Posted May 18, 200916 yr comment_5439629 Great opening as Misawa sprung to the top rope as part of his entrance, knocked Kobayashi out of the ring with a missile dropkick and then hit a wild looking tope. I think they based the match structure on Kobayashi's series with Sayama. Kobayashi controlled Misawa by slowing the pace and taking it to the mat. He heated things up with some mean-spirited mask ripping. But Misawa proved resilient and every so often, countered with a flurry of highspots. They traded a bunch of dives and big moves at the end, with each guy kicking out after some big stuff. The match ended with Kobayashi tearing a big chunk out of the mask on the outside and ducking back in to win by countout. Plenty of intense, purposeful action overall. There was a cut in the middle, but it didn't seem to deprive us of anything too vital. I'll throw this on the block. AJ TV 2/9/85
May 15, 201015 yr comment_5450860 Childs mentioned it but what a great way to start off the match. Childs described it pretty well but I didn't love the ending for a third match in a row. However, I thought this was so much better than a Sayama match and I liked the Kobayashi series. Misawa just seems to do things that are ... logical. It is the best way to describe it. He isn't as fast as Sayama but so much smarter. I'll back the nomination but will probably have to rewatch the series to get an idea of where they will rank and how many are needed.
September 27, 201015 yr comment_5456350 Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask II (2/1/85) I loved the start of this as TM hit a dropkick then followed with a big tope suicida to the floor which would piss Kobayashi off and he followed with an offensive barrage of his own to get the advantage. We would get a clip here which I didn't care for but it looks like we didn't miss too much. Kobayashi would keep TM grounded which was the best strategy to use and would rip on his mask a little as well to aggravate him. TM would fight back in spurts but Kobayashi was pesky and found a way to get the edge every time. TM would send Kobayashi to the floor though and hit a springboard somersault senton to regain the advantage but not for long as Kobayashi would send him to the floor himself then caught him with his own tope suicida which had way more force than TM's did. This led to a hot stretch run where they both fell to the floor and Kobayashi ripped TM's mask good before beating him back to the ring for the countout victory. Kobayashi almost ripped the mask off before TM was covered by the AJ guys. This was a really good match and it moves forward.
