Talk about it here.

Taue goes after Kawada's knee. It's a little weird that Kawada's tag team partner is willing to do something that even his greatest rival hasn't done to this point. That aside, Taue is the guy you plug into the formula match to destroy a body part in this Carnival for sure. The two are nice comparisons as matches because they are similar in that regard. This one is slightly better just because Kawada selling the knee injury was so good and the final stretch was strong.

Taue goes after Kawada's knee. It's a little weird that Kawada's tag team partner is willing to do something that even his greatest rival hasn't done to this point.

That was the point. Or rather, what's the point of a dominant Misawa working over an injury?

I'd have to go back and watch everything from 12/03/93 through 06/03/94 to see if Misawa *never* worked over the knee. I'm sure Kobashi went after it and after a tag Misawa worked it over as well. Misawa also may have worked over it on occasion after Kawada "damaged" it himself. I don't think there was ever an intentional point of Misawa not going after it. Instead, it's more likely an element of Misawa: he wasn't a "work the body" guy unless his opponent forced him into it.

 

Stan: "Look... I'm going to post my Lariat Arm and you're going to work it over like crazy. Got it?"

 

Misawa: "Okay."

 

 

It's along the lines of my comment in the Misawa-Kawada: they don't have a huge desire to work over Misawa's recent Bad Neck/Back. There's some of it, but they don't run with it a lot. I tend to think that's the call of *Misawa*, not Kawada. Let's just go out and do a lot of our good spots and stuff and entertain the fans.

 

That's pretty common to what we see from Misawa and Kobashi as the decade goes on, and there are times where you get the sense Kawada bends and goes along with it.

 

In turn, in El Classico it does seem like there clearly are things *Kawada* wants to do. Fuck it, he's going to work Misawa's neck/back because we're going 35 and everyone knows that it's screwed up. And look at that ear juicing, I'm going to go after that damn ear! And now it's my time to sell to fill the body of the match... you ARE going to go after my Bad Knee and I'm going to sell it like only I can.

 

John

Taue starts with the left arm but then moves on to the knee. Good sequence with the Stretch Plum where it looked like Kawada was going to get the submission but Taue holds on and makes the ropes. Last few minutes were good. Nice match.

This was really good. Taue works on Kawada's knee for most of the match and Kawada sells it masterfully. The stretch plum spot and subsequent finishing run was really strong. Overall, this was a pretty great match with Kawada selling really well.

These two always have good intense matches and while this didn't live up to the 1995 Carnival or 1991 match, it was a welcome addition to the series. Taue targeting the knee was nice work but was once again really enhanced by the other person's selling of his damage. The finishing run was perfectly timed and they have done a good job getting the stretch plum over as effective because I bit on it being the finish.

Good opening with a great closing stretch. These two know each other inside and out--that was the story of the '93 Carny match but here that's illustrated by the timing they have on their sequences and counters. These are two guys clearly on the same page, but they still make it look authentic instead of choreographed. I love how Kawada's enzuilariato is a constant recurring element in this match-up, either as a finish or a major transition move.

In All Japan this was how you treated your friends: Kick their ass and hope they don't take it personally. Initially the focus was limb work, mainly Taue working over the dodgy knee. The intensity and move damage levels were then kicked up several notches as they produced an exciting stretch. These two had a great singles rivalry before they were partners, so were well matched as opponents. Very good, and they didn't even have to go full out.