Tsuruta-gun (Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue) vs Super Generation Army (Mitsuharu Misawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi)
taped 05/30/1992, aired 06/07/1992
Hamamatsu City Gymnasium, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
(reviewed 04/16/2024) Semi-main on a somewhat smaller show keeps the last dregs of Tsuruta-gun vs Super Generation Army interesting with a great look at the Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs Akira Taue matchup we don’t see too often in this series. Kikuchi carries himself with such ferocity that, along with some effective legwork and a smattering of elbows from Mitsuharu Misawa, he can believably contain a much larger opponent for a little while in a way that makes a throwaway tag worthwhile. Helps too that Taue is one of the most giving wrestlers ever and never really suffers for it. I think it’s largely because his bumping and selling is so great and, unlike with Stan Hansen in his own matches with Misawa, it doesn’t detract from his one of a kind offense. Like sure, I’d certainly appreciate more boots and arm bombers from the big guy but I never feel robbed of them in these matches like I so often do with Hansen’s surly brawling. Hard to feel shortchanged with what action we do get here, especially with Kikuchi. Less than a week after his stunning performance in the all-time barnburner of an All Asia tag title match, he once again gets the absolute shit beaten out of him by the big boys of the Tsuruta-gun stable. Think it’d be easy for people to see what he does in matches like these and question why I dislike the sorts of selling performances Kenta Kobashi or Shawn Michaels give in later years, let alone any of the people they’ve influenced since. Beyond anything else I think it’s that those guys aren’t getting their asses kicked like Kikuchi regularly was in this era. Much easier to buy into a little guy ragdolling around when he’s getting smacked in the face hard enough to dislodge a molar. Maybe I’d like Kenny Omega’s matches more if I ever felt he was in danger of losing a few teeth. To that end Taue finally debuts his Nodowa Otoshi chokeslam here, just fucking LAUNCHING Kikuchi eight feet in the air before slamming him back down to the ring at an ugly angle to pick up the win. Disgusting stuff. Wish any of AEW’s insufferable “stars” did anything that cool, whether the move itself or the bump that results.
Brock Hates Wrestling 