Hulk Hogan & Ricky Steamboat v Randy Savage & Honky Tonk Man (WWF, 1/5/87)
Super fun pairings that made for a super fun if sort of low key match. Savage barely made any physical contact with anyone and even still he was a force of nature, constant motion, everywhere at once. The babyfaces couldn't get their hands on him because any time they tried to he'd run away, but he was always ready to jump in and take a cheapshot or jump off the top and Hogan and Steamboat needed to keep their head on a swivel. It was one of the best apron-working performances I've seen in ages. Honky was a stooge for the backest of back rows and got clobbered up and down the place. Steamboat was Steamboat in peril for a few minutes and Hogan was an electric Big Man On Campus. A good time had by all.
Chigusa Nagayo v Devil Masami (AJW, 1/9/87)
This was really good. I had a decent idea coming in that it was going to a draw but they never telegraphed that and the pacing and STRUGGLE always made it feel like they were actually trying to win. The grappling early had a nice sense of urgency but also felt choppy in a good way, how they'd intersperse bursts of movement with pauses so they could scowl at each other and consider taking things down a saltier path. Devil was the one who folded first in that regard as she ran Chigusa along the apron into the ring post, then after she recovered on the floor Chigusa stared at Devil with pure contempt, which I think Devil took some satisfaction in. From there they moved away from the matwork as Devil went after Chigusa's leg to some big time heat. There was one point where Chigusa was writhing on the mat and Devil just stomped on her ankle. About halfway in, after getting wheel kicked in the face once too often for her liking, Devil went outside and picked up a stick that she very obviously wanted to use as a weapon. So Chigusa grabbed a chair and waited in the ring, both of them at a standstill until Devil finally chose to keep things on the level and get rid of the stick. The final stretch was pretty heated and had enough selling of fatigue that the back and forth nature of it worked for me. Once or twice Chigusa almost caught Devil with a cradle and Devil's expression of surprise and rage without being overly hammy is the sort of thing only a handful of wrestlers have in their locker.
Dump Matsumoto & Bull Nakano v Jumping Bomb Angels (AJW, 1/9/87)
Very different from Chigusa/Devil in that while that match was rough yet ultimately a fair contest, this was sometimes fair - or at least more fair than many a Dump tag - but also had people getting smashed with a stick or clonked on the head with a metal bucket. I like how the JBA were in no mood for Dump and Bull's shit though, not fighting fire with fire necessarily, but instead by dragging things back ON the rails to keep it moving as a wrestling contest. Which was pretty badass. They also tried to kick the shit out of them and that was cool too. Dump will always revert to type and try to cause mayhem and Itsuki Yamazaki was fully at the end of her tether. Her and Dump have history and Yamazaki was in no mood to be dealing with that nonsense again, and I love her making a point of using wrestling moves to put Dump in her place rather than resorting to the weapons. Tateno wasn't quite a whipping girl but she wasn't driven by furious vengeance the same way Yamazaki was and I guess that was borne out by how Dump and Bull could take over by going after her a little easier than they could with Yamazaki. I'm not entirely sure what the finish was all about but it looked like there was some ref' shenanigans and an official sitting ringside taking umbrage so Dump hit him with a stick. As soon as that bell rings at the end, best of luck getting Dump and Bull to agree to a restart.
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