ALL JAPAN ON NTV

April 8, 1990 (taped 3/27/90)

Genichiro Tenryu . . . kicks Rusher Kimura in the head like he’s trying to give the old guy amnesia.

Stan Hansen . . . turns into a human pinball for lowly Shinnichi Nakano.

Jumbo Tsuruta . . . watches the midcard piece of cannon fodder that he’s teamed up with give an astoundingly good performance.

GENICHIRO TENRYU/TOSHIAKI KAWADA vs. RUSHER KIMURA/MIGHTY INOUE

When the biggest question of the match concerns Kawada’s choice of tights on this night, you know things are bleak. His left side is purple, and his right side is bright pink. Like a box of Nerds. The stiffness from Kawada and Tenryu is fun to watch, but (at least from what was shown) it just seems like filler and doesn’t lead to anything important. Of course, it doesn’t help that Rusher doesn’t so much sell as he does just lay around. Tenryu hits a series of head kicks that opens a cut on Rusher’s forehead and Inoue runs in to give Tenryu a backdrop suplex, which lets Kawada pick up where Tenryu left off. The ref gets Kawada out and Rusher just starts throwing slaps at Tenryu like he hadn’t just taken upwards of a dozen shots to the head. That’s the match in a nutshell. There’s nothing as far as real drama goes, beyond the question of whether Rusher will kick out or if Inoue makes the save. The chair tease in the closing minutes adds no real intrigue, either.

STAN HANSEN/DAN SPIVEY vs. SHUNJI TAKANO/SHINNICHI NAKANO

OK, now I see what Spivey brings to the table: He’s there to fill time and make the sacrificial lambs look like they might have a prayer of actually winning. Takano and Spivey work through a headlock sequence, and Spivey is decent at putting over their basic offense such as the dropkicks and corner charge. It’s nothing amazing, but it works in a way that probably wouldn’t work against Hansen. When the foreigners are in control, it’s mostly the roughneck brawling you’d expect, along with some nasty kicks from Stan. Hansen gives Nakano a short run of offense toward the end. He goes up for a body slam and even takes a series of dropkicks and rebounds off the ropes, literally bouncing like a pinball for the kid. Hansen stumbles out of the corner and hits a shoulder tackle that cuts off Nakano’s momentum, and once Hansen raises the arm, everyone knows what that means.

JUMBO TSURUTA/AKIRA TAUE vs. TERRY GORDY/STEVE WILLIAMS

For a mid-tour tag match with no real stakes (Hansen and Spivey were being positioned to challenge Doc and Gordy for the tag titles), this is pretty much what you'd expect. The match is fine but mostly unremarkable. Outside of a few bigger spots, it's a lot of lariats, kicks, and forearms, with enough intensity to make it seem more exciting than it really is.

What really stands out here is Taue’s performance. In fact, this looks like something of a coming-out party for him. He’s only there to be the one to lose the fall, but by the end, he’s the one that most people remember. His work isn’t all that different from the other three, but by being able to hold his own and even hand it back to a surprising degree, he does just enough to create a tiny bit of uncertainty about the finish.

For their part, Doc and Gordy’s reactions to Taue’s sudden surges play well here. Taue’s early arm work on Doc is a good example of this. Doc isn't at Taue's mercy, or even in any real trouble, but he’s clearly taken by surprise. The same is true later when Taue gets out of Gordy’s bearhug by punching him in the face. The really fun sequence is when Gordy hits the ropes and expects to mow him down with a lariat, only for Taue to counter him into an abdominal stretch. The hold itself isn’t a threat, and Doc breaks it up pretty quickly anyway. But it does enough for Taue to be able to tag in Jumbo before he gets in trouble again. Even as the match starts to wind down, Taue’s resilience takes center stage. He takes a spike piledriver from the tag champs and still kicks out, although Jumbo is right there to make sure that Gordy can’t follow up with his powerbomb. The Oklahoma Stampede is countered into a decent near fall when Taue grabs the ropes (after Doc had already run him into the corner twice) and shifts his weight to fall on top. Taue is only finished off after Gordy throws Jumbo over the top rope and then assists Doc with the Stampede.

As a whole, it’s a perfectly watchable match that more or less accomplishes what it needs to. It hints at something bigger happening between Jumbo and Doc/Gordy down the road, and it shows that perhaps Doc and Gordy aren’t as insurmountable as they might seem to be. But make no mistake, Taue is the clear centerpiece here. He works way above his head and looks like he belongs in the same ring as the established names.

Conclusion: This isn’t anything amazing; the main event is the best thing here, but it’s more remarkable than good.