NWA World Championship: Ric Flair(c) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
AJPW March 10, 1987 City Gymnasium Fukushima, Japan
Here we have another NWA World Championship match for The Nature Boy and this contest is against The Terror of Yamanishi and former AWA World Champion, Jumbo Tsuruta. I am just giddy thinking of the chops, lariats, and backdrops that are about to meet my eager eyeballs. Tsuruta was a mountain of a man who is primarily known for a series of matches with Tiger Mask II/Mitsuharu Misawa that showed how making new talent was supposed to be done. Gone too soon, but never forgotten.
"Before we begin, let us stand and recite Vince McMahon's shortlist of announcing do's and don't's..."
Jumbo matches Flair's powder blue robe with his own pimpin' Superman-style red and blue one. Weird coincidence that in every match but Brody, Ric has come out with this attire. The flowers are presented and the championship proclamation read as per the usual tradition. I forgot exactly what the official says, but they've translated a few in English at ROH shows for bouts such as KENTA vs. Low Ki. The flower girls are like some terrfying horror movie shit for me, as I can't find one shred of info as to why a bouqet is presented and it's honestly more entertaining for me personally to keep it that way. More than likely out of respect, honor, or for good luck, pick one and let's roll on. In contrast to the Tenryu match, where both men received a fair trade from the fans, Jumbo is slightly the crowd favorite here.
How my mind sees the flower girls when they leave ringside.
The bell rings and I am instantly reminded of a conversation with a friend yesterday where he used the "Bret Hart Defense" that Flair had the same match every night. Ric opens up by working right into a hammerlock, which in the last three Spotlights, he never once yanked out of his rolodex, so I'm thrilled to know I'm not insane and Flair fuckin' rules. Daddy Charlotte cranks the arm for a bit, bringing down the big man with another hammerlock, perhaps trying to neutralize the power of the lariat. Into the corner with a chop, but that seemed to make Jumbo's day as they exchange hard shots. A wild swing by the champion whiffs and is met by an early lariat for two. Flair wisely bails and sends a stalking Tsuruta to the guardrail. Back in, Flair refuses to allow Jumbo back in until a 6'6" sunset flip for two doesn't give him a choice. The fans are ready to lose it for any little thing their hometown hero is doing, which is always fantastic to hear. Bait is offered up to Jumbo in the form of a test of strength, but here is a man who has actually researched his opponent and declines by way taking over on Flair's leg. Tsuruta almost gets a Sharpshooter locked in, but Flair freaks out and rakes the eyes. Up to the top goes the champ, but Jumbo robs us of what may have been the first ever 630 splash in wrestling history by way of body slam. A Jumbo sleeper is countered into a knee breaker and class is now in session! Sensing the desperation of the crowd, Flair isn't just laying there but cranking the daylights out of that shit. Heelus Maximus. Jumbo reverses the move into the ropes as Flair's mane during his maniacal selling reminds me of a white Tribble having a seizure. Flar begs off, but Jumbo says, "Sure thing, right after this ass beating and I send you over the top". Flair runs back in and his anger is negated by Jumbo's trademark knee to the facial regions. If you've never seen this man throw a knee, it's magically brutal. That felt nice and only got two, so Jumbo made it a double for another close two count. A nice bridge into a backslide gets two as Jumbo signals that this wrestling crap has gotten old by pulling down his elbow pad with a sneer. Some hard chops and right when it looks like we are about to get down and boogie for real, Jumbo hits the sleeper again. That was amazingly out of place.
...you got me fired up for WHAT?
Flair slips out of that and nails one hell of a delayed vertical suplex considering Jumbo's size. Both men trade abdominal stretches and after a botched hiptoss, Flair gets cocky and whiffs with the high knee. Professor Jumbo has gone to Figure Four College and earned his own degree, which he more than happily demonstrates. Flair get that hold broken, only to fall prey to Jumbo's second Sharpshooter attempt. Ric makes the ropes and after a few pin attempts, ducks a lariat which takes out the referee. I lack the confidence in my own personal opinions to give the matches stars and garters, but that was a -*** as far as ref bumps go. Two backdrop drivers are unloaded by Jumbo, but the champion is able to recover in time. The referee staggers back into the ring and as Tsuruta rolls up Flair in a small package, gives Nature Boy the DQ victory at 17:29. Oh, bull-fucking-shit! Feeling my pain, Jumbo tosses the worthless little bastard across the ring and continues his assault on Flair until he slithers off to fight another day.
Goddamn! That ref sure made up for his previous bump!
NWA World Champion Ric Flair d. Jumbo Tsuruta by DQ (17:29)
VERDICT:
That ending was weaker than salad farts. Not suprisingly, most inter-promotional title matches ended in this fashion due to promotions being super protective of their company as a whole looking weak, which is easily understandable. This felt like the first half of a 45 minute match to be honest and only approached the level of hype for it in short spurts. Not every match can be a war of attrition, but I expected more of a hard hitting affair as even the backdrop drivers were pretty low impact for Jumbo. If you love both guys, get a fork and dig in, but I'd skip this as it started out super hot, but went downhill from the moment Jumbo pulled down the armpad to hit the sleeper.
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