January 1990

Jumbo Tsuruta | Great Kabuki | Isao Takagi vs Genichiro Tenryu | Toshiaki Kawada | Samson Fuyuki January 2, 1990 All Japan Pro Wrestling New Years Giant Series 7.5 Even if we concede that the Jumbo-Tenryu rivalry, which was nearing the three-year mark at this point, was getting old, there is no denying that the work in the ring is still excellent, whether it comes from Tenryu and Kabuki trading chops and uppercuts or Isao Takagi's inspired underdog babyface performance, capped off by a five-alarm blade job. The entire match builds to Takagi getting a close, believable nearfall on Tenryu. Regardless of Tenryu's imminent departure, perhaps it was a sign that…

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I've never heard of Nishiwaki, but she completely eats shit on a tope to the outside by bum-rushing Bull before the match even begins and juices herself into a crimson mask, so now I love her. She ends up being a great foil for Bull as the plucky, out-of-her-depth babyface. Her surprise attack in the beginning only serves to bite her in the ass. Nishiwaki postures and stalls a lot as she ponders on what to do, and even when she's gifted an opportunity (Bull injures her arm clotheslining a ring pole), it doesn't really amount to anything because Bull is an unstoppable titan. By the end, it's all high-risk moves and desperation bombs as Bull walks through everything she has…

Long, quality lucha that told a story. Early on Emilio Charles Jr. gets the better of Azteca during a wrestling exchange. Of course Angel takes great offense to this and immediately goes after Emilio. Azteca going out of his way to ram into Emilio with a huge forearm while in the middle of a rope running exchange with Espectro was straight out of the AJPW playbook. Of course Emilio Jr. makes him pay dearly later when he slaps the hell out of him during the beatdown. That along may have been the highlight of the match along with Aztecas bumping, including flying with his back into the edge of the ring apron. Of course Super Astro and Kung Fu also do lots of fun wrestling. …

Quality main event. There are some rudo interference shenanigans early on, but we get a long 1st fall with everyone wrestling. You know it's gonna be good when El Dandy is in his Kazuo Yamazaki tights and UWF kickpads. I especially liked the Dandy/MS-1 matchup. MS-1 is a trickier grappler than he looks like and they play up the size difference. Popitekus is an awesome big tubby luchador and also way brave as he bumps bigger and more often than a guy his size should. Pierroth Jr. deciding to work over Mogur with stiff kicks to the spine was quite unexpected and things took a harsh turn when Mogur decided to fight fire with fire and also rip his mask. Pierroth cracks him op…

Well this was just a classic lucha romp with that rudo/technico dynamics. Tons of highly entertaining technicos one upping the clumsy bad guys sequences. The rudo trio is pretty dedicated – Hijo de Gladiador takes a front flip bump when he misses a punch, and Herodes is just gleeful about his own evilness, while El Supremo has a very different presence. I liked how the rudo beatdown started with Supremo basically having enough and clocking Pantera with a stiff elbow. Of the technicos I'd say I liked Pantera II the best who has such beautiful armdrags and his trademark rope running spot altough everyone did something cool. The 3rd fall had some really amusing chase spots. …

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This is about 8 minutes of a title match on TV. Seems like the start and finish sandwiched between a commercial break. Perez Jr. comes off as your better than average regional babyface. He shows a lot of charisma but is also pretty smooth and proficient with his work. Race comes off as typical Harley here, although I was surprised that he could still move around pretty well at this point of his career. He does hit the piledriver on the floor a little more than 2 minutes into the match but Perez Jr. at least tries to cover it up with some good selling considering the situation. The selling at the finish was goofy as Race gets in a belt shot but Perez Jr. seems fine getting…

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What a delicious wee slice of indy sleaze. This had all the potato shots and grimy nastiness you want in an eight minute Kurisu/Tarzan Goto match. I remember reading the old DVDVRs and they'd refer to Goto as Tarzan Scroto and I guess I convinced myself he must be shit because he's a little fat guy working a deathmatch fed. Thankfully common sense has prevailed and general opinion on Goto has since improved. I mean he is a little fat guy working a deathmatch fed, but he's an awesome little fat guy working a deathmatch fed and at this point in my life as a fan I'd much rather watch him than most of the junior heavyweights I was hunting down tapes of back then. His ribs are…

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Minis get to stretch out for 3 long falls and do their thing and the result is accordingly good. Lots of fun matwork and armdrags ensue. Pequeno Goliath carries himself with some amazing swagger. The standout was obviously Mascarita Sagrada who just does amazing stuff. Lots of complex sequences built around whacky armdrag variations. I liked how the rudos would continue with their tactics throughout the 3rd fall, building to another great technico comeback. They tease a big Espectrito/Mascarita showdown which is the hottest matchup here but end the match a little prematurely. Still, nothing to complain when you get 20+ minutes of quality lucha.

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On 1/5 we got a couple very good trios matches, and one week later we get the singles matches we want to see most coming out of each. Booking can be so easy. And this was a great little match between two overlooked workers. We start in great simplistic fashion with both guys really cranking a side headlock and a wastelock each. The whole match they did a great job working around simple moves. Pierroth Jr. works over Mogurs shoulder using repeated armdrags, really whipping him into the mat and Mogur wincing. Later Mogur gets some nice revenge by locking in ultra tight headscissors, he has a brutal looking armwringer too that drives Pierroths shoulder into the mat. They do …

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