March '88 - 05/03 - 09/03 (JBA vs Glamour Girls, Kerry von Erich vs Al Perez & Tiger Mask vs Jumbo Tsuruta

NWA World Wide Wrestling 1988 - 05/03/1988

Steel Cage Match: Lex Luger & Ole Anderson vs. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair & Tully Blanchard) (w/JJ Dillon)

Decent little match, although I think Flair and Ole were on different pages at times. Flair and Tully played nice cowardly heels to Luger and Ole’s tough guy dominance. And within this cage, there isn’t much to play around with but they made it work until the school boy finish.***

WWF on NESN - 05/03/1988

Jake Roberts vs. Ron Bass

Okay match. Ron Bass is someone I’ve seen little off since he was a Florida guy and the footage is sparse there mostly, so I thought to check this out. Okay wrestling, with the WWF style being what it is, but Bass cut a good promo with Gorilla Monsoon, being this deranged, angry maniac trying to goad Gorilla into a match. The match was headlock heavy for the most part with the commentators poking fun at Bass, calling him stupid. Nothing particularly memorable. Of course, the big hook of these matches is Jake putting the snake around the heel which he does. **1/4

WWF World Women's Tag Team Title Match: The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno) (c) vs. The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) (w/Jimmy Hart)

Super fun tag team match with good heat, especially for the hot tag by Tateno. The Glamour Girls are strong heels and can work a heat spot very well with their functional team work opposed to the JBA’s flash. In terms of structure, this was as basic as you can get but this was one of those that was done so sweetly, it was very enjoyable. ***1/2

Steel Cage Six Man Tag Team Match: Randy Savage & Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana) (w/Miss Elizabeth) vs. The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart) & The Honky Tonk Man (w/Jimmy Hart)

This seems like a match I’d book on a WWE game. The results pretty much stay the same. You can leave but you leave your team behind, so the win can be a loss too. Interesting way to do it. Fun for a house show setting like this. It went like this: Neidhart and Tito escaped early, followed by Martel which left Savage alone with Bret and Honky. They brutalise Savage in this portion and are free to go at any time. But they take their time doing so. Bret leaves but Honky can’t stay away from having another shot at Savage and when he goes to leave, it's too late. Savage throws him in the cage, gets little revenge and escapes for the win. Good match. ***

WCCW - 06/03/1988

World Class World Heavyweight Title Match: Al Perez (c) vs. Kerry von Erich

Near 20 minutes of wrestling was had here and hardly anything was done with that time. Al Perez is limited in what he can do and while Kerry is much better, he’s not exactly a wonder wrestler either. Although you can argue that he’s dynamic in his movements which do add some excitement. Obviously this wasn’t an armlock only match but it might as well have been. Gary Hart tries to interfere but it doesn’t affect Kerry from outsmarting Al Perez and winning the title. Boring match to send Perez packing from the territory. **1/4

AJPW Excite Series 1988 - Day 15 - 09/03/1988

Fierce Tiger Seven Game Trial Series Seventh Match: Tiger Mask vs. Jumbo Tsuruta

A wicked precursor to their classics in 1990-1992. To start the bout, TM2 takes and works a headlock, which will prove to be a classic and tried way to control a better, veteran opponent. From 1980 to 2024. Here, TM2 did just that, escalating with some high risk move before taking it back to that basic hold. Jumbo’s attempts to escape from this purgatory are met with resistance until Jumbo nails a huge backdrop. From there, the match grew in tempo. TM2 was able to sustain his moment with several incredible dives to the floor which took Jumbo by surprise. The match makes a real attempt at making TM2 seem like the future with how dominant he is at times. Jumbo sells him like an equal which he would end up being in two years. Jumbo hits a brutal hotshot and a backdrop for a strong nearfall. And soon hits another one to finish TM2 off for good in an incredible match. ****1/4

PWF Heavyweight Title / NWA United National Title Match: Stan Hansen (c) vs. Genichiro Tenryu (c)

Hot fire start with strikes thrown and two enziguris hit within the first minute. Hansen wins the exchange, putting Tenryu on the defensive almost immediately. Hansen brutalises and grinds Tenryu down with body slams and snug holds which target the lower back that are painful because of Hansen’s force rather than his technique. Worst yet, Hansen delivers a gross elbow to the region. Hansen on top is an overwhelming presence, and makes this his match which means Tenryu’s role isn’t exactly highlighted. But the match works in a way that leads to the cradle finish where Tenryu sneaks a win out from under Hansen. All to establish a rematch later in the month. This is very unpretty much as neither of these two are big on perfection. But they bring a lot of terrific snugness to their work that feels authentic and real. And there is a lot of quality among the roughness in this match.***3/4