DVD #20

8/31/85

 

Kabuki vs. Teranishi - Nothing memorable.

 

Hansen/Dibiase vs. Funks - Will seemed to find this overly subdued. It certainly wasn't as wild as Terry's brawl with Hansen from the previous episode, but that wasn't my problem with it. It annoyed me that they isolated Dory and did nothing with it, instead going to the DQ shortly after. The match wasn't bad but it was all set-up.

 

Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Singh/Brooks - Typically pointless cheating and brawling match involving Singh.

 

8/31/85 special

 

Khan vs. Hara - Why bother showing a minute clip of a guy getting choked?

 

Tiger Mask vs. Kobayashi - This had the same pluses and minuses as their previous match. Hot start with Kobayashi hitting his finisher in the first minute and Misawa fighting him off. They later traded some violent dives, and Misawa hit a vicious half-nelson suplex for the big title win. But the middle of the match fucking sucked. Kobayashi tried to ground Misawa with halfhearted holds. The pace jerked all over the place. They didn't sell. I see no need to nominate it with their other mixed-bag stuff already on the block.

 

Baba/Ishikawa vs. Singh/Brooks - Worthless match in which Baba hardly participated.

 

Kabuki vs. Sonada - Squashy.

 

Choshu/Yatsu vs. Funks - The crowd was amped to see Terry vs. Choshu and so was I. They did some good stuff, with Terry taunting Choshu and landing some nice jabs. I also liked the constant intrigue created by guys interfering from the apron. I expected the countout but thought they went to it a little quickly, right when the match was getting good with Terry in peril. I'd like to see a fully realized match between these teams.

 

Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Hansen/Dibiase - Annoying in that the special ended mid-match and the conclusion didn't appear until the following episode of TV. But it was good enough to be worth the editing effort. Jumbo seemed liberated in the first 10 minutes, finally killing guys after a month as everybody's whipping boy. He and Tenryu had Dibiase on the verge of a pin, when damnit, Jumbo missed a lariat into the corner. So he was right back in hell, with a useless right arm and two vicious sharks tearing at it. Hansen and Dibiase made the attack on Jumbo's broken wing look particularly nasty, with Stan even lariating it at one point. Tenryu desperately tried to save his fallen partner but the hot tag, yearned for by the crowd, never came. I really liked the overall story of Jumbo seeming reborn only for Dibiase and Hansen to rediscover his Achilles heel. They took me on the ride, so this one desrves a nomination.

DVD #20

8/31/85

 

1. Great Kabuki vs. Isamu Teranishi (:57, DQ)

Kabuki is attacked after the bell by Killer Khan and this gets thrown out right away. Chosyu comes out and the crowd was jacked.

 

2. Riki Chosyu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Tim Horner/Marty Jannetty (2:51/7:30)

Too JIP to be much, but Chosyu tosses them around and lariats the heck out of them.

 

3. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Tiger Jeet Singh/Killer Tim Brooks (9:52, DQ)

OK, so nobody is surprised that this ended in a DQ. BUT, I was surprised because it actually totally ruled. Singh and Brooks rushed their counterparts before the bell, and they ended up isolating Tenryu, stomping him and choking him and gouging his eyes, and with Tiger throwing one of the best punches I’ve seen during nominations so far. Brooks hung him in the tree of woe while Singh choked him with a rope. After a few minutes of this Jumbo runs over and starts beating the shit out of Singh on the floor. Singh throws a nice punch, Jumbo posts him and they head to the crowd, where Jumbo flings him into the chairs. Singh didn’t seem like he expected it, and took out a few people (and naturally a few chairs) on his way down. Tenryu eventually tags out and Jumbo moves in and just puts a stomping on Brooks. Tiger comes in, chucks the ref to the floor, Mitsuo Momota is wearing short shorts, and we go to the DQ. I dug this much more than the standard Singh “cheat and mug to the crowd” fare, as I really bought into the Singh/Jumbo hate. NOMINATE!

 

4. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase vs. Terry & Dory Funk (13:40, DQ)

This one had some realllly annoying selling problems. Dory (who looks infinitely cooler with his boss goatee) gets whooped for awhile, then tags out and Terry and Ted go at it, with Terry selling like he’d taken a 15 minute beating after about 2 minutes in the ring. Then they do that annoying WWE spot where a heel is controlling a face for many minutes, and the face hits one move and then they both lie there selling it for about 15 seconds. Guys come and go, sometimes selling, sometimes not (Terry is totally fine a minute later after struggling to stay on his feet a couple minutes before) and for some reason Hansen gets DQ’d for saving Dibiase (who Dory had in the Texas Cloverleaf). Hansen didn’t even use his cowbell (which he had JUST belted Terry with, who took a great bump over the guard rail), just came in, lariated Dory, Higuchi calls for the DQ…huh?

 

8/31/85 Special

 

1. Killer Khan vs. Ashura Hara

JIP and all we get is a Hara suplex, a Hara clothesline, and then Hara getting DQ’d for choking Khan. I was really excited for this match up L

 

2. Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (15:16)

This was OK, and I imagine some people might be wanting it on here due to the title change, but this wasn’t that good at all. It had some moments, some big dives and the Tiger Suplex ’85 is nasty, but it also had a bunch of meandering work and little to no selling. It wasn’t the worst thing you’ll ever see, and the crowd was way into it, but I didn’t care for it.

 

3. Giant Baba/Takashi Ishikawa vs. Tiger Jeet Singh/Killer Tim Brooks (3:14)

This is going along just fine and Singh is starting to cheat with a weapon and then Ishikawa gets pinned after like two weapon shots. Huh?

 

4. Great Kabuki vs. Sonada (2:31)

Pretty short and not too much going on. Great thrust kicks though.

 

5. Riki Chosyu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Terry & Dory Funk (11:42, CO)

You knew this was ending in a count out, and the match was going really nicely up until that point. Dory was a stoic badass, always saving Terry and dishing some nasty elbows, Terry stumbled around as always, the crowd was hot, Funk ate a Riki lariat…it was just missing…something. Maybe with a couple more minutes I could nominate this. Perfectly fine wrestling, nothing more.

 

6. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase (12:43, NE)

This is pretty much as strong a nomination as you can get. It was too easy to just sit back and watch these beat the crud out of each other. If you like hoss dudes punching each other, then brother this is for you. Stan and Ted pick on Tenryu a bunch (loved Tenryu hitting the enziguiri on Hansen but it sends Hansen into the Dibiase tag), but then Tenryu makes the hot tag to Jumbo and he CREAMS Dibiase with a clothesline. I mean just blasts him with one. Stan and Ted are smart though and just start finding new and awesome ways to pick apart Jumbo’s arm. The first 13 minutes are on included here, and it finishes in the next TV. So that’s really annoying. I’m not sure if it’s unedited elsewhere. Either way, this is getting a STRONG NOMINATE!