Posted March 31, 200817 yr comment_5430249 All Japan Classics 143 Kabuki/Wajima vs. Tiger Jeet Singh/A. Hara (1/31/87) - So I watched this Singh match today and it sucked. This ended after 8 minutes or so. Jumbo/Wajima vs. Art Crews/El Olympico (2/20/87) - Who is Olympico? American wrestler or Mexican? Anyway, the natives dispose of the jobbers fairly easily. John Tenta vs. Masanobu Kurisu (5/9/87) - Tenta wins with a nice snap belly to belly. Road Warriors vs. Baba & Wajima (3/7/87) - Ugh. For the Roadies to have a good match, they need certain types of opponents. It should either be a small heel team that can take big bumps and cheat (MX and Brainbusters) or company superstars that can go toe-to-toe with the big bullies in their territory (Jumbo/Tenryu, Fabulous Ones). Baba is a huge name but it is disheartening to see the Roadies try to sell his chops or sloooooow big boot. This didn’t last long though as Baba saved Wajima after a Bearhug Doomsday Device and they brawl outside of the ring. Ric Flair vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu (NWA Title, 3/7/87) - Early on, Yatsu tries to focus on the arm including some nice chops to the arm while it is wrapped up in the top rope. Early on, it really felt disjointed with no rhyme or reason for doing what they were doing. They even do teo backdrop spots that seemed awkward, like Yatsu couldn’t think of another move to do off an Irish whip. They do a nice big end stretch where Yatsu hits some big moves and they do some close two counts. The end was weird as Yatsu tries to roll out of the ring to break a Figure 4 instead of just grabbing the rope to break the hold. l It looks like they were trying to do a roll out with the Figure 4 still connected but they couldn’t so Flair just re-applied the move outside. The ref raises Flair’s hand so I don’t know if he won by Yatsu giving up or what. I couldn’t really tell. Anyway, this was one of the weakest Flair matches I can recall from Japan.
March 31, 200817 yr comment_5430252 For what it's worth, I also like the Road Warriors against "workrate" teams like the Steiners or an Ishingundan team.
March 31, 200817 yr Author comment_5430256 I don't remember nominating any Roadies-Steiner matches but wouldn't mind watching the matchup.
September 8, 201015 yr comment_5455462 The Great Kabuki & Hiroshi Wajima vs. Ashura Hara & Tiger Jeet Singh (1/31/87) Sucked. Jumbo Tsuruta & Hiroshi Wajima vs. Art Crews & El Olympico (2/20/87) Sucked. John Tenta vs. Masa Kurisu (5/9/87) Tenta gets the win and he was in oretty good shape here for him. Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima vs. The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) (3/7/87) Yeah this sucked as well. NWA World Heavyweight Title: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair © vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu (3/7/87) Good to see Flair back in Japan. I agree with Will here as they were some communication issues between these two and almost zero chemistry thus making this a pretty awkward match at times. I will say this though the fans were hot here so that was a plus. The finish was off too as Flair put on the figure-four and they were supposed to roll to the floor but as they went to the floor, the hold was broken so Flair put it back on for a double countout.
