| 2 | 27.09.2020 | killowenskill | 7.0 | A very symbolic match in which Tenryu and Tsuruta fight against their mentors. This fact affects the construction of the match, which slowly gets its development, instantly fading with periodic manifestations of rage and returning to the usual course. And so on until it is announced that they will soon reach the time limit. I will say that despite the length of the match, this time is not felt as much as it seems at first. At some points it gets boring, sometimes you want everything to happen faster, but the idea that everything is happening as it should, and that the actions in the ring are absolutely correct and logical, calms these feelings a little. Baba was at his best and it was nice to see a smile on his face as fans reacted positively to his counterattacks. Dory's uppercuts at the end of the match are a kill. A decent performance, even if it doesn't claim to be a classic (***1/2). |
| 3 | 05.08.2020 | KinchStalker | 7.0 | Due to Terry Funk's retirement, Baba and Jumbo entered the 1983 WSTDL for the first time in seperate units: Baba with Dory, and Jumbo with Tenryu. You knew that the two would face each other, though. The fact that this is a forty-five minute time-limit draw with fairly low stakes makes it difficult to recommend a match like this unless the work is really, really good (like, say, the Funks vs Robinson/Hoffman match from '77, or the Bockwinkel/Brunzell vs Robinson/Thornton match from 1980), and this isn't at that level. But there is a lot of good stuff here, and I have to give the match credit for that. Tenryu is given a substantial chance to show what he can do, and while he hasn't really found his voice yet he's still a consummate performer who is developing nicely, and there are glimpses of his later brutal character work. I thought Dory really worked here, and knowing that he was the primary trainer of both of his opponents added a wrinkle to him teaming with Baba, their kayfabe mentor of sorts. There's a lot of good matwork throughout. And when we get it, the Baba/Jumbo pairing is a treat to watch, especially if you've followed the available footage of All Japan up to this point. Anyways, I'm going with a ***1/2; this is about as good a match as it can be without transcending the inherently alienating (to modern fans) structure. |
#