Match No. 1 (4/4/89, All Japan): Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu for PWF tag team titles. Lord James Blears is reading the proclamation. (Great story about Blears’ escape from the Japanese in World War II and check out his monocle and ring attire in a match from the ’50s.) Hansen and Yatsu start things. Hanson hits huge forearm. Double shoulderblock by Hansen and Tenryu. Yatsu hits nice gutwrench suplex on Tenryu. Big knee by Tsuruta on Tenryu. Tsuruta hits big knee on Hansen. Tenryu uses abdominal stretch on Yatsu. Tenryu working on Yatsu’s legs. Tsuruta and Yatsu with a nice double high knee on Tenryu. Tsuruta hits a huge lariat on Tenryu but Hansen makes the save. Very physical match. Hansen tags in and hits dropkick on Tsuruta. He then follows with a boston crab. Yatsu hits several headbutts on Hansen. Followed by a piledriver. Hansen makes the tag and Tenryu is on fire. Huge lariat on Tsuruta followed by enzuigiri. And clothesline in the corner. Tenryu hits several chops on Tsuruta, who replies with big boot to the head. Double team suplex on Tenryu. Yatsu nails Tenryu with a bulldog. Hansen and Tenryu hit double suplex on Yatsu. Fans booing the hell out of Tsuruta. Tsuruta goes to piledrive Hansen and Yatsu comes off top rope to make it a nasty spike piledriver. Hansen somehow kicks out. Tsuruta puts Hansen down with high knee and enzuigiri. Yatsu also gives him an enzuigiri. Tenryu tags in and sweat flies as Yatsu gives him a nasty lariat. All four men in the ring as things break down. Tenryu hits huge lariat on Yatsu. Hanson goes for big lariat on Yatsu, who ducks. Hansen kicks him in the back of the head. Yatsu really getting worked over. Tenryu hits a powerbomb but Tsuruta barely makes the save. Hansen puts Tsuruta into the guardrail and they fight in the crowd. Tenryu hits big lariat on Yatsu who is in bad shape. Clothesline by Tenryu puts yatsu down in the corner. Outside the ring, Tsuruta gives Tenryu a side suplex on the announcers table. Ref is counting and Hansen rolls Tenryu back into the ring. Tsuruta pulls him back to floor and holds him back as the ref rings the bell. I have no idea why. The ref saw Tenryu make it back into the ring but maybe he wasn’t supposed to and it was a count out. Hansen drops several elbows on Yatsu after the bell. Hansen chokes Tsuruta with his rope. Tsuruta and Tenryu than exchange blows. Damn good match and post-match brawl, but uncharacteristic weak finish knocks down rating. Rating: ***1/2
Match No. 2 (4/13/89, New Japan): Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong) vs. George Takano & Super Strong Machine. Smothers opens with Takano. Southern Boys have the curly mullets going along with the confederate tights. Both teams work over the arm early. Nice drop kick by Takano. He finally tags in the Machine. They go to work on his arm. Not much early. Takano now stomping the hell out of Smothers. Nice double dropkick by the good ole boys. Back to Takano’s arm. Nice snap suplex by Machine. Weak looking spinning leg kick by Takano off the top. Flying headbutt by Machine on Armstrong followed by a nice back suplex. Double flying shoulder block misses by Smothers and Armstrong. Huge lariat by Machine on Smothers. Machine with a diving head butt for the pin. Pretty sloppy match. These guys must have been working together for one of the first times. Hard to see how this was one of the best matches of 1989. Rating: ***
Match No. 3 (4/14/89, UWF): Akira Maeda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki. It’s always interesting to watch the evolution of mixed martial arts from pro wrestling. Both guys trade kicks early. Now they are working arm and leg submissions. Not much action just back-and-forth grapping. Yamazaki with several kicks to the head but Maeda responds with kicks of his own and knocks down Yamazaki. 1-0 Maeda. Maeda with a german suplex into a bridge. Yamazki goes for an armbar but the referee breaks it up as Yamazaki is bleeding like crazy. He tried to headbutt Maeda earlier, but it looks like he busted himself open. The referee has stopped the match, but Yamazaki still wants to fight. Not much to this one, not sure how this was a top match either. Rating: ***
Bonus match (11/17/88, All Japan): Jumbu Tsurutu vs. Stan Hansen for unified Triple Crown. They pound on each other early. Tsuruta with a big boot. Now they are outside. Tsuruta beats on Hansen with a chair. He uses a knee to the head from the top rope. Hansen goes for a piledriver but Tsuruta reverses it. He pounds on Hansen who counters with a huge head butt. Tsurutu just pounding on Hansen, who recovers and beats on Tsuruta. Intense, physical match. Huge clubbing blows by Hansen. They are back on the floor. Hansen with a chair shot. Now he drops the big elbow. Hansen hits a lariat but it doesn’t land with all the force. Another big elbow by Hansen. And a second. John Tenta is on the outside of the ring. Tsuruta gets the chair and beats on Hansen. They fight outside the ring. Tsuruta goes for a huge lariat but Hansen ducks and Jumbo goes into the front row. Hansen with several chair shots. Ref calls for the bell. It looks like a double count out. RIP Jumbo and Tenta. Rating: ***1/2
Match No. 4 (4/18/89, All Japan): Jumbu Tsurutu vs. Stan Hansen for unified Triple Crown. Previous match was the last meeting between the two. They trade loud, hard chops. Tsuruta hits a big elbow. He locks his legs around Hansen’s head and works him over. Hansen escapes and drops an elbow. Tsuruta catches him again in a leg scissors. Hansen makes the ropes. Hansen posts Tsuruta outside the ring. Tsuruta pounding on Hansen in the corner, first with fists then with boots. Tsuruta hits the big boot. He runs Hansen into the ring post. Hansen misses a running elbow in the corner and goes to the floor. Tsuruta catches Hansen in the abdominal stretch. He makes it to the ropes. Hansen walks to the dressing room but Tsuruta catches him and brings him back to the ring. Tsuruta chopping the hell out of Hansen in the corner. Now he drops the boots on him. Tsuruta misses a big knee and Hanson suplexes him. Hanson with a huge knee drop. Tsuruta rolls to the floor. Hansen works over Tsuruta with a chair. Tsuruta is busted open from the last chair shot. Hanson suplexes him back into the ring. Tsuruta barely kicks out. Hansen hits a piledriver and a big elbow for a near fall. Hansen with an elbow and a fist drop from the second rope. Hansen goes for the lariet and misses. He slingshots into the ropes and Tsuruta pins him. Pretty good match, both guys took a ton of abuse. Finish came out of nowhere. Rating: ****
Match No. 5 (4/20/89, All Japan): Jumbu Tsurutu vs. Genichiro Tenryu. Tenryu opens quickly, hitting a lariat for a near fall. Tsuruta follows with a nice dropkick. Tenryu hits a knee and then puts Tsuruta in a head scissors. Jumbo with two elbows to the back of the head followed by a bulldog. Flying knee by Jumbo gets a two count. Sleeper hold by Tsuruta. Big boot by Tsuruta and a chop puts Jumbo on the floor. Tenryu hits a tope and then a huge clothesline and Tsuruta tries to get back into the ring. Tenryu suplexes Tsuruta into the ring but he recovers and gives him several big boots. He goes to the top rope and gets caught by Tenryu who slams him but Jumbo rolls through for a very near fall. Tenryu goes for a piledriver, but Tsuruta counters with a backdrop, but Tenryu holds on for a near fall. Running knee by Jumbo but Tenryu puts his foot on the ropes. Tsuruta drips Tenryu on his head with a nasty sheerdrop powerbomb for the pin. Damn good physical match. Rating: ****1/2
Match No. 6 (4/24/89, New Japan): Big Van Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto for IWGP title. Vader does his gimmick with the steam coming out the shoulder pads/headgear. This never gets old. Hashimoto has a terrible beard and is in decent shape, unlike in later years when he was a clean-shaven, lard ass. Vader with a reverse palm strike that knocks Shinya to the mat. Vader knocks down Shinya with a clubbing blow. Shinya with a nasty kick and then he tries for a hammerlock. The referee looks American. Is turns out it is Lou Thesz. Shinya with several hard kicks before Vader clubs him to the ground again. Vader hits the bell clap (Vader Attack) in the corner but misses a second attempt. Shinya working on the arm again. Vader hits a dropkick and gets a hand from the crowd. Vader to the top but Shinya hits a spinning heel kick. Shinya slams him and then applies an arm bar. Hashimoto with a bunch of kicks before Vader knocks him down with a punch. Huge clothesline by Vader. For an all-time great, Thesz counts like a pussy, shades of Branko Lubich. Huge lariat by Vader. Thesz counts two, hesitates and then counts to three. He sure sucks as a ref. Vader acts like he is going to attack him but unfortunately does not. Decent match, but nothing spectacular. Rating: ***
Match No. 7 (4/26/89, All Japan Women): Cutie Suzuki vs. Mayumi Ozaki. Ozaki attacks Suzuki at the bell. A lot of grappling early. Ozaki with some forearm blows. A lot of screaming from the wrestlers which is getting old. Huge knee lift by Ozaki. Ozaki kicking her ass so far. Anoying chant from the females in the crowd. Thankfully, it stops. Finally, some offense by Suzuki. A clothesline followed by a suplex. She then hooks a single leg boston crab. This a boring as hell match so far. I’m ready to hit the fast forward button. Several rest holds and this thing just started. Suzuki with a double-underhook suplex. She goes for a clothesline but Ozaki drop kicks her leg and she then uses a leg lock. Haven’t seen that move before, I’ll have to admit. Ozaki working over the leg. Ozaki hits a nice fisherman’s suplex but Suzuki barely kicks out. Suzki hits what looks like a blockbuster suplex with a bridge. She then hits a weak side suplex for a two count. Next is a nice double underhook suplex with a bridge. Suzuki with a very weak piledriver. Ozaki hits a bulldog. Ozaki with another decent suplex. They are trading suplexes until Ozaki catches Suzuki in midair and suplexes her for the pin. Nice finisher after starting slow. Rating: ***1/2
Match No. 8 (4/30/89, Pioneer Senshi): Atsushi Onita vs. Ryuma Go. Onita throws Go outside the ring and when he tries to get back in, he kicks him hard to the head. He then hits a crazy tope. There is only one hard camera and we can’t see the action on the floor. Go is slow getting back in the ring. Several headbutts by Onita as he is on the ring apron. Onita finally suplexes him back into the ring. He goes to the top and hits a flying headbutt to the arm. Onita goes for a suplex but Go blocks it and applies an arm bar submission. Go is busted open. It must have happened on the floor out of the view of the camera. Or maybe from the head butts. Either way, he’s a mess. Onita reaches the ropes. They are back on the floor. Onita nails go with a chair shot. They are in the crowd and it looks like they went back to the locker room. They come back into the ring from the other side of the crowd. Onita gives Go several more headbutts. He goes back to the top rope and hits a missile dropkick. Huge lariat by Onita. He’s beating the shit out of Go. He’s now working on Go’s leg. Go makes the ropes but Onita uses a figure four. Go reverses it, but Onita makes it to the ropes. Go now working on Onita’s leg. Onita able to grab the ropes. Huge headbutt by Go. Onita goes for a clothesline but Go ducks and hits a side suplex. Go back to working on Onita’s leg. Onita with an enzuigiri. He tries a second but Go ducks and then works on the leg. The bell rings. I guess Onita submitted, couldn’t tell. Fans seem pissed. Onita still wants to fight. Pretty physical match, finish came out of nowhere. Rating: ***1/2