Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match #89: Chris Adams vs. The Great Kabuki (6/28/85)

Our third straight Kabuki match and first of two between the new good guy, Kabuki, and the bad guy Gentleman, Chris Adams.

Sunshine may be the best manager of the 80s that no one really talks about. She’s completely different than Miss Elizabeth and stands out in a good way. Commentator Bill Mercer promises this match will be “a shaker.” Appropriate to the dispute these two have a martial arts kick battle to start, Kabuki getting all the close calls. Kabuki looks decent as they run the mat headlock as the base, but it’s Adams giving Kabuki everything and selling for him. Adams as the heel underneath makes this watchable, but even the usually hot Sportatorium crowd is pretty quiet for this one.

Adams turns it around by dropping Kabuki throat first on the top rope, then tying him up in the ropes and superkicking him. A moment later Adams pulls out leg submission, then milks it from the crowd. Kabuki get a hope spot with a thrust kick, but then ends ass up on the turnbuckle ropes after a run misses. Adams goes to work on the knees, then gets a chair, but Sunshine holds on to it long enough that the tug of war distracts Adams. Kabuki comes in for the roll up pin and wins in ten minutes. Post-match Adams throws Sunshine down, and then Kabuki smashes Adams knee into the ringpost. This feud will continue.

I liked the start with the kick tease battle, but once they settled into the headlock-laden Kabuki control segment the first five minutes had a walk through feel to it. Once Adams took over it felt better, as his leg submission was pretty great. Still, other than the attempt at leg work there wasn’t a ton to this ten minute match until Adams got the chair, and that became the bridge to the finish. I liked the end, but treally this was just a match to get us to the July 4th showdown. 2 ½ stars and 4.9/10