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Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill


Matt D

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On 5/31/2021 at 9:08 AM, Matt D said:

Bit of a tricky patch here as the matches have been so good that they need a little more attention than I usually give them. January 1990 has just been really strong so far. These two below don't even have anything to do with the Takagi vs Tenryu angle. Here's what Jumbo, Misawa, Tenryu, and Fuyuki were up to on 1/11 and 1/14 (with Kabuki and Kawada along for the ride for 1/11)

I absolutely loved this one:

and this one has just an amazing finish and a great mauling of Tiger Mask:

So give them a look when you're not watching AEW and I'll try to get some thoughts together in a few days. 

I FINALLY got around to watching the tag match. Work, family, AEW, a sudden surge of renewed interest in the music of Ralph Vaughn Williams and Frederick Delius, and an obsession with Fire Emblem on Switch are all cutting into my "watching great old wrestling matches" time. 

If I had to choose one quite specific kind of match that I could watch for the rest of my life, I'd choose 90s AJPW trios matches, so I'll get around to watching that eventually as well. If it ends up being more or less "the tag match, plus Kabuki and Kawada" I will be totally fine with that.

Jumbo & TM2 vs Tenryu & Fuyuki was great. Loved it so much.

It's exactly what it needs to be: A continuation of Jumbo vs Tenryu, but with the young guys mixed in to change thing up. Misawa in the Morton/Kikuchi/Xavier Woods role is tremendous stuff. He takes a  hellacious beating and gets his mask all ripped up, but has enough fire to keep coming back. Fuyuki, in contrast, is a sneaky opportunistic little weasel throughout the match, but gets a whole story arc thanks to that truly creative finish. I've seen a similar idea used to comic effect in Osaka Pro more than once, but here it's clearly to set up the tale that Tenryu is responsible for the loss but chooses to just blame the young guy. 

You could use this match as an example to explain what we mean when we talk about pro wrestling storytelling, or to show how hierarchy works in classic All Japan, or to show someone why some of us hold Tenryu in such high regard... 

I love that, while Tenryu is clearly younger and more spry here, he was already working like an angry old man in 1990. 

Of course, I'll take every ounce of Jumbo vs Tenryu that life can give me. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, catch up time.

1/15/90: Kobashi vs Rogers: Not nearly as fun as the Ogawa vs Rip match as Kobashi imposes himself a bunch more, just taking a no nonsense approach. That gives Rip less room to breathe and he's forced into more of a heel role instead of being a bizarre tweener with babyface leanings. It was hard hitting enough but less entertaining by far.

1/15/90: Bulldogs vs Abby/Koloff: This was fine. Obviously, Dynamite wasn't going to eat these guys up. There was some fun Abby vs Davey stuff. Nothing I remember too much two weeks later though.

1/20/90: Jumbo/Takagi vs Tenryu/Kawada: For a match heavy in the Tenryu vs Takagi mini feud this might have had the best strike exchange I've ever seen between Jumbo and Tenryu. They bowled over the ref and everything. That's not to say that Tenryu didn't absolutely crush Takagi too, chopping and stomping the hell out of him. This had a little too much of Kawada losing the offense, but he did get to keep it once or twice too, especially on Takagi who he hit a really cool, strained pile driver on. He got crushed plenty by Jumbo though he landed some solid kicks on him too, especially after said strike exchange and to break up a back drop driver. This felt refocused on Jumbo vs Tenryu genrally though and had some of the best action between the two I'd seen in a while. This had another finish of erratic Jumbo attacking everyone in a red coat, blowing Kawada's sit out powerbomb win attempt and setting the poor guy up for a 1 on 2 and Jumbo winning. Tenryu was losing it.

1/21/90: Jumbo/Kabuki/Inoue vs Tenryu/Kawada/Fuyuki: Here's what I said about this during a Hansen vs Tenryu discussion at PWO:

Quote

was watching a random trios tonight (not random since I'm watching everything in order, but just on paper, it'd seem random) from January 1990: Tenryu/Footloose vs Jumbo/Kabuki/Mighty Inoue. What made that match interesting? Inoue. He was rarely, if ever, in the mix with these guys up until this point. Also, you get the sense from the Takagi feud and how he worked with Tiger Mask II in this period (remember that Misawa was out for most of 89 with an injury) and some of the stuff that @KinchStalker has translated for us that he was a little tired of the endless feud with Jumbo and the usual suspects, that he was very much up for battling new opponents.

The first real time they get in there, he lets Inoue come back on him and lets him hit a few things: a monkey flip, a headscissors take over, etc., good looking, interesting stuff that felt earned because it came after a little bit of a beating. At the end? A punch from the ground that just crushed Inoue and that let his team take back over. But he gave him that and the match was better for it. It let Inoue have a presence in the match with some of his stuff, with some of what he could do, with some of what he brought to the table.

If Hansen had been in there instead, Inoue would have been fighting to stay afloat with whatever punches and kicks and strikes he could have gotten. Maybe he would have been able to land a few blows and seem valiant; maybe he would have gotten a little bit of shine and he might have been able to express himself due to whatever color of toughness and defiance he had that made him unique. Maybe. And eventually, if Hansen did allow him anything or if Inoue was able to take anything with those blows, it'd end with an eye-rake and it would fit the same narrative moment of the match.

But, it would have been the exact same bit that Hansen would have gotten from any other opponent. You'd have barely gotten to see what Inoue could bring to the table except for in the most primal and subtle ways. It might have felt real and maybe even gripping, but if you'd seen it once, you'd seen it a hundred times and it was less, from a worked pro wrestling sense, then what Tenryu was able to evoke in him by giving him an honest moment to shine as the wrestler he was and the wrestler he could be before crushing him with a fist, instead of just making him fight for scraps and reducing him to just another piece of meat in the ever grinding churn of yet another poor bastard facing Hansen. 

Hansen might have higher highs (and I have a lot more to watch before I can say that) but if I have to watch a whole bunch of one wrestler or another, I'm going to be more interested to see a bunch of Tenryu.

In general, it was nice to see Inoue in the mix and this had a pretty chaotic finish with Jumbo knocking Tenryu (about to powerbomb Inoue) out for a countout and a wild post-match.

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I dabbled in 83 Mid-Atlantic for a while there, but i did watch some matches recently.

1/24/90: Kabuki/Takagi vs Tenryu/Kawada: This is JIP but we come in with Tenryu absolutely killing Takagi with table whacks and chops, so that's nice. Takagi gets a really great hope spot here where he starts hitting forearms off the ropes, but it's kind of moot as Kabuki intervenes to force a tag anyway. He pays for it though and there's a long, bloody FIP on him that ends anti-clmactically, but does lead to a good finish where Takagi throws a bunch of suplexes only to lose to the numbers game and a quick roll up. This was fun as much for the lack of Jumbo/Yatsu as anything else.

1/26/90: Eigen vs Rogers: This was the first match where you had a guy really make the most of Rip as Eigen was completely playing along, even stifling him a bit in trying to make himself the star. It was entertaining and probably the best of the Rip matches, but I've liked the Ogawa match the most since that was the one most driven by Rip. It was a really good look at what Eigen could bring to the table though, and that's not something we get often as he's more of an interchangeable cipher in the six man old guys matches. (Eric might feel otherwise, but he's the expert on those).

1/26/90: Tenryu/Kawada/Fuyuki vs Jumbo/Takagi/Inoue: This match was billed to me as Baba in the Jumbo spot and i was excited for that, so it was a lie. Once again, Inoue got a shine against Tenryu and it was awesome. The gutbuster, the flip senton, great punches. Takagi was super over here and it's a joy to watch him fire out of the corner with forearms on Tenryu only to get shut down. Or to try to get Tenryu coming in only for Tenryu to cut him down. Though when Takagi got to cut off Tenryu with the spin kick late in the match, that looked amazing too. Tenryu launching cheapshots from the outside in on Jumbo just to piss him off is also a joy. As is Jumbo coming in after a hot tags of sorts to hit the huge boot on a member of Footloose. Or Takagi getting to muscle Kawada out of the corner jamming a hip toss. There was a lot to like here but what will probably stand out the most in my memory is a wild finishing stretch with everyone just being in the right place at the right time, shots coming from every direction to set up false finishes (or set ups for moves that never get to happen because of other shots) and a sunset flip out of nowhere to score the win for Inoue. Great stuff with a really good post match brawl that continued the Fuyuki storyline, as he wanted nothing to do with it.

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1/28/90: Takagi vs Tenryu: The big singles match! And it's really good for quite a few minutes here. Takagi had such impact to everything he did. I swear there's the best shoulder block you'll see here. Tenryu's way of cutting you off would just be to legitimately hit you. You look at what he did, at his chops, at his kicks, at the effect of him, at the result, at the way the ref asked Takagi if he wanted to quit after a KICK and man.. I tend to prefer fake wrestling that looks very real over stiffness, but it's hard to deny the emotional impact of Tenryu unleashed. It's so matter-of-fact too. There's no pageantry to it. But there is dramatic purpose. It's a certain sort of inevitability, a wretched, beautiful bit of human rancor made flesh and boot and brutal action. And Takagi could respond with big, hammering blasts, cool headbutts, and one amazing spin kick. It wasn't enough; it wouldn't ever be enough, but it was heartfelt and earnest and powerful (against some other opponent, it would have even mattered) and it was worth cheering for. Anyway, as this was on its way to get good, Takagi obviously hurt his leg which would keep him out until September. They audibled, I think, with one weak belly to belly suplex on the way to the finish and Tenryu hitting the rare front-face kick to put him down before locking in the Scorpion, which I have to think was an audible since I've never seen him use it in 89 or 90. It felt like a super move and I think the announcers shouted out Choshu. Obviously, I could be misreading almost all of this, but if that's how Tenryu decided to shift the match given the situation, what a genius. Still, what a disappointment for Takagi in his big moment. This felt like Sami Zayn throwing his arm out after coming out to face Cena.

1/26/90: Kikuchi vs Dynamite Kid: Pretty much a nothing match. Dynamite gave Kikuchi a dive but didn't really try to catch it. Am I the only one who loves to see the post-match of these and whether or not the guy who won helps the guy who loses up? Can you imagine stopping watching before seeing if that happens and hearing the pop? I love that little bit of interaction. Dynamite helped him up. What a guy. Didn't catch his dive but did help him up post-match. Dynamite would have been better off dropping the headbutt. You planted him with a tombstone. It's enough!

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14 hours ago, Matt D said:

1/26/90: Tenryu/Kawada/Fuyuki vs Jumbo/Takagi/Inoue: This match was billed to me as Baba in the Jumbo spot and i was excited for that, so it was a lie. Once again, Inoue got a shine against Tenryu and it was awesome. The gutbuster, the flip senton, great punches. Takagi was super over here and it's a joy to watch him fire out of the corner with forearms on Tenryu only to get shut down. Or to try to get Tenryu coming in only for Tenryu to cut him down. Though when Takagi got to cut off Tenryu with the spin kick late in the match, that looked amazing too. Tenryu launching cheapshots from the outside in on Jumbo just to piss him off is also a joy. As is Jumbo coming in after a hot tags of sorts to hit the huge boot on a member of Footloose. Or Takagi getting to muscle Kawada out of the corner jamming a hip toss. There was a lot to like here but what will probably stand out the most in my memory is a wild finishing stretch with everyone just being in the right place at the right time, shots coming from every direction to set up false finishes (or set ups for moves that never get to happen because of other shots) and a sunset flip out of nowhere to score the win for Inoue. Great stuff with a really good post match brawl that continued the Fuyuki storyline, as he wanted nothing to do with it.

My wrestling knowledge is pretty limited at the end of the day so for all I know this is a cliched spot in some circles, but I love love love the thing Inoue does where he hits a sunset flip after somebody else on his team has the recipient in clutch for a suplex. I've seen him roll it out tagging with Animal Hamaguchi in the IWE days at least once, and it got a pop from me here.

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1/27/90: Kobashi vs Tsuruta: Yeah, this is the stuff. Look, I can't say I love all of these matches, but there are generally segments/exchanges in most of them that I love. Some of the most interesting stuff is always the first few minutes and these first few minutes were exceptional. Jumbo comes to the ring and Kobashi dropkicks him off the apron in an ambush! What pluck. Then he stays on him with a headlock for a few long minutes with Jumbo unable to suplex him off (he keeps turning it into a flying takeover). He loses strike exchanges and a bit out on the floor, and even after a shin-breaker, because Kobashi doesn't have to beat Jumbo down; he's just trying to keep that headlock on. It is the great equalizer and works right to the point that Jumbo had enough and twists him into an uncooperative belly to back and follows it with the kick to the face. Great opening. The rest of the match was ok, if inevitable, with a little bit of extra flourish in the end as Jumbo gives Kenta the moonsault and a near fall or two, plus a nice clothesline duck, before just crushing him. He checks on him after the match, so there's that at least. 

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The first segment of that match was really fun. At first I was surprised, because the company storyline was still a little ways away from switching into the post-Tenryu These Kids Ought To Respect Jumbo Tour mode. But there is logic to this. The dropkick felt to me like Kobashi, in kayfabe, taking inspiration from Tenryu ambushing Baba in the RWTL match. Kobashi said in an early interview that he aspired to combine Tsuruta's stamina with Tenryu's spirit while still expressing a personal style, and while we tend to think of Kawada as inheriting most of the Tenryu motifs in the All Japan to come, a moment like this feels like Kobashi is the one who's really trying to tap into that particular Tenryu audacity. Maybe that's just part and parcel with his theatrical nature, but it's something that I thought about here.

As for the headlock approach, that's something that Kobashi used to neutralize Jumbo in their 1991.05.24 match (though the JIP broadcast cut that context, and I've wondered if Dave would have still gone 4.75 stars had he known about that headlock-heavy first act), and he said in the Jumbo bio that he was inspired by Baba's use of the hold to neutralize Thesz in 1966. It also recalls Tiger Misawa's use of it on Jumbo in the final match of his own Trial Series, which ended up similarly to here.

That first beat also works well as a first step to the opening of their August singles match, where Jumbo offers a handshake that Kobashi blows off - another very Tenryu note of him to hit, come to think of it - before Kobashi tries to hit a dropkick from behind. Which Jumbo is all-too-ready for this time.

Edited by KinchStalker
correcting a date
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On 7/14/2021 at 4:08 AM, KinchStalker said:

The dropkick felt to me like Kobashi, in kayfabe, taking inspiration from Tenryu ambushing Baba in the RWTL match. Kobashi said in an early interview that he aspired to combine Tsuruta's stamina with Tenryu's spirit while still expressing a personal style, and while we tend to think of Kawada as inheriting most of the Tenryu motifs in the All Japan to come, a moment like this feels like Kobashi is the one who's really trying to tap into that particular Tenryu audacity. Maybe that's just part and parcel with his theatrical nature, but it's something that I thought about here.

Just saw this now. Yeah, that's exactly what it reminded me of, that and Takagi's assault on Tenryu before the Koloff match, but mostly the RWTL league match as that had a big effect on me. As for Tenryu, there's always an element of hubris to him, or defiance. Rebellion. Dare I say Revolution. And I'm not sure I see that in Kawada later on. Kawada has a chip on his shoulder. There's almost something more nihilistic about it. Right around this period, Tenryu is leaping right into all of the red jacket guys just to poke fate in the eye because he can. You know, to prove he's alive and that he matters. I don't get the impression Kawada would do that in the same way. But Kobashi might.

I think the difference is that Tenryu does it to tear down false idols and the idea of idolatry itself and Kobashi does it to prove that he belongs along side them, that he's worthy of standing with them, that he does not fear their wrath, no matter how devastating it may be. You can get the same end result and the same level of spirit (they both dare) but Tenryu tears down the establishment and Kobashi builds himself up.

1/28/90: Rip vs Baba: Just a minute really. Fun but not nearly as fun as a longer look would have been. I think it might be a little clipped but who knows. This is Baba's last single's match? Rip was just happy to be there. Oh yeah.

1/27/90: Bulldogs/Kikuchi vs Fantastics/Fuchi: Why do I keep watching interesting looking Bulldogs matches? This was fine. I barely remember it. A lot of action. A lot of noise. The very best part was the Fantastics clearing the ring and strutting and inviting Fuchi in who outright refused. I think Fantastics lost the offense for a bit there too.

My amazing source during the 80s isn't as comprehensive by far in the 90s so it's all been a real struggle to get footage organized. There's the facebook group but that doesn't play well on the phone which is what I use as I'm running.

I'm not 100% sure the best path moving forward. I'd like to stick with it until Tenryu leaves at least and it seems crazy not to go into 91 even if I stop there, but part of the appeal of this was that it was easy.

 

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I'll admit I watched Larry Zbyszko vs Barry Windham and Michael Hayes vs Lex Luger last night BUT I also watched some other things recently.

1/28/90: Kobashi vs Abdullah. I think this is match 7 of the series and it's sub-ten minutes but a valiant effort. Abby was hugely protected in AJPW at this point. I think we saw signs of that as he crushed Tenta in the run up to the Baba match in 89, for instance, but also in the RWTL and how he kept rolling over Taue and Takano on those house shows we have HHs of. He was a big deal and treated as such and there's a 3-4 minute span where Kobashi just dominates him, including a slam and belly to back. And it almost works. Once Abby gets back to his feet, though, and once Kobashi runs into him, it's all but over. Remember, not only is Abby a massive piece of humanity, a brick wall, but he's also got some of the best timing in history and one of the best two or three cut off moves ever with his shot to the throat. All Kobashi can really do is run at him with offense and he runs into it and gets crushed by the elbow. But Kobashi came out of the match stronger than he came in.

1/28/90: Baba/Tiger Mask II/Takagi vs Tenryu/Footloose: Hey, here's the Baba match! And it was fun. Takagi and Tenryu went at it a good chunk and it's always a joy whenever Tenryu and Baba go at it. There was a fun Kawada vs Tiger Mask exchange right in the center of this too, with good kicks, the tiger feint/flip dive off the apron, a great rolling Kawada kick in the corner and a flip dive off the top by him for renvege; that was followed by Tenryu just hefting Tiger Mask over his head in a very satisfying way and Takagi coming in and getting crushed with forearms, so, you know, it was that sort of match. Every match is that sort of match in the main event scene of January 1990. What's amazing about Tenryu at this point is that he does the Chop and lift up better than Kobashi and the short Kawada held hold kicks better than Kawada. Anyway, a lot happens (almost too much) before it ends up as Tenryu vs Baba; Tenryu gets a belly to back but when he goes up, Takagi knocks him down and Baba suplexes him from the top and hits the neckbreaker drop to get his pin from RWTL back. The crowd goes nuts. Good stuff. This is the last time Tenryu and Baba faced off unless I'm mistaken.

Let me give people the match since I think it's fairly rare:

Spoiler

 

 

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2/10/90: Kido/Kimura vs Jumbo/Yatsu: I have no idea how this show came to be. @KinchStalker, do you know the quick rundown? It was a Dome show promoted by NJPW but it has three AJPW vs NJPW matches plus the Saito vs Larry Z match that I might hit just for the hell of it because everyone loves that one. Kido was a sub for Fujinami who was out with an injury, I think, and I sure liked him in there, maybe more than I would have liked Fujinami in that spot. The real story here was that NJPW contingent was happy to fight dirty, ambushing at the start, double teaming throughout. The crowd was for them, but also revered Jumbo and liked Yatsu fine, so they didn't really care. They'd keep the advantage through tags quite a bit and then get it back with blatant double-teaming or interfering. Yatsu, being Yatsu, showed a ton of hubris, first trying to lock in a Scorpion Deathlock on Kido, which is not something he usually did, only to get yanked around on it, and then later, going after both guys at once when he probably didn't have to. I'm not sure all of Kido/Kimura's offense was all that compelling at times, but not to the point I minded it. The finish was absolutely great as they built to a Jumbo Lariat and right when you think he's going to get it, Kido snaps him into a wakigatame and the crowd goes insane. Jumbo finally had to hit his ultimate cut off with the stun gun before Yatsu fought his way back in to cover the ring for a Thesz press and the inevitable win. Really fun stuff.

2/10/90: Oops. I forgot this was the match where Vader's eye fell out. That sure took me by surprise. It was shaping up to be an all time and it hangs in there as something that was good and dramatic and just remarkable in how Vader could continue. They went at it after that. Vader took a huge chunk of the rest of the match, which I imagine was Hansen protecting him to some degree, but Vader taking the match still means hitting Vader attacks into Hansen hanging on the rail and clubbering off the top. Plus the big transition was him crashing into the post. When Hansen took back over, he mainly attacked the OTHER side of Vader's head, but come on. Obviously, this was a tough one to watch. Hansen got the spiritual win with the lariat, but it just knocked Vader backwards and they finally had the double count out. I can't even imagine losing your eye like that and still going another fifteen with frigging Hansen. I think they have a match again later in the year, so we'll see how they compare.

2/21/90: Barry Windham vs Akira Taue: There's a Holy Demon Army vs New Blackjacks match from 97 I want to watch now, but not enought to see if it made tape. Anyway, I think Roy's got his tv show dates wrong because I watched this on what he called the 2/19 TV and that's just not how time works. Anyway this was just a couple of minutes and a finish and it would have been better in 92 or 93. Fans really dug the superplex though.

2/21/90: Hansen vs Kobashi: Cagematch says this was 4:08 and it feels like one and a half times that as Kobashi gives it his all and has Hansen reeling a bit. Brave battle from young Kenta, but while he's containing the monster, he's not really able to damage him too much and it's all inevitable. Hansen stomps him dismissively after the pin for his impudence. 

I've still got the Tenryu/Tiger Mask vs Choshu/George Takano from the 2/10 show and an Inoue/Kabuki vs Tenryu/Kawada match (that I don't think I've already seen) and Williams/Gordy vs Jumbo/Takano from that TV show.

I feel like Williams was in NJPW in 90 too so I have no idea how that works.

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AJPW and NJPW were cooperating around this time. Baba was back in the president's chair and Sakaguchi was NJPW president by this point, so there were friendly relations in 1990 which were compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall (yeah it seems dramatic, but I've seen this specific comparison in multiple Japanese sources, and hey, it was topical). The story has long been that Baba came in clutch and agreed to let Sakaguchi book some dream matches (in which his talent was protected) when the NJPW Dome show plans with WCW fell through, and I haven't yet seen Japanese accounts that contradict it. (The two had always been friends; in fact, I've read that Sakaguchi going to New Japan instead of All Japan had less to do with Shohei and more to do with Motoko.) If the story in the Jumbo bio about the no-pulling agreement both companies signed in 1985 is true and that paper still had any legal weight, then it stands to reason that these friendly relations were how Baba got Steve Williams (and probably Andre too) and Sakaguchi was able to go on ahead with the WCW guys. Remember, WCW was working with All Japan as late as 1989. There's also that June match where Vader defended the IWGP belt against Hansen, and Fujinami attended the May show where Misawa unmasked.

According to the 2019 Hidetoshi Ichise book on the Pillars that I've been transcribing (I finished Chapter 6 but I'm going to bundle this up with 7 when I post again, and that's probably a couple weeks out due to chapter length and personal stuff), Tenryu/TMII vs. Choshu/Takano was originally Tenryu & Kawada vs. Choshu & Kuniaki Kobayashi. As it tells the story though, Choshu switched Kobayashi out for Takano (which Sakaguchi was not happy about), and Tiger Mask II was slotted in just five days before the show (which Kawada felt snubbed over).

Edited by KinchStalker
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On 3/6/2021 at 9:51 AM, Matt D said:

Next up for me is a 10/8 handheld match between Tenryu and Kawada. Anyone have any idea what's up with that? Did he just give him a title shot and it didn't air or something?

 

On 3/7/2021 at 12:20 AM, KinchStalker said:

No title shot, it was just a unique main event for a Korakuen show that wasn't a TV taping.

Necroposting pretty hard here, I'm aware, but I just got new information from the Ichise book. Kawada got this match for winning the Asunaro Cup/Tomorrow League tournament. It was originally pitched as a Triple Crown title shot (the July 15 Observer also states this), but that wouldn't work for Tenryu, brother. (For all the rebellion he inspired, it seems like Tenryu could still fall back on the old hierarchical modes of thinking. I'm remembering how he apparently had some objections to Akio Sato's early-80s reforms, though I can't find out exactly what he was opposed to.) 

Edited by KinchStalker
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So I've been watching a bunch of other stuff, including AEW, plus was on a couple of trips and dealing with the start of school and had a messed up foot for a bit, etc. But I'm back at it now and we'll see how consistently I can keep this up. Footage into 1990 is an issue, unfortunately. Knowing what I know, I should go back and focus on 80s NJPW instead. But I am going to try to continue on with the sources I have. It'll be much less complete, but perfect, is, in this case, the enemy of good.

2/10/90: Tenryu/Tiger Mask vs Choshu/George Takano

MD: Teryu came out in a golden robe/kimono deal instead of his Revolution gear. I found that interesting. There was a huge buzz when he first got in the ring with Choshu and I loved how he moved against him, with almost sumo charges, something I hadn't seen out of him in ages. Choshu's use of the Scorpion here was interesting, as he had it almost on a couple of times early but chose to tag (setting up a Takano knee drop once), as if he knew it wouldn't do the job. It's so refreshing to see Tenryu after a couple of weeks of hanging out in modern wrestling. At one point, he opened up Takano and then he didn't focus on the nose, but he made sure every few blows, he'd toss another one in there to big reaction. Takano had a cool way of kicking from weird angles, including some implausible ones. He was matched well against Tiger Mask with the kicks. I'd say that Misawa was a little more aggressive than usual having Tenryu as a partner. Early on they got tossed around quite a bit but once it settled in, they did more of the beating. The finish was interesting as it was absolutely obvious no resolution could occur so long as Tenryu was around to break things (including just the ref's 20 count) up. So Choshu had to put him in the Scorpion, not because he was the legal man (he wasn't), and not even to win (they didn't; TM got in first to beat the count), but just because the fight would have gone on forever unless he did.

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Ok, the facebook group is down. Even ditch's sites seem on the fritz. I've got a footage issue. Here's the plan:

1. Get through Tenryu's last match in April mainly using Roy's TV and whatever else I can cobble together.

2. Change the title of the thread and start 1986 NJPW.

3. Someday come back to Misawa unmasking and the Tsuruta-gun vs Super Generation Army feud. Someday.

2/19/90 (TV): Inoue/Kabuki vs Tenryu/Kawada: Love seeing Inoue and he matched up well with Kawada here. But things really turned up when Tenryu and Kabuki got into a strike war, of course. There was a nice bit where Inoue stretched the hell out of Kawada's arm and then Tenryu's arm (after Kabuki crushed it with a chair on the outside) and it sort of devolved into staying on Kawada's neck until he got a hot tag. Finishing stretch was wild with more chair shots and a cool bit where Inoue missed the senton the first time. One of the big spots midway was Kawada coming back with a German even though Inoue tried to hook the leg and the finish was Kabuki nailing Kawada as he tried another and Inoue rolling him up out of it. I wonder if there's a world where they really sort of went with Inoue.

2/19/90 (TV): Gordy/Williams vs Jumbo/Takano: Best part of this was Williams and Gordy rushing the ring. Williams was the unstoppable force and knocked Takano over the top. Eventually Jumbo came back with knees and it was a little disjointed after that until Takano got some shine on Gordy. Unfortunately, he ran into a brick wall in the middle of the ring as Gordy just stopped short a bit later. Gordy was the immovable object. What a team. Anyway, this was to give Gordy/Williams a big win against Jumbo and a partner, with Jumbo backing down and not getting in the ring as Gordy stood there after the Stampede on Takano. That was a weird choice but definitely got the team over as the new Road Warriors or what have you. 

 

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2/24/90: Kobashi/Tiger Mask vs Patroit (Deaton)/Hansen: Joined in progress. This isn't Wilkes. That's obvious. Look, there's only one thing to say about this match. At some point, Kobashi cracked the Hansen code. If you keep going at him no matter what, he'll yield. Now, a smart wrestler, an experienced wrestler, a confident wrestler, will do it right up to the point where Hansen rakes the eyes. The audience understands that. It understands that if you get Hansen to do that much, you've won a moral battle, and the balance is preserved. Kobashi no sells the eye rake and kicks him and goes back into the ring and keeps on him. Like, he really keeps on him. There are big Kobashi vs Hansen matches later when Kobashi is a main eventer, and he doesn't just go crazy and no sell all of Hansen's stuff in there like he does here in the middle of a random tag. I can only imagine what Baba is thinking watching this on commentary. In the end, it doesn't matter. The finish is great as Deaton pushes both Tiger Mask and Hansen out of the way when Tiger Mask was holding Hansen for Kobashi's top rope drop kick and Kobashi wipes out and immediately thereafter eats the lariat. Memorable stuff.

2/24/90: MVC vs Yatsu/Taue: Awesome opening here as Yatsu and Williams go at it amateur like. Yatsu will be gone soon so I'm glad for whatever of this pairing we can get. The MVC act where they rush the ring is so good and sometimes, sometimes Williams looks almost Brock-like in his superhuman qualities:

lRp2A1.gif

Early on, Taue actually, finally shows something! Sure, he's overwhelmed on the outside as Gordy reverses a whip on him but for a minute there, I saw a glimpse! Very exciting. They dominate him for a bit until Yatsu can peel of one of Gordy's legs. It gets a little nebulous after that as the MVC just keep interfering for each other. Until they really took over on Taue; then it got pretty good! First there was a killer exchange with Gordy in the corner where Taue showed a lot, then a cool little bearhug situation where Williams just spinebustered him and kept it on. Obviously, you don't really want a guy Taue's size working like a face-in-peril like this, but given the hierarchy it worked. They even built in some southern-ness with a missed hot tag due to a ref distraction. Unfortunately, Taue wanted back in there too soon and he eventually ate a huge power bomb and the loss.

Tenryu/Footloose vs Jumbo/Kabuki/Inoue: All time jerk Tenryu performance here. He knew what the finish was and he built back the most satisfying asshole theater to build to it. He was back to 87 here in avoiding Jumbo while launch cheapshots all over the place onto Inoue and Kabuki. Inoue looked as good as usual here, with a great early exchange with Fuyuki and some fun hope spots (my favorite being a headcissors takeodwn out of a side backbreaker attempt). Kabuki had an awesome strike exchange with Tenryu but also a late back and forth with Kawada that was really good. But this was all about the build to Tenryu vs Jumbo, which didn't happen til the very end (thanks to Tenryu tagging out when it looked like it was going to happen earlier - Jumbo spent most of the match shouting at anyone that would listen how terrible Tenryu was and how much he wanted to kill him). Even then, Tenryu timed it so he'd have full advantage but when he went for the powerbomb, Jumbo's partners were able to intervene and his leg went out. Jumbo locked in the Yatsu leglock and his team played interference enough that the unthinkable happened and Tenryu submitted. This felt like a huge moment, like everything coming full circle.

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Thanks to KinchStalker for helping me work out what came next.

2/26/90: Fuyuki vs Inoue: Just the finish of a draw. I bet this was good. Ah well.

2/26/90: Furnas/Kroffat vs Tiger Mask/Kobashi: Early tag up for Misawa and Kobashi. It was good as you'd expect, but the best part was an exchange between Kobashi and Kroffat early on. They just kept going and going and going. Just a real clash of ambition from two guys who obviously wanted to push the limit of what everyone around them was doing. Kroffat and Furnas shot the shirts into the crowd before the match and for a chunk of it they felt more like de facto faces than de facto heels with TM and Kobashi as more aggressive. At some point they really do flip the switch and become the assholes from the Kikuchi/Kobashi tag but it's not yet and that's a shame. You end up with these sort of amorphous junior-y AJPW tags instead. Great action but... Anyway, that exchange between Kobashi and Kroffat was incredibly enjoyable.

2/26/90: Kabuki vs Fulton (Patriot?): Fulton was announced as himself despite having the match. This was a pretty dull affair on the mat, because you really want Kabuki just striking away. Fulton took him out into the crowd twice and then celebrated when he got back to the ring which would have been neat if we had been able to see anything probably. Eventually Kabuki had enough, unleashed a few of those strikes and scored a roll up. This has me wary for Kabuki vs Valentine on the WWF show because if they just whack each other with strikes it'll be awesome. Anything else wouldn't be.

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2/26/90: Jumbo/Yatsu vs Dustin/Windham: Dustin was green but still looked like he belonged in there for the most part. Windham, on the other hand, looked like Jumbo's equal, basically. He made everything look easy. There was a nice bit of grappling between Yatsu and Windham to start, and Barry and Dustin controlled the ring well on him later in a way you don't often see in AJPW, but my favorite bit was Yatsu headbutting Dustin in the corner, only for Dustin to get an elbow, only to get repositioned right into the bulldog. You don't often see someone bulldog Dustin. Anyway, this really just made me want to see 1990-91 Dusty in AJPW working comedy six mans with Baba.

2/26/90: Takano/Nakao vs MVC: You watch this and you'd swear that Takano would be a main eventer by 92. He had such presence and was really his best when he could fight big guys, because then he started throwing the kicks. Him driving Gordy back into the corner all the way across the ring with his kicks as Gordy tried to scrap back was so good. Nakano was obviously the weak link. Not enough of him trying to outspeed, even if he did throw some dropkicks. Whenever he tried a hold, obviously he was just going to get crushed by the other member of MVC coming in. Williams was so explosive at this point. The shot he gave Takano to get him off the apron to set up the finish was so good. Gordy tried to power bomb Takano at one point and it went so out of control that it somehow became a gutwrench suplex.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, fully recovered and back to the grind.

2/26/90: Baba/Rusher/Momota vs Fuchi/Eigen/Okuma: Hey! I figured out which one was Okuma and which one was Eigen this time round. Okuma had lightning pants. Slightly better VQ for the win. I actually really liked this one. The 89/90 Baba six mans are a bit of a chore as they haven't gone full comedy yet but here it worked because Fuchi's side had control for most of the match. That included a long beatdown on Rusher to start and a pretty grisly bit of violence on the floor on Momota. If he had bladed there, I would have actually believed it. They just controlled the ring well and switched in frequently and effectively. That's not to say things weren't funny at times. All sorts of goofy headbutt spots abounded. It felt a little like a lucha trios with Baba and Fuchi as captains as they had two very good exchanges. Probably the best actual wrestling I've seen Baba do in 89-90. Smooth, interesting, some good counters I didn't quite expect. I almost, almost believed Fuchi was going to give him a German at some point. To a degree, all of that was a testament to Fuchi but that would be selling Baba short and I never do that. Pretty good finishing stretch too as they avoided Baba's boot for as long as they could, right until the point that they couldn't and he tossed everyone out so that he and Rusher could hit their tandem spot. Not a bad way to spend 27 minutes.

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Maybe not fully recovered. My leg's being wonky. I still watched half of the March 11, 1990 TV last night though.

3/2/90: Footloose vs Can-Ams: We get just the last few minutes of this but it struck me a lot more than this pairing usually did. There was something going on with Kawada where he was especially mean. Probably because they were losing. The kicks were brutal. He slammed Kroffat almost sideways in a way I'm not used to. He dropped him right on his head with a brainbuster and hit a hell of a sit out power bomb later. Finish was nice and chaotic. I wonder if we're turning a corner on Kawada here.

3/2/90: Tenryu/Hansen vs Taue/Kabuki: Speaking of turning corners, this was Taue fighting for his life. I know from @KinchStalker's research that Taue was anxious about wrestling Tenryu during this period and it's obvious why. Tenryu had to have a talk with Hansen before the match that they were going to give Taue absolutely nothing and make him tough. It was a little hard to watch, even as a historical record, because Taue WAS trying. He'd take it to Hansen, but Hansen would give him far less than the recent match I saw where Kobashi really took it to him. Taue would get an advantage, would hit a dropkick, and Hansen would just shrug it off. When Kabuki helped to get Tenryu down and Taue put him in a hold, Hansen was IMMEDIATELY there to crush him. You could feel the frustration seething in Taue, in between the lumps he was getting. Ultimately, Tenryu, because he is Tenryu and he does highlight his opponents when warranted, gave him a big moment with a kick out nowhere and a sort of reverse nodawa where he dropped Tenryu on his face instead, but it was all futile. This ended with a tandem power bomb and Taue not moving again in the match, and eventually being carried out on a ring mat. Poor guy.

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Finishing off the 3/11/90 TV:

3/2/90: Jumbo/Yatsu vs Gordy/Williams: A little bit disjointed with some great moments and a general sense that Jumbo and Yatsu were the better team but that Williams and Gordy were just a cheating, interfering, thundering force of nature that couldn't be overcome with conventional pro wrestling. The problem was that Yatsu seemed to want to match up against Williams in a legitimate sense and that's not what Doc was there to do. This was not headgear Yatsu (even if he did hit a nice headbutt at one point). Best moment of this was probably early on when Jumbo just crushed Williams by charging out of the corner with a clothesline but there was also a great sidestep later on by Yatsu that I'd gif except for it's really annoying to grab a gif off of a 40+ minute video with my lazy techniques. Also a completely uncooperative gutwrench by Jumbo. I still think there's a lot of mileage in Jumbo facing off against Williams or Gordy but Yatsu sort of worked this one like a guy on his way out. At the end of the episode we got an awesome Baba and Andre promo. "HI! RECOGNIZE ME? IT'S ME, ANDRE THE GIANT...." Yes we know, Andre. My phone actually went flying because I wasn't ready for it. 

Here's the whole episode if anyone wants to disagree with me or agree with me, or see Taue get mauled or just want to see Andre (43 minute mark):

 

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On 12/3/2020 at 1:23 PM, Matt D said:

6/5/89: Mitsuo Momota (c) vs Isamu Teranishi: This is the best Momota has looked as champion so far. Straightforward but compelling matwork where he was in charge. Teranishi had some good strikes (headbutts primarily) and they had an exciting enough finishing stretch. You can get a lot of mileage out of trying for a German in these junior heavyweight matches. Momota was super over in the post match.

They released the full version of this match. Not a ton more to say. We already had ten minutes. Now we have an extra six, with Teranishi getting to take some more of it with that grindy AJPW juniors matwork and a little more of the armwork that would set up what we already had. Most interesting stuff here was actually Momota coming out to the Rocky theme with fans chanting his name. He's not a guy that would normally get a full entrance and they don't play the themes after the matches, so I had no idea but it really does fit. What a worldbeater.

6/5/89: Takano vs Yatsu: This is brand new and we'll cover it more heavily on NFF at some point because I think the guys would like it. After a bit of opening matwork and feeling out (takano has the strength advantage but Yatsu has the Yatsu advantage), Yatsu unloads on him out of the corner with forearms and it's on from there. Back and forth stuff but very chippy, with Yatsu beating the crap out of him and then Takano coming back and unleashing a lot of the offense he usually saves for guys like Hansen and Abby like his big kicks in the corner. Some great suplexes and mean slams too and so many nasty stomps from each guy. If the finish wasn't so wonky (to the point where Takano complains about it after the match) this would be on the great sub-10 minute match list.

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3/6/90: Barry Windham vs Jumbo Tsuruta (C): I came in wondering why I never heard anything about this one. I came out not too surprised. It felt like more of a Windham match than a Jumbo one, though we did lose some of the opening. 1990 Windham coming out to Born in the USA felt weird. Windham had control over a lot of this, with bits of hope from Jumbo, but it never really clicked. What worked the best was the finishing stretch where Jumbo had to work for the back drop driver and put a rare bridge on it once he got it. It almost felt more like a Inoki match than a Jumbo match, weirdly.

3/6/90: MVC vs Tenryu/Hansen: Solid if formless first two thirds with an all time classic last third. The first minute or so was interesting as Hansen was much more measured against Gordy than usual. Like recognizing like. Tenryu was actually far more the aggressor early. Williams came off as a beast with a nice moment of just getting absolutely pissed at Tenryu but by that point, he and Hansen were working like a machine quick to beat down. Things were going quite well until Tenryu accidentally knocked Hansen off the apron and the whole world shifted. After that he went for the power bomb but had his leg clipped from behind and Gordy and Williams just decimated it. Tenryu survived and survived, even Williams just grinding it up and down the mat, with Hansen weirdly reluctant to get in at first as he was pissed at Tenryu. Eventually, Hansen did intervene and Tenryu even came back, but just as he was about to get the tag, Hansen was knocked off the apron. Just another one of those moments where the world shifts. Hansen got the chair and rushed in but again, in a eventuality of mere moments, Tenryu gave up (or the ref called it) right before Hansen could use it. Post match, Hansen was furious that Tenryu hit him, couldn't make it to him in time, couldn't hold on long enough for him to make the save with that chair and he started unloading on him. Jumbo~ made the save but Tenryu started swiping at him too, leaving him bewildered and bemused.

In a perfect world this would have set up an amazing three way and maybe even a reconciliation but it was not to be.

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