Jumbo seized the initiative this time around, pummeling Hansen's lariat arm before Stan could get to him. With Hansen wounded, Gordy worked most of the match. Jumbo hit him with one of the greatest short-arm lariats I've ever seen. I also liked a little moment when Kabuki was taking punishment and seemed to counter his way out with a superkick only for Hansen to grab him with a big paw and fling him back to the ground. The end was spectacular. Kabuki rocked Hansen with an uppercut, but Stan kept coming. So Kabuki stunned him again with a superkick out of the corner. Kabuki came charging out to follow up, and Hansen about decapitated him with a classic lariat. Fuck yeah. I was on the fence about nominating this one but that pushed it over.

 

1988 All Japan TV Disc 5

Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Great Kabuki, 2/29/88 (TV 5) (2/20 -2/29)

- Jumbo wants some revenge with a partner who won’t get dropped in 8 minutes. He starts right away taking Stan to the ground and working the arm. Then he makes the mistake of tagging in Kabuki. Kabuki is a trooper though and tries to stay on the arm. The Americans come back and they start working over Jumbo’s arm. All good. Kabuki slows it down with a sleeper on Gordy so Jumbo tags in to speed things up. The end was a little silly with Jumbo no-selling a Gordy powerbomb and responding with a lariat on the arm that was worked over earlier. I don’t know, they had a pretty hot run after this but they sorta lost me earlier. I had fun watching it but I wouldn’t fight for it if it was on the chopping block so no vote.

Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy & Stan "The Lariat" Hansen vs. The Great Kabuki & Jumbo Tsuruta (2/29/88)

 

This starts with the expected work on Hansen's lariat arm which feels like clockwork after watching all these matches. The match ended up being a good match with everyone working hard but it just didn't have any moment until the lariat at the end which wasn't enough to warrant a nomination.