I totally should have posted my AJW 09/02/95 show review TODAY instead of back in July...stupid!stupid!stupid!

But, fear not! I've found some AJPW matches from the spiraled notebook graveyard. I'll post my original comments then, see how I react today. We've first got some action from the 1989 Summer Action Series II tour taped 09/02/89 in Tokyo at Nippon Budokan!

Asia Tag Title Match: Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki- This match whew! It bit way too much off than it could chew. In a shocking manner, Kawada was the worst person in there. He didn't look comfortable at all. Kroffat too looked a bit restrained. But Jesus, Kawada looked so held back and God! I couldn't wait until he took the spinning heel kick out of his offense. This match is really hurt by loose execution in a sequence intensive match. ***3/4

*Well um...we're off to a shaky start with that. I gave it almost 4 stars but, made it sound like a steaming diaper load!? I probably would say now that, this match isn't as good as their 06/05/89 classic. Frankly, it seemed like they blew some moves but, still brought the intensity. I probably would enjoy this more now since I've been digging Aoyagi, Koshinaka matches.

Special Match: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu - I liked this more the second time around as Yatsu really gave it his all and Jumbo as awesome as ever, made him look like a champ-to-be. If people doubt the greatness of Jumbo, then look at this one. It's a damn good match even though you know the outcome on paper. ****

*There's nothing wrong here although I would praise Yatsu a helluva lot more today. He's a really underappreciated wrestler who brings an arm full of effort, energy, and um...earnestness. We can see those traits from the Choshu-in -AJ period through the short lived SWS. (I know he was in NJ for a minute as well so, that'd be great to track down.) Jumbo gets props but, I'd much rather watch a Yatsu match nowadays.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (09/01/90) ****1/2+ In this match-up Misawa tries to use his elbow strikes to go toe-to-toe with Jumbo. He finds out that he's no Tenryu and gets a beatdown. It's not that Jumbo isn't really messed up by this attack but it's not enough to transition into a serious pinning predicament. Still Misawa uses his quickness & flying but not in conjunction with much other than his strikes. So Jumbo does what he can to shift momentum and work Green Jeans over. I would've liked I little more variety other than a elbow battle to make this 5 stars like some say but, still it's awesome but not like their match in June. Re-Watch: This is a pretty great match but stylistically I preferred the June match. Misawa tried to be Tenryu to Jumbo, you know to try and slug it out. Misawa had much greater effect with his flying moves but wanted to get the big shot in. In the end he got caught and flat out beat. Still I would have liked a match with more variety in offense since Misawa slung 40 elbows or so in this one.

*Yup, I'm not going to veer of course with this too much. Well, I may even take it down a notch if I were to rewatch today It seemed less dynamic than their June classic and just never hit me the same way. Of course, it may be more of the rough & tumble business that I've been favoring lately. It's a essential stepping stone in the feud and AJPW nonetheless. Maybe a rewatch is in order!

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (09/04/91): Really great match with Kawada bringing the violence. The guys do some stuff they were using a year earlier like Taue's sumo slaps, well that's about it...Misawa's shoulder was really beat on here. Kawada could hold up in his absence though. He was hitting lariats to the front & back like a monster. His step kicks to Jumbo are especially vicious. In fact, Jumbo vs. Kawada are the best thing going here. It's not on the level of their 9/30 or 12/7/90 matches but is still awesome. And is the 3rd best tag match on here (Jumbo vs Misawa DVD set).

*Wow! This one took me by surprise as I don't necessarily recall this being a top tier bout. I totally believe my take on it but, this really is one that I truly forgot about, true believers! Definitely I'm going to rewatch this and the above match. I'll put my 2018 grumpy take-away remarks in the comments. Again, I prefer Yatsu over Jumbo anymore but, I know it'll be good.

Anyhow, fun memories dug up from my wire bound wrestling review resting place. Thanks!