July 1989

Talk about it here.

This feels like the kind of wrestling that Onita was always one of the best at; causing disruptions whenever he'd go, shaking things up and not being afraid to piss a ton of people off in the process. They do a good job making him seem like a legit complete outsider against the polished martial artist in Aoyagi, eating a quick and easy knockdown at the very start to set up his desperation to keep in the match by any means necessary via going right into dirty clinches, threatening to stomp the shit out of his opponent while he's trying to clean break, just all of the effective heel shit that a man like Onita would've learned from already a decade+ of refined wrestling wisd…

This Secret Santo pick from Tim Evans pits the future Raven and the former Cuban Assassin up against one of the lesser rock-and-roll pretty boy tag teams of the 80s. Scotty is managed by Jonathan Boyd, who is accompanied by a snake. The Rockers have a valet of their own, but she literally does nothing in this match. In fact, she's barely even visible due to her placement in the corner opposite the hard camera. It's actually Scotty who makes this match. Between him begging to be tagged in when things appear under control only to immediately tag out at the first sign of trouble, interfering behind the referee's back, and dancing like a Chippendale, he does a pretty fantasti…

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Salman Hashimikov vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 7/12/89 Excellent Riki Choshu style match and performance. Choshu is so economical and he makes every highspot count and feel huge. Even though Hashimikov wrestles exactly the same as the Vader match, this match is a lot better. Hashimikov still has zero charisma but thats ok because we have RIKI CHOSHU! Very symmetrical match. Each man gets two throws at the beginning. Choshu gets two back drops out of a test of strength. Hashimikov gets two reverse bodyslams, the announcers get into an argument whether it was a brainbuster or a fisherman, which popped me. Hashimikov gets a nice single leg pick up tra…

They follow a silly spectacle with a badass heavyweight war. Good one. These are the two biggest meanie asskickers JWP ever produced; can they deliver a goodie even in their baby form? Yes they can. Kandori was full on Kandori, completely different from the worker she was the year before, while Kansai was learning the ways of working stiff and exciting. This had a pretty great opening – as they go right at it with the fast submissions, slapping the taste out of eachother's mouth, throwing lariats, Kansai making a comeback by punching Kandori in the face repeatedly etc. The second half was a little more generic and more like a wrestling match, but still interesting enough …

Vader vs Salman Hashimikov - NJPW 7/13/89 By Inoki, I think Salman has got it! Too bad for him he is a day late and a dollar short. He dropped the IWGP Championship to Choshu the day before. If this match was the Hashimikov title victory over Vader in May I think wrestling history might have turned out a little different. He looked awesome in this match and he got over huge. The May title switch was a clunky clusterfuck. This was a Bill Watts wet dream match. It was two big uglies throwing each other around. Japanese crowd and me go crazy when about five minutes in Hashimikov DEMOLISHES Vader with a lariat. Then he whips Vader so hard the railing goes back like 8-10 …

Their first match. Kind of an introduction of the style they came up with, meaning they hit aaaaaall their death moves, reckless dives in rapid succession. Starts out with some fast matwork and hints at aggression including Liger pummeling Sano on the ground, but quickly turns into a pure move exhibition. They would go on to have better and more intelligent matches in the future, but there's still plenty of death and drama to be seen here.

IWGP Tag Team Champions Super Strong Machine & George Takano vs. Riki Choshu & Takyuki Iizuka - NJPW 7/13/89 Iizuka is a wrestler who always looks different every time I see him. The upstart Tag Team Champions defend against Riki Choshu but this time Choshu's partner is rookie Iizuka. Choshu is in the LeBron/Cristiano Ronaldo having to carry a nobody to a championship. Strategy early is simple keep Iizuka out of the ring unless Choshu earned an advantage. He wins the advantage against Takano and tags out to Iizuka. Takano tags out to SSM forcing Iizuka to tag out. Choshu gets SSM down on Mat and tags out. Before you know it SSM takes down Iizuka with a S…

Dean & Joe Malenko vs The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) - AJPW 7/15/89 I was very interested in this match for two main reasons 1. Watch More Joe Malenko 2. How do the Fantastics adapt to Japan & the Malenkos? I was not that concerned about Tommy Rogers he is very athletic and would do fine in this style. Bobby Fulton has really become my favorite Fantastic. I love his charisma and his punch. He is a Ricky Morton worker, a great punch, charisma out the ying-yang and great seller. Japan kinda takes out a lot of that out of the equation so how does he do? Rogers and Dean started with a pretty standard chaining sequence. The fun wrinkle is ne…

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 the…

Just watched this for the first time and, wow, what a great piece of business this is (in the words of Steve Austin). My wife was in the room with me for this and, as she's not much of a fan, I know something is really special when even she gets drawn in by the end and is smiling as widely as I am. Tremendous entrances for both guys to set the stage and just a flat out brawl from the start. Anyone who says Flair wrestled the same match every time should be pointed to this as this is the Nature Boy almost doing an Attitude Era main event with much of the match taking place outside the ring, Funk bumping all over the place in great heel fashion, and the "wrestling" …

NWA US Heavyweight Champion “The Total Package” Lex Luger vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Great American Bash 1989 Backstory: Steamboat lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Wrestlewar 1989 . Terry Funk was looking to get a shot at Flair after being snubbed and then summarily piledriving Flair on a table. First Funk had to beat Steamboat and this was built as the Main Event of June’s Clash of the Champions. So one day, Luger interrupts a Steamboat/Funk promo and cuts the promo of his life. As much, I love Luger, I always thought his promos sucked the big one due to dry mouth and lack of any rhythm. So after Funk/Steamboat, Luger comes ou…

Road Warriors, Midnight Express & Dr. Death vs. The Fabulous Freebirds & Samoan Swat Team - Great American Bash '89 WARGAMES The forgotten Wargames pits the tag team division against one another. Jimmy "Jam" Garvin had just joined the Freebirds officially at the previous month's Clash where they won the World Tag Team Titles beating the Midnight Express in the tournament final. The Samoans managed by Paul E. Dangerously had started feuding with the Road Warriors as a means for the Freebirds to have a clear path to the vacant tag team titles. On top of that, Cornette & Dangerously were still feuding from the whole MX vs OMX deal. Dr. Death & Gordy had …

NWA World TV Champion Sting vs The Great Muta - NWA Great American Bash 1989 Sting's Splash from one ring to the other was the perfect way to jumpstart this match and it is the iconic spot from this match. This match and feud has quite the reputation that is more built on the myth of these two gimmicks than the actual work. It is more a collection of great spots than a great match. There is plenty of great splashes all over the ring. Muta's offense looks crisp and love that he goes for bombs early. The greeness of both men is exposed. At one point, Sting hits a bodyslam and he looks unsure of what to do next and after hesitation he goes for a cover. Stuff like that j…

For a match that wraps up in under 10 minutes, there is a lot do it. Funaki is wrestling his fourth match for UWF 2.0 and already has losses to Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yoji Anjo, plus a DQ loss to Bob Backlund on his record sheet. Nakano came up through the original UWF and while by no means a star, is positioned as both the veteran and fan favorite against Funaki. There is very much an “our guy” versus “this other guy we are unsure about” vibe from the fans throughout. The match has excellent heat form the start. Just that total anticipatory shouting and yelling type of heat. Hakata Star Lane only holds a few thousand fans (and it shows) but man, those…

I would usually watch something like this, go "fucking amazing" and leave my match analysis at that but I can't really do that here. Miyato attacks Takada from the beginning, he doesn't exactly rush him at the bell like you'd see at the all time classic Funaki/Nakano match from the same show but he's the one initiating attacks. It's easy to imagine Miyato was pissed a pretty boy with a baseball background was pushed so hard based on his height and how well a magazine with his nudes would sell (yes they are a real thing. I come across a lot of weird stuff on the interwebs). The problem Miyato has here is that, whatever he does, he's fucked. He can't really win. The size di…

This was my number one match in the Other Japan Best of the 90's voting, and truly a beautiful piece of professional wrestling. It is paced differently then any of the other matches in the Top 15, and I am guessing the odd pacing may have been a reason it finished low on some peoples ballots. Fujiwara, especially in the late 80's and 90's does this really stop-start almost Fugazish pacing, where you have big exchanges or moves, and then lulls, where both guys would circle or feint, before the next attack. I really like this kind of pacing, it is the kind of thing you often see in shootfights or boxing matches, really brings drama to the moments of action. The first part…

This match has the most well done ref interference I've seen. A backhanded compliment to some extent, but I appreciated the thought that they put into it. The issue is that Gran Davis doesn't want either man using closed fists. A fired up Dandy wrestles emotionally and repeatedly gets cut off when he prepares to throw a punch or simply protests Davis's admonishments. Charles on the other hand sees what's happening and plays the ref like a fiddle. A couple of times you see him tell Davis about Dandy's right hand, and then when Davis hassles Dandy, Charles nails him--with a kick. Charles of course uses his fists at points too, and Davis warns him as well, but Emilio never l…

Two of my favorite teams. This is for the tag team championships. Demo were always one of my favouite tag teams as a kid and i always get a big smile as soon as their music hits. Tully and Ax start things off and Tully sneaks a punch on Smash on the apron. He soon bails to the outside but Smash is there waiting for him, who picks him up and press slams him right back into the ring. The Demos take it in turns to punch poor Tully, who's bumping is really great here. Ax is soon caught in the corner and Arn and Tully try double teaming him but he manages to fight out and it spills to the outside and this is now a mauling by the Demos and the brainbusters regroup with …

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/11/89 Question for @KinchStalker why did they isolate Tenryu from Revolution and Hansen from the rest of the gaijin? Why did they make this superteam? When Tenryu/Hara or Tenryu/Kawada and Hansen/Gordy feels so natural? This match did not make the All Japan DVDVR set, rather it was a nomination of the GME Project forum which you can join here gweproject.freeforums.net and the link for the nomination is here: https://gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/699/hansen-tenryu-jumbo-yatsu-ajpw No stream of consciousness because I have to watch this on my com…

Skyscrapers vs Dynamic Dudes - NWA Great American Bash ‘89 Oh boy, sorry Sid not the best match to kick off remembering your badass legacy. Although it is not Sid’s fault, as I would say Spivey takes the bulk of the match, probably 75%. Both my first Skyscraper and Dynamic Dudes match. Johnny Ace’s mullet is glorious. Didn’t know Sid was a chaps man. Teddy Long is pretty lame with his shitty Burger King crown and his lame kicks. The Skyscrapers won the Battle Royale at the beginning of the show. The push is on. There were a lot of issues with this match. Execution was a big problem. There was no urgency or sense of struggle. Sid who has the most charisma was on …