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.
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