ALL JAPAN ON NTV

March 18, 1990 (taped 3/6/90)

Jumbo Tsuruta . . . retains his Triple Crown in a rather mediocre match, in another case of a ‘dream match’ not delivering.

Stan Hansen . . . smacks around his former championship partner to remind him of who the captain of the team really was.

Steve Williams . . . shows everyone that he’s not just another jacked up foreigner and shows how good a wrestler that he is.

JUMBO TSURUTA © vs. BARRY WINDHAM (Triple Crown)

The clipping doesn’t help, but this verifiable dream match between two of the world’s best at this time is pretty disappointing. Most of what we’re shown is dominated by Barry, which is fine although there’s no sense that he’s trying to lead the match somewhere. His best bits are the heelish touches that he adds, like raking Jumbo’s eyes and dropping him on the guardrail. Aside from a couple of hope spots, Jumbo doesn’t get much to do other than sell for Barry, which he does a damn good job of. Barry starts running through various finishes like the sleeper, running lariat and jumping DDT, and calls for his superplex, but Jumbo surprises him with the bridging backdrop for the win. It’s nice to see Jumbo win with a wrestling move, and it’s not bad that Jumbo wins by outsmarting Barry but doing it after Barry strung together so many big moves make them feel unimportant.

GENICHIRO TENRYU/STAN HANSEN © vs. TERRY GORDY/STEVE WILLIAMS (AJPW World Tag Team Titles)

This takes some time to get going, and the real story of the match is only in the last five or so minutes, but once they hit their stride this is easily amongst the best matches that AJPW has put out thus far in 1990. For the first time, even more so than their match with Jumbo and Yatsu, it seems like Doc and Gordy have met their match. Not only are Tenryu and Hansen just as capable wrestlers as them, but they’re just as likely to switch gears and start throwing fists and feet. The work is good even if it’s not meaningful, the pendulum constantly swings between both teams being in control as well as the match style shifting from traditional pro wrestling to a big brawl. One minute Williams will have Hansen locked in one of his amateur style holds and Hansen will escape with headbutts and start bouncing Williams’ head off the mat. Gordy runs in to save, and Tenryu interjects himself to even things up.

The ultimate difference in the match is Tenryu’s injured leg. There’s a subtle hint of it early when Williams double legs him down and Tenryu favors it for a second. But Tenryu is on his feet slugging away with Doc a minute later and he even hits his diving elbow on Gordy with the leg taking the brunt of the bump and is no worse for wear. But when Tenryu tries to clock Doc with his enzuigiri and accidentally hits Hansen, his leg becomes a target and any chance of he and Hansen retaining the titles pretty much dries up. Williams and Gordy go right after it and don’t let up until the ref calls for the bell. Their style of working isn’t any different other than the area they’re targeting, they can work basic wrestling holds or just put the boots to it. After getting his wits about him, Hansen tries to help, but his attempts do anything but actually help Tenryu. He rushes in and breaks up Gordy’s Scorpion deathlock, and while the ref is putting him out, Doc is able to jump in and stomp at the bad leg. Williams does an Indian deathlock and Hansen grabs a chair and starts to head in, only for the ref to warn him, and that little delay is enough for Gordy to cut him off. By the time Hansen takes care of Gordy and gets in the ring, Tenryu can’t take the pain anymore and submits just before Hansen can break up the hold.

The new champs exit, but the action continues. Hansen’s frustration boils over into him attacking Tenryu and not even Footloose and the other random ring boys can do anything about it. But Jumbo can, and after Jumbo makes the save, Tenryu gets his own shots on Hansen and then takes a few shots at Jumbo. If this happened nowadays it’d be the obvious lead-in to a three-way match, but that’s not the case in 1990. ***1/2

Conclusion: The tag titles match is definitely worth a look, and it’s worth the effort of watching the tv shows leading up to it.