Matches from 1990

[Tim Evans]

So i'm trying to get into All japan with Ditch's site and the All japan top 50 tourney over at DVDVR. I'm a lucha guy but I like the stuff i've seen from Kawada, Hansen and Kobashi. Can't stand Misawa but he's better than anyone on the TNA roster so whatever.

 

Hansen vs Kobashi 7/7/90

 

I like this match. It's early in Kobashi's career so you would think he'd just get squashed. This is All japan so it's pretty competative. Kobashi gets a lot of offense and pisses Hansen off before Hansen just beats the holy hell out of him. Hansen nails a great Lariat for the win. You could tell Kobashi was going to be big and Hansen was a great opponent for him.

 

Fantastics vs Malenko and Kikuchi 9/1/90

 

I don't get it. This match is sloppy as hell and Joe malenko does close to nothing as Kikuchi gets whooped. With that said, this was a fun match. Poor Poor Kikuchi. It's a wonder that guy is still alive and able to walk.

[Tim Evans]

I watched some matches from Starcade 90. Good event I thought.

 

Steiners vs Konnan and Rey Misterio

 

Konnan looks jacked to the gills. Rey Sr. looks like Tony Arce with the outfit. This is basically a squash match but a good squash match. Steiners win with ease.

 

Team Japan vs Team USSR

 

I don't remember the names of Team Russia. I've never heard of them but they were pretty good. Team Japan is Masa Saito and Great Muta. Saito brings the suplexes and the Russians bring the suplexes and amateur wrestling. Saito wins with the Lariat/Suplex combination.

 

Doom vs Horsemen street fight

 

I've heard a lot of good things about this match. It's insanly awesome. They bring the hate and it's just a total brawl. Kinda reminds me of the old Memphis brawls from the studios. Barry bleeds pretty good and Ron simmons almost kills poor Arn with a spinebuster. Good match.

[ohtani's jacket]

Atlantis/Angel Azteca/Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan/Emilio Charles, Jr./Jerry Estrada, 4/20/90

 

I haven't watched wrestling for a while, but I knew that when I started again it would have to be lucha.

 

Anything that could possibly bother anyone about lucha is something I'm completely comfortable with. Lucha is predictable, but what that really means is that I get all the payoffs I'm looking for. Take this match for example. This isn't a spectacular match by any means. It's the type of match they ran all the time, leading into a big money bout. But if you know the characters, it's a real treat. And since we don't have much lucha from the 80s, it's an even bigger treat. I'm sure all lucha fans can get satisfaction from watching Pirata and Satanico brawl, Emilio putting on the full rudo act and Atlantis pulling out all the moves he usually does, just as the rhythm and flow of each fall is a comfort. Even the old lady in the front row is something synonymous with lucha.

 

One other point... The top workers spent all of 1990 putting Angel Azteca over as the next big thing in lucha, but I gotta say his performance here was on point. One of the better performances I've seen from him actually.

[ohtani's jacket]

Atlantis vs. Emilio Charles, Jr., 9/21/90

 

Most of the great workers in this era were rudos. Occasionally you'd get a rudo turn technico to even things up, but generally speaking the rudos made this era of CMLL great. Atlantis is a guy who I've admired for a long time now because he was the best of the technicos & adds something to every trios that he's a part of. There are so many trios where it's three great rudos vs. Atlantis and two technicos, that you start thinking of Atlantis as some kind of MVP of late 80s-early 90s CMLL, but he was also a great singles worker. This match isn't a classic -- it doesn't go long enough to achieve that type of status -- but it shows how good Atlantis was in singles. Emilio Charles, Jr. was one of the best rudos in Mexico at this point & could mix it up in any style... He had this amazing afro that was just begging to be shaved & was the perfect blend of a stooge and a guy who can flat out go. What I loved the most about this bout was that Atlantis did a counter to a tope that I've never seen before in lucha, and intentionally or not, it seemed to throw Emilio off for the rest of the bout. Call it psychology or whatever you like, but it was a nice touch. Atlantis' selling was great in this bout, too. Something you might not expect if you're used to his trios work, where he was often there to hit his signature spots in rhythm.

[ohtani's jacket]

Emilio Charles, Jr. vs. Angel Azteca, 1/14/90

 

Some really good work in this match. This was about two years after Azteca's debut & one of those matches where he looked like he could hold his own in the push they were giving him. Emilio clearly led him through this, but he hit his spots beautifully. For some reason they gave up on Azteca after his big title match with El Dandy in June that year. Lucha booking is hard to follow at the best of times & there's not a lot of continuity to the TV, but anyway Azteca looked good here though perhaps not at the level of a star.

 

El Dandy/Satanico vs. Atlantis/Angel Azteca, 6/15/90

 

This was disappointing given who was involved & the matches they'd had up until this point. It was pretty simple booking and a simple style of Lucha storytelling, but they didn't execute it very well. Not to my sense of rhythm anyway.

 

Los Brazos vs. Pirata Morgan/Pierroth Jr./Gran Markus Jr., 6/1/90

 

Now this is Lucha... Exactly the kind of match I'd show to someone who wanted to try Lucha. Los Brazos are basically everything that is unique and special to Lucha & this type of trios has clear and distinct falls. The first fall is the slow, deliberate rudo beatdown. The second fall is basically the Brazos clearing house, and the third fall is the "all in" fall... If someone knew to Lucha can understand this rhythm then they'll have no problem watching any other kind of lucha.

 

MS-1/Masakre vs. El Faraon/Ringo Mendoza, 9/7/90

 

You gotta love it in Mexico how two guys over 40 can go out there and put on a clinic. MS-1 is the undisputed king of the rudos, but this was all about the older technicos. The second and third falls were things of beauty.

[ohtani's jacket]

Bull Nakano vs. Aja Kong, cage match, 11/14/90

 

This is unbelievably bad. Honestly, this has to be one of the worst "big match" match-ups of the 90s.

 

Bull Nakano vs. Manami Toyota, 7/21/90

 

Typical "Bull as Monster Heel" delayed squash. Toyota has no fucking clue what to do when she gets on offence.

[ohtani's jacket]

Jumbo/Taue vs. Misawa/Kawada, 9/30/90

 

Like many people I went through a phase of wanting to get into Misawa vs. Kawada like Norman Mailer got into heavyweight boxing. Now, the older and tireder I become, the more simple I want things to be.

 

That's why Misawa vs. Jumbo is great to kick back to.

 

Jumbo's selling in this match is top shelf. The way he carries himself, the way he fills in the gaps between moves. A lot of wrestlers don't sell well on offence. When Jumbo hits a move, there's always a reaction and it's that beat between moves that paces a match. He's always selling the match -- on the apron, on the floor, when the camera isn't looking... I've seen it described as playing for the front row or playing to the back. Jumbo plays to the house. The camera guy probably sees Jumbo and says, "I need a shot of this" and the director says, "Great, I can cut to Jumbo here."

 

Misawa and Kawada are quite good at this too, but in a more subtle way. Jumbo's theatrical by comparison. It's a good thing too, because if we're being honest Jumbo has some problems with his movement & execution that would be more pronounced if he wasn't so demonstrative while doing moves.

 

Then there's TAUE. Akira Taue is the All Japan wrestler I like most. I don't understand why people think Taue only became a good worker in 1995. He's the same Taue here only less stiff. This is the match where he takes an asskicking from Kawada and Misawa, reopening a cut to the head... He takes his beating like a MAN & his desperation lariats are awesome. Just like his sumo-style tachiais & that tope... I love Taue, so I love Taue offence, but that tope is ridiculously great. So bad. So very, very good.

 

This match has great rhythm and keeps up a nice pace for 40 minutes. The only downer is that it's a draw, and like most draws, loses its shape towards the end.

[ohtani's jacket]

Jumbo/Taue vs. Misawa/Kawada, 12/7/90

 

Enjoyable match, but not as good as the Anniversary show. They tried to work a story of Jumbo being laid out on the floor while Taue got a working over, which is the classic AJPW tag story, but Misawa and Kawada weren't aggressive enough & Taue's selling wasn't the greatest, not that he was given much to work with. The house was rocking at the end, but it didn't have much to do with Taue in Peril. Still, Misawa taking Jumbo out at the end was awesome. I thought Jumbo overplayed it a bit & look like an oyagi (Japanese old man), but it was an awesome spot.

 

Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi, 10/19/90

 

Y'know for a match that's famous for Kobashi getting his nose broken, it really is a short piece of adlib. Nevertheless, that short adlib raised this match from really good to a classic. Timing is the key to these type of matches. Beautiful rhythm and a fantastic match. Taue's sumo ruled.

 

Jumbo vs Misawa, 9/1/90

 

I never really liked this match. It's one of the biggest matches of the year, and the crowd is hot, but Misawa keeps taking them out of it with aimless, meandering shit. It seems like Misawa had no idea how he was supposed to work this match. Their June match is hardly a perfect piece of wrestling, but it has a more logical build & the characters are more clearly defined.

[Graham Crackers]

Jumbo & Tiger Mask vs Tenryu & Fuyuki, 1/14/90

 

Is this the best Tenryu match of the year? I haven't watched enough SWS to be sure but I can say that this is pretty awesome and definitely in the upper tier of AJPW tags from that year. Tenryu and Jumbo take turns beating up each other's lower ranked partners and boy, Tenryu really beats the fuck out of Misawa. Misawa and Fuyuki work pretty even and only ever dominate each other when capitalizing on what their partners have done like when Fuyuki continues the beatdown that Tenryu started or when Misawa capitalized on the damage to the leg that Jumbo has done. It's a great structure and it builds to some great moments like when Misawa knocks Tenryu to the floor and hits him with some baseball slides. All that really does is piss Tenryu off more and he takes it out on everyone. The finish is nice as well and features the kind of post match drama that you don't expect from AJPW.

 

Tenryu & Kawada vs Jumbo & Isao Takagi, 1/20/90

 

Whoa, something was really pissing Tenryu off in January of 1990. I had already seen his singles match with Takagi and he beats hum just as bad here but what's even crazier is when Tenryu starts to fight with random people at ringside like Masa Fuchi. The ring crew has had it with Tenryu before the match is over and so they all gang up on him while Kawada takes the losing pinfall in the ring. When Tenryu escapes the dogpile he's been busted open and then Jumbo starts brawling with him. Awesome. The Kawada/Takagi section in the middle kind of dragged for me but the surliness more than makes up for that.