Japan TV 1-29-88 Misawa/Super Tiger vs Saito/Tenryu!
Feb 13, 2022 21:15:31 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Feb 13, 2022 21:15:31 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom; Lou Thesz, Chairman
Airs on Saturday, January 29, 1988 on:
Taped: January 23 at the City Gymnasium in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Kotetsu Yamamoto
Ring Announcer: Takashi Yamada
Referees: Tiger Hattori, Joe Higuchi, and Kyohei Wada
The opening credits roll over footage of last week’s main event, where Super Tiger teamed up with International champion Tatsumi Fujinami to face Tiger’s long-time rival, Dynamite Kid, and his partner the Belfast Brawler Fit Finlay! Super Tiger gets the win when he hits Finlay with the Tiger Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!
KENJI WAKABAYASHI and KOTETSU YAMAMOTO open the show.
They welcome us to this week’s edition of World Wrestling Kingdom!
This week, we’ve got four big matches on tap today . . . we’ll see the third match in Shinya Hashimoto’s 5-match trial series, as he squares off with former Olympian Yoshiaki Yatsu!
Former NWA World heavyweight champion Dory Funk Jr teams up with young lion Keiji Mutoh to face Bob Orton Jr and Jim Neidhart!
Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami square off with Bad News Allen and Brad Armstrong!
And, the feature bout, a “dream team” of sorts, as two generations of Tiger Masks team up! The original, now known as Super Tiger, joins forces with Mitsuharu Misawa, who until just a few weeks ago, wrestled as Tiger Mask II! They’ll face Revolutionary Army members Genichiro Tenryu and Masa Saito!
SHINYA HASHIMOTO 5-MATCH TRIAL SERIES
MATCH #3:
YOSHIAKI YATSU defeats SHINYA HASHIMOTO. Hashimoto hasn’t fared well so far in this trial series, he lost the first two matches to Mitsuharu Misawa and Antonio Inoki, and things don’t go any better for him here. However, Hash has shown improvement each time out, and he’ll definitely learn a lot, being in the ring with an Olympic wrestler like Yatsu! While Yatsu prefers to work Hash over on the mat, Shinya lays in some vicious kicks and elbows that stun Yatsu!
As the match progresses, Yatsu takes control, and eventually gets the win with the Prison Lock!
The two men shake hands afterwards as a show of respect.
DORY FUNK JR & KEIJI MUTOH defeat BOB ORTON JR & JIM NEIDHART. Funk, the aging veteran, takes youngster Keiji Mutoh under his wing for this match. Mutoh, only three or four years into his career, shows a lot of heart, but struggles against the gaijin team. Several times throughout the match, Funk has to make the save for his younger partner. Mutoh shows his fighting spirit though, as he continues to fight back, no matter how badly he’s pummeled by Orton and Neidhart. Neidhart especially seems to greatly enjoy taking Mutoh to the mat, and then stomping away at him!
In the end, Dory gets the win for his team, when he wears Orton down, and forces him to submit to the Funk Spinning Toehold!
An ad airs for the next WWK tour, “Hyper Battle!”, which will kick off on February 20 and run until March 11! Live WWK action can be seen in the following cities as part of that tour:
February 20, 1988 the tour begins with a TV taping at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo!
February 21, 1988 at the City Gymnasium in Mooka, Tochigi!
February 22, 1988 in Fukaya, Saitama at the Civic Gymnasium!
February 24, 1988 at the City General Gymnasium in Matsusaka, Mie!
February 25, 1988 in Minokamo, Gifu at the City Gymnasium!
February 26, 1988 in Ritto, Shiga at the Townsman Gymnasium!
February 27, 1988 in Okazaki, Aichi at the City Gymnasium for a TV taping!
February 28, 1988 in Shingu, Wakayama at the City General Gymnasium!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto discuss the "Hyper Battle!" series starting in February, and talk about some of the foreign wrestlers that will appear on the tour! We’ll see Jacques and Raymond Rougeau! High flying Joey Savoldi! Kelly Kiniski, the son of former NWA World heavyweight champ Gene Kiniski! “Soulman” Rocky Johnson!
And, this man . . .
BRUISER BRODY will make his return to Japan for the tour!
TATSUMI FUJINAMI & ANTONIO INOKI defeat BAD NEWS ALLEN & BRAD ARMSTRONG. Fujinami and Inoki face the unusual pairing of streetfighter, and former Olympic Judokan, Bad News Allen, and the high flying youngster Brad Armstrong! Inoki and Allen are no strangers to each other, they’ve had several wild, bloody matches over the years, and they tear into each other here! Allen mixes in some judo throws with his brawling, but that suits Inoki just fine, as he’s got extensive training in martial arts as well!
Fujinami and Armstrong, on the other hand, wrestle at a junior heavyweight pace when they’re in the ring together, giving the fans some lightning-quick action, with Armstrong throwing in some high risk moves as well, such as diving off the top rope onto Fujinami, who was standing on the arena floor!
Back inside the ring, Fujinami soon turns the tables on Armstrong. However, each time Fujinami is in a position to pin Armstrong or go for the submission, Bad News Allen breaks it up! This brings Inoki in, and he hits an enziguri that sends Allen tumbling through the ropes! Inoki goes out after him, and they brawl on the floor!
Inside the ring, Fujinami hits the Dragon Suplex and covers Armstrong for the 1, 2, 3!
REVOLUTIONARY ARMY: GENICHIRO TENRYU & MASA SAITO battle MITSUHARU MISAWA & SUPER TIGER to a Time Limit Draw in 20:00.
Misawa and Super Tiger get a big ovation from the crowd when they come out in their old Tiger Mask and Tiger Mask II outfits and masks!
All four men are as skilled inside the ring as anyone in the world today, and they put on a clinic for the fans in attendance, and watching around Japan on NTV!
Misawa still has his sights set on Tenryu and the All Asia heavyweight title after his heart-breaking loss to Tenryu on the New Year’s Day TV show. Misawa has to wait to get his hands on Tenryu, as everytime Misawa comes in, Tenryu tags out to Saito! Misawa has his hands full with the big, powerful Saito, and Misawa takes a beating!
Finally, with Misawa in a bad way, Tenryu wants in, and he goes to work on Misawa, but Mitsu quickly turns the tables, tearing into Tenryu with vicious knife-edged chops, and then charges at Tenryu and hits an absolutely BRUTAL elbow shot! That puts Tenryu flat on his back on the mat, and the only thing that saved a three-count was Saito breaking up the count! Tenryu tags out immediately after that, and Saito goes back on the offensive, pummeling Misawa, until Super Tiger tags in.
They continue to go back and forth, but neither team can put the other away. They reach the 20-minute time limit with a winner, and the match is declared a draw!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom
Working on it now.