AJPW TV November 1990 review 

 

November 4, 1990 

 

Taped: October 27, 1990, in Kanagawa.  

 

Miracle Violence Connection vs. Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace 

Kenta and his sidechick are taking on MVC here and it’s Kobashi that’s looking superfly. He dismantles Terry Gordy here. Using a combination of speed and power to overwhelm the former champ. If there’s ever evidence that Kobashi was being groomed to be The Guy it’s here. Wanna be the ace, tag with Ace. Johnny isn’t good here. His occasional ability to hang with top guys has disappeared again.  

 

Gordy, after nearly dying earlier in the year, appears restored to his normal power. He sometimes looks a little off it but nowhere near his weaker self on the tour after the heart problems. MVC are great at putting people in their place. Kobashi gets a hot tag in this, after Ace has been beaten up for like 10 minutes, and he gets two moves in before Doc clobbers him with a lariat.  

 

Kobashi has Doc beaten with the moonsault though, only for Gordy to make the save. Ace not able to hold back the big man. While Kobashi is really good here for 90% of the time, he has some odd timing on moves that stops this being truly epic. Plus, Ace can’t hold up his end of things. Ace gets back in and Gordy powerbombs him. That’s the end of that. I enjoyed this. MVC are back to cooking and Kobashi is clearly on his way to the very tippy top of the Biz. ***¼  

 

There’s a nice ceremony in here where Tsuruta and Misawa pay tribute to Giant Baba (he’s been wrestling for 30 years). Both guys on the same page in one respect; their appreciation for the big man. Appreciation that would keep Misawa in the company until Baba’s death.  

 

Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Mighty Inoue 

Misawa and Kawada have to fight their way to the ring, through the excitable fans. Misawa has gotten over HUGE this year.  

The ringside shots for this look like they’re from a movie. Some serious mood lighting. Inoue is an exciting talent but he’s also prone to being untidy. So, you’ll get a flying headscissors and a flying mare, but you’ll also get him attempting a headlock takeover…minus the headlock.  

 

Jumbo don’t do that shit. He’s all fucking business. Smashmouth. In your face. Entirely dismissive of Kawada. Misawa’s precision here shows how he’s closed the gap to Tsuruta. While Jumbo has this huge presence, Misawa has a quiet cool about him. He’s such a calm worker. Hitting his elbows and being unruffled by his opponent’s strength. Being relaxed in the ring usually means you’re great at wrestling. It just comes naturally.  

 

While his precision striking works, it can’t compare to Jumbo’s striking. Jumbo looks like he’s reaching down into the depths of his soul to find those strikes. Misawa, by comparison, is detached and cold. Although, he can match Inoue at gymnastics. It’s easy to forget he’s that versatile because of his reliance on stand up from here on out.  

 

Kawada is inconsistent here. Sometimes he barely connects on his strikes and sometimes he fucking leathers Jumbo like he owes him money. It’s this kind of inconsistency that’s stopping Kawada from being a top star in 1990. It would not be like this forever. He’s improving week on week.  

 

Inoue is a clumsy but fun part of this match. He does pins where his opponent’s shoulders aren’t down. He does flips where he doesn’t land in the right place. He has these little bursts of energy and offence that are kinda cool though. Kawada holds back Jumbo while Misawa kills Inoue off with a Tiger Driver. ***½. Generally, a fun match and the highs were very good.  

 

November 11, 1990  

 

This is a weird clip show to preview the Real World Tag League so pass.  

 

November 18, 1990 

 

Taped: November 15, 1990, in Korakuen Hall. This is the start of the Real World Tag League. I’ve never enjoyed the various tag league shows that end the year. It feels like a chance to get a rest from AJPW, and this is probably the first time I’ve watched a tour from November/December. I’ve seen some of the finals and such, where great matches occured, but never an actual tour. I am not that psyched.  

 

We get a quick look at all the teams. Including a team called “land of the giants”, which is Butch “Big Tiger Steele” Masters and Skywalker Nitron (Tyler Mane). Both are well over 6’ tall. Misawa is tagging with Kikuchi on this tour while Kawada and Kobashi tag together. An odd decision from the Super Generation Army.  

 

Giant Baba & Andre the Giant vs. Dick Slater & Joel Deaton 

Gee, I wonder who wins this one? I can imagine Joel Deaton cutting a promo saying he’s going to wrap Andre the Giant in a cocoon of pain like Peter McNeely did to Mike Tyson. Baba is in horrible shape here. He makes Andre look good. Andre in Japan is different to his bad WWF run just before this because they’re better at hiding his shortcomings. It doesn’t mean this is good though. It sucks. Baba takes a snapmare and he CANNOT bump.  

 

If you cannot bump, you must retire. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules. It’s not like he’d go hungry, he’s the P! This is bizarrely long. Over 8:00 and it’s not clipped at all. They show the whole fucking thing. Deaton gets run into the big boot and Andre just about gets the elbow drop in for the win. He struggled here. You can see how much pain he’s in just from hitting one elbow drop. The match is awful, obviously, and I wish the WWF just paid Andre a load of money to not wrestle and let him retire gracefully.  

 

Land of the Giants vs. Johnny Ace & Masanobu Fuchi 

Look at the size difference here! Butch Masters is a huge (7’) dude who All Japan tried to get going a couple of times. Not even WCW tried this guy, which should tell you how bad he was. He goes by several names including Giant Warrior, Giant Clown, Giant Steele, Gigante Warrior and Colossus. Skywalker Nitron (aka Tyler Mane aka Nitron) is coming off a WCW run where they wouldn’t even let him wrestle and just had him as a bodyguard. He would eventually get a run there as “Big Sky” in 1993.  

They’re both enormous. Poor Fuchi is dwarfed by them. Every time I see Tyler Mane in wrestling, I’m reminded he was Sabretooth in Bryan Singer’s first X-Men movie. He makes Johnny Ace look a lot better here, but they have some honking sequences. Tyler Mane can barely move around the ring. He’s so bad. Fuchi gets legdropped by Butch for the win and we get out quick. Which is for the best really. Was this shit? Yep. Was it perversely entertaining to the point where I couldn’t look away? Oh, you’d better believe it. 

 

Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsyoshi Kikuchi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi 

The two Super Generation Army teams clash out of the gate. Kikuchi, predictably, gets MURDERED. He’s happy to take moves off his mates and land on his neck to make them look the tits. It’s fabulous. Kobashi seems particularly mean. Which he should be because Kikuchi’s one move is a back superplex and he hugs Kenta’s ass to do it. Terrible. However, we then get Misawa vs Kawada for the first time (since Kawada got good). IT FUCKS. IT FUCKING FUCKS LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER. Powerbomb (with slide, naturally) finishes Kikuchi off. This was great but we only got 4:00 of a 19:00 match. It looked sick. Like ***½ easily. 

 

Miracle Violence Connection vs. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith 

Johnny doesn’t half look like Davey Boy here. If you squint…it might be him. Johnny gets his ass beat and Doc finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede. Only a minute or so in clips here. 

 

Stan Hansen & Danny Spivey vs. Funk Brothers 

Terry has a great time taking big power spots off Spivey. If anyone can make Spivey look good, it would be Terry. He takes the Flair corner bump to the floor, and he does it better than Naitch. Spivey gets him in the abdominal stretch. “God damn it”. He’s so good at verbally selling. The contrast between Hansen and Spivey should be alarming for anyone considering pushing Spivey. It’s like night and day. Terry and Hansen have incredible chemistry, and I’d have loved to see a feud between the two. Imagine how violent it would have been.  

 

Dory tries to teach Spivey how to wrestle but it goes so badly he tags Terry back in straight away. Terry is brilliant here. He doesn’t care that Spivey can’t do anything. He’s still willing to put his body on the line to make him look good. Including taking his big dumb powerbomb. Dory gets the crowd going by going after Hansen with the Funk Spinning Toehold! For his troubles he eats the lariat and fucking Spivey, YOU HAVE ONE JOB SPIVEY, fails to cut off Terry Funk so Terry has to improvise getting his foot caught on the middle rope. Unreal work from Terry there. Terry Funk made Dan Spivey look passable here. PASSABLE. Dan Spivey. Terry Funk is one of the all-time greats. Like top ten all time. ***¼. Match was really fun and energetic as hell.  

 

Abdullah the Butcher & Giant Kimala II vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue 

This match is fun for two reasons. One is the great job Taue does of getting his ass kicked and two is how great Jumbo is at beating up huge opponents. The way he is so dismissive of a monster like Kimala II is glorious. What a stud. Abby gets his ass handed to him here as well. Taue dropkicks him square in the face. Thesz Press puts Kimala II away. This was house show stuff. It was fun though and better than most of WCW’s matches this year. **¼  

 

The 411: 

Once again some good stuff from All Japan. Even the tag league stuff, which I normally ignore, was fun. I genuinely had a good time watching this. Only two shows this month but December has a lot more. So, come back for that.  

 

NEXT: 

There’s more god damn UWF Fury Hour. I’m doing Clash #13. Then Survivor Series. Then Main Event IV. And, if it exists anywhere, I’m going to try and find the last ever WCCW show. I seriously doubt it even made tape but hey, a man can dream.