Posted May 26, 201015 yr comment_5451282 All Japan Retro Classics #5: Stan Hansen 1. Stan Hansen vs. The Destroyer (10/30/75) 2. Stan Hansen vs. Ashura Hara (1/15/82) I was getting excited for this one, as I’ve been into Hara’s late 80s work. Here he looks like the Japanese Randy Marsh. But this was not meant to be, as Hansen just steamrolls him and Western Lariats him 2:25 into the contest and we are out. 3. Stan Hansen vs. Giant Baba (PWF Title, 9/8/83) This is also ridiculously short, like 8 minutes long. It really starts to pick up and then it just ends with Hansen hitting a lariat that I assumed Baba would kick out of. Of note in the match is Baba hitting an axe handle off the top rope! I was horrified as Baba flew off, imagining his legs about to just shatter. So there are some fun moments and Hansen always makes Baba’s chops look better than anybody else, but this just gets cut off right at the knees. 4. Stan Hansen/Bruiser Brody vs. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (RWTL finals, 12/12/83) This is a really tough one to comment on, as it had plenty of action and four big dudes who had no problem working stiff. But it also is completely formless and the middle feels like they’re all just filling time until the ending. No build whatsoever as there is a new guy getting worked over every couple minutes, nobody looking like an underdog, nobody even really selling damage. Tenryu works on Hansen, Hansen works on Tenryu, Brody works on Tenryu, Jumbo works on Brody, they just keep changing out with nobody getting the edge. It feels like it’s worked in one minute vacuum-sealed bursts. The beginning starts out hot and the end 2 minutes is killer as Hansen whiffs the lariat but Brody holds the ropes open so Tenryu flies out onto nothing, then the action spills to the floor, Brody deals with Jumbo, and back in the ring Hansen just obliterates Tenryu with the Western Lariat. He just killlllled him, and the match had a very refreshing clean pinfall finish. But there were just so many meandering moments in the middle that I can’t really give this a strong nomination at all. It is worth watching though, for sure. 5. Stan Hansen/Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu/Toshiaki Kawada (RWTL finals, 12/16/88) (21:02) It would be pretty hard to argue against the inclusion of this one! This is just awesome all the way through and really builds and builds. Once Hansen/Gordy dispatch of Kawada, they go to work dismantling Tenryu and BOY do they beat the snot out of him. Hansen was all about the nasty elbow drops and kicks to every inch of the body. Gordy would lace in some nasty forearms and lariats, and he just took a beating. Tenryu’s comebacks were well-timed and never seemed preposterous, and Kawada feebly trying to help before being easily dispatched each time spelled a certain eventual doom for Tenryu. The hope spots were great, the beatdown was great, Kawada was a fiery babyface and everything about this was really great. STRONG NOMINATION! 6. Stan Hansen vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (CC finals, 4/17/92) (20:06)
