MATCH OF THE WEEK (Which also happens to be on YouTube, hey ho):

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rusher Kimura – 2 out of 3 falls (All Japan Pro Wrestling, 3/28/1976)

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmO5pJT8dZw

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqJDZb2hbnk...feature=related

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk5kRUC3WXQ...feature=related

Hopefully a few things that I want to pull out of my own collection to talk about are on YouTube as well. Luckily this was, and it looks like a very recent addition.

This is a personal favourite of mine and it was a lot of fun revisiting it once again. 1970’s wrestling is something I really developed more of an appreciation for the longer I’ve watched, and it’s something a lot of people have (somewhat understandably) slept on while looking at newer things. Rusher is a guy that isn’t really thought of as having that many memorable matches (though in fairness IWE where Rusher was top dog isn’t that well seen, though there’s little in his other work to suggest he was a regular great match guy), where as Jumbo was really well thought of from even the extremely early stages of his career. Put together they produced a pretty interesting and memorable clash.

At the time, Rusher was the big star and focus guy in the IWE group, which was a smaller organization that was cross-promoting with All Japan. So this is something that had a real “big match” vibe around it at the time. You really get that sense of championship tension the whole time here, which adds a lot to the atmosphere.

The first fall is mainly Rusher getting Jumbo into various basic holds, and Jumbo working out of them. A couple of times they get into slap and chop exchanges briefly but then get back into a hold. There’s an interesting vibe to things, where you get the idea story-wise that both guys would be happy to just brawl and beat on each other, but there’s a machismo factor of both guys wanting to outwrestle the other, so they keep trying to work holds instead. Late in the first fall though, both guys just can’t take it anymore and start throwing a few bombs, and eventually Rusher comes out on top with a vertical suplex for a first fall pin.

The second fall starts out cautious again, as if both guys are wary of what the other is going to do next. You get the feeling both guys know if they start brawling it’s not coming back to civility, so instead they decide to stick to trying to outwrestle each other for now. Rusher starts working a headlock, but Jumbo eventually gets his way out of it by going to a kneebreaker. The crowd is really into it here, as there really is that big match atmosphere the whole way through. Jumbo works over Rusher’s leg for a while after this, before eventually the patern of the first fall repeats again. You get your moments of heated exchange between various holds. After a wrestling section, Rusher comes up swinging. This turns out to be a big mistake as Jumbo blasts him with a huge standing dropkick, and a couple of double arm suplexes later the match is tied at one fall each. This is one of the cool things about Jumbo in this period, is that he often would do matches where he mostly wrestles, but if people get him mad he can go into great outbursts that overwhelm opponents.

The first two falls are satisfying and good, but the third fall is the real icing on the cake that satisfies what the first two have promised. This time very early Rusher refuses to make a clean break on the ropes, hitting a big chop instead. Jumbo returns the favor, and both guys have had enough feeling out and exchanging holds, its bomb throwing time. They end up out on the floor a couple of times, ramming each other into the ringpost and brawling around, just trading shots seeing who can last longer. Eventually they end up back in the ring and there’s a sequence of suplexes from each guy working nearfalls.. Eventually Jumbo tries to get Rusher for a German suplex, but Rusher manages to kick off the ropes, dropping both guys pretty hard while Jumbo hangs on. The ref counts three, and both guys think they’ve won. A lot of ring seconds and officials around as the referee trying to keep order declares it was a double pin in the third fall. Neither wrestler seems thrilled, there’s a staredown between each other before they start brawling again, and now you get over a dozen guys in the ring trying to separate them. Eventually things calm down and the two (with some prodding by the referee) agree to shake hands and accept the draw.

This is a really enjoyable match against a more or less totally unexpected opponent. The first two falls are worked as more cautious traditional wrestling that both end in bigger, fast bursts, and the third fall works off those into a more heavy action conclusion. A lot of people have called this a one-man show, and although it’s true that most everyone is going to agree that Tsuruta is a much better wrestler than Kimura overall, Rusher does hold up his end of this battle. You won’t see a lot of Rusher matches that get talked about as top level stuff, but this is a wholeheartedly enjoyable big match between two guys that were definitely on for the day. Personally, this is one of my favourite matches from the time frame that I’ve seen. Just a really enjoyable top heavyweight clash.

YOUTUBE MATCH OF THE WEEK:

Steve Regal & Robbie Brookside vs. Jimmy Monroe & Dave Duran (World of Sport, 7/30/1988)

Part 1:

Part 2:

YouTube is a real goldmine for all kinds of wrestling (among other things), but the general length of its videos probably suited best to shorter studio matches like this. Nice little studio tag match that like most studio wrestling moves fast to try and pack a lot of action in to a time frame that fits well for TV segments. It is fun seeing fiery young Steve Regal but you also need good heels to play off. Duran has some mean looking headbutts, in the first fall he hits both a nice flying one, and also a spot where he picks up Brookside straight from the mat with a choke then headbutts him in the temple. That’s a great little thing more heels should probably do, it looks really nasty. I like what Duran does here in general. A lot of really basic heel offense, but it all looks really good. Brookside looks a little raw here at a couple points (of course he could also probably pass for 14, talk about babyface), but overall it’s still a good little studio match where everyone gets to show what they can do and overall it’s perfectly enjoyable heels vs. young babyface tag action that does a good job getting the crowd behind the young guys. This is the kind of thing that doesn’t blow you out of your chair but you can watch a whole ton of because it is the meat and potatoes of what wrestling is all about.

PROMO OF THE WEEK:

One of my all time favourites seems like a good place to begin. Terry Funk shows you how to make friends when you visit Puetro Rico. (Not to be attempted on actual vacations to Puerto Rico.)