All Japan Classics 114

 

Road Warriors vs. Killer Khan/Masanobu Kurisu (06/02/85)

- Squash

 

Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Tiger Mask (06/21/85)

- KObayashi starts it off fast and furious. He misses a kick, tries again and nails a kick and then throws Misawa out of the ring and into the guard rail. Inside, Misawa turns it around with a nice dropkick. As they go back and forth, they do some high flying and flipping sequences. Some of them come off as really cool and other scome off as awkward. Thankfully, they work holds inbetween the sequiences so that they stand out when they happen. For instance, Misawa's flip outside the ring was pretty insane. In the end, it looked like Misawa was going to put it away but Kobayashi fought back and got the upset pin. After the match, Onita attacks Kobayashi out of nowhere and you don't see that in All Japan often. I could see this as the type of match that people would rate high but Phil would hate. Nomination.

 

Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Tiger Jeet Singh, Terry Gordy & Mario Milano (05/31/85)

- All Japan is known for its famous 6-mans. This isn't one of them. Baba pins Milano after the Big Boot.

 

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry Gordy (Int'l Title, 06/04/85)

- I remember enjoying Jumbo-Gordy when making my Terry Gordy set. Early on, Terry takes Jumbo by surprise with a cross body. Jumbo tries a backdrop driver but Gordy is too strong at this point so he grounds him with a headlock which they work nicely. The headlock looked like it hurt which is a positive. In fact, the early story is that neither guy can gain an advantage to hit their big moves. After being ineffective in the early goings, Gordy gives Jumbo a low-blow so he can take control of the match. The stretch run has Gordy trying everything in his power to put Jumbo away but when it spills outside, Jumbo gets the backdrop and is able to beat Gordy inside the ring to get the win. I enjoyed this match but I remember a better match between the two. I'll give it a mild nomination for discussion sake.

The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) vs. Killer Khan & Masa Kurisu (6/2/85)

 

Squash.

 

NWA International Jr. Heavyweight Title: Kuniaki Kobayashi © vs. Tiger Mask II (6/21/85)

 

We now have a full blown rivalry between these two and the hatred is there early with Kobayashi trying to kick TM's head off. The match then transitions into some really good back and forth action where they had a good mixture of wrestling and spots although some of the spots were off but the ones that weren't were very effective. Kobayashi was great here as usual drilling TM II with a backdrop suplex then killing him with a kick but TM II would recover hitting a HUGE tope con hilo to the floor getting tremendous air. Next we would have some great nearfalls before Kobayashi put him away with 2 Fisherman's Suplex holds. The retired Atsushi Onita shows up at ringside and he gets into a pull-apart with Kobayashi. This was some really good shit and moves forward easily.

 

Giant Baba, Genichiro Tenryu, & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy, Mario Milano, & Tiger Jeet Singh (5/31/85)

 

Poor Gordy having to team with these ancient guys and this wasn't very good.

 

NWA International Heavyweight Title: Jumbo Tsuruta © vs. Terry "Bamm Banm" Gordy (6/4/85)

 

Some fine back and forth action to start with Gordy getting a couple of nearfalls on cross body blocks while Jumbo tried to control the action with holds. Both men would try piledrivers but both men would counter and this was becoming a battle of who could get the advantage first. Jumbo was starting to pound Gordy but Gordy caught him with a low blow giving him the opportunity he needed. Gordy would work Jumbo over but Jumbo would hit a couple of big high knees to turn the tide then took the match to the floor as he posted Gordy before throwing him back in. Gordy would catch Jumbo though with a big backdrop suplex before both men took themselves down with a double clothesline. Gordy then caught Jumbo with his powerbomb for a nearfall then tries to put him away with a diving body press off the top rope but misses so it goes back to the floor where Jumbo would give Gordy a backdrop suplex before returning to the ring where he would win by countout. This was a really solid match but the problem here was the lack of crowd heat which drug this down a little. This is still a nomination though.