AJPW Super Power Series 1992 - Day 18 05/06/1992
Triple Crown Title Match: Stan Hansen (c) vs. Toshiaki Kawada
Hansen is all over Kawada’s leg and works it over good. Hasen at one point locked in an STF and because he is so big, he engulafted Kawada’s entire body. Kawada’s selling is usually his strong suit and he does an excellent job here. The little skips and hops he does to keep pressure on the leg to a minimum goes a long way in the early parts of the match, getting progressively more severe as the match progressed. Hasen bullied Kawada with some real violent offence outside of the work of the leg. The knees he’d threw would catch the side of Kawada’s eye socket -- it was pretty gruesome at times. Kawada was great on offence. When you’re on the defensive, it’s hard to really shine when it’s not the finish stretch, but the kicks he’d throw to keep Hansen at bay and the use of the stretch plum was awesome. It gained a BIG reaction from the crowd who was pro-Kawada the entire time. It didn’t have the big pomp and circumstance finishing stretch which I get because it’s the semi main event match but it was just as effective. Hasnsen shut down Kawada despite all the fight he gave and that was that. This was voted for the Best Bout of 1992 for the Tokyo Sports Awards. I’m not sure it was but I can see why it was voted as such. The crowd was SUPER invested in the match and while it wasn’t the right place for it, they were begging for Kawada to be champion. So it has its merits. ****1/2
AJPW World Tag Team Title Match: Tsruta-Gun (Akira Taue & Jumbo Tsuruta) (c) vs. Super Generation Army (Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa)
That little standoff Kobashi and Taue had was great. Kobashi kicking at the knee of Taue, leading to him getting pissed off and then attacking Kobashi’s leg was great. Taue looked insulted that Kobashi would think about attacking the knee. Kobashi with a rare non six man tag appearance in the main event at this stage of his career and he stepped up to the occasion. His stuff with Taue looked great. He was electric anytime he was on offence. And to their credit; Taue and Jumbo sell for him big time, putting him over. Taue and Jumbo are so functional as a team, it’s a joy to see them work with each other. Double team moves, constant saves. Misawa was good. He took on a more heelish role than usual, always available for a save or two and he took some nasty bumps, like his neck first bump into the guardrail. Gnarly. ****1/4
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