Rd. 2 Falls Count Anywhere - Mitsuharu Misawa (JAP) vs Edge (CAN)

[IrishCanadian25]

Yes, folks, I am Canadian and I think Misawa wins here. But I'm not going to throw a hissy fit or cry over spilled milk. I am going to do this the way I always have. Relevant fact.

This is a falls count anywhere match, where two things matter above all else - stamina and brutality. Sure, creativity comes into play too, but all in all, it's about who can do the most damage and who can stand the most pain. In both cases, Misawa wins.

1. Misawa as someone who takes punishment

People remind me Edge beat Foley in a Hardcore Match. EVERYBODY HAS BEATEN FOLEY IN A HARDCORE MATCH. It's like beating Undertaker in a Casket or Buried Alive - it doesn' really matter because it's been done. Precious few have held major championship wins over Japanese Legend Jumbo Tsuruta. Misawa is one of those few.

Oh, and Foley - in his prime as Cactus Jack - was brutalized regularly by Biv Van Vader. Well, Misawa is a man who is able to stand in the ring with Vader despite the size difference. Check it out.





This is nearly 20 minutes of brutality Misawa wrestles against the stiffest worker (respect to Hansen, Lariato) of the generation. Misawa won the match. Edge isn't in Vaders league as a brawler. You know who else's league Edge isn't in? Misawa's.

2. Misawa as someone who will feud to the end

Only 3 times in history has a feud won "Feud of the Year" two straight years. In '83-'84 (Freebirds vs von Erichs), '98-'99 (Austin vs McMahon) and in '90-'91 (Misawa vs Tsuruta). The differrence? With a tag team feud, you have more than 2 participants. In McMahon / Austin, the feud was predicated under generally people OTHER THAN McMahon fighting Austin, so there were numerous participants. With Misawa / Tsuruta, it was all on them. And in order for two legends to have a two-year feud like this, both men have to have wins against one another. Nobody has sustained the type of success and enmity against a legend like Tsuruta the way Misawa did in the early 90's.

3. Misawa as a genius in the ring

I'll let the Wrestling Observer tackle this one:

• 5 Star Match (1985) vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi on March 9
• 5 Star Match (1990) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta on June 8
• 5 Star Match (1990) with Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue and Masanobu Fuchi on October 19
• 5 Star Match (1991) with Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue and Masanobu Fuchi on April 20
• 5 Star Match (1992) with Kenta Kobashi and Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue and Masanobu Fuchi on May 22
• 5 Star Match (1993) with Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Yoshinari Ogawa on July 2
• 5 Star Match (1993) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada on December 3
• 5 Star Match (1994) with Kenta Kobashi and Giant Baba vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on February 13
• 5 Star Match (1994) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada on May 21
• 5 Star Match (1994) vs. Toshiaki Kawada on June 3
• 5 Star Match (1995) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada on January 21
• 5 Star Match (1995) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on March 4
• 5 Star Match (1995) vs. Akira Taue on April 15
• 5 Star Match (1995) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue and Toshiaki Kawada on June 9
• 5 Star Match (1995) with Kenta Kobashi and Satoru Asako vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Tamon Honda on June 30
• 5 Star Match (1996) with Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on May 23
• 5 Star Match (1996) with Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on June 7
• 5 Star Match (1996) with Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on December 6
• 5 Star Match (1997) vs. Toshiaki Kawada on June 6
• 5 Star Match (1997) with Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on December 5
• 5 Star Match (1998) vs. Kenta Kobashi on October 31
• 5 Star Match (1999) vs. Kenta Kobashi on June 11
• 5 Star Match (1999) with Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama on October 23
• 5 Star Match (2003) vs. Kenta Kobashi on March 1

That's 24 five-star matches in 18 years. He's won match of the year 5 times. Edge has one, and it was a tag team match.

4. Misawa's Athleticism

Take (one) of his classics against the legendary Kenta Kobashi. This one in particular went MORE THAN 45MINUTES and involved two of the greatest of all time:











5. Misawa as a legit champion

Misawa held the All-Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Title five times: 705 days, 466 days, 364 days, 181 days, and 83 days. 1,799 days total. 359.8 days per title reign average with one of the biggest titles in Japan.

Edge has held the American equivalent - the WWE Title - 4 times for a total of 139 days.

MISAWA HAS HELD THE AJPW TITLE ON 4 OCCASSIONS FOR TITLE REIGNS LONGER THAN EDGE'S TOTAL COMBINED!!!

Who needs more convincing? I have more info. In the mean time, vote for Misawa.

[Just FalKonika]

Edge has the experience in these matches and his tactics benefit him here, but Misawa is one of the greats. Many people would assume the man with the more experience who has made a career and a star out of himself in these matches would beat the Puro dude. I don't blame them. I can also see why Misawa has strong backing too, due to his ability to innovate and adapt to any given situation. Shit, you give the man a chair and he'll figure out moves no man would be able to duplicate.

Edge has the chance to hang with Misawa in this match considering everything is in his favour, but going against someone who has the endurance to outlast the initial Edge offense and figure out what the hell your supposed to do, he can find his groove and defeat Edge here.

Misawa to win.

[Spaceman Spif]

I went with Misawa, not because anyone asked me too or anything, somply because after reading through some threads and posts, doing a bit of research of my own, I have concluded that while I love Edge, Misawa does indeed deserve to go over here and win. He is the better wrestler all around. Granted except on these forums, he's not well known anywhere else outside of Japan, but he is better than Edge and that's what won it for me.

[IrishCanadian25]

This match will be under review for 48 hours following the closing of the poll for the following reason:

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Bolded users all voted for Edge. We are checking for a possible multiple-account fix. Announcement will be made within 2 days.

[Y 2 Jake]

Originally Posted by IC25

Bolded users all voted for Edge. We are checking for a possible multiple-account fix. Announcement will be made within 2 days.

That's actually really sad, I haven't read any of the thread, but the impression I get from a quick glance at the Bar Room thread is that people are annoyed Misawa might lose, so they're trying to find ways to remove points off Edge.

If I was able I'd vote for Edge, the whole injury prone statements I've read amused me. After all, Misawa died because his spine detached from his from his head after a belly to back suplex. Seems to me that they're both made of glass.

Misawa might've also participated in numerous falls count anywhere matches, not in NOAH obviously, many years ago now, but I've seen none that suggest he's able to take sustained weapon shots, which is basically what WWE wrestlers do in matches like this. They're either hitting somebody with a weapon multiple times, or they're being hit. Japanese falls count anywhere matches are fights across the arena with a couple of weapons shots thrown in. No doubt Vader can hit considerably harder than anybody Edge has ever faced, but how many punches can you throw and how many suplexes can you give when you're under a barrage of chair shots? Presumably Misawa, unbeatable as he is, would grap the chair off Edge and bend it in a way Uri Geller does spoons.

Originally Posted by IC25

Misawa held the All-Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Title five times: 705 days, 466 days, 364 days, 181 days, and 83 days. 1,799 days total. 359.8 days per title reign average with one of the biggest titles in Japan.

Achievements, no doubt, but doesn't that say almost as much about the caliber of challengers as it does the champion? And I would never pay attention to star ratings involving Japanese wrestlers from The Wrestling Observer, there's a lot of multi-man matches there as well.