[1996-06-30-Rikidozan Memorial] Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Riki Choshu & Koki Kakihara

[Edwin]

It's clear who was brought in to eat the fall, but in the process he puts on a fiery, gutsy performance and he goes toe-to-toe with Tenryu as they trade some nasty slaps and punches to the mouth. He also eats some nasty chops from Tenryu straight to the throat. We get some instances and teases of the Choshu vs. Tenryu and Fujinami feuds from the 80's, but they're just flash moments and never really escalate to much. This isn't a MOTYC or anything, but it's worth watching just to see Tenryu and Kitahara go at it.

[KB8]

I wrote about this a few months ago and thought it was fun.

Pretty standard tribute show affair, with the big stars playing their hits and the support act getting to strum a few notes with the headliners. The twist with the partner mishmash did make for a cool Tenryu/Kitahara dynamic, though. Kitahara took the chance to get chippy with his boss and it led to some awesome little nasty exchanges, including Kitahara getting the mount and raining down forearms. Kitahara also absolutely fucking drilled him in the jaw with a left hook and I shit you not Tenryu's sell of it might be the best there's ever been. Then he cracked him back a minute later and I can't do justice to how good this punch was. The muted crowd meant you heard the smack loud and clear, too. Finish was a wee bit sudden, but you watch this for the greatest hits and that was what we got.