More Hansen Being Very Hansen

Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey v Mitshuaru Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (All Japan, 11/16/91)

One of the all-time great pissed off screwball Hansen performances. He was a riot in this, jumping Misawa before the bell and about planting him fully vertical with a back suplex. The amount of shit he gave Misawa early had Misawa as annoyed as I've ever seen him. This wasn't stoic Misawa who'd maintain his composure and strike when the moment was right -- Hansen had pushed the wrong buttons and Misawa was going to cave his face in. There was one point where he had Hansen tangled in the ropes and raining down holy hell with elbows. A couple of the Hansen/Kawada exchanges were up there with their very best, culminating with Kawada biting off more than he could chew and Hansen punching him dead in the cheek, which in turn led to an extended Kawada heat segment. Before that Kawada's aggressiveness had served him pretty well, but it was most effective in tandem with Misawa's and as soon as he tried to go it alone he paid big time. Spivey was mostly just there and his Boston crab was pretty loose, so Hansen would keep it interesting by coming in and stomping repeatedly on Kawada's head, and a little later applied one of his own where he sat across the lower back with the full beef of Borger, Texas. Best moment of the match was when he grabbed a chair and, completely unprompted, smashed it over Kawada's spine, then hurled it across the ring at Misawa who went fucking apeshit in response. The way he went for Hansen was amazing; Hansen chucking him over the barricade like a small child even more so. The first elbow Misawa threw at Hansen after the hot tag was truly jaw-shattering. I watched this about ten years ago and loved it, so I'm happy it held up. One of my favourite All Japan tags of the decade.


Stan Hansen v Kenta Kobashi (All Japan, 3/27/92)

More of a condensed, low-key version of this match-up, but then even the low-key version of these two is going to bottom out at pretty great. It's everything that makes it a timeless pairing. Kobashi is dogged and his refusal to stay down in the face of such a mauling is inspiring, while Hansen does what he always does and overwhelms Kobashi with redneck fury. Kobashi dips into his big bag of offence and once or twice it looks like he might sustain a real advantage, but then Hansen will outright punch him in the face or boot him in the throat and shut him down. We get the staple powerbomb on the floor and I love how Kobashi just stares dead at the ceiling afterwards like "why do I keep getting in the ring with this man?" Hansen going after the neck for a bit and sort of using the dragon sleeper as a base was a really cool wrinkle as well, one that I don't remember him using in their other matches. He's such a big guy that you can easily buy him smothering you with something like that. Incredible finish as well, with Kobashi seemingly coming up with a way to avoid having his head taken off, only to turn around and have his head taken off. There was also a moment in this at the very start that encapsulates everything great about Hansen. He drags Kobashi to the floor and tries to wade into the crowd for a chair. The barricade blocks his way, but in his haste to procure a weapon he doesn't seem to realise that the gate opens towards him. He tries to shove it the opposite way but of course that's not how it's supposed to open. So instead of stopping for literally one second to open it correctly, the way the gate was intended to be opened by design, he just boots it inward until the hinge no longer has any say in the matter. Bend to his will or be broken. The Hansen way.