It was the night that began the change of the landscape of Japanese wrestling forever. Mitsuharu Misawa defended his All Japan Triple Crown against Toshiaki Kawada in what seemed like their millionth encounter at Budokan Hall. The peak era that was mid 90s All Japan was dying down a bit. A huge portion of the Gai-jin that helped make it so big left and/or retired, but the company was still carried by the holy trinity that was Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi (with Taue and a few others helping). Kawada suffered a broken arm during the match. Giant Baba, on his death bed, called this the greatest match he had ever seen and Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer commented on it in a recent audio show.

Here I bring highlights of the match.

It was shortly after this that Baba died, and because Misawa had “creative differences” with Baba’s widow, the “Grand Japanese Exodus” began as Misawa took all of All Japan’s top talents (except Kawada) and started Pro Wrestling NOAH.

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