AJPW TV #3 (1/21/1984)

Lizmark def Ultra Seven

I ddn't care for this match at all. The slower pace was perfectly fine but the execution was just terrible. Most of Lizmark's big moves barely hit their mark which made him look bad. It kind of feels like Ultra Seven was slightly out of place on a lot of these moves which caused the problem. It feels like they were using this to showcase Lizmark to the AJPW crowds and they misfired on his big impressive moves.

Genichiro Tenryu and Great Kabuki def Michael Hayes and Steve Olsonoski

Kind of an oddball paring here with Hayes and Olsonoski.

This was okay but I think it was hampered by having Olsonoski instead of Gordy in the match. You really noticed those little things that experienced tag partners do in matches like this. This felt like a filler match which I'm sure it was. I really don't have a lot to say on this particular match because it was pretty basic and did it's job. It set up sympathy for the faces and they overcame and won the match.

The Kabuki tags so far have all followed this kind of same formula. It works pretty well when you have a limited worker like Kabuki in the ring. He doesn't have to do a lot and it really covers a lot of his flaws. I'm not totally sure of his card placement at this point though. I'm guessing that he's the no. 4 face on the roster behind Tsuruta, Baba and Tenryu. I could be wrong on that though.

Jumbo Tsuruta def Terry Gordy

Now we're talking with this match.

This was a pretty good match. Good energy with Jumbo and Gordy really putting a beating on each other. I liked the chemistry between them a lot. Sadly, Michael Hayes ran in for the DQ. I'm not sure how the AJPW rules work because Hayes literally attacked Jumbo and hit him with the chair and the referee didn't call for the DQ. I wasn't happy at the ending as the match was getting good. This made me want to see a lot more of them in the ring. This match probably served it's purpose really well and drew fans to the shows to see Jumbo take on the Freebirds.

We get some post match antics as Hayes and Gordy continue to attack Jumbo until Tenryu and Kabuki run in for the save.

Overall Thoughts:

This episode wasn't as strong as the two previous. This show had a pretty bad opener and an uninspiring middle tag match. I liked the main event a lot but it ended when it was just getting good. I am interested in getting some more Jumbo vs. Freebirds matches. It was cool to see an angle play out on TV. You can't win them all when it comes to weekly wrestling TV. This wasn't bad by any means, it just wasn't the best show that this era of AJPW seems capable of producing.