was not an uncommon thing. He would be Jumbo Tsuruta's regular tag partner winning the World Tag Titles with him and being his right hand guy during the Jumbo/Misawa feud. After health issues practically ended Jumbo's career Taue joined forces with Kawada as mentioned above. 1996 was his best year as a singles wrestler. He won the Champion's Carnival and won the Triple Crown from Mitsuharu Misawa. However, he was mostly known for his tag work with Kawada. In NOAH for the most part he has been an undercard guy occasionally popping up into the main event. He did win the GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2005 from the Takeshi Rikio.
Kenta Kobayashi was the last wrestler to debut out of the All Japan Dojo prior to the split. He made his debut on the last tour before the split in a singles match against Naomichi Marufuji. He spent a long time on the injured list until he returned newly christened as KENTA. The name change was to avoid confusion with Kenta Kobashi since their names are very similar. KENTA would join Kobashi's Burning stable in a stable war against Jun Akiyama's Sternness. When Kobashi returned from cancer KENTA found himself back with Kobashi in a feud with The Kensuke Office.
KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji beat Jushin Liger and Takehiro Murahama in the final of the tournament to crown the first GHC Jr. Tag Team Champions. It was a great match that began an epic 23 month reign that was marked by great match after great match. It would be fair to call all but one of their title defenses, and that one had Kendo Kashin in it so it wasn't their fault, MOTYC. That also does not count the great tag matches they had against Misawa/Ogawa and WIld II. KENTAFuji was the tag team of this decade. At the same time KENTA was in the midst of his Trial Series. In this series they had KENTA go straight ahead on guys like Kobashi, Takayama and Misawa. In that Misawa match KENTA would debut a newly invented move. Go 2 Sleep.
After they lost the tag titles KENTA went on to singles success. At NOAH Destiny he beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Championship. His defense of the title against SUWA is one of the best matches in NOAH's history. He followed that up with a great match in a defense against former partner Naomichi Marufuji in January 2006. 2006 was an interesting year for both of them. Both were pushed hard against heavyweights, and Marufuji would win the GHC Heavyweight Title after wins over Taue and Akiyama. Both lost to Kobashi. Then Marufuji's first defense was against a curtain jerking jobber. This really kinda put these guys behind the eight ball. So when Marufuji's first defense of the World Title in Budokan Hall against KENTA bombed at the gate their push went backwards, and Misawa took the belt back. Two years later KENTA and Marufuji would main event in the Budokan again. This time it was a title vs. title match as KENTA was defending the GHC Jr. Title and Marufuji the All Japan World Jr. Heavyweight Championship. The match was the fastest paced 60 minute draw I've ever seen. Not to mention it drew far better than their heavyweight title match and better than what NOAH had been doing in that time period. Plus it was the subject of the only fan tribute video on Youtube I actually like. Since then KENTA was the Junior Ace of NOAH and Marufuji missed a long time with knee surgery. Now Marufuji is due back and KENTA just had knee surgery. Go figure.
Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!! Kawada vs. KENTA!!!!!!!!!!
Cewsh: While I call animal control on frosty for foaming at the mouth and convulsing on the floor, allow me to say that the idea of Toshiaki Kawada being here on this show,, and standing in the ring looking at the mural of Misawa up in the lights really, truly got to me. All that those two men had been through, and after all of their history together, combined at once to make an incredibly poignant moment. I mean seriously. Before Monday, this would have been like Shawn Michaels wrestling the main event at Bret Hart’s tribute show. Just chilling and stirring all at once.
It’s worth mentioning that the match that surrounded this spectacle was fantastic, with the exchanges between Kawada and KENTA being especially exciting as KENTA endeavored to kick a hole directly into Kawada’s eye socket, and Kawada endeavored to beat his punk ass for being annoying. Outside of that, everyone played their part exceptionally well, with Kawada and Akiyama respecting each other, KENTA being the firecracker, and Taue wisely playing the role that he knows as well as anyone by using superior tag team psychology to stay one step ahead.
The match was a little distracted by it’s own enormity, and by the ever present specter of who every fan truly wishes had been standing opposite of Kawada, but the wrestling they provided was above reproach, and the meaning of the event was not lost on these men, or anyone watching them. They did Misawa justice. And what higher praise could their be than that?
87 out of 100.
Cewsh’s Download Seal of Approval.
Defrost: KENTA is my favorite wrestler and Kawada is Kawada. I loved this match. KENTA slapping Kawada. KENTA using the Kawada Step Face Kicks on Kawada followed by Kawada going ape shit on him. KENTA going all out on Kawada and then Kawada calmly walks into the ring and obliterates KENTA with his knee. KENTA roaring into the gamengiri just like Kawada would do to when Misawa tried it. The old school All Japan type of finish, and having Akiyama and KENTA fail to put together a proper finishing sequence right before Kawada and Taue did was great seeing as how KENTA and Akiyama are not a regular team and showing that The Holy Demon Army still had it. Oh how I loved this match so. I also noticed that working Hustle mostly has been kind to Kawada since only KENTA was able to move around better than him. The stuff with KENTA and Kawada was so golden. I loved this match. Watch this match. I demand it. This is just awesome. awesome stuff. Best match of either show.
The Holy Demon Army Over Akiyama and KENTA Following The Holy Demon Bomb On KENTA.
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Cewsh’s Conclusions:
Cewsh: It’s hard not to feel like this show wasn’t overshadowed by it’s twin, which we reviewed earlier. It was every bit as meaningful in it’s own right as the one before it, and even more so, perhaps, with the addition of Kawada. However, grief is a funny thing, and it’s always more shocking and painful the first time you see it than the second, so this show stands on it’s own as an actual wrestling show a little more than the other one, which was more reverie than anything.
That said, this truly was a fun show to watch, less clouded as it was by the specter of sadness and death, and it even elicited a few smiles that I hadn’t expected of myself. And really, if the tribute show helps you honor the man you respected and admired, then it truly was cathartic in all the right ways.
Cewsh’s Final Score: 76.42 out of 100.
Defrost’s Denouncements:
Defrost: There were two great matches a couple of really good ones and Kikuchi was entertaining. First couple matches sucked. Even though there were a couple of bad matches and the overall atmosphere was not the same I'd say this is the better of the two Misawa Tribute shows based on how great the Jr Tag Title match and Kawada vs. KENTA! were. To me great matches can overshadow bad ones and a show with great matches is better than one without any in most circumstances.
Defrost’s Final Score: .740 on the Muta Scale.
Well that'll do it for us this week, boys and girls. We hope you enjoyed our review (and subsequent tribute) of the Mitusharu Misawa tribute shows. It was cathartic to everyone here at Cewsh Reviews to pay homage to a true great who left us too soon, and we'll remember him always. We also want to thank Defrost for joining us and adding a level of knowledge and history that we couldn't hope to match what with all of our time devoted to laser tag and all. Next week we'll do something a little bit different for us. We'll be reviewing a tv show. Two actually. In fact, we will be reviewing both Raw and Impact from this past week side by side. Segment by segment, we'll break down one of the most important nights in wrestling history and determine which company, WWE or TNA, triumphed on that night. The Monday Night Wars: Take Two. You will not want to miss it. Until then though, keep reading and be good to one other.
We'll leave you with NOAH's official video tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa. I heartily encourage everyone to see it, even if you know nothing about Japanese wrestling or about this man. Everything you need to know about the man, the myth, and the legend is just a click away:
Goodnight, Prince of the Road of Kings. Rest easy. Your legacy lives on.
We'll leave you with NOAH's official video tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa. I heartily encourage everyone to see it, even if you know nothing about Japanese wrestling or about this man. Everything you need to know about the man, the myth, and the legend is just a click away:
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