December 1989

This was possibly the first match that made me fall in love with El Dandy. I watched their apuestas match first and it was heated and a MOTYC but I also had recently watched MS-1 vs Chicano for the 1st time so I thought the barometer of having a super apuestas was lower. This match really shows the range of Dandy and is worked in classic lucha title match style. One thing that Charles adds is a bit of ruggedness to the ground work. The action is part dazzling, part logical and extremely effective in showing a style of wrestling mastered by Dandy. **** (8.1)

Tarzan Goto Vs mitsuhiro matsunaga This was a secret Santo project match from jetlag. The story of this is goto trying to get in close and on the ground so he can avoid the barage of fast and sometimes silly looking kicks from matsunaga. Whenever they are standing matsunaga is in control but when on the mat he is completely outmatched as it should be in a striker Vs wrestler match. Matsunaga looses his top for round three and here the match breaks with furious back and for the striking down to the point where goto gets dq'd for attacking the ref. Goto and matsunaga continue fighting after the bell. Matsunaga was very green in this match and clearly had…

I've seen this one before, but I was glad to come back to it today. I felt more invested coming into it chronologically. I like Tenryu and Hansen as a tag. It seems like the Hansen style rubbed onto Tenryu just a little, and when he tags with Hansen, he's a little more in Beast Mode for lack of a better term. Logically, Hansen removes the headgear of Yatsu, and he and Tenryu go to work from the there. Jumbo eventually gets the hot tag, and he is on fire! Yatsu gets his head taped on the outside while Jumbo goes to war 1 vs. 2. Yatsu eventually gets back in for revenge on Hansen. Hansen gets busted open from multiple Yatsu headbutts. Great moment when Yatsu goes t…

Takashi Iizuka vs. Khabil Biktashev (NJPW 12/6/1989) It's Sambo Pro Wrestling baby~! Biktashev is yet another East European/Caucasian shooter who fought Naoya Ogawa in judo and is decidedly good at pro wrestling. At this point, can we say the Soviet Union produced the most natural pro wrestlers ever? This is really a hidden gem. It's a rounds match with both guys mostly working the mat and it builds to some really big drama. Biktashev wears a jacket, so Iizuka controls the first round dragging him by the jacket. The second round Biktashev gets some more amateur style takedowns on Iizuka. The 3rd round onwards Iizuka just gives Biktashev the business kicking the crap …

Victor Zangiev vs. Osamu Kido (NJPW 12/6/1989) YES! I love me a Zangiev match and I love me a Kido match. And here they are, doing their thing. Some really cool matwork – Zangiev just goes into an unbreakable bridge whenever Kido puts him on his back, while Kido is constantly grabbing armlocks. Really nice finish with Zangiev coming across as this ferocious force only for Kido to trap him.

Typical Choshu match with all that entails. You get Choshu slapping the shit out of Chono, and Chono bleeding and trying to take the megastar down. Pretty rough around the edges in terms of layout and Chono isn't very compelling (though I loved his full speed yakuza kick to Choshus face) but the big moments of the match felt brutal.

Well, this seems like a no-brainer matchup. Williams is a aggressive and physical. Hashimoto may be the greatest ever at building a match around a physical challenge. And well this is a pretty sweet big burly guy fight in front of a molten hot crowd that was dying to see Hashimoto destroy this mutant. Williams is a little goofy at times but largely holds up his end. You some intense basic holds as well as the freak spots, such as Williams press slamming Hash and a great finish where they avoid the obvious in nice fashion.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Riki Choshu - NJPW 12/7/89 World Cup Finals New Japan had a one off World Cup tournament at the end of 1989 for what reason I do not know. We ended up with this big time final. Hashimoto was being pushed strong in 1989 making the finals the IWGP Tournament at the Dome in April and now here against the legendary Riki Choshu. I was pretty surprised how this match went down. Since this was 1989 and Hashimoto was on the rise, I expected him to be the one fighting from underneath and proving himself to the main eventer, top dog, Riki Chosu. One thing always is true about this matchup and that is that it is HUGE! Big time lock ups like two rams punctuat…

MSG - Steel Cage -Roddy Piper defeats Rick Rude (w/ Bobby Heenan) This match is so much fun. You have Rick Rude's incredible selling off his bumps into the cage. You have the typical chaotic antics of Piper. You have the Heenan element on the outside swelling the heat. Rude actually drops a knee on Piper from the top of the cage! There are some really great nearfalls produced down the stretch. There is cool spot where Piper and Rude go over the top to escape at the same time, but their feet touch at the exact same time. So, the ref states the match will continue. Rude gets bloodied. It's really exactly what you would hope for as a fan of these two.

Riki Choshu vs Victor Zangiev - NJPW 12/31/89 Moscow Of course Inoki was the first promoter to run pro wrestling in the Soviet Union that is so on brand. I am really bummed there is no 70s/80s wrestling of a Kennedy’s trio that have won the Six-Man tag tiles and are gunning for the World Title saying they’re gonna bring it back to Wall Street and that they love to steal from the proletariat, so sad. Talk about killing a town besides Hashimikov going over Manny Fernandez and the Georgian Judoka teaming with Inoki going over Rhenigans & Saito all the Soviets did jobs. Fucking Bam Bam Bigelow won his match. Jesus. I love Choshu but this is the Zangiev…