[1989-01-28-AJPW] British Bulldogs vs Dean & Joe Malenko

[SirEdger]

That was a real treat for me because I'm not too familiar with that period of time in the career of the British Bulldogs. I knew that they quit WWE shortly following Summerslam in 88 (and the Dynamite Kid-Jacques Rougeau incident) but I wasn't sure of when they had gone to Japan. Also my first real shot at seeing Joe Malenko, other than that time they were involved in that special tournament in WCW in 1991(?) at Starrcade.

Really good pace in that match and some very cool sequences. There's one in particular between Dynamite Kid and Joe Malenko where Joe locks in a Full Nelson and Dynamite breaks it, drops down but Joe picks him right back up by the legs and locks the Full Nelson back again. On a sidenote, it's always known to everyone how much Chris Benoit emulated Dynamite Kid in his style but it struck me so much in this one just by actually watching Dynamite Kid wrestle for the first time in so long. The repertoire, the selling, the facial expressions.....Benoit was a carbon copy of Dynamite Kid in so many ways...Anyway, I think this is a very good introduction to not only the Malenkos as a duo but also that time period when the Bulldogs worked in Japan. Really recommended.

[Beast]

Good stuff; lots of interesting pieces that kept me involved over the 25 minutes. The holds get more and more intricate and painful looking, and the high spots are placed well. This was one of the first tag matches I've seen where the tag outs genuinely feel strategic, in that the guy in control knows his partner is more rested so he may as well switch out. Every moment feels earned. 

Lots of big spots throughout, with the highlight being Dean dropkicking both Bulldogs over the top while Davey was about to press slam Dynamite onto Joe.