Akira Taue, Jumbo Tsuruta & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada - The Greatest Six-Man Tag Match of all time
Added 2024-12-31 23:00:05 +0000 UTCWatch: https://streamable.com/whpwfy
The Wrestlers: - "Emerald Warrior" Misawa (Green Tights): Stereotypical stoic ace. Will eventually become the man to beat. Was an excellent amateur wrestler, Jumbo Tsuruta was his childhood favorite. Known for his elbow strikes.
- "Dangerous K" Kawada (Yellow and Black Tights): Brutal, but fair. Ambitious. Always working to surpass Misawa, his rival. Both wrestled at the same high school. Known for his Kicks.
- "Burning" Kobashi (Orange Trunks): You've seen him a few times. Firey babyface to a T. Still the baby of the group, went on a year-long losing streak after his debut, finally getting it all to click. Was a bodybuilder prior to being scouted. Known for his Lariats.
- "Dynamic T" Taue (Red Trunnks): Knows he's probably not on the others' level from a skill standpoint. Takes cheap opportunities and uses brute force. Known for his powerbombs and chokeslams/throws. Was a talented professional Sumo wrestler, incorporates those techniques into his wrestling.
- "Mr. Junior" Fuchi (Black Trunks, White Boots): Has been with AJPW since the start, debuted in 1974. Ruled the Junior Heavyweight division with an iron fist. Known for his brutal submission stretches and general willingness to play dirty.
- "Jumbo" Tsuruta (Black Trunks, Black Boots): Former Ace of All Japan, carrying the company through the '70s and '80s. Now he's fighting against the kids that want to take his place. Watch for his lariats and his knee strikes and how he clings to the crowd for validation whenever he's shaken.
The Story: Rising Star and Former Tiger Mask (II) Misawa forms a group including the other future Pillars of the Company (Kawada, Kobashi, and Taue) his called the "Super Generation Army" and is attempting to dethrone AJPW's former ace, Jumbo Tsuruta, and his army, "Tsuruta-gun." Eventually, Taue grows unsure of Misawa and abandons his friends and joins Jumbo, instantly becoming the company's most hated heel in the eyes of the fans. Jumbo is brutal, and Fuchi cheats, but Taue turns his back on his friends. Kawada and Taue especially hate each other at this point, which will be very plain to see. This isn't the first or last meeting between these teams, but it's one of their best. Fun Giant Baba cameos on commentary. He liked watching in person, and was known to change match finishes on the fly based on crowd response.
Comments
I love the reff allows the match to flow. Yes allows intereference to break holds, because a hold in AJPW it was used more damage an opponent than to end a match, so if there is a lock, the other team needs to ensure the rivals end the match with a pin and avoid hurting the teammate more. Also gotta love how they dont get distracted for the dumbest thing like nowadays, they just focus on the people that are legal and know their teams have to work to keep only one person in the ring or else the others will interfere, they see it as a team competition so the better team has to win.
Varits Vq
2025-01-04 18:34:57 +0000 UTCThis match is perfect! The way they execute the most simple moves so it looks effective, is masterful
Varits Vq
2025-01-04 18:07:43 +0000 UTCI actually got a question for you big man You planning on doing another All Japan match next month?
Paul Watson
2025-01-01 07:11:31 +0000 UTCThis was really awesome. Probably my favourite yet on the patreon. Maybe they didn't help kobashi for a reason but I don't know, I want to see more to see how it goes
Diruroru
2025-01-01 06:35:27 +0000 UTCOne of my favorite tag matches ever. 50 minutes that absolutely fly by with everyone involved having incredible and distinct performances.
Lucas Biersack
2025-01-01 05:04:57 +0000 UTCI'm looking forward to sharing some more Kawada I find the Misawa/Kobashi matches to be the best of the Pillar matches but ofc Kawada/Misawa is what I'm gonna share more of first
Paul Watson
2025-01-01 03:07:33 +0000 UTCYeah, japanese Refs espacially suck :D I personally also dislike it, esp. in multi Men matches, but I learned to live with it. At 40:55: Funny that you saw the counter Kick to a sunset Flip for the first time, used to be much more common, these days many people just role out backwards, I like the kick variation at least for big men more. Oaktree already explained why Kobashi had to eat shit for so long well, one thing to add would be, that Kobashi at that point is the lowest on the totem pole in this feud by far, only having debuted in 1988, and stuff like that very much matters in Japan,. But at the same time it helped developing his attitude of never giving up, so in the end it was a plus to him. Otherwise, what is to say, if you ignore the Ref and the somewhat sudden Finish, this was a perfect showcase of what these men are all about (maybe except for Kawada who did get very little of his Kicks in.
ElSche
2025-01-01 02:29:13 +0000 UTCJust finished the vid! Just wanna say something about a particular thing Tally said "Kobashi is the perfect tag team partner" She has no idea how right she is and will be in the future lmao
Paul Watson
2025-01-01 01:16:06 +0000 UTCI totally forgot to mention and should have said it, but AJPW during this period had no DQs on the outside beyond countouts "Unless it became egregious" (i.e. you're throwing closed fists in the crowd and endangering them, etc.). Similar to modern New Japan's rules. For a rope break to count, you have to "confidently" grab the rope. If they're able to pull you off easily, it doesn't count. Giant Baba liked the added drama. He also disliked submission finishes ending long matches, favoring power moves, so it helped make submissions early on in the match feel more credible. And you picked up on some of the little stuff that I didn't mention because I didn't want to spoil! Baba, as a booker, felt that all Babyfaces should be honorable, even to the point of causing their own failure. They stopped rushing the ring because the ref (Kyohei Wada, who refed basically all the Pillar's matches/still refs for AJPW at 70 years old) scolded them. Babyfaces are honorable, so they listen. You also questioned Kawada's loyalty. Following their unusually bloody feud (Baba all but entirely banned blading because he felt it was unnecessary - almost all King's Road era blood is "Hard Way"), Kawada learns to respect Taue and turns heel, and they become the Holy Demon Army, arguably the most consistently perfect tag team ever. This is basically the only huge Six Man that's required viewing for these guys, after this is all singles and tag matches that are structured much more traditionally. Baba learned to wrestle largely while on excursion to the US, so his matches are booked in very 70s/80s American style (Babyfaces start in control -> Babyfaces get beat up -> Babyfaces fire up/get the hot tag), the biggest difference was that Baba booked insanely long chases (it took Kobashi a literal decade to finally beat Kawada in a singles match).
OakTree
2025-01-01 00:30:48 +0000 UTCOne thing you'll eventually learn is the one truism from pro wrestling, from lucha to independent wrestling to WWE to Japan and everything in between is the consistency of the inconsistency of referring in pro wrestling, sometimes even within the same match.
Jesse Ewiak
2025-01-01 00:01:24 +0000 UTCKINGS ROOOAD The greatest experience of my life was taking a trip down this period of wrestling from the 90s in AJPW Perhaps the greatest period in wrestling history
Paul Watson
2024-12-31 23:03:10 +0000 UTC
