[1989-07-15-AJPW] Dean & Joe Malenko vs The Fantastics

[Superstar Sleeze]

Dean & Joe Malenko vs The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) - AJPW 7/15/89

I was very interested in this match for two main reasons 1. Watch More Joe Malenko 2. How do the Fantastics adapt to Japan & the Malenkos? I was not that concerned about Tommy Rogers he is very athletic and would do fine in this style. Bobby Fulton has really become my favorite Fantastic. I love his charisma and his punch. He is a Ricky Morton worker, a great punch, charisma out the ying-yang and great seller. Japan kinda takes out a lot of that out of the equation so how does he do?

Rogers and Dean started with a pretty standard chaining sequence. The fun wrinkle is neither could hiptoss the other, they keep going back to that but neither man could get the other over (a typical Dean problem OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). 

Joe came in. I know this will sound like a hipster thing to say but he really is the more interesting Malenko. His knucklelock takedown was really cool. His reversal out of a headscissor was super nifty. Rogers did well with him. Fulton came in and I thought he acquitted himself well. No complicated chaining but he hit his holds hard and struggled hard. He hit a BEAUTIFUL DROP TOEHOLD! I popped hard! I really liked when they switched back to Dean and Tommy they paid off the hiptoss by having Fulton whip Dean into a Tommy hiptoss. Awesome. Nice Short Arm Scissors from Rogers. The Fantastics used distraction with a Tommy dropdown leading to a Fulton crossbody. So smart. It uses that with the hiptoss and this that the Fantastics needs to work as a team to best the more technically sounds Malenkos. Dean worked some kneelifts. Fulton fires off a couple nice Eaton-esque punches the first one drew Ooooohs from the crowd. Fulton did apply a shitty cross armbreaker. Dean took command with a suplex and slam on Roger. Joe immediately worked some great holds, double wristlocks and hammerlocks on Rogers. The struggle from Rogers to escape the hammerlock and make his way to Fulton was intense! Loved that! He worked this amazing armbar just using his feet while maintaining a knucklelock. Very, very cool! Joe transitioned into a cross-armbreaker but Fulton doesnt sell it at all. No one before like 1995 ever did. Fantastic work another set play using the dropdown-dropkick this time. Dean who wrestles kind of like mini-Bruiser Brody who never bumps or sells just goes to a Texas Cloverleaf but doesnt turn him over and knee into the back. Fulton tags with a right to break it up. The Fantastics works a Doomsday Device to no reaction but popped me. 

The Fantastics work an amazing sequence of double teams that would have gotten over huge in the South. It was awesome! A recap wouldnt do it justice. Check it out. It is really night and day when Joe is in there instead of Dean. Joe is selling and bumping. There is a great spot where Joe hits the buckles so hard, he ricochets out and Rogers absolutely eats it on the charge. That was the best version I have seen of that spot. While Dean on the other hand just does not bump and what constitutes selling for him is wandering around aimlessly. The finish stretch kicked in when Joe saved Dean from the top rope rocket launcher somersault taking the dive. Dean sunset flips Rogers but Fulton has Rogers Joe comes in and knees Fulton in the back. Another spot that would get over huge in the South that being said the Japanese crowd did like that one a lot. Fulton keeps throwing punches and look great. Nice Northern Light Suplex not quite as good as Alicia Fox, but pretty good gets two. 

You want to see shitty Dean watch the setup for the neckbreaker after the Northern Lights Suplex. Fulton must have been what the fuck. Dean is just groggy selling and not moving. Terrible. Dean kinda sucked at the finish but Joe and Fulton rule so that makes up for it. Joe shoves Fulton into a Dean lariat and Dean dropkicks Fulton over in the German suplex. DEAN TABLETOPS ROGERS TO PREVENT THE SAVE! Ok that was pretty awesome!

Fulton was not shy about throwing the punches. The Fantastics were not shy of working Southern-Style feel-good spots which I loved. Joe is a technical beast lots of cool holds, takedowns, bridges and reversals. Dean pretty much sucked but my new hypothesis of Dean Malenko has a midget Bruiser Brody is very interesting to me and I am interested to see if it holds water in more matches. I liked the blending of the Malenkos' technical style and the pure Southern style of the Fantastics. ****