[1977-12-02-AJPW] Terry & Dory Funk Jr vs Genichiro Tenryu & Rocky Hata

[KB8]

Pretty sure this is the earliest Tenryu match I've seen (might've seen some clips from Texas, but that seems unlikely and even then I doubt it would've been a full match). He's younger in this match than I am currently, which is just mind boggling because it's Tenryu and hasn't he always been forty six years old? I don't know how long he's been back in Japan at this point, but he's been wrestling for about a year and I guess if you're gonna give him a showcase then it might as well be against his trainers (there's something just RIGHT about Tenryu being a Terry Funk trainee). Tenryu and Hata, kitted out in their rookie garb, got to do more in this than I'd have expected. There's a semi-lengthy spell in the first half where they work the headlock on Terry, and Terry is a master of keeping a headlock interesting so it was a pretty nice stretch. There was one bit where Terry, still in the headlock, hit a shinbreaker on Hata, who sold it by keeping hold of the headlock on the mat while making sure he was stretching his leg out and grimacing at the same time. When Terry wasn't trying to free himself from the headlock he was rolling out some nice offence, especially his gut wrench and vertical suplexes, and at one point he hit a nasty dropkick right to Hata's face. Tenryu never punched anyone in the jaw or booted them in the eye, but he threw a couple meaty chops and got to bulldoze his way out the corner to a big pop. It was pretty surreal seeing him come in at the end to save his partner and take a back step when Dory went to cut him off. If this was WAR he'd have punted Terry in the liver and sent Dory back to the ranch for his horse shit.

[JerryvonKramer]

Cool to see someone else watching this stuff. Here's my review of that one:

 

 

Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Rocky Hata (2/12/77)

 

So often, we Get the RWTL final and don't get to see the early rounds. I believe this is the full match. It looks like this was shown on G+ at some point but I couldn't find it before now. I love the way the commentator just says "Da Funks!" every once in a while. They are over here in 1977. I'm interested to see them against midcarders. I love the purity of 70s AJPW. Pure!

 

Tenryu has his usual unimpressed expression, even as young as he is here. Starts out with Dory. A lot of amateur style stuff early. Natives work over Terry with a headlock, Terry struggles a lot, punching to the side and things like that. Hata keeps it applied despite various escape attempts. Too much headlock for my tastes. Eventually Terry hits a huge back suplex on Tenryu and tags out. Dory dominant with slams. Works the arm. Armdrag take over. Terry back in. Stays on arm. Tags in and out now. Neat side Russian leg sweep by Dory after a full arm drag and twist and a reverse knife edge. Hata vs Terry now and it's a slug fest, and an awkward struggly suplex. Dory in and another suplex and an elbow drop. Action is ramping up now. Forearm smash. Indian deathlock. Double Indian deathlock! Funks are cool as fuck.

 

Terry stays in it now, drops back. Almost a Texas Cloverleaf. You know suicidal dragon guy on YouTube? He reckons he couldn't find Dory doing that move, I've seen him do it. He didn't look hard enough. Dory in now, piledriver. Abdominal stretch. Terry in. Huge atomic drop on Hata. Airplane spin by Dory! I'm not sure I've seen him do the airplane spin that often. Drop kick by Hata buys him enough time to tag out. Side salto by Tenryu. Terry in with a gut wrench suplex. Great elbow smash. Terry in, swinging neck breaker. Dory in, butterfly suplex. Terry in, spinning toehold! That's all she wrote.

 

Loving it, loving it, loving it. This was a great competitive match that built perfectly from early technical work through strikes and a progressive escalation of violence to a cascade of bombs at the end. Great exhibit for why Funks were such a brilliant team.

 

****