~Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kerry Von Erich (4/7/83)

 

This was real fun, starting off with a bunch of claw teases and both guys socking the other. Eventually builds to Tenryu stomping on Kerry's claw hand and the crowd going nuts, and me going nuts, as how the hell will Kerry be able to apple the claw? Well like a minute later Kerry applies the claw just fine with the hand that got stomped and Tenryu gets counted out. Laaaame. That being said, this was 11 fun minutes with tons of energy and the crowd ate it up. MILD NOMINATION.

 

(AJC G+ 57)

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kerry Von Erich (4/7/83) (AJC G+ 57)

- Kerry wastes no time scaring Tenryu with a claw attempt so Tenryu hooks on a deadlock for dear life trying to avoid the hand. Shit, Kerry’s hand is like the bogey man. At one point, Tenryu ends out on the apron on his ass with Kerry lifting the hand. Once Tenryu is inside, he works the head scissors but Kerry escapes and locks on his own headlock. Shortly after, the guys cross and Kerry hooks the claw in. Tenryu escapes so Kerry goes back to the headlock but you can tell theat Tenryu must be scared because as he is trying to escape he grabs Kerry’s hand just to make sure he doesn’t lose track of it. The match slows down a bit here but the threat of the claw make the headlock bearable. Tenryu turns the tides with a Russian leg sweep but Kerry tries another claw attempt and Tenryu looks scared shitless as he blocks the attempt. Tenryu escapes a bodyslam attempt and segues into a chinlock. With Tneryu in control, he starts breaking out the big moves to put it away. It even spills outside where Tenryu smashes Kerry’s arm to neutralize the threat of the hand. Inside, he punishes the hand also and stomps on it. All good!!! Still after Kerry escapes a piledriver attempt, he hooks the claw on Tenryu with Tenryu out on the apron. After he is forced to break, Tenryu hits the enziguiri which was a cool visual. However, every time Tenryu tries to come in ,Kerry hooks on the claw. Eventually, both men tumble out and we get a countout. Ending could have been better but this was pretty damn great. There were some slow moments but the story and back and forth battle more than push this forward. This should be on the set. It is alos another exhibit in the case that Kerry Von Erich was a pretty freaking awesome wrestler.

 

After reading Eric's thoughts, I think Japan logic has already been proven that you can stomp on a hand, work a lariat arm, etc to lessen the impact of the blow when it happens. Therefore, Kerry's damaged hand was not able to put Tenryu down or make him bleed like his old man would do.

They did a good job of building the match around the claw, with Tenryu really conveying how badly he wanted to avoid Kerry's right hand. I'm always a sucker for Kerry's opponent resorting to hand stomping, and I liked the battle along the apron. I guess Kerry could've sold the hand damage a little better, but I agree that his actions seemed acceptable in the context of All-Japan psych. Overall, it wasn't a blowaway great match but certainly a clever little piece of wrestling. I also liked the "Eye of the Tiger" intro video. Mid-level nomination.

Missouri Heavyweight Title: "Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich © vs. Genichiro Tenryu (4/7/83)

 

Funny seeing the Missouri title defended in Japan. This starts slow with Tenryu working a headlock then moving on to a headscissors keeping Kerry grounded. Kerry then goes for the claw after he breaks free but Tenryu escapes so then Kerry goes for a headlock trying to soften Tenryu up for the claw but Tenryu fights it with all his might. Tenryu would hit a cross body block off the top for a nearfall followed up by an enzuigiri before sending Kerry to the floor where he would slam his claw hand into the ringpost a couple of times. Tenryu stomps on the hand for a bit but Kerry shakes it off and locks on the claw on Tenryu who was on the apron with Tenryu countering with an enzuigiri to save himself. Kerry would go back to the claw and they would roll to the floor where they would get counted out by Joe Higuchi. This was a good match but it wasn't good enough for a nomination in my eyes and there have been way better matches that I've said no to.