Talk about it here.

I didn't care for this too much. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either. If anything, I think it will make an interesting comp to the Misawa/Kobashi vs Doc/Ace match in '95. I think in the context of what all these guys would go on to do throughout the rest of the decade, it has a place on the yearbook to compare to other matches, but there isn't much here. Hansen going crazy on Kobashi with a chair was the highlight. Hansen pins Misawa again for the finish, I guess to really make the 8/22 match as much of an upset as possible.

Not sure who recommended it, but to me this isn't even a top 10 pre-Williams match for Ace.

**** in the WON.

Well, there you go.

Yeah this wasn't too great. Hansen trying to break a chair over Kobashi's back was nice. Was Dave at the even live to give it 4 stars?

**** in the WON.

I thought you guys watched all of the footage before putting it on the sets though? Guess not.

The yearbooks would take three years to release if we did that. And besides, these sets are not intended to serve the same purpose as the DVDVR set where people rank all the matches on them. Yearbooks are not "best of" comps or MOTY sets. They are history comps. The point is to say "This is what was happening at the time", for better or worse. We lean toward good when determining what gets chopped, but sometimes, there is bad or underwhelming stuff that is too memorable to ignore. Or, it was regarded well at the time. If Dave gave a match **** in the WON, it goes on even if it doesn't hold up.

 

The time it takes to put together lists for what goes on these isn't spent watching everything. I purposely go out of my way to try not to watch anything. It's spent exhausting every resource to make sure we've captured everything that got some play at the time, or has gotten some play in the years since.

That is an important aspect of the Yearbooks: people thought this was good/great at the time, let's take a look at it again in the context of that year. There is value in that.

 

John

Yeah, I understand that. I was just under the impression that Will watched this stuff a la his other comps and/or projects.

I liked this. I thought it was a hard hitting fun match. The finish was really good.

Average bout for me. Hansen has really had Misawa's number this year so far. I had figured either Kobashi and Ace would take the loss.

Everyone worked hard here to make Ace look like he belongs, but only with so much success. Loved Hansen brutalizing Kobashi with the chair outside and seeing this take place almost a year before their classic with its spots on the floors. I didn't expect this finish given that Ace & Kobashi were involved, but it makes sense given the booking and what would happen next month.

 

***1/4

I guess AJPW's tag streak had to end sometime. This wasn't bad but the two tag bouts from the GAB left this in the dust. Ace simply isn't that interesting, at least at this point. Hansen gets yet another pinfall on Misawa in a nicely done finish.

This didn't change tag team wrestling as we know it or anything, but it wasn't bad. Ace fit in well, and Stan got his chance to brutalize two of the top contenders for the Triple Crown. Misawa and Kenta showed more continuity than they did against Jumbo and Taue, for what that's worth, and they both took their beatings like champs.

 

It may be surprising that Stan seemed to beat Misawa clean, but keep in mind that he and Ace douibleteamed Misawa for most of the last few minutes after Ace took Kenta out with that suplex on the floor. This didn't do much to harm Misawa's upcoming Triple Crown challenge; if anything, it gave the fans hope for what Misawa might be able to do once he got Stan in the ring one-on-one.

Not great match, but three things stood out positively for me.  Hansen has a brutal running crossbody.  They did make Ace look smart in not eating the Hansen lariat.  If you are in front of it you are in the danger zone and him knowing that is a positive.  And that look Hansen got on his face after the first lariat missed was amazing.