Wrestling Dream Battles

Dory Funk Jr. vs Jumbo Tsuruta (AJPW) - We only get a third of this but this is slow boiling old school technical match that I would have loved to see in full. Now don't get me wrong, I try to watch stuff under 15 minutes like this TV version especially when looking online. Again, I am trying to get thru my DVD backlog. That said, this was really good and they work a mean headlock match. They are knocking the sweat from each other with their elbows & chops. I dug this one! Dory's an absolute master in pacing and maybe the best ever frankly. He doesn't have a great look or a ton of athletic moves but he knows what to do and when to do it better than anyone. And he knows his limitations. He's in my top 25 favorite wrestlers. Jumbo too.

Tenryu & Tsuruta vs Giant Baba & Tiger Mask (AJPW) - Holy cow! Baba comes alive! This is a precursor to the late 80's Baba tag/6 man resurgence. Not only that but Misawa Tiger goes off! He must have done a half dozen high risk moves. Tenryu and Jumbo just laid into their boss & didn't go easy on their junior partner either. Misawa definitely looks ready to play a bigger role in the organization. If you're OK with Baba then, this might be a near classic match . 👇👇👇Check out the labels below. I think it's really important to keep old school wrestling interest alive. Seeing the Greatest Wrestler Ever results and how hard 80's wrestling got hit is indicative of how the algorithms are keeping fans away from old stuff. Or it's how fans are being inundated with flashy new shit  to the point where wrestling history is fading.

Terry Funk vs. Riki Choshu (AJPW) - Terry gets slapped really hard by Riki. He rolls outside and has a conniption fit 😄 This is a good match and what one might call a minimalist match. It mainly consists of Terry getting beat up by Choshu but finding a way to keep himself in the fight. I wish this was more competitive but I don't know who to pin that on. Did Baba not really want to push Terry as a threat? Did these two have a reason for doing this kind of match? Still it's fun stuff and worth your time if your a fan of either. 👇👇Check out the labels below for more stuff you might enjoy!

Riki Choshu vs Super Strong Machine (AJPW/Japan Pro) - Their first lockup looked like two bucks locking antlers. This was a great singles match between the heads of the rival factions. Things really kick off when, after going for a more technical route, Choshu rips Machine's mask. It's on like Donkey Kong now! Strong Machine targets Riki's ribs (which must be on the mend). You know he's got a whopper of a Riki Lariat waiting for him! Excellent main event to this Japan Pro/All Japan show (the last one ever per Cagematch). 👇👇👇Use the labels below to find older stuff you might have missed! Or use the archives 👍

Masa Fuchi & Tiger Mask vs Hiro Saito & Shunji Takano (AJPW) : Fun stuff! Shunji's German suplex looks a lot like Takayama's because of his height. That was sick! Enjoyed Fuchi punch Saito in the head from the mount position. He look crazed. Tiger Misawa is really in his element here. He definitely seems to be gaining confidence as a leader. 👇👇👇 Click for more good stuff 👍 Thanks for reading!

Stan Hansen vs Terry Gordy (AJPW) : Hot damn, this was an intense blood soaked fight! There's some great action here with a frenzied pace. On top of that the post match brawling is the cherry on top! Near classic! Highly recommend - Go watch this! 👇👇👇While you're at it, click on the labels below for more stuff from the 80's, '86 or All Japan.

Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (AJPW) : I watched this a long time ago. I read my old review and I think I appreciate it more now. Its a very good to great match. They did a lot of great fighting here. Tenryu switched his offense up using older maneuvers to re-injure Choshu's ribs. Choshu was tough and pulled out a couple moves that were pretty cool. One that I felt was a decade ahead of its time. Personally, Tenryu seemed to have a better performance but Riki interestingly seemed to be doing better character work. That plays into the finish as well. 👇👇👇 Click on the labels below or check out the popular posts for more wrestling reviews and pics 🙂

Stan Hansen & Super Medico vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Ishikawa (AJPW) : This is a fun match building to Stan vs Jumbo on 09/03. Medico was fun being an annoyance to Jumbo. He vs Ishikawa was enjoyable too. The big boys have great chemistry so they could sleep walk an exciting 10 minute tag like this.  Thanks for reading folks! Click on the labels or popular posts for more wrestling reviews and pics 👍

Hello Sunshine! More exciting wrestling from 40 years ago! Jumbo Tsuruta & Tiger Mask II vs Yoshiaki Yatsu & Isamu Teranishi (07/05)   Fun match where Yatsu's aggressive wrestling (as in actual wrestling) was really cool. It felt like he was kinda-shooting in on Tiger & Jumbo. Those segments felt really good. Otherwise this was good 80's wrestling. Exciting ring action, a couple cool moves but I'm sure an appetizer to a bigger match. I liked it though. It's good to watch simple wrestling done right. Stan Hansen vs Genichiro Tenryu (07/26) - Two of the best to ever wrestle put on a great match for the AWA belt (I think this was one of the defenses Stan made with the "stolen" belt!). In either case, they beat the he'll out of each other. Stan blasted Tenryu a few times including a sternum crushing elbow drop. That's OK because Genichiro Tenryu is no wimp & gets payback...I'm pretty sure he got Stan in the face on an enzuigiri. I gues...

We're moving on with more from 1986 All Japan! Tiger Mask/Masa Fuchi vs Kuniaki Kobayashi/Masanobu Kurisu (05/17) - Yes! Action packed angry junior AJ wrestling! Kobayashi attacks the faces before the bell and folks get whipped into the guardrail and it blows apart. Then someone else gets whipped into it before its reassembled and crushes a the front row of fans. This is the Kurisu match I wanted. He and Kuniaki are great. So is Fuchi...pairing him with Misawa/Tiger II is a good choice. It brings out his mean streak.  Tenyru vs. Strong Machine (06/12)  - A great match and something different. Tenryu tries to bowl Machine over at the start. Hirata/Machine counters him and gets the advantage for most of the bout. He neutralizes Tenryu with a variety of arm locks. This keeps the former sumo at a disadvantage. Here's a great example of Machine having a great singles match (I always think of him as a tag teamer) plus Tenryu working from underneath. I really dug this one. We are co...

Thanks for joining me here! Let's take another look at the wonderful footage from 1986 in AJPW! March Terry Gordy vs Jumbo Tsuruta (03/10)  - This was very good stuff! Surprisingly not a smash mouth barn burning brawl but a scientific match between two heavyweights. So it's a slower pace but there's quality wrestling to be had. I mean Gordy eventually upper cuts Jumbo in the balls but it's scientific until then 😄 Plus we get a clean finish and a pretty cool one too! Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi (03/13) - This was a sick match! 😋 Animal jumps Jumbo at the bell...he's crazy! There's a lil down time where Animal works the arm but after that this cooks. Animal is out ranked big time but dammit, he's fierce. He pisses the All Japan ace off. Jumbo pulls Hamaguchi up a couple times from his own pin in order to punish his foe some more. This backfires as Animal doesn't know the meaning of quit. And he's got moves and takes some crazy bumps...which ma...

I'm trucking along through my All Japan DVD sets. For reference, these are Samurai Classics episodes. I have the first six months of 1986. It's nowhere complete. In fact, they don't show Riki Choshu. So, I did go online for any/all of those. After my DVDs are done, I'm going to wing it with stuff I find online. I'm pretty sure most of this is up on the 'tube. OK enough rambling! You're here to find out about some old school AJPW! Tiger Mask vs Mil Mascaras (01/02) - Good on paper but bad in reality. That badness is due to Mil. If Misawa had a tell-all book, he would have a story about this match. It reminded me of Mick Foley's recounting of his match with Mil. No it's not the worst thing but it ambles, Mil doesn't seem to know what's up, and he couldn't care less. Jumbo Tsuruta & Samson Fuyuki vs Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda (01/11) - These four guys in '86? Yes please. This is a really fun all action match. Nothing fancy or...