Goody Bag I: Land of the Rising Sun

AWA World Title Match: Curt Hennig v Tiger Mask II: From January 2, 1988 in Tokyo Japan. Hennig is rocking some real Dean Malenko-esque gear here. Feeling out process to start, with Hennig dominating his challenger on the mat. Tiger tries a camel clutch, but Hennig escapes, and slugs him down for two. Armbar, but Tiger is in the ropes, and throws a dropkick for two upon the break. Boston crab applied, but Curt has the ropes, so Tiger gives him a vertical suplex for two instead. Bow-and-arrow, but Hennig's in the ropes again, and he clobbers Tiger in the corner this time. Cross corner whip sets up a fisherman's suplex for two, and a dropkick is worth two. Bodyslam and a 2^nd rope elbowdrop get two, but another trip to the top is countered by Tiger dropkicking him all the way to the floor! He follows for a whip into the rail, but Curt reverses, and leaves him out there. Tiger looks to beat the count, so Hennig tries a vertical suplex from the apron, but Tiger counters by dropkicking him over the top, and following with a baseball slide. He adds a plancha and a side suplex out there, and Curt ends up getting counted out at 11:25. The last few minutes were tremendous, but the majority was a long, slow feeling out process. * ¼  

Randy Savage v Genichiro Tenryu: From the joint WWF/New Japan/All Japan Wrestling Summit in Tokyo on April 13, 1990. The look on Tenryu's face as he sizes up the wild Savage is pretty awesome. Randy frustrates him with some stalling in the early going, but an attempt at a vertical suplex gets blocked, and Tenryu absolutely DECIMATES him with a flurry of chops in the corner! A distraction by Sensational Sherri allows Randy to fire back with a high knee, but he runs into a clothesline for two, and gets backdropped over the top! The Japanese interpretation of mats outside of the ring is hilarious. Tenryu dives after him with a bodypress off the apron, but Sherri distracts him again, and Macho knocks him into the crowd - Tenryu landing right in the laps of some very annoyed Japanese businessmen. Hopefully those weren't Yakuza guys. Inside, Randy throws clotheslines for two, and chokes like there's no tomorrow. Back to the floor for Sherri to get her licks in, and Macho hits a fistdrop out there, then rolls him in to setup a flying axehandle for two. Bodyslam sets up a kneedrop for two, and the Flying Elbowdrop looks to finish, but only gets two. It's worth noting that no matter how often Savage let guys kick out of it, that finisher never stopped being over. Flying axehandle, but Tenryu gut punches him out of the air. He tries a powerbomb, but Macho backdrops him to avoid it, and dives with a flying bodypress - only to hurt his knee on the landing! That allows Tenryu to unload an enzuigiri, and a powerbomb finishes at 10:20. This drew rave reviews at the time, but it was only okay. ** ¼

Hulk Hogan v Stan Hansen: Also from the Wrestling Summit card. Hogan takes him down with a drop-toehold to start, and traps him in a front-facelock, but Stan fights to a vertical base, and into the corner to break. Hansen goes after the arm, but Hulk takes him down in an STF, then shifts to a half-nelson for two. Slugfest goes Hansen's way, however, and they spill to the outside, where Hogan reverses a shot into the post to draw blood. Hulk hammers the cut out there before bringing Hansen in for a side suplex for two, and some mounted punches get two. Abdominal stretch, but Hansen hiptosses his way out, so Hulk goes back to punching him instead. Hey, he gave him a chance to do it the easy way. Series of chops knock Hansen back to the floor, and Hulk dumps him into the Yakuza section for a bodyslam onto a table. Back in, it gets two. Cross corner clothesline has Stan reeling, but a second one hits boot, and Hansen capitalizes with a running shoulderblock for two. Hulk goes out for a breather, but Hansen is right on him, and he pays him back by dumping him into the Yakuza section as well. Hansen adds a chairshot out there to draw blood, and he dives after Hogan with a shoulderblock in the crowd! Back in, all that only gets two. Stan keeps coming with a fistdrop for two, and an elbowdrop gets two. Stan whips him with the cowbell, but runs into a running forearm smash, and Hulk tries the Legdrop - missing, and Hansen covering for two. Hulk keeps the comeback going with a bodypress for two, and a big boot sets up a clothesline for the pin at 12:32. This is a pretty famous match, in which Hogan worked in the Japanese style as opposed to his usual American style, and blew away fans who weren’t familiar with his earlier work outside of North America. Hulk rarely showed this side of himself in the States (his SNME match with Harley Race was one rare instance), and this was a lot of fun. ** ½

Randy Savage v Genichiro Tenryu: The rematch, from the following years joint WWF/SWS WrestleDream card in Kobe Japan on April 1, 1991. Savage is sporting his WrestleMania VII attire here, which makes sense from a kayfabe perspective. I mean, why would you buy new gear if you were retiring anyway, right? Despite having done the big babyface turn at Mania, Macho is still in full heel mode here. Lots of stalling to start, until Savage manages to dump him over the top, and dive with a flying axehandle. At least they spring for full sized mats out there this year. Back in, Macho rakes the eyes across the top rope, and drives an elbowsmash to the throat. Weird turnbuckle setup here, with half the turnbuckles the tradition WWF logo ones, and the other half SWS ones (which resemble the thicker WCW style buckles). Flying Elbowdrop hits early for two. Looked like Savage wanted to hit an axehandle, but Tenryu was out of position there, so he had to do the big elbow instead. And, indeed, he then grounds him in a chinlock to get back on the same page. Tenryu starts returning fire with chops, and hits a powerbomb for two. Enzuigiri and a bodyslam setup a flying back-elbowdrop, and he adds a second one for two! Savage goes to the eyes to block a side suplex, and a bodyslam sets up the proper Flying Elbowdrop, but no cover. Remembering last year, Savage goes up and hits a second, but it still only gets two. Randy throws him out of the ring for a flying axehandle, then brings him back in and hooks the leg for two. Hangman's clothesline, but Tenryu blocks with a kick to the face, and the powerbomb finishes at 10:55. They appeared to be having some communication issues throughout, but it was pretty good once they got passed all the stalling. ** ¼

WWF Title Match: Bret Hart v Randy Savage: From Yokohama Japan on May 7, 1994. This has an interesting back story that Bret relates in his book, with the agents basically writing Savage off, resulting in them wanting to go out and tear the house down out of spite. Feeling out process to start, with Savage subtly playing heel. Hart dominates on the mat until Macho bails, then comes back in with a fury - raking the eyes after suckering Bret into a handshake, and choking him down for two. Bret tries to take control back with his wrestling skill, but Savage blatantly uses the hair to ground him in a chinlock. Bret escapes for a criss cross, but runs into a knee for two, and Randy grinds the chinlock on again. Hart fights up again, so Randy shifts to a sleeper, but Bret escapes with a sunset flip for two, so Macho clobbers him with a clothesline for two. Hart tries a rollup, but Randy sends him flying to the outside to block, and heels it up with a ram into the post out there! Randy dives after him with a flying axehandle, then hits another on the way back in for two. Pair of cross corner whips setup a vertical suplex - only for Macho to abruptly change gears with an inside cradle for two. Nice bit of psychology there, as he tries to catch the Hitman off guard for the pin. Vertical suplex gets two, but Hart fights back in the corner, and backdrops a desperate Savage over the top! He follows out with a plancha, then back in for an inverted atomic drop. Clothesline gets two, and a vertical suplex of his own is worth two. Backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope elbowdrop, but Macho rolls out of the way, and hits a swinging neckbreaker. Bodyslam sets up the Flying Elbowdrop, but Hart kicks out at two! As that spot illustrates, Savage tended to be very selfless against opponents he respected, and that's one thing that always especially bugged me about the WWF's refusal to use Savage to (as he suggested) put over young guys like Shawn Michaels during this period. Unlike, say, Hulk Hogan, he would have made a guy like Shawn into a huge star, without regard to protecting his own image or spot. Anyway, Macho is good and pissed that Bret kicked out, so he goes up again, but Hart is getting to his feet. Savage reroutes with a flying axehandle instead, but Bret nails him coming down this time, and follows with a quick Russian legsweep to setup the Sharpshooter at 16:57. This was good stuff, and it was really fun to see Savage cut loose and heel it up one last time in the WWF. While it isn’t quite a classic in the general sense, you have to remember that non-televised matches from this era were usually really phoned in paint-by-numbers performances. On a house show scale, this would be, like, a four-and-one-half star match. *** ¼