(1) 28/01 : Jumbo & Yatsu & Fuchi vs Tenryu & Footloose

A little more than half is shown, and it's the best pure heavyweight action you can find from 1989. They work at a junior pace and everyone is o­n, even Tenryu and Yatsu. It's basically a big work to the finish section with tons of spots and sequences. The Footloose are particulary good as they carry their part of the team for Tenryu and deliver an awesome performance (not an unusual thing for them). Fuchi is super fun as the junior lost in the middle of heavyweights, but still kicking some ass. The heat is incredible too, as it's taking place in Korakuen Hall, temple of hot puroresu back then.

12/02 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Gordy

This is the main event of an AWA show in Kansas City. Tenryu squashes Wild Bill Irwin earlier o­n, to tell you how exciting this card was. The Olympians regain the tag titles in a pretty forgetable match, but who can blame these four workers for going half speed when they are working before 500 cluless people instead of main eventing Budokan.

Tenryu & Kawada was a rather unconsistant team because Tenryu often choose to stay out of the ring and let Kawada do all the work, which is not necessarely a bad thing technically, but it made the team a little bit awkward. This was not the case here, as Tenryu was in Korakuen so he was motivated. This match doesn't go as long as some of their others, but it's quicker and everybody makes a contribution and as a result, it's better than any of the Olympic Team vs Tenyu & Hansen matches later in the year. Great stuff.

The main event of the April Budokan show sees the return of the Road Warriors in All Japan. This match is for the NWA 6-man tag, but the real story here is Jumbo opposing the monstruous Roadies and his rival Tenryu. The Warriors execute all their big spots and Jumbo made them look like gold. The heat is unreal as the crowd is going crazy for the Roadies, so Jumbo acts like a heel to add to the fun and makes this a special match to watch. Great performance by Jumbo.

04/04 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Tenryu

First match involving Hansen, and it’s both about Jumbo vs Tenryu and Jumbo vs Hansen to set up their upcoming unification match. Extremely stiff and out of control, in a good way.

It's their brawl at Korakuen two days after the real Triple Crown unification match. It's not pretty, but it's stiff as hell. They just beat the living shit out of each others for 15 minutes, without any sequences or exchanges of moves. They build their match to get to the point of complete chaos, so of course the double DQ is the o­nly way to go. Not great, but certainly a fun match, and better than their rather dull unification match two days later. Super heat too.

18/04 : Hansen vs Jumbo

Pretty good build and nice finish, but as a whole it’s a little bit dull and not quite as intense as the Korakuen asskicking. Jumbo unifies the three single titles in All Japan to create the Triple Crown.

Their first match of the year probably built to be another great match like their following two, but as everybody knows, the match is cut short by a powerbomb spot turned ugly, as Jumbo drops Tenryu badly o­n his neck and the match ends anticlimatically. But what they do before the ending is excellent.

The consensus best heavyweigt match of the decade. Everything has already been said about this awesome masterpiece. Great stiffness, worked at a rabid pace, with an incredible work to the finish section. The greatness of this match mainly comes from the greatness of Jumbo Tsuruta, added to the chemistry he and Tenryu, otherwise a limited an inconsistant worker over the year, had developped at this point. Tenryu gets all the credit in the world to be able to work at this level, but he is the Razor to Jumbo's Michaels and the Kandori to Jumbo's Hokuto.

The o­nly time the challenger team is composed of Hansen & Kawada, and the result is better than than most match with Tenryu/Hansen. Both work very hard and they play the opposite roles, as Hansen is dominating Jumbo & Yatsu whereas Kawada is dominated by the opposition. So Hansen is playing Kawada's big brother, saving him a hundred time before Kawada can finally react. Tenryu misses nobody.

A great six man involving two so-so worker (Yatsu and Kabuki), carried by Jumbo o­n o­ne part, and Hansen and Fuyuki o­n the other. Fuyuki is the most hated member of the Revolution. He is always a good whipping boy for Jumbo's team, and makes a super underdog in his match. Kabuki works as good as he can and adds his strange coolness to the match (gotta love those « automatic » uppercuts). Tenryu works less than his two partners, of course, but he still delivers a very good performance.

11/07 : Hansen & Tenryu vs Jumbo & Yatsu

Typical good stiff match bewteen these two teams. Hansen & Tenryu give Yatsu an ass kicking and finally win the titles.

18/07 : Tenryu vs Yastu

Ugly Triple Crown defense by Tenryu, who litteraly sleeps for a good ten minutes before he decides to do something worthwhile. Hats off to Yatsu who busts his ass, as always, but he’s too limited to make this good, and Tenryu won’t pick up the pieces. Some good moments, but as a whole it’s pretty much the match to show to anybody who thinks Tenryu was a great worker.

22/07 : Jumbo & Yatsu vs Hansen & Tenryu

Typical good stiff match between these two teams. Hansen & Tenryu give Yatsu an ass kicking and finally lose the titles. Wait a minute……

The three highest member of the Revolution vs Jumbo and the vets. Hansen & Kawada carry their team, Hansen the monster and Kawada the underdog. Kabuki is limited, but works his part very well and is pretty fired up in this match. Tenryu is awesome for heating up his rivalry with Jumbo. Fast paced match with spots back and forth, this is better than their 03/07 match for the simple reason that Kawada is there instead of Fuyuki.

From the Bruiser Brody Memorial show at Korakuen Hall, this match showcased a young and already excellent Kenta Kobashi getting his ass kicked by Hansen & Tenryu. His teamwork with Jumbo is not as efficient as Yatsu's, but he's already so good in the ring that the result is a lot better. He's playing the young underdog role who gets in the face of the legends and pays for it, whereas Jumbo plays his big brother. A great match in the Jumbo vs Tenryu rivalry, and the biggest match of Kobashi this year.

19/08 : Tenryu & Ogawa vs Jumbo & Kobashi

Very cool match with the participation of Revolution rookie Yoshinari Ogawa, who doesn’t belong but still tries to kick some Jumbo ass. Tenryu is working at his best level here, and the opposition is as good as it looks o­n paper. Super fun, really.

The best match of the Olympic team, working against a very motivated Tenryu and the ever great Kawada. These two teams never worked harder, and it's even better than their Korakuen match earlier in the year. It's pretty much the first time Tenryu uses the little stiff kicks to the head that made him such a fun wrestler. Probably Yatsu's best performance of the year, too.

The counterpart to their Budokan meeting. Slower paced, but as exciting and great in terms of stiffness, psychology and moves. Tenryu was better here, as he worked even stiffer at this point of the year, and was beginning to use more little stiff kick to the back and the head. Great use of the key spots with great nearfalls before a perfect finish built around the powerbomb and how to counter it. Awesome match.

Tenryu & the Footloose are the best trio this year, the Footloose handling the strong part of the work and Tenryu picking his spots, playing the overpowering leader of the faction. In this o­ne Tenryu is particulary good, stiffing Kobashi unmercifully and not reluctant to work his share (good God !). Kobashi is the star of the opposite team as the underdog who gets destroyed but makes the hot tags to the veterans. His inclusion into the mix instead of Yatsu really makes a difference. Kabuki has his best performance of the year too.

The best of the long series between Tenryu/Hansen & Jumbo/Yatsu. Contrary to the previous matches during which Tenryu and Hansen kicked their opponents' ass, this match is built around Hansen’s back injury. Therefore he played the role of the victim for a while. Peculiar role for him, but he was great at it and milked the injury for all it as worth. Excellent psychology, great stiffness. Tenryu worked harder than before because of the story.

??/10 : Jumbo & Kabuki vs Tenryu & Fuyuki

Yeah, even with Kabuki, Fuyuki and Tenryu, this match is very good because everybody plays his part and works very hard (especially Fuyuki). And there’s the Wrestling God in the middle of all this.

06/12 : Jumbo & Yastu vs Tenryu & Hansen

Final match of the Real World Tag League, and main event of the Budokan December event. Way too long, but still very good thanks to the chemistry these two teams had developped by then. Yatsu was pretty goofy here, using a thousand headbutts despite a head injury.

At this time the All Asian Tag Titles were still an important part of All Japan’s product, and 1989 saw some of the best matches of the company happen in this division, thanks to the Footloose vs Can-Am Express (Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas) feud.

18/04 : Footloose vs Kroffat & Zenk

Good match, but far from what the Footloose would do with the Can-Am. Kawada vs Kroffat is just awesome. Funny to see Zenk, o­ne half of the original Can-Am (with Rick Martel) taking the place of Furnas.

This match is more about Footloose vs Can-Am express than anything else, as they are building up to their match at Budokan in June. Spivey and Tenryu play the monster supporters of both teams and add a nice story with the dueling powerbombs. Spivey is particulary great for building heat for him vs Tenryu.

Just an awesome match as the two best teams in the world face each other. It means Kawada vs Kroffat, of course, but it's better than this since both teams have an incredible chemistry. Worked at a junior pace, with spots ahead of their time, the workers work the crowd in a frenzy as the Budokan audience is clearly behind the Cam-Am. The whole match looks like a long work to the finish section. Mind blowing and ageless stuff.

This is a non title match from Korakuen Hall, in which Kawada injures his ribs as soon as the match begins. Fuyuki works extra hard to make up for it, and Kawada pulls it off even in bad shape. They don't go as long as in their title matches, but the work and the heat are great as usual. After the match, both teams get into a huge brawl to heat up their rivalry.

Even though it's not as great as their first match, this is still a true classic, with a different twist as Kawada was injured and Fuyuki worked twice as hard and played the role of Kawada's protector at several occasions. The audience totally loathes Fuyuki, which adds to the fun. The injury factor gives a new element to the match, and Kawada is just awesome to see working despite the pain and at the same time putting it over. Yet another must see match in the best feud of the year.

From the October Budokan show. o­nly the 8 last minutes are showed, but it's a great work to the finish section, as always with the Can-Am. Malenko is more fired up here than during his slow paced junior matches, and Kobashi displays his superb athetic spots. Not as awesome as the Footloose match because Malenko & Kobashi aren't a regular team, but what is showed is easily o­ne of the best tag match of the year.

20/10 : Footloose vs Can-Am Express

Not quite as awesome as all their previous matches, since it’s worked a lot slower, with less spots, and doesn’t go as long. It also lacks drama. Still a very good match though.

NB : The Footloose faced the Can-Am again during the tag league, but pretty much nothing was showed o­n TV.

The British Bulldogs in All Japan

The Bulldogs were o­n their last legs at this point, with Dynamite badly injured and Davey getting bigger and bigger thanks to the roids. They toured a lot with All Japan and still delivered some interesting matches though. Up to June, they were looking decent to really good, depending o­n the day and the opposition, but when they came back for the Real Tag League, they were like a different team. Dynamite looked really old and sad, and Davey was completely unmotivated, using chinlocks a hundred times during matches. How sad.

One of best performance from Tenryu this year, as he gets fired up working against the legend Dynamite Kid. Of course, Fuyuki still has to do most of the work, and he's really efficient working as the underdog. It's also the Bulldogs best performance along with the Malenko match. Dynamite works extra hard to make his exchange with Tenryu special, and Davey Boy busts his ass too. The Korakuen crowd is super hot for this o­ne, as the Bulldogs are totally credible against the second native and his lieutenant.

Incredible match at Korakuen Hall. Of course Davey is not a junior, but they worked at a junior pace and the match was mainly mat based, which is the style AJ juniors like Fuchi or Malenko mainly use. The Malenkos carry the offense, imposing a submission style to their opposition, who can work with it beautifully, especially Dynamite. A lot a great counters, great double team and sequences since both team have an incredible chemistry. The Bulldogs bring their intensity to the Malenkos. Just awesome to watch these guys work together, and the audience are going crazy for both teams.

14/05 : Bulldogs vs Can-Am Express

20/05 : Bulldogs vs Can-Am Express

Two very good matches opposing similar teams composed of an agile powerhouse (Furnas/Davey Boy) and a great versatile worker (Kroffat/Dynamite). Of course Dynamite looked like the older, slower version of Kroffat.

22/05 : Bulldogs vs Yatsu & Jumbo

The Bulldogs challenge for the Tag Titles, and it’s as good as a lot of Tenryu/Hansen matches. The final minutes is a remainder of Wrestlemania 2, which is both neat and stupid.

05/06 : Bulldogs vs Gordy & Hansen

Yet another really good Bulldog match. Gordy is the most generous worker alive at this point, and will bump like a freak for midget Dynamite. Not pretty, but a lot of impressive power spots and stiff shots.

??/06 : Bulldogs vs Footloose

Pretty much comparable to the Can-Am matches, this is the last very good performance of the Bulldogs, anywhere in the world I think. Dynamite vs Kawada is always something good to see.

29/11 : Bulldogs vs Singh & Abby

This is from the Real Tag League, during which the Bulldogs were pretty dull if not awful to watch. But here it’s like working with two legends and horrible workers motivated them. Davey Boy finally wakes up and Dynamite bleeds all over the place. Bad match, of course, but still fun to see. Oh, and Singh is the most worthless piece of crap in the universe not named Chyna, as even Abby is forced to, God forbid, work when teaming with the Indian Asshole.

All Japan Juniors

Although they are a far cry for their New Japan counterparts, Fuchi and the Malenkos still deliver some worthwhile matches, with the ever welcomed addition of great gaijins like the Fantastics.

20/01 : Joe Malenko vs Fuchi

Typical Fuchi match, with a lot of submissions and streching. Not that much intensity thanks to Joe, but very technically sound.

Very heated match at Korakuen Hall. The veteran Fuchi disciplines young Nakano and stretches him every way possible. Fuchi is great in his role and makes Nakano a underdog for the crowd to rally behind. Very solid, totally carried by Fuchi, with a very good work to the finish section. Nakano doesn't have a large moveset, but he o­nly has to use it during the last minutes to pull off the upset. Excellent story match.

The two brothers in an incredible technical match. A ton of great submission work and counters. Dean is clearly better, working at a faster pace and being more intense than Joe. The match looks a little bit too much like an exhibition sometimes, with not much of a story told, but technically it's just wonderful to watch. Typical Malenko match.

Only the last 6 minutes are showed, but these are exceptionnal 6 minutes. The Malenkos use all kinds of great double team moves and sequences with the Fan. As action packed as their Bulldogs match. Dean and Tommy are the real stars of the match, as their sequences are the best. Another great gaijin vs gaijin match.

Here are the last worthwhile matches in All Japan in 1989, that really didn’t belong in any thematic list.

An oddity of a match as Tiger Mask was pretty much absent from All Japan's scene and it's his o­nly notable single match. Steamboat is a great 70's style american heavyweight, but his offense looks dated compared to Misawa's high flying stuff. But if the result is beneath what people could except from Steamboat vs Misawa, it's still a very good match.

Very fun match with a rare All Japan appearance by Don Muraco. He's still pretty good, and even though he can't compete with his partners, he delivers something different and doesn't look out of place. The star of the match is Hansen, who is totally out of control, kicking ass, interfering randomly, stiffing his opposition. Poor Shinichi Nakano is the designated victim of the gaijins, and he delivers his best performance of the year here. Jumbo & Yatsu work as their respective selves, which is both great and not that great. Super heat.

The best carry job of the year by Jumbo, who gets a great single match out of his partner Yatsu. Good matwork at the beginning, stiff work and good psychology, this match delivers everything you'd want from an All Japan heavy match at this point. Yatsu's execution is hit and miss, as always, but he works super hard to make this as good as it should be. There's just no comparison between this match and the Tenryu vs Yatsu Triple Crown defense from July, and it shows all the difference between Jumbo and Tenryu since Yatsu was game in both matches. It's nice to see Yatsu, who always work hard despite his liabilities, getting such a good single match.

The second Triple Crown defense of Tenryu happens at Budokan and it's Terry Gordy who carries Tenryu to yet another notable match. He's the o­ne supplying the offense and controlling the pace, and it's a good thing, because Tenryu would not be afraid to dog it if given the opportunity. Not very long, but it's the right lenght for these two. It's really stiff and the psychology around the powerbomb is excellent. It's Gordy lone great performance of the year in AJ, but it shows how good he was carrying an inferior native.

A super fun match from Korakuen Hall to Celebrate Baba's 30th year in the wrestling business. Of course, with Baba and especially Kimura involved, there's a lot of mediocre to pathetic offense and poor selling, but the match is very long and builds well to a super work to the finish portion (mainly worked by Fuchi). Tenryu and his Revolution pals opposing Baba is fun to see despite the ridiculousness of some spots. A match carried to excellence by the sole will of Baba to work hard and the great teamwork of the Footloose and Tenryu.

There were three main stories in New Japan in 1989 : the feud between Choshu and Vader, the Russian invasion, and the push of the first of the musketeers, Shinya Hashimoto. At one point all these stories melted into o­ne thanks to the great booking of Riki Choshu. Even though this produced very few excellent matches, the feuds were enjoyable to follow.

03/02 : Choshu & Fujinami vs Vader & Bigelow

Really good tag match with Fuji taking the requisite asskicking from Vader, Choshu being intense as hell and Bigelow delivereing the fat spots.

09/02 : Inoki vs Bigelow

Surprisingly decent Inoki match. Inoki works o­n Bigelow’s arm and Bam Bam sells it like a king. Good story and build to a logical ending. Damn, Bigelow was good.

09/02 : Fujinami vs Vader

Typical Fuji carrying the limited Vader to a good match. The IWGP champ takes a beating and makes Vader look like gold before doing the job.

22/02 : Choshu vs Inoki

Main event of the Sumo Hall show. The match itself is pretty decent overall, but the ending is the most memorable of the year since Inoki jobs clean to Choshu. It’s pretty much a symbolic passing of the torch as Choshu becomes The Man in New Japan, Inoki becoming something more like a special attraction after this. Inoki doing a job is always a huge huge thing to watch.

The gaijin team is very solid as Sawyer and Rheingans handle most of the work against inferior workers like Kimura and Choshu. Fujinami makes Vader look like gold as always, and Choshu is efficient in these kind of short and fast paced match. Vader o­nly has to pick his spots, so he's looking great. Kimura sucks, but in a tag like this his liabilities are much hidden and he can do the o­nly few signature spots he can do well.

A very good, short but fast paced match between the veterans of New Japan and the gaijins monsters. Rheingans and Sawyer carry the work for their team and let Vader clean the ring and get the special treatment with his limited but good monster offense. Fujinami bumps like crazy and makes the opposition look like gold yet again. Sawyer is particulary impressive, but Rheingans is very solid too, with ton of suplex and submission work. Inoki is picking his spots here, and more efficient than Kimura in the previous match.

Before he injured his back in June against the same Vader, Fujinami was o­ne of the very best native heavyweight of the country, o­nly taking a back seat to Jumbo and Kawada. Working with a limited or poor opposition (Lawler or Sid for God's sake) prevented him from having a lot of very strong matches over the first six months of the year. However, this match from the Tokyo Dome is his personnal masterpiece, as he got the best match possible from an efficient but still limited Vader. Fuji bumps like there's no tomorrow and builds a dramatic match with quick counters and near falls. A testament to the subtle work of New Japan’s best heavy worker of the decade.

24/04 : Hashimoto vs Vader

IWGP tournament at the Dome final. Young Hashimoto ends up against Vader after upsetting Choshu earlier in the night. Needless to say he takes a beating, but gets some good shots o­n Vader’s injured arm before jobbing. Pretty good.

25/05 : Hashimikov vs Vader

Follow Choshu’s booking : Vader loses his IWGP title won o­ne month earlier to sambo master Salmon Hashimikov. The suisha otoshi is now the biggest move in New Japan.

22/06 : Fujinami vs Vader

Sad match as Fuji injures his back o­n a backdrop. He was supposed to win, but it looks like shit because his back can’t carry the load of Vader.

12/07 : Hashimikov vs Choshu

Follow Choshu’s booking : Choshu beats Hashimikov for the IWGP title after taking the suisha otoshi.

10/08 : Hashimikov vs Hashimoto

Follow Choshu’s boking : Hash jobs to the suisha otoshi.