Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama 2/27/00

MISAWA VS. AKIYAMA 2/27/00 IS THE GREATEST MATCH I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe it's knowing that Misawa is doing what Tsuruta did for him 10 years prior. Maybe it's knowing what Misawa and Akiyama will become when NOAH forms soon. Maybe it's me overreacting the death of Misawa and subconsciously overrating him. Whatever the case may be, as I type this I am literally still trembling and choking back tears after the thing of beauty I just witnessed. This was the perfect meeting of "aging legend"vs. "rising star". It's Jordan vs. Kobe, Gretzky vs. Howe, Gracie vs. Sakuraba, Elway vs. Manning, and any other pairing you may want to come up with. The story is told perfectly, and the execution is crisp. They battle back and forth with Akiyama doing all he can to finally overcome Misawa and be "the" top guy, while Misawa is having absolutely none of it. The ending minutes bring this from a great match to pure poetry. Akiyama is doing all he can to destroy Misawa, but he simply can't do it, Misawa keeps coming back, this doesn't deter our young hero however, it just makes him BRING IT LIKE HE'S NEVER BROUGHT IT BEFORE IN HIS LIFE!!!!!!. I don't know i this is really my favourite match of all time, I'll admit i'm still quite euphoric over what i just witnessed, but it's certainly top 2 or 3 of the decade for me right now, and probably all time top 10

*****