Dub > Sub: 1990 All Japan TV

[William Bologna]

February 1990 Power Rankings:

1. Genichiro Tenryu is still the straw that stirs the drink.
2. Kenta Kobashi is winning our hearts with his doomed underdog performances.
3. Great Kabuki: The focus in the Jumbo group was on Takagi, but Kabuki contributed the most.
4. Stan Hansen only had one match but it was perfect.
5. Abdullah!

Top Three Weird Ways “Brainbuster” Got Translated:

1. Friend-buster
2. Brain pasta
3. Brain-burster

[William Bologna]

All Japan TV March 4th, 1990

Tiger Mask/Kenta Kobashi vs Stan Hansen/The Patriot

Hey, that’s not the Patriot!  His whole thing is that he was always yoked to the gills, but this guy is scrawny. It turns out he’s Joel Deaton, and I'm puzzled. Del Wilkes shows up in August, but apparently he's still the Trooper. He becomes the Patriot in Dallas in 1991, and then comes back to All Japan with the gimmick in 1992. Was Deaton the original Patriot? Did Wilkes steal it after he got back to the States? Is Del Wilkes the Mitsuharu Misawa to Deaton's Satoru Sayama? Which I guess makes Tom Brandi Koji Kanemoto.

We don’t get a whole lot of this, but even in its short run Hansen manages to beat up Kobashi three separate times.

Tiger Mask holds Hansen for a top rope dropkick, but the Faketriot (or possibly the Original Patriot) pushes them out of the way so Kobashi eats canvas. This sets up for a (rad) lariat. You’ll get him one day, Kenta!

[William Bologna]

Yoshiaki Yatsu/Akira Taue vs Terry Gordy/Steve Williams

We get the bumrush/dance around routine again. Then Williams and Yatsu go all amateur on us and do some fun grappling.

The dubbing keeps calling Gordy "Teddy Gotti." That would have been his name if he joined the FBI in ECW. 

He's still not doing anything for me. He's sloppy, but not in an out of control brawler way. He just misses a lot.

Williams & Gordy are getting a shot at Tenryu & Hansen’s tag titles at Budokan. I'm surprised at how little title talk there's been so far. There was a brief recap of Triple Crown title changes, and they mention the Footloose having the All Asia belts, but this is the first time titles have been emphasized.

This was more competitive than I thought it’d be. Yatsu gets to do a lot, and they’re definitely more respectful of Taue than they were with Takano last time.

Gordy gets Taue with a powerbomb.

[William Bologna]

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

They're talking a lot about the upcoming WWF/NJPW/AJPW Dome show. Baba went to New York. They hope George Hogan and Oriental Davis will be there. It sounds like they're talking about an unlicensed video game.

I found my attention wandering halfway through, even though Jumbo's team is a lot better with Inoue instead of Isao Takagi. It's kind of predictable - there are exceptions here and there, but if Tenryu or Tsuruta is in there with the underlings, you know he's just going to beat them up.

I also have to consider that watching a month's worth of TV in a couple days is not the intended pace of consumption. Seeing the main eventers do their routine once every couple of weeks is fun. Seeing it for the third time today is something else.

HOWEVER, they get me in the end. Things get real chaotic as we head to the finish, and then they get dramatic. Tenryu and Jumbo stay away from each other for most of it until finally they're both in there, and Tenryu submits to a leglock! He is doing one hell of a sell job. He's usually so stone-faced that seeing his features contorted in agony really works. Jumbo throws in a few punches for good measure.

The story continues via phone-translated chyrons. "Tenryu suffers a humiliating submission loss!"

Tenryu: "It was the worst. I don't remember ever losing by giving up. The pain was so intense I felt like my ankle was coming off. I'll go to the hospital and see the results. I don't know what I'll do tomorrow."

Jumbo announces that his hold is called the Jumbo Deathlock. This is the first time he's used it. "I'm the ace of All Japan. Tenryu, it's not you!"