AJPW TV March 1990 review 

 

March 4, 1990  

 

Hello, I had such a nice time doing the last block of AJPW TV that I’m back for more. I spent a while debating how my 1990 year-end awards are looking (early doors but I am a planner) and I can’t see another promotion winning Best Promotion. All Japan should have won it in 1989 too, but I figured I should throw NWA a bone seeing as they’ll literally never win it again and 1989 is their best year.  

 

Stan Hansen & The Patriot vs. Tiger Mask II & Kenta Kobashi 

Patriot is not Del Wilkes but rather Joel Deaton under the stars and bars mask. Which is weird because Deaton was advertised on the tour. It’s fascinating to see Kobashi go after Hansen again here after Hansen destroyed him in their singles match. Kenta thinks he can beat Hansen. Keeping in mind, Kobashi is still a kid at this point. His acceleration up the card is palpable. No win here though as Hansen absolutely tags him with a lariat for the pin. This was bang tidy but clipped to the last few minutes. 

 

Miracle Violence Connection vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Akira Taue 

Taue, like Kobashi in the last match, finds himself outmatched but is eager to show fight against the powerful foreigners. He lacks Kobashi’s drive and determination. Taue is colder and calculating. When Doc nips up, Taue stands back and re-thinks his strategy. This is why people like him less but he’s a thinking man’s worker. As is demonstrated by him moving on a Gordy knee drop and immediately going after the body part. 

 

Taue is also prepared to go after Gordy toe to toe, to test his mettle against a proper heavyweight. This doesn’t go well for him, but the Japanese mentality is to test yourself. This is the first time I’ve seen him in a longer match and it’s clear he’s got “it” just less “it” than Kobashi.  

Gordy is in no mood to take any shit tonight. When Taue steps to him, he beats him down and every spot seems to have a little extra stink on it. Gordy was a great monster heel and when the babyface made the comeback he could take all the bumps too. A truly wonderful, underrated worker. Mainly because he was so bad at the end of his career, but he did have brain damage. Taue pisses him off one too many times and the powerbomb finishes. Solid match this. **¾  

 

Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue 

The Tenryu-Tsuruta feud is starting to get a little repetitive. Jumbo’s next triple crown match is with Barry Windham so why not get him involved here? After a few minutes it’s apparent why they keep running these matches. Everyone is super familiar with each other and it slaps. It feels like they can run this match in their sleep.  

This match has some interesting interactions too. Kawada goes after Jumbo with the kind of intensity that suggests he wants Tenryu’s spot when Tenryu leaves. It takes Tenryu precisely 1 (one) nonchelant chop on Jumbo to suggest why he’s still the big dog around here. This project has given me a whole new appreciation of Tenryu and his aura. I never got him first time around and got caught up on his shitty Enzuigiri. Everything else is fucking mint. I was being dim. 

 

Kawada is undoubtedly the star of the match though. His combination of violence and athleticism is the driving force for everything. Tenryu, powerful presence and all, plays a cameo role. Mighty Inoue manages to injure Tenryu’s ankle by trying to drag him out of the ring by his foot. The camera’s pick up on it so it may have been planned.  

 

Kabuki stomps on the ankle, so it feels like a work. Jumbo gets on that ankle and Tenryu gives up! Holy shit. What a fantastic angle this was, although the ankle probably needed more attention before the actual submission. Tenryu, in selling the injury, would miss the following two tour shows. ***¼. Just very good stuff all round. 

 

Video Control gives us clips from Wrestlemania III and Hogan cuts a promo. “Whatcha gonna do when Hulkamania and Ichiban run wild on you”. Nice to see his grasp of Japanese is as strong as his grasp on the truth. I can’t believe All Japan are hard selling me a WWF crossover show.  

Japan has such a huge wrestling scene that you can see why Vince wanted to crack it with this show. The best thing about Japanese wrestling is that the WWF has never been able to get a strong foothold in the country unlike almost every other country in the world. That and how good it is.  

 

March 11, 1990 

 

All-Asia Tag Team Championship 

Footloose (c) vs. Can-Am Express 

We’re JIP as Kroffat absolutely EATS a brainbuster from Kawada. Good lord. The vertical drop brainbuster, when executed properly, is a flawless move. One that will never cease to get me suckered in. Kroffat’s comeback near falls are sensational. He’s so good. He can take any spot Kawada can dream up and, believe me, he’s got loads. Kroffat ends up scoring the pin with a springboard sunset flip. It looked like Fuyuki kicked out, but he didn’t. What was shown here was tremendous. ***½  

 

Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Great Kabuki & Akira Taue 

Taue comes after Tenryu here and gives him the business with chops and such. Tenryu, clearly not at his surly best, barely responds. That ankle is clearly still bothering him. Taue attempts a dropkick on Stan and Hansen is NOT happy about it. Speaking of “not being happy” Tenryu comes after Taue with a chair. I guess he was ticked off about those chops. Kabuki tries to get the ankle submission. “I’m going to get a submission”. “No, you’re not” – Hansen.  

 

Taue pulls out an early version of the Nodowa Otoshi but Tenryu kills him with a double team powerbomb for his troubles. Kabuki saves but Stan lariats him clean out of the ring and Tenryu just crawls over and pins Taue’s corpse. Boy, is he ever selling the shit out of that double powerbomb. This was awesome. Taue selling like death, poor Kabuki thinking he had Tenryu’s number and Stan stiffing the bejesus out of everyone. ***¼  

 

Increasingly thinking I should have given Stan Hansen WOTY for 1988 when it was open, and I went with Maeda.  

 

Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Miracle Violence Connection 

MVC have developed one cool thing already, which is charging the ring and clearing it out before the bell. Last time Jumbo tagged against MVC he looked disinterested, and Doc forces some fire out of him in the opening exchanges, which should be good for business. Yatsu, a former Olympic wrestler, gets a bit cheeky on the mat with Doc and it briefly threatens to turn into a shoot. Common sense prevails, or whatever misunderstanding passes, and we move on. 

 

Jumbo and Gordy start chopping each other, overhand style, and hot damn that looks like a good time at the wrestles. Clearly Gordy impressed as All Japan pushed him hard in mid 1990. He does some great selling in this, especially for Yatsu. It’s hard to find a big guy who not only looks good but also makes other people look good. Most big guys can’t do the latter.  

 

MVC have a few ideas for double teams but are not good at calling them. Which results in an awkward three-point stance spot. It does feel like Doc is the weak link in the team. The match runs over 20:00 and it never really has the juice to do so. I can see where they’re coming from because Gordy is such a big cog in the summer booking. Yatsu gets left alone with Doc and the Oklahoma Stampede finishes.  

 

I glance away briefly and am welcomed by this sight on my return. What the fuck Andre? Unfortunately, Andre and Baba, the tag team, was a thing in 1990. It is not pleasant. 

 

March 18, 1990 

 

The matches on this show come from All Japan’s Budokan Hall show on March 6. 16,000 in attendance for it. Takao Kurumochi kicks us off, announcing his departure as commentator for the promotion. The wrestlers give him the bumps.  

 

Triple Crown 

Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Barry Windham  

Windham comes out to “Born in the USA”, which is a throwback to US Express, who used the same music. How come I can remember that but not what I was doing yesterday?  

Jumbo looks fucking miserable and apparently hated this match, so we’re off to a flier. It does feel like they rushed Barry into this spot. His last tour was in 1986 and although he elevated himself after that, he’s only had a handful of matches to acclimate to this tour. This is reflected in the audience, who don’t care about Windham.  

 

Barry does NOT help his cause by his overuse of rest holds. He seems to transition from to another in a procession of boredom. Jumbo’s attempts to force the pace are met by weak bumps and poor choices. This is not Windham’s greatest hour. Jumbo starts to look visibly displeased with how the match is going. Backdrop Driver finishes in 12 minutes and Jumbo death stares a hole in Windham afterwards. Damn. This sucked. Tsuruta looked unhappy with proceedings early on and it just got worse from there. Windham’s next AJPW match was in 1997 so it’s clear the company weren’t keen either. 

 

AJPW World Tag Team Championship 

Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu (c) vs. Miracle Violence Connection 

All Japan’s lack of faith in Barry is palpable as he didn’t even go on last. Which is for the best because following these boys would have been tough. Gordy and Tenryu is a good time and you wonder why they didn’t just keep the belt on Tenryu and have him drop it to Gordy?  

 

One thing is for sure, MVC maintain their intensity after the start here, which is a first. They’re clearly aware this is a big deal. If you like seeing big lads slap each other around, this is a match for you. Gordy vs. Hansen is fascinating because Gordy is gunning for that spot. That top gaijin spot. He’s not alone in that regard though as Doc is looking feisty too.  

 

It’s been a while since I saw Tenryu working from underneath and playing the underdog. It feels a bit wrong but what are MVC going to do; isolate Stan Hansen? Tenryu tries to chop Doc into bits and Doc just completely no sells him. Doc won’t let Tenryu do anything to Gordy either. Tenryu tries to get Gordy up for a powerbomb and Doc just barges into him in the middle of the spot.  

 

MVC target Tenryu’s bad ankle, which has been the focus of most finishes involving him of late. Can either of them get him in a hold for long enough to get a tap out before Stan comes barrelling in though? Yes, is the answer. Hansen was strolling in with a chair to break it up, but Doc gets the submission as Tenryu preserves his leg rather than the belts.  

 

Hansen is MAD about it and beats the shit out of Tenryu for losing. YES STAN! Make him pay! The big quitter! Hansen is eventually stopped by Jumbo Tsuruta, but Tenryu takes offence and smacks Tsuruta with Stan’s bullrope. Hansen stands tall, the crowd boos and All Japan’s booking hits a new high. ****. The match was good, but stuff afterwards pushes this up to a more memorable spot in the all-time stakes.  

 

I was going to do the final TV show from March, but I’ve run out of time. I don’t think I’m missing much. The highlight seems to be Doc vs. Yatsu and the start of Champion Carnival. Yatsu got hurt in the match and missed the rest of the tour.  

 

NEXT: When I’m back from Germany I’ll be going to new and scary places. I’m not even going to name the promotion here; suffice to say I am excited about it.