Dub > Sub: 1990 All Japan TV

[William Bologna]

Have you ever watched All Japan Pro Wrestling as broadcast on the television and wondered what the hell the announcers were yakking about the whole time? Sure, you can figure it out when you hear “Joanie Smissu” or “single matchy,” but what else are they saying to pass the time?

Well, we live in the future, so I mean to find out. I found an app that will automatically dub the audio into English. I couldn’t wait to experience puroresu in a whole new way. “This,” I said to myself, “is going to be perfect!”

I was once again back-stabbed by my own inner optimist. It’s definitely not perfect.

• There’s a lot of gibberish.
• What isn’t gibberish is mostly dry play-by-play. “A chop. A headlock. Now the leg.”
• It puts everything into first person, to the point that it sounds like one of the competitors reminiscing. “The missile kick is focused on my shoulder.”
• There is no distinction between speakers and no change in intensity. When the play-by-play is guy is (probably) screaming, I’m still hearing the HAL voice.
• It cuts off all other audio, so there’s no crowd noise.

These - particularly the last two - were bad enough that I almost gave up. But there are gems here and there, so I’m going to stick with it.

I picked 1990. All our favorites are here, and it’s a big year. A lot going on. So let’s get started.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV January 7, 1990

Night two of the New Year Giant Series coming at you from historic Korakuen Hall. We begin with:

Great Kabuki vs. Kenta Kobashi

This match is bad timing for me. You ever watch That’s What I Call Wrestling? I love it. That guy cracks me up. There’s a running gag referring to this Harley Race promo where he’s listing guys he wants to run Ric Flair out of rassling. He loses his train of thought, takes a breath, pauses enough to make it weird, and yells “KABUKI!”

TWICW covers some pretty dire indies, and whenever one of these mudshow palookas gets lost in a promo - which is nearly every time - we get a Kabuki Moment. I’ve been bingeing the channel, so it’s all I could think about for the duration of the match.

(As an aside, that really is a hell of a promo from Race in spite of the Kabuki Moment. He’s desperate! Someone take the damn money! Seriously, A+.)

So anyway, they’re putting Kobashi through a Seven Match Series. They did this from time to time with up and coming young guys. I remember Mossman had one. This is the second installment; he lost to Yatsu yesterday.

Kabuki is an interesting fella. He played the mist-spitting inscrutable Oriental demon over in the US, and then he came home and . . . well, I don’t know. He kept the face paint, but he doesn’t do any ninja magic or anything. Perfectly conventional worker.

They go back and forth, with Kobashi trying to take it to the air and Kabuki outsmarting him. Finally Kobashi gets some momentum, but Kabuki catches him with a rollup thingy. Kobashi loses but looks stronger than his veteran opponent, which makes me think Kabuki was a pretty canny worker.

His GWE thread here is divided - it seems like it depends where you see him. He was a good regular ol’ puroresu guy here. Maybe even very good.

I should mention that the dubbed commentary told me nothing of interest. There is a little bit about Kabuki being on Tenryu’s team. The problem with that is that he wasn't.

[William Bologna]

Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki vs The Fantastics 

The Footloose defend their All Asia Tag belts against Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers, and we’ve got four women handing out bouquets. We do get some value out of the dubbing, as the announcer informs us the flowers are provided by Nippon TV and the event’s sponsors. We also get the title proclamation translated (nothing interesting - “This is an official title match blah blah blah”). 

Kawada’s front teeth are already gone at this point. We are informed of this via a closeup of his face while he’s suffering in a Boston crab. Fuyuki breaks this up well: He comes in, bounces off the ropes, and clotheslines a Fantastic in the back of the head.

Kawada and a Fantastic work a really awkward sequence where after a pin attempt they phonily get into a 69 position, roll around, stand up, try like hell to get Kawada in the air, reverse it, and not quite piledrive the Fantastic. Awful.

I liked the finishing stretch, in part because it was really messy. They’re breaking up double teams and seemingly inventing new ones as they go along. Eventually Fuyuki wins with a German.

Fuyuki was better than Kawada in this. I thought that’s just something people said, but he’s batting 1.000 in the Footloose matches I’ve seen.

[William Bologna]

British Bulldogs vs Tiger Mask/Masa Fuchi 

These All Japan tag matches could use a little more face in peril stuff. Inevitably someone gets beaten up by both of his opponents, but then he just strolls over and tags out. Why not try to milk it a little?

The big takeaway from this match - which ain’t much - is that Davey Boy Smith is really strong. (Dubbed commentator: “Dave Smith.” That’s not wrong - it is his name - but it sounds so weird). He catches a running Tiger, lifts him over his head and holds him there like it’s no effort at all, and then throws him on top of a ringside Fuchi.

Later David Boy holds Fuchi, tags Dynamite, powerslams his opponent, and gives Kid gets an assisted takeoff bodypress (maybe it was supposed to be a headbutt, but there was no head contact) to win.

Three of these guys are great, but Dynamite’s in a diminished state and Misawa’s in a limiting gimmick. Fuchi was excellent. I’m developing a case in my head that he’s an all-time worker who never got to do anything important. I’ll keep you posted.

[William Bologna]

Genichiro Tenryu vs Ivan Koloff 

I’m not great at keeping wrestling’s fake Russians straight, so it came as a surprise that this is actually former WWWF champion Ivan Koloff. The guy who pinned Bruno. Here he is on his only All Japan tour at a sprightly 48 years young. One fan is excited enough that he’s waving a Soviet flag.

Tenryu makes his way to the ring only to be ambushed by Isao Takagi. Chair attack! Can Tenryu survive starting with a handicap?

He does, but it’s a real interesting match. Koloff looks great! It’s all simple stuff, but this is top tier back-clubberin’. He’s not in there long, but he’s killing every minute of it.

The announcers are talking a lot about Tenryu’s Revolution, which made me think this was a new development. It’s not - he and Jumbo split up back in 1987.

They also kinda kayfabe us about Koloff - “He’s a Canadian of Russian descent.” Of course, we all know that he’s actually a regular-ass Rick Martel-ass Dan Kroffat-ass Pat Patterson-ass Rene Goulet-ass Claude Lemieux-ass French Canadian.

One more dubbing note: It’s switching between calling Tenryu Tenryu and translating it, resulting in some accidental poetry (or maybe just accidental video game writing): “There is a Celestial Dragon who will strike you with a chop of anger.”

Koloff is good on defense, too. Tenryu tries for an abdominal stretch, but Ivan doesn’t let him get his feet set and ponderously carries him over to the ropes to get out of it. Everything he does is realistic by pro wrestling standards.

Tenryu wins after a perfunctory comeback: Vertical suplex, elbow drop, and the win.

Funnily enough, @JerryvonKramer gave us a review of this match in the Ivan Koloff GWE thread. He too was shocked at the high quality of Koloff's contributions and noted that Tenryu was pretty bad.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV January 11, 1990 

British Bulldogs vs Isao Takagi/Akira Taue 
Takagi was the villain of last week’s episode, waylaying Tenryu on the way to his showdown with former WWWF champion Ivan Koloff. He later gained 80 pounds and became Arashi. Taue is two years in and has big things coming up for him in 1990.

We get a subtle dig from the dubbed commentators: “Foreigners have good muscles, right?” These guys sure do! All that chicken breast and broccoli.

Once again no face in peril structure. Most of this is Takagi getting worked over, and then he reverses an Irish whip and tags out.

Taue comes in pretty intense. He drops three or four elbows on Dynamite and goes to the top, but Kid gets out of the way of whatever he was trying to do from up there.

Weak finish. Dynamite comes in to break up a pin and beats up Taue for a longer time than the referee should have allowed - you can get away with a stomp to break it up, but then you’re supposed to go back! This allows them to repeat the sequence from last week (tag, powerslam, diving headbutt) to win flatly. Takagi didn’t even try to stop it.

I got nothing out of Takagi. Generic.

[William Bologna]

Abdullah the Butcher/Ivan Koloff vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Shunji Takano 

There is an early mention of the “Giant Bum Warrior.” Keep that guy away from me.

The commentary is kind of clowning on Koloff. Referring to his Tenryu match, “He was defeated after only four minutes and fifty seconds. However, he still has potential. He looked a little sad.”

Abdullah’s the standout here (Koloff is mostly doing bearhugs). He does his throat chops and then starts twisting Yatsu’s ears. “Now we’ve turned to cruel, cruel techniques.”

They’re talking about how much those Butcher chops to the throat hurt. Baba’s broadcasting, and he can tell us from personal experience. They send you to hell, according to the dubbing.

For the second match in a row, a team takes advantage of the post-tag grace period, as Takano and Yatsu drop elbows and knees on Abdullah for a full minute before Koloff, his remonstrations with the ref having come to nothing, ejects Yatsu.

I guess they needed another minute, because once the Butcher and Takano are alone, Abdullah chops him in the throat, drops an elbow, and gets the win.

It’s nice to see Abdullah every so often. There’s no one else like him.

[William Bologna]

Jumbo Tsuruta/Kabuki/Tiger Mask vs Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki 

This is the hot feud right now. The Revolution fields Tenryu and the reigning All Asia tag champs, the Footloose. They’re facing the team of Jumbo Tsuruta, Tiger Mask, and …

…

[deep breath]

[panicked expression]

KABUKI!

Couple early screw-ups - Kawada whips Kabuki into the ropes, and he collides with Fuyuki. That maybe wasn’t supposed to happen, because they stand there looking at each other for a second. Then Kawada loses his footing running the ropes.

Tenryu is breaking up holds very aggressively, and this leads to a brawl. Fuyuki slides in a chair, the ref stops Jumbo from using it, and while his back is turned Tenryu pastes Kabuki.

I really miss the crowd noise on this one. It’s not great, but I could see a live crowd getting into it. I did a spot check, and they seemed to be into it. They pop huge for Jumbo’s arm pump.

Tsuruta waits a long time to get in, but once he does every so often he and Tenryu put the match on hold so they can beat each other. One of these results in Tenryu getting the upper hand then setting up the Footloose to do double team damage on him. Fuyuki’s so excited he does a little hop. “Yeah, let’s get him!”

I can’t wait for TM to take off that mask and start acting like Misawa. This half-ass Tiger Mask stuff is the pits.

Kabuki has distinctive punches. I like weird punches regardless of their quality. I love Scott Hall’s punches, for instance. Tsuruta’s saving himself for the big moments, so a lot of this is Kabuki and Tenryu blasting each other.

Jumbo tries to end it - you can tell because he put his arm up. He whips Fuyuki, boots him in the face, and sets up the backdrop. Tenryu’s watched Jumbo do this before, so he knows it’s time to run and pop Jumbo in the nose. Jumbo stands there absolutely fuming. He’s so goddamn mad! He stews for a moment, tags out, and hauls ass to the other side of the ring to beat up Tenryu. Great physical storytelling.

Shortly afterwards, Fuyuki goes down to a Tiger Driver while Jumbo is ground-and-pounding Tenryu outside. 

Decent watch. The auxiliaries didn’t bring as much to the table as they will in the Jumbo & co. vs. Misawa & friends a bit later, but the Jumbo/Tenryu dynamic is a good one.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV Special January 15th, 1990

We're coming to you from storied, hallowed Korakuen Hall. It's January 2nd, 1990 and  . . . wait, did we just go back in time? Our first installment covered night two of the New Year Giant Series. Now, a week and a day later, we're getting night one. I dunno. It's a special!

Kenta Kobashi vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu

We already saw Kenta lose the second of his seven challenge matches. This is part one.

As he did against Kabuki, Kobashi is relying on aerial offense. He hits a really good dive to the outside, but then mostly whiffs on a moonsault. The announcers go into their "he didn't get all of it" routine. "They're a little off!"

Yatsu wins with a lousy German, and our commentators look forward to the next challenge. Which we've already seen.

They're big on talking about how Kenta did a good job, and Yatsu gives him an avuncular pat on the head to make him feel better.

We get a backstage interview with the loser, which must have been correctly translated because it’s boring. “I’m going to do my best to win the next match.”

Ivan Koloff/Randy Rose/Abdullah the Butcher vs Akira Taue/Shunji Takano/Akio Sato

New guys: Randy Rose was in the original, pre-Eaton Midnight Express. I'm unfamiliar. Akio Sato is the guy from the Orient Express (and Hakushi's manager). I'd always assumed that he was Japanese-American like Mr. Fuji, but it turns out he was more like Masa Saito - a Japanese native who went to the States for an extended period and got booked in Japan as a kinda outsider/foreigner. He now lives in Kansas City.

Abdullah’s in there with Shunji Takano, and it got me thinking about why I like the Butcher now. He’s unique. When he tags in, you know you’re getting something different. Then look at Takano. He’s tall, and he’s showing a lot of gym sock, but who ever remembered anything he ever did?. Just another run of the mill wrestler, like a large proportion of the guys who left with Tenryu. One Abdullah is worth at least half a dozen Shunji Takanos.

Randy Rose gets in with Sato and tries to get over. He niftily throws Sato through the ropes by grabbing the front of Sato’s trunks and falling backwards, then he climbs to the second turnbuckle and jumps on him.

Finally the Butcher backdrops Sato, gives him the elbow, and picks up the win. Rose rubs his forehead scars, presumably for good luck.

[William Bologna]

British Bulldogs vs Tiger Mask/Shinichi Nakano 

This is Misawa’s return from knee surgery that kept him out for most of 1989. Lot of talk about this, including an interview segment and training footage.

I don’t know one damn thing about Shinichi Nakano.

Commentary is very frank about physiques: They’re amazed at Davey, but they do note that Dynamite is a lot smaller than he used to be. He is still dangerous because of his technique.

“The elbow that once split Tenryu’s forehead flew into Nakano’s face.” I remember in Dynamite’s book mentioned that he hit Tenryu so hard it drew blood. I wonder if they’re talking about the same thing.

They rassle around for a while until the out of nowhere finish (DK top rope suplexes Nakano, and Misawa has to force himself not to get there in time to break it up). This was a whole lotta nothing.

[William Bologna]

Jumbo Tsuruta/Isao Takagi/Great Kabuki vs Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki/Genichiro Tenryu

They set this one up with a fun recap of recent events. We see Jumbo beat Hansen to win the Triple Crown (I like the finish - Hansen misses a lariat and bounces off the ropes, allowing Jumbo to roll him up. Stan is less than pleased and socks a bleeding Jumbo in the head repeatedly). We move onto Tenryu beating Jumbo with a powerbomb to become the second champion (Stan is so happy for him!). Jumbo wins back the belts awkwardly (powerbomb attempt into a bad hurricanrana for the pin). We’re all caught up.

They tell a couple stories here. One is that Kabuki keeps getting to Tenryu. He wins a bunch of strike exchanges with his weird punches, and Tenryu winds up getting real mad at him. At one point he takes a break from Jumbo to turn around and slap Kabuki, who’s on the apron minding his own business. 

The other is an actual face in peril sequence. After some rough work outside (including another bout of Tenryu and Kabuki hating each other) Takagi comes back in bleeding. Tenryu & co. cut off some tag attempts until he brings in Jumbo, who’s a figurative literal house afire. After fighting spiritedly, in his weakened state Takagi does eventually take the fall. 

I don’t want to focus on the translationese gibberish I’m getting, but when there’s a vertical suplex, and they start talking about the devastating “brain pasta” - that got a reaction out of me.

I loved the finishing stretch, particularly the logical run-ins. These dudes weren’t acting like they’d never seen a tag match before. When someone’s setting up a finish, the other guys try to stop it. This continues til the end, as Fuyuki gets in the way of Team Tsuruta while Tenryu polishes off Takagi with a powerbomb.

Note that this match explains Takagi’s chair attack on Tenryu the next day before the Tenryu/Koloff match, which makes it even dopier that they aired them out of order.

This was easily the best thing we’ve seen so far. Real hot stuff, and we got more of a contribution from the henchmen than we did last time/next time. Takagi did his job well enough, and Kabuki was great with Tenryu. Kawada’s still working on his kicks, but he hit a few nice ones. Fuyuki did some decent flying. I’m more used to him as an enormous greasy fat guy, so it’s odd seeing him soar from the top rope.

Battle Royal

We actually get two battles royal, one from night one and one from night two.

Battle Royal the First

Takagi goes after Tenryu. I’m glad he got a chance to clean himself up.

Abdullah pins Baba, and then there’s a frenzy of everyone jumping on a guy to keep him down for a pinfall. At last, Davey Boy sunset flips Shunji Takano, then Yatsu rolls Smith over to win.

Battle Royal the Second 

Same idea. I like how loose these things are. All Japan booking is always real tight, but in a battle royal you can have Skull Von Crush pin Misawa. Tommy Rogers of all people wins this one.

Now we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV (January 21st, 1990)

We are coming to you once again from venerable, stately Korakuen Hall. We begin with part three of the Kenta Kobashi Challenge Series.

Kenta Kobashi vs. Randy Rose

They're calling Rose "the Crimson Baron."

We start with a cool sequence where they get in a knuckle lock and hold onto it for some time while they do monkey flips and stuff. 

Rose has fun tricks. I already mentioned the grab trunks and fall backwards to sling your opponent out the ring spot. He does that here, and later he’s sitting on the second rope. Kobashi punches him, and he wobbles backwards and then back up. Another punch, another wobble. Love it.

They go back and forth, and it’s all very nifty. Kobashi wins with the moonsault to put himself at 1-2. Rose is poor loser - he looks pissed and insists he got his shoulder up.

This was really good.

British Bulldogs vs The Fantastics

I guess I should learn which Fantastic is which. Tommy Rogers is the dark-haired one, and they’re both looking real spiffy in their glittery vests and matching bowties. They do a full lap high-fiving fans.

A commentator mentions “The Brilliant Pervert.” Keep that guy away from me.

They spend a long time ranking six tag teams. I'm not sure who they all are, but the Malenkos and Rock and Roll Express are mentioned, and Footloose gets third place despite being the champs.

Rogers does all the work, and he's a flashy guy. Sweet German on Davey, amazing top rope sunset flip. Also, they tell us that he won a million yen in that battle royal the other day.

We get the regular Bulldogs finish. Fairly entertaining thanks to newly-minted millionaire Tommy Rogers. They're putting Davey and Dynamite on TV every week, but they're not very good.

[William Bologna]

Genichiro Tenryu/Samson Fuyuki vs Tiger Mask/Jumbo Tsuruta

Fuyuki’s wearing a Revolution jacket. On the back it says “Now more than ever we can work it out.” If anyone has an explanation for that, I’d love to hear it.

There’s a lot of faction talk from the commentary desk. The Tenryu alliance got weaker once Hansen left (which he hasn't - maybe they meant that he’s not on this tour).

I hate this Tiger Mask crap. His kicks suck. His flying looks like shit - Fuyuki’s is better. In his book, Dynamite Kid mentioned that Misawa was not a good Tiger Mask, and he was right about that.

Tenryu always makes it spicy, and the quality of this match is attributable to him alone. He breaks up a pin and turns it into an extended assault. He rips Misawa’s mask then hits him with a chair.

“Among fans it is known that Tiger Mask is Mr. Misawa.”

Interesting finish. Jumbo has Fuyuki in a half Boston crab. Tenryu comes in, clotheslines him, and heads back to his corner, but Tsuruta holds onto it and gets the submission while Tenryu’s back is turned. Disgusted, he leaves Fuyuki in the ring.

Good stuff. Tenryu rules.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV January 28th, 1990

Abdullah the Butcher/Randy Rose vs Yoshiaki Yatsu/Shinichi Nakano

When join in progress with Butcher choking Nakano over the rope until Yatsu hits him in the head with a case. And Abdullah’s bleeding. 

They actually get heat on Abdullah, and he even takes (badly) a couple moves. He’s full savage madman from fake Africa in peril for a minute here - Rose is trying to save him, but the ref won’t let him.

The crowd’s really into Yatsu and Abdullah. The latter abruptly decides he’s done for the day: He tags in, throat chops Nakano, and drops the elbow. He does an extended victory dance, and the fans are loving it. He mad dogs Baba at the commentary table on the way out.

 British Bulldogs vs Tiger Mask/Kenta Kobashi

Not a whole lot to say about this one. The announcer calls Tiger Mask a Canadian backpacker.

They do play off the ending of previous Bulldogs matches. We get the powerslam/headbutt setup, but Misawa comes in and breaks it up.

Predictably, Kobashi takes the fall, and once again Misawa has to force himself to stay on the apron and not stop it. I blame Davey Boy. He should have run in to block the Canadian backpacker while Dynamite was in the air.

[William Bologna]

Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Isao Takagi

There's a recap of Takagi attacking Tenryu with a chair before the Koloff match, and the story continues seamlessly as Takagi comes out hot and brawls with Tenryu

This time the dubbed commentary calls the vertical suplex “the friend-buster.”

We get more Tenryu vs Tsuruta interactions this time out - they’ve been pretty sparing with them in previous matchups. These are the good parts, and they really are good.

Otherwise, it’s mostly Tenryu torturing Takagi until he gets mad enough at Jumbo’s corner men that he hops down and blasts one of them with a chair. They  mob him, so Jumbo has no problem putting Kawada away. Tenryu fends off the henchmen with a table and brawls with Jumbo for a little. I guess Yoshinari Ogawa’s on Team Tenryu, but he’s standing right there and doesn’t do anything. He’s insufficiently committed to the Revolution.

The drama continues with onscreen text I translated with my phone: All Japan is finally headed for an all out war!

Tenryu went on to storm the All Japan locker room. Tagami was knocked down when Tenryu threw a trash can at him.

Tsuruta: That’s going too far. That’s not wrestling anymore

Baba: There’s no such thing as going too far in pro wrestling. Just go all out.

Tenryu has no comment.

It’s crazy how this entire promotion is built around Tenryu right now. Enjoy it while you can.

[William Bologna]

January 1990 Power Rankings:

• Genichiro Tenryu: I learned during the Johnny Smith Project that All Japan Pro Wrestling was never afraid to roll out endless no-stakes tag matches and that, without the presence of a truly dynamic participant, these were the wrestling equivalent of overcooked chicken breast. Stan Hansen saved many of these matches with his presence and skill, and Tenryu is filling the same role here. Best guy in the company, and it's not close.
• Abdullah T. Butcher: I never thought I'd be on Team Butcher, but he's so much fun.
• Samson Fuyuki: Great German suplexes, impressive flying bodypresses, and he's good at something I'd never considered rating a wrestler on so far: He's good at breaking up pins in tag matches. He's always right where he needs to be.
• Jumbo Tsuruta: Honestly he's looking a little bland compared to Tenryu and compared to what I remember of the Misawa feud. But he's still Jumbo.
• Randy Rose: Real fun worker. The Kobashi match was a highlight.

I wish I could find a slot for Ivan Koloff. What a pleasant surprise he was.

When I started this, I was most looking forward to seeing four guys: Tenryu, Jumbo, Misawa, and Kawada. Jumbo's been a little disappointing, but good lord Misawa and Kawada are useless. Does Misawa take of the mask and instantly become the best in the world? I guess we'll find out.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV February 5th, 1990

Great Kabuki/Isao Takagi vs Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada

Tenryu hits Takagi with a chair. He and Kabuki bleed.

Tenryu’s great (theme of the thread!) and Kabuki’s cool, but I wish we were getting more out of the supporting cast. It’s neat that Tenryu’s working this little program with Takagi, but he’s not up to it.

Takagi gets a long stretch where he hits a bunch of moves, and Kawada has to save his boss. This lasts until he goes for a tag, but Kabuki’s too beat up to make it in. Kawada bushwhacks him with a clothesline, and Takagi stumbles into a rollup. Cool finishing stretch.

Tenryu: “He fought back well. That guy is either incredibly gutsy or just plain stupid. At Korakuen Hall, I’ll knock him out in five minutes. If it takes longer, I’ll buy everyone a drink.”

[William Bologna]

Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki/Genichiro Tenryu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Kabuki/Mighty Inoue

It sure looks like the front of Jumbo’s jacket says Jambo.

This is my first Mighty Inoue match. It’s definitely not his first match - he’s got some Dynamite Kid-quality divots in his forehead.

I'm glad he's here. He seems out of place - he does weird tumbling on offense and defense (he takes a particularly goofy bump on an enzuigiri). It looks 50s-ish.

I could not figure out what the finish was - everyone’s milling around and the ref raises Inoue’s hand. Finally, they gave us a text explanation. Tenryu got counted out after Inoue headbutted him.

This made no impression on me. I've already forgotten I watched it.

We cut to a press conference, and there’s Baba sitting there with Vince McMahon! Sakaguchi’s there too. They’re doing an interpromotional show in April.

They tease us with the first minute of the long-awaited Tenryu vs. Takagi match, but we have to wait until next week for the rest of it.

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV (February 12th, 1990)

We’re back at hoary, saturnine Korakuen Hall.

Kabuki/Mighty Inoue vs Toshiaki Kawada/Samson Fuyuki

Inoue’s a lot of fun. He just does whimsical stuff all the time. He’s a goofball. He’s always flipping around.

His neck/upper back is bandaged, and the Footloose work on it a bit. Fuyuki clothesline him right in the bandage, which makes Kabuki mad enough that he rushes in and just beats the hell out of him. The Footloose basically trade a few of Fuyuki’s brain cells for the victory: with Kabuki distracted, Kawada blasts Inoue with a clothesline and wins. That’s the coolest thing we’ve seen Kawada do so far. A hint of what’s to come.

Kenta Kobashi vs Abdullah the Butcher

It’s the final match of the Kenta Kobashi 7 Match Series. We learn that Kenta is 2-4 so far. In the interest of completeness, here are the results:

1. Loss to Yatsu
2. Loss to Kabuki
3. Win over Randy Rose
4. Win over Rip Rogers
5. Loss to Davey Boy Smith
6. Loss to Jumbo Tsuruta

And now we finish with Abdullah the Butcher. Abdullah doesn’t bump too much - I’m sure that’s not a surprise - but he does it right. Kobashi has to hit him a few times and gradually wear him down. Once enough damage has been done, he’s convincingly frustrated.

Kobashi takes most of the match, but the Butcher gets one of his trademark abrupt comebacks: Throat punch, elbow drop, win.

This was great. I love Abdullah. It was only five minutes, but you don't want to push it. Keep in mind Abdullah's almost 50.

It’s too bad we didn’t the see the rest of the series. The three we got were fun.

[William Bologna]

Genichiro Tenryu vs Isao Takagi

Big match feel here. We get yet another recap and then a backstage interview with Takagi (he plans to do his best).

The dubbed commentary is in fine form. “It’s a match of physical strength with a ball-smashing angle.” Seems more like an ECW thing.

“Takagi is offered as a blood sacrifice to Tenryu.”

That actually does sum it up. It's more of a squash than I was expecting. They never really tease the upset (which they did pretty well in their last tag match). Takagi does get a comeback - a belly-to-belly followed by a slew of headbutts and then some spinning kicks that might be better than Kawada's. But then Tenryu takes over and scorpion deathlocks him for the win.

This match has a thread on this here website, and people are ecstatic. I liked it, but it's another installment of the same Tenryu show we've been getting every week. 

Match time, 5:41. You owe me a drink, Tenryu!

[William Bologna]

Davey Boy Smith/Dynamite Kid/Tiger Mask vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Masa Fuchi/Yoshiaki Yatsu

Weird teams. Well, one weird team I guess.

I wonder if everyone’s working harder because it’s the main event. Guys who usually bore/annoy me (Davey Boy, Yatsu, Tiger Mask) look good here. Everybody’s really throwing their bodies into everything. Yatsu impresses with a sick capture suplex off a Tiger Mask kick.

This popped me: The Bulldogs set up their finish (DBS scoops the guy, tags Dynamite, and powerslams his opponent; Dynamite hits the top rope headbutt). But just as Kid starts flying, Tenryu and Yatsu run in and drag Fuchi back so DK hits nothing but mat.

Everyone spills outside, but both Bulldogs manage to get in there to double-team Fuchi until Davey puts him away with a top rope powerslam.

Fun stuff. Everyone was good.

This is the end of the New Year Giant Series, and the last five minutes of the program are spent preparing us for the Excite Series in a couple weeks. They’re building hype for Steve Williams and hell, it worked on me. “Steve Williams, a murderous doctor, is a professional wrestling fan’s dream.” Awesome! Can't wait!

They also run through the other foreigners who will be joining us. Each one gets an epithet, starting with Williams' "Doctor Death": Terry Gordy (“Human Torpedo”), Doug Furnas & Danny Kroffat (Can-Am Express, except my phone says “Gangnam Express”), Dustin Rhodes (billed as Dusty Rhodes Jr., “American Dream II”), Joe Deaton (“Mid-southern Young Eagle”), and finally Stan Hansen (“Unsinkable Ship”).

But the biggest deal is the All Japan War! The Tenryu Alliance vs. the All Japan Army! Next week! Be there!

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV February 19th, 1990

Yet again, we’re coming to you from truculent, ephemeral Korakuen Hall. Seems like we’re here more often than not.

It’s the first day of the Excite Series; let’s see if it lives up to the name.

Akira Taue vs Barry Windham

Windham looks checked out, but maybe that’s just how he looked. I really like his punches. He and Taue spend maybe too much time standing still and hitting each other, but both of their strikes look good enough that it’s fine by me.

Windham winds with a second rope superplex.

Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen

Classic Hansen entrance. He’s shoving fans, hitting them with his rope, everyone’s going crazy, and he and Kobashi start fighting immediately. Takes a while for Stan to get rid of his chaps.

They’re talking about Kobashi’s seven match series. He didn’t win much, but he had a good showing. This, they say, feels like part eight of the series.

They also tell us that Kobashi weighs 1.1 kg and is 2.2 years old. I gotta say, he looks a lot older.

With Steve Williams here, Stan will have to protect his reputation as the strongest foreigner.

This is wonderful. They take turns beating each other up, and they’re so compelling that you can’t take your eyes off of it. I am overjoyed that Stan Hansen is back.

Also, this is my favorite version of Kobashi. I always liked him less than I felt like I should - too much weeping and head-dropping. None of that here. He’s fiery, he’s a great seller, and he’s hitting Stan nearly as hard as Stan’s hitting him. I’m loving these short singles matches they’re putting him in.

[William Bologna]

Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs Kabuki/Mighty Inoue

Inoue’s still bouncing around like a goof - he flings himself out of the ring so Kawada can do a bad plancha. His somersault senton later made me chortle.

Tenryu’s continuing to sell Kabuki’s punches like they're killing him. Kabuki's kicks are good too.

Kabuki has Kawada in a sleeper for a long time. I don’t get this: They’re over in Kabuki’s corner. Kawada keeps putting a foot on the rope, but the ref kicks it off. They say “There is a large distance between the red corner and the blue corner, so there is no need for rope breaks.” That's not helping!

Inoue and Kabuki never do learn the lesson that they shouldn't put Kawada in holds. You’re just going to get your head stomped on.

Things get spicier and spicier with Kabuki and Tenryu cold-cocking each other at every opportunity, including Tenryu getting blasted with a chair when the ref isn't looking. Finally, Inoue reverses Kawada’s waistlock only to catch a Tenryugiri. Kawada reverses the waistlock back only to get Kabukied in the head, and Inoue rolls him up.

Excellent match. Kabuki looked like a killer, and Inoue's putting in some great work when they let him.

[William Bologna]

Jumbo Tsuruta/Shunji Takano vs Terry Gordy/Steve Williams 

Steve Williams' All Japan debut. He and Gordy bum rush Jumbo and dance around. It seems to be working on the crowd.

The announcers are really trying to get these guys over. They’re basically making it sound like Takano doesn’t have a chance. Williams has "superhuman killing techniques"!

They sit in holds a lot, and they’re not any good at it. Gordy especially is not doing a lot with Takano's legs. You're supposed to be pretending to hurt him, Terry.

Williams is new here, but he knows the pecking order. Takano doesn’t get to do anything, but Jumbo can hurt him.

They did a fun double-team: Gordy comes off the ropes, and Williams presses him in the air and drops him on Jumbo. Looks like it hurt.

Takano finally gets in a couple moves before they run into him a bunch of times, and Williams powerslams him. Jumbo (whose jacket definitely says "Jambo") doesn’t bother to break up the pin.

These guys are going to be a big part of things going forward, and so far I'm less than excited.