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Post by elliott on Dec 7, 2017 0:51:58 GMT -5
Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen vs Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura (Real World Tag Leauge - AJPW - 11/29/89)
One of my absolute favorite matches ever. Hansen & Tenryu are a fucking awesome tag team and had a hell of short run. This is the match where Tenryu hits Baba with a tope before the match starts. So this had a super hot crowd off the rip and Tenryu & Hansen just beat the holy hell out of the old farts who have to use all of the veteran gumption they can muster in order to survive the onslaught.
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Post by problematic on Jan 10, 2018 3:07:41 GMT -5
Seconded. ONe of the greatest matches of all time that I lovingly call "the old man" tag. The isolation of Kimura by the pre-match attack on Baba is awesome in that creates so much drama and heat even though it's such a low key assault by the standards of AJPW. A weirdly minimalist masterpiece. One of the best matches of all time.
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Post by gordi on Jan 10, 2018 13:57:16 GMT -5
Oh, this is an excellent choice! Storytelling, blood, selling, and heat. The way Hansen and Tenryu sell for Baba just warms my heart. The way they relentlessly beat up on Kimura makes me hate them and want to see them get their comeuppance. Imagine a match where Rusher Kimura - Rusher Kimura! - is the Face in Peril.
So: Thirded.
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Post by stunninggrover on Feb 19, 2018 19:50:44 GMT -5
Sapporo, Japan. This was a match from the Real World Tag League. Giant Baba was on his way to the ring and Genichiro Tenryu attacked him with a huge dive through the ropes. Baba sold the dive for about five minutes. In the meantime, it was Rusher Kimura on his own against two of the top wrestlers in All Japan at the time, Tenryu & Stan Hansen. Kimura juiced. Tenryu pinned Baba!
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Post by wrestlingfan on Dec 29, 2018 19:09:18 GMT -5
Tenryu and Hansen work well together. Great match but inferior to the final.
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Post by elliott on Jan 25, 2021 21:35:21 GMT -5
I'm really excited to see folks thoughts on this one
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2021 1:46:54 GMT -5
Down goes Baba! Down goes Baba!
Tenryu and Hansen dish out a prime slice of elder abuse. Aside from the final, are there any other Tenryu Hansen tags worth checking out?
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Post by elliott on Jan 26, 2021 2:06:04 GMT -5
Hell yes!
vs Jumbo & Kobashi 7/15/89
vs Jumbo & Yatsu 10/20/89
vs Terry Gordy & Bill Irwin 11/19/89
The Jumbo & KObashi tag is particularly awesome
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Post by elliott on Jan 26, 2021 4:04:05 GMT -5
I just watched this match again for the 2nd time in two weeks and maybe like the 5th time ever and it is so stupefyingly great I still cannot even believe it. Getting a match this good out of Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura in 1989 is outrageous.
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Post by elliott on Jan 27, 2021 22:47:05 GMT -5
Watched this yet again and I'm thinking of it less as a top 5 80s AJPW match and more of a top 10 GME. This is a genius level performance from the Tenryu & Hansen team and from Giant Baba. I love Rusher in this. He throws a bunch of headbutts, bleeds and gets his ass kicked. But then he's out of the match midway through and never comes back. You'd think an 11ish minute long stretch of isolated 1989 Giant Baba where he gets his ribs worked over would suck. You'd be so wrong. This shit is incredible. First, Baba's selling outside the ring as he gets his tummy sprayed and rubbed for the first half of the match as Kimura gets killed is outstanding. When he finally makes it up to the apron and is doing twists on the apron to keep his shit lose, I'm like dying of pure fucking joy. Baba's hot tag and then his comebacks throughout are all so well set up. Baba can't really go on a crazy extended run of offense. He can't throw Hansen & Tenryu around. So they have to create offense out of nowhere. The big boots are worked in so effectively. A lot of people can never move past Baba's chops, but there's Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu selling for them and the crowd buys that shit 100% so who are we to argue with Baba's chops. Also, look at the fucking size of his hands. Stuff like neck breaker drops, the side russian leg sweep and swinging neck breaker are all used to perfection here. Tenryu creates a back suplex for Baba by climbing to the 2nd rope and getting caught. You always feel like Baba's just surviving and holding on by the skin of his teeth but he's so big and he's so smart maybe he can pull this shit out if Rusher can just get it together. Baba even does a small package on Stan Hansen! IN 1989!
This is how you use charisma and "stardom" or whatever to impact a match. Baba's got a ton of limitations in 1989. But he's got his brain, his charisma, and his legacy. And he uses all of these things are used to maximum effect to craft a believable and entertaining as fuck 20 minute match.
Hansen is at peak form and Tenryu looks like the best wrestler in the world. But its Giant Baba that blew me out of the fucking water just now.
All time great match. I'm gonna rank this like #6 in 8 months.
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Post by nintendologic on Jan 28, 2021 9:37:34 GMT -5
I've never really been able to get into this match even though I dig at least three of the participants (I haven't seen enough Kimura to have a strong opinion one way or the other). I love the intensity and viciousness from Hansen and Tenryu, but Baba and Kimura look so old and feeble that it was impossible for me to suspend disbelief. Baba shrugging off Hansen and Tenryu's blows while Hansen was being knocked loopy by Baba's brain chops is the kind of thing they would show clips of on a late night talk show segment making fun of pro wrestling. By the way, I can't believe Kimura is only 48 here. He looked like he could be Tenryu's father when he was less than a decade older than Tenryu.
People who dig this match should check out the 1998 RWTL final between Burning and Hansen and Vader, which I think tells a similar story far more effectively. Kobashi and Akiyama aren't as sympathetic as the geezers, but they have the necessary physical credibility.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 10:29:53 GMT -5
People who dig this match should check out the 1998 RWTL final between Burning and Hansen and Vader, which I think tells a similar story far more effectively. Kobashi and Akiyama aren't as sympathetic as the geezers, but they have the necessary physical credibility. That match bangs. |
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Post by elliott on Jan 28, 2021 13:49:11 GMT -5
Baba's chops are one of the great signature spots ever.
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Post by elliott on Jan 30, 2021 17:22:34 GMT -5
Yall are gonna force me to vote this #1.  |
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Post by tetsujin on Jan 30, 2021 17:24:17 GMT -5
I'm watching it tomorrow. Hope it's great.
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