WWK TV 5-21-88 The King's Road League begins!
May 22, 2022 18:30:05 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on May 22, 2022 18:30:05 GMT
World Wrestling Kingdom, Lord James Blears; Chairman
Airs across Japan on Saturday, May 21, 1988 on:
Taped on May 19, 1988 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
Announcers: Kenji Wakabayashi and Kotetsu Yamamoto
Ring Announcer: Takashi Yamada
Referees: Tiger Hattori, Joe Higuchi, Kyohei Wada
KENJI WAKABAYASHI and KOTETSU YAMAMOTO open the show.
They welcome us to the first episode of the reborn World Wrestling Kingdom!
On this debut episode, we’ll see the first match in the Best of 5 series between Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi and the gaijin duo of Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas, the Can-Am Connection!
Plus, youngsters Shinya Hashimoto and Toshiaki Kawada face the imposing American duo of Dick Slater and Danny Spivey!
And, the first three matches of the King’s Road League will take place. The first will see former NWA World heavyweight champion Dory Funk Jr square off with Mighty Inoue!
Jumbo Tsuruta will meet Bad News Allen Coage!
And the feature bout should be a wild one, as Tatsumi Fujinami faces Bruiser Brody!
WWK Chairman Lord James Blears is in the ring. He’s holding the All Asia tag team title belts.
Blears says that the next match is the first in a Best of 5 series of matches between Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi, and the team of Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas. He says that the team that wins the series will also win these belts, the All Asia tag team championship!
BEST OF 5 SERIES, MATCH #1:
MITSUHARU MISAWA & KENTA KOBASHI defeat THE CAN-AM CONNECTION: DAN KROFFAT & DOUG FURNAS. This match goes nearly 20 minutes, although it’s edited down to about 12 minutes for TV.
These two teams are pretty evenly-matched. Misawa and Kroffat are in the “big brother” role here, as they both have a few years experience on their tag team partners. Kobashi, as the most inexperienced participant in the match, spends most of his time in the ring getting worked over by the Can-Ams, but every so often, he’ll get some offence in.
In the end, while Kobashi ties up Furnas, Misawa hits Kroffat with a vicious elbow, and then connects with the Tiger Suplex ’85 for the 1, 2, 3!
Misawa and Kobashi take the first match in this best of 5 series!
DICK SLATER & DAN SPIVEY defeat SHINYA HASHIMOTO & TOSHIAKI KAWADA. Hashimoto and Kawada are a hard-hitting young team. Late in the match, the inexperience of the Japanese team shows, as Slater is able to goad Kawada into the gaijin corner, with Slater and Spivey then constantly double-teaming him. Hash comes over to try to make the save, and drops Slater with a vicious roundhouse kick, but Spivey clobbers him and tosses Hash through the ropes and to the floor. Back inside, Spivey, who’s not the legal man, delivers a thunderous Powerbomb on Kawada, with Slater then covering Toshiaki for the 1, 2, 3!
We go to Bruiser Brody in the backstage area. Brody says that he faces Tatsumi Fujinami later today in his first match of the King’s Road League. Brody says that he never gets tired of beating up Fujinami, and he’s going to enjoy himself when he beats the hell out of Fuji, and leaves him lying, broken and beaten, on the mat in a pool of his own blood!
We then go to Tatsumi Fujinami in the dressing room. Fujinami says that he’s wrestled Brody several times before, and Brody has proven to be one of his toughest opponents! He says that after every match, he always knew he’d been through a war, and he expects today will be no different. He says that the only thing he can promise the fans is that he’ll go out there and give it his all! Fuji says that he wants to win the league and become the King’s Crown champion, and that road starts right here today with Bruiser Brody!
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
DORY FUNK JR (2 points) beats MIGHTY INOUE (0 points). This match only lasts around 7 or 8 minutes, and is shown in it’s entirety on TV. Funk shows why he’s a former NWA World champion, and still considered one of the top technical wrestlers on the planet. He methodically takes Inoue apart, before applying the world famous Funk Spinning Toehold for the submission victory!
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
JUMBO TSURUTA (2 points) beats “BAD NEWS” ALLEN COAGE (0 points). The match goes back and forth, but around the 11-minute mark, Tsuruta sends Coage into the ropes, then charges after him, connecting with the big jumping knee to the face! From there, Tsuruta hoists Allen up, and drives him into the mat with his Backdrop Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!
We go to Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi in the locker room. They’re in a celebratory mood, after winning the first match in their best of 5 series with the Can-Am Connection. Misawa says that he and Kobashi are both looking to make a name for themselves, and if they can win this series and the All Asia tag titles, it will be the first major title that either of them have held.
Kobashi says that this is the first step on the path to the top!
We then go to the Can-Am Connection in the gaijin locker room. They are not happy about the outcome of the match with Misawa and Kobashi. Furnas says that he and Kroffat are clearly the superior team, but they realize they’re not going to get a fair shake here in Japan against two Japanese wrestlers!
Kroffat says that they made the mistake of thinking the referees would be impartial. That was their mistake, but now, their eyes are open, they see how things are going to be, and he promises the outcome of the next match will be different!
KING’S ROAD LEAGUE:
TATSUMI FUJINAMI (0 points) battles BRUISER BRODY (0 points) to a wild Double Count-Out. Fujinami and Brody battle tooth and nail for over 15 minutes, before taking the fight to the floor. On the outside, they batter each other with whatever they can get their hands on! Referee Tiger Hattori reaches the count of 20 before either man even thinks about returning to the ring, and the match is declared a double count-out!
As a result, neither wrestler gets any points in the King’s Road league, but they don’t seem to care right now, as they continue to battle around the ring, and even into the first few rows of seats!
Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show, as Fujinami and Brody continue to pummel each other!
Credits Roll
© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom
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