Genichiro Tenryu vs. Keiji Mutoh (AJPW, 6/8/01)

For the most part, a great match, although deliberately paced. I liked the convulsive start with Mutoh hitting the knee before the match sort of hiccups along. The ground stuff is whatever filler but I liked the in-between stuff: the pacing around, the wincing, the missed dropkick attempt by Mutoh, the snap backdrop from Tenryu. Mutoh starts going after the leg but Tenryu’s able to counter a suplex attempt into an apron brainbuster and follows up with a tope. Then, of course, Mutoh hits the dragon screw from the apron to the floor to return to the legwork. Look, I love Mutoh’s legwork, even when it goes nowhere: the dropkicks to the knee, the endless dragon screws, the double stomps. Tenryu’s legwork…eh, not so much, though I do adore the Texas cloverleaf. But the finishing stretch is really good stuff, with Tenryu hitting a spider German suplex, a brainbuster, a frankensteiner, and plenty of punches and chops. The knee from Mutoh to counter the Northern Lights Bomb was sold so well by Tenryu, and it takes two Shining Wizards and a moonsault to put the champ away.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 6/5/89)

Hot hot hot. Real hot.  Molten crowd + jerkface Jumbo + tenacious Tenryu = one of the greatest matches of the 1980's. Tenryu is ambitious righ tout of the gate, ducking the jumping knee and delivering the German suplex hold for two. Then Jumbo takes over, pounding away, putting the big boots to Tenryu and picking up some heat from the crowd. Tenryu's able to knock Jumbo out of the ring with a lariat and follows up with some nasty forearms, kicks, chops, before Jumbo suplexes him down and settles back into a headlock like a true fucking heel. Then he really starts ramping up his offense, building to the backdrop. He hits the jumping knee, a jumbo-sized lariat, a diving knee drop and he keeps dropping the knees but can't pin Tenryu down, even after a backdrop. The fans are lapping up these two counts like warm milk. The counterwork is really excellent from both dudes but especially Tenryu, as he hotshots Jumbo onto the ropes, sidesteps the corner jumping knee (sans kneepad) to hit an enziguri, and hooking the leg to prevent the suplex attempt. The whole finishing stretch is awesome, and when Tenryu finally hits the powerbomb for a nearfall, the place explodes. He's able to deliver the second powerbomb for the win but what a mountain to overcome in Jumbo.

Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 12/16/88)

Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy are mean, mean bastards already but when you throw them up against two other mean bastards in Genichiro Tenryu and Toshiaki Kawada, you get mean bastard warfare. Tenryu getting smacked around and shitkicked against the ropes by Hansen, or hard chopped by Gordy, with Kawada being the spitfire in-and-out of the ring -- this starts hot and ends hot. It's too much to try and break down but a few of my favorite moments from the match include Gordy's huge lariat in the corner sold beautifully by Tenryu, Hansen stumbling around, he and Gordy breaking pinfalls the fuck up, Kawada getting destroyed on the outside. After Gordy hits the powerbomb on Tenryu, Kawada's able to hobble back into the ring to break it up in a killer save. The fans really want Tenryu on his feet, fighting these gaijin fuckers off, but he keeps getting double teamed while poor Kawada is once again in a world of hurt outside the ring. Tenryu's able to fire back with some nasty chops and slaps to Hansen, knocking him down, but Gordy clobbers him with a lariat. After Gordy breaks up the diving back elbow, he pummels Tenryu with gnarly punches but misses the corner lariat, allowing Tenryu a short but brief comeback. He hits the powerbomb but it's not enough. After Gordy powerbombs Tenryu, Hansen drives the knees to the head and finishes him off with a SICK lariat for the win. Awesomely chaotic and brutal tag team warfare.

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 10/28/00)

There is a lot to love on with this match, especially Genichiro Tenryu's grizzled performance as he absorbs most of what Kawada's dishing out and serves it back twice as spicy. He blows off the kicks early on, peppering Kawada with his terrific jabs in the corner before Kawada starts chopping away at his chest. Loved all the stand up exchanges early on the match before Tenryu catches a foot and dragon screw legwhips Kawada down to set-up the legwork. The legwork was fine but ultimately meaningless, but it did provide us with that awesome face punch sold perfectly by Kawada. Kawada goes back to kicking after that leg segment and gets a little revenge on Tenryu in the corner but Tenryu's the big boss here, standing up to Kawada's peskiness, refusing to lay down.  He blasts Kawada with his own gnarly lariat, Kawada punches him in the face, and then locks in the stretch plum, struggling to keep it in after all that punishment Tenryu handed him.

They both fight for the powerbomb, with Tenryu winning out after failing to mimic Kawada's rolling koppou, Then Kawada muscles Tenryu over with back-to-back backdrops. The selling of exhaustion in this match is terrific, with Tenryu tumbling out of the ring and into the cameraman. Then he takes that nasty boot to the nose when he's on the apron, and his face becomes a bloody mess. The finishing stretch, with Kawada trying to take down Tenryu with kick after kick after kick before Tenryu explodes with the lariat, was pretty great, and the result is Kawada nearly KO'd from the blow, which allows Tenryu to put him away with the Northern Lights Bomb. One of the best matches of 2000 for sure.

Genichiro Tenryu & Hiromichi Fuyuki vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Shinichi Nakano (SWS, 7/26/91)

Yoshiaki Yatsu is such a heel here, it's terrific, and Shinichi Nakano shows a ton of fire, coming out of the gate against Hiromichi Fuyuki like he's got a lit bottle rocket up his ass. When Fuyuki's had it with him, he pummels him with pissy little headbutts. Tenryu gets in there and chops the hell out of him and when the kid smacks back at Tenryu, Tenryu promptly shuts him down in grumpy fashion. Loved how Nakano pounds away at Tenryu after he breaks the pin attempt. The hate between Yatsu and Tenryu is on full display. When Fuyuji heats up on offense and gets the big tag to Tenryu, Tenryu murder chops Nakano to set up the diving back elbow drop but Yatsu pulls Nakano out of the way to massive heat from the fans. Tenryu's still able to hit it a bit later but Yatsu breaks up the count. Then he brings out the chair, attacking Fuyuki and Tenryu. The fans are going nuts as Fuyuki sacrifices his body to protect Tenryu from the chairshots. Then Yatsu busts Fuyuki open with a headshit and the fans have had it, throwing garbage into the ring. But in the end, Tenryu is able to lariat Nakano and deliver the powerbomb to send the fans home happy.

Tatsuo Nakano vs. Genichiro Tenryu (WAR, 5/26/96)

Genichiro Tenryu wants nothing to do with Tatsuo Nakano. Here, Nakano comes out like he’s in a shoot and Tenryu’s hunched over, hands on knees, looking like a Little Leaguer at short stop. Nakano snaps off one kick and Tenryu immediately pummels him into a corner with hard sumo slaps. One of the reasons I love Nakano is his unwillingness to let up. Even when he's clearly outsized, Nakano keeps kneeing and kicking Tenryu in the head. At times, Tenryu doesn't quite know how to react to him, or the blows he's receiving. I loved Nakano's rear choke with the headbutts, pounding on Tenryu long enough to German suplex him, then floating right into the armbar. He manages to get the full extention on the armbar but this is Wrestle and Romance, not RINGS, so Tenryu doesn't immediately tap out...or at all. Nakano continues to rush him with kicks, with Tenryu able to slap him off momentarily before Nakano comes right back with more high kicks. Finally, Tenryu decides he's done taking kicks from Nakano and takes out his leg, submitting him with the single leg crab in under five minutes. A weird pairing but pretty awesome spectacle to say the least.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kensuke Sasaki (NJPW, 1/4/00)

Can’t beat watching these two big boys lobbing knuckles at each other. When Tenryu tries backing Sasaki into a corner, Sasaki straight up pops him with a couple of shots, knocking him on his ass. The referee’s like “what the fuck did you do, Kens-kay?” and Tenryu tries firing back with his old man jabs but Sasaki pops him again. He stays on him with punches in the ropes, throwing in a couple of chops, but Tenryu finally jabs and chops Kensuke down before collapsing himself. Tenryu puts him back in the corner and goes to town on his chest with more chops before it’s bombs away -- a spider German suplex, a powerbomb, a snap brainbuster. Tenryu even tries to get fancy with a frankensteiner but Sasaki slams him down and delivers a frankensteiner of his own. When they’re throwing bombs, they’re smacking each other around in these ugly bar fight exchanges but Kensuke proves in the end that his bombs are a little bit bigger, as he drops Tenryu with not one but two Northern Lights Bombs to win the title.

Genichiro Tenryu vs. George Takano (SWS, 10/11/90)

Oh man, George Takano is like the perfect grunty worker here, with his quasi-shoot shotei strikes and wakigatame takedowns. He does a number on Tenryu at the outset, dropkicking him out of the ring and hitting a pretty sweet baseball slide through the ropes. But when he whiffs on the plancha, Tenryu takes over on offense and he's not happy about it, stomping and kneeing away at George's gut. They manage to condense a lot of big moves into a short period of time, and between George's tenacity and Tenryu's grumpy presence, this ticks quite a few boxes. Plus, you've got random English commentary sprinkled throughout. Takano keeps cutting off Tenryu's momentum, German suplexing or landing a big crossbody from the top rope to the floor. And of course, Tenryu delivers the goods on the powerbomb front, including an awesome counter to George's 'rana attempt. He tweaks his ankle on one of the attempts, giving Takano a glimmer of hope, but Tenryu ultimately puts him away with a final big boy powerbomb. Super solid match.

Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 12/6/89)

Oh boy, this tag match has it all: tons of hot saves, hot tags and a hot crowd, a heargeared Yatsu throwing suplexes, shitkicker Stan Hansen throwing his brisket-fed weight around, and the pissed off of Jumbo and Tenryu. All four guys really delivered here, putting in great performances. Oh, and Hansen going to retrieve Tenryu on the outside was a nice touch. They really bully Yatsu around, with Hansen removing the protective headgear to drive home the knees. Love how Hansen falls into his clobbering strikes. When Yatsu's finally gets some leverage on Tenryu, Tenryu's able to tug on the trunks to prevent Yatsu from getting too close to the ropes. He finally hits a German suplex and the fans are buzzing for the tag to Jumbo, who comes in fired the fuck up. Hansen takes a beating from Jumbo, selling the exhaustion on the irish whip before taking a backdrop, but the tide turns and Jumbo finds himself on the receiving end of some double teams.

On the outside, Yatsu's getting his head taped and makes it back just in time to break up a pin attempt in an awesome little moment. He busts open Hansen with a running bulldog on the exposed concrete and gets the hot tag from Jumbo, exacting some revenge on the Texan with plenty of headbutts. He hits another bulldog but Tenryu interferes, giving Yatsu some dirty kicks to the head while he's in there. Jumbo's had it and he starts beating the hell out of Tenryu in the corner and the crowd is lit! Yatsu and Hansen slap it out and Hansen catches him square in the grill with a kick but when Tenryu tries for an assisted enziguri, Yatsu ducks and Hansen gets caught. Jumbo hits a diving high knee but Tenryu's there to break up the cover and gets some cheap shots off on Jumbo. Amid all the chaos, Hansen finally hits his big ole lariat on Yatsu and when Jumbo tries to make the save, Tenryu grabs his trunks, allowing Hansen to score the pinfall. Awesome tag with a super hot final five minutes.

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW, 8/31/87)

This is Jumbo working in dominant fashion, with Tenryu fighting to get in every lick of offense. He tries to wear Tenryu down with a hard-hitting onslaught of moves, including an awesome diving knee strike, and that recurring Cobra Twist. Tenryu gets in a knee here or an armbar takedown but Jumbo's in control early on. Tenryu is able to pull off a German suplex hold and powerbombs Jumbo a little too close to the ropes. Late in the game, he starts picking apart Jumbo's leg, surviving a pair of backdrop suplexes, before the action spills outside. Tenryu tries to take him out with a kneebreaker onto the time keeper's table but Jumbo is able to make it back to the ring. However, after they trade enziguris, Jumbo finds himself tangled in the ropes and can't get back to his feet before the referee calls for the bell, awarding Tenryu the victory. A good-spirited showing from Tenryu against the more experienced and confident Jumbo.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 1/28/86)

This match is incredible and my favorite tag match of the decade so far (the other being the Funks. vs. Hansen & Gordy from 1983). It has everything I love about professional wrestling, from great psychology and selling to the unruly nature of the match and the escalation of emotions and hostilities. Everyone plays their respective roles so well, to the point that grumpster Tenryu is more concerned about beating on an injured Choshu outside of the ring then what’s happening to his partner inside. Jumbo immediately goes after Choshu’s taped ribs and in one of the best moments of the match, he slaps Yatsu silly and throws him into his corner so he can tag Choshu back in. When Tenryu comes in, he’s double teamed at once -- actually, twice, taking an assisted piledriver. He’s able to put on the figure-four leglock but Choshu’s able to roll to his corner, where Yatsu flies in with a diving elbow drop to Tenryu while Tsuruta takes advantage and stomps at Choshu’s prone ribs.

Tsuruta and Tenryu continue targeting Riki’s ribs with Jumbo tearing away some of the protective tape and putting him in the cobra twist. Chaos unfolds as backdrops are…well, dropped, brutal lariats are thrown, and a chair is used against the recovering Choshu. Tenryu continues attacking Choshu while Yatsu works away on Jumbo, busting him open on the ringpost before unloading his offensive arsenal, hitting a piledriver, a backdrop, and a backbreaker before poorly applying the sansori-gatame, which is broken up by Tenryu’s nasty lariat. Choshu is the thorn in Tenryu’s side during the finishing stretch, thwarting his pin attempts on Yatsu, and while Yatsu is able to hit a big German suplex hold for a nearfall, Tenryu at last puts him down with the powerbomb to win it. I can’t recommend this match highly enough.

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.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW, 11/13/04)

In his last match with New Japan, Shibata faces Genichiro Tenryu, who promptly exits the ring to meet Shibata on the entrance ramp and throws him down into some chairs before returning to the ring. Awesome. This was all kinds of ridiculous in maybe the best way possible? I don’t know. They trade finishers maybe half a dozen times before Tenryu tries to kill him with a rope-hung DDT from the apron to the floor. Holy shit. Shibata comes back pissed and stiff with strikes. He connects with the second PK of the match but Tenryu’s not going out like that. He DDTs Shibata through the slaps and nearly KOs him with a front necklock. Loved the look on Tenryu’s face after Shibata kicks out, followed by a barely coherent Shibata stumbling into a pair of guh! punches for the finish.