They produced exactly the match you'd expect given the guys involved. Kobashi worked most of the way for his team, taking a lot of punishment but popping the crowd with his comebacks. They especially loved his nearfalls on Jumbo. Kabuki was fun in short bursts, using his uppercut chops and crescent kicks to bail out his younger partner. And of course, Jumbo took over in the end. I can't complain about the lack of surprises, because it was an effective formula, and the crowd was way into Kobashi. I'll toss it a low-end nomination.

All Japan Classics 174

Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kabuki/Kenta Kobashi, 9/15/89 (AJC 174)

Early on, everyone is looking good then Jumbo slows it down with a sleeper on Kabuki. So far, everything has been clean but really basic. It has almost been wrestled like a rookies match with no huge moves or no focus on body parts or clear strategy. Eventually Kobashi becomes your Native in Peril. He starts selling the leg after a Jumbo lock so umbo starts attacking te leg. All good. Jumbo goes for a double underhook but Kobashi escapes, tags in Kabuki and Kabuki nails a sweet lariat on Jumbo. He then holds Jumbo while Kobashi hits a superfly splash on Jumbo. Once Yatsu and Kobashi are back in, they go back and forth and you get the feeling that Kobashi isn’t going to pull off the upset. A little awkward at the end when Yatsu hooks on a leg submission that looked like a failed figure 4. Weird. Big ending stretch with Kobashi and Kabuki fighting off Jumbo and trying to put Yatsu away. Kobashi thinks he can the same to Jumbo but after the backdrop driver, Kobashi is toast. Shit, the basic 1st half but the super hot 2nd half of so many of these tags is really making it hard to tell the matches apart. I liked this match but at one point does a match have to do something completely different to warrant conclusion. It is like I am being bombarded with 2 star matches with 4 star endings. I have to think about this one before moving it forward. I think it also depends when you actually watch the match. If I saw this before watching ten tags in the last three days, I might be a little favorable to it. This is going to be a mother to decide.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. The Great Kabuki & Kenta Kobashi (9/15/89)

 

Kobashi makes his AJ Classics debut here and the Korakuen fans get behind him here. The psychology for this is simple as Kobashi is the spunky youngster who takes it to the veterans and takes punishment as well with the fans wanting him to do well. Jumbo is pumped up here to beat on the youngster with Kabuki coming in as a change of pace. The Jumbo/Kobashi exchanges were very fun with him showing that he can hang with the big guns but isn't ready to be there yet. This is the type of match that Korakuen loves and works better here than almost any other arena which is a big plus. The stretch run was really fun as well with the fans chanting for Kobashi after the match and I think this will be fun to have on the set.