'88 May - 15/05 - 22/05 (Garvin/Anderson Rematch!, Crush Gals vs JBA MOTYC, Fantastics vs Warlord/Koloff)

AJW - 15/05/1988

Bull Nakano vs. Yumi Ogura

A decent match for Nakano to show off her dominant strength and beating Ogura down with little reprieve. The interesting part of the match was the fans being for Bull Nakano. A sign to come. **1/2

The Crush Gals (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka) vs. The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno)

The crowd was raucous for this match as always, but they especially got more noisier once the JBA began dissecting Chigusa’s arm. Lioness Asuka was a strong hot tag but the JBA are a phenom offensively.  The pace is continuous, even when they are working. The style dictates a constant fight and activeness to the work. The match flows from one spot to the other in a spotfest way, but the skill somehow comes through. It’s not all perfect, but the intention remains. It all looks painful and competitive. The team work at times is sublime, which is where the JBA excel opposed to the more individual elements of the Crush Gals performances. The match rocks though and is worth seeking out. ****

NWA Main Event 1988 - 15/05/1988

Arn Anderson vs Ronnie Garvin

A nice revisit from one of my favourite TV matches of the year. This had strong technical wrestling early on with the fight for the overhead hammerlock before progressing further with a more physical exchange of strikes and stomps. Arn rips into the arm of Garvin and does it in his typical manner, which is simple but excellent work. Garvin fires back with some unearthly strikes that the crowd go crazy at. The drama these two get out of a basic match is tremendous. Both are masters of their craft and prove it in this match which I feel is actually better than their first match. The selling is also excellent too. The toll is felt and feels very genuine. It looks and is sold as a war. The finish was also so effective because of the angle that followed. Garvin got the visible pin on Arn but then came the Horseman who beat Garvin down with great emphasis on the claw by Barry Windham. Garvin got saved by Dusty Rhodes and Sting but the damage had been done by then. Excellent match. Truly excellent. ****1/4

AJPW Super Power Series 1988 - Day 5 - 19/05/1988

Ashura Hara & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Hiroshi Wajima & Yoshiaki Yatsu

A fun tag team match but it wasn’t a great one by any stretch. There were some awesome moments like Hara and Tenryu’s double enziguri to the face on Yatsu, but there weren’t much stand out isolated moments in this. ***

WWF on PRISM Network - 21/05/1988

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude

A decent main event for the Philly crowd. But it makes me wish that these matches were better. Rude is on the cusp of quality and Jake is a talented guy. They work a decent house show style that the fans respond to but I don’t think this is that much better than that. **3/4

NWA Main Event - 22/05/1988

Ivan Koloff & The Warlord vs. The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers)

This match was better than you’d expect. Ivan Koloff is great at getting a lot out of a little. He was a real pro, even nearing retirement and then when you combine that with the workrate kings in the Fantastics, you got a pretty fun match. They worked a good traditional match with Warlord even getting a little shine here. The finish was interesting because Koloff got a visible pin on the US Tag Team Champions but the ref awarded the match to the champions via DQ. Good match that you could do without skipping if you have time. ***

WWF Maple Leaf Gardens 1988 - 22/05/1988

Koko B. Ware vs. Bobby Heenan

I thought this would have more energy than it did. It was fine, but Heenan can be such a joy to watch and this match seems very low on his resume. **1/4

Jake Roberts & Jim Duggan vs. The Heenan Family (Andre The Giant & Rick Rude)

A brisky match which worked for these. I think if you’re looking for big spots, this is going to be lacking but it has solid transitional work and spots to introduce the tropes of the feud between Duggan and Andre, such as Andre’s dislike of the 2x4. Roberts and Rude worked better than the other match I saw here and carried the load but the peak of the match was Duggan using the 2x4 on Rude, cheating his way to victory. ***