One last great match before Choshu jumped back to New Japan. Fuck, I don't know what else to say about this series. This one had all the great trademarks -- the intense battles over simple movements, the stiffness, the big swings of momentum, the great saves. I loved all the blocks of signature moves. It was a neat way to convey the depth of the rivalry. And the finish was great, with Tenryu power bombing Yatsu, Choshu trying to bust things up as he so often did and Jumbo wiping Riki out of the ring once and for all. It was the rare case where the book on a rivalry closed perfectly. I was fired up at the end but a little bummed because I knew there wouldn't be any more installments. Anyway, this is another slam dunk and I look forward to rewatching all these for ranking purposes. Will, if you want to have a good day, watch the last four nominated matches between these teams.

1987 All Japan TV Disc 3

Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu, 2/5/87 (TV3)

- Once again, these guys throw in something new with Jumbo and Yatsu twisting on the ground, fighting in and out of an abdominal stretch pin. Good shit. Then add the Chop-slap fest between Jumbo-Choshu and then Choshu blocking an enziguiri to hook Tenryu into a Scorpion and I am feeling good about this match only three minutes in. The next 10 minutes were solid but the usual fare between the two. The ending was hot though. We get our lariat breakups. Tenryu gets his revenge and gets the pin. That is a strong way to keep Tenryu relevant. Once again, a sure nomination but who knows where it will end up in the final rankings.

NWA International Tag Titles: Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu © vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta (2/5/87)

 

This was indeed Riki Choshu's last match in All-Japan so this was the swan song of this great rivalry. Yet another tremendous match between these two teams and I totally agree that this will be the Choshu/Fujinami of this set but maybe on an even higher level. Slam dunk nomination.