[1989-07-15-AJPW] Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen

[Superstar Sleeze]

Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/15/89

BABY KOBASHI~! And he is over like rover! Dont get me started on face & heel alignment in late 80s as I just dont get it. Jumbo & Kobashi are clearly the fan favorites. Tenryu & Hansen are quite the super team! What happened to Gordy? I dont even remember what he was doing at this point. What happened to Hara? Even with Tenryu as the Triple Crown Champ, this feels like Jumbo's promotion. Kobashi in red...is just bizarre, doesnt he know thats Taue's color!!? I was ten minutes in this match and it was so fast and so furious there was no way I could keep up with it and then write a review. Starting from the begining and doing this stream of consciousness style:

Jumbo goes full Leroy Jenkins and charges Tenryu at the bell and reigns down the elbows at the ringside table. This leaves poor Kobashi against Hansen and thus igniting one of the hottest, most epic feuds in pro wrestling history!  You see Tenryu flail a chair in self-defense at Jumbo as poor Kobashi gets a chair bounces off his back by Hansen. Jumbo High Knee in the ring! He hurts his knee in an interesting bit of selling that goes nowhere. Tsuruta chants! Kobashi comes in and hits a missile dropkick as Jumbo is holding Tenryu. Massive Kobashi chants like it is 1997. This is insane! I didnt expect him to be over at all. Tenryu chops Kobashi hard and CLUBS him with an Enziguiri. Hansen tagged into a big pop. Hansen brutalizes young Kobashi and sends him out. Jumbo saves Kobashi from the Grizzly by slamming him into the railing. Hansen evades the dropkick and bodyslams Kobashi. Big Kobashi chants. DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ALL STAR TEAM! Wicked. Suplex by Tenryu gets two and he comes and SLAPS Jumbo right off the apron. Kobashi spin wheel kick and he tags in Jumbo. Jumbo plays to the crowd. High Knee again to Tenryu and smack to Hansen on apron for good measure. Hansen tackles Jumbo! Kobashi is not shy and comes in and to fend off Hansen. That smack on the apron was dumb you knew Hansen was not going to take it lying down. Jumbo tries for a powerbomb or piledriver but Tenryu deadweights him. Jumbo applies an Abdominal Stretch on Tenryu and drops down into the Banana Split for a one count. 

Jumbo tags in Kobashi and holds Tenryu for the double axe handle. Kobashi is so over. Tenryu draws him in and tags in Hansen for knees Kobashi. Hansen BIG SELL of the reverse elbow as he tumbles out of the ring. Hansen takes back over on the outside. Hansen smothers him back in the ring. Great aggressive Hansen! Double Shouldertackle by the All Star Team. Tenryu chops the shit out Kobashi. This is exactly what I wanted out of this match. Hansen & Tenryu pummeling Kobashi. Kobashi reverse crossbody hope spot! Tag! Hansen heads Jumbo off at the pass and runs Jumbo down the apron and rams him into the metal turnbuckle. He brings him over to Tenryu as sacrificial offering and they take turns smacking the shit out of him. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat and a Cowboy Kick but Jumbo comes back with the Big Boot. More Tsuruta chants. Jumbo has the best bodyslam in history and follows that up with a kneedrop but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Jumbo Death Lariat middle of the ring for two. Kobashi tagged in applies a Single Leg Crab. Hansen breaks that up and Tenryu/Hansen beat the shit out of Kobashi. They do the FOOTLOOSE SPOT! Hansen whips Tenryu into an Out of Control Lariat into the corner. Massive Kobashi Chants! Tenryu wants the powerbomb but Jumbo intimidates Tenryu enough to abandon that and tags in Hansen. Hansen misses the elbow drop. Jumbo arm wringer and over the shoulder amrbreaker on Hansen's Lariat Arm and then wrestles him down by the Lariat arm into an armbar. Jumbo tags in Kobashi who axehandles the lariat arm and takes him over with an armdrag into a cross-armbreaker on the Lariat arm. Hansen rolls on his belly. Hansen rolls Kobashi up but Kobashi breaks free and maintains the pressure. Hansens elbows out and tags in Tenryu. Kobashi is tired of Tenryu's chops and lets Tenryu have it so many slaps and a big dropkick that has JUMBO FIRED THE FUCK UP! Crowd is going crazy for all this! Easily the spot of the match!

Another dropkick for two! He goes back to the well yet again. Two! Kobashi brings Tenryu over to Jumbo. Jumbo gets in on the action with a Jumbo dropkick and Hansen saves to a chorus of loud boos. Jumbo clamps on a side headlock on Tenryu. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Kobashi top rope crossbody for two! Kobashi throws on a chinlock to stick with theme of draining Tenryu's energy. 

Kobashi goes for some sort of legbar which I dont know if that an FU to Tenryu because I know Tenryu was using that around this time. Kobashi legdrop gets two. Kobashi chops away at Tenryu in the corner and now slaps. I think thats a bad idea and here comes Tenryu who slaps away. Kobashi tries throw a spinning heel kick and Tenryu just kicks through it! Tenryu tags in Hansen but Kobashi tags out. Jumbo High Knee on Hansen. Jumbo Goes back to the abdominal stretch. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Double Double Chop on Hansen. Hansen sandbags Kobashi, but Kobahsi takes him over anyways on the vertical suplex. Kobashi will not be denied! Hansen BIG BOOTS through a Kobashi dropkick. Hansen brought Kobashi over to the wrong corner and tagged in Jumbo. What the fuck happened there? Hansen holds Jumbo by the head as Tenryu LIGHTS HIS SHIT UP WITH CHOPS FROM HELL! DANGEROUS BACK DROPD RIVER BY JUMBO! Kobashi legdrop! Tenryu back drop of Kobashi.

Tenryu is still crouched over AND Jumbo stiff knees him. Jumbo tries for a piledriver and WESTERN LARIAT! HOLY SHIT! Jumbo reeling falls back into a tag. Kobashi missile dropick on Tenryu. The crowd & I are rocking! Hansen/Jumbo on outside. Fisherman Suplex by Kobashi gets two, which is an ultra hot nearfall. Amazing Kobashi is getting such a bright spotlight. Tenryu slows out. Clubbing Enziguiri. Hansen has Jumbo detained. The end is nigh me thinks. TENRYU POWERBOMB~! FOR THE WIN!

Were there way too many spots? Hell Yes! Did any one pairing ever have time to build a real narrative? Hell No! Was it fun as all get out? Hell Yeah! What separates a balls to the wall all-out workrate action match like this from the 21st Century is everyone is still struggling against each other and it still feels organic. There are no contrived spots. They are just tagging very very frequently so action stays brisk they constantly fighting into or away from the corners. How many times did we see people get knocked off aprons or as soon they tagged in they were bumrushed before they were even able to enter the match. The match felt like a fight. A very competitive match where they all wanted to win. Yes, I would like more narrative and something where every pairing mattered but this still rocked. Kobashi was the clear the star of the match! He was insanely over given his age & experience. They gave him a huge spotlight. Hansen sold big for him. Tenryu let Kobashi smack him around and hit a Fisherman Suplex as the last nearfall of the match. Jumbo was a big cheerleader for Kobashi. I was expecting a big Kobashi FIP but anytime he got in any semblance of trouble he tagged out. Jumbo vs Tenryu was red hot and Hansen versus anyone is automatically heated. This match kicked ass! ****1/2

[Clayton Jones]

This is such a star-making match for Kobashi. His first main event and Tenryu even said going in the match wouldn't last 10 minutes due to his inexperience. Jumbo playing along when Hansen accidentally tags him and using it to his advantage is some of my favorite improv ever. This match rules, everyone plays their part to perfection, just 4 GOATs doing GOAT things.

[El McKell]

On 10/5/2021 at 1:46 AM, Superstar Sleeze said:

Hansen brought Kobashi over to the wrong corner and tagged in Jumbo. What the fuck happened there?

Hansen completely fucks up here and they can all just improvise perfectly and nobody misses a beat at all, I really appreciate that a lot.