Posted July 12, 201015 yr comment_5453044 DVD #20 9/13/87 Special 1. Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shinnichi Nakano (5:10 of 7:52 shown) - Pretty good back-and-forth action until they went to the double countout. 2. Haru Sonada/Goro Tsurumi vs. Great Kabuki/Rusher Kimura (7:15 complete) - I don't know what got into Sonada, but he was on fire here, stomping the hell out of Kimura and lighting Tsurumi up with headbutts. Actually, this one crackled with a lot of hatred in general. I'm tempted tp nominate it, because I can't imagine these four guys having a better match. But I also can't imagine it going anywhere in the voting. So it's a reluctant no. 3. Hiroshi Wajima/Tiger Mask vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Isamu Teranishi (10:19 complete) - I'll say this for Wajima. He at least brought some fire to compensate for his lack of skill. Teranishi and Misawa did some nifty work together as well. But this is one of many decent tags that have no shot in hell. 4. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Nick Bockwinkle (9:46 complete) - Bockwinkle took almost all of the offense and though his stuff looked good, the imbalance seemed a little strange. Jumbo ended up winning on a cross body out of nowhere. This didn't hold up to their strongest stuff from 1984. 9/20/87 1. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tiger Mask vs. Joel Deaton/Nick Bockwinkle (12:50 complete) - Bockwinkle and Deaton made a solid heelish team, trapping Misawa in their corner for long stretches and roughing him up with little chokes and shots to the gut. But the match lacked standout moments and that's a killer considering the competition. 2. Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen (23:30 complete) - Hansen started out running around ringside and throwing chairs like a lunatic. Once he entered the ring, Tenryu frustrated him with some nifty stick-and-move, ultimately flooring him with a nasty lariat to the jaw. Hansen then dragged the match to the outside, where they brawled into the crowd. Good lord, this was a brutal match. Hansen could have easily broken Tenryu's jaw or cracked his ribs with some of the shit he landed. Tenryu retaliated by working the lariat arm, but that just led to Hansen working Tenryu's arm even more viciously. When Tenryu finally mounted his true rally, he had the crowd in the palm of his hand for a couple of nearfalls. But he took Hansen out of the ring with a tackle and they ended up brawling into the crowd again, leading to a countout. The ending actually fit the match in this case. Again, what stood out about this match was the sheer, sustained brutality. I think it's another one from their series that has to go on the set.
