All Japan Classics 192

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Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Rusher Kimura & Gora Tsurumi (10/22/89)

- Baba-Kimura seems likea match that would have been really neat in 1975. Not so much here. Baba end sit with a biog boot to Tsurumi.

 

Kenta Kobashi & Joe Malenko vs. Dan Kroffat & Ken Shamrock (10/01/89)

- Shammy looks really young and juiced to the gills. I am curious to see if there is any real differnece in tag partners since Kroffat is labeled the better of the two and rightfully so. Early on, Shammy is looking good. He keeps up with Malenko on the mat and later on, he does some nice stuff against Kobashi including a leg pull double team with Kroffat. After this point, Kobashi's leg would be the focus of the natives' attention. You gotta love Kobashi escaping the leg hold by kicking Kroffat straight in the head several times. Later on in the match, Kobashi turns the tide and starts attacking Shamrock's leg. Great escape by Shamrock as he uses his strength to roll to his partner with Kroffat attached to his leg. I loved the Kroffat-malenko exchange in the other match and this is no different. I have to admit, while Shamrock's belly-to-belly is awesome, his dropkick sucks. I appreciated Shamrock losing the match as well after missing a moonsault. This isn't a high-end nomination but it is worth a look.

 

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.

Giant Baba & Kenta Kobashi vs. Rusher Kimura & Goro Tsurumi (10/22/89)

 

Poor Kobashi but this was Korakuen and they loved this.

 

Kenta Kobashi & Joe Malenko vs. Dan Kroffat & Ken Shamrock (10/1/89)

 

Let's see how different this match is with Shamrock in Furnas' spot. I did laugh at the fake handshake/shooting a bird combo from Ken to Kobashi before the match. This match has more of a structure than the one with Furnas as they worked over Kobashi & Shamrock's legs plus Shamrock brought some different stuff to the table here such as his matwork. Another difference here is that this crowd really doesn't care about this match which really hurts it as I think if the crowd was better then the match would've been better. I wanna say this is a nomination but I just can't due to no heat and the fact that the Furnas match just simply blows this one away.

 

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.