June 1987

Tenryu not showing up in AJPW in 1995 and working a program with Misawa might be the biggest missed opportunity of 90's AJPW. The booking was stale as fuck that year and Tenryu, who seems to have done almost nothing that year, would have been perfect to spice things up. Would have also been a great dynamic with Tenryu as the old ass kicker taking it to the resilient ace. They do have some good interactions in tags, but this and a horribly disappointing NOAH match are all we have of that dynamic in a singles match. I had actually seen this several years ago but remembered nothing of it. I imagine someone watching this less attentively could have just written off the o…

Neat neat neat! Exactly what I had hoped for-Tenryu-Wajima is the biggest match-up, and they smartly tease it, and while they do so Ishikawa carries the workload, not only does he bust out awesome chops and knees, he even makes the sloppy middle kicks seemingly everyone in 80s All Japan did look great. Hara is just so on point here too-really bringing the violence, his Headbutts looked vicious here, and his chops and Lariats are just on another level, he's like a whole smashing into something. Wajima is hardly a super worker, but the crowd buys into him and he has solid offence, that's enough to reach greatness when everyone else is so good. Loved how he and Tenryu provok…

Quite an odd structure here-the match starts with awesome brawling, as Tenryu and Hara just beat the hell out of Nakano, and light Yatsu up goint toe to toe with him, but then that's broken up by a limbwork section that serves no purpose (from a narrative standpoint, you could argue its use in terms of pacing) and then the match turns into a spotfest. Still, the good prevails-Tenryu and Hara make everything they do vicious, Yatsu has some neat moves like the German Suplex and his cut-off Sliding Lariat was fantastic, and Nakano fired up well and made the crowd buy into him, together with Tenryu's selling and timing on the kick-outs late in the match. ***1/4

I wasn't expecting this one to actually GROW on me on a rewatch since I thought it was pretty great the first time I saw it but here we are. Fujiwara jumps Choshu at the bell and dominates the opening with neat punches and headbutts. What really stands out is how much Choshu protecting his image of a badass adds to the match-he's always looking for a way, either with body blows or kicks. Fujiwara dismisses Choshu's comeback attempts initially but quickly resorts to choking once he realises he is in serious peril. And Choshu doesn't let Fujiwara just choke the life out of him either-he grabs Fujiwara by the face, to which Fujiwara reacts by grabbing that arm and Armbaring …

Masa Saito vs Kengo Kimura - NJPW 6/10/87 Great little TV match built around Kimura's bum wheel. This reminds me of a great Arn Anderson Saturday Night performance. Kimura tries to out-heel Saito early pulling hair and using closed fists. The punches were in response to Saito making a go at that bad leg. Kimura does not finish the job and Saito hits his Saito Suplex. Saito goes for the arm at first but as he has a double wristlock he looks at the bandaged knee. He drops the arm and pulls on a very tight toehold. Obviously he is thinking Scorpion, but Kimura makes it out alive. Saito pulls out some Bockwinkel tricks from AWA playing King of the Mountain nice shoulderb…

Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara - AJPW 6/11/87 Let the war begin! Probably my biggest blind spot is the late 80s Jumbo vs Tenryu that changed the game in All Japan. Jumbo vs Choshu was native vs native but there was still an outsider/invader element to it with Choshu being from New Japan. With Choshu returning to New Japan and the gaijin well drying up, Baba is forced to split up Jumbo & Tenryu and forever change the All Japan booking paradigm. I understand the backstage reasons why they were split up but what happened onscreen before this match because they looked pretty pissed at each other already. The crowd was red hot …

Antonio Inoki vs Masa Saito - NJPW 6/12/87 Inaugural IWGP Champion The winner of this will be crowned the inaugural IWGP champion. Before the G-1 Climax, there were annual round robin tournaments in New Japan since 1974 about a year after the founding the company. They were first called the World League then the MSG League and finally the International Wrestling Grand Prix which is a fucking badass name for a tournament. As one would suspect, Antonio Inoki won the vast majority of these, but other winners included Seiji Sakaguchi, Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan, a pretty illustrious list. Inoki would defend titles such as the NWF Heavyweight Championship a title out …

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes - NWA Worldwide 6/13/87 Originally, I skipped this match, but this was the major angle going into Great American Bash that all the promos centered around so I figured I'd go back and watch it. This is NOT just for the Television Championship, it is also for a $100,000 jackpot with each man contributing 50 grand of their own money. This stems from Tully's $10k challenge. Stream of consciousness, if you will... The Dusty vs Tully singles feud probably defined Crockett more than any other singles feud in this era. It was woven from beginning to end. Dusty drops Tully face first into the match. Armdrag. Now it is…

Dick Murdoch vs "Dr. Death" Steve Williams - UWF 6/13/87 Crockett has purchased the UWF by this point and Big Bubba Roger is the UWF heavyweight champion. This match is to determine the number one contender to Big Bubba's championship. Murdoch is a full-on heel being managed by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Doc is the last babyface standing in the UWF after the buyout as DiBiase and Duggan jumped ship to the WWF. Jim Ross is on commentary and Doc is wrestling so yes there is a huge Boomer Sooner Orgasm late in the match that is just hilarious to listen to about the OU/Nebraska rivalry. Weird aside, growing up in Boston most people were/are Notre Dame fans for college …

WWF Intercontinental Champion Ricky Steamboat vs Honky Tonk Man - WWF 6/2/87 It feels like a pretty routine title defense for Steamboat that worked in most of his familiar spots and he was working with great energy. Honky was bumping for him and besides a short heat segment really did not do much. He teased Shake Rattle Roll and then Steamboat came off with a BIG off the top, in a conventional match it would have been over. The finish was strange. Jimmy Hart distracted the ref, but Steamer dispatched of both, but when he went for the pin, Honky kinds but not really got on top and the ref did not break his count. It was a weird finish and not one that really protected …

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Harley Race - MSG 6/22/87 Texas Death Match I could have sworn I had seen this before, but there is no way because I would never forget such a badass match. Honestly, this could be the best Hogan match of his career and this is going to sound weird but I think this is the greatest Harley Race match I have ever seen. I have seen a lot of "Texas Death" matches in WWF and besides the Patera '80 one they aren't really all that violent and awesome. This was violent and this was awesome. Hogan tears into Harley. Lots of brawling around the ring. This would feel more comfortable in Memphis or Greensboro. Hogan just ramming Harley'…

NWF Rage in a Cage June 20, 1987 in Bricktown, NJ @ Ocean Ice Palace Bruiser Brody & Jules Strongbow vs DC Drake & Damian Kane. Talk about it here

NWF Rage In A Cage, Bricktown NJ at the Ice Palace. June 20, 1987 NWF Women's Title Steel Cage Match Wendi Richter (c) vs. Heidi Lee Morgan

NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard vs Ricky Morton - Superbouts 6/27/87 I got sucked down an Ole Anderson shoot interview rabbit hole along with trying to find any discussion around the fascinating, mysterious Jim Barnett. Oh my boy, I simply must get back to reviewing matches to meet deadline of this project. The website I found with the Superbouts match listing says this was aired on 6/27/87 which before the proper build to Tully/Arn vs Rock N Rolls. This is more just general Horsemen vs Babyface savagery. Superbouts was Crockett's answer to Primetime Wrestling. This is a consequence of the great Tully TV title defense against Gibson. Firefight erupts…

Ric Flair & Lex Luger vs Ronnie & Jimmy Garvin - World Championship Wrestling 6/27/87 The Network describes this as a dream match. I mean it is a very good match dont get me wrong, but I dont think anyone ever had sweet dreams of seeing the Garvin teams up against Flair & Luger. Jimmy Garvin is SO weird as a babyface. He is such a scummy scuzzball heel that I just cant accept him as a babyface. He does not seem to know how to adapt. I have a morbid curiosity to watch Flair vs Jimmy Garvin matches because what formula would he use. Jimmy Jam is too big for the Koko Ware/Ricky Morton formula. He is not good enough for the Steamboat formula. He does no…

Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 06/29/87 They had a corker of a match about 20 days prior to this. This one is just as heated but the finish is so abrupt it makes the match feel incomplete. Fujiwara comes out of the gate red hot, slapping Big Match Riki down, stomping him and throwing those Fujiwara headbutts. Fujiwara really loved choking Choshu in this match. Riki fires up and starts giving as good as he gets. You know those silly stand there and eat shots that New Japan does all the time in 2010s this is how it ought to be done. These dudes are standing & banging! The crowd is going wild! Fujiwara is the one who finally takes it to the mat with a cross…