Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Curt McGirt]

I think that was the one he meant actually. Haven't read the book in years

EDIT: Hmmm, would Kawada have been madder if it was Goldberg no-selling him? I mean at least Foley would eat shit and die for you. I can't see Goldberg giving him anything. Then again it would have been more fun for us to see him beat Bill like a rented mule instead.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

3/31/91: Jumbo/Inoue/Taue vs Misawa/Kobashi/Kikuchi: This is a kind of weird one. Obviously the weirdest thing in it is Jumbo tripping through the ropes which let Kobashi pound on him when he was supposed to be taking over on Kobashi (they went back around again to beating on Kikuchi). But Jumbo actually comes off as strangely vulnerable later on, the most vulnerable I've seen him except for in severe moments of ear-damage. Here it's more matter-of-fact and I'm not sure if it's because Kawada's not in the match causing some ripples in hierarchy (Misawa/Kawada and Kobashi or Kikuchi is different than Misawa/Kobashi/Kikuchi) or just because we're almost into April 91 and some things have to change. For the most part, we have cycles of control where Kikuchi will get beat down, will make a comeback, and then Taue gets beat down (or Kobashi or Inoue). It's pretty fluid here, which keeps things exciting and fun and chippy but you never really get a long stetch which anchors the match so it feels chaotic but not quite as good as some of the others narratively. It feels a little more house show-y maybe (they were in Toyama). Finishing stretch is still fun as it ends with Taue cutting off Kobashi from a (second) moonsault) and them doing the tandem move with Kobashi kicking out because he's ridiculous like that and Jumbo hitting the belly to back as Taue bursts across the ring to take out Misawa. Still good but a little weird and definitely less focused.

[Matt D]

4/5/91: Stan Hansen/Southern Rockers vs Gordy/Doc/Slinger: This was fun. Hierarchy worked like you'd expect. Rockers could work fast with and take over on Slinger. They had no hope against Doc and Gordy. There was an awesome moment of Doc just swatting away a dropkick. What a beast. Gordy and Hansen had a bit of a hoss fight. Fun finishing stretch here where Hansen had enough and asserted himself but got ducked on and went flying over the top which let Gordy crush one of the Rockers quickly. Not a ton to this but there were fun moments.

4/5/91: Fuchi vs Furnas: A disappointment. Maybe one of the most disappointing matches I've seen in this run. There was some fun Strength vs Technique stuff, but a lot of it was just Fuchi sitting on Furnas to try to contain him and given the HH nature of this, you couldn't see a ton of nuance of the hold (if there was any, there didn't seem to be). I tend to think of Fuchi as a very special talent, someone who could work junior title matches, comedy matches with Baba and co., team with Jumbo and Taue against the kids and bully and tear apart a leg, but this really didn't work. Eventually it was time for Furnas to get out and he did and he shut Fuchi down pretty quick after that.

[Matt D]

4/5/91: Kroffat vs Spivey: This was a lot better than Fuchi vs Furnas actually. Much more of Kroffat using his savvy and speed and Spivey able to power out at any moment. Kroffat was able to work the arm a bit and gave it much more of a shot than I would have expected. Unfortunately Fuchi vs Kroffat and Spivey vs Furnas would have probably been really good but we don't get those. I didn't mind this though. Eventually Spivey was just going to reverse a whip and hit a DDT and that's exactly what he did but Kroffat made people believe he had a shot which he really, truly didn't.

4/5/91: Jumbo/Taue vs Kawada/Kikuchi: Speaking of not having a shot. I think Kawada knew it early too, came in knowing it, even if they were about a year off of Misawa being Jumbo and learning anything was possible. Fun bit early where it was Taue vs Kikuchi and the crowd was chanting for Kawada and Taue was pointing him and the crowd got their wish. Kikuchi did his best but he was going to lose offense every time he was in. He was able to come back and tag Kawada a few times though. That was sort of a victory in its own right. At the end they just over power their smaller opponents including the first time I've ever seen a Taue belly to back/Jumbo top rope jumping knee which Kikuchi has to break up a pin on after. Kikuchi finally does get one last hot tag and hits Jumbo in his weak chin staggering him, which again feels like a big moment. He then runs into a boot and the writing is on the wall after that. Fun if inevitable. EDIT: I forgot to add that Kawada/Kikuchi have a lot of bits where Kawada treats Kikuchi like Serpentico, back suplexing him into a moonsault, Slamming him into a senton, etc. It's a hoot.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

4/5/91: Terry Funk/Dory Funk vs Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith: All the story with Dory was FINE. It was fine. Really. Very competitive matwork with Smith. Grueling matwork and chain wrestling with Dynamite. Some hard shots. Fine. But it's all black and white and Terry is in vibrant color and you spend all of Dory's stuff waiting for Terry to get in. You respect Dory. You're not even bored with him. He's endlessly credible, but you JUST WANT TERRY TO GET IN THE RING ALREADY. And then you're so glad when he does. Obviously it was great fun when he was knocked between the ropes and teeter tottered. And he managed to pile drive both Bulldogs in quick success but then shortly thereafter ate one of his own and sold like he was rubber all around the ring. Beautiful stuff. Just the way he'd bump on anything, falling to the mat and then making sure to bounce, not much, just a tiny bit, for the next sixteen seconds. What a guy. Finish had Dory go for the spinning toehold, get knocked away and Terry do it only to get rolled up but then reverse the roll up. It was ok but you just wanted Terry in there. Not as fun as the RWTL match.

4/5/91: Inoue/ANDRE THE GIANT vs Cactus Jack/Texas Terminator Hoss: Jack comes off like a WCW job guy. I was thinking Snake Watson but that's not it. There's some guy who was bigger around 91 that Sting and others would beat and that's just how he carries himself. I was legitimately scared of GWF Jack around this time but there's just nothing there. Hoss actually looks pretty damn formidable first time he comes in against Inoue. Just big clubbering shots and a lifting choke. Jack has a plodding way of moving a guy to a corner. He's all bumps. All flying around the ring and eating a shot on the floor. He's all the anticipation of danger but it never comes because he stooges himself instead. Yet somehow the bumps he took were enough to make him stand out over the job guys. But it wasn't the answer. If he was portrayed as dangerous to someone else other than himself, that would have been the answer that would have him walking better now! I have a lot of time for 1990 Andre still. This Andre is a little rougher to watch. He had a hard time getting in and out of the ring. But boy did Cactus bump around the ring for him. He could do that. Too bad it wasn't the right skill he needed!

[odessasteps]

I love that google tells me Hoss’ real name is Scott Thompson. So I can imagine Mick teaming with Buddy Cole and not Khrusher Kong. 

[Curt McGirt]

Mick talked about Andre in his first book, didn't he? He had to have. What's crazy is I've read it a thousand times and can't remember.

[Matt D]

4/6/91 Jumbo vs Kawada: Ah the joys of the Carnival. This one was very cool, a lot to wrap my mind around. Kawada got the first shot in but then Jumbo started to hit the "kitchen sink" (hate that name, can't believe Dylan Hales of all people calls it that on commentary! For shame, old friend) on him a couple of times. Jumbo leans in with submissions, crab, kind of lame legbar, the STF Fuchi taught him where Jumbo kinds of just lays on you. Kawada fires back on the leg, gets a half crab but can't hold him, etc. Hits a big clothesline. Contains him with leg scissors. He's lost the plot a bit since while it's impressive Kawada is containing Jumbo like this... he's not going to beat him this way. But it's all he can do. Jumbo gets out and Kawada just takes him down with a chinlock and a headlock and the look on Kawada's face here, the effort, the missing teeth, the sheer determination is awesome.

Spoiler

But Jumbo's not going to be held down, even by that guy, and he lifts him up and instead of hitting the back drop driver just tosses him across the ring. Then he takes him outside and hits the shin breaker on the table. After that he brutalizes him: Clothesline, pile driver, big boot. KAwada's able to somehow reverse a whip in the corner and he uses all of his kicks, the leaping one in the corner, the "Kawada kicks", the spin kick, an upkick after Jumbo cuts him off with a clothesline, and then finally Tenyru's enziguiri to the face! He hurts his shin and can't capitalize but finally squares Jumbo up for one of his finishers, the clothesline to the back of the head. It knocks Jumbo out of the ring though! Cruel twist of fate. He can't follow him with the shin, but he knocks him off the apron, follows up! It's pretty exciting at this point. He hits a belly to back in the ring  and this is the moment! HE sets Jumbo up for the power bomb, but can't get it, hammers him, but can't get it, gives Jumbo his best and Jumbo just slaps him in the face. It's all but over here. Jumping knee. Kickout! Jumbo gets pissy and hits the power bomb himself. Kick out. So Jumbo just hits him with two back drop drivers and calls it a day. The fact he hit two, to me, wasn't him being worried about Kawada or even angry at him, but being a dick that wouldn't give him the moral victory of being able to kick out of one. Anyway, this was good and really leaned into the hierarchy in a smart way.

Spoiler

 

4/6/91: Misawa vs Hansen: Another hierarchy match. I won't go too deep into it, not like the other, but Jumbo could really take it to Hansen here. It was maybe 65/35 along those lines, maybe even 60/40. He's able to fire back on him, able to take him down, able to contain him. He's able to toss Hansen into the rail, etc. The match opens up in a big way when Hansen rips off part of the guard rail and attacks Misawa with it, which the announcer goes nuts for saying he'd never seen it before. There's a pile driver here as well. Misawa eventually comes back and he hits maybe the best magic elbow off the top I've ever seen. It was like time froze. But he misses the frog splash which felt like the real lost opportunity for him to actually win. When Hansen tosses Misawa into the rail after he goes flying over big and then Hansen hits the lariat while Misawa's coming back in on the apron. Hansen adjusts the elbowpad and goes for it again, Misawa ducks and goes for the crucifix that everyone in the crowd knew that he'd win with if he hit it, Hansen dropped down in a modified Samoan Drop and that was the match. This was more even than Kawada vs Jumbo but maybe less theatrical. Very interesting to see how the hierarchy spectrum was shifting over time.

[Octopus]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:37 PM, Curt McGirt said:

Mick talked about Andre in his first book, didn't he? He had to have. What's crazy is I've read it a thousand times and can't remember.

from his podcast 

[Matt D]

4/6/91 (may be 4/16/91?): Fuchi vs Kikuchi: This was for the Jr. Title and it was very good. The first 2/3rds of so was Kikuchi in a hopeless situation. He kept getting tossed out early but would stymie Fuchi by rushing right back in. Eventually the stretching started. Kikuchi might slip in a few forearms or get a tricked out little mat exchange where he ended up with Fuchi's arm. Fuchi would shut him down real quick, in these cases with a slap to the face or some more stretching respectively. Kikuchi finally found his opening and just threw his body at Fuchi over and over with top rope dropkicks and dives. He couldn't put him away though and Fuchi took over with the lifting smash onto the table on the other side of the rail, demolishing the leg. That was the beginning of the end and everyone knew it. Fuchi locked in a half crab but Kikuchi made it to the ropes. That was the preamble for the STF... yet, somehow, miraculously, Kikuchi hung on and made it to the ropes again. There was a bit of a buzz here, one that was rewarded with Kikuchi throwing a desperate shot and then actually hitting the German.

And then his leg gave out on the bridge. Poor bastard. He lasted quite a while in the half crab that followed but couldn't last forever. Good match. Here it is:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

4/14/91: Masao Inoue/Momota vs Teranishi/Satoru Asako: A HH so we get the whole card. More or less my first look at Inoue and Asako. This is a fun way to do the opening match with the more or less rookies, having them paired with some vets, and one that's usually pretty over in Momota. When it was Momota vs Teranishi, they really went at it and it was enjoyable. When it was Inoue vs Asako, they tended to work the mat and did deliberate first-match AJPW rookie stuff and it was fine. Both showed promise. Inoue had this nice upwards dropkick that I liked. When it was either of them against the vets, the vets bullied them something fierce. It made for a fun introduction to these guys. If I come back to 1991, maybe I'll see them again, but probably only if I have handhelds?

4/14/91: Doug Furnas vs Steve Doll: This was pretty good. Doll had speed and agility. Furnas had strength and agility. Furnas had the clear advantage here for a chunk of this accordingly. This moved better than the Fuchi vs Furnas match certainly, not to harp on that, especially since we just had a really good Fuchi match vs Kikuchi. Doll had a pretty slick corner reversal where he went up and over and then hit a German. I haven't seen too many people do that ever. His last burst ended with a whip reversal and a frankensteiner though. I would have probably much rather seen Can-Ams vs Southern Rockers though. The 4/16 show has Can-Ams vs Smith/Slinger at least.

[Matt D]

4/14/91: Cactus Jack vs Dan Kroffat: This was a hoot. Very different Cactus Jack than we've seen on the rest of this tour and one that probably could have had a totally different trajectory in 90s AJPW comedy matches. This wasn't a huge crowd/venue and they played it full shtick, which Foley had skill at given his sense of humor. Every old trick in the book. They started with Foley breaking hammerlocks in the rope and gesturing in the crowd until Kroffat kicked the ropes to crotch him on the third or fourth try. Then it was headlock/headscissor out/back into headlock. And headlocks that were broken with a whip but with Kroffat pulling the beard. AT one point, Foley hit himself with a chair on the outside by accident and then walked right in to a chairshot from Kroffat. They still felt the need to do the plunge (Kroffat took it) and there was a bit of actual action in there before they went into the finish (Kroffat won), but it was mostly fun stuff that the crowd was into enough. I thought that this had to be the comedy match, and at the very least it had to be the comedy match with motion because...

4/14/91: Andre the Giant/Rusher Kimura vs Eigen/Okuma: Eigen is basically Serpentico, right? He starts every Rusher match with a handshake and a slap. Here, he shakes Andre's hand instead and sells it like Andre was crushing him, then, when he's starting against Rusher, runs across the ring and smacks Andre. What a prince of a man. He, of course, then does the lock up with Rusher and slaps him too. As they couldn't do the usual delayed gratification of Rusher locking up with Eigen here, Okuma and Eigen did control for the most part with Andre just threatening. When it came time for Eigen to get his, he did a massive spit spot on the apron with Andre whacking him once from the corner and then around the ringside area with Rusher. Late in the match Andre tagged in for the first time and they did a funny bit of Okuma and Eigen attacking him with a thousand shots and none of them registering. Finish was Andre falling on one of them (I assume Eigen). It was a fun variation but Andre from even six months before felt very different.

[Matt D]

4/14/91: Inoue/Dory Funk Jr. vs Dynamite Kid/Johnny Smith: Inoue and Dory worked well together in that they fit together and didn't seem out of place, but there wasn't a ton of interaction between the two. We had the familiar Dory vs Smith mat segment and Dynamite working very competitive when he was in there. This ends up a very credible match where Smith is probably better off for hanging but nothing super compelling like Dory and Terry or Inoue and Terry might have been. Finishing stretch was pretty good with Inoue hitting all his stuff on Dynamite but Dory being unable to control for Smith and Dynamite getting what feels like a rare win off of a finesse roll up. It was a unique pairing at least.

4/14/91: Misawa vs Texas Terminator Hoss: One of the big chinks in the Misawa armor when it comes to his big AJPW run (solely for, let's say, #1 in GWE purposes; that's the level of scrutiny here) is that he wrestled a lot of the same wrestlers night in and night out and most of them were phenomenal. My impression is that we don't have a lot of singles matches with guys like Texas Terminator Hoss. Even here, this is a handheld. It's not great. Hoss wasn't terrible when it came to making the most out of his size but he wasn't exactly good with it either. There's a lot of him laying on Misawa or Misawa trying to pry off a limb and contain him with it and it's not compelling. It's just not. If this was Misawa vs One Man Gang in 1991 I bet that would have been compelling. The best thing I'll say about this is that Misawa was able to win definitively with the magic elbow off the top. Just given the nature of the move (where it isn't up close and in tight) and ring positioning allows for a lot of interference in tags. Here it was a nice clear way to establish that if that pin was not going to get broken up in a tag, that would be the end of the match.

[DangerMark]

I don't know what it is, but I've always felt Misawa's stoic Ice Man Ace bit worked much better against the other native Japanese wrestlers than it did against the Americans.

[Matt D]

4/14/91: Williams/Gordy/Slinger vs Hansen/Gordy/Rex King: It does feel like the hosses are moving to the backburner just a little compared to how things were in 1990. King and Slinger started hot and ended hot (more on that in a minute) but they were in here to lose the offense and get beaten on for the most part, which is fine. At times, this felt like a lumberjack match where Hansen was the lumberjack. Whenever Gordy got tossed out,  Hansen would just drop off the apron and they'd brawl. Spivey was tall. He was visibly taller than Gordy though Gordy was thicker. Fans continued to boo all interference during a hold no matter who it was. Otherwise, they didn't have a favorite. Finish here was Slinger winning the exchange and pinning King after a German. Doc and Gordy celebrated with him and it felt like a big win.

4/14/91: Jumbo/Taue/Ogawa vs Kawada/Kobashi/Kikuchi: Another weird hierarchy match as there's no Misawa and you had Ogawa on the other side to even things out (in as he was worth less than a Fuchi or Inoue), though he does have more of a distinct identity than in previous matches. They're into April and the Kawada vs Taue stuff that started in January is still running strong by the way. First chance he had, Kawada rushed across the ring to attack Taue on the apron. When it was Taue's turn to be in, he returned the favor. This took a turn relatively early after the feeling out when Taue ran smack dab into a Kawada front enziguri. They cycled through on him (including a floor pile driver by Kawada) but I think Kobashi ultimately lost control (reverse whip and Taue bulldog). When Kobashi was fighting Jumbo, the crowd chanted for Kobashi. When Taue was fighting from underneath, they chanted for him. They just liked an underdog. These matches do end up as blurs sometimes because so much happens even if a lot of the moment-to-moment action is grounded and logical. Ogawa got to show off his double stomps here, including off the top. Jumbo was as grumpy as I've seen him against Kikuchi; he had already taken more from Kobashi than before as that scale is sliding but he hit an atomic drop (never see him do that) and then just lawn darted Kikuchi across the ring from the belly to back position. He then tossed him out so that Taue could crush him on the table outside. Transition to the finishing stretch was good as Jumbo went for the knee to the gut again (grumpy jumbo special) and Kikuchi turned it into a roll up to make a tag. Subsequently, Kawada was pretty chippy with Ogawa too (chop, lift, chop, etc., and one of the first actual brainbusters I've seen in this footage). They jammed him on the top rope when he was going for the double stomp again which was a nice callback. Finishing stretch was hot with Ogawa surviving a lot (mainly due to interference after the moonsault and then Jumbo breaking up the power bomb) and Kawada and Jumbo really going at it (Jumbo shrugging off Kawada kicks and Kawada going back to them) before a definitive finish where Jumbo hit the back drop driver, they hit the tandem Jumbo/Taue move off the top, and Taue finished him off. This turned into a good one. I don't think it was out there so I'll isolate it later.

Ok, I did post it. Here it is:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by Matt D

[Matt D]

Behind on things but this first one's really good.

4/16/91: Jumbo vs Hansen: This is the finals of the Carnival. And it's awesome. And I kind of forget why already because it's been a long week so let me rewatch it really quick.

Ok yeah, this is really good guys. So Hansen has faced Jumbo a ton of times but he's never faced GRUMPY JUMBO. He's faced wrestler Jumbo and Gladiator Jumbo but this is a Jumbo who has been honed through fighting the damn kids for a year. For one thing, instead of the armwork being reactive to Hansen missing something, Jumbo targets it immediately. I've rarely seen anyone do that with Hansen. Usually it's after a missed shot and a way to make a wedge and survive him. That means Jumbo takes a lot of this early until Hansen gets pissed and starts being on him on the outside. Jumbo's comeback? Misawa's magic forearm out of the corner! There's this amazing moment where Jumbo can't get Hansen to come out of the corner and he just unloads on him like I've never seen. Amazing stuff. He also does the Thesz press and Baba's Neckbreaker Drop but can't get the pin. Hansen comes back with the shoulder block and hits the lariat but Jumbo gets his foot on the rope, which again never happens. He comes back with the jumping knee right in the skull and wins. Awesome stuff. Here it is.

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixz2Ni6dU7U&pp=ygUYSnVtYm8gSGFuc2VuIGNhcm5pdmFsIDkx

4/16/91: Misawa/Kawada vs Taue/Ogawa: The commentary feels like the biggest thing here. They keep saying that Ogawa is getting better but he needs to put on more weight! He does hit some big stuff here including the most painful looking front dropkick off the top ever. There are times where he's able to legitimately push back Misawa which is no small thing. Of course we get the usual Taue and Kawada stuff, with Kawada knocking Taue off the apron and Taue just completely bodying him later. We don't often get to see the kids really beat someone up so it's nice to see them do it to Ogawa. At one point Taue slams Ogawa onto someone so that was fun too. Finish has chaos and Misawa dropping Ogawa as Kawada goes after Taue. Fun and different stuff.

[Matt D]

Plantar Fasciitis is a thing, unfortunately and it's been slowing me down but I have an insert for my shoe now and it seems to be helping.

4/16/91: Cactus Jack vs Kenta Kobashi: This is a HH. Probably the best Jack match overall from this tour but that's not saying a ton. He does just a little bit of shtick. Kobashi and Jack both have fairly good cut offs. Foley takes a bump over the guardrail. Later on, he hits the nestea plunge off a table on the floor on the other side of the guardrail so that's cool. Kobashi takes it because he's Kobashi. Nice finishing stretch where Kobashi hits a superplex off a cutoff and then a big corner clothesline and a clunky double arm DDT. I've never seen him do it before so I'm certain one of the two learned it from the other. You decide who.

4/16/91: Furnas/Kroffat vs Johnny Smith/Richard Slinger: Also HH. The Smith/Slinger team actually makes a ton of sense and if the Can-Ams weren't there, could have replaced them pretty well probably. Slinger was sure kick-y here and Kroffat worked most of this, matching up well against both guys before ultimately getting swept under and having to fight from underneath. It was still a little formless though. Eventually he got the tag and Furnas smashed people. They'd team up now and again over the next few years. I think they were just too linked to other people to be a real team.

[AxB]

Cactus said he stole it from Kobashi.

[Matt D]

4/18/91: Hansen/Spivey vs Doc/Gordy: This show is kind of wild. It feels like a Wrestlemania or something. There's this, the Jumbo vs Misawa title match, a big Kawada vs Taue grudge match, and then a featured Kroffat vs Kobashi and comedy Fuchi/Okuma/Eigen vs Andre/Inoue/Rusher match. It's still a promotion that had lost half of its roster (or so) in the previous year. So the undercard after that is stuff like Momota/Ogawa vs Southern Rockers and Cactus/Hoss vs Dory/Furnas. We just have the top 4 and that's with some clipping. This was cool but you see it on paper and you think "Well, what can they do that they didn't already do in December?" for the RWTL finals.

The answer is blood. We come in a little JIP with Hansen and Spivey doubleteaming Gordy. Once Hansen gets him in a hold, Doc rushes in and blindsides Hansen. The fans hate this. They always hate it. They especially hate it if Gordy and Doc are doing it and Doc makes a big deal out of the boos, which is necessary because he has to distract from the blading. He had done the Brody thing on the way in outright swiping at people in the front row, by the way, which I'd never seen him do in this run, not really. He was always wild, but more like a ricocheting bullet, not like Brody. Anyway, tons of heat on the hardest guy in the world to get heat on, Stan Hansen. He was bloody and wounded and up against two absolute monsters so it work and he even got sympathy as he tried to fight back. They really ramp it up and it's a big deal when Hansen finally gets a hot tag. Spivey fires back hard and even gets the Spivey Spike but the numbers game start on him. (It's with another bit of interference that he's chopped down). After that things get wild. Hansen gets a tag but the ref misses it so they keep working on Spivey hitting him with some big stuff. Gordy just can't keep Hansen at bay though. He always makes it in to save Spivey. Eventually a second ref shows up to tell the first ref that no, Hansen is legal, and he doesn't count on Spivey when he's down any more. The bit of confusion here allows Hansen to rush in with a lariat and they win the belts. If you told me this was it for Doc for a while, I'd believe you but he's there for the rest of the year at least. I love that they found some other way to get at this and using Hansen as such a clear FIP (even if he came back strong later) was inspired and only possible wiht Gordy and Doc. Weirdly, it still felt a little like the end of the American monsters ruling in AJPW, almost a year after they took over. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Matt D]

4/18/91: Kobashi vs Kroffat: Urgh, so first of all, these two matches wouldn't post on youtube, even as drafts. Then I found something on dailymotion, but it was mislabeled and was the 8/18/90 match instead, JIP and kind of a mess. Eventually I found it. This one's actually pretty cool, very sprint-y, kind of superkick party-ish from Kroffat, but bit momentum shifts (Kroffat is generally in charge) and big moments and big counters. Kobashi really understood when and how to fire up in a way that his immediate peers weren't as quick to realize or didn't want to resort to. Or, maybe they could fire out of a corner or up from the ground but not standing tall in quite the same way? I don't know. It's something that I can't quite put into words yet. He just milked less for more which was funny because he was very apt to do more for more too. This had some fun character stuff, whether it was Kroffat stealing the forward roll from Kobashi or the crowd getting deflated after he knocked him off the top. I've been waiting for Kroffat's inner jerk to materialize and this was the most we've seen it. Overall, It was just high octane stuff. Kobashi's double arm DDT still looks kind of wonky here, but this overachieved for me. I can toss it up on Drive if people badly want it.

4/18/81: Taue vs Kawada: The first few months of the year were leading up to this one. The crowd was more or less rooting for the underdog throughout. The first few minutes were Kawada containing Taue with holds, first a side headlock, then a grinding Fujiwara armbar, and finally a crossarm breaker. When they went to strikes, Taue got the advantage through size alone (still selling the arm; he's really leveling up over the last six months). He went back for a hold though (I think a headscissors) and Kawada slipped out and started to really beat the crap out of him with kicks, opening him up brutally. Taue tried the hundred hand slap to counter, and they fight for it which is my favorite bit, with Kawada ultimately side stepping and causing Taue to go sailing. He went for a suplex on the floor and Taue reversed it and really took over though. I love the effort and the back and forth that led to the momentum shift. Even then, Kawada tries to fight back but gets clotheslined off the apron. It's really not until Taue hits a shin breaker onto the rail that he really, really takes over. He controls on the leg with a half crab and figure four. They end up outside and Taue power bombs him, but it's on the outside and when they get back in Kawada hits the front enzi (Tenryu's death move) to even the odds and send them towards the finishing stretch. I don't know about that bit of layout. Kawada's selling could be suspect sometimes. It was a great desperation move but he should have been deader after the power bomb. Anyway, he follows up with Tenryu's lift-up chops and this is awesome despite it all. They're just scrapping so much here with Kawada going for a Fujiwara arm bar and Taue shrugging him off during the lifting kicks in the corner. After a really nice nearfall roll up from Taue (never expect it from a giant), there's a weird near ref bump off a Kawada kick which means the ref isn't quite there for the power bomb allowing Taue to kick out. Kawada starts with the kicks and they end up on the floor. He rolls back the mat, goes for the power bomb (like what Taue did but with no mat), but flailing giant legged Taue feet get in his eye and he loses him, allowing Taue to hit the shoving Taue chokeslam push finisher onto the floor and we get maybe the first countout I've seen in forever. Plus a stretcher job! Hell of a thing overall. This one is on dailymotion.

[Octopus]

I love the Taue vs Kawada wars 

[Matt D]

4/18/91: Jumbo (c) vs Misawa: These are not the same sort of reviews I'd do for Segunda Caida or anywhere else. I watch these things while running and rarely do I go back and watch again a second time just to get my mental notes right. For some of these big matches I tend to, because it's so much to absorb. Event hen, I try to get the feeling right more so than the details. At least this presentation of the match led off with some clips, Tiger Mask II losing to Jumbo, Tiger Mask II taking off the mask, Misawa beating Jumbo (remember, belly to back counter by Jumbo that was reversed by Misawa) and then losing to him (Bridging belly to back that he never does any other time). The commentator really hyped up the match saying that we might even be talking about it in TEN YEARS in the new century. I got a kick out of that watching and writing about it over 30 years later. I came into this feeling like maybe, just maybe, Misawa was ready to beat Jumbo. Certainly, Jumbo tried to bully him early, but Misawa had an answer with the magic elbow. In 1990, it felt a little like a lucky shot that messed up Jumbo's ear. Now it felt like a serious part of Misawa's arsenal that was going to knock Jumbo loopy. Jumbo, however, had these absolutely jarring cutoffs, whether it was the knee to the gut or a massive lariat or what. In the back half of the match he turns a crucifix attempt into a samoan drop, for instance (and they say that's how Hansen beat Misawa, if I'm not mistaken), and it's like a shotgun blast. The match is fully of stuff like that, both in Jumbo's cutoff and in Misawa's comeback transition moves. The match itself felt like them piecing together a lot of what they had come up with in the last year, things we'd seen recently like Jumbo firing up to Misawa's slaps by attacking him in the corner and Misawa firing back or the test of strength with the back kick finish by Misawa or Misawa's comeback spot with the back leaping headbutt off a whip. A lot of those puzzle pieces and spots all put together. Post-match, Jumbo said this was all about strength, and that he was the ace because he showed that he was the strongest, and there's something to that in the extended, bomb throwing, move blocking, finishing stretch. Misawa strung together a big chunk of offense but couldn't put Jumbo away. He hurt him so badly however that he couldn't fully capitalize on his own advantages. Misawa did need to keep throwing his whole body (forearm first) at Jumbo to do it and that allowed Jumbo to hit a hotshot on him and start the cycle of back drop drivers. Misawa survived until he didn't. There was a real sense of incrimental growth here, if it being more of a clash of equals. Jumbo was still more dominant and it was on Misawa to contain him, but Misawa could come back at any point with one good strike and if he hit enough of them, the tree was going to fall. But he didn't and he couldn't survive long enough to rise over the top. In victory, ol' Gladiator Jumbo came out once again, raising his hand again and again and again in a way I've rarely, if never seen him do before. It made the win feel monumental, but you still had to wonder somewhere in your back of the mind if you couldn't hear that whisper in the air: "...but what about next time?"

[Matt D]

I'm down to 4 minutes of a Dynamite/Johnny vs Can-Ams and 50(!) of a Meltzer 5 Star Tsuruta-Gun vs Super Generation Army match. I'm daunted by that one so I'm going to double back to October 1989 and hit a handheld that popped up a year or two ago.

10/20/89: Kikuchi vs Slinger: Young boys, first match. Both of these guys are going to come quite a ways in a year and a half but Slinger was closer to what he'd eventually be. Kikuchi didn't have the flag tights here. Most of this was Slinger working on top because he was more together with the matwork. Kikuchi had the natural charisma from underneath but hadn't really put together much else as of yet. They'd pick up the pace now and again but then go right back down to holds. It was ok Slinger took most of it because Kikuchi won with a top rope dropkick.

10/20/89: Akio Sato vs Mighty Inoue: Good match. It was a little hard to tell the two of them apart due to similar trunks. Sato was a little bigger and he did press that strength. He was a pro even if Inoue was a pro's pro, and that slight size advantage was enough to have him in charge for a lot of it (again, ok because Inoue was going to win with a roll out after a pretty solid finishing stretch). Sometimes Inoue would take over from underneath (sometimes literally, like with a fireman's carry gutbuster out of nowhere). Inoue took a pretty big bump over the top. Like I said, nice finishing stretch with Sato moving out of the way of the second senton and hitting a big brainbuster, which you really didn't see much during this period. Good second on the card match.

10/20/89: Rusher/Momota/Kobashi vs Teranishi/Eigen/Okuma: Good fun, but maybe 3-4 minutes too long. It started with Rusher wanting a handshake from Eigen but Eigen shoving him instead. You can see how the act evolved. They basically cycled through the "faces" eating a triple team from the "heels," one after the other with a lukewarm tag and comeback in between. Then, eventually, all the faces get to beat on a heel. Then they get swept under again. It was fun to have Kobashi in the comedy mix. You had the Rusher bit where he traded headbutts with Okuma too. Eventually, of course. Eigen gets his comeuppance at Rusher's hands and then gets mocked ("HARUKU...") on the mic. Fans loved it. Maybe one too many rotations. Plus Kobashi (and Momota to a degree) added motion but at the expense of focus really. I wonder what Kobashi would say if you asked him what he learned from these matches.

[Curt McGirt]

On 10/17/2023 at 9:16 AM, Octopus said:

I love the Taue vs Kawada wars 

The one with juice from Taue is the shit. So rare to see in King's Road, after the '70s at least. 

[Matt D]

10/20/89: Takano/Nakano vs Dick Slater/Ken Shamrock: We've seen Ken in a trios but here he is in a tag. If he just did a singles, we'd really see what he had. He had a good escape or two on the mat and he and Slater worked very well as a heel unit, with Slater directing traffic and Shamrock doing a good job holding his opponent. He also took stuff pretty well including a nice belly to belly. His own stuff looked kind of clunky, especially a top rope splash where he was flailing too much. Takano had a clear advantage when he was in there. Nakano got swept under. This is not a surprise. I liked the finish where Shamrock survived something from Takano but Nakano tagged right in and hit a German. It was nice as contrast to the way things usually have to go around a few rotations to get there.

10/20/89: Taue/Kabuki vs Abby/Deaton: Cagematch tells me that Abby was once called "Pussycat Pickens". I think I never knew this, even having heard interviews with him. I was seeing how often he teamed with Deaton and in 89, it was actually quite a bit. This went longer than I was expecting. Usually in situations like this, Taue gets dragged down quick, but it felt more like a standard 89 AJPW Tag match, with momentum shifts. They were able to control on Deaton for a bit but obviously not against Abby. Deaton was the absolute perfect opponent for little Taue. It's a real shame he wasn't paired with him more in 89. I think he would have come along quicker. Guys like Tenryu and Hansen just pushed him too hard too quick. I wanted some real slugging with Kabuki and Abby and didn't quite get it. A lot of heat on Kabuki actually. My favorite bit here was Abby having Kabuki in a hold and Taue coming in to break it up only for Abby to block his shot (while not losing the hold) and doing the throat shot. Poor Taue. Anyway, he got squashed with an elbow drop as we knew he would.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Matt D