Minus-Star Match Reviews: Abdullah The Butcher vs. Tiger Jeet Singh – AJPW, June 8, 1990

When most wrestling fans hear/read the date June 8, 1990 the first thing that comes to mind is the iconic and industry-changing singles match between Jumbo Tsuruta and Mitsuharu Misawa. What often gets forgotten is that the undercard for that genuinely exciting match featured one of the biggest stinkers of the decade and quite possibly the worst AJPW match of all time.

But how was that possible? How could AJPW, a company that to this day is known for showcasing some of the greatest matches of all time, also allow something so bad to tarnish that image? Read on to find out.

The story

Both Abdullat the Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh were famous in Japan. during prior decades both of them found steady work in that country as token foreign savages brought in to face off against native heroes. It was easy for them to get heat in those days because, a) they were much bigger than most Japanese wrestlers, and b) they both showed levels of violence and brutality that was wildly different from the sportsmanship-driven puroresu. At one point both of them teamed together in a big dream match opposite Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki, two of the biggest Japanese wrestling stars of all time.

But that was decades earlier. Come 1990 All Japan was in the midst of a radical shift in presentation. The departure of Genichiro Tenryu and poor crowd responses to his 1980s booking caused Giant Baba to change strategies. Beginning a year earlier with a famous singles match between Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta, AJPW’s wrestling product shifted away from the ‘opacity’ of the Showa era towards a clearer and brighter presentation fit for the new Heisei era. This new style – which would later become known as King’s Road – had many different features and was interpreted differently by individual wrestlers. But among the few constants across all wrestlers was the need for a clean and decisive win. Count-outs, disqualifications, and any sorts of Dusty finishes were to be scrapped; Baba did this so that he would be able to regain his fans’ trust after they had turned away from his product after years of inconclusive finishes to big matches.

But just because this was the new company philosophy didn’t mean that everyone adapted on the spot. Tiger and Abby were remnants of the previous era and for whatever reason they weren’t willing to embrace it all at once. Both of them wrestled for AJPW in 1990 to fill gaps in Baba’s thinning roster in the hopes that their names alone would attract viewers and give AJPW time to build new stars. But as we will see, names alone don’t always justify paying for a ticket, especially when the match will feature the very things that Baba wanted to weed out from his promotion after it started costing him fans and therefore money.

The match

This took place on June 8, 1990. It was rated -***1/4 by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

Singh attacks Abdullah with the hilt of his sword before the bell is rung. Abdullah lands a throat thrust to create some space and the match officially begins. Singh attacks Abdullah’s left hand by punching and biting it but Adbullah hits back with more throat thrusts and some choking. Singh hits back with shots using a metal box he finds ringside and once back in the ring he lands more strikes to Abdullah’s head. Abdullah responds to more choking with more throat thrusts, only for Singh to hits back with a ring spike/screwdriver/other pointy object.

Five minutes in and Singh applies a headlock but Abdullah answers with a low-height backdrop suplex for a one-count. Both guys trade strikes around the ring, looking like they’re barely touching each other. Singh sends Abdullah into the ropes and hits a clothesline but it barely does any damage. It takes three more clotheslines to drop Abdullah but he still kicks out at two. Singh applies a…chinlock? Nerve hold? Something to the side of Abdullah’s head but Abdullah brushes him off and hits a shoulderblock. Abdullah lands his running elbow drop finisher but Singh gets his foot on the ropes which gets mild applause.

Singh grabs the ring spike and stabs Abdullah’s forehead right in front of the referee but nothing happens. Abdullah hits back and gets hold of said spike and uses it on Singh. The two wrestlers get entangled in a corner and the referee (that might be fabled Four Pillars referee Kyohei Wada) tries separating them by force. Brave little man, trying to get between two gaijin hosses with one of them holding a sharp object. Both wrestlers continue holding each other in some kind of bearhug/headlock situation. The referee decides they’re not following his rules and so he calls for the bell, leading to genuine boos from the crowd. Even they can smell bullshit a mile away and they’re not going to sit there and let it stink up the joint longer than necessary.

Match result: Double Disqualification after 9:22

Review

I can’t blame the audience for booing this one. This was nine minutes of directionless inaction with no coherent story or flow. It was as if neither wrestler knew what to do, even though both guys were Canadians and had many years of experience between them. What little motion there was in this match came across as lazy, overly simplistic, and lacking in impact. It looked like neither guy was trying to hurt the other. It was two big bodies barely connecting with each other with weak looking knees and forearms. And for an a match featuring Abdullah the Butcher it was incredibly tame; maybe AJPW’s strict no-blading rule was in force by this point and Abby hadn’t gotten enough time to work out an alternate style.

In any case, these two wrestlers did very little for the time they were given and didn’t do anything remotely spectacular…or entertaining for that matter. This was boring. Nothing noteworthy happened. There was no serious angle, no sense of fear or concern, and the finish made no sense. It wasn’t even a heated lock-up between two guys that loathed each other so much that they couldn’t let go of one another; instead it was a tame lock-up that went on forever because both guys seemed to be out of ideas for what to do. It was forgettable and underwhelming, a complete waste of everyone’s time and money.

Final Rating:-***

For two guys with such fearsome reputations around the world, neither one was at their best here. Maybe it was a clash of egos and neither was willing to take the fall. Fine, that happens in wrestling from time to time; it’s the nature of the beast. But if you’re going to wrestle to a non-finish at least do something mildly entertaining before getting to that destination. This match was nine minutes of excitement-free sluggish movement with the most exciting move being a clothesline. It really sucked and it put a blemish on the careers of two men otherwise notorious for their in-ring savagery and auras of danger.

Maybe they shouldn’t have had this match in All Japan; come 1990 Baba was making critical changes to his product and the wrestling showcased by guys like Abdullah The Butcher and Tiger Jeet Singh was from a bygone era. It didn’t belong in AJPW in 1990; if anything, this would’ve been better suited to one of the many smaller indy feds or deathmatch promotions that were growing in the country at the time. At least over there both guys would’ve been able to work in style and without restrictions. Them wrestling here at this particular style hamstrung them so much that the only thing they could produce was a heatless, joyless, passionless stinker.

Thanks for reading.