Posted July 17, 201015 yr comment_5453223 DVD #2 1/16/88 (taped 1/13/88 ) Genichiro Tenryu/Ashura Hara vs. Abby/TNT (last 2:10 of 17:39 aired) - Short clip. Genichiro Tenryu/Ashura Hara vs. Hiroshi Wajima/Takashi Ishikawa (17:23 of 24:41 aired) - This took a long time to get cooking. Tenryu and Hara spent a lot of time methodically stomping and clubbing. Wajima got in a few nice burst of counter offense, and he whipped on Tenryu pretty good at the finish. But that just gave Hara the space he needed to polish off Ishikawa with a powerbomb. Well short of nomination. Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Abdullah the Butcher (13:25 complete) - Reviwed on Classics but I rewatched and might change my vote. 1/23/88 (taped 1/23/88 ) TNT/Pete Roberts vs. The Great Kabuki/Akira Taue (9:32 complete) - Interesting group of workers and they produced a pretty good match. Roberts and TNT did some nifty armwork on Kabuki to start. Taue came off as a powerful hoss after he took the hot tag. Kabuki and TNT produced some fun faux kung-fu exchanges. Nothing spectacular but fun to watch. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Tiger Mask 15:32 complete) - Yatsu knocked Tenryu loopy with an early slap, and boy, Tenryu held nothing back on his shots when he finally rejoined the fray. Yatsu and Misawa took the advantage by working on Kawada's leg, and every time Kawada rallied, he foolishly tried to take them on himself instead of tagging. I dug Tenryu's fury when he finally made the tag. But Misawa was able to cut him off with kicks and knock him to the floor. He hit Tenryu with a dive from the apron and they tumbled over the rail. Tenryu powerbombed Miswa on a table. Then, he and Kawada destroyed Yatsu with chairshots in and out of the ring. Jumbo and Hara even joined the brawl. This match coursed with animosity from the beginning, and I liked the central tension of Tenryu wanting a piece of Yatsu but having to wait in frustration as Kawada took his beating. The wild brawl at the end made a nice cherry. Solid nomination. Jumbo Tsuruta/Hiroshi Wajima vs. Abby/Buddy Landell (8:11 of 8:20 aired) - I took some ridiculous pleasure in Wajima using sumo moves to toss Landell about. But Abby never got that involved and the match never reached the level of nuttiness I was anticipating.
