[1990-01-20-AJPW-New Year Giant Series] Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Isao Takagi

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

Liked this a lot more then the 1/14 tag as this is essentially pissed off Tenryu vs the world.

 

There's some heated Jumbo/Tenryu action in the first half. Takagi takes a giant beating with Tenryu in ultra dick mode (these two have a really bad ass singles match on 1/28, only goes like 6 mins but it rules). Half the crew at ringside feel the wrath of Tenryu too. Fuchi gets punked out, Mighty Inoue gets his skull cracked with a chair, finally takes Great Kabuki & someone else I don't recognize jumping Tenryu 2 on 1 to stop him, bloodying him up in the process while Jumbo finishes off Kawada who brought nothing to the table here and was just along for the ride to eat the fall.

[Loss]

Jumbo and Tenryu really light each other up, which is great to watch. I agree that this match is better than the other one, mainly because we get more of Jumbo vs Tenryu. Love all the chaos with the seconds at ringside. Jumbo and Kawada have a really spirited finishing stretch while Tenryu throws furniture on everyone at ringside. He must have been cut in the fracas because he has blood on him. Great scene and very good match.

[FLIK]

He must have been cut in the fracas because he has blood on him.

Coudln't tell if Kabuki did it for him or Tenryu did it himself but it was pretty easy to tell they were trying to hide him blading when he got in a fight with him & the other guy on the outside near the end.

[PeteF3]

I actually thought this match was about 5 minutes longer than it needed to be, but when Tenryu was in it was fucking ON. The Jumbo/Tenryu stuff is the stiff hatred you'd expect with some great fluid sequences thrown in. More well-done worked-shoot type stuff with the stiff kicks and the other folks at ringside seemingly objecting to his treatment of Takagi, prompting Tenryu to go nuts on them with a table and everything else before getting beat down for his trouble. Unfortunately that leaves Kawada alone in the ring with Jumbo and that ends predictably. It sucks that there are only about three more months of this feud.

[Childs]

I actually didn't find the Tenryu/Jumbo stuff that memorable and thought it was a lousy performance for Kawada (by the standard he established in '88-'89, not judging him against his peak.) But again, surly Tenryu made the match. He almost felt like a character melting down at this stage, with his insistence on trying to bust up Takagi's face and his desire to fight everyone at ringside. Seemed only appropriate that his lack of control cost his team any shot at winning.

[PeteF3]

I said it at DVDVR and I'll say it here, but as far as Footloose goes Kawada was the weak link. I mean, not bad or anything at all, but relatively speaking. He was just not as good as Fuyuki yet.

[Childs]

I know that was a talking point during the '80s All-Japan watching, but I'm not sure I ever agreed. I watched pretty much every Footloose match on tape during the nominating process. Fuyuki was better in certain matches. But Kawada always had better offense, and he was damn good as Tenryu's partner in some pretty big matches. He just didn't look very good here.

[soup23]

I enjoyed Tenryu's demeanor and him gradually going over the edge and then flipping his shit but I struggled to connect to the match as a whole. Kawada brought nothing to the table and Takagi is just not as good as others to take the punk beating from Tenryu. It is kind of alarming watching these first few matches of All Japan on how risky it may end up being for them to thrust Misawa/Kawada into the spotlight in 6 months time. They each have shown moments of brilliance up to this time but neither has struck me as a consistent worker yet or extremely reliable in big situations.

[Cox]

I would say, purely as a match, I preferred the 1/14 tag to this match, as I feel like Misawa and Fuyuki were better in that match than Takagi and Kawada were here. But this had the better Tsuruta/Tenryu interactions for sure, and I loved the out of control brawling in the end with Tenryu seemingly taking on the entire AJPW roster at ringside. I pretty much have loved all the Tsuruta/Tenryu interactions in both matches, as they are excellent in how much they hate each other, and Tenryu holding contempt for seemingly everybody in the world has been a highlight thus far.

[JerryvonKramer]

I liked Tenryu's arrogance at the start of this waving Jumbo away as if to say "let me take on this chump first". Also love the way Takagi just fucking goes for it after that 100 miles an hour.

 

Jumbo's cheeky elbow on Tenryu is fantastic and his reaction.

 

This is a lot of fun. Tenryu is just totally mental here. Coming in when he's on the outside unloading everything he's got on Jumbo, the hatred is real and intense. Awesome.

 

His kicks at Takagi are just so disrespectful. Tenryu is on form in this match to the extent where Kawada and Takagi seem like actual jobbers in comparison. As a result things go a bit flat when either of the big 2 are not involved even if they are headbutting and piledriving each other.

 

Tenryu is basically out of control here, almost scary psychotic kicking Takagi in the head like he's a piece of shit on the floor before snapping and taking on half a dozen guys at ringside. Pretty great. Probably the highlight of the set so far for me.

[Laney]

I actually preferred the previous two AJPW tag matches to this one. I feel like the other two were more put together as a match, but I will give this one credit as being the most heated. Tenryu was all fired up here and entertaining to watch, but the match just seemed to fall a little flat to me.

[cheapshot]

I, like Laney preferred the two previous AJPW tags to this. The ruckus at ringside was great though, and the highlight for me, and that was more memorable than the match itself I thought.

[garretta]

Two things stand out about this one: Takagi literally getting the tar kicked out of him by Tenryu, and the unbelievable ringside brawl. I had no idea that it was notables such as Fuchi and Kabuki that Tenryu got into it with; I thought it was just a couple of ringboys, and I wondered why a bunch of them would go nuts enough on Tenryu to cause him to be cut. The ringside brawl was almost as good as the postmatch brawl in the Jarrett/Travis match, and it elevates this one to my foreign Match of the Month over the joshi tag with two matches left to watch.

[Johnny Guitar]

Tenryu doing his surly middle aged man act was great, and him and Jumbo hooking up felt big time. Who was the second that was kneeing Tenryu in the head and then wailing on him as the others were dragging him off? Great chaotic scene

[drew wardlaw]

Tenryu is feeling lonely, feeling mean, feeling hard. When Jumbo tags in and knees Kawada, I don't know if that's legit or not but if not Kawada does one of the better sells of that move I've ever seen. Tenryu continues the protective older brother gimmick from the previous tag. Great camera angle for Tenryu freaking out on the gound. Just staying on the hard cam and you can't see exactly what's going on but you see a table flying at some point. I didn't like this quite as much as the previous tag match, mostly because I really liked Fuyuki playing the weasel there. This one was wilder though. Tenyru and Jumbo, like what can you even say? Unreal.

[dawho5]

I _love_ Tenryu in this match. Whatever Takagi did to piss Tenryu off, don't ever do that. Tenryu goes after Takagi like a maniac and makes another throwaway tag something special. Oh and he also goes after everyone at ringside not wearing a Revolution jacket. God damn I love Tenryu!

[Jetlag]

This was a match to showcase the frenzy of Tenryu. Kawada kicks hard and has strong execution, but doesn't have the same contempt and madness down yet. Tenryu assaulting Takagi and repeatedly kicking him in the face was something else. And the Jumbo/Tenryu sections are just cool as hell because it's these bears just erupting and working fast, intricate sequences and clobbering the fuck out of eachother. That Kawada and Jumbo still deliver a strong finishing sequences while Tenryu is out there getting into bloody fights with the whole world says it all.

[Stiva]

Tenryu continues his streak as middle-aged man who is tired of people's shit, this time including half of the assembled hordes at ringside. I think I enjoy the previous tag, despite the more frequent Tenryu/Jumbo interactions since I loved the way they went after Misawa and the finish was great but man, this is another fine example of a tag match. Great start with Takagi trying to get the drop on Tenryu who responds, not out of anger, but indignation that someone even tried that. Like he's thinking "THIS motherfucker needs told" and that sentiment runs through with him in another great performance. I think Fuyuki looked better with Tenryu since they came managed to come up with more interesting ways to continue the heat and keep things interesting but Kawada does a great job at selling Jumbo's offense whenever he's in there with him.

 

The ringside action is what makes this though as Tenryu goes nuclear on whoever happens to be in his path. The boys fighting back is a great touch but it brings to mind Mongo from Blazing Saddles. "Oh no, don't shoot him. You'll just make him mad"

[WrestlingFan]

In the beginning of the match, Takagi charges at Tenryu, which is cool and surprising. Tenryu shows his hatred for Jumbo all along the match, that is enjoyable. Watching the Jumbo/Tenryu feud during those tag matches is fun. Kawada sells well Jumbo's offense. Unfortunately, there are lots of bland moments during the match, i can't call it good.

[Makai Club #1]

After Takagi attacked Tenryu before his match with Ivan Koloff, Tenryu was out for blood, blowing Jumbo off wanting Takagi instead. And when Takagi showed nothing, Tenryu turned very disrespectful. We got some great moments with Jumbo and Tenryu as well but the magic of the match was Tenryu’s disdain for everyone. As he showed in the Jan 14th tag match, Tenryu’s actions can hurt his partners and that was the same here. Tenryu got violently angry with Fuchi and everyone else on the outside and when he was too busy being the one man show, Kawada got left alone and dealt with easily by Jumbo. Tenryu’s character work is immense but I love how it had a consequence. ***1/2

 

[ShittyLittleBoots]

THE TENRYU SHOW. God what a magnificent bastard he is throughout this whole thing. He delivers a wonderfully nasty beating to Takagi, showing him no remorse whatsoever, and it's a joy to watch. His beef with the boys ringside is also great. Watching Jumbo's reactions to Tenryu kicking his teammates ass is very fun as well. It's an awesome match. Comparing it to the other Tenryu vs. Jumbo tags from around this time, I don't think it's as great overall as 1/14 w/ Misawa & Fuyuki, but it's still indeed one to watch because of the bona fide Genichiro Tenryu awesomeness. ***3/4

[Calvin]

This hits all the same beats as the 1/14 match, but with lesser performances from the minions. Kawada isn't quite there yet, and Takagi is just lower-card fodder who's there to eat the shit off of Tenryu's boots. In the end, Tenryu leaves the match to brawl with Jumbo's buddies on the outside, leaving Kawada to poorly fend for himself. Tenryu has gone piss-mad; someone give the old man some cranberry juice.

***

[Chess Knight]

I'd like to check this in sequence with the rest of the Tenryu/Jumbo feud but I'm doing 1990 MOTY, and, to be fair, I'm not sure how much I needed to know other than "these two really did not enjoy sharing a locker room," which came across very unsubtly in the match. Kawada looked a little lost throughout and isn't near a world beating striker yet but he sold hard for Jumbo to show the hierarchy imbalance. He and Takagi also had one great moment where Takagi fired off elbows and Kawada fired off headbutts, almost like the disdain between Tenryu and Jumbo was rubbing off on them in a gang war kind of way. But yes this is the Jumbo vs. Tenryu show, with every exchange between them being violent and spiteful and disrespectful and endlessly enjoyable. Tenryu assaulting people on the outside unsurprisingly was also an occurrence. But hey this time they fought back. Maybe would rate this like 3*1/4 if I was a star giver so could have been better given what program its a part of, but a very worthwhile watch.