ALL JAPAN ON NTV

April 1, 1990 (taped 3/31/90)

Joe Malenko . . . is the latest example of a really fun worker that I haven’t seemed to have seen enough of.

Shinichi Nakano . . . much like Dan Spivey the week before, fulfills an important role: the warm body to take the pin.

Isamu Teranishi . . . thinks it’s still 1978 and that he’s still capable of smacking around younger wrestlers for a living.

DOUG FURNAS/DAN KROFFAT © vs. JOE MALENKO/KENTA KOBASHI (All Asia Tag Team Titles)

What’s shown of this is pretty much a sprint, and it’s more or less divided into two parts; before and after Kroffat tags in. The first part is Kobashi and Malenko doing a respectable job of working over Furnas’ back, between Malenko’s forearms and Kobashi bumping him with a couple of slams and a backdrop suplex. The really cool part is when Malenko shoves Doug into the corner, back first, and then does a Northern Lights suplex and Kroffat runs in to break it up almost instantly. After the tag the focus of the back work is replaced by them worrying more about spots and near falls, including a doozy of a double team by Malenko and Kobashi and a double flapjack from the Can-Ams. Kobashi gets a great near fall off a jackknife cradle when Malenko breaks up a Tiger driver with a running lariat, but after Furnas sends him to the floor, another Tiger driver from Kroffat finishes off Kobashi. Both teams were a blast to watch here, and it’s really too bad that these All Asia matches keep getting chopped down to almost nothing.

TERRY GORDY/STEVE WILLIAMS vs. TIGER MASK/SHINNICHI NAKANO

Other than a few cool moments from Doc and Gordy, the only thing that this really accomplishes is showing the disparity in rank between Misawa and Nakano. Misawa can hold his own against the tag champions, between his speed and kicks, but Nakano has no such luck. Outside of the opening moments of the clip when Nakano is blasting Gordy with punches, and Gordy stooges, there’s not much else to see. The only drama to the match is the question of when exactly will Doc and Gordy decide that it’s time to finish Nakano off. Misawa is more successful, but not by a huge margin. When he tries his biggest spot of the match, a dive to the floor onto Doc, Doc catches him and runs his back into the post, and Nakano has to save him from the Stampede. Gordy shows off a series of swinging neck breakers and when Nakano tries to whip Doc into the corner, he manages to pivot himself and blast Nakano with a running lariat. But outside of those few touches, there’s no story or theme to this, and no real reason to care about what happens one way or another.

GENICHIRO TENRYU/TOSHIAKI KAWADA vs. RUSHER KIMURA/ISAMU TERANISHI

Here’s a prime example of why one shouldn’t judge the proverbial book by the cover. You wouldn’t think that a Rusher/Teranishi team would have much to offer in 1990, but this is actually one hell of a fun ride. Rusher blinds Tenryu with green mist at the bell, and he and Teranishi proceed to make him their whipping boy. Their work looks like what you’d expect from, say, Ivan Koloff or Tiger Jeet Singh, lots of slaps, headbutts and eye raking, but damn if Tenryu isn’t stooging and selling his ass off for them.

Rusher and Teranishi eventually move onto some bigger offense, including a couple of backdrop suplexes, but when they start going after Tenryu’s knee, Kawada can’t wait anymore and hits the ring to defend his mentor. Kawada’s early assistance isn’t much more than a stall tactic. Yes, he breaks up the holds, but it doesn’t really do anything to actively help Tenryu. That doesn’t come until Rusher runs in to deal with Kawada, and the ref putting him out gives Tenryu the chance to recover and do a Ricky Morton-style roll to the corner (for real) and tag out. Kawada is as fired up as you’d expect; he doesn’t exactly have his way with the veteran team, but the match does become a fair fight for the brief time that he’s in. Rusher and Teranishi start wearing out Kawada with chops and headbutts, but Tenryu hits an enzuigiri from the apron on Teranishi to put a stop to it and then tags himself back in.

Tenryu’s brief respite gives him time to recover, and it looks like Rusher and Teranishi’s time is up. But Tenryu isn’t as recovered as his intensity makes everyone assume. He can’t get Teranishi up for the powerbomb the first time, and he loses his balance on a vertical suplex and gives Teranishi a near fall. Things that would be considered comedy spots result in more close near falls. Rusher hits a lariat in the corner and Tenryu stumbles into an inside cradle for one, and another comes when he holds Teranishi for a diving body press from Kawada, and Teranishi moves out of the way. It’s not until Kawada hits Teranishi with a spin kick and then he and Kawada hit a spin kick/enzuigiri combo that Tenryu hits the powerbomb for the win, and even then, Teranishi kicks out a split second after the count of three.

Just going by work, a match with the offense being carried by Rusher Kimura and Isamu Teranishi isn’t going to turn many heads in 1990. But by making the work take a backseat to the story, they make Rusher and Teranishi look worlds more credible than they otherwise would have. It’s more fun than it is good, Tenryu’s selling notwithstanding, and it’s a nice surprise to those who didn’t think that the old guys had anything worthwhile left in them. ***

Conclusion: The two tag matches that bookend this show are more than enough reason to give it a look, even with the opener being criminally short.