3/4/1991 – World Tag Team Titles – Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (c) vs Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue
Jumbo and Taue try to win the titles that Misawa and Kawada were unable to in February. This had a much more standard sort of format to it. Taue gets beaten down and bloodied (aaagain), hot tags were teased, Jumbo eventually cleans house with jumping knees, lariats, and, OH~! fist pumps. It wasn’t as good as the Misawa/Kawada challenge, they didn’t quite reach the dramatic heights of that match, but overall it was still a good time.
Everyone seemed to have fun, which is really the most important thing. ***¼
3/26/1991 – Jumbo Tsuruta vs Cactus Jack – Champion Carnival
6 minutes of FUN. Jack has great headbutts, tosses Jumbo out of the ring to brawl and gets hucked over the railing in a spectacular Foley fashion. Jack does some of his usual exposed concrete bumps, hitting an elbow drop off the apron, getting back suplexed, before taking a hell of a thud from a Jumbo lariat off the apron. This was a great time and makes me wish Foley would’ve had a nice long run in All Japan. ***1/4
3/29/1991 – Mitsuharu Misawa vs Johnny Ace – Champion Carnival
Not great, folks. They weren’t really on the same page and Johnny didn’t light the world on fire when he was in control for an extended period of time. **
4/6/1991 – Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada – Champion Carnival
Oooh, mama. So, these guys are good. I’d be hard pressed to name another wrestler that I like more than either of these two, so this is a treat.
They both get so much out of everything they do and have such attention to detail. Jumbo gets the crowd to pop mid match by the spiteful, extra bit of torque he puts into the toehold portion of his STF when countering Kawada’s heel hook. Kawada holds onto a headlock for a bit too long and gets tossed halfway across the ring. He annoys Jumbo with step-kicks and gets a knee crusher onto a table. This eventually sets up Kawada hurting himself with a jumping high kick, to the point where he’s unable to really take advantage.
What a thing to see two wrestlers who are this good at selling. It’s not just that they make it believable, which they do. It’s not just Jumbo shaking out his leg after a big ol’ knee lift, which is always great. It’s how they both seem to have this sense of timing where they’re down writhing around in pain or slowly working their way back up to their feet and they linger juuust enough to deepen their hooks in the crowd before moving on to the next thing. It’s remarkable how much they get out of so few wrasslin’ moves at the end of the match. Outstanding. **** ½
4/16/1991 – Jumbo Tsuruta vs Stan Hansen – Champion Carnival Final
Here they go again! We know Jumbo’s not afraid to stand and fight with Stan Hansen. He even makes Stan retreat for a breather at one point here. The story of the last several months in All Japan, has been the conflict between the rise of Misawa to near-top guy status and Jumbo Tsuruta’s emphatic refusal to concede his spot as THE top guy. It’s a classic story, but one that is turned into something truly special by the talent involved and how clearly it is told.
It’s obvious that Hansen knows how good Jumbo is, the level of desperation that he shows in not letting Jumbo do what he wants on offense says a whole hell of a lot. When stand directs the action outside of the ring in this match, I didn’t get the sense that it was just Stan being Stan, it seemed like it was out of necessity.
This was every bit as fun as their match from earlier in the year. When Hansen gets Jumbo in a leglock, he lies in rapid-fire punches to Jumbo’s leg, cause he’s Stan Hansen, he likes hurting people, and you take every advantage you can get with Jumbo Tsuruta. When Jumbo comes back with similar fire, I’m left wondering if there’s anything our man can’t do.
Hansen eventually hits the Western Lariat, but Jumbo survives even that. He then matches Hansen’s level of wild violence by rolling down his knee pad prior to his Jumping Knee. It’s this willingness to meet Stan on his own terms that allows Jumbo to pick up the win.
Jumbo is the champion of the carnival. ****
