Japan TV 3-12-88 Hansen/Brody vs Choshu/Tenryu!
Mar 13, 2022 17:38:31 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Mar 13, 2022 17:38:31 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom; Lou Thesz, Chairman
Airs on Saturday, March 12, 1988 on:
Taped: March 5 at the City Gymnasium in Akita, 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:
JIP from 10-23-87: Tenryu is up first, and he connects with an Enziguri for a very close nearfall! Tenryu then stomps Hansen, before heading to the middle turnbuckle for his diving reverse elbowdrop. However Hansen rolls out of the way, and Tenryu crashes to the mat. Hansen goes at Tenryu again, driving a knee into his side, sending Tenryu rolling out of the ring again. Hansen follows him out again, and batters Tenryu on the floor before rolling him back inside the ring.
Hansen continues to pummel Tenryu, repeatedly driving the point of his elbow down into the bloody forehead of Tenryu. Genichiro turns the tables in an instant, though, when Hansen pulls him up, Tenryu jumps up and hits an Enziguri! Hansen stumbles, but doesn’t go down. Tenryu connects with another Enziguri!
Tenryu sets Hansen up for the folding Powerbomb, but Hansen blocks it, and backdrops Tenryu to the mat! As Genichiro slowly gets back to his feet, Hansen charges at him . . . LARIATOOOOOOO!!!!
Tenryu crumbles to the mat, and Hansen covers him 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!
Back in October of last year, Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu met in a tournament match for the WWK heavyweight title. As we saw at the top of the program, it was a wild, bloody match that saw Hansen bust Tenryu open before the match even began, and then continue to batter him for the duration of the match. Tenryu hasn’t forgotten about that, and will meet Hansen again this week, this time in a tag team match, as Tenryu and Riki Choshu meet Hansen and Bruiser Brody in our main event!
We’ll also see International champion Tatsumi Fujinami face off against top junior heavyweight Les Thornton!
Mitsuharu Misawa faces Kelly Kiniski!
And our first bout will see Shiro Koshinaka square off with Raymond Rougeau!
SHIRO KOSHINAKA defeats RAYMOND ROUGEAU. They wrestle at a junior heavyweight pace, and after around 8 minutes of action, Koshinaka gets the win after driving Rougeau into the mat with the Samurai Driver ’84!
MITSUHARU MISAWA defeats KELLY KINISKI. The rugged Canadian puts up a good fight, but Misawa eventually gets the win, pinning Kiniski with the Tiger Suplex ’85!
An ad airs for the “Wrestle Kingdom!” series, which will kick off on March 26 and run until April 22! Live WWK action can be seen in the following cities as part of that tour:
March 26, 1988 at the City Gymnasium in Koga, Ibaraki prefecture for a TV taping!
March 27, 1988 at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo for another TV taping! All three titles will be in on the line, including Bruiser Brody challenging Tatsumi Fujinami for the biggest prize in wrestling, the International heavyweight title!
March 28, 1988 in Nagaoka, Niigata prefecture at the Welfare Hall!
March 29, 1988 at the City Welfare Hall in Sanjo, Niigata prefecture!
March 30, 1988 in Joetsu, Niigata prefecture at the Region Plaza!
March 31, 1988 in Uozu, Toyama prefecture at the General Gymnasium!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto talk about the wrestlers that will appear on the “Wrestle Kingdom” series, including Blackjack Mulligan, Bruiser Brody, WWK champion Stan Hansen, and this man . . .
ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER, THE MADMAN FROM THE SUDAN, MAKES HIS RETURN TO JAPAN!!!!
TATSUMI FUJINAMI defeats LES THORNTON. Thornton and Fujinami are both former multiple-time Junior Heavyweight champions, although Fuji has since moved up to the heavyweight division. Thornton was trained in his native England, and as a result, is a very skilled technical wrestler, and he shows that here, going hold for hold with Fujinami.
They wrestle the match at a junior heavyweight pace, trading holds and counterholds at a lightning-quick pace. Fujinami tries to slow Thornton down, and keep him on the mat where he can work him over. Thornton, though, shows that’s easier said than done, and he seems to have a counter for everything that Fujinami tries!
Eventually, Fuji is able to take control of the match, though he can’t seem to put Thornton away. As we enter into the final part of the match, we see several very close nearfalls from both men. In the end, as we near the 12-minute mark, Fujinami drops Thornton with a release Dragon Suplex, then locks on the Dragon Sleeper for the win!
THE REVOLUTION ARMY: GENICHIRO TENRYU & RIKI CHOSHU (w/ Masa Saito, Toshiaki Kawada & Shinya Hashimoto) battle STAN HANSEN & BRUISER BRODY to a wild, bloody DOUBLE COUNT-OUT. Hansen and Tenryu have some history, as they wrestled each other in the WWK heavyweight title league, and Hansen attacked Tenryu before the match began, leaving him a bloody, which Tenryu believes led to his losing the match. They have a title vs title match that will air on the March 26 show, this is a chance for both wrestlers to try to gain the upper hand heading into that showdown.
The match is non-stop action, as these two teams tear into each other as soon as the bell sounds, and don’t let up at all. Choshu and Tenryu’s strategy becomes clear early on, they go after Hansen’s arm, looking to take away his most feared weapon, the Lariat! Hansen and Brody’s strategy seems to be to simply steamroll their opponents, as they pummel them mercilessly!
In the end, all four men brawl on the outside, leading referee Tiger Hattori to count both teams out!
Hansen and Tenryu continue to brawl around ringside, before making their way back into the ring, where they continue to battle, as the show comes to an end!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom
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