Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 8/31/85)

A solid but middling first half builds to a hot backend as the gaijins start decimating Jumbo's lariat arm. Tenryu is great here as the spunky enziguiri-delivering punching bag, and the way he sells that lariat from Hansen is terrific. As they work over Jumbo, DiBiase sets up Jumbo for a "sliding lariat" from Hansen and while I liked the idea of it, the lariat misses as Jumbo's able to pull his arm away just in time. Not sure if it was intentional or just bad timing. Hansen clobbers Jumbo with a lariat and applies a crude but effective arm wrench of sorts. Tenryu's trying in vain to help his partner but DiBiase plays good enough defensive to bat him down long enough for the referee to call for the bell, awarding the gaijins the victory.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kerry Von Erich (AJPW, 5/22/84)

Kerry’s a Texas boy and wrestles that American-style to a capital T but it works well against jumbo babyface, Tsuruta. It takes a minute for them to find their footing but the first fall had its moments. The double arm suplex struggle, with Kerry backing toward the ropes but Jumbo delivering it anyway or Kerry trying for the Iron Claw with Jumbo writhing on the mat, pushing back. Once Kerry sets Jumbo up on the top turnbuckle, things get a little more heated with Kerry shoving Jumbo and Jumbo responding in kind. After a beautiful enziguri, Jumbo pins Kerry following the backdrop suplex.  He comes out at the start of the second fall clubbing and punching, busting Kerry open with a right-hand. He blocks Kerry’s punch and smacks him, then he starts unloading on him in the corner and the ref’s trying to pull him away but fuck it, Jumbo’s fired up and the crowd’s firmly behind him. 

Kerry makes his comeback after a piledriver, delivering the Tornado Punch + Iron Claw combo, and while Jumbo struggles against it, Kerry ultimately pins him to even the score...but he doesn’t let go. Fantastic selling from Jumbo as the young boys pour water on his head and he’s headbutting the canvas. This third fall starts out great, with Jumbo targeting Terry’s claw hand, stomping it, slamming it against every part of the ring, eventually working in a cross armbreaker. The finishing stretch kind of falls off the rails as they trade offense and Jumbo applies a random crab hold. Kerry locks in the Iron Claw on the outside but Jumbo can’t make it into the ring before the count. He thinks he’s won but Joe Higuchi is like “no way, sir, put your arm down.” I’m not a big Kerry fan but this was fun and cool environment to see him work in.

Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 4/14/83)

Holy shit, this match…if you can even call it that. Pure carnage. It's the Texas Chainsaw Massacre without the chainsaws. Stan Hansen is a relentless killer, beating the pulp out of Terry with his nasty knees, hard chops, and those clobbering punches. The way he repeatedly bashes Terry’s face into the corner turnbuckle or those knee drops where he just sits on Funk’s head. Terry put on the performance of a lifetime putting Hansen over as a monster. Even when he gets in little bits of offense, like that bodyslam, he sells the immensity of Hansen. He works in this almost despairing way, chopping at Hansen’s knee, trying to get him on the ground so he can work the leg and set up the spinning toehold. But with each attempt, Hansen boots his way out of it, at one point busting Terry open with clubbing shot. 

Once Terry’s bleeding like a stuck pig, the match transitions into a gritty horror film, with Hansen looming blood-spattered over Terry. There’s a final glimmer of hope as Funk tries once more for the spinning toehold but Hansen proves to be too much to contain and atomic drops Funk onto the ropes. The finish…or lack thereof is scary. Hansen follows Terry out of the ring with the turnbuckle cord in hand and drags Terry back to the ring with the cord round his throat, only to continue beating the shit out of him. The Japanese fans are freaking out as their beloved Amarillo son sells like death the way he’s strung up by the turnbuckle cord. Hansen doesn’t let up, despite the referee throwing out the match, until Dory Funk Jr. makes the save looking like an Enterprise Rental Car manager. A fantastically brutal beat down and one of Terry's career-high performances.

Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (NJPW, 11/4/82)

A motivated Tiger Mask is the best Tiger Mask. I thought this was a very impassioned performance from Mr. Sayomiya, with plenty of energy, dexterity, and a little extra spicy mustard behind his strikes. Hell, before he can even remove his belt, Tiger’s tossing Kobayashi over the ropes and diving onto him full speed. Kobayashi was a decent enough opponent with his flourished kicks but Tiger was the standout here. The way he so deftly lands on his feet off the back bodydrop, his swanky takedowns and reversals, and a ton of innovative for the time offense, like the backflip kneedrop, the front neck chancery takeover, and the jumping tombstone piledriver. With Tiger able to mule kick his way out of Kobayashi’s various holds, the frustration builds and Kuniaki starts going after Tiger’s mask. Eventually, it costs him the match, as he starts ripping at it with Tiger in the ropes and the referee calls for the bell. Afterwards, a pissed off Tiger Mask and goes after Kobayashi and the two fight to the outside. This was a fun workrate match, where the submission holds were only meant to kill time, but it was one of Tiger Mask’s better individual performances.  

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi (NJPW, 10/8/81)

This was short, slapdash, sometimes heated, but another solid Fujinami defense, with the champ working a little more aggressive this time with his shoot-style kicks and vicious slaps. They go back-and-forth from the mat to standing position and the submission play doesn't really factor into the match, despite some focused legwork from Fujinami. When Isamu starts peppering Fujinami with slaps, Fujinami unloads on him with his own stiff smacks and a couple closed-fists. He goes to town on Isamu's leg here but Isamu ignores it to hit a backbreaker and a dropkick, scoring two off a backdrop suplex. The set-up to the finish was a little sloppy but Fujinami's roll-through German suplex hold was a swank way to win the match. Good junior heavyweight fun.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (NJPW, 12/13/79)

I’m loving the proto-shoot-style of these late 70’s junior heavyweight matches that feel like transition pieces into the 80’s mentality of “more is better”. Kengo Kimura is awesomely aggressive throughout, staying on Fujinami like salt on pretzels. He tries overwhelming him with offense right out of the gate and then works to keep him grounded, utilizing a great Indian deathlock and the grounded headscissors. Fujinami plays defense for much of the match but his reversals are slick per usual. They pick up the momentum midway through with a fun little snapmare exchange and Kimura starts tapping his cache, hitting a plancha to the outside, backdrop suplexes (including one on the floor), and what looked like a deadlift sheer-drop double arm suplex, but he can’t put the champ away. At one point, he tried to backdrop Fujinami into the corner but Fujinami hangs onto the ropes. The finish comes out of nowhere, as Fujinami counters a backdrop attempt with a German suplex hold and follows up with a piledriver for the win. Kimura ruled here if you like your early juniors bomb-tastic but this wasn’t Fujinami’s most captivating performance and the abrupt finish didn’t help.

Tiger Mask vs. Steve Wright (NJPW, 4/1/82)

Steve Wright, father of Das Wunderkind, is a swanky dad on the mat, with his sprightly matwork and constant fluidity. Some of the exchanges he had with Tiger Mask impressed in the same way Ospreay/Ricochet impresses kids with low self-esteem. What he lacks in charisma, Steve makes up for in style. I love his shoot shoulderblocks and his dropkick, and while the submissions were meaningless, they were cool to watch as he wrenches on brutal stuff like his abdominal stretch and hanging stretch muffler. At one point, they’re both stalemate in a leglock and after shaking hands, the ref helps untangle them. The selling was meh for most of the match but I thought Tiger kept up for the most part, his strikes sounded great and he had a rad side suplex counter off the ropes that looked seamless. A slick little junior exhibition and a good introduction to the busy world of Steve Wright. 

Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 9/11/82)

This was unadulterated Texas bedlam with two of the Lone Star’s finest and a hell of a time. It’s ridiculous how over Terry Funk is with the fans as they’re trying to tear the jacket from his back. Hansen doesn’t give a fuck about any flowers and only wants to get his hands on Terry. Funk does such a terrific job selling the unsinkable battleship that is Hansen, staggering round like a drunken hillbilly and bailing from the ring when things get too rough. Love the spasmodic way he takes Stan’s knee drops. Terry conveys a great sense of anxiety throughout, the way he’s shoving around the young boys at ringside or snatching Hansen’s nose to break a hold. In probably the best moment of the match, he blindly throws a chair over his head into the ring and #1 Boss Hoss Stan Hansen catches the chair one handed and chunks it back at Terry. The end is chaos as Hansen knocks out one ref and lariats the replacement. Ron Bass or somebody interferes on Stan’s behalf, allowing Stan to hit the lariat before he starts kicking the shit out of everyone, including Jumbo and Baba.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (NJPW, 2/5/17)

Minoru Suzuki rules. There’s no disputing that. Modern wrestling doesn’t get much better than Suzuki dismantling fools limb from limb, taking pleasure in the pain of others while leering and cackling like the sadistic fuck he is. That being said, Minoru was great in this match, between his focused legwork, vicious strikes, and terrific expressions. He’s such a bully here, showing zero respect for the champ as he grinds his heel into the knee, boots Okada’s face, slaps him silly. I liked the idea of the match. I’m a sucker for limb-focused matches and they established Okada’s injury early on and Suzuki exploiting it, which was great. I didn’t necessarily have a problem with the length of the match but more so the pacing of the match, the start-stop momentum, and the placement of the submission teases, which were needlessly milked to eat up minutes. Kazuchika Okada rarely deviates from a game plan and that became painfully obvious here where Suzuki had already attacked the injured leg but Okada starts implementing offense which specifically uses that injured knee, i.e., the neckbreaker onto the knee or using the knee during the cutthroat stretch. Or even the style over substance spot of kipping up to his feet. Logic says a defending champion wouldn’t purposely aggravate an already injured knee but do whatever you can do to protect that knee. I thought Okada’s retaliations looked weak in comparison to Suzuki’s stiff offense and it wasn’t until they start trading slaps that Okada really puts some heat behind his strikes. 

I thought the turning point of this match should’ve come after Gedo thinks about throwing in the towel after Suzuki counters the first Rainmaker attempt, as Okada can barely stand after this and it’s his best selling performance of the match. The subsequent figure-four leglock sequence made little sense, we get Suzuki-gun’s interference, which is expected, but could’ve been limited to Taichi being a dick on the outside, and then Okada hits the superstar dropkick. I liked the idea of him teasing the Gotch-style tombstone but then we get another tedious submission sequence and the momentum of the match is feeling really jerky. Having skipped all that nonsense, the match could’ve really picked up with Okada fighting back with the slaps, stunning Suzuki and leading to the comeback and the final Rainmaker dance with Suzuki's counter attempts. I liked the set-up to the finish, with Suzuki trying to slap and headbutt his way out of a wristlock only to eat another Rainmaker, which leads to the German suplex > Rainmaker combo. A good match with an established storyline but with too much time to kill and some irrational decisions by the champ that only further exposed himself and put himself in jeopardy. Already I'm spent. 

Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan (NJPW, 4/1/82)

Having squashed Khan the previous month, Andre is in no mood for this faux-Mongolian’s peskiness. Khan’s the cockroach that won’t stay dead. After he tries to bodyslam the Giant and fails, Andre is dumbfounded that Khan is still alive after having nearly squashed him. When Andre’s in control of Khan, Khan keeps telling the ref he’s being choked, which only further irks the big man as he keeps defending his actions to the referee. “It’s not a choke!” – for some reason, I gave Andre Arnold Schwarzenegger’s voice. Such a strong performance from Andre, with Khan playing the dirty heel much to the delight of the Japanese fans. He comes at Andre with Mongolian chops but the Giant traps the arms and hits a double arm suplex. Khan goes for the eyes, poking and raking, and then he begins chopping the Giant down at the ankle. Some of Andre’s best selling here as Khan takes advantage of the situation, with Giant re-injuring himself and Khan attacking the leg. Khan is able to stun Andre with the Mongolian chops and downs him momentarily with Mongolian chops from the top rope, but when he tries to double dip, Andre throws him from the top rope, hits a suplex and a sloppy leg drop for the win. One of Andre's best in-ring performances with Khan working as the bothersome babyface heel. 

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza (AJPW, 12/5/78)

Hey, it ain’t the prettiest matwork but it’s effective, especially when you got Bock and Dory Jr. interacting, with the added grit of Lanza and the magnetism of Terry. Nick shows good control over the arm of Dory early on, keeping it in check through Dory’s escape attempts. They also stay friendly throughout with their chops and uppercuts. Blackjack isn’t quite on the technical level as the other three but Terry sells so well for him, bumping like a madman off his irish whips, and when Lanza gets the claw on, the fans lose their shit. I love that Dory protects his baby brother being whipped into the corner by sacrificing his own body. When Terry finally gets the tag, Dory comes in suplexing and piledriving -- even Terry’s back in to get a little revenge with his shuffle jabs and haymaker punch. Blackjack’s claw is the bane of Terry’s existence and he keeps running into it, even when he’s trying for the spinning toe hold.  Eventually he counters out with a knee breaker and Dory comes in with the spinning toe hold, with Terry playing defense against Bock long enough for Lanza to give up. A fun tag with a sympathetic crowd for Terry. 

Mile Zrno vs. Ashura Hara (IWE, 5/6/79)

While I’ve seen some of Hara’s later stuff as a heavyweight, this is the first time I’ve ever seen/heard of Mile Zrno. Visually, it was a cool match but there wasn’t much substance. The matwork was interesting for the most part but not very engaging. The submissions never really felt dangerous, even when Zrno was lying back with the cross armbreaker fully applied and Hara isn’t making much of an effort to escape or counter. The lackluster selling on Zrno’s part didn’t help flesh this thing out but again, a neat-looking match. Hara’s offense looked great, his seamless side suplex into the pin, his snazzy armdrag, his double arm suplex to win the second fall and the finish to the match, with Hara catching Mile across his shoulders before delivering that exaggerated Samoan drop. I liked Mile’s legwork during the second fall, with his leaping leg drops, elbow drops, and somersault rolls. He had a beautiful leg trap takedown but there was no payoff. A swanky exhibition but little else beyond that.