[1989-11-29-AJPW] Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas

[Superstar Sleeze]

Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas - AJPW 11/29/89

I wanted to see how Kroffat & Furnas would hang with the heavyweights. This is towards the end of the Real World Tag League. Jumbo & Yatsu were the dominant heavyweight team all year and the Can-Ams were pretty dominant in the junior ranks. Lets see what happens! Stream of consciousness:

Yatsu is wearing headgear that would make the Dog Faced Gremlin jealous. Yatsu and Furnas to start. Yatsu gets a hammerlock early and reversal by Furnas. Stump puller by Yatsu and Furnas kangaroo kick off. Jumbo asks to come in. Jumbo headlock takeover. Jumbo wrenches the headlock. Furnas gets his typical shine sequence of dropdown, leapfrog, dropsault, back handreping but he over overshot and kinda lands on the ropes and then he fucks up the shoulder tackle nad Furnas sells his own knee. Jumbo works the leg but Kroffat breaks that up Jumbo tags in Yatsu who works Furnas' leg. Furnas gets an enziguiri and tags in Kroffat. Yatsu bowls Kroffat over on a criss cross. Yatsu armwringer. Kroffat Nice overhead takeover into a crossarmbreaker but Yast clasps his hands. Yatsu grounds and pounds and Kroffat goes to the eyes to get the crossarmbreaker. Kroffat chop. Kroffat clothesline when he cant get him over on a hiptoss. Kroffat tags in Furnas. Furnas jumping reverse elbow but Yatsu too close to the ropes. Furnas Fujiwara armbar on Yatsu. Yatsu dropkick Furnas. Jumbo back to wok on Furnas leg. Holy shit they are carrying psychology through more than one segment. (It was not to last sadly!) Korffat big boot to break up a Boston Crab. Jumbo is pissed and he slams Furnas head into the buckles right in front of Kroffat who tags in. Lets see how wise that is. Lockup, Jumbo headlock, Kroffat top wristlock, Kroffat hiptoss! Kroffat Enziguiri! Impressive! Jumbo slams Kroffat gets a Semi-Death Lariat that knocks Kroffat out of the ring. Jumbo brings Kroffat over to Yatsu. Double Chop. Yatsu suplexes Kroffat. Yatsu bulldog. and Saito Suplex. Yatsu loves his bombs. Furnas breaks up pin. Kroffat stomps head and Yatsu BIG verbal selling. (This ends up being the differentiating point of the match while Can-Ams working Yatsu's head and him hollering in pain and agony). Double headbutt to Yatsu's injured head. This is great. I am loving Yatsu's selling. This feels big and important. Jumbos pleading with the ref. Great stuff. The Furnas dropdown into the Kroffat superkick is a great spot. Kroffat stomp on Yatsu's head. Yatsu powder and Kroffat drops and elbow on head. KROFFAT SLAMS A CHAIR ON YATSU HEAD! That was insane! Holy shit! Kroffat dropdown into a Furnas powerslam and Jumbo saves. Yatsu was crawling for tag but Furnas pounces into a front chancery then back stomping the head as the ref tries to break it up. Furnas bodyslam on Yatsu. Kroffat misses the Superfly Splash. Hot tag to Jumbo!

HIGH KNEE BY JUMBO! ANOTHER ONE FOR FURNAS! HELL YEAH! Jumbo abdominal stretch on Kroffat. Banana split rollup but too close to the ropes. Yatsu tags back in. High Knee Sandwich! Yatsu belly to belly suplex on Kroffat. Yatsu powerslam. Yatsu is out-Furnasing Furnas. Jumbo top rope high knee on Kroffat. Kroffat kicks out. Jumbo attempts piledriver but Kroffat deadweights him and Jumbo comes back with lariat and double axehandle. Yatsu kneelift on Kroffat. Butterfly suplex by Yatsu. SPIKE PILEDRIVER! Furnas breaks it up. Jumbo Boston Crab this time on Kroffat and switches to Single Leg Cab. Furnas big meaty Lariat knocks Jumbo off his base. Yatsu Kneecrusher on Kroffat and then into his own version of the Figure-4. Furnas uses his sucky kick to break it up. Kroffat DDT. Kroffat tags out. Furnas comes in fiery and dropsault on Yastu. Military Press on Yatsu who is a big boy that was impressive. Yatsu headbutt which seems like a bad idea given his condition but he is all in. Kroffat comes in illegally kicks the back of Yatsu's injured head. Kroffat tags in and it is back to the head. Hart Attack Dropkick Style! Furnas dropkick on Jumbo but pinfall still interrupted. Double DDT ON YATSUt! Jumbo saves! Double shouldertackle on Jumbo. Jumbo big boot while in Full Nelson. Yatsu Germans Furnas. Kroffat Big lariat on Jumbo and Spinning Heel Kick and Superkick. Jumbo throws his ass down. DONT BE BRINING THAT IN MY HOUSE! I wish Jumbo did the Dikembe Mutombo Finger Wag. DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! Jumbo wins!

After a year of just workrate, workrate, workrate that was only differentiated by character work and charisma we finally get a match with some narrative built around Yatsu's head injury and which is why he has the headgear on. Kroffat and Furnas finally show what they can do with a story. Kroffat cracking Yatsu with a chair was nasty. Jumbo killing everyone with High Knees ruled! They did go back to the head. I am not surprised they did the quick finish given that Jumbo was much higher on the card and I liked the definitive finish. Strong match. ***3/4