Saturday, August 26, 2017

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW, 9/1/90)

This is a match that truly clicks into place after trying to find the right pieces, and when it clicks, it’s awesome…and at this point in time, a little disheartening, as you watch Misawa at the birth of his stardom and Jumbo besieged by it, struggling to hold onto his place at the top of the mountain…and now they’re both gone. I like that Misawa thinks he’s not just some young boy Jumbo can bully around, blocking the elbow on the ropes and avoiding the jumping knee. But then he gets caught and put in his place. Jumbo relies on experience and his tried-and-true ways of dealing with the opposition – the clubbing offense, the wear-down holds, the occasional bombs but mostly reserving his energy. On the other hand, Misawa’s spry and hasty, trying to catch Jumbo off guard with kicks or a crossbody.

But Jumbo figures it out and there’s a great counter spot to Misawa’s rounding body press out of the corner. When Misawa starts popping Jumbo with elbows, that’s when it all clicks, when Jumbo’s like “are you fucking kidding me with this horseshit?!” and unloads on him. The referee’s trying to maintain order but Jumbo’s fed up, ragdolling Misawa into guardrails and smashing him with a chair, turning the crowd against him. Misawa’s able to exact some revenge and lets loose with the elbows in the corner, stunning him with another in order to deliver the German suplex hold. In the final minutes, Jumbo’s worn out, Misawa’s huffing, and the execution isn’t quite cookie cutter as they’re just lobbing themselves at each other. Jumbo folds Misawa in half with a brutal backdrop and I like how Misawa tries to buy some time with that desperation elbow but it’s not enough to overcome the inevitable and Jumbo pins him down with the backdrop hold.

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