All Japan Pro Wrestling (January 5 & January 15 1989)

 

1. Joe & Dean Malenko vs Masa Fuchi & Great Kabuki - Was this ever a pleasant surprise. They spent the first 10 minutes or so on the mat. All-Japan crowds rarely seemed charged up during such sequences, but the fans really responded to how hard these guys worked down there. When Dean got Fuchi in a Fujiwara armbar, the crowd treated it as serious submission possibility. Even Kabuki looked good working in and out of holds. Then, when they picked up the pace over the last five minutes, every guy hit his stuff with snap. Fuchi nailed one of the brothers with an enzuigiri. Dean fired off some spectacular dropkicks. And Joe's finishing Northern Lights suplex was beautiful. Damn, they produced a really satisfying 15 minutes. Maybe I'm overreacting to them exceeding expectations, but this at least desrves a look from the full panel.

 

2. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada vs John Tenta & Shunji Takano - Another match that vastly exceeded my expectations. I feel like I'm watching this disc on ecstasy or something. Every shot in this one seemed to land full force and on the button. I figured Kawada would take all the punishment and Tenryu would win in the end. But no. As soon as Tenryu stepped in the ring, Takano nailed him in the chops with a dropkick and Tenta followed with a nasty belly-to-back suplex. Kawada turned in some great sequences trying to chop Tenta down. He hit a particularly vicious spinning kick to the big man's throat. He and Tenryu also landed a cringe-inducing double high kick to the head. Takano also landed some sick kicks. I wouldn't say the match had real story focus. The teams just traded violent control segments with partners breaking up a bunch of attempted pins. But they had the crowd rocking and rolling. This is another nomination.

 

3. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask & Shinnichi Nakano - The Bulldogs dominated this to the point of rendering it uninteresting. Dynamite looked much more jacked than he would be the end of the year but also mighty strung out.

 

4. Brian Adams & Mike Miller vs Jumbo Tsuarta & Yoshiaki Yatsu - Bland clubbering from the gaijin until Jumbo decided to take it home.

 

5. Battle Royal - Not a fan of these.

 

6. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki vs Joe & Dean Malenko - This was JIP and ended in a countout. The part that made tape featured some great action. I'd like to see a fully developed match between these teams, but I'm not sure it exists.

 

7. Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid vs Shunji Takano & Shiniichi Nakano - More Bulldogs domination. Yawn.

 

8. Genichiro Tenryu vs Mike Miller - Miller brought nothing to the table that would make him an interesting opponent for Tenryu. Casual win for the star.

 

9. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Brian Adams & Dan Spivey - Spivey and Jumbo produced entertaining interactions throughout the year, because Spivey came off as the rare guy who could toss Jumbo around (he about decapitated him with a lariat here.) This wasn't a high-end match; the teams just weren't on the same level. But that pairing rarely bored me.

This is obviously 1989, not 1985. Can you change the subject line Will? Thanks.