[1980-12-01-AJPW-Real World Tag League] Jumbo Tsuruta vs Ricky Steamboat

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[paul sosnowski]

This is another one of those random singles matches that takes place during the 1980 RWTL. It is a complete match. Jumbo has a funny little fro and is rocking his red white and blue gear, but doesn't necessarily appear to be happy and smiling. Steamboat has his thin 80's porn stache and longer wavy hair. I believe this is their only singles meeting.

 

Steamboat and Jumbo cautiously circle around each other, they lockup and Jumbo gives him a hard shove. They lockup again and Steamboat returns the shove, maybe a little bit of an elbow too. Jumbo grabs a side headlock, Steamboat breaks free and whips him to the ropes. They run and crisscross towards each other, Steamboat bounces off the ropes and comes off hard and fast with a flying bodypress for a one count. Steamboat shoulder tackles Jumbo and tries to come off the ropes again with the bodypress, Jumbo drops down and Steamboat sails over the top rope to the floor. Jumbo meets him on the way in with two headbutts to the midsection, Steamboat sunset flips him for a two count. Jumbo takes Steamboat down to the mat with a standing hammerlock, Steamboat reverses it, up against the ropes for a clean break. Jumbo takes the side headlock, they leapfrog over each other, Steamboat comes off the ropes with a high Thesz press. Jumbo nails him with two uppercuts, then whips him into the ropes for a flying knee that sends Steamboat back out to the floor. Jumbo brings Steamboat back in with an armdrag and keeps him on the mat. Jumbo works the arm, goes for a double underhook, but Steamboat reverses into a backslide for a two count. Jumbo twists the arm some more, Steamboat is selling it great, Jumbo whips him down to the mat with the very style of fast armdrag that Steamboat is known for. Steamboat spins out and gets on Jumbo's back, rear chinlock like the camel clutch, but without hooking the arms. Jumbo grabs Steamboat's legs and flips him back down, taking the arm again and hits a knee to the back, half nelson on the mat for a two count. Steamboat gets back to his feet, elbows Jumbo in the face, shoulder tackle, but then he misses a dropkick. Jumbo takes the advantage again with the big whipping armdrag, Steamboat shakes his head and tells the referee, "No". Steamboat hooks Jumbo's leg and tries for a spinning toehold, Jumbo immediately kicks him off, Steamboat bounces off the ropes and misses an elbowdrop. Jumbo stomps his back and takes the arm again, Steamboat gets up, Jumbo tries for the double underhook, Steamboat sprawls and backs him into the ropes for a clean break.

 

They lockup in a test of strength, but now Steamboat gets the fast advantage and takes Jumbo to the mat with a hammerlock. He works over Jumbo's left arm, bending it in unnatural positions and dropping a knee and an elbow on it. Jumbo does a kipup and gets to his feet, but Steamboat takes him right back down. Somehow, Jumbo gets Steamboat in a fireman's carry and simple brings him to the opposite corner, sits him on the turnbuckle and lets him go for a clean break. Jumbo takes down Steamboat with a go-behind, both men scramble around on the mat, reversing each other for control, Jumbo gets a one count. Steamboat gets a drop toehold and punishes Jumbo's arm, tying it up and dropping down backwards on it, rolling him for a pair of two counts. Jumbo scoops him up into an airplane spin and follows up with some smashing uppercuts and a knee to the midsection. Jumbo snaps Steamboat down and applies a sleeper while Steamboat sits on the mat, he gets frustrated and whips Steamboat into the ropes for a huge dropkick. He applies the sitdown sleeper again, Steamboat eventually struggles to his feet and carries Jumbo on his back, Jumbo takes him into the corner and rolls him for a two count, Steamboat reverses it for a two count of his own. Jumbo hammers Steamboat with an elbow, Steamer fires back with a big chop, Jumbo hammers Steamboat's back, double chop from Steamboat, Jumbo nails him with a punch to the face, Steamboat nails a karate style elbow thrust and knocks Jumbo down. Jumbo grabs both of Steamboat's arms and places a knee in his back, Steamboat falls to his knees. Steamboat reverses Jumbo with a test of strength and gains control of his arms again, grinding his knee into Jumbo's back now. Jumbo takes him to the ropes, but elbows Steamboat in the head, instead of a clean break. He whips him to the ropes and connects with the flying knee, and locks on an abdominal stretch. Steamboat tries to reverse it, but Jumbo flips him off and both men tumble over the top rope. Steamboat elbows Jumbo in the face, but gets answered with a piledriver on the floor!!! Jumbo gets back in the ring first, meets Steamboat on the ring apron and attempts to suplex him back in the ring, but Steamboat switches it up and falls on him mid-air for a two count. Steamboat goes for a bodyslam, but Jumbo shifts his weight and he winds up on top. Steamboat whips Jumbo into the corner, monkey flips him out, bodyslams him and climbs to the top rope. Steamboat hits a perfect high cross body block for a two count. Jumbo whips him to the ropes, both men collide mid-ring and fall back to the mat. Jumbo recovers first and goes for a pin, Steamboat small packages him, Jumbo rolls him over. Jumbo takes him down and hooks on a boston crab. Steamboat grabs his legs and rolls Jumbo up in the corner. Jumbo finally succeeds with the double underhook suplex, Steamboat gets his foot on the ropes. Jumbo hits a second one, Steamboat kicks out...the bell rings....THIRTY MINUTE DRAW.

 

I would have liked to see both men lose their tempers a bit and fire up at each other. This was a great match, extremely scientific. 4 1/4 ****

 

 

 

 

[Alex]

Found this to be mostly boring.  I need to have more fire and nice offense in between all the holds to keep me interested.  It took like 20 minutes or so to get some fire.  Then I wondered how well this did with the DVDVR poll and saw it wasn't even nominated.  Not a bad match but it was fine as a dream match oddity watch, definitely don't want to see it again any time soon.

[SAMS]

1980-12-01
AJPW
Jumbo Tsuruta vs Ricky Steamboat
Nakajima Sports Center, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
★★
Card

Jumbo has certainly filled out as this year has progressed. Evolving from baby 70s Jumbo and now more closely resembling the Jumbo I’m more familiar with from the rest of the 80s. He certainly seemed more assured here, more comfortable in his skin compared to say his series of matches against Murdoch earlier in the year. Obviously he has classics in the 70s, and a lot of them to say the least, but I’m not sure it’s a hot take to say that he probably wasn’t driving those matches against Funk, Robinson, Brisco etc. Here it certainly felt like the impetus was on him to work more from on top and I felt he came across closer to “the man” than he’s been able to up to this point.
However, this didn’t translate into a classic by any means. They ratcheted up the tempo pretty quickly actually, going for a rope running sequence within the first 5 minutes and Steamboat ended up crashing to the outside a couple times early on, but as would be a trend throughout, instead of building on this momentum they would always reign it back in and slow things down. The whole 30 minutes felt like the first opening 10 minutes of a match repeated three times over. It was only in the final stretch when it was clear they were reaching the time limit that they fully committed, which made it all the more frustrating as you knew they had it in them the whole time.
My assessment was that this was a timid performance from both men, lacking the courage to really go for it. Steamboat allowed himself to be controlled for far too long in sections. When he did get some offense in, it was great, but he was cut off too easily and he waited too long between hope spots that the energy always dissipated in between. Jumbo clearly was game to sell when required, but again, he was far too eager to sit in a hold. This could have been so much better than what it was.

[tcg91]

This is a good match overall, but it doesn't age as well as it could. They go 30 minutes to reach a time limit draw, but the first 10 are a bit of a throwaway, they should have put more focus into creating a relevant story since the beginning. I liked what they created after that, Jumbo's armwork was good, even though I was surprised to see Steamboat being treated as an equal of the future Ace. The finish stretch well orchestrated, but the lack of credible nearfalls ended up hurting the contest and even the fans weren't buying most of them. I see why some people might love this, but also why others might hate it
***1/2