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.

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 & 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.