[1990-09-07-AJPW-Summer Action Series II] The Fantastics vs Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was a tough crowd, but this was a spectacular match. You expect Rogers and Kobashi to bring their A-game, but Fulton and Ace did too, having some nice temper-flaring exchanges and adding a lot to the match. The Kikuchi/Malenko tag had the much hotter crowd, but this was a much better wrestling match. People would have raved about this if it happened in the U.S. during the same time.

[PeteF3]

Very good match, better structured if less spectacular than the Malenko/Kikuchi bout. Rogers and Kobashi provide the High-End Offense and some pretty complicated double-team sequences with their partners, while Ace and Fulton bring the heat and the brawling. Kobashi gets yet another pinfall to continue his mini-push.

[soup23]

I am still partial to the Malenko/Kikuchi match but this was really good also. Refreshing to see the Fantastics have this mini revival. I am also formulating and opinion on Kobashi I don't want to state yet but will see how it develops.

[Kevin Ridge]

Fulton hasn’t had too much success with the suplex on the floor. Kobashi and Ace have some good tag moves. Fulton tries a leg lock and Ace breaks it by smacking his face repeatedly. That works. Fantastics have the timing down on the double dropkick. Kobashi with the moonsault for the win. He’s getting going.

[aethelred]

Very solid match, even if it didn't have the hottest crowd in the world. Kobashi already looks like a potential top star and the Fantastics are really good in this as well. Really liked their constant communication with each other.

[Zenjo]

Dead crowd and Johnny Ace looked raw. Kobashi performed the best. AJ missed the Cam-Ams in 1990 as the Fantastics weren't a like for like substitute.

[garretta]

This was a weird match. Zenjo's right about the crowd being dead, especially in comparison to the Misawa/Kawada-Jumbo/Taue bout from 9/30 that I watched before this. As for the match itself, the Tastics were the much more fluid team, but Kobashi got the pinfall to continue his own push, which is kind of strange. Neither he nor Ace looked as good as either Rogers or Fulton did, in my opinion.

 

The Tastics are on fire in Japan this year, and they'd have been an excellent signing for WCW if they'd needed face challengers for Doom. I haven't seen much of the Horsemen/Doom stuff yet, so I can't say whether the Tastics would have been better challengers for Simmons and Reed, but a Tastics/Doom series would have freed up Flair and Arn to still be part of an all-out Horseman push to take the World title from Sting, which surely would have been better than the Black Scorpion mess.

 

I think Ace looked more natural as a Dynamic Dude, though I do like the fact that he and Kenta use the Doomsday Device, probably as a tribute to Ace's big brother Animal.

[drew wardlaw]

I like these Fantastics matches because they provide something that I'm not really used to seeing in All Japan. Outside of the tag league, it's mostly big heavyweight tags and singles matches that I'm familiar with, and this feels more like "normal" tag match. Sure Kobashi is in it but it doesn't feel like a huge dramatic event. This was better than the previous match, and the match ups and roles being played were really cool. Kobashi and Rogers as the guys kind of carrying the match, with Ace and Fulton supplementing with the brawling and a different pace. Also, Johnny Ace had a cool drop kick/double team thing early on.

[dawho5]

Count me in on liking the Ace/Fulton interactions. I'm pretty certain I've never seen a bad Fantastics match in AJPW. Makes me wonder if they couldn't have bolstered the cruiserweight division in WCW a few years later.