Superstar Sleeze

How do they know? Is there a survey? I dont really know how ratings work honestly.

Didnt read whole thread so maybe this was raised? With people waiting longer and longer to have children, is it possible that these are just parents watching with their kids? We arent accurately capturing the kid market? Pre-Pandemic I went to a lot of shows in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut and there were always a ton of kids at the shows. I dont think they have lost their hold on the 5-12 year old crowd. They might not be retaining them, but kids are still coming to the shows from what I saw.

@BigBadMick your energy is keeping me going! Im glad you still found it enjoying even if you dont know much about Shoot-Style. As Mick mentioned the Shoot-Style series has come & gone, but Pro Wrestling Love is staying in the Land of the Rising Sun as we are counting down the Top 25 Best Pro Wrestling Matches to take place in Japan between 2000-2009 with first-time podcaster, long-time PWO contributor @dawho5 aka Mike. Mike & I were common voices in the discussion threads for the Best of Japan 2000s matches. The Best of Japan 2000s (2000-2009) was a projected headed up by Ditch. About 300 Puroresu matches from 2000-2009 were nominated and the intention was to have people watch them and then rank them up. The voting process did not take place however Mike & I learned helluva lot about Puroresu at this time and watched some great badass matches. This is the first of five installments (#25-#21) as we count down our Top 25 Best of Japan matches 2000-2009. https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-68d57-fd5d59

@Tim Cooke I really liked Tamura vs Koshaka the worked version of 1998; I will definitely check out their shoot! Sounds interesting thanks for the trip! It is here another Season Finale on the Pro Wrestling Love Show! This is the final episode of the Best Japanese Shoot-Style Matches of All Time! It was a pleasure having @Cap aboard and I am sure we will hook it up again down the road. It is our Top 5 Shoot Style Matches of All Times. This is the easiest show to sell. The obvious hook is who finishes number 1! It is nothing but stone cold classics Volk Han vs Kiyoshi Tamura the Trilogy! Fujiwara vs Super Tiger! Takada vs Fujiwara! Tamura vs Kohsaka! What did you agree with? What did we have too high? What did we have too low? What did we miss? Tell us! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-zpxbg-f9d8f1

Matt dont sell yourself kid, I think you have a velvety voice. I love listening to you talk, brutha. @Tim Cooke thanks for listening and thanks for the recommendations I would love to see how UWF influenced MMA. RINGS was doing shoots as early as 1997?!? How sure are we that '97 fight with Kohsaka is not worked. Ugh, sorry I got slammed with work, it was my manufacturing trial week and forgot to make a post. This is the penultimate episode of the Best of Shoot-Style with Markout Mountain Matt. We break into Top 10! Matt loves PWFG, I love Shamrock's mullet! Matt gets freaky deaky with a BatBat-Death Match hybrid pick. Fujiwara vs Super Tiger makes its debut as I continue to freeze out Volk Han vs Tamura. The final episode which is out Top 5 drops tomorrow, Noon Eastern! Check both these episodes out! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-yka82-f9d8e9

Didnt realize you made the comment before the match. I thought that was after the match. I agree the content was not very good, but I think they were doing the whole purposeful ambiguity thing with not much foreshadowing because they had no plan in mind so the content was very nebulous. I liked her cadence and conviction. She has great presence. Admittedly, I barely follow ratings overall and do not follow quarter hour draws at all. This shocks me. She is like not good. She is very stilted in her movements, she always waits an extra half-beat before attacking which drives me batty and she does not look she can hurt a fly. I want to point this out because I thought about this on a walk recently. It really is her stilted movements. I love Kairi Sane who is not that much bigger, but is so much more explosive, really launches herself into everything and makes wrestling feel organic. Riho looks like she is doing some terrible, overwrought dance routine. More power to you brutha and all you Riho-Maniacs out there!

Read a quick article to jog my mind. Kurt Angle does sound reasonable, I forgot about him and would be a let down in my estimation. Batista crossed my mind, but seems unlikely. The article brought up Japan. It would have to be Tanahashi or Okada anything less would not make a splash in my estimation. Unless, somebody's contract is up that we dont know about, and this is a Luger Nitro jump. I am going to guess it is Kurt Angle for now. Didnt he just start a podcast? Was it with Conrad?

How about Rousey?!? That would be sickkkk!

I know, right? Outside Cena, Brock or Punk who is really that big of a deal?

Brock.

Hey! I was on WrestleLine when I was 9 years old, I will have you know! Also MoS sorry to pick on you brutha, read some of your posts after, you really enjoyed Tully/JJ and Onita, so youre cool, bro! Though you like Riho, which makes me unsure now.

Man I came in all jazzed up to talk about how awesome Dynamite was and how killer SHAQ VS CODY was, but man wrestling fans gonna be wrestling fans. For the rest of us, who remember what fun is, that opening tag match was killer! Cody bumping & feeding like a pro for Shaq! Shaq going all out, having fun and just being a big mutha trucker in there. His powerbomb was sick! You know what was so refreshing about this match. It was not a damn track meet. People actually took the time to milk the highspots and let the highspots breathe. They reacted to one another. Jade Cargill is gonna be a star. She is IT! Amazing look and effusive charisma. She gets that pro wrestling is about character work. She needs to work on her execution, but that will come with time. Cody just looked like a zillion bucks. The table spot was killer! Cody feels like a pro wrestler not some workrate mark hack. The rest of the show rocked too! Jericho/MJF had one of their better segments in a while. Bloodied Papa Buck last week esp. the blood smears came off great. Bucks prattled a little too long, but we got some retribution. Tully Blachard and JJ were awesome! I was marking out for the shoe and having Tony on the call! FTR vs JX is the best feud in wrestling! Ryo is awesome, she got a great match out of Nyla Rose of all people which I legitimately thought was impossible. Ryo was really, really good. More Ryo, less Riho, yes please! ONITA~! How badass was that! PAC & Fenix should wrestle that long all the time! That's literally all I want from them, just offensive exhibition. As soon as you ask them to sell or do anything remotely involving psychology or plot development, they suck. Keep it under 5 minutes I will be happy. I havent even finished Dynamite, but this was my favorite Dynamite of all time and one the best 2 hour wrestling shows in forever! Loved it!

Alright, brutha @soup23, but dont think Im bumping for you. I am a walking tall babyface :p What's going on, PWOites? It is @Cap & Marty Sleeze comin' at you live with Pro Wrestling Love on the dial. We bust out the Boss, our Hero, Yoshiaki Fujiwara as we heap loads of praise on him. We tackle two of the most polarizing shoot-style matches of all time, click the link to find out what they are...Chad has already gone on record for shaming me for not liking one of them. I am standing tall, baby! We even have a Bob Backlund sighting and it is not me who is gushing over Bob for a change! It is Pro Wrestling Love, give it a spin, let us know what you think. https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-3guva-f9d8e4

Your spoiler alert is pretty misleading...I expected bitter Ric Flair bashing them all, but thats why I clicked because Ric for all his flaws is not the bitter type. He was sad and mournful. He commended them on their individual careers and recommended them to be HOF members on their own and commended Arn on a job well-done. I think Ric has a point to be upset when your "best friend" Arn Anderson does not even reach out in the 8 zillion ways you can reach out nowadays. Personally I am very forgiving, merciful person, I would eventually let it go, but I think Ric is justified in holding this against Arn as it is very bizarre. It is just one side of the story. Ric could have done something that really pissed off Arn and Arn felt the bridge is burned. However, this is the typical petty feud. This is pretty damn legit and pretty damn sad. Open & honest communication is so important and always a good lesson to take from stories like this. Hope for the best for Ric & Arn. EDIT: @C.S. sorry read your later post and it seems like you agree that Flair was not wrong to begrudge them. I will keep the above post just because it is my thoughts on the matter.

@BigBadMick thanks for listening and the kind words. I am glad you enjoy it. I hope you take a chance on Shoot-Style, it can be very satisfying. So @soup23 what do you think should we hook it up Bill Watts-style sometime? Pro Wrestling Love is back & kicking ass for a shoot on this second installment of counting down the Top 25 Japanese Shoot-Style Matches according to me & @Cap. The Tom & Jerry of pro wrestling: Yuki Ishikawa & Daisuke Ikeda make their first appearance and so does the "Soviet Maestro" Volk Han and the badass Masakatsu Funaki. Click it, download and listen and let us know what you think! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-rqedx-f9d8e1

Glad you got it to work, @BigBadMick ! How did you like it? We have put TNA & WCW to bed, so that means Pro Wrestling Love Volume #11 bring on a new guest @Cap aka Matt who is also an administrator for the Greatest Match Ever Project at gweproject.freeforums.net. We all submit ballots of our 100 Greatest Matches of All Time once a year, this year the voting will be at Summerslam 2021. We have voted in 2019 and 2020 so you can see the final lists at the website above. All are welcome to join the forum which promotes exploration, sharing and discussion around pro wrestling from anytime, any place and any genre. So please come and contribute if you are interested. Matt & I started our five-part journey on the Top 25 Matches in Japanese Shoot-Style History. Enjoy and let us know what you think! https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-6tt2u-f9d8e0

PWF World Tag Team Champions Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy - AJPW 3/5/88 Wow, it was crucial that Tenryu not only won the PWF Championship a couple nights after but stood up to Hansen a couple weeks later because and I dont say this lightly, Hansen made Tenryu his bitch in this match. There is one point Tenryu is trying to save Hara. Hansen just swarms Tenryu and totally overwhelms, punks his ass out. Tenryu has the wisdom to get back in the ring and stand with fists balled up. At least, he looked like a man because that was some shit. It is in the post-match that Hansen just owns Tenryu. He bulldozes Tenryu in the stand. You can see why this got nominated it was for the chaotic finish. Good Gog Almighty, it is amazing, no one was seriously hurt. With more mature eyes, Hansen's wild man performance takes calculated risks. He is dangerous without being too dangerous. This was legitimately scary. He was hurling chairs full force at fans, ringside photographers and attendants. He looked legitimately pissed off. He was tearing shit up. Then to add insult to injury along the ringside area, he just CRACKS Tenryu with a slap. Tenryu & Revolution run to the back like a pack of dogs with their tails tucked between their legs while Hansen is throwing TABLES over the ringpost and chairs at photographers. It was lunacy and mayhem. It was uncomfortable and intoxicating at the same time. He was a man possessed seeing red. Tenryu needed that singles win and to stand up to him. Hansen owned him here. As for the match it was a very alright, All Japan workrate tag team match. Hansen & Gordy gave their usual energetic performance. Given the finish, I was shocked the Champs were given so little. Hansen & Gordy gobbled them up. First it was Tenryu, Hansen bulldozed him and literally kicked him out of the ring. Gordy wrestled a terrible tag match from a kayfabe perspective constantly leaving the path of his opponent to his own corner unguarded. Put a body between your opponent and his partner, bro. It didnt matter because Tenryu or Hara would get these flurries but then Hansen & Gordy would immediately extinguish them. I pointed out that one save that Hansen owned Tenryu on. There were no real highspots. It was just great, physical, active full court press suffocation work from the American bully team. The finish was pretty good. Hansen missed some sort of charge, it looked like he was injured maybe his arm. Revolution starts to double team and they nail an Enziguiri sandwich. Hansen sells this as death. Hansen usually does wounded bear selling where he is actively fighting as he is selling. He sold he was KO'd very rare. It felt like a huge moment. Gordy wrestled king-sized. Throws both Hara and Tenryu out to ringside and fends both off. Hansen nearly kills himself on a Suicide Dive as his feet almost trip on middle rope. Then absolute insane brawl I described above happens. I have no idea why Hansen & Gordy were booked so strong in the body of the match and in the aftermath, but it was bizarre because Tenryu & Hara looked like chumps, which is very rare in Japan, usually both teams get over. Tenryu does win the Championship a couple nights later and then a couple weeks later stands up and punches the bully right in the mouth. Maybe the idea was to heap a truck load of heat onto Hansen to make Tenryu really look good. Body of the match is solid and the brawl after runs it a little extra love. ***1/2

PWF & United National Champion Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 3/27/88 Forget everything I said in the previous review, this was a WAR~! Tenryu delivered; he matched Hasen's pugnacity and stiffness. I liked this even more than the Hansen/Jumbo match before it was red-hot, hate-filled from the start. Tenryu has a bandage over the fresh, raw cut on his eye that Hansen gave him about three weeks ago. You know that a bullseye for Hansen. There is some many good little details than I am going to watch this again live so I can capture them all: Tenryu charges at Hansen and they meet like two rams. One right punch square to the face from Hansne and ten two wicked pops from the left wing. It spills to the outside and Hansen keep firing away at the eye. Tenryu unlike on 3/9 keeps roaring back with chops. Hasnen fights through it. Tenryu tries for the bodyslam but keeps fighting. Enziguiri and Hansen immediately dives with an elbow drop on Tenryu. This is why I love Hansen. He is always moving forward. He is a fucking animal in there. I love the overhead elbow he throws smashing into the cut. Red-hot, hate-filled. Hansen is very literally out for blood and Tenryu needs to fight for survival. Hansen again with that elbow crashing down into the cut, rubbing the face into the ropes. Tenryu comes back with a Lariat but on the second he charges and eats buckles. Great facial expression as Hansen takes him over with a Back Suplex. Tenryu fights out of a tight smother and Russian Legsweep. I love that Tenryu is trying to press the issue and take control of his own destiny. Tenryu only gets one and immediately goes for the Powerbomb. Smart. In a fight for survival, go for your biggest bomb early. Hansen deadweights him. Tenryu moves with him into wrist control and trying to get an armbar. There's a great close-up of Tenryu at this point, you are so focused on how nasty the cut is and then BAM! all of sudden Hansen's left hand comes flying into the screen and pops him with precision into the cut. Great struggle over the armbreaker, but that moment was so damn badass. Hansen rolls to the topes. Hansen drags Tenryu outside like a bear to his lair. He rams him hard into the ringpost. Tenryu takes some time to regroup as Hansen looks great. Tenryu's eye looks all sorts of fucked up. Tenryu gets a half knucklelock and starts mercilessly and relentlessly kicking Hansen's left side and the crowd comes more and more alive with each rapid kick and this becomes Hansen's Achilles Heel, the monster's weak underbelly if you will that Tenryu can exploit later. Tenryu is overzealous with his running punt to the ribs and goes ass over tea kettle over the top rope. Typical Hansen fashion, he thrust kicks Tenryu from is back completely Tenryu's drop to the floor. Hansen is left clutching at his ribs and is having trouble standing. Tenryu fights from his back in the ring. Kicking at the injured ribs while Hansen is punching the cut. This is fucking badass. Tenryu toe kicks to the bad ribs. Hansen is selling so damn well. Resisting the Irish Whip so hard. Tenryu drives his shoulder into the injured ribs. Hansen collapses outside the ring ass first. In a rare moment, Hansen looks more battered compared to his opponent. Hansen rolls back in and is trying to protect his side. AWESOME! Toe kick and THEN BASHES WITH THE OVERHAND ELBOW! BRUTAL! Another one to sitting Tenryu this time. Hansen with these wicked short left jabs to Tenryu's cut. Hansen misses the running elbow eats turnbuckles and Tenryu toe kicks the injured side again. This is incredible. Tenryu is thinking Powerbomb so smart to attempt it now. Back to punting the ribs when he cant get him up. Hansen drags him down by the wrist. This is so Hansen just flailing with his kicks from his back and grabbing whatever bodypart he can get. Then driving the exposed bone on bone knee to the orbital bone of Tenryu. I love Hansen! Everything is a struggle with him. This is when we get a proper heat segment from Hansen after how hard fought the first ten minutes were for both men. Hansen seems to have weathered the storm and really rung Tenryu's bell with all these headshots. Hansen piledrives Tenryu! Tenryu gets a foot on the ropes. Nice gradualism on the sell. OH MY FUCKING GOD! Hansen rears back and just RIFLES Tenryu in the face with a kick. Not to be outdone, Tenryu FUCK YOU PUNCH FOLLOWED BY A FUCK YOU LARIAT! OH FUCK YEAH! Tenryu Enziguiri! POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! Probably one of the best Tenryu powerbombs ever which is damning with faint praise. Hansen took it smartly. He went up in a traditional piledriver once steady, He did a sit-up and Tenryu dropped him. Everyone else in the world has a better powerbomb, but at least that one looked ok. Tenryu hits his Top Rope Reverse Back Elbow. That's his four big moves! Oh shit! Hansen lunges and pops him good with a left wing. WESTERN FUCKING LARIAT! HE DECAPITATED HIM! OH MY FUCKING GOD! Tenryu drapes the foot on the ropes at the last second. YES! YES! YES! Perect use of the ropes. Hansen Clobbers Him Again with the Western Lariat but pulls him up at two to start rapid fire punching Tenryu in the cut. He shoves the ref. Uh oh. Tenryu fires up and starts swinging wildly with headshots. Hansen tries to strangle Tenryu to death with his bullrope as he throws Higuchi and Hara around, Higuchi calls for the bell. Absolute chaos as Hansen should be tried for attempted murder! Fucking hell! This was a WAR~! Like I said it is ahead of the Jumbo match because it was kickass from smart. I imagine most people's issue with this if any is the finish. Not just because it is DQ but because he pulled him up. I agree that knocks it down from ***** for me, but not too much. The whole strangling with a bullrope is a perfect, chaotic DQ finish. Everything before that is manly, stiff, beefy, bloody, hated-filled wrestling. Hansen sees red from jump and is just merciless targeting the eye. Tenryu in order to fight fire with fire needs to create a weakness and attacks the ribs. You just get great dueling psychology, with great selling especially from Hansen and tremendous offense from both. When Hansen reared back kicked Tenryu hard as he could and Tenryu's response was to CLEAN HIS CLOCK WITH A FUCK YOU PUNCH AND LARIAT was so fucking epic! I am jacked to the Moon after watching this. Probably the best Hansen singles match between 1984 and 1992, killer. ****3/4

PWF World Heavyweight Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 3/9/88 I would say this is an important match rather than a great match thought it looks like most disagree with me, putting this at #36 for All Japan of the 80s, which seems very high to me. So it begins, we are officially on the road to the Triple Crown! Tenryu defeats Hansen in a shocking, sudden upset with an Inside Cradle and becomes the first man to my knowledge to hold two of the three most important singles titles in All Japan at once. I think it is very interesting that it is Tenryu not Jumbo that has this honor. You could even make the case that this leapfrogged Jumbo as he was now a Double Champion with the PWF Championship being higher than International and a clean, in the middle of the ring victory over Stan Hansen. It will be interested to watch Tenryu vs Jumbo from this year. As for the match, I felt this match was incomplete, a truncated version of a championship match because the finish was so out of nowhere. Tenryu was not bombarding Hansen with Enziguiris, Stiff Lariats, Top Rope Reverse Elbows and Powerbombs in fact it was quite the opposite. He was getting his ass kicked for most of the match. Right before the finish was struggling to get Hansen up, he collapsed on a bodyslam attempt, he failed on a Fisherman's Suplex and a German Suplex. It was a running Inside Cradle that won the day, but the match did not feel finished. This is definitely intentional as it was a way to protect Hansen and build to rematches. It made the viewer wanting more. Was this a fluke? Can he do it again? What would happen if Hansen blasted him with the Western Lariat? The post-match is very interesting as Hansen got his heat back so to speak as he roughed up Tenryu and the announcer and poor Joe Higuchi. It looked like he was going to disfigure Tenryu with his Cowbell when Hara leapt across and puts his body over Tenryu. Hansen robbed Tenryu of his moment in the sun and robbed him a chance to revel in his newfound glory. The rematch is all the hotter now. As for the match itself, if you love a Grade A, Choice-Cut Stan Hansen asskicking served piping hot than you will enjoy this match. They start off red hot just smacking through each other's offense. Tenryu nails an Enziguiri, Hansen kicks and LUNGES AND BOWLS TENRYU OVER TO THE OUTSIDE! From there, the rout is on. I went through and read the Tenryu's thread in the Greatest Wrestler Ever section and it was only reading through OJ's comments that I realized what is often missing from Tenryu, he is far too giving. He is content to sell and play ragdoll for Hansen. I would have loved to seen more struggle and really make Hansen earn this badass offense. Just like how Hansen forces his opponent to earn theirs. In fairness, this was not even Hansen gobbling him up. Hansen was giving him openings. Hansen was eating knees on charges, missing elbow drops and eating offense, BUT Tenryu was not match his intensity on offense. Tenryu was not bringing the goods that Hansen was. Hansen was positively ferocious in this. Wailing chair shots to the back, Boston Crab, Gutwrech and a zillion Cowboy Kicks. He was kicking 50 yd Field Goals across Tenryu's back. There's one in my mind, where he got a running start and really punted him. Like I said Hansen did start to feed Tenryu hope spots, I didnt think Tenryu was doing much with them. It was very alright, solid from him. Hansen was bringing the heat. I went over the finish. I think that covers everything. I really liked their 1986 bout, this pales in comparison to that. The title change is momentual. I dont see it as an all-time great match. ***1/2 for Hansen's performance.

Genichiro Tenryu & Samson Fuyuki vs Great Kabuki & Takashi Ishikawa - AJPW 2/20/1988 With these midcard tags, it is fun to find that hook that got them nominated or made them perform really well. In this case, it is when Tenryu gets the hot tag and it is sort of your normal hot tag. He is not too terribly pissed to start. He is just laying his shit in. He just starts gradually building himself into a lather and next thing you now he is holding Ishikawa down and stiffing him elbows that slice open his forehead. Where the fuck did that come from? He just progressively got hotter and hotter. It is almost like what he started stiffing him, the floodgates exploded. The rest of the match is very good, but that is the clear reason why this stands out of the pack of the zillion midcard tags we have. Fuyuki was Kawada's partner in Footloose and I am excited to see more of them as the year wears on. This is another Tenryu & junior partner match. I am not sure if Kabuki & Ishikawa are Team Jumbo or are doing their own thing. I know they would end up being SWS/WAR guys in the 90s. The opening is pretty solid shit. Fuyuki is the junior partner. When Tenryu gets in, he wrecks fools. Kabuki & Ishikawa need to isolate Fuyuki if they have any hope of winning. Elementary, but elegant storyline. Fuyuki chops Ishikawa. Ishikawa STRIKES FUYUKI DOWN WHERE HE STANDS! Kabuki is stiffer than I expected some really good uppercut finger thrusts. Kneecrusher. Excellent knee work by the stodgy veterans. Kabuki with some really deep Spinning Toeholds while Ishikawa uses a Scorpion Deathlock and an Inverted Figure-4. The Fuyuki is kinda lame, just a spinwheel kick. Tenryu's hot tag is described in the first paragraph and Ishikawa is a bloody mess. Fuyuki holds his own and the climax is Tenryu hits a Top Rope Reverse Elbow for two. Kabuki is able to come in and actually hold his own with Tenryu. Ishikawa hits a Top Rope Leg Drop which is surprising. My memory is fuzzy, but Tenryu is able to tag out. Fuyuki gets an O'Connor Roll and German Suplex. Melee ensues. Fuyuki wants another German, but Kabuki kicks his head off and Ishikawa jackknifes him for the surprise, upset win. The Fuyuki heat segment and Tenryu bizarrely bashing Ishikawa brains in make this a hot watch. The finish stretch is decent, no great shakes, but the finish is legitimately shocking. ***1/2

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Tiger Mask II - AJPW 1/23/88 It's BABY KAWADA! Looking about as uncool as possible in his fuchsia-animal-print pants, baby fat and poofy hair. But the brutha still runs the ropes like he is out of control and you are worried he is going to go through him! The novelty of this by far is to watch Kawada vs Misawa in 1988. Weird that in 6.5 years, they would have what many consider the Greatest Match of All Time. Never give up on your dreams kids even if your boss makes you dress in fuchsia or in a Tiger Mask. I have said in the past that Kawada is the Ultimate Choke Artist or best Loser ever. He is the Wile E. Coyote to Misawa's Roadrunner. He came off as the Ultimate Try-Hard in this match. It felt like he was trying to win Tenryu's approval so badly and probably more likely win Baba's approval as a shoot. Tenryu comes in and SMOKES Misawa! I mean I am not sure Misawa knew where the fuck he was after that. WOW! Yatsu CRACKS Tenryu back with a slap. Tenryu sells it like he got shot in the face and just goes down in heap. No fighting back just crawling over to Kawada. Kawada tries to smack Yastu, but misses and Yatsu CRACKS Kawada! This is good craic indeed. I love these fun midcard tags. They begin working Kawada. Kawada gets a nice legsweep, but instead of trying to tag out, he tries to impress and lands a Missile Dropkick, only to fall back into danger. He learns his lesson and tags out the next chance he gets. Tenryu TRUCKS Yatsu in retaliation. This does not last long as Kawada is back in and they end up working over Kawada's knee. Before that Kawada randomly does a cartwheel into a back handspring elbow that pops me huge just because it is so un-Kawada like. This is not 1993 primetime Kawada knee selling but he is pretty good. I always knew Misawa's 90s kicks were a holdover from his Tiger Mask days like his Elbow Suicida feint. Even though the kicks look good and land well, there is always something that has felt off about Misawa kicking especially that hop kick he does. Kawada lands a reverse crossbody which feels weird given his knee was being worked over, but I dont mind much. I am just enjoying this as Misawa & Kawada in 1988. The finish is fucking awesome. Misawa crossbodies Tenryu from apron, topples him over the railing onto the announce table. They brawl. I wish Tenryu threw him down with a Powerbomb on the table but we get a shitty Tenryu powerbomb. Yatsu attacks Tenryu and KAWADA WAILS ON YATSU WITH A CHAIR. IT WAS RELENTLESS! Tenryu continues the merciless beating until the ref tosses it out. I dont speak Japanese but I assume Yatsu said "That's all you got" Tenryu comes back TRUCKS him with a Lariat only for Jumbo to save. It is a New Year and Jumbo vs Tenryu is red-hot. I really enjoyed the work in this match. Yatsu and Tenryu were great stiff main eventers. Kawada & Misawa brought the action and it has that extra boost because it is Kawada & Misawa in the 80s doing some very un-Kawada, un-Misawa things. ***3/4

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 wrecks shit. He sends Tenryu flying into the seats as fans flee the scene and he just beats the shit out of Tenryu as the fans look in horror. This is awesome shit. Back in, Tenryu uses a well-timed Enziguiri to try regain some semblance of control, but Hansen stiffs with wicked knees to the back of the head that send him to outside the ring where Hansen throws him into more hard metal. Hansen piledrives him and the rout looks to be on, only for Hansen to go charging into the turnbuckles and eat it. Tenryu works the arm. Hansen is awesome working underneath. He is so chippy. He is constantly fighting back, throwing short punches, grinding his knuckles into Tenryu, throwing elbows anything to get out of the holds or when out of the hold he just goes for it. These exchanges are wicked heated. Tenryu knows his only hope is to stay on the arm and he just keeps taking Hansen down into armbars & wristlocks. Hansen regains the advantage where he DROPS A TABLE ON TENRYU! I LOVE STAN HANSEN! Hansen ends up missing an elbow drop on the bad elbow and Tenryu goes back to work on the arm. Hansen ends up giving Tenryu a taste of his own medicine sending Tenryu shoulder first hard into the post. Tenryu tries to protect the now injured arm, but to no avail as Hansen has zeroed in on his target. Hansen gives a great arm torturing performance almost on the level of Dick Murdoch. He wrenches across the railing and announce table. He is great grinding on it, attacking with with strikes & headbutts, ramming it into things and tight holds. Hansen is tremendous in this. Tenryu kicks off to bump Joe Higuchi. Hansen goes full double windmill attacking Tenryu's injured arm. A desperation Enziguiri gives Tenryu the reprieve he so desperately needed as Hansen goes over the top which is the reason I think the ref was bump. Tenryu is great in his closing stretch offense, tons or urgency and a real sense of pressing. He hits a LONG DISTANCE Top Rope Reverse Elbow Drop. He lunges at Hansen as they both go tumbling to the outside. Everyone and their mother knows what this means. If you are going to do the double countout finish, do it this way! They tumble over the railing and spill into the front row and just brawl like mad. The ref calls for the bell, but Hansen dives across the aisle and WIPES Tenryu OUT! Pretty great post-match brawl! I loved, loved how physical Hansen was in this. Whether it was the shit on the outside, dropping tables on Tenryu and sending fans scurrying as he pummeled Tenryu in the seats, working from underneath doing everything he could to break free or working the arm, Hansen hit a home run in this. Tenryu gave his typical understated 80s performance. He matched the stiffness and focus when it was necessary, but this was the Hansen show through and through. It looks their matches in 1988 get even better, I already loved this so looking to see what 1988 has in store for us! ****1/2

Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW 12/5/87 Real World Tag League. Tenryu & Hara are the PWF World Tag Team Champions coming into this, but not on the line because of the tournament. Live watch: Jumbo & Hara start off not much of note. Hara tags out. Jumbo tags out as a sign of disrespect to Tenryu, who gives him a sideways glance. Tenryu bowls him over with a tackle and snapmare into a chinlock. Nice almost escape by Yatsu, but Tenryu is tenacious. Yatsu destabilized him enough to convert into a wristlock and tags out to Jumbo upon standing. Tenryu backs away and tags out to Hara. More mind games. Jumbo grabs a side headlock, Hara shoots him off and Jumbo shouldertackle. Hara comes in with leather and a headbutt. Jumbo wrestles into a wristlock on the mat. Very exaggerated armbar takedown by Jumbo as he maintains wrist control. No sparks yet. I am watching this as it is another chapter in the Jumbo vs Tenryu feud, but it only finished #98 on the AJPW match so I am expecting good not great. Jumbo with a cross armbreaker sold as a resthold. I try to enforce 21st century morality on them but God there is nothing irks me more than an undersold cross-armbreaker. Jumbo/Yatsu double team Hara. Nice brackbreaker by Yatsu. Hara bullies him into Tenryu corner tags out. Double shoulder tackle by Revolution. Meaty chops by Tenryu. Wicked stomp right to the face. Now we are talking. Tenryu drags him to the match with a front chancery. Booooo. Yatsu buries the knee. Dropkick. It was not long. Tenryu is wise to their double team and tags out tot Hara. Jumbo grabs a side headlock, shot off, tackle, goes to run ropes again, Tenryu opens ropes and Jumbo to outside. Jumbo mean mugs Tenryu. Hara bullies Jumbo into corner. Jumbo slaps Tenryu around, TWO BIG TIME HIGH KNEES! Tenryu will NOT go down! Tenryu Enziguiri and Jumbo collapses to outside. Interesting juxtaposition there. First heated exchange of the match. Tenryu cracks Jumbo with a slap! He is showing up the Ace. Jumbo charging Back Elbow and Bulldog out of the corner. Jumbo has been great in 1987. Very fiery since the Tenryu feud. Jumbo Cobra Clutch right in front of Hara. Sends Tenryu into Yatsu's knee. SPIKE PILDERIVER! I love that move! Awesome belly to belly by Yatsu. Does not stay on him and Tenryu tags out. Sloppy or lame transition depending if you are looking at this from a kayfabe lens or not. Hara back suplex on Yatsu, the junior partners together does not have the same heat. Hara tags out. Tenryu whips Hara HARD into Yatsu. Enziguiri. There is good action, but not enough narrative to make it sticky. Just lots of noise. Jumbo vs Tenryu is the only hook. Tenryu literally kicks Yatsu out of the ring who takes the time to regroup. Yatsu looks hurt and is grabbing his back. Lets see if they work it. Lots of Hara blows to the back. Yep it is a thing. Hara stomping and kicking the back. Boston Crab seals that this is definitely a thing. Tenryu kicking the shit out of Yatsu and then taking a shot at Jumbo on the apron is great. They double team Yatsu, the back suplex by Yatsu lets him get the tag to Jumbo. Too soon in my opinion. Jumbo's zeal for revenge almost costs as he makes a beeline for Tenryu which allows for Hara to attack from behind. Hara looks to have the uppehand until Jumbo TRUCKS him with a Death Lariat. Hara tags out after Jumbo does not press his advantage. Tenryu TRUCKS Jumbo with his own Mack Truck Lariat! Enziguiri and Back Suplex by Tenryu for two. Tenyu foolishly tags out to Hara and Jumbo is able to tag out to Yatsu. Yatsu chops and kneelift. Yatsu suplex. Hara kicks Yatsu and tags out to Tenryu after another lackluster exchange. Tenryu grabs Yatsu by the hair and hurls him to the outside. Tenryu throws him hard into the railing. At least that was something different, but it goes nowhere. Bodyslam, Top Rope Reverse Back Elbow misses. Yatsu tags out. Jumbo tries to get the crowd into it. They kinda are. HIGH KNEE INTO THE CORNER! Jumbo is trying his best, I will give him that. Workrate does not equal greatness. Jumbo hits him with a High Knee on the outside square in the head. Nice shot. Tenryu is busted open! Nice touch. Jumbo is working the cut, nice punch right to the open wound, another one. Jumbo selling his hand. Jumbo rapidly now, Jumbo seeing red. Jumbo shoves off the ref. Tags out to Yatsu. Nice bulldog by Yatsu, Tenryu really laid out for it. Yatsu drives the bloody Tenryu into the mat. Yatsu sends Tenryu into the boot of Jumbo. Abdominal Stretch by Jubo is an odd choice once you have bloodied your opponent. Hara breaks it up. Jumbo/Yatsu double team Tenryu and Yatsu nails wicked piledriver. Jumbo grinding his boot into the cut. It is surprising there was not more staph infections in the 80s. Amazing these cuts were not infected all the time. Hara boots Jumbo in the face on the chinlock. Yatsu continues pummeling Tenryu. The match is getting long in the tooth. Jumbo attacking the cut by scraping his bootlaces across it is, just great. Yatsu with a terrific bridging German that Hara breaks up. Inside cradle by Tenryu. Tenryu tags out in the most anti-climatic way. Hara Mack Truck Lariat on Jumbo. Hara is a pretty decent hot tag, headbutts abound, bodyslam on the Ace. Tenryu is on his knees woozy. Double High Knee Sandwich by Yatsu and Jumbo. Oklahoma Slam by Yatsu. Hara slugs him with a lariat. Tags out to worse for wear Tenryu. Double team on Yatsu. Yatsu blocks the buldlog with a back suplex. JUMBO DEATH LARIAT! Too close to Tenryu who stomps Jumbo through the ropes. Double Clothesline! Tenryu slugs Jumbo with a left Lariat. Big bridging German by Tenryu saved by Yatsu. Tenryu tags out, meaty lariats by Hara. Jumbo blocks third. Yatsu double axehandle off the top. 30 seconds left. Top rope elbow drop kick out. 15 seconds? Yatsu cover for two. German Suplex lands as time expires. Everyone and their mother knew this was going to a time limit draw, it is why I knew to do a stream of consciousness review because I knew it was going to be a lot of action and not much substance. The Jumbo/Tenryu exchanges were a highlight. Jumbo drawing blood and working the cut, but ultimately went nowhere as Tenryu just did a running inside cradle and then casually tagged out. There is a post-match brawl! Jumbo and Tenryu are great. Nobody lands shit, but it was hot and sets 1988 up well. Where was I? Yeah, I think the Tenryu bleeding and then tagging out was a microcosm of the whole match. There were great bits and pieces. They never really either built to them, fleshed them out or built upon them. The moments were very ephemeral and did not connet to each other. It does not matter what year, workrate is not enough for greatness. ***1/4

Rewatch: Like their first match I’m downgrading this a tick. It is definitely inferior to their first match. The strong positives of this match are a red Jumbo who is carrying out his aggression from the prior match and Tenryu getting a bigger stretch of offense in this one. There are more clunky sections in this and the finish is both confusing and lukewarm. Jumbo repeatedly smacking Tenryu around was impressive. Every attempt at offense by Tenryu was a grand insult to Jumbo who responded with fury. I liked how so much of Tenryu’s offense was created by happenstance like Jumbo charging into the post, the hotshot or kicking off the post on the Backdrop Driver. After the Hotshot was Tenryu’s moment, what a great string of offense, he slugged with that lariat. I thought Jumbo’s Back Drop Driver was extra hot. The more chaotic brawling elements were awesome like the High Knee into the Lariat but then devolved into mess with wrestlers prematurely declaring victory and a lukewarm DQ as Jumbo body slams the ref all of sudden Bruiser Brody saves Tenryu. I’m interested to get to 1988.

Rewatched echo most of my statements. As I mention in my review, things did Peter out after the tremendous Knee to the exposed turnbuckle. Everything about that spot is so hot. Jumbo signaling to the crowd he is about to crush the upstart, the excitement in him. Then the desperation of Tenryu who not only falls to avoid the move but rips the cover off the turnbuckle. This is a spot that should be stolen as it is genius. I thought Tenryu work immediately after was solid as were the Jumbo backdrop drivers. The body slam was lukewarm and the botched crossbody left a lot to be desired. I thought the brawling on the outside was lackluster. It is cool that Tenryu that got the countout victory instead of the double countout. If the match ends directly after the Knee to the turnbuckle I’d see this as a ****3/4-ish match. I really liked the body of the match. There’s an interesting point early where Jumbo does not give a clean break. Instead it is stiff back elbows to Tenryu. He is the first to do it. This is not in response to a dick thing Tenryu did in this match. Jumbo is the clear aggressor. I think that’s very interesting. I think Jumbo saw this match even happening as an affront to his seniority. I loved Tenryu meeting disrespect with disrespect by CRACKING Jumbo with a slap in the immediate aftermath. As I stress in my original this was a very Jumbo not only does he has the big run of bombs In the middle he is the more aggressive and more emotional of the two. I think this match was to prove Tenryu could take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Tenryu proved his mettle surviving the cavalcade of offense and managing to hit his power bomb. Very strong opening salvo in the feud.