Imagine coming into a match against Tenryu and Hansen wearing a helmet. Not even a proper helmet, just some flimsy protective headgear. Imagine the bullseye that paints. Could never be me, I'll tell you that much. Find yourself another partner, I'm on sick leave for a month. This was a war that went 100 miles an hour from the start and never let up. It almost had New Japan pacing and was frenzied and FEVERED but had a lot of the structural elements that would make the All Japan tags from the next decade so special. It was tremendous, basically. Hansen and Tenryu were a swarm immediately and you knew it wouldn't take long for them to isolate Yatsu. It took even less time after that for Hansen to rip the headgear off and from there he and Tenryu try and whack-a-mole Yatsu's braincells down to the single digits. Tenryu was vicious here, but he was more of a collected presence and it never felt like he was out to torture for the sake of it. What he did was in the service of winning and if that meant exploiting an injury then so be it. This is competition at the end of the day. It's just business. Hansen, on the other hand, was up for a different sort of business. He was feral and at even the slightest hint of danger would rush the ring and break up a pin or shut down momentum, sometimes with a stomp, sometimes a knee, a club, a smack, sometimes by just throwing his whole weight on top of someone. The crowd picked up on it too and they were quick to voice their displeasure, which gave the match a real heel/babyface divide that only increased the heat as it went. The eventual hot tag to Jumbo was nuclear and this was as good as I've ever seen him as the walking tall gladiator ruling his arena. The first running knee about took Tenryu's head off and he was slapping Hansen across the ear like he was trying to deafen the man. There was one amazing part where he knocked Tenryu flat then secured the mount and started raining down elbows and forearms like he was trying to break his skull open. Yatsu having his head taped back onto his shoulders down on the floor is the sort of thing those 90s tags leaned into heavily, and you can't blame them for that because the drama it produced was off the charts. While this is going on Hansen lariats Jumbo in the back of the head to swing the tide again, then we get a fucking Tenryu rocket launcher off the top with Hansen chucking him across the ring like Tenryu was Bobby Eaton! That first instance of Yatsu jumping back in to save his partner was molten. In stark contrast to when Hansen or Tenryu did it, any save Jumbo or Yatsu made for one another was met with glee. The crowd had thrown their lot in with those two and you can understand why when Yatsu's staggering around with sixteen feet worth of bandages keeping his brains from leaking out his ears. Hansen being isolated in the back half is a great look at him getting to show vulnerability, not something he got to do a ton of given who he was, but any time he did you knew it would rule. Yatsu's big revenge spot is amazing, ripping up the safety mats and hitting a bulldog on the concrete to split Hansen open. Both of them had a phenomenal exchange late on, exhausted and losing blood and/or motor functions, throwing wild shots, Hansen eventually taking one that only woke him up, responding by absolutely blitzing Yatsu with a dozen brutal open hand slaps and a full punt to the face. The last few minutes are sensational. Tenryu accidentally nails Hansen with an enziguri and you feel like Jumbo and Yatsu have a chance despite running uphill from the bell. Eventually they get Hansen in the ring while Tenryu is on the floor and Yatsu tries the bulldog out the corner, but Tenryu grabs hold of Hansen's trunks to block it. When Yatsu turns around he eats a big boot and a fucking Stan Hansen dropkick, and when Hansen raises his arm the roof comes off. The palpable sense of dread is insane and you're worried he might actually kill Yatsu if he connects with the lariat. Then Yatsu blocks it with a dropkick of his own and if there was any of the roof left on it came off right then. He goes for the German on Hansen, who tries to fight free, so Jumbo takes his last big swing with the high knee assist, only at the same time Tenryu whomps Yatsu in the back of the head with an enziguri. Hansen staggers into the ropes and rebounds with the lariat on Yatsu while Tenryu drags Jumbo to the mat, the latter trying to muster enough to break up the pin. A hell of a thing, this match. A hell of a thing.
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