Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama-AJPW 20.1.1997.

A fun little match, but one I can't really include on my ongoing list of best <5 minute matches, and the more I think about why that is I keep coming back to the finish. I mean-it wouldn't have mattered if the match was unbeliavably super great-but it was more just really solid classic All Japan stuff. They're really good at using the rope running the counter sequences, but that only goes so far in a match like this where you need something to instantly raise the stakes. Akiyama countering the Snake Eyes was a cool moment, as was the Chokeslam on the floor tease and Taue slapping Akiyama around, but overall it felt like they tried out too many ideas that they could've turned into a great match had they had the time All Japan matches usually do instead focusing on a little less and then getting the most out of that in the time they had. Maybe it's fine to have the recepient of a giant German Suplex running around shortly in longer matches, I think they could've dwelled on a spot like that a little bit more here. As it was, the match was on its way on being something I'd put on the lower end of the list, but Taue's ridiculous dizzy sell of Akiyama's knee was hard to buy into, him waving his hands manically just looked totally unconvincing as any type of a KO sell. ***

Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue-AJPW 26.1.1991.

This was an interesting, although slightly disappointing match. Misawa's aggressive onslaught in the beginning was awesome, totally caught me off guard and for a moment it looked like it could turn into an awesome brawl, but the next thing was Misawa transitioning into a hold and them just having a standard match, which was nowhere near as interesting. There are moments where you see signs of the nastiness that will come of Taue in the following years but you can also see he's still too fascinated with jumping of things and what he can physchically do to really dedicate himself to the snugness. They both have good offence, some sloppy (jumping) middle kicks aside, the rope running transitions are something All Japan handled perfectly and Misawa's misaed Lariat (and following elbow comeback) was a thing of beauty. Still, this didn't really feel worthy of such a big move debut. Others will probably enjoy it a lot more since I presume they're not as focused on structure as "holy shit Taue did a somersault!" and that's valid too. ***



Tako mi je drago šta tu ne moram koristit debilne američke datume. Jebo te Fahrenheit i stope.