#5: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue, AJPW Super Power Series (6/9/1995).
This is for the AJPW World Tag Team Championships.
All Japan Pro Wrestling succeeded to the levels that it did in the 1990s for one reason and one reason only: The Four Pillars of Heaven.
At the beginning of the decade, Giant Baba decided to throw four wrestlers in the gauntlet, and have them be the top stars of the promotion. From the endless loop of singles matches between all four, to the multiple tag team matches they had throughout the decade, these men created a standard for pro wrestling that, depending on who you ask, has never been matched.
The defending champions, Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa - the latter is also the Triple Crown Champion - are friends and training partners. Misawa is the Ace of All Japan at this point, and Kobashi is a fiery up and coming star. On the opposite side is Toshiaki Kawada - former friend of Misawa - and Akira Taue - the dark horse of the Pillars, and a man who specializes in the Chokeslam.
The particular story coming into this Tag Title match is that Kawada wants to get a victory over Misawa so badly. The two are former friends from high school, and Kawada's bitterness towards Misawa's success leads to one of the defining rivalries of 1990s wrestling. Taue is also looking to capitalize on his victory over Misawa in the Champion Carnival tournament. Misawa is coming in with an orbital bone injury caused by Taue, and Kobashi's thigh is heavily taped.
The layout of this match should be studied for future reference as far as tag team wrestling goes. With the champions both coming in injured, this gives Kawada and Taue the opportunity to work them over all match long, and it is dramatic as fuck. Misawa gets his ass kicked all night long, and his selling of the beating is immaculate. As does Kobashi, who sells the leg injury like he is literally on the brink of death.
Kawada and Taue wrestled this match like an old school team straight out the 1980s. They target their opponents with picture perfect precision. Taue was the big brute bully here, toying with Kobashi with reckless abandon. And Kawada looked like an absolute fucking star here, as he took pleasure in kicking away at Kobashi, and beating the hell out of Misawa.
In the end, Kawada pinned Misawa for the first time ever, and he and Taue are the new Tag Team Champions. Kawada would use the momentum from this win to get another Triple Crown shot against Misawa soon after. When you hear people praise the Four Pillars for their work in All Japan, this match is the reason why.
Misawa was the ring general, Kobashi was the master underdog, Kawada was the killer, and Taue was the best backup. The tag team psychology at play here is great. Each team works in cohesion to take down the other, and it ebb and flows for all 40 minutes of the contest. The crowd was hot all night long, and they even cheered Kawada and Taue, who were actually the heels!
This match is perfect King's Road style wrestling. Everything that happens builds to the next sequence. And the longer it goes, the hotter it gets. And When you think it's going to end, it continues to build! Once it hits that final apex, everything explodes, and it feels like you've seen something incredible.
And since wins and losses mattered in All Japan, Kawada pinning Misawa - even in a tag setting - was monumental. It built to their next encounter over the Triple Crown. In any other promotion, pinning the top guy in a tag match isn't treated with this kind of respect and importance. But in All Japan, winning and losing was comparable to life and death.