Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen v Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin (All Japan, 11/19/89) - GREAT
Just hosses bein' hosses, boys! This was all about the redneck fury, Wild Bill roaring into town to reignite a war with his old Texas rival Stan Hansen. I mean, I assume they were old rivals. They tried to whip each other in the face with a bullwhip before the bell even rang so one must conclude there's some bad blood there. Did Irwin play football at West Texas State? Was there an altercation on the field between a young rookie Bill and a senior Stan, one that tore a storm across campus? Or maybe that building was only big enough for one cowboy on the night and they decided to settle it like only pro wrestling cowboys can. Either way Irwin didn't wilt and for the first couple minutes they went at it like one of them wasn't for walking out in the end. Gordy and Tenryu even stand aside like "I'll just not bother getting involved in whatever's going on there." It culminated with Irwin hitting a huge pump kick and the crowd responding like he'd been a fixture for years. I really liked the dynamic of the Gordy/Irwin team. I'm guessing they were starting to elevate Gordy as his own man at this point, a year after the '88 Tag League final where he was still Hansen's second in command. It meant he was often having to interject after Irwin got himself overwhelmed, once or twice because the latter thought it would be wise to try and have a go at Hansen and Tenryu at the same bastard time. In the parts where Gordy matched up one-on-one with Hansen he looked great. There was an awesome bit early on where he came in hot, whipped Hansen into the corner, then when Hansen put his foot up to block a running clothesline Gordy stopped dead and followed up successfully a second later. All of his partner saves involved booting someone in the ear and so we can add him to the list of folks I wish we got to see have a nice run in WAR. Finish is an absolute corker. Gordy is having to scramble to keep Irwin from being smothered again and he manages to stop Tenryu from hitting the powerbomb. Irwin sits on Tenryu's chest for the cover, but then Hansen comes roaring into view and fucking obliterates him with the lariat, which Tenryu just about manages to turn into a cradle before Gordy can make the save.
This was like the best version of your awesome New Japan Tokyo Dome main event, only worked in SWS and not in the Tokyo Dome. It was 13 minutes, built around some killer strikes and a small handful of bombs, all of those bombs got huge reactions because they were teased and then hit at the right moments, and we even got an ugly and uncooperative counter to a German suplex where Tenryu just wrapped his foot around Takano's leg and basically landed on his head. It was like the best Hashimoto moments where he shifts his weight at the last second to avoid a throw, not at all pretty but certainly effective. Takano frustrates Tenryu to begin with by throwing some quick palm strikes whenever Tenryu tries to engage. Takano sticks and moves and Tenryu does a pretty admirable job of not blowing his lid. In fact he barely even shows any annoyance. Really an astounding amount of forbearance from a man not known for his restraint. But then his first offensive move is a blatant chop to the throat so perhaps it was merely a CHARADE. Any of Takano's momentum comes to a screeching halt when he misses a pescado and Tenryu tries to volley his lungs to the back row. I loved Tenryu cutting Takano off with gut punches before going to the double stomps, just full force jumping on Takano's stomach while he rolls around with a ruptured spleen. Unfortunately Takano stops selling it completely about a minute later. I don't get hung up on body part work that doesn't have a true payoff at this point, don't mind when it gets dropped as the match story progresses, but this was really just ropey selling. Sell it like death one minute, zero acknowledgment the next, no middle ground selling taking us from one end of the spectrum to the other - if nothing else it was jarring and that short Tenryu beatdown deserved better by christ! Down the stretch Tenryu picks up an ankle injury and I love how he sold it like it prevented him from capitalising on the powerbomb. Those delays kept Takano in the fight, even if it was by a thread, but then there's only so often you can take an enziguri to the forehead or a powerbomb on your neck before it doesn't matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment