Genichiro Tenyru, Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Kenta Kobashi (10/14/89)

- The story here is that Kobashi and Fuyuki end up playing punching bags for their teams. This keeps up until Kabukistarts working over Kawada's leg, including a nasty looking jumping knee smash. KObashi tries to keep this going with a one legged crab but gets a kick in the head from Kawada for his troubles. The Jumbo-Tenryu sections are stiff and action-packed as expected. The stretch run seemed to last forever as both teams mix and match to try and put each other away. First, Kawada gives Kobashi a couple of vicious clotheslines. Tenryu gives him some Maeda kicks. This punishment keeps up until Fuyuki comes in and he gets abused. After this, the hot tags come fast as guys try and fail to put each other out. Seriously, the lastten minutes were all action. Finally, after some near falls, Tneryu puts Kobashi out with a powerbomb. I don't know how famous this match is but I can't believe more people are not talking about it. This was great and a definite nomination.

 

(AJC 192)

I thought this would have benefited from more focused punishment sections on Kobashi and Kawada, but it still featured plenty of good stuff. I loved Tenryu just punting Kobashi in the small of the back, and Kawada gamely trying to chop down Jumbo. Anytime Tenryu and Jumbo were in together, the intensity and stiffness shot up several levels, but they weren't the story of this match. Kobashi was actually the star down the stretch with his frenzied attempts to survive and get the pin. Tenryu put him away a little casually after all that. But still, a solid nomination.

Revolution (Ricky Fuyuki, Toshiaki Kawada, & Genichiro Tenryu) vs. The Great Kabuki, Kenta Kobashi, & Jumbo Tsuruta (10/14/89)

 

This was a total sprint as everyone was going balls out here working at a furious pace tagging in and out like crazy bringing aggression hitting big moves. There is a ton going on here with Kobashi being especially fiery and this is like All-Japan's version of a Toryumon match. Total blast and this is an easy nomination and should be fun to see how this fares on the set.