AJPW Summer Action Series II 1993
Triple Crown Title #1 Contendership Match: Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams - AJPW Summer Action Series II 1993 - Day 10 31/08/1993
Unlike the Hansen match where the match got better upon revisiting, this didn’t captizate me nearly as much as it first did. I really adored the finishing stretch but that is about as far as my love went for this match. This just seemed to really lack tension in the build. Kobashi is a tremendous underdog, we know this but Dr Death clearly is still figuring out how to work his background into a compelling long singles match. ***1/2
AJPW World Tag Team Title Match: Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada) (c) vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase - AJPW Summer Action Series II 1993 - Day 12 03/09/1993
I thought that this had some cool tag team work. It wasn’t a climatic finish to the end but there were some cool double team moves where Dibiase and Hansen worked over Kawada or Taue. Dibiase bum rushing Kawada during his attempt to break up the final pin was great ring smarts. The atomic drop to Taue, setting up the western lariat was a great combo move. That’s what this match was. A combination of smart double team moves. ***1/2
Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Steve Williams - AJPW Summer Action Series II 1993 - Day 12 03/09/1993
If the Kobashi match was giving Dr Death the first push as a main eventer, this was seeing that put to fruition. Williams looked really strong in this and got over to the degree needed, leading to his eventual title win next year. He dominated Misawa in this with big slaps to the back and neck, setting up his backdrop driver. Misawa did well on the defensive, using his elbows as equalisers while trying to figure out Williams. I thought the finishing stretch went on too long and lost steam but this was good for the most part. But I think I prefer this over the Kobashi match, still. ***3/4
AJPW October Giant Series 1993
Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Akira Taue, Masanobu Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW October Giant Series 1993 - Day 4 02/10/1993
This was really good. The magic in Kobashi v Kawada exchanges was plentiful. Kikuchi, as per usual, was great at working from beneath and using the crowd to his advantage. There was some cool moments where Fuchi was torturing Kobashi’s knee and Taue was Taue getting booed again (it’s 1991 all over again for him). ***1/2
Jun Akiyama vs. Ted DiBiase - AJPW October Giant Series 1993 - Day 20 23/10/1993
This was a fun match. It was nothing more than a solid outing for both men. Dibiase bumped when needed to but he mostly controlled this match and he looked good doing it. Akiyama worked in his basic holds really well, getting the best out of them. ***
Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kenta Kobashi - AJPW October Giant Series 1993 - Day 20 23/10/1993
Kawada actually beats someone with the Stretch Plum!! Unbelievable. This was predictably great. Kobashi is coming into his first peak as a wrestler and Kawada is a machine since turning allegiances. I love the stare offs they did. The one after the chop battle popped me big time. I love how both were willing to pop each other in the mouth with punches if need be. There was a lot of hate and dislike in this match and their chemistry on-top of it made it great. ****1/4
Triple Crown Title Match: Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW October Giant Series 1993 - Day 20 23/10/1993
So this is the infamous match (Is it famous? I’ve never heard of it before) where Dave gave it *1/2. Naturally, I was intrigued to see if two all timers, even with their well known iffy chemistry in other matches, can have a match that bad against each other. Kenji Wakabayashi calling this match like he was watching the Masters kind of says it all. For one of the most excitable commentators of all time that lives through his passion, he was in cruise volume. Anyway, enough about Wakabayashi. This was pretty awful and I think the rating is generous. The match started off nicely with a brief flurry of elbows by Misawa and Hansen scrambling to recover quickly. Misawa then began attacking the arm - a consistent story in all Hansen/Misawa matches - and grinds the match to a halt. The energy between the two instantly goes whenever they leave their feet. When Misawa is throwing elbows with Hansen selling them or doing Hansen things, the match picks up a bit. That’s all very limited to little moments that aren’t sustained well. To make things worse, the finish is so bad and looks botched. Misawa sunset keeps Hansen down for the three, Hansen kicks out at 3.1 and attacks Misawa and looks pissed at Joe Higuchi for calling it (it’s the right choice though. Hansen messed up). I imagine that this could’ve been saved with a hot closing stretch but a pin is a pin and that’s just the end of it. The crowd booed the ending but they were understanding and still cheered Misawa’s win announcement. *
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