Pretty standard Choshu's Army v Jumbo/Tenryu six-man, which at least means the floor will never be very low, but at the same time Choshu/Khan/Saito is a murderer's row of a trio and I really wanted more. They never gave us that proper hook, that central thread running through the match that held everything together. Instead they walloped each other and that's hardly cause for complaint, but it was pretty ragged and they started losing me a bit with the back-and-forth. Khan was a peripheral figure and his charisma and personality was missed. It's also the only time (I think) I've seen Saito in this feud and I wanted my socks knocked off, so it's hard not to be disappointed when it doesn't happed. Not the best match this feud produced, not the worst thing you'll watch this week. Probably.
Genichiro Tenryu, Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki v Jumbo Tsuruta, The Great Kabuki & Kenta Kobashi (All Japan, 10/14/89) – GOOD
Did we ever get a lengthy Tenryu/Kabuki singles match from around this time? Even a few years later in WAR? Because that match-up is a sneaky all-timer as far as crowbar fun goes. Tenryu chopping him in the throat, Kabuki uppercutting him in the cheek, the lariats, the thrust kicks, it pretty much never fails to rule. Kobashi stepping to his elders and getting stomped is usually fun as well. I wish they went a bit further with it here, maybe have him in PERIL a while longer, but what we got was decent and as always Tenryu made him look a million bucks. Tenryu v Jumbo is of course good. There was one awesome sequence where Jumbo went for a high knee and Tenryu caught him, hotshotted him across the top rope (always one of Jumbo's Achilles heels), but then got clonked with a Kabuki uppercut from the apron as he went to press home the advantage. Even if the finish was never in much doubt I did like how they gave Kobashi a surprise nearfall on Tenryu right before it. Maybe the company figured he could be something.
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