Posted July 4, 201015 yr comment_5452714 DVD #26 (aired 12/20/86) Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Hansen/Dibiase (12/12) - Reviewed on Classics. Choshu/Yatsu vs. Funks (12/12) - Dory started off trying to wrestle a restrained, technical segment but whenever Terry and Choshu got near one another, chaos and brawling busted out. Terry ended up on the wrong end of a few signature double teams and had to fight through Choshu's attempted scorpion. But when Yatsu tagged in, he landed a few headbutts to the knee to take the advantage. That proved to be an important turning point because Dory was able to target the knee with his spinning toe hold. Terry also got to land some of his great jabs on Choshu. For the finish, Dory had Yatsu in the toe hold until Choshu ran in and decked him with a lariat. Riki lined up another one, but Terry grabbed his brother from the apron and pulled him outside. Then, Choshu hit Terry with lariat and they both tumbled to the floor. The Funks held on to Choshu for dear life until the ref counted everyone out. I still felt these teams had a better match in them, but between the Terry/Choshu animosity, the targeting of Yatsu's leg and the general wildness, they did enough for a nomination. Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Hansen/Dibiase (12/12/86) - Reviewed on Classics. (aired 12/29/86) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk Jr. - Technical Dory bores the shit out of me, but once they started trading forearms, this was OK. Student and teacher went to a respectful draw. Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk - I never get tired of watching these guys brawl. Hansen tried to kick Terry's ribs in, and Terry retaliated with flurries of great punches. Terry took a wild bump to the floor, then rallied with more great punches. Back in the ring, he ducked a lariat and leveled Hansen with chairshots to get disqualified. As usual with these guys, the post-match had as much action as the match itself. Terry crotched himself after Dibiase knocked him off the top turnbuckle. He ate a lariat on the floor and had to endure some bullrope choking until Dory saved him. The dead crowd hurt this, and I won't go to the wall for it. But I know you guys love this match-up as well, so you should at least watch it Riki Choshu vs. Rick Martel - These two matched up really well. They started with a fast, hard grappling section that led to Martel doing some great legwork and locking in a figure four. Once Choshu fought his way out, he turned it into more of a brawl. He ultimately put Martel in the scorpion, and Martel fought to the ropes twice. Martel sold the pain admirably while in the hold but recovered a little too quickly as they moved right into the finishing stretch. After earning a few nearfalls, he missed a splash off the top, and Choshu put him away with the lariat. They went about 11 minutes and hardly wasted a second. Both guys had a way of conveying great effort with every movement, and they just flowed together in both the grappling and brawling sequences. This didn't carry the stakes of a high-end match but it's a good, solid nomination.
