This was fairly by-the-numbers, maybe not too surprising as the winning team would advance to the final of a one-night tag tournament, but if nothing else all four potential match ups here are ones that I don't think I've seen before (unless Jarrett had a quick exchange with Tenryu or Kabuki in the 1994 Royal Rumble). Jarrett throws some nice punches, Orton gets some HEAT by acting like a shithead, Tenryu leathers them both with chops and Kabuki throws several uppercuts. Jarrett's hair was also magnificent in 1990.
Genichiro Tenryu, Ashura Hara & Koki Kitahara v King Haku, Kim Duk & Rio, Lord of the Jungle (WAR, 2/25/94) - FUN
That might not the *most* WAR of WAR trios you've ever seen, but Haku, Kim Duk and the future Renegade still make for a very WAR trio. This got some time and with a structural tweak here and there I probably would've liked it a bunch. They did this weird thing where the heels isolate Kitahara and open up a cut above the eye, which felt like it was going to lead to an extended beatdown. The crowd seemed primed for it too. Kitahara is a great mauler but he's also a super fun punching bag that you can't help but root for even though he spends the majority of the time being a surly wee bastard and bullying people. But then he just kind of tags out and the match resets for a while and then later on they pick up the heat segment again, only by that point it's lost a bit of punch. It was strange. The Hara/Haku exchanges were maybe the best part, especially the first one right at the outset. Two beefy gentlemen with rock solid heads fighting over the last power drill of the black Friday sale. Haku always laid his thrust kicks in a little deeper when he was working WAR or SWS and he hit everyone straight under the chin at least once. Yer Lord of the Jungle is not the best but Tenryu throws a table at him so that's always fun.
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