Giant Baba, Mitsuharu Misawa, & Kenta Kobashi vs Holy Demon Army (Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada, & Masanobu Fuchi)
taped 01/29/1994, aired 02/13/1994
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
(reviewed 04/30/2024) With fans still clamoring for him to continue teaming with Stan Hansen, Giant Baba spends some time early in ‘94 bouncing around in main events like this instead of his usual old man undercard matches, preparing for his eventual tag team rematch against these Super Generation Army partners here. His presence adds a lot. At 39 minutes this is another of those needlessly-long Korakuen Hall main events and while it’s a little sleepy at times, I way prefer this to that thirty minute draw linked above. Obviously a six-man tag helps hide Baba a little better but mostly it’s that the old man’s inclusion gives this matchup some much-needed drama, allowing the Holy Demon Army to dominate this thing in a way we’ve never really seen with their main event matches. Unlike when the Tsuruta-gun guys were facing young up-and-comers, the HDA have generally been evenly-matched with their SGA opponents if not on the wrong end of most control segments. Here, with an aged Baba dragging them down, those babyfaces actually get worked over to the worried whines of a sold out Korakuen Hall and it’s such a refreshing change; I’ll take 30 or 40 minutes of guys cutting off the ring and doing everything they can to prevent a hot tag over the aimlessness of these other mid-tour main events that have been driving me up a wall. Helps that everyone’s giving it their all for once too. Mitsuharu Misawa is more vulnerable than he has been in years and Masanobu Fuchi likewise looks like the mean old bastard I used to love. Best of all is the Baba/Akira Taue matchup, the sort of elephantine clash of bodies we don’t get much anymore with the rest of the Pillars being smaller heavyweights. Fun stuff. Nothing mindblowing (in no way does this deserve a five-star rating, get your head out of your ass Dave) but a reminder of how enjoyable these matches used to be and could be again if these guys got their shit together.
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