William Bologna

Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue vs Terry Gordy/Steve Williams This is what you think of when you think of a Gordy/Williams match. Everyone hits one another hard and often, and they all look very tired by the end. I didn't hate it. The Americans are more interesting when they’re not just running people over, and Taue did some real good work. Gordy flings Jumbo out of the ring - Jumbo gets some serious air on this - and assists on an Oklahoma Stampede to get the win. It hurt more because Gordy was pressing down. Postmatch, Taue compares it being squished back in his sumo days by Konishiki, who weighed over 600 pounds.

Shunji Takano/Shinichi Nakano vs Stan Hansen/Dan Spivey I wonder who’s winning this one. Not much to say. Hansen lets Nakano beat him up more than I would have expected, but he gets him back in the end. Nakano takes a lariat and a pin, then he gets strangled with a rope.

All Japan TV April 8th, 1990 Rusher Kimura/Mighty Inoue vs Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada You gotta see Kawada's pants in this. His Footloose attire is always fanciful, but he's taking it to a new level. I can’t even describe it. They’re divided vertically into different colors, two in the front and two in the back; blue and purple in the front, yellow and orange on the back. I’m not good with colors. Maybe one of these is a taupe or fuschia or something. I wonder if he still has them Kawada's getting better. He looks real mean in this one. He does that thing where he kicks a guy in the face, coolly observes the effects, and kicks him again. He’s better when he’s not running, and the Footloose are always doing Irish whips. He’s been teaming with Tenryu for years, but this is the first team he’s acted like him. Kimura is decrepit but I like him. He looks like he used to be a great wrestler, although it’s not clear that he was. They bash at his scarred forehead until he starts bleeding (this starts outside the ring while he’s on all fours, so I think he did it to himself). Back in the ring, they continue to pick on the old man until Inoue gets frustrated enough that he gets in there with a chair and pops Kawada a couple times right in the ring with the ref watching. How is that not a DQ? Tenryu and Kawada are doing a double kick thing. Tenryu enzuigiris the back of head (otherwise it wouldn't be an enzuigiri, would it?) while Kawada spin kicks the face. They're more accurate with it than I would have guessed. One of these and a spike powerbomb puts Rusher down. These undercard Tenryu tag matches always have a fun wrinkle. He keeps it interesting.

Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Shunji Takano vs. Stan Hansen, Danny Spivey & David Sammartino Our final and most puzzling debut is David Sammartino. He’s in really good shape, but he’s dwarfed by his partners. Kinda looks like Ivan Putski from a distance. They give him absolutely nothing. Tsuruta bodyslams him over and over like he’s trying to break up a bag of ice. Sammartino goes for a snapmare on Taue, who just refuses to do it. Of course he takes the fall, and afterwards Stan stomps him a couple times! That was harsh. The differences in skill among these competitors is fully on display. It’s good when Hansen’s in, and it’s pretty good with Jumbo. With any other pairing you can see the seams. There is no reason to watch this.

Can-Am Express vs. Joe Malenko & Kenta Kobashi (All Asia Tag Team Championship) The All Asia belts have their own Lord James Blears. A little old Japanese guy reads a proclamation at the start, and he comes back at the end to hand out trophies and belts. This is the first time we've seen Joe Malenko, and it's too bad (for us, not him) that he got a real job. Dude is slick as hell. And it's always nice to see Furnas and Kroffat. I'm wondering if they had any influence on how the All Japan style developed. The sequences they do here are very intricate and feel more modern (well, 1997 modern) than the rest of the work we've been getting. The time-filling feels almost 80s-ish in that between the flashy stuff they go to the ground and slow things down, but the sequences really are tricky. These guys are so smooth that Kobashi actually looks a little clunky. You didn't get that feeling when he was in there with Abdullah. Also modern is the procession of kickouts leading to the finish. Some of them were pretty dang convincing. Kobashi goes down to the Tiger Driver, and the champs retain.

All Japan TV April 1, 1990 No dubbing on this one. I’m really not getting a lot out of it, so I’m not going to miss it. The translation just isn’t very good, and it’s mostly nonsense. Translating the chyrons does a better job of keeping me up to date on the storylines. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Rusher Kimura & Isamu Teranishi It’s a night of debuts in Toyama. I don’t think I’ve seen a Teranishi match before, but I wouldn’t swear to it. He looks like Shemp. He was an IWE guy, which explains his teaming with Rusher. This is an odd one. Kimura and Tenryu throw flowers at each other until Rusher mists Tenryu! I wasn’t expecting that, and the fans weren’t either. Tenryu’s face is green for the rest of the match, and he spends most of it playing the Incredible Hulk in peril. He gets worked on for a long time, and the ref won’t let Kawada break it up. Unfortunately, the IWE vets aren’t super good at administering beatings. Kimura just can’t move. His heart’s in the right place - I appreciated his spirit - but his body isn’t letting him do much. Kawada finally gets in, and this is a good showing for him. He’s showing a lot of fire, and he hits an absolutely picture perfect top rope body press (and nails his partner with it because Teranishi got out of the way). Teranishi gets a bunch of false finishes on Tenryu until he gets powerbombed. Weird, fun match.

March Power Rankings Genichiro Tenryu and Hansen are neck and neck, but I’m giving it to the Heavenly Dragon. This month’s TV was built around him selling his leg, and he made it work. Stan Hansen Steve Williams had a big month. He debuted, won the tag titles, and nearly crippled Yatsu. Great Kabuki. I like Kabuki! Jumbo Tsuruta

Stan Hansen/Dan Spivey vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Akira Taue After his acrimonious breakup with Tenryu, Hansen proclaimed that he didn’t need a partner. I guess they told him he had to have one, so here’s Spivey. He does fine. This isn’t super memorable, but Spivey keeps up with everyone, and it’s always nice to see Jumbo and Stan. When I proclaimed that Tenryu was easily the best guy in the company, that’s before Hansen flew over. He’s just so damn good every time you see him. Taue is better than I expected. You don’t hear good things about his early career, but he’s been plenty solid. This was a pretty damn good television show. I think they work a little harder in Korakuen.

Steve Williams vs Yoshiaki Yatsu New brainbuster translation: "Brain-baser." I figured out why I never liked Yatsu as much as the puroresu cognoscenti do. I've never seen Riki Choshu's AJPW run. Apparently Yatsu was stellar during that program, and by now he's past his prime. This is rough stuff (in a good way). Real stiff, real vicious and nasty. Good brawling, good power moves, and some more of the nifty grappling they’d done in a previous matchup. The guys sold well and kept up a good pace. I liked this a lot, and it’s the best either of these guys has looked so far. Williams wins with the Oklahoma Stampede, but his best move is when he reverses a bulldog into a backdrop and folds Yatsu right over. Actually, they might not have been selling. Williams has a bloody mouth, and we are informed that Yatsu broke two ribs when he got backdropped. He’s in a hospital bed and everything! He does miss almost two months, so I guess it's legit.

All Japan TV March 25th, 1990 The Champion Carnival Series kicks off in acerbic, bellicose Korakuen Hall. Genichiro Tenryu/Samson Fuyuki/Toshiaki Kawada vs Kabuki/Mighty Inoue/Shinichi Nakano Tenryu accidentally hits Fuyuki with a chair, and he spends the rest of the match bleeding all over the place. There's a big heat segment on him. They keep cutting him off. Finally Fuyuki gets a hot tag to Kawada, who just fumbles it. He throws another bad spin kick and comes off the ropes apparently without having decided what he was going to do. He is showing intensity, at least, and he busts out a tiger suplex, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do. Fuyuki is the hero today; Nakano rolls him up, but he rolls it over and gets the pin. Fun stuff. Just some nice, regular-ass old wrestling. Tenryu: “Fuyuki did a great job. We’ve been through a lot, but the Tenryu alliance is strong.” They’ve been hinting at some issues with Fuyuki - is he leaving the Tenryu alliance?! Events will make this storyline moot.

Genichiro Tenryu/Stan Hansen vs Terry Gordy/Steve Williams (All Japan Tag Title match) “The combination of murderer, fish, and lightning is completely terrifying.” Brother, ain't that the truth. This didn't do a lot for me. They all hit each other really hard for a while, and it's decent but didn't have me on the edge of my seat. The story, if you recall, is that Jumbo injured Tenryu's leg and got him to submit for the first time in his career. This carries over into the title match here, which is unfortunate. I wish Jumbo had injured his brain so they could work on that, because Williams and Gordy are not real interesting when they're working the leg. Tenryu's getting destroyed until he almost makes the tag, but Doctor Death tackles him right into Hansen, which leaves him alone with a bum leg and a doctor who’s not going to help him. Williams backdrops Tenryu and puts on a figure four like he’s never seen one before. Tenryu gives up just before Hansen can hit Williams with a chair. New champs! Hansen hits Doc with a chair anyway. Then it’s angle time! Stan turns on Tenryu and beats him up while all the tracksuit boys try to stop him. They are unsuccessful, so Jumbo runs in wearing a t-shirt to rescue him. Tenryu is insufficiently appreciative of this, hitting both Tenryu and Stan with Hansen’s rope. Hansen explains himself. “Why did Tenryu give up so quickly? We’ve always cooperated with each other. I’m disappointed in Tenryu. I don’t need a partner anymore. I’m going to go single. I’m number one!” Jumbo: “I thought Tenryu’s leg would break if things continued like that, so I instinctively went to help him. But why did Tenryu hit me? I can’t forgive Hansen’s actions either.” Williams was confident that he was going to win. He’s disappointed in Hansen’s attitude (which doesn’t sound like something he’d say). Gordy’s comment is posted in English with a Japanese explanation. “It is no use crying over spilt milk (it cannot be returned to the basin).” Tenryu: “There is nothing to talk about.” That's a wrap for the Excite Series. They announce matches for the dome show with the WWF, and then we get the Champion Carnival tour announcement. Confirmed to appear: Hansen, Gordy, Williams, the Can-Ams, "Suplex Machine" Joe Malenko, and "Power Plant III" David Sammartino (no footage, just a creepy-looking black and white photo).

All Japan TV March 18th, 1990 Two title matches from Budokan. But first we get a retirement ceremony for the play-by-play guy. All the boys do the thing where they throw him in the air a bunch of times, and he talks about his favorite matches (Jumbo vs Mil Mascaras 1982, the Funks vs Abdullah/Sheik 1977, and Baba vs Hansen 1984). He says, “Wrestling is a man’s romance.” Brother, ain't that the truth. Jumbo Tsuruta vs Barry Windham (Triple Crown title match) Weird that Windham gets a title shot. It wasn't built up at all - compare this to how heavily the tag title match was promoted. We only saw Windham once on this tour (also, Dustin Rhodes was here the whole time, mostly teaming with Windham, and we didn't see him even once). I've never gotten around to Barry Windham. He looked good here. “Barry Windham, a two meter ballerina who is throwing challenge punches.” He really is graceful for a guy his size. He misses an elbow drop and gets a shocking amount of air. Good strikes too. The announcers are talking about his family and also mention Dick Murdoch, “The true genius of professional wrestling.” Brother, ain't that the truth. The big highlight, which Jumbo complains about afterwards, is Windham dropping the champ dick-fist onto the railing. The finish comes out of nowhere. Windham hits a DDT and goes for a brainbuster, but Jumbo punches out of it and wins with a sloppy backdrop suplex hold. This is not the kind of Triple Crown match I'm used to. It wasn't bad, but it had an abrupt finish - I guess they started doing all the kick-outs later. It's only 12 minutes, and there wasn't much urgency or intensity. I wouldn't have known it was a title match if Lord James Blears hadn't been out there.

Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Terry Gordy/Steve Williams Tsuruta's in his Jambo jacket. Maybe he's saying to hello to all the fans watching this in Swahili. Gordy and Williams do the bumrush/dance around routine, but then everyone calms down and we have normal introductions. Weird. Jumbo’s fired up, and they’re really selling for him. He hits Gordy so hard that he needs to go take a walk. He doesn't have a lot of ideas, though. He does the Irish whip/knee bat at least half a dozen times. The announce team spends the middle of this match talking about the WWF/AJPW/NJPW show coming up. I feel like I was watching a cruiserweight match on Nitro - everyone ignoring what's going on in the ring to talk about Randy Savage or whatever. Williams and Gordy give us the worst double team ever. Williams gets in the three point stance in front of Yatsu; Gordy goes to the ropes behind him. Gordy trots up and gently nudges Yatsu into what was supposed to be a devastating tackle. Everything else they do really looks like it hurts, so this stood out. Yatsu should have kicked out at one. So that was pretty gentle, but otherwise Yatsu earns his pay. He’s in most of the match, and he’s not getting a lot of offense. If you have something against the guy - like if he owed you money or something - you’ll enjoy this, because the Americans are beating the hell out of him. Williams puts him down with an Oklahoma Stampede that doesn’t look as bad as it usually does. Jumbo did a hell of a job running into the ring to try to break up the pin only to come up just short. The timing can’t be easy, but he and Gordy go just far enough up the aisle that he couldn’t make it. This match does have a thread on this here site, and everyone hated it more than I did (I thought it was OK). Also people thought this was a title change, but that's not until next week.

The rest of the show is spent getting us ready for next week’s tag title match. First up: Genichiro Tenryu/Stan Hansen vs Kabuki/Akira Taue Kabuki is a puzzling fellow. He's got the facepaint and the gimmick name of an inscrutable oriental evil-doer, but once the bell rings he doesn't do anything inscrutable, oriental, or evil. This time we get to see him do a nunchuck routine and spit mist prematch, so I guess he's doing the gimmick a little bit. Hansen and Tenryu are an odd team. Tenryu's just as mean and vicious as Hansen, but they go about it differently. Hansen comes in yelling and hitting the fans with his rope, while Tenryu's marching stoically behind him. That's not to say they're not good together. This is a nice piece of business right here. The story is that Tenryu's leg still hurts from the Jumbo Deathlock the other day - he even missed a few shows. His opponents keep putting him in leg holds, but Hansen is very protective of his partner and is quick with the stomps to break them up. (Kayfabe-wise, Hansen is the best tag partner ever. He was really looking out for Roland Bock back in 1981, and he remained a team player through all the Johnny Smith stuff.) Tenryu's selling is tremendous, so this is all compelling. Taue takes a nasty-looking spike powerbomb and has to sell it for a while - Kabuki breaks up the pin, Hansen lariats him right onto the floor, and then Tenryu finally comes back to pin him. Taue keeps selling even after that; we get footage of them carrying him to the back, and he reports not remembering the end of the match. Hot stuff. I'm really going to miss Tenryu.

All Japan TV (March 11th, 1990) Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki vs Dan Kroffat/Doug Furnas The Footloose defend the All Asia Tag Titles against the Can-Am Connection. This is our first title match. [CORRECTION: No it ain't. I forgot about them beating the Fantastics in the first episode.] New brainbuster translation: “Brain-baser.” Toshiaki Kawada has not impressed so far, and his work in the Footloose is generally not well-regarded. I think there are a couple issues: He’s totally miscast. It’s not that he doesn’t have charisma; he doesn’t have rock ‘n’ roll tag team charisma. His body language is wrong for it. They way he carries himself clashes with his ridiculous-looking tights. Fuyuki isn't great at it either, but he comes closer. He does some stuff well. His clotheslines are looking mean, and his standing kicks are getting better. But he often sets up for spin kicks, and these are iffy. We get one early here, and he completely misjudges the distance. If the first 75% of a sequence is good, and the last quarter looks like crap, it's a crappy sequence. The finish: Kawada whips Kroffat into the turnbuckle, but he hops onto the second rope and thence sunset flips Fuyuki. Furnas stops Kawada with the diving tackle (rad), the Can-Ams win the belts. More drama! “Footloose loses the championship! Is Fuyuki leaving the Tenryu alliance?” This was good, and the finish was cool as hell. Why did we only get three minutes of it? Furnas didn’t even tag in, and we didn’t get a celebration or belts or little trophies or anything. I know the All Asia belts are an afterthought, but come on. I went back and watched the end of this with the normal audio, and it’s unintentionally funny. They show us Fuyuki getting pinned and beefing with his teammates while “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins plays over it. It’s like they’re making fun of them.