ALL JAPAN ON NTV

March 11, 1990 (taped 3/2/90)

Dan Kroffat . . . is the highlight of what might have been a fun little tag match.

Genichiro Tenryu . . . shows that it’ll take a lot more than a bad knee to take him down.

Steve Williams . . . may not be able to outwrestle a couple of former Olympians, but he finds his own ways to take care of business.

TOSHIAKI KAWADA/SAMSON FUYUKI © vs. DOUG FURNAS/DAN KROFFAT (All Asia Tag Team Titles)

This is clipped to almost nothing, but outside of a couple of nice things from Kroffat and Kawada, there isn’t much to see. Early in the clip we see Kawada come off the top with a big dropkick to Kroffat, followed by him holding Kroffat up for a flying body press from Fuyuki, and it connects instead of hitting Kawada, and being the catalyst for Kroffat to tag out. Kroffat and Fuyuki also work a quick roll up and reversal sequence although Fuyuki mucks it up by waiting until two to try kicking out, which is also how the finish goes with Kroffat surprising him with a sunset flip and Fuyuki not doing anything to fight out of it. Furnas only shows up a couple of times, most notably to hit a big shoulder tackle to stop Kawada from breaking up the final pin, and a bit before that he gives Kroffat some assist on a crucifix. Of the three Footloose tag matches to make TV this year, this is clearly the worst of the bunch. There’s no sense of anger or intensity like there was for the Fantastics match from January, and Fuyuki’s uninspired performance overshadowed the good things from Kroffat and Kawada.

STAN HANSEN/GENICHIRO TENRYU vs. GREAT KABUKI/AKIRA TAUE

All things considered, I think I’d rather have seen this get clipped and more time given to the All-Asia match. The match isn’t bad, it’s Tenryu and Hansen after all, but it’s pretty short and it’s also pretty basic as far as the work goes. The only story element is Tenryu’s bad knee. Taue and Kabuki each get two chances to work a submission hold, and Hansen is always right there to break it up. But that’s as far as it goes. Tenryu doesn’t seem to have any ill effects from the holds; he’s right back on his feet slugging away with Kabuki and clocking Taue with his enzuigiri. The only drama to the finish is how many times Kabuki can hold them off, and Hansen and Tenryu are noticeably subdued when working over Taue in the middle portion.

JUMBO TSURUTA/YOSHIAKI YATSU vs. TERRY GORDY/STEVE WILLIAMS

This didn’t need to be anything super deep, and it wasn’t. Gordy and Williams were headed toward a tag titles match at Budokan, and they maintained their momentum with a win over the 5-time former champs. Doc shows off his amateur skills a few times, but he’s obviously not in the same class as Jumbo and Yatsu, they’re called “The Olympics” for a reason. When Jumbo and Yatsu can keep it as a wrestling match, they’re in control and Doc and Gordy need to utilize their size and brawling to control things. It works out just fine for them, right down to the finish of Doc escaping a cradle from Yatsu and putting the boots to him before hitting the Stampede for the win.

Doc’s few amateur touches are nice to see, even if they never go anywhere important. His countering Jumbo’s Butterfly suplex into the Fujiwara armbar was certainly a surprise, but all it did was give him a minute to control Jumbo and then drag him to his side of the ring so that he and Gordy could double team him. The second half of the match is carried by Gordy and Williams working over Yatsu, the work is fine but nothing spectacular, it’s the typical brawling and double teams and rest holds like one might expect, with not much focus on any theme or story. The only odd moment came just before Yatsu tags out, he sneaks behind Gordy and dumps him with a German suplex. Before he can tag Jumbo, Gordy grabs him and hits his own backdrop suplex and continues working him over, leading to Yatsu making his real comeback a minute later. There were any number of ways to tease Yatsu’s comeback without wasting the suplex.

From start to finish, this is a perfectly watchable match. Everyone involved understands the assignment; as shown by Yatsu’s selling during the long control segment as well as both Gordy and Williams taking some big bumps for Jumbo. The real brilliance is how Gordy and Williams have been booked. Sure, they’re undefeated on the tour, but it hasn’t been easy for them. They’ve shown just enough vulnerability that every win feels like it was earned, even if it was completely predictable (like the Yatsu/Taue match from the prior week’s TV), and that makes them look that much more deserving of their spot than if they just bulldozed everyone in their path.

Conclusion: This is a decent TV show, which accomplishes its primary goal in pushing everything forward towards the upcoming Budokan show.