[1990-10-11-SWS] Genichiro Tenryu vs George Takano

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Takano, but this kept building heat and excitement and I eventually was really into it. It definitely felt like an important main event, and I thought Tenryu did a good job playing base for Takano's kicks and highspots. Tenryu's tope was one of the highlights for me, but Takano gave an excellent performance too. All the struggle to execute the powerbomb was terrific. This was a great match, which was a surprise, as I just expected it to be novel more than anything.

[Ditch]

I only pimp GOOD matches... like this!

[PeteF3]

Takano works some quasi-shootstyle stuff to smother Tenryu at the start, but makes the mistake of going highspot happy and whiffs on a pescado to give Tenryu a run. Takano still gets a lot of the match and looks good. He's bulked up from his Cobra days so his dives are all high-impact and crunchy-looking. There are some power bomb teases at the finish, including Tenryu buggering his ankle to give Takano some hope, but eventually he gets put away. I liked this the best of the SWS matches so far and by a comfortable margin. I suspect, without seeing much of anything from the promotion until now, that SWS will never develop a legitimate native rival to Tenryu, and that's not a company with a strong long-term future. But it's clearly not a promotion without talent.

[Childs]

This was your classic stick-and-move guy vs. biggest puncher in the division. Takano, who appeared to have borrowed his shorts from Kensuke Sasaki, looked really good in the opening minutes, when he was nailing all of his big moves. I liked the fact that Tenryu's first burst of offense did not signal the end of the match. Takano was too game for that. But Tenryu was going to catch him eventually. The Tenryu tope was awesome and for once, his powerbomb looked like a real killer. Great crowd too. They helped make it feel like a big-time main event. This wasn't a MOTYC, but it was right in the next tier.

[soup23]

Great match and atmosphere. Never overstayed its welcome and both guys played their roles well. Tenryus ending powerbomb was vicious

[Kevin Ridge]

Thought this would be one sided but Takano looks pretty decent by end. Each guy with the big dives including Takano coming off the top to the outside. Tenryu with the reversal of a bridge into the powerbomb was nice. He needs another one to finally put away Takano. Nice match.

[garretta]

This one felt a bit clunky in spots, but it still delivered. I think Takano's being positioned to be Tenryu's main rival, as he doesn't back down from the veteran and spends the first half of the match taking the fight to him, for better or worse. But he's eventually worn down, and Tenryu prevails, though not as easily as you might think. Takano busts out both some shoot-style stuff and a bit of his old junior heavyweight Cobra offense, all of which looks good (except for his missed dive over the top to the outside, of course).

 

The ankle injury thing seemed a bit strange. If they wanted to do an injury spot, why not do it earlier in the match so Takano could work it a little? Could Tenryu have possibly legitimately turned his ankle outside? Considering some of the dives he was doing, it's not impossible.

 

I noticed that there was barely any English commentary, which makes sense with two native Japanese in the ring. The English speaker managed to get in what's becoming a standard line about the temperature, which was once again over forty degrees Celsius, in case anyone was curious.

 

Who was the girl the broadcast kept showing? Was it a wrestler, a beauty queen, or some other type of national celebrity?

[El-P]

Good match, bordering on very good thanks to Tenryu's performance. I fail to see how this can be called great, or even top tier in a year like 1990 (if only in Japan). Gotta love George Takano's tights with his initials on : JT. Those wacky Japanese… Takano really isn't very good, he's a buffed up junior at this point, with a bunch of semi-spectacular highspots, but really isn't much of a solid worker. Does a bunch of kicks and dive, looks strong, some goofy palm strikes. He actually was outworked by his usually shitty and fat brother the night before during the tag tournament final, which was a better match too.

 

The ankle injury thing seemed a bit strange. If they wanted to do an injury spot, why not do it earlier in the match so Takano could work it a little? Could Tenryu have possibly legitimately turned his ankle outside? Considering some of the dives he was doing, it's not impossible.

 

Tenryu sold his ankle after he used it to prevent Takano from using the german suplex. Takano beat Tenryu with that hold during the tag tournament final, so that was a good element of psychology of having Tenryu volontarily "sacrifying" his ankle by having Takano crumble onto it instead of allowing the german suplex that already defeated him the night before. So yeah, Tenryu was ace during that match and carried that goofball Takano to probably his best single match as a heavyweight (haven't watched the Cobra stuff in years, but I'm not sure Takano was ever that good of a worker).

 

Welcome to "Money Puroresu", presented to you by Megane Super, a freaking glass company. It would be like Afflelou promoting catch in France. Odd. That fed was goofy as hell and not as supremely random as WAR would be, but it had its cool moments.

[ohtani's jacket]

George Takano the shoot stylist? When did that happen? He actually made a pretty decent first of it during his opening gambit. Just as I was beginning to contemplate "what if" scenarios about Takano working shoot style it turned into a regular pro-wrestling match, but even that portion was pretty damn good. They packed an amazing amount of action into 13 minutes and the crowd was super hot. I'm not sure whether Tenryu had a dedicated fan base or if these guys were just hardcores looking to get in on the ground floor of a new promotion, but they made a lot of noise and the shot of that one guy losing his shit ought to be some sort of internet pro-wrestling meme. With so much action it could have easily been a spotfest, but it was fairly seamless thanks to some killer cut-off spots and Tenryu doing a marvelous job of working his ankle injury into the mix. I'm normally frustrated by the repetitious powerbomb spots in Tenryu matchs, but here I thought all three powerbomb spots were outstanding. I don't know how much credit Takano deserves in taking the move, but it's the best it's looked in any match so far. Really good match. Excellent even by 13 minute match standards.

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm fairly certain the female commentator was Cuty Suzuki. The reason Takano uses the initials JT is because his real name is Joji Takano.

[El-P]

I'm fairly certain the female commentator was Cuty Suzuki. The reason Takano uses the initials JT is because his real name is Joji Takano.

 

Color me disapointed. I thought it was a wonderful spelling mistake (still, it's goofy).

 

Cuty did commentary ? Damn.

[GOTNW]

It's not a mistake as much as it's a translation issue. Takano's parents (I presume) wanted to name him George, which is spelled asジョージ in katakana and is pronounced as "Jooji" so when you convert it back from katakana to the roman alphabet you have "Jooji".

[ohtani's jacket]

That may be the case, but his kanji is 高野 讓治 and initials usually come from either hiragana or kanji. Perhaps his father wanted to call him George but his mother wanted to use kanji. In any event, I think JT comes from his kanji and not the katakana.

[GOTNW]

I didn't catch that his real name and ring name were different. Who knows then...

[Superstar Sleeze]

Genichiro Tenryu vs George Takano - SWS 10/11/90

 

I don't blame them for showing the female announcer she was a cutie!

 

Did a little research and according to Wiki SWS was split into three stables, two of which were Tenryu's crew of ex-AJPW and Takano's ex-NJPW. So this is a leader vs leader match, a pretty big deal for the promotion and as others have mentioned a very hot crowd is the result. Never seen a Takano match either as Takano or as Cobra in NJPW as a junior. Tenryu was his usual awesome nonchalant dickish self. After Takano was keeping him at bay, almost taunting him with sumo slaps (Tenryu a former sumo wrestler) Tenryu unleashes a pair of wicked chops to the throat. One ornery hombre. The first major turning point is Tenryu side-stepping Takano on a massive plancha and Takano going splat! It takes big balls to do that spot. Tenryu works the mid-section. I think there was a lot more they could have done with that before the they switched gears to a more bomb-heavy style. Takano's selling and Tenryu's sadism would have been compelling. Takano had pinned Tenryu the night before in a tag tournament with a German suplex and this move turns the match around for Takano but no pin. Tenryu hits a MASSIVE Powerbomb and then an insane suicide dive to bring the match back in his favor. Takano responds with a massive dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor. You don't really associate Tenryu with spotfests but hey this is a very damn good one. Takano goes for a German suplex to win, but Tenryu basically trips Takano by grapevining his toe around Takano's ankle causing him to take a spill and Tenryu to avoid the brunt of impact. Really, really nice spot that made me pop. Then it is just barrage of enziguirs and actually really, really good powerbombs (some ankle selling to boot!) to win the match. Nothing super awesome, they cut a brisk pace and it was action-packed 13 minute match. Lots of dives which surprised me, good playoff of Takano's upset win with the Germans and some really great powerbombs. A great Tenryu spotfest showing his versatility here. ****

[dawho5]

Tenryu in a spotfest?? Odd for sure, but definitely very good. Tenryu brings enough gravity that it makes this match into something more than what it would have been.

[Jetlag]

This is just a gem of a little high end heavyweight clash. SWS has ridiculous high end production values too, overhead camera and all. Takano makes short work of Tenryu early on with fast submissions and cool palm strike rushes, but torches himself on a dive leading to Tenryu working over his ribs with nasty stomps and knees. Takano evades Tenryu soon enough though and shortly they start firing all their bombs. Awesome chunky guy dives and spin kicks ensue, and the last couple minutes had great drama thanks to Tenryu countering a german suplex and selling his twisted ankle in the process. Just a breeze to watch, it's a bit of a bummer Takano pretty much retired after SWS. But then, his brother moved on to fighting aliens too.

[Edwin]

Holy cow, this was awesome. Crazy hot rabid crowd. Big match feel. Takano crash and burns and Tenryu double stomps him! Tenryu tope! Big Takano top rope dive! Massive powerbomb finish. Great match.

[superkix]

Takano is 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.

[Chess Knight]

Awesome as hell 13 minutes. Takano surprisingly takes the first five, catching Tenryu off guard mostly with palm strikes until Tenryu dodges a plancha (which came after a terrific surprise drop kick on a teased test of strength). Tenryu gets most of the match from there until Takano evens the match out a bit again when actually hitting a plancha, this time from standing atop the turnbuckle inside of diving over the rope. The end stretch is really hot and Tenryu sells his leg in the last few minutes because of how he'd been kicking Takano, really adding to the escalation of drama. It especially made for a fantastic closing moment where Tenryu wasn't able to try for a cover on a powerbomb.