20 AJPW Matches you must see before you die

7. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue – December 3, 1993

For this match, AJPW’s World Tag Team Titles were vacated, with the winner of the Real World Tag League (a sort of tag team King of the Ring tournament) becoming the new champions. Although the video opens with highlights of the earlier matches in the tournament, it’s this final match that deserves the most attention and praise.

Although the match starts 15 minutes into the video linked here, it’s still a phenomenal match involving a group of wrestlers collectively known as the ‘Four Pillars of Heaven’.

This match is an absolute treasure trove of telling stories without words. Since the language barrier is enough to turn some people away from the AJPW product, the wrestlers respond by having their actions speak for them. In this match, you can tell that Kobashi has a score to settle with Kawada, and Kawada has a burning desire to finally score a win over Misawa. These stories bleed into one another, leading to a dramatic wrestling match that could end at any moment.

Finally, this is a perfect example of classic ‘targeting a limb psychology’ being used to its full effect. Kobashi tried to destroy Kawada’s knee early into the match, and the damage comes into effect several times later in the match.

This is easily one of the best tag team matches you will ever see.