#28: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Akira Taue, AJPW Champion Carnival (4/15/1995).
This is the finals of the 1995 Champion Carnival Tournament.
My intention in watching this one was to see if my opinion of Akira Taue would change afterwards. He was my least favorite of the Four Pillars. If you're curious, my favorite is Kenta Kobashi.
The crowd is molten already for this. Taue tackles Misawa. He blocks a forearm. Taue chops Misawa in the corner. He counters with forearms. Taue avoids a Shotgun Dropkick. Misawa blocks a chokeslam attempt. Taue sends him to the floor. Taue with a tope to the outside! That was wild, because he is not a small man.
Several hard lariats from Taue. A diving corkscrew clothesline from Misawa. Neck crank follows. Taue then counters with a neck crank of his own. Taue drops Misawa throat first on the top rope twice. A dragon sleeper follows. Misawa escapes a suplex attempt. Taue follows with a DDT. Misawa with a hurricanrana for a 2 count.
A forearm and a spin kick sends Taue to the outside. Misawa then hits a tope to Taue on the outside. Big forearms from Misawa. Taue blocks the Tiger Driver, and then he gets hit with more forearms. A spinning back suplex gets Misawa a 2 count. Taue blocks a Tiger Suplex attempt. Taue drives his boot into Misawa's face. A running dropkick sends Misawa to the floor.
Misawa is on the apron, and Taue grabs him and back suplexes him to the floor. They fight back on the apron, and Misawa forearms Taue for the advantage. Taue catches a spin kick, and Misawa sends his other knee to the face. Standing senton, followed by a frog splash for a nearfall. Misawa hits a German Suplex for another 2 count.
Misawa hits the Tiger Driver, and Taue kicks out again. Taue chops Misawa to the apron and chokeslams him straight to the floor. He bounced on impact, and it looked sick as fuck. Taue makes the cover in the ring, and Misawa gets his foot on the rope. Taue hits a nice German Suplex and Misawa kicks out. DDT from Taue. Big legdrop that would make Hulk Hogan blush. A sit out powerbomb gets a close 2 count.
Misawa tries fighting back with forearms and Taue just stomps him down. Spinning forearm finally drops Taue. Misawa smartly rolls to the floor. Misawa counters a top rope chokeslam and forearms the shit out of Taue. Taue backdrops Misawa out of a Tiger Driver attempt. German Suplex from Misawa. Tiger Driver connects again, and Taue kicks out again. More forearms and a Tiger Suplex, and Taue once again kicks out at 2!
In that moment, Misawa's stoicism seemingly breaks for the first time all match long. One more Tiger Suplex, and Misawa finally gets the win. That's the best Akira Taue singles match I've seen so far, and it's definitely made me a bigger fan of him. This was awesome. He put in the work, and he made Misawa work for that win. Meanwhile, this was simply another Thursday night for the Emerald Warrior.