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AJPW Excite Series 1988 - Day 17 - 11/03/1988
Jumbo Tsuruta, Takashi Ishikawa & The Great Kabuki vs. Ashura Hara, Samson Fuyuki & Toshiaki Kawada
Revolution sans Tenryu vs Jumbo and friends. This seems to have a good reputation, and immediately I see why. The wrestling was hot and the crowd was up for making noise. Fuyuki kept getting beaten on by the older wrestlers as did Kawada although he got a smattering of the focus. His legs were brutalised throughout the match. Then there was a role reversal with Kabuki being worked over which was a fun revenge concept. Then it all was chaos. Awesome match. Worth seeking out. ***3/4
NJPW Big Fight Series 1988 - Day 9 - 11/03/1988
Billy Gaspar & Gully Gaspar vs. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu
This is the most exciting the Gaspars have loomed so far. And while they are still gimmicked up, it's more traditional than anything prior thanks to Choshu and Saito. Of course it broke down into a DQ, but the whole match seemed much more professional, and got great heat. Particularly when the Gaspars were beating Saito down and Choshu rallied to make the save. He nailed one of them with a chair and chased them into the crowd. This was super fun. Much better than expectations. ***
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Hase (c) vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Poor Hase. He is so talented but he's never the fans favourite in this era. He leaned into it though with this match, blindsiding Takada at the bell and gaining the unfair advantage. He throws more of those nasty ground punches and attempts to submit Takada with a sleeper, followed by an extended triangle. Hase attempts to escalate things but gets blasted with a hand strike and the fans come alive for Takada once more. Takada almost gets the win via a waki gatame and continues the assault with a cross arm breaker. They run through incredible moves like the double pin coming up into a backslide sequence which produced a wonderful nearfall. Another nearfall and then back to another Waki Gatame that Hase struggles to escape. The ends seem to be nigh with big head kicks which Hase sells beautifully. The crowd even counts along with the ref as they tease a Ko Finish. In another amazing sequence of events, Hase catches a roundhouse kick but Takada changes it to an enziguri. Damn. Not only do they master striking and submissions, they go to the air and dive to the floor which is just as cool. And in the pivotal point in the match, we get a rare ref bump and visual pin which sends the crowds crazy with excitement and annoyance. Takada had the match won but the ref was down thanks to an accidental knock. Takada gets another close victory with the refs counting to no avail. And finally, out of the skin of his teeth, the prodigy himself, Hiroshi Hase scores a fabulous dragon suplex for the win. Shit. What a match. ****1/2
Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
One benefit from Inoki working with Murdoch is that he works like a heel more, showing off his mean streak in which he thrives in, especially against the white meat babyfaces like Kimura and Fujinami. Murdoch and Inoki work on too, inflicting damage and, more importantly, pain on their opponents. Their focus was on Kimura's shoulder region, with their preference being the double team in. Although Murdoch teases using a chair before Fujinami intervenes. The finish didn't allow this to develop to amazing levels as Fujinami and Kimura's comeback was brief before Murdoch rolled Kimura up, but it provided a solid conclusion. And it kept up with the story of the match which was the older duo outsmarting the youngsters. ***1/2
NWA World Wide 1988 - 12/03/1988
NWA World Television Title Match: Mike Rotunda (w/Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner) (c) vs. Barry Windham
Decent TV bout between the two former partners and brothers in law. I think this is more clip than anything but it’s a fun watch. Rotunda retains via DQ and Luger comes down to save Windham from a beatdown. **1/2
WWF on PRISM Network - 12/03/1988
Lumberjack Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Ted DiBiase
This a pure house show match with Hogan doing a limited routine with a seemingly unexcited Dibiase performance to match. The gimmick of the lumberjacks carry it enough, particularly the mystery about the seemingly evil killer bees. They keep tripping Hogan but, of course, Hogan wins anyway. Hogan goes to unmask one of them, but the guy has two masks on, leading to him escaping with his identity intact. Pretty funny. **1/4
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