Mitsuharu Misawa (c) vs “Dr. Death” Steve Williams
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
10/11/1997
Fukuoka International Center, Fukuoka, Japan
(reviewed 05/21/2024) Steve Williams’ second title shot of the year and the second-to-last of his career, aside from one against Keiji Mutoh after the NOAH split. As with the lead-in tag a few weeks back, he spends the first half of the match really emphasizing his matwork and punches along with going after Mitsuharu Misawa’s leg. That’s all fine; I prefer Misawa’s selling here to the vast majority of Triple Crown matches we’ve seen and he actually gets worked over for most of this match, which means you can actually get invested in his comebacks. Unfortunately those comebacks aren’t great. With occasional exceptions Misawa simply doesn’t have the spark he used to have, the physical intensity that could make his matches enjoyable from spot to spot, moment to moment even when they missed the mark on a broader level. Absent that we’re just left with his shortcomings. If Misawa’s elbow strikes are no longer convincing cutoffs (if they ever were) against a foreign menace who overpowers him with ease and has spent the last 15 minutes kicking his ass, then these comebacks feel more perfunctory than ever. There was already no suspense left in these title matches and now there’s no thrilling action either. Everybody’s just going through the motions, from the men in the ring to the fans all around the arena. Inertia is a powerful force but nothing operates in a vacuum here in the real world, least of all pro wrestling. Eventually everything loses momentum.
Brock Hates Wrestling 