(9) 10/08 : Big Van Vader vs Riki Choshu

More basic than Vader's match with Fuji. Choshu is not as good taking a beating, but the match tells a good story. Vader may not be a great worker yet, but he knows his role and how to play his part. Choshu uses both his quickness and his power to try to KO him, so it's a pretty simple match. Good finish with Vader finally being quicker than Choshu.

20/09 : Choshu & Iizuka vs Hashimoto & Saito

Really good tag match even, though Hash and especially Saito are limited. Iizuka is a junior lost in the middle of heavyweight, and he takes a giant beating from Hashimoto, who finally wins the IWGP tag titles.

03/11 : Hashimoto vs Vader

Follow Choshu’s booking : Hash wins a match over IWGP champion Vader, via count out.

05/12 : Hashimikov vs Hashimoto

Follow Choshu’s booking : Hash finally defeats suisha otoshi master and former IWGP champion Salmon Hashimikov (who beat Vader) in the World Cup Tournament. Hum, hum hum…

06/12 : Hashimoto vs Williams

World Cup semi-final. Williams is working exclusively in New Japan at this time, and even though he’s not great yet, he’s making an awesome impression o­n the audience. Slow match that builds pretty well.

06/12 : Choshu vs Chono

Good match and first notable match of musketeer Masahiro Chono, who pushes Choshu pretty hard in the other World Cup semi-final. Not spectacular, but efficient.

Final of the World Cup Tournament, this is also the conclusion of the Hash push in 1989. He already defeated Choshu at the Dome show, so he's got a chance coming into this match, especially after beating Vader and Hashimikov. Slow paced at the beginning, but it builds well. They both have a limited moveset, but they use it efficiently. Nice exchange at the end, with Choshu paying hommage to his fellow companions Kimura and the injured Fujinami.

Even though the New Japan heavyweights cannot compare to the All Japan top guys, the tag division delivered a lot of good to very good matches, thanks to two of the best worker in the company carrying the entire division nearly all year long. Super Strong Machine and George Takano worked against both heavys and juniors, and were always very efficent, with some excellent teamwork and spots and a will to carry anybody.

Even though Takano & Machine aren't juniors, these are more junior matches than heavy matches. The pace is super quick and the teams exchanges more spots than you can count in a rather long match. The workers have a great chemistry together, Takano and Machine working as quickly as Koshinaka & Kobayashi. The work to the finish is incredible, with a ton of nearfalls. Koshinaka is the best of the match, but everybody is contributing to make it o­ne of the most exciting match of the year. A little bit like the Can-Am vs Footloose. The first match is a little bit shorter, but both are at the same level.

16/03 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Saito

Takano and Machine defeat the veteran team to win the IWGP titles. Saito is not pretty to watch, but Choshu is very efficient and work extra hard. Takano bleeds a bucket.

13/04 : Takano & Machine vs Armstrong & Smothers

Very good match as the Southern Boys are a good opposition for the champions. Lot of spots if not a lot of drama.

19/04 : Takano & Machine vs Sano & Goto

Another heavies vs juniors match. Sano is just amazing to watch, and Goto plays the underdog. He could actually work back then and shows it. Very good performance from everybody, even though Sano steals the show.

03/07 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Fujinami

Takano & Machine work o­n Fuji’s back injury and actually get a win. Very good match because even though Fuji cannot do much, the story is excellent and Takano & Machine deliver all the spots.

12/07 : Takano & Machine vs Iizuka & Koshinaka

Yet another very good match against two junior opponents. Very fast paced as always.

13/07 : Takano & Machine vs Choshu & Iizuka

Choshu pushes junior sambo artist Takayuki Iizuki as his partner, and they work a very good match against the champions. The best heavyweight tag match of the year in New Japan, with a lot of spots and a great finish.

??/09 : Takano & Machine vs Fernandez & Sawyer

Last really good match of the team this year. They are dominated by the gaijin team here. Fernandez actually looks pretty decent, but Sawyer is the real star. Awesome looking finish.

NB : Takano and Machine worked a match at the Dome show against Hase & Koshinaka, which was probably very good if not better, but it was not shown o­n TV. They had to show the sambo masters instead……

Hase to Shiro to Liger

Of course, the best matches of New Japan will be found with the junior workers. 1989 is a peculiar year because it was the transition between the era of Shiro Koshinaka and Hiroshi Hase and the era of Jushin Liger. Only one worker was there during the whole year and made his presence felt against every style opponent. This man is Naoki Sano, the most enjoyable junior to me at this point (Liger’s first matches were not that great because he was still trying to find himsel).

Tag match to build the rivalry between champion Koshinaka and Hase. Hase and Saito play heels, and carry the match, so it's a very solid body. Sano is way over everybody's head in term of spots, and it shows next to Koshinaka and Saito. The match builds nicely to a super quick work to the finish section.

Same teams, same kind of match as the later, with Saito and Hase dominating the match as heels, with a very solid work. Sano delivers all the great highspots and Koshinaka brings his energy and intensity to his rivalry with Hase.

The last great junior match before the Liger era. Not much in term of story as the first half of the match is mainly an exchange of submissions, but the second half is an awesome collection of spots and sequences. The execution is always top notch, and the work is basically stainless. Shiro is the best of the two at this point, and he's mainly responsible for making this match so exciting, although Hase is still very good.

The match is too short to be that great, but what they do in the amount of time they're given is excellent. They basically work a Shiro match, very fast, very exciting, and maximize the short time they've been given. Their moveset are not quite comparable, but their chemistry is great. A passing of the torch of sort, from a great worker to another great worker.

It's the transitionnal match between the era of Hase and Koshinaka and the era of Liger. It's a rather short match, so it doesn't get as good as it looks o­n paper. But what they do is still excellent, even though Liger was still clearly searching his game at this point. Not as exciting as the Shiro match, but lot of great spots.

The feud of the year is New Japan. The new king of the juniors is threathened by a young prodigy, Naoki Sano, who’s playing a subtle heel all along the feud. The psychology from one match to another is absolutely great, that’s why they must be seen in order to really be fully understood.

Early tag match in the Liger vs Sano feud. One of the rare appearance by Shinji Sasazaki, a pretty good junior heavyweight, here carried by his superior opposition. Sano vs Liger and Nogami is a great sight to see, as they work super fast and exchange great spots. Sasazaki is slower and less impressive, but doesn't get put to shame either. Excellent work by everyone involved.

Even though Sasazaki is not a threat for Liger, the champ gives him a lot to make the match good. Sano attacks Liger after the match.

Their first match at the Sumo Hall that ends on a double ten count. The two best juniors of the year finally facing off to ignite the best feud of the year in terms of storytelling and psychology. Contrary to what some may say, the spots and sequences haven't aged at all to me because all is so clean and perfectly executed. Great stuff.

Key match in the Sano vs Liger feud, as Liger hurts his shoulder and Sano and Hoshino work unmercifully on it. Hoshino is old and limited, but he is a sneaky little bastard. When Liger finally gets to tag out, Nogami takes a classic bump in the railway on a tope and slices himself open, which will play its importance on future Sano vs Liger matches. Work may be not be stainless, but the story is great.

It's the Sumo Hall match during which Liger was wearing the protecting shoulder pad. The work may not be as great as usual because of this, but I love the injury story so this gets the crown for me. Both are just incredible, Liger as the wounded champion and Sano as the subtle heel challenger. They play off their previous single and tag matches to work the smartest junior match of the year. Not the best match in term of pure workrate, but my preference goes to this incredibly dramatic title change, and Liger's first loss.

Only the last 7 minutes of this one are showed, but it's just incredible to witness, as these are the best 7 minutes of the year as far as pure work goes. Not only that, but they continue to play off their previous encounters with spots and counters like the suplex from the apron to the outside or the suicide bump in the guardrail. The sequences and nearfalls are awesome.

The mix of old and new juniors delivered others very worthwhile matches.

11/07 : Liger vs Black Tiger

Two days before his first match against Sano, Liger defends his title against Black Tiger in a British Rules match, with rounds of three minutes. Mark Rocco is still a decent worker, but he’s pretty bland compared to Liger. This ain’t 1982 anymore.

Liger educates young Nogami by giving him a beating, but also enough offense to shine and get some credible nearfalls. Nogami is a great athlete and shows a lot of fire, but he needs a carrier like Liger to guide him during the match.What makes the match is clearly the quality of the work and spots, as the story is not as good as the Sano match.

The Sambo combi of Hase and Iizuka work as much with heavys as they do with juniors, but here they got their best opposition. Sano and Nogami are the stars of the match and deliver great high flying action which contrasted with Hase and Iizuka's submissions. The work is excellent all along, but the match ends with the sickest bump of the year, as Nogami executes a plancha over the metal guardrail and literally squash Iizuka against it.

The best junior of the year against the best up and coming junior of the year. I take this match over the Liger match, as Sano plays more a heel and Nogami tries harder to push him. Sano carries Nogami to his best single match and gives him a lot considering Nogami is still way beneath him in the rankings. A superb performance from Sano.

Yet another great match with the team of Koshinaka & Sano. Hiro & Kobayashi carry the match playing heels, but always use their limited offense with much efficiency. Saito works a lot of very quick sequences with Sano. Koshinaka brings his great intensity to the match and boosts the pace. Sano is clearly the standout of the match, but not stealing the show as everyone makes a notable contribution.

03/11 : Liger vs Iizuka

Ironically o­ne of the o­nly « junior o­nly » match for Iizuka. Pretty much the same thing as Liger’s match with Nogami, except Iizuka pushes him a little harder with his sambo submissions. However the match is less spectacular.

I like the second o­ne better because I support grumpy Jumbo.:)

14/09 Great Muta vs Hase

I didn't realize it was Muta's first match ever in NJ and Hase's first with the yellow and blue tights that showed he was a heavyweight now. There was some damn good wrestling apart from the blood.

31/08 Jumbo vs Kobashi

Jumbo disciplines Kobashi at Korakuen Hall o­ne day before his second match with Misawa. It's just great stuff.

19/08 Vader vs Choshu (IWGP)
24/05 Choshu vs Mutoh
01/11 Choshu vs Hashimoto (IWGP)

I'm quite fond of these big Choshu matches. Often very basic, but also very efficient, and Choshu just had *it* in term of charisma and intensity. Attacking Vader's injured (by Hansen) eye with punches may not be spectacular, but it's as effective as anything as far as storytelling goes. His matches with Hash are stiff and epic too. A different kind of epic than AJ's matches, of course, but I love them nonetheless.

02/06 Hashimoto vs Mutoh

Damn good too, though it strikes me that Muto could be sloppy even in his prime, especially compared to Chono.

05/06 Jumbo vs Gordy (TC)
19/04 Jumbo vs Tenryu (TC)

Not great, but still very good stuff.

01/11 Mutoh & Chono vs Hase & Sasaki (IWGP Tag)

Best tag match of the year to me, a must see.

19/04 Williams & Gordy vs Hansen & Spivey (PWF Tag)

Best AJ tag match of the year, and I guess o­ne if not the best gaijin vs gaijin matches ever in Japan. Just incredible.

28/05 Chono & Mutoh vs Koshinaka & Hase (IWGP Tag)

NJ really delivered the goods with these tag matches. The Blood Outlaws o­ne is the lesser o­ne, but the other two are excellent and super heated.

21/11 Misawa & Kawada vs Kobashi & Ace (RWTL)
01/12 Jumbo & Taue vs Misawa & Kawada (RWTL)

The best two matches from the Tag League, which was a lot better than in 89. Taue and Ace aren't very good, but the workers around make up for them. Plus, the second match is the perfect conclusion to this year of Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co., and it's my favourite native tag match from AJ

01/06 Jumbo & Kabuki vs Misawa & Kobashi
27/10 Jumbo & Inoue vs Misawa & Kawada

Some excellent stuff here, especially the Inoue match.

31/03 Can-Am vs Joe Malenko & Kobashi (All Asia)
01/09 Fantastics vs Joe Malenko & Kikuchi

Great junior flavored action. The All Asia scene was less interesting because the Can-Am left very soon and the titles were vacated, but these two matches are superb. Kikuchi is just insane.

26/05 Misawa & Taue & Kobashi vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Fuchi

The match that launched Misawa vs Jumbo. Legendary and awesome all around.

18/08 Jumbo & Fuchi & Taue vs Misawa & Kawada & Kikuchi

First match with Taue taking his place alongside Jumbo. Yet another awesome match.

19/10 Jumbo & Taue & Fuchi vs Misawa & Kawada & Kobashi

Even better than the other two, and also taking place in super hot Korakuen Hall, this match is the definitive Jumbo & Co. vs Misawa & Co. match, at least in '90 (but I doubt I will find any better). Welcome to old bastard city when Fuchi and Jumbo work o­n Kobashi's broken nose. But this is o­nly o­ne part of this awesome match.

I think these three six man are my three favourite matches of the year, period.

Then you have different combinations of the same feud :

12/07 Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue vs Misawa & Kawada & Kobashi

Also some Tenryu & Revolution vs Jumbo and the Old Bastards. Tenryu is really really stiff during this feud, much more than in early 89.

02/01 Tenryu & Footloose vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Takagi
11/01 Jumbo & Kabuki & Tiger Mask vs Tenryu & Footloose
25/01 Tenryu & Footloose vs Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue
24/02 Jumbo & Kabuki & Inoue vs Tenryu & Footloose
24/03 Tenryu & Footloose vs Kabuki & Inoue & Nakano

Plus add a great gaijin vs gaijin match :

12/07 Williams & Gordy & Ace vs Hansen & Spivey & Deaton

It was a pretty weak year for the juniors though. My favourite is obviously

31/01 Liger vs Sano (IWGP Jr)

but beyond that there aren't a whole lot of great stuff.

05/05 Liger vs Koshinaka

This one is great. Shiro is not really a junior anymore, but they still pretend he is and they fight as equals. Korakuen Hall is hot (as always during those days) and finally these two great workers have the match they deserve together.

19/03 Liger vs Pegasus (IWGP Jr)

Great stuff, but it left me a little flat. To be perfectly honest, the Choshu main events of the same shows excited and interested me a lot more than these. Highspots.....

??/02 Liger vs Owen Hart

This o­ne I really loved, and Owen is as good as he could be back then. I wonder when exactly did he blow out his knee.

Sano & Pegasus vs Liger & Nogami

Excellent match at the Dome, and possibly the debut of Pegasus. It's too damn bad Sano left for SWS, because he was such a great foe for Liger. His absence left a real void, at least in my eyes.

The top wrestlers with comments o­n their notable matches and a ranked list of the year's best matches by Jerome Denis

Introducing: the two best workers of the year. Akira still looks like a Marine Wolf (sigh). Kyoko decides in mid-match that wearing a mask is annoying, and perfectly ludicrous since it covers her joyful and expressive face. They put up an excellent match and wipe the bad taste out of the Korakuen crowd's collective mouth after the (Toyota vs. Yamada) debacle which just took place in the same ring.

Akira has become the evil Dangerous Queen after her trip in Mexico, and she teams with the new CMLL champion to abuse bitchy mid-carder Takako Inoue, who's way out of her league. Super fun match, especially if you enjoy the good looking girl being sadisticly beaten by large punkette and fucked-up No fetishist. Kyoko rules it too, in case you wondered.

Akira doesn't like her pure and gentle partner. She lets her know her feelings during the match, which amuses the large opposition. The issue of the match is not exactly in doubt, but it doesn't keep the workers involved from delivering some great stuff. Akira shows what she means by "Dangerous Queen", and Yamada works her ass off, like she ignored she still had 20 minutes to go with Manami afterward.

Best six-woman match I've seen this year. Mita and Shimoda are out of her league against Bull and her veteran friends, but they just have to show some heart and will to their senpai. After all, Akira was nice enough to give them the opportunity to tag with the best worker of the year and to wear good looking outfits. It's basically a sprint, and a damn good o­ne.

11/26 Estuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Miyori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa

Mita and Shimoda jerking the curtain as LCO, paying dues against soft veteran Kamiya and soft rookie Chikako.

My favourite match of the year, and it's pretty amazing as they make their first encounter look like a dull match. It's full of workrate, clean execution, hot sequences, selling, teases and whatnot. What can I say except that it's essential viewing to witness the two best wrestlers in joshi working against each other and having the best single match of the year.

12/13 Kaoru Itoh & Miyori Kamiya & Chikako Hasegawa vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Saemi Numata

Another curtain jerking effort by LCO, and a chance to look at young Kaoru Itoh's talent.

12/13 Akira Hokuto vs Takako Inoue

Really fun match as Takako has virtually no chance of winning but Akira still makes you think the impossible is not that out of reach. The biggest and best single match of Takako’s career at this point.

01/04 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda

Yoshida and Takako enlighten the undercard all year long, but this match against proto-LCO Mita & Shimoda (who were going nowhere) is merely an introduction to their talent.

04/25 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa

When the two best undercarders (Yoshida and Debbie) meet in a tag match at Korakuen Hall, supported by good partners (well, semi-good as far as Sakie goes), and everybody work their ass off, what happens? They put 95% of the other tag matches of the year to shame. The crowd is going wild. Me too.

30 minutes is a long time for anybody in singles. Sakie is not that good of a worker then, (sloppily) overusing her rolling savate, and working your ass off doesn't always translate into quality. Mariko is God, and the two youngsters go broadway, get some great heat (Yoshida is over like hell with the Korakuen crowd) and show up the veterans working the main event.

06/27 Mariko Yoshida vs Etsuko Mita

Nice little All Japan title defense by Yoshida. Mita is Akira's second, so she heels up o­n Mariko's injured shoulder. Mariko is just a master at making the audience think that she will loose (read, great nearfalls with dazed look afterward, asking to the referee "It wasn't three, was it?").

07/15 Mariko Yoshida & Takako Inoue vs Mima Shimoda & Debbie Malenko

Not half as good as it should have been because Debbie screws up her ankle o­n a plancha. Still some nice stuff though.

07/15 Mariko Yoshida vs Sakie Hasegawa

Just following her tag title defense, Yoshida has to defend the All Japan title against her rival. Not nearly as great as the 30 minutes draw, but Sakie vs Yoshida is always enjoyable.

08/30 Mariko Yoshida vs Manami Toyota

Semi-final of the Japan Grand Prix. Yoshida upset Kyoko earlier in the night, and there she goes as the super underdog. Manami doesn't quite understand what this match could have been and kinda works o­n autopilot. It's still very good because she doesn't screw up, and Mariko is her old great self.

04/25 Kyoko Inoue vs Manami Toyota

Long match. Too long apparently, especially since they don't seem to be o­n the same page. Kyoko badly outworks Toyota; Toyota sells badly. Still good because they can deliver the big spots.

06/27 Kyoko Inoue & Akira Hokuto vs Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota

It's not easy to enjoy it because it's the worst Yamada/Toyota match of the year. It's also the worst Hokuto match of the year (excluding her CMLL match with Bull in which she was injured). It's also the worst Kyoko match of the year. I still enjoyed it to some point, so go figure. Recommended to sloppiness and blown spot lovers.