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.

Terry & Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy (AJPW, 8/31/83)

What can you say about this match? An all-time memorable performance from the “retiring” Terry Funk, with a molten hot Japanese crowd firmly behind the Amarillo brothers. The teams start brawling before the young boys can even clear the ring of streamers and there’s a great lariat tease from Hansen with Terry hanging onto the ropes like a squirrel or something. Dory goes a good job playing the FIP early on, trying in vain to punch his way to freedom only to get beaten down by Hansen and Gordy. Quick tags in and out as they wear down the elder Funk brother and at one point, Terry chooses to attack Gordy in the ring, costing him the opportunity to tag in.

When Terry’s in there, the magic happens, with his drunken staggering about and shuffling jabs. Hansen chomps down on his forehead, busting Terry open, and then he starts destroying Terry’s knee with assistance from Gordy. Terry’s despondent selling is incredible, whether it’s hopping around on one leg, jabbing at Gordy or grabbing Gordy’s hair to avoid the spinning toehold, crawling away toward his corner. Loved the finish, with Terry trying to stand up to get away from Gordy’s top rope splash, managing to just barely roll out of the way before connecting with the sunset flip from the top for the victory. Post-match, a pissed off Hansen continues attacking Terry and lariating young boys before they’re able to finally subdue him. “Japan #1, forever!”

Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (NJPW, 9/23/81)

One hell of a hoss battle -- I mean, you could fry up a couple of eggs on the atmosphere alone. Andre’s monster presence resonates throughout the arena, to the point where Andre's yelling at the fans to shut up. Hansen proves that with enough grit, sweat, and ball-bustin’, you can bleed the dragon if you keep jabbing it with the sharp end of the stick. Hansen really sells the enormity of fighting a giant but Andre’s offense comes off so crushing, from the way he wrings Stan’s arm over his shoulder to his mighty clubs and chops to Stan’s chest, sometimes accompanied by that deep-barreled laughter. Hansen’s missed elbow drops provide some of the best moments of the match, especially coming after the big bodyslam. After the restart (with a little intimation from Andre), Hansen turns up the bruising and starts pounding on Andre, tying him up in the ropes and and lariating him out of the ring! On the outside, Andre tries to load up the elbow pad and the ref’s all over him trying to get it off. Out of frustration, Andre swats him with a lariat and the match is thrown out but the fun don’t stop there as the two keep fighting, lion cubs get clobbered, and a pissed Hansen chucks a chair into the ring.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 4/6/92)

I think I prefer the 6/5 Triple Crown match to this, but then again, there's not much to complain about here. Stiff as hell right from the bat, with Kawada coming at Hansen with machine gun slaps and Hansen kneeing him and tossing him out of the ring to cool off. Hansen always sells so great for Kawada's kicks, and his selling of the legwork was top notch here. Kawada chops out Hansen's legs with kicks and uses a single leg crab (all day) to wear him down. I love that even when Hansen is falling from the bum leg, he still manages to strike Kawada. Awesome leglock spot with Hansen kicking at Kawada's face to get out of the submission hold. Of course, the big desperation powerbomb on the outside was big turning point in the match but the scoop slam onto the guardrail looked even more painful. Loved Hansen's back bodydrop into the elbow drop spot. 

 Kawada's kicks are pretty hellacious and he catches Hansen with a shot to the chin, staggering the bull and turning the tide in favor of Kawada. Hansen keeps missing the elbow drop which ultimately leads to Kawada hitting the elbow drop from the apron the floor. He once again chops out the legs of Hansen, blasts him with an enzui lariat and locks in the sleeperhold. During the finishing stretch, Hansen calls for the lariat but Kawada counters with a jumping high kick. This only pisses Hansen off so he powerbombs him and puts him the Brazos Valley Backbreaker. In frustration, Hansen refuses to break the hold, and you can tell he's ready to end this. Great elbow by Kawada and collapse into the pin but the boss hoss ultimately hits the lariato and it's game over. Another fun, stiff brawl, with a little more substance and structure than the 2/28/93 match. 

Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 6/5/92)

Stan Hansen looks like such a boss hoss and has no shame in whipping at the Japanese fans with his lariato. There's such strong crowd energy heading into this match. They slug it out for a while and when Kawada starts with the kicks, Hansen retaliates with one of his own. Kawada's selling and facials are great throughout and when Hansen smells blood, he immediately begins targeting the leg. It's great to see Hansen relax into the legwork, either on the mat or shinbreaking Kawada on the guardrail. Kawada sacrifices his bum leg to fire back at Hansen, but that only pisses Hansen off more, leading to a nasty cowshit kick and a gutwrench suplex. Hansen sells strong for Kawada after a big kick folds Hansen over the guardrail. Kawada controls for a while, hits a great elbow drop from the apron to the floor, peppers Hansen with machine gun elbows.

The crowd energy builds around the potential for Hansen's lariat. Several times during the match, you can hear the crowd getting excited for Hansen to signal for the lariat but instead, he kicks or elbows him, and the crowd dies down. Hansen's defense is solid, as he blocks a kick with his forearm, or quickly tosses Kawada away when he goes for the Stretch Plum. Kawada instead chops out his legs with kicks and locks in the dragon sleeper, switching arms to prevent Hansen from escaping, until they collapse into the ropes. Awesome. When Hansen finally calls for the lariat, the crowd heats up and he connects with the enzui lariat but he purposely breaks the hold. Throws a little water onto the fire and I get why he doesn't want to end it that way. Hansen's a man. He wants you to see the lariat coming. Great jackknife powerbomb before he just murders Kawada with his lariato. I probably love this match a lot more than most people. Lots of ups and tons as far as crowd energy goes, but it's a smartly worked match for Hansen and one of his best solo performances. 

Stan Hansen vs. Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 2/28/93)

When I think of the word ‘hoss’, Stan Hansen pops into my head. He’s a hoss in the truest sense of the word. One of my favorite Stan Hansen matches is his chaotic brawl with Toshiaki Kawada. Since I watched the Kikuchi/Fuchi match from the same show, I decided to revisit Hansen vs. Kawada. There’s so much to love about tis match. Kawada selling Hansen’s haymakers like death. The way Hansen kicks Kawada like he’s kicking at a piece of cow shit. I love how Hansen throws his weight into offense, like that big back elbow out of the corner or the awesome diving shoulderblock through the ropes. They take turns controlling portions of the match and at one point, Hansen looks a little lost and then really looks lost (as in loss of consciousness) when Kawada's got him trapped in the Stretch Plum. Kawada murders him in the corner with kicks. He chops at Hansen and Hansen just grabs him by the head and slams him down with zero shits given.  After Hansen’s big ole release powerbomb, he signals for the lariat and the crowd is eating it up. Kawada cuts him off but Hansen hits a one of the greatest lariats of all time, the momentum of it carrying him clear out of the fucking ring!  Both men are sluggish with exhaustion, with these glazed over looks in their eyes, and Hansen almost collapses into that final enzui-lariat with enough power to defeat Kawada. Such a Texas hoss match with great psychology, brutal shitkicking strikes, and a super hot crowd during the final minutes of the match (minus the crickets after the ref fucks up a count).  One of the best brawls of all time...and I don't even really like brawls.