AJPW Super Power Series 1990

AJPW Super Power Series 1990

Tiger Mask & Toshiaki Kawada vs. Samson Fuyuki & Yoshiaki Yatsu - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 1 - 14/05/1990

I like to put myself in the shoes of the average All Japan smark of the time. “Why are Kawada and Fuyuki opposing each other?” “Why is this happening?” “OMG, Tiger Mask II unmasked. It’s Misawa!!!”. It’s an interesting time although not an interesting match. Misawa does, indeed, unmask. That doesn’t need to be said. This is a historical moment which enhanced a sloppy, mediocre match. **1/2

Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Miracle Violence Connection (Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 1 - 14/05/1990

One of the most underrated Baba booking wins was the MVC. 5 months and they are bonafide stars that beat everyone and were pushed to the moon. The match is a little long and boring but it does a great job at getting the best out of Baba, with his incredible facial expressions, it does a good job of establishing Gordy as a threat to the title and making MVC look strong as a team. I didn’t care much for it, though. **3/4

Samson Fuyuki & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Shinichi Nakano & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 10 - 26/05/1990

I thought this was a pretty exciting, fast paced Junior Heavyweight style match. Nakano surprisingly stood out to me as the best worker of the match. And that’s outside of getting the pinfall over Kikuchi. The match ups still make no sense to me; Fuyuki and Kawada should not be split up post Revolution for me. Although I’m not sure who is known to be going at this point so I imagine this makes sense to Baba himself. Fun little match. ***1/4

Jumbo Tsuruta, Masanobu Fuchi & The Great Kabuki vs. Akira Taue, Kenta Kobashi & Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 10 - 26/05/1990

Misawa fires off the first big elbow of many, rocking Jumbo Tsuruta while he’s on the apron, leaving him on the floor for a lengthy time period. Jumbo and Misawa square off multiple times in this match, always having these fire exchanges that always have to be broken up and brought under control but this has a ton more than setting the ground for those two. As this match is around 20+ everyone is given enough time to shine and show what they can do. Kobashi and Taue step up as the young juniors (not in the weight sense) in the match and Fuchi and Kabuki stiffly and snugly attack everyone who opposes them. I adored Taue in this. This was pre joining hands with Tsuruta so he was the true underdog against the veterans, gaining big success with his oshidashi slaps and running tackles before being cut off. Kabuki had a shockingly great performance as well. I loved the technical work he brought to this match. It matched the tone the rest of the match had. ****

Stan Hansen vs. Steve Williams - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 17 - 05/06/1990

This was pretty bitching, if you ask me. This was Williams pounding on Hansen, beating him at his own game (brawling) for the most part as well as using his wrestling skills to ground Hansen. Hansen was very unselfish in his performance. He bled a bit and he sold a lot. Hansen on the backfoot is probably the best version of him. Hansen hit a wicked Western Lariat to close the match. Wonderful match. ***3/4

Triple Crown Title Match: Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Terry Gordy - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 17 - 05/06/1990

This had all the trimmings of a great match - two wrestlers who are both hot at the moment, a revitlised Jumbo Tsuruta and a kick ass bomb exchange - but there is something lacking. I can’t quite figure it out. The edit for TV wasn’t noticeable so I have to think it was the work itself. It did feel like the greatest hits despite the occasion. An off night? **1/2 

Triple Crown Title Match: Terry Gordy (c) vs. Stan Hansen - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 19 - 08/06/1990  

This cut from the ring intros to I assume mid-point of the match. Well Hansen bombing Gordy with a lariat was a great JIP starting off point lol. Hansen’s sell for the DDT by Gordy was fantastic. He just crumbles to the side, holding his neck which set off the mauling Gordy put him through and the great desperate performance Hansen gave, even if it was just 5 minutes. The finish was simple yet brutal. Fun 6 minute clip at least. ***

Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa - AJPW Super Power Series 1990 - Day 19 - 08/06/1990

Hot crowd from the start. As the legend goes, Baba changed the result once he heard the crowd’s chants of Misawa and his pre show merch sales, so this crowd was full pro-Misawa. Jumbo was popular, amazingly. The match started off pretty heavy with Jumbo clubbing Misawa with some brutal offence but Misawa outsmarts him and gets the better of him, before catching him with his elbow, followed up by a pescado. Misawa slapping Jumbo after the stalemate spots was pretty cool, Jumbo seems rather stunted but he kept his composure which is classic Jumbo. The best part of the match was Jumbo beating down and working over Misawa for me. The spot where Misawa went for a cross body only for Jumbo to catch him and drop him on the rope was both visually nasty and amazing, as was the rest of the work on the neck of Misawa. Misawa fighting from beneath was good, he sold well and made great use of his offence whenever he could. The crowd was totally on Misawa’s side, being so loud so it was easy to rally behind him. Everytime Misawa would kick out of Jumbo’s moves, the crowd would stamp their feet on the floor, making rumbling noises, adding to the atmosphere. Misawa blocking the backhold driver by pushing off the ropes and stunning Jumbo’s momentum of the hold was great and an awesome transition to the closing third. The finish wasn’t particularly great but it did its job, it built suspense and that’s all you can ask for. Great match - history making. ****1/4