puro from the 80s

[slabinskia 0]

I am sure there have been a million topics about this but I am asking anyway.

Since I don't have a huge background on puro wrestling I was wondering what was some of the better all japan matches from the 80s.I have seen and love the stuff from the 90s with misawa,kobashi,kawada etc but I haven't seen much 80s stuff.What does everyone recommend ?

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

John D. Williams 20 Favorite All Japan Pro Wrestling Matches of the 70s and 80s

 

1. 07/25/74 - The Destroyer vs. Mil Mascaras (US Title)

 

One of the three best matches from the 70s that I've seen on tape. The Destroyer is a master here in working towards the positives that Mil could bring to the ring, which at this time were fairly large. Nifty matwork combining the best of old school matwork (which Beyers is just about the best I've ever seen at), and nifty lucha matwork (which Mil is more than willing to bust out). The typical solid comedy from Beyers, along with state of the art flying for the time. A very athletic match, with Beyers being one of the most graceful athletic wrestlers of the era. Their meeting the prior October is a bit more heated, but was sloppy and disjointed in spots as they weren't use to working with each other at the time. Here they clicked, and Beyer knew exactly what to do. Even the non-finish is cool. 28 wonderful minutes.

 

2. 12/09/75 - Giant Baba vs. Harley Race (75 Open League)

 

A nice slow build as they have thirty minutes to fill. They spend a bit too much time laying around at times, as Harley isn't Beyers when it comes to great matwork - solid, but not great. At times they cross up just a bit. But the match is also full of lots of great stuff and a very good extant example of Harley as a worker a year before winning the world title to begin his long run with it. And what they hey... Baba's god in it as well.

 

3. 03/28/76 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Rusher Kimura

 

Promotion vs. Promotion five and a half years before Kimura vs. Inoki and NJPW vs. IWE would start the change in puroresu. You get a preview of the future here, as this is SUPER HEATED~! to the degree that I can't recall being matches in AJPW in the decade. This isn't an elegant wrestling match. It feels more like an intense fight, which is what you want out of an interpromotional match more than trying to work a subtle match. This won the 1976 Tokyo Sports Match of the Year and you can see why. While it's not as good as the Funk vs. Jumbo later in the year, this has more of a "big match" feel to it and that intensity goes a long way. Sure, we all know that it's going to go to the non-finish finish at the end. But they give us 25 nifty minutes of work before that.

 

4. 06/11/76 - Terry Funk vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title)

 

The second of the Terrific Trio of the Seventies. This is Terry's only title defense in Japan, and its against his and Dory's protege. For fans raised on Crazy Terry putting on The Terry Show, this is the single best match I've seen that shows the other side of Terry - Terry The Wrestler. Just a terrific wrestling match. Terry takes it to the match like a king... in fact, he's more entertaining on the mat in this match than Dory and Brisco are in their entire January 1974 60:00 draw in AJPW that you'll find noticable absent from this list. In addition to the matwork by both, they bring the suplexes that are starting to become state-of-the-art, and Terry's not afraid to bust out just a bit of his wacky selling. Terry plays NWA Champ well, making Jumbo looks strong while keeping himself strong and going over. Jumbo plays rising star perfectly. The finish has the Jumbo Killer busted out, and Jumbo sells it in a way that it would be his achilles heel in many a defeat throughout his career. Awesome match that makes you smile at the same time it's melting your mind.

 

5. 03/05/77 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Billy Robinson (UN Title)

 

Billy does so many nifty things in the ring that you forgive him of his jarring transitions and less than cooperative nature. And Jumbo's brilliance is his ability to work with just about anyone, and learn what they like to do, and fit his stuff in and around it. There are a lot of Jumbo vs. Billy matches available. You really can't go wrong with one of them.

 

6. 06/11/77 - Harley Race vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title)

 

The third of the Terrific Trio of the Seventies. Harley showing why, among hardcore fans in the 80s, he was an underrated NWA Champ, and Jumbo showing why in the same circles he was underrated period. The perfect touring NWA Champ match where the Champ comes in, faces the rising star, both look great, Champ wins in the end. At 22 minutes over three falls, it's not the longest title match... but that works as Harley is a wrestling machine here, and Jumbo is well on his way into developing into a wrestling machine as well. Just a great match.

 

7. 10/31/79 - Harley Race vs. Giant Baba (NWA Title)

 

Harley's first title loss to Baba. Baba's getting up there and clearly starting to slow down. The spry young athletic wrestler of the great 1969 draw with The Destroyer is long since gone. But he's smart in the ring, willing to go, has continually added new moves to his arsenal over the years, and is terrificly over with *his* fans. Harley is Harley, as always knowing exactly what he can do with an opponent, what they bring to the table, and able to think of a few bits of offense he can "add" to the opponent like the old "I try to gutwrench you... oh no... you gutwrench me!" These two have wrestled a hundred times by this point (I exagerate slightly), are in synch here even if methodical, and build a nice 18:30 one fall match. The crowd at the finish reacts exactly as the crowd in Budokan a decade later does when Misawa beats Jumbo - pops like mad at seeing something they didn't think they were going to see. I love Harley, and I love coming across good Baba matches... so this was two-for-two in finding it's way into my favorites list.

 

 

8. 12/12/81 - The Funk Brothers vs. Brusier Brody & Jimmy Snuka

 

"Oh? Hansen? STAN HANSEN!?!?!?!"

-All Japan play-by-play announcer

 

"Baba? Where's Baba?!?!"

-a bleeding Stan Hansen backstage afterward

 

Oh... and the match was pretty nifty too.

 

9. 02/04/82 - Giant Baba vs. Stan Hansen (PWF Title)

 

The first Hansen vs. Baba match, and a great example of just how good Hansen was at the time. Very similar to his amazingly fun outdoor match with Andre back in New Japan. How do you have a good match with these slowing Giants? Brawl intensely from the start to take the crowd's breath away and never let up. Baba's another two years slower and even for this Baba Fan is getting really painful to watch. Hansen doesn't let it get in his way as he puts on a one man show dragging and pulling Baba along for the ride. Heck, Baba even does what he can here.

 

10. 05/22/84 - Harley Race vs. Ric Flair

11. 05/22/84 - Kerry Von Erich vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (NWA Title)

 

This is one of the best TV shows in history. The Race vs. Flair is a well paced match that has the crowding going far more than you would think. Much better than their Starcade '83 match. Kerry vs. Jumbo is a masterpiece by Jumbo.

 

12. 02/16/85 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Masa Saitoh & Riki Choshu

 

Just a taste of what could have been. This has a typical for the era non-finish, and very much a compressed match as if they were saving more for later matches. But there are enough flashes here that make you want to weep over Saitoh going nutty and getting sent to the slammer as it deprived us of this feud developing over 1985 before we went off on the more famous tag feud of the Choshu's Army Invades All Japan era...

 

13. 01/28/86 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (Intl Tag Title)

 

Awesome match. Enough has been said about it over the years, so I'll just add one - Jumbo's role in this feud was completely missed at the time.

 

14. 03/13/86 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Animal Hamaguchi

 

A perfect Big Man vs. Little Man match, laid out and executed by *Tsuruta*. Another one of those things that was missed at the time. This one is so obvious that you scratch your head how it was. I like Animal quite a bit, but if you truly analyze how the match is worked, it's Jumbo's 100%.

 

15. 10/28/88 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu

 

This tends to get forgotten in the (deserved) praise of the 6/89 match between the two. It's a great match on its own right, and Jumbo is exceptional in carrying it. Jumbo... exceptional... I'm a broken record. I think we all overrated Tenryu back in the day, and underrated Tsuruta. Rewatching 80s All Japan in the mid-to-late 90s, along with new people seeing them and offering up consensus-contrary opinions, helped open up people eyes.

 

16. 12/16/88 - Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (88 RWTL)

 

This was the puroresu match I watched back in January 1989, so I have a soft spot in my heart for it. Some elements of it don't hold up. But it still does make me smile when it hits my VCR.

 

17. 01/28/89 - Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Footloose

 

The first of many great All Japan six-man tags I watched. Again, a special place in my heart.

 

18. 05/24/89 - Genichiro Tenryu & Footloose vs. Dan Spivey & Can-Am Express

 

Another great AJPW six-man tag. Tenryu and Spivey as the big guys with the underdog partners... but boy could those partners go. Spivey here, and at the coming Budokan against Sting, was an eye opener as he was good. Those two matches seemed to set for a Tenryu vs. Spivey TC match that never happened. The other four were setting up something special.

 

19. 06/05/89 - Footloose vs. Can-Am Express (All Asia Tag Title)

 

The native Footloose were the underdog faces in the Revolution vs. Olympians feud. Here they were getting booed out of the building against the *gaijin* Can-Ams. I would have been scratching my head more if the action on the screen wasn't popping me left and right. Think MX vs. Fans, just a bit more state of the art in moves though lacking that great element of Corny at ringside. Terrific match that at the time was the best tag match I'd ever seen. (at the time having not seen the 1/86 match listed above)

 

20. 06/05/89 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (Triple Crown)

 

I think the double play of the prior match and this one on that Budokan show opened my eyes to just how great puroresu was. I'd really enjoyed my six months of watching up to that point, but at the same time Flair vs. Steamboat were having the best matches I'd ever seen. Seeing Jumbo and Tenryu put on a match that I thought was as good if not better than Flair vs. Steamboat, and then on the following week's TV the Footloose and Can-Am Express put on a Fans vs. MX high end caliber match to reality - there are guys over here that are as good as the best I've seen in the US. Epiphany. So while a lot of this list may change over time as I see more of the 70s and 80s AJPW, these two will almost certainly hold down a slot.

 

John www.otherarena.com