[1987-11-26-AJPW] Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu

[Superstar Sleeze]

Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy  vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 11/26/87

I did about an hour of work and then I was like it is fucking Sunday night, why am I doing work? I need to honor the Good Lord and watch some badass pro wrestling! 

Hansen has a new partner and it is Terry Gordy. Gordy is an upgrade over DiBiase in that he fits the bill a lot better as a roughhousing bully heel. That being said, I have always found Gordy to be very alright. He is an athletic big man, whose true strength is bumping which is not as valued in Japan as it is in America so I think he is always solid as Hansen's partner, but it is always the Hansen show. 

I have been watching a lot of Hansen in tags and why the matches are not always ***** classics, he always gives a performance that drips with effort. I don't feel like I have been calling that out. He is usually the MVP of any tag team match he is in. He is awesome on the apron barking out orders to his partner and especially the ref. I love Hansen giving the ref the business. I really enjoyed in the second Jumbo face in peril when Jumbo hiptosses him over on the abdominal stretch, he immediately scrambles and picks the ankle to stop the tag from happening. The way he ends his own heat segment wen Yatsu comes in with brutal headbutts and general bullying. His selling at the end is sublime. He is a terrific pro wrestler. 

The beginning is the usual chippy Hansen vs Jumbo. They focus on the left arm of Jumbo. Gordy misses a charge in the corner, this affords Jumbo the chance to tag out and wring out his arm. Besides a quick double team, Yatsu doesnt last too long as he misses a dropkick. Yatsu and Gordy trade a couple back suplexes.     Jumbo and Yastu do an an entertaining double team where each man takes an arm and wring it out. This leads to Hansen in peril and Jumbo does most of the work on Hansen. I liked Yatsu coming and kicking Hansen's arm while in the double wristlock. Yatsu loses control in the aforementioned way. Yatsu holds his own with Gordy. Gordy the king of the suplex struggle loses to an inside cradle by Yatsu. Gordy wants a piledriver on Jumbo, nope. JUMBO TRUCKS GORDY! Gordy does a very American sell with his ass over tea kettle. This is when I notice how dead this crowd is. It was would remain dead the rest of the match even though Jumbo tries cheerleading so hard to get them into it. Hansen does the whole "beast yanks the victim back to his lair" that I love forcefully pulling Jumbo to the outside, kicking ass and swinging chair wildly and connecting with Jumbo. Even Hansen going into the crowd stealing a chair and swinging it like a madman does nothing for this crowd. I love how much of a pest Yastu was in this heat segment on Jumbo, constantly breaking things up. My favorite moment of the match is when Yatsu hits a top rope double axehandle on Hansen to break up a hold. It really pisses Hansen off. He tags out, but stays in the ring to take a swipe at Yatsu. Yatsu drops off the apron, Hansen lumbers off, Yatsu sneaks back in and bowls Gordy over to break up the Boston Crab. That was awesome. The Jumbo heat segment does enter the city limits of Chinlock City admittedly. There is a double countout tease that is ice cold and not set up very interestingly. Gordy misses an elbow drop and tag out to Yatsu. Gordy takes the big back body drop and a back suplex. Hansen tags in as Gordy runs the ropes. Great fight in the corner and ends up with Hansen charging and ramming his knee into the turnbuckles!

Jumbo cheerleads on the apron as a big moment! The crowd is dead as a door nail as Dickens would say. Jumbo spends the rest of the match BEGGING the crowd for a reaction. He was doing everything to cheerleader. I actually like the finish a lot. There was a lot of drama in how Hansen was selling the knee and how hard Yatsu was working to put the Figure-4 on. Jumbo and Gordy were tussling in the background. It felt hotter to me than what the crowd was giving it. I did feel like crowd started to come alive when the Figure-4 was finally applied on Hansen. It was built so well I actually thought for a second Hansen would submit especially after Jumbo suplexed Gordy, but Hansen made the ropes. The ref breaks Yatsu as he moves back to attack Hansen AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SWINGING LARIAT! The announcer scream was awesome! The Lariat really did come out of nowhere and he FUCKING SMOKED YATSU! JBL cream in his pants Lariat indeed! Excellent finish to otherwise lukewarm match that I thought was better than the crowd gave them credit for. ***1/2