SEGUNDA CAIDA DECLARES WAR!!! NJPW 10/23/92, Pt. 2

Genichiro Tenryu/Koki Kitahara v. Shiro Koshinaka/Kengo Kimura

PAS: This is your first Tenryu vs. NJ match in this feud and it was a barnburner. Neither Koshinaka or Kimura are super workers, but they are pretty great a being nasty shits and kicking someones ass. The NJ team were clearly the heels in the crowd even though this was a NJ show, and they start out by mauling and double teaming Kitahara. Throwing him into chairs and tables, dropping him on his head. We get an awesome hot tag from Tenryu, who gets so excited he almost falls out the ring on a clothesline, but eventually he gets overwhelmed and busted open. When the WAR team gets the advantage they lay in a beating too, including Tenryu lacing Koshinaka with chops and kicks to the eye. We also get great moments where all of the seconds start brawling with each other. Finish has Tenryu powerbombing Koshinaka, and continuing to powerbomb him after the bell, until Masa Saito gets up from his commentary desk to put a stop to it. Such great stuff, why isn't wrestling still like this.

ER: Holy shit Phil is right. Why isn't wrestling still like this. This is one of those matches I feel like I can show someone with minimal interest in wrestling, and then watch them get instantly hooked. No language barrier, no idea who the combatants are, just soaking up the bitch glares and ass beating and body language and crowd noise. This is probably my favorite performance ever from Koshinaka and Kimura. They are both just spiteful little pricks throughout this, especially Koshinaka. The glances that he shoots Tenryu are frightening in their lack of fear. And then we cut to Tenryu and he is expressionless, no doubt staring off at a middle distance thinking about what horrors he will unleash once he's tagged in. Kitahara is an able babyface throughout this, and Koshinaka/Kimura really lace into him. His hot tag is great and Tenryu just mows down Koshinaka with an all time great lariat (who, as Phil mentioned, hits Koshinaka with such crazy speed and force that he himself almost flies over the top to the floor), but K&K start double teaming him, and soon we get the great visual of Kimura holding Tenryu while Koshinaka busts him open with straight knuckle shots to the forehead and eyebrow. Of course this whole time we have all the opposing ring crews at each others throats, looking like a Slayer mosh pit with a gi dress code. We get a couple of boss showdowns between Tenryu and Masa Saito (who I still think looks like the most unfuckwithable man in wrestling history), who looks impossibly badass in slacks, button down blue shirt and suspenders. This kind of shit is just flawless pro wrestling. The best.