Zenjo

Ta-Gar is a transparent alien warlord that roams the galaxy in search of a good fight. And Memphis is his next target!

I was worried about how a non-corporeal entity such as Ta-Gar was going to have a wrestling match. Fortunately he was able to assume a physical form for this contest. Jerry Lawler banishes him back to the Volcano in fairly short order. Don't worry monster fans, there is more to come in the yearbook.

Time for some fantasy booking. Rap Battle: PN News vs Oscar from Men on a Mission

This would've been better if either of them was even slightly good looking.

Vince is NOT a lying scumbag.

RIP Damien

It's going to be interesting to see how much Lucha footage from the 80's was unearthed when the set comes out.

No more endless Brother Love shows to FF through! I've always been a fan of the Warrior.

Whoever said Hogan was a bad actor? Here he perfectly plays the role of the artiste, and smells very fragrant whilst doing so.

I'm finding El Gigante surprisingly entertaining in 1991. He was a bit of a character.

This is a great excuse for a bunch of one liners from Heenan.

I couldn't believe they showed this much footage from a NJ match. Ross just broadly mentioned injuries rather than going into specifics about the eye.

A number of the fans were drunk which, though annoying, did create a rowdy and heated atmosphere. First 10m was aimless flying around at breakneck speed. It did improve quite a bit thereafter despite some sloppy moments. At it's best when Aja and Toyota were squaring off.

Casas did a great job of guiding his young opponant. This is even more commendable when you consider he was out of his element. The Mexican adapted very well and brought several nice touches, he exudes style and quality. With a structure put in place for him Asai was also able to play his role well.

An unpretty and intense brawl including Stan bleeding and even being FIP for a while. Didn't start off too hot, yet got better the longer it went and had a smart finish.

You can tell if it's going to be 1 or 3 falls by listening to the ring introductions... As it only went 10m they showed the Japanese fans a sample of what they could do. They mainly stuck to aerial warfare as quite rightly they thought that this is the type of Lucha most accessible to foreigners. The matwork and brawling styles are more of an acquired taste. I thought that this was a nice compact little match.

Kendo was the most popular wrestler with the drunken fans. I thought he was a silly little comedy worker who dragged it down. For the first coupla caidas it was fun action between the others. It had a bad patch at the start of the 3rd. The fans were very supportive but the chanting did get annoying.

The 1st fall is fun semi-comedy. They should've stopped it there as it really started to grate in the 2nd and was FF material before the end.

Matches in blue are either not on the set or in one case incomplete. I think the Yearbook did a great job of covering most things worthwhile, but there's always more. This is the 2nd Yearbook I've finished after 1992. That was one of the great wrestling years so the quality of the 1990 list could never compare to that. Matches from just outside my top 100 in 1992 could make my 1990 top 60 as a comparison. Nevertheless 1990 was still a fine year with plenty to see from NJ, AJ and EMLL in particular. Seeing all the high end Lucha for the 1st time was the highlight of the set for me. And finally a Dishonourable Mention to a strong WOAT contender: Zeus vs Abdullah the Butcher (WWC 7/7/90)

Zenjo's Top 80 Matches of 1990 80) Ric Flair vs Sting (WCW 7/7/90) 79) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJ 12/7/90) 78) Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 8/18/90) 77) El Hijo del Santo vs Fuerza Guerrera (H-UWF 6/7/90) 76) Perro Aguayo vs Gran Hamada (H-UWF 3/2/90) 75) Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs Satanico, El Dandy & Emilio Charles Jr (EMLL 4/13/90) 74) Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 10/19/90) 73) Angel Azteca vs El Dandy (EMLL 3/23/90) 72) Aja Kong, Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs Kaoru, Mika Takahashi & Manami Toyota (H-UWF 6/4/90) 71) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue (AJ 9/30/90) 70) Arn Anderson vs The Great Muta (WCW 1/2/90) 69) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Pegasus Kid (NJ 8/19/90) 68) Angel Azteca, Javier Cruz & Americo Rocca vs El Dandy, El Texano & Chavo Guerrero (EMLL 3/16/90) 67) Rick & Scott Steiner vs Ron Simmons & Butch Reed (WCW 5/19/90) 66) Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido (NJ/AJ 2/10/90) 65) Angel Azteca vs Emilio Charles Jr (EMLL 1/12/90) 64) Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen (WWF/AJ 4/13/90) 63) Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace (AJ 9/29/90) 62) El Satanico, El Dandy & Emilio Charles Jr vs Atlantis, Javier Cruz & Angel Azteca (EMLL 5/11/90) 61) Rikki Choshu vs Keiji Mutoh (NJ 5/24/90) 60) Bison Kimura, Aja Kong & Madusa Miceli vs Manami Toyota, Mika Takahashi & Suzuka Minami (AJW 12/1/90) 59) Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers (AJ 1/3/90) 58) Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami (AJW 12/9/90) 57) Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (AJ 3/6/90) 56) Steve Austin vs Chris Adams (USWA TX 8/3/90) 55) Yoshinari Asai vs Negro Casas (H-UWF 6/7/90) 54) Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera vs Huracan Ramirez (Mask vs Mask vs Mask) (EMLL 12/14/90) 53) Akira Maeda vs Masakatsu Funaki (UWF 10/25/90) 52) Rikki Choshu, Kantaro Hoshino, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs Animal Hamaguchi, Super Strong Machine, Tarzan Goto, Hiro Saito & Masanobu Kurisu (NJ 6/26/90) 51) Big Van Vader vs Stan Hansen (NJ/AJ 2/10/90) 50) Fuerza Guerrera vs Pantera II (EMLL 5/4/90) 49) Rikki Choshu vs Shinya Hashimoto (NJ 5/28/90) 48) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey (AJ 11/21/90) 47) Comando Ruso vs Remo Bando (Hair vs Hair) (EMLL 2/16/90) 46) Akira Hokuto & Yumiko Hotta vs Toshiyo Yamada & Etsuko Mita (AJW 1/4/90) 45) Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono vs Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki (NJ 11/1/90) 44) Solar I & II vs El Hijo Del Gladiador & El Supremo (EMLL 5/25/90) 43) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Pegasus Kid (NJ 11/1/90) 42) Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ricky Fuyuki (AJ 1/14/90) 41) Espectrito & Piratita Morgan vs Mascarita Sagrada & Aguilita Solitaria (EMLL 6/22/90) 40) El Texano, Mascara Sagrada & Apolo Dantes vs Los Villanos I, IV & V (EMLL 4/13/90) 39) Great Muta vs Hiroshi Hase (NJ 9/14/90) 38) Jerry Estrada vs El Satanico (Hair vs Hair) (EMLL 3/23/90) 37) Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 1/16/90) 36) Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue (AJW 11/14/90) 35) Masakatsu Funaki vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF 9/13/90) 34) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Masaji Aoyagi (NJ 6/12/90) 33) Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjoh (UWF 1/16/90) 32) Hulk Hogan vs Ultimate Warrior (WWF 4/1/90) 31) Atsushi Onita vs Masanobu Kurisu (Barbed Wire Match) (FMW 2/12/90) 30) Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki (AJW 5/13/90) 29) Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sting vs Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master & Great Muta (WCW 1/15/90) 28) El Satanico & El Dandy vs Angel Azteca & Atlantis (EMLL 6/15/90) 27) Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane vs Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong (WCW 7/7/90) 26) Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito vs Keiji Mutoh & Masahiro Chono (NJ 4/27/90) 25) Ron Garvin vs Greg Valentine (Submission Match) (WWF 1/21/90) 24) Aja Kong, Bison Kimura, Madusa Miceli, Tarantula & Xochilt Hamada vs Manami Toyota, Mariko Yoshida, Kaoru Maeda, Mika Takahashi & Esther Moreno (H-UWF 11/17/90) 23) Atlantis, Angel Azteca & Javier Cruz vs El Dandy, Emilio Charles Jr & El Satanico (EMLL 8/24/90) 22) El Hijo del Santo, Yoshinari Asai & Gran Hamada vs Negro Casas, Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera (WWA ?/?/90) 21) Royal Rumble Match (WWF 1/21/90) 20) Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (UWF 4/15/90) 19) Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoji Anjoh (UWF 4/15/90) 18) Solar I & II vs Hombre Bala & El Supremo (EMLL 5/4/90) 17) Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jumbo Tsuruta, Great Kabuki & Masanobu Fuchi (AJ 5/26/90) 16) Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 6/21/90) 15) Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask II vs Rikki Choshu & George Takano (NJ/AJ 2/10/90) 14) Atsushi Onita & Tarzan Goto vs Masanobu Kurisu & Dragon Master (Texas Death Match) (FMW 4/1/90) 13) Shinobu Kandori vs Harley Saito (JWP 7/19/90) 12) Big Van Vader vs Rikki Choshu (NJ 8/19/90) 11) Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada (UWF 10/25/90) 10) Bull Nakano & Grizzly Iwamoto vs Aja Kong & Bison Kimura (AJW 8/19/90) 9) El Dandy vs El Satanico (EMLL 10/26/90) 8) El Dandy vs Angel Azteca (EMLL 6/1/90) 7) Jushin Thunder Liger vs Naoki Sano (NJ 1/31/90) 6) Rick & Scott Steiner vs Brian Knobbs & Jerry Saggs (WCW 10/27/90) 5) Manami Toyota vs Akira Hokuto (AJW 8/19/90) 4) El Dandy vs El Satanico (Hair vs Hair) (EMLL 12/14/90) 3) Pirata Morgan vs El Faraon (EMLL 11/16/90) 2) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJ 6/8/90) 1) Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJ 9/1/90)

I thought that they were going to do something goofy like have the Warrior disappear from the casket. It was pleasantly surprising they had him nearly suffocate instead.

I have no idea whether I just enjoyed that or not. It's just a relief to know that other people saw the same thing so I wasn't hallucinating.

What an awful song! I liked the goofy video though.

Not the kind of wrestling to emotionally connect with me these days. Good match, easy to watch, what's next? It had all the trimmings and they went full out in a worthy final. Decent all around action and a gnarly top rope powerbomb to finish. It's just that it's 2013 rather than 2003, or even 1993 and the Junior style doesn't hold up. Back in the day the line used to be that the NJ Juniors were awesome and the NJ Heavyweights sucked. That was so far off base.

Both had already had one match and went 19m here. Started a bit tentatively as it was face vs face before Perfect started to become more heelish. Generally scientific, although they weren't afraid to mix it up as well. Both did body part work that was sold well. Towards the end it was entering gut check territory before the shit finish that hurt it bad. Impressive contest nonetheless and high end by WWF 93 standards.