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Kenta Kobashi vs Mitsuharu Misawa - All Japan Pro Wrestling - 1997

🕑 Added 2025-05-08 22:00:03 +0000 UTC

Comments

Varits Vq

Misawa's elbow is god

ElSche

If you feel Like it, check Out their 98, 99 and 03 Match. Gets better and better imo.

Diruroru

I should have sought this out. This was epic. I saw a guy get lariated out of a top rope drop kick. Both guys selling off the charts. I guess misawa was tougher on the night. Damn

ElSche

On commentary, as color commentator was indeed Giant Baba, the founder and owner of All Japan Pro Wrestling. So you remembered that right. I think you are right about the way the match developed. A bit slower, then it picks up, and then it goes down into the grueling finish phase. To be honest, I kind of prefer that over the finishes where a thousand moves are done. Although, to be fair, those finishes can be very fun, too. So Kobashi wasn't able to overcome Misawa. But he will try again.

ElSche

Yeah i View IT similarly. It was basically Kobashi being not as tough as Misawa. Not yet at least.

.

This match is great, but definitely bloated. Though with stars this over, that almost feels intentional. It’s like Punk vs. Seth vs. Roman. Bloated, but I had an appetite for as much as possible in that moment. Maybe in 30 years, people will view that match like how I view this one. Misawa kept using the elbow because it was his special technique, just like Kobashi had the lariat/clothesline. Best modern comparison is Claudio’s uppercuts. A move he deploys regularly, but he can also pin someone with it. AJPW’s style leaned theatrical compared to that periods NJPW (its different now), influenced by southern USA wrestling. I think the story was that Misawa’s elbow was untouchable, he’s that good. Whereas Kobashi’s lariat could be taken out with far less. That's at least my interpretation.