JWA Revival Second Chapter - May 1985

[gordi]

JWA Special TV Event: Two Gauntlet Matches

Airing May 8th on Asahi TV

 

Match #1, 4-man teams, 30 minute time limit

“Batting Order”

 

Mil Mascaras Antonio Inoki

Dos Caras Seiji Sakaguchi

Kengo Kimura Yoshiaki Fujiwara

Tatsumi Fujinami Akira Maeda

 

Match #2, 5-man teams, 60 minute time limit

“Batting Order”

 

Giant Baba Riki Choshu

Jumbo Tsuruta Stan Hansen

Genichiro Tenryu Bad News Allen

Yoshiaki Yatsu Dick Murdoch

Andre the Giant Bruiser Brody

 

 

JWA Gauntlet matches are wrestled as a kind of combination gauntlet match and lumberjack match, with the men not legally wrestling or up next in the batter’s box standing at ringside and legally able to interfere if someone is tossed outside.

 

Here are the rules: Tags can be made, but only in the batting order provided. So, for example, at the start of the match Baba can only tag in Jumbo and then Jumbo can only tag in Tenryu. If Tenryu is eliminated and Jumbo is the legal man, he can only tag in whoever the next remaining wrestler is on the batting order (in this case, it would be Sayama). The “next man up” in the batting order must stand on the ring apron holding the tag rope. A wrestler can be eliminated by pinfall, submission, count-out, disqualification, or referee’s decision. Outside of the ring, interference is permitted. Any in-ring interference whatsoever is grounds for disqualification. Eliminated wrestlers may remain at ringside but are removed from the batting order and may not be tagged back in to the match. The match is over when all members of one team have been eliminated, with the other team being declared the victor. In the case of the time limit being reached, the team with the most remaining wrestlers will be declared the victor.

 

Match #1, 4-man teams, 30 minute time limit: Mil Mascaras, Dos Caras, Kengo Kimura, and Fujinami vs Inoki, Sakaguchi, Fujiwara, and Maeda

 

With one very notable exception, this was straight-up, respectful, clean and scientific wrestling all the way. Starting out with Inoki facing off against Mil Mascara was our way of trying to advertise that JWA is the ultimate in big-time Japanese Professional Wrestling, the place where dream match-ups happen regularly.

They exchanged strikes, moves, holds, and counters… then Dos Caras was tagged in for more of the same, then Kimura… the big exception to the general rule of keeping it clean and respectful was that Inoki and Maeda took every available opportunity to cheap-shot Tatsumi Fujinami. They knocked him off the ring apron threw him outside to take beatings, hit him with closed fists behind Joe Higuchi’s back… This had the effect of enraging both Fujinami and his friend and frequent tag team partner Kengo Kimura. That, in turn, led to the first elimination of the match as Kimura made a mistake and got trapped in the opposing corner where he took a ton of punishment before being forced to submit to Inoki’s Octopus Hold. Fujinami came in all fired up and managed to put Sakaguchi away with a Dragon Suplex to even things up. With about seven minutes remaining, Yoshiaki Fujiwara caught Dos Caras with an Armbar to regain the advantage. Once again, a fired-up Fujinami came charging into the ring. He did everything in his power to put Fujiwara away, but Maeda and Inoki kept breaking up his attempted pins and submissions.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the match, and victory for Inoki’s team, Fujinami was visibly frustrated and had to be restrained from going after Inoki. This led to a bit of a shoving match between Fujinami and Mascaras, and ended with Mascaras and his brother challenging Fujinami and his friend to a match on the 16th in Osaka.

 

 

Match #2, 5-man teams, 60 minute time limit: Baba, Tsuruta, Tenryu, Yatsu, and Andre vs Choshu, Hansen, Bad News, Murdoch, and Brody

 

While the first match was mainly clean and scientific wrestling, this one was a full-on 60-minute bomb-throwing brawl. It started out hot with Baba and Choshu throwing down in the middle of the ring, showcasing a different side of the Japanese Giant from what our fans are used to seeing. By the 30-minute mark, almost half of the participants had been bloodied and everyone was fired up and swinging for the fences.

Brody levelled Yatsu with a huge Lariat, tagged in Choshu who added one of his own, and then finally Stan Hansen was tagged in and hit the third and final Lariat on the former Olympic wrestler to give Choshu’s team the advantage. Andre the Giant came into the ring determined to even things up and that led to the best sequence of the match, as he and Hansen went about ten minutes at full speed with Andre throwing everything he had at the big Texan and Hansen simply being too tough to stay down. When a stalemate was reached and the men went to tag in Baba and Bad News, respectively, the crowd rewarded their outstanding work with a loud ovation.

Baba almost put Bad News away, but the judoka managed to escape and hit the tag to Murdoch. Then Captain Redneck and Jumbo went back and forth until Murdoch surprised Tsuruta with a Flying Headscissors after which Brody hit a King Kong Kneedrop to pin Jumbo and put Choshu’s team up two falls to nil.

With only 15 minutes remaining, things were not looking good for Baba’s team. When Brody and Tenryu brawled out of the ring for a Double Count-Out, eliminating both men, thing really didn’t look all that much better.

Baba and Andre were determined not to lose, though, and with quick tags and teamwork they managed to quickly eliminate both Dick Murdoch and Bad News Allen to even things up with a little over five minutes remaining.

Listening to the crowd, Baba and Choshu tagged Andre and Hansen into the ring. The two huge, tough men came in ready to battle for five more minutes, winner take all. Hansen staggered the Giant with thunderous punches,and barreled into him with Lariats and Shoulder Blocks… but he could not take the Giant off of his feet. With less than a minute remaining, Hansen went for a big Bodyslam, but Andre shifted his weight and both men hit the mat with the Giant on top. Three counts later, Giant Baba’s team emerged victorious.

As Andre and Baba were shaking hands in the ring, Inoki and Maeda made their way to ringside to show off their title belts and challenge the Giants to come and face The Fighting Sprits in the ring on May 16th in Osaka.

 

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tour Opening Show – Osaka, May 16th

 

Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh vs Shunji Takano and Shunichi Nakano

 

Masa Fuchi vs “Thunder” Yamada

 

The Cobra and Kobayashi vs Black Terry and Babe Face

 

Riki Choshu vs Phil Hickerson

 

Fujiwara, Yamazaki, and Funaki vs The Tiger Masks and Takada

 

JWA Middleweight Tag Champions Mighty Animals vs Adams and Hernandez

 

 

***BREAK***

 

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Gran Hamada

 

Tenryu, Tsuruta, and Yatsu vs Muraco, Bad News, and Atisanoe

 

Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs Fujinami and Kimura

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Fighting Spirits (Inoki and Maeda) vs The Giants (Baba and Andre)

[kevinmcfl]

Love that type of match. It allows for almost anything. You can play angles, start feuds, mix styles! What ever you want is all in one match.

[gordi]

Love that type of match. It allows for almost anything. You can play angles, start feuds, mix styles! What ever you want is all in one match.

You are absolutely right about that. I'll be running a few Gauntlet matches this year. I find them fun and challenging to book, and as you say it is a supremely versatile match type.

[SirEdger]

Holy crap, a Torneo Cibernetico well ahead of its time! Loved it!

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tour Opening Show – Osaka, May 16th

 

Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh vs Shunji Takano and Shunichi Nakano

This was meant to be yet another showcase for our Young Lions but for whatever reason (and bless them for it) they decided to showcase their bumping and selling, giving the veteran enhancement talent a good eight or nine minutes of shine before ending it in spectacular fashion with a Hashimoto High Roundhouse Kick followed by a Mutoh Moonsault Press.

 

Masa Fuchi vs “Thunder” Yamada

This was kind of similar to the opener, except in this case it was the more seasoned Fuchi giving the younger Yamada a chance to show off his amazing technical and aerial skills before Fuchi took the win with a high-impact Pinning Backdrop.

 

The Cobra and Kobayashi vs Black Terry and Babe Face

The Japanese team are physically much bigger than the Mexican team and for about ten minutes they simply dominated Black Terry and Babe Face, until Black Terry decided he’d had enough, knocked the The Cobra off of the ring apron, and took him out into the crowd for a wild brawl. As Kobayashi yelled at his partner to get back in the ring, Babe Face snuck up from behind and locked on a complex submission hold. Referee Verne Seibert had a big smile on his face as he awarded the win to Los Guerreros del Universo.

 

Riki Choshu vs Phil Hickerson

This was billed as a kind of qualifying match to determine if Hickerson could earn a spot in Choshu’s Army. Apparently, the big American earned a measure of respect from the Japanese veteran heel, as Hickerson was dominated in the action but refused to back down and he really managed to heat up the crowd by repeatedly challenging Choshu to hit him harder. Choshu complied, and ended things with a wicked Riki Lariat. Afterward, though, he shook Hickerson’s hand and welcomed him into the Army.

 

Fujiwara, Yamazaki, and Funaki vs The Tiger Masks and Takada

15 solid minutes of straight-up non-stop ass-kicking. For once, Misawa didn’t have to eat the fall as Yamazaki did the honours this time, falling victim to Sayama’s Tiger Suplex.

 

JWA Middleweight Tag Champions Mighty Animals vs Adams and Hernandez

Adams and Hernandez are way taller than Hamaguchi and Inoue. (6’2” and 6’3” vs 5’7” and 5’9”). That immediately established Mighty Animals as underdogs and gave this match a decent amount of heat. Despite their size advantage, Adams and Hernandez had no problems bumping all over for our champs, even taking big flashy bumps out of the ring. The crowd was going crazy for Mighty Animals, but with only a couple of minutes remaining Hamaguchi got caught in the heel corner. Gino held him in a Full Nelson and Adams came in with a Super Kick to Animal’s face leading to a Hernandez Full Nelson German Suplex to end the match and take the titles in spectacular fashion.

 

***BREAK***

 

Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody vs. Shunji Kosugi and Hirokazu Hata

A straight-up squash. Hansen and Brody got to run through their move sets while Kosugi and Hata bumped and sold and made them look like absolutely unstoppable monsters.

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Gran Hamada

Another exciting, fast-paced, back-and-forth match that ended with some subtle cheating leading into a Black Tiger Tombstone to win the match and retain the belt. While Black Tiger’s matches have been consistently good, and his heel work has been enjoyable for me to watch, he still isn’t drawing much heat as our middleweight champion. We’ll need to figure out a way to get him more over with our fans, or we’ll need to figure out who will take the strap from him.

 

Tenryu, Tsuruta, and Yatsu vs Muraco, Bad News, and Atisanoe

As if they were trying to out-do Rocco and Hamada, these guys just flew around the ring at top speed, pulling off high flying manoeuvre after high flying manoeuvre, throwing in unnecessary but exciting flips and slingshot variations…

…Nah, I’m just kidding. This was straight up clubbering all the way. Just elbows, knees, forearms, chops, and shoulder charges for almost 20 minutes before we got our first real wrestling move, then bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb until Tsuruta put Atisanoe away with a very impressive Bridging Belly-to-Back Suplex.

 

Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs Fujinami and Koshinaka

Unfortunately, Kengo Kimura’s bad shoulder got hurt again in training. Nothing too serious, but to be on the safe side we decided to have Shiro Koshinaka take his place. That took a tiny bit of the lustre off of this match-up for some of the people in the crowd, but Koshinaka played his role really well: Selling for Caras and Mascaras’ offense, fighting from underneath, making hot tags to Fujinami… and eventually eating the pinfall after a series of flying chops from the famous Mexican brothers. After the match, there was an elaborate show of respect among all four participants.

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Fighting Spirits (Inoki and Maeda) vs The Giants (Baba and Andre)

So, to recap, in April’s title matches, Inoki in particular and to a lesser extent Maeda: Roughed up and no-sold Brutus Beefcake, no-sold the North-South Connection’s offense, and got stiff with Mutoh and Hash and no-sold Mutoh.

It’s not unreasonable to assume that Inoki is a little put out by working for Giant Baba and no longer being the unquestioned ace of the promotion. It’s absolutely no secret that Inoki is a massive mark for himself, right up there with Hulk Hogan when it comes to taking his own line of bullshit a little too seriously. And, with Inoki as with Hogan, there is an upside and a downside to that. The good news is that their very extreme self-belief makes it easy for the fans to buy into them, too. It goes without saying that both men are enormously popular and arguably the two biggest pro wrestling stars in the world at this point. The downside is that they can be more than a little difficult to work with when it’s time for them to put someone else over.

A further complication is that Inoki and Maeda both fancy themselves among the world’s greatest martial arts warriors. Certainly, both men are legitimately tough and both have genuine fighting skills. Both were trained by Karl Gotch, so you know they are for real. They are far from the only legit guys on the JWA roster, though. We’ve got Olympic wrestlers, judo champions, and every manner of martial artist, athlete, and tough guy working for us.

Baba himself, while kind of goofy-looking and a bit past his physical prime, is still a damned giant who learned carny-style wrestling from the great Fred Atkins. He’s no pushover. And as Andre himself once told me: It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.

Anyway, the match never devolved into a full-on shoot, but it got pretty nasty at certain points. I think that Andre and Baba got their message across loud and clear: Nobody in JWA is bigger than the business. In the end, Inoki did what was right for business and submitted to Baba’s Cobra Clutch Backbreaker Hold. Hopefully it will be a good long while before Inoki and Maeda try to pull that kind of nonsense again.

The Fighting Spirits did not stick around ringside to pay their respects during the ceremony where The Giants were presented with the championship belts.

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Sapporo, Nakajima Center, May 24th

 

 

Funaki and Yamazaki vs Hamada and Yamada vs Los Guerreros del Universo vs Mighty Animals

 

 

Sting and Hashimoto vs Bigelow and Atisanoe

 

 

The Tiger Masks vs Fujinami and Mutoh

 

 

The North-South Connection vs Yatsu and Hara

 

 

Inoki, Maeda, Fujinami, and Sakaguchi vs Choshu, Ueda, Muraco, and Allen

 

 

***BREAK***

 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Bruiser Brody

 

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Fuchi vs Kobayashi vs The Cobra

 

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras

 

 

JWA Champion Tenryu vs Stan Hansen

[kevinmcfl]

Great show! 11 big matches is a huge treat for the fans. Like the story lines you write instead of move to move as I sometimes do.

[SirEdger]

Holy crap, is there a more dominant team than Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams? 3 titles in 3 different promotions! They're the top tag team in the project right now.

 

Speaking of which, Kevin, I promise to send you my top 10 rankings later this week!

[Boon]

Great to see Phil Hickerson out in Japan earning respect. Brilliant couple of shows, keep up the feel and great work..

[GeneJackson95]

Loving these tours....CCW may want to send The Southern Boys or the Nightmares over for tour at some point for some great experience.

[rainmakerrtv]

I would seriously pay money if somebody put out a Babe/Baby Face comp.

[Crazymax Jack]

Superb roster of talent here. But beyond that they're all being used perfectly.

 

Torneo Cibernetico running wild.

 

Good stuff.

[gordi]

Superb roster of talent here. But beyond that they're all being used perfectly.

 

Torneo Cibernetico running wild.

 

Good stuff.

 

 

I appreciate everyone's feedback, as always. Nice to here from Bottomlessjack2, in particular. I love the layout on that crazymax NWA project, and I think it's cool that you took the time to leave some feedback here.

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Sapporo, Nakajima Center, May 24th

 

Funaki and Yamazaki vs Hamada and Yamada vs Los Guerreros del Universo vs Mighty Animals

This match was a showcase for the versatility of our middleweight division, with Funaki and Yamazaki bringing the stiff and realistic shoot style action, Hamada and Yamada providing high-flying and technical wrestling, Black Terry and Babe Face bringing the face-punching and Lucha mat work, and Hamaguchi and Inoue adding some smooth 70s-style spice to that brew. Mighty Animals got the close win, to keep their heat up after losing the belts last week.

 

Sting and Hashimoto vs Bigelow and Atisanoe

This was a showcase for our most powerful young heavyweights. All of these guys have potential to be real stars in the future. In the present, all four can both deal out and take huge amounts of punishment, which made for a hugely entertaining match. The action went back and forth and all four men got close near-falls, but in the end it was Sting who got the victory with a Flying Clothesline on Atisanoe.

 

The Tiger Masks vs Fujinami and Mutoh

Two of the biggest Japanese stars of the present (Fujinami and Tiger Mask Sayama) teaming with two of the biggest potential stars of the future (Mutoh and Misawa). Sayama vs Fujinami was the match-up the crowd was dying to see, so we first ran through Misawa vs Mutoh, Mutoh vs Sayama, and Fujinami vs Misawa before giving the people what they wanted. The two big stars fought to a stand-still, showed some mutual respect… and then we went back through Misawa vs Mutoh, Mutoh vs Sayama, and Fujinami vs Misawa.. and that’s where things ended, with Fujinami nailing the younger Tiger Mask with a Dragon Suplex.

 

The North-South Connection vs Yatsu and Hara

Fast-paced, hard-hitting violence. Hara almost got the pin after a Superplex on Murdoch, and Yatsu almost forced Adonis to submit to his Jailhouse Lock, but in the end it was Murdoch who triumphed, after nailing Hara with a top rope Calf Branding.

 

Inoki, Maeda, Fujinami, and Sakaguchi vs Choshu, Ueda, Muraco, and Allen

Sakaguchi worked face in peril for a lot of this match, giving all of the bad guys a chance to get their stuff in… and then just when it seemed like the momentum had shifted there was a huge malfunction at the junction spot where Inoki was holding Bad News Allen’s arms and Maeda was winding up for a Roundhouse Kick, but Allen ducked and Maeda ended up booting Inoki in the head. Allen then made a quick tag out to Muraco, who crushed the badly distracted Maeda with a big Hawaiian Hammer to give the heels a shocking upset victory.

Inoki and Maeda got into a huge argument after the match, and had to be restrained by Fujinami and Sakaguchi. Maeda then demanded that Fujinami team with him to face Inoki and Sakaguchi… but Fujinami was all like “You’re not the boss of me!” and instead offered to team with Inoki. Riki Choshu then shocked the crowd by offering to team with Maeda to face Inoki and Fujinami in Tokyo on the 29th.

 

***BREAK***

 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Bruiser Brody

An intense and hard-hitting match, fought at full speed from the opening bell. Jumbo dominated the early action, but Brody took control when things spilled outside. The first two times that happened, Jumbo managed to get back in the ring before the referee’s count reached 20… but when the action spilled outside a third time Brody’s partner Stan Hansen got involved while Joe Higuchi was distracted. The Lariat proved to be the difference-maker, leading to a count-out victory for Brody.

The two big Texans continued to rough Tsuruta up after the match, which led to The Giants coming down to make the save… and that led to an epic stare-down, and a title challenge for the big tour-ending show in Tokyo on the 29th.

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Fuchi vs Kobayashi vs The Cobra

What made this different from a typical middleweight bout was that all four of the men taking part don’t mind bending the rules and getting a little rough in the ring. So, while there was still plenty of athleticism on display, this match was more about sneaky tactics and violence than it was about high flying and intricate mat work. There were a lot of near falls and referee Verne Siebert had his hands full trying to keep track of the action. In the end, Fuchi rolled up Kobayashi with a handful of tights while at the same moment Black Tiger got a pin on The Cobra with his feet on the ropes. Verne counted 1, 2, 3… and to break the tie it was decided that the Middleweight Title will be contested in a one-on-one match between Fuchi and Black Tiger in Tokyo.

 

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras

The famous brothers from San Luis Potosí earned this title shot by beating Kengo Kimura and Shiro Koshinaka on the tour-opening show. This match was a crowd-pleasing display of scientific wrestling, allowing Andre and Baba to show what they can do on the mat. A series of Flying Cross Chops led to some near falls for the masked men around the fifteen-minute mark, but after that The Giants were in control until Baba put Dos Caras away with a Running Neckbreaker.

 

JWA Champion Tenryu vs Stan Hansen

This match was the perfect opportunity for Tenryu to work a kind of JWA variation of the Hulk Hogan formula match. Our champ took a terrible beating from “The Lariat” and at several points it looked like we were going to have a new champion. After about 25 minutes of eating high-end offence, however, Tenryu got fired up and made a huge comeback. He even threw in a Big Boot/Legdrop combo as a kind of homage to Hogan… but of course that wasn’t enough to put Stan Hansen away. In the end it took a Scoop Brainbuster, a Rope Hung DDT, and a Folding Powerbomb to put Hansen down for the count.

In a show of true class, the big Texan raised Tenryu’s hand in victory… and then clocked him in the head with his cowbell, leaving the champ bloodied but victorious.

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tokyo, Budokan, May 29th

 

Funaki, Yamazaki, Hamada and Yamada vs Mighty Animals, The Cobra, and Kuniaki Kobayashi

 

Sting, Yatsu, Hara, and Teranishi vs Bad News, Muraco, Bigelow, and Hickerson

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Masa Fuchi

 

Sakaguchi, Takada, and Sano vs Fujinami, Hashimoto, and Mutoh

 

The Tiger Masks vs vs Los Guerreros del Universo

 

*** BREAK ***

 

Jerry Lawler and Jumbo Tsuruta vs The North-South Connection

 

Inoki and Fujiwara vs Choshu and Maeda

 

JWA Champion Tenryu vs Abdullah the Butcher

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody

[LowBlowPodcast]

Continued success here in Japan. Of the upcoming card, I would like to have seen the Lawler and Jumbo team q good bit. The Giant main event tag is also high on my list. Looking forward to more!

[SirEdger]

Tenryu vs Hansen must've been awesome to watch, I'm sure of it! Lawler/Jumbo vs North-South Connection should be really fun!

[kevinmcfl]

I enjoy reading your introductions to the matches and what the reason behind each match is about.

[GeneJackson95]

Loaded card...Jumbo vs. Brody and Tenyru vs. Hansen are huge draws here.

 

The card for the 29th looks amazing, can't wait to see how that one plays out.

[agentofenton]

Lots of fun tag team matches coming up. Big time championships to be decided as well. Looking forward to it.

[gordi]

JWA Revival Second Chapter: Tokyo, Budokan, May 29th

 

Funaki, Yamazaki, Hamada and Yamada vs Mighty Animals, The Cobra, and Kuniaki Kobayashi

Funaki and Yamazaki brought the stiff kicks, Yamazaki and Hamada the high flying, Inoue and Hamaguchi brought their classic style, and The Cobra and Kobayashi threw in some stooging and heeling. In the end, Animal Hamaguchi pinned Yamazaki after an Airplane Spin into a Samoan Drop.

 

Sting, Yatsu, Hara, and Teranishi vs Bad News, Muraco, Bigelow, and Hickerson

Despite all of the big names in this match, the highlight was Hickerson and Teranishi going at it on the mat. They pulled off some really lovely chain wrestling, and the crowd showed their appreciation. Blade Runner Sting and Bam Bam Bigelow continued to ramp up their rivalry with some impressive power wrestling, and in the end it was Muraco and Bad News pinning Hara after a Spike Piledriver.

 

JWA Middleweight Champion Black Tiger vs Masa Fuchi

Baba suggested to me that perhaps the reason the crowd wasn’t reacting o Black Tiger’s title defenses the way that I’d hoped was that I was putting them too high on the card. So, we tried putting this one a bit lower down and it seemed to work. Certainly, it helped that Fuchi is a really good opponent for Rocco. They just beat the crap out of each other. Black Tiger retained after an Eye Poke, a Neckbreaker, and a Diving Knee Drop.

 

Sakaguchi, Takada, and Sano vs Fujinami, Hashimoto, and Mutoh

There was a five-minute stretch in the middle of this match where Takada and Hashimoto just threw crazy stiff kicks at each other. It was beautiful. Mutoh sold a bunch for Sakaguchi but managed to make the hot tag to Fujinami. Sano sold a lot for Fujinami, and his hot tag got cut off, and then a Dragon Suplex ended things at the fifteen minute mark.

 

The Tiger Masks vs vs Los Guerreros del Universo

A fast and entertaining bout, with the visiting heels using every trick in the book to try and steal a win, Misawa bumping around like a maniac, and Sayama hitting a gorgeous Turning Moonsault on Babe Face for the crowd-pleasing win.

 

Kengo Kimura and Shiro Koshinaka vs Anoaro Atisanoe and Siva Afi

A “bonus match” that we decided to toss onto the card when Kimura insisted that his shoulder was fine and he was ready to go. This one was short and intense, with Koshinaka selling a ton and getting some butt-based offense in, Atisanoe getting a near-fall off of a Samoan Drop, and Afi missing a Big Diving Splash before eating a Kimura Piledriver and getting pinned.

*** BREAK ***

 

Jerry Lawler and Jumbo Tsuruta vs The North-South Connection

This was worked at a blistering pace, and there were a lot of hot tags and double teams and cut-offs and hope spots… but at the same time they kept it really simple: Punches, chops, elbows, knees, elbow drops, knee drops… and they’d build and build, to, like, a drop-kick or a body slam. It was amazing, almost like they were deliberately making a point about how you don’t need to do a lot of crazy stunts to build a compelling, dramatic pro wrestling match.

With about five minutes remaining in the thirty-minute match, Adonis and Lawler went brawling into the crowd, leaving Murdoch and Tsuruta alone in the ring. Murdoch once again tried to surprise Jumbo with the Flying Head Scissors, but this time Jumbo caught Murdoch, powered him up into the air, and brought Captain Redneck crashing to the mat with a devastating Powerbomb to earn the victory. Murdoch offered his hand to Tsuruta, and after a short hesitation they showed their mutual respect. Lawler joined them in the ring and all three men shook hands while the crowd cheered. Adonis refused to participate, choosing instead to express contempt and disgust as he turned his back and walked away.

 

Inoki and Fujiwara vs Choshu and Maeda

This is probably the biggest risk I’m ever going to take as a booker: We’re trying to turn Antonio Inoki into a sympathetic babyface. The man is an iconic star in Japanese wrestling, and he earned that position by relentlessly promoting himself as a legitimately dominant martial artist. But, he’s been on top for so long that it’s grown more than a little stale. Inoki’s still got a lot of fans, but… our hope is that we can revitalize his character by, for the first time in his career, having him play a little bit of an underdog role. It took quite a bit of convincing to get Inoki to agree to this, and in fact I think he came very close to quitting and trying to start up his own promotion… but in the end he finally agreed to give it a try.

So, Choshu and Maeda came to the ring accompanied by several members of Choshu’s Army: Phil Hickerson, Bam Bam Bigelow, Anoaro Atisanoe, Siva Afi, and Yoji Anjo. They alternated between distracting the referee so that Choshu and Maeda could get cheap shots in, and interfering with Inoki and Fujiwara whenever the referee tried to get the in-ring situation under control.

Eventually Seiji Sakaguchi and Masakatsu Funaki came out to ringside to even the odds a little, but that just led to more chaos. As Red Shoes Unno was scrambling to try and restore order, both Hickerson and Bigelow waffled Inoki with nasty chair shots. They tossed Inoki back into the ring, and Atisanoe and Afi held Fujiwara back as Maeda hit a High Roundhouse Kick to Inoki’s head, Choshu crushed him with a Riki Lariat, and Unno was left with no choice but to count the one… two… three.

Choshu and his army strutted triumphantly to the back as Sakaguchi, Funaki, and Fujiwara helped Inoki to his feet. The crowd started chanting “I-no-ki! I-No-Ki! I-NO-KI!” and the chant grew louder and louder as the face team limped up the hanamichi. When he made his way backstage, Inoki briefly made eye contact with me, and nodded.

 

JWA Champion Tenryu vs Abdullah the Butcher

Abdullah came to the ring accompanied by Umanosuke Ueda and Tatsutoshi Goto. The champ came out alone. The Butcher was simply savage in this match, going after Tenryu’s throat and eyes and stabbing his forehead repeatedly with a fork every time Ueda and Goto managed to distract the referee. Five minutes into the match, Tenryu was already bleeding like a stuck pig. At the ten minute mark, the challenger tossed the champ outside and distracted the ref by showing him the bloody taped-up fork. While Kyohei Wada tried to take the fork away from The Butcher, Ueda and Goto put the boots to Tenryu on the outside. The enraged and bloodied champion fought back valiantly against the two blonde heels and eventually made his way back into the ring where he went after Abdullah with a series of punches and chops. In an astonishing feat of power, Tenryu got the Madman from the Sudan up in the air and slammed him to the mat. Tenryu then grabbed the fork out of Wada’s hand and went for a little bit of “turnabout is fair play” by stabbing The Butcher in his face, neck, and shoulder. Ueda and Goto charged into the ring to save Abdullah, but Tenryu went right after them with the fork as well, bloodying both men. Referee Wada tried in vain to get the fork back from Tenryu, and was forced to call for the Disqualification when Tenryu tossed him across the ring in order to inflict more punishment on the bad guys. The champ lost the match but kept his belt, and got revenge by chasing all three heels back to the dressing room, screaming and waving the bloody fork in the air..

 

JWA Tag Team Champions The Giants vs Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody

So, how do you follow up Lawler and Jumbo teaming for the first time ever, Inoki doing the job, and Tenryu bleeding all over the ring? In this case, by cranking up the star power, stiffness, and intensity to eleven and holding nothing back. Hansen went at Baba, Baba went at Brody, Brody went at Andre, Andre went at Hansen… About 20 minutes in, Andre and Brody took each other out on the floor, and Baba and Hansen hit the ropes and came at each other like two charging bulls. Hansen hit his Lariat and Baba simultaneously hit his Running Neck Breaker. Both men went down, hard. With the last iota of his remaining energy, Giant Baba rolled over so his right shoulder and arm covered Stan Hansen’s chest. Joe Higuchi made the count: One… two… Hansen tried to kick out but Higuchi’s hand hit the canvas a third time moments before Hansen got his shoulder off the canvas.

[kevinmcfl]

Just love the style. Your use of American wrestlers makes it more interesting to me as that is what I am familiar with. Love the 3 Way handshake with Lawler, Murdoch and Jumbo.

 

Inoki seems like he has some work ahead of him. The best re able to assume many roles and he should I understand that and go with it.

 

How common was it to see Americans in the 3 final matches? I enjoy it but doe Japan?

[SirEdger]

There was a little bit of everything for everyone and that's what I mostly like about your cards. You can cater to everyone while keeping the tradition of puroresu!

[gordi]

Continued success here in Japan. Of the upcoming card, I would like to have seen the Lawler and Jumbo team q good bit. The Giant main event tag is also high on my list. Looking forward to more!

 

 

Tenryu vs Hansen must've been awesome to watch, I'm sure of it! Lawler/Jumbo vs North-South Connection should be really fun!

 

 

Loaded card...Jumbo vs. Brody and Tenyru vs. Hansen are huge draws here.

 

The card for the 29th looks amazing, can't wait to see how that one plays out.

 

 

Lots of fun tag team matches coming up. Big time championships to be decided as well. Looking forward to it.

 

Hope y'all enjoyed those match-ups. Andre and the Freelancers add a great deal to my cards, it's really fun to book shows with them around. I've been trying to book shows full of matches that I would want to see, so it's nice that you guys like those match-ups as well.