Super Generation Army (Mitsuharu Misawa, Jun Akiyama, & Satoru Asako) vs “Dr. Death” Steve Williams & The Heavenly Bodies (Tom Prichard & Jimmy Del Ray)
taped 05/13/1994, aired 05/14/1994
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
(reviewed 05/02/2024) Man, Steve Williams is just the best. All respect to Jimmy Del Ray and Dr. Tom, fine workers in their own right, but it was real easy for my eyes to glaze over through the first few minutes of this match watching them roll around with the super rookie and suck ass Satoru Asako. Once Doc tags in things immediately change; hard to train my attention anywhere else when that guy sprints wide-eyed across the ring, arm extended and lungs bellowing, to send Akiyama ass over tea kettle with a lariat before staring down Mitsuharu Misawa in the corner. Man’s a maniac and I love him for it. Doc’s wild personality results in a wonderfully infectious recklessness, forcing Misawa to throw elbows more spirited than any we’ve seen in years. The Heavenly Bodies aren’t nearly so intense but they do just fine in this role, cutting their young opponents down with snug sensibilities and bumping around dutifully for Misawa. Naturally Korakuen doesn’t care for them and you just know the good people of Sendai would welcome them with open arms. Either way this is the Dr. Death show. At one point it looks like Asako’s meant to cut off his backdrop driver attempt on Akiyama but someone along the way didn’t get the memo so Doc just cumbersomely drops Akiyama on his head before the younger man sort of slumps over for a pin attempt. Beautiful sort of ugly wrestling. Wish we got that sort of perilous spontaneity on televised wrestling these days, whether on Nippon TV or otherwise. Misawa rudely breaks up a pin after the Doctor Bomb which means Williams has to hit Akiyama with the Oklahoma Stampede to secure the win. Dude forcing his young partners to take three different finishers in a row in a tour-opening Korakuen Hall main event. Misawa’s an awful tag team partner.
Brock Hates Wrestling 