Posted March 14, 200818 yr comment_5429478 All Japan Classics 198 Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Mighty Inoue & Akio Sato (10/14/89) - Kroffat and Furnas will have many matches that are better than this one. Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs. Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu (Real World Tag League match, 18:28, 11/17/89) - Tenryu and DK have a nice stiff exchange. Serious, both guys are intene and they are all too eager to let it out on each other. Such a shame that DK was deteriorating. Tenryu plays whipping post while Hansen dominates for his team. At one popint, Hansen and DK are laying in shots and neither one wants to give an inch or sell for the other guy. There was some nice stuff here such as Davey throwing Tenryu on the outside table but not enough for me to nominate. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura (Real World Tag League match, 17:10, 11/19/89) - I think Yatsu is selling a head injury. He has a leather head protector on. Early on, Rusher and Baba keep control of Jumbo by working an armbar and pulling his hair evrytime the ref isn't looking. Rusher and Baba are playing it up like classic American heels, abusing the competition with double teams, chokes and rule-breaking. At this point, Baba is slow as hell but he can still control a crowd. Yatsu's head protector provides the old guys with a perfect opportunity to abuse him as they attack his head and try to take off the protector. Nice sequence late as Jumbo dodges a shop and hits the big knee. He then springs off the ropes and goes for the lariat but Baba stops him cold with the big boot and a Hart Attack clothesline. The finish was pretty sweet as Rusher goes for a bulldog on Jumbo but Yatsu dropkicks him right into a Jumbo Backdrop Driver for the pin. Overall, there were some awkward moments and the offense of Baba and Rusher isn't going to inspire anyone but I loved the way they shaped the story of two legends acting like heels and how Yatsu and Jumbo end up prevailing in the end as they should. I thikn this might end up last on any ballot submitted but I am going to nominate it anyway for discussion.
July 9, 201015 yr comment_5452910 All Japan Classics 198 1. Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat vs. Mighty Inoue & Akio Sato (9:30, 10/14/89) This certainly wasn’t bad, but this is just about 10 minutes of fun but forgettable tag work. Inoue gets a good run at the end, but this isn’t much. Not good/not bad, perfectly acceptable. 2. Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs. Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu (Real World Tag League match, 18:28, 11/17/89) Well this was more “not too bad, not too good”. Bulldogs were pretty garbage in this. Every time they would do something cool (like DK elbowing Tenryu’s face BAD), they would slap on a chinlock or put on a pointless abdominal stretch. Tenryu and Hansen tried here, Tenryu taking the nutty bump on the table was great, Hansen missing the lariat and flying through the ropes was great…but this wasn’t that good. 3. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura (Real World Tag League match, 17:10, 11/19/89) OK well this was just totally rad. Are Baba and Rusher really slow? Yes. But who gives a fuck. Yatsu is wearing headgear for reasons the announcers might have explained but I don’t get, and Baba and Rusher constantly tug at it and headbutt it and Baba throws THEE chops at it. Jumbo and Yatsu make their offense look good (except for Jumbo pussing out on a Rusher bulldog). I loved when Baba was holding Jumbo so Rusher could lace in the chops, and Rusher really laced them in. Baba takes an awesome bump into the ropes off of a lariat. This was just too fun. Baba and Rusher playing total dicks. I don’t expect a lot of people to love this, but this was right up my alley. NOMINATE!
September 17, 201015 yr comment_5455878 The Can-Am Express (Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat) vs. Mighty Inoue & Akio Sato (10/14/89) Fun watching the old guys hanging with the young Can-Ams but this wasn't enough for a nomination. Real World Tag League: Stan "The Lariat" Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. The British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith) (11/18/89) Tenryu getting slammed on the table by Davey was the main highlight of the match along with DK & Hansen teeing off on each other but other than that there isn't a whole lot going on here and definitely not enough for a nomination. Real World Tag League: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura (11/19/89) Yatsu is working headgear here looking like Buddy Roberts. Korakuen of course is hot for this one and any match featuring Jumbo vs. Baba in general. I love that the old guys immediately go to work on Yatsu's headgear with headbutts and chops no less and it sets the table for them to work total heel style in this which is great to see as it was like Rusher was bringing Baba to the darkside. It didn't matter to me that Baba & Rusher were slow because this match told a great story that their slowness was a major plotline for it. Then you had Jumbo who was making their offense look like it could still put him away until the end when he put Rusher out with a backdrop suplex for the win. I loved this whole thing and I agree it should move forward.
