Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada © vs Steve Williams and Terry Gordy
AJPW World Tag Team Title Match
01/30/93
In terms of gaijin runs, All Japan in the late 80s to early 90s seemed to be one of the golden eras. Whilst New Japan did have the emergence of Big Van Vader, AJPW’s ability to book the likes of Stan Hansen, Steve Williams and Terry Gordy led to some of the greatest matches in the company’s history. AJPW’s willingness to have the American contingent go one on one with the homegrown heroes, and not be afraid to put them over, added to their sense of legend. Tsuruta, Misawa, Kawada and company knew they were in for a fight.
The Miracle Violence Connection of Gordy and Williams were the most successful US tag team in Japan outside of Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas, and had already won the World Tag Team Titles four times by the time they met Misawa and Kawada on January the 30th. Two years previously, Misawa and Kawada had defeated the MVC for the gold; a defeat that would be replicated in the World Tag League in which Kawada and Misawa won the belts. This, alongside the need for the MVC to defeat Hansen and Johnny Ace four days earlier to earn the title shot, seemed to give the natives the psychological advantage.
The match begins slowly, with Gordy in particular being targeted as the weaker link of the American team. In an attempt to keep the big man down, sleepers would be utilised by both Kawada and Misawa. When Williams enters shortly afterwards, his own sleeper attempt on Kawada involves him dragging Kawada away from the ropes and refusing to break the hold – a simple emphasis of the ‘no fucks given’ approach of the MVC. When Kawada is then dropped throat first on the barricade and on the top rope, a smattering of pantomime-esque boos can be heard, though Misawa also receives them for stepping into the ring to break submissions at several points.
At times, the Connection can charitably be described as methodical, though with bursts of high powered offense such as a double tackle to drop Kawada hard to the canvas. When Kawada does manage to escape with a spinkick – his kicks were over any time he connected – Misawa would land a spinkick of his own, a suicide dive elbow and a top rope elbow to quicken the pace considerable, before grabbing a near fall off of a tiger driver.
A second heat segment follows after Williams rams Misawa back first into the ringpost. The Collection channel the Midnight Express by landing a second rope powerslam, though also use submission holds to target Misawa’s back and legs; Gordy with an STF and Williams with a Boston crab. With the crowd fully behind Kawada and Misawa, it felt like it was only a matter of time before the brakes came off, and the match truly kicked into high gear.
Nearfalls and submissions become the order of the day after Kawada takes a hot tag, pummels both of the MVC and drops Gordy with a powerbomb for a two. Bomb after bomb is thrown by both teams, with a backdrop driver by Williams, a charge by Misawa reversed into a powerslam, two consecutive corner lariats by Gordy and a German suplex by Misawa all getting two counts. The nearest fall, however, came when Gordy broke up a tiger driver with a millisecond left before the three.
After sitting on their hands for a lot of the match, the crowd began to buy into the finishes as they came thick and fast. Before the tiger driver, a duelling stretch plum/crossface had the fans baying for the Gaijin submission, only for Gordy to use a Greco-Roman thumb to the eye to break the crossface and bust his partner out of Kawada’s dangerous stretch plum. Having has a Stampede blocked by a Misawa dropkick earlier in the contest, a second attempt connected only to have the pinfall broken by Kawada. With Gordy taking care of Kawada outside of the ring, another Stampede would finally keep Misawa down for the full three count and begin the fifth reign of the Miracle Violence Connection.
This would signify the start of Terry Gordy’s last All Japan title reign. On the other hand, Steve Williams went on to win the title three more times, with three different partners: Johnny Ace, Gary Albright and Vader. None of these three teams every came close to matching the legacy of the Miracle Violence Connection.
