Posted May 23, 201015 yr comment_5451170 7/10/88 (7/8/88) 1. Tiger Mask vs. Mitch Snow (7:50) It’s pretty safe to say we won’t be doing a Complete & Accurate Mitch Snow over at Segunda Caida any time soon. He listlessly works TM’s arm for 6 minutes, somehow managing to blow a couple armdrags, but then takes a nice bump to the floor, then starts hitting some nice elbow drops and a good splash off the top…but it don’t matter as TM just kicks out and goes right into his finishing sequence and we’re out. Mitch Snow committed suicide in 2001, as he could never get over this loss. 2. Great Kabuki/Takashi Ishikawa vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Samson Fuyuki (12:51/19:10) This was a real fun tag and the time flew by. Kabuki and Ishikawa work over Fuyuki’s arm for a bit, until he makes the huge hot tag out to Tenryu who cleans house on everybody. Kabuki bumps real good for Tenryu, then Fuyuki tags back in to hit a massive lariat on Ishikawa, still selling his arm. Eventually Fuyuki tries too much and goes for a crossbody off the top, and Kabuki awesomely punches him out of the sky (LOVE Kabuki’s uppercuts and body punches in this match) and then we go into a big schmozz ending of people taking lariats and breaking up pinfalls and I leave a happy man. Maybe not QUITE to nomination level, but a borderline pick. Worth a second viewing for sure. 3. Jumbo Tsuruta/Hiroshi Wajima vs. Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy (15:37) This wasn’t too much. They work over Hansen’s arm for about 8 minutes, then Gordy tags in and hits some nice elbow drops on Wajima, stuff happens, Hansen hits a nice lariat on Wajima and he gets counted out. Nothing more, nothing less. 7/17/88 (7/16/88) 1.Tiger Mask/Isao Takagi vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (17:50) This was just plain awesome right here. Takagi you know better as the future Arashi, but here he is a young 27 year old who just happens to look like 40. He is also a dude that Tenryu feels he needs to just beat the shit out of the whole time here. Holy God. Tenryu just punts him in the spine and knees him in the face (cutting him open, making him bleed!!) and then Kawada comes in and tries to impress Tenryu and HE just punts the shit out of Takagi and it is AWWWWWEsome. And then Tenryu sells TM’s sometimes kinda goofy but sometimes not kicks actually reallllly well and makes them look real good (especially when he takes a boss bump through the ropes from them) and then in some foreshadowing TM picks on Kawada and Kawada kinda takes it but kinda also knows he’s looking at the next 12 years of his life. But Kawada’s kicks look real nice and he hits a plausible cartwheel elbow and he also hits a great Bill Dundee-esque clothesline/sleeper that looks beautiful! But then Takagi is pissed and lariats the fucking hell out of Tenryu and Tenryu returns fire with a vicious shoulderblock and TM hits a dope tope through the bottom ropes on Kawada and slams Takagi’s head on a table outside and he takes it like a champ and this match just totally rules the whole way through. I can’t say enough nice things about it. Also I’m drunk, NOMINATE!! 2. Jumbo Tsuruta/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy (18:37) This one didn’t really do it for me. It wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t say it was really good, either. The first 10 minutes are a pretty dry run, with some sloppy moments. It picks up (as Childs said) once they start picking on Yatsu. I can always get behind Hansen stomping on someone’s face, who couldn’t!? The camera misses the desperation comeback lariat so it just ends with Jumbo and Stan lying there. This wasn’t a bad way to spend almost 20 minutes, but no nomination from me.
