A repeat of the '95 Championship Carnival, this time for the Triple Crown. Misawa defended the belt against Kawada recently, so Taue will hope to fare better than his partner.

The theme for Misawa matches is very thoroughly established here: the trick to beating Misawa is to never let him build his comebacks and then find the finishing move to put him away. Especially towards the end of the match, it isn't so much about the big bombs, but if Taue can remain in control and keep Misawa in check. Taue gets to deal a lot of offense in this one. Big German Suplexes from him throughout this match then a very wonky-looking Tope Suicida! He also tried to go for a Nodowa Otoshi on the bare concrete ringside floor! Yeah, that's not happening (if it did, would Taue have won the Triple Crown? it most likely would have been enough to put the champ away). It's interesting to me how Taue didn't work Misawa's leg more, it seemed to give him an advantage in more than one occasion. Good performance from Misawa, but just like his defence against Kawada, he is more of a passive punching bag that lets other people work around him. He does deliver some big elbows and counters a Powerbomb into a Hurricanrana beautifully. Misawa ends up retaining again in the end after a few devastating elbows.

This match is pretty comfy. There aren't any sick bumps apart from the German Suplexes, Misawa's performance is basically his great selling, Taue gets to show what he can do offensively. It doesn't have the sense of grandiosity of other matches I've seen, but there is drama and urgency, the story is fun and the match is overall a good watch. It does have almost an old-school vibe to it which I appreciate. Must-watch if you're a Taue fan, you get to see your boy being awkward for a lot of this match. Plus, the match ends in 20:50! Thank you All-Japan! I'm a busy busy boy, so I appreciate you understand that and give me a bite-sized Triple Corwn defence that isn't an hour long (looking at you, Kawada! Damn you and your one-hour time limit draws!).