WWK TV 7-23-88 Bruiser Brody's final match!

[Chitohausen]

World Wrestling Kingdom, Lord James Blears; Chairman


Airs across Japan on Saturday, July 23, 1988 on:




Taped on July 14, 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 this week’s episode of the World Wrestling Kingdom!

We’ve got four big matches on tap today!

The British duo of Mark Rocco and Fit Finlay are back, and they’ll face Shunji Takano and Mighty Inoue!

Shinya Hashimoto and Toshiaki Kawada meet the Guerrero brothers, Chavo and Eddy!

Masa Saito faces the youngster Shane Douglas!

And in the feature match, a huge tag team bout, as Jumbo Tsuruta and Tatsumi Fujinami face Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody!

(promoter’s note: this show was taped on July 14, before Brody’s death on July 17, and will be his last match)


FIT FINLAY & MARK “ROLLERBALL” ROCCO defeat SHUNJI TAKANO & MIGHTY INOUE. Finlay and Rocco pick up another win this week, when Rocco drives Inoue into the mat with a Tombstone Piledriver for the 1, 2, 3!


TOSHIAKI KAWADA & SHINYA HASHIMOTO defeat CHAVO & EDDY GUERRERO. Kawada got an upset victory over Chavo last week, and this week, Kawada and Hash get the win in a tag team match against Los Guerreros! The match is clean and scientific, but the vicious striking of Kawada and Hashimoto give them the upper hand. Hashimoto gets the win for his team, when he drops Eddy with a Jumping DDT for the 1, 2, 3!


VTR: Last Week On World Wrestling Kingdom TV:
In the end, Fujinami gets a hard-fought win after catching Saito with the Dragon Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!

Afterwards, Tenryu attacks Fujinami, dropping him with a Lariat to the back of the head, then Tenryu puts the boots to him! Tenryu pulls the barely-conscious Fujinami up into a sitting position, then bashes him in the face with the King’s Crown title belt!

While this is going on, Toshiaki Kawada and Shinya Hashimoto have come out to the ring, and they join Saito in pummeling Jumbo Tsuruta, keeping him from helping his friend.

This brings Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Dory Funk Jr to the ring, and they even things up!

Tsuruta is able to get into the ring, and he chases Tenryu off before checking on Fujinami. While he’s doing that, Misawa, Kobashi and Funk get the upper hand on Saito, Kawada and Hashimoto, and run them off.

The show ends with Tsuruta and Misawa each taking an arm, and helping the bloodied Fujinami to the locker room.
END VTR

Wakabayashi and Yamamoto talk about what we just saw, then send us to pre-recorded comments from King’s Crown champ Genichiro Tenryu and Masa Saito.

We see Genichiro Tenryu and Masa Saito in the dressing room after last week’s main event.

Tenryu seems very proud of himself, and says that he’s the only man in wrestling that has taken out both Jumbo Tsuruta and Tatsumi Fujinami! He says that Jumbo just isn’t the same after they crossed paths during the King’s Road League, and after what he just did to Fujinami, he doubts “the Dragon” will ever be the same either!

Tenryu then calls for Toshiaki Kawada and Shinya Hashimoto to join them. The two men come into the shot, and Tenryu says that he would like to introduce the world to the new and improved Ishin-gundan! He says that as the top guy in wrestling, as the King’s Crown champion, everyone has their sights set on him, so he created his own Revolutionary Army to watch his back and make sure that this belt stays right where it is!



“MR. TORTURE” MASA SAITO (w/ Genichiro Tenryu) defeats SHANE DOUGLAS (w/ Johnny Gunn). Douglas puts up a valiant effort, but in the end, Saito simply overpowers him, and delivers the Saito Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!


Wakabayashi and Yamamoto send us to pre-recorded comments from Tatsumi Fujinami and Jumbo Tsuruta.

We join Tatsumi Fujinami and Jumbo Tsuruta in the locker room after last week’s main event. Medical personnel are just finishing up wrapping the cut on the Dragon’s head.

Jumbo says that Genichiro Tenryu isn’t the same man that he took under his wing in the 1970s, and says that Tenryu’s become a disgrace to this sport! He says that what Tenryu did to him, what he did to Fujinami, there’s no place for that in wrestling. He says that there was a time when Tenryu understood that, but he’s not sure what’s going on with Genichiro now.

Fujinami is still groggy from the attack, but says that on the July 30 TV show, he gets his shot at Tenryu and the King’s Crown title, and he’s going to repay the attack today by taking Tenryu’s title!

Jumbo and Tatsumi are then joined by Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi.

Jumbo says that Tenryu has his Revolutionary Army, but Jumbo and Fujinami have put together an army of their own, and he then introduces us to the People’s Army! He says that they’re goal is to fight for the people, to preserve what is good and right in this sport!



JUMBO TSURUTA & “THE DRAGON” TATSUMI FUJINAMI defeat STAN “THE LARIAT” HANSEN & BRUISER BRODY. This match is everything you would expect it to be from these four. We get scientific wrestling from Jumbo and Fuji, but they show that they aren’t afraid to brawl either, as they go nose to nose with Hansen and Brody!

In the end, Jumbo catches Brody with the jumping knee to the jaw, then drives Brody into the mat with the Backdrop Suplex for the 1, 2, 3!

Hansen leaves the ring in a rage, swinging his bullrope around, scaring fans away, but Brody remains in the ring. He gets right in Jumbo’s face, and it seems like they might come to blows again . . . but then Brody offers a handshake! Jumbo is relunctant, but then shakes Brody’s hand, as does Fujinami.

Brody then leaves the ring, while Jumbo and Fujinami soak in the cheers of the crowd.


Wakabayashi and Yamamoto wrap things up, and hype next week’s show, which will feature Tatsumi Fujinami going one on one with Genichiro Tenryu for the King’s Crown championship!


Credits Roll



© 1988, World Wrestling Kingdom