WWF/AJPW/NJPW Wrestling Summit (4.13.90) review 

 

Oh, lookie here! What a weird show this is. Basically, UWF (the Maeda/Takada one) ran the Tokyo Dome in late 1989 and kinda embarrassed New Japan in the process. The “king of sports” found itself in the shadow of its former employees. So, in order to set the record straight, they ran the Dome in February and ended up roping All Japan in for the ride because they couldn’t draw a big enough crowd without them.  

 

Fast forward into April and Vince McMahon’s WWF is hungry for the Japanese market so he too is running the Tokyo Dome, and he has Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, who are big stars in Japan who haven’t wrestled there in years. However, the WWF end up doing a joint show with New Japan and All Japan and we have, for one night only, a production involving all three powerhouses. They drew 53,742 for a show that was broadcast on Nippon TV, although I don’t remember it getting much play stateside. Presumably because Vince McMahon didn’t want to draw attention to guys who don’t work there. 

 

The card is exciting for myriad reasons. Cross promotional matches are all over the place. Bret Hart wrestles Misawa. Jumbo Tsuruta tags with Haku (replacing the injured Yoshiaki Yatsu) against Mr Perfect and Rick Martel. That’s such an AWA match. Then you’ve got Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen. Like, hot damn, that’s a CARD ladies and gentlemen.  

 

The version I’m watching is the most complete version I can find online. The New Japan matches are generally not available. For the simple reason of TV deals. All Japan showed this on their TV, which I’ll be dancing around later when I do my AJPW TV block for April.  

 

Kenta Kobashi & Masanobu Fuchi vs. Tito Santana & Jimmy Snuka 

HIIIIGHWAAAAAY TO THE DAAAANGAHZOOONE. Nothing says Kenta Kobashi like Kenny Loggins. And it’s already a bit surreal! Comms immediately points out the referee is “Shane McMahon”, also referring to him as “Vince McMahon Jr”. If you wondered how Kobashi would have stacked up in the fed, he’s an inch taller than Santana. Kobashi is the focus of the match. At first taking a beating from the WWF lads and then turning the tide. Fuchi is here to do cute stuff, like tripping over a Snuka drop down. Snuka tries hard but looks nothing special. He’s almost completely finished at this point. Flying forearms all around and the Superfly Splash puts Fuchi away. This was ok. **½ territory. Both AJPW guys acquitted themselves well. Tito looked like a ring general. It’s a shame WWF ran out of stuff for him to do, he was quite the worker.  

 

Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask II 

I’ve seen this before. It’s on Bret’s DVD. Considering its Bret Hart, one of my favourite wrestlers of all time and Mitsuharu Misawa, months away from his big push starting, one of my favourite wrestlers of all time….it sucks. They have no chemistry. Misawa generally didn’t with foreigners. They occasionally let loose with armdrags and stuff but then go into a rest hold and it’s just so sluggish.  

 

You can see Misawa is on the verge of something, but his varied attacks seem to catch Bret off guard. Bret tries to control things, and we get the famous Bret “chinlock and chat” segments. The trouble with Bret’s approach is that he wants Misawa to do flippy shit, which is how he had good matches with Sayama and Misawa wants to switch his style up. He’s a terrible fit for the mask at this point, coming off an ACL injury the previous year which limits his aerial assaults. They keep having bad spots like a slingshot in the buckles, where Bret does most of the work himself. And then it’s back to another rest hold. 

 

Bret fakes a knee injury, and the crowd get on his case for it. Misawa looks like a sap for being suckered into that. It does make him more popular, but Bret doesn’t exactly crank it up. He still wants to have a match where he’s the technician and Misawa is the flier. It feels like it needs to step up but it never does. The best part of the match is Misawa’s work on Bret’s corner bump. He drives him into that corner like a motherfucker. The bell goes in the middle of an Irish whip for a time limit draw. The crowd boo. This was like watching the opening 20:00 of the Bret-Shawn Ironman match. Like ** max. 

 

Greg Valentine vs. Great Kabuki  

Valentine comes out to “The Look” by Roxette instead of an original Rhythm and Blues song. He looks ridiculous and Roxette doesn’t help matters. These two have a history, from NWA territories, and first worked each other in 1971. Greg knows how to work a seven-minute match, make it solid and not break a sweat. I’m not saying they dog this match but it’s very low impact. Hammer calls for the Figure Four, to general booing, and starts popping off the Elvis moves instead and is promptly rolled up for the loss. Showboating will get you nowhere, brrrrrrother. This match was entirely skippable, but I quite liked it.  

 

Big Bossman vs. Jake Roberts 

This is a bizarre match. I can only assume someone dropped out. Bossman turned face weeks beforehand but works heel here. He’s still got Slick in his corner! Did Vince just assume the Japanese were behind on their TV?  

This is another snoozer. Presumably both guys are jetlagged to hell and Jake, in particular, looks like he cannot be fucked. 53,000 Tokyoites out there realising what “New York Style” means. Lots of dull work and stomping of the feet. Ray works the back over while six guys get on his case.  

Ah, the American contingent. You can literally hear them over the entire crowd because everyone else is silent. Jake spends the entire match taking heat. Both guys wrestle over the top cartoonish style. Lots of juking and jiving. Silly punches. Silly bumps. Jake busts out the DDT, out of nowhere, and that’ll do it. DUD. 

 

Mr Perfect & Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Haku 

Haku, playing babyface, is a sub in for the injured Yoshiaki Yatsu, which is why we have such a weird pairing. Curt does one of his stupid twisty bumps, so Jumbo drills him with a slam for it. YOU WILL BUMP PROPERLY IN MY RING. Martel isn’t working his gimmick on this show and the combination of Martel and Perfect is a good team. Jumbo has worked Perfect and Martel beforehand, on AJPW tours. However, Haku takes the bulk of the match, as they opt for heat.  

Haku is very passive, all match long. The design of the match is that Tsuruta looks like a hero for getting the hot tag. It helps immensely, that Martel and Hennig have worked All Japan before. They know what the crowd wants and play the ‘evil foreigner’ approach. Hot tag to big Jumbs and the Backdrop Hold puts Martel down. Tsuruta looks happy, presumably because he did like four moves and got his hand raised. A good, basic, formula tag. The heels kept it interesting. **¾  

 

Randy Savage vs. Genichiro Tenryu 

If you’ve never seen this; it’s one of those wild ‘when worlds collide’ matches. It’s the kind of match you dream about but never expect to actually see. Oddly enough, it’s not the only time they wrestled as they met for SWS and then again for the WWF’s Japan tour in 1994.  

It doesn’t make it any less wild that they’re meeting here. Savage treats Tenryu like any WWF big lug he usually wrestles circles around. Tenryu chops the bejesus out of him for it and the crowd is fired up! Sherri is her usual animated self, and her interference works a charm. The brawling around ringside is cool and Savage is drawing heat beautifully.  

 

His rubber legged slow motion selling for the Enzuigiri is sensational. When Randy was motivated he was unstoppable. He probably should have had a big Japanese run. Ideally now, when he was healthy. Imagine him taking Tenryu’s spot in All Japan around this time? Sherri’s antics continue to amuse me. She whacks Tenryu with her shoe, slips it quickly back on and then smiles and waves at the referee. I love her so much. 

 

Savage hits the Big Elbow but Tenryu kicks out. Savage doesn’t start questioning his gods or anything and the match continues. Enzuigiri sets up the powerbomb and Tenryu gets the big win. Everyone played their role to perfection here. I would have liked to have seen dickhead Tenryu, but he played underdog Tenryu instead. Both Savage and Sherri were brilliant. ***½  

 

I feel like my rating is quite ‘low end’ compared to the consensus, and it was an important match. If they’d gone another 5-10 minutes and turned it into an epic, I would have no hesitation going four or more. I’ve seen people call it 5 stars or 4.5 but I’m not seeing it. Maybe if Tenryu had more fire.  

 

WWF Championship 

Ultimate Warrior (c) vs. Ted DiBiase  

Apparently, Baba was hot that Hogan didn’t come in as champion, even though he was told the title was changing at Wrestlemania VI. Baba’s approach to promoting the show was selling the shit out of the big attractions; Hogan, Savage and Andre. Warrior’s star power had not crossed over to Japan.  

 

Ted is a good choice to help Warrior out. He’s a proven commodity. He’s out here to take bumps and extend this beyond a squash. The crowd loves Ted, or hates Warrior, one or the other. Every time Warrior gets hit they yell “HEYA”. Japan is a very odd place so it’s hard to tell where the noise comes from. Probably an anime or something. Clotheslines and the splash finish. Warrior retains. This was ok and short but also an incredibly worrying sign of things to come for Warrior.  

 

Demolition vs. Andre the Giant & Giant Baba 

Demos just won the tag belts but they’re not on the line here.  

While Vince McMahon has spent the past year hiding Andre in matches where he won’t get exposed, the Japanese wrestling public is far more forgiving for an old guy who is a legend. It doesn’t hurt that this is Andre’s first appearance here since 1986 (when he was working NJPW). Demos know their role here. It’s to take bumps and make every strike delivered by the Giant team look like death.  

 

Considering it’s Andre (and Baba) and it’s 1990, this isn’t that bad! They’re helped A LOT by Smash, who’s decided he’s going to get this shit over. Andre pins Smash and starts to roll off him during the count, which is quite funny.  

It’s nice to see Andre enjoying himself out there. He’s looked tired and depressed for ages in the States. I can only assume it’s because they had him as a babyface in Japan that he enjoyed it more. He always liked to hear the cheers from the crowd. It made him feel like less of a freak.  

 

I had Andre as a lock for Worst Wrestler of the Year but based on this, it’s not his award. Dino Bravo and Dusty Rhodes left scrapping for it. Both are much worse than Andre in 1990, based on this match alone. 

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Stan Hansen 

It’s strange having Hogan not cut a promo before the main event. Originally this was Hogan vs Gordy but All Japan pulled Gordy off it when they found out Hogan wasn’t going to be champion. This is Hogan’s first match here since 1985, so he’s over as FUCK too. Hogan, fresh off carrying Warrior to a good match at Wrestlemania VI, is all fired up.  

Hogan busts out drop toeholds and cravats, eager to demonstrate his technical prowess. I love Hogan going after Hansen’s eyes and Stan just keeps coming. Stan’s eyes are not his weak point because he can’t see anyway! Hansen blades after taking a header into the ring post. If you’ve never seen Hogan wrestle in Japan; he’s a different beast. He works a consistently intense style, without the cartoonish comebacks and tends to work on top more as a larger dude.  

You can hate Hogan all you like but he knows his audience and he caters to it. Submission attempts, takedowns, chops etc. Hansen brings the bumps, including a slam through a table. It’s wild seeing Hansen, who bullies everyone in Japan, take this kind of beating. Stan gets pissed off, bashes Hogan with a chair on the floor and now Hulk blades.  

We get a lengthy beatdown for Hogan before Hulk starts lifting ideas from his Warrior match. They dodge each other’s finishers before Hogan catches Stan with the Axe Bomber for the win. This match is just two big dudes beating the shit out of each other until one of them is down for three. Double bladejob, loads of high quality brawling and it felt like a big clash between two icons of the game. Much like Savage vs. Tenryu earlier on.  

 

While the Savage match has a better reputation, I love Stan Hansen and I think he did an incredible job here. Both taking the beating from Hogan and then dishing a beating out. It felt like either guy could win. Especially with Hogan not bringing the title into the match. The result is a cracking scrap and one of the best matches Hogan had under the WWF banner*. What an incredible month for him though! Carrying Warrior, making himself look great in dropping the belt and then this match? Marvellous. If only he was this good all the time. **** 

 

*The more I think about it, the more I think this is Hogan’s best match anywhere, ever. He strays from his formula and lets it all hang out. The only matches I can think of his as being all-timers are for different reasons. Like Rock in 2002 (crowd reactions), Bash at the Beach ‘96 (which he’s barely in), Warrior (for the carry job), maybe a Flair match from WCW? His best ‘prime WWF matches’ were usually short TV matches with Piper, Savage, Funk or Race.  

 

The 411: 

It’s an interesting historical document as you get to see which companies got along in 1990, albeit not for long. WWF offered to carry on doing shows with All Japan and the terms were not acceptable to Baba. All Japan were generally not happy with the WWF after this show for various backstage fights over petty issues like the placement of the ring in the building.  

 

Genichiro Tenryu would end up being a key cog in all of this because the following week he wrestled his final match in All Japan (for now) and quit to form Super World of Sports, his own promotion, bankrolled by a spectacles company. His yearly income was over $650,000 to do this. In modern money that’s $1.5M.  

 

The WWF ended up using SWS as their Japanese buddies and co-promoted with them for a few years until SWS collapsed and that was the end of the WWF’s Japanese promotion work until after Attitude. It’s a shame they couldn’t get it to work because a lot of the WWF’s roster had Japanese experience and the potential for dream matches was there. Although the Bret-Misawa match is proof that just being good doesn’t mean the match will be.  

 

The entire show is very hit and miss but when matches do land, they land great. I’m including Andre & Baba in that as the crowd loved that match. You can see how New Japan got marginalised on the card here, and why they didn’t show much interest in doing this joint promoting again. Having AJPW guest on their show worked better for them and they had a better show because of it.  

 

However you slice it, this is a fascinating show to watch and there isn’t really another one like it. It benefits from big match bangers from Hogan and Savage.