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1980-04-04 AJPW Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Funk Champion Carnival 1980 Match Tendai Town Gymnasium, Chiba, Japan Card ★★★ Terry is often described as the Gaijin babyface ace of All Japan but I wanted to see how the crowd responded when he matched up against somebody like Jumbo and it was pretty clear from the start, and throughout the match, that Terry was, in fact, the fan favourite between the two and he generated far stronger reactions at various points. I think they spent far too long on the mat-work portion of the match, and what they did was rather poor. It felt at times that they were completely out of sync and it was hard to figure out what they were going for at various points. Things picked up a lot in the final 15 minutes or so when they just started throwing bombs at each other and we had a strong stretch where things reached a fever pitch. Ultimately they ran out of time and we had the predictable time limit draw. Funk really stood out between these two as he just about did everything you’d want a wrestler to do better than Jumbo here: selling, bumping, facial expressions, great offense. Jumbo’s offense, especially his slam and suplexes, are great but that’s about the only thing he was able to match Terry on. There are glimpses here and there that I find promising but I think it’s obvious, especially when matched up against such a great babyface like Terry Funk, that Jumbo isn’t the kind of guy who’s inherently lovable. I think he could be likeable and obviously he wasn’t a heel that was looking to be disliked, but he didn’t have that loveable quality. Instead I feel like he works best when he leans into being more smug and more entitled. When he transitioned into his Grumpy Jumbo phase it was these qualities more than anything else that really solidified his persona. He was fighting to retain his top spot, he couldn’t believe that these young guys were trying to usurp him and those were the defining characteristics of late Jumbo. Either way, in 1980 he was still more of a bland generic babyface than any clearly defined character and I think it would have served him well if he’d leaned into those aspects of his personality sooner.

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I thought I would give myself some time and wait til after Thanksgiving to post this. So here we are at the end of 1985, we've got a bunch of tag matches. Let's get going! Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Norio Honaga (12/04/85): Good match but not really anything special here. I'm sure you can guess the outcome. If this is on a . compilation for the Bulldogs then, its enjoyable enough. Jumbo Tsuruta v. Curt Hennig (12/04/85): Good match but boy was the crowd dead for this match. Oof! Jumbo and Curt did a nice clean match with some good action. I know no one thought Curt would win but man this was a lot better than their silence would indicate. This is one instance where the "quiet Japanese crowd" stereotype is true. Anyhow watched this after Smackdown on Friday. One thing is that I liked this simple match better than anything on there. One part is that everything was really snug and well executed. The other part is everything on Smackdown is so bright and obnoxious... tons of fucking colors, camera angle changes and absolute move overkill. One thing I'll give those wrestlers is they have a lot of athleticism. There's very little break in the action (it's a TV show after all) and they are in great shape. It's just worlds away from this stuff... but I guess that's what almost 40 years will do. Riki Choshu vs Nick Bockwinkel (12/04/85 aired 12/28): joined in progress. Pretty good match here with some good wrestling filling out the majority of the match. The final few minutes are Riki's high impact offense style. Nothing earth shattering but a good showing from both guys. I felt Bock is actually what made this worthwhile so if you're a fan of his then maybe give yourself 10 minutes and check this out. Shoehi Baba/Dory Jr. v. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase (12/04/85): Quiet crowd but they pop during this match at least This bout is great though because it is well paced. It is simple yet well executed and well Hansen beats on Dory Jr. like he owes him money. Holy cow, I can't believe he didn't induce a heart attack with those clubbing blows to the chest! One of the main reasons that I bought this DVD set was for the abundance of Hansen/DiBiase tag matches and they do not disappoint. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Nick Bockwinkle/Curt Hennig (12/07/85): Not a long match but a very fun one! I hesitate to say that its anything else because there was a possibility for Bockwinkel to be more involved especially with Stan Hansen. I could tell from the pacing (more Hansen's pace) that it was not going to be some sort of lost classic. That said this might be the best showing from Hennig. He really cuts loose during the closing couple of minutes. The fans were super excited. His athletics were comparable to Misawa Tiger Mask. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (12/07/85): Two big teams that have been on parallel courses throughout 1985 finally meet. And it's a blast! The Bulldogs are treated like equals and as a result we get a very good match where we see a lot of good stuff from both sides. I don't think it is meant to be more than a "what if?" main event draw so there's not a ton of substance. Still, it absolutely accomplished it's goal. This is kinda like the inverse of most/all Road Warriors matches...no one is their equal, they do a bunch of stuff regardless of their opponents' ranking/standing and many of the bouts are disappointing Harley Race/Jesse Barr v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (12/12/85): I wasn't expecting much from this match but I loved it! It told such a great little story with a one match rivalry. Kid tries to bully Harley at the get go but Race does one of the most seamless moves on Kid...like a fucking old lion who can be quick when it counts. From there Barr, who is big dude just not ultra jacked is showing of his power. Davey Boy is like hold my beer. Meanwhile you know Harley and Dynamite want to do the diving headbutts off the top etc. It's a damn shame this wasn't a program but this was great! Perhaps the best Race match of '85 because he's basically Tenryu in the 2000's ... he doesn't have to be the best athlete, he just has to provide the heat & story of the match: younger guys try to upstage him and he just needs to be surly & hit hard while the younger guys do the moves. So you're getting the best of both worlds. This is a neat little match. Really does remind me of those early 2000's NOAH under card matches or B-show main events that mixed vets with younger guys to great results. ----- Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (12/12/85): Holy cow! I wasn't expecting this to be as great as it was. But frankly it was a classic. The in-ring work was amazing. They didn't do the craziest moves of course but used what they had to take us through peaks and valleys. I think it's an excellent example of pacing and layout being more important than dazzling attacks. But don't get me wrong the offense is here as everyone takes some big bumps and in later AJPW fashion dusts some classic moves off the shelf to get the win. On top of that we have the stories of Dory being Jumbo and Tenryu's teacher, Baba being Jumbo's old partner and mentor, and the beginning (?) of something that becomes one of the best things going later in the decade Baba vs Tenryu. I wasn't expecting them to have that here but oh no...it's here and maybe starts here as by the end Baba & Tenryu are really going after each other. I don't recall seeing this in earlier matches. Anyhow, this felt like a quintessential AJPW tag match...maybe I'm crazy but if you like these guys it's at the very least a "great" match...but in my book it's a classic. Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (Real World Tag League Finals) (12/12/85 aired 12/14): jip by 14 minutes (I believe... so this is only a review of this point forward...I do believe the full match is available). This is really great stuff from the most aggressive teams in the company. I think this was a pretty bold choice for the final match but absolutely shows the confidence Baba had in his booking. It puts Riki & Yatsu (more importantly) as the native team to beat for 1986. It cements Ted DiBiase as Stan's #1 partner for the mid/late 80's (he was teaming with Ron Bass earlier in year which we didn't see any of here). What it also does is make sure there's more matches for 1986. We never get a blow off for the Riki vs Jumbo & Tenryu stuff. We don't really know if Stan & Ted can be beaten. I was close to calling this a classic because there were some absolutely great moments in this match but I only saw half. But I'm betting the first half of the bout was quality so I'm comfortable giving this a "great " rating. 12/12/85 was a great night for tag wrestling. ----- Rick Martel v. Stan Hansen (AWA Title, 12/29/85 in Meadowlands NJ): Technically an AWA match but glad to have this on DVD. Very good to great match here. What makes it special is the psychology of Hansen staying on Martel's back, Rick's selling, and Rick's attack on Hansen's arm. Honestly I'm pretty sure its one of the most psychologically strong matches of the year (not sure that's the right way to phrase that but you get what I'm saying). Only thing keeping it from a shoe-in great match is the finish. I don't 100% get what they were going for... or I think I get it but visually didn't do it for me. No way is it a match spoiler...and in fact plays off the story of the match. Maybe its one of those things that announcers would make sense of it. Watch it for yourself and see what you think! Couple the outcome this match along with Hansen & Ted being the points victors of the tag league and Stan is definitely the Man going into 1986. In summary, 1985 AJPW was excellent. It's an awesome year for tag wrestling without a doubt.I usually do a tl;dr list of my favorite matches of a long project like this. I'm going to skip that now since we're close to my end of the year Best Matches Watched list. So you're going to have to read or wait in the meantime. It's also a weird year as the first part of the year feels like an alternate history AJPW. I mean you've a sizable chunk of NJPW & British Bulldogs there. And are pushed right away. Bruiser Brody doesn't make the tapes (and then is in NJ), Hansen is working mid card and we don't see a Funk brother until late summer. Then the last 4 months, things look more like AJPW (but we (I) miss the lower ranking guys from the Riki vs Jumbo feud). As a result things don't get stale. Historically 1985 All Japan hasn't gotten much more than middle-of-the-road hype. 8 out of the 10 '85 matches on the DVDVR Best of the 80's are in the middle of the list. The top match of the year is only #23 and the 2nd best match of '85 per their list is #37 for instance. And I don't recall anything from AJPW '85 making those old Best of the 80's lists (I think AJW/Crush Gals and NJPW did). So you can't blame a guy for skipping this. But I'm really glad that I finally listened to myself and took a chance on this year. And I did take a monetary chance buying this DVD set... like this could have been lame with only 10 matches being worth my time out of 7 discs (and not a single Choshu match remember!). But honestly, damn near everything felt worthwhile and there were plenty of great matches and a few classics that I feel confident considering "lost." It did help that the "missing" Choshu matches could be easily found the 'tube. Even had I went straight off my DVDs, 1985 genuinely feels like the first year in a new era of AJPW. I highly recommend checking some of this out...especially if you've never really dug the slower 70's/early 80's style. Thanks for reading folks!

Here we are just a couple days past due but, finally November 1985 is ready to go. A couple of the matches were longer this week and therefore made my list a little slower to get through. It was worth it as you'll see. Let's dive in! Riki Choshu vs Jumbo Tsuruta (11/04 aired 11/09) Long time limit draw match...in my younger days I would have watched this. Anymore, I just don't want to devote this much time to one match especially knowing that it's a draw. But I did jump around (as does the TV episode...it actually jumps to the 23 minute mark after the first commercial break). I watched the last 10 minutes all the way through and this looked pretty great. So from what I saw here and the other bits I'd have to say this is pretty good to great stuff. I hesitate to go higher of course but it does have the potential to rate even higher. This just so physical throughout and a real testament to the high level of skill it takes to do do these long matches... not just the physical endurance but the presence of mind to tell a story. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith (11/23/85): The Bulldogs' muscles are nearly bursting out of their skin...holy cow boys...it's difficult to see how hard they were hitting the juice especially given the results down the road. That's all in the past now... so let's talk about the match. And what a match this was! Fast paced, all action wrestling right here. Hansen and Ted wrestle a Bulldogs match...and don't steam roll 'em either. It ends sooner than we'd all like but damn this was great. DiBiase was especially good with the lads. But Hansen going beast mode on Dynamite is noteworthy as well. Definitely put this on your watch-list Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Nick Bockwinkle/Curt Hennig (11/23/85): Fuck yes, mid 80's AWA Curt Hennig. Bockwinkel back in AJPW... and versus Jumbo & Tenryu. This was great stuff for sure. All the little touches from Bock made this really special in my eyes. Things got a little loose at the finish but its an early Real World Tag match so really no gripes. This delivers. Shoehi Baba/Dory Funk Jr. v. Harley Race/Jesse Barr (11/27/85): Long match but a really good one. This was probably more paced & worked like it was 1975 at times but, after a few minutes I was digging it. You just have to get in that head space. Once you're there then, there's a lot to like here - Dory hitting hard, Baba doing big moves taking big bumps, Harley giving it his all and Jesse Barr does not look out of place either. It has been a minute since the last Baba match but this was a fine one to come back to. Now that's a fucking fancy ring jacket! The Bob Newhart of pro wrestling is going to kick some ass. ----- Tiger Mask v. Dynamite Kid (11/27/85): I started out watching this and comparing it to Sayama Tiger vs Dynamite based off the first little bit. It was not a fair or warranted comparison so, I waited an hour or so and started this again. I was glad that I did. This is very much young Misawa vs Dynamite Kid. And it's a really good match! And in fact its a near great match. Unfortunately this ended just as things were really starting to cook. In fact, I think this had the potential to be better overall than many of the original TM vs DK (and I'm not a hater, go back and read my Tiger Mask blogs from a couple years ago). I just think Dynamite was a little smarter now, Misawa has a different style, etc. My guess is this was perhaps the beginning of a program between the two and it was in the middle of the RWTL so Baba didn't want to risk their injury (but you wouldn't know that from this!). Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Rusher Kimura/Goro Tsurumi (11/27/85): Good match with a really good final third. I'm going to put some little spoilers in here so you check it out.. at least skim through it... because they do a top rope back drop (back suplex is what I think its called in the States) and Tenryu finishes things up with a power bomb (it's not super smooth like we come to see but shit doesn't it look like it hurts... aka head bouncing off the mat potential). Anyhow both moves are super high end for '85. ----- Stan Hansen v. Ashura Hara (11/27/85): Shorter than I would have liked but hot damn! this is good shit. They are just beating the crap out of each other. They are laying in all of their shots. It's hard to tell but I think Hansen's eye is closing up on the way back to the locker room. If you're like me and disappointed from their match in the 70's from Hansen's AJPW Classics special (which many folks probably own or have seen) then THIS is the Ashura Hara vs Stan Hansen bout you were hoping for. Stan Hansen/Ted Dibiase v. Harley Race/Jesse Barr (11/30/85): Fast paced and surprisingly move heavy. We open up with Race & Hansen potato-ing each other in the best way. Then DiBiase & Barr are young and want to show the crowd what they can do. Stan and Harley get in on the action and we get a really, really good match. Had the thing gone on longer, I think it would have been a great one. Jesse Barr is Art Barr's older brother and Jimmy Jack Funk in the WWF...Terry and Dory Jr.'s kayfabe brother btw. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Tiger Mask/Mighty Inoue (11/30/85): Great all action match that would be quality stuff in 1995, 2005 etc. I got serious 1988-92 AJPW all Asia tag title match vibes here. If you dig those Can Am/Footloose, Kobashi era matches, check this out this one. Again, 1985 Misawa doesn't get a lot of talk but as Tiger Mask he was pretty awesome. He's settled down from trying to do an homage to Sayama Tiger and really wrestles like you'd expect a young Mitsuharu Misawa to wrestle ----- Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (11/30): This is from the 1985 TV episode and is joined in progress by like a minute. That makes no difference really. This is an amazing RWTL match...I was totally geeking out by the end! Maybe it's that we haven't seen a Riki & co. tag vs Jumbo & Tenryu in awhile but this near, if not at, the top of the list. Everything seemed right here. A precursor to the 01/28/86 match perhaps? More proof that Yoshiaki Yatsu is under rated for his AJPW work...excellent evidence for the Jumbo/Tenryu tag chemistry greatness, Riki Choshu is THE MAN for a hot tag-in. Yeah classic match in my book. An excellent week of wrestling. It did make me miss guys from earlier in 1985 that we haven't seen in awhile like: Animal Hamaguchi, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Takashi Ishikawa most notably. So we're almost done with 1985 All Japan. There's just one more post (Dec. '85) and then I'm thinking of using the rest of the year to tie up some loose blog ends...GAEA '99, a couple high end matches I skipped over earlier in the year, etc. Thank you very much for reading!

And we're back with AJPW 1985. We're looking at October. Riki Choshu vs Ashura Hara (10/04 aired 10/12): I noticed I had no Riki Choshu this post. The booking has separated Riki/partner from Jumbo & Tenryu for a little bit. Presumably to build to another encounter for RWTL drama. Anyway this was blazing right out of the gate. Full speed ahead ass kicking. Unfortunately it didn't get too far in before a DQ was called but Damn! this was a blast while it lasted. Dory and Terry Funk v. Road Warriors (10/19/85): Not to be a bummer but, looking at these guys in 1985, it's a shock Dory Jr. is the only one still alive. Not the two muscle bound giants or the crazy bearded brawler but the guy who looks like an old Charlie Brown. I don't consider Road Warriors matches more than novelty outings at this point. ------ Ric Flair v. Jumbo Tsuruta (Non-Title, 10/19/85): These two always have a great encounter and this was no different. Technical and hard hitting so I can't complain. Seeing as this is a non title fight it added a bit of drama (that we don't get in hindsight with big title matches). ----- Shoehi Baba/Takashi Ishikawa/Mighty Inoue v. Ashura Hara/Rusher Kimura/Goro Tsurumi (10/21/85): A really fun match. Although Baba is regularly an excellent 6-manner, it was best when he was out. Ishikawa & Inoue had a really fast paced match going on with the heel team. Kabuki v. Killer Khan (10/21/85): Good brawl but over before it had a chance to be better. Ref saw Kabuki spit the mist in Khan's eyes. Dory and Terry Funk/Tiger Mask v. Billy Robinson/Terry Gordy/Chavo Guerrero (10/21/85): This is a fun match and something you'd dream up for a video game or fantasy booking. I've seen it a few times so I won't review it here. One of the more memorable times was watching this the night before my last day at work before getting laid off. I remember getting drunk that night and after I ran out of beer, I started drinking gin & Gatorade. Threw up. Big surprise! Was super hung over and late to work the next day... what were they going to do? Fire me? Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Road Warriors (10/21/85): Probably the best Warriors match thus far. Not a novelty as this was pretty damn good! They actually sold and wanted to do good wrestling with Tenryu and Jumbo. This was a heavyweight fireworks match for '85. If I'm going to recommend a RW in AJPW '85, it's this one. Holy Shit an actual wrestling hold from Animal! ----- Ric Flair v. Rick Martel (NWA Title v. AWA Title, 10/21/85): Fuck yes! This was awesome! This is the match that I was hoping it would be. The pacing and flow were perfect and I felt like I could have watched this go on all evening. Excellent teases, near falls (even though you probably know the outcome)/..but you really don't know how they are going to get there 38 years later. Classic match for me. Dory and Terry Funk v. Terry Gordy/Art Crews (10/22/85): Good little match here. Art Crews was a good hand it would seem. Everything he did looked crisp but without trying to upstage the stars. Don't think I'll see him again in '85 but this match is a good example of some of non-stars working AJPW at the time. Mil Mascaras v. Norio Honaga (10/22/85): Quick fun match. Cool to see Mascaras. This was a nice exhibition showing. He did a bunch of cool holds and although Honaga never had a chance, he got a 2 count Ric Flair/Rick Martel v. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru (10/22/85): Dream match? Yeah absolutely... no idea this happened but glad it did! And its a great one. It's a terrific match for a Sunday night. Four hall of fame wrestlers in AJPW 1985...it's hard to go wrong here. ----- This was an excellent week of wrestling. Lotsa Rick Martel and I even skipped one, Martel vs Riki Choshu from 10/19/85. It's out there on the Roy 1985 tapes, take a look. We're going onto November '85. Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the delay! I'll get to that in a minute. It's nothing dramatic. So here we are in August & September of 1985 All Japan Pro Wrestling! The Funker...the late great Terry Funk is here. Lots of Stan Hansen and yeah this one is pretty star studded. Let's begin! Riki Choshu/Killer Khan vs Genichiro Tenryu/Jumbo Tsuruta (08/02 aired 08/03): A great match without a doubt! Things started out with Jumbo and Riki having a technical fight. Once Khan started slapping people in the face, the tone changed. This is one of more stiff hitting matches I've seen from mid 80's Tenryu. I'm pretty sure he punched Khan in the face on a tag team double punch. They do something different every match and they don't need a ton of signature moves. Everything feels like a fight. This is probably the frontrunner for my feud of the year. Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen (08/23/85): Oh man, this was wild from the get-go! They were just beating each other up inside and out. Terry took some wild ass bumps. One would have been right at home in mid 2000's NOAH. Also to say this was stiff would be an understatement. We get an 80's finish but is probably my favorite type and Dory ends up coming out and hitting people with his cowboy boot (while wearing a shirt and tie). Great stuff! If you've never seen either guy, this is a excellent match as an introduction. If you're missing some Terry Funk, go watch this one. Dory and Terry Funk v. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (08/29/85): Really good match...I'm not sure if I'd call it great as it didn't seem to have much of a story or flow to it. My guess is that the encounter was meaningful enough. All 4 guys were really exciting and man Stan Hansen is so quick! But I'll level with you. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep for a couple days so this match may be better than I reckon. So if you're interested than you should check it out, don't just take my word for it with this review. ----- Stan Hansen/Ted DiBiase vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu (08/31 aired 09/07): Aw man! They cut the finish out! This was a classic match or damn near and they ended the program :-( Talk about an 80's finish... The real same is this match was the last one to watch for this post and is kinda the reason I am late posting it. Like I said what was shown (assuming 90%) was near classic but I probably would have skipped this knowing the end wasn't shown. All that said, DiBiase was fan-fucking-tastic with Jumbo & Tenryu. I'm pumped to see more of him with Hansen. Tiger Mask vs Marty Jannetty (09/05 aired 09/14): Joined in progress. This is a bit of fun. Low stakes but well executed... reminds me of a WCW TV match. Just wanted to watch it because it happened. I mean Marty Jannetty vs Mitsuharu Misawa right? Gotta check it out Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Killer Khan (09/14/85): Man, Yatsu is a really exciting wrestler. He's like that in the 01/28/86 match. I remember him being more of a tough guy when he & Jumbo team in the late 80's. He really brings some different stuff here doing both a double under hook suplex and belly to belly suplex. He's also off the top rope a couple times. I think I'm learning to appreciate him even more than I did before. So all that aside this is a very good to great tag match. It's everything I was hoping it would be - fiery, stiff, good pace, simple yet smart wrestling. ----- Jumbo Tsuruta v. Harley Race (Int'l Title, 09/19/85): Really good match. A bit more deliberate in pace than the Choshu/Jumbo stuff but still very hard hitting. Harley was letting Jumbo just blast him with chops (double handed chops later) as well as "no-sell" a couple beefy lariats. In my mind, Harley knew he wasn't as mobile as he used to be or quick like the younger guys but he was tougher. That's the story here. Both wrestlers bled and the last couple minutes are great. In the context of 1985, I'd say this was very good but if I was watching AJPW from a couple years earlier, I might call it great. Still very happy to watch Jumbo & Harley square off. Very entertaining stuff! For all of you folks that read my stuff on a regular basis - Thank you very much! I hope it gives you something fun to read. I hope it gets you excited or interested in wrestling that you may have missed, overlooked, or never thought of. I also hope it is a nice little pocket of the "old internet"

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A shorter post this week but still going strong with All Japan 1985. Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa & Haru Sonada vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (07/08 aired 07/13): Oh man excellent finish! Yeah this was a really good match. It's not top of the line effort since Jumbo isn't in there but that's an observation and not a criticism. Ishikawa really thrives in these matches since he's functioning as Tenryu's #2 rather than Jumbo's #3. Ashura Hara vs Masanobu Kurisu (07/12 aired 07/20): Oh man this is too quick but I am so thankful it took place. For a few minutes they just stiff the hell outta each other. 1985 AJPW is the nexus of the Indies of the 90's. Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Killer Khan/Animal Hamaguchi (07/12 aired 07/20): I'm going to sound like a broken record but this was great match! I'm glad that I was able to track these Choshu matches down... Pretty much all those with Jumbo, Tenryu and Riki Choshu. This was all action and I was frankly surprised it ended. In a way the classics of the 90's were these matches that were given the green light to go on 30+ minutes regularly. They don't empty their tanks here like you'd see 5 years later in the Jumbo vs Misawa program or Kawada vs Misawa. But the groundwork is here in these matches. And you truly appreciate those for the pacing, intensity, and smart simple work and not the crazy spots alone then I think you'll enjoy this feud. Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi (07/18 aired 07/27): Haven't seen Isamu Teranishi in awhile so I'm throwing this in mix. Roy has Ishikawa's partner as Norio Honaga but it is Akio Sato. Its joined in progress but no matter. This is great wrestling for the All Asia tag titles. The last couple minutes felt like top shelf action for '85. I just happened to want to watch this one and it makes me wonder how many other quality matches I overlooked. Can't think about though or I'll never get through these all! Stan Hansen v. Shoehi Baba (PWF Title, 07/30/85): Absolutely satisfies the "at least one Baba & Hansen match" per post rule This is a longer one I thought but is pretty good throughout and it ends strongly. Hansen is without much doubt Baba's best singles opponent of the 80's. Baba has still got it here in the mid 80's...he's doing moves, taking bumps, etc. ----- Stay safe folks!

Back with more 1985 AJPW goodness! Let's get going with April! Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase (04/21 - aired 04/27): This from the Roy tapes as well. I needed to get some Stan Hansen in my life. This is a fine way to introduce him and Ted DiBiase into 1985. They make an excellent team (not my first time seeing them together) that has a different dynamic than the Brody or Gordy teams. Ted is more technical and has a calmer more calculated approach that makes this team more well rounded. Baba and Jumbo still team so well together with Baba coming in and making saves & giving Tsuruta breaks. Baba's tag utility is not given enough love. A great well paced and hard fought match. The finishing section is so organic and flawlessly executed. This bout probably isn't on anyone's lists but this is an example of wrestling done right. Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa (04/21 - aired 04/27) Here's one where I wanted to include a Riki match without Jumbo as my sample from April would be slim otherwise. Anyway super happy I watched this. It is some excellent tag wrestling. One thing I haven't mentioned is how Choshu and co. have some Steiner Bros. type tag moves off the turnbuckles. More great action here...the feud is chugging along without losing steam. Tenryu watching for a Riki sneak attack ----- Ric Flair v. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title, 04/24/85): Long match like you'd expect but full of action. I am hesitant to watch Flair in Japan sometimes as there's a fear that there's going to be a lot of Figure Four work. This match we get just the right amount and have plenty of great action to fill up the majority of the title bout. I think if you were watching this live in '85, you'd rate it pretty well as it was pretty darn dramatic. Jumbo was really whooping on Flair. Of course we know Jumbo doesn't win the belt and that does hurt this a little as that glimmer of hope (what they are working to create live for fans) is lost when looking back at these big name title defenses. There's a little bit of "do I want to watch a long match that I essentially know the outcome for?" This one keeps the pace up and is intense and competitive so I was compelled to finish. This really was a great fight between two of the very best. Now for a bit of storyline : On 04/24 Ashura Hara sneak attacks Tenryu before their tag match. Riki & Animal Hamaguchi start by attacking Hara. It's confusing but I think they maybe consider him a turn coat but he shows them that he's his own man by attacking Tenryu AND walking out on them. The match continues with Motoshi Okuma as Tenryu's partner. It's more of an angle than a match. This is a really crazy booking angle for AJ! Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Animal Hamaguchi (05/17 aired 05/18): Very good match but lacking the nuclear intensity but it's an enjoyable bout with a good finish which adds a new little wrinkle to the feud. Shoehi Baba/Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenryu v. Tiger Jeet Singh/Terry Gordy/Mario Milano (05/31/85): Fun match, Tenryu makes a hot tag to Baba if you can believe it Gordy is most impressive. Road Warriors v. Takashi Ishikawa & Tarzan Goto (05/31/85): Don't blink or you'll miss it!But Tarzan Goto & Ishikawa so... yay! Road Warriors v. Killer Khan/Masanobu Kurisu (06/02/85): Quick as hell...at least Khan was in for a few moments...Was going to skip these but they were so short it wasn't worth the fast forward! Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon (06/02/85): Excellent Bulldogs match! No flubs, everything was in rhythm and the moves were exciting. Tiger Mask Misawa and Magic Dragon were really good opponents for them. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Animal Hamaguchi vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Motoshi Okuma (06/02 aired 06/22): Absolutely crazy match in K-hall. I wouldn't expect anything less. A battle with an unexpected finish plus brawling after the bell. Riki and Tenryu blasting each other in the head stuff. Great shit! Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith v. Kuniaki Kobayashi/Shinichi Nakano (06/04/85): Another really good Bulldogs match! Nakano wasn't dominated like you might expect. Kuniaki's standing really made this an even match. He and Dynamite got in a flow that made me really want to see a singles match. I checked and there was one in '85 via handheld out there. Jumbo Tsuruta v. Terry Gordy (Int'l Title, 06/04/85): Great match around 20 minutes. Lots of good action. Gordy is so underrated as a AJPW wrestler. He and Jumbo are just so evenly matched in size, athleticism and style. He might be my favorite mid 80's Jumbo opponent. Dynamite Kid/Davey Boy Smith vs Tiger Mask/Toshiaki Kawada (06/05 - aired 06/15): jip but we get some replays at the end of the match showing what we missed. I wanted to find an early Kawada match and this'll do! Very fun stuff and has some really crazy Bulldog moves. You wanna see this one ----- Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Magic Dragon (Mask vs Hair) (06/05 - aired 06/15): jip, good, good stuff. If shown in full I'd bump it up I bet. This was so smart and economical. They get so much out of a simple set of moves because they were so well timed. They did the right stuff (including the finish). Giant Baba v. Rusher Kimura (PWF Title, 06/05/85): Gotta watch one or two Baba matches per post and I'm not going to pass up Baba vs Rusher. This was good stuff too! Slower paced than much of what we've seen. Some of that is age but 1985 seems to be the year in AJPW where they are more about running the ropes and quick action than the slower more technical style of old. The very distinct ups and downs of a match aren't really there in most of the wrestling. The pace is much quicker so something like this stands out. And in fact they wrestle at a quick pace with more moves than I would have thought. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru v. Road Warriors (06/05/85): Tempted to call this a very good match. The Warriors had their selling boots on. We get a cheap finish (to protect everyone) but everything beforehand was surprisingly great. Ashura Hara v. Haru Sonada (06/21/85): Quick match but wanted to see more Hara & Magic Dragon/Sonada. If you stumble upon this, check it out Magic Dragon wrestled as Haru Sonoda afterwards until his untimely death in 1987. Kuniaki Kobayashi v. Tiger Mask (06/21/85): Oh yeah! A really awesome match..the match I knew they could have. A classic AJPW Junior match and if that's not enough Atsushi Onita comes out post match and gets into a tussle. I see this on Misawa compilations and it absolutely belongs there as an early (earliest?) classic for him. But this should also clue you into Kuniaki Kobayashi if you're not yet hip to his greatness. Jumbo Tsuruta/Takashi Ishikawa v. Yoshiaki Yatsu/Higo Hamaguchi (06/21/85): Excellent pacing, excellent action and a really smart finish. There's very little to find fault with here. Worth noting, this is perhaps the first match in the AJPW Classics tapes/TV episodes to sorta indicate there's a feud with Riki & co. They did a good job avoiding the Choshu matches... very glad that we've got the original TV episodes. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (06/21/85): This one I found online elsewhere pretty easily. And boy I'm glad I did! The fight was intense as could be and the older style that focuses on grinding holds and storytelling. Tenryu was aiming to injure Choshu's lariat arm whereas Riki was wearing his opponent to lock in the Sasorigatame (Scorpion Death lock). This match absolutely lays the groundwork for the classic singles matches of the 90's. We don't get a classic match because of an 80's ending but man alive this was absolutely going to be a classic and it had the vibe of an all time classic. Patient in its storytelling, physical and believable, it was a helluva match. Near classic on a technicality but this was classic puro if you dig what I'm sayin'. ----- Half way through and 1985 is awesome! And I know I'm missing really cool stuff in the interest of time & energy. As you can tell I watched quite a bit but it wasn't too far off the my plan. There were some really important inclusions like the Kawada match, getting some Stan Hansen in there and heck a Baba vs Rusher match for well roundedness etc.. I will have to stick to the plan a little better as I'm posting a bit later in the day (the next day technically) than I'd wanted. That should be a good indicator of how engrossing the year is so far. Variety of wrestlers, matches, match length and so on. Now that the weather is more comfortable it is much easier to watch chunks of wrestling. July and parts of August were just the pits. Anyhow, thanks for reading folks! Until next time, stay safe!

Sorry for anyone who checks in regularly for posts! Got a little overwhelmed with stuff and wrestling wasn't a priority. However I have begun my look into 1985 All Japan as a result. I needed some low stakes stuff to watch and I figured I could chip away at some stuff. That led me to the more substantial stuff and I'm on the project now. Everything Riki Choshu comes from Roy Lucier's '85 AJPW TV. For some reason all of his matches are omitted from the AJPW Samurai Classic tv episodes (although they did do a Choshu specific episode along with Jumbo, Hansen, Baba etc.). So just about everything without Riki comes from AJPW Samurai Classic tv episodes. There's tons of neat looking stuff from the '85 weekly TV and I do plan to include some in order to fills gaps (not enough matches per post or to include a key figure) but I have plenty to watch from the AJPW Classic DVDs and Riki feud matches. Oh and I'm mainly focusing on matches that feature Riki, Jumbo, and Tenryu all in the match. Again I just don't have the time to watch the Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki and partner stuff... as much as I wanted to originally. One thing I learned from the GAEA stuff is variety is what's going to keep me going. Where I was at in GAEA at the time was just like the same 4 people having great matches. After a couple weeks, it starts to run together. So I'm limiting myself and not over indulging in Riki vs AJPW. P.S. I promise I will get GAEA 1999 done this year if you're looking forward to that (sorry about that!). Anyhow, that's enough explanation! Let's look at some wrestling! Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu & Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (01/06 - 01/12 aired): All excitement 6 man match! Battle lines are drawn! Everyone is really good here...20+ minute match but never a dull moment. Teranishi was impressive and nice to see him again after wrapping my Tiger Mask project up a while back. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Isao Takagi (01/26 - 02/02 aired): Joined in progress. Whoa I wasn't expecting much but this was really on point junior action. One flub on a tilt-a-whirl back breaker but everything else was great shit. Choshu/Masa Saito/Killer Khan vs Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa (01/26 - 02/02 aired): Man Choshu's team is super badass looking. Perhaps one of the most big muscle bound & mean looking Japanese teams ever? Another 20+ of chaos... this one is even better. Violent, intense stuff - great match! Choshu's team is a force to be reckoned with. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/01, aired 02/09): Big matchup that totally delivers. Just 4 guys beating the shit out of each other. We get an 80's finish (that I sorta don't understand) but is an angle they are working (and leads to the next match). Great stuff Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu vs Riki Choshu/Masa Saito (02/05 - aired 02/16): 16 minutes of awesomeness. This may be one of the shorter ones so far so they made it red hot right from the get go. The Tokyo crowd was vocal as hell...a great example of the Japanese fans not always being "quiet and respectful." That atmosphere really elevated this to something special. Tenryu starts to become the Tenryu fans know and love during this time. No one can get so much out of the Scorpion Death Lock like Choshu. He milks every stage of the hold for all its worth. He makes the part before he turns them over its own move in a way... a leg lock and pinning combination. Then when finally flips you over he's got the full figure four Boston Crab going and just powers it. This is a great match with four legends. This feud is dynamite! Giant Baba vs Tiger Jeet Singh (02/05) - skipped. It seemed like a longer technical Baba vs Tiger match from my fast forward watching. British Bulldogs vs Animal Hamaguchi & Kuniaki Kobayashi (02/09) - Fun stuff, lots a cool moves but no rhyme or reason for anything. That's OK as it was neat. Excited to see more of the 'dogs. ----- Jumbo Tsuruta/Genichiro Tenryu/Takashi Ishikawa vs Riki Choshu/Masanobu Kurisu/Yoshiaki Yatsu (02/28 - aired 03/02): Very good stuff. The tag matches are red hot. This 6 mans are a bit more normal in pace and intensity. I mean it's still these 6 guys bashing each other so there's no complaints. Kurisu vs Tenryu was pretty great as the K man was hitting so hard you could hear the chops like Ric Flair. That fired up Tenryu. The whole thing was extremely enjoyable and another worthy match in this feud. Clean finish and a pretty awesome one (for '85). Harley Race & Klaus Wallas vs Killer Khan & Mananobu Kurisu (03/09) - Fun stuff. Harley vs Khan is the draw here. Klaus is not bad and would be interested in more of he & Harley. ----- Tiger Mask II vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (03/09) - I'm not sure they knew where they were going in the beginning but once they slowed down & found a rhythm this got really good. Like Misawa vs Kobayashi as I would play in Fire Pro good. It doesn't touch the awesome TM I vs Kobayashi stuff but super enjoyable. Hope they meet again! ----- Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs Road Warriors (03/09): Pretty competitive match with the match being thrown out as the Warriors are mad they lost the 2nd fall. Watched this on Roy's channel. Road Warriors vs. Riki Choshu & Killer Khan (03/14 aired 03/23): So there's a commercial for Japanese hair mousse called Xanax Or at least the commercial looked like it was for mousse... maybe the dude just felt like rubbing shit through his hair after popping a few bars? I love these old commercials! Anyways they Gorilla press slamming Riki and Khan. That doesn't seem good for business though. Hansen and Brody wouldn't just toss a top team around just because they could which is a little bummer because the Warriors are capable of excellent matches (I'm thinking Arn & Tully Starrcade '87). Maybe later this year? This was an amazing start to the project. All Japan feels like a fresh and exciting promotion with Riki & co. and the Bulldogs and yes even the Road Warriors. Hansen and Brody are around but not in big time matches. Brody does eventually end up in NJPW this year. But we get the Hansen & DiBiase team so again we're blessed with a little bit more positive change. It should be fun Thanks for reading!

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1980-12-09 AJPW Abdullah The Butcher & Tor Kamata vs Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta Real World Tag League 1980 Match Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan ★★ Card Who would have thought that a match that was 90% standard wrestling fare would still finish with 3 of the 4 competitors bloodied? Well when Abdullah the Butcher is involved you can expect nothing less. The Abby face turn is fully sealed. I can’t pinpoint when it happened, but there have been signs in his most recent matches, but here it was irrefutable. When he and Baba eventually faced off we had a massive Butcher chant from the crowd, and once the mayhem had died down post match, it was Abby, not Baba or Jumbo, who was standing tall in the ring being cheered on by his adoring fans. Really a surreal sight to see. As for the match, Jumbo held his own, but once Baba was in Abby and Kamata really swarmed him and he hardly had a chance, save a humongous dropkick that nearly killed Kamata. But generally they had their way with him and it was Baba who was the first to bleed after a brief foray to the outside with Abby. But to his credit, Abby was probably the most successful in the ring as well, using his sharp jabs and elbow drops to great effect and really felt like the standout performer. As to be expected, this did break down by the end though, but this time it was the hometown team who went over the edge, battering Abby in the corner with a chair, and with Joe trying to break things up he was sent flying by Baba to the floor outside and ultimately got the the DQ. I think to set up the final match against the Funks, Jumbo & Baba needed to lose here so the result isn’t that surprising, and to a degree they leaned into the strong reaction Abby was receiving from the Osaka crowd and delivered a reasonable climax here.

Talk about it here.

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Just a great match with a student vs master kind of vibe. Old school NWA style is probably my least favorite style ever but these two and Terry Funk are the three guys who can make it really compelling.

I'm just going to jump on in! Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (12/08): An absolute all time classic match in my book. The sense of chaos and animosity is as high as its been in all of 1984 All Japan. Terry and Dory Jr. against Brody and Hansen finally is the culmination of one of the main themes of the year. Dory and Baba have faced the absolutely dominant monsters on a few occasions. They have hung in there but never truly were able to match the intensity and ferocity of Brody & Hansen. Terry has been ringside (or guest ref'd in Jumbo vs Bock) so he's been witness or assisted but not been a direct participant. He's not retired anymore (which would have been booked as a "long-term injury" nowadays) so he is able to go to toe with his foes. And Terry is the one guy crazy and ferocious enough to knock the giants on their asses. Watch Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (08/26) as well. ----- The Funks vs Nick Bockwinkel & Harley Race (12/12, aired 12/22): This is a dream matchup. Unfortunately it is joined in progress about half way in but the second half is pretty great. Somewhere along the line Harley and Terry juice, Nick is selling his knee, Dory comes into the match with taped ribs or lower back...it just would have been nice to see the whole thing. Maybe it's out there now somewhere... but anyways this is just a joy to watch. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (12/12 RWTL final match, aired 12/22): This is not on my AJ Classics set but I have a compilation of the RWTL finals of the 80's but its also on Lucier's '84 TV tapes. So the thing to get is how OVER Brody and Hansen are with the fans. People are psyched to see Jumbo and Tenryu but when the music plays for the monsters, it's evident how much they love them...even as they get shoved and whipped So this is kinda THE moment for AJPW in 1984. The two biggest forces coming head to head. This is just as an fast paced intense fight as you'd hope for. 2 of the 4 guys are bleeding, you can hear the blows falls even over the roaring crowd, great moves & moments - it is without a doubt classic match. Its the convergence of all of the big stories of 1984 All Japan and brilliantly executed. You know... from entrances to the exits I would call it an all time classic. I don't think it edges out Funks vs Brody & Hansen in terms of intensity and an overall emotional connection from me. So that's where I'm ending the year for 1984 All Japan. But I'm going to go back a couple matches I skipped over: Ric Flair vs Harley Race (05/22): I skipped this as I wanted to focus on matches that featured home AJPW wrestlers as one of the two opponents. Although Race was featured more prominently I still consider this more of an exhibition match than anything. Still, I wasn't going to skip it entirely. This is one that I don't remember a lot of talk about. It looks like it was the top Harley Race match according to the DVDVR Best of AJ of the 1980's. But it barely is in the top 50...Overshadowed by the Kerry vs Jumbo match on the same night? Regardless, this is a great match! It has a nice steady pace and plenty of surprises (I'm sure folks more familiar with their work at this time might disagree). This was a very good match that I thought was going to end one way but they kept going on. That was really more than I expected and made this something great and worth your time. Very happy to see this! These appearances by Harley have been a treat! ----- Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (05/22): 2/3 falls match for the World Championship. The DVDVR best of the AJPW 80's list has it as the #6 match of the decade.And that's why I put if off to the end. It's reputation proceeds itself. However it's not the best match of '84 for me after watching everything. That said, it IS probably the best singles match of the year. Each fall feels unique and escalates beautifully. It is superior to the Jumbo vs Bockwinkel matches, as well as vs Brunzell & Gagne in Japan. It's a classic match. I think its closest match in singles is Dory Jr. vs Hansen on 04/26 and Baba vs Hansen. You know I think I'll rank them below. Anyway, this is something you'd want to see if you just want to see if any of this 39 year old wrestling is for you ----- I was going to try for Flair vs Kerry which is considered a great match from 05/24/84 but I ran out of time. I'll come back to it and my review as a comment and add it to the ranking if applicable. Best Singles Matches Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (05/22) Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (04/26) Stan Hansen vs Giant Baba (03/24) - Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen (07/31) Ric Flair vs Harley Race (05/22) Nick Bockwinkel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (02/23) -Nick Bockwinkel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (02/26) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Greg Gagne (04/19) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jim Brunzell (04/26) Honorable Mention: Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (12/08) (I'm clumping the Baba vs Hansen and Jumbo vs Bockwinkel's matches as I can't really pick one over another.) Best Tag Matches Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (12/08) Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (12/12) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (08/26) Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne vs Dory Funk Jr. & Kerry Von Erich (04/24) Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (04/24) Atsushi Onita & Masa Fuchi vs Hector & Chavo Guerrero (09/03) Jumbo & Tenryu vs Brody & Jerry Blackwell (09/03) Honorable Mention: The Funks vs Nick Bockwinkel & Harley Race (12/12) Top 5 Matches Brody & Hansen vs Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (12/08) Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (12/12) Brody & Hansen vs Baba & Dory Jr. (08/26) Jumbo Tsuruta vs Kerry Von Erich (05/22) Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (04/26) 1984 has been a fantastic year for wrestling in All Japan. The beginning of the project featured American talent from the AWA and other promotions as Jumbo was AWA champion. There's some great Junior action with Guerreros taking on the best AJPW had to offer. Misawa takes on the Tiger Mask role and adds another dimension to junior action...something that does get overlooked. Brody and Hansen are causing chaos everywhere they go. Tenryu is coming into his own. Mid year and on we get more excitement as Harley Race, Ric Flair and Kerry Von Erich put on some real high quality stuff. The Tag League was an awesome way to end the year and project for me. This has been the longest stretch of 80's AJPW that I've watched. I've been more familiar with New Japan in the 80's so this was fun to really go from January to December. The variety that is present due to the Americans cannot be understated. It is one thing I wish had stayed around during the 90's. It was something Misawa was smart to reintroduce with NOAH. I'm planning on watching 1985 All Japan which I'd like to try later this year (with some assistance from Roy's 1985 AJ TV regarding Riki Choshu matches). It's been a good thing for me to actually go through a good chunk of my DVD backlog and I'm want to keep it up. I've got 1 or 2 projects that are more dependent upon online videos coming soon. After that I'm going to try and get through another block of DVD's. Thanks for reading folks!

Sorry for the delay! Busy week last week so I missed my self imposed Sunday deadline. But made my Wednesday deadline We're getting to the end of '84 and you know that means Real World Tag League stuff. Excited for that! Let's begin! Rick Martel vs Jumbo Tsuruta (10/11, aired 10/13): Joined in progress but we get the majority of the match (it seems). Very technically orientated match that stresses their equality. Eventually things get cooking and we get more high stakes action. We get a pretty great finish too! Another very good title match between these too. If they meet again I know that they have a genuinely great match in them. Jumbo & Tenryu vs Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes (10/16, aired 10/20): Good match with some fun moments. I would have loved to see more Tenryu vs Gordy. It did feel a bit small show tag main event (it was in Toyama, Japan). Hey I'm looking at it as a lead-in to the next match. And I think it accomplished what it set out to do. Jumbo Tsuruta vs Terry Gordy (10/29): Slow start to a longer match. This picks up when Jumbo starts bleeding and from there on out its a very good match. It's a smaller venue so I'm sure it wasn't their best work but we end up getting a double juice and a bunch of great moves. It's an 80's finish which is disappointing considering the length of the fight. If you do your own Joined In Progress skip ahead to Jumbo bleeding then I think that's the absolute best way to enjoy this. If you want to watch this in full then, there's no harm in that though ----- Kabuki & Tiger Mask II vs Buzz Sawyer & La Fiera (aired 11/03): I'm not sure on the actual date on this so I'm going to use the TV broadcast date. The Gordy vs Jumbo match is on the same episode so let's tentatively say this is also from 10/29...Joined in progress but this is a bunch of fun! Great moves, Sawyer and Kabuki were excellent additions to the Tiger vs La Fiera program. Jumbo & Tenryu vs The Funks (11/28, aired 12/01): Joined in Progress about 10 minutes, this is as great as you'd hope for. Early RWTL match with your two baby face teams going toe-to-toe and setting the tone. Glad to see Terry back actually wrestling. That 1983 retirement WAS pretty short... much shorter than I thought! Anyhow, if you're a fan of these guys then you should know this doesn't disappoint- hard hits, a bit of blood, well paced. Harley Race & Nick Bockwinkel vs Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue (12/08): Exciting all action match! I can't say the outcome was in doubt but this was a blast. Relatively short so there's no reason to skip this. If you wanted to see Race & Bock do a junior tag match, this may be as close as you can get! ----- Tiger Mask II vs Pirata Morgan (12/08): Great junior match that still holds up all of these years later. Dazzling moves and for that you could call it a classic. I think I prefer it to the 08/26 La Fiera match. I didn't rate that match but these early Misawa-as-Tiger Mask matches are really different than most other stuff going on in AJPW. These tend to be more like Sayama's exhibition style matches he would do with luchadores and closer in style to the Dynamite Kid bouts than his more technical bouts with the other Japanese wrestlers or the British World of Sport style guys. That said I think this is fantastic! ----- Next time, we pick back up with RWTL stuff along with one or two big-time matches I skipped over. Thanks for reading!

Let's take a look at more of 1984 AJPW. We've got a really good batch! Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne vs Dory Funk Jr. & Kerry von Erich (04/24, aired 04/28): These next two are Roy Lucier's 1984 AJPW TV episodes and not the Retro Classics that were broadcast in the late 90's. These technically should be with Part #2 but I'm putting these here. I'll try to work new ones in chronologically as I go on. A big reason for expanding beyond just my DVD set was I noticed that there were a couple omissions that I was missing out on. A big omission was Tenryu footage. But there's a bunch of neat tags like this one as well. Cool fact, 3 second generation wrestlers all sons of promoters. All that said, this was a great tag match! Excellent control wrestling from the Highflyers on Dory. Kerry was a great bit of energy for his team (wish we got more of Kerry and Dory Jr.). There's some exciting spots here and excellent wrestling as well. Probably the best tag match that I've seen so far in '84. Not sure why this didn't make the Classics. Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu (04/24, aired 04/28): Another where this should have made the late 90's Classics TV (and on my DVD set). Glad we got the original TV broadcast though. This is a great match! Two teams of titans tussling. It is as big and exciting as it gets so far in 1984. 80's finish? Sorta...but it's a excellent one and am excited to see them match up again...which is the point of these type of endings, I suppose. Jumbo Tsuruta vs Jim Brunzell (04/26): Another really good match! This one was just about a great one to be honest. I really enjoyed the pacing, the use of holds to structure the match as well as the simple but effective spots used. Probably better than their AWA match just because its wrestled at a puroresu pace. Definitely hope more Jim Brunzell shows up. ----- Dory Funk Jr. vs Stan Hansen (04/26): A great match that felt authentic. It was a match where the little things were done right - stiffness, going for pins, wrenching holds, taking openings when they present themselves. 80's finish keeps this from being a near classic but that finish seems to press one of the big storylines of 1984 (or that's how it seems). ----- Jumbo Tsuruta vs Rick Martel (05/13): Back in the U.S. AWA. Very good to great match with Martel escaping many of Jumbo's early holds. Not something we see. Here we get a good sense that Rick Martel has the technical edge on Tsuruta while the champ has a size & strength advantage. Martel locks Jumbo in a fierce headlock. I get the impression that he needed to keep the bigger man under control. Eventually the champ gives Rick a knee breaker but the challenger holds on. We get a clean finish with a little bit of an asterisk to keep everyone looking strong. By the way Jumbo hits an awesome jumping knee where it looks like he really blasted Martel (think he actually got high enough and hit Rick in the face with his hip). No pictures on this one as the ring wasn't too well lit but I totally recommend this! Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen (07/31): I thought about skipping this but so glad that I didn't. This was a great match and excellent follow up to their 03/24 battle. Some real nice allusions to that one. This was fast paced and intense. They understand Baba basically shouldn't run the ropes so they stick to trading blows and attacking while the opponent is on the mat. As a result, like the 04/26 Dory match, it feels authentic. Hansen is just hammering away on Baba. Baba may not be much to look at but he's one tough S.O.B. Great match, awesome post match as well. ----- Tiger Mask II vs La Fiera (08/26): Well that was every bit as exciting as I remembered. This is actually pretty similar to modern wrestling and I think anyone who is curious should check it out! I'm not going to give it a score because the historical value overshadows anything I could say. If you're reading my reviews for recommendations, then yes! go see this. If you're interested in my take for entertainment then, I thought this was a lot of fun. It certainly blows everything else out of the water in terms of spots, sequences, dare-devilry etc. An excellent introduction to the new Tiger Mask. More La Fiera please! This was a great bit of wrestling as they have all been. This was the best though. You may have noticed I skipped Jumbo vs Kerry from 05/22. I'm going to cover that as well as a couple Ric Flair matches (Kerry vs Ric for instance) in the final installment. Those are well known matches and I don't want those to steal the thunder from the unsung great matches. Stay safe! Thanks for reading!