October 1989

I couldn't find match enough match reviews to nominate UWF bubble guy Shigeo Miyato for the GWE project so I'll just create them myself. UWF II is my favourite promotion but also the one I find the hardest to write about because all that's popping up in my mind is how much everything rules. Maeda is a head taller than Miyato so you want him to stiff the shit ouf of Miyato, have the crowd get behind Miyato, maybe have our small boy get a couple of hope spots in and then get his dreams crushed and that's exactly what they did, of course Miyato wasn't going to go down without a fight and fired back at Maeda as much as he could with great looking offence (I mean, pretty much …

Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect w/The Genius - 10/89 Primetime Wrestling This was a great TV match that highlighted two superstars that were definitely on the rise. I didn't feel like this was a AWA title defense, but more two hungry wrestlers looking to show each other up. Bret hiptosses Perfect to start who busts out his spin out bump. Perfect misses his drop toehold like in the MSG match, but this time Bret points it out and mocks him with some exaggerated applause. Then they work a side headlock, but they keep it entertaining with each wrestler pulling the other's hair liberally (my favorite part of the match). Perfect powders out and comes back. They run the sam…

Onita is such a little shit in this match, only gaining some sort of advantage by cheap shotting Aoyagi. He attacks him from behind, avoiding most of Aoyagi's kicks and managing a few takedowns and outlasting the first round with a single leg crab hold. Aoyagi exacts his revenge in the second round, knocking Onita out of the ring with his big flurry of karate kicks. Onita keeps getting pummeled into the corner and when the referee intervenes, Onita takes advantage and clobbers Aoyagi with a lariat.There are plenty of cheapshots in the ropes and even Aoyagi doesn't care anymore and he's just putting the kicks to the grounded Onita. Onita fires off a backdrop, Aoyagi respon…

Tenryu v Kawada is such an all-timer of a pairing. It's not one that usually springs to mind when that topic comes up, even when talking about the best match-ups of each individual (Hashimoto is my go-to for Tenryu and it's pretty impossible to separate Kawada from Misawa), but they've been great facing off in a bunch of different environments. When Tenryu returned to All Japan in 2000 they smashed each other to bits on more than one occasion and the October Triple Crown match is one of the best matches of the decade. This was way different - Kawada far from being established at this point - an awesome fiery underdog v superstar tag partner version of their match-up, like…

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - 10/89 MLG Well this match did not sneak up on me as I knew how much I liked the Royal Rumble match. This is one of those "Katie Bar The Door, Pier-Six" Brawls, just a drag-out, burn-down, bare-knuckle slobberknocker. You can count the "wrestling moves" on one hand, but who gives a fuck because they bring the heat with every blow. Gorilla tells me Valentine is the one who asked for Garvin's reinstatement after he retired him. Lord Alfred says if he gets his ass handed to him that he would be "hoist on his own petard", which I had seen elsewhere and now know what it means. Who says wrestling ca…

This may be the most animated I've seen Joe Malenko. Kroffat and Malenko start this thing off, and of course they start getting pretty stiff with the blows. Usually, I've seen Malenko as more mat-based, but here, he's trading blow for blow Kroffat. It feels like a shoot when they crash to the outside. Malenko was even doing the Sting arms up in defense of Vader's punches here defending against Kroffat's kicks. That's something I've always liked when there is a dominating big man facing a smaller competitor. Kroffat gets on top of Malenko and starts pounding his head, but Kobashi has seen enough. He nails Kroffat in the back with the kick breaking it up. Kobashi ea…

I didn't think this was in the real upper tier of Jumbo v Tenryu, but it's still Jumbo v Tenryu in 1989 so by the same token the floor on that is always going to be fairly high. It was more of a slow-burner than their match from June, and like that match you can see them bringing elements that the 90s crew would take and develop and use to create those epics that folk would write longform essays about. They both know each other inside out, they know what the other is likely to try and so early on you get a bunch of great moments built around scouted strikes and regrouping, neither of them wanting to overplay their hand. It's sort of tentative, but the way they use it to l…

Jumbo Tsuruta, Great Kabuki & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada, Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 10/14/89 On paper, this looks like a pretty killer Jumbo's Army vs Revolution match! Looking forward to BABY KOBASHI~! vs Young Kawada! It is 1989 All Japan tag so stream of consciousness: Great Kabuki has Ultimate Warrior facepaint on! Kabuki just seems like a weird fit in ultra-serious All Japan. Inoki always liked the freaks more, seems like he'd be a better fit for New Japan. We start with the big guns right off the bat. Three days prior to the his Jumbo won the Triple Crown. Jumbo is able to nail his High Knee early and raise his fist to the crowd. Seco…

All Asia Tag Team Champions Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki - AJPW 10/20/89 The third iteration of this matchup which is highly regarded that has not yet blown me away. I feel they are in good to great status. The Can-Ams underwhelmed me against Kobashi & Joe Malenko too. Always have an open mind, lets see what they do here, it is a 1989 AJPW Tag team match, stream of consciousness: Interested to see what the crowd dynamics for this are. Kroffat shoulder tackles Fuyuki. Kroffat works a crossarmbreakr on Fuyuki. It is 1989 so this is not sold properly. Fuyuki stomps his way out. Tags in Kawada. Kawada has been great in so m…

All Japan World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs - AJPW 10/20/89 I watched the original title change back in July which didnt make the DVDVR set surprisingly but was bitchin' as hell! Tenryu dropped the Triple Crown a couple weeks prior. Does Jumbo retain all his gold or is Tenryu able to reclaim some glory? I didnt see the title switch back to Jumbo & Yatsu, which happened on 7/22. I might have to look that match up at some point. I am looking forward to his based on July! 1989 All Japan Tag means stream of consciousness: Tenryu & Yatsu to start! Tenryu makes sure to chop Jumbo while he is on…

Tamura is wildly outmatched but comes out all guns blazing out of defiance. Maeda is stunned but quickly counters with a leglock and brutal knees to the face. Tamura's selling is amazing. A 2 minute, 19 second match that almost hits the great mark. Tamura and shoot-style are the best. *** 3/4

A swanky little contest that really made the rope break/downs system engaging. The sense of struggle between this two was terrific as they vied for submission openings and fought for takedowns, often in desperation. Once again, Fujiwara's bony old man head is a major factor in this match and Takada keeps chopping out Fujiwara's legs to keep him down. Loved Fujiwara's kneebar takedown but Takada is able to slip out into a single leg crab hold to force him to the ropes. Fujiwara's selling post-single leg crab is awesome. Lots of big strikes in the end as the downs rack up and the final leg sweep finish was the perfect exclamation point to this match.

Damn great match, possibly the greatest black trunks rookie match of all time. The reason for that is that this isn't your regular black trunks rookie match, instead it's two very young guys basically working a high end 20 minute shootstyle match that resembled 1950s pro wrestling here and there. Itakura ended up some kind of unfairly shafted 90s indy undercard hero, and Kawauchi was never seen or heard from again, and the concept of this kind of experimental indy shootstyle pretty much fell off the radar until BattlARTS was created 7 years later. It feels earned that these two went all out on a random card that just happened to be filmed so we can watch it and declare it…

Pioneer Senshi feels like a fed unfairly lost to obscurity. After all, this is one of the founding blocks of japanese indy wrestling and a small but potent handful of wrestlers got their starts here, later cohabiting the cards of 90s indy feds. Most Pioneer cards are young workers filling up with a few guys who'd be undercard nobodies in NJPW and AJPW working main events. Go is the only one who's achieved significance through his battles with Fujinami in the late 70s, so he gets to play the ace role. This was a really fun cagey bout between two veteran workers who'd never get a chance like this in an established fed. Almost all on the mat, and it felt like quasi shootstyl…

Skyscrapers vs Road Warriors - NWA Halloween Havoc 1989 This is more like it, daddy! Four big muthas hitting hard and tossing each other around. Story is simple who is the baddest on the block, Brutha. Roadies shine is simple and to the point. You think you’re big, well we are fucking bad. Clothesline and shouldertackles send Spivey & Sid powdering. I thought Sid again is more interesting eating the Roadies offense than Spivey. We get the customary Test of Strength. Sid takes Hawk down with a side headlock, headscisscors reversal into a BIG SID KIP UP! A stock Sid spot but when you think about it in context way ahead of his time. Sid blasts Hawk and picks h…

NWA US Heavyweight Champion “Total Package” Lex Luger vs “Flyin” Brian Pillman Halloween Havoc 1989 Unfortunately, this is pretty much our only example of how Lex Luger, touring NWA World Champion would have looked as he takes on young, hot newcomer, Brian Pillman. It is a helluva damn match and it is too bad we didn't get more Luger matches like it. I do not know of any backstory to this match. Basically, I get the feeling that Pillman was a bright newcomer so they put him in there with one of the top heels and give him a shot at a major title and see how he does. This is one of the smartest worked matches I have ever seen. It is not like Steamboat/Lu…