Jumbo Tsuruta (c) vs. Genichiro Tenryu - Triple Crown Championship Match 1

I love Tenryu. I have nothing but respect for Jumbo and I do enjoy his matches (I have often said from 86-90, Jumbo is the best wrestler in the world). But of all the wrestlers who made their home in All Japan at various points during the 1980's, I would say that Tenryu is probably my favorite. He is remarkably able to blend and adapt to different styles of matches, whether they be brawls with the likes of Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody, or a more traditional technical strong style match with opponents like Jumbo. Whatever the type or style of match, he never seems out of place.

Sadly, this will be one of the few Tenryu matches in the Triple Crown series. In the Spring of 1990, he departed All Japan to form the Super World of Sports promotion. While this deprived us of his skills and abilities in All Japan during the 1990's, it forced Giant Baba and All Japan to radically change their internal hierarchy and push wrestlers like Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi well before he typically would. But the end result of this sequence of events was the greatest series of wrestling matches ever, as we will document here.

This match is from April 20, 1989 in Yokohama and is the first defense of the newly established All Japan Triple Crown. For years, Jumbo and Tenryu were partners and allies in fighting the Riki Choshu lead invasion of All Japan. But after Choshu's departure back to New Japan, Tenryu and Jumbo have had a rivalry and engaged in multiple high visibility tag and singles matches, including a match later in this series that is without a doubt one of the greatest matches of all time.

The friction between the two is obvious immediately as Jumbo offers his hand in sportsmanship while Tenryu wants nothing to do him. This sets the tone for the match and at times, just the looks between the two, with Tenryu often displaying somewhat of an aloof attitude, is enough to get the crowd going. I loved the first few minutes of this match, with the two working hard to kick and beat the other into a sense of submission.

The match eventually settles into a lull in the middle, with an extended chinlock sequence. But it does pick up again and includes an awesome suicide tope from Tenryu that is remarkable for a man of his size. After a bit Jumbo is able to gain the upper hand and take control. Soon he moves into position and begins what appears to be a false finish sequence. He gets Tenryu up for a power bomb of sorts, but botches it and not only doesn't get Tenryu up very high, but drops him on the back of his head for the spot, instead of onto his back and shoulders. It appears that he completely knocks him out with this move and Jumbo is forced to end the match prematurely with a pin, instead of what I assume was going to be a more dramatic set of false finishes from both men, before either would eventually get the win.

I don't know if my assessment is correct.  But do note that this does play huge into the next match of the series.

The crowd wasn't expecting the pin to come this quickly, and it is rather anti climatic. Afterwards, Jumbo, the ref and everyone else in the ring are continually checking on Tenryu as this finish was obviously unexpected. I am not sure I have ever read anything in depth on what happened here, so I can only assume that this wasn't planned and the match ended prematurely. But the ending does indeed play into and add to the drama of what will unfold at their next encounter.

Unification Match 4 - Finally

Two days later, April 18, 1989 in the famous Ryōgoku Kokugikan, otherwise known as Sumo Hall, we finally get the titles unified. Once again the match is between NWA United National & PWF Champion Stan Hansen and NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta.

Much like the first match, this bout features a fair amount of both wrestling and stiff chops and kicks. But in my view, tt is not as good a contest as their previous match, two days earlier. Certainly the ending makes it a historically significant contest, but all in all, it will pale in comparison to some of the later matches to come in the Triple Crown series, which rank in my view as the greatest matches of all time.

That is not to say this match is not good. One thing you notice quickly is that the ring is mic'ed very well so that every chop is heard clearly and loudly. The two were only going 18 minutes, so for that time they gave it everything they had. They hit each other hard and give us a stiff and fun match, even if somewhat lacks drama. Eventually, the two battle outside the ring where Hansen is able to bloody Tsuruta with hard elbows to the head. Following a chair shot, they are back in the ring where Hansen signals for the Lariat and the crows pops loudly to the gesture.

An interesting aside, Hansen noted in his autobiography that whenever he hit the lariat, he always ensured that was the finish of the match. His move is obviously over and the crows knows when he hits it, that is it. He hasn't "prostituted" his move to generate false finishes. So when he signals for the lariat, something not done in the first two matches of the series, the crowd pops huge thinking they finally get their payoff!

Well, he misses the lariat, bounces off the ropes, and Jumbo quickly roles him up for the win. The crowd gets their champion, but it was so quick and unexpected, that it really fails to draw much of a reaction. The crowd is in shock and Hansen quickly recovers and the post match may be better than any of the match itself with Hansen dropping elbows on Jumbo and beating up the All Japan staff that tries to come to the aid of Tsuruta.

So the three titles are now unified into the Triple Crown, setting the stage for the greatest series of wrestling matches in history!

Unification Match 3

Six months after their last attempt at unification, we once again have NWA United National & PWF Champion Stan Hansen and NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta battling to unify the titles. The setting April 16, 1989 in Korakuen Hall.

This match is much more of a brawl than their last match. The moment the bell rings, the two are at it, and Jumbo gets in a fair amount of offense against Hansen. The highlight is perhaps a knee to Hansen's face off of the third rope. The match goes about 15 minutes and is almost entirely chops, kicks and chair shots. Frankly, I don't remember what went on between the two over the previous six months, but something must have, as these two battled non stop for the whole match, with little to no wrestling.

Eventually the two take it into the crowd with their fighting, using many of the ringside Korakuen chairs. This leads to a count out and to their famous rematch that occurs two days later. As in the first match, nothing is settled and the drama and build continues.

This is a fun match. It feels about the same as their last match, certainly not epic in scope, but more enjoyable and fun. By today's standard, a 15 minute main event is too short and the double count out is weak. And even then, both Jumbo and Hansen were capable of more. But as a part of the overall story, this is fine, even though short. And Hansen is certainly at his best when trading strikes instead of headlocks, which makes it slightly better than the first match.

Unification Match 2

Since the first attempt at unifying the titles, some changes have occurred. The new NWA United National & PWF Champion is Stan Hansen while the new NWA International Champion is Jumbo Tsuruta. So now on October 17, 1988, six months after the first unification match, we now have the new champions battling to unify the three titles.

I would love to tell you that this match is an all time classic. I would love to tell you that Hansen and Tsuruta, two of the all time greats, put on a match for the ages. I would love to tell you that this is a match you must see. Alas, I can not. If anything, this match is highly forgettable. Hansen and Tsurata work hard, wrestle some, brawl some and eventually end up out of the ring after a wild Hansen lariat. But as was the style then, both are counted out and nothing is settled in the way of the titles.

I can accept the count out as Baba was building the drama towards the match with true ending. And as noted, count outs were the norm at the time to protect the huge stars. But even though there is nothing wrong with this match in ring, it does only last 15 minutes and you never get the sense that you witnessed anything great. For AJPW, who for most of the 80's had incredible main events, this main event seems somewhat of a let down. The first match in the series with Brody and Tenyru was much better, longer and just felt better.

Unification Match 1

So as we noted, Giant Baba has decided to create his own World Heavyweight Championship. He is doing so by unifying his three main titles. The first "attempt" at unification was held on 4/15/1988 between the NWA International Heavyweight Champion Bruiser Brody and the PWF Heavyweight and NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Genichiro Tenryu. Tenryu had been the United National Champion for over two years and had earlier in 1988 defeated Stan Hansen for the PWF title (in what was probably the first true unification match).

This was a so/so match. It's basic structure was great and the kind of wrestling I enjoy. Stiff strikes, hard kicks, good wrestling building to big moves. Matches filled with good ring psychology and a story to be told. I much prefer a match like this, to many of today's matches that tend to be filled with high spot after high spot. What killed this match was a terrible ending. I know that Baba wanted to build up over the course a year some drama and excitement over any type of unification of the titles. So this match was booked with a double count out, to progress the unification storyline.

Now at the time in 1988, double counts where common in All Japan. It wasn't until the summer of 1990 that Baba moved to an all clean finish approach. So at the time of this match, protecting stars without having to loose was common practice in All Japan.

One of the most under-appreciated aspect of many of the All Japan matches I have watched over the years is a very subtle approach to counters. Wrestlers work hard to avoid the strikes and kicks of their opponent. If a big move is attempted, such as a Suplex or Power Bomb, an all out attempt is made to avoid it. That subtle ring psychology is something I really enjoy and find absent in almost all other promotions. But All Japan in the 1980's and 1990's utilized it masterfully. And this match featured great use of both Brody and Tenryu working hard to avoid the kicks and strikes of the other.

The main story of this match was eventually Tenryu gaining control and starting to work over Brody's legs. The popular opinion of Brody is he just didn't sell for his opponent. In this case, he did a real strong job of selling Tenryu's leg work. That is, until it was time for his offensive comeback, at which point he stopped any sort selling.

On a separate note, I had not seen a Brody match all that recently and I simply forgot how good he could be for such a big man. He moved so well and was so athletic. His kicks were a thing of beauty. His strikes as hard as I remember. And his drop kick was amazing for someone so big.  There are plenty of matches were Brody does a really terrible job of selling, or just brings the match down with his ability to not cooperate all that well.  Luckily this is not one of those matches. 

So as noted, eventually Brody regained the offense and eventually went for his King Kong Knee Drop off the top rope. He hit it, but sold it like he had been hurt as well. He then rolled to the outside, selling being in pain (I guess from the early leg attacks that he stopped selling for a good 5 minutes). Meanwhile, Tenryu selling the Knee Drop also rolls to the outside. The two stagger towards each other and Tenryu hits a really weak Power Bomb or Piledriver (I could not tell which one it was supposed to be, but either way it was bad). Then they are both counted out.

So good match, weak ending and the first attempt at unifying the titles fails.

The Titles

Here is a brief description of the titles themselves.

NWA International Heavyweight Championship

In 1957 Lou Thesz had been NWA World Heavyweight Champion for most of the previous 8 years. At this point Thesz is tired of the rigors of being the traveling world champion and wants to take a break. He also foresees (correctly I might add) wrestling in Japan becoming a booming business, and wants to bring them into the NWA fold. He wanted to give Rikidozan a short run as NWA World Champion as a way to foster relations and help capture the market. However, promoters like Sam Mushnick are rather shortsighted and simply don't trust other promoters, especially ones as far away as Japan. (What happens next is somewhat disputed.) So Thesz's intention is to pass the world title along and create an International title and take a working vacation to Japan. He then does a controversial title change to Edouard Carpentier. But issues with Carpentier and his promotor force the NWA to not acknowledge the disputed title change and Thesz is brought back.

Eventually Thesz drops the title again and is given the created NWA International Heavyweight Championship that he defends all over the world promoting the American style of wrestling. As he planned, he eventually looses the title to Rikidozan in Los Angeles who takes the title back to Japan where it becomes the countries top championship. It is defended for years in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA), and most often worn by Giant Baba.

After Baba had left JWA, and onto when the JWA closed, the title was essentially vacant but revived in 1981 by Giant Baba and All Japan. There it has remained since and due to it's long lineage, essentially the top title in All Japan.

Pacific Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship

When Giant Baba formed All Japan, he needed to create a title since the JWA still held the NWA membership for Japan. He created his own sanctioning body, the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF), and then awarded himself the championship after winning a sequence of ten matches against some of the biggest stars in the world. In 1981, when All Japan formerly joined the NWA, he downgraded the PWF title, by removed the "World" from its name. Throughout the 1980's it served as one of the two major championships within All Japan.

NWA United National Championship

This has always been the least prestigious of the three titles. Think of it as the WWF Intercontinental Title to the WWF World Title during the 80's and 90's. Brought to Japan and the JWA by Antonio Inoki to give him a title lesser in statue to Giant Baba and the International Heavyweight Championship. During the late 70's and then into the 80's it was used to give Jumbo Tsuruta a championship while Baba held the PWF Title. When Baba removed himself from the title pictures, Tsuruta moved up to challenge for the International and PWF Titles and the United National title was used to get the likes of Genichiro Tenryu over.

The Triple Crown

So what is the Triple Crown? It is the unification of three All Japan recognized championships: the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship and the PWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Many won't believe it, but Vince McMahon is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Triple Crown. Here is how:

By the mid 1980's Vince and the WWF were expanding nationally and putting almost all of the old NWA territories out of business. In response, Jim Crockett attempted his own national expansion. He used his Mid Atlantic territory as the basis of his national expansion and began to absorb many of the resources of the existing NWA territories as they went out of business, no longer able to compete with McMahon. And in doing so, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion stopped being a touring champion, as almost all of the old territories where he would travel to were gone.

Now Giant Baba (All Japan owner and promotor) and All Japan had been long time members of the NWA. The Champion often traveled to Japan and would defend the belt, often as one of the main events at All Japans quarterly shows at Budaken Hall. In fact, as a condition of joining the NWA, Baba had for a time downgraded the PWF World Heavyweight Championship to just the PWF Heavyweight Championship, and recognized the NWA Champion as the only World Champion. Yes, semantics mean a great deal within the world of professional wrestling.

By the late 1980's, Baba and All Japan were one of the few remaining NWA members. And with Jim Crockett fighting McMahon and the WWF, the NWA Champion was traveling and defending the title less and less. Crockett canceled a few scheduled Ric Flair (NWA Champion at the time) tours of Japan and Baba had had enough. Unable to get dates on the world champion, Baba decided to create his own, and thus with the merging of his three singles championships into a unified title, the greatest wrestling championship, the Triple Crown was born.