Intl. Region, Leeds Subregion, First Round: (13)Jack Brisco vs. (20) Mitsuharu Misawa

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the International Region, Leeds Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under standard wrestling rules. It will be held at the Leeds Arena in Leeds, England.

#13. Jack Brisco

Vs.

#20. Mitsuharu Misawa

​

Polls will be open for four days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

In my opinion this is the biggest match in the first round. It's between two absolute legends in the sport of professional wrestling. That said I'd like to give you some background on both of them since they probably aren't two of the better known wrestlers in this tournament.

Jack Brisco is mainly known for his tag team legacy that he left with his brother Jerry and while I'll admit that both men had great moments Jack also had a stellar and impressive singles career including defeating Harley Race and the Giant Baba to become the NWA world heavyweight champion. It's an incredible feat. Jack was a top star and one of best of his time and he held the NWA title for 866 days, and while I'm not going to diminish the accomplishments of Jack Brisco, I will put things into perspective. During this time wrestlers would tend to hold the world title for much longer stretches of time. In fact three of the four men that held the NWA world title before him held the title for over 1000 days. And the one that didn't was an up and coming Harley Race who would later out shine both of Jack Brisco's title runs with a reign that lasted 926 days in his second reign as world champion.

But still Jack Brisco has a huge legacy and should be appreciated for everything he did in the sport.

That said, his opponent is the greatest in ring competitor in modern history. And while Jack Brisco was a great champion, Misawa was a better one. Misawa is arguably the greatest world champion in Japanese history. He's a five time AJPW triple crown champion, he won the Global Honor Championship another three times. And in a place like AJPW title reigns weren't as long lasting as in Brisco's day. Still 866 days as champion is impressive, especially for two title reigns. That said Misawa's first Triple Crown title reign (defeating Stan Hansen to do so) lasted a staggering 705 days.To put that into perspective, it was the longest title reign for a triple crown champion.In the history of NJPW, and AJPW, , no one has ever held the top title in any of those companies for that long. the only reign longer was Kobashi's GHC reign in Pro wrestling NOAH, long after Misawa's prime. If that was the only time Misawa had won the Triple Crown, he would've ranked third all time in AJPW history. His second reign as Triple Crown winner was started with another victory over Stan Hansen. And this reign lasted 364 days. Misawa's first two reigns as Triple Crown champion lasted 1069 days, that's 26 days short of three years.

At this point misawa would already hold the record for most days as Triple Crown champion. In total Misawa would hold the Triple crown title for for 1799 days the man behind him held the title for 796 days!!!! Misawa held the belt for 1003 more days than his closest adversary that's almost three years longer than anyone else. These title reigns weren't common place in Japan at this time. It was a rarity to see this. Misawa absolutely DOMINATED.

But you might say "Bythedockofthebay" what was the competition like in Misawa's days. We know that Jack Brisco faced some great champions in his day. Well I'm glad you asked, because during the days that Misawa was world champion there was a group of guys called the "Famous Five", That included Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, Jun Akiyama, and Akira Taue. All men who held the Triple Crown. It was the deepest main event scene Japanese history. If you add Dr. Death Steve Williams, Vader, Stan Hansen, and Jumbo Tsuruta to that mix you're talking about one of the greatest main event scene in the history of wrestling anywhere.

And during a time where the main event was crowded and was the best it's ever been. Mitsuharu Misawa dominated each and every one of them. He's arguably the greatest champion in Japanese history and he did it with the deepest talent pool in Japanese history.

And while I'd never take Jack Brisco for granted his 866 days as champion wasn't uncommon for the time, while misawa held the AJPW triple crown for over four years. And if you add his GHC reigns, he was a world champion for over six years of his career.

Mitsuharu Misawa dominated the deepest main event pool in AJPW history. He has the longest major title reign in modern day Japanese wrestling, and while Jack Brisco was great, he did things that weren't uncommon in his era. Everything Misawa did is his era was not only uncommon, it was historic.

My vote goes to Misawa after a rolling elbow, a move that put down the likes of Vader, Stan Hansen, and Kenta Kobashi.

 

[The Brain]

Ok you've convinced me. Actually I had Misawa several spots higher on my list than Brisco but the match wasn't going to be that easy for me. When I saw this draw I really wasn't sure which way I was going to vote. I haven't seen much of either of them and mostly have to go by what I've read. I remember Misawa always being ranked very high in the old PWI 500 magazines. Say what you want about PWI but since they were and American publication that always gave Misawa a lot of praise his name stood out to me. I hate to vote a great wrestler like Brisco out in the first round (I think he went pretty far last year) but he got a bad draw here. Misawa moves on.

 

[deem]

Jack Brisco is the man. I've actually seen a bunch of his matches and love his work a lot. As said, while long title reigns were common place that doesn't diminish the achievement that much, he was still a major champion for close to 3 years.

Misawa is possibly my favorite professional wrestler of all time. Seriously, if you havn't seen a Misawa match do a quick search for one that is highly rated and get down to it. If you've never seen puroresu, just give it a bash. It'll change the way you view wrestling forever, the psychology is that good.

I consider Brisco's kayfabe ability to surpass almost everyone in his era. Better than Dory (43 wins, 26 defeats) better than Terry (39 wins, 21 defeats), hell better than Harley Race (23 wins 13 defeats).

That's the level we are dealing with here, vs a guy that was CLEARLY dominant in Japan during his time.

So the question is - how does one of the most dominant in 70s North America match up vs a Japanese ace? And i really don't know how to answer that. I think if this was North America I'd be voting Brisco painfully. He had five matches against Baba, losing 75% in Japan but winning his only match in America.

Being in England puts me on the fence, and for all the puro fan in me I'm not gonna rush into voting for my boy here. Giving any Brisco arguments a chance before I decide. I will say Japanese have historically done well in the UK however, our fans show a great respect to that culture. A neutral ground is a HUGE factor here in Misawa's favour - the biggest Japanese names have clashed with the biggest North American names a lot - in America, Americans tend to come out on top. In Japan, Japanese are dominant - as a caveat to that however, Brisco won 2/3 matches against Jumbo in Japan. HUGE pieces of form there.

Haha I think I'm sold on Brisco. How is that possible when I was so fuming about the lack of Puro entrants and was pulling strongly for the ones that entered. I'll give myself a few days and hope to see some more Misawa arguments that might convince me, as I really don't want to oppose him.

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

Jack Brisco is the man. I've actually seen a bunch of his matches and love his work a lot. As said, while long title reigns were common place that doesn't diminish the achievement that much, he was still a major champion for close to 3 years.

I wasn't diminishing Brisco's reigns, I was jump comparing it to Misawa's, which were spectacular, while Brico's were commonplace.

Misawa is possibly my favorite professional wrestler of all time. Seriously, if you havn't seen a Misawa match do a quick search for one that is highly rated and get down to it. If you've never seen puroresu, just give it a bash. It'll change the way you view wrestling forever, the psychology is that good.

I consider Brisco's kayfabe ability to surpass almost everyone in his era. Better than Dory (43 wins, 26 defeats) better than Terry (39 wins, 21 defeats), hell better than Harley Race (23 wins 13 defeats).

Misawa was a big name for his whole career not to mention that he never feel as far as Brisco did. Misawa would beat Brisco after a brutal match. Brisco's prime wasn't nearly as long as Misawa's unless you take into consideration tag team wrestling, which this isn't a tag match. If this was the Brisco's vs Kawada and Misawa I'd vote Brisco's but it's not.

That's the level we are dealing with here, vs a guy that was CLEARLY dominant in Japan during his time.

So the question is - how does one of the most dominant in 70s North America match up vs a Japanese ace? And i really don't know how to answer that. I think if this was North America I'd be voting Brisco painfully. He had five matches against Baba, losing 75% in Japan but winning his only match in America.

Well, Baba's legacy was surpassed in Japan by Misawa so I'd say Misawa would go over.

Being in England puts me on the fence, and for all the puro fan in me I'm not gonna rush into voting for my boy here. Giving any Brisco arguments a chance before I decide. I will say Japanese have historically done well in the UK however, our fans show a great respect to that culture. A neutral ground is a HUGE factor here in Misawa's favour - the biggest Japanese names have clashed with the biggest North American names a lot - in America, Americans tend to come out on top. In Japan, Japanese are dominant - as a caveat to that however, Brisco won 2/3 matches against Jumbo in Japan. HUGE pieces of form there.

You're right to a certain extent but Misawa beat Jumbo in his first major match. Not only that but Misawa made Jumbo tap out, something that no one else to my knowledge did. Misawa dominated for two decades,

Haha I think I'm sold on Brisco. How is that possible when I was so fuming about the lack of Puro entrants and was pulling strongly for the ones that entered. I'll give myself a few days and hope to see some more Misawa arguments that might convince me, as I really don't want to oppose him.

Misawa was one of the biggest draws in Japan, and in AJPW he was the biggest draw in the history of the company and in NOAH he was much the same even after his prime. He has even outdrawn Hogan on an equal playing field in Japan.

 

[Papa Pillman]

No one's argument here should be to slight Brisco's accomplishments. But that doesn't have to happen to put Misawa over. In the 90s Misawa simply was atleast comparably as dominant as any wrestler has ever been over the course of a entire decade in the modern era.

Misawa held the AJPW Triple Crown title five times in the 90s totaling one day shy of 1,800 total days(for perspective that's nearly five full years and about the same amount of days that Hogan held the WWF title during the 80s).

Misawa is arguably the greatest Japanese wrestler of all time. He also held NOAH's world title three times for another 710 days. Meaning between '92 and '08 he spent seven years as world champion(again for perspective that's within one year of matching the number of days of Sammartino's record first WW(W)F world title reign, and more days than Hogan or Backlund held that belt in total).

PWI ranked him the 6th best singles wrestler of the PWI years for good reason, and he was tragically under-seeded in this tournament.

Vote Misawa to go on- no offense to Brisco.

 

[Tastycles]

The difference between this and the Blue Demon vs Booker T match is that while Misawa and Blue Demon are probably kindred spirits, Brisco and Booker T aren't. Brisco was a big name and a world champion for a long time when it was a competitive field. I don't think it's criminal that Misawa will inevitably win this, but I think Brisco at his best would have probably had it.

 

[HBsam31]

I have been convinced to vote Misawa. I was unsure coming in, and his accomplishments seems to outshine Brisco's. Jack Brisco is just a wrestler that passed me by. Even still I have read enough to be convinced to vote Misawa into the second round.

 

[LSN80]

I'm waiting for Echelon to come along and give us the 102 reasons we should vote for Misawa, but here, he'll be right. It's a bad draw for Brisco, as Misawa has him easily here. He's one of the most influential wrestlers in Japanese history, as a wrestler, booker, and his hand in founding Pro Wrestling NOAH. Early in his career, he wrestled Bret Hart to a draw, then went on to defeat Jumbo Tsuruta in his first ever main-event.

This isn't to diminish Brisco's accomplishments, but I feel Misawa did more. His influence on Japanese wrestling was greater, and while Brisco was an incredible draw for his time, Misawa drew more. I hate to see Brisco go out so early here, but Misawa going out would be even worse.

 

[deem]

Hope this isn't short enough to be considered spam, but I just want to post my final reasoning's for eventually landing my vote in the Misawa camp.

I can't split them kayfabe. Brisco did well against Misawa's peers, Misawa arguably surpassed them. When I can't find a kayfabe winner, I switch to logical booking and this is where I made my eventual decision. It ties in with my frustration that the Japanese federations are crimininally underrepresented in this tournament - the one thing that has going for the ones that DID make it in, however, is the increase in draw for each of them. When North American champions are ten a penny, there is comparatively little for the audiences in the East to support in this international tournament. I think that's enough to convince me that Misawa would be of more value to advance here in a neutral ground.

I know this is a tenuous reason to cast a vote, but I'm more split here than I am on any first round match, so it's all I've got.