Pro Wrestling Love vol. 71: Best of New Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-1989 (Antonio Inoki, Vader, Riki Choshu, Jushin Liger)

   Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 71:

The Best of New Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-1989

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This seventy-first volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the conclusion of the Top 12 countdown of the best pro wrestling matches to take place in New Japan Pro Wrestling between 1985-1989. New Japan was running on a thin roster in 1985. At the start of the year, Riki Choshu had departed for All Japan with a good chunk of talent and New Japan was still smarting from the Original UWF exodus of Tiger Mask, Maeda, Fujiwara and Takada. So it relied heavily on Inoki & Fujinami to take on gaijin, signing Bruiser Brody away from All Japan. By January 1986, things were looking up. Original UWF invaded and the UWF vs New Japan feud made for red hot matches and TV. In 1987, Masa Saito returned from Jail in the US and Riki Choshu came home bringing New Japan back to full strength. Saito vs Inoki would become the main feud of the year leading to infamous Island Death Match. By late 1987, Maeda & his crew were out because you guessed it he decided to shoot kick someone in this case it was Riki Choshu. It was one of the most bullshit, cowardly shoot kicks. Choshu was applying a Scorpion Deathlock with no way to protect himself and Maeda kicked him as a hard he could in the face. Maeda is a fucking loser. This led to UWF REBORN! This time Inoki had an ace up his sleeves. At the last show of the year in 1987, he had Masa Saito, his archrival, introduce the world to Big Van Vader. In 1988, they ran various permutations of Inoki, Choshu, Fujinami and Vader, which felt red hot and led to a lot of amazing rivals. In 1989, Inoki being Inoki decided to bring in an army of Soviet Shooters to wrestle. 1989 also introduced the world to Jushin Thunder Liger and thus began the very influential New Japan Juniors boom.  I hope you enjoy this article as I truly enjoying watching all these matches from this time period to come up with this list.  You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Top Six New Japan Pro Wrestling Matches 1985-1989

#6. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Antonio Inoki vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 2/4/88

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Antonio Inoki vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 2/4/88

In 1988, Antonio Inoki turned 45 and he had one of his hottest years of his career. He had long feuds with Riki Choshu & Vader and an hour draw with Tatsumi Fujinami. In 1989, it would be the Soviet invasion and he would be tied to a Georgian judoka. I feel like the early 90s was a short bridge of Fujinami/Vader/Choshu to the Three Musketeers. So 1988 feels like Inoki's swan song. 

This would be Inoki's last IWGP title defense as Cagematch says the upcoming Vader match was not for the title and he vacated the title due to a foot injury, whether it was kayfabe or not just to get the tile off Inoki without doing the job I do not know. This is a humdinger to go out on. Riki Choshu was firing on all cylinders. Big dropkick right at the beginning! I love the hot start. Choshu beats the ever loving shit out of Inoki for five minutes. Great King of the Mountain. He bashes Inoki's head repeatedly into the post and turnbuckle and surprisingly does not draw blood. The ref breaks up one of the King of the Mountain spots on the apron and that dickwad Inoki nails an Enziguiri. Inoki lets the fists fly on Choshu's head and he is the one to bloody Choshu with a railing shot, which is again surprising given how much Choshu bashed his head in. Inoki gets an abdominal stretch but Choshu hiptosses out. Choshu roars back with a Saito Suplex and into the Scorpion Deathlock.  Inoki makes the ropes and on the second attempt, Inoki rips Choshu in the head with fists, fucking wicked. Choshu winds up for the lariat and Inoki lunges at him and headbutts him in the head. It looked like it could have been bad and Choshu kinda had to bend over for him. Inoki figure-4. Wicked hot action, lots of asskicking, blood and big time submission. Very little downtime. Inoki ENZIGUIRI! iNOKI OCTOPUS STRETCH! Choshu falls over to break it. CHOSHU SAITO SUPLEX! 1-2-NO! Great nearfall. Choshu steals Inoki's Octopus Stretch! Inoki Dropkick. Inoki steals the Saito Suplex to set up the Octopus Stretch. Choshu gets a finger on the rope but the ref doesnt feel like it counts and calls the match for Inoki. 

I dont know if the basis for this was the old school interpretation of the rule that the two combatants needed to be tied up in the ropes as opposed to contact with the rope by one combatant. Or if it was intended to be controversial as Saito came out to bitch and moan. I really like this style of match. It reminds me of All Japan King's Road where it is big bomb after big bomb (which makes sense as Choshu was in All Japan from 1985-1986). The difference between this and 90s All Japan is Choshu is much more efficient. This clocked in around 12ish minutes and theres no fat on this. From the King of the Mountain to Inoki bloodying him to all the BIG BOMBS & SUBMISSIONS! This is really my kinda wrestling. Everything mattered and felt important.

#5. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki & Nobuhiko Takada vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Seiji Sakaguchi & Keiichi Yamada & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka - NJPW 5/1/86 Gauntlet Match

New Japan Match of the Year, 1986

Wait! Inoki is not in this match! Part of me is disappointed because he brings so much star power. Inoki vs Maeda~! Inoki vs Fujiwara~! always feels huge! Part of me is also happy because it would be a foregone conclusion that Inoki would be standing tall at the end. Now I am not so sure. This is a Team Gauntlet Match. To my knowledge the only of its kind. One member of each team starts out, whoever wins the singles match stays in the ring, the loser exits and another member from the losing team enters. The match continues all members of one team are eliminated. It is conceivable that one wrestler could sweep and thus the other four member from his team do not get to wrestle, but this being pro wrestling, I am sure we will get full monty and it will come down to the fifth  wrestler from each team. Lets check this out. 

Round #1: We are starting with Takada vs Yamada and the size difference is stark. It is amazing Takada was considered a Junior in the 80s. He is massive compared to Yamada. He nearly takes Yamada's head off with a kick but it more of a glancing blow. I think this is only the second or third match I have seen pre-Liger. Takada is schooling him on the mat. It looks like he is wrestling a gnat. Yamada gets a pretty deep toehold but Takada does not seem worried. Takada's leg is bigger than Yamada's body. This is crazy. Did the Liger bodysuit just make Yamada look bigger or did he stop wrestling large dudes. Very nice double leg takedown from Takada. After watching suplex-heavy, highpot-oriented All Japan, nice to get back to some grappling. Takada applies a deep double wristlock on Yamada. Crowd is reacting. Could it be over early. Yamada makes it to the ropes. Interesting strategy New Japan basically starting with their weakest competitor. Nice Fireman Carry throw but loses control of the takedown and Takada back to the cross armbreaker. Yamada rakes eyes with boots. Great waistlock takedown by Takada controls into a side mount. Takada into a toehold loses control. Takada chinlock. Yamada nice drop toehold out. Ref was right with them ready to count when anyone's shoulder were down. Yamada tries to get a Leg Crab on Takada but his leg is too big. Takada regains side control and back into a deep double wristlock. Doesnt look good for little Yamada. Yamada scoots to the ropes. Wow. I thought that was it. Yamada goes for a bunch of kneelifts and throws Takada with a gutwrench suplex and figure-4s the head. This is Takada's fall to lose. He is letting it slip away. Takada popped out and wicked wicked kick. Here we go! Yamada catches back heel trip into the toehold. I am really enjoying all this grappling. It was so nice when different promotions actually had different styles instead of being homogenized. Yamada inverted Indian Deathlock which was a Staple as Liger. Rude Awakening by Liger. Yamada does for the powerbomb that was silly. Back drop. Takada LIGHTS him the fuck up with kicks. The ref pulls him off to count. Yamada gets up and Takada rifles him again and then another series with the spinkick to the face. Yamada catches the fourth set and Figure-4! Takada actually broke the hold. I think the only time I have seen that. Yamada Saito Suplex! Yamada Lariat wrestling like his a mini-Choshu! Can the kid pull it off! Backslide for two! This match rules. Takada body shot. Takada steals one from Fujiwara the armbar out of a German Suplex attempt. Takada has it cinched in but again Takada lets him to get to the ropes. Where is the killer instinct? Amazing kick combination from Takada. Saito Suplex and only gets two. Takada applies his leg lace which I hate but Yamada uses free leg to heel kick him. Yamada makes ropes again. Wow. Takada suplex and Leg Lace again and he finally wins. That match alone was awesome nevermind there would be 8 more. I have no idea how I am going to rate this. This was an excellent David vs Goliath shoot style match. Really dug the vibe. 

Round #2: Takada goes up against old man Sakaguchi who is out for blood early. Takada finally has to pick on someone his own size. Sakaguchi is probably the biggest man in this match. Maybe Maeda. Sakaguchi knows Takada has been in a war and needs to out him early. Takada weathers the early onslaught and is trying to keep Sakaguchi at bay with kicks. Sakaguchi back on mat with a  fierce chinlock. Back to the ropes for Takada. Rifle kick by Takada. Sakaguchi throws him down out of the corner. Old Man Sakaguchi's brute strength versus Takada's technique is great. Takada back to cross-armbreaker. Takada shoves Sakaguchi. There needs to be more shoving in pro wrestling. Sakaguchi gets in and takes Takada's back! Rear Naked choke! Middle of the ring! Sakaguchi lost it and Takada's long legs meet the ropes. Takada rifle kicks thinks he as a missile dropkick set up but Sakaguchi evades. Takada crashes and burns. Skaguchi nearly loses him on an Argentine Backbreaker but recovers and forces the submission. Another excellent contest! 

Round #3: Sakaguchi vs Yamazaki! I could see this one going either way. Sakaguchi again looking to use strength to pick up a quick one. Yamazaki is a smaller version from Takada, look for lightning kicks. I dont think he will be as suited to contend with Sakaguchi's strength. Lets see what happens. Yamazaki check kicks early. Sakaguchi headlock but Yamazaki wriggles free. Sakaguchi weathers some more check kicks and takes Yamazaki down. Yamazaki needs to put some zip on those kicks or this will be a short night. Yamazaki avoids a crucifix. Sakaguchi gets a deep roll up. Sakaguchi lets Yamazaki up. Yamazaki tries single leg pick up well that was something different. Yamazaki loses control of the takedown but gets the toehold, Sakaguchi pries him off and Yamazaki goes for the Takada leglace. Sakaguchi isnt selling shit. Yamazaki looks so young. Yamazaki slaps the shit out of Sakaguchi in he hold. Good for him. Yamazkai repositons in the center. Sakaguchi stands up and repositions into his own like a BOSS! That was the most Alpha move I have seen in forever! That was sick! Yamazaki Saito suplex into a cross-armbreaker fully on, but Sakaguchi forces a pinfall break. Sakaguchi grabs the kicks and a deep single leg crab, tap this chump out! Lets Go Sakaguchi! I am the biggest Sakaguchi fan ever now! Sakaguchi Alpha Boss 4 Life! Oh cmon! Rope break. Sakaguchi throws Yamazaki down. Deep Boston Crab! Yamazaki taps out. Sakaguchi Alpha Boss is going to run the table! 

Round #4: Sakaguchi vs Kido. Kido is like the older version of Takada. If I recall correctly, Kido love his punt kicks. I dont really know what to expect. My heart wants Sakaguchi to run the gauntlet, I think he has a good chance against Kido but I could see him taking the L here too to freshen things up. Kido's first move is a toe kick so I was not far off. Kido gets a crossface. Kido is grittier than Takada and Yaamzaki that will work in his favor against the larger Sakaguchi. That and Sakaguchi had already had two opponents. Some nice grappling exchanges between these two. Kido punt kicks on the Greco-Roman knucklelock as Kido is true to form. Sakaguchi slaps Kido around. Sakaguchi SMOKES Kido with a wicked high knee. Looks like he got him right under the chin. Sakaguchi Alpha Boss 4 Life! Kido recovers and is looking for a single leg crab on the tree trunk that Sakaguchi calls a leg he steeles for a leg lace and Sakaguchi makes the ropes. Sakaguchi says fuck this, Atomic Drop! Kido small package, Count to Three! BOOOOOOOOOO!

Round #5: Koshinaka vs Kido. Koshinaka spices thigs up before I can preview this matchup by hurling Kido to the outside and piledriving him on the floor! That was sick! Team New Japan is doing Alpha Boss shit. Koshinaka showed me a lot in the Takada series so I am excited for him here. Lets see how long before he slams his ass into Kido's face. Koshinaka chinlock loses control into a Kido chinlock. I think Koshinaka takes this one so that Maeda or Fujiwara can go on a  little run. Kido gets a deep double wristlock but Koshinaka breaks the plane of the ropes. Koshinaka figure-4s the head. So much for that red hot start. So far the most boring rounds have been with Kido, but they are still good just not as good as the first three. Yamada is definitely my favorite so far. Kido takes his back and gets his hooks in. They're in the ropes. Koshinaka uses his ass to to crash down on the knee of Kido which is different for him. I am still waiting for Koshinaka/Dustin/Naomi as the ultimate WAR trio with Michael Cole on commentary to shout "THEY CALL THAT THE REAR VIEW" during the simultaneous Ass Attack spot. Koshinaka is working the knee which is a good hook. Boston Crab! Kido powers out and gets two. Koshinaka bodyslam and gets two. Koshinaka maintains a side mount and double wristlock. We Want Fujiwara! We Want Fujiwara! The crowd is not chanting it but I am from my couch. Koshinaka shoves his ass in Kido face so Kido sledges him. That was an appropriate response. HE CALLS THAT REAR VIEW! YES! 1-2-NO! BOOOOOO! RESPECT THE ASS! Kido evades the flying splash! Kido nails a  beautiful dropkick and Koshinaka powders. Koshinaka yanks Kido to the outside. Koshinaka throws Kido over the railing. The bell rang; they might have both been counted out. Interesting. They essentially reset the match to be Maeda & Fujiwara vs Fujinami & Kimura, which would be a sick tag match on its own. Kinda surprised since Sakaguchi got two wins I figured either Meada or Fujiwara would get two.

Round #6: Fujiwara vs Kimura! The second bananas! So this is definitely coming down to Fujinami vs Maeda! Fujiwara is one of those dudes that because of his DVDVR love you think he is a bigger star than he might have been. I feel like he takes this so Fujinami can at least get one fall if he does job to Maeda. But I dont know how much of that is DVDVR hype making me believe Fujiwara is a big deal. I have seen plenty of Kimura matches he is fine. He will do his Running Leg Lariat thing and probably a piledriver. It is Fujiwara he could have a great match with a potted plant. Lets do this! Wait Im wrong! Kido is in the ring! Only Koshinaka got eliminated since he was on the floor first! Fucking Kido got to eliminate two people. Are you shitting me? Fuck this dude Kimura! They struggle over a Kido takedown attempt. Kimura stomps him in the ropes and Kido powders. He needs to worry this ref doesnt fuck around with his count. Kido nice drop toehold he is trying to get in my good graces but I want Fujiwara! Kimura armdrag. Kimura whiffs on the school boy I have never seen that before. Another armdrag by Kimura. Kido applies an armbar on Kimura. Kimura rocks Kido with some European Uppercuts and then backbreaker. Nice knee to break free of cover. Kimura chinlock on Kido. We want Fujiwara! We want Fujiwara! Kido Saito Suplex. Kimura kicks out at 1. Kimura running Leg Lariat on the Criss Cross! Single Leg Crab! Kimura wins! Yes bring on Fujiwara! 

Round #7: Read what I wrote for Round #6 originally. Fujiwara has this one in the bag in my opinion. Kimura throws Fujiwara into the railing and post. That was sick! Kimura plays to crowd. That was Kimura's best chance head Fujiara off at the pass while he was making his entrance. Kimura is all revved. THAT IS BLOOD! Kimura piledrives Kimura! He spiked his ass! Kimura is clawing at the cut! Great facial expression from Fujiwara there. Fujiwara Headbutt! Crowd has come alive! Fujiwara HEABUTTS! FUJIWARA CHOKING THE LIFE out of Kimura ! Fujiwara inverted Triangle as Kimura makes the ropes. Fujiwara looks like a killer right now. Kimura looks fucked. Kimura gets a chickenwing out of a headlock into a Fujiwara armbar on Fujiwara, but Fujiwara break free into a great transition to a Butterfly lock into the Fujiwara armbar, Kimura wriggles free and powders. Kimura gets a chinlock and then figure-4s the head. Fujiwara reaches up and Fujiwara headbutt! Kimura comes up with a sick, tight headscissors! Fujiwara potatoes Kimura in the ropes. Kimura unleashes hell on the ropes but FUJIWARA GRABS THE ANKLES BOY YOU FUCKED! Fujiwara kneebar and and Kimura gets to his stomach and the ropes. His eyes say it all. Kimura knows he escaped death. Fujiwara almost completes the armbar takedown and Kimura waistlock takedown. Kimura Scorpion Deathlock on Fujiwara surprisingly very few attempts at his popular move. This has been really good. Fujiwara stands on his head and back to leglace but Kimura uses the momentum to make the ropes. Fujiwara grabs the arm and but Kimura makes the ropes. Fujiwara gets it in deep This time it is over. Watch Fujiwara's face on that one! He looks so determine to submit his ass. 

Round #8: Fujiwara vs Fujinami! Fuck yes! Fujiwara has no prayer but this is going to be sick. Fujinami looks stacked! Fujinami headbutt and Fujiwara isnt selling shit. Fujinami into a tight chinlock great Fujiwara facial expressions. Fujinami and Fujiwara are not easy names to keep straight while typing and watching at the same time. Wish me luck. Fujiwara bucks Fujinami off. Fujinami back to headlock but Saito Suplex by Fujiwara. Love the struggle here. So much intensity. Fujinami back to the chinlock. Both men wants this so bad. Fujinami kick to Fujiwara on the mat. Fujiwara uses the hair and Fujinami maintains the chinlock. This may be the best chinlock sequences I have ever seen. Fujiwara back to the hair but Fujinami wont let go. Fujiwara is so close to the ropes, Fujinami uses his leg to keep Fujiwara from making the ropes. Fujiwara looks like his about to fade. He is so close! Come on. Fujinmai resets and Fujiwara makes the ropes! That was dramatic! I bought into it. Fujiwara powders. Fujiwara is a master of drama. Fujiwara like a wild animal yanks Fujinami to the outside. He starts throws vicious headbutts. Fujiwara hold Fujinami from getting into and applies a choke in the ring. That was wise for but Fujinami switches back to his own choke. Watch a great expression from Fujiwara. Nobody sells the sleeper/chinlock better. Fujiwara makes it to his feet and buckles. Fujinami sunset flip gets two. Fujiwara Single Leg, Back Heel Trip, Leglace. This how we won the last match. Fujinami gets to his belly. Fujinami is tenaciously staying on the choke. He is sticking to his strategy. Fujiwara selling is otherworldly. Fujiwara fades into the ropes. Fujiwara busts out his tricked Boston Crab escape on instinct. Fujinami dropkick back to the choke. It doesnt look good for our hero he collapses into the ropes and powders to the floor still in the hold. Fujiwara rams Fujinami's head into the post! There is light! Vicious headbutt barrage! Fujinami into the railing back to the headbutts! Go Fujiwara Go! Koshinaka should be pissed. They have spent an eternity on the floor. Fujiwara piledriver on a bloody Fujinami. Fujiwara choking Fujinami. We are getting on our money's wort Fujiwara blocks Fujinami's re-entry. Big fight to get back in the ring. Fujiwara has a choke and they return to the ring. Fujinami suplexes out. Fujinami's is wearing the Crimson mask. Fujiwara headbutt! This rules! Fujiwara Headbutts! European Uppercuts! Fujinami backslide! Count to three! Fujiwara throws a couple more headbutts for good measure to soften up Fujinami for Maeda! Here we go! 

Round #9: Damn! This could go either way! If Maeda wins, Fujinami is protected because he had a hellacious bout with Fujiwara. Fujinami wins, it is an insane overcoming the odds story! Lets go! Fujinami looks like he just went through a Slasher Flick. Maeda is a big boy. Maeda goes for the big Kick right to the mush. He wastes no time. Single catch back heel trip, Fujinami loses control of the takedown and Maeda gets the cross-armbreaker. Fujinami rolls onto his knees, smart, but Maeda rolls into a new position of strength. Great grappling. Maeda maintains pressure on the arm. Fujinami escapes into a Scorpion Deathlock which applies on the large legs of Maeda. Maeda makes the ropes. Maeda rifles him with big kicks as Fujinami falls backwards. Snap suplex back into the crossarmbreaker. MAEDA WICKED KICK TO HEAD. AGAIN AND AGAIN! THIS BRUTAL! Headbutt to wound. Tons of kicks to the head. Fujinami shouldertackle, Massive kick to head on a charging Fujinami! Maeda stole the Dragon Suplex! 1-2-NO! Crazy! back to cross-armbreaker. I thought it was over for Fujinami. This feels like a reset. Fujinami makes the ropes. Maeda soccer kicks Fujinami's head which fires Fujinami the fuck up! Fujiwara armbar out of the German suplex, textbook by Maeda. Fujinami does it back to him. Cant believe Maeda just made that mistake. Fujinami into a hammerlock. Maeda's long legs make the ropes. Fujinami catch kick and into the German Suplex for two. RAINBOW SPINING HEEL KICK! Maeda hurled his body at Fujinami! Fujinami makes it back up. Maeda wipes him out with another! The ref calls it for blood or beeing out on his feet. The TKO is a good face saving finish for Fujnami. 

The beginning ruled and the ending ruled. The Kido stuff dragged. Trying to rate this is like trying to rat a Royal Ruble. I will say ****3/4 but everyone shoulw atch this. Takada vs Yamada was my favorite until Fujinami vs Fujiwara. Those last two falls were ***** dramatic wrestling! Peak shit! s

#4. Antonio Inoki vs Big Van Vader - NJPW 7/29/88

New Japan Match of the Year, 1988

Well this fucking rules! I watched this in 2017 I believe in an airport and never got around to writing a review but I remembered all the arm work, the gory bladejob and the fact that Vader sells his arm at least until April of 1989 as this is the Achilles Heel his opponent exploit for at least the next 9 months or so. It was no shock that this was fucking awesome! Vader is at his absolute best when he is doing his wounded bear selling and just hollering in pain. This match has that in spades. Oh just for some context, the win gets a crack at Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. 

Vader tries to be all intimidating early but spends too much time worshipping his steam-spewing elephant helmet and gets caught with an Enziguiri to the head. They brawl on the outside but Vader regain controls quickly against the railing. I rewound a bunch but I never saw where Vader actually hurt his arm, but back in the ring Vader is favoring his left arm. Inoki relentlessly kicks it and does the over the shoulder armbreaker. Vader try as he might to overwhelm Inoki with his girth, the splash in the corner and then the massive Vader Body Attack into an immediate pounce pin were brutal but Inoki keeps coming back. Inoki is laser-focused on that arm. Vader tries to slow things down with a Surfboard but Inoki counters that again into an over the shoulder arm breaker. Vader is one of the all-time great sellers. We talk a lot about his bumping, but Vader is a top ten seller of all time. Vader tries the bearhug, but ends up eating a dropkick, bodyslam, Bombs Away Kneedrop offensive rally that was awesome. Vader tries to hold Inoki in a sitting abdominal stretch and just mercilessly punch Inoki right in the fucking face, but nothing will stop Inoki on this night. It was disturbing watching Vader punch him right in the face unprotected. Inoki barely flinched. Insane! Crowd is going crazy for Inoki. Inoki goes right back to the over the shoulder arm breaker. Tried & true! Vader hollering is just the best. Vader slugs Inoki to get out. Inoki backdrops him over the top. Back where this all started on the floor. Vader tries to kill Inoki with his metal staff gimmick, but clangs it against the post. Inoki gets a hold of it and jabs Vader's bad arm with it and of course VADER BLADES HIS ARM! He is bleeding a gusher and selling it like his arm is paralyzed in a fucked up position. I love Vader. Vader gets in and in the ropes Inoki Enziguiris the bad arm! I LOVE Inoki! More kicks to the arm. A shitty Octopus Stretch because Vader is so big. Vader powers out but still selling his fucked up arm. Vader bodyslam and he is going up top. Inoki catches Vader into a straight armbar to get the submission victory! Bitchin' finish! There were some transitions that I would liked tightened up and some of Vader's holds dragged, but besides that this was FUCKING AWESOME! Vader selling like a wounded bear, Inoki's offense laser-focused, Vader comeback offense was brutal and awesome finish!

#3. Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 6/9/87

New Japan Match of the Year, 1987

I wish I knew the context of many of these New Japan matches. Why do these two hate each other so much? Is New Japan vs UWF still in effect? How does Choshu's recent return play into this? I love how we fade into Fujiwara attacking Choshu during his entrance and drawing first blood by ramming Choshu into hard, metal objects. You gotta watch Fujiwara's face during this he has a sadistic, maniacal grin on his face. It is all Fujiwara early the usual headbutts to the wound, punches and stomps too. Piledriver, but he pulls him up so you know Choshu will start his comeback soon. I love how gradual it is. Kicks at first as he uses the ropes to get back up, but Fujiwara starts blatantly choking him. Choshu tries to punch Fujiwara in the head, bad strategy, brutha. Fujiwara keeps choking him to quell the rally, but from the choke, Choshu hurls Fujiwara over his shoulder with Saito Suplex. Choshu, bloody & battered, with his first advantage goes for Scorpion Deathlock, great idea saps Fujiwara's energy allows him to regain his wind. Great Scorpion Deathlock too look at the placement of his right hand for extra leverage. I am a mark for that shit. Fujiwara makes the ropes. Choshu is thinking suplex FUJIWARA ARMBAR! Wow! Fujiwara moves to a top wristlock, stand back up and punches/headbutts the arm. Fujiwara makes a rare, rookie mistake turning his back on Choshu to take off the turnbuckle pads. He hits Choshu with the pad but it is he for who is whipped into the exposed steel. Choshu hits a wicked lariat and wants another one FUJIWARA ARMBAR! Roof damn near comes off the place while I pop out of my seat over 30 years later. That was hot. Choshu makes the ropes. Outside the ring, Choshu slams Fujiwara's head into the post drawing blood and getting his receipt. Fujiwara is a tough muthafucka and is still throwing headbutts with a crimson mask, but is on jelly legs. Definitely watch Fujiwara sell from the post shot on, even though he is on offense you can tell he is not long for this match. The headbutts take too much out of him and Choshu hits two monster lariats and it is KO victory. The bell rings and Choshu add a little stomp for good measure. Stone cold bloody brawl classic. I love how the match does a great job transforming from all Fujiwara bloodying Choshu and dominating to gradually Choshu making in-roads then finally Choshu bloodies Fujiwara and Choshu wins with dominant Knockout victory. A strong contender for match of the year globally in 1987 in what is actually a rather weak year. 

#2. Big Van Vader vs Shinya Hashimoto - NJPW 4/24/89 IWGP Tournament Finals

On a night of fantastic matches, this wins match of the night for me, just two of the greatest asskickers of all time going shot for shot. Hashimoto knows the strategy against Vader never deviates from the opening bell attack the left arm, attack the left arm, attack the left arm. Vader plays keeps away early but Hashimoto wrenches it and Vader screams in pain. Vader gets the ropes. He baits Hashimoto by dangling his bad arm and then hits a wicked spinning back fist to rock the young upstart. Vader smothers Hashimoto on the ropes and then on the mat. Hashimoto fights to his feet but Vader hits him with a straight right and then a lariat that sends Hashimoto out of the ring. Hashimoto is able to collect himself and when he gets back in the ring starts kicking the bad arm. Double wrist lock and Vader is hollering out with painful screams. Hashimoto gets a two count back on their feet Hashimoto tees off with kicks. Vader's selling here reminds me of Brock. Vader flaying wildly in pain and then just hits that wild swinging bear paw to quash the rally. Hashimoto rolls to outside while Vader collapses on the ropes and his second Rheingains massages the injured arm. Great pro wrestling! You can always tell when Vader is really injured by how quickly he goes for covers. Once they square up again straight front kick, Irish Whip, Vader Splash in corner for two. Boom! Safe, economical. Use his weight gets a quick cover. Goes right back to it this time Hashimoto moves and drives left arm to buckle. INSANE HEAT for Hashimoto doing the over the shoulder armbreaker. Vader body slams out of the double wrist lock. Then VADER HITS THE MOTHER OF ALL DROPKICKS! The Big Man has got ups!

Vader deviates from his safe, economical to go up top and is caught by a HUGE SPINNING HEEL KICK! Crowd goes wild! Can the kid do it? CROSS-ARMBREAKER!!! Vader powers out. Hashimoto rifles Vader's arm with kicks. BANG! Vader KNOCKS Hashimoto the fuck out with a right. Two monster lariats (it is a little anti-climatic and Thesz fucks up the count if they just went to the pin after the KO right I think that would have been better) and the Man They Call Vader wins his first IWGP Championship.

Man if you watch this with no backstory you never know this was Hashimoto's first big chance at the main event. Had the poise of veteran. Great offense from him never relented on the arm. He built some big time heat for himself. That cross armbreaker had me believing. But his selling ruled that sell of that KO right wow! Vader rules! Busting out shit like that spinning back fist and dropkick shows his variety! Here not feeding and bumping but focusing on selling that arm and kicking ass. Boy did he kick some serious ass! Match of the year contender in a fucking loaded year. These two rule! 

#1. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin Liger vs Naoki Sano - NJPW 8/10/89

New Japan Match of the Year, 1989

Jushin Liger's magnificent selling has been much discussed and raises this match to all time classic status. I loved the first match so much with Liger beating the shit out of Sano only for Sano to kick his head off then the double knockout finish. Here Sano rips off Liger's arm and beats him with it.

 

The beginning of the match with them just kicking each other in the head during lock ups outta nowhere was bitchin. Sano reverse thrust kick gives him his first opportunity at the left arm and Liger selling the hell out of it. Liger makes ropes. Liger is wearing shoulder pads...was he injured in an intervening tag match?

 

Liger hits a kappo kick but Sano makes it back to the arm. The heat segment is glorious. Love the fake out Irish whip into just snapping his arm down or Ligers prone selling with his dead arm limp by his side.

 

The match changes complexion when Sano hurls his body to the outside but smacks his head against the concrete busting himself open. Sano abandoned strategy and paid for it. Young dude in a championship match got to leave it out on the table.

 

Liger's broken wing selling is great his offense of kicking Sano straight in the Open wound. I don't think that gets discussed enough is that he matches violence with violence. Loved the pile drivers!

 

Liger makes the cardinal mistake of putting his opponent On the top rope. Never let your opponent have the high ground. Sano hits a missile drop kick and hits that splash to outside. Great transition. Finish is double hot. The struggle over the German duplex ending in a Fujiwara armbar. Ligers hope spots were great. Loved the trio of armbar, German and super back duplex (play off the double KO spot). Great finish!

 

Heated, energetic, violent, sublime selling blood from Sano and a raging climax. Maybe a hotter transition back to Sano is keeping this from the full Monty. Just doesn't feel that level but goddamn this is just insanely great pro wrestling.

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 68: Best of All Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-1990 (Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen)

  Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 67:

The Best of All Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-April 1990

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This sixty-seventh volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the conclusion of the Top 12 countdown of the best pro wrestling matches to take place in All Japan Pro Wrestling between 1985-April 1990. For the first time ever, Pro Wrestling Love does a partial year. Pretty straightforward. The last major Genichiro Tenryu match is in April of 1990 before his exodus to form SWS, which would later become WAR. His departure along with several others forced the push of the next generation of pro wrestlers namely, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Kenta Kobashi, the Four Corners of Heaven. In May of 1990, Misawa unmasked as Tiger Mask II and there is the famous six-man tag with the Elbow Heard 'Round The World pitting Jumbo's Army vs Super Generation Army for the first time. That explains the ending point. We previously did an All Japan series from 1980-1984 so that picks where that left off. The years 1985-1987 see a major shake up as Riki Choshu, a major player in New Japan, formed his "own promotion" Japan Pro-Wrestling and invaded All Japan Pro Wrestling. What may have started out as an earnest at founding his own promotion turned into a major stable for All Japan. This forced Baba away from the business model of native vs gaijin and away from the touring NWA & AWA World Champions. 1985 is about when the touring dates on the NWA World Champion started to dry up. Ted DiBiase would stop coming over once he signed with WWF. That really left Hansen and Gordy as the only two major heavyweights that consistently wrestled in All Japan. Once Choshu left in early 1987 to return to New Japan, Baba stuck with the native vs native concept and had Jumbo Tsuruta feud with his junior tag partner Genichiro Tenryu which became an instant sensation in the late 80s producing amazing match after amazing match both in singles and tags. It became the template for booking 90s All Japan. I hope you enjoy this article as I truly enjoying watching all these matches from this time period to come up with this list.  You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Top Six Best All Japan Matches of 1985-Apr 1990

#6. PWF World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs 

NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 9/3/86

These two have excellent chemistry and the 1985 series seems to be when Tenryu finally got it (I will say he had a terrific match with Ted DiBiase in 1983, but this was different). The 1986 is less heralded except for the review above, which is both excellent as a review and extols the virtues of the match well. 

Choshu comes out with his ribs taped up a result of the war with Killer Khan just a little over a month prior. Choshu returns to his typical heel roots against #2 babyface Tenryu. In a great display of Choshu drama, he rips off the tape in front of Tenryu and the crowd in defiance. The velocity by which they run the ropes and Tenryu BOWLS Choshu over with a shoulder tackle is very 90s All Japan as is Choshu catching Tenryu subsequently and hitting a Back Suplex! Tenryu powders to regroup. This would not be out of place in a 1996 Kenta Kobashi match. They trade side headlocks. Their lock-ups are ferocious. Choshu knows how to make every little detail so big. Excellent Fireman's Carry by Choshu whilst maintaining wrist control to seamlessly transition into a cross-armbreaker attempt. Genius wrestling. Love it. Great struggle over the hold. Choshu wins the Shouldertackle takedown and figure-4s the head as he is wont to do. Choshu has been in control of most of the match, early Back Drop Driver and controlling the action via tight holds. Tenryu is able to reverse into a Bow & Arrow and for the first time, Choshu is in retreat as he powders to regroup. Tenryu allows him back in and is another of those batterring ram lock ups. The first strike is delivered a Tenryu overhand chop. Choshu hits a reverse elbow in the corner. He has his back to Tenryu. Tenryu kicks him with the toe of the boot right into the injured midsection. Dick move by  man who hitherto was not known for his dick moves but would later become a King Prick. Tenryu does not continue the attack there, rather consolidates around arm work. The idea is perhaps that is more honorable and that that kicks to the injury was a desperation tactic and he was back to wrestling with honor. I LOVE how Choshu struggles to get out of these holds just throwing kicks from his back in the hold trying to connect with any part of Tenryu's body. They are doing a great job changing the holds as Choshu struggles, Tenryu repositions, rinse, lather, repeat for maximum entertainment value. Choshu bullies Tenryu into the corner to force a break but does not give one. Instead, he attacks Tenryu's knee and then delivers two WICKED, HEATED ELBOWS to Tenryu's head that pops the crowd. Tenryu's responds in turn with an AWESOME DROPKICK! Best exchange thus far!

Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat on Choshu wins the Criss-Cross battle. Kneedrop re-consolidates his advantage into an armbar. Showing Choshu's rally was really just a hope spot. Choshu feels more like the babyface and Tenryu the heel here, which probably suits their personalities better. I LOVED Choshu catching the High Knee, Sweeping The Leg and IMMEDIATE SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Great struggle to turn it over, slapping Tenryu's in the face, but too clsoe to the ropes and Choshu goes right back to it. But again too close to the ropes. Choshu takes full advantage of the count. Huge highspot when Choshu goes up top and Tenryu hits an Enziguiri wicked bump by Choshu to the apron. They battle on the apron! Choshu ducks the Lariat and nails his own to win the Apron battle. I like their Battling Ram Mini-Battles. Choshu is too injured to captialize. It is actually Tenryu, who is grabbing his jaw, that drags Choshu out by his hair into the railing. CHOSHU DANGEROUSSSSSSS BACKDROP DRIVER ON THE APRON! HOLY SHIT! This would not be out of place at all in mid-90s All Japan! Choshu is Winding-Up but Tenryu has a well-placed knee to the injured side of the charging Choshu. Choshu crumples into a heap. 

Tenryu turning full heel here is great. Choshu is writhing in pain as Tenryu delivers a series of standing elbow drops. Struggle over the Back Drop Driver, Tenryu breaks the clasp and kicks the injured side. SLINGSHOT SUPLEX BY TENRYU! WOW! This rocks! Tenryu applies The Octopus Stretch which pops the crowd but Tenryu loses his balance and they end up in the ropes. Toe kick to injured side. Choshu catches a kick and MUSCLES his way into a Scorpion Deathlock in the middle of the ring! Great heat for this! Choshu injured ribs force him to break the hold. Vertical Suplex by Choshu gets two.. Tenryu lunges at Choshu from his knees and attackes the injured side. Choshu MANS UP and fights through the pain and hoists Tenryu over in a Dangerous Backdrop Driver. Tenryu tries for a Top Rope Reverse Elbow. Choshu pulls him down with a Back Suplex! Tenryu moved too quickly to go up top in my opinion. Another Backdrop Driver and gets a heated nearfall for two. Choshyu hammerlocks Tenryu and drives him shoulder first into the post and then he BASHES Tenryu's head into the ringpost to bloody him. It is amazing how bloody All Japan was compared to the sterile 90s.  Choshu tees off on the open wound in typical awesome Choshu fashion with great punches. Tenryu collapses into the ring as Choshu winds up! MACK TRUCK LARIAT! I love how Tenryu doesnt budge initially to absorb all of the blow to make it extra meaty and then collapses. Choshu smashes him into the railing. Back in the ring he continues to brutalize Tenryu and he triggers a DQ in the only surefire way to trigger a DQ in 80s All Japan by attacking the ref. Tenryu nails an Enziguiri in the post-match but other than that Choshu is a man possessed punching Tenryu and Young Boys. 

I am shocked this placed #63. You have Prick Tenryu, Badass Rockstar Choshu fighting from underneath to overcome Tenryu's dickishness, you have the side injury, you have a ton of MOVEZ~! and blood. DQ finishes dont bother me too much and I thought this was a good one honestly. Choshu was seeing red. Tenryu had been a docuhe to him the entire match. He bloodies him and just starts teeing off. He cant stop, the ref does the right thing to protect Tenryu and Choshu does the right thing to signal to the audience how pissed he is by decking the ref. I really liked that Tenryu always had to use the injury to gain the advantage and as the match wore on he would become more & more focused on it. I didnt think the beginning (as much as I liked the early Backdrop Driver) was wrestled at a ***** level even though the later stages of the match got there for me. The Lariat battle on the Apron and the BackDrop Driver on the Apron were NUTS! The finish stretch was crazy! Call me crazy, but I liked this definitively better than Choshu/Killer Khan match.

#5. PWF & United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 3/27/88

Forget everything I said in the previous review, this was a WAR~! Tenryu delivered; he matched Hasen's pugnacity and stiffness. I liked this even more than the Hansen/Jumbo match before it was red-hot, hate-filled from the start. Tenryu has a bandage over the fresh, raw cut on his eye that Hansen gave him about three weeks ago. You know that a bullseye for Hansen. There is some many good little details than I am going to watch this again live so I can capture them all:

Tenryu charges at Hansen and they meet like two rams. One right punch square to the face from Hansne and ten two wicked pops from the left wing. It spills to the outside and Hansen keep firing away at the eye. Tenryu unlike on 3/9 keeps roaring back with chops. Hasnen fights through it. Tenryu tries for the bodyslam but keeps fighting.  Enziguiri and Hansen immediately dives with an elbow drop on Tenryu. This is why I love Hansen. He is always moving forward. He is a fucking animal in there. I love the overhead elbow he throws smashing into the cut. Red-hot, hate-filled. Hansen is very literally out for blood and Tenryu needs to fight for survival. Hansen again with that elbow crashing down into the cut, rubbing the face into the ropes. Tenryu comes back with a Lariat but on the second he charges and eats buckles. Great facial expression as Hansen takes him over with a Back Suplex. Tenryu fights out of a tight smother and Russian Legsweep. I love that Tenryu is trying to press the issue and take control of his own destiny. Tenryu only gets one and immediately goes for the Powerbomb. Smart. In a fight for survival, go for your biggest bomb early. Hansen deadweights him. Tenryu moves with him into wrist control and trying to get an armbar. There's a great close-up of Tenryu at this point, you are so focused on how nasty the cut is and then BAM! all of sudden Hansen's left hand comes flying into the screen and pops him with precision into the cut. Great struggle over the armbreaker, but that moment was so damn badass.

Hansen rolls to the topes. Hansen drags Tenryu outside like a bear to his lair. He rams him hard into the ringpost. Tenryu takes some time to regroup as Hansen looks great. Tenryu's eye looks all sorts of fucked up. Tenryu gets a half knucklelock and starts mercilessly and relentlessly kicking Hansen's left side and the crowd comes more and more alive with each rapid kick and this becomes Hansen's Achilles Heel, the monster's weak underbelly if you will that Tenryu can exploit later.  Tenryu is overzealous with his running punt to the ribs and goes ass over tea kettle over the top rope. Typical Hansen fashion, he thrust kicks Tenryu from is back completely Tenryu's drop to the floor. Hansen is left clutching at his ribs and is having trouble standing. Tenryu fights from his back in the ring. Kicking at the injured ribs while Hansen is punching the cut. This is fucking badass. Tenryu toe kicks to the bad ribs. Hansen is selling so damn well. Resisting the Irish Whip so hard. Tenryu drives his shoulder into the injured ribs. Hansen collapses outside the ring ass first. In a rare moment, Hansen looks more battered compared to his opponent. Hansen rolls back in and is trying to protect his side. AWESOME! Toe kick and THEN BASHES WITH THE OVERHAND ELBOW! BRUTAL! Another one to sitting Tenryu this time. Hansen with these wicked short left jabs to Tenryu's cut. Hansen misses the running elbow eats turnbuckles and Tenryu toe kicks the injured side again. This is incredible. Tenryu is thinking Powerbomb so smart to attempt it now. Back to punting the ribs when he cant get him up. Hansen drags him down by the wrist. This is so Hansen just flailing with his kicks from his back and grabbing whatever bodypart he can get. Then driving the exposed bone on bone knee to the orbital bone of Tenryu. I love Hansen! Everything is a struggle with him. 

This is when we get a proper heat segment from Hansen after how hard fought the first ten minutes were for both men. Hansen seems to have weathered the storm and really rung Tenryu's bell with all these headshots. Hansen piledrives Tenryu! Tenryu gets a foot on the ropes. Nice gradualism on the sell. OH MY FUCKING GOD! Hansen rears back and just RIFLES Tenryu in the face with a kick. Not to be outdone, Tenryu FUCK YOU PUNCH FOLLOWED BY A FUCK YOU LARIAT! OH FUCK YEAH! 

Tenryu Enziguiri! POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! Probably one of the best Tenryu powerbombs ever which is damning with faint praise. Hansen took it smartly. He went up in a traditional piledriver once steady, He did a sit-up and Tenryu dropped him. Everyone else in the world has a better powerbomb, but at least that one looked ok. Tenryu hits his Top Rope Reverse Back Elbow. That's his four big moves! Oh shit! Hansen lunges and pops him good with a left wing. WESTERN FUCKING LARIAT! HE DECAPITATED HIM! OH MY FUCKING GOD! Tenryu drapes the foot on the ropes at the last second. YES! YES! YES! Perect use of the ropes. Hansen Clobbers Him Again with the Western Lariat but pulls him up at two to start rapid fire punching Tenryu in the cut. He shoves the ref. Uh oh. Tenryu fires up and starts swinging wildly with headshots. Hansen tries to strangle Tenryu to death with his bullrope as he throws Higuchi and Hara around, Higuchi calls for the bell. Absolute chaos as Hansen should be tried for attempted murder! Fucking hell!

This was a WAR~! Like I said it is ahead of the Jumbo match because it was kickass from smart. I imagine most people's issue with this if any is the finish. Not just because it is DQ but because he pulled him up. I agree that knocks it down from ***** for me, but not too much. The whole strangling with a bullrope is a perfect, chaotic DQ finish. Everything before that is manly, stiff, beefy, bloody, hated-filled wrestling. Hansen sees red from jump and is just merciless targeting the eye. Tenryu in order to fight fire with fire needs to create a weakness and attacks the ribs. You just get great dueling psychology, with great selling especially from Hansen and tremendous offense from both. When Hansen reared back kicked Tenryu hard as he could and Tenryu's response was to CLEAN HIS CLOCK WITH A FUCK YOU PUNCH AND LARIAT was so fucking epic! I am jacked to the Moon after watching this. Probably the best Hansen singles match between 1984 and 1992, killer.

#.4 NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs 

Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 1/28/86

Frenetic Maelstrom of Kickass Pro Wrestling! I cant believe I have never seen this before. I could have sworn  had like 8 years ago and just never wrote a review but I definitely didnt watch his badassery. Excellent Interpromotional War! I loved how Jumbo & Choshu didnt bump or sell for shit earlier. Not every move needs to be sold as painful, have some pride, my dudes. I love how Choshu was trying to keep his injured ribs away from Jumbo. I love the disrespectful slap exchange between Jumbo & Yatsu. This is how an Interpromotional War should be booked with tons of pride and passion. I like how it is an overzealous Tenryu that caused the dynamic to shift and for finally someone to take heat. The one slightly unexpected aspect is that initially the invading Choshu feels like the sympathetic babyface as he is getting his ribs dissected and his Scorpion Deathlock feels like a massive babyface comeback spot. Then they flip the roles back to normal when Jumbo who had been Walking Tall all match has his head bashed into post and is bleeding. The crowd is losing their shit over all this. It is nonstop action in the best way possible as it is just four dudes trying to tear into each other. I knew this match was special coming into it so I wanted to watch it once without typing and those were the things that stuck out to me. So now I am going to rewatch and do stream of consciousness:

It has been twenty minutes since I watched this badass slice of pro wrestling and am excited to rewatch it. Choshu had been in the promotion for a year now but this is really what it has been building to. I didnt talk about Yatsu much in the preamble, but he was an excellent assassin in this match. He knows when to strike for maximal effect throughout the match. They waste no time and start out with the two heavy hitters Choshu & Jumbo. Choshu throws a toe kick to keep Jumbo away from his bandaged right side. Jumbo is caught off guard that he could not lock up. Jumbo throws one back and Choshu blocks. Jumbo tries again bit to no avail. Collar elbow tie up and Jumbo kicks the bandaged side and Choshu sells it as a close shave. Choshu single back heel trip and Choshu stomps and Jumbo right back up. Jumbo goes for his signature bodyslam but Choshu backs into Yatsu for the tag out. Just two bulls that didnt give an inch. Loved it. 

Yatsu goes for the snapmare and Jumbo fights it off. Jumbo is not giving them anything! I am here for it. Yatsu CRACKS Jumbo with a slap. Two more. Jumbo says you best be ready and he gets his receipt. It is on! Jumbo wants Choshu! Jumbo and Choshu go at it with slaps. Jumbo tags out. Tenryu chops Yatsu on the apron and Choshu drives him into the corner. Rookie mistake. I like how it is Tenryu that makes it. First double team goes to Choshu & Yatsu on Tenryu. Yatsu kneelift on tenryu and I love that is Tenryu as the first to get heat on him. Spike Piledriver on Tenryu. This is building so well. Choshu throwing haymkers at Tenryu and Tenryu gets in with a single leg pick up into a toehold then figure-4. Dont love the use of the Spike Piledriver if that is what was to follow. I think they are chanting for Choshu. Choshu rolls toward Yatsu hits an Excellent Top rope elbow on the prone Tenryu who sells it like a million bucks. Jumbo comes in and stomps Choshu on the injured side. It is getting chippier and chippier. Tenryu tags out. Jumbo does not hit his customary High Knee but opts for  two kneelifts that leaves Yatsu to powder. Yatsu dropkick gets him right back in it and the first time Jumbo bumped. Double suplex on Jumbo. They exchange shots, Jumbo body shots and High Knee and Choshu looks to be in peril. SAITO SUPLEX BY CHOSHU! He needed that, but Jumbo is up first and to quote Jesse The Body that has to be depressing as hell. It took too much out of Choshu. They slug it out with a double clothesline spot. Choshu is in a bad way and they double sledge him. Tenryu is in and is stomping away at Choshu. I love the gradualism of the Choshu heat segment. He was throwing Suplexes and Lariats to try to save himself but he was already in too deep. So good. Jumbo is proud of himself as he is stomping the ribs but the crowd is mixed. Tenryu suplex on Choshu. Jumbo kneelifted Choshu in the ribs and then tore off the bandage. Yatsu finally had enough and tries to take a wing at Jumbo but the ref holds him back. Tenryu gets involved. Jumbo abdominal stretch! He has his back to Yatsu. DOUBLE AXEHANDLE FROM THE TOP! Perfect transition! Love it!

It is all up to Yatsu! Dropkick! Saito Suplex! Tenryu goes crazy on Choshu as Jumbo is in trouble . Yatsu kneecrusher. Tenryu had peeled around the ring to attack a lying Choshu and then whipped him into the railing. Bounced a chair off him. Yatsu goes for the Spinning Toehold. Tenryu Saito Suplex on the prone Yatsu. Jumbo Death Lariatx2! Jumbo applies a Boston Crab as the JWP boys tape Choshu back up! Yatsu is in the ropes. The fight is on! Shit has exploded! Tenryu tagged in. Tenryu kneelift to Yatsu and slashing chops. As Choshu is crawling back up Tenryu attacks Choshu. Yatsu keeps Jumbo at bay and Choshu tags in. Choshu dropkick to a pop! Choshu single leg! SCORPION DEATHLOCK TO A MASSIVE POP! The girl in the fur coat losing her mind in the front row rules!

Choshu's ribs give out and he collapses and tags out to Yatsu which is an awesome way to end that hold. Jumbo walks tall and slings Yatsu into their corner. It does not look good for him. In what I believe is a first, the first time I have sene the Sling shot Suplex done by someone other than Tully Blanchard as Tenryu does it to Yatsu. Yatsu neckbreaker dorp on Jumbo. and YATSU BULLDOG ON JUMBO! He sends Jumbo out. Choshu bashed Jumbo's head into the post repeatedly drawing blood. It is a melee and Tenryu loses control and beats this shit out of Choshu using railings and chair. So begins the third act. 

Yatsu suplexes Jumbo back in and Yatsu goes crazy working the cut, piston punches to the open wound! Killer. Yatsu throws Jumbo out. They bash his head into the post again. Tenryu is in a blind rage towards Choshu. He beats him on the announce table. Yatsu piledrivers Jumbo and Jumbo had to kick out on his own because Tenryu is so obsessed with Choshu. Saito Suplex by Yatsu for two! Red hot shit. Yatsu punches the cut and Jumbo slaps but he cant follow it up. Yatsu Texas Cloverleaf is an odd choice in what has been a red hot series of kick ass wrestling. Yatsu backbreaker and then a Scorpion Deathlock ok thats more like it. Tenryu HITS AN OUT OF CONTORL LARIAT TO SAVE! Tenryu almost went careening out of the ring.  Choshu stomps the cut as the ref is trying control Tenryu and now the ref scrambles back to peel Choshu off Jumbo. Jumbo is firing up. He tags out. Tenryu Enziguiri. Choshu breaks it up. Tenryu enziguiri as Choshu and Jumbo fight on the floor. Yatsu German suplex! Huge pop! Crowd is going crazy! JWP boys are on the apron screaming that was three. Yatsu gets Hotshotted and Tenryu Enziguiri/powerbomb polishes him off to a big reaction. That was awesome! 

Loved how everything crescendoed. The early stuff was excellent, the Choshu heat segment, Yatsu as a one man gang, Jumbo getting bloody. When I think about it compared to my other tippy top matches, I dont think the finish is quite there for me, but that is a nitpick that you have to do when thinking in context of Top 100 matches. This rocked so hard! 

#3. AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 6/5/89

Here it is, baby! After all these years, I am finally reviewing Jumbo vs Tenryu the Match! I have seen this match at least two or three times, but it has easily been ten years if not more. When I did watch it, I barely knew what I was doing. I just knew it was a famously great match. I reckon this is the most famous 80s All Japan match. Theres an outside shot that Funk vs Hansen or Funks vs Hansen/Gordy is more famous, but thats it. On top of that, not only is it famous, it is supposed to be one of the greatest matches of all time. Lets get a little context out of the Jumbo formed the Triple Crown in April of the year when he walked in as the International Heavyweight Champion and walked out with Stan Hansen's PWF and United National Championships. I will go back and watch that match after this. We are in the Budokan!

In the early part of the match, my main takeaway is Jumbo is playing not to lose and Tenryu is playing to win. Jumbo seems unnerved by the slightest big of Tenryu offense and is retaliating with a lot of hold specifically the Cobra Clutch. It feels like he is trying to contain Tenryu and sap his energy. Jumbo does try to hit bombs but they are pretty much always well-scouted. The first instance is the very high first highspot of the match when Tenryu evades the world-renowned Jumbo High Knee and executes a bridging German for two. Jumbo's response clamp on a side headlock. When Jumbo did go for the High Knee again, Tenryu caught the leg and slashed him with a Chop. Jumbo hit the big boot. Cobra Clutch and lots of hard, stiff clubbering. Tenryu via scouting was forcing Jumbo to go to fundamentals. Tenryu proves he is the smarter competitor when he gets back to the ring first and smashes Jumbo with a lariat as he is trying to re-enter the ring. Tenryu had grabbed the high ground. Tenryu goes flying over the top rope like he is Misawa and leaps off the apron wiping Jumbo out. There have been elements of the 90s All Japan taking root in the 80s and you see that here with the complicated missed Second High Knee and the way the dive off the apron was presented. It is very interesting that it is minimalist Tenryu driving the match in that direction while Jumbo is working a more holds-based style. Tenryu drops into a legbar smart for him to recuperate. Then Tenryu gets into a full mount and reigns down the HEAVY forearms. Great ground & pound. It is only a well-timed Belly To Belly suplex, the first executed Jumbo highspot that reverses the advantage. Furthermore, the belly to belly suplex is not a common Jumbo spot. Jumbo goes back to the Cobra Clutch and then finally hits on his patented High Knee for two. By having to EARN that High Knee it made the spot and the nearfall so much bigger!  One of my favorites spots in All Japan is the attempted Powerbomb. Here Jumbo was more likely going for a Piledriver but the though is the same. The crouch position, trying to hoist, the two men struggling against each other. So good. Jumbo settles for hard, stiff clubbering and an Abdominal Stretch. I didnt love the Tenryu hiptoss counter into an armbar and a short Tenryu control of strikes. Tenryu hits a Mack Truck Lariat for two, he's always good for one of those. Jumbo POPS him good with an Elbow. Tenryu's sell of this is so good. You know Jumbo caught him good. Jumbo is thinking Dangerous  Back Drop Driver but Tenryu holds onto the ropes. Jumbo hits the High Knee in the corner and then tries for the Big Move again only for Tenryu kick off the ropes, shift his weight and have Jumbo absorb a lot of the blow on his head & neck. Good double KO Spot. JUMBO DEATH LARIAT! Loved Tenryu's reaction to roll to the ropes immediately even though it happened middle of the ring. Jumbo caught up to him but it was too late, the ropes break the pinfall. Great details match. 

Now we get to the Jumbo "pouring it on" portion of the match. I did think they went a little overboard here too. It was interesting at first it was a ton of feet on the ropes demonstrating Tenryu's intelligence. Jumbo learned to too, he tried to bundle both legs at one point only for Tenryu to fight through and get to the ropes. What was odd to me was as they escalated, they left that and started going to kick outs. Jumbo executes the Thesz Press without being hotshotted which popped me. That the first kickout and then he finally nailed the Dangerous Back Drop Driver and kick out. I didnt think the heat segment went as overboard as say Brock vs Roman I at the 2015 Mania but I would have liked more hope spots and struggle. I did however love the transition(s)! First Tenryu, hotshots Jumbo on the second Thesz Press! Hell Yeah! Second, Jumbo's High Knee in the corner eats the buckle and Tenryu nails an Enziguiri. He's on the comeback trail! Small Package! 1-2-NO! Tenryu attempted powerbomb gets great heat. Jumbo backdrops into a pin cover for two. The crowd is red hot. Jumbo starts repeating moves like the Top Rope High Knee, Tenryu closes the gap and Jumbo misses. Jumbo tries the Belly To Belly again, but Tenryu BACK HEEL TRIP! Popped me. Tenryu tries for his patented Reverse Top Rope Elbow but misses. It was Jumbo's turn to have it scouted. Jumbo telegraphs the Death Lariat and Tenryu uses the momentum to drive Jumbo's head into top rope. ENZIZGUIRI! POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! NUCLEAR HEAT! POWERBOMB 1-2-3! CROWD GOES WILD!

One thing I didnt mention was that Jumbo got a considerable amount of heat in the match. It can be hard to make out the difference between Tsuruta and Tenryu chants. I thought I heard some Tsuruta chants but this was definitely a pro-Tenryu crowd. I am surprised. I always thought Tenryu/Revolution were heels but watching all the footage it is clear they are the fan favorites. Also interesting that before the match Jumbo attempts to shake Tenryu's hand but Tenryu looks like he says Fuck You, but it was probably something else. Then Jumbo came over to shake his hand while Tenryu was slumped down in the corner, but Tenryu didnt again. Very Stone Cold vibes there. I have been debating between ****3/4 and *****. There are some things that keep this out of contention for my top 25 of all time, but I see it around #50. I am going with this as the tiebreaker. Once Jumbo started dropping bombs I noticed a teenage boy and girl in the front row were very committed to Tenryu winning. The girl's reaction to Jumbo's kickout was perfect. She was trying to take a picture right at right time with the old Kodak camera. She thought Tenryu won and she got wicked excited only to have her hopes dashed. Unfortunately during the actual pinfall, we miss her reaction, but we see the boy's and he is JUBLIANT! How can I deny a match that stirred such great emotion, 

#2. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 12/6/89 Real World Tag Finals, All Japan Match of the Year 1989

Watched this a week or two ago, I was amazed at how good it was. Yatsu's head injury performance gives this workrate-oriented All Japan tag match the hook it needed to keep you invested when sometimes the style/genre can be a little workrate dense/noisy. I didnt write a review at the time but had it at about ~****3/4 in my head and fun fact I dont remember who won! I have an excellent short term memory but the shits for a long-term memory which is why I write such detailed reviews. I am going to watch this back stream of consciousness style and am excited to fall in love all over again:

Yatsu has the amateur wrestling headgear on with strap. If I recall correctly in the other Real World Tag I watched with Yatsu he had that on. I cant remember if I know what happened or not. Yatsu tries to get the crowd revved up. Surprised he is starting based on his injury. Tenryu stalls and Yatsu tags in Jumbo. Jumbo won back the Triple Crown from Tenryu in October. Tenryu says he wants Yatsu and Yastu obliges. Yatsu throws a much of headbutts using the padded helmet and then throws an explosive dropkick. Tenryu tries to fire up and meets more headbutts. He throws him to the Grizzly Hansen. Stan bashes him as Tenryu holds him and Tenryu is left holding his own head after all the headbutts. Yastu escapes to Jumbo. Jumbo and Hansen collide. Jumbo wins the second collision with a High Knee. Jumbo and Hansen get into a wrestling match with Jumbo trying work an armbar on the mat into a half-nelson cover for one. Some really nice selling early from Tenryu and like Yatsu tempting fate as there is a break in the action thought I'd throw in some commentary. They exchange slashing chops as Hansen throws Jumbo into into Tenryu. Tenryu blocks the High Knee as customary and is about to wrangle an inside cradle. Tenryu gets an Enziguiri, but must have been more of a grazing blow as Jumbo throws Tenryu into Yatsu. Yatsu clothesline and Harley Race style falling headbutt. Yatsu attempts a powerbomb. Hansen tags in. Frequent tagging a hallmark of the All Japan tag style. Yatsu gets an enziguiri in the slugfest but Hansen lunges with a shouldertackle and kneelift to the head and it looks like they have finally rattled the injured Yatsu. Spoke too soon as Yatsu evades a double shouldertackle and Tenryu goes ass over tea kettle on the top rope and then railing courtesy of a Jumbo Tsuruta Irish whip. Nice fakeout. Tag into Jumbo. Footloose Jumbo Death Lariat into Tenryu in the corner as Jumbo plays to the crowd and Tenryu slumps into the corner. First five minutes have been hot and mostly Jumbo/Yatsu. Jumbo bulldozes Tenryu with a Thesz Press for two. Tenryu looks to be in peril as they are building momentum on him which is a nice change of pace from the frenetic All Japan style. Knee Sandwich as called by the announcer. Tenryu closed fist stymies Yatsu on Dangerous Back Drop Drive attempt. Yatsu works hard and earns  an overhead belly to belly suplex. Tenryu looks like shit. Hnasen has the wisdom to break it up. Jumbo High Knee and Dangerous Backdrop Driver on Tenryu as Hansen saves again. I forgot they did a compelling Tenryu in peril segment first which I really like. They are really built some momentum. Yatsu butterfly supleZ and kneedrop on Tenryu. Tenryu grapevine trips Yatsu on the belly to belly suplex. Yatsu fall back on his head and is left clutching it! HERE WE GO!

Tenryu tags in Hansen and everything is a VICIOUS BLOW TO the head! It has begun! Hansen is stepping on The head. Jumbo makes the saves as Hansen is stepping on his head in the ropes. The ref breaks it up. Yatsu powders but to no avail as Hansen keeps stomping. HANSEN RIPS OFF THE HEAD GEAR! Another stiff short knee and another, another. It is a merciless onslaught. He tags in Tenryu. Tenyru kicks him in the head. I cant way for the classic Tenryu stomp to the head; no one is better at that. Tenryu follows Hansen's lead it is nothing but knees, fists and boots to the head. Hansen tosses Yatsu's carcass to the floor. He drives Yatsu's head into railing. Jumbo tries to save as Hansen has Yatsu. Hansen pops Jumbo with an elbow. It is a melee. Hansen is a rabid dog with a bone. He wont let go. Yatsu is too close to the ropes. Tenryu tags in and its an Enzgiuiri to the head. THERE IS IS! Tenryu's stomp to the head! This is brutal. Wicked chop from Tenryu the first time it has not been a blow to the head. Tenryu with repeated headbutts to the injured cranium of Yatsu. Brutal. Yatsu deadweights Hansen on the suplex. Hansen says not a bother, and plants him with a DDT. Tenryu blasts Yatsu with a Lariat and then slaps Jumbo off the apron for good measure. He throws a kick at the fallen Jumbo. Double suplex on Yatsu as he looks like he ripe for the pickin'. Yatsu kicks out on his own. I am ready for the hot tag. Hansen slashes Jumbo with a chop. Lets see if we get it. Yatsu trips Hansen but Hansen uses a waistlock to role Yatsu into Tenryu. Tenryu enziguiri. Tenryu bodyslam Reverse Top Rope Elbow MISSES! CMON YATSU! LETS GO! Hansen knedrop. We needed that hope spot. That has reinviogorated me. They trade chops, Hansen and Yatsu. Hansen duoble axehandle stops any Yatsu momentum dead in its tracks. Hansen holds Yatsu as Tenryu chops him. Tenryu wrist control and chops Yatsu and Yatsu ducks and a quick German gets two for Yatsu who can hold it. Yatsu makes the tag! HOT TAG! 

Jumbo ROARS! Jumbo slap barrage! Jumbo Big Boot! Jumbo pops him with an elbow. Jumbo Death Lariat! Hansen has to leapfrog Tenryu's fallen body as Jumbo pops him and then reigns down heavy blows on Tenryu. Hansen saves by crashing down on Jumbo. High Knee to Tenryu sends Tenryu into Hansen for the tag. Jumbo meets him at the pass. Jumbo dropkicks Hansen. Jumbo is a one man wrecking crew! Jumbo abdominal stretch is an interesting choice in what has otherwise been a red hot tag! Yatsu is still of apron as Jumbo gets two. Can Jumbo the Ace win this alone? Hansen is selling like a champ. His jelly leg sell on the Irish whip is amazing. It is like he is melting. It made Jumbo Thesz Press look more authentic. HEY! Thats Rat Boy Watching! Dangerous Back Drop Driver! Tenryu saves. Jumbo might have punched himself out as he is slowing down. Jumbo drags Tenryu in for a big boot. Jumbo leaves himself prone going for a German suplex. HANSEN LARIAT TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD! Jumbo & Tenryu both collapse. Jumbo is left clutching him head. It doesnt look good for Olympians as Yatsu is getting his head/jaw taped up. Hansen is beating Jumbo up and Yatsu comes divining for the save. Lets Go Yatsu! Hansen tags in Tenryu as Jumbo is fucked. Hansen bodyslam and Hanse Rocket Launcher! HOW DID I FORGET THAT SPOT! That was insanely awesome! Jumbo kicks out. I remember Yatsu getting his taped how did I forget the rocket launcher. Tenryu blasts Yatsu off the apron. SPIKE PILEDRIVER ON JUMBO! Yatsu saves again! He wont let Jumbo die! Everybody looks like they have been through war. Hansen with these short nasty knees to Jumbo. Jumbo reverse and knees Hansen right in the mush. Hansen on the outside. YATSU BULLDOG ON THE EXPOSED FLOOR! I remember that spot! HELL YEAH! That fucking ruled! Jumbo inside cradle in the ring Tenryu races to save but Hansen kicks out on his own.

Yatsu hot tag! GIVE EM HELL BRUTHA! Yatsu kicks Hansen in the head and then heabdutts the wound. Headbutt Tenryu down. Yatsu headbutts Hanse relentlessly. Fuck Yeah! Yatsu Bulldog! Tenryu saves and kicks Yatsu hard in the head. Jumbo has had enough and SNAPS~! He blizted Tenryu with a brutal elbow barrage. Hansen pummels Yatsu with everything he has. The is insane. Jumbo cuts Tenryu off and back drop off the top. Hansen keeps pummeling Yatsu. Tenryu Enziguiri Hansen when he was holding him. AWESOME MISCOMMUNICATION SPOT! You dont see that often in Japan. Yatsu only gets two! Cmon Yatsu! Jumbo top rope Jumping knee but Tenryu saves. Tenryu SUMO SLAPS Jumbo off. Tenryu ground & pound.

That was one of those awesome, intricate All Japan finish runs. Tenryu holds Hansen to save him from getting Bulldog out of the corner. You can smell The Lariat from a mile away. They do a bunch of fake outs. The best is when Hansen tugs on the elbow pad, the crowd goes wild and Yatsu DROPKICKS him on the attempt. The crowd and me loses our collective shit! I wont do every detail but suffice to say Hansen CLOBBERS Yatsu with the Lariat to win the match and the vacant All Japan World Tag Team Titles. 

Helluva match which I liked even more the second time around. Loved both hot tags, really enjoyed Tenryu's heat segment because it lulls you into a false sense of security that everything is going to be alright for the Olympians. Everything once Yatsu gets bandaged up is pure pro wrestling gold.

#1. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Real World Tag League 12/16/88, All Japan Match of the Year 1988

JBL would cream himself over how many MONSTER LARIATS are in this match.

 

The last half of this match is basically legalized murder of Tenryu by Hansen & Gordy. This match embodies "Think shoot, but work" and is Hansen's definitive statement on pro wrestling. Every single thing is a struggle. If he can throw a wild kick, he will throw a wild kick. He is not going to wait on the apron, he is going to come in and smack the shit out of you to save his partner. Gordy took his cue from Hansen was great as Hansen Jr., but the difference was Hansen was just absolutely wild and merciless. There is a point towards the beginning where Tenryu is just tagged in and Hansen yanks out a prone Gordy to save him from Tenryu gaining an advantage. You truly felt that this match mean the world to all four men. Hansen was so worried about going down an advantage that he pulled out his tag partner. That's Japanese tag wrestling in a nutshell. It is really hard to make comebacks because each tag is essentially trying to make this a handicap match. In the Southern tag formula, there is a face in peril and a hot tag, but there is always that sense of hope. Once a tag team falters in Japan, there is just a sense of impending doom.

 

Young cheetah-print Kawada was massively over and utterly fearless in this match against these bullies. I thought this would be your standard vet/young lion against dick heels, but Kawada more than held his own. Hell, he took it to these tough SOBs. Kawada was throwing massive spinkicks and monster lariats with the best of them. Tenryu trusted Kawada and against these two, he had to! Tenryu is definitely the equal of the gaijin, but suffers from the fact that he constantly has to face them two on one. He can handle them individually, but as soon as Hansen or Gordy feels the other is trouble they will rush to the other's aid.

 

The brutality of this match was something else. The lariats, chops and kicks need to be heard to be appreciated. The yell of agony from Tenryu when Hansen clobbered him in the back was something I have never heard in a Tenryu match or men's wrestling. It was a fucking war out there. There is clothesline from Gordy that hit Tenryu so hard I don't think he even had to sell, it hurt that much. Kawada's big moment is that he goes wild on Hansen and he actually stomps Hansen down and crowd goes wild. Gordy saves, but Hansen is actually hurt and has to tag out. Kawada Germans Gordy and Hansen kicks Kawada's leg out from underneath the bridge.

 

Then in the spot that maybe my favorite spot of all time, Hansen steps on Kawada's foot and rifles his knee with kicks. That is sadism. Hansen lets Kawada go only to push him out of the ring and NAIL Tenryu with a LARIAT! The match goes on, but at this point is when the impending doom sinks in. Kawada's is pretty much finished and for the rest of the match the gaijin takes turns beating shit out of him at ringside. Tenryu blasted by the Lariat so hard that he fell over the railing is in pretty piss poor shape to take on these two bullies two on one. The rest of the match you just get angrier and angrier at how unfair it is that Tenryu is basically being murdered by these two men. The spot where Kawada explodes in a frenzy from the outside to save Tenryu from Gordy powerbomb is great. You do get the sense that Hansen has blown himself up in a worked sense and Tenryu's last gasp is chop the shit out of Hansen. He gets his licks in and perhaps if the match is one on one he could pull it off, but anytime he gets anywhere Gordy interferes, Until Gordy misses wildly with a clothesline and Tenryu POWERBOMBS Hansen! Gordy recovers and powerbombs Tenryu. HANSEN LARIAT!!! Mercy killing. 

Even though, the last half of the match was full of impending doom, they did a great job working in hope spots. I thought Hansen sold exhaustion fabulously. Gordy was a great dick heel sidekick. Hansen's individual performance in this match is a candidate for greatest performance in a single match. Kawada was great as the fearless rookie and selling the knee is Kawada's bread and butter. Tenryu was perfect in his role as veteran asskicker that's outgunned, but is going to down in a hail of bullets. The best non-90sAJPW tag match in history in my book! 

Just rewatched this and this ruled so fucking hard! For anyone else this is a performance of a lifetime but Kawada it is just another day at the office. Kawada takes what would be a classic makes it a GOAT candidate by going crazy! Rookie Kawada trying to prove himself to his mentor Tenryu against the big bad gaijin is just the best shit! I vividly remember him going hog wild with kicks in the corner to Hansen which is some of the best Hansen selling. The referee has to pull him off and Gordy demolishes him. He really got fucked over. It was a double fuck over because Hansen was pissed because that snot nosed punk embarrassed him and as he chased him down he NAILED TENRYU WITH A WICKED LARIAT! What a perfect confluence of violent narrative building! He was actually not just surviving these American bullies he was thriving, nailing spinning heel kicks, dropkicks and wild, out of control Lariats. Both Gordy and Hansen took massive bumps for him. Kawada peeling around the corner and attacking Hansen from behind on the apron was ELECTRIC! Hansen mule kick and then DESTROYING the knee was EPIC! If that was electric, it was FUCKING NUCLEAR when Kawada made it back in for the ring and just rained down wild blows. Awesome! The Hansen & Gordy vs Tenryu handicap match was terrific too. So much energy mixed with the looming doom of Tenryu's fate, but with glimmers of hope. Hansen's selling was so good down the stretch. Hansen was the one feeding the hope spots being felled by chops and Enziguiris and Top Rope Reverse Elbow. Gordy was saving him. The energy was off the charts! Everybody was perfect! One of the best matches of all time! 

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 67: Best of All Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-1990 (Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen)

 Hey Yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,

Pro Wrestling Love vol. 67:

The Best of All Japan Pro Wrestling 1985-April 1990

Objective:  Break up the Greatest Match Ever Project (hosted at http://gweproject.freeforums.net/) into more manageable chunks to help me build my Top 100 List for the project.

Motivation: Contribute to the discussion around these matches to enrich my own understanding of pro wrestling and give a fresh perspective for old matches and even hopefully discover great pro wrestling matches that have been hidden by the sands of time.

Subject: This sixty-seventh volume of Pro Wrestling Love is the beginning of the Top 12 countdown of the best pro wrestling matches to take place in All Japan Pro Wrestling between 1985-April 1990. For the first time ever, Pro Wrestling Love does a partial year. Pretty straightforward. The last major Genichiro Tenryu match is in April of 1990 before his exodus to form SWS, which would later become WAR. His departure along with several others forced the push of the next generation of pro wrestlers namely, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Kenta Kobashi, the Four Corners of Heaven. In May of 1990, Misawa unmasked as Tiger Mask II and there is the famous six-man tag with the Elbow Heard 'Round The World pitting Jumbo's Army vs Super Generation Army for the first time. That explains the ending point. We previously did an All Japan series from 1980-1984 so that picks where that left off. The years 1985-1987 see a major shake up as Riki Choshu, a major player in New Japan, formed his "own promotion" Japan Pro-Wrestling and invaded All Japan Pro Wrestling. What may have started out as an earnest at founding his own promotion turned into a major stable for All Japan. This forced Baba away from the business model of native vs gaijin and away from the touring NWA & AWA World Champions. 1985 is about when the touring dates on the NWA World Champion started to dry up. Ted DiBiase would stop coming over once he signed with WWF. That really left Hansen and Gordy as the only two major heavyweights that consistently wrestled in All Japan. Once Choshu left in early 1987 to return to New Japan, Baba stuck with the native vs native concept and had Jumbo Tsuruta feud with his junior tag partner Genichiro Tenryu which became an instant sensation in the late 80s producing amazing match after amazing match both in singles and tags. It became the template for booking 90s All Japan. I hope you enjoy this article as I truly enjoying watching all these matches from this time period to come up with this list.  You can revisit past Pro Wrestling Love Volumes at ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com. You can check out the full version of these reviews in ProWrestlingOnly.com by going to the forums and finding the folders associated with the date of the match.

Contact Info: @superstarsleeze on Twitter, Instagram & ProWrestlingOnly.com.

Honorable Mentions

Masa Fuchi vs Hiro Saito - AJPW 6/12/86

Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi - AJPW 4/6/86

PWF World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masa Fuchi vs Mitsuo Momota - AJPW 3/29/89

Masa Fuchi may have had the most thankless role in all of pro wrestling as the head of the Junior Heavyweight Division in All Japan for a decade plus. Besides maybe the WWF/E, there has been no promotion more heavyweight-oriented than All Japan, but these matches show, Fuchi was putting on gems in the undercard.

Stan Hansen vs Terry Funk - AJPW 8/23/85 - All Japan 1985 Match of the Year

It is hard to be believe a match pairing Stan Hansen & Terry Funk could constitute a hidden gem, but this bad boy finishing at #75 on the DVDVR Top 150 for 80s All Japan leaves me scratching my head. Yes it is 2 years after their most famous, epic feud, but this match is an excellent post-script. 1985 was a weak year for All Japan in my opinion and this took the 1985 match of the year honors for this promotion in my opinion. 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa) - AJPW 3/9/88

Three years before their famous 6/8/90 encounter these two showed they had chemistry from jump in this match. Misawa had a very rocky, uneven 80s. Kawada handily was having better matches and in 1989 Kobashi showed more promise, but we would see once Misawa ditched the mask he would become The Ace. This is best 80s Misawa match.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel - AJPW 10/21/85

It is fitting in a way that last great touring World Heavyweight Championship match to take place in All Japan pitted the two different World Championship that came to All Japan. It was not just Flair & NWA that toured All Japan, but the AWA was a key staple in All Japan also. Jumbo's biggest win of his career until the Triple Crown was winning the AWA World Title from Nick Bockwinkel. Flair would have one more great match in Japan against Tenryu in SWS in 1992, but this was his last great one as NWA touring champion. As a massive Rick Martel mark, I am very glad that we got at least one Flair vs Martel in their primes match.

"Macho King" Randy Savage vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 4/13/90

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 4/13/90

Pro Wrestling just kinda has a way of working itself out. Yes there have been plenty of dream matches missed but more often than not, somehow someway, he get Savage vs Tenryu or Hogan vs Hansen in the Tokyo Dome because pro wrestling rules. Hogan had a long history in Japan. WWF was customarily aligned with New Japan, but when WCW switched allegiance from All Japan to New Japan, I guess that forced a realignment for WWF. The alliance wouldnt last long as WWF would switch their Japanese affiliation to SWS which would give us the badass matches of Hogan & Tenryu vs Road Warriors and Hogan vs Tenryu the singles match. Pro wrestling rules!

NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu - AJPW 6/21/85

NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta &  Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 2/5/86

NWA International Tag Team Champions Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 1/24/87

NWA International Tag Team Champions Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 2/5/87

The game changing feud of the 1980s, when All Japan went native vs native because Riki Choshu invaded the territory which came at a perfect time as gaijin sources were beginning to dry up. All these matches are great but they would top themselves in both singles and tags later in my list. Interestingly, I never watched a Jumbo vs Choshu singles match. I heard horror stories of a 60 minute draw which does sound like a terrible use of punk rockstar Choshu, but one day I will watch them too. 

NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs NWA United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 8/31/87

NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs NWA United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 10/11/87

NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 10/28/88

Jumbo Tsuruta, The Great Kabuki & Takashi Ishikawa vs Ashura Hara, Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 3/11/88

All Japan Triple Crown Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 4/19/90

Jumbo vs Tenryu is such a fundamentally important feud in All Japan. It gave us grouchy old man Jumbo best seen in the Six-Man tag where he beats the piss out of Fuyuki. It gave us ultra-motivated, take no prisoners, hold everyone in contempt Tenryu as he was just lighting everyone up. It was the template for Jumbo vs Misawa, Misawa vs Kawada and Misawa vs Kobashi. 90s All Japan started here.

AWA World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 7/26/86

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 9/20/87, All Japan Match of the Year, 1987

PWF & United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/27/88

An amazingly underappreciated pairing, Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu are generally considered ten of the greatest wrestlers that ever live but you almost never hear their singles matches against each other getting lauded in the same breathe as Hansen/Funk or Tenryu/Jumbo, but I definitely think they should! Tenryu loved to sell and work underneath. Hansen is a bull in a China Shop. It is a great pairing. In fact, I would say their 9/20/87 match is the best All Japan Match of 1987 even better than Jumbo/Tenryu matches from that year. These matches all rule, but wait there's more. 

PWF World Tag Team Champions Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs NWA International Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 8/31/85

Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase - AJPW 12/12/86

Before Terry Gordy, there was Ted DiBiase playing Stan Hansen Jr. These are the two best Hansen & DiBiase tag matches and not surprisingly they are against Jumbo  Tenryu.

NWA International Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/18/86

PWF & United National Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 4/16/89

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 6/8/89

Whereas, I will beat the drum for Hansen vs Tenryu as an underappreciated rivalry, I will admit, Hansen vs Jumbo underwhelms, but there are some great matches. The 1986 match is generally considered their best match together and I wholeheartedly agree. The match two days before the unify the Triple Crown is a kickass heated brawl. Unfortunately, the actual Triple Crown unification is more on the good side of the tracks. 

Giant Baba, Rusher Kimura & Masa Fuchi vs Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 9/24/89

Remember how said Fuchi had the most thankless role in pro wrestling, I definitely stand by it now. He had to carry two old timers up against one of the most elite fighting forces ever put together. This match is a load of fun. The Tenryu vs Fuchi dynamic is totally what makes it. Baba & Kimura rule too, but Tenryu vs Fuchi is what makes this easy a top 20 match of All Japan 85-89.

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/11/89

All Japan World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs - AJPW 10/20/89

Similar to how Hansen vs Tenryu is underappreciated, Hansen & Tenryu is too. The top match (7/11/89) did NOT even make the DVDVR 150 for 80s All Japan set! That match was awesome, a top 20 match of the 85-89 period! Thats how underappreciated we are talking. These two teams did have a match that reached even higher heights than these two, but to really appreciate that one, people really should watch these two first! 

All-Asia Tag Team Champions Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs Shunji Takano & Shinichi Nakano - AJPW 7/15/88

The last cut. I will be honest Footloose vs Can-Ams really disappointed for me. I was expected Top Ten material what I found was uneven, disjointed work. Some stretches were good others left we scratching my head. To me the Footloose classic was this one against Takano & Nakano! This is the balls to the walls bomb-throwing spotfest that I just loved! Check this one out.

Top 12 All Japan Pro Wrestling Matches 1985-April 1990

#12. Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/15/89

BABY KOBASHI~! And he is over like rover! Dont get me started on face & heel alignment in late 80s as I just dont get it. Jumbo & Kobashi are clearly the fan favorites. Tenryu & Hansen are quite the super team! What happened to Gordy? I dont even remember what he was doing at this point. What happened to Hara? Even with Tenryu as the Triple Crown Champ, this feels like Jumbo's promotion. Kobashi in red...is just bizarre, doesnt he know thats Taue's color!!? I was ten minutes in this match and it was so fast and so furious there was no way I could keep up with it and then write a review. Starting from the begining and doing this stream of consciousness style:

Jumbo goes full Leroy Jenkins and charges Tenryu at the bell and reigns down the elbows at the ringside table. This leaves poor Kobashi against Hansen and thus igniting one of the hottest, most epic feuds in pro wrestling history!  You see Tenryu flail a chair in self-defense at Jumbo as poor Kobashi gets a chair bounces off his back by Hansen. Jumbo High Knee in the ring! He hurts his knee in an interesting bit of selling that goes nowhere. Tsuruta chants! Kobashi comes in and hits a missile dropkick as Jumbo is holding Tenryu. Massive Kobashi chants like it is 1997. This is insane! I didnt expect him to be over at all. Tenryu chops Kobashi hard and CLUBS him with an Enziguiri. Hansen tagged into a big pop. Hansen brutalizes young Kobashi and sends him out. Jumbo saves Kobashi from the Grizzly by slamming him into the railing. Hansen evades the dropkick and bodyslams Kobashi. Big Kobashi chants. DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ALL STAR TEAM! Wicked. Suplex by Tenryu gets two and he comes and SLAPS Jumbo right off the apron. Kobashi spin wheel kick and he tags in Jumbo. Jumbo plays to the crowd. High Knee again to Tenryu and smack to Hansen on apron for good measure. Hansen tackles Jumbo! Kobashi is not shy and comes in and to fend off Hansen. That smack on the apron was dumb you knew Hansen was not going to take it lying down. Jumbo tries for a powerbomb or piledriver but Tenryu deadweights him. Jumbo applies an Abdominal Stretch on Tenryu and drops down into the Banana Split for a one count. 

Jumbo tags in Kobashi and holds Tenryu for the double axe handle. Kobashi is so over. Tenryu draws him in and tags in Hansen for knees Kobashi. Hansen BIG SELL of the reverse elbow as he tumbles out of the ring. Hansen takes back over on the outside. Hansen smothers him back in the ring. Great aggressive Hansen! Double Shouldertackle by the All Star Team. Tenryu chops the shit out Kobashi. This is exactly what I wanted out of this match. Hansen & Tenryu pummeling Kobashi. Kobashi reverse crossbody hope spot! Tag! Hansen heads Jumbo off at the pass and runs Jumbo down the apron and rams him into the metal turnbuckle. He brings him over to Tenryu as sacrificial offering and they take turns smacking the shit out of him. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat and a Cowboy Kick but Jumbo comes back with the Big Boot. More Tsuruta chants. Jumbo has the best bodyslam in history and follows that up with a kneedrop but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Jumbo Death Lariat middle of the ring for two. Kobashi tagged in applies a Single Leg Crab. Hansen breaks that up and Tenryu/Hansen beat the shit out of Kobashi. They do the FOOTLOOSE SPOT! Hansen whips Tenryu into an Out of Control Lariat into the corner. Massive Kobashi Chants! Tenryu wants the powerbomb but Jumbo intimidates Tenryu enough to abandon that and tags in Hansen. Hansen misses the elbow drop. Jumbo arm wringer and over the shoulder amrbreaker on Hansen's Lariat Arm and then wrestles him down by the Lariat arm into an armbar. Jumbo tags in Kobashi who axehandles the lariat arm and takes him over with an armdrag into a cross-armbreaker on the Lariat arm. Hansen rolls on his belly. Hansen rolls Kobashi up but Kobashi breaks free and maintains the pressure. Hansens elbows out and tags in Tenryu. Kobashi is tired of Tenryu's chops and lets Tenryu have it so many slaps and a big dropkick that has JUMBO FIRED THE FUCK UP! Crowd is going crazy for all this! Easily the spot of the match!

Another dropkick for two! He goes back to the well yet again. Two! Kobashi brings Tenryu over to Jumbo. Jumbo gets in on the action with a Jumbo dropkick and Hansen saves to a chorus of loud boos. Jumbo clamps on a side headlock on Tenryu. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Kobashi top rope crossbody for two! Kobashi throws on a chinlock to stick with theme of draining Tenryu's energy. 

Kobashi goes for some sort of legbar which I dont know if that an FU to Tenryu because I know Tenryu was using that around this time. Kobashi legdrop gets two. Kobashi chops away at Tenryu in the corner and now slaps. I think thats a bad idea and here comes Tenryu who slaps away. Kobashi tries throw a spinning heel kick and Tenryu just kicks through it! Tenryu tags in Hansen but Kobashi tags out. Jumbo High Knee on Hansen. Jumbo Goes back to the abdominal stretch. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Double Double Chop on Hansen. Hansen sandbags Kobashi, but Kobahsi takes him over anyways on the vertical suplex. Kobashi will not be denied! Hansen BIG BOOTS through a Kobashi dropkick. Hansen brought Kobashi over to the wrong corner and tagged in Jumbo. What the fuck happened there? Hansen holds Jumbo by the head as Tenryu LIGHTS HIS SHIT UP WITH CHOPS FROM HELL! DANGEROUS BACK DROPD RIVER BY JUMBO! Kobashi legdrop! Tenryu back drop of Kobashi.

Tenryu is still crouched over AND Jumbo stiff knees him. Jumbo tries for a piledriver and WESTERN LARIAT! HOLY SHIT! Jumbo reeling falls back into a tag. Kobashi missile dropick on Tenryu. The crowd & I are rocking! Hansen/Jumbo on outside. Fisherman Suplex by Kobashi gets two, which is an ultra hot nearfall. Amazing Kobashi is getting such a bright spotlight. Tenryu slows out. Clubbing Enziguiri. Hansen has Jumbo detained. The end is nigh me thinks. TENRYU POWERBOMB~! FOR THE WIN!

Were there way too many spots? Hell Yes! Did any one pairing ever have time to build a real narrative? Hell No! Was it fun as all get out? Hell Yeah! What separates a balls to the wall all-out workrate action match like this from the 21st Century is everyone is still struggling against each other and it still feels organic. There are no contrived spots. They are just tagging very very frequently so action stays brisk they constantly fighting into or away from the corners. How many times did we see people get knocked off aprons or as soon they tagged in they were bumrushed before they were even able to enter the match. The match felt like a fight. A very competitive match where they all wanted to win. Yes, I would like more narrative and something where every pairing mattered but this still rocked. Kobashi was the clear the star of the match! He was insanely over given his age & experience. They gave him a huge spotlight. Hansen sold big for him. Tenryu let Kobashi smack him around and hit a Fisherman Suplex as the last nearfall of the match. Jumbo was a big cheerleader for Kobashi. I was expecting a big Kobashi FIP but anytime he got in any semblance of trouble he tagged out. Jumbo vs Tenryu was red hot and Hansen versus anyone is automatically heated. This match kicked ass!

#11. PWF World Heavyweight Champion Riki Choshu vs Killer Khan - AJPW 7/31/86

I am just finishing Jack Weatherford's excellent Genghis Khan and specifically the chapter about Kublai Khan trying to invade Japan twice. In the first invasion, they were only thwarted because a massive Wind storm blew up and destroyed the Mongol fleet. This Divine Wind is known as the "Kamikaze" in Japanese. The use of a "barbaric" Mongol heel in the 1970s/80s, 700 years after the Mongol Invasions of Japan shows the impact of history. It is only fitting I watch a Killer Khan and one of his three classics at that. 

Riki Choshu is such a badass rockstar. What is the backstory here? This is heel vs heel, no? They tagged in 1985? Where was the falling out? This a Clash of Titans brawl. It is very Choshu and Khan is a perfect villain for the the Choshu style. He is much larger than Choshu, very imposing and can go blow for blow with the meaty Choshu. Lots of intense lock-ups. The unique aspect to me in this match was Khan's use of "War Cries" or "Ghoulish Screams". He sounded like a banshee. He clubbers Choshu down, mostly focusing on the midsection. It is a stomp to Choshu while he is in the supine position after being battered by relentless barrage of kneelifts that we hear the first of these war cries. He continues to use the War Cries throughout the match. Another aspect of the match that makes it great is the amount of struggle in the match. There is a lot of fighting through offense. The first major turning point is when Killer Khan misses his favorite Bombs Away Kneedrop from the top rope to the floor! Choshu begins to go to work on the larger Khan by clubbering away. There is such a great intensity to Choshu that makes this engrossing. In the ring, he uses the Dangerous Backdrop Driver and the Scorpion Deathlock to get the quick victory. This is an aspect of 80s  Puroresu, dont fuck around, humiliate your opponent by beating him so bad that it is a quick win. Khan gets to the ropes and escapes to outside. It is here we see the most emphatic use of the War Cries! Khan SCREAMS as he unloads with the Mongolian Double Chops! Choshu fires right back and bashing Khan's head into the ring post twice, he signals to the crowd that he is a badass and Khan is wearing the Crimson Mask! This is killer! Khan is stumbling and bumbling. I love how quickly Choshu closes the gap when Khan is trying to scale the apron. Those punches were wicked and the acceleration was ferocious. Choshu just keeps punching the head while Khan sells blood loss/concussed really damn well. He looks like he has been beaten to a bloody pulp on the floor. Choshu allows him to get back in presumably to end him. Choshu mercilessly punches the open wound but have he feels enough punishment has been meted out, he winds up for the Lariat but eats the BIG BOOT?!?! There is life in Killer Khan yet. Kneelift back to the midsection. Big double kneedrop followed up with the BOMBS AWAY KNEEDROP! Khan cant capitalize! He is too beaten up. Khan covers for two! Khan is incredulous! He is so besides himself, that he collapses outside to tell the front row fans that was three. This is crazy!  I have never seen anything like this. He is telling anybody that will listen that was three. Back in the ring, KNEEDROP! He still has three fingers up to the crowd. Again Choshu kicks out! Killer Khan is besides him as the crowd chants for Choshu. I think the end is nigh for Khan. He settles for choking the life out of Choshu with his care hands and then with wrist tape. Choshu kicks him off and the tape goes flying. Choshu pours it on with Big Dangerous Backdrop Drivers, BIG POPEYE WINDUP, Mack Truck Lariat, 1-2-NO!!!! Are you shitting me? Another Lariat does Khan in. 

More things change, the more they stay the same. The extra Lariat would become a staple of All Japan, NOAH and now New Japan and WWE. I dont think it was necessary at all. There was more heat on the penultimate pinfall attempt than the final. This is Clash of the Titans Tokyo Dome, WrestleMania Main Event structure to a tee. Everything feels huge. Khan not accepting his two count felt very Ultimate Warrior looking at his hands at WrestleMania VII for instance. Very simple (Khan works the midsection, misses Kneedrop, Choshu kicks ass, bloodies Khan, misses Lariat, Khan finish run, Choushu hulks up final finish run), but incredibly effective because of the heat. The heat is Khan's War Cries, his Kneedrops and his crazy awesome selling. The heat is Choshu oozing badass charisma out of every pore, not giving an inch and just kicking ass. Not quite tippy top, Greatest Match of All Time, but definitely an awesome Clash of the Titans-style, Dome Main Event match that Choshu excels in.

#10. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura - AJPW 11/29/89

Got a little taste of the old man team in an earlier six-man that featured Tenryu beating Fuchi like he fucked his girlfriend. Baba was Baba, such an amazing presence. Kimura seemed fine, interested to see what they can do against this Superpowers tag team. Part of the Real World Tag League and this will be done in the stream of consciousness style:

TENRYU DIVES ON BABA WHILE BABA IS STILL IN THE KIMONO OUTSIDE THE RING AND KNOCKS BABA OUT COLD AGAINST THE RAILING! ALL THE STARS! What an awesome start! Kimura starts headbutting Tenryu grabbing his hair and trying to exact revenge and survive & thrive. Bulldog by Kimura for two and we are off to a red hot start! Hansen tags in. Kimura is all headbutts maybe an eye rake. Someone is checking on Baba. Lariat by Kimura on Hansen and Kimura tries to open up Hansen with punches. Hansen stymied by Kimura. Hansen tags in Tenryu. MACK TRUCK LARIAT ON THE OLD MAN! Tenryu is pelting him with shots. Kimura can only headbutt! He is tenacious and it is all he has. Kimura chants. Tenryu Enziguiri! Hansen in and throws Kimura out. He bashes Kimura's head into the railing. Sets up the announce tables and bashed Kimura head into that. Tenryu smashes the table into Kimura's head. Hansen does it again. This is a great strategy against man's whose sole offense is headbutts. Or it could backfire because his head is so hard. Hansen sticks with the bashing the head strategy. Cold spray on Baba! Kimura knows no PAIN! He makes his comeback with headbutts completely. Choking Hansen. To quote Kal Rudman THAT IS BLOOD! Kimura is bleeding not surprisingly. Tenryu attacks Kimura and it is two on one. Great heel shit against and old fucking man. Double teaming him. What a bunch of assholes. Tenryu big boots to the cut. BABA IS ON HIS FEET!!! Tenryu gets two in the ring. Tenryu runs Kimura's head into Hansen's elbow. Shouldertackle by Hansen great cover only gets two, big pop. Hansen kicks to the head. Tenryu chops. BABA IS ON THE APRON! Tenryu sees it and keeps kicking Kimura in the head. Baba stomps Hansen's head on a cover! That was awesome! Baba selling like a mutha on the apron. Tenryu is LIGHTING KIMURA UP! Tenryu STRIKES HIM DOWN! Baba is mobile. Top Rope Reverse Elbow for two! Kimura wont stay down! Tenyu's stomp to Kimura's head is fucking criminal. Hansen elbows Kimura's cut. Tenryus knees the cut. This is a mugging! Baba is winding up. Time to get involved, Big Fella! Tenryu Enziguiri. Tenryu Chops Baba on the apron. Baba tells him come back over here. Tenryu charges into the corner and  runs into Kimura's head. ALL TIME GREAT TRANSITION! THE MUTHA OF ALL HOT TAGS!

BABA TIME! Baba mows him down with a  big boot! Big Boot for Hansen. Russian Legsweep by Baba selling the ribs! Hansen elbow to break it up! Baba attacks Hansen but here comes Tenryu. They are double teaming Baba! Baba head into knee. Baba realizes there is no Kimura. Tenryu charges and eats the chop! Baba Neckbreaker Drop! Hansen breaks it up. Baba is lying clutching his ribs. Hansen jabs the chair into Baba ribs! Baba Abdominal Stretch! Baba is a stud! Hansen breaks it up to boos. Tenryu slaps the bad rips. Overhand Chop! Tenryu tags in Baba. Hansen torpedo lunge at the bad ribs. Baba eye pokes! Baba overhand chop and big chop. Tenryu tags in and forearms to the  bad side. This is kinda dragging, hate to admit it. It has been so damn good. They are belaboring the point. Hansen is tenaciously going after the ribs. Tenryu and Hansen double team chops. Baba Big Boot on a  charging Tenryu gets the crowd going again but only gets two! Baba neckbreaker for two! Baba armbar takedown but Hansen saves. Baba chops Hansen who is selling like Arn Anderson for Baba and foot on ropes. Cowboy Kicks!  Double Shouldertackle. Double Suplex on Baba. Tenryu tries the Reverse Top Rope Elbow but Baba Back Supelx for two! Hansen back on the bad side. Spike Piledriver! Baba had trouble with that but Bab kicks out! Kimura on his knees. They reign elbows down on Baba like Ziggler on Lawler, too soon? The Tenryu/Hansen Powerbmb double team and Baba looks down. Kimura trips Hansen! WESTERN LARIAT ON KIMURA! Well he dead. Baba kicks out. Tenryu Enziguiri on Baba. Tenryu really revs up gets a monster head of steam but eats the Big Boot! Hansen goes FUCKING FLYING on The Western Lariat! Baba back drop out of Powerbomb for two. Tenryu Powerbomb on Baba! I am terrified! 1-2-3! Holy Shit Tenryu pinned BABA~! GODDAMN HE LEFT THE COMPANY LIKE SIX MONTHS LATER! INSANITY! They are lucky Baba didnt break his neck. Tenryu powerbombs are scary under normal circumstances nevermind with old man Baba!

I really loved the beginning, the hot tag and the finish! That dive totally caught me off guard and I was immediately hooked. All the Kimura stuff was super engrossing. Loved the reliance on the head, working the head and for the transition to be head-related. We all knew it was building to the hot tag. The hot tag ruled! I think they could have been more efficient. Let Baba get all his big spots in and have them break it up. Do the two on one, have Hansen take Kimura's head off and Tenryu pin Baba. I think they did too much work the side over. Baba was not a good enough seller to keep it interesting. Lets not dwell on the negative because 90% of this match was excellent pro wrestling!

#9. All Japan Triple Crown Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 10/11/89

I disagree with the DVDVR voters and I think that this is the second best Jumbo vs Tenryu match not the inaugural 1987 match and I dont think it is very close to the 1988 match. I like the inaugural 1987 match as a #3 and then 1988 and the other 1987 are a gulf apart. Late 80s All Japan reminds me a lot of early 2000s Ring of Honor. It is very noisy wrestling. There is a lot of action, BUT it is definitely NOT a spotfest because there is so much struggle escalation, but at the same time there is not a hook or narrative that you can really sink your teeth into. I thought this match was more sticky than the others which is why I would rate it as #2.

They started the match off with scouting similar to what they did in the famous 6/5/89. These spots would serve as the bedrock for the greatness of 90s All Japan which took inter-match storytelling to its highest level. Jumbo was very expressive at the beginning of the match. He was none too happy when Tenryu did not give him a clean break and gave him a shove and expressed his annoyance to the ref. Jumbo looked very confused when Tenryu evaded the first High Knee. The second High Knee Tenryu blocked and slashed Jumbo with a chop which he fired out of. Tenryu tried to set up his Enziguiri with an elbow but that didnt help much. As Jumbo avoided that. They went to working holds on the mat. The next flash point was Tenryu chopped Jumbo high. Jumbo is left gasping for breathe and is pissed. He shoves the ref down. Then murders Tenryu with a dropkick. That extension was just explosive. Baseball slide and slings him into the railing and cracks him with a chair. Back in the ring, Jumbo justifies everything to the ref by reminding him this was all caused because Tenryu was chopped in the throat. My favorite part of the match by far. 

Jumbo heat segment is solid here, good Big Boot, Butterfly Suplex and Boston Crab. Wisely they transition out to the second best part of the match, Tenryu's heat segment on Jumbo. Jumbo charges and eats a knee to the midsection. He crumples and writhes in pain. In most promotion, this is inconsequential, in All Japan they love their "side", "abdomen" psychology. Jumbo is squirming too much so Tenryu kinda fucks up the first kick, second kick, he has a clear mark and COWBOY KICK! The side injury allows Tenryu to hit his Enziguiri and his fancy new move, a Double Leg Takedown Lift (hes doesnt use underhooks, think of it like someone trying to powerbomb someone who was standing upright). I wouldnt think much of it but @Matt D told me it was a thing and definitely becomes a thing. They brawl on the outside. They fuck up a crossbody reversal spot. Jumbo comes out of it and hits a Belly to Belly Suplex to go on his second run. THESZ PRESS FOR TWO! It is bomb throwing time! Another mistiming this time on a bodyslam! You know what was NOT mistimed...THAT JUMBO DEATH LARIAT! He SMOKED HIM! The plume of sweat! That was awesome! Next thing I remember clearly is Tenryu used an Enziguiri to start a comeback and hit a more ordinary Back Suplex. Tenryu tries for the Powerbomb of course, but Jumbo back drops out and does a Tenryu style stomp to Tenryu exposed head. Hows that for a taste of your own medicine, asshole! Jumbo's Bomb Away Kneedrop as Tenryu has his head slightly lifted in the prone position was cool.

Can I change my pick for my second favorite part of the match? Tenryu blasts Jumbo off the top with a Lariat and follows that up by running a table into Jumbo on the outside! Tenryu cannot negotiate the Poerbomb again try as he might. I love Powerbobm struggle spots. Tenryu just kinds dumps him on his head. Goddamn man! Jumbo goes for the Back Drop Driver! Tenryu shifts his weight shades of Martin's little brother! I always mark out for that spot! Jumbo DEATH LARIAT! He got all of that! Wow! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! Too close to the ropes! Jumbo tries for a Powerbomb/Piledriver but cant negotiate it. Tenryu goes back to the Double Leg Takedown Lift and Jumbo does a Jumbo Hurricanarana for the win! In a move that inspired Misawa for decades to come! 

Loved Jumbo losing his shit! Enjoyed Tenryu working the side. I thought the finish stretch was a portent of things to come, Big Bombs that were timed perfectly, that felt earned and crescendo'd perfectly. 

#8. AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 8/29/89

REVOLUTION IS BACK BABY! Rematch of one of the best matches of the year right here! Jumbo & Yatsu have since won the tag titles back from Hansen & Tenryu which we do have on tape if I have time I will try to review that. Stream of consciousness baby:

Jumbo and Tenryu to stat! Heated as always. Tenryu bowls Jumbo over and goes for the Powerbomb early. He gives up. Jumbo gets an armbar takedown. They trade chops as Jumbo garners wrist control. Tenryu evades the High Knee and grabs the ankles and reverses Jumbo direction which was cool. Tenryu tags in Kawada. Kawada spinning heel kick. Kawada wraps Jumbo in a front chancery. Jumbo destroys Kawada with a kneelfit. Kawada eats Yatsu knee and it is back to Kawada midsection with the kneelift and then sidewalk slam. Tenryu tags in. Yatsu cuts him off with chops and big dropkick. Yatsu believes a good offense a great defense. Yatsu headbutts in the corner. Yatsu taking it to him. Tenryu gets kneelift and wicked cracking chops against Yatsu tags in Kawada. Kawada missile dropkick as Tenryu held him. Kawada spinning heel kick and baseball slde. Kawada brings such great energy to these tags. Yatsu is selling on the outside and taking time to regroup. He is not dumb asks ref to keep Kawada back. Kawada looks for singles leg but maneuvers him back into Tenryu. They do the Footloose spot ending in a Spinning Heel Kick. Tenryu Enziguiri as they are starting to consolidate their advantage against Yatsu. Yatsu's head meets Kawada's knee, Kawada tags in. Kawada Kicks look ferocious some of the best he has ever thrown. Yatsu catches a kick into Human Capture suplex great transition! Off to a rollicking start!

Jumbo tags in. High knee! JUMBO PILEDRIVER! 1-2-No. Crowd didnt buy it. I liked it. Jumbo wraps him up in a sleeper and Tenryu kicks right in the head. They trade chops in the big scuffle. Kawada comes flying in a with a Spinning Heel Kick. Tenryu Enzguiri. Tenryu German for two. Kawada crossbody on Jumbo as Tenryu holds him. Kawada headscissors on Jumbo. I have really enjoyed this match so far. Some gravitas to the workrate. Tenryu cowboy kicks to Jumbo while in the hold. Yatsu takes umbrage to this and a skirmish breaks out. That was cool, you dont see that often, the illegal man coming in to add insult to injury as opposed to break it up. Jumbo gets to his belly anad escapes. Kawada goes flying into the buckles and really sells his side. Remember all those kneelifts to the side earlier in the match! Jumbo signals to the crowd he is ready to kick ass. Kawada is such a great seller. Backbreaker focused on side. Kawada is left writhing in pain. Jumbo kneelift and Kawada's bump and selling are incredible. Jumbo abdominal stretch and Yatsu crashes down onto Kawada. Yatsu charging kneelfit. This is awesome! Again! Kawada collapses to the outside through the ropes. Kawada rules! Jumbo throws him back in. Back Suplex by Yatsu. Yatsu abdominal stretch. Tenryu slaps Yatsu to break it up. Kawada Enziguiri. Yatsu crawls but cant stop him.

Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat on Yatsu. He throws him out. Yatsu slings an injured but game Kawada into the railing. Dont be bringing that into my house! Tenryu kicking the injured Yatsu. Tenryu works on an armbar on Yatsu. Tenryu swift kick and Kawada kicks pour it on. Kawada kicks into Yatsu but it feels like it might be too early for him to come back. He is still wincing and clutching his side. He works a crossarmbreaker. Yatsu escapes and they struggle on he mat. Kawada knees him in head and tags in Tenryu. Tenryu kicks Yatsu in the head and Yatsu enziguiri, great Tenryu sell. Classic Tenryu stomp to Yatsu's head that looks criminal. Kneedrop on Yatsu and meaty chops. Yatsu GERMAN SUPLEX! 2! Kawada saves. Kawada tagged in and Kawada bodyslam. Kawada kneedrop. Sneaky good heat segment on Yatsu here. Kawada tries to powerbomb Yatsu but it IS just too much.

Jumbo tags in not a lot of fire JUMBO POWERBOMS KAWADA! Ok I see you Jumbo. Tenryu kick to the head to break up the pinfall and another while Jumbo is on ground. Jumbo lights Tenryu's shit up and then knocks the ref down. Jeez Jumbo dont have to get hot about it. Ref has a broken nose! What the fuck! Rewinding for that. This tag became a VERY HOT TAG! Rewound. Jumbo fucking smoke the ref on that SWAT! Jumbo Death Bodyslam on Kawada! Havent seen one of those in a while. Nobody with a better bodyslam. He does another one. High Knee Sandwich, I am pretty sure the commentator has been calling that spot a Sandwich the whole time too. Yatsu piledriver! 1-2-NO! Crowd has been pretty dead for this badass match! Dont they know there will be a Pandemic in 31 years and they have to savor every moemnt of this! Jumbo creams Kawada with a  big boot. Tenryu breaks it up. Jumbo misses Kawada on a High Knee but reconfigures and clobbers Tenryu with an elbow. Kawada ROARS BACK WITH A OUT OF CONTROL LARIAT!

Tag to Tenryu! Enziguiri! Tenryu chops! Slashing! Bodyslam Reverse Top Rope Elbow! Yatsu yanks him off. Tenryu tags in Kawada. Kawada Kick and Jumbo falls to his ass. Kawada Top Rope Sunset Flip! Crowd is starting to heat up. Frequent tags. Tag to Tenryu. Double shouldertackle. Tenryu blasts away with chops. Jumbo misses the elbow when Tenryu ducks. Awesome! Kawada misses the Spinning Heel Kick, Jumbo Death Lariat! Tenryu saves! Tenryu tags in. Jumbo High Knee! Jumbo is his won hot tag! Jumbo misses LARIAT IN CORNER Mack Truck Lariat by Tenryu! Yatsu breaks it up and attacks Tenryu. Tenryu slaps him. Jumping High KICK Right to Jumbo's Face! POWERBOMB! Illegal Yatsu pulls him off and powerbombs Tenryu! INSANITY! Jumbo tags out! Yatsu is clobbering with swinging lariats and knees in the corner. This matches rules so hard! Jumbo is cheerleading. Tenryu refuses to be bulldogged. Yatsu keeps trying. Kawada comes flying into the screen with a Spinning Heel Kick. MARK OUT CITY! Tenryu Enziguiri. Tenryu Powerbomb NOT TODAY SAYS Jumbo! Tenryu misses the crossbody didnt think I have seen that. Yatsu inverted Figure-4 and Kawada rifles him with a barrage of kicks. Enziguiri/Spinning Heel Kick sandwich. Kawada German for two. Tenryu BLASTS Jumbo off the apron. Doesnt look good for the champs! Yatsu catches Kawada off the top rope with a powerslam. Crazy spot! Crazy back suplex for the win! Jumbo & Yatsu retain! 

What the fuck how this is not as highly regarded as the first match! I think this match is just as good if not better! I thought there was a lot more selling and stickiness to the spots. The Jumbo vs Tenryu shit was red hot just ask the ref! The finish was killer. I think I need to watch both matches back to back. Wicked good!

#7. AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 2/23/89

Fun fact: Jumbo & Yatsu had just recently won the titles back from Hansen & Gordy in Kansas City of all places. Central States was long gone. Says it was at a World Wrestling Alliance card. Who was running that? So I did some research, Geigel tried to stage a comeback it sounds like after selling to Crockett and tried to go National under the name World Wrestling Alliance card using Mike George as his champion. Jesus. The Mike George vs Dick Slater match to crown the inaugural WWA Champion has piqued my interest.  

Kawada in the leopard print never gets old, imagine if he tried to carry that into the 90s selling out the Budokan having the greatest matches in pro wrestling history looking like that. Kawada was wicked over in this match. Besides the one Jumbo singles match, it feels like Kawada is getting way bigger opportunities than Misawa in the 80s.

Kawada & Yatsu to start but the heat is on the big boys of course. Tenryu grabs Yatsu when he backs into the wrong corner. Jumbo takes exception to that.  Before you know it they are put tagged in (Jumbo did feed for a Kawada reverse crossbody to set up the tag out) and they just go at each other like two fucking rams. Jumbo wins that battle with a High Knee followed by a Spike Piledriver! I love when Jumbo hollers to the crowd.  The Tenryu vs Yatsu firefight is wicked. Mack Truck Lariat to escape and tag in Kawada. Yatsu stops Kawada dead in his tracks with a wicked thrust kick. The are definitely establishing a pecking order. Jumbo quashes the Kawada Crucifix Pin dropping back. This is when it was hard to make out if the crowd was chanting for Tsuruta or Kawada. Kawada used the out of control Lariat to escape and tag in Tenryu. Kawada shows shades of Footloose when he lets Tenryu whip him for a crazy lariat into the corner. Tenryu licks his hand for a CRACKING CHOP IN THE CORNER! Not very sanitary but the result were effective! All the heat is on Jumbo vs Tenryu with Kawada being that crazy spark plug that you are just wondering if he will be ab asset or a liability in the match. 

Kawada loses control of the advantage to Jumbo who wriggles out of a hold and counters into a toehold. He tags out to Yatsu who takes Kawada on a ride with two bulldogs. Back Drop Driver on the 3rd Bulldog attempt brings Tenryu in. Tenryu BRINGS THE PAIN! Wicked chops! I have been watching a ton of New Japan vs UWF so when Tenryu drops down into a straight kneebar I am wondering what promotion I am watching. Goo struggle from Yatsu to make the hold more exciting. Tenryu goes ful mount and unleades a brutal ground& pound punctuated by RIFLING HIM WITH A COWBOY KICK! Kawada eager to prove himself drops the Senton and goes back to the leglace. Kawada does not have it tight enough and Yatsu tags out in the hold. Which I think should be illegal. Jumbo not to be outdone...COWBOY KICK! Jumbo has murder in his eyes. HIGH KNEE! Whips Kawada into the rails. Abdominal stretch, Yatsu comes from across the ring to drive the knee into the trapped Kawada. Three times we have thought Kawada was going to be in peril and it looks like it finally happening as Yatsu has targeted the knee out of revenge for what happened to him. Yatsu vulnerable as he has Kawada in a leglace eats some of the most brutal stomps to the head I have ever seen. Yatsu break and glares at Tenryu. Yatsu powerslams Kawada and goes to the Inverted Figure-4. Jumbo plays watch dog. Tenryu dives with a dropkick and this leaves him open to being attacked by Jumbo. JUMBO VS TENRYU BRAWL BREAKS OUT ON THE OUTSIDE! Yatsu applies the Inverted Figure-4, if the brawl continued I would have bit on this as a finish. The crowd is chanting for Kawada thunderously this is when I noticed he was wicked over. Jumbo continues to beat on the knee. Kawada even in 1989 is a champ at selling the knee in how he later his rope running. Jumbo sets too early, kick and tag out. ENZIGUIRI! GERMAN! 1-2-NO! Jumbo Death Lariat for two! It is All Japan baby! SLASHING CHOP FROM TENRYU! Kawada tags back in. Seems way too soon. He eats a High Knee right to the face! Jumbo High Knees Kawada right in front of Tenryu which was a bad idea as Tenryu just swings for the fences and connects with a lariat! Tenryu and Jumbo on the floor! Yatsu and Kawada join them. TENRYU HAS A CHAIR! I definitely thought we were getting the double countout. Kawada closed fist to Jumbo in the ring! Jumbo is bleeding! Kawada gets a nearfall on Jumbo. Tenryu tags in. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat! Tenryu working the cut with stomps! Tenryu's chops in this match are otherworldly. Tenryu tags back out. Kawada spinning heel kick! Kawada Back Drop Driver! Jumbo tags out after punting Kawada.  Yastu pummels Kawada in their corner. FLESH ON FLESH! MAN ON MAN! Jumbo throws Kawada into Tenryu, before Tenryu can enter the ring, Jumbo MUGS HIM!  JUMBOS HAS HIS FOOT ON TENRYU'S FACE! After all that heat, going to the abdominal stretch is a letdown. Kawada breaks it up. Tenryu Enziguiri! He attempts the Powerbomb for the first time. TENRYU POWERBOMB!!!! Yatsu saves! Tenryu is pissed! Jumbo nails him from behind with a wicked elbow! High Knee Tenryu Sandwich! Tenryu has the best chops ever in this match. Yatsu powerbomb but Kawda saves. Kawada barrage of kicks to Yatsu BEATS HIM BACK WITH OVERHAND CHOPS! Yatsu misses a charge... KAWADA Bridging German for two but Jumbo saves. Yatsu bridging German and Tenryu saves. Nice symmetry. Yatsu tags out and Tenryu comes charging across ring with Lariat. Top Rope Sunset Flip! Jumbo hotshots Tenryu for three!!!!!! WAIT NO HE KICKED OUT!!!! WHAT THE FUCK! Tenryu Enziguiri after a bunch of nearfalls. Kawda missile dropkick, Jumbo tags out. Yatsu headbutts! Kawada schoolboy for two gets huge heat. Yatsu throws him down on his ass on the Spinning heel kick. Yatsu German broken by Tenryu who says not on my watch. Jumbo tries to kick Kawada head off his body REPEATEDLY! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-3! WOW WHAT A MATCH! 

Three all-time classic performances, Tenryu was insane in this match. He was a Man Possessed. His chops were sick and brutal. You need to watch the match just for those chops. He was a surly, ornery bastard. He was in total fight mode. Kawada crushed it as Young Lion in over his head, biting off more than he can chew, but coming back for more. Jumbo as the Ace, protecting his yard and ripping into Kawada & Tenryu when ever he could. Yatsu was great dont get me wrong, but he didnt have that clear defined role. He was just throwing hands and throwing bodies. I had never heard this match talked up but JK and In Your Case are right, this is an all-timer hiding in plain sight. It is 1989 All Japan and it is hard to believe anything is left that has been talked to death, but this ruled and is definitely harbinger of the matches to come!