AJPW TV (June 1990) review 

 

Jun 7, 1990 

 

So, just so you know, shit’s about to get real here. On tap tonight is a tag where Footloose collide, Terry Gordy sends Davey Boy Smith packing and the big Pillars vs. Jumbo & his mates feud really gets going. I am fired up, ladies and gentlemen.  

 

In two weeks, we have Hansen vs. DOC and Gordy vs. Jumbo for the belt. And in three weeks, rounding out June’s TV we have Hansen vs Gordy and Jumbo vs. Misawa. Like…LET’S FUCKING GOOOOOOO!!!! 

 

This show was taped on May 26, 1990, at Korakuen Hall. 2,400 attended, which is a good number and the layout for Korakuen can change depending on the promotion that runs there. This was broadcast on Nippon TV. Some of the matches that didn’t make the cut include Tiger Jeet Singh vs Mighty Inoue and Baba & Kimura vs Abby & Ranger Ross. Nothing but gold in them thar hills! 

 

Toshiaki Kawada & Shinichi Nakano vs. Samson Fuyuki & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 

The Footloose implosion continues. It won’t last long because Fuyuki is about to jump to SWS. This is the first appearance of Kikuchi, resident victim of abuse from bigger stars. Kawada has suddenly arrived here. He kicks the absolute fuck out of Kikuchi. Everything I’ve seen Kawada do so far has been relatively respectful. It’s time for the REAL Kawada to stand up.  

 

Despite Nakano being a weak link, the match clips along on a good pace with an exchange of near falls that gets the crowd going. Kikuchi, who can be great, has a fantastic match. His selling and bumping is bang on. Nakano picks him off with a Northern Lights suplex with Kawada holding his old tag partner back to prevent the pin being broken up. A really good little pro-wrestling match here with an exciting stretch between Nakano and Kikuchi, which was unexpected. ***½ 

 

Davey Boy Smith vs. Terry Gordy 

Davey is heading back to the WWF at the end of this tour so he’s out here doing Gordy a favour. Neither guy is an ideal singles wrestler. Gordy is better as a powerhouse who can tag in someone else to dictate the match and well, shit, Davey is exactly the same. Davey definitely had better singles matches than Gordy but only because he worked with prime Bret Hart. 

 

There’s no leader in this match, nor a ‘bumper’ so a lot of it involves two big dudes butting heads or putting on holds. It lacks a spark. It could use some meat slapping but Davey never worked that way. He’s still in the ‘Hogan’ mentality of showing strength and posing. Gordy makes a horrible mess of a splash in this. Slipping off the ropes and barely connecting. It sums up how the match has been. 

 

The crowd are into it though. Every kick out or big spot is met with adulation. Davey kicks out of one powerbomb but a second one finishes. Davey in his penultimate AJPW singles match going out on his back. Gordy was clearly fancied by AJPW to be the next big thing. Oh, how things change. This was not very good. Like ** or **¼ if you’re looking for ratings news. 

 

Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & Great Kabuki 

OH MY GOD, Misawa has his new music. It rules! Jumbo is now seen as the measuring stick in this company, among the natives. He’s the guy. No one else is close. Misawa has dared to step to him so one of Jumbo’s first moves in this match is to bash Misawa off the apron. When they start to wrestle, Jumbo absorbs a lot of knees and then one lariat later, he’s got Misawa effectively beaten. This match exists to help establish where the starting point is.  

 

Taue is big and slow. He’s modelled himself after Baba but sometimes being slow makes you stand out. Everything he does feels super purposeful. Kobashi is more energetic, determined and he starts fast. That’s Misawa’s backup. Misawa’s change of gears in this one comes when he elbows Jumbo off the apron. A receipt for the earlier attack, it shows he’s not backing down and with the elbow strikes brings a credible method of knocking the big man out. The switch from Tiger Mask to Misawa saw a change in approach from flying to striking while still incorporating the former. 

 

When Jumbo gets back up, he doesn’t tag in, he just charges in there and it’s FUCKING ON LADS! Misawa gets the better of a squabble and the chants of “Misawa” ring around the building. Jumbo nurses his wounds for a moment and then piles back in! IT’S ON AGAIN! There are no tags here. It helps to make the match feel out of control. Jumbo ends up tagging in and Misawa just strolls in there and attacks him. BUT TAUE DECIDES HE’S GOING TO KICK JUMBO’S ASS TOO!  

 

Three young punks going to town on the main man. Fuchi ends up clipping Kenta’s knee and working him over, and the match finally slows up. At this stage of his development Kobashi is incredibly gutsy but has no shot against the big boys. Misawa though has completely changed since unmasking. He’s a different guy. He’s so much more aggressive and determined than before. 

 

Jumbo hitting a lariat on Kobashi triggers a great series of near falls, involving everyone. Quick tags, flash pins. It’s all so well organised and planned out. I’ve seen hundreds of modern sequences like this, and it wouldn’t seem out of place at all, but they built to it. Jumbo stops the Tiger Driver by nailing Misawa with a lariat, but he can’t stop the Tiger Suplex and that puts Fuchi away after 23 minutes of barnstorming action and top bollocks storytelling. ****¼. One of the finest matches of the year. Brilliantly put together and designed to create this Tsuruta-Misawa rivalry, which replaces Jumbo’s feud with Tenryu. Based on this, it’s going to be a wild ride. 

 

This is a key match in the history of AJPW. The elbow that drops Jumbo off the apron is so important. Jumbo’s reactions to it, likewise. This is vital pro-wrestling. I loved every minute of it.  

 

June 10, 1990 

 

All of this week’s matches come from June 1, 1990. A show taped in Sapporo. Over 5,000 in attendance. Here the battle between Jumbo Tsuruta and Mitsuharu Misawa continues in tag action, Miracle Violence Connection see off some fellow gaijin and Stan Hansen wrestles Toshiaki Kawada!  

Also, Sigourney Weaver selling…something. Phones?  

 

A quick note: the VQ on this show is so much worse than all the rest. I frequently have to look away because the jumping and jittering is making my eyes water. And I’m used to tapes, back in the day, that were of such bad quality (thanks to snow) you could barely tell who was wrestling.  

 

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Stan Hansen 

Earlier in the year Hansen had a great match with Kobashi. It’ll be interesting to see how this measures up. Kawada tries hard here, determined to not end up a stain on the mat. He throws a bunch of kicks and other strikes. Realistically, looking at their size difference, that ain’t gonna work, chief. Kawada ends up getting far less than Kobashi. His initial shine aside, he’s a whipping boy. Lariat finishes in five minutes. YEEEEEEEEE! A squash.  

 

Miracle Violence Connection vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Davey Boy Smith 

Bigelow is only here for this tour, five matches in total, before going back to New Japan where he worked earlier in the year. I have no idea what that’s about. Everyone in this is freakishly strong but it’s a fine demonstration of just HOW freakishly strong Doc is. He’s chucking people around so effortlessly. Bigelow does a grand job of looking like a superstar but also selling for the guys who are sticking around. He’s so underrated.  

 

Sadly, the VQ drops off a cliff during this match and I don’t think I see a single spot. I can’t rate it because I can’t see what’s happening. Gordy beats Davey again with a powerbomb and we move on. 

 

Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Great Kabuki 

You would think Kabuki, who’s leaving soon, would be the obvious choice to job here…and you’d be wrong! The VQ continues to hurt my head. The things I do for wrestling. The match is fine but it highlighted by Misawa getting so carried away on elbowing at Jumbo that KOBASHI has to break it up. There are bits and pieces that make it over from the, far superior, Korakuen trios match.  

 

It occasionally rises to the level of Korakuen, especially down the stretch, but this merely exists so Jumbo had reassert his authority by pinning Kobashi. It leaves Misawa looking sad but leaves them 1-1 ahead of their singles match a few weeks later. Well, one week later but two in TV Land. 

 

At this point I got the flu and was sick for a week. Sofa bound. Incapable of putting together cohesive thoughts. Hence, the delay. Increasingly we’re firing through 1990 and hopefully will get it done in record time.  

 

June 17, 1990 

 

These matches were all taped at Chiba on June 5, 1990. The final stop off before Budokan Hall. If things remain unchanged we should have Jumbo vs. Misawa for the belts at Budokan Hall. They’ve been building to it for weeks. However, Jumbo defends the Triple Crown here against Terry Gordy and the plans are about to get wrinkled.  

 

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Great Kabuki & Samson Fuyuki 

This might be the last time we see Fuyuki, who has handed his notice in, and is off to SWS. His final match coming at Budokan Hall on June 8. I don’t think that made tape. Kawada’s style has noticeably changed here. He’s adopting a more aggressive approach with his strikes. His kicks and elbows both look tighter. It’s interesting that Misawa has abandoned his Tiger Mask colour scheme but is wearing blue, like Kawada does. Kawada meanwhile has prominent yellow on his blue gear, to pay tribute to his mentor Tenryu, and he looks a bit like an X-Man. Tiger Driver finishes. This was nothing to write home about. 

 

Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams 

Hansen is “gaijin #1” and that’s what this is all about. Stan is the Man. He’s the guy you must beat if you want to be the Man. Doc wants to be the Man. The best word to describe this match is “untidy”. Sometimes though, being untidy isn’t a detriment. It’s just two guys having an ugly scrap. Something that is often lost in modern wrestling is that sense of struggle. You see it in mat wrestling at times but in brawling, it’s hard to do.  

 

Stan is the absolute master of this style. It’s why he’s held in such high regard. Everything he does looks clumsy. He’s the bull in the proverbial china shop. Hansen gets busted open on the floor, and it gives Doc a target as he starts to pound away on the big man’s forehead. He comes across like a rabid animal. Hansen takes an incredible Irish whip, like he barely stays on his feet. It makes the concept of the whip feel real. There are very few wrestlers, ever, who’ve been able to do this.  

 

Hansen does a thing in here, where he adjusts his elbow pad and the crowd goes NUTS. They know what it means. He’s getting ready to unleash the lariat and he wants that padding to be in the place to protect his elbow. It doesn’t even go anywhere, other than tell the crowd that Stan thinks he can finish Doc off soon. It’s so subtle. I love it. Doc cuts him off and beats him up some more and then comes another adjustment. The crowd bite huge the second time but Stan misses through the ropes. He’s such a genuinely awesome worker.  

 

The finish is just brilliant. Doc does the first half of the Oklahoma Stampede but it’s so draining carrying Hansen’s weight around that Stan slips out. No messing around here, as soon as Doc turns Hansen takes his head off with the lariat. Game over. What a great little match that was. ***¾ 

 

Triple Crown Championship 

Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Terry Gordy 

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to say, “why Gordy?” knowing what is going to happen to him. However, it does make sense. They wanted to create another Hansen-level gaijin monster and the only way to do that is to put the big belt on him.  

Or just have him beat Jumbo or Hansen. Seeing as Jumbo is the champion, it’s hard to make him a credible threat any other way than winning the belt. Keep in mind there is build to this. Jumbo has taken various tag partners to Miracle Violence Connection and lost every time. Even with BABA. Another interesting note is Baba wanting to create two marquee matches on every card. The Triple Crown match and the Jumbo match. He’s building to Jumbo vs. Misawa this way. Misawa is even interviewed in the crowd during the match, watching to pick up flaws in Jumbo’s game. 

 

If there is a flaw, it’s that he’s quite happy to let Gordy put this match on ice after a hot start. There are way too many Gordy rest holds for a big match, and they just don’t have that wild chemistry that AJPW in the 1990s was famous for. The match does slowly escalate but it’s very sluggish in between the big bombs. It feels like a late era Undertaker match.  

 

There is one moment where it is elevated. Gordy, about to take a backdrop hold, kicks off the ropes like Tenryu used to and lands Jumbo on his own neck. A nice lesson learned from Tenryu, who Gordy wrestled for the Triple Crown last year. Jumbo makes a mistake, lowering his head for a backdrop, and Gordy drills him with a DDT for the win and the belts. Despite the escalation the finish still felt like it came out of nowhere.  

Given the nature of the match, it’s obviously disappointing compared to other heavyweight clashes around the same time. The match does feel like a big deal, but Gordy’s joy would be short lived. In general, not just in the ring. His 1990 would turn to shit soon afterwards. I’ll go *** here but that is a Gentleman’s Three. Designed to appreciate the importance of the match without saying anything nice about it. 

 

June 24, 1990 

 

These matches took place at Budokan Hall on June 8, 1990. A date that will go down in history. This is the birth of Misawa as a main event player in All Japan. It’s also the day Stan Hansen won his first Triple Crown. If you don’t get fired up about stuff like this, are you even alive? 

 

Triple Crown Championship 

Terry Gordy (c) vs. Stan Hansen 

An ideal match here would be both guys just meat slapping for 15:00. Duelling shoulderblocks. Chops. Lariats. That’s what we want!  

Hansen bullies Gordy for large spells before getting caught in the DDT. Unlike that jabronie Jumbo Tsuruta, he simply kicks out. Why didn’t you think of that Jumbo? There are levels to this game. Stan sells it like death though and spends a while hiding in the ropes before slipping outside. In modern wrestling a big spot like this is often shrugged off. Hell, we’ll probably see it before the night is out here, but Hansen knows the importance of selling. That DDT has effectively knocked him out of the match and he’s showing his desperation to stay in it. Just kicking out doesn’t deflect the devastation of the move. He’s been knocked loopy and needs time to mentally recover from it. This is much closer to actual sport than most wrestling you’ll see. 

 

Gordy knows he can kill Stan off with one more big spot, but he can’t get Stan up because of Hansen’s size. Gordy ends up burning energy just trying to get Hansen out of the ropes, or off the floor, or into a powerbomb. He’s getting nowhere with it and the whole time Hansen is recovering. Hansen busts out this incredible untidy as fuck roll up. IT’S SO GOOD. It feels like a desperation move. It looks like a desperation move. Gordy gets upset and tries for a lariat but misses and Hansen LARIATS HIM IN THE FACE for the belt.  

 

This match was good, but it was good because of Stan Hansen. I’m starting to think he might be the most underrated guy in wrestling history and I’m kicking myself for not giving him Wrestler of the Year in 1988 when no one else really deserved it. He might win it this year, the way he’s going. This match finished very strongly, which makes it easier to overlook the middling opening. The crowd LOUDLY chant’s “Hansen” afterwards. A man of the people. Steve Williams thinks otherwise and attacks him. ***½  

 

Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jumbo Tsuruta 

This is proper “A Star is Born” territory. The new ace stepping into the limelight. Misawa even has that new green gear. The story sees Jumbo a little unsure of himself. He kept losing to Miracle Violence Connection, Misawa has been getting over on him in tags and then he lost the Triple Crown to Gordy three days ago. It’s raining shit on Jumbo Tsuruta. He needs a performance tonight to remind himself that he’s the ace around here. 

 

For Misawa, his stock has risen rapidly since he abandoned the Tiger Mask gimmick, and he looks every inch the star now. Jumbo asserts himself early, as Misawa (at this point) is known for his flying and struggles to match Jumbo’s overwhelming power. Instead, he adjusts his weight on an early attempt at the Backdrop Hold to land on top. Misawa does dives and flips and uses every bit of his Tiger Mask background to get a foot hold in the match. 

 

Things slow down a little as Misawa tries to get in Jumbo’s head. After controlling with basic holds for a bit he slaps Tsuruta in the face. Jumbo’s reaction is a high knee to the face. Misawa does a great job of bumping straightforward strikes. He gets snap on back bumps that most guys from this era can’t do. They have a story here perfectly encapsulated in two spots. Spot #1: Jumbo throws Misawa into the air and he faceplants into the mat. Spot #2: Jumbo goes to do it again and Misawa dropkicks him. Misawa spends the whole match learning and getting better. Tsuruta isn’t that mentally quick. He’s always gotten by on size and guts. Now, he’s running headlong into Misawa’s cleverness and that’ll be his undoing. 

 

Jumbo never changes his tactic because he believes he can just beat this upstart. He’s bigger, he’s stronger, he’s established as the top boy around here. Misawa takes ages to unload a strike and when he finally does, with that big elbow, he puts Jumbo down. It’s interesting it takes him so long to do this, but it feels like he kept it in reserve for when he needed it. The main focus of his attacks remain high risk offence. Big dives! Inside the ring, he looks for flash pins to get the big man discombobulated.  

 

Jumbo, once again, just sticks to his (big) guns. Slow and steady wins the race. Lariat. Lariat. Lariat. Yeah, he’s feeling it. Misawa pulls out that same Tenryu rope kick to stop the Backdrop Hold. Misawa goes after the Tiger Driver but can’t get Jumbo up for it. Jumbo fights back and counters a flying crossbody by biffing Misawa in the head with his elbow. It’s the same principle from Tsuruta; use his size to beat Misawa down. In doing so, however, he hurts himself. It would have been easier and more cerebral to simply sidestep it. 

 

Jumbo doubles down and misses in the ropes. The finish is soon after with Jumbo still nursing that elbow. Misawa goes after the Backdrop Hold, Jumbo (knowing the hold as it is his own) reverses into a cradle but Misawa then counters the cradle into a pin. Misawa baited Tsuruta into technical counters rather than big boy bombs. That’s how he won. It’s not convincing, by any stretch of the imagination, but he outsmarted Jumbo Tsuruta and that’s how he beat him.  

I’ve not got the best shot of it but look who jumps in there to celebrate with him. The guys who Misawa leads to the of the cards. The Four Pillars. They’re all there. Misawa being held up, symbolically, by Kawada and Kobashi. The two men who he’ll feud with during the 90s, tag with and have all-time great moments with. And Taue is there too!  

 

As for the match, it’s a more cold calculating affair from Misawa than the elbow smashing, toe to toe violence of the years to come. However, you can’t have those matches without this match. Misawa has to rise up and dethrone the king so the new kingdom can be formed. ****½  

 

Is it the best match of the year? I’m not sure but it is the most important match of the year. History looks back fondly upon this moment as it leads to the 1990s in AJPW. A decade of pro-wrestling excellence that hasn’t been seen before, or since.  

 

The 411: 

Holy shit, what a wild ride this month is. All Japan bring forth dramatic change to suit the upheaval away from the ring. Tenryu may be gone, Jumbo may not be quite the same guy he was last year, but the future is bright. The future is emerald.  

 

NEXT: NWA Great American Bash ‘90. Sting ascends.