This started with some bizarro world junior parity shenanigans between Fuchi and Kawada, in case you forgot for a second there that Fuchi was in fact a junior heavyweight despite mostly wrestling with the big fellas (because All Japan really couldn't give a shit about their junior division) and once upon a time a fresh-faced Kawada would actually do stuff like that. And Kawada kind of worked like that for most of the match, doing a bunch of quick dropkicks and even a handspring elbow. He was probably the lowest-ranked guy in the thing, which wouldn't have been the case for much longer, but it was a cool look at him punching up against an entire trio and his heat segment was good stuff. This was just a really solid house show Jumbo v Tenryu six-man, one that never got properly out of third gear, though it had some great individual moments and the last few minutes were excellent. The Jumbo/Tenryu exchanges were brief but you knew what you were getting. It was almost as if Tenryu started slower than usual and couldn't get into his groove until the final third. At one point both of them got tagged in at the same time and Jumbo just floored him with a high knee, so Tenryu immediately rolled to the corner and tagged back out again like that'll be enough of that for the time being thank you very much. He did grow into it though, and once he got rolling he threw many strikes that probably had Kabuki questioning his life choices. Kabuki is so much fun and I get why he's had a shitty rep over the years, but if you get a kick out of someone throwing amazing uppercuts and thrust kicks then he's pretty much the perfect guy for a match like this. The short finishing run was the business, with Tenryu chucking a table at Fuchi, everything breaking down and guys brawling on the floor, Fuchi trying to monkey flip Tenryu and Fuchi getting clotheslined in the face for trying to monkey flip Tenryu.
Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen v Jumbo Tsuruta & The Great Kabuki (All Japan, 9/30/89) - FUN
Not a classic, but there are worse ways to spend 15 minutes. Plus the meat of this was Kabuki in peril and that part was a whole bunch of fun. Hansen was a mouthy bastard all the way through, constantly shouting "ASK HIM, REF!" at Higuchi and by the eighteenth time Higuchi looked at him like buddy will you please give me some peace? Kabuki throwing those uppercuts at him was obviously great, and of course Hansen made him pay for every one of them with a single lariat.
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