Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Matt D]

1/2/91: Battle Royal! These are so fun. I'm glad I went back for it. It was maybe 6 minutes and it's just constant pins. They do the angle with Taue and Kawada right at the front and they brawl around the arena for the whole thing though we can't see a chunk of it. There's a bit where Misawa takes out Spivey and Kobashi and Ace take out Hansen and everyone just pins them. There's a teeter totter with Kobashi and Kimala II where both guys get pinned. Hansen takes out Kobashi with a chair for the hell of it in there. And somehow, Ace wins it all! (with Kobashi, post pin, helping out). Fun stuff.

1/19/91: Hansen (c) vs Jumbo: This was awesome. It was like the title match version of the hoss fight main event style. It was Godzilla vs King Kong. It didn't have the same energy that Doc or Gordy bring but it had such gravitas and struggle. They were just pushing up against each other the whole time. It was more methodological but you could see the exhaustion and exertion from the two of them as the match went on. There was just such weight to it. It built to Hansen using the belly to back a few times to really stick it to Jumbo and Jumbo countering by kicking off the ropes. He reversed a suplex too. He worked over the arm. But Hansen was able to come back with a lariat out of nowhere. The finish was pretty awesome with each man trying for bombs but not being able to put the other way and really not being able to hit their best stuff exactly how they wanted. Finally, Jumbo ducks the lariat and hits the Neckbreaker Drop! as the announcers shout Baba's name over and over again. It felt somehow so meaningful that Jumbo went into the well and used that to win. People over at PWO have been pretty low on this over the years and but in context, I thought it was awesome stuff. It's not Hansen vs Andre or a crazy brawl but I just bought into the atmosphere as something entirely different.

 

[Matt D]

1/15/91: Spivey/Hansen vs Fantastics: So the Fantastics are basically "cruiserweight bullies" in AJPW. They really eat guys up and they're usually up against wrestlers their own size or smaller in the All-Asia division. It leads to annoying all-action, formless smushes. The most entertaining stuff is when they're up against guys they can't do that with. And these are the god kings of that. They try though. Lots of tagging. Lots of recovering too soon. Lots of trying to awkwardly grab a roll up or a leg or whatever they can do. At one point, Fulton tries to grab Spivey's leg and goes down and Spivey just punches him in the face. There's a good chunk of that sort of thing here and it is stilted and uncooperative when Spivey's in there but hopeless for the Fantastics when Hansen's in, as you can imagine. The end is funny. They get a burst of offense, go for a rocket launcher but Hansen just cuts it off and tosses one right into Spivey's clumsy powerslam. A perfectly fine mauling.

1/26/91: Hansen vs Ace: Ace tried to assert himself early. He failed. Hansen beat him around the ring and ringside until he went for a power bomb on the floor and got back body dropped. Spivey followed up with a huge chairshot and had an advantage for a bit, until he didn't. Hansen returned the favor with a chairshot and it was pretty much elementary from there. The ducked Lariat/other arm lariat really is such a great finish.

1/26/91: Kikichi vs Fuchi: Unfortunately we come into this title match JIP with Kikuchi's arm already busted. We're not sure how. Kikuchi sells it huge. He reverses a suplex on the floor into a German though and that feels like a huge deal. He puts up a fight for a bit but then Fuchi starts brutally tearing his arm off and locks in a hammerlock and I assume the ref stops it. Danger Zone starts to play and Ace checks on Kikuchi and it's all lovely stuff. Just what one wants from one's wrestling.

1/26/91: Kobashi/Kawada vs Jumbo/Inoue: This was kind of an escalation of Kawada as he's the de facto hierarchical leader on his side but he picked a match where Jumbo was as grumpy as could be and while he's there for the hot tag, it's Kobashi who sneaks in a clutch pin on Inoue. Before that, Kobashi had his leg demolished by Inoue's chairshots on the outside (I think Kawada had been dropped onto the bell before that?) and any time he tried to fight back, they just tore at the leg some more. A good night for that sort of thing, really. Also a great match for Jumbo killing guys with lariats. What a guy.

[Matt D]

1/26/91: Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kikuchi: There's no way I'm going to do this justice. I'd have to watch a different way to really break down the structure, but I will tell you the most important thing you need to know: As I've been watching these, the wrestlers remain incomplete. It's been great to see Taue slowly become a force instead of Tenryu's meek punching bag. Misawa breaking out, doing damage, getting the shock win, and slowly becoming more and more of an assertive star has been a nice little journey. This, though, was the night that Kawada emerges. It has to be. For one, that little tiny goatee is finally growing in. More importantly, this is the night he hurt Jumbo. It's midway through the match, after Jumbo came in to cause some trouble; he just blasts across the ring and hits his lariat from behind and Jumbo's out of the match for a few minutes selling his damaged ear. That's how Misawa chipped away at him months earlier and now Kawada's followed the example. That's no small thing. He's wrestling even with the larger Taue, yes, and even beating him back at times, but this was Jumbo and he hurt him like he never had before. Even in this match, Jumbo is just swatting Kikuchi away like he's nothing, but Kawada now, finally had his full attention. Here's the thing about Grumpy Jumbo. Yes, it's fun to watch him kill the youngsters, but that's not why it works. He's grumpy because they legitimately piss him off, and he's extremely grumpy when they go further than that and hurt him. He charges back into the ring (when recovered) like a monster possessed, going so far as to slam Kawada on the floor and smash him with a chair which is not stuff he usually does. For him to be that grumpy, to be that incensed, shows the fans how much he cared and how much this absolutely mattered. There are other things to note here: Kikuchi comes in with a damaged arm from the Fuchi match but it's never a huge deal. More than anything, it kind of makes things 3 on 2 automatically. The fans are up for every Kawada vs Taue exchange. They start the match and they end the match. There are a bunch of minor bombs that Kawada survives but it never feels over the top because it's not killshots. Taue hitting a belly to back (not started with the atomic drop) isn't the same as Jumbo hitting one. Taue's samoan drop shouldn't put Kawada away, etc. The whole match is chaos. It settles down a bit here and there when someone's hurt or down and one team can keep an advantage but even that feels fairly chaotic. It ends with Kawada surviving a ton of stuff and ALMOST getting the power bomb on Taue only to get cut off by Jumbo allowing Taue to hit it. I'd call this one special.

Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZnyWqJJypI&pp=ygUga2F3YWRhIGZ1Y2hpIG1pc2F3YSB0c3VydXRhIDE5OTE%3D

[Matt D]

1/27/91: Kobashi/Ace vs Billy Black/Joel Deaton: Hey, it's Billy Black! So I'm still laughing on the inside about both Gene Kiniski who did the announcment since it's a title match and Giant Baba who they made a big deal of watching from a seat by the dressing room having to watch Billy Black do his cartwheel moonsault and the assisted flip from a standing position with Deaton's help. I mean you don't want to look away from the guy but none of it looks good. Impressive given his size but not impactful or anything. I kinda sorta paused this to watch the first ten minutes of Collision but the basic gist was that Black and Deaton worked well early, Black got kind of swept under by Ace and Kobashi, Deaton absolutely destroyed Kobashi with a chair (I guess his leg), he sold for a while, came back big, and they had a super dramatic finish with Black going for a moonsault (legs up), freaking Ace hitting a moonsault causing the crowd to go absolutely nuts, and then Kobashi getting it for the win. Kobashi also did his Finlay roll twice in the match for some reason and was playing around with Superkicks, I think because Black was throwing them. At times the fans were chanting for Deaton and Black but did they ever go up for Ace's moonsault, which took everyone by surprise.

1/27/91: Hansen/Spivey vs Abby/Kimala II: Pretty crazy 6 minute brawl actually. Hansen and Spivey ambushed them and had an early advantage. Abby tried to fire back. The flip side of having the best cut off shot in wrestling history (other than maybe Yoko) is that it also works as a babyface comeback spot. Hansen was having none of it though. Kimala did an awesome bump over the rail. Just huge. Spivey tried to hit Abby with a chair and he no sold it and shot him in the throat. Hansen grabbed a table and tossed it in the ring. This didn't have a finish.

[John E. Dynamite]

On 6/15/2023 at 9:03 PM, Matt D said:

1/26/91: Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kikuchi: There's no way I'm going to do this justice. I'd have to watch a different way to really break down the structure, but I will tell you the most important thing you need to know: As I've been watching these, the wrestlers remain incomplete. It's been great to see Taue slowly become a force instead of Tenryu's meek punching bag. Misawa breaking out, doing damage, getting the shock win, and slowly becoming more and more of an assertive star has been a nice little journey. This, though, was the night that Kawada emerges. It has to be. For one, that little tiny goatee is finally growing in. More importantly, this is the night he hurt Jumbo. It's midway through the match, after Jumbo came in to cause some trouble; he just blasts across the ring and hits his lariat from behind and Jumbo's out of the match for a few minutes selling his damaged ear. That's how Misawa chipped away at him months earlier and now Kawada's followed the example. That's no small thing. He's wrestling even with the larger Taue, yes, and even beating him back at times, but this was Jumbo and he hurt him like he never had before. Even in this match, Jumbo is just swatting Kikuchi away like he's nothing, but Kawada now, finally had his full attention. Here's the thing about Grumpy Jumbo. Yes, it's fun to watch him kill the youngsters, but that's not why it works. He's grumpy because they legitimately piss him off, and he's extremely grumpy when they go further than that and hurt him. He charges back into the ring (when recovered) like a monster possessed, going so far as to slam Kawada on the floor and smash him with a chair which is not stuff he usually does. For him to be that grumpy, to be that incensed, shows the fans how much he cared and how much this absolutely mattered. There are other things to note here: Kikuchi comes in with a damaged arm from the Fuchi match but it's never a huge deal. More than anything, it kind of makes things 3 on 2 automatically. The fans are up for every Kawada vs Taue exchange. They start the match and they end the match. There are a bunch of minor bombs that Kawada survives but it never feels over the top because it's not killshots. Taue hitting a belly to back (not started with the atomic drop) isn't the same as Jumbo hitting one. Taue's samoan drop shouldn't put Kawada away, etc. The whole match is chaos. It settles down a bit here and there when someone's hurt or down and one team can keep an advantage but even that feels fairly chaotic. It ends with Kawada surviving a ton of stuff and ALMOST getting the power bomb on Taue only to get cut off by Jumbo allowing Taue to hit it. I'd call this one special.

Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZnyWqJJypI&pp=ygUga2F3YWRhIGZ1Y2hpIG1pc2F3YSB0c3VydXRhIDE5OTE%3D

Had to double check - this was pimped pretty heavy by Meltzer (to the tune of ****1/2) and definitely something that stood out to me when I was doing my post-Corners Jumbo and Fuchi binge. It's an A+ and if you haven't watched it, forsake the rest of your watchlist. I know this because the Jumbo + Chair stuff is decently imprinted in my brain.

For every Wrestling What If story there has ever been, the idea of Healthy Jumbo In The 90's torments me whenever I consider it.

Edited June 18, 2023 by John E. Dynamite

[Matt D]

We don't have a ton of February footage. I'll have to look at the TV. We do have a bunch of March and April however, including some full handheld shows.

2/22/91: Misawa/Kawada vs Taue/Ogawa: Best bit here is just Misawa and Kawada killing Ogawa. Taue obviously asserts himself and is generally able to take back over, but they get their hands on Ogawa fairly early on and it's brutal. That includes Kawada slamming him on the outside in case you were wondering. It's not like he's not game when he does get a chance to be on offense and further whatever damage Taue had done but game isn't good enough against these two by this point. Eventually he all but forces himself back in and as Taue is flying through the air onto Kawada, Misawa is dropping him with the magic forearm and the tiger driver for the win.

2/22/91: Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Blackhearts: Blackhearts have Satanico's music and are now under hoods. I thought this was Deaton/Black for some reason but it's Gangrel and his buddy that never amounted to much. Blackhearts have lots of goofy doubleteams that would fit into indy wrestling in 98, not Japan in 91. Kobashi and Kikuchi are full of fire but it's more likely they'll benefit from a Black own goal than anything else. They absolutely crush Kikuchi with a Steiner DDT off the top for what, to me, was kind of a surprise win. Blackhearts were credible just because they did so much tag stuff, but also kind of ridiculous in the setting.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

2/22/91: Jumbo/Fuchi/Inoue vs Doc/Gordy/Slinger: Glad we have this one handheld at least. It starts with Gordy and Doc running down like maniacs and Gordy just beating the crap out of Fuchi. Then the match actually starts with Fuchi vs Gordy and Fuchi just slaps the hell out of Gordy. He looked like a confused gorilla. Good stuff. They kept going back to beating on Fuchi but whenever Slinger was in there, he got the worst of it, including getting kneebusted on the rail and them working that over for a while. Whenever Inoue came in, it was with a ton of fire. This could have used just a little more Doc maybe? Overall it was good stuff though and some slightly different pairings.

2/22/91: Dean Malenko vs Teranishi: Very good, spirited stuff save for a long headscissors in the middle. I like younger Dean more than older Dean. Older Dean is still technically sound but he had much more fire when he was younger. He worked more for the match he was in than the match that he thought was correct, which is something he did later on. He had some awesome themes in his career though. Power of Love to the Iceman theme to the Bond take off theme. Anyway, the good stuff here was extremely good and the bad was limited to just a minute. Note that there are two matches at least on this card that I don't have since I don't want to track them down in Rocky Ieukea vs Joe Malenko and Land of Giants vs Undertakers. That's not worth bugging any of my sources over.

[Matt D]

3/2/91: Jumbo/Taue/Ogawa vs Doc/Gordy/Slinger: There are certain things you'll only really pick up on watching this chronologically and comprehensively. Like how Taue was mostly ready for them rushing the ring even though it didn't do him any good. I have no idea what was going on with the announcing here but they went up big for Jumbo's arm raising in a pretty hilarious way. Slinger had a super high dropkcik on him but it was up to Ogawa and Slinger to lose the offense as you'd imagine. Ogawa was feisty and just kept hammering on people whenever he wanted but generally got swatted away. At one point, Doc had him up over his shoulder in a Canadian backbreaker style choke which was gnarly. Slinger got crushed by Jumbo to end this.

3/2/91: Misawa/Kawada vs Blackhearts: This had a slightly different hierarchy than usual. I know we've seen the Blackhearts beat Kobashi/Kikuchi but they still felt beneath and below Misawa/Kawada in a way that you don't usually see with Jumbo or Doc/Gordy on the other side of everything. That meant that Misawa could be a little more athletic than usual and Kawada even more imposing both in the corner and on the outside. The Blackhearts were able to come back with double teams (they started  the match with a double flipping clotheslines) including a double superplex off the second rope. This had the nastiest finish with a Kawada ganso bomb where he didn't get a guy up all the way. 

[Matt D]

3/2/91: Fuchi (c) vs D. Malenko: We don't get much of this but I will reiterate how fun Dean is in 1991 and what a shame it is that he became the iceman. He was so explosive and dynamic and full of fire. He'd do a front handspring in the ring and then a dive immediately thereafter and it was great. There's a sequence where he climbs up the ropes with Fuchi's arm, does a somersault off the top, Fuchi does a go behind, Malenko blocks the German, Malenko goes for the Northern Lights, Fuchi blcoks it, Malenko jams him into the corner and then hits it. And it's this mix of the ridiculous and the sublime. The strength here is that he could take dumb stuff and make it seems competitive and organic (to a degree at least) which is such an amazing pro wrestling skill. Anyway, he tries one too many counters and Fuchi crunches him with a stump puller. Good stuff. Shame we just got six minutes of it.

3/3/91: Kikuchi vs Slinger: Here, my friends is a full handheld show. Two young guys going all out in an opening match. Fiery stuff. You got to love the crowd. They'll pop big for Slinger getting Kikuchi in this crazy elevated STF (popping for Slinger) but then immediately start chanting for Kikuchi to get out of it. They weren't quite so kind to Slinger on Kikuchi's elevated half crab that looked like death but they did clap for him when he made it to the ropes. This was a fun little mix of everything really, but the mat stuff was surprisingly compelling. Kikuchi won by shifting gears suddenly and locking in a crossface chicken wing.

3/3/91: Ogawa vs Rocky Ieukea: Rocky came out wearing a net, refused to give it to the ref, and then started the match by tossing it on Ogawa. Fun stuff. Much slower paced and mat based with Rocky using his size and Ogawa having to overcome it. Which he really didn't do much. Rocky took most of this, bullying him around until he missed a splash off the top and Ogawa won with a missile dropkick. I wonder how many single wins he had by this point? Let me see. Ha. He was beating Sasaki in 86. No, he had a bunch of undercard ones through the years so this wasn't a big deal or anything. He didn't win a lot in 1990 though so it probably still felt like an upset especially after the shocking net beginning.

[Curt McGirt]

It feels like there should have been more 'net spots' in wrestling considering how many fucking handcuff spots there have. I can't think of any off the top of my head. 

[Matt D]

3/3/91: Rusher/Momota vs Undertakers

3/3/91: Okuma/Eigen vs Land of the Giants

3/3/91: Teranishi/Inoue vs Blackhearts

This was a hill I had to climb. The Undertakers were two big fat dudes with face paint. One had a pretty good Tenta style elbow drop. In general. They were rough. The fans just didn't take them seriously. It was funny when one tried to headbutt Rusher. Rusher took a beating. Momota had a little more fun. The big guys won. Okuma and Eigen vs LOTG was probably the best match out of the the three with Okuma and Eigen trying to run around them and outwit them. It worked for a while. Then it didn't. The big guys won. Inoue wasn't going to put up with crap and the Blackhearts bumped big generally. Still, they had a teamwork advantage in the end and won with a double ddt off the second rope. This is where the "Foreign Giants" strategy that was so successful in the back half of 1990 went to die.

[Matt D]

3/3/91: Malenkos vs Doc and Gordy: This was a lot of fun. Doc and Gordy obviously respected the Malenkos and since it wasn't televised they had a little more room to lean into that respect instead of just running over them. That meant Doc worked the mat with Joe in a way that he might not have otherwise and that got to show off some of his amateur skills. They got a lot of heat by breaking up every Malenko submission. At one point Joe started stomping all over a head to get revenge for that. Towards the end they caught him as he was trying to come in to stop it and that led to the finishing stretch. Doc and Gordy could bully their way on top but Malenkos had an answer to everything in time. Just a really fun, unique match. I think Malenko talked about it on his Talk is Jericho appearance, but I haven't heard that.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

3/3/91: Misawa/Kobashi/Kawada vs Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi: I can't believe I've been sitting on this one for a couple of years! I guess I just assumed we did it for NFF but sometimes i don't know the difference between one show and another there because I didn't have the context I do now. This is really good and it's not been in circulation so basically, you guys get to see it first. I'd suggest watching it before reading the following if you're going to watch it at all.

It starts with a really fun little Kobashi/Fuchi pairing and immediately devolves into violence between Taue and Kawada that everyone tries to break up. From there it cycles like usual, with Jumbo and Misawa pairing at one point. The story, as much as anything else is Jumbo being able to overcome Kawada but especially everyone being able to overcome Kobashi, who fights hard but gets swept under, until they demolish his leg with a chair. From there, he has to fight back (including through this grisly Jumbo elevated half crab) until it goes back and forth (including Fuchi being an ass and clipping Kobashi's leg out from under him when they're in control) including another great Jumbo vs Misawa exchange, until it ends up with a second beat down, this time on Taue. Before Kobashi is ultimately unable to put him away and Jumbo intervenes in the nastiest way. I'm not doing it justice but it's really good, high end stuff with these two groups. Watch it.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

3/4/91: MVC (c) vs Jumbo/Taue: This was really good and it's a testament to Jumbo (not like he needs them in 91) that he did this and the previous match back to back. It was for the titles and MVC were a little more subdued at times because of that. They still tossed Taue around. When they took over on him it was, I think, his best and most complete performance so far, working from underneath, showing tenacity and fire, pushed to the limit as he kept trying to fire up and fight back. Eventually he did so and this ended up feeling like a big 89 tag using that structure. Jumbo got swept under early and it was about Taue getting the strength back to come and help him so they could turn the tide. They started to do so but Jumbo didn't quite recover in time himself to prevent MVC from winning. Just very good stuff in the 89 AJPW tag style.

[Matt D]

3/4/91: Fuchi (c) vs Joe Malenko: This is JIP, what a travesty. It's fun though. They call Fuchi a master of joints during the opening. We come in with them getting feisty with a slap. Malenko has some amazing shots on the leg, just nasty stuff and Fuchi, on offense, sells it very subtly. Malenko is able to get on an STF and here in March 1991 the announcers call it that. I don't think I'd heard it called as such in AJPW yet. We get a finishing stretch mainly with pin attempts. Fuchi hits a jacknife pin twice and the first time it doesn't really work which almost makes me wonder if it was a flub but even with the second one, it wasn't quite enough of a finish so probably not. More that he was working hard for it. Post match, Fuchi says he'll give Malenko another shot.

3/23/91: Hansen vs Dynamite: This is the Championship Carnival so we get some weird singles matches. Dynamite dodges Hansen's shot and throws everything he has at Hansen early and it doesn't do a thing. There's a bearhug in here. The end has Dynamite finally move the needle and even hit a suplex and the diving headbutt but once he can't put him away there, it's all but over. Dynamite hits a lariat and bounces off Hansen and Hansen takes his head off. Unoffensive Dynamite match but not quite the mauling you would have wanted. Dynamite looked rough here. He as only 32 or so.

[Matt D]

3/23/91: Kawada vs Furnas: Another CC match. Kind of interesting as they do a lot of matwork. We come in JIP with Furnas doing a crossface chicken wing and Kawada selling it like death. Furnas has the advantage until Kawada slips under and does a killer back kick sweep thing which Furnas then sells like it was a gunshot. Mean STF(called that) followed by a Scorpion. Finishing stretch is Kawada outstriking and toughing and Furnas outslicking but ultimately getting overwhelmed.

3/23/91: Misawa/Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi: Interesting that they took some beats from the hh I saw. There was the knee onto the chair/table/gate (this time Kobashi) which is where we come in JIP but that's pretty common in these. It's almost a "strategy" but during the finishing stretch they also do the bit where Jumbo catches someone when they're on the top rope with Taue and they do the double team (this time Misawa and it didn't lead directly to the finish). After they worked Kobashi's leg, Fuchi took out Kikuchi's. The comeback was pretty awesome as Misawa and Taue slugged it out, then Misawa and Jumbo, then Kikuchi and Kobashi worked together to double dropkick everyone. Finish was Kikuchi having a last burst on Fuchi and then Taue only to get crushed.

3/26/91: Jumbo vs CACTUS JACK~!: Oh man, did Foley ever die for Jumbo. Right from the get go, after selling his own headbutts, he's taking crazy clotheslines over the rail and bumping all around the crowd (there was this fan in a mask? who was doing all sorts of funny poses behind him as he did). The fans were going up for every time he bumped over the ropes or through the ropes or onto the floor. He did this nutty blind back bump onto the hard floor from the apron. He hit the nestea plunge! (after his world famous back elbow). Anyway, Jumbo just jammed him with the knee/belly to back for the win. Short match and it was kind of funny since it was the anti-Hansen/Brody/Abby where instead of killing others to inspire fear, he just died himself.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

3/26/91: Misawa/Kobashi vs Hansen/Spivey: Basically, they beat the crap out of Misawa here. This is the worst beating I've seen him take in months. Misawa started the match hitting a baseball slide to get an early advantage (followed up by a Kobashi dive) and then they had Spivey reeling for a bit but it wasn't long before the monsters asserted themselves. Misawa gave and gave until he got a hot tag to Kobashi who immediately came in and slammed everyone like the giant he occasionally was in his own head. Eventually (after the moonsault and it getting broken up). Hansen just ran through him and hit the lariat though.

3/26/91: Kawada/Kikuchi vs Taue/Fuchi: This isn't some amazing revelation or anything, and in many ways it's not dissimilar to what I was seeing in 1989, but what makes this stuff so special isn't just the hard-hitting and workrate and fighting spirit or whatever. It's the shades of grey and complexity of the characters and how they interact with one another and with the crowd. Here, Taue gets chants pre-match. He's a clear favorite. Kawada has gotten under the skin of the crowd. They work the match almost entirely as heat on Kikuchi though, Taue able to bully him with his size and Fuchi able to cut him down with his technique, and when Kawada breaks things up or makes it in the crowd can't help but get behind his fire and passion and intensity. Basically, it's complicated, and that's what makes it so great. These matches never have the straightforward storytelling structure you'd get from American tag wrestling. It's not about shine/heat comeback for the most part (though you got that a bit in the Misawa/Kawada tag above and you always kind of sort of get it "a bit"). What makes it stand out from just being a bunch of senseless violence is how defined all of these characters are and how fluid their relationship with the crowd is. This one is a great example of that. Of note, the Slaughter Cannon type belly to back with a chokeslam/clothesline tandem move actually did finish this one. Plus there was another Fuchi STF so that's a thing now.

[Matt D]

3/29/91: Jumbo Tsuruta vs Akira Taue: The Carnival gave us some pretty cool stuff. I don't have a ton to say about this one. A lot of it was Taue fighting from underneath. Yes, Jumbo had to do two hits where he might only have to do one or he'd have to do the knee off the top instead of the jumping knee to the same effect. And Taue came back at times with big boots or dropkicks. Post-match Jumbo was proud of him. But in general, you could get the sense that this was setting up a more interesting singles match that probably never came.

3/29/91: Johnny Smith/Dynamite Kid vs Kikuchi/Kawada: Kikuchi is the perfect Dynamite opponent. Or, let me put it this way: in Dynamite's mind, Kikuchi would have been the perfect opponent for him. If I remember right, he was a huge Tiger Mask fan so he must have loved being in there with Dynamite and he let Kid bully him around, taking big shots (including chairshots) for him and making him look great. This was mostly Kikuchi getting beaten on and Smith did a lot of the work though Dynamite was certainly memorable whenever he was in there.

3/29/91: Misawa vs Johnny Ace: I've noted this before but Ace's size gives him advantages against the Super Generation Army guys even though it's not what you'd think of him in the States where he was a Dynamic Dude eating a beating from the Midnight Express or whatever. Here he was able to bully Misawa around fairly well and took a lot of this until he got jammed on the ace crusher at the end and Misawa put him down. He had to balance the flying clotheslines and that relative size, but it did make him fairly useful up and down the card. He could have a very different sort of match against Williams/Gordy than he could against Misawa/Kawada or Kobashi/Kikuchi or Jumbo/Fuchi or whatever. Still kind of a dork though.

[Matt D]

3/30/91: Cactus Jack vs Johnny Smith: This is a handheld. We're in the Carnival so we get weird singles matches. I watch this and I can't help but feel for Foley. I have a lot of regard for him and his ability to tell stories but he was actively shooting himself in the foot here. He was doing the exact opposite of what would get over in 1991 AJPW. He was wild to a degree, but the wildness always ended with violence happening to him or, if he was going to do violence, it happening to both him and his opponent. He took big bumps. Then he sold them. In doing so, he was a better wrestler than Brody but far less inclined to get over. If he bumped but didn't sell or if he took 80% of the match and only sold when it mattered, it all would heave meant more. As it was, he was showing vulnerability, as a heel, without sufficient viciousness. And his opponent didn't make up the difference. He hit Johnny Smith with a flipping clothesline off the apron and they were right back at it a few seconds later. Some of it was just dumb. He'd pull back the mat on the floor to do a rib breaker and then the plunge. Just slam the guy, even if you do it lightly. Anyway, he lost this on a superplex. Ah well.

3/30/91: Dynamite Kid vs Texas Terminator Hoss: Hoss was Jack's partner on this tour and later one half of the Awesome Kongs (Colossal Kongs? You know what I mean) in WCW. He was fine. Just a big guy doing big guy stuff. He dominated for a good chunk of this but that's ok because Dynamite was winning. He could give when he was going over. He ate some chairshots from Dynamite, and in the end, missed a corner charge, ate a suplex, ate the headbutt. I find this version of very broken down Dynamite almost compelling just for how hard even moving seemed to be. Almost. You still can't root for the guy.

3/30/91: Hansen/Spivey vs Furnas/Kroffat: Hey, this was fun, if inevitable. Furnas and Spivery started and Spivey let Furnas hit his stuff (leapfrog > leapfrog > dropkick, belly to belly), before Kroffat got swallowed up for a while. They beat the crap out of him until Hansen missed the charge on the outside. On the one hand, it was kind of neat to see some new guys work over Hansen's arm. On the other hand, it's really his only way of being vulnerable 80% of the time at this point (I remember one big Jumbo or Gordy match where his leg got hurt but that's about it). There are a few things that keep Hansen out of my theoretical GWE top 10 and that's one. Eventually, Hansen had enough and jammed Kroffat allowing Spivey to come in and make short enough work of the situation. This was a nice variation on the theme.

[Matt D]

3/30/91: Southern Rockers vs Ace/Kobashi: Hey, it's Well Dunn. I'd rather have the Rock'n'Roll RPMs. I wonder if they ever worked Japan. Davis obviously did but Lane never did. There's a ten minute barbed wire match in Big Japan with Kendo Nagasaki in 95 that I wouldn't mind seeing but there's no way that exists. Anyway, back to this. It's for the titles. It's a pretty good All-Asia title match. Didn't actively annoy me. Ace, in this setting, kind of works like a giant cruiserweight. Pretty funny. Rockers could out team him and out quick him but he just had reach and range and size. Crowd was into Kobashi but that's no surprise. Finish had a hot tag to Ace, who hit a rocker dropper, which is the kind of thing you'd think the Southern Rockers should do. Rockers tried to break things up on the top, tried to hit a superplex on Ace. Ended up eating a Doomsday Device back elbow as Kobashi intervened. It was a match. I'd be curious to see the Southern Rockers wrestle Okuma and Eigen or something. We get some weird things on this tour where they're separated instead and of course Andre/Johnny Smith vs Southern Rockers a few times, but we definitely don't have those. Ah well.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

3/30/91: Jumbo/Taue/Fuchi vs Misawa/Kawada/Kikuchi: This was very straightforward. Kawada got beat down by all three on the other side (cycled) to start. Of note, Fuchi got a chant. He came back against Taue (dodge in the corner) and his team cycled on him until Kikuchi got swept over. They worked over Kikuchi hard until he could make a hot tag. His team cycled around until Kikuchi was back in. He got swept under again. He survived a lot including a couple of Fuchi belly to backs in a row until he got another hot tag. They hit bombs for a bit until the ring cleared for Taue and Kawada. Kawada pulled it off with a killer lariat to the back of the skull. It was almost picture perfect for what they were trying to do. I would have had a more even back and forth to start before Kikuchi kept getting dragged down. More in the way of open exchanges. I think I found the match where they traded FIPs between Kobashi and Taue more interesting but this was more streamlined and overall effective. Jumbo's team definitely won on points. Again, of note, early on they were cheering for Fuchi but Kikuchi fought so valiantly that they went up hard for Kawada bursting in after the hot tag and for the finish.

[Matt D]

3/31/91: Steve Doll vs Richard Slinger: We're on to another house show. I'm nearing the end of this leg of the journey, though there's still another house show or two in April to get through even after this one. The big vibe here is that Slinger was adept in the style and Doll wasn't. Doll could hit a quick dropkick out of nowhere or do the rope running, but Slinger really sort of tore him apart, especially on the mat. He really honed in on the leg and it was all Doll could do to stay in it. He was going to get the win off of a back body press from the second rope, but not before Slinger kicked the crap out of him in the corner too.

3/31/91: Momota/Kimura vs Eigen/Okuma: Okuma has red pants now. Important note. I love these. They never wear out their welcome. There's an uncovered Eigen/Rusher match from earlier in 91 that just popped up that I need to go back for (I think we had it JIP). We and the fans were conditioned to expect Eigen being a shitheel to start, so when he shakes Rusher's hand, it's a big moment. Then he taps him on the shoulder and slaps him in the face. That Eigen. All of these tend to work the same way: Eigen and Okuma double team Rusher's partner and take advantage of Rusher rushing in using southern tag heel tactics. Rusher gets in against Okuma. They take over on him before he can get Eigen. Rusher comes back, gets the tag, his partner does some stuff, and it ends up Rusher vs Eigen and Eigen gets his. Satisfying stuff that is more meaty and fully formed than a lot of the Baba trios that preceded them. It's the circus; they're the clowns. 

3/31/91: Teranishi vs Rex King: Not a ton to say overall. King was able to hang a little bit better than Doll did, including getting a cross arm breaker in there. Teranishi still bullied him for a good chunk of this. Nice sweeping German to end it. Handshake after the match.

[Matt D]

3/31/91: Texas Terminator Hoss/Dan Spivey vs Fuchi/Ogawa: I was kind of excited by this one and the idea I might see something interesting given the unique pairings but this was about Ogawa getting to show a little bit of fire but ultimately getting squashed (literally). I can't understate how thoroughly protected Spivey was in this 89-91 period.

3/31/91: Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith vs Can Ams: This was solid considering who was in there. There were inherent differences at play where Kroffat could outquick someone like Smith but would get outpowered by him and bullied by Dynamite but Furnas could come in and just crush Dynamite. Smith based well for Kroffat certainly. The differences kept any one side from having an advantage for too long and animosity between the teams began to rise until a chair came into play on the outside. It wore out its welcome a little bit but was ultimately ok. I don't think Kroffat/Furnas would have done so well with this one two years prior.

3/31/91: Kawada vs Cactus Jack: I remember this being crummy and it wasn't really. It was fairly short with some of the action lost on the outside and it was clunky but not necessarily in a bad way. The fact it wasn't competitive or clean was, to a degree, a positive. I don't think Cactus worked well to his size and given the camera angle I have no idea if he hit the elbow or not but it was all but over after he went for it (he was tossed into the rail immediately thereafter but it might have been Kawada not wanting to sell instead of a dodge?). Finish was a nasty kick in the corner and the clothesline to the back of the head which really was Kawada's finish at this point.

3/31/91: Hansen vs Ace: This got way too much time. Ace was protected too. He just was. Some of that was him being deceptively big and knowing how to assert himself more and more but Hansen gave him a bit too much in a macro sense. He was able to survive a bit too much basically, was able to comeback a few times too many. When he leapt off the top with a clothesline, it should work. And there was a funny "Joe" like moment where Hansen just walked  out of the way as he went back to that well once too often. Ace took a beating but he got to stay in it and that, as much as whatever relations he had going for him, was why he was viable for all of the 90s.

[Curt McGirt]

Never seen it but I recall Foley saying Kawada kicked the shit out of him and it wasn't pleasant.

[AxB]

And then they had a rematch years later (for Hustle-1 I think) and Kawada didn't like it. I think Foley was a late sub in for Goldberg or something.