Tenryu Keeps His Faith Intact, Makes Sure His Prayers are Said, 'Cause He's Learned that the Monsters Ain't the Ones Beneath the Bed

Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara v Yoshiaki Yatsu & King Haku (SWS, 8/9/91) - GREAT

Hot damn. This started like a train and for the first five minutes it was looking like a true SWS classic. Haku jumped Tenryu at the bell and about took the Jheri curl off him with a thrust kick, then when Tenryu managed to tag in Hara we were treated to a heabutt-fest between him and Haku. These were some unruly headbutts and the crowd reactions were that of almost disbelief, eventually popping huge for Hara coming out on top. When Haku regained control he just stomped clean on Hara's balls - to a chorus of boos - and when Yatsu got in he threw a few dangerously low stomps of his own. I thought for second they were actually going to do a bit of "lower abdomen" work, which would've been absolutely spectacular (and the crowd were SO ready for it), but instead they went to the leg locks to bring an end to a sensational five minutes of surliness. What they did from there on out still ruled, but landed just a step below your highest of the high end potato festivals. Haku and Yatsu were a pretty awesome pair of assholes in this. Tenryu and Hara were throwing tons of mean strikes, but other than a couple moments where one of them would make a save on their partner's behalf they were wrestling clean as a whistle. They were hard but fair. I don't think there was one single chop to the throat or punch to the eye socket. On the other hand Haku and Yatsu were a well-oiled headbutting machine and weren't remotely above taking cheapshots. I'd listen to an argument that Haku probably absorbed a bit too much punishment without ever leaving his feet, but he was always treated as a bit of a juggernaut in the Tenryu feds and it's not like he wasn't willing to get walloped to hell. Every headbutt looked nasty, every lariat looked nastier, and when Tenryu clobbered him with that last enziguri you expected his eyeballs to pop out. So I'll take that balancing of the scales and sleep soundly. Other than that match with Tenryu later in the year (where they crowbar the fuck out of each other. Obviously) I couldn't point to any 90s Yatsu matches that I know for a fact I've seen. I mean, I know I've watched 90s Yatsu matches, I just don't remember which ones because I was left with no impression of them. I guess public opinion on him is that he sort of fell off a cliff after the turn of the decade, but he looked every bit as good in this as he did in the 80s. He was aggressive pretty much the whole way and there was an amazing bit where Tenryu came in looking to run riot, so Yatsu just dragged him out to the floor and gave him a bulldog on exposed concrete. Finishing run was short and hectic, and overall if it was a little smoother structurally it's probably hitting EPIC. Still a whole bucket of surly goodness and somewhere around that upper tier of SWS.


Complete & Accurate Tenryu