Japan TV 3-5-88 Hansen/Brody vs Fujinami/Funk!
Mar 3, 2022 21:18:54 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Mar 3, 2022 21:18:54 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom; Lou Thesz, Chairman
Airs on Saturday, March 5, 1988 on:
Taped: February 20 at the City Gymnasium in Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Kotetsu Yamamoto
Ring Announcer: Takashi Yamada
Referees: Tiger Hattori, Joe Higuchi, and Kyohei Wada
The following clip is shown while the opening credits and theme song play:
Hansen backs Misawa into the corner, and delivers some brutal forearms down across Misawa’s chest! Hansen then sends Misawa into the ropes and hits a back elbow. Misawa rolls to his corner, and tags in Fujinami, who goes on the offensive and actually has Hansen reeling after some elbow strikes, but Hansen tags Brody in. Brody immediately goes on the offensive, pummeling Fujinami. Moments later, Misawa tags back in, and immediately heads to the top rope, delivering a flying bodypress! Brody crashes to the mat, with Misawa on top of him in a pinning predicament, but Hansen is in with a boot to the head of Misawa to break that up!
Fujinami comes in, and goes after Hansen, while Brody puts the boots to Misawa. Hansen knocks Fujinami out of the ring, then Brody whips Misawa into the ropes . . . and Hansen runs him over with the LARIATOOOOOOO!!!! Brody is the legal man, and he bounces off the ropes, jumps up, and delivers a kneedrop to the head of Misawa 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!
Last week, a big-time main event took place, that saw International champion Tatsumi Fujinami and Mitsuharu Misawa fall in defeat to Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody. This week, Fujinami has veteran, and former NWA World heavyweight champion, Dory Funk Jr as his partner against Hansen and Brody! Will the outcome be different this week?
All Asia champion Genichiro Tenryu and Riki Choshu of the Revolution Army face Misawa, and veteran Seiji Sakaguchi in a tag team battle! Since losing a closely-contested title match against Tenryu on the first TV show of the year, Misawa has been looking to prove that he still belongs in the title hunt.
The French Canadian Rougeau brothers will be in action as well. They’ll face former Olympian Yoshiaki Yatsu, and Shiro Koshinaka.
JACQUES & RAYMOND ROUGEAU defeat SHIRO KOSHINAKA & YOSHIAKI YATSU. The Rougeaus play the subtle heels here. They wrestle a mostly scientific style, but aren’t afraid to sneak in some cheap shots if the opportunity presents itself. Late in the match, they isolate Yatsu in their corner, and quickly tag in and out, keeping the fresh man in all the time. Occasionally, Raymond will distract the referee, and Jacques uses the tag rope to choke the former Olympian!
Yatsu eventually makes the tag to Shiro Koshinaka, and he cleans house initially, but over the next few minutes, the Rougeaus take over, and Raymond locks Koshinaka in a Boston Crab, with Jacques then delivering a kneedrop off the top rope, to the back of Shiro’s head. Raymond then covers him for the 1, 2, 3 while Jacques keeps Yatsu from breaking up the count.
A video airs, showing the Original Tiger Mask in action!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto discuss Tiger Mask’s career, saying he’s wrestled all over the world, including some of the most famous venues, like Madison Square Garden in New York City, and Arena Mexico in Mexico City!
On March 11 at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium, the original Tiger Mask will wrestle his retirement match, against one of his greatest rivals, Black Tiger!
THE REVOLUTION ARMY: GENICHIRO TENRYU & RIKI CHOSHU (w/ Masa Saito, Toshiaki Kawada & Shinya Hashimoto) defeat SEIJI SAKAGUCHI & MITSUHARU MISAWA. There’s some jawing back and forth between the two teams before the match starts. Tenryu calls for Misawa to start the match, but when Mitsu goes to tie up, Tenryu seems to change his mind, and instead tags Choshu in! Misawa and Choshu go back and forth early on, trading holds and counters, without either man really getting an advantage. The rest of the Revolution Army is at ringside, and they cheer Tenryu and Choshu on.
As the match progresses, Misawa is lured into the Revolution Army’s corner, where Choshu holds him from the apron, as Tenryu delivers some vicious elbow and forearm shots. Tenryu taunts the youngster, but he makes a mistake when he slaps Misawa across the face, as this just fires Misawa up! Tenryu quickly tags out to Choshu, but Misawa takes him to the mat and works him over!
Misawa tags Sakaguchi in, and he controls the match for the next few minutes, until Choshu and Tenryu double-team him. Before Misawa can come in, Masa Saito pulls him off the apron to the floor, and batters him with forearm shots, before delivering the Saito Suplex on the floor! That effectively takes Misawa out of the match, leaving Sakaguchi at the mercy of both Tenryu and Choshu!
Sakaguchi battles valiantly, but in the end, Choshu and Tenryu overpower him, and Tenryu delivers a Folding Powerbomb for the 1, 2, 3!
An ad airs for the “Hyper Battle!” series, going on now, and running until March 11! Live WWK action can be seen in the following cities as part of that tour:
Tonight, March 5, 1988 in Akita at the City Gymnasium for a TV taping! This show will see a “Battle of the Bullies”, as Genichiro Tenryu and Riki Choshu meet Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody!
March 6, 1988 in Misawa, Aomori at the City General Gymnasium!
March 7, 1988 in Mizusawa, Iwate at the City Cultural Gymnasium!
March 9, 1988 in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall for a TV taping! The main event will see Tatsumi Fujinami, Antonio Inoki and Dory Funk Jr face Revolution Army members Genichiro Tenryu, Shinya Hashimoto and Toshiaki Kawada!
March 10, 1988 in Kimitsu, Chiba at the Citizen Gymnasium!
March 11, 1988 in Yokohama, Kanagawa at the Cultural Gymnasium for a TV taping! This show will see the original Tiger Mask’s retirement match against Black Tiger, as well as a Title vs Title match between WWK champion Stan Hansen and All Asia champion Genichiro Tenryu!
Before the main event, we go to pre-recorded comments from both teams.
Fujinami and Funk are in the locker room. Fujinami says that there’s no tougher team in wrestling than Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody. He knows that he and Dory have a fight ahead of them, but he’s confident that they can win it!
Dory says that he’s met Hansen and Brody before. He’s wrestled them many times in Texas over the years, in singles matches and tag team matches. He says that he’s beaten them before, and he and Fujinami will beat them again today!
Hansen and Brody are in the hallway, preparing to come to the ring. Hansen says that him and Brody are going to beat the hell out of Fujinami and Funk, plain and simple. Hansen then says that he’s got a title vs title match with Genichiro Tenryu coming up on March 11, and after he takes the All Asia title from Tenryu, he’s coming after Fujinami and the International title!
STAN HANSEN & BRUISER BRODY defeat TATSUMI FUJINAMI & DORY FUNK JR. Hansen and Brody storm the ring, with Hansen swinging his bullrope, and Brody swinging his chain. The fans scatter as the two Americans make their way to the ring. Once the bell rings, all hell breaks loose! All four men brawl in the ring, until referee Joe Higuchi is finally able to get order restored, forcing Hansen and Fujinami out of the ring, leaving Brody and Dory to start.
Brody pummels the former NWA champion, but Dory fights back, and stuns Brody with some European uppercuts, though Brody stays on his feet. Funk takes Brody down by the legs, then goes to work on Brody’s leg, looking to soften the big man up for the Funk Spinning Toehold! Brody is aware of this too, and when Funk goes to apply the hold, Brody quickly kicks him off, then tags in Stan Hansen. Brody stays in, to double-team Dory until the referee forces him out. Hansen whips Dory into the ropes, then hits a back elbow, putting Dory on the mat. Hansen then pulls him up in a sitting position, driving his knee into Dory’s back, and delivers some clubbing forearms down across Funk’s chest!
Funk is able to tag Fujinami in a few moments later, and the Dragon battles Hansen tooth and nail! These two men hold the #1 and #2 titles in the World Wrestling Kingdom, as Fujinami is top dog with the International title, while Hansen holds the WWK heavyweight title. Hansen has made it clear that he wants Fujinami’s International title as well!
As we near the 15-minute mark, we’ve got Dory and Hansen in the ring. Dory has targeted Hansen’s leg, and goes for the Spinning Toehold. Hansen kicks him off, with enough force to send Funk into the corner! While this is going on, Bruiser Brody has entered the ring illegally, and as Funk staggers out of the corner, Brody nearly takes his head off with a running boot to the face!
Hansen adjusts his elbowpad, and waits for Funk to get up. As Dory gets to his feet, Hansen charges at him . . . LARIATOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Dory crumbles to the mat, and Hansen covers him for the 1, 2, 3!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom
Working on it now.