Japan TV 10-16-87 Tenryu vs Inoki, King's Road League!
Oct 16, 2021 19:48:53 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Oct 16, 2021 19:48:53 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom; Lou Thesz, Chairman
Airs on Saturday, October 16, 1987 on:
Taped on October 6 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Takashi Yamada; Wakabayashi also performs ring announcer duties
Referees: Tiger Hattori, Joe Higuchi, and Kyohei Wada
While the opening theme plays, we see the following clip:
Inoki then fires off some vicious kicks to Hansen’s legs, leaving the big cowboy limping. Inoki then takes Hansen to the mat and lays in some more kicks! Inoki is fired up now, and he tears into Hansen. Inoki seems to have things going his way, he whips Hansen into the corner, but the big Texan hits the turnbuckles, and explodes out of the corner . . . LARIATOOOOO!
Inoki crumbles to the mat, and Hansen covers him for the 1, 2, 3!
KENJI WAKABAYASHI and TAKASHI YAMADA open the show.
They welcome us to this week’s episode of World Wrestling Kingdom!
This week, we’ll see four more matches of the King’s Road League! Last week, Antonio Inoki lost his first tournament match against Stan Hansen. This week, he faces Genichiro Tenryu, can he make up for the loss and gain 2 points in the King’s Road League?
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
BLOCK B:
YOSHIAKI YATSU [2 points] defeats JIM NEIDHART [0 points]. Neidhart lost to Tatsumi Fujinami last week, and his losing ways continue here, as Yoshiaki Yatsu forces Neidhart to submit to the Prison Lock.
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
BLOCK A:
SCOTT HALL [2] defeats ASHURA HARA [0]. Hall squares off against veteran Ashura Hara. Hall is still early in his career, and Hara is able to draw him into making some mistakes throughout the match. But despite that, Hall uses his strength advantage to overpower Hara, and eventually plants him with a big Crucifix Powerbomb for the 1, 2, 3!
Hara is groggy afterwards, and has to be helped to the back.
An ad airs for upcoming shows, part of the “King’s Road Series ‘87” tour. We see clips of some of the wrestlers that will be in action during the tour, as well as a list of the following shows:
Tonight, October 16 in Osaka at the Prefectural Athletic Gymnasium for a TV taping!
October 19 in Niage, Oita prefecture!
October 21 in Kumamoto, at the City Gymnasium, for another TV taping!
October 22 in Taragi, Kumamoto prefecture!
October 23 in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi prefecture!
We see footage from Aomori on October 13:
Yoshiaki Yatsu picks up two more points in Block B when he forces Tiger Jeet Singh to submit to the Prison Lock.
Stan Hansen gains 2 more points in Block A when he drops Scott Hall with a vicious Western Lariat for the pinfall victory.
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
BLOCK B:
DICK SLATER [2 points] defeats TIGER JEET SINGH [0 points]. This one is a wild brawl right from the opening bell! They quickly take the battle to the floor, where they hit each other with whatever they can get their hands on, at one point, Tiger leans a table against the side of the ring, then throws Slater into it!
They get back inside just before the referee reaches the count of 20, so the match continues. Back inside the ring, they continue to battle tooth and nail, but it’s Dick Slater that ends up getting his hand raised, when he drops Singh on his head with a DDT for the 1, 2, 3!
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
BLOCK A:
GENICHIRO TENRYU [4] defeats ANTONIO INOKI [0]. There’s bad blood between these two, going back to the debut episode when Tenryu and Baba faced Inoki and Fujinami in the main event, and Tenryu turned on Baba, a long-time friend and tag team partner of Inoki. Inoki may be getting long in the tooth, as he’s nearing 30 years in the sport, but the fans still love him. As far as Tenryu is concerned, the fans might not care for his arrogant attitude lately, but there’s no denying his abilities inside the ring!
They lock up to start, and quickly move back towards the ropes, with both men jockeying for position along the ropes. Inoki backs Tenryu into the corner, and as he backs away, he slaps Tenryu across the face! This fires Tenryu up, and he attacks Inoki, stunning him with palm strikes and elbows! Inoki fights back, hitting several elbow strikes of his own.
Tenryu bails out of the ring, trying to avoid any more punishment, but Inoki is right out after him! Inoki sends Tenryu shoulder-first into the ringpost, then slides back into the ring while Tenryu takes a moment to walk around on the floor, before climbing back into the ring as well. Inoki grabs Tenryu as he climbs through the ropes, but Tenryu catches him with a closed fist, then slams Inoki to the mat, and goes to work, locking Inoki in a headlock. Inoki fights back to his feet, and tries to shoot Tenryu off into the ropes, but Genichiro holds on, and takes Inoki back down to the mat!
Tenryu continues to apply more and more pressure, and Inoki looks to be fading, but just when it looks like he’s down and out, Inoki gets a second wind, and fights back to his feet. This time, he’s able to shoot Tenryu off into the ropes, and catches him coming back with a knee to the midsection that doubles Tenryu over.
Now Inoki takes over, and goes to work on the shoulder that he ran into the ringpost earlier. Inoki bends and twists Tenryu’s arm in all sorts of unnatural ways, doing more and more damage to the shoulder. Tenryu manages to get to the ropes, forcing a break. Back to their feet, Inoki again grabs ahold of the arm, but this time Tenryu is ready, and he jumps up, catching Inoki with an Enziguri!
Inoki is stunned, and Tenryu connects with a second Enziguri! This time, Inoki rolls out under the bottom rope and drops to the floor. Tenryu immediately follows him out, and picks Inoki up off the floor, whipping him into the guardrail! Tenryu throws Inoki back into the ring, and then applies an Abdominal Stretch, before rolling Inoki over backwards and into a pinning predicament for a 2-count.
Tenryu continues his attack, repeatedly chopping Inoki’s chest, but Inoki ignores the pain of the chops, and fires off several forearm smashes and a big elbow strike that leave Tenryu stunned! Inoki cinches Tenryu up, and drops him on his head with a Piledriver, but Tenryu kicks out at the last second. Inoki continues his offensive attack, but he can’t keep Tenryu down for the count.
The fans, while solidly behind the legend Inoki, appreciate Tenryu’s fighting spirit, as he just won’t stay down. Inoki charges at Tenryu at his gets to his feet, and leaps at him, but Tenryu catches Inoki and, seemingly more out of exhaustion than anything, falls backwards, causing Inoki to come down throat-first on the top rope! That gives Tenryu the break he needed, he stomps Inoki several times before Antonio rolls out of the ring.
Tenryu goes out after him as we near the 15-minute mark of the match. Tenryu sends Inoki into the guardrail, with enough force that Inoki flips right up and over the guardrail, landing among the fans! The fans quickly move as Tenryu climbs over the guardrail and continues to attack Inoki, blasting him across the back with a chair!
Tenryu then climbs back into the ring, and counts along with the referee. As the referee reaches the count of 19, Inoki rolls back in under the bottom rope, but Tenryu is ready, and puts the boots to him. Inoki rolls out to the floor again. Every time Inoki tries to climb back into the ring, Tenryu attacks him, knocking him back off the apron and to the floor! Finally, Inoki gets to his feet on the ring apron, and when Tenryu goes to hit him, Inoki blocks it, and chops Tenryu several times, before climbing back into the ring!
Inoki is fired up now, and he hits several palm strikes, then whips Tenryu into the ropes, and drops him with a clothesline for a 2-count. Inoki sends Tenryu into the ropes again, but Tenryu ducks the clothesline, and hits one of his own! Tenryu then hits an Enziguri that gets him a close nearfall! Tenryu connects with a diving back elbow off the middle turnbuckle for another nearfall! A German suplex into a bridge gets another nearfall!
Tenryu looks to be getting frustrated by the fact that he can’t seem to put Inoki away. Inoki briefly turns the tables, when Tenryu sets him up for a Powerbomb, Inoki backdrops him, then falls backwards on top of Tenryu for a 2-count. Inoki is slow to get up, and Tenryu goes back on the offensive. A few moments later, Inoki again throws a hail mary, dropping Tenryu right on the back of his head with a German suplex, but Inoki is exhausted, and by the time he can find the energy to make the cover, Tenryu kicks out.
Back to their feet, Tenryu hits some chops, and Inoki fires back with a few of his own, but Tenryu then hits another Enziguri for a 2-count! The battle again moves to the floor, and again Inoki sends Tenryu shoulder-first into the ringpost, then slams Tenryu on the floor, while his Tenryu’s arm behind his back, so all of Tenryu’s weight comes down on the arm and shoulder!
Back inside, Inoki goes for the Octopus Hold, but they’re close enough to the ropes that Tenryu can reach them before Inoki can really cinch the hold in. Inoki continues the attack, but Tenryu manages to catch him with yet another Enziguri!
Inoki is stunned, and this time, Tenryu is able to hit his folding Powerbomb for the 1, 2, 3!
Before the show ends, a graphic appears on the screen, showing the standings so far for the King’s Road League:
Block A:
Genichiro Tenryu: 4 Points
Stan Hansen: 4 Points
Scott Hall: 2 Points
Antonio Inoki: 0 Points
Ashura Hara: 0 Points
Dino Bravo: 0 Points
Block B:
Tatsumi Fujinami: 2 Points
Riki Choshu: 2 Points
Yoshiaki Yatsu: 2 Points
Dick Slater: 2 Points
Tiger Jeet Singh: 0 Points
Jim Neidhart: 0 Points
Wakabayashi and Yamada wrap things up, and hype next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1987, World Wrestling Kingdom
Working on it now.