September 1987

This is a good companion piece to the May tag match, with the same intensity and hot exchanges. I loved Fujiwara in this -- his ability to take a beating from the opposition is one of his hallmarks but he does his fair share of dishing out the revenge slaps and headbutts. I thought Maeda looked really good here, especially in his interactions with Yamazaki, whether its catching a kick and dropping down into a leglock, snapping off a belly-to-belly suplex or sweeping the leg in a beautiful counter. At one point, he hits what looks like a capture buster! In the final minutes of the match, Takada is blasting Yamazaki with some nasty kicks, landing a few to the head and face,…

Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami - NJPW 9/7/87 This was during the brief shift in directions of New Japan booking in the Summer of 1987 as explained on Chris Jericho's podcast when they discussed the Inoki vs Saito Island Death Match and something also KinchStalker has discussed on here towards an Intergenerational feud. After Inoki won the inaugural IWGP Championship by beating Masa Saito, in the post-match Inoki aligned himself with the old guard of Saito, Sakaguchi and Fujiwara. While Maeda, Fujinami and Choshu became aligned. This led to some strange bedfellows and opponents. Typical Choshu & Saito would be aligned a…

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Killer Khan - Boston 9/12/87 Amazing finish! I wont spoil it because it had me marking out. Amazing babyface vs heel match here. Khan jumps out ahead of Hogan going for the throat relentlessly. Choking him with tape, thrusting at his throat and Fuji gets in on it. Hogan is selling well. Khan spits a green loogie at the ref when the Hulkster ducks. Khan is kicking his ass all over the ring and outside the ring. Hogan makes his first comeback and it is MOLTEN! He is gives him back everything and then some with the tape and back rakes and absolutely slams a chair into him twice on the outside. Hogan in these crazy brawls has b…

Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi - NJPW 9/17/87 Interesting that the August match had two posts about it, but this match has no thread. The August match finished at #11 in DVDVR voting and this finished at #14 so only three spots separate them. From the line up, I think I would like this one more on paper. Mutoh just didnt fit with the Old Guard, while I love Hoshino's punch combinations, Masa Saito and Dick Murdoch add a lot of star power. I think Captain Redneck as the sole gaijin in the feud. As for the New Generation, I think …

Fuckin Hector Guerrero v Sangre Chicana, brothers and sisters! That is a legitimate Tier 1 dream match for me that I never would've even thought about until I stumbled upon this. The primera is basically a full Guerreros show and it was amazing. Chavo had some nifty matwork with Markus Jr. that effectively became him tying Jr. up, followed by Jr.'s old man coming in to lend a hand before being shooed back out. He'd try and sneak up on Chavo like one of those don't wake the bear games you'd play when you were four and wrestling used to rule. Shockingly enough, Hector v Chicana was my own personal highlight, much like seeing OutKast and the Wu-Tang Clan sharing a stage woul…

NWA US Champion Lex Luger vs Barry Windham - NWA World Championship Wrestling 9/19/87 You can see how influence Lex Luger is by Ric Flair in both his working style and post-match promo. The babyface shine is all about him getting shown up. He is powdering constantly. He is getting thwarted constantly. He is making BW look like a million bucks. Luger tries to cheat, Windham overcomes. Luger tries to wrestle, Windham sends him on his ass packing. The Windham punch that has Luger scurrying was great. Both men are playing their roles so well. Windham misses a dropkick and Luger rolls Snake Eyes. We head to an ad break. I was disappointed Luger didnt get more of a heat se…

NWA World Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express vs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - NWA World Championship Wrestling 9/19/87 I cant believe I am about to say this and it is almost sacrilege, but this match is way too long and did not need to be this long. They could have shaved 10-15 minutes off this and had a way tighter match. Almost it looked hotter than hell in there. They were sweating profusely within five minutes. The finish did no favors to this match. You invest that much time into the match and no one goes over is pretty lame. Should have just put the RnRs over clean . The babyface shine in this match shows why even a solid, basic one like this goe…

Tully Blanchard vs Ricky Morton - NWA Worldwide 9/19/87 Texas Death Tully & Morton are embroiled in the red hot Arn & Tully vs Rock N Rolls feud. I kinda panned the really long tag match that was around this. I was told either my footage of the match ended prematurely or I ended it prematurely. I will have to go back and watch it at some point. It is really, really long so I think I go to save that for a weekend night. Lets rock on this one! No tag title change yet. Chad/Soup gave this high marks, but does it live up to the hype? Firefight in the corner, Morton wins and Blanchard is overwhelmed and falls outside the ring. Morton gives chase and gives him…

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 9/20/87 I watched this last weekend, but was too tired to write a review. I really liked it at the time and wanted to do it justice. I rewatched it just now and thought this was tremendous especially with regard to Hansen. Hansen throws a classic Hansen fit at the outset of the match hurling chairs into the audience and all around ringside. He is a madman! This is full Bull in the China Shop Hansen in all his glory. They tear shit up. They blast each other to start with Tenryu getting the upper hand. The match spills to the outside and Hansen just wrec…

Strike Force vs The Islanders - 9/87 MSG This is the most heart-breaking of the matches I can no longer find. This is my favorite of the awesome Strike Force vs Islanders feud. Holy shit! How has no one ever told me of this match before. This match was an instant classic for me and currently one of my favorite matches. Before the match (shown on MSG Classics), Mean Gene shows a clip from Superstars where Tito gets assaulted by the Islanders due to him saving Martel from an earlier attack. So it is now personal between all four men. They do not wait for the formal ring introductions as Strike Force storms the ring and KATIE BAR THE DOOR BECAUSE THERE IS A PIER-…

I have no idea the correct date I am going off the youtube link. It is definitely 1987 as Luger hoists Dusty up in the torture rack and it is also before Garvin before won title. Ronnie Garvin vs Arn Anderson - NWA Superbouts 9/26/87 Garvin has not yet won the World Championship when this is taped but he was within a month of winning it. Classic warmup match as the challenger takes on the Enforcer. This match has such a great slow grind to it. They barely bump but they make every move mean something and feel like a struggle. Arn wrestles almost the entire beginning in the standup position with a headlock clamped on Garvin. Great use of JJ too to keep Garvin dis…