Some NJPW World Stuff

Akira Maeda v Nobuhiko Takada (New Japan, 1/3/86)

This was one of the first Maeda matches (maybe the first?) after he and the UWF breakaways returned to New Japan, which basically kicked off a two year run of UWF v New Japan that's one of the best stretches of work for any promotion in history. Maeda v Takada is a match-up that happened a lot (though probably not as often as I have it in my head), and while they have a few bouts that I'll never be arsed watching again, this was a decent showcase of what the next couple years had in store. It had a nice balance between exhibition and contest. Maybe exhibition is the wrong word because I never got the sense they were just doing stuff to do it, but I'd guess the plan to some extent was to show people what they could expect going forward. And the matwork was nice and tight, the striking had real bite and they managed to highlight what these two were about. Takada threw some really sharp combos and when he got caught flush a couple times you knew Maeda would try and rip his leg off. I get sort of nostalgic for this period of New Japan, which sounds ridiculous considering I didn't see most of it until about 11 years ago on bootleg DVD. But I may just watch every second of it again. 

Shiro Koshinaka & Kuniaki Kobayashi v Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito (New Japan, 3/9/92)

What a mental feud this is. I don't know why everyone involved hates each other to death, or why the crowds are ALWAYS so rabid for a midcard feud, or who half the people involved in the post-match riots actually are, but it's all badass. This was basically a free-for-all. No tags required, just an uncooperative fight. Koshinaka is drilling people with his hip bone, Kobayashi is rolling out insane capture suplexes, Aoyagi and Saito start out in full karate gear and by the end Aoyagi is shirtless and Saito is walking around holding one of his eyes in place with a blood-soaked towel. Many kicks were thrown, many deep chokes right under the chin, many punches to the back of the head. Not a ton of selling at points, but that just added to the chaos. Don't know who replaces the half-blind Saito after the first ref' stoppage but Kobayashi absolutely demolishes him while Koshinaka and Aoyagi kick lumps out each other. By the end of the year these lunatics are all pals and then Tenryu and the lumpies rock into town and everything gets even more wild. The good sort of wrestling, this. 

President Inoki

I hopped on the NJPW World streaming service. I have no idea how long I'll keep it for, but there's a whole bunch of interesting stuff that I haven't seen before and I figure their library is massive enough by now that I can entertain myself for a month or two. I may even attempt once more to jump into some of the modern stuff. I may, however, not fucking bother. 

Antonio Inoki v Kintaro Oki (New Japan, 10/10/74) 

This was pretty wild. I have no clue about the backstory, but before the bell Oki repeatedly blanks Inoki's offer of a handshake so Inoki just clocks him in the ear. After that everything they do captures an amazing sense of hostility, with close-quarter hair grabbing and rough lock-ups and both of them always being on the cusp of dropping any pretence of competition and punching the other guy in the mouth. There were a couple moments where you could see Oki about ready to put a boot in as Inoki's on the mat, and likewise you could tell Inoki was desperate to cut loose rather than let Oki back to his feet. Like, you could buy that they were truly itching to fight rather than wrestle. Inoki grinding his forearm across Oki's face might honestly be the nastiest version of that spot I've seen, just a sharp slice of bone straight across the cheek. Then Oki throws that first headbutt and Inoki's sell of it is wonderful. You can tell it hurt him, but he wasn't giving Oki the satisfaction of taking a back step. He sold it like the unexpectedness of it wasn't really enough to jolt him out of his state of adrenaline, like you'd expect in a real fight when someone peppers you with a dirty shot like that. The second one he expected but that only made it sting even worse. The crowd heat goes up and up for every headbutt, for every instance of Inoki reining in his anger rather than letting it get the better of him. The visual of him, blood trickling down his face, telling Oki to do it again was incredible, and of course the moment where he's finally had enough and cracks Oki in the jaw is one of the single best punches in history. Really cool, unique match.

Antonio Inoki v Vader (New Japan, 1/4/94)

One of the all-time great Inoki spectacles. He was in his 50s here and took a hammering for the ages. Anybody who's seen or is even aware of this will probably have run across a clip of the German suplex, and obviously that shit was ludicrous, but I guess I forgot how much harrowing stuff he took in addition to that. I remembered the big Vader soup bones. I did not remember him getting dragged to the floor and slammed on top of a table, or getting thrown around the ring in general like he weighed next to nothing. The Vader Bomb looked like it about crushed his lungs and then he took a moonsault with all of big Leon's substantial weight just flattening him. And that German suplex still stands out as one of the most holy shit spots ever. It's not just the suplex itself, it's the close up of Inoki after it where he looks to be in his literal death throes. After the match he's back at death's door and it's sort of astounding that he actually finished the thing in one piece. Vader looked a bit broken down here, but if you ask him to box someone's ears in, take a few big bumps and get melted in the head with a chair then he is still very capable of being Vader at this point in time. Evidently. 

Liger, Aoyagi, Kurisu. Kim Duk!

Jushin Liger v Norio Honaga (New Japan, 5/31/91)

Pissed off and out for blood Liger is by far my favourite Liger. That usually comes in one of two forms, the first being inter-promotional Liger where he's out to put some M-Pro fools in their place or NOAH rock into town and he'll try and murder Kikuchi. The second tends to be something that happens over the course of a match, and the best examples are ones where someone foolishly goes after his mask. It's not surly Liger like you get against Ohtani and Kanemoto. He was always in a foul mood against those guys, but that's because they were punks and coming for the crown. When someone like Sano or Samurai tried to take the mask, that was when you'd get Liger going full and proper psycho. It went beyond the bounds of a wrestling match and you never wanted to push him that far. Liger was firing on all cylinders to start this, looking crisp in the early exchanges and picking up a well-earned round of applause after wiping Honaga with a plancha. He was looking like The Ace and you figured Honaga was in for a long night, but there was never inherent malice to what he was doing. He was going about his business and his business on the night was to win a wrestling match. Then Honaga went low and practically tore the whole mask off. Who knows why he did it. Maybe he thought Liger would lose all composure and it might actually give him a shot at getting into the match, maybe he just wanted to poke the bear to see if it would bite. Either way Liger goes apeshit and this was about as murderous as I've ever seen him. He demolishes Honaga to the point where people start booing him. Honaga is gushing blood from a cut and Liger is punching him dead in that cut, trying to peel the wound open further, just hammering him every which way. I thought they probably could've shaved it by a couple minutes and it would've felt a bit tighter, but I suppose it's hard to complain about getting TOO much psycho Liger. That they went and threw us a curveball at the finish was awesome and I should probably watch this feud in its entirety. How do I have no recollection of seeing it at all? This was peak Liger. 

Masanobu Kurisu & Kim Duk v Shiro Koshinaka & Masashi Aoyagi (New Japan, 12/16/91)

Any chance to see Kurisu and Aoyagi lay into each other is one worth taking. This was more of a whimsical house show version of a Kurisu match, where moments built around him throwing an opponent to the floor carry a little humour rather than a lot of dread, but they played their hits and in the end we go home happy. Early on Kurisu throws Koshinaka out the ring, but Koshinaka immediately jumps back in as Kurisu follows him out because he and everyone else in attendance knows what the wee fella's plan is. Kurisu wants to smash someone with a chair and the longer that can be avoided the better it'll be for Koshinaka. Of course the payoff to that later is as nasty as you expect and Kurisu jabbing the chair into someone's cheekbone will always look brutal. Some headbutts were thrown, hip bones were jammed into faces, Aoyagi belted people with kicks, a good time was had. 

Tenryu Left a Girl Back in the Country for the City and the Pay, Reachin' out for Fame and Fortune but He'll go Back Again Someday

Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen v The Nasty Boys (All Japan, 12/4/89) - FUN

This was just about exactly what I'd have wanted from a Nasty Boys match in All Japan. For years I read about folks saying American wrestlers needed to tone down their act when they went for tours of Japan. We have enough footage of guys doing just that, and I guess I get why they did, but I'm calling bullshit on the idea that they NEEDED to. In all the footage we have of Randy Savage working Japan he never toned his act down once and people went bonkers for it every time. Why in the christ would you want a dialled back Macho Man anyway?! People were going ballistic for Abdullah and the Sheik stabbing everyone with forks for decades, why would anybody think they need to maintain some air of "respectable decorum" working Japan for it to resonate? Thankfully Knobbs and Sags were not about that whatsoever and they chose to approach this the same as I'd have expected them to approach it if they were in Florida or Memphis or anywhere else in America. And hey, the crowd got on board with it and they booed the Nasty Boys when they cheated and gouged eyes and they popped huge when Tenryu and Hansen kicked fuck out them. They never let Hansen eat them alive and instead they tried to swarm him, tried to drag him to the floor, tried to double up and take apart the lariat arm. They tried to claw Tenryu's eyes out and told everybody to shut up when they didn't like it. And obviously Hansen threw Knobbs into the second row and Tenryu gave them an enziguri to the neck. 

Genichiro Tenryu, Ashura Hara, Takashi Ishikawa, Tatsuhito Goto & Strong Machine v Riki Choshu, Shinya Hashimoto, Tatsumi Fujinami, Masa Chono & Hiroshi Hase (Elimination Match) (New Japan, 6/15/93) - GREAT

Two days before the first ever Tenryu v Hashimoto singles match, Tenryu rocks up to New Japan with his coterie of lumpy, dumpy and downright grumpy potato merchants. For about 20 minutes this was amazing and as good as you'll get with WAR v New Japan, which is a stupidly high bar. Tenryu/Hashimoto is the main focus and everything they do together is out of this world. The first exchange lasts about four minutes and half of it is them just staring a hole through each other and wrestling has never been as good since. Take your Okadas and Omegas and seven star classics and ram them because they're nothing on this. I mean nobody can do a staredown like Hashimoto. He has a glare that would pin you to the floor and everyone in attendance knows where it'll lead. Nobody does unveiled contempt like Tenryu and everyone in attendance knows where it'll lead, so obviously this was some great anticipation-building. They hate each other's guts, the mere sight of the other induces apoplexy, then it boils over and it's chops and kicks everywhere. Then it settles down a bit, they throw a few shots just to retest the water, Hashimoto wags a finger because he knows how the game works, Tenryu flashes a grin because he'll probably get his way in the end anyhow, and then it's back to limbs everywhere. It was a perfect opening between two guys who were just made to wrestle each other. Some other awesome things that happened in the first half: team WAR trying to take Fujinami's bandaged arm home in a sack, Tenryu blowing a gasket when Hashimoto knocks him off the apron unprompted, Hase doing a giant swing on Goto only to turn around and get obliterated with a lariat, Hase responding by putting Tenryu on his head with a uranage, Choshu visibly raging when all of the ugly WAR bastards took turns stealing his submission move, team New Japan dropping Tenryu in their corner and quintuple stomping him into a coma. Hase might've been my favourite of the New Japan guys other than Hashimoto and his exchange with Tenryu was great. Tenryu is super generous so Hase gets to look like a killer, but ultimately Tenryu is who he is and Hase ends up on the floor clutching his throat. The problematic part of the match comes at the midpoint. On the one hand doing a Tenryu elimination there made for an amazing moment, especially with the way Fujinami - who'd been battered up and down the place - rolls him up with his one good arm for some sweet revenge. They went for some unpredictability and in that specific moment it worked. The issue is that it sort of killed the unpredictability of everything after it. I love Ishikawa and Hara but nobody was buying those two and Super Strong Machine outlasting a murderer's row of New Japan heavyweights. They were thrown a bone by eliminating Fujinami, but that damage had already been done and he only had one arm to begin with. By the end you could argue they even babyface'd Ishikawa, who basically spent the last five minutes getting absolutely molly wopped as New Japan took turns practicing their signature moves on him (while he stood defiant and refused to quit). Maybe Ishikawa scoring a flash elimination would've created the tiniest bit of doubt, and it would've been a spectacular moment, but in the end this was New Japan letting everybody know that they were the biggest game in town. Still, it's WAR v New Japan in a multi-man elimination match. The first half is a blitz and the second half is good. Obviously you will watch it. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Tenryu's Prayed for Wisdom, now He Prays for Peace. It Seems the More He Knows now, the Less that He can Sleep

Genichiro Tenryu v Jumbo Tsuruta (All Japan, 10/11/89) - GREAT

I didn't think this was in the real upper tier of Jumbo v Tenryu, but it's still Jumbo v Tenryu in 1989 so by the same token the floor on that is always going to be fairly high. It was more of a slow-burner than their match from June, and like that match you can see them bringing elements that the 90s crew would take and develop and use to create those epics that folk would write longform essays about. They both know each other inside out, they know what the other is likely to try and so early on you get a bunch of great moments built around scouted strikes and regrouping, neither of them wanting to overplay their hand. It's sort of tentative, but the way they use it to let the heat boil is pretty much perfect. Then we get the payoff when Tenryu chops Jumbo in the throat off a break and Jumbo goes batshit mental. He chucks the ref' away and smashes Tenryu with one of the all-time great dropkicks, punts him to the floor and throws a table at him because he's had just about enough of all this. And they give us lots of setups and payoff throughout, some of them little, some of them bigger, a few of them paying off previous payoffs and building upon the narrative and all that good stuff. My favourite of these is probably Tenryu waiting for his moment and absolutely making Jumbo regret introducing that table. They've both matched up about three dozen times by now as well, so we're at the stage of the rivalry where they need to start thinking outside the box for ways to catch the other off guard. The powerbomb has been a staple in the feud, but they both have it scouted by now and either of them actually hitting it becomes increasingly difficult. There are a bunch of awesome struggles over it during the match, where the person on the receiving end goes dead weight to fight it, or if they're lifted up off the ground they start flailing legs wildly until someone takes a heel to the eye socket. Tenryu has evidently decided to cut away with some of the setup and just hoist Jumbo onto his shoulders with a double leg lift (very technical term because I am very smart), so by the end there's that lingering presence of the powerbomb and the idea that Tenryu has more than one way of hitting it. Jumbo rolling through into a pin is such a cool finish, not just because it ties brilliantly into the story but because it's Jumbo Tsuruta hitting a fucking hurricanrana. Of course this was badass. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

A Weekend of Kurisu

Riki Choshu, Shiro Koshinaka, Kensuke Sasaki, Kantaro Hoshino & Kuniaki Kobayashi v Animal Hamaguchi, Masanobu Kurisu, Hiro Saito, Tatsuhito Goto & Super Strong Machine (New Japan, 6/26/90)

Man, this was the business. I've said it before on this here nonsense of a thing but these multi-man tags might be my favourite kind of wrestling match, and New Japan knew how to do them better than anyone. While I'm not entirely sure if this had any inter-promotional slant to it like the WAR/NJ or UWF/NJ feuds (to be honest I don't really know anything of the backstory here), it did have the buckets of heat and hate and piss and vinegar that made those matches so special. It never slowed down for a minute and every single person involved got to look good; those in minor roles, those in major roles, those in any role in between. Sasaki looked like a prodigy and the heir to Masa Saito, Hoshino was over like crazy and punched everybody in the face, Koshinaka ruled as your underdog babyface cracking people in the jaw with hip attacks, Choshu was an amazing big man on campus, Hamaguchi was the perfect ringleader of his lumpy scuzzball circus, literally every person involved brought the goods. And then you had Masa Kurisu, who never just stole the show -- he stole it, set it on fire, pissed over its remains and put the head in anybody who tried to stop him. By christ what a performance. His side were the heels to begin with so you expect them to get heat anyway, but he started as someone being booed by association and by the end people were baying for his blood, even when he came in legally. It might be his career performance. Like, I can see Kurisu not being for everyone. A lot of what he does looks messy and uncooperative. "He makes his opponents earn it" probably won't fly for everyone and so his selling might just look like he's not actually selling at all. But all of that gave this an extra edge, where everything he did looked like it was on the verge of breaking down, like he really wanted to throttle whoever he grabbed by the throat or headbutted in the cheek, and he grabbed literally everyone by the throat and headbutted everyone in the cheek. He'd drag someone to the floor and hammer them with chairs, he'd randomly come in and stomp someone in the neck, he'd slap people as hard as humanly possible and potato the fuck out of everybody. But all of those things had amazing payoffs, like when Koshinaka smashed a full row of chairs over his head or when Hoshino punched him in the nose. The best payoff of them all came right at the end. Kurisu pretty much bullied Sasaki for large parts of the match and revelled greatly in how much people hated him for it. He gave the kid nothing and treated him like a scrub. Then at the end Kurisu tries to stick his nose in again,  Sasaki sprints over from his own corner and about takes the wee fella's head off with a dropkick. That Kurisu sold it like he'd been hit by a truck made it look like Sasaki had actually overcome something, and Choshu putting the nail in his coffin with a lariat gave the people the exact result they wanted. Kurisu needed to eat shit for his conduct and they couldn't have delivered on that any better with the finish. Just an awesome match, and like the best of these multi-man tags I could re-watch it in a week and find ten new things to love about it. After the bell Kurisu has to be pulled off his own teammate and staggers around the ring like a drunkard cussing out fans and kicking the ring ropes. Just in case you were wondering. 

Revisiting 90s Joshi #33

Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto v Combat Toyoda & Megumi Kudo (FMW, 9/19/92)

Big Match Inter-Promotional Joshi. This wasn't quite as molten as some of the AJW v JWP/LLPW stuff, but it was Bull and the Dangerous Queen rocking up to big dog it in someone's own house. Lots of heat, lots of niggliness, lots of posturing, lots of potatoing. Bull was mostly in steamroller mode but there were a couple moments where the FMW duo caught her unawares to a big reaction. Some of her lariats landed more with wrist and forearm, flung with abandon and often connecting across the ear or temple, which I imagine would not be fun to be on the end of. Her exchanges with Toyoda were very beefy, and even if you never really bought Toyoda having a chance you can't deny she was game for a scrap. Hokuto was a fun presence all the way through, always menacing even when she was on the apron. The handheld view of this means you can always see what she's up to and I don't think there was ever a point where it didn't look like she was ready to spring to action if necessary. She practically lived in a crouch, one foot over the bottom rope just in case. Of course when she was in there she ruled too. At 15 minutes they never went balls to the wall with the finish, but it had a red hot closing stretch and they didn't piss about trying to build tension early. It was the last thing they needed to build considering the crowd were on board from the jump, so I appreciate that they went for the throat straight away. 

Tenryu's Soul Hungers for More than He Can Eat. Give Him a New Day and a Bite of Something Sweet

Genichiro Tenryu v Koji Kitao (SWS, 12/7/90) - GOOD

This was kind of strange in its layout, but these two have really fun chemistry together and they're not afraid to potato the brains out each other. Actually I don't even know if I'd say the layout was strange as opposed to the execution of the momentum shifts. There's one big transition midway through so Tenryu can take over, but it didn't come off great and it sort of left the crowd a bit confused as to what happened. The first part is total Kitao domination, which works in part because Tenryu is so good at eating all of his offence. He even gets cut open from something - could've been a few things - and you wonder if he won't go and do something unnecessarily violent in response. The big transition was a Kitao clothesline that sent him over the ropes, but I think it was supposed to be a MISSED clothesline and instead he hits it but flies out the ring anyway. I'll give him credit and say he realised there was a goof (as much or more so on Tenryu, because he was likely the one who should've moved) so he lay on the floor a bit longer to sell it. I just don't think the crowd really knew how to react. Either way Tenryu absolutely clobbers him up and down the place afterwards. More than one punt to the spine and head was thrown. Then there's a ref' stoppage but not really a stoppage and that was sort of weird, but Kitao catching Tenryu flying through the air like a snowman in a hurricane and drilling him with a belly-to-belly was extremely awesome. Not their best match together, but it had enough of the good stuff going for it. 

Genichiro Tenryu v Minoru Suzuki (New Japan, 8/7/04) - GOOD

I'm not surprised that this was a fun match-up. I don't love Suzuki and can take or leave his act depending on opponent, but I figured him and Tenryu would play off each other well. I thought worst case scenario Tenryu would get fed up and punch him in the face a couple times, and in fact they took that and basically built the match around it, which of course worked. The matwork wasn't the most compelling, but it allowed Suzuki to dominate and the whole time he did you knew Tenryu was waiting for his chance to let loose. It wouldn't be doing his mood any favours, basically. I liked as well that Suzuki was fully hip to Tenryu's bullshit, how he knew when to push his buttons and then dodge those rabbit punches Tenryu was going to throw in retaliation. At times it was almost as if he was bullying the old man and with Suzuki being such a dickhead about everything you sort of felt sympathy for Tenryu. They built that anticipation, kept drawing closer and closer to the point where Tenryu would catch Suzuki and make him pay, but Tenryu punching him in the dick was an even greater payoff than I could've hoped for. Suzuki sticks his tongue out and his ego forces him into engaging in Tenryu's game, despite the fact he'd be a thousand times better sticking to his own and taking Tenryu to the mat. Initially I rolled my eyes at his no-selly guff, but he won me over with it when he did the half-stagger KO bit. Tenryu punching him in the back of the head was brutal and that brainbuster was an absolute scorcher. I would not be opposed to seeing these two wrestle each other again.

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Tenryu Walks Around on Pins and Needles, Around People He Can't Even Name. He Keep on Passing Church Steeples, Praying that His God is Still the Same

Genichiro Tenryu v Mr. Wrestling II (GCW, 2/23/80) - FUN

Give me all of the Tenryu studio matches! This was about 5 minutes, if that, but had some fun mat wrestling, Tenryu throwing a big chop that had people oohing, and a chance to see how he'd sell getting clobbered with a Wrestling II kneelift. The latter ruled and once again I'm certain that Tenryu would've made an extended territory run in the 80s great. He was pretty cookie cutter in Japan for the first few years of his career but you can tell he had some top drawer stooging in him if he was allowed to lean into it. His backslide was also quicker than a hiccup and Gordon Solie doing commentary on a Tenryu match is always going to be cool. 

Genichiro Tenryu & Dick Slater v Stan Hansen & Umanosuke Ueda (All Japan, 6/8/82) - GREAT

Aw man this was a hoot. The early 80s All Japan house style can bore me to tears, but whenever Hansen's involved it usually means you'll at least get some serious energy. This had some serious energy and really created the perfect environment for '82 Tenryu to shine. Hansen is a freight train and we all know it. He'll keep on coming and if the opponent is game it usually leads to magic. It can sometimes lead to that opponent being gobbled up, but Slater and Tenryu were most definitely game and it made for a super fun struggle. The crowd being fully behind Tenryu didn't hurt either. Ueda is pretty much useless to everyone without his kendo stick so when he loses it early - and Tenryu batters him about the place with it - Hansen largely has to carry the load for his team. I love how Ueda, any time he may be in an uncomfortable spot, just starts waving for Hansen to come in and lend a hand. An abdominal stretch? Call for Hansen. A spinning toe hold? Get Hansen in. A headlock? Hansen. It meant Slater and Tenryu could isolate Ueda, hit him with a few awesome elbows off the top, work towards the figure-four, but Hansen's presence on the side meant chaos was always a possibility and more than once it led to things breaking down. The last couple minutes were great, with Hansen barrelling in and waylaying Slater with a high knee (Slater's bump over the top was also great), and a lariat out of nowhere will never not be a perfect finish. This might actually be Tenryu's career match and performance up to this point.

Genichiro Tenryu & Mighty Inoue v Crusher Blackwell & Rufus R. Jones (All Japan, 8/26/82) - SKIPPABLE

Pretty much the opposite. This was pretty rough, boys. Tenryu in 1982 isn't going to make an otherwise dull match worthwhile on presence alone. At his best he's more than just presence anyway, but he can't carry the load at this stage of his career. And Blackwell was fun enough, but I'm not sure he was all that interested on the night and Rufus Jones is Rufus Jones so it's whatever. Blackwell's dropkick ruled and his drop toe hold was super slick for a morbidly obese man, I liked how he showed gradual vulnerability against Tenryu, but he was giving yer man Mighty nothing at all and this was all just very forgettable. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Revisiting 90s Joshi #32

Mayumi Ozaki v Rieko Amano (JWP, 3/6/98)

I wasn't too sure about this on paper, but I'm glad I gave it a shot because I wound up liking it a fair bit. They weren't shooting for epic, it was more of a "story match" with Ozaki basically trying to humiliate her young opponent. I'm not a fan of wrestlers essentially no-selling stuff as a means of drawing heat, and I was worried that was what Ozaki was going for at points of this, but as time went on she started to crack and in a way Amano looked all the better for it. Amano would hook on a Boston crab and initially I thought Ozaki was trying to show disinterest, or even outright ignore that she was in a submission hold because she's a heel or something (I think Toyota would do this sometimes around '97/'98, and that sort of heeling really does nobody any favours). She'd smile and shit-talk because this wiry MMA girl was trying to make life uncomfortable for her. "How adorable." But then that smile would veer more towards grimace and at a certain point all that shit-talking felt like hubris. Ozaki was in full bitch mode, but she was pretty giving and when Amano grabbed an armbar in the middle of the ring I genuinely bought Ozaki tapping. I suppose it didn't hurt that Ozaki's selling of the arm was excellent, so there was always some vulnerability there and they milked the small handful of big nearfalls really well. I've been less than complimentary towards Ozaki plenty of times, but this felt like one of those performances her biggest fans might point to as an example of her being a wonderful actor, and to be honest I'd probably agree. The moments she lost the plot and punted Amano in the face or tried to brutalise her for getting out of line were also amazing. One uraken in particular was batshit wild and about spread Amano's nose across her forehead. For a match that shouldn't really have been in doubt, more than once they made me doubt what the result was going to be. One of the cooler non-Kandori late-90s joshi matches I've seen in ages. 

Tenryu Picked up the Guitar 'Round the Time He Turned Fourteen. Lit that Fire, Been Burnin' Tires, Hard Booze, Both Hands in Gasoline

Genichiro Tenryu v Ric Flair (Mid-Atlantic, 10/22/80) - FUN

Only a few minutes long, but a cool rarity nonetheless. Tenryu this early into his career isn't setting anybody's world on fire, but based on this one studio bout against one of the hottest babyface acts in the country at the time I feel like he easily could've settled into a great run in the States. Of all the things I'd associate with Tenryu I wouldn't have put selling an atomic drop at the top of the list, but his sell of an atomic drop in this was absolutely majestic and the Rick Rude in all of us shed a beautiful tear. 

Genichiro Tenryu & John Tenta v Rusher Kimura & Goro Tsurumi (All Japan, 5/23/87) – SKIPPABLE 

This isn't one you need to hunt down, but it had some moments and above all else Goro Tsurumi doing some hidden foreign object shtick. The crowd could not give a single shit about any of it, yet Tsurumi will jump off that middle rope and punch you in the head and maybe choke you with something while the referee remains oblivious. Rusher is about 85 at this point and can't really do anything other than throw a few headbutts and hold Tenta in the corner, but the former are still Rusher Kimura headbutts and the latter allows Tsurumi to WREAK HAVOC to mild chagrin. Tenryu charging in and evening the score was pretty cool for a minute there, at least. A few nice belly-to-belly suplexes were hit and Tenryu got to plant someone with a powerbomb. If this takes place in the Omni we're looking at a four and a quarter star affair. Prolly. 

Genichiro Tenryu & Riki Choshu v Antonio Inoki & Koji Kitao (New Japan, 5/3/95) - FUN

Not as amazing as you'd hope from looking at the names, but it had its moments. Tenryu was the only one on the night who seemed particularly giving. He sold Inoki's enziguris and Kitao's knees like death and we even got a moment where tempers spilled and he hucked a chair at someone. As was his wont, of course. There was too much molten charisma here for this to have been completely dull, even if Choshu and Inoki maybe coasted on it a bit. They had some fun exchanges at least, and Choshu trying to behead a humongous man in a gi is always going to draw a reaction. I'm not really sure what the finish was about but if you'd put the house on this ending with some fuckery then I can tell you for sure that you would NOT be homeless. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu

Revisiting 90s Joshi #31

Mariko Yoshida & Aja Kong v Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue (AJW, 3/21/95)

This was a semi-final match of a one-night tag tournament (at least I think it was one-night) so they never went full bore, but I thought they played to their spot on the card really well. Under different circumstances maybe they'd have gone longer and built to a bigger finish, but even at 16 minutes they still managed to do their thing and it's not like the finishing run was a lead balloon. Aja was outstanding in this. She didn't even do that much, it was mostly standard fare for where she was at in '95, but where she was at in '95 was top of the mountain (for another few days at least) and she very much carried herself as someone at the mountain top. She also thumped the hell out of both Inoues, and often at that. There was one stretch where she just volleyed Takako up and down the place and looked to be having a great deal of fun doing so. Yoshida was almost little sister to her in this, where she would come in and try to sustain the advantage, but rarely would she actually gain it for her team. I was looking forward to her exchanges with Takako but it seems the former teammates didn't harbour any ill will towards one another. Maybe their pairing ended amicably and not with one of them throwing the other head first through a barber shop window. I had no idea who was winning this so the last few minutes were pretty exciting, and the finish itself ruled. 

Revisiting 90s Joshi #30

Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue v Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa (AJW, 4/25/92)

This was pretty much the definition of a Leaving It All Out There joshi tag, coming with all that entails. Not one of them had even been wrestling for four years at this point (Malenko barely two) so it was a young lions version of a Leaving It All Out There joshi tag, coming with all THAT entails. Yoshida is a personal favourite but even still I was shocked at how good this was. Some of the transitions were ropey and they raced through some stuff, the execution wasn't always perfect and at a couple points I wanted them to slow it down a bit and build some more heat before moving onto the next segment. But they had that crowd hooked completely by the end and I'll be fucked if I wasn't all in as well. Yoshida's the one I was most interested in here and she was really fun in that sort of lucha-esque way, where she could still tie someone in knots but she was also happy to take to the air at the same time. In ARSION she was more Negro Navarro or Blue Panther, here she was still Atlantis or Angel Azteca. Some of her flying was delightful and of course she got to apply a preposterous hold for fun. Debbie Malenko looked raw as hell but her exchanges with Takako got real gritty and I dug them slapping each other about the ears. Takako wasn't in full bitch more yet but she clearly had a mean streak a mile wide and Debbie bore the brunt of it. Sakie took most of the beating and played a fun babyface who wouldn't quit, quite literally I suppose as she spent a fair amount of time being stretched. Not all of her strikes landed flush, but she gets an A for effort and when they did land it was usually right under the chin. Liked the opening with Yoshida and Inoue going straight after her and cutting her off from her partner, and even if the hot tag could've been built to a little more I thought Malenko was impressive coming in bringing the thunder. All four of them probably overreached at least once but, not to sound patronising, there was a charm to all of it. More than the charm I appreciated how much they took the 20 minutes they had and tried to grab their chance at impressing. I think they succeeded all ends up. Super pleasant surprise. 

Revisiting 90s Joshi #29

Aja Kong v Bison Kimura (AJW, 6/21/92)

This was about as close to a joshi approximation of a WAR potatofest as I've seen. It was ugly, it was messy, it was a wee bit choppy and good grief did they clobber the whole entire shit out of each other. The very first thing that happens is Bison punching Aja dead in the face and it really just escalates from there. The fact these two are partners is sort of astounding because what would they have done to each other if they were enemies? Aja is a force of nature here. She splits Bison open with a headbutt, bloodies her mouth with a grotesque punt, hammers her with chairs and some big bastard bit of metal, throws a chair at the ref' for getting in the way, and by the end Bison is missing a front tooth and it could've been from fifteen different things. Bison largely fights uphill given who she's in with, but in her brief spells of offence she gives as good as she gets. I think at some point she starts targeting Aja's arm with her big overhand chops, which I thought was a nice bit of strategy considering how she's outmatched otherwise. I also liked some of her KO'd selling, at one point just falling back after an Aja flurry, which essentially saved her from being hit with an uraken. Aja taking her jaw off with one shortly after that was ridiculous and I liked Aja paying back that arm work in kind at the end. Stylistically I'm not sure this was a massive shift from the AJW house style, but they certainly put more of a focus on the strikes rather than the big offense. And the pace was slower. So maybe it was a massive shift after all. Make your own bloody mind up. 

Revisiting 90s Joshi #28

Akira Hokuto v Mayumi Ozaki (JWP, 11/18/93)

This didn't do a whole lot for me. It's not that I thought it was actively bad -- if it was then at least I might've had more to say about it. It just never grabbed me and I've forgotten most of it already. I guess it was heel v heel? Neither worked remotely babyface and both spent good chunks of time shit-talking the other, which in actual fact might've been my favourite parts. There was one bit where Ozaki wiped out Hokuto on the floor then went back in the ring and started doing bodyweight squats. A bit later Hokuto returns the favour with a cannonball dive and hits the ring to do some press-ups. It was tit for tat the whole way like that, though I can't say I found it all that engaging overall. Hokuto's selling of the knee was pretty good. Some of the submission work was real niggly (some finger- and foot-biting; the latter a real hit with some corners of joshi fandom, I'm sure). Ozaki will land awkwardly on a missed dive and Hokuto will absolutely crush someone with an exploder. I guess in hindsight this was a pretty big dream match, but it never had the same inter-promotional magic as the real top tier AJW/JWP bouts. Or maybe it's just me (very possible, honestly).

Revisiting 90s Joshi #27

Chigusa Nagayo & Akira Hokuto v KAORU & Maiko Matsumoto (GAEA, 2/16/97)

I don't think I've seen much GAEA Hokuto. It would be unfair to compare '97 Hokuto to peak AJW Hokuto, but even if she's not at that level it looks like she was still pretty great at this point in her career. Conversely, Maiko Matsumoto is very pitiful at this point in her career. If you're familiar with these participants then you've got a decent idea of how this went. Hokuto and Nagayo just smash Matsumoto to bits for the first few minutes and KAORU has to keep interjecting. Nagayo was clearly having fun toying with her, pulling her limbs in all sorts of directions, really savouring the moment before locking in a cross armbreaker, letting her get within millimetres of making the tag before cutting her off emphatically. Hokuto was a little more giving and in being so it highlighted how compelling she could be. Matsumoto's offence is largely pathetic, but she does have a nice atomic drop and I loved Hokuto selling one like it almost broke her tailbone. In true Hokuto fashion she sort of hobbled around for a minute or two after that just to let everyone know it was bothering her. Not that it wound up mattering, because Matsumoto only tagged out when Hokuto grew tired of beating on her and threw her to her own corner, but it at least made you think she had ONE weapon she could draw. KAORU fares only marginally better, but things get awesome in a new way from there because it becomes all about Matsumoto trying to be the saviour. She often fails miserably and yet the longer it goes without the veterans putting a bow on things the more you start to wonder if a miracle is afoot. It's been ages since I've watched any KAORU as well and she was super fun in this. She wasn't quite bottom rung of the ladder like her partner, but still several below their opponents and her underdog SPUNK was great. This was pretty great. 

Revisiting 90s Joshi #26

I enjoyed my little dive back into this stuff towards the end of last year; a decent bit more than I would've expected, if I'm honest. With the PWO GWE 2026 project now rolling I'll make an effort to jump into 80s joshi at some point down the line, but there's still more 90s stuff I want to hit before then. 

Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto v Suzuka Minami & Etsuko Mita (AJW, 8/18/91)

I don't know if this was a great match, but it was an awesome curb-stomping from Nakano and Hokuto. Minami grabbed the mic pre-match to vent some obvious frustration about something, and while Hokuto looked mostly unperturbed by it a nerve was clearly touched. Straight from the bell Hokuto tried to take the jaw off her and Minami and Mita never really had a chance after that. It was a really fun underdog performance from the pair of them but they spent the majority of this getting battered. Hokuto was throwing some of the nastiest open hand slaps you'll ever see, Bull was trying to take their heads off with lariats, there were some straight punts to the stomach, a few brutal piledrivers, it was a real pummelling. Bull was in full wrecking ball mode and it was amusing seeing how these skinny girls would try to match up with her. It meant they'd sometimes fling themselves at her full force, but she'd just catch them and flatten them, or at one point chuck both of them into a row of spectators so Hokuto could crush them with a dive. Minami finally managing to use Bull's own momentum against her with a quick roll-up was a great spot, but when she couldn't hold her you knew she'd pay badly for it. Hokuto got to show a little more vulnerability than Bull and her bump off one Minami backbreaker was borderline nuts. I think over the last 6-7 months I've come around big time on Hokuto. Stylistically she'll probably never be a favourite - even within the context of joshi as one big broad style unto itself - but I get why her biggest fans see her as a GOAT candidate and she'll absolutely be on my top 100 by 2026. There's also a Hokuto/Minami singles match from earlier in the year that I've wanted to watch for a while, so if this is anything to go by I can't imagine it'll suck. 

Since Tenryu Kicked in the Door He's Been in Go Mode. She Asks the Same Questions Like "Why You Never Smiling in Your Photos?"

Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara v John Tenta & Isao Takagi (All Japan, 1/29/88) - FUN

What a fun Hara performance. Maybe it's just because I haven't watched him in a minute but he seemed super game in this. All of his exchanges were beefy as all get out and he took one amazing bump onto his neck off a, equally amazing Tenta dropkick. He was leathering folk with lariats, making Takagi regret dabbling in the pro-wrestling, hitting brick wall shoulder tackles, basically the exact sort of thing you want in an eight minute match like this. Takagi is always good fun because he'll step to his elders and slap them in the face despite knowing they'll murder him in return. He got murdered more than once and every time Tenryu stopped to stare at him we all knew what was coming. 

Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada v John Tenta & Shunji Takano (All Japan, 1/2/89) - GOOD

This was even beefier. A year on from the previous match Tenta has bulked up a fair bit and Tenryu's general mood has deteriorated, so both tried to melt each other several times. Tenryu obviously knew Tenta was a gamer because he'd try and chop the skin off his chest in a way he didn't always do against foreigners coming in for brief tours. He'd give Mike Miller and Doug Furnas a ton while never truly retaliating like you expect. Straight away he was laying it in against big John and Tenta responding with a huge belly-to-belly was awesome. The extra weight from '88 to '89 means Tenta may have had to shelf the dropkick, but what he lost in athleticism he made up for in THICCness and there were many THICC collisions on display. Tenryu was clearly intimidated by this and tried to smash a chair over his head, which was sort of unexpected yet very awesome. Takano hit at least two incredible dropkicks in this as well, one right under Tenryu's jaw that about took his head clean off. A very fun time all around. 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu 

Today is a Day for Fuerza

Fuerza Guerrera, Canelo Casas & Jaque Mate v Ciclon Ramirez, Rafaga Azul & Octagon (CMLL, 1/26/90)

This had the Fuerza Stamp all over it. The match went where he wanted it to go and you can probably guess where that was. The early Casas/Octagon segment was fine; Octagon isn't an incredible mat wrestler and Canelo isn't Negro, even if it'll never be fair to compare the two, but what they did was slick enough and there was one gorgeous little takedown from Casas when he shot in for a leg trip. Ramirez and Mate followed it up, though it only lasted about a minute before Fuerza did a Fuerza. As soon as the exchange took them into the rudo corner Fuerza come in and, totally unprompted, kicked Ramirez in the head. The latter was sort of flabbergasted, maybe less so because Fuerza Guerrera acted like a prick and more so because he did it so quickly. The other rudos followed suit and before long it had turned into a mugging. The tecnicos were clearly trying to play things by the book, but their protestations were falling on deaf ears. Fuerza was the conductor of the whole thing, directing traffic, having his generals hold the tecnicos in place while he laid into them. There was an amazing bit where he was on the floor goading and jawing with a fan, Ramirez took a tumble onto the apron, and as soon as Fuerza felt even a brush of contact he about shit himself. Only when he realised Ramirez posed no threat in his current state did his composure return. The tecnico comeback wasn't mindblowing, but I guess it was appropriate for a match that was second on the card and it's not like the rudos were never served some comeuppance. To start the segunda Fuerza was apologetic and wanted no more of the scrap. That Ramirez accepted not only his handshake but a hug into the bargain suggests he wasn't the brightest and of course Fuerza clocked him for his naivety. It loses steam a bit as the match goes on, but they deliver on a few great moments and Fuerza's foul at the end was sensational.

Pirata Morgan, Hombre Bala & El Verdugo v Angel Azteca, Cesar Dantes & Apolo Dantes (CMLL, 1/26/90)

Pretty much a Bucaneros highlight reel of nonsense. I haven't watched Pirata Morgan in a match like this in a while so I guess I forgot how fun he could be shticking and stooging it up. He did lots of that here, though much less than Hombre Bala who was king shithead on the night. Almost straight away Bala was begging away from exchanges, throwing pitiful cheapshots and making a fool of himself. Even with the badly mic'd crowds in Mexico you could tell everyone was eating it up. The primera really breezed by and I was shocked that it lasted about twelve minutes, because it sure never felt like that. Honestly, if you're not already a fan of the lucha libre then I doubt there later stages of this put much of a smile on your face. It's pretty contrived even by comedy-based wrestling standards, but if you're already in on lucha then it has a charm to it that you can't help but dig. Still, Bala absolutely smashing Pirata Morgan's privates through the ceiling off a miscue at the end was quite the payoff and one that anybody can appreciate. 


1990 CMLL Project

Crockett Cup '86

All the '86 Crockett I've watched up to this point (and I've watched just about all of it) has been building super well to this show. They've hyped it massively on TV and Flair and Dusty and the Horsemen and Cornette have put it over as a huge deal. I don't even know most of the card and other than the clipped Fantastics/Sheepherders match that was floating about years ago I don't think I've actually seen anything from it. Unfortunately we miss a Guerreros/Sheepherders match as part of the five first round matches not on tape, but everything else seems to be there in full. The whole show is over 4 hours long, which is like half a Wrestlemania, so I ducked in and out of it on the Network over the last couple weeks. Here are words about the matches I could be bothered writing words about. 

The Fantastics v The Fabulous Ones

This is a bit of a dream match. The Fantastics are direct descendants of the the Fabs the way the Rockers are direct descendants of the RnRs. The Fantastics even used the same music as Stan and Steve. Fulton and Rogers would Fargo Strut the way the Fabs would Fargo Strut. They'd be mobbed by young girls and middle-aged women alike on their way to the ring. The Fabs were anointed by Jackie Fargo himself though; I don't think the Fantastics were given the same such treatment. Maybe that's why Keirn and Lane were so surly on the night. They'll tell you imitation's the sincerest form of flattery but sometimes there's a line you don't cross. Either way this was pretty great, if maybe not all-time level like it could've been on another night (to be fair, there's something to be said for them playing to their spot on the card). Nothing during the shine was blow-away great, but it did what it needed to and you bought the Fabs being frustrated enough to turn loose when they took over. The spot where they did it ruled, with Keirn distracting the ref' and Lane firing Fulton over the top rope with some karate. Fulton got dropped across that top rope a few times with some great looking hotshots and Keirn doing THE Fargo Strut really was perfect. Fulton's fired up weepy face after getting thrown over the top was sort of uncomfortable, like when Ohtani would do it after his opponent kicked out of a nearfall, but this was zoomed in with perfect video quality. Although speaking of perfect: the finish. You know this was good. 

Koko Ware & Italian Stallion v Buzz Sawyer & Rick Steiner 

Buzz and Koko are two guys who completely rule, who don't have a litany of high-profile matches against high-profile wrestlers, and for that reason would both appear on a list of my own potential dream matches that never happened more than just about any other wrestlers that I like. I love the two of them and they were both incredible in this. They worked some magic together, with Buzz taking an unbelievable bump through the ropes off a Koko dropkick, an amazing Buzz Sawyer leapfrog sequence, then for the transition Koko took one of the meanest concrete suplex bumps I've ever seen. This was a full splat and either Koko's selling was sublime or he got legit banged up a bit (probably both, actually). Sawyer laughing like a maniac before going out and ramming him into the guardrail was another great moment. He's one of the more believable lunatics ever; a deeply unpleasant wee terrier of a man. Italian Stallion is whatever and Rick was still a bit of a lump at this stage, but the former was mostly confined to the apron and the latter at least had a decent grounded bearhug. Buzz catching Stallion and murdering him with the powerslam was an even better finish than the last one. This was really good. I bet Buzz v Koko would rule. 

Black Bart & Jimmy Garvin v Brett Sawyer & Danny Peterson 

The most interesting parts of this were the Bart/Sawyer exchanges, not because they were particularly special but rather because Sawyer looks like yer man Janowski from Eastbound and Down and Bart is like a bigger brother of Reggie Ledoux. It didn't quite go like that match-up promises, however (nobody got blown up by a landmine or anything). Sawyer hitting a gorgeous top rope legdrop to the arm was pretty unexpected but the shine wasn't too hot overall, the heat segment was fairly cookie cutter and nobody was really buying Danny Peterson doing much of anything. Garvin's nasty side on brainbuster keeps that string of badass finishes rolling, at least. 

Rock 'n' Roll Express v The Sheepherders 

This was pretty low-key, not quite as blow-the-roof-off-it as it could've been, but perfectly fine within the context of a one-night tournament. The Sheepherders proudly waved the New Zealand flag to a chorus of jeers while the RnRs held the stars and stripes high to the opposite reaction. They wouldn't have needed much more of a hook to get the fans on board than the existing hook of who both teams were, but you can't complain about a little extra crowd heat. Gibson took his turn at face in peril and the New Zealanders mostly stomped the hell out of his shoulder. Morton came in hot, things broke down a bit, and then in somewhat fitting tournament fashion the finish was rubbish. 

Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v The Fantastics 

This couldn't have been a match-up that happened too often. It has a bit of a dream match feel to it even if it's not something I really thought about before. You know it was good, and with a proper feud behind them I bet they could've made absolute magic. Arn and Tully were awesome at progressively being wound up during the early stages. They tried to open the door for some double teams and cheapshotting, but the Fans had them scouted every time and Tommy Rogers telling Arn to kiss his butt was a straw big enough to break any camel's back. The transition into Fulton's heat segment was maybe a little lacking, but the work after it sure wasn't. Loved Arn and Tully basically working over his eyes, using boot rakes and digging their claws in there while Fulton regularly stumbled around ringside falling into barricades and ringside cops. I don't know if there's ever been anybody more committed to grabbing the tights on a pin attempt than Tully. He tried it about seven times in a row here and for a spot that often looks rudimentary you really bought Fulton having to fight to kick out. Nice hot tag, satisfying finish, a top shelf bit of tag wrestling from two top shelf tag teams. 

The Fantastics v The Sheepherders 

I remember seeing the clipped version of this way back forever ago, probably on some old Meltzer Five Star Match comp. At this point I don't remember what I actually thought of it in a specific sense but I do recall a feeling of "...that's it?" In full it was fine enough, though the first half was largely your standard fare. Where the RnRs held up the American flag, Tommy and Bobby went a step further and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The quadruple juice job was pretty awesome and by the end things were good and hectic, plus they'd managed to grab the crowd, which was surprisingly quite dead throughout the whole show. I know it's a Crockett event but it was held in a Mid-South town and Watts had won the kayfabe rights to host the thing, but despite those Mid-South crowds usually being rabid this one was fairly tepid (and both these teams were regulars in the territory around this time). There were a few better Fantastics/Sheepherders matches that year, honestly. Still, it was alright and it's cool that it exists in full after all this time. 

I never watched the Flair/Dusty title match because I really don't need to watch another Flair/Dusty title match in the year 2021. The Road Warriors/Midnight Express match was basically the big show version of their house show match from the previous day, which means it was good but the house show match ruled and this one had a schmozz finish to boot. Road Warriors/Magnum and Garvin final was pretty decent babyface v babyface fare. Some other stuff happened. A night of wrestling was had. 

Tenryu Studied 'til His Eyes were Swollen, and Only Arose when He Found out that He was the Chosen

Genichiro Tenryu & Kodo Fuyuki v Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano (SWS, 6/26/91) - GREAT

Well this had a whole lot of top drawer Tenryu fed goings-on. The problem with a lot of the SWS tags is that they feel sort of formless for stretches, where the action meanders a bit before it picks up again with some potatoes getting flung around the kitchen. It's not that WAR had amazing tag matches every time out, it's just that the bar was much higher and they seemed to perfect the formula they were going for almost immediately (that main event from the debut show is better than every tag match All Japan had in the 90s and I will fight anyone who disagrees). Everybody worked as stiff as possible in WAR as well so those moments of downtime still looked absurdly violent. I don't know if this is as close as SWS came to hitting the heights of WAR, but it's probably up there, even with those parts where they dick about in a leglock for a minute there. Tenryu and Yatsu truly despise each other and you knew this would rule when Tenryu threw the ring steps at him pre-bell. What was most cool though was how Tenryu's ire almost shifted to Nakano during the match, which only pissed off Yatsu even more and by the end Tenryu regretted ever slighting him in such a way. The first couple exchanges were great. You think Nakano and Fuyuki are going to do a parity stalemate after some nice sharp wrestling but then Nakano just jumps on him and tries to knee his head in. The first Tenryu and Yatsu exchange was like Misawa and Kawada only with more Jheri curl, both of them smacking flesh with a double lariat, both attempting an enziguri, both attempting a straight punt to the head, both looking at each other in plain disgust. The first chop Tenryu throws at Nakano might be the best moment of the match just for Nakano's wide-eyed "mother of Christ what was that?" reaction as he's slumped in the corner. The point where Nakano really got under Tenryu's skin was when he and Yatsu hit him with a double clothesline. Tenryu stayed on his feet and tried to shake it off, and right at the moment he went to fire back with a chop to Nakano, Nakano had the exact same idea. They both chopped each other at the same time and it was enough to make Tenryu livid. Nakano's face after Tenryu launched him into the corner told you he knew he'd made a mistake. The bit later where Nakano broke up a Tenryu pin and just wailed on him with some clubbering ruled. Yatsu going ballistic with a chair at the end was also unreal. It's far from unusual to see someone get scudded by a chair in a Tenryu fed, but Yatsu went so far beyond the pale the crowd started pelting him with garbage! Fuyuki crawls over to protect Tenryu only to be bludgeoned half to death and left bleeding everywhere. It was wild and a perfect setup for that eventual Tenryu/Yatsu singles match (which is tremendous, FWIW). 

Complete & Accurate Tenryu