Japan TV 3-26-88 Title vs Title!!!
Mar 25, 2022 15:44:02 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Mar 25, 2022 15:44:02 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom; Lord James Blears, Chairman
Airs on Saturday, March 26, 1988 on:
Taped: March 11 at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Kotetsu Yamamoto
Ring Announcer: Takashi Yamada
Referees: Tiger Hattori, Joe Higuchi, and Kyohei Wada
The opening credits roll over the following clip, from last week’s show:
However, Misawa backdrops his way out of a Powerbomb attempt from Tenryu, and makes the hot tag to Fujinami! Fujinami, the International champion, and Tenryu, the Al Asia champion, tear into each other, but in the end, Fujinami connects with the Dragon Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!
Afterwards, Tenryu gets on the house mic. He says that he may be a lot of things, but above all, he’s a man of his word. He walks up to Fujinami, Inoki and Misawa, and though it seems to pain him greatly to do it . . . he shakes the hand of all three men!
While this is going on, Choshu shakes his head in disbelief, and he and Saito leave the ring!
Tenryu says that he hates to say it, but Fujinami, Inoki and Misawa proved here today that they are the better team! He thanks them for going all out and giving him a great match!
He shakes their hands again as the show comes to a close.
KENJI WAKABAYASHI and KOTETSU YAMAMOTO open the show.
They welcome us to this week’s edition of World Wrestling Kingdom!
This week, Riki Choshu squares off against Rocky Johnson!
The original Tiger Mask says farewell, as he faces one of his greatest rivals, Black Tiger, one last time in his retirement match!
Mitsuharu Misawa has a tough challenge ahead of him as he faces the wildman Bruiser Brody!
And, a HUGE main event, it’s TITLE VS TITLE as WWK champ Stan Hansen squares off with All Asia champion Genichiro Tenryu! Could we see one of these men walk out with both belts today?!?!
RIKI CHOSHU (w/ Masa Saito) beats ROCKY JOHNSON. Choshu makes short work of Johnson here, as he gets the win at around the 5-minute mark after hitting a Lariat, then locking on the Scorpion Lock for the submission.
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto talk about the original Tiger Mask and the influence that he’s had, not only on wrestling in Japan, but around the world!
TIGER MASK’S FAREWELL MATCH!
ORIGINAL TIGER MASK beats BLACK TIGER. Black Tiger has been one of Sayama’s biggest rivals, so it’s fitting that he would be Tiger Mask’s opponent for his final match. Both men are incredibly acrobatic, and that’s on full display here! The momentum goes back and forth for more than 10 minutes, but as we pass the 10-minute mark, Black Tiger seems to have the match well in hand.
He takes TM to the mat, focusing on his leg, no doubt looking to ground the legendary high flyer. Black Tiger goes for submissions several times, but Tiger Mask always seems to either find a way to counter it, or is close enough to the ropes to force a break.
Black Tiger’s strategy seems to work, as Tiger Mask is limping as he fights his way to his feet. He manages to reverse an Irish whip attempt, and hit a standing dropkick as Black Tiger rebounds off the ropes, but it causes TM a lot of pain, and Black Tiger is the first one back up!
Black Tiger goes right back to the leg, but Tiger Mask, realizing that he’s not going to be able to use the high flying offence, turns to his martial arts training, and stuns Black Tiger with some vicious kicks! Black Tiger fights back, but when he sets Tiger Mask up for a suplex, TM slips out of his grasp, landing behind Black Tiger, and then quickly cinching him up for the Tiger Suplex!
Tiger Mask hits the Tiger Suplex and gets the 1, 2, 3!!!
Afterwards, the two men shake hands, and Tiger Mask takes the house mic. He thanks the fans for their support over the years, and thanks them for coming out to see his final match!
WWK Heavyweight champion Stan Hansen is standing by in the hallway backstage.
Hansen keeps it short and sweet, saying that he beat Tenryu in the tournament for this WWK heavyweight title, and he’ll beat him again today to become All Asia heavyweight champion as well!
We then go to All Asia Heavyweight champion Genichiro Tenryu.
Tenryu says that Hansen is as tough as they come, there’s no doubt about that, but he’s worked hard to win, and defend, this All Asia title, and he’s not going to give it up without a fight! He says that he’s ready for Hansen, and Hansen had better be ready for him!
BRUISER BRODY defeats MITSUHARU MISAWA. Misawa has had some tough battles here in the World Wrestling Kingdom, but none as tough as this one! Brody tears into Misawa as soon as the bell sounds, and doesn’t let up at all. The fans are solidly behind Misawa, but he finds himself on the defensive for most of the early going. He’s too busy just trying to keep his shoulders off the mat for a 3-count to get much offense going at all.
Things pick up for Misawa, though, when Brody runs the ropes, then goes for the jumping kneedrop, a move that has won him many matches! Misawa is able to roll out of the way, and Brody crashes, knee-first, into the mat! Misawa immediately takes advantage of this, and goes right after Brody’s knee. He knows that if he can take out the leg of the big man, that will greatly increase his chances of winning the match!
Misawa spends the next few minutes working over the knee of Brody, and looks to have things in hand. Brody fights his way back to his feet, but Misawa hits a picture-perfect standing dropkick that puts Brody right back down on the mat! Misawa, sensing victory, heads to the top rope, looking for a flying attack to put Brody down for the count.
However, Brody is up, he grabs Misawa and tosses him off the top rope, with enough force that he sends Misawa about three-quarters of the way across the ring!
Misawa is up quickly, and he charges at Brody, but Brody responds in kind, charging towards Misawa, then Brody gets his boot up, catching Misawa right in the face with a running boot! It has enough force behind it that Misawa does a flip in mid-air before hitting the mat!
Brody then runs the ropes, and delivers the jumping kneedrop!
This time, Brody connects, and picks up the 1, 2, 3!
WWK TITLE VS ALL ASIA TITLE!
STAN HANSEN (WWK champion) defeats GENICHIRO TENRYU (All Asia champion) to unify the titles! Before the match, both men are presented with a bouquet of flowers from a pair of women clad in furisode kimonos. Referee Tiger Hattori takes both belts, and holds them up for the fans to see, to signify both titles are on the line!
The match kicks into high gear as soon as the bell sounds, and we’re treated to a wild, bloody match! Tenryu tries to keep it a wrestling match, while Hansen would much rather just brawl! The last time these two met in a singles match, as part of the championship league for the WWK title, Tenryu found himself as the underdog, just trying to stop the assault from the bigger, stronger Hansen. This match is more of the same, although Tenryu is able to get more offense in this time.
However, the end result is the same, as Hansen methodically wears Tenryu down with his punishing style, and then connects with the LARIATOOOOOO!!!! for the 1, 2, 3!
Stan Hansen is now the WWK Heavyweight champion AND the All Asia Heavyweight champion!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom
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