[1987-10-06-AJPW] Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs NWA United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 10/11/87

 

Jumbo Tsuruta came to fight in this match! He was full of piss and vinegar in this match and it was glorious to watch. The whole match was very chippy, which is a place that Tenryu excels. Jumbo was pissed. That high knee almost took Tenryu's head off. Tenryu was smart to go to the headlock to try slow Jumbo down and sap some of that energy, but to no avail. As Jumbo came storming out with a flying armbar takedown and wrenched the arm. Tenryu then tried to slap Jumbo. Bad idea, brutha! Jumbo lit his ass up. He even hit a piledriver. It got so bad, Jumbo actually had to pick Tenryu up at two to deliver more punishment. Now pride comes before the fall and he rammed his shoulder into the post. Tenryu tries to go after it only for Jumbo to come back in the ring like a man possessed. It was totally engrossing to watch him fire up. Thank God, he missed with that lariat because I think he would have decapitated Tenryu right then there. In his craze, Jumbo of course falls to the hotshot! Since this is a double title match, I pretty much bit on every double countout like finish after this, which made the match very dramatic. There were a couple spots where I thought Tenryu had really blasted him that he just was not going to get back up to beat the count. Tenryu really gets a chance to pour it on with his big offense: huge lariat, reverse elbow and German suplex. Jumbo counters with his back drop driver! I thought the high knee into a lariat was a great spot for a countout spot. Then he was the time that Tenryu took the Big E bump to the floor because Jumbo side stepped him and that looked sick. Or the backdrop driver where Tenryu pushed off the post, I thought would be a neat double counout finish. This was just a crazy out of control brawl. There were some moments that took me out of the match like the fucked up backslide, but especially the botched pilderiver/powerbomb by Tenryu twice. It was just so awkward and slow that kinda killed that nasty brawl vibe they had. Then there was this weird stretch where I thought they were calling off the match and Tenryu was parading around. Maybe, if I spoke Japanese it would have helped, but one of the few times I have been confused during a puroresu match. Jumbo ends up busting Tenryu wide open and just loses his mind wailing away on Tenryu and eventually gives the ref the death bodyslam to trigger the DQ. Brusier Brody saves Tenryu and Jumbo and Brody have a pretty fun brawl.

 

The first half of this is insanely good and I actually liked the finish a lot too to set up more matches. There were periods down the stretch that brought the match down for me. As far as heated, wild brawls go there really are not that much better. This was an all-time great Jumbo performance as he was totally incensed throughout this match. Definitely watch this one. ****

[spookysaku]

Liked this match, but felt they failed to live up to their previous encounter in every way. Multiple awkward botches and one of the most confusing finishing stretches ever. To be clear I watched this a week ago and only got an account here today, but the finish is what stuck with me the most, and it was a complete mess.

 

I'm still confused. What were they even trying to do? You'd never get away with that now.

[paul sosnowski]

10/11/87 is the airdate

[Superstar Sleeze]

Rewatch: Like their first match I’m downgrading this a tick. It is definitely inferior to their first match. The strong positives of this match are a red Jumbo who is carrying out his aggression from the prior match and Tenryu getting a bigger stretch of offense in this one. There are more clunky sections in this and the finish is both confusing and lukewarm. Jumbo repeatedly smacking Tenryu around was impressive. Every attempt at offense by Tenryu was a grand insult to Jumbo who responded with fury. I liked how so much of Tenryu’s offense was created by happenstance like Jumbo charging into the post, the hotshot or kicking off the post on the Backdrop Driver. After the Hotshot was Tenryu’s moment, what a great string of offense, he slugged with that lariat. I thought Jumbo’s Back Drop Driver was extra hot. The more chaotic brawling elements were awesome like the High Knee into the Lariat but then devolved into mess with wrestlers prematurely declaring victory and a lukewarm DQ as Jumbo body slams the ref all of sudden Bruiser Brody saves Tenryu. I’m interested to get to 1988.