Superstar Sleeze

All Asia Tag Team Champions Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs Kenta Kobashi & Joe Malenko - AJPW 10/11/89 MORE BABY KOBASHI~! Dude after the tag match with Jumbo against Tenryu & Hansen, I am so pysched for more 1989 Kobashi! I really liked Joe in match against the Fantastics. I have come to really, really like Furnas. I want to mention this. This is not a dig at Bianca Belair, I am a super mark for her and I think she is the best thing to happen to the Women's Division since The Man & Rousey. She had real trouble getting Sasha Banks up for a Military Press Slam. It is not dunk more of a it is really hard to press a human no matter how big they are. In the last Footloos vs Can-Ams match, Furnas fucking pressed Kawada from a standing position with full extension of the arms! It was an INSANE FEAT OF STRENGTH! Dan Kroffat I am apathetic to at this point. He is neither great nor bad. He is in the gray middle. I am hoping he clicks. Excited to see the Can-Ams against a non-Footloose team. It is 1989 All Japan tag team match, I am not even going to try, stream of consciousness here we come: Joe Malenko to start against Kroffat. Malenko chants it sounds like. Interesting as the Can-Ams have been really over in both their matches against Footloose. Lock up and back into the ropes and Kroffat shoves him back. Joe with a Euro Uppercut and two headbutts early. Kroffat comes in with kicks but Malenko takes him down with a leg screw. Mallenko takes him down when Korffats tries to kick again. Tempers flare as Malenko unleashes some kicks and they tumble to the outside. They fight back into the ring. Kobashi rifles Kroffat with a kick and Joe tags in Kobashi. Nice electricity there from Joe. Kroffat tags in Furnas before Kobashi can race across the ring. Kobashi is wicked over. Joe might just be over by association. Kobashi headlock to start. Kobashi works the headlock well, notice how he grapevines the leg in the standing headlock to prevent the possibility of a back suplex. Nice criss cross sequence as Furnas Military Presses Kobashi with Full Extension over head. Furnas back flips for not reason what is this 2021 Kenny Omega. Kobashi hits a reverse crossbody for two. They do a Tombsone Reversal spot, Sting would be proud. Furnas nails the Tombstone for two. They are going big as they take back to the mat. Beautiful Kobashi transition out of the standing hammerlock with a drop toehold. Kobashi maintains wrist control as he tags into Joe. I was proofreading this and I will say the match peaked with that Kobashi vs Furnas exchange. Joe drops into a legbar as Kroffat Cowboy Kicks him to break it up. Joe is targeting the leg. Beautiful bridging toehold! Furnas kicks out and tags in Kroffat. Kroffat spits at Kobashi! Heat seeker! Joe starts swinging wildly. Hiptoss and a dropkick sends Kroffat to the outside. Joe tags out. Last combination, Kobashi vs Kroffat. Kobashi chants again as Kroffat mocks them. Greco Roman Knucklelock test of strength. Kroffat elbow & chop. Complicated criss cross that ends with them dropkicking each other is such a harbinger of what is come in the 90s and beyond. Kroffat side mounts into a double wristlock. Kroffat Cattle Multilation! I have never seen someon do it before Danielson! That was cool. Joe breaks it up and Kroffat tags in Furnas. Furnas dropsault. Is this Danielson & London as a tag team circa 2002? Furnas chops in the corner but he takes the Bret Bump and Kobashi drops the leg. Kobashi bashes Furnas' head into Joes knee and tags him in. Furnas wins a shoulder tackle battle to the surprise of no one. Complicated hiptoss sequence that Furnas wins with a lariat and then front chancery. Pretty good match so far. Definitely calmed down compared to other matches i have watched recently. No strong sense of escalation. Furnas vs Kobashi has been the best part thus far. Nifty bridge out by Joe from the headsicssors and tags in Kobassi. Kobashi applies the Boston Crab. Furnas powers out and tags in Kroffat. Double shoulder tackle by the Can-Ams. Kroffat grounds Kobashi with a chicknwing. Spining Heel Kick by Kroffat a very en vogue move in ths time period. Kroffat misses hard on the spear into the corner wicked bump. This being 1989 All Japan Tag Team wrestling, I bet it goes nowhere (it didnt go anywhere) Joe Malenko tagged in. Kroffat is keeping his injured side from Joe but Joe takes him down a single arm knucklelock into a wicked top wristlock, knee on face. They do standard knucklelock spots. Kroffat grabs a full nelson. Kobashi crossbody on Kroffat. Malenko gets a Boston Crab on Korffat. Furnas breaks it up. Kobashi tags in and dropkick to Furnas. The crowd comes alive for Kobashi. BIG TIME TOP ROPE CROSSBODY TO FLOOR! Kroffat right there and DDTs Kobashi on the floor. Smart. Kobashi floatovers on the suplex attempt. Northern Light Suplex by Kobashi. Joe tagged in. Fisherman Suplex by Joe for two. Joe applies the Butterfly Lock which was my finish as a kid growing up against my brother. WIcked painful hold he will tell you. Furnas powers out of a hold and slams Joe to the mat. Furnas with a snap belly to belly suplex. Kobashi tagged in. Spinning Heel Hart Attack by Can-Ams for two. I am waiting for the big finish run to kick in. Kroffat Lariat on Kobashi, nice Chris Adams style superkick, Oklahoma Rol gets two. Kobashi Lariat, but it is NOT Burning yet. ROLLING KAPPOU KICK BY KOBASHI! Mark out city! Missile dropkick by Kobashi! Kobashi is picking business up all on his own. Furnas breaks up the pinfall. Tiger Driver by Kroffat for two! Crowd starting come alive as they are lobbing bombs! Furnas powerslam off a Kroffat dropdown. Furnas top rope Leg Drop! Joe saves. Kroffat Superfly Splash but Kobashi kicks out on his own. Single Leg Crab by Kroffat. Joe hot tag! Joe shows some fire but a snap belly to belly snuffs out that flame. Argentine Backbreaker by Furnas. Joe dropkicks Furnas into a Kobashi German suplex but Kobashi is not legal. Joe sunset flip. Furnas Bear Hug on Joe and tags in Kroffat. Super front suplex but kick out. Malenko chants! Kroffat misses the reverse crossboy. Malenko Northern Lights for two as Kobashi detains Furnas. Joe Frankensteiner and Fujiwara armbar. Furnas breaks it up and Kobashi attacks Furnas. Joe jumps up for a Frankensteiner again but Furnas dropkicks Joe and Kroffat kinda powerbombs him but it more like a reverse victory roll for the win. I liked the finish. Definitely not as good as any of the other matches I have seen either of these guys in. The thing with the All Japan style is the tagging is very, very frequent so it is hard to build momentum or rhythm. There are plenty of examples of great versions of this style but requires the individual work to be really high. All four of these guys have had better performances. Lots of stuff happened, but there was no real hook and it didnt really crescendo too well. I love Kobashi and I thought he was the best of the four, but this was just good. *** I am shocked this finished 42nd! Crazy to me!

I fucked up and created my own thread under the 9/24/89 date I am not even sure where I got. Tenryu & Fuchi ruled so hard in this match! Everyone needs to see Tenryu beat the ever-loving shit out of Fuchi only for Fuchi to take a lickin' but keep on tickin'. Giant Baba, Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi vs Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 9/24/89 I have seen both 9/15 and 9/24 as dates. Please choose which ever is most correct. Revolution in full force! Tenryu & Footloose Six-Man Tag! I have not seen Giant Baba in forever! I have only seen clips of Rusher Kimura, who would have been 48 years old at the time. Fuchi has been great in all the random ass singles matches he has had. So I am looking forward to this one. Stream of consciousness because I can never keep up with 1989 All Japan tags. TENRYU VS BABA~! You can really tell how big Baba is because he dwarfs Tenryu who is a big dude. Tenryu lays in some chops on Baba. Tenryu holds onto the ropes to avoid the Baba big boot only for Fuchi to come out of now here with an awesome dropkick. BIG POP! That felt like a great Southern tag spot. Baba literally kicks Tenryu out of the ring. Tenryu is left to lick his wounds crouching down ringside. Tenryu dropkicks Bab into the ropes. Baba shrugs it of. Baba overhand chop and Tenryu chops. It is on! Baba head to knee crusher! Baba directing traffic sends Fuchi in. Fuchi with overhand chops. Tenryu comes with slap and Enziguiri. Wicked Tenryu chop sends Fuchi flying back and wondering what day it is. Tenryu stomp on the head. Tenryu has such a brutal stomp to the head. Fuyuki tagged in. Fuyuki slaps on the chinlock to Fuchi. I think Fuchi is bleeding from the bottom lip, I expect him to be the workhorse for his team. Nice drop toehold and we see Rusher Kimura for the first time. He works a stepover toehold on Fuyuki. Fuyuki tags in Kawada and throws Kimura into their corner. Kawada kicks in the corner and then figure-4s he head. Kimura bring Kawada to his corner and tags in Baba.. Lock-up. Kawada headlock on Baba looks ridiculous. Baba armbar takedown on Kawada. Baba punt kicks to Kawada and tags in Fuchi. Fuchi definitely bleeding from bottom lip. Kawada spinning heel kick sends him to he outside. Kawada out of control over the top plancha looked cool! Double shouldertackle by Tenryu and Kawada. Tenryu with a wicked bodyslam and what a stomp to the head! Tenryu is pissed! Fuchi hits a traditional back suplex on Fuyuki and Kimura tagged in and comes in with headbutts on Fuyuki. Kimura runs him over with a clothesline. Kawada double stomp breaks up the pin. Kimura goes for a single crab on Fuyuki. Fuyuki crawls on his belly to makes the ropes. Kimura chops the shit out of him. Tenryu tags in. He RIPS INTO KIMURA! He is kicking the old man hard in the head. WHAT A SLASHING CHOP! Tenryu corner Lariat! Kimura grabs Tenryu by the hair and just gives him hell with the headbutts. Baba in and he starts chopping Tenryu. BABA WIPES TENRYU OUT WITH A BIG BOOT! Two covers but neither gives him three. Neckbreaker by Baba. Tenryu tags out to Kawada. Kawada comes charging in as he normally does. Kawada tries for the Spinning heel kick but eats the Bab big boot and Fuyuki comes to check on him as Kawada writhes in pain. Great selling there by Kawada, really puts Baba over. Baba wrestles Kawada to the ground by his corner. Baba tags in Kimura. Kimura double wristlock takedown on Kawada. Kimura works the armbar on Kawada and wrings it out to dry. Kawada kick to the head and tags in Fuyuki. Fuyuki tries to slap his way out of trouble but Kimura just no-sells them and one headbutt fells Fuyuki. Kimura tags out to Fuchi. Fuchi dropkick. Fuyuki is able to bring Fuchi over with a suplex and it is Fuchi's worst nightmare Tenryu is back in. Tenryu wicked chop and even harder chair shot! Tenryu is tearing into poor Fuchi! No Wonder Fuchi was such a prick. Tenryu treated him like shit in this match. He didnt know any other world than to be a bully! Tenryu grabs another chair and slams it across Fuchi's back. Tenryu grabs a table to defend himself from an incoming Giant Baba. Tenryu Enziguiri to Fuchi injured back. Cowboy Kick! Amazing verbal selling from Fuchi. Tenryu SLAPS Baba on the apron! Wow the audacity! Tags in Kawada. Kawada crossbody block gets two. Fuchi ia a tough muthafucker. Kawada double legs poor Fuchi was trying to escape and ends up in a Texas Cloverleaf. Kimura headbutts to save Fuchi. Fuyuki beats the shit out of Kimure for breaking up the hold. Kawada Senton. Tenryu tags in. I feel so bad for Fuchi! KAWADA FOOTLOOSE KAPPOU KICK! Tenryu SLICES FUCHI IN HALF WITH THAT CHOP! Holy shit! Vertical suplex but Kimura breaks it up. Here comes Fuyuki. Fuyuki drops the leg across Fuchi's nuts. Tough night at the office for Fuchi! I hope he packed a lunch. The hot tag to Baba will be sureal! Kawada Full Nelson but settles for waistlock and German Suplex as Kimura saves. Tenryu tags in. Mercy Killing! Mercy Killing! Tenryu Enziguiri. Fuchi sunset flip and tag to Baba! Crow goes crazy! Baba chops him back to his corner. Baba beats the shit out of Fuyuki. Tags in Kimura who applies a Butterfly Suplex to Fuyuki. Fuyuki back suplex. Kawada kicks to Kimura. Out of control Kawada Lariat on Kimura. Fuyuki wants the powerbomb on Kimura that aint happening brutha. Tenryu tags in and he steamrolls Kimura in the ropes. Enziguiri on Kimura. Reverse Top Rope Elbow and Fuchi saves. Fuchi's revenge! Fuchi slaps the shit out of Tenryu and he fights through the first kneelift but not second and third. Mack Truck Lariat gets two! Leave Fuchi alone! Fuchi rolls through a Fuyuki crossbody block but another roll through leaves Fuyuki on top for two. Fuyuki Fisherman suplex for two. Kawada throws awesome kicks and the Spinning Heel Kick. Fuchi Crucifix pin for two. Kawada clobbers him with a Spinning Heel kick. Oh My God! Tenryu has tagged back in! Tenryu Chop! Kimura saves Fuchi. Kawada misses the knee drop. Baba Russian Legsseep on Teryu! Fuchi gets a two count! I would have lost my shit if he got three. That was an amazing nearfall! Kimura bulldog! Tenryu kicks out! Tenryu chops vs Kimura headbutt, Tenryu wins with Enziguiri. Kawada top rope and missile dropkick. Baba tags in big pop! Kawada spinning heel kick but Baba no sells. Footloose tries the double suplex but Baba suplexes both of them! Great Southern Style spot that got over huge there. Kawada kicks out. Tenryu running Lariat on Baba, Fuchi dropkick on Tenryu! You GET HIM FUCHI! Kawada gets a two count on Baba! Kawada eats shit on corner charges. Baba Neckbreaker Drop for two because Fuyuki breaks it up. Fuchi Thesz Press for two. Tenryu vs Fuchi!!! As Tenryu comes in Fuchi kicks him right in the mouth. Tenryu sells this so well. Tenryu Trucks him! Kimura saves! Footloose guards as Tenryu polishes Fuchi off with a Powerbomb! Holy Shit! The Tenryu vs Fuchi parts were ***** easy. It is hard to find really meaningful heat segments in late 80s All Japan tag team matches but the constant thread of Tenryu brutalizing Fuchi and especially the sustained one in the middle was terrific and what has been missing. I wish the Baba hot tag went longer and really built to something special, not necessarily the finish but something bigger than a Kimura Buttefly Suplex. That Baba Russian Legsweep and Fuchi cover had me going apeshit! Loved that Tenryu and Fuchi ended the match too. In the 80s there is no guarantee of that, but that was a great climax and satisfying end since those two were by far the MVPs of the match. I want to see a Tenryu vs Fuchi singles match now. Wow! ****1/2

Giant Baba, Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi vs Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 9/24/89 I have seen both 9/15 and 9/24 as dates. Please choose which ever is most correct. Revolution in full force! Tenryu & Footloose Six-Man Tag! I have not seen Giant Baba in forever! I have only seen clips of Rusher Kimura, who would have been 48 years old at the time. Fuchi has been great in all the random ass singles matches he has had. So I am looking forward to this one. Stream of consciousness because I can never keep up with 1989 All Japan tags. TENRYU VS BABA~! You can really tell how big Baba is because he dwarfs Tenryu who is a big dude. Tenryu lays in some chops on Baba. Tenryu holds onto the ropes to avoid the Baba big boot only for Fuchi to come out of now here with an awesome dropkick. BIG POP! That felt like a great Southern tag spot. Baba literally kicks Tenryu out of the ring. Tenryu is left to lick his wounds crouching down ringside. Tenryu dropkicks Bab into the ropes. Baba shrugs it of. Baba overhand chop and Tenryu chops. It is on! Baba head to knee crusher! Baba directing traffic sends Fuchi in. Fuchi with overhand chops. Tenryu comes with slap and Enziguiri. Wicked Tenryu chop sends Fuchi flying back and wondering what day it is. Tenryu stomp on the head. Tenryu has such a brutal stomp to the head. Fuyuki tagged in. Fuyuki slaps on the chinlock to Fuchi. I think Fuchi is bleeding from the bottom lip, I expect him to be the workhorse for his team. Nice drop toehold and we see Rusher Kimura for the first time. He works a stepover toehold on Fuyuki. Fuyuki tags in Kawada and throws Kimura into their corner. Kawada kicks in the corner and then figure-4s he head. Kimura bring Kawada to his corner and tags in Baba.. Lock-up. Kawada headlock on Baba looks ridiculous. Baba armbar takedown on Kawada. Baba punt kicks to Kawada and tags in Fuchi. Fuchi definitely bleeding from bottom lip. Kawada spinning heel kick sends him to he outside. Kawada out of control over the top plancha looked cool! Double shouldertackle by Tenryu and Kawada. Tenryu with a wicked bodyslam and what a stomp to the head! Tenryu is pissed! Fuchi hits a traditional back suplex on Fuyuki and Kimura tagged in and comes in with headbutts on Fuyuki. Kimura runs him over with a clothesline. Kawada double stomp breaks up the pin. Kimura goes for a single crab on Fuyuki. Fuyuki crawls on his belly to makes the ropes. Kimura chops the shit out of him. Tenryu tags in. He RIPS INTO KIMURA! He is kicking the old man hard in the head. WHAT A SLASHING CHOP! Tenryu corner Lariat! Kimura grabs Tenryu by the hair and just gives him hell with the headbutts. Baba in and he starts chopping Tenryu. BABA WIPES TENRYU OUT WITH A BIG BOOT! Two covers but neither gives him three. Neckbreaker by Baba. Tenryu tags out to Kawada. Kawada comes charging in as he normally does. Kawada tries for the Spinning heel kick but eats the Bab big boot and Fuyuki comes to check on him as Kawada writhes in pain. Great selling there by Kawada, really puts Baba over. Baba wrestles Kawada to the ground by his corner. Baba tags in Kimura. Kimura double wristlock takedown on Kawada. Kimura works the armbar on Kawada and wrings it out to dry. Kawada kick to the head and tags in Fuyuki. Fuyuki tries to slap his way out of trouble but Kimura just no-sells them and one headbutt fells Fuyuki. Kimura tags out to Fuchi. Fuchi dropkick. Fuyuki is able to bring Fuchi over with a suplex and it is Fuchi's worst nightmare Tenryu is back in. Tenryu wicked chop and even harder chair shot! Tenryu is tearing into poor Fuchi! No Wonder Fuchi was such a prick. Tenryu treated him like shit in this match. He didnt know any other world than to be a bully! Tenryu grabs another chair and slams it across Fuchi's back. Tenryu grabs a table to defend himself from an incoming Giant Baba. Tenryu Enziguiri to Fuchi injured back. Cowboy Kick! Amazing verbal selling from Fuchi. Tenryu SLAPS Baba on the apron! Wow the audacity! Tags in Kawada. Kawada crossbody block gets two. Fuchi ia a tough muthafucker. Kawada double legs poor Fuchi was trying to escape and ends up in a Texas Cloverleaf. Kimura headbutts to save Fuchi. Fuyuki beats the shit out of Kimure for breaking up the hold. Kawada Senton. Tenryu tags in. I feel so bad for Fuchi! KAWADA FOOTLOOSE KAPPOU KICK! Tenryu SLICES FUCHI IN HALF WITH THAT CHOP! Holy shit! Vertical suplex but Kimura breaks it up. Here comes Fuyuki. Fuyuki drops the leg across Fuchi's nuts. Tough night at the office for Fuchi! I hope he packed a lunch. The hot tag to Baba will be sureal! Kawada Full Nelson but settles for waistlock and German Suplex as Kimura saves. Tenryu tags in. Mercy Killing! Mercy Killing! Tenryu Enziguiri. Fuchi sunset flip and tag to Baba! Crow goes crazy! Baba chops him back to his corner. Baba beats the shit out of Fuyuki. Tags in Kimura who applies a Butterfly Suplex to Fuyuki. Fuyuki back suplex. Kawada kicks to Kimura. Out of control Kawada Lariat on Kimura. Fuyuki wants the powerbomb on Kimura that aint happening brutha. Tenryu tags in and he steamrolls Kimura in the ropes. Enziguiri on Kimura. Reverse Top Rope Elbow and Fuchi saves. Fuchi's revenge! Fuchi slaps the shit out of Tenryu and he fights through the first kneelift but not second and third. Mack Truck Lariat gets two! Leave Fuchi alone! Fuchi rolls through a Fuyuki crossbody block but another roll through leaves Fuyuki on top for two. Fuyuki Fisherman suplex for two. Kawada throws awesome kicks and the Spinning Heel Kick. Fuchi Crucifix pin for two. Kawada clobbers him with a Spinning Heel kick. Oh My God! Tenryu has tagged back in! Tenryu Chop! Kimura saves Fuchi. Kawada misses the knee drop. Baba Russian Legsseep on Teryu! Fuchi gets a two count! I would have lost my shit if he got three. That was an amazing nearfall! Kimura bulldog! Tenryu kicks out! Tenryu chops vs Kimura headbutt, Tenryu wins with Enziguiri. Kawada top rope and missile dropkick. Baba tags in big pop! Kawada spinning heel kick but Baba no sells. Footloose tries the double suplex but Baba suplexes both of them! Great Southern Style spot that got over huge there. Kawada kicks out. Tenryu running Lariat on Baba, Fuchi dropkick on Tenryu! You GET HIM FUCHI! Kawada gets a two count on Baba! Kawada eats shit on corner charges. Baba Neckbreaker Drop for two because Fuyuki breaks it up. Fuchi Thesz Press for two. Tenryu vs Fuchi!!! As Tenryu comes in Fuchi kicks him right in the mouth. Tenryu sells this so well. Tenryu Trucks him! Kimura saves! Footloose guards as Tenryu polishes Fuchi off with a Powerbomb! Holy Shit! The Tenryu vs Fuchi parts were ***** easy. It is hard to find really meaningful heat segments in late 80s All Japan tag team matches but the constant thread of Tenryu brutalizing Fuchi and especially the sustained one in the middle was terrific and what has been missing. I wish the Baba hot tag went longer and really built to something special, not necessarily the finish but something bigger than a Kimura Buttefly Suplex. That Baba Russian Legsweep and Fuchi cover had me going apeshit! Loved that Tenryu and Fuchi ended the match too. In the 80s there is no guarantee of that, but that was a great climax and satisfying end since those two were by far the MVPs of the match. I want to see a Tenryu vs Fuchi singles match now. Wow! ****1/2

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 9/2/1989 The Olympians EXPLODE~! This match intrigued me for two reasons: 1. Not many Yatsu singles matches made the AJPW DVDVR Set and I wanted to see him in a singles setting. 2. It is a singles match between the current tag team champions. I really liked this match because they kept it simple and memorable. With both men being former Olympians it is not surprising the first five minutes is on the mat. I would say it is even but a slight edge to Yatsu. Kayfabe, I can say that is explained that Yatsu is more keen and eager to prove himself and Jumbo could be taking him lightly. In a non-Kayfabe sense, everyone knows Jumbo is the Ace, you need to establish Yastu as a credible threat. On what should have been clean break in the ropes, Jumbo elbows Yatsu. Yatsu and the ref make a big deal about this and the fans finally get up for this. I loved that. Little moments like that should matter a lot in wrestling. Jumbo does it again. Yatsu says fine two can play at that game and fuck you...he slaps the ever-loving shit out of Jumbo. Jumbo snaps back with a big time High Knee now it is on! Yatsu catches the second High Knee and goes on his first run which he hits Bulldogs and a Piledriver. Jumbo comes back with a Big Boot and the Jumbo Death Lariat! That Lariat looked fucking awesome! Jumbo scores a Piledriver and a Top Rope High Knee. On the Dangerous Back Drop Driver, Yatsu shifts his weight and gets a two! That was my favorite finish when I used to wrestle my brother, I put my younger brother over of course. Yatsu nails an excellent bridging German. He goes up top and in a spot I have never seen before or since, Jumbo goes to press slam him but Yatsu shifts his weight and crashes down on Jumbo. Yatsu starts to work the leg with his inverted Figure-4 but no dice. Yatsu comes charging in and Jumbo hotshots him hard on the top rope. Goddamn, it looked like Yatsu decapitated himself. Jumbo nails the Dangerous Back Drop Driver for two. Yatsu puts a valiant fight but succumbs to the second. I really enjoyed this. Unlike the tag team matches, this was not a blur of action. There were a lot of highspots and bombs, but they were allowed to breathe. I watched the match in one sitting and can recall all the sequences in order and the transitions. I thought they escalated nicely. There was a strong sense of hierarchy. Yatsu was game and really brought the fight to Jumbo, but ultimately you knew Jumbo would win. ****

All Asia Tag Team Champions Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 9/2/89 All Japan was quite the tag team promotion in 1989. The first match had a huge rep and underwhelmed me. I have an open mind going into the rematch. I am on the tail end of my night shift and I am starting to think it is a fool's errand to try to keep up with late 80s All Japan so we will do this stream of consciousness style: Furnas does some really impressive splits to limber up during the ring introductions. Strong boos for Footloose in the introduction as Japanese crowd reactions continue to bewilder me. Kroffat continue their heat from the previous match. They have a nose to nose staredown. Fuyuki tries to separate them so Kroffat slaps Fuyuki. Fuyuki tags in to big boos. The announcer brings up the boos. Fuyuki forgets to lock w up when Kroffat locks up. Fuyuki gets his receipt with a slap in the corner. Fuyuki tags in Kawada. These two hate each other I am not sure why. Kroffat tags out to Furnas. Middle rope Hart Attack gets an early nearfall for the Can-Ams. I didnt love the build to that. Furnas works a headscissors. Krofatt tags in. Dropdown and leapfrog gets a double dropkick on Kawada. Lock up and tag to Fuyuki who grabs the side headlock. Criss Cross when with a mule kick by Kroffat. Russian Legsweep by Fuyuki into the cross-armrbeaker. Sold like a resthold because it is 1989 sadly. Korffat gets on his belly and turns into an Indian Deathlock and bridges back into the full Mutalock. He turns on his side so he can last longer and inflict more pain. He relinquishes the hold. He cartwheels out of trouble but Fuyuki is a heat-seeking missile Lariat. Great spot! Kawada is in and hits a wicked spinning heel kick to the midsection. Suplex struggle Kawada takes a gnarly sandbag brainbuster, more like a DDT as announced by the announcers. Spinning heel kick by Kroffat. Kawada throws some of the best kicks I have ever seen thrown. He throws two wicked ones to the head. Kroffat sells it like has his bell rung. Furnas comes to save him from a consucsision. Kroffat's selling is perfect. Kroffat stumbles for a tag but Furnas is not there. So he tumbles out of the ring and then collapses at ringside. Meanwhile Furnas has Kawada in a Full Nelson and swings him around. He checks on Kroffat and tags in. Kroffats selling wick wicked good. Easily the best part of the match. Furnas re-does the Swinging Full Nelson which is a great spot. Fuyuki saves and a brawl breaks out between those two. Fuyuki throws him out of the ring. Furnas gets back into the ring. Kawada headlock brings him over to Fuyuki. Footloose corner spot. Fuyuki running Lariat and Kawada Spinning Heel Kick. Kroffat saves. Fuyuki sleeper on Furnas. Furnas elbows out but Fuyuki comes back tighter. Fuyuki Full Nelson but Kroffat decks him! Furnas inventing the dropsault in 1989 against Kawada. Double DDT by the Can-Ams. Fuyuki saves by stomping Kroffat in the head which he is still selling. Kawada does the Yes Kicks but way more vicious and varied. He wraps one around Kroffat's head who sells it like a million bucks. Kawada is just coming at him. Amazing kicks by Kawada throughut the match. Kroffat single leg takedown immediately and then a straight kneebar. Fuyuki threatens to come in and the crowd boos makes him think better of it. Fuyuki gets the most heat I have ever seen, native or gaijn. FURNAS TACKLES FUYUKI when he tris to interfere. Running Samoan Drop by Kroffat. Middle rope Senton but Fuyuki breaks up the pin. FUYUKI SAMN NEAR TAKES HIS HEAD OFF WITH A LARIAT! Kroffat collapses into a tag for Furnas while Kawada is really selling his ribs hard. I dont know if there was any one spot that triggered this, perhaps it was Kawada eating the senton. Furnas throws him down with a bodyslam. Awesome selling by Kawada and Kroffat in this match. MILITARY PRESS FROM A STANDING POSITION! Furnas is freaky strong! He pelts Kawada's ribs and back with kicks. Kawada spinning heel kick affords him the opportunity to tag in Fukyuki. Furnas catches a top rope Crossbody from Fuyuki, Hart Attack but Korffat did a Spinning Heel Kick that was awesome! Dangerous Back Drop Driver slowed down Furnas. Missile dropkick by Kawada. Kawada selling the ribs like nobody's business and he cannot capitalize. Furnas finally tags in Kroffat. Kroffat rips into Kawada. Kawada sell of the thrust kick in the corner! He s so good. Korffat applies the Figur-4. Kroffat relinquishes. Tags in Furnas. Double shouldertacle. FURNAS GETS TWO. Furnas powrslam! Fuyuki saves. Furnas tags in Kroffat, Fuyuki dives on Kawada to absorb the blow of Kroffat's splash.Korffat small package. Korffat chop on Kawada. Kawada throws Kroffat down on monkey flip attempt. Kawada misses the Footloose Corner Lariat but Kroffat attacks Fuyuki so Kawada does not miss the follow-up out of control lariat again. Fuyuki and Furnas tumble over the top rope. Kroffat's kicks to the bad misdection send Kawda careening to the floor. The end feels nigh. Furnas tagged n. Fuyuki Crucifix Pin gets two! Argentine Backbreaker by Furnas, Kawada saves, Fuyuki backslide gets two. Kroffat Tope Suicida on Kawada! The two injured dudes are toast. Furnas cannot hold the Argentine Backbreaker indefinitely. Kroffat chair shot to Kawada. Third time s the charm and Furnas forces Fuyuki to submit to the Argentine Backbreaker. Due to Kroffat & Kawda's selling I actually preferred this one to the June where I thought only Furnas really rocked it. Furnas was still an amazing offensive dynamo. Fuyuki was the heat-seeking little shit. Kroffat sold his bell was rung and had a better offensive performance. I loved Kawada's selling and unleashed some brutal kick. This a damn good way to spend some time. ****

It was raining and my Ma bought a stationary bike so I hopped on it and I found 45 minutes about as long as I can last before I get sore. I dont know how cyclists do it on those seats which is the perfect amount of time to watch an episode of 80s Wrestling. Mid-South Wrestling September 1985 We left off in May and I am skipping to Sweeps months so I can get a quicker feel for each territory and Ill go back and fill in the gaps later. 9/7/85 Main Angle: We have new Mid-South Tag Team Champions, the Miracle Dream Team of Al Perez & Wendell Cooley, two good looking chaps but according to JR and Joel they are a fluke and strike fear in the heart of no one. The saddest part is that Perez & Cooley believe that about themselves. Perez admitted in his promo, yes we are a fluke but we are the Champs. I cant make this shit up. They beat Dr. Death & Bob Sweetan for the titles the previous week on TV and they showed the finish, but I cant recall the finish. Skandor Akbar's men, One Man Gang & Kareem Muhammad are challenging Perez & Cooley. Muhammad is very athletic with this Blackwell-esque physique. He bumps way, way too much. He immediately goes over on an arm drag. He was wrestling like he was Bobby Eaton. Bumping and chaining holds. Hell I think with the right training he could have been something. I am not a huge One Man Gang guy but at least he tried to be a monster in this match. One Man Gang accidentally splashed Muhammad and the babyfaces retained. After the match, Muhammad & Akbar turned on OMG but he grabbed his chain to ward them off. A One Man Gang face run...meh. Match of the Night: This was a toss-up between two decent matches. Jake The Snake Roberts vs Nightmare, where Jake the Snake is now a babyface and his matches are completely built around the DDT. Matt D would eat this shit up. He does a great job teasing the DDT constantly. Nightmare wrestles perfectly as a lumpy old masked man. The finish was great with Nightmare loading the mask headbutting Jake repeatedly until he bled. I like the repeatedly aspect. Nightmare is manages by Sir Oliver Humperdink who has a Lord Humongous with him, but it was not Sid. Eddie Gilbert was his manager when I was watching in May, but now he is out hootin' & hollerin' to the ref that Nightmare has cheated. In the fracas, Jake drops Nightmare with a DDT, wins the match and rips off his mask. Lord Humongous is going to attack Jake when Nord The Barbarian comes out. Nord was Jake's friend back in May. Nord turns on Jake. Nord & Lord leave Jake & Hot Stuff laying. I do think current wrestling could use more turns but two in the same night seems like a little much. The heel roster is pretty weak honestly. The other match I might go with is the main event pitting Dr. Death & Bob Sweetan vs the Fantastics. The Fantastics looked well Fantastic they were trying to run their feel good spots at the beginning but Dr. Death was too green and Sweetan was too old to properly bump & stooge for them. Dr. Death was great throwing people around doing the proto-Oklahoma Stampede. Bill Dundee came out aligned with Dr. Death & Sweetan helped them screw the Fans out of the match. He distracted Rogers on a pin and that caused him to be clotheslined by Dr. Death. Midcard Mania: Lord Humongous got a Joel Watts video package which looked pretty cool even Lord H did not. His squash was not very impressive. Poor Eddie Gilbert not only got beat up by Nord & Lord, he got beat up by the mysterious El Cosairio which was SAVIO VEGA! That makes sense why a karate dude had a Latin gimmick name! KWANG~! started here! He supposed to do a martial arts exhibition and break a board but instead he broke Gilbert's face. They did cough up blood gimmick due to a nerve/sleeper hold which was a very smart way to get that shit over. Dundee & Dutch Mantell as heels had a squash. The heel side besides Dundee & Mantel, and Dr. Death is pretty weak. Old Sweetan, Kareem Muhammad, Nord & Lord and KWANG~! Version 1.0 is not a murderer's row. There was no Duggan, DiBiase or Reed on this show. They did announce at the beginning of the show that Terry Taylor did leave for Crockett, who did not do much with him. The kayfabe reason was to chase Flair into his home territory, bring the war to him, little did he know between Dusty & Magnum and the Rock N Rolls he never stood a chance. 9/14/85 Main Angle: A Shorty, but a goodie. Ric Flair has announced he will only be wrestling the North American Champion from now on. Watts has Dicky Murdoch, the current North American Champion, Butch Reed and Hacksaw Duggan on. He says Flair has faced all three. He throws it to Reed first and Murdoch interrupts saying you should talk to the Champ first. Reed & Murdoch get into it and then Duggan interjects. This sets up the two terrific Murdoch vs Reed matches, both of which I think are two of the best matches ever. I threw the question out on Twitter if we have Flair vs Murdoch or Flair vs Duggan. Loss & Johnny P responded with the Joel Watts left the tape in the backseat of his car and it melted story. I thought the Last Battle of Atlanta is what melted in the back of someone's car, but I must have gotten them mixed up. Loss has confirmed we have Flair vs Duggan which I will have to track down. Nice to see the big stars on TV. Match of the Week: Slim pickins this week. It is Perez & Cooley, the Mid-South Tag Champions vs. Dundee & Dutch Mantell. On paper, this seems like the type of match that could be above average, good, but it felt very standard, and average. Nothing really special in the shine or heat. Al Perez got a video package of him alone with no Wendell Cooley. I wonder how that went over for a shoot. The finish was Mantell cracking somebody with the bullwhip, but it being turned against them. Alright match. Everything else was squash city. Midcard Mania: They replayed the Nord The Barbarian turn on Jake the Snake in its entirety. Humperdink cut a promo, hes better than Skandor Akbar. Humongous & Nord do nothing for me. Jake won his squash with the DDT. Jake is growing on me watching all this pre-WWF footage. Watts cuts a promo at the end of TV Show saying Jake needs a partner because Humongous & Nord are too much for any one man. Enter The Midnight Rider who doesnt look anything like Dusty Rhodes. According to a Twitter user and a Kayfabe Memories post, it seems like Bill Watts was the Midnight Rider. Watts & Duggan had lost a Loser Leaves Town match to Kamala & Kareem Muhammad back in August. Dr. Death won a squash and will be facing Dick Murdoch next week on TV for the North American title which has me psyched! The Fantastics won their squash. They replayed the El Corsairo (Savio Vega) beating of Eddie Gilbert and he won his squash. Watts made some stupid ass comments about Puerto Ricans being ungrateful for their welfare checks. 9/21/85 Main Angle: An Eddie Graham-Bill Watts special here. We get the big TV Main Event of North American Champion Dick Murdoch vs Dr. Death as announced last week: World's Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair will only be wrestling the North American Champion so everyone is gunning for the title. The current TV Champion Butch Reed is being set up as his major challenger, Butch won a squash on the show. Their match on September 22nd is one of the greatest matches of all-time wrestled in the NWA Championship style and is in my top 100 matches of all time. Their October match is nothing to sneeze at either as I think that is a Top 12 Mid-South match of all time. Big TV main event in the middle show so there is a credible threat this can go long. Theres not much to the body of the match as it is all standard wrestling. One thing I should not is Dick Murdoch is ostensibly still a babyface but has begun showing heel tendencies as Butch advances his claims to title matches. Bob Sweetan, who also won a squash on the show, is with Dr. Death, they were Tag Team Champions up until recently. Doc hits a bodyslam and goes for a Leaping Shouldertackle but crashes to the outside. This triggers all sort of commotion. The long elaborate Watts-style finish which he learned from Eddie Graham is on display here. Sweetan smashes Reed's head into the post. Murdoch wipes out the ref with Doc in an Airplane Spin. Sweetan nails Murdoch and leaves Doc on top. A recovered Reed bashes Sweetan. Reed knocks heads with Doc who collapses on top of Murdoch. Murdoch gets up and SLUGS Reed! What a beautiful right! JIM ROSS LOSES HIS FUCKING MIND! He is stomping him right in the head! I think Jim Ross innovated the overexcited call. Murdoch drops Sweetan and Doc where they are standing with some of the best punches ever. Eventually the numbers get the best of Capn Redneck and Fantastics & Perez & Cooley save. Murdoch and Reed keep brawling. Awesome, awesome way to put a ton of heat on a BIG time babyface vs babyface title match. Everyone needs to see the title match from the next night on Sept 22nd. Even Snakes Need Friends: They were teasing Bill Watts, who lost a Loser Leaves Town match to Skandor Akbar's men, as the Midnight Rider partner for Jake The Snake against Humperdink's Lord Humongous and Nord the Barbarian, but here it was Hacksaw Jim Duggan HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Making the save. Jake was saving some jobbers from the wrath of Hump's men and it was Duggan who saved him. Match of the Night defaults to Murdoch vs Doc even though body of the match was not special. Midcard Mania: Perez & Cooley defeated The Nightmare & a jobber. Nightmare was unmasked by the Jake The Snake and that is end of his push. I think he was going by his real name here, Randy Culley and was treated like a JTTS. Was Watts the innovator of the "start-stop" push. Same thing happened to Brad Armstrong. Cooley ate absolutely sick bump on a Victory Roll attempt but ended taking a header into the turnbuckle. Wicked. I think he took one more crazy. They seem to be pushing Perez harder because he is younger and a little taller, but Cooley is the better wrestler. KWANG~! won a squash seems to be the only one left in Skandor's stable. Dundee & Mantell won a match over some Memphis job guys using some cheating. This time of match where Dundee and his charisma shines. Mantell is a bit dry. Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert came out before the match plays up on the Memphis Connection. He says he respects Dundee and that no good punk Fulton shouldnt do Dundee's strut which is the Fargo strut of course. Gilbert was last seen as a babyface after Nightmare turned on him for Humperdink but with Nightmare shunted down the card, I guess it is back to Gilbert as a heel. Seems oddly fast. Joel does a video package where the Fantastics are shirtless and hitchhiking and get fooled by a PT Cruiser. Very weird, but even weirder is Fulton's tank top over a collared shirt look once they get to the city. It was the 80s maaaaaaannnnnnn. Much better episode, the race for the North American title is hot! I know the Murdoch vs Reed stuff ends being really good. Duggan & Roberts is a great team even if I couldnt give less of a shit about Nord & Lord. Fantastics are always great and interested to see where the Hot Stuff, Dundee & Dutch Memphis triangle goes. 9/28/85 Main Angle: TED DIBIASE IS BACK! He is pissed! I had rumors of this but it has been confirmed, Doc & DiBiase were the champions. DiBiase had to do a tour of Japan and gave Bob Sweetan the right to defend the tag team titles. They lost the titles to Perez & Cooley. DiBiase wants the World Championship and knows he needs to get the North American but he wants his Tag Belts too. He blames Sweetan who turns around and blames Doc who apparently was the one who ate the fall. Doc ties up Sweetan and DiBiase slugs him. Sweetan makes a comeback. Doc does the worst chair throw and Sweetan ends up with the chair and runs them off. A Bob Sweetan babyface turn wouldnt have been my first choice, but alright. This leads to a great DiBiase vs Sweetan Taped Fist match and one of the better DiBiase versus a not well known commodity. By default, DiBiase & Doc have the Match of the Night against the Fantastics as the rest of the card was squashes. Normal shine ending with dropkicks that made the babyfaces powder and left the babyfaces in the ring to strut, booty-shake and high-five. Roger got caught on a blind tag clothesline. He evaded a Doc splash. Fulton is always a great hot tag. Usually Pier-Six finish, DiBiase nails Fulton with the glove when he was in the O'Connor roll. Decent little match. Dicky Slater & Buzz Sawyer Debut: Mid-South needed this in the worst way! They needed two big time heels and get rid of Nord & Lord. Slater & Sawyer are high on my list people to really become acquainted with. Slater didnt do much for me here. He was working the Mr. Unpredictable, Mr. Electricity gimmick but just seemed lame. He was in the contract signing and it was very meandering, useless promo. Dark Journey is with him but her name has not been revealed. Slater's squash is alright. I know he hit a Russian Legsweep and put his opponent's foot on the ropes but I forget the actual finish. Buzz Sawyer is my kinda wrestler. Great promo about being tougher than everyone in New York and Atlanta so he has come here! Terrific squash! Great powerslam! Looking forward to more Sawyer. Hacksaw, The Snake & Hacksaw?: Hacksaw Butch Reed has a squash, but no Murdoch. Watts gets pissed off at a fan who called Reed a "musclebound stiff". Fans have been dumb asses for a while. Is there an entertainment business with a more hostile relationship between the business & fans than pro wrestling? Reed wins with a Military Press Slam. He is a stud and that fan needs to shut the fuck up. The other Hacksaw is teaming with Jake The Snake. I fucking love Duggan so much charisma! The jobber in order to avoid the cinder block of a right hand Duggan had cocked for him walks into a DDT and gets pinned. I think The Nightmare was the jobber. How the might have fallen! Nord & Lord have a squash You got Reed vs Murdoch, Duggan & Roberts vs Nord & Lord, DiBiase/Doc/Sweetan triangle, Dicky Slater & Sawyer in the territory plus Perez & Cooley, Fantastics and Dundee & Mantell in the tag division plus Eddie Gilbert. 16-20 main guys is a perfect roster and besides Nord & Lord this is a killer roster. It kinda happened over night because at the beginning of the month, I thought it was a paper thin roster.. Im going to skip ahead to November but this looks great!

Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/15/89 BABY KOBASHI~! And he is over like rover! Dont get me started on face & heel alignment in late 80s as I just dont get it. Jumbo & Kobashi are clearly the fan favorites. Tenryu & Hansen are quite the super team! What happened to Gordy? I dont even remember what he was doing at this point. What happened to Hara? Even with Tenryu as the Triple Crown Champ, this feels like Jumbo's promotion. Kobashi in red...is just bizarre, doesnt he know thats Taue's color!!? I was ten minutes in this match and it was so fast and so furious there was no way I could keep up with it and then write a review. Starting from the begining and doing this stream of consciousness style: Jumbo goes full Leroy Jenkins and charges Tenryu at the bell and reigns down the elbows at the ringside table. This leaves poor Kobashi against Hansen and thus igniting one of the hottest, most epic feuds in pro wrestling history! You see Tenryu flail a chair in self-defense at Jumbo as poor Kobashi gets a chair bounces off his back by Hansen. Jumbo High Knee in the ring! He hurts his knee in an interesting bit of selling that goes nowhere. Tsuruta chants! Kobashi comes in and hits a missile dropkick as Jumbo is holding Tenryu. Massive Kobashi chants like it is 1997. This is insane! I didnt expect him to be over at all. Tenryu chops Kobashi hard and CLUBS him with an Enziguiri. Hansen tagged into a big pop. Hansen brutalizes young Kobashi and sends him out. Jumbo saves Kobashi from the Grizzly by slamming him into the railing. Hansen evades the dropkick and bodyslams Kobashi. Big Kobashi chants. DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ALL STAR TEAM! Wicked. Suplex by Tenryu gets two and he comes and SLAPS Jumbo right off the apron. Kobashi spin wheel kick and he tags in Jumbo. Jumbo plays to the crowd. High Knee again to Tenryu and smack to Hansen on apron for good measure. Hansen tackles Jumbo! Kobashi is not shy and comes in and to fend off Hansen. That smack on the apron was dumb you knew Hansen was not going to take it lying down. Jumbo tries for a powerbomb or piledriver but Tenryu deadweights him. Jumbo applies an Abdominal Stretch on Tenryu and drops down into the Banana Split for a one count. Jumbo tags in Kobashi and holds Tenryu for the double axe handle. Kobashi is so over. Tenryu draws him in and tags in Hansen for knees Kobashi. Hansen BIG SELL of the reverse elbow as he tumbles out of the ring. Hansen takes back over on the outside. Hansen smothers him back in the ring. Great aggressive Hansen! Double Shouldertackle by the All Star Team. Tenryu chops the shit out Kobashi. This is exactly what I wanted out of this match. Hansen & Tenryu pummeling Kobashi. Kobashi reverse crossbody hope spot! Tag! Hansen heads Jumbo off at the pass and runs Jumbo down the apron and rams him into the metal turnbuckle. He brings him over to Tenryu as sacrificial offering and they take turns smacking the shit out of him. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat and a Cowboy Kick but Jumbo comes back with the Big Boot. More Tsuruta chants. Jumbo has the best bodyslam in history and follows that up with a kneedrop but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Jumbo Death Lariat middle of the ring for two. Kobashi tagged in applies a Single Leg Crab. Hansen breaks that up and Tenryu/Hansen beat the shit out of Kobashi. They do the FOOTLOOSE SPOT! Hansen whips Tenryu into an Out of Control Lariat into the corner. Massive Kobashi Chants! Tenryu wants the powerbomb but Jumbo intimidates Tenryu enough to abandon that and tags in Hansen. Hansen misses the elbow drop. Jumbo arm wringer and over the shoulder amrbreaker on Hansen's Lariat Arm and then wrestles him down by the Lariat arm into an armbar. Jumbo tags in Kobashi who axehandles the lariat arm and takes him over with an armdrag into a cross-armbreaker on the Lariat arm. Hansen rolls on his belly. Hansen rolls Kobashi up but Kobashi breaks free and maintains the pressure. Hansens elbows out and tags in Tenryu. Kobashi is tired of Tenryu's chops and lets Tenryu have it so many slaps and a big dropkick that has JUMBO FIRED THE FUCK UP! Crowd is going crazy for all this! Easily the spot of the match! Another dropkick for two! He goes back to the well yet again. Two! Kobashi brings Tenryu over to Jumbo. Jumbo gets in on the action with a Jumbo dropkick and Hansen saves to a chorus of loud boos. Jumbo clamps on a side headlock on Tenryu. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Kobashi top rope crossbody for two! Kobashi throws on a chinlock to stick with theme of draining Tenryu's energy. Kobashi goes for some sort of legbar which I dont know if that an FU to Tenryu because I know Tenryu was using that around this time. Kobashi legdrop gets two. Kobashi chops away at Tenryu in the corner and now slaps. I think thats a bad idea and here comes Tenryu who slaps away. Kobashi tries throw a spinning heel kick and Tenryu just kicks through it! Tenryu tags in Hansen but Kobashi tags out. Jumbo High Knee on Hansen. Jumbo Goes back to the abdominal stretch. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Double Double Chop on Hansen. Hansen sandbags Kobashi, but Kobahsi takes him over anyways on the vertical suplex. Kobashi will not be denied! Hansen BIG BOOTS through a Kobashi dropkick. Hansen brought Kobashi over to the wrong corner and tagged in Jumbo. What the fuck happened there? Hansen holds Jumbo by the head as Tenryu LIGHTS HIS SHIT UP WITH CHOPS FROM HELL! DANGEROUS BACK DROPD RIVER BY JUMBO! Kobashi legdrop! Tenryu back drop of Kobashi. Tenryu is still crouched over AND Jumbo stiff knees him. Jumbo tries for a piledriver and WESTERN LARIAT! HOLY SHIT! Jumbo reeling falls back into a tag. Kobashi missile dropick on Tenryu. The crowd & I are rocking! Hansen/Jumbo on outside. Fisherman Suplex by Kobashi gets two, which is an ultra hot nearfall. Amazing Kobashi is getting such a bright spotlight. Tenryu slows out. Clubbing Enziguiri. Hansen has Jumbo detained. The end is nigh me thinks. TENRYU POWERBOMB~! FOR THE WIN! Were there way too many spots? Hell Yes! Did any one pairing ever have time to build a real narrative? Hell No! Was it fun as all get out? Hell Yeah! What separates a balls to the wall all-out workrate action match like this from the 21st Century is everyone is still struggling against each other and it still feels organic. There are no contrived spots. They are just tagging very very frequently so action stays brisk they constantly fighting into or away from the corners. How many times did we see people get knocked off aprons or as soon they tagged in they were bumrushed before they were even able to enter the match. The match felt like a fight. A very competitive match where they all wanted to win. Yes, I would like more narrative and something where every pairing mattered but this still rocked. Kobashi was the clear the star of the match! He was insanely over given his age & experience. They gave him a huge spotlight. Hansen sold big for him. Tenryu let Kobashi smack him around and hit a Fisherman Suplex as the last nearfall of the match. Jumbo was a big cheerleader for Kobashi. I was expecting a big Kobashi FIP but anytime he got in any semblance of trouble he tagged out. Jumbo vs Tenryu was red hot and Hansen versus anyone is automatically heated. This match kicked ass! ****1/2

Thank you so much, brutha! I really appreciate that. It means a lot since I do put a lot of time into them that people read & enjoy!

Dean & Joe Malenko vs The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) - AJPW 7/15/89 I was very interested in this match for two main reasons 1. Watch More Joe Malenko 2. How do the Fantastics adapt to Japan & the Malenkos? I was not that concerned about Tommy Rogers he is very athletic and would do fine in this style. Bobby Fulton has really become my favorite Fantastic. I love his charisma and his punch. He is a Ricky Morton worker, a great punch, charisma out the ying-yang and great seller. Japan kinda takes out a lot of that out of the equation so how does he do? Rogers and Dean started with a pretty standard chaining sequence. The fun wrinkle is neither could hiptoss the other, they keep going back to that but neither man could get the other over (a typical Dean problem OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). Joe came in. I know this will sound like a hipster thing to say but he really is the more interesting Malenko. His knucklelock takedown was really cool. His reversal out of a headscissor was super nifty. Rogers did well with him. Fulton came in and I thought he acquitted himself well. No complicated chaining but he hit his holds hard and struggled hard. He hit a BEAUTIFUL DROP TOEHOLD! I popped hard! I really liked when they switched back to Dean and Tommy they paid off the hiptoss by having Fulton whip Dean into a Tommy hiptoss. Awesome. Nice Short Arm Scissors from Rogers. The Fantastics used distraction with a Tommy dropdown leading to a Fulton crossbody. So smart. It uses that with the hiptoss and this that the Fantastics needs to work as a team to best the more technically sounds Malenkos. Dean worked some kneelifts. Fulton fires off a couple nice Eaton-esque punches the first one drew Ooooohs from the crowd. Fulton did apply a shitty cross armbreaker. Dean took command with a suplex and slam on Roger. Joe immediately worked some great holds, double wristlocks and hammerlocks on Rogers. The struggle from Rogers to escape the hammerlock and make his way to Fulton was intense! Loved that! He worked this amazing armbar just using his feet while maintaining a knucklelock. Very, very cool! Joe transitioned into a cross-armbreaker but Fulton doesnt sell it at all. No one before like 1995 ever did. Fantastic work another set play using the dropdown-dropkick this time. Dean who wrestles kind of like mini-Bruiser Brody who never bumps or sells just goes to a Texas Cloverleaf but doesnt turn him over and knee into the back. Fulton tags with a right to break it up. The Fantastics works a Doomsday Device to no reaction but popped me. The Fantastics work an amazing sequence of double teams that would have gotten over huge in the South. It was awesome! A recap wouldnt do it justice. Check it out. It is really night and day when Joe is in there instead of Dean. Joe is selling and bumping. There is a great spot where Joe hits the buckles so hard, he ricochets out and Rogers absolutely eats it on the charge. That was the best version I have seen of that spot. While Dean on the other hand just does not bump and what constitutes selling for him is wandering around aimlessly. The finish stretch kicked in when Joe saved Dean from the top rope rocket launcher somersault taking the dive. Dean sunset flips Rogers but Fulton has Rogers Joe comes in and knees Fulton in the back. Another spot that would get over huge in the South that being said the Japanese crowd did like that one a lot. Fulton keeps throwing punches and look great. Nice Northern Light Suplex not quite as good as Alicia Fox, but pretty good gets two. You want to see shitty Dean watch the setup for the neckbreaker after the Northern Lights Suplex. Fulton must have been what the fuck. Dean is just groggy selling and not moving. Terrible. Dean kinda sucked at the finish but Joe and Fulton rule so that makes up for it. Joe shoves Fulton into a Dean lariat and Dean dropkicks Fulton over in the German suplex. DEAN TABLETOPS ROGERS TO PREVENT THE SAVE! Ok that was pretty awesome! Fulton was not shy about throwing the punches. The Fantastics were not shy of working Southern-Style feel-good spots which I loved. Joe is a technical beast lots of cool holds, takedowns, bridges and reversals. Dean pretty much sucked but my new hypothesis of Dean Malenko has a midget Bruiser Brody is very interesting to me and I am interested to see if it holds water in more matches. I liked the blending of the Malenkos' technical style and the pure Southern style of the Fantastics. ****

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen - AJPW/WWF 4/13/90 HULK HOGAN VS STAN HANSEN IN THE TOKYO DOME~! I have been meaning to see this forever. Not just two of my favorites, but two of the best wrestlers ever with two big of the biggest personalities headlining the Tokyo Dome! I would love to hear the story behind why the WWF ran a joint venture with All Japan here. I know their Japanese counterpart was New Japan until like 85/86. Why the return to an alliance? Why All Japan? WCW/New Japan did not start until 1991 correct? Hansen was definitely in what I would call Baba mode early, which is to say he was pretty cooperative. Hogan took him down a bunch with drop toeholds and sort of wrangled him in. Hansen would throw a shot here and there. For the most part, he just let Hogan tee off. There was a pretty good firefight early with them trading eyerakes and fists. I liked Hansen pelting Hogan as he was trying to enter the ring only for Hogan to keep coming. On the outside Hogan bashed Hansen's head into the post busting Stan open. He worked the cut. The best part was the Hogan bodyslam of Hansen into the ringside tables and the irreverent back heel stomp. It was all Hogan early. Then Hansen hit the Lunging Shouldertackle! The crowd popped and so did I. It was 90% Hansen I would say. He did not go full bore wild ass Hansen but that chair shot right to the skull looked gnarly and I know Earl Hebner would disagree with me as Hansen fucking chucked the chair at him, he would say that was 110%! We got double juice! Hogan grabs the bullrope just to survive at one point. Hansen slams him into the announce tables! This was awesome! I loved Hansen signaling for the Western Lariat twice getting the big pop, Hogan evading, you get the reaction but protect move. HOGAN MISSES THE LEGDROP! Hansen pounces on top for two. Hansen misses the second Lariat like I said only for AXE BOMBAH~! 1-2-3! Killer finish! I really liked the finish run, electric and heated! The double juice was awesome! Loved all the brawling around ringside. Kickass Clash of the Titans brawl in the Dome! Dream match that loves up to the hype, brutha! ****

PWF & United National Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 4/16/89 I was had! I thought for sure this was the Triple Crown unification match but turns out that is two days later. This is still a banger. I dont know if it was the finish but this didnt deserve to be outside the Top 100 for the All Japan set at all. This was just two big muthas throwing hands and everything but the kitchen sink at each other and barely bumping. Both dudes laying everything in and there are a ton of stiff shots. Jumbo owned Hansen early. I dont think I have seen Hansen so thoroughly beaten up ever. It was stand & bang to start. Jumbo is the one that threw him to the floor. Jumbo used the chair first and jabbed him with it and got a good shot. Jumbo RAKED THE EYES! Top Rope High Knee! Then he used closed fists! Jumbo is working outright heel and Hansen is over as the babyface this crazy. Hansen was still throwing flailing wild shots but Jumbo was in complete control, never seen this before. Hansen puts together a strike combination and hits a quasi-Western-Lariat to ring Jumbo's bell. Now Hansen mercilessly beats down Jumbo. I love how Jumbo doesnt bump for shit. He just takes his beating like a man. Hansen gets a chair and beats the shit out of Jumbo with it. Thats when I was like I liked this match but now I love this match! Jumbo trying mounting a comeback 90s Misawa-style with all the elbows but Hansen snuffs that out with another quasi-Western Lariat. The finish stretch is so fucking good. Hansen hits a bunch of jumping elbow drops but eats knees. As is tradition in a Hansen match, his weakness is his soft underbelly well actually it is his midsection/ribs but I just wanted to say soft underbelly. He rolls to the outside. Jumbo pummels him with the chair. The ref makes him relinquish it and Hansen fucking throws the chair at him! Ok, this match just straight up rules! Shame on everyone for now voting this higher. Jumbo stays in control and signals for the Jumbo Death Lariat on the outside and he WRAPS HIS ARM AROUND THE POST! He goes flying over the railing! Everyone flees. Hansen tackles him! They are fighting in the crowd, all the chairs are knocked over, they are picking up random chairs and attacking each other! In the melee, the ref calls for the bell as I am totally confused because I thought this was the unification match, but instead it was a barnburner brawl with stiff shots, awesome transitions and a shit ton of chair shots! I love in Japanese wrestling when all over sudden they are just throwing chairs at each other. Wild kickass match! ****1/4

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 6/8/89 Three days after the historic and amazing title match with Tenryu in the Budokan is back defending his Tag Titles against the oddball dream team of Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada. I dont know if they didnt want to have Tenryu in the match because they didnt want him to be on the losing end (presumably, this preamble is being written before I watched the match) of a Jumbo match this soon after his triumphant victory or if Gordy was not available. While strange, Hansen & Kawada sounds like a badass tag team. I got a lot going on tonight, so lets use stream of consciousness to expedite things. Hansen comes charging over and gives Jumbo the 'ol double sledge as Jumbo was taking his place on the apron and everybody's dander is up. The junior partners start off. Early Kawada Spin Kick and Fishersman's Suplex. More Kawada kicks and Yastu has to powder. I like how aggressive Kawada is and I love how Yatsu sold that by powdering. Kawada clamps on a front chancery and brings Yastu over to the Big Grizzly. He tosses Yastu to the outside and smashes his face into the post. Jumbo peeling around the corner and saves Yatsu from the beating. Yatsu is at Hansen's mercy however in the ring where Hansen reigns down the bows. He throws him into Kawada's outstretched boot and then applies a tight chinlock. Tag out to Kawada and kneedrop. He wants a side headlock. Yatsu tries the Dangerous Back Drop Driver but Kawada hangs on. Kawada heel kick but Yatsu retaliates with the Dangerous Back Drop Driver. I liked how Yatsu's stay was prolonged in the beginning allowed the match to get a sense of rhythm, and show how vicious Kawada and Hansen are. Yatsu wisely tags out to Jumbo. JUMBO HIGH KNEE! Jumbo plays to the crowd! Kawada Spinning Heel Kick! Kawada Slingshot Plancha Out of Control wipes out Jumbo. Hansen is right there kicking the fallen Jumbo in the face. Hansen & Kawada are a terrific team, it is a shame they didnt team more often! Nice! Kawada stomps Jumbo back in the ring near the apron. Nice suplex struggle an All Japan staple. Big kneelifts by Jumbo and Jumbo targets the midsection with stomps as Kawada sells it. Hansen attacks Jumbo as the ref gets him off. Wicked running Jumbo kneelift! Meaty and stiff! He raises his hand to the crowd. Love me some Jumbo! He tags into Yatsu who comes off the ropes crashing down on Kawada. Kawada reverses out of a suplex briefly attempts a Dragon Suplex but Yatsu makes the ropes. Kawada gets his Jumping High Kick and catches Yatsu pretty good great transtion to tagging in Hansen. Yatsu gets away from Hansen and tags in Jumbo. It is ON! Jumbo High Knee! Jumbo wins the battle and slaps on an armbar, which I think it is smart because it felt like that the match was about to get away from the Champs. Tags Yatsu back in for a double team chop but Hansen deadweights them on the double supelx. OH SHIT HIGH KNEE/BULLDOG COMBO! HOW HAS NO ONE STOLEN THAT! I think I saw that before, but it was a high speed collision this time! Wow! Kawada saved on the pinfall but I think Hansen was ready to kick out. Yatsu tries the contain strategy with the chinlock but Kawada axe kick breaks that up. Wicked Hansen strikes! Yastu comes firing back! Yatsu tags out. Hansen attacks Jumbo in the ropes. Jumbo wrangles him into a headlock but Hansen shoots him off into the buckles and he targets the back. Jumbo Death Lariat! 2! Jumbo back to the chinlock using the Contain the Grizzly Strategy. Yatsu double axe handle from the top. Hansen free fires off kicks as he is backpedalling and tags in Kawada. Jumping Spinning Heel Kick gets Kawada two against Yatsu. Yatsu throws Kawada down on the hiptoss attempt. Kawada is still a young lion and Yatsu lets him know it. Yatsu powerslam and into the figure-4 but Hansen saves Kawada. Love how Hansen and Kawada have each other's backs. Jumbo works a standing toehold on Kawada. Hansen WICKED CHOP to break it up! Damn! Scorcher! Big Boot by Jumbo! Yatsu belly to belly suplex and a top rope elbow drop but Hansen breaks up the cover. Yatsu vs Hanse FIREFIGHT! Hanse wins that predictably. Yatsu Powerbomb! Hansen saves with the torpedo lunge. Second power and again Hansen crashes into the cover. Kawada stealing one from Tenryu's playbook throws in a running small package. Kawada reverse crossbody for two against Jumbo...nice hope spots! SPIKE PILERIVER! Yatsu misses a charge on a running reverse elbow into the buckles. Yatsu works the leg and Hansen breaks that up. Jumbo back in and he fires away with elbows. Jumbo turns him over into the Bosto Crab Im surprised he lasted that long before Hansen came in to break it up. Kawada out of control lariat! HANSEN IS IN! Elbow drop! Bodyslam to Yatsu! Hansen chants I am pretty sure! Hansen is all over Jumbo. Hansen signals for the lariat but Yatsu detains Hansen from the apron. Kawada has Jumbo restrained but Jumbo uses his legs to fight back. Hansen wrangles Jumbo and Kawada missile dropkicks him. Hansen does the Footloose spot! Kawada NAILS the corner lariat! Running Wild & Free! Kawada gets two as Hansen stands guard. Kawada German gets a very close 2 with Hansen detaining Yatsu. Jumbo catches the Spinning heel kick...THROWS KAWADA ON HIS ASS! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! Hansen dives on Jumbo but Yatsu is hold him by the wiast. The ref counts three because Jumbo was still covering Kawda! The pinfall was not broken! Everyone in the 21st Century please take notes! Hansen after the bell lunges as Jumbo and torpedoes him into the ropes. I really loved Hansen's & Kawada's performances. Jumbo & Yatsu worked great on top with all the bombs & holds, but it was how aggressive Hansen & Kawada worked that made this match. Even though Jumbo & Yatsu controlled time of possession so to speak you never felt like they were dominant because Stan Muthafuckin Hansen was on the other side. Kawada is such a tenacious pitbull in there. Hansen and Kawada gelled immediately I loved their chemistry. I thought this match was more character based then some of the All Japan tags I have seen which seem to be more workrate based. This was a nice blend of Jumbo & Yatsu's workrate and Hansen & Kawada bringing the character and aggression to the match. ****1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 6/5/89 Here it is, baby! After all these years, I am finally reviewing Jumbo vs Tenryu the Match! I have seen this match at least two or three times, but it has easily been ten years if not more. When I did watch it, I barely knew what I was doing. I just knew it was a famously great match. I reckon this is the most famous 80s All Japan match. Theres an outside shot that Funk vs Hansen or Funks vs Hansen/Gordy is more famous, but thats it. On top of that, not only is it famous, it is supposed to be one of the greatest matches of all time. Lets get a little context out of the Jumbo formed the Triple Crown in April of the year when he walked in as the International Heavyweight Champion and walked out with Stan Hansen's PWF and United National Championships. I will go back and watch that match after this. We are in the Budokan! In the early part of the match, my main takeaway is Jumbo is playing not to lose and Tenryu is playing to win. Jumbo seems unnerved by the slightest big of Tenryu offense and is retaliating with a lot of hold specifically the Cobra Clutch. It feels like he is trying to contain Tenryu and sap his energy. Jumbo does try to hit bombs but they are pretty much always well-scouted. The first instance is the very high first highspot of the match when Tenryu evades the world-renowned Jumbo High Knee and executes a bridging German for two. Jumbo's response clamp on a side headlock. When Jumbo did go for the High Knee again, Tenryu caught the leg and slashed him with a Chop. Jumbo hit the big boot. Cobra Clutch and lots of hard, stiff clubbering. Tenryu via scouting was forcing Jumbo to go to fundamentals. Tenryu proves he is the smarter competitor when he gets back to the ring first and smashes Jumbo with a lariat as he is trying to re-enter the ring. Tenryu had grabbed the high ground. Tenryu goes flying over the top rope like he is Misawa and leaps off the apron wiping Jumbo out. There have been elements of the 90s All Japan taking root in the 80s and you see that here with the complicated missed Second High Knee and the way the dive off the apron was presented. It is very interesting that it is minimalist Tenryu driving the match in that direction while Jumbo is working a more holds-based style. Tenryu drops into a legbar smart for him to recuperate. Then Tenryu gets into a full mount and reigns down the HEAVY forearms. Great ground & pound. It is only a well-timed Belly To Belly suplex, the first executed Jumbo highspot that reverses the advantage. Furthermore, the belly to belly suplex is not a common Jumbo spot. Jumbo goes back to the Cobra Clutch and then finally hits on his patented High Knee for two. By having to EARN that High Knee it made the spot and the nearfall so much bigger! One of my favorites spots in All Japan is the attempted Powerbomb. Here Jumbo was more likely going for a Piledriver but the though is the same. The crouch position, trying to hoist, the two men struggling against each other. So good. Jumbo settles for hard, stiff clubbering and an Abdominal Stretch. I didnt love the Tenryu hiptoss counter into an armbar and a short Tenryu control of strikes. Tenryu hits a Mack Truck Lariat for two, he's always good for one of those. Jumbo POPS him good with an Elbow. Tenryu's sell of this is so good. You know Jumbo caught him good. Jumbo is thinking Dangerous Back Drop Driver but Tenryu holds onto the ropes. Jumbo hits the High Knee in the corner and then tries for the Big Move again only for Tenryu kick off the ropes, shift his weight and have Jumbo absorb a lot of the blow on his head & neck. Good double KO Spot. JUMBO DEATH LARIAT! Loved Tenryu's reaction to roll to the ropes immediately even though it happened middle of the ring. Jumbo caught up to him but it was too late, the ropes break the pinfall. Great details match. Now we get to the Jumbo "pouring it on" portion of the match. I did think they went a little overboard here too. It was interesting at first it was a ton of feet on the ropes demonstrating Tenryu's intelligence. Jumbo learned to too, he tried to bundle both legs at one point only for Tenryu to fight through and get to the ropes. What was odd to me was as they escalated, they left that and started going to kick outs. Jumbo executes the Thesz Press without being hotshotted which popped me. That the first kickout and then he finally nailed the Dangerous Back Drop Driver and kick out. I didnt think the heat segment went as overboard as say Brock vs Roman I at the 2015 Mania but I would have liked more hope spots and struggle. I did however love the transition(s)! First Tenryu, hotshots Jumbo on the second Thesz Press! Hell Yeah! Second, Jumbo's High Knee in the corner eats the buckle and Tenryu nails an Enziguiri. He's on the comeback trail! Small Package! 1-2-NO! Tenryu attempted powerbomb gets great heat. Jumbo backdrops into a pin cover for two. The crowd is red hot. Jumbo starts repeating moves like the Top Rope High Knee, Tenryu closes the gap and Jumbo misses. Jumbo tries the Belly To Belly again, but Tenryu BACK HEEL TRIP! Popped me. Tenryu tries for his patented Reverse Top Rope Elbow but misses. It was Jumbo's turn to have it scouted. Jumbo telegraphs the Death Lariat and Tenryu uses the momentum to drive Jumbo's head into top rope. ENZIZGUIRI! POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! NUCLEAR HEAT! POWERBOMB 1-2-3! CROWD GOES WILD! One thing I didnt mention was that Jumbo got a considerable amount of heat in the match. It can be hard to make out the difference between Tsuruta and Tenryu chants. I thought I heard some Tsuruta chants but this was definitely a pro-Tenryu crowd. I am surprised. I always thought Tenryu/Revolution were heels but watching all the footage it is clear they are the fan favorites. Also interesting that before the match Jumbo attempts to shake Tenryu's hand but Tenryu looks like he says Fuck You, but it was probably something else. Then Jumbo came over to shake his hand while Tenryu was slumped down in the corner, but Tenryu didnt again. Very Stone Cold vibes there. I have been debating between ****3/4 and *****. There are some things that keep this out of contention for my top 25 of all time, but I see it around #50. I am going with this as the tiebreaker. Once Jumbo started dropping bombs I noticed a teenage boy and girl in the front row were very committed to Tenryu winning. The girl's reaction to Jumbo's kickout was perfect. She was trying to take a picture right at right time with the old Kodak camera. She thought Tenryu won and she got wicked excited only to have her hopes dashed. Unfortunately during the actual pinfall, we miss her reaction, but we see the boy's and he is JUBLIANT! How can I deny a match that stirred such great emotion, *****.

This popped me fucking huge! I actually lol'd. That was fucking great!

All Asia Tag Team Champions Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas - AJPW 6/5/89 What a weird match! Footloose was totally guzzling the Can-Ams; it was hard to get a rhythm watching the match. Then Fuyuki was just getting insane heel heat which is pretty much unheard of in Japan. It was affecting the nearfalls. Footloose pin attempts got zero heat and there would be a smattering of applause. They wanted the Can-Ams to win so bad! The way Footloose wrestled was infuriating. Furnas got a hot tag and was just ready to explode. Kawada completely snuffed it out. It was brutal. Killed the crowd and my spirits. Really weird match. Had these two team wrestled before? There seemed to be some serious heat (still kayfabe heat) but it was chippy from the start. Kawada and Kroffat get into an awesome pull apart brawl to start. The early story of the match seemed to be that Furnas was the powerhouse wrecking machine and how could Footloose overcome this and it seemed like their strategy was to isolate Kroffat. They establish that Fuyuki cannot lift Furnas and when he slaps Furnas he gets trucked by a Lariat, but when Kroffat comes in, Kroffat loses control. I liked Kawada/Kroffat getting testy in the corner again only for Kroffat to dump Kawada on his ass. So here comes Furnas who ends up Press Slamming Fuyuki to a big pop. This is where I think all the heel heat originates from Fuyuki knowing he needs to us his guile lures Furnas to the floor where he whips into the railing. I felt like thats when the mood shifted. It first it was like are they booing Fuyuki to the end of the match where it was clearly Fuck You Fuyuk if he wins, we riot. It was affecting Kawada shit. They didnt want to boo Kawada but they couldnt cheer him either so all out of Kawada's segments were heatless. Furnas his a bit dropkick to tag in Kroffat. I should add I realize it is customary in Japan that losing team take the majority of the match but this was ridiculous. The Can-Ams would get one maybe two moves per tag before Footloose would take over. I remember Kroffat coming in and getting quashed and his Crossface Chickenwing getting broken up quickly. The best spot in the match was when the crowd and me thought here we go again Fuyuki snuffing out a Can-Ams rally only for Furnas to catch Fuyuki in a bearhug and it was a Top Rope Hart Attack that was pretty bitchin'! Furnas Belly To Belly Suplex Ruled! True to form here comes Footloose. Kawada tags in DECAPITATES FURNAS WITH A LARIAT! HE FUCKING SMOKED HIM! Furnas doing a complete deadweght sell was completely warranted. I dont remember how Furnas tagged out, but he got owned. The Kroffat segments were not as memorable as the Furnas segments. It just like Kroffat never could get anything going. Him landing on his feet on the monkey flip popped me. Furnas saving his ass by torpedoing Kawada on the outside was killer. Furnas looked like a beast in the match. Kawada whiffed bad on an Enziguiri. Classic Footloose Crazy Out of Control Lariats into the corner. This is when the Footloose nearfalls have eerie silent heat and polite applause when Can-Ams break it up. I dont think crowd believed the Can-Ams could win. We get some WCW-esque camera work we miss Furnas ground to air missile dropkick to knock Fuyuki off the top and we almost miss Furnas Press Slamming Fuyuki on the announce table but then we miss a couple big moves in the ring. Furnas tags in and vaults over the top rope and fucking Kawada SQUASHES him. It was awful! I thought Furnas was going to teh hotshot but Kaada did a Thesz Press. Bad instincts. Can-Ams finally poor on the offense, Furnas dropkick while Kroffat had Kawada in the powerbom position. Big Kroffat splash, Furnas powerslam. The finish is kind of fucked up as Furnas never tags out, leads to an awkward lull. When he hoists Kawada up in the Argentine Backbreaker and Fuyuki spears him, I thought the crowd was gonna riot they were pissed! Kroffat Tiger Driver on Kawda 1-2-3! Big pop! Ignoring the Crowd Dynamics and the weird layout, Furnas looked like a beast and Kawada was a killer in this match. He was bringing the intensity. Fuyuki was embracing the heat. Kroffat just was kinda there for me. I am kinda shocked it has such a big rep. Definitely not ****, but ***1/2 is too low given how good Kawada and Furnas were so lets split it down the middle, ***3/4

All Japan World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 2/23/89 Fun fact: Jumbo & Yatsu had just recently won the titles back from Hansen & Gordy in Kansas City of all places. Central States was long gone. Says it was at a World Wrestling Alliance card. Who was running that? So I did some research, Geigel tried to stage a comeback it sounds like after selling to Crockett and tried to go National under the name World Wrestling Alliance card using Mike George as his champion. Jesus. The Mike George vs Dick Slater match to crown the inaugural WWA Champion has piqued my interest. Kawada in the leopard print never gets old, imagine if he tried to carry that into the 90s selling out the Budokan having the greatest matches in pro wrestling history looking like that. Kawada was wicked over in this match. Besides the one Jumbo singles match, it feels like Kawada is getting way bigger opportunities than Misawa in the 80s. Kawada & Yatsu to start but the heat is on the big boys of course. Tenryu grabs Yatsu when he backs into the wrong corner. Jumbo takes exception to that. Before you know it they are put tagged in (Jumbo did feed for a Kawada reverse crossbody to set up the tag out) and they just go at each other like two fucking rams. Jumbo wins that battle with a High Knee followed by a Spike Piledriver! I love when Jumbo hollers to the crowd. The Tenryu vs Yatsu firefight is wicked. Mack Truck Lariat to escape and tag in Kawada. Yatsu stops Kawada dead in his tracks with a wicked thrust kick. The are definitely establishing a pecking order. Jumbo quashes the Kawada Crucifix Pin dropping back. This is when it was hard to make out if the crowd was chanting for Tsuruta or Kawada. Kawada used the out of control Lariat to escape and tag in Tenryu. Kawada shows shades of Footloose when he lets Tenryu whip him for a crazy lariat into the corner. Tenryu licks his hand for a CRACKING CHOP IN THE CORNER! Not very sanitary but the result were effective! All the heat is on Jumbo vs Tenryu with Kawada being that crazy spark plug that you are just wondering if he will be ab asset or a liability in the match. Kawada loses control of the advantage to Jumbo who wriggles out of a hold and counters into a toehold. He tags out to Yatsu who takes Kawada on a ride with two bulldogs. Back Drop Driver on the 3rd Bulldog attempt brings Tenryu in. Tenryu BRINGS THE PAIN! Wicked chops! I have been watching a ton of New Japan vs UWF so when Tenryu drops down into a straight kneebar I am wondering what promotion I am watching. Goo struggle from Yatsu to make the hold more exciting. Tenryu goes ful mount and unleades a brutal ground& pound punctuated by RIFLING HIM WITH A COWBOY KICK! Kawada eager to prove himself drops the Senton and goes back to the leglace. Kawada does not have it tight enough and Yatsu tags out in the hold. Which I think should be illegal. Jumbo not to be outdone...COWBOY KICK! Jumbo has murder in his eyes. HIGH KNEE! Whips Kawada into the rails. Abdominal stretch, Yatsu comes from across the ring to drive the knee into the trapped Kawada. Three times we have thought Kawada was going to be in peril and it looks like it finally happening as Yatsu has targeted the knee out of revenge for what happened to him. Yatsu vulnerable as he has Kawada in a leglace eats some of the most brutal stomps to the head I have ever seen. Yatsu break and glares at Tenryu. Yatsu powerslams Kawada and goes to the Inverted Figure-4. Jumbo plays watch dog. Tenryu dives with a dropkick and this leaves him open to being attacked by Jumbo. JUMBO VS TENRYU BRAWL BREAKS OUT ON THE OUTSIDE! Yatsu applies the Inverted Figure-4, if the brawl continued I would have bit on this as a finish. The crowd is chanting for Kawada thunderously this is when I noticed he was wicked over. Jumbo continues to beat on the knee. Kawada even in 1989 is a champ at selling the knee in how he later his rope running. Jumbo sets too early, kick and tag out. ENZIGUIRI! GERMAN! 1-2-NO! Jumbo Death Lariat for two! It is All Japan baby! SLASHING CHOP FROM TENRYU! Kawada tags back in. Seems way too soon. He eats a High Knee right to the face! Jumbo High Knees Kawada right in front of Tenryu which was a bad idea as Tenryu just swings for the fences and connects with a lariat! Tenryu and Jumbo on the floor! Yatsu and Kawada join them. TENRYU HAS A CHAIR! I definitely thought we were getting the double countout. Kawada closed fist to Jumbo in the ring! Jumbo is bleeding! Kawada gets a nearfall on Jumbo. Tenryu tags in. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat! Tenryu working the cut with stomps! Tenryu's chops in this match are otherworldly. Tenryu tags back out. Kawada spinning heel kick! Kawada Back Drop Driver! Jumbo tags out after punting Kawada. Yastu pummels Kawada in their corner. FLESH ON FLESH! MAN ON MAN! Jumbo throws Kawada into Tenryu, before Tenryu can enter the ring, Jumbo MUGS HIM! JUMBOS HAS HIS FOOT ON TENRYU'S FACE! After all that heat, going to the abdominal stretch is a letdown. Kawada breaks it up. Tenryu Enziguiri! He attempts the Powerbomb for the first time. TENRYU POWERBOMB!!!! Yatsu saves! Tenryu is pissed! Jumbo nails him from behind with a wicked elbow! High Knee Tenryu Sandwich! Tenryu has the best chops ever in this match. Yatsu powerbomb but Kawda saves. Kawada barrage of kicks to Yatsu BEATS HIM BACK WITH OVERHAND CHOPS! Yatsu misses a charge... KAWADA Bridging German for two but Jumbo saves. Yatsu bridging German and Tenryu saves. Nice symmetry. Yatsu tags out and Tenryu comes charging across ring with Lariat. Top Rope Sunset Flip! Jumbo hotshots Tenryu for three!!!!!! WAIT NO HE KICKED OUT!!!! WHAT THE FUCK! Tenryu Enziguiri after a bunch of nearfalls. Kawda missile dropkick, Jumbo tags out. Yatsu headbutts! Kawada schoolboy for two gets huge heat. Yatsu throws him down on his ass on the Spinning heel kick. Yatsu German broken by Tenryu who says not on my watch. Jumbo tries to kick Kawada head off his body REPEATEDLY! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-3! WOW WHAT A MATCH! Three all-time classic performances, Tenryu was insane in this match. He was a Man Possessed. His chops were sick and brutal. You need to watch the match just for those chops. He was a surly, ornery bastard. He was in total fight mode. Kawada crushed it as Young Lion in over his head, biting off more than he can chew, but coming back for more. Jumbo as the Ace, protecting his yard and ripping into Kawada & Tenryu when ever he could. Yatsu was great dont get me wrong, but he didnt have that clear defined role. He was just throwing hands and throwing bodies. I had never heard this match talked up but JK and In Your Case are right, this is an all-timer hiding in plain sight. It is 1989 All Japan and it is hard to believe anything is left that has been talked to death, but this ruled and is definitely harbinger of the matches to come! ****3/4

I am more impressed that someone read that review! My guess is Takano was involved and Takano vs Takada when youre doing stream of consciousness can be pretty confusing from a typing perspective. In all honestly, I cant tell you who missile dropkicked who, lol. Ethan Page wrestled himself because of course he did. I am all for Man vs Self stories, but that takes it too literally.

PWF World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masa Fuchi vs Mitsuo Momota - AJPW 3/29/89 King's Road is here baby! I had never heard of Momota is a mustachioed stocky little fella. He was over like rover. My God, they chanting his name incessantly. I couldnt figure out why until I read his Wiki. He is the son of Rikidozan! Well that explains it! I have never heard anyone in Japan, native or gaijin, get as much heel heat as Fuchi did in this match and he didnt do anything that heelish. I think Momota was just that over. Fuchi had just won the Junior Heavyweight Championship back from Mighty Inoue a couple weeks prior. Red hot start that sets the tone early. Momota hits a crossbody block at the bell for two. I love those types of jumpstarts. Crazy out of control dive by Momota. Ok I see you. Boston Crab roll through by Fuchi and he uses a closed fist to the face to big boos. The rest of the match the crowd was cheering and chanting for Momota and booing Fuchi. Momota worked a strong headscissors and a variety of them. Eventually Fuchi escaped into an Indian Deathlock before settling into some arm work using a variety of armbars. Momota started rattling off some quick pinfall attempts and dropkicks. Fuchi avoided the big dive on the floor but Momota hit another dropkick on the floor. Fuchi nailed a Kawada-style Jumping High Kick to regain control which really kicks off the finish stretch. Momota is left writhing in pain grabbing his face as the crowd chants his name. There are a zillion Back Drop Drivers in this match. It really gives it that King's Road feel with all the doubling up of moves. Given that these were Juniors in 1989, I was biting on everything. Bombs away Knee drop from Fuchi gets two. Momota shifts the weight on the Back Drop Driver to give himself an advantage. I love that spot and used it all the time as a finish in my living room matches against my brother. There was a nice double reversed crossbody off the top rope that I bit on with Momota ending up on top. I really thought Momota had a chance. At one point he hit a pair of Back Drop Drivers, I was beginning to wonder if I was in 1993. Fuchi used Momota's own momentum against him with a Hotshot, Jackknife cover. Fuchi misses the second Bombs Away Kneedrop and the Enziguiri! I love missed moves. Fuchi was working the kicks to the head, Enziguiri to the back of the head sending Momota to the floor and then late a Kawada Jumping High Kick. Momota unleashes a barrage of slaps in the corner and then some headbutts. Momota hits another pair of Back Drop Drivers but the second one takes too much out of him. FUCHI THESZ PRESS 1-2-3! What sets this a part is the crowd is red hot for this Juniors match and that it is the prototype of the 90s All Japan style all here in 1989. Tons of bombs down the stretch all the typical All Japan moves with the Hotshot and Thesz Press thrown in to remind us this is the Jumbo era. Really breezy bomb-throwing match that never lets up! ****

Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hoshino, George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW 9/16/86 Elimination Match Team UWF remains the same from March but there are some pretty major changes on New Japan. I think Koshinaka replacing Ueda is great especially because Koshinaka has great chemistry with Takada. However, no Inoki is a massive drop in star power. George Takano aka the Cobra is not making that up. Stream of consciousness review follows: First Elimination: Fujinami vs Maeda to start this is after their epic bloody war in June. Nice Firemans Carry by Maeda. No commentary. Fujinami wristlock and Maeda gets a standing toehold. Maeda drops into the legbar. Maeda tries for a kick but Fujinami blocks but ends up in a cross-armbreaker. Less crowd heat and less of a red hot start than usual. Maeda tags in Kido. Fujinami tags out to Kimura. Nice grappling as expected from the New Japan boys. Kimura drop toe hold. Kido comes up with the hammerlock. Kimura bodyslammed bounces Kido off the ring. Fujiwara vs Takano. George thinks best of it. Hoshino tags in. FUJIWARA VS HOSHINO~! Tie up in the corner. Fujiwara strikes first clocking him in the head which Hshino sells like a million bucks falling face first.. Hoshino wrestles him to the ground. Hoshino tries to Boston Crab Fujiwara BUT YOU CANNOT BOSTON CRAB FUJIWARA! FUJIWARA DRAGS HIM DOWN WITH A FUJIWARA ARMBAR! Hoshino makes the ropes. Hoshino selling amazing! Fujiwara rips him down with a double wristlock and then gets a side mount with the hold. Hoshino clocks him and fells Fujiwara. Fujiwara tags out to Takada. Koshinaka tags in. Great chemistry between these two. Takada slaps. Takada kicks. Koshinaka slaps him back as is customary in their matches. Hip attacks from Koshinaka. Double wristlock takeover by Takada. Koshinaka backs Takada into the New Japan corner and tags out to Takano. Takada tags in Yamazaki. Nice drop toehold by Yamazaki. Yamazaki goes for the armbar takedown. Takano comes back with a meaty drop toehold and wrenches the leg of Yamazaki and Bow & Arrow. Even if Inoki is not in this match, you cannot not have that move. Takada sells the Legbar really well good verbal selling. Nice kicks but Takada dragon leg screw into the Figure-4! Yamazaki counters into a calf-slicer. They both roll to the ropes which is a dangerous position in this match. Yamazaki goes back to the legbar. Takano is good selling this. Takada tags in monster belly to belly suplex back to the legbar of course! Takada rolls into ropes and tags in Hoshino. Hoshino WALLOPS Takada with a punch TAKADA UNLEASHES FURRY ON HOSHINO! Tags in Fujiwara! Hoshino Pelts him with Punches! This is Hoshino! Fujiwara Headbutt Hoshino tags in Kimura! Fujiwara Headbutt City! Fujiwara tags in Kido. Kido swinging neckbreaker. Kido dropkick. Kido Saito Suplex Two. Kimura backslide for three. Kido doesnt do much for me so I dont mind him as the first elimination. I liked the first elimination from the March match better with Kimura getting the desperation backslide after getting owned than here. Team New Japan 5-4. Second Elimination: Maeda comes flying into to the scree with wicked kicks ! Maeda misses his rainbow spinning heel kick! Kimura bodyslams him! Maeda press slams him off the top rope. Crossface Chickenwing by Maeda! Kimura gas to submit. Maeda looks like a total killer getting back square. Surprised Kimura went before any of three juniors. He didnt even get his trademark running Leg Lariat in. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination: Koshinaka checks on Kimura. Maeda drags him over to Yamazaki. Yamazaki fires off some kicks and reverse elbow. Koshinaka introduces Yamazaki to the Rear View! floatover suplex for two. Fujinami in. Yamazaki hangs onto the ropes. Fujinami misses a dropkick. Yamazaki bodyslam. Fujinami avoids the missile dropkick. Fujinami Scorpion Deathlock and directs traffic to avoid the interference from Team UWF. This leaves Yamazaki no choice but to submit. I liked that finish. Kido/Yamazaki being the first two gone is fine by me. Koshinaka hit the Rear View, we shall see if he long for this world. With no Inoki, I do think Maeda & Co. Have a chance in this match. Fourth Elimination: Fujinami vs Takada! Koshinaka tags in to reignite this feud! Takada roundhouse kick. Saito suplex by Takada into the cross-armbreaker but Hoshino breaks it up. Takada tags in. Takada missile dropkick to Takada. (EDIT: The MartMan was typing a little fast...either Takano or Takada missile dropkicked the other, lol). Takano misses the dropkick. Takano beats Fujiwara back into his corner. Takano Tombstone Piledriver! Takano misses the diving headbutt on Fujiwara. Suplex by Takano gets two. Russian Legsweep by Takano gets two. Fujiwara blocks the suplex into a Fujiwara armbar for the submission elimination. Takano was like a three year old right before you put him down for his nap. Wild & crazy and then Fujiwara snuff out that fire and put him to bed. Tied 3-3 and I like Team UWF for the win! Fifth Elimination: Fujinami grabs a choke on Fujiwara. Fujiwara sells these so well with the eyes and mouth frothing. Hoshino spears Fujiwara through the ropes for the double elimination. Hoshino gave us some great punches but I think he could have done more. I get this logic as it protects Fujiwara. It leaves us with Fujinami vs Maeda as the big match and Takada vs Koshinaka as the big juniors feuds. I am interested to see the booking. Seventh Elimination: Takada goes for an early Boston Crab. Nice struggle but he does get it. Koshinnka looks to power out and does. Koshinaka backbreaker. Koshinaka gets his own Boston Crab. He releases it and bodyslams him into a Fujinami bombs away kneedrop. Takada tags out. Late Match Maeda vs Fujinami! Maeda tries to overwhelm Fujnami with kicks. Maeda gets a reverse Triangle on Fujinami. Fujnami makes the ropes. Fujinami catches the Spinning Heel Kick and Maeda powers out of the Scorpion Deathlock into A Boston Crab in A Tussle over a Full Nelson they both fall through the ropes but Fujinami made his elimination extra dramatic teetering on the apron before falling into the abyss. I saw the booking a mile away once these two got in the ring. The Double Elimination was the only thing that made sense. Takada vs Koshinaka takes us home! Ninth Elimination: Takada kicks. Big kicks to head that are not his best as they obviously miss. Gets him good in the chest with a spin kick. Takada Tombstone piledriver! Koshinaka kicks out. Koshinaka makes the rope on Legbar. Takada goes for the Crossface Chickenwing. He gets it! Big chants for Koshinaka. Koshinaka makes the ropes. Takada goes for the Dragon Suplex but Koshinaka drives him into the buckles. Bridging German by Koshinaka for two that crowd bit on HARD. Koshinaka calls that the Rear View! He hits a second one! Takada kicks out! What is this 2021? Koshinaka Tombstone Piledriver Takada kicks out. Takada smacks the taste out of his mouth fancy pin cover that I have seen Marc Mero used the most and with some tights gives Team UWF the win. Even though I agree with DVDVR voters this was the least of the big elimination it was still a lot of fun. Without Inoki it lacked the Big Fight Feel and the red hot heat. The work was entertaining but it lacked the drama and the climaxes of the others. ***3/4

Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umansosuke Ueda, Kantaro Hoshino vs Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki - 3/26/86 Elimination Match I am wicked hyped for this match. New Japan vs UWF has been one of my favorite feuds. Team UWF is all the obvious choices with Super Tiger/Sayama being the glaring omission who did not come over for the Invasion but instead founded Shooto which to my knowledge is the first ever shoot promotion. Kido is taking his place. I have seen Kido he seems fine. Yamazaki is someone that has little New Japan World footage from this time period and didnt make the DVDVR set. I am familiar with him form UWF, UWF REBORN and the 90s. Team New Japan features obvious choices like Inoki, Fujinami and Kimura. Hoshino is not obvious but a very welcomed addition. Ueda I think shows the lack of depth on the New Japan side before the UWF invasion and the return of Choshu & Masa Saito. I am struggling with who I'd even replace Ueda with. Maybe Dick Murdoch? There is no way I am going to be able to keep up with the action, so stream of consciousness here we come: First Elimination: Maeda and Inoki handshake. Big oooh and aaaah. Maeda wants Inoki. Inoki makes a break for it, but his teammates hold him back. Big Fight Feel! Inoki has convinced his teammates to start. IT IS INOKI VS MAEDA~! Maeda throws a feint. Inoki runs the ropes like only he can. Wild Kick by Maeda but miss! Maeda kick flurries. Maeda catches the Inoki kick.. CAPTURE SUPLEX! Side Mount looking for a double wristlock. Maeda drags him over to Fujiwara. Fujiwara headbutt! Inoki chants! Fujinami in. It is the Battle of the Second Bananas! Fujinami gets a go behind, Fujiwara works his armbar takedown. Fujinami tries to block to no avail. Fujinami reverse waistlock. Fujiwrara bsucks off but headsicssors. Fujinami comes up with a side headlock. Nice double wristlock takedown by Fujinami. Hoshino in. As Tony Tiger would say This is gonna great! Fujinami clocks him with a right. Intense collar and elbow. Here comes the Mempho punch combo from Hoshino. Takada in and the lightning kicks on the smaller Hoshino tags him in the head. Killer Takada. Saito suplex. Legbar but Hoshino gets on his stomach to ropes. The crowd is wicked hot. Hoshino tags Takada with a slap. Kimura in and now Yamazaki. Yamazaki kick gets caught. Kimura slaps in the face in corner. Yamzaki roundhouse, Kimura drags him over and Inoki is in and it the Indian Deathlock his speciality and he is wrenching back and the Bow and Arrow. Crowd is eating this up! So am I! Fujinami tags in. Snapmare. Yamakazi turns out. Crossface Chickenwing? He gets it! Fujinami looks be in a bad situation. Fujinami blocks the German, Yamazaki does too. Yamazaki tags in Kido who love his punt kicks. Dumb person do that against. DRAGON LEG SCREW brings in Ueda who gets a big pop. Doesnt last long as Hoshino tags in. Hoshino whips Kido into the Kimura Leg Lariat. Suplex by Hoshino for two. Kido drags him over and here comes Fujiwara. Yes please! Great fist fight and headbutt. Fujiwara holds Hoshino for lethal killer Takada. Best kind of Takada! Offensive minded! Hoshino gets defensive great and armbar and tags in Inoki. Big Inoki chants! INOKI VS TAKADA~! Inoki single leg back heel trip into the Legbar which is a slap in the face to Takada. Takada makes the ropes. Tags in Kimura. Kimura bodyslam. Boston Crab coming...Takada fighting...no way Fujiwara would let this happen to him. Takada makes the ropes. Takada kicks to Kimura. Kimura does a good job absorbing them. Tie up in the corner. Takada UNLEASHES FURY! Maeda in wrecking Kimura wicked, wicked kicks. Great selling by Kimura. Fujinami is pleading the case for the ropes to get the ref to back off Team UWF. Maeda throws a Belly To Belly Cross ArmBrekaer but Hoshino breaks it up Maeda tags in Yamazaki. Yamazaki kicks in corner. Shit doeent look good for Kimura. Yamazaki wicked roundhouse and headtutt. GERMAN! Only two. Kimura backslide for three! OUT OF NOWHER! Yamazaki is besides himself and in the shocked Kimura tags out to Hoshino. Smart. Given how hard it was for me to type Yamazaki quickly, I guess I am happy he is out. :p Yamazaki is good for flashy kicks which we saw from him so he is perfectly fine first elimination. I like how New Japan was in early hole and snuck out an elimination. Team New Japan 5-4. Second Elimination: Team UWF made a big mistake letting their shock get the best of them as Kimura had the time to tag out to Hoshino. Hoshino and Kido go at it. Lets see if it bites them. Hoshino unloads in the corner and Kido strikes back. Kido swinging neckbreaker. Hoshino back suplex but Takada breaks it up. Fujiwara in and Inoki! FUJIWARA VS INOKI~! Inoki gets on his knees. Inoki goes for the leg kicks but comes back up. Inoki goes for the reverse waistlock. and then crossface but comes up his patented abdominal stretch. Inoki chants! FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! I marked out. Fujiwara works the armbar hard on Inoki crowd is going wild. Inoki flips to his back. Fujiwara wrangles him back over. Inoki makes it to Kimura for tag out. Maeda is in. Can Maeda finish the job from the last fall? Kimura looks a lot better. Maeda kicks out the leg but the ref backs him up from the corner. Fujinami tags in. Maeda throws a high kick. Good tussle leads Fujinami in the Team UWF corner. Takada in. Tadaka throws wild kicks. Takada gets behind standing switch. Fujinami FULL NELSON! That can only mean on thing! Crowd reacts. Takada struggles over to tag in Fujiwara. Fujinami wraps him up and holds him for a Hoshino flying kneedrop. Hoshino throws a haymaker! It is on between these two! Hoshino backslide and Fujiwara barley gets the ropes. Hoshino wants the piledriver. Fujiwara backdrops out. FUJIWARA PIELDRIVER! Fujiwara legbar. MIDDLE OF THE RING. Hoshino makes to the ropes. Fujiwara drags him ack in the middle and Hoshino has to submit. Fujinami comes in and an checks on Hoshino. Hoshino is good for great Memphis-style punch combinations so we got to see that so it was perfectly fine time for him to get eliminated. Fujiwara vs Hoshino was electric. Still havent seen much of Ueda. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination. Kido Saito Suplex on Kimura who powers out of a Boson Crab. Kimura works some Crabs and Kido makes the ropes. Ueda tags in to a big reaction and tags out to Inoki. Inoki vs MAEDA! Strong hard grappling but they end up in the ropes. Inoki is trying to eliminate Maeda via the ropes but Maeda is left clutching the ropes. Kimura tags in. Meada unleashes HELL with furious kicks and tries to eliminate Kimura via the ropes but Kimura hangs on. MAEDA SPININNG RAINBOW HEEL KICK ELIMINATES KIMURA! Kimura is known for his running leg lariat which we had seen. Kimura is a better worker than Ueda at this point (Ueda is quite old) but Ueda is the bigger star so this makes sense. You want Team New Japan down at some point. Team UWF 4-3. Fourth Elimination: Fujinami is in against Maeda. Maeda kicks the ankle and tags in Takada who applies the leg bar on Fujinami immediately. Fujinami rolls to his stomach which leads to a single leg crab naturally. Fujinami gets underneath but ends up in a leg bar but gets to ropes. Takada RIFLES Fujinami with kicks trying to eliminate him via the ropes. Wicked! Ueada saves. Fujianmi bridging German for two! Crowd bit. Takada hits his own for only two! Takada great kicks. Takada cross-armbreaker! Fujinami comes up with A SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Maeda comes in illegally and nails him with a kick. Inoki is in. Inoki Short Arm Scissors! Takada makes the ropes. Takada tags in Maeda. Maeda gets a Fujiwara armbar takedown. Big Inoki Chants in the Armbar. Maeda crossarmbreaker. Inoki tries to bridge to alleviate the pressure. Inoki reverse waistlock into a Saito Suplex HUGE POP! Fujinami in against Fujiwara! Fujinami pelts him with chops. The Fujiwara Boston Crab escape into multiple headbutts! Fuinami German Suplex for two, Fujiwara single leg back heel trip into the legbar. Fujinami Kangaroo Kick. Snapmare into the rear naked choke by Fujiwara. Fujiwara hags on as Fujinami keeps trying to roll through and that was sick! Keep hanging on but Fujinami closer to his corner. Fujinami and Fujiwara eliminate each other! When Fujinami does a forward roll over the the ropes to try to make Fujiwara release! Great use of the double elimination! Team UWF 3-2! The second bananas are gone! Sixth Elimination: Inoki comes in. Ueda has been useless so I dont like his chances. He is against Kido so this should be easy pickins'. Kido punt kick gets Inoki to the mat and works a chinlock. Kido gets the hooks in. Kido works the half nelson. Inoki gets a toehold. Inoki drags Kido over to Ueda to a big pop. Ueda comes crashing down on Kido's knee. Ueda vs Maeda! Maeda throws some big kicks. Nails him in head and Ueada wont go down. RAINBOW SPINNING HEEL KICK KNOCKS HIM DOWN! Ueada and Maeda eliminate each other when in the tussle near the ropes they both fall out. Pull apart brawl on the outside. Ueda was only 46 but was being treated like he was in his 50s wicked limited. They were able to leverage his starpower into a protected elimination for Maeda so he didnt have to job directly to Inoki. With Fujiwara and Maeda adequately protected, it is time for Inoki to clean house on these two jabronis. Team UWF 2-1 but I dont like their odds. Eighth Elimination: Takada in first. Inoki runs the ropes. Takada crowds him and throws a kick combination that Inoki ends up catching. They are he corner. Takada kicks the leg. Takada tags out to Kido. Takada ties up Inoki for some Kido kicks. Kido tries to eliminate Inoki via the ropes. The crowd buys it but I dont. Kido tags out. Takada tries for the cross-armbreaker but Inoki has hands clasped but Takada breaks that. Full hold applied. Takada snapmare into the rear naked choke. Inoki Saito Suplex on Takada. Kido in and Inoki dropkick! Kido punt kick. Kido neckbreaker. Kido holds Inoki for the Takada missile dropkick. Takada kick combination nut misses. Inoki legsweep! Inoki ENZIGUIRI! Another one! Floatover Supelx for two! Inoki rear naked choke on Takada and ring the bell. Who had Inoki vs Kido as the final two?!?! Ninth Elimination: Kido dropkick to the head! Saito suplex by Kido! Scorpion Deathlock by Kido! Suplex by Kido! Inoki clocks him with a uppercut. Great sell by Kido. Inoki Enziguiri! 1-2-3! BIG POP! Anti-climatic for an educated 2021 viewer that knew Kanye West has a better chance to become President than Kido had of winning that fall. New Japan vs UWF was so big so New Japan getting the win was huge. I totally get protecting Maeda but did Fujiwara really need protecting. I think Inoki vs Fujiwara in the Grande Finale would have had a lot more heat. My favorite New Japan Elimination match for sure but I find this genre just doesnt click as high for me as as it does for others. ****1/2

Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch vs Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 12/4/87 Four of my Top 100 Wrestlers of all time hooking up in a dream dream tag match! HELL YEAH! I can tell without pause why this did well in DVDVR Polling (#52) because this match is Headbutt City. If you love headbutts, this match is for you. It is a 30 minute draw that is worked like a 30 minute draw but still very good because these four are awesome even if never reaches that next level. The headbutts are the real drawing card. I am not a huge headbutt guy with the exception being Fujiwara of course who is the God King of Headbutts. There is a clip in the match, I think we lose about 4 minutes would be my guess. Murdoch and Fujiwara start us off on the mat. Nothing too fancy, I liked Fujiwara's top wristlock takeover and they trade kneecrushers. If I remember correctly, we get Murdoch vs Saito next and Saito is the first to throw headbutts. Murdoch is the only one who does not throw headbutts but instead throws Bionic Elbows, which look badass. Then it is Fujiwara vs Murdoch which is a similar story then we get Inoki vs Fujiwara. This is when it goes BONKERS! Fujiwara is throwing clear shoot headbutts with the clear intention of busting Inoki up and succeeds as Inoki ends up with a nasty cut above his eye. I didnt expect this to go the full thirty minutes and I didnt take notes. I am pretty sure Murdoch vs Saito is next. At one point Murdoch is trying to lift Saito into a Saito Suplex and how does Saito counter with what else but a headbutt! I am pretty sure Murdoch vs Fujiwara is next. They work the perfect Murdoch vs Fujiwara segment. It is filled Fujiwara Armbar Takedowns, Murdoch pulling him to the outside, wicked Murdoch punches and Bionic Elbows. I loved when Murdoch yelled for the Brainbuster and it was countered into the Fujiwara Armbar takedown. The way Fujiwara was selling those short punches to the face was amazing. Then we get full on Fujiwara in Peril and it was awesome! Inoki blitzes him with Enziguiris and Octopus Stretches and Fujiwara sold it like a million bucks. I think this is when Inoki/Murdoch did a double dropkick which popped me. Murdoch slung Fujiwara down with a powerslam! Then just kept dropping the hammer. Awesome heat segment on Fujiwara, great offense and great Fujiwara selling. Fujiwara CLUBS Saito and lunging headbutt! Hot Tag to Saito. FIREFIGHT BREAKS OUT! How does it end with a HEADBUTT of course! Saito vs Inoki is what I think happens next. This is when Saito pours it on..headbutts (of course), Lariats, Saito Suplex and finally the Inoki chants kick in. The crowd had been pretty dead. I think Inoki powders and this is when he hits his crazy Missile Dropkick! I definitely remember a missile dropkick from Inoki. I think thats what he uses to tag in Murdoch. Murdoch eats a Saito Suplex and he does his classic American sell spinning around on the mat. I remember Murdoch and Saito did the American spot of their heads banging in the middle of the ring. Murdoch going to the wrong corner very earnestly and trying to tag Fujiwara popped me huge. Saito & Fujiwara double headbutt on Murdoch repeatedly should have been the finish. It would have been so fitting. I know the match ends with Inoki and Fujiwara. I think Inoki hit a suplex for two before the bell rang. Two things stand out about this match, the sheer number of headbutts thrown by the team of Saito and Fujiwara. That was crazy. Fujiwara was out for blood at one point and got it against Inoki. The second thing was how good the Fujiwara in Peril segment was. The finish stretch was pretty good too. I marked out for the double headbutt after all the headbutts and really wanted that to be the finish. Great match! ****

Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi - NJPW 9/17/87 Interesting that the August match had two posts about it, but this match has no thread. The August match finished at #11 in DVDVR voting and this finished at #14 so only three spots separate them. From the line up, I think I would like this one more on paper. Mutoh just didnt fit with the Old Guard, while I love Hoshino's punch combinations, Masa Saito and Dick Murdoch add a lot of star power. I think Captain Redneck as the sole gaijin in the feud. As for the New Generation, I think Takada is an upgrade over Kimura. I like Kimura just fine, but Takada has become underrated and he had a really good series with Koshinaka and already at this point has more star power to him. Stream of Consciousness again: First Elimination: Inoki is taking Hoshino to the back...hmmmm...crowd to their feet. Inoki brings out Dick Murdoch is a big reaction. Ten years before the Monday Night Wars, Inoki is doing surprise debuts as the crowd is chanting "Holy Shit" ok thats what I assume they are saying. Theres a cut in the tape. It looks like Choshu may have been eliminated during the cut...boooooooooo! Looked it up on Cagematch, both Choshu and Murdoch were eliminated a little over a minute in! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Booo because I cant see it! Booooo because thats way too fast! Third Elimination: Maeda vs Saito! Saito Lariat! Saito Suplex, Maeda belly to belly suplex. Maeda hiptoss. Spinning Heel Kick for two. Saito tags out to Fujiwara. SSM in. Fujiwara leaps into the lock up. Fujiwara body punches. SSM fights back. SSM bodyslam. Takada in. Fujiwara leg whip and tags in Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi knee lifts. Inoki in! Inoki vs Takada~! Inoki goads Takada into tagging in Fujinami! OOOO we didnt get INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! in the last match. Criss cross. Big tease as Inoki tags out to Fujiwara. Fujinami is not happy. Fujwiara /Fujinami works a great snapmare/bridge series. Fujinami gets a single leg pickup and Maeda applies a leg bar. Tags in SSM who drops the leg on Fujiwara's leg. SSM Spinning toehold into the Figure-4. Takada drops a kneedrop on Fujiwara while SSM still has the figure-4 in. Where is the Old Guard! Here comes the Takada kicks and he pounds away in the corner. Fujiwara has heel control and dumps him on his ass. Saito in. He slugs Takada. Misses lariat, Saito shrugs off dropkick. Takada gets a roundhouse kick. Saito Suplex! Eat that punk kid and your flashy kicks! Sakaguchi vs SSM. Sakaguchi High Knee! Tags in Saito. Double Clothesline by old timers. Sakaguchi single leg crab. Maeda saves. Big Kicks on Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi has had enough of this and a firefight breaks out! Maeda legally tags in. Maeda kicks hamstring and Sakaguchi collapses he picks the ankle wants the single leg crab but Maeda gets the ropes. Saito gets suplex, Inoki tags in! Abdominal Stretch on Maeda. Maeda converts into a cross-armbreaker. Inoki is trying to bridge out. MAEDA OCTOPUS STRETCH! Takada Saito Suplex on Inoki for two and Takada cross armbreaker on Inoki, Inoki gets ropes and tags in Fujiwara. Fujiwara unloads on Takada in corner but Takada SNAPS~! explodes back! They end up in ropes. Fujiwara rips a Fujiwara Armbar takedown. Tag out to Fujinami. Fujinami beats him into Old Guard corner. Sakaguchi in. Fujinami and Sakaguchi love working with each other. Fujianmi Enziguiri! Fujiinami small package for three as called by Japanese commentator. Cant put my finger on it, but I liked the August match beginning a little more. New Generation 4-3. Fourth Elimination: Saito rides Fujinami to the ground and gets a leg submission on him. In the ropes. Saito goes for the Scorpion Deathlock. He turns it over and Takada saves. Saito Throws him into corner. Fujinami works corner. FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Fujinami tags out to Takada Takada tries to work Fujiwara Armbar Takedown but cant get perfect positioning on the ground. Fujiwara switch to his own! He is the Man! Takada makes the ropes. Fujiwara headbutt. Saito tagged in and more headbutts. Takada kicks. Sato dragon leg screw. Single leg pickup by Takada, SSM Leg drop. SSM headbutts to midsection. SSM Lariat on Saito. Saito tags in Fujiwara. SSM Lariat to Fujiwara. Another one by SM. Third Time is the opposite of a charm as Fujiwara counters the Lariat into Fujiwara Armbar takedown that leads a submission to tie this thing up! Tied 3-3. Fifth Elimination: Maeda chases Fujiwara back to his corner. Maeda misses Enziguiri on Saito. Saito hooks up and suplexes. Saito holds him for the Bombs Away Knee drop. Saito bodyslam and Inoki Bombs Away Knee drop again. Inoki bodyslam. Inoki suplex. I think theres a Maeda Chant! Fujiwara straight knee bar on Maeda! Maeda just barely gets the ropes. Maeda big kicks to Fujiwara. Big Spinning Heel Kick catches Fujiwara on the jaw! Spinning Heel Kick caught into the straight kneebar. Maeda makes ropes again. Put him away Fujiwara! Maeda kicks. Fujiwara leg scissors into a straight kneebar middle of the ring this time. Maeda makes the ropes. Maeda hooks him up. Small package rolling around and Maeda ends up on top! Boooooo but this makes sense. I think Takada could have gone before Fujiwara but this is a reasonable down the stretch. Fujiwara had been the star of the show with Takada's performance dripping with effort. This run of footage has been making me turn the corner on Maeda who has star power and in this last segment looked like a huge star. New Generation 3-2. Dont count Inoki and Saito out yet! Sixth Elimination: Smart money is on Takada getting eliminated next but after the Inoki/Maeda double elimination in August anything can happen. Saito attacks the knee of Maeda. Slamming the knee to the canvas as Maeda sells it well. Indian Deathlock by Saito on Maeda. MAEDA TAPPED OUT! HOLY SHIT! No wonder he Shoot Kicked Choshu in the face and started his own promotion. After that elimination he must have known the writing was on the wall. Tied 2-2. Seventh Elimination. There was a little protection in Maeda elimination given that Fujiwara worked three straight heel hooks/kneebars on his leg so you can say Saito just finished the job. It is Takada in. Takada dropkick on Saito. Takada pins for two and he is going for his patented Crossface Chickenwing but settles for a Boston Crab. Bodyslam towards Fujinami. Fujinami bombs away kneedrop and dropkick. Saito tags out to Inoki. Inoki Enziguiri! Butterfly Suplex for two! Tags in Saito. Saito sleeper on Fujinami. Fujinami tags out. Fujinami holds him as Takada nails a missile dropkick. Saito suplex. Takada kicks in the ropes. Saito dumps him on his ass. Saito suplex take over for two. Takada powerslam for two. Saito sidesteps the missle dropkick. He is winding up for Lariat. MACK TRUCK LARIAT FOR THREE! Old Guard 2-1. Eighth Elimination: I smell a rat. Fujinami all by himself. INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! Fujinami dropkick, Inoki kangaroo kick. Inoki Boston Crab. Fujinami full mount ground & pound. Fist fight. Inoki tags out. Saito bashes Fujinami head into the exposed turnbuckle. Repeatedly. Saito throws the ref to the ground. This is brutal. Saito bites the head. Saito bashes the head again. Fujinami tapped a gusher. He sees red! He fires away! Saito gets his feet up and bashes the head again. Tags in Inoki. Fujiwara swings and miss. Inoki has no shame and he is attacking the cut with punches. Fujinami last stand with Scorpion Deathlock on Inoki. Saito clocks Fujinami. Inoki headbutt. Inoki slams Fujinami's head into the exposed buckle. Fujinami throws ref away/ Inoki headbutt to cut. Saito tagged in and he Saito suplex! TWO! MACK TRUCK LARIAT! TWO! Fujinami wild swings trying to make a last stand. Saito bites the cut. Saito punches. Saito Supelx! Is Saito picking him up? Saito Suplex and Fujinami kicked out of that one. Saito punches the cut! Stomps the cut! Inoki tags in. Saito Supelx but blocked by Fujinami. Inoki SLAPS Saito and pins Fujnami! CHOSHU IS RIPSHIT! Choshu throws out ref. I figured Saito was going to turn on Inoki but I didnt see Inoki slapping Saito and stealing the win. Weird booking in my opinion. This explains the 1988 finish between Fujinami and Saito with the roles reversed. I think this was my favorite Elimination match. Best body/finish combo. These are fun spotfests with massive superstars and every combination is super hot. ****1/2

Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino & Keiji Mutoh vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Coshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura, Super Strong Machine - NJPW 8/19/87 As was covered in a couple other reviews, on Jericho's podcast when discussing the Island Death Match and from KinchStalker, this is when New Japan suddenly switched gears to an intergenerational feud. Fujinami, Choshu & Maeda is such a strange trio. Typically they would each lead their own army so it is strange for them to be together. It also pits longtime allies Choshu and Masa Saito against each other and forces Saito and Inoki to team. Masa Saito must have not been available as there is a strange wrinkle that Mutoh the super rookie of the Three Musketeers is with the ol fuddy duddies. Ill have no chance to keep up with all the action so stream of consciousness it is... First Elimination: On paper the New Generation team is stacked! Dont count out Inoki and Fujiwara, methinks! The crowd loves Inoki, if there was ever any question of anyone in the New Generation supplanting him, it was not happening in 1987. Mutoh starts off red hot with a dropkick and Bridging German on Fujinami for two. That was cool. Mutoh goes for the Scorpion Deathlock but tags out to Hoshino. FUCKING FIREFIGHT! INOKI COACHING ON THE OUTSIDE! FUJIANMI ROARING BACK! DROPKICK! BODYSLAM! Big Match Riki! Sakaguchi tags in. Sakaguchi is a big muthA trucker and he throws around Big Match Riki. Fujiwara in and grounds Riki. Riki tags out to Maeda, big reaction. Maeda unloads with an onslaught of kicks. Maeda more than Fujinami and Choshu by my estimation. Nice suplex throws by Maeda for two. Tries to throw Fujiwara out that count as an elimination. Maeda is at his best throwing kicks. Here comes SSM. The one I know the least about, suplex on Fujiwara. FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Go Fujiwara! SSM tries headbutting FUJIWARA, dumbass! Fujiwara no sells and headbutts him into oblivion! Hoshino in but he gets trapped in the wrong part of town. Kimura in and now all of the new Gen has been in. Kimura throws Hoshino into the old guard and that was dumb as shit! Sakaguchi takes the challenge and pelts with kicks to the hamstring. The juniors come flying at Kimura. He tags out to Choshu and Mutoh tags out to Inoki. INOKI VS CHOSHU~! Interesting Choshu gets the first crack at Inoki. Inoki ends up tagging out (not much of a crack). Mutoh gets dragged towards new guard corner as Choshu tries for Scorpion Deathlock and tags in SSM. SSM applies the Boston Crab to Mutoh. FUJIWARA HEADBUTT BREAKS IT UP! Maeda Spinning Heel Kick on Mutoh and then a Bridging German! Mutoh takes a gnarly kick to the chin. Kimura flying knee on Mutoh. RUNNING LEG LARIAT BY KIMURA! that his big highspot. Single crab, wicked one but too close to the old guys. Fujiwara in and slapping the piss out of Kimura who roars back. FUJIWARA CRACKS HIM! Fujiwara came to play! Fujiwara gets a reverse Triangle. Sakaguchi tags in. Sakaguchi puts Fujinami on top rope, slaps the shit out of him and press slam. Fujinami punt kicks Sakaguchi repeatedly Sakaguchi dumps Fujinami on his ass. Fujianami gets the go heading to tag in Choshu. Choshu beats on him in corner. Chosh returns the favor and pelts Sakaguchis leg with kicks in the corner and now turns him over for the Scorpion Deathlokck. He tags out to Maeda who misses Rainbow Spin Heel kick. INOKI VS MAEDA~! CROWD IS MOLTEN! Inoki tries his famous Ali leg dive kicks but Maeda backs off. They grapple to the mat. Maeda wins control but it is stalemate. Inoki gets headlock and forearms. Inoki retreats from a big kick. Maeda kangaroo kick. Inoki vs Kimura and Inoki headbutts his way out of trouble. Hoshino beats up Kimura and then Sakaguchi dominates Kimura into a Single Leg Crab. Kimura looks wriggle free. Fujinami tags in. Sakaguchi THROWS Fujinami halfway across the ring. Fujinami Enziguiri. Fujinami holds Sakaguchi MACK TRUCK LARIAT! 1-2-3! WICKED HOT FIRST FALL! Characters and the different combinations what make this. Sakaguchi because of his size has a unique presence, disappointed he is gone early but had a good showing. Fujiwara has looked the best for the old guard. Kimura seems to have the most time for the New Guard but Maeda has made the biggest impact thus far and is the most over of the new guard. New Generation 5-4 Second Elimination: Choshu leg drags Mutoh into their corner, Choshu is talking shit as SSM stomps a mudhole in Mutoh. Nice dropkick by Mutoh on SSM. Suplex for two by Mutoh. Mutoh is able wrestle him over to Fujiwara. Fujiwara body punches! Fujiwara tags him good. Bodyslam into the Inoki Bombs Away Kneedrop. Octopus Stretch on SSM, no one is saving him...should be over...SSM MADE THE ROPES! WOW! Enizguiri, second Octopus Stretch, easy submission. SSM was my least favorite of the ten so I was hoping he'd be gone early. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination: Fujiwara headbutts Kimura, who bullies him into the New Gen corner. Maeda slugs Fujiwara and tries to throw him out, but Fujiwara hangs out for dear life! Maeda capture Suplex for two! Maeda's Capture Suplex is so nasty. Kimura back in. Piledriver! A really good one. Kimura tagging Fujiwara, FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Kimura gets the ropes. Nice selling but Kimura. Kimura atomic stomp but the nifty Boston Crab reversal by Fujiwara into an awesome drop toehold into a kneebar submission. I am enjoying this a lot more than 1988 Elimination Tag. We are down to the big three of the New Generation. I figure Mutoh & Hoshino are not long for this world, but after that I am really intrigued who if any eats an elimination from New Gen. Old Guard 4-3. Fourth Elimination. Choshu stomps the hell out of Fujiwara as he goes full court press as they are down 4-3. Fujiwara Armbar Takedown on the suplex attempt but he doesnt have perfect postioning. Choshu gets the ropes but he is dangerously closed of being eliminated via the floor. Fujiwara is trying to kick him out. Headbutt! Shoulder butt. More kicks. Big headbutt. Lunging headbutt. Chosh slugs him with a closed fit. Fujiwara tags out to Mutoh. MAREDA CREAMS MUTOH WITH THE SPINNGINg HEEL KICK! BRUTAL! He throws Mutoh to Inoki! BOLD MOVE! Inoki leg kicks misses Enziguiri and Maeda missed Spinning heel kick. Inoki headsicssors, MAEDA AND INOKI BOTH TUMBLE OVER THE TOP ROPE AND ARE ELIMINATED! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! WOW! Nice Swerve! Big reaction! Maeda celebrates this as big victory. Old Guard 3-2. Sixth Elimination: Fujinami vs Hoshino! Without Inoki, I think the New Gen have this easily even down a man. Fujinami enziguiri and tags out to Riki Choshu. Hoshino great punches on Choshu. Hoshino is a punch machine. Was his excursion in Memphis? Serious question. Fujiwara ends up in the wrong part of town. Fujinami tries to eliminate Fujiwara via the ropes. He smashes Fujiwara head into exposed steel. That make a nasty sounds. Fujiwara's labored breathing was awesome all match forgot to mention that. Fujinami backslide pin of Fujiwara was anti-climatic, first anti-climatic part of the match. Tied 2-2. Old Guard is fucked. Seventh Elimination: Mutoh vs Choshu. Mutoh tags out to Piston Punching Hoshino. Choshu shoulder tackle and then a powerslam. MACK TRUCK LARIAT! 1-2-3! New Generation 2-1! Awesome the Old Guard team comes to down the Supernova Rookie Keiji Mutoh. Inoki gets on the apron to give him a pep talk. Eighth Elimination: Choshu vs Mutoh. Choshu kneelift. Snapmare tag to Fujinami. That is a weird sentence to type. Fujinami Scorpion Deathlock. Mutoh starts power out and tag to Choshu. Choshu goes right back to the Scorpion Deathlock. Mutoh Enziguiri! Choshu sells like his bell has been rung. mounted punches in the corner. Back Handspring Elbow! BACKBREAKER! MOONSAULT LANDS ON FEET! DECAPITATION LARIAT! Fujinami tells mutoh to get up as Choshu talks trash to Inoki. Brawl on outside among eliminated members. Fujinami German Suplex for three. New Genrations wins some huge ass trophies. Match petered out in my opinion once the Inoki & Maeda double elimination. I think they could have down more with Fujiwara, Hoshino and/or Mutoh being more valiant. I dont think you need to do all three, but one making insane last stand would have put the match over the hump into classic territory. The 1988 version had the more memorable finish, but this has the better body. ****1/4

NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs Tommy Gilbert - WWC 9/4/82 I watching a match with four of my top 50 favorite wrestlers in Japan and having a hard time getting into it. I think I may be burnt out. I threw in a curveball. I was going to watch some Flair in Portland but the matches were too long and this one at around ten minutes was perfect. Looking forward to Flair vs Colon. Typical Flair by the numbers TV Match. If youre a Flair fan like me, youll love it and it is Chicken Soup for your soul. If you dont like Flair you can skip. I thought the Wendell Cooley Mid-South TV match from 1985 that I watched recently was even better but you cant wrong with this. The shine was Flair losing a Test of Strength and taking a hiptoss. He chops Gilbert a good bunch, throws him out of the ring, nice delayed vertical. Gilbert's only highspot seemed to be the dropkick. Flair hit the Belly to Back Suplex for two. Gilbert got in a dropkick, missed the second which wrenched his knee in a tree of woe. Figure-4->tapout. Before the match Flair cuts a promo on the Invader with a Spanish translator that was good shit. It is Flair touring TV studio wrestling and its in Puerto Rico, pretty cool. ***1/4

Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami - NJPW 9/7/87 This was during the brief shift in directions of New Japan booking in the Summer of 1987 as explained on Chris Jericho's podcast when they discussed the Inoki vs Saito Island Death Match and something also KinchStalker has discussed on here towards an Intergenerational feud. After Inoki won the inaugural IWGP Championship by beating Masa Saito, in the post-match Inoki aligned himself with the old guard of Saito, Sakaguchi and Fujiwara. While Maeda, Fujinami and Choshu became aligned. This led to some strange bedfellows and opponents. Typical Choshu & Saito would be aligned and Maeda would be aligned with his fellow UWF wrestler, Fujiwara. While Fujinami had serious issues with both Maeda and Choshu. The feud lasted it seemed about three months before it was dropped in favor of returning to Inoki vs Saito and Maeda shoot kicking Choshu in the Fall led to the second UWF exodus. A short sprint between these four as the main meat of this feud was in New Japan elimination matches. The highlight of the Fujiwara/Maeda segment in the beginning is the terrific Fujiwara hammerlock takedown and then hammerlock bridge. Inoki schools Fujinami on the mat with a rolling short arm scissors. The old guys have come to play. Fujiwara busts out his nifty get out of the Boston Crab trick. Fujiwara cracks Maeda hard across the face twice in the corner before tagging out to Inoki to the money pairing. Inoki absorbs some Maeda kicks and takes him down and applies an Inverted Deathlock. A fist fight breaks out in the Deathlock. Maeda shifts positions and full mounts Inoki and ground & pound. Inoki misses an Enizguiri and Maeda misses the Rainbow Spinning Heel Kick. Fujinami in and he snapmares Inoki into a sleeper. Maeda tags in and applies the Inverted Deathlock as a slap in the face to Inoki. Fujiwara cracks him with a slap to break the hold. Inoki tags out and Fujiwara vs Maeda is a brawl. Fujiwara kicks ass first, Maeda backs him in a corner and throws a wicked High Knee that Fujiwara sells like only Fujiwara can sell. Maeda pours it on with a Super Tiger like Kneedrop. Fujiwara tries to mount a comeback but Maeda quashes it with a kick to the injured side. Maeda lets Inoki tags in. Maeda hits first Spin Wheel Kick but Maeda ABSOLUTELY EATS IT ON A SPINNING HEEL KICK TO THE CORNER! He LAUNCHED himself into that INOKI ENZIGUIRI~! OCTOPUS STRETCH! Fujinami is forced to break it up. Fujinami in, but he misses a dropkick and an Enziguiri, but Inoki doesnt miss his! Ever since Maeda vs Fujiwara this match has been red-hot. Fujiwara vs Maeda. Maeda misses the Rainbow Spinning Heel kick again, but he kicks Fujiwara in his bad side and wins the match!?!? Man this had a high trajectory, it was just getting good, but that abrupt finish makes it feel incomplete. Always great to see these four guys ply their trade, even Maeda is growing on me. ***1/2