Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Matt D]

Hits keep rolling:

6/12/87: Chono/Kimura vs Von Erich/St. Clair: Great heel performance by Kerry here. This comes in 2 mins JIP Or so. They swarm Kimura in the corner. Chono's able to come in and St. Clair feeds all over the place for him on armdrags and what not, but then Von Erich really starts on Kimura's damaged leg. Some great heel stuff here as he walks over to slap Chono on the apron to draw the ref so St. Clair can post the knee on the outside. Then Von Erich puts the claw on the knee! Chono finally makes the save but gets nailed by a top rope St. Clair knee drop as he has a hold on Von Erich and he eats the face claw. In the end, though, Chono's able to hit a big samoan drop on St. Clair and Kimura comes back with the Inazuma Leg Lariat for the win on St. Clair.

6/12/87: Saito vs Inoki III: This is a lot. So Maeda is on commentary. It's the end of the IWGP League. Inoki won group A. (Fujiwara was second and Barbarian third if you're keeping count). Saito won group B and I think Maeda didn't win because of that match where Super Strong Machine bodied him? They're already talking about NOW vs NEW on commentary which is a bit confusing since the post match seems to sort of set it up. It really does kind of feel like a corporate mandate. Or something. The two leaders of what NOW is supposed to be are wrestling here for the Cup. Inoki gets him out of nowhere with a spin wheel kick (accidentally getting the ref first because Inoki legitimately can't pull off the move right) and the back brain kick but Saito retreats to the floor. That gives Inoki a bit of an early advantage until Saito gets him down and slaps on a slightly modified Prison Lock (which usually is a kneeling deathlock on the side, that is with a twist; this is more straight deathlock). He holds it forever as the crowd rallies behind Inoki but Inoki punches out eventually. He's able to fire some shots back as Saito takes it like only he can (iconic stuff, this), but Saito gets him in it again. Inoki gets out, but saito gets him over with a suplex and puts it on for the third time. Inoki's limping around big here and Saito has a big advantage. Saito hits the Saito suplex. Something awesome here happens when he does. The second Inoki goes over with it, the fans start chanting huge for him. They wanted him to fight through it that badly. Usually the chant just comes at a different time, after it's earned or midway through a hold, but with Inoki it's always at the start of the hold or the point of impact because they believe in him so much. It's the damndest connection to a crowd I've seen in forever. Inoki survives another Saito suplex (and this is all methodological and weighty, since this is Saito after all. And this time Saito breaks. He is so stoic and calm and controlled and he just loses it with the ref. He goes for a third and Inoki falls over on him into a thesz press or so and gets the win.

Post match, Saito's beside himself and Choshu rushes in and the three of them sort of posture as everyone else starts coming in too. It almost felt like post-match lucha with challenges. Until Inoki hugs Sakaguchi and Saito big. Fujiwara is with them. There's a weird sense of "Well, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it with all of our heart and we're going to come together and see who is the strongest!"  Saito and Inoki clasping hands is a pretty cool image. You have Choshu, Maeda, and Fujinami on the other side. I think we could have gotten months out of Choshu's team vs UWF/NJPW with a couple of defectors to Choshu's side like Kimura and Muto and Yamazaki, but I guess they just didn't have faith in what they were doing or something? They must have been that desperate. I'm going to ask @KinchStalker about it all.

[Curt McGirt]

I wonder if Kerry was focused because in Japan he could have had less or maybe even no access to the drugs he was on (pills obviously more likely to be there). Or it was the Von Erich in him working hard for the Japanese because that's what you are supposed to do. Or, just remembering how Dave went. When you think about it there is a lot of things to be going through that guy's head over there. 

[Matt D]

37 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I wonder if Kerry was focused because in Japan he could have had less or maybe even no access to the drugs he was on (pills obviously more likely to be there). Or it was the Von Erich in him working hard for the Japanese because that's what you are supposed to do. Or, just remembering how Dave went. When you think about it there is a lot of things to be going through that guy's head over there. 

It’s Kevin. Kerry had the crash and was out. Kerry is also a crummy heel generally.

[odessasteps]

 

[Curt McGirt]

Ah. You wrote Kerry up there. 

"We're goin for that 25 grand and that tag team..." *freezes* 

Ooof. 

Stealing Flair's lisp (both of them) was pretty crappy too. 

EDIT: Actually since it was Florida they were probably stealing from Dusty too. Not a heel, but still. 

Edited March 18 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

42 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Ah. You wrote Kerry up there. 

With the way this month has been going, I’m lucky I didn’t think it was Killer Khan

[Octopus]

11 hours ago, Matt D said:

With the way this month has been going, I’m lucky I didn’t think it was Killer Khan

I mean, he was practically a Von Erich

[Matt D]

Lots to catch up on. There's some exciting secret news about new 89 AJPW footage so I want to get to a point where I can hopefully slot that back in quietly.

6/29/87: Inoki/Sakaguchi/Saito vs Bigelow/Bad News/Mike Moore: Mike Moore is Man Mountain Mike/Motor City Madman. He's big but he has no idea how to keep the offense. He has Hansen's coat and Brody's shoes. Bigelow starts with a press slam. 87 Inoki loved to be press slammed at the start of match. This has a lot of Moore losing the offense for his team and Bigelow getting it back, with Bad News somewhere in the middle Sakaguchi has his usually good fiery corner work. Saito is a tank, as always. Bigelow and Inoki match up a couple of times.The most interesting stuff is at the end when Saito and Sakaguchi work together as NOW leaders, with a double suplex on Bad News and then Sakaguchi tossing him into Saito's lariat.

6/29/87: Fujiwara vs Choshu: The NOW leaders getting it all out of their system as the reboot is happening. This time they make it all the way into the ring before Fujiwara takes over with the headbutts. He controls for most of this really, early on with the headbutt and punches and holds. Choshu tosses him out to reset and gets an advantage with killer elbows in the corner but Fujiwara eventually fires back with the headbutts. Choshu hits a lariat out of nowhere though and follows with just nasty kicks before trying for a belly to back but Fujiwara jams it and goes for the armbar. That sends the outside and Choshu gets whipped into the rail and then comes back with a lariat and Fujiwara can't answer the count. Very nice subten minute match but not as gripping as their last one.

6/29/87: Muto vs Johnny Smith: Smith has to be 12 here. They definitely thought they had a star in Muto. This feels very different than almost anything we've seen in a while. Smith is, of course, Calgary made, explosive and gritty and he hangs. He also seems to bring something else out of Muto, who is a little more explosive himself in matching. In a different world these two might have a longtime rivalry. Maybe they go a little too back and forth, working up from matwork, to chain wrestling, to rope running (Muto's great dropkick) to bombs, to top rope move attempts. Smith misses his and that means he eats the backbreaker and moonsault for the loss.

6/29/87: Fujinami vs The Warlord: He's billed as the VIOLENT WARLORD, and is a super rookie having just debuted the previous year. He's huge, of course, and Fujinami has him press him right at the start and hit a bunch of his other big offense. When Fujinami comes back with low kicks he sells them like he's facing Dusty, maybe too big while still more stunned than anything else. There's some fun bits where Warlord is just too big to deal with. Fujinami can't get all the way over on a shoolboy for instance. This ends on the outside with Warlord sailing over the guardrail as Fujinami ducks and back body drops him. He wasn't nearly as advanced as Barbarian but this wasn't a bad debut overall.

7/7/87: Inoki/Saito/Hoshino vs Maeda/Kimura/Kido: NOW vs NEW. Not sure why Kido is no NEW. I guess i could look up his age but I can't be bothered right now. Obviously the new pairings are interesting as is a refocusing on Maeda vs Inoki which they tease a lot in this and pay off just a little. I think the deal is that neither guy would agree to lose to the other which is why we never got that big singles match. I'm sure Inoki was self conscious about Maeda's combo of size, presence, and skill too, and Maeda had his own issues. But the crowd is supper into the two going at it at all. Hoshino and Kido obviously match up well but we knew that though we don't get nearly enough Hoshino in 86-early 87. He's a guy we'd benefit from having HHs on. Some great stuff between them with rope running but not enough of it. Saito and Kimura matched up well. They had that match earlier and it really does make Kimura seem just a little elevated. Honestly, Saito vs Maeda just felt more gripping to me in general than Saito vs Inoki. One cool thing was how Saito was able to utilize the Ishin Gundan strategies of double teaming with Hoshino. Inoki really didn't buy into it but Hoshino was totally on board for a spike pile driver or whatever. That gave them a longish advantage on Kido. Until Maeda came in to kick the crap out of Hoshino. Kimura tried the same but got his leg caught and he was crushed by Saito. It all built to a crazy finish where Saito had the scorpion on Kido and everyone rushed in. In the chaos, Saito got a saito suplex on Kido for the win. Good start to all of this. A slight realignment makes everything feel fresh but I still could have lived with months of Choshu's army vs the world.

[Curt McGirt]

Do you get the feeling that Inoki was kind of trying to 'Hogan book' and try out guys for the Vader role here, put himself against guys like Mike and Bammer? Wasn't Warload supposed to get the role initially? He may have been scouting to find the right guy (and, thankfully, chose accordingly). 

You know what is a Dream Match Deferred, is Hoshino vs. Kikuchi. That would have been baller.

Edited March 23 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

Ok, AJPW interlude. These are a bit on the hush for now, but you know how to reach me just in case (and there's one later on that you might need to reach me on).

Spoiler

3/27/89

Kikuchi vs Momota and Inoue/Nakano vs Eigen/Okuma are not on the tape despite being promised. I miss them both.

Dusty Rhodes Jr (Dustin)/Tom Zenk vs John Tenta/Great Kabuki: What a weird match on paper! Dustin is treated with some respect despite being super green. It's cool to see Kabuki give for him. Elbows to the arm, that sort of deal. He is tall. He matches up with Tenta squarely too. It's hilarious when Zenk comes in, however. He gets to chop Kabuki hard, but he flies around the ring huge for Tenta and eats Tenta's dropkick right in the face. Tenta's shots are super thudding. This breaks down into a double countout which seems to be protecting Zenk too much but whatever, he earned it.

Pete Roberts vs Fuchi: Feels like a unique match to me. We get a lot of people getting up and down during it which means you lose some of the holds/escapes but you see most of it. It's solid. Fuchi controls early, mostly with a headscissors. It builds to Roberts trying to break his bridge; being unable to, and using a lot of offense to the gut in revenge. They build to some bombs, end up outside, have Fuchi shrug Roberts off so he gets posted. Finish is a belly to back on the floor with Fuchi beating the count. Solid stuff overall.

Kimura/Tsurumi vs Abby/Deaton: Fans were behind Goro. He's such a tag team expert with tricks from the 70s and that kept he and Rusher in it. Some nice stuff where Goro held Deaton's legs while he was dangling on the second rope so Rusher could nail him. They were able to more or less control on Deaton but it's hard when Abby will just come in and shoot you in the throat while you have a hold on his opponent. Abby was very canny too, drawing the ref out and beckoning Deaton to attack from behind on the floor. This ended when Abby wanted to end it with a throat shot and an elbow drop on Tsurumi. Post match was a fun mic battle with Abby and Deaton and Rusher and who knows what any of them said.

 

Edited March 28 by Matt D

[Matt D]

AJPW Interludes con't

Spoiler

3/27/89: Baba/Kobashi vs Footloose (All Asia Tag Titles): Kinch told me that Tenryu asked "Who Booked This?" in the back. Baba's last real title match. Kobashi's first all-asia tag title match. Baba teamed with Kobashi to elevate him basically, to give him this experience. I've been through it twice so far and it's wild. You have Kawada charging at both to start. You have Baba laying it in as the match goes on. There's a lot of Kobashi in there working his hardest and being his most imaginative and wild (multiple cross bodies off the top including one so high it takes a head off, before he misses on the third later in the match, also an airplane spin into a blockbuster suplex which I've never seen him do). He has great rope running against both guys, has good bits where he gets cut off (with a spin wheel kick or a suplex). It really is a coming out party for Kobashi in 1989 in a way that we didn't really have on tape before, not until his seven match series at the start of 90 maybe. But the the most exciting stuff is Baba against these guys, just laying it in and taking their stuff (the double kick, Fuyuki chops, Kawada kicks, a massive missile dropkick to his chin, Fukuki hitting a body press that's more like a missile bouncing off of him, clotheslines that take him down!) There are some good bits of Baba/Kobashi double teams, a tandem dropkick/big boot, the big boot to set up a slingshot splash, Kobashi nailing Fuyuki on the top so that Baba can hit a belly to back. At one point Baba hits a crazy pile driver. Another, he hits the best lariats I've ever seen old man Baba do, just crushing both members of footloose one after the other. He double suplexes them too (one point Kawada tries to suplex him which is awesome hubris). Great finishing stretch where you think Baba/Kobashi are going to win the titles a few times too; honestly a stretch that feels a year or two ahead of its time. A great missing puzzle piece.

3/27/89: Tenryu vs Taue: Their first singles match. Their only singles match until 90. In 90, there was all this weight on Taue to elevate himself. In 89, it felt like there was less pressure. He was super aggressive here, just rushing in with dropkicks and charges and strikes, but Tenryu would take it, would plant himself, and would cut Taue off with a few shots. And Taue would regroup and throw everything he had at Tenryu again and Tenryu would pause, recenter himself, and cut him off. It was like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the mountain. Tenryu was the force of gravity itself. Things built to Tenryu hitting the chokeslam/drop off the ropes. Then, not knowing what else to do, he went for it again and Tenryu jammed it and put on this killer kneebar. From there it was enziguiris and a power bomb. Post match Jumbo made his entrance for the next match and they had a heated moment. I thought this was better actualized than the 90 stuff but it had the luxury to be.

 

[No Point Stance]

That Footloose tag sounds really good. I've never been clear on what a blockbuster supplex is; is it the move also commonly known as a fallaway slam, IE Scott Hall's 'sack of shit'.

[Octopus]

ALL JAPAN RETURNS!!!

[Matt D]

21 minutes ago, No Point Stance said:

That Footloose tag sounds really good. I've never been clear on what a blockbuster supplex is; is it the move also commonly known as a fallaway slam, IE Scott Hall's 'sack of shit'.

You got it, but with a bridge. 

[odessasteps]

As mentioned the other day, that’s the move that got Sid a punctured lung.

[No Point Stance]

20 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

As mentioned the other day, that’s the move that got Sid a punctured lung.

I've never seen the match but for some reason always had it in my head that Steiner was trying out a flipping version, like a moonsault fallaway slam if you weel.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah, me too. Scotty almost never did it and nobody else ever does. If that is actually the one that did in Sid's lung, then that might be a good reason? Sounds like a freak occurence though.

[odessasteps]

I saw someone say it happened during their match at Clash 9. But I just watched the end and didn’t see anything. Maybe more investigating. 

[Matt D]

Con't

Spoiler

3/27/89: Jumbo/Yatsu vs Takano/Takagi: There was a point midway through where it was nice to see all of Yatsu's "stuff" (Bulldog, power slam, inner lace figure-four). But in general, this was just too long. Takagi wasn't ready for this and this was an ok way to get him closer, but he wasn't at all the Takagi of 1/90. You could buy March 89 Takano holding his own against Yatsu (like he did at the beginning after the slaps) or getting a big comeback against Jumbo (to get cut off) but he needed someone higher on the hierarchy like Kabuki to really hold his own. Yet still they had them come back. And some got exciting. Towards the end Takano threw a bunch of really wild kicks. Or landed some big knee drops off the top. Takagi hit a missile drop kick. Or they did a double dropkick. But it was their second double dropkick because these guys only had so much stuff. It became a little repetitive, especially with the long, long beatdown on Takano. Still, there's a joy of sorts in seeing Jumbo and Yatsu beat the crap out of guys I guess. Finish was definitive, of course, with Jumbo using the big boot. He tended to use it on Footloose or guys like Kikuchi so for him to use it against a guy who was kind of hefty like Takagi was something. But then he just planted him with the belly to back and that was that. Some good moments but the mismatch was just way too big here.

 

[Matt D]

Fin for this one:

Spoiler

3/27/89: Furnas/Kroffat vs Hansen/Gordy: Gordy and Furnas matched up really well. Early press slam, etc. Kroffat got some high leapfrogs too. This was a bit much after the Jumbo/Yatsu match however, because as you can imagine it was Hansen shutting them down a lot and then pressing the advantage. The fans really did like Furnas. Fun moment at the end where Hansen walks away from a Kroffat leap off the rope like he was Samoa Joe before hitting the Lariat.

Battle Royal: Hard to tell everything that was happening here. This is AJPW style where everyone dogpiles on anyone who falls down. Fans were behind Momota and they probably should have just let him win, but Furnas won in the end and everyone seemed happy with that. He got a big trophy. Lots of posing. Good for him.

 

[Matt D]

And on to 3/28:

Spoiler

3/28/89: Kikuchi vs Ogawa: 5 minute young guys opener. Usually these get more time. Therefore, while there were holds this was a little more kinetic. Kikuchi, as previously noted, was already explosive. Ogawa was just along for the ride. Kikuchi drove this, hitting a big missile dropkick but missing a frogsplash and allowing Ogawa to hit a pretty swank neckbreaker for the win. Not much too this though.

3/28/89: Dusty Rhodes, Jr./Pete Roberts vs Baba/Rusher: Second match Baba. You wish this was 91 Dustin instead. Roberts was really good at taking people off their feet believably. There are Kido matches with him from 84 and earlier and I should see if any made tape. He works the mat with Rusher and it's fine and then Dustin probably gets some good experience working the mat with Rusher (and he already looks good using his big frame to take chops in the ropes!), but you just want Baba in there. When he does get in there, , they basically work his arm for a bit and then he takes over on Roberts. Rusher does dismantle Roberts in the corner with headbutts, so that's fun. Dustin and Roberts have a kind of cool standing back elbow/atomic elbow combo. Anyway, Rusher comes back with headbutts on Roberts, and hits the double team Kick/CL with Baba and we never get a real Dusty, Jr. vs Baba interaction here and it's a shame. Ah well. Post match Rusher speech is short too so who knows if he said anything about Dustin.

3/28/89: Momota/Teranishi vs Eigen/Okuma: Southern tag getting heat on beloved Momota with all the tricks: hairpulls to win holds (incl' drawing the ref so he doesn't see it), drawing Teranishi away from the corner so he's not there for a tag, drawing the ref so he misses a potential tag, illegal switches while the crowd is distracted by a pissed off Teranishi, doubleteams in the corner. Eventually, Momota does make the tag and Teranishi comes in hot, getting Okuma first (Eigen is always protected in these until the payoff) but they powder and Okuma later takes back over with headbutts and they double team and start up the tricks again to keep control. Momota finally comes back in and beats on Eigen but Teranishi wants back in too soon and we get maybe an ill-conceived third heat until he can land on his feet on a back body drop and Momota makes it back in to chases Eigen around creation and it builds to some fun doubleteam clubbering and all before Momota and Teranishi win with stereo crabs but this should have went home after the second heat.

 

[Matt D]

con't

Spoiler

3/28/89: Shunji Takano vs Goro Tsurumi: One upside of these is seeing more of Goro. By 89, he really didn't make big matches often but he had a lot of value still. Here he charges right in with these downward punches and clubbering blows and Takano has to create distance to hit a dropkick. Takano was just this dynamic combo of size and agility. He didn't hit big boots; he hit twisting superkick deals. He had big roundhouse kicks, especially in the corner; he had the missile dropkick and kneedrop off the second rope. Tsurumi took back over and leaned on him. he had some cool stuff too like a gutwrench position where he sort of pancaked him down and a quasi exploder. Down the stretch Takano hit his own overhead suplex with just a little exploding modification and was on a role having tossed Goro face first into the corner and come in with a nasty back elbow when Goro mule kicked him for the only DQ I've seen in 1989, I think. Very weird.

3/28/89: Tom Zenk vs Mighty Inoue: Yet another match where Zenk does not work heel. It's not happening guys, sorry. He's one of the world's most natural heels imaginable and he just never worked it, not even in Japan. Inoue feeds like crazy for him early but then takes over on the leg and Zenk sells it for most of the rest of the match. He comes back, hits a bunch of dropkicks, avoids by half the flipping senton, and hits another dropkick or two for a pin. Inoue has his foot on the rope to protect him but the ref misses it. This was fine. I was glad to see Zenk stretched but the HH is a little far off to really get the full effect.

3/28/89: Kobashi/Fuchi vs Can-Ams: Unfortunately we only get the first few minutes of this before the tape cuts off. It's a shame as it came right after the most important match of Kobashi's career up until then and there was reason to think he would have worked extremely hard and imaginatively and it, with the Baba tag, would have shined some new light on his 89. The Baba tag still does but there's not a lot to see here. Furnas breaks Fuchi's full nelson and poses to start and the Can-Ams work well together and it just cuts.

3/28/89: Takagi vs Abby: March 1989 Takagi, despite being a pretty big dude, is not going to last more than a few minutes against Abby. He charges right in, but gets cut off repeatedly by Abby's immaculate cutoffs, shoulder tackled, elbowed.

 

[Matt D]

fin

Spoiler

3/28/89: Tenryu/Revolution vs Kabuki/Taue/Nakano: This was more competitive than you'd think with Taue, sweeping dropkicks aside, leaning on his size more to hold his own with Tenryu a bit but asserting himself against Revolution. Nakano could wrestle basically even with them and was going aggressive. Kabuki wasn't in a ton but he could stand to any of these guys. Tenryu is very good at letting his opponent's best qualities shine so long as they earn it. He's better than Hansen along those lines. With Hansen, there's basically one path to staying alive and you have to take it. With Tenryu, there are a number of paths but you have to be assertive and take at least one of them. First half was fairly even including stretches where they worked over Fuyuki's leg. The HH is a bit rough and far away but it's telling how Kawada is crisper and hits cleaner but Fuyuki has way broader physical charisma. Back half had Taue get swept under by Tenryu and co but it built to a pretty fun finishing stretch which had, among other things, Taue doing a Giant Swing! To Fuyuki. In the end, Tenryu just absolutely crushed him. You can be doing well against Tenryu and all it takes is one poor choice or missed move or mistake and it's over. This was not any sort of must-see match but it's a good point in time for these guys and another notch for Tenryu.

3/28/89: Jumbo/Yatsu/TENTA~! vs Hansen/Gordy/Deaton: I wanted Tenta vs Hansen. I did not get it in any meaningful way. This was sort of a fifteen minute all action sprint, albeit with some holds, but when Hansen is putting those holds on, they're compelling. I did get Gordy vs Tenta and that was a real clash of the titans affair so that was good. Later on, Gordy went over huge for a Tenta belly-to-belly too. Also, Jumbo only came in a few times, but when he did, he was like a rocket, either hitting everyone with the jumping knee or doing some highly energetic rope running. They worked over Tenta's leg a bit and Deaton lost the offense a lot and Yatsu had some big comebacks. Lots of big meaty shots in this. I just wanted Tenta vs Hansen and didn't really get it here.

 

[Matt D]

Now 2/23/89

Spoiler

Fuchi/Kikuchi vs Momota/Teranishi: Will always mention that Momota is super over. This was a great Fuchi showcase. He looked like a beast here, working the mat, throwing bombs, strikes, etc. Fuchi controlled the corner well including swarming when Kikuchi lost the offense. It worked once or twice but Momota was able to roll for a hot tag eventually. Overall Kikuchi made for a good attack dog/minion for Fuchi. Teranishi had some fun stuff, a step over stretch the Robinson backbreaker. Momota and Kikuchi matched up well when they started going quick. One really nice backslide out of nowhere which is a totally legitimate way for Momota to win. He finally snuck around and got a German on him to get the pin though. This was good overall and Fuchi looked great.

Kobashi/Kitahara vs Taue/Takagi: I'd be glad to have all four of these guys on my roster overall I suppose. Taue and Takagi could have been something as a team in a different world. Takagi used his size well against these guys, with just an early shoulder block or later on a belly to belly, or side slam and the running powerslam and splash to win it. Lots of holds. Kobashi kept things interesting but the others not so much Kitahara showed some fire and striking but not a ton else. It gets kind of old to see Taue do the sweeping dropkicks. There were times the guys were either getting directed by the ref or almost running him over. Kobashi did the fireman's carry into the blockbuster again and you wonder why he dropped it but he kept coming up with new stuff all the time and it was probably very hard to turn the fireman's carry into the lift. Just doing that shift in positions got a pop. This was ok but wore out it's welcome a little on some of the holds. I don't want to see people working over Taue's leg in a 50/50 match necessarily.

Eigen vs Tsurumi: I wanted Eigen to be a shitheel jerk and Tsurumi be the roughneck goon who put him in his place, but this was beloved underdog Eigen. At least it dawned on me here (during the initial Tsurumi assault where he charged in, beat Eigen with a chair on the outside and did the apron clubbering spit spot) who Eigen reminds me of. He reminds me of early 2010s Felino or Niebla, in the best way. They went back to the floor and Eigen took over by avoding another chairshot with a gut punch and using the chair himself. He proceeded to headbutt Tsurumi as he was coming in, do comedic leg splits, hoist him in shattered dreams position in the corner and do these cool side headbutts repeatedly, and do more headsplits. And then Tsurumi got DQed again with the mule kick.

Okuma/Kabuki vs Tiger Mask II/Takano: Weird pairing here. Okuma worked this straight and was a pretty good partner for Kabuki. They really just leaned on the two of them though. Long holds. Tiger Mask eventually came back and cleared the ring of everyone and teased some dives. after that, people ran into Kaubki's foot a lot. But Takano and Tiger Mask came back on Okuma and did a kind of cool finish where Takano did his knee off the second rope from one corner and then Tiger Mask barely hit a frogsplash (headbutt from the other). This was ok but it was most containing the "faces".

Jerry Oates/Doug Somers vs Baba/Rusher: Oates and Somers controlled on Rusher a bit, sometimes using dirty tactics, but not often. They stooged and goofed about and made faces when Baba came in to beat them up. They ran into Baba's feet a lot. It's just that they seemed subdued and it was dumb. Fans were used or were about to be used to seeing Okuma and Eigen go way over the top against Baba and Rusher. Oates and Somers shouldn't have cared so much about being legitimate or credible even if they were in Japan. If they went way over the top the fans wouldn't have sat on their hands and only went up for some Baba shots.

 

[Matt D]

Fin and start of 2/25/89

Spoiler

2/23/89: Inoue (c) vs Nakano for the Jr title: This was pretty good. Nakano came out very aggressive. He's not someone I'm high on in 89. He's fine but doesn't stand out much. Inoue, I am high on. Basically Nakano controlled early here with a powerslam and holds. It's hard to gauge how good these were and how compelling they were on a far off handheld though. My best guess was that they weren't hugely so. Eventually, Inoue got a reversal and took over with holds of his own for a while. Maybe a little more torque. They went back and forth on this though Nakano was more apt to stomp and be the aggressor, which gave the match an underlying story at least. Inoue came back with some nasty kicks out of the corner though. Some good individual spots as they went along. Finishing stretch was Inoue missing the second flip senton. and things spiraling outside but Nakano being unable to put him away. When he went for a tombstone, Inoue did that cool headscissors roll up counter for the win. Post match, fans chanted for Momota because that's who they wanted to see challenge anyway. Inoue's song has some weird scrunchy noises in it.

2/23/89: Johnny Ace/Terminator vs Abby/Giant Kimala: Fun to see Ace get crushed by these guys, I guess. I will say this about Johnny; he was very good at keeping the crowd engaged and clapping. In this regard, he was kind of the one eyed man in the land of the blind since no one else in the AJPW roster would pander to the crowds so thoroughly. It really did work out for him combined with his relative size for his role. Terminator was fine and had some big goofy stuff. Abby and Kimala were as you'd expect. Great cutoffs for both. Abby seemed to be having a lot of fun including when he just stood on Ace and grinned big. Main event (Jumbo/Yatsu vs Tenryu/Kawada) we already had, even HH.

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2/25/89: Kitahara vs Fuchi: we come in JIP with some big Kitahara dropkick offense, but Fuchi takes over fairly quickly. Not a lot to this given the time we have of it. Fuchi wins with a piledriver which was kind of neat.

2/25/89: Kobashi/Kikuchi vs Eigen/Okuma: I do think that Eigen was at his best in this run playing off of Rusher. He could have been a big mean bully to the kids here and that didn't really come through as potent as when he's menacing Rusher. Maybe this match would have been better along those lines a year later. Some clumsiness at times from Kobashi and Kikuchi on not knowing how a double body slam might work in practice, for instance. A lot of leaning on them by Okuma in particular. The fans did have a special relationship with Eigen though. When he went to the top rope, even if his opponents didn't seem in position to stop him, the fans laughed in anticipation because they just knew it wouldn't end well for him. It didn't make things feel sillier or less meaningful when Okuma won with the running dropping headbutt. This didn't really have a finishing stretch though.

2/25/89: Teranishi vs Tsurumi: When I was first watching this I initially thought it was Takagi instead for a minute. Kind of hefty guy in white tights. Anyway, he matched up well with Tsurumi and dominated him a lot more than others. Tsurumi did get his bombs (that reverse side slam and the crazy 1989 exploder) but Teranishi had a big dive from the apron and was able to press multiple advantages, so you know what came next... the mule kick DQ. I do feel like I've learned some things from these undercards though.