Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Terry Gordy

[5.0] "There was a lot of basic and, frankly, boring work in the first half. Misawa held a chinlock for ages, as other commenters have mentioned, and he didn't do anything too creative or interesting with his long period of domination. It was Gordy's aggressive strikes and power moves that finally gave the match some life, and Misawa would eventually follow suit by bringing out his flashy aerial attacks. Both men then went for a standard 90s AJPW big-bomb-vs-big-bomb sequence for the rest of the match, and this, along with the rest of their work in the second half, was quite good; I just wish it hadn't come so late in the match, since those slow first 10 minutes made really held this back quite a bit. I wish THIS match had been JIP'd instead of the Kawada-vs-Kobashi match from earlier in the show (and which was rated ***** by Meltzer). **3/4"

[6.0] "We're in chinlock city for much of the first half, but it builds up to a decent crescendo. Misawa seems to have this in the bag, but Gordy eventually bounces back to win with a lariat. (Gordy wins to gain a total lead of three points in the 1993 Champion Carnival, but of course he will not make it to the final, as he falls to Stan Hansen, who goes on to defeat Misawa to win the Carnival. )"

[6.0] "This match would have likely warranted a higher rating if not for the fact that the entire first half of the match consisted of Misawa holding a reverse chinlock. There was no working into and out of hold, nothing to try and make it exciting; they just sat there in a chinlock."