All Japan TV (2.5.90) review 

 

These are all on YouTube because of Roy Lucier. God bless that man.  

 

Great Kabuki & Isao Takagi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada 

Tenryu vs. Takagi is the theme of this show, after Takagi jumped Tenryu a few weeks ago. We start with this clash from January 24, in Tono, Iwate. The full match is 25:00, thankfully clipped to 10:00. Kawada’s offence seems to have become more kick heavy, which is interesting. Tenryu brings the hate, via some big old chops. It’s a shame Kabuki keeps waddling in there. Tenryu gets pissed off with his shenanigans and splits Kabuki’s head open with a chair shot. Tenryu seems keen to eliminate Kabuki so he can get revenge on Takagi unperturbed.  

 

Takagi is an ugly worker and would be more effective as a pudgy babyface*. He’s too clumsy to be a menacing heel. Tenryu’s measure of revenge here is rolling Takagi up for the win. Although it did come about because he’d fucked Kabuki up so badly that Takagi couldn’t tag out when he got in trouble. This was totally fine, but they might as well have jobbed Kabuki as they were building to Tenryu vs. Takagi*.  

 

*Hold on for developments on this. I was clearly misreading the initial situation.  

 

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

This was the following night in Fukushima. Takagi was in a tag match, elsewhere on the show, which he won. This match is not clipped and runs over 20:00. These trios matches were a staple of AJPW during the 90s. 

 

This one gets good when Tenryu is in there. First beefing with Kabuki before getting a little testy with Jumbo for good measure. When Tenryu is mixing it up with Jumbo it feels like a great match because they can run through basics, which look great, in their sleep now. As soon as the pace increases, the others follow suit. Now we’re in proper AJPW 90s trios territory.  

 

Mighty Inoue is an obvious weak point in this. He tries to do silly gymnastics, and Tenryu goes along with it. Maybe thinking it’ll make his Enzuigiri look better (spoiler: it won’t). Kawada though is all about submissions and he starts pulling out fantastic angles on traditional holds and he looks like a fucking badass. Tenryu is untidy by comparison, but he gets a lot of bonus points for being a jerk. Due to his behaviour the match does occasionally break down, but everyone keeps going in the background.  

 

It’s a wonderfully well-constructed match. Soon the way guys flow in and out of the ring is beautifully smooth and logical. Soon the crowd bites on the near falls and the underdogs kicking out of a lesser spots from the big guns. Inoue, in particular, is popular for surviving. I love how Samson Fuyuki keeps going to stop Jumbo from breaking stuff up and he fails every time. Tenryu gets into it with the seconds, but Inoue sees him and TORPEDO HEADBUTTS him off the apron and he’s counted out.  

 

Hahaha, this was AWESOME. I’m so glad I watched this. ****. Tenryu, mad at the world, comes after everyone with a chair and now JUMBO IS MAD. He grabs the chair and wants to get back in there. YES, GIVE IN TO THE HATRED! Brilliant pro-wrestling here.  

 

We then get video from the press conference where they announced the Dome show in April. Basically, Vince McMahon booked the Dome for a WWF show and quickly realised he couldn’t fill the building without help from the natives. So, it’s now a show called “The Wrestling Summit”, featuring talent from WWF, New Japan and All Japan. I have that saved for review purposes so you can expect the full run down in due course. In the meantime, here’s the unsettling sight of Vince McMahon on All Japan TV.  

 

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Isao Takagi 

We end the episode with about a minute of Takagi trying his ass off, in an attempt to beat Tenryu but the show then finishes and I’m devastated. Is that on the next block? *Frantic scrolling sounds*…IT IS! Marvellous.  

 

AJPW TV (2.12.90) review 

 

This whole show takes place on January 28, 1990, at Korakuen Hall.  

 

Footloose (Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki) vs. Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue 

This lacks the intensity of the previous show with the absence of Jumbo and Tenryu being felt. Replaced by Inoue being goofy and injured. Kawada tags him with a lariat for the win. This was clipped to hell.  

 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Abdullah the Butcher 

This is the final match in the Kobashi challenge series. His record is Yatsu (L 0-1), Kabuki (L 0-2), Randy Rose (W 1-2), Rip Rogers (W 2-2), Davey Boy Smith (L 2-3), Jumbo Tsuruta (L, obviously, 2-4).  

Abby presents a different challenge as he’s so immobile and useless by this point that it’s on Kobashi to do something. Considering how bad Abby is at this point, it’s rather worrying that All Japan kept booking him until 2008. That’s not a typo. Kenta does try his ass off here. Dropkicks, spin kicks, Thesz press etc. Just hurling himself at the blob across the ring and hoping for the best. Abby drops a big elbow for the duke but it’s Kobashi who comes out of this a winner, having worked as hard as possible to get something going. A five minute demonstration of how you can get something out of nothing. **½ 

 

We get some clips from Tenryu’s issues with Isao Takagi. Essentially, Tenryu bullied Takagi in matches, so Isao got hot about it and attacked him before a match with Ivan Koloff. Having only seen that initial attack, I’d mistaken Takagi for the villain but he’s not. He’s a plucky upstart, out to challenge the top guy in the company. We get clips from other tags where Tenryu was a dickhead to Takagi. It’s clear from these that Takagi has almost no shot at winning in singles. Given all this context, it makes for a good story. One I had initially misunderstood.  

 

Isao Takagi vs. Genichiro Tenryu 

This is what a true babyface looks like, gentle reader. I’m fully invested. He looks nervous and clumsy. They start at a million mph. Near misses, big moves and Takagi flattens Tenryu with an ace shoulderblock. I love how the crowd erupt, and Takagi just doesn’t know how to follow up. Tenryu’s response is a bunch of short kicks and chops. The kicks all landing on Takagi’s forehead as he tries to open the poor bastard up hardway.  

 

Vince McMahon is watching this. He’s there, live, and it occurs to me he never learned the lessons from it. Although, I can see why he wanted to work with Tenryu. A master storyteller, a total arsehole and a vicious animal. His chair assault on Takagi here is as brutal as it is breathtaking. That’s an icon, right there.  

 

Takagi, who is slow and pathetic, tries hard to overcome the odds only to get kicked in the face some more. The Sharpshooter is locked in, and Takagi has no choice but to quit. He looks distraught at the outcome but if you come at the King, you’d better not miss. This is a fantastic example of how great underdog vs big boss wrestling can be. It only went five minutes after a two month build but it only needed to. ***½ 

 

 

British Bulldogs & Tiger Mask II vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masanobu Fuchi 

This is a big one; the final (ever) British Bulldogs match. They were already finished as a team, but Giant Baba asked them to do one final tour, and this is the end of it. When Davey returned in the summer he tagged with Johnny Smith. Dynamite Kid did the same when he returned in October, by which point Davey was headed back to the WWF.  

 

It’s sad to see this team come to an end as even in 1989, they were terrific together, but it’s become clear that Dynamite Kid is a shadow of his former self. Powerhouse Davey has become the star of the team. Despite his obvious deterioration, Dynamite is still good in bits and pieces. His snap suplex still looks perfect. Pairing them with Misawa makes for a few interesting moments. He’s clearly a Dynamite Kid substitute in a couple of spots and then he takes the heat because Dynamite can’t take bumps. It’s a rare good performance from Misawa when mixed in with gaijin under the tiger’s mask. 

 

There’s an interesting sequence between Tiger Mask and Jumbo, which would become the companies leading feud later in the year. Misawa seems to up his game around the big man. Davey ends up pinning Fuchi with a powerslam off the ropes and with the notable exception of Yatsu, who wasn’t good here, it’s a solid outing all round. *** 

 

We then get clips of forthcoming arrivals on tour. Whomst? Steve Williams, Terry Gordy, Can-Am Express, Dusty Rhodes Jr (Dustin) and Joe Deaton. *crickets*. His name is Joel, lads.  

 

AJPW TV (2.19.90) review 

 

Uh, this one is a little confusing as it’s supposed to be aired on February 19 but guys on the tour didn’t even start until after that. Like Doc and Gordy tag on this show and their first date was February 21. One of the dates is wrong but who cares because Doc and Gordy.  

 

Akira Taue vs. Barry Windham 

All Japan brought Barry in for one tour, culminating in a shot at the Triple Crown based on his previous work in NWA. He looks huge next to Taue, who himself is quite large. Windham wins with a superplex WITH FLOATOVER into the pin. The crowd loved him. He looked like a fucking STAR here.  

 

Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen 

It shows how much they think of Kobashi that he’s in even in with Hansen but unlike Abby, this isn’t Kenta showing off and trying his heart out. It’s him trying to survive while Hansen beats the piss out of him. Hansen punting Kobashi, repeatedly, is great TV. He’s teaching this kid the business. Stan, to his credit, lets Kenta stiff the shit out of him on the comeback. Hansen likes it rough. It’s wild to see Kobashi just throw himself into spots. Hansen eventually has enough and finishes with a lariat. This match is only four minutes long but is definitely in contention for MOTY. It FUCKED. Just two guys beating the absolute piss out each other. Wonderful stuff. **** 

 

Post Match: Stan, half blind, shoves his way to the back. Kenta slowly gets up and his one eye is swollen shut. Beautiful violence. 

 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Great Kabuki & Mighty Inoue 

As with every Tenryu outing recently, he looks pissed off. He looks even more pissed off having to watch Inoue and Kawada do a bunch of meh mat work to eat up time. Kabuki then breaks a chair over Tenryu’s back and I’m not quite getting a reading on his mood, but I suspect it’s still “pissed off”. After watching Tosh get isolated again, he continues to look pissed off.  

 

The action does pick up as the tags get more frequent as do the pinfall attempts. People are piling in to try and break stuff up. Kabuki suddenly gets awesome by booting Tenryu off the apron on an Irish whip and then roundhousing a charging Kawada for good measure. Tenryu is, predictably, pissed off about it. Kawada then gets himself rolled up and they lose. Tenryu’s face is the face of a man who’s about to quit the company and start his own promotion. With blackjack and hookers.  

 

There was good character work in this, but it kept slowing down and when it did heat up near the end it elevated the match above mediocrity rather than making it good.  

 

Miracle Violence Connection vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Shunji Takano 

This is Doc and Gordy’s debut as a team in AJPW, although they tagged in Bill Watts UWF and the NWA.  

Doc shoulder tackles Shunji clean out of the ring before the bell, we’re starting hot brothers and sisters! This is the tour where Gordy nearly died of a drugs overdose. All Japan actually announced his death. Gordy came back from that and MVC are going to be one of the best teams in wrestling over the next three years. Then he’ll overdose again, end up in a coma and be effectively finished as a worker. 

 

While this match starts hot and fast, it soon devolves into sadness and chinlocks. It does pick up when Doc refuses to sell a Takano missle dropkick and stiffs the piss out of him. There’s potential here. Doc and Gordy are on the same page and look to do violent things. The promise is there. Oklahoma Stampede finishes Shunji off with Gordy staring down Jumbo.  

 

This match suffered from a lack of enthusiasm from Jumbo, who seemed borderline disinterested. Takano was treated like crap. MVC certainly left an impression, but it was mainly with their opening 30 seconds of abuse. If they’d kept those energy levels, this would have been off the chain.  

 

All Japan then completely freaks me out by showing clips of today’s show set to “Piece of Me” by Skid Row. Like, what?  

 

We then close the show with a shill for the WWF crossover supershow on April 13, which will feature Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, who both get clips. I’m not doing the final TV block for February, because it’s a clip show and includes Rip Rogers vs Giant Baba.  

 

The 411: 

If you weren’t already aware, 1990s All Japan is kinda my “go to” happy place. I intend to watch a lot of it in this project to fill in any accidental blanks in my viewing history. Like that Tenryu-Takagi feud and the four minute awesomeness of Kobashi vs. Hansen. I’m here for it all, readers. Every last bit. Apart from Rip Rogers, obviously.  

 

NEXT: UWF from February 1990. Maeda, Takada, Tatsuo Nakano, Wellington Wilkins Jr. All the greats of the modern graps game.