NWA Super Bouts - 17/01/1988
NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) (c) (w/JJ Dillon) vs Barry Windham & Sting
This was a different match from the other match but good in many ways. Tully was the star of this match for me with his bumps, character work and begging off. The spot where he accidentally goes to the wrong corner is always great, and gets the faces great heat for giving his comeuppance. There was a great cheating spot with JJ Dillion keping Tully out from the apron too. The finish wasn't nearly as extensive but it concluded the match well. ***1/2
NJPW New Year Golden Series 1988 - Day 11 - 18/01/1988
Big Van Vader & Masa Saito vs. Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada
Again, Vader improves. And like the other Inoki/Takada match, this is a bit more lively and Inoki taking a stronger hand in the match. Takada getting a more compelling ass kicking. And of course, the strong angle after the match with Vader destroying the ring side area. ***
Super Strong Machine vs. Steve Williams
This is a nothing match, really. It is technically fine but never seems to grow into itself, and nor is it even allowed to at a 5 minute time cap. The finish comes out of nowhere as well with Williams getting a quick win of a german suplex. It seemed so sudden that Williams himself was shocked. **
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara (c) vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
This was pretty awesome. It was brimmed to the full with action, at a very quick pace. Full of good technical wrestling that all these men are known for. Yamazaki is young and unpolished but his kicks are still wild. Kimura and Fujinami learn to neutralise them but not before Yamazaki gets a lot of success against them. Not to mention, Fujiwara was the obvious threat of the team. He and Kimura have some great mini fights in the corner where they are throwing stiff shots at each other. This match is full of them, even if it didn’t have a dramatic overarching story. Kimura wins the tag team titles by pinning Yamazaki with a school boy pin. Good match. ***1/2
NWA World Championship Wrestling - 23/01/1988
NWA Western States Heritage Title Match: Barry Windham (c) vs. Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon)
The file I watched this on had a fabulous Flair promo talking about the Horseman and Sting. He has his ways of talking about the same thing but he’s still mighty compelling. The match that followed was classic JCP. Great wrestling with a so-so finish. Windham immediately had the one-up on Tully, being quick with the punches, quick to challenge Tully’s tactics and being the aggressor. Tully got a few shots in, attacking Windham’s nose and then attempting to use JJ’s shoe but Windham wasn’t swayed. It wasn’t until Tully was able to post Windham’s leg. When they return from the break, Tully has him trapped in a different version of the indian deathlock, continuing his attack when Windham is able to escape. Windham has some good selling too. For example, Windham can’t always hit a suplex on Tully because of balance issues despite his size advantage, which only provides Tully a bigger incentive to continue the leg work. Windham is the one being put over with his selling and the build towards a potential comeback but Tully is fantastic in this. The work on the leg, the expressive desperate selling by him. Sometimes I come away thinking Tully is the best worker in JCP at this time and its these performances for that. The flaw of the match comes at the finish, where Windham is, indeed, able to turn the momentum and hit the flying lariat but JJ Dillion rings the bell to distract Tommy Gunn. That’s a good finish, but what sucks was Luger coming down and spending 3 minutes explaining the situation and forcing a replay to be shown. That part was long winded and led to Windham and Tully waiting like fools. It WAS saved however with the Horseman beat down being thwarted by Sting. What a match Sting, Windham & Luger vs Flair, Tully and Arn would be. Great match capped by the non-finish. ****
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