Danny Kroffat/Doug Furnas vs. British Bulldogs, AJPW Super Power Series - Day 1, 05/12/89

I didn’t realize that the Bulldogs teamed at all, let alone for almost another 16 months, after leaving the WWF post Survivor Series 1988. And when I saw this listed on cagematch, it intrigued me. Not just because of those involved, but it has a decently high cagematch rating AND Uncle Dave rated it 4.25 in WON. So I wanted to see if the hype was real, or if it was a rating based on name value. Because I could’ve swore Dynamite was a broken, bitter man by the end of the WWF run and couldn’t go anymore…

…and from the looks of it, I was right. on the entrances, Dynamite looks like exactly a broken down, bitter old man. His body is destroyed, withered and even atrophied a bit. He’s considerably smaller than I’ve ever seen him. He just looks miserable. Pale, gaunt, and one of those depression drug addict goatees. Meanwhile Bulldog is the most swollen I think I’ve ever seen him. He’s almost like WCW legend SWOLL big. Sure that will end well.

On the flip side, Furnas and LaFon look great!

On to the match, there’s really, really fun power spots between Bulldog and Furnas throughout the match. They exchange Full Nelson’s and do such a great job teasing they might break the others, but both men have to get a foot on the rope to break it. Good stuff.

Match goes on with mostly these two, and honestly, I am having a blast watching just Bulldog vs. Furnas, which is insane, but they’re both still so agile here regardless of size, and with that, they also love doing big, dumb, muscled up guy spots. Case(s) in point:

Furnas & Kroffat do some decent leg work on Bulldog, and Dynamite keeps rushing the ring to break things up, building up that hot tag. But that’s been the extent of his participation, really. And what a deflating hot tag it ended up being! He just doesn’t have it at this point, man. He runs his way through Furnas and Kroffat, Bulldog helps clean house, and Dynamite hits a shitty looking German with a bridge on Kroffat to win.

First half of this was such a blast with the Bulldog/Furnas stuff like it literally carried the whole thing. But this having 4.25 in WON is ridiculous. I don’t know what match Dave was watching here. But whatever.

Match rating: ***