So, I watched some All Japan Pro Wrestling from the 90s, and I suggest everybody do the same.
Jumbo Tsuruta v Muitsuharu Misawa, 6/8/90
This is basically the uprising of Mitsuharu Misawa. Jumbo is still the fucking man in AJPW, but Misawa isn't far off in a lot of peoples' mind at this point, and here we have Jumbo out to make sure people still realise it's a bigger gap than those motherfuckers think.
He comes out all a lariating and kicking and clubbering aplenty, and Misawa is basically treated like his bitch. He flies around and does some Tiger Mask II shtick, though, and you get the sense that Jumbo may not be able to cope with it, seeing as how he's not used to going up against juniors. Misawa controls some portions, but the jumping knees and lariats always keep Jumbo out in front.
It's Misawa's flying, junior-esq offence against Jumbo's clubbering and Hulk smash offence, but Misawa is visibly better at the clubbering and heavyweight offence than Jumbo is at the flying.
Misawa's a spunky dude, and he's ready for his opportunity, so he SLAPS the king as he backs him into the corner. Jumbo looks at him like "Did... did you... tell me you didn't" and stalks him down. Misawa backs him into the ropes and slaps him AGAIN, though, and Jumbo's all looking at Misawa and the ref' like "Mothefucker, I will KILL you. Can he do that? Can he fuckin' slap me?!" and the ref's throwing his hands up like "Hey, man... leave me the fuck OUT of this shit!" so Jumbo explodes Misawa's face with a jumping knee, the equivalent of Misawa headbutting a grenade or a claymore or something.
Jumbo works away at Misawa, but he just can't seem to keep him down. He hits about 4 lariats, and Misawa keeps sticking a shoulder up. Hell, Jumbo takes his eye off the ball for a second and Misawa's flying around again like a pest a' Hell pissing off Jumbo some more. Another key is Misawa's forearm smashes. Every time he hits one, we're reminded of the 6-man tag that started this whole feud where Jumbo was layed out by Misawa's forearm for about 5 minutes. They're just as effective here, and it essentially establishes that move as a legit finisher for the rest of his entire fucking career. A FOREARM! Fuck Chris Hero; Misawa will kill you, son.
Down the stretch it's a lot more give and take, with both guys starting to throw bombs as each other. Misawa scores with a German suplex from Hell and gets a massive 2 count. Jumbo almost kills him with a powerbomb, but Misawa kicks out of that, and the crowd are fucking nuclear. That's the big turning point right there. It's a fucking HUGE moral victory for Misawa. Sure, Jumbo kicked out of Misawa's German suplex, but Misawa still has the Tiger Driver up his sleeve, whereas Jumbo has exhausted almost all of his bombs and still can't keep that shit head down. He's losing it.
Jumbo then decides he's gonna throw a bunch of lariats at Misawa in hopes of getting the job done. Misawa tries to reverse one, though, and Jumbo has to throw a forearm at him before he's caught with a cross body. He connects, but he hurts his arm on Misawa's skull... his lariat arm. Misawa's against the ropes. Jumbo's chance is NOW. Lariat the motherfucker!He charges, but at the last second he changes his mind... his arm is hurt... a trusty flying knee should be just as effective. But Misawa moves, and Jumbo hurts himself bad getting tangled up nastily in the ropes. Now's Misawa's chance and he goes for Jumbo's own finishing move - the backdrop driver. Jumbo still has enough left in the tank to reverse it and land on top of Misawa in a pinning attempt... but Misawa has more, reversing that into his own pinning attempt, scoring a win against the king of All Japan.
Everybody completely LOSEES their shit! The commentator has a fit, the crowd go fucking batshit insane, and Misawa's buddies hoist him up on their shoulders to celebrate, but not before Misawa checks with an equally astounded referee that he has in fact beaten Jumbo fuggin' Tsuruta. Everybody is ecstatic - the young Misawa has just cemented himself as a star. Everybody except Jumbo, as he slowly leaves the ring a beaten man, almost an afterthought.
For now, at least. No way he's going down without a fight...
This match is fucking fantastic! I still prefer their rematch to this, but damn, everybody needs to see this bad boy. Incredible.
*****