Superstar Sleeze

Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen - AJPW 7/15/89 BABY KOBASHI~! And he is over like rover! Dont get me started on face & heel alignment in late 80s as I just dont get it. Jumbo & Kobashi are clearly the fan favorites. Tenryu & Hansen are quite the super team! What happened to Gordy? I dont even remember what he was doing at this point. What happened to Hara? Even with Tenryu as the Triple Crown Champ, this feels like Jumbo's promotion. Kobashi in red...is just bizarre, doesnt he know thats Taue's color!!? I was ten minutes in this match and it was so fast and so furious there was no way I could keep up with it and then write a review. Starting from the begining and doing this stream of consciousness style: Jumbo goes full Leroy Jenkins and charges Tenryu at the bell and reigns down the elbows at the ringside table. This leaves poor Kobashi against Hansen and thus igniting one of the hottest, most epic feuds in pro wrestling history! You see Tenryu flail a chair in self-defense at Jumbo as poor Kobashi gets a chair bounces off his back by Hansen. Jumbo High Knee in the ring! He hurts his knee in an interesting bit of selling that goes nowhere. Tsuruta chants! Kobashi comes in and hits a missile dropkick as Jumbo is holding Tenryu. Massive Kobashi chants like it is 1997. This is insane! I didnt expect him to be over at all. Tenryu chops Kobashi hard and CLUBS him with an Enziguiri. Hansen tagged into a big pop. Hansen brutalizes young Kobashi and sends him out. Jumbo saves Kobashi from the Grizzly by slamming him into the railing. Hansen evades the dropkick and bodyslams Kobashi. Big Kobashi chants. DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE BY THE ALL STAR TEAM! Wicked. Suplex by Tenryu gets two and he comes and SLAPS Jumbo right off the apron. Kobashi spin wheel kick and he tags in Jumbo. Jumbo plays to the crowd. High Knee again to Tenryu and smack to Hansen on apron for good measure. Hansen tackles Jumbo! Kobashi is not shy and comes in and to fend off Hansen. That smack on the apron was dumb you knew Hansen was not going to take it lying down. Jumbo tries for a powerbomb or piledriver but Tenryu deadweights him. Jumbo applies an Abdominal Stretch on Tenryu and drops down into the Banana Split for a one count. Jumbo tags in Kobashi and holds Tenryu for the double axe handle. Kobashi is so over. Tenryu draws him in and tags in Hansen for knees Kobashi. Hansen BIG SELL of the reverse elbow as he tumbles out of the ring. Hansen takes back over on the outside. Hansen smothers him back in the ring. Great aggressive Hansen! Double Shouldertackle by the All Star Team. Tenryu chops the shit out Kobashi. This is exactly what I wanted out of this match. Hansen & Tenryu pummeling Kobashi. Kobashi reverse crossbody hope spot! Tag! Hansen heads Jumbo off at the pass and runs Jumbo down the apron and rams him into the metal turnbuckle. He brings him over to Tenryu as sacrificial offering and they take turns smacking the shit out of him. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat and a Cowboy Kick but Jumbo comes back with the Big Boot. More Tsuruta chants. Jumbo has the best bodyslam in history and follows that up with a kneedrop but Tenryu is too close to the ropes. Jumbo Death Lariat middle of the ring for two. Kobashi tagged in applies a Single Leg Crab. Hansen breaks that up and Tenryu/Hansen beat the shit out of Kobashi. They do the FOOTLOOSE SPOT! Hansen whips Tenryu into an Out of Control Lariat into the corner. Massive Kobashi Chants! Tenryu wants the powerbomb but Jumbo intimidates Tenryu enough to abandon that and tags in Hansen. Hansen misses the elbow drop. Jumbo arm wringer and over the shoulder amrbreaker on Hansen's Lariat Arm and then wrestles him down by the Lariat arm into an armbar. Jumbo tags in Kobashi who axehandles the lariat arm and takes him over with an armdrag into a cross-armbreaker on the Lariat arm. Hansen rolls on his belly. Hansen rolls Kobashi up but Kobashi breaks free and maintains the pressure. Hansens elbows out and tags in Tenryu. Kobashi is tired of Tenryu's chops and lets Tenryu have it so many slaps and a big dropkick that has JUMBO FIRED THE FUCK UP! Crowd is going crazy for all this! Easily the spot of the match! Another dropkick for two! He goes back to the well yet again. Two! Kobashi brings Tenryu over to Jumbo. Jumbo gets in on the action with a Jumbo dropkick and Hansen saves to a chorus of loud boos. Jumbo clamps on a side headlock on Tenryu. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Kobashi top rope crossbody for two! Kobashi throws on a chinlock to stick with theme of draining Tenryu's energy. Kobashi goes for some sort of legbar which I dont know if that an FU to Tenryu because I know Tenryu was using that around this time. Kobashi legdrop gets two. Kobashi chops away at Tenryu in the corner and now slaps. I think thats a bad idea and here comes Tenryu who slaps away. Kobashi tries throw a spinning heel kick and Tenryu just kicks through it! Tenryu tags in Hansen but Kobashi tags out. Jumbo High Knee on Hansen. Jumbo Goes back to the abdominal stretch. Jumbo tags in Kobashi. Double Double Chop on Hansen. Hansen sandbags Kobashi, but Kobahsi takes him over anyways on the vertical suplex. Kobashi will not be denied! Hansen BIG BOOTS through a Kobashi dropkick. Hansen brought Kobashi over to the wrong corner and tagged in Jumbo. What the fuck happened there? Hansen holds Jumbo by the head as Tenryu LIGHTS HIS SHIT UP WITH CHOPS FROM HELL! DANGEROUS BACK DROPD RIVER BY JUMBO! Kobashi legdrop! Tenryu back drop of Kobashi. Tenryu is still crouched over AND Jumbo stiff knees him. Jumbo tries for a piledriver and WESTERN LARIAT! HOLY SHIT! Jumbo reeling falls back into a tag. Kobashi missile dropick on Tenryu. The crowd & I are rocking! Hansen/Jumbo on outside. Fisherman Suplex by Kobashi gets two, which is an ultra hot nearfall. Amazing Kobashi is getting such a bright spotlight. Tenryu slows out. Clubbing Enziguiri. Hansen has Jumbo detained. The end is nigh me thinks. TENRYU POWERBOMB~! FOR THE WIN! Were there way too many spots? Hell Yes! Did any one pairing ever have time to build a real narrative? Hell No! Was it fun as all get out? Hell Yeah! What separates a balls to the wall all-out workrate action match like this from the 21st Century is everyone is still struggling against each other and it still feels organic. There are no contrived spots. They are just tagging very very frequently so action stays brisk they constantly fighting into or away from the corners. How many times did we see people get knocked off aprons or as soon they tagged in they were bumrushed before they were even able to enter the match. The match felt like a fight. A very competitive match where they all wanted to win. Yes, I would like more narrative and something where every pairing mattered but this still rocked. Kobashi was the clear the star of the match! He was insanely over given his age & experience. They gave him a huge spotlight. Hansen sold big for him. Tenryu let Kobashi smack him around and hit a Fisherman Suplex as the last nearfall of the match. Jumbo was a big cheerleader for Kobashi. I was expecting a big Kobashi FIP but anytime he got in any semblance of trouble he tagged out. Jumbo vs Tenryu was red hot and Hansen versus anyone is automatically heated. This match kicked ass! ****1/2

Thank you so much, brutha! I really appreciate that. It means a lot since I do put a lot of time into them that people read & enjoy!

Dean & Joe Malenko vs The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton) - AJPW 7/15/89 I was very interested in this match for two main reasons 1. Watch More Joe Malenko 2. How do the Fantastics adapt to Japan & the Malenkos? I was not that concerned about Tommy Rogers he is very athletic and would do fine in this style. Bobby Fulton has really become my favorite Fantastic. I love his charisma and his punch. He is a Ricky Morton worker, a great punch, charisma out the ying-yang and great seller. Japan kinda takes out a lot of that out of the equation so how does he do? Rogers and Dean started with a pretty standard chaining sequence. The fun wrinkle is neither could hiptoss the other, they keep going back to that but neither man could get the other over (a typical Dean problem OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO). Joe came in. I know this will sound like a hipster thing to say but he really is the more interesting Malenko. His knucklelock takedown was really cool. His reversal out of a headscissor was super nifty. Rogers did well with him. Fulton came in and I thought he acquitted himself well. No complicated chaining but he hit his holds hard and struggled hard. He hit a BEAUTIFUL DROP TOEHOLD! I popped hard! I really liked when they switched back to Dean and Tommy they paid off the hiptoss by having Fulton whip Dean into a Tommy hiptoss. Awesome. Nice Short Arm Scissors from Rogers. The Fantastics used distraction with a Tommy dropdown leading to a Fulton crossbody. So smart. It uses that with the hiptoss and this that the Fantastics needs to work as a team to best the more technically sounds Malenkos. Dean worked some kneelifts. Fulton fires off a couple nice Eaton-esque punches the first one drew Ooooohs from the crowd. Fulton did apply a shitty cross armbreaker. Dean took command with a suplex and slam on Roger. Joe immediately worked some great holds, double wristlocks and hammerlocks on Rogers. The struggle from Rogers to escape the hammerlock and make his way to Fulton was intense! Loved that! He worked this amazing armbar just using his feet while maintaining a knucklelock. Very, very cool! Joe transitioned into a cross-armbreaker but Fulton doesnt sell it at all. No one before like 1995 ever did. Fantastic work another set play using the dropdown-dropkick this time. Dean who wrestles kind of like mini-Bruiser Brody who never bumps or sells just goes to a Texas Cloverleaf but doesnt turn him over and knee into the back. Fulton tags with a right to break it up. The Fantastics works a Doomsday Device to no reaction but popped me. The Fantastics work an amazing sequence of double teams that would have gotten over huge in the South. It was awesome! A recap wouldnt do it justice. Check it out. It is really night and day when Joe is in there instead of Dean. Joe is selling and bumping. There is a great spot where Joe hits the buckles so hard, he ricochets out and Rogers absolutely eats it on the charge. That was the best version I have seen of that spot. While Dean on the other hand just does not bump and what constitutes selling for him is wandering around aimlessly. The finish stretch kicked in when Joe saved Dean from the top rope rocket launcher somersault taking the dive. Dean sunset flips Rogers but Fulton has Rogers Joe comes in and knees Fulton in the back. Another spot that would get over huge in the South that being said the Japanese crowd did like that one a lot. Fulton keeps throwing punches and look great. Nice Northern Light Suplex not quite as good as Alicia Fox, but pretty good gets two. You want to see shitty Dean watch the setup for the neckbreaker after the Northern Lights Suplex. Fulton must have been what the fuck. Dean is just groggy selling and not moving. Terrible. Dean kinda sucked at the finish but Joe and Fulton rule so that makes up for it. Joe shoves Fulton into a Dean lariat and Dean dropkicks Fulton over in the German suplex. DEAN TABLETOPS ROGERS TO PREVENT THE SAVE! Ok that was pretty awesome! Fulton was not shy about throwing the punches. The Fantastics were not shy of working Southern-Style feel-good spots which I loved. Joe is a technical beast lots of cool holds, takedowns, bridges and reversals. Dean pretty much sucked but my new hypothesis of Dean Malenko has a midget Bruiser Brody is very interesting to me and I am interested to see if it holds water in more matches. I liked the blending of the Malenkos' technical style and the pure Southern style of the Fantastics. ****

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen - AJPW/WWF 4/13/90 HULK HOGAN VS STAN HANSEN IN THE TOKYO DOME~! I have been meaning to see this forever. Not just two of my favorites, but two of the best wrestlers ever with two big of the biggest personalities headlining the Tokyo Dome! I would love to hear the story behind why the WWF ran a joint venture with All Japan here. I know their Japanese counterpart was New Japan until like 85/86. Why the return to an alliance? Why All Japan? WCW/New Japan did not start until 1991 correct? Hansen was definitely in what I would call Baba mode early, which is to say he was pretty cooperative. Hogan took him down a bunch with drop toeholds and sort of wrangled him in. Hansen would throw a shot here and there. For the most part, he just let Hogan tee off. There was a pretty good firefight early with them trading eyerakes and fists. I liked Hansen pelting Hogan as he was trying to enter the ring only for Hogan to keep coming. On the outside Hogan bashed Hansen's head into the post busting Stan open. He worked the cut. The best part was the Hogan bodyslam of Hansen into the ringside tables and the irreverent back heel stomp. It was all Hogan early. Then Hansen hit the Lunging Shouldertackle! The crowd popped and so did I. It was 90% Hansen I would say. He did not go full bore wild ass Hansen but that chair shot right to the skull looked gnarly and I know Earl Hebner would disagree with me as Hansen fucking chucked the chair at him, he would say that was 110%! We got double juice! Hogan grabs the bullrope just to survive at one point. Hansen slams him into the announce tables! This was awesome! I loved Hansen signaling for the Western Lariat twice getting the big pop, Hogan evading, you get the reaction but protect move. HOGAN MISSES THE LEGDROP! Hansen pounces on top for two. Hansen misses the second Lariat like I said only for AXE BOMBAH~! 1-2-3! Killer finish! I really liked the finish run, electric and heated! The double juice was awesome! Loved all the brawling around ringside. Kickass Clash of the Titans brawl in the Dome! Dream match that loves up to the hype, brutha! ****

PWF & United National Champion Stan Hansen vs NWA International Champion Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 4/16/89 I was had! I thought for sure this was the Triple Crown unification match but turns out that is two days later. This is still a banger. I dont know if it was the finish but this didnt deserve to be outside the Top 100 for the All Japan set at all. This was just two big muthas throwing hands and everything but the kitchen sink at each other and barely bumping. Both dudes laying everything in and there are a ton of stiff shots. Jumbo owned Hansen early. I dont think I have seen Hansen so thoroughly beaten up ever. It was stand & bang to start. Jumbo is the one that threw him to the floor. Jumbo used the chair first and jabbed him with it and got a good shot. Jumbo RAKED THE EYES! Top Rope High Knee! Then he used closed fists! Jumbo is working outright heel and Hansen is over as the babyface this crazy. Hansen was still throwing flailing wild shots but Jumbo was in complete control, never seen this before. Hansen puts together a strike combination and hits a quasi-Western-Lariat to ring Jumbo's bell. Now Hansen mercilessly beats down Jumbo. I love how Jumbo doesnt bump for shit. He just takes his beating like a man. Hansen gets a chair and beats the shit out of Jumbo with it. Thats when I was like I liked this match but now I love this match! Jumbo trying mounting a comeback 90s Misawa-style with all the elbows but Hansen snuffs that out with another quasi-Western Lariat. The finish stretch is so fucking good. Hansen hits a bunch of jumping elbow drops but eats knees. As is tradition in a Hansen match, his weakness is his soft underbelly well actually it is his midsection/ribs but I just wanted to say soft underbelly. He rolls to the outside. Jumbo pummels him with the chair. The ref makes him relinquish it and Hansen fucking throws the chair at him! Ok, this match just straight up rules! Shame on everyone for now voting this higher. Jumbo stays in control and signals for the Jumbo Death Lariat on the outside and he WRAPS HIS ARM AROUND THE POST! He goes flying over the railing! Everyone flees. Hansen tackles him! They are fighting in the crowd, all the chairs are knocked over, they are picking up random chairs and attacking each other! In the melee, the ref calls for the bell as I am totally confused because I thought this was the unification match, but instead it was a barnburner brawl with stiff shots, awesome transitions and a shit ton of chair shots! I love in Japanese wrestling when all over sudden they are just throwing chairs at each other. Wild kickass match! ****1/4

AJPW World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 6/8/89 Three days after the historic and amazing title match with Tenryu in the Budokan is back defending his Tag Titles against the oddball dream team of Stan Hansen & Toshiaki Kawada. I dont know if they didnt want to have Tenryu in the match because they didnt want him to be on the losing end (presumably, this preamble is being written before I watched the match) of a Jumbo match this soon after his triumphant victory or if Gordy was not available. While strange, Hansen & Kawada sounds like a badass tag team. I got a lot going on tonight, so lets use stream of consciousness to expedite things. Hansen comes charging over and gives Jumbo the 'ol double sledge as Jumbo was taking his place on the apron and everybody's dander is up. The junior partners start off. Early Kawada Spin Kick and Fishersman's Suplex. More Kawada kicks and Yastu has to powder. I like how aggressive Kawada is and I love how Yatsu sold that by powdering. Kawada clamps on a front chancery and brings Yastu over to the Big Grizzly. He tosses Yastu to the outside and smashes his face into the post. Jumbo peeling around the corner and saves Yatsu from the beating. Yatsu is at Hansen's mercy however in the ring where Hansen reigns down the bows. He throws him into Kawada's outstretched boot and then applies a tight chinlock. Tag out to Kawada and kneedrop. He wants a side headlock. Yatsu tries the Dangerous Back Drop Driver but Kawada hangs on. Kawada heel kick but Yatsu retaliates with the Dangerous Back Drop Driver. I liked how Yatsu's stay was prolonged in the beginning allowed the match to get a sense of rhythm, and show how vicious Kawada and Hansen are. Yatsu wisely tags out to Jumbo. JUMBO HIGH KNEE! Jumbo plays to the crowd! Kawada Spinning Heel Kick! Kawada Slingshot Plancha Out of Control wipes out Jumbo. Hansen is right there kicking the fallen Jumbo in the face. Hansen & Kawada are a terrific team, it is a shame they didnt team more often! Nice! Kawada stomps Jumbo back in the ring near the apron. Nice suplex struggle an All Japan staple. Big kneelifts by Jumbo and Jumbo targets the midsection with stomps as Kawada sells it. Hansen attacks Jumbo as the ref gets him off. Wicked running Jumbo kneelift! Meaty and stiff! He raises his hand to the crowd. Love me some Jumbo! He tags into Yatsu who comes off the ropes crashing down on Kawada. Kawada reverses out of a suplex briefly attempts a Dragon Suplex but Yatsu makes the ropes. Kawada gets his Jumping High Kick and catches Yatsu pretty good great transtion to tagging in Hansen. Yatsu gets away from Hansen and tags in Jumbo. It is ON! Jumbo High Knee! Jumbo wins the battle and slaps on an armbar, which I think it is smart because it felt like that the match was about to get away from the Champs. Tags Yatsu back in for a double team chop but Hansen deadweights them on the double supelx. OH SHIT HIGH KNEE/BULLDOG COMBO! HOW HAS NO ONE STOLEN THAT! I think I saw that before, but it was a high speed collision this time! Wow! Kawada saved on the pinfall but I think Hansen was ready to kick out. Yatsu tries the contain strategy with the chinlock but Kawada axe kick breaks that up. Wicked Hansen strikes! Yastu comes firing back! Yatsu tags out. Hansen attacks Jumbo in the ropes. Jumbo wrangles him into a headlock but Hansen shoots him off into the buckles and he targets the back. Jumbo Death Lariat! 2! Jumbo back to the chinlock using the Contain the Grizzly Strategy. Yatsu double axe handle from the top. Hansen free fires off kicks as he is backpedalling and tags in Kawada. Jumping Spinning Heel Kick gets Kawada two against Yatsu. Yatsu throws Kawada down on the hiptoss attempt. Kawada is still a young lion and Yatsu lets him know it. Yatsu powerslam and into the figure-4 but Hansen saves Kawada. Love how Hansen and Kawada have each other's backs. Jumbo works a standing toehold on Kawada. Hansen WICKED CHOP to break it up! Damn! Scorcher! Big Boot by Jumbo! Yatsu belly to belly suplex and a top rope elbow drop but Hansen breaks up the cover. Yatsu vs Hanse FIREFIGHT! Hanse wins that predictably. Yatsu Powerbomb! Hansen saves with the torpedo lunge. Second power and again Hansen crashes into the cover. Kawada stealing one from Tenryu's playbook throws in a running small package. Kawada reverse crossbody for two against Jumbo...nice hope spots! SPIKE PILERIVER! Yatsu misses a charge on a running reverse elbow into the buckles. Yatsu works the leg and Hansen breaks that up. Jumbo back in and he fires away with elbows. Jumbo turns him over into the Bosto Crab Im surprised he lasted that long before Hansen came in to break it up. Kawada out of control lariat! HANSEN IS IN! Elbow drop! Bodyslam to Yatsu! Hansen chants I am pretty sure! Hansen is all over Jumbo. Hansen signals for the lariat but Yatsu detains Hansen from the apron. Kawada has Jumbo restrained but Jumbo uses his legs to fight back. Hansen wrangles Jumbo and Kawada missile dropkicks him. Hansen does the Footloose spot! Kawada NAILS the corner lariat! Running Wild & Free! Kawada gets two as Hansen stands guard. Kawada German gets a very close 2 with Hansen detaining Yatsu. Jumbo catches the Spinning heel kick...THROWS KAWADA ON HIS ASS! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! Hansen dives on Jumbo but Yatsu is hold him by the wiast. The ref counts three because Jumbo was still covering Kawda! The pinfall was not broken! Everyone in the 21st Century please take notes! Hansen after the bell lunges as Jumbo and torpedoes him into the ropes. I really loved Hansen's & Kawada's performances. Jumbo & Yatsu worked great on top with all the bombs & holds, but it was how aggressive Hansen & Kawada worked that made this match. Even though Jumbo & Yatsu controlled time of possession so to speak you never felt like they were dominant because Stan Muthafuckin Hansen was on the other side. Kawada is such a tenacious pitbull in there. Hansen and Kawada gelled immediately I loved their chemistry. I thought this match was more character based then some of the All Japan tags I have seen which seem to be more workrate based. This was a nice blend of Jumbo & Yatsu's workrate and Hansen & Kawada bringing the character and aggression to the match. ****1/4

AJPW Triple Crown Champion Jumbo Tsuruta vs Genichiro Tenryu - AJPW 6/5/89 Here it is, baby! After all these years, I am finally reviewing Jumbo vs Tenryu the Match! I have seen this match at least two or three times, but it has easily been ten years if not more. When I did watch it, I barely knew what I was doing. I just knew it was a famously great match. I reckon this is the most famous 80s All Japan match. Theres an outside shot that Funk vs Hansen or Funks vs Hansen/Gordy is more famous, but thats it. On top of that, not only is it famous, it is supposed to be one of the greatest matches of all time. Lets get a little context out of the Jumbo formed the Triple Crown in April of the year when he walked in as the International Heavyweight Champion and walked out with Stan Hansen's PWF and United National Championships. I will go back and watch that match after this. We are in the Budokan! In the early part of the match, my main takeaway is Jumbo is playing not to lose and Tenryu is playing to win. Jumbo seems unnerved by the slightest big of Tenryu offense and is retaliating with a lot of hold specifically the Cobra Clutch. It feels like he is trying to contain Tenryu and sap his energy. Jumbo does try to hit bombs but they are pretty much always well-scouted. The first instance is the very high first highspot of the match when Tenryu evades the world-renowned Jumbo High Knee and executes a bridging German for two. Jumbo's response clamp on a side headlock. When Jumbo did go for the High Knee again, Tenryu caught the leg and slashed him with a Chop. Jumbo hit the big boot. Cobra Clutch and lots of hard, stiff clubbering. Tenryu via scouting was forcing Jumbo to go to fundamentals. Tenryu proves he is the smarter competitor when he gets back to the ring first and smashes Jumbo with a lariat as he is trying to re-enter the ring. Tenryu had grabbed the high ground. Tenryu goes flying over the top rope like he is Misawa and leaps off the apron wiping Jumbo out. There have been elements of the 90s All Japan taking root in the 80s and you see that here with the complicated missed Second High Knee and the way the dive off the apron was presented. It is very interesting that it is minimalist Tenryu driving the match in that direction while Jumbo is working a more holds-based style. Tenryu drops into a legbar smart for him to recuperate. Then Tenryu gets into a full mount and reigns down the HEAVY forearms. Great ground & pound. It is only a well-timed Belly To Belly suplex, the first executed Jumbo highspot that reverses the advantage. Furthermore, the belly to belly suplex is not a common Jumbo spot. Jumbo goes back to the Cobra Clutch and then finally hits on his patented High Knee for two. By having to EARN that High Knee it made the spot and the nearfall so much bigger! One of my favorites spots in All Japan is the attempted Powerbomb. Here Jumbo was more likely going for a Piledriver but the though is the same. The crouch position, trying to hoist, the two men struggling against each other. So good. Jumbo settles for hard, stiff clubbering and an Abdominal Stretch. I didnt love the Tenryu hiptoss counter into an armbar and a short Tenryu control of strikes. Tenryu hits a Mack Truck Lariat for two, he's always good for one of those. Jumbo POPS him good with an Elbow. Tenryu's sell of this is so good. You know Jumbo caught him good. Jumbo is thinking Dangerous Back Drop Driver but Tenryu holds onto the ropes. Jumbo hits the High Knee in the corner and then tries for the Big Move again only for Tenryu kick off the ropes, shift his weight and have Jumbo absorb a lot of the blow on his head & neck. Good double KO Spot. JUMBO DEATH LARIAT! Loved Tenryu's reaction to roll to the ropes immediately even though it happened middle of the ring. Jumbo caught up to him but it was too late, the ropes break the pinfall. Great details match. Now we get to the Jumbo "pouring it on" portion of the match. I did think they went a little overboard here too. It was interesting at first it was a ton of feet on the ropes demonstrating Tenryu's intelligence. Jumbo learned to too, he tried to bundle both legs at one point only for Tenryu to fight through and get to the ropes. What was odd to me was as they escalated, they left that and started going to kick outs. Jumbo executes the Thesz Press without being hotshotted which popped me. That the first kickout and then he finally nailed the Dangerous Back Drop Driver and kick out. I didnt think the heat segment went as overboard as say Brock vs Roman I at the 2015 Mania but I would have liked more hope spots and struggle. I did however love the transition(s)! First Tenryu, hotshots Jumbo on the second Thesz Press! Hell Yeah! Second, Jumbo's High Knee in the corner eats the buckle and Tenryu nails an Enziguiri. He's on the comeback trail! Small Package! 1-2-NO! Tenryu attempted powerbomb gets great heat. Jumbo backdrops into a pin cover for two. The crowd is red hot. Jumbo starts repeating moves like the Top Rope High Knee, Tenryu closes the gap and Jumbo misses. Jumbo tries the Belly To Belly again, but Tenryu BACK HEEL TRIP! Popped me. Tenryu tries for his patented Reverse Top Rope Elbow but misses. It was Jumbo's turn to have it scouted. Jumbo telegraphs the Death Lariat and Tenryu uses the momentum to drive Jumbo's head into top rope. ENZIZGUIRI! POWERBOMB! 1-2-NO! NUCLEAR HEAT! POWERBOMB 1-2-3! CROWD GOES WILD! One thing I didnt mention was that Jumbo got a considerable amount of heat in the match. It can be hard to make out the difference between Tsuruta and Tenryu chants. I thought I heard some Tsuruta chants but this was definitely a pro-Tenryu crowd. I am surprised. I always thought Tenryu/Revolution were heels but watching all the footage it is clear they are the fan favorites. Also interesting that before the match Jumbo attempts to shake Tenryu's hand but Tenryu looks like he says Fuck You, but it was probably something else. Then Jumbo came over to shake his hand while Tenryu was slumped down in the corner, but Tenryu didnt again. Very Stone Cold vibes there. I have been debating between ****3/4 and *****. There are some things that keep this out of contention for my top 25 of all time, but I see it around #50. I am going with this as the tiebreaker. Once Jumbo started dropping bombs I noticed a teenage boy and girl in the front row were very committed to Tenryu winning. The girl's reaction to Jumbo's kickout was perfect. She was trying to take a picture right at right time with the old Kodak camera. She thought Tenryu won and she got wicked excited only to have her hopes dashed. Unfortunately during the actual pinfall, we miss her reaction, but we see the boy's and he is JUBLIANT! How can I deny a match that stirred such great emotion, *****.

This popped me fucking huge! I actually lol'd. That was fucking great!

All Asia Tag Team Champions Toshiaki Kawada & Ricky Fuyuki vs Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas - AJPW 6/5/89 What a weird match! Footloose was totally guzzling the Can-Ams; it was hard to get a rhythm watching the match. Then Fuyuki was just getting insane heel heat which is pretty much unheard of in Japan. It was affecting the nearfalls. Footloose pin attempts got zero heat and there would be a smattering of applause. They wanted the Can-Ams to win so bad! The way Footloose wrestled was infuriating. Furnas got a hot tag and was just ready to explode. Kawada completely snuffed it out. It was brutal. Killed the crowd and my spirits. Really weird match. Had these two team wrestled before? There seemed to be some serious heat (still kayfabe heat) but it was chippy from the start. Kawada and Kroffat get into an awesome pull apart brawl to start. The early story of the match seemed to be that Furnas was the powerhouse wrecking machine and how could Footloose overcome this and it seemed like their strategy was to isolate Kroffat. They establish that Fuyuki cannot lift Furnas and when he slaps Furnas he gets trucked by a Lariat, but when Kroffat comes in, Kroffat loses control. I liked Kawada/Kroffat getting testy in the corner again only for Kroffat to dump Kawada on his ass. So here comes Furnas who ends up Press Slamming Fuyuki to a big pop. This is where I think all the heel heat originates from Fuyuki knowing he needs to us his guile lures Furnas to the floor where he whips into the railing. I felt like thats when the mood shifted. It first it was like are they booing Fuyuki to the end of the match where it was clearly Fuck You Fuyuk if he wins, we riot. It was affecting Kawada shit. They didnt want to boo Kawada but they couldnt cheer him either so all out of Kawada's segments were heatless. Furnas his a bit dropkick to tag in Kroffat. I should add I realize it is customary in Japan that losing team take the majority of the match but this was ridiculous. The Can-Ams would get one maybe two moves per tag before Footloose would take over. I remember Kroffat coming in and getting quashed and his Crossface Chickenwing getting broken up quickly. The best spot in the match was when the crowd and me thought here we go again Fuyuki snuffing out a Can-Ams rally only for Furnas to catch Fuyuki in a bearhug and it was a Top Rope Hart Attack that was pretty bitchin'! Furnas Belly To Belly Suplex Ruled! True to form here comes Footloose. Kawada tags in DECAPITATES FURNAS WITH A LARIAT! HE FUCKING SMOKED HIM! Furnas doing a complete deadweght sell was completely warranted. I dont remember how Furnas tagged out, but he got owned. The Kroffat segments were not as memorable as the Furnas segments. It just like Kroffat never could get anything going. Him landing on his feet on the monkey flip popped me. Furnas saving his ass by torpedoing Kawada on the outside was killer. Furnas looked like a beast in the match. Kawada whiffed bad on an Enziguiri. Classic Footloose Crazy Out of Control Lariats into the corner. This is when the Footloose nearfalls have eerie silent heat and polite applause when Can-Ams break it up. I dont think crowd believed the Can-Ams could win. We get some WCW-esque camera work we miss Furnas ground to air missile dropkick to knock Fuyuki off the top and we almost miss Furnas Press Slamming Fuyuki on the announce table but then we miss a couple big moves in the ring. Furnas tags in and vaults over the top rope and fucking Kawada SQUASHES him. It was awful! I thought Furnas was going to teh hotshot but Kaada did a Thesz Press. Bad instincts. Can-Ams finally poor on the offense, Furnas dropkick while Kroffat had Kawada in the powerbom position. Big Kroffat splash, Furnas powerslam. The finish is kind of fucked up as Furnas never tags out, leads to an awkward lull. When he hoists Kawada up in the Argentine Backbreaker and Fuyuki spears him, I thought the crowd was gonna riot they were pissed! Kroffat Tiger Driver on Kawda 1-2-3! Big pop! Ignoring the Crowd Dynamics and the weird layout, Furnas looked like a beast and Kawada was a killer in this match. He was bringing the intensity. Fuyuki was embracing the heat. Kroffat just was kinda there for me. I am kinda shocked it has such a big rep. Definitely not ****, but ***1/2 is too low given how good Kawada and Furnas were so lets split it down the middle, ***3/4

All Japan World Tag Team Champions Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada - AJPW 2/23/89 Fun fact: Jumbo & Yatsu had just recently won the titles back from Hansen & Gordy in Kansas City of all places. Central States was long gone. Says it was at a World Wrestling Alliance card. Who was running that? So I did some research, Geigel tried to stage a comeback it sounds like after selling to Crockett and tried to go National under the name World Wrestling Alliance card using Mike George as his champion. Jesus. The Mike George vs Dick Slater match to crown the inaugural WWA Champion has piqued my interest. Kawada in the leopard print never gets old, imagine if he tried to carry that into the 90s selling out the Budokan having the greatest matches in pro wrestling history looking like that. Kawada was wicked over in this match. Besides the one Jumbo singles match, it feels like Kawada is getting way bigger opportunities than Misawa in the 80s. Kawada & Yatsu to start but the heat is on the big boys of course. Tenryu grabs Yatsu when he backs into the wrong corner. Jumbo takes exception to that. Before you know it they are put tagged in (Jumbo did feed for a Kawada reverse crossbody to set up the tag out) and they just go at each other like two fucking rams. Jumbo wins that battle with a High Knee followed by a Spike Piledriver! I love when Jumbo hollers to the crowd. The Tenryu vs Yatsu firefight is wicked. Mack Truck Lariat to escape and tag in Kawada. Yatsu stops Kawada dead in his tracks with a wicked thrust kick. The are definitely establishing a pecking order. Jumbo quashes the Kawada Crucifix Pin dropping back. This is when it was hard to make out if the crowd was chanting for Tsuruta or Kawada. Kawada used the out of control Lariat to escape and tag in Tenryu. Kawada shows shades of Footloose when he lets Tenryu whip him for a crazy lariat into the corner. Tenryu licks his hand for a CRACKING CHOP IN THE CORNER! Not very sanitary but the result were effective! All the heat is on Jumbo vs Tenryu with Kawada being that crazy spark plug that you are just wondering if he will be ab asset or a liability in the match. Kawada loses control of the advantage to Jumbo who wriggles out of a hold and counters into a toehold. He tags out to Yatsu who takes Kawada on a ride with two bulldogs. Back Drop Driver on the 3rd Bulldog attempt brings Tenryu in. Tenryu BRINGS THE PAIN! Wicked chops! I have been watching a ton of New Japan vs UWF so when Tenryu drops down into a straight kneebar I am wondering what promotion I am watching. Goo struggle from Yatsu to make the hold more exciting. Tenryu goes ful mount and unleades a brutal ground& pound punctuated by RIFLING HIM WITH A COWBOY KICK! Kawada eager to prove himself drops the Senton and goes back to the leglace. Kawada does not have it tight enough and Yatsu tags out in the hold. Which I think should be illegal. Jumbo not to be outdone...COWBOY KICK! Jumbo has murder in his eyes. HIGH KNEE! Whips Kawada into the rails. Abdominal stretch, Yatsu comes from across the ring to drive the knee into the trapped Kawada. Three times we have thought Kawada was going to be in peril and it looks like it finally happening as Yatsu has targeted the knee out of revenge for what happened to him. Yatsu vulnerable as he has Kawada in a leglace eats some of the most brutal stomps to the head I have ever seen. Yatsu break and glares at Tenryu. Yatsu powerslams Kawada and goes to the Inverted Figure-4. Jumbo plays watch dog. Tenryu dives with a dropkick and this leaves him open to being attacked by Jumbo. JUMBO VS TENRYU BRAWL BREAKS OUT ON THE OUTSIDE! Yatsu applies the Inverted Figure-4, if the brawl continued I would have bit on this as a finish. The crowd is chanting for Kawada thunderously this is when I noticed he was wicked over. Jumbo continues to beat on the knee. Kawada even in 1989 is a champ at selling the knee in how he later his rope running. Jumbo sets too early, kick and tag out. ENZIGUIRI! GERMAN! 1-2-NO! Jumbo Death Lariat for two! It is All Japan baby! SLASHING CHOP FROM TENRYU! Kawada tags back in. Seems way too soon. He eats a High Knee right to the face! Jumbo High Knees Kawada right in front of Tenryu which was a bad idea as Tenryu just swings for the fences and connects with a lariat! Tenryu and Jumbo on the floor! Yatsu and Kawada join them. TENRYU HAS A CHAIR! I definitely thought we were getting the double countout. Kawada closed fist to Jumbo in the ring! Jumbo is bleeding! Kawada gets a nearfall on Jumbo. Tenryu tags in. Tenryu Mack Truck Lariat! Tenryu working the cut with stomps! Tenryu's chops in this match are otherworldly. Tenryu tags back out. Kawada spinning heel kick! Kawada Back Drop Driver! Jumbo tags out after punting Kawada. Yastu pummels Kawada in their corner. FLESH ON FLESH! MAN ON MAN! Jumbo throws Kawada into Tenryu, before Tenryu can enter the ring, Jumbo MUGS HIM! JUMBOS HAS HIS FOOT ON TENRYU'S FACE! After all that heat, going to the abdominal stretch is a letdown. Kawada breaks it up. Tenryu Enziguiri! He attempts the Powerbomb for the first time. TENRYU POWERBOMB!!!! Yatsu saves! Tenryu is pissed! Jumbo nails him from behind with a wicked elbow! High Knee Tenryu Sandwich! Tenryu has the best chops ever in this match. Yatsu powerbomb but Kawda saves. Kawada barrage of kicks to Yatsu BEATS HIM BACK WITH OVERHAND CHOPS! Yatsu misses a charge... KAWADA Bridging German for two but Jumbo saves. Yatsu bridging German and Tenryu saves. Nice symmetry. Yatsu tags out and Tenryu comes charging across ring with Lariat. Top Rope Sunset Flip! Jumbo hotshots Tenryu for three!!!!!! WAIT NO HE KICKED OUT!!!! WHAT THE FUCK! Tenryu Enziguiri after a bunch of nearfalls. Kawda missile dropkick, Jumbo tags out. Yatsu headbutts! Kawada schoolboy for two gets huge heat. Yatsu throws him down on his ass on the Spinning heel kick. Yatsu German broken by Tenryu who says not on my watch. Jumbo tries to kick Kawada head off his body REPEATEDLY! DANGEROUS BACK DROP DRIVER! 1-2-3! WOW WHAT A MATCH! Three all-time classic performances, Tenryu was insane in this match. He was a Man Possessed. His chops were sick and brutal. You need to watch the match just for those chops. He was a surly, ornery bastard. He was in total fight mode. Kawada crushed it as Young Lion in over his head, biting off more than he can chew, but coming back for more. Jumbo as the Ace, protecting his yard and ripping into Kawada & Tenryu when ever he could. Yatsu was great dont get me wrong, but he didnt have that clear defined role. He was just throwing hands and throwing bodies. I had never heard this match talked up but JK and In Your Case are right, this is an all-timer hiding in plain sight. It is 1989 All Japan and it is hard to believe anything is left that has been talked to death, but this ruled and is definitely harbinger of the matches to come! ****3/4

I am more impressed that someone read that review! My guess is Takano was involved and Takano vs Takada when youre doing stream of consciousness can be pretty confusing from a typing perspective. In all honestly, I cant tell you who missile dropkicked who, lol. Ethan Page wrestled himself because of course he did. I am all for Man vs Self stories, but that takes it too literally.

PWF World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masa Fuchi vs Mitsuo Momota - AJPW 3/29/89 King's Road is here baby! I had never heard of Momota is a mustachioed stocky little fella. He was over like rover. My God, they chanting his name incessantly. I couldnt figure out why until I read his Wiki. He is the son of Rikidozan! Well that explains it! I have never heard anyone in Japan, native or gaijin, get as much heel heat as Fuchi did in this match and he didnt do anything that heelish. I think Momota was just that over. Fuchi had just won the Junior Heavyweight Championship back from Mighty Inoue a couple weeks prior. Red hot start that sets the tone early. Momota hits a crossbody block at the bell for two. I love those types of jumpstarts. Crazy out of control dive by Momota. Ok I see you. Boston Crab roll through by Fuchi and he uses a closed fist to the face to big boos. The rest of the match the crowd was cheering and chanting for Momota and booing Fuchi. Momota worked a strong headscissors and a variety of them. Eventually Fuchi escaped into an Indian Deathlock before settling into some arm work using a variety of armbars. Momota started rattling off some quick pinfall attempts and dropkicks. Fuchi avoided the big dive on the floor but Momota hit another dropkick on the floor. Fuchi nailed a Kawada-style Jumping High Kick to regain control which really kicks off the finish stretch. Momota is left writhing in pain grabbing his face as the crowd chants his name. There are a zillion Back Drop Drivers in this match. It really gives it that King's Road feel with all the doubling up of moves. Given that these were Juniors in 1989, I was biting on everything. Bombs away Knee drop from Fuchi gets two. Momota shifts the weight on the Back Drop Driver to give himself an advantage. I love that spot and used it all the time as a finish in my living room matches against my brother. There was a nice double reversed crossbody off the top rope that I bit on with Momota ending up on top. I really thought Momota had a chance. At one point he hit a pair of Back Drop Drivers, I was beginning to wonder if I was in 1993. Fuchi used Momota's own momentum against him with a Hotshot, Jackknife cover. Fuchi misses the second Bombs Away Kneedrop and the Enziguiri! I love missed moves. Fuchi was working the kicks to the head, Enziguiri to the back of the head sending Momota to the floor and then late a Kawada Jumping High Kick. Momota unleashes a barrage of slaps in the corner and then some headbutts. Momota hits another pair of Back Drop Drivers but the second one takes too much out of him. FUCHI THESZ PRESS 1-2-3! What sets this a part is the crowd is red hot for this Juniors match and that it is the prototype of the 90s All Japan style all here in 1989. Tons of bombs down the stretch all the typical All Japan moves with the Hotshot and Thesz Press thrown in to remind us this is the Jumbo era. Really breezy bomb-throwing match that never lets up! ****

Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hoshino, George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki - NJPW 9/16/86 Elimination Match Team UWF remains the same from March but there are some pretty major changes on New Japan. I think Koshinaka replacing Ueda is great especially because Koshinaka has great chemistry with Takada. However, no Inoki is a massive drop in star power. George Takano aka the Cobra is not making that up. Stream of consciousness review follows: First Elimination: Fujinami vs Maeda to start this is after their epic bloody war in June. Nice Firemans Carry by Maeda. No commentary. Fujinami wristlock and Maeda gets a standing toehold. Maeda drops into the legbar. Maeda tries for a kick but Fujinami blocks but ends up in a cross-armbreaker. Less crowd heat and less of a red hot start than usual. Maeda tags in Kido. Fujinami tags out to Kimura. Nice grappling as expected from the New Japan boys. Kimura drop toe hold. Kido comes up with the hammerlock. Kimura bodyslammed bounces Kido off the ring. Fujiwara vs Takano. George thinks best of it. Hoshino tags in. FUJIWARA VS HOSHINO~! Tie up in the corner. Fujiwara strikes first clocking him in the head which Hshino sells like a million bucks falling face first.. Hoshino wrestles him to the ground. Hoshino tries to Boston Crab Fujiwara BUT YOU CANNOT BOSTON CRAB FUJIWARA! FUJIWARA DRAGS HIM DOWN WITH A FUJIWARA ARMBAR! Hoshino makes the ropes. Hoshino selling amazing! Fujiwara rips him down with a double wristlock and then gets a side mount with the hold. Hoshino clocks him and fells Fujiwara. Fujiwara tags out to Takada. Koshinaka tags in. Great chemistry between these two. Takada slaps. Takada kicks. Koshinaka slaps him back as is customary in their matches. Hip attacks from Koshinaka. Double wristlock takeover by Takada. Koshinaka backs Takada into the New Japan corner and tags out to Takano. Takada tags in Yamazaki. Nice drop toehold by Yamazaki. Yamazaki goes for the armbar takedown. Takano comes back with a meaty drop toehold and wrenches the leg of Yamazaki and Bow & Arrow. Even if Inoki is not in this match, you cannot not have that move. Takada sells the Legbar really well good verbal selling. Nice kicks but Takada dragon leg screw into the Figure-4! Yamazaki counters into a calf-slicer. They both roll to the ropes which is a dangerous position in this match. Yamazaki goes back to the legbar. Takano is good selling this. Takada tags in monster belly to belly suplex back to the legbar of course! Takada rolls into ropes and tags in Hoshino. Hoshino WALLOPS Takada with a punch TAKADA UNLEASHES FURRY ON HOSHINO! Tags in Fujiwara! Hoshino Pelts him with Punches! This is Hoshino! Fujiwara Headbutt Hoshino tags in Kimura! Fujiwara Headbutt City! Fujiwara tags in Kido. Kido swinging neckbreaker. Kido dropkick. Kido Saito Suplex Two. Kimura backslide for three. Kido doesnt do much for me so I dont mind him as the first elimination. I liked the first elimination from the March match better with Kimura getting the desperation backslide after getting owned than here. Team New Japan 5-4. Second Elimination: Maeda comes flying into to the scree with wicked kicks ! Maeda misses his rainbow spinning heel kick! Kimura bodyslams him! Maeda press slams him off the top rope. Crossface Chickenwing by Maeda! Kimura gas to submit. Maeda looks like a total killer getting back square. Surprised Kimura went before any of three juniors. He didnt even get his trademark running Leg Lariat in. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination: Koshinaka checks on Kimura. Maeda drags him over to Yamazaki. Yamazaki fires off some kicks and reverse elbow. Koshinaka introduces Yamazaki to the Rear View! floatover suplex for two. Fujinami in. Yamazaki hangs onto the ropes. Fujinami misses a dropkick. Yamazaki bodyslam. Fujinami avoids the missile dropkick. Fujinami Scorpion Deathlock and directs traffic to avoid the interference from Team UWF. This leaves Yamazaki no choice but to submit. I liked that finish. Kido/Yamazaki being the first two gone is fine by me. Koshinaka hit the Rear View, we shall see if he long for this world. With no Inoki, I do think Maeda & Co. Have a chance in this match. Fourth Elimination: Fujinami vs Takada! Koshinaka tags in to reignite this feud! Takada roundhouse kick. Saito suplex by Takada into the cross-armbreaker but Hoshino breaks it up. Takada tags in. Takada missile dropkick to Takada. (EDIT: The MartMan was typing a little fast...either Takano or Takada missile dropkicked the other, lol). Takano misses the dropkick. Takano beats Fujiwara back into his corner. Takano Tombstone Piledriver! Takano misses the diving headbutt on Fujiwara. Suplex by Takano gets two. Russian Legsweep by Takano gets two. Fujiwara blocks the suplex into a Fujiwara armbar for the submission elimination. Takano was like a three year old right before you put him down for his nap. Wild & crazy and then Fujiwara snuff out that fire and put him to bed. Tied 3-3 and I like Team UWF for the win! Fifth Elimination: Fujinami grabs a choke on Fujiwara. Fujiwara sells these so well with the eyes and mouth frothing. Hoshino spears Fujiwara through the ropes for the double elimination. Hoshino gave us some great punches but I think he could have done more. I get this logic as it protects Fujiwara. It leaves us with Fujinami vs Maeda as the big match and Takada vs Koshinaka as the big juniors feuds. I am interested to see the booking. Seventh Elimination: Takada goes for an early Boston Crab. Nice struggle but he does get it. Koshinnka looks to power out and does. Koshinaka backbreaker. Koshinaka gets his own Boston Crab. He releases it and bodyslams him into a Fujinami bombs away kneedrop. Takada tags out. Late Match Maeda vs Fujinami! Maeda tries to overwhelm Fujnami with kicks. Maeda gets a reverse Triangle on Fujinami. Fujnami makes the ropes. Fujinami catches the Spinning Heel Kick and Maeda powers out of the Scorpion Deathlock into A Boston Crab in A Tussle over a Full Nelson they both fall through the ropes but Fujinami made his elimination extra dramatic teetering on the apron before falling into the abyss. I saw the booking a mile away once these two got in the ring. The Double Elimination was the only thing that made sense. Takada vs Koshinaka takes us home! Ninth Elimination: Takada kicks. Big kicks to head that are not his best as they obviously miss. Gets him good in the chest with a spin kick. Takada Tombstone piledriver! Koshinaka kicks out. Koshinaka makes the rope on Legbar. Takada goes for the Crossface Chickenwing. He gets it! Big chants for Koshinaka. Koshinaka makes the ropes. Takada goes for the Dragon Suplex but Koshinaka drives him into the buckles. Bridging German by Koshinaka for two that crowd bit on HARD. Koshinaka calls that the Rear View! He hits a second one! Takada kicks out! What is this 2021? Koshinaka Tombstone Piledriver Takada kicks out. Takada smacks the taste out of his mouth fancy pin cover that I have seen Marc Mero used the most and with some tights gives Team UWF the win. Even though I agree with DVDVR voters this was the least of the big elimination it was still a lot of fun. Without Inoki it lacked the Big Fight Feel and the red hot heat. The work was entertaining but it lacked the drama and the climaxes of the others. ***3/4

Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umansosuke Ueda, Kantaro Hoshino vs Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki - 3/26/86 Elimination Match I am wicked hyped for this match. New Japan vs UWF has been one of my favorite feuds. Team UWF is all the obvious choices with Super Tiger/Sayama being the glaring omission who did not come over for the Invasion but instead founded Shooto which to my knowledge is the first ever shoot promotion. Kido is taking his place. I have seen Kido he seems fine. Yamazaki is someone that has little New Japan World footage from this time period and didnt make the DVDVR set. I am familiar with him form UWF, UWF REBORN and the 90s. Team New Japan features obvious choices like Inoki, Fujinami and Kimura. Hoshino is not obvious but a very welcomed addition. Ueda I think shows the lack of depth on the New Japan side before the UWF invasion and the return of Choshu & Masa Saito. I am struggling with who I'd even replace Ueda with. Maybe Dick Murdoch? There is no way I am going to be able to keep up with the action, so stream of consciousness here we come: First Elimination: Maeda and Inoki handshake. Big oooh and aaaah. Maeda wants Inoki. Inoki makes a break for it, but his teammates hold him back. Big Fight Feel! Inoki has convinced his teammates to start. IT IS INOKI VS MAEDA~! Maeda throws a feint. Inoki runs the ropes like only he can. Wild Kick by Maeda but miss! Maeda kick flurries. Maeda catches the Inoki kick.. CAPTURE SUPLEX! Side Mount looking for a double wristlock. Maeda drags him over to Fujiwara. Fujiwara headbutt! Inoki chants! Fujinami in. It is the Battle of the Second Bananas! Fujinami gets a go behind, Fujiwara works his armbar takedown. Fujinami tries to block to no avail. Fujinami reverse waistlock. Fujiwrara bsucks off but headsicssors. Fujinami comes up with a side headlock. Nice double wristlock takedown by Fujinami. Hoshino in. As Tony Tiger would say This is gonna great! Fujinami clocks him with a right. Intense collar and elbow. Here comes the Mempho punch combo from Hoshino. Takada in and the lightning kicks on the smaller Hoshino tags him in the head. Killer Takada. Saito suplex. Legbar but Hoshino gets on his stomach to ropes. The crowd is wicked hot. Hoshino tags Takada with a slap. Kimura in and now Yamazaki. Yamazaki kick gets caught. Kimura slaps in the face in corner. Yamzaki roundhouse, Kimura drags him over and Inoki is in and it the Indian Deathlock his speciality and he is wrenching back and the Bow and Arrow. Crowd is eating this up! So am I! Fujinami tags in. Snapmare. Yamakazi turns out. Crossface Chickenwing? He gets it! Fujinami looks be in a bad situation. Fujinami blocks the German, Yamazaki does too. Yamazaki tags in Kido who love his punt kicks. Dumb person do that against. DRAGON LEG SCREW brings in Ueda who gets a big pop. Doesnt last long as Hoshino tags in. Hoshino whips Kido into the Kimura Leg Lariat. Suplex by Hoshino for two. Kido drags him over and here comes Fujiwara. Yes please! Great fist fight and headbutt. Fujiwara holds Hoshino for lethal killer Takada. Best kind of Takada! Offensive minded! Hoshino gets defensive great and armbar and tags in Inoki. Big Inoki chants! INOKI VS TAKADA~! Inoki single leg back heel trip into the Legbar which is a slap in the face to Takada. Takada makes the ropes. Tags in Kimura. Kimura bodyslam. Boston Crab coming...Takada fighting...no way Fujiwara would let this happen to him. Takada makes the ropes. Takada kicks to Kimura. Kimura does a good job absorbing them. Tie up in the corner. Takada UNLEASHES FURY! Maeda in wrecking Kimura wicked, wicked kicks. Great selling by Kimura. Fujinami is pleading the case for the ropes to get the ref to back off Team UWF. Maeda throws a Belly To Belly Cross ArmBrekaer but Hoshino breaks it up Maeda tags in Yamazaki. Yamazaki kicks in corner. Shit doeent look good for Kimura. Yamazaki wicked roundhouse and headtutt. GERMAN! Only two. Kimura backslide for three! OUT OF NOWHER! Yamazaki is besides himself and in the shocked Kimura tags out to Hoshino. Smart. Given how hard it was for me to type Yamazaki quickly, I guess I am happy he is out. :p Yamazaki is good for flashy kicks which we saw from him so he is perfectly fine first elimination. I like how New Japan was in early hole and snuck out an elimination. Team New Japan 5-4. Second Elimination: Team UWF made a big mistake letting their shock get the best of them as Kimura had the time to tag out to Hoshino. Hoshino and Kido go at it. Lets see if it bites them. Hoshino unloads in the corner and Kido strikes back. Kido swinging neckbreaker. Hoshino back suplex but Takada breaks it up. Fujiwara in and Inoki! FUJIWARA VS INOKI~! Inoki gets on his knees. Inoki goes for the leg kicks but comes back up. Inoki goes for the reverse waistlock. and then crossface but comes up his patented abdominal stretch. Inoki chants! FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! I marked out. Fujiwara works the armbar hard on Inoki crowd is going wild. Inoki flips to his back. Fujiwara wrangles him back over. Inoki makes it to Kimura for tag out. Maeda is in. Can Maeda finish the job from the last fall? Kimura looks a lot better. Maeda kicks out the leg but the ref backs him up from the corner. Fujinami tags in. Maeda throws a high kick. Good tussle leads Fujinami in the Team UWF corner. Takada in. Tadaka throws wild kicks. Takada gets behind standing switch. Fujinami FULL NELSON! That can only mean on thing! Crowd reacts. Takada struggles over to tag in Fujiwara. Fujinami wraps him up and holds him for a Hoshino flying kneedrop. Hoshino throws a haymaker! It is on between these two! Hoshino backslide and Fujiwara barley gets the ropes. Hoshino wants the piledriver. Fujiwara backdrops out. FUJIWARA PIELDRIVER! Fujiwara legbar. MIDDLE OF THE RING. Hoshino makes to the ropes. Fujiwara drags him ack in the middle and Hoshino has to submit. Fujinami comes in and an checks on Hoshino. Hoshino is good for great Memphis-style punch combinations so we got to see that so it was perfectly fine time for him to get eliminated. Fujiwara vs Hoshino was electric. Still havent seen much of Ueda. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination. Kido Saito Suplex on Kimura who powers out of a Boson Crab. Kimura works some Crabs and Kido makes the ropes. Ueda tags in to a big reaction and tags out to Inoki. Inoki vs MAEDA! Strong hard grappling but they end up in the ropes. Inoki is trying to eliminate Maeda via the ropes but Maeda is left clutching the ropes. Kimura tags in. Meada unleashes HELL with furious kicks and tries to eliminate Kimura via the ropes but Kimura hangs on. MAEDA SPININNG RAINBOW HEEL KICK ELIMINATES KIMURA! Kimura is known for his running leg lariat which we had seen. Kimura is a better worker than Ueda at this point (Ueda is quite old) but Ueda is the bigger star so this makes sense. You want Team New Japan down at some point. Team UWF 4-3. Fourth Elimination: Fujinami is in against Maeda. Maeda kicks the ankle and tags in Takada who applies the leg bar on Fujinami immediately. Fujinami rolls to his stomach which leads to a single leg crab naturally. Fujinami gets underneath but ends up in a leg bar but gets to ropes. Takada RIFLES Fujinami with kicks trying to eliminate him via the ropes. Wicked! Ueada saves. Fujianmi bridging German for two! Crowd bit. Takada hits his own for only two! Takada great kicks. Takada cross-armbreaker! Fujinami comes up with A SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Maeda comes in illegally and nails him with a kick. Inoki is in. Inoki Short Arm Scissors! Takada makes the ropes. Takada tags in Maeda. Maeda gets a Fujiwara armbar takedown. Big Inoki Chants in the Armbar. Maeda crossarmbreaker. Inoki tries to bridge to alleviate the pressure. Inoki reverse waistlock into a Saito Suplex HUGE POP! Fujinami in against Fujiwara! Fujinami pelts him with chops. The Fujiwara Boston Crab escape into multiple headbutts! Fuinami German Suplex for two, Fujiwara single leg back heel trip into the legbar. Fujinami Kangaroo Kick. Snapmare into the rear naked choke by Fujiwara. Fujiwara hags on as Fujinami keeps trying to roll through and that was sick! Keep hanging on but Fujinami closer to his corner. Fujinami and Fujiwara eliminate each other! When Fujinami does a forward roll over the the ropes to try to make Fujiwara release! Great use of the double elimination! Team UWF 3-2! The second bananas are gone! Sixth Elimination: Inoki comes in. Ueda has been useless so I dont like his chances. He is against Kido so this should be easy pickins'. Kido punt kick gets Inoki to the mat and works a chinlock. Kido gets the hooks in. Kido works the half nelson. Inoki gets a toehold. Inoki drags Kido over to Ueda to a big pop. Ueda comes crashing down on Kido's knee. Ueda vs Maeda! Maeda throws some big kicks. Nails him in head and Ueada wont go down. RAINBOW SPINNING HEEL KICK KNOCKS HIM DOWN! Ueada and Maeda eliminate each other when in the tussle near the ropes they both fall out. Pull apart brawl on the outside. Ueda was only 46 but was being treated like he was in his 50s wicked limited. They were able to leverage his starpower into a protected elimination for Maeda so he didnt have to job directly to Inoki. With Fujiwara and Maeda adequately protected, it is time for Inoki to clean house on these two jabronis. Team UWF 2-1 but I dont like their odds. Eighth Elimination: Takada in first. Inoki runs the ropes. Takada crowds him and throws a kick combination that Inoki ends up catching. They are he corner. Takada kicks the leg. Takada tags out to Kido. Takada ties up Inoki for some Kido kicks. Kido tries to eliminate Inoki via the ropes. The crowd buys it but I dont. Kido tags out. Takada tries for the cross-armbreaker but Inoki has hands clasped but Takada breaks that. Full hold applied. Takada snapmare into the rear naked choke. Inoki Saito Suplex on Takada. Kido in and Inoki dropkick! Kido punt kick. Kido neckbreaker. Kido holds Inoki for the Takada missile dropkick. Takada kick combination nut misses. Inoki legsweep! Inoki ENZIGUIRI! Another one! Floatover Supelx for two! Inoki rear naked choke on Takada and ring the bell. Who had Inoki vs Kido as the final two?!?! Ninth Elimination: Kido dropkick to the head! Saito suplex by Kido! Scorpion Deathlock by Kido! Suplex by Kido! Inoki clocks him with a uppercut. Great sell by Kido. Inoki Enziguiri! 1-2-3! BIG POP! Anti-climatic for an educated 2021 viewer that knew Kanye West has a better chance to become President than Kido had of winning that fall. New Japan vs UWF was so big so New Japan getting the win was huge. I totally get protecting Maeda but did Fujiwara really need protecting. I think Inoki vs Fujiwara in the Grande Finale would have had a lot more heat. My favorite New Japan Elimination match for sure but I find this genre just doesnt click as high for me as as it does for others. ****1/2

Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch vs Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 12/4/87 Four of my Top 100 Wrestlers of all time hooking up in a dream dream tag match! HELL YEAH! I can tell without pause why this did well in DVDVR Polling (#52) because this match is Headbutt City. If you love headbutts, this match is for you. It is a 30 minute draw that is worked like a 30 minute draw but still very good because these four are awesome even if never reaches that next level. The headbutts are the real drawing card. I am not a huge headbutt guy with the exception being Fujiwara of course who is the God King of Headbutts. There is a clip in the match, I think we lose about 4 minutes would be my guess. Murdoch and Fujiwara start us off on the mat. Nothing too fancy, I liked Fujiwara's top wristlock takeover and they trade kneecrushers. If I remember correctly, we get Murdoch vs Saito next and Saito is the first to throw headbutts. Murdoch is the only one who does not throw headbutts but instead throws Bionic Elbows, which look badass. Then it is Fujiwara vs Murdoch which is a similar story then we get Inoki vs Fujiwara. This is when it goes BONKERS! Fujiwara is throwing clear shoot headbutts with the clear intention of busting Inoki up and succeeds as Inoki ends up with a nasty cut above his eye. I didnt expect this to go the full thirty minutes and I didnt take notes. I am pretty sure Murdoch vs Saito is next. At one point Murdoch is trying to lift Saito into a Saito Suplex and how does Saito counter with what else but a headbutt! I am pretty sure Murdoch vs Fujiwara is next. They work the perfect Murdoch vs Fujiwara segment. It is filled Fujiwara Armbar Takedowns, Murdoch pulling him to the outside, wicked Murdoch punches and Bionic Elbows. I loved when Murdoch yelled for the Brainbuster and it was countered into the Fujiwara Armbar takedown. The way Fujiwara was selling those short punches to the face was amazing. Then we get full on Fujiwara in Peril and it was awesome! Inoki blitzes him with Enziguiris and Octopus Stretches and Fujiwara sold it like a million bucks. I think this is when Inoki/Murdoch did a double dropkick which popped me. Murdoch slung Fujiwara down with a powerslam! Then just kept dropping the hammer. Awesome heat segment on Fujiwara, great offense and great Fujiwara selling. Fujiwara CLUBS Saito and lunging headbutt! Hot Tag to Saito. FIREFIGHT BREAKS OUT! How does it end with a HEADBUTT of course! Saito vs Inoki is what I think happens next. This is when Saito pours it on..headbutts (of course), Lariats, Saito Suplex and finally the Inoki chants kick in. The crowd had been pretty dead. I think Inoki powders and this is when he hits his crazy Missile Dropkick! I definitely remember a missile dropkick from Inoki. I think thats what he uses to tag in Murdoch. Murdoch eats a Saito Suplex and he does his classic American sell spinning around on the mat. I remember Murdoch and Saito did the American spot of their heads banging in the middle of the ring. Murdoch going to the wrong corner very earnestly and trying to tag Fujiwara popped me huge. Saito & Fujiwara double headbutt on Murdoch repeatedly should have been the finish. It would have been so fitting. I know the match ends with Inoki and Fujiwara. I think Inoki hit a suplex for two before the bell rang. Two things stand out about this match, the sheer number of headbutts thrown by the team of Saito and Fujiwara. That was crazy. Fujiwara was out for blood at one point and got it against Inoki. The second thing was how good the Fujiwara in Peril segment was. The finish stretch was pretty good too. I marked out for the double headbutt after all the headbutts and really wanted that to be the finish. Great match! ****

Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi - NJPW 9/17/87 Interesting that the August match had two posts about it, but this match has no thread. The August match finished at #11 in DVDVR voting and this finished at #14 so only three spots separate them. From the line up, I think I would like this one more on paper. Mutoh just didnt fit with the Old Guard, while I love Hoshino's punch combinations, Masa Saito and Dick Murdoch add a lot of star power. I think Captain Redneck as the sole gaijin in the feud. As for the New Generation, I think Takada is an upgrade over Kimura. I like Kimura just fine, but Takada has become underrated and he had a really good series with Koshinaka and already at this point has more star power to him. Stream of Consciousness again: First Elimination: Inoki is taking Hoshino to the back...hmmmm...crowd to their feet. Inoki brings out Dick Murdoch is a big reaction. Ten years before the Monday Night Wars, Inoki is doing surprise debuts as the crowd is chanting "Holy Shit" ok thats what I assume they are saying. Theres a cut in the tape. It looks like Choshu may have been eliminated during the cut...boooooooooo! Looked it up on Cagematch, both Choshu and Murdoch were eliminated a little over a minute in! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Booo because I cant see it! Booooo because thats way too fast! Third Elimination: Maeda vs Saito! Saito Lariat! Saito Suplex, Maeda belly to belly suplex. Maeda hiptoss. Spinning Heel Kick for two. Saito tags out to Fujiwara. SSM in. Fujiwara leaps into the lock up. Fujiwara body punches. SSM fights back. SSM bodyslam. Takada in. Fujiwara leg whip and tags in Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi knee lifts. Inoki in! Inoki vs Takada~! Inoki goads Takada into tagging in Fujinami! OOOO we didnt get INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! in the last match. Criss cross. Big tease as Inoki tags out to Fujiwara. Fujinami is not happy. Fujwiara /Fujinami works a great snapmare/bridge series. Fujinami gets a single leg pickup and Maeda applies a leg bar. Tags in SSM who drops the leg on Fujiwara's leg. SSM Spinning toehold into the Figure-4. Takada drops a kneedrop on Fujiwara while SSM still has the figure-4 in. Where is the Old Guard! Here comes the Takada kicks and he pounds away in the corner. Fujiwara has heel control and dumps him on his ass. Saito in. He slugs Takada. Misses lariat, Saito shrugs off dropkick. Takada gets a roundhouse kick. Saito Suplex! Eat that punk kid and your flashy kicks! Sakaguchi vs SSM. Sakaguchi High Knee! Tags in Saito. Double Clothesline by old timers. Sakaguchi single leg crab. Maeda saves. Big Kicks on Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi has had enough of this and a firefight breaks out! Maeda legally tags in. Maeda kicks hamstring and Sakaguchi collapses he picks the ankle wants the single leg crab but Maeda gets the ropes. Saito gets suplex, Inoki tags in! Abdominal Stretch on Maeda. Maeda converts into a cross-armbreaker. Inoki is trying to bridge out. MAEDA OCTOPUS STRETCH! Takada Saito Suplex on Inoki for two and Takada cross armbreaker on Inoki, Inoki gets ropes and tags in Fujiwara. Fujiwara unloads on Takada in corner but Takada SNAPS~! explodes back! They end up in ropes. Fujiwara rips a Fujiwara Armbar takedown. Tag out to Fujinami. Fujinami beats him into Old Guard corner. Sakaguchi in. Fujinami and Sakaguchi love working with each other. Fujianmi Enziguiri! Fujiinami small package for three as called by Japanese commentator. Cant put my finger on it, but I liked the August match beginning a little more. New Generation 4-3. Fourth Elimination: Saito rides Fujinami to the ground and gets a leg submission on him. In the ropes. Saito goes for the Scorpion Deathlock. He turns it over and Takada saves. Saito Throws him into corner. Fujinami works corner. FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Fujinami tags out to Takada Takada tries to work Fujiwara Armbar Takedown but cant get perfect positioning on the ground. Fujiwara switch to his own! He is the Man! Takada makes the ropes. Fujiwara headbutt. Saito tagged in and more headbutts. Takada kicks. Sato dragon leg screw. Single leg pickup by Takada, SSM Leg drop. SSM headbutts to midsection. SSM Lariat on Saito. Saito tags in Fujiwara. SSM Lariat to Fujiwara. Another one by SM. Third Time is the opposite of a charm as Fujiwara counters the Lariat into Fujiwara Armbar takedown that leads a submission to tie this thing up! Tied 3-3. Fifth Elimination: Maeda chases Fujiwara back to his corner. Maeda misses Enziguiri on Saito. Saito hooks up and suplexes. Saito holds him for the Bombs Away Knee drop. Saito bodyslam and Inoki Bombs Away Knee drop again. Inoki bodyslam. Inoki suplex. I think theres a Maeda Chant! Fujiwara straight knee bar on Maeda! Maeda just barely gets the ropes. Maeda big kicks to Fujiwara. Big Spinning Heel Kick catches Fujiwara on the jaw! Spinning Heel Kick caught into the straight kneebar. Maeda makes ropes again. Put him away Fujiwara! Maeda kicks. Fujiwara leg scissors into a straight kneebar middle of the ring this time. Maeda makes the ropes. Maeda hooks him up. Small package rolling around and Maeda ends up on top! Boooooo but this makes sense. I think Takada could have gone before Fujiwara but this is a reasonable down the stretch. Fujiwara had been the star of the show with Takada's performance dripping with effort. This run of footage has been making me turn the corner on Maeda who has star power and in this last segment looked like a huge star. New Generation 3-2. Dont count Inoki and Saito out yet! Sixth Elimination: Smart money is on Takada getting eliminated next but after the Inoki/Maeda double elimination in August anything can happen. Saito attacks the knee of Maeda. Slamming the knee to the canvas as Maeda sells it well. Indian Deathlock by Saito on Maeda. MAEDA TAPPED OUT! HOLY SHIT! No wonder he Shoot Kicked Choshu in the face and started his own promotion. After that elimination he must have known the writing was on the wall. Tied 2-2. Seventh Elimination. There was a little protection in Maeda elimination given that Fujiwara worked three straight heel hooks/kneebars on his leg so you can say Saito just finished the job. It is Takada in. Takada dropkick on Saito. Takada pins for two and he is going for his patented Crossface Chickenwing but settles for a Boston Crab. Bodyslam towards Fujinami. Fujinami bombs away kneedrop and dropkick. Saito tags out to Inoki. Inoki Enziguiri! Butterfly Suplex for two! Tags in Saito. Saito sleeper on Fujinami. Fujinami tags out. Fujinami holds him as Takada nails a missile dropkick. Saito suplex. Takada kicks in the ropes. Saito dumps him on his ass. Saito suplex take over for two. Takada powerslam for two. Saito sidesteps the missle dropkick. He is winding up for Lariat. MACK TRUCK LARIAT FOR THREE! Old Guard 2-1. Eighth Elimination: I smell a rat. Fujinami all by himself. INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! Fujinami dropkick, Inoki kangaroo kick. Inoki Boston Crab. Fujinami full mount ground & pound. Fist fight. Inoki tags out. Saito bashes Fujinami head into the exposed turnbuckle. Repeatedly. Saito throws the ref to the ground. This is brutal. Saito bites the head. Saito bashes the head again. Fujinami tapped a gusher. He sees red! He fires away! Saito gets his feet up and bashes the head again. Tags in Inoki. Fujiwara swings and miss. Inoki has no shame and he is attacking the cut with punches. Fujinami last stand with Scorpion Deathlock on Inoki. Saito clocks Fujinami. Inoki headbutt. Inoki slams Fujinami's head into the exposed buckle. Fujinami throws ref away/ Inoki headbutt to cut. Saito tagged in and he Saito suplex! TWO! MACK TRUCK LARIAT! TWO! Fujinami wild swings trying to make a last stand. Saito bites the cut. Saito punches. Saito Supelx! Is Saito picking him up? Saito Suplex and Fujinami kicked out of that one. Saito punches the cut! Stomps the cut! Inoki tags in. Saito Supelx but blocked by Fujinami. Inoki SLAPS Saito and pins Fujnami! CHOSHU IS RIPSHIT! Choshu throws out ref. I figured Saito was going to turn on Inoki but I didnt see Inoki slapping Saito and stealing the win. Weird booking in my opinion. This explains the 1988 finish between Fujinami and Saito with the roles reversed. I think this was my favorite Elimination match. Best body/finish combo. These are fun spotfests with massive superstars and every combination is super hot. ****1/2

Antonio Inoki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino & Keiji Mutoh vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Coshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura, Super Strong Machine - NJPW 8/19/87 As was covered in a couple other reviews, on Jericho's podcast when discussing the Island Death Match and from KinchStalker, this is when New Japan suddenly switched gears to an intergenerational feud. Fujinami, Choshu & Maeda is such a strange trio. Typically they would each lead their own army so it is strange for them to be together. It also pits longtime allies Choshu and Masa Saito against each other and forces Saito and Inoki to team. Masa Saito must have not been available as there is a strange wrinkle that Mutoh the super rookie of the Three Musketeers is with the ol fuddy duddies. Ill have no chance to keep up with all the action so stream of consciousness it is... First Elimination: On paper the New Generation team is stacked! Dont count out Inoki and Fujiwara, methinks! The crowd loves Inoki, if there was ever any question of anyone in the New Generation supplanting him, it was not happening in 1987. Mutoh starts off red hot with a dropkick and Bridging German on Fujinami for two. That was cool. Mutoh goes for the Scorpion Deathlock but tags out to Hoshino. FUCKING FIREFIGHT! INOKI COACHING ON THE OUTSIDE! FUJIANMI ROARING BACK! DROPKICK! BODYSLAM! Big Match Riki! Sakaguchi tags in. Sakaguchi is a big muthA trucker and he throws around Big Match Riki. Fujiwara in and grounds Riki. Riki tags out to Maeda, big reaction. Maeda unloads with an onslaught of kicks. Maeda more than Fujinami and Choshu by my estimation. Nice suplex throws by Maeda for two. Tries to throw Fujiwara out that count as an elimination. Maeda is at his best throwing kicks. Here comes SSM. The one I know the least about, suplex on Fujiwara. FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Go Fujiwara! SSM tries headbutting FUJIWARA, dumbass! Fujiwara no sells and headbutts him into oblivion! Hoshino in but he gets trapped in the wrong part of town. Kimura in and now all of the new Gen has been in. Kimura throws Hoshino into the old guard and that was dumb as shit! Sakaguchi takes the challenge and pelts with kicks to the hamstring. The juniors come flying at Kimura. He tags out to Choshu and Mutoh tags out to Inoki. INOKI VS CHOSHU~! Interesting Choshu gets the first crack at Inoki. Inoki ends up tagging out (not much of a crack). Mutoh gets dragged towards new guard corner as Choshu tries for Scorpion Deathlock and tags in SSM. SSM applies the Boston Crab to Mutoh. FUJIWARA HEADBUTT BREAKS IT UP! Maeda Spinning Heel Kick on Mutoh and then a Bridging German! Mutoh takes a gnarly kick to the chin. Kimura flying knee on Mutoh. RUNNING LEG LARIAT BY KIMURA! that his big highspot. Single crab, wicked one but too close to the old guys. Fujiwara in and slapping the piss out of Kimura who roars back. FUJIWARA CRACKS HIM! Fujiwara came to play! Fujiwara gets a reverse Triangle. Sakaguchi tags in. Sakaguchi puts Fujinami on top rope, slaps the shit out of him and press slam. Fujinami punt kicks Sakaguchi repeatedly Sakaguchi dumps Fujinami on his ass. Fujianami gets the go heading to tag in Choshu. Choshu beats on him in corner. Chosh returns the favor and pelts Sakaguchis leg with kicks in the corner and now turns him over for the Scorpion Deathlokck. He tags out to Maeda who misses Rainbow Spin Heel kick. INOKI VS MAEDA~! CROWD IS MOLTEN! Inoki tries his famous Ali leg dive kicks but Maeda backs off. They grapple to the mat. Maeda wins control but it is stalemate. Inoki gets headlock and forearms. Inoki retreats from a big kick. Maeda kangaroo kick. Inoki vs Kimura and Inoki headbutts his way out of trouble. Hoshino beats up Kimura and then Sakaguchi dominates Kimura into a Single Leg Crab. Kimura looks wriggle free. Fujinami tags in. Sakaguchi THROWS Fujinami halfway across the ring. Fujinami Enziguiri. Fujinami holds Sakaguchi MACK TRUCK LARIAT! 1-2-3! WICKED HOT FIRST FALL! Characters and the different combinations what make this. Sakaguchi because of his size has a unique presence, disappointed he is gone early but had a good showing. Fujiwara has looked the best for the old guard. Kimura seems to have the most time for the New Guard but Maeda has made the biggest impact thus far and is the most over of the new guard. New Generation 5-4 Second Elimination: Choshu leg drags Mutoh into their corner, Choshu is talking shit as SSM stomps a mudhole in Mutoh. Nice dropkick by Mutoh on SSM. Suplex for two by Mutoh. Mutoh is able wrestle him over to Fujiwara. Fujiwara body punches! Fujiwara tags him good. Bodyslam into the Inoki Bombs Away Kneedrop. Octopus Stretch on SSM, no one is saving him...should be over...SSM MADE THE ROPES! WOW! Enizguiri, second Octopus Stretch, easy submission. SSM was my least favorite of the ten so I was hoping he'd be gone early. Tied 4-4. Third Elimination: Fujiwara headbutts Kimura, who bullies him into the New Gen corner. Maeda slugs Fujiwara and tries to throw him out, but Fujiwara hangs out for dear life! Maeda capture Suplex for two! Maeda's Capture Suplex is so nasty. Kimura back in. Piledriver! A really good one. Kimura tagging Fujiwara, FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Kimura gets the ropes. Nice selling but Kimura. Kimura atomic stomp but the nifty Boston Crab reversal by Fujiwara into an awesome drop toehold into a kneebar submission. I am enjoying this a lot more than 1988 Elimination Tag. We are down to the big three of the New Generation. I figure Mutoh & Hoshino are not long for this world, but after that I am really intrigued who if any eats an elimination from New Gen. Old Guard 4-3. Fourth Elimination. Choshu stomps the hell out of Fujiwara as he goes full court press as they are down 4-3. Fujiwara Armbar Takedown on the suplex attempt but he doesnt have perfect postioning. Choshu gets the ropes but he is dangerously closed of being eliminated via the floor. Fujiwara is trying to kick him out. Headbutt! Shoulder butt. More kicks. Big headbutt. Lunging headbutt. Chosh slugs him with a closed fit. Fujiwara tags out to Mutoh. MAREDA CREAMS MUTOH WITH THE SPINNGINg HEEL KICK! BRUTAL! He throws Mutoh to Inoki! BOLD MOVE! Inoki leg kicks misses Enziguiri and Maeda missed Spinning heel kick. Inoki headsicssors, MAEDA AND INOKI BOTH TUMBLE OVER THE TOP ROPE AND ARE ELIMINATED! I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING! WOW! Nice Swerve! Big reaction! Maeda celebrates this as big victory. Old Guard 3-2. Sixth Elimination: Fujinami vs Hoshino! Without Inoki, I think the New Gen have this easily even down a man. Fujinami enziguiri and tags out to Riki Choshu. Hoshino great punches on Choshu. Hoshino is a punch machine. Was his excursion in Memphis? Serious question. Fujiwara ends up in the wrong part of town. Fujinami tries to eliminate Fujiwara via the ropes. He smashes Fujiwara head into exposed steel. That make a nasty sounds. Fujiwara's labored breathing was awesome all match forgot to mention that. Fujinami backslide pin of Fujiwara was anti-climatic, first anti-climatic part of the match. Tied 2-2. Old Guard is fucked. Seventh Elimination: Mutoh vs Choshu. Mutoh tags out to Piston Punching Hoshino. Choshu shoulder tackle and then a powerslam. MACK TRUCK LARIAT! 1-2-3! New Generation 2-1! Awesome the Old Guard team comes to down the Supernova Rookie Keiji Mutoh. Inoki gets on the apron to give him a pep talk. Eighth Elimination: Choshu vs Mutoh. Choshu kneelift. Snapmare tag to Fujinami. That is a weird sentence to type. Fujinami Scorpion Deathlock. Mutoh starts power out and tag to Choshu. Choshu goes right back to the Scorpion Deathlock. Mutoh Enziguiri! Choshu sells like his bell has been rung. mounted punches in the corner. Back Handspring Elbow! BACKBREAKER! MOONSAULT LANDS ON FEET! DECAPITATION LARIAT! Fujinami tells mutoh to get up as Choshu talks trash to Inoki. Brawl on outside among eliminated members. Fujinami German Suplex for three. New Genrations wins some huge ass trophies. Match petered out in my opinion once the Inoki & Maeda double elimination. I think they could have down more with Fujiwara, Hoshino and/or Mutoh being more valiant. I dont think you need to do all three, but one making insane last stand would have put the match over the hump into classic territory. The 1988 version had the more memorable finish, but this has the better body. ****1/4

NWA World Champion Ric Flair vs Tommy Gilbert - WWC 9/4/82 I watching a match with four of my top 50 favorite wrestlers in Japan and having a hard time getting into it. I think I may be burnt out. I threw in a curveball. I was going to watch some Flair in Portland but the matches were too long and this one at around ten minutes was perfect. Looking forward to Flair vs Colon. Typical Flair by the numbers TV Match. If youre a Flair fan like me, youll love it and it is Chicken Soup for your soul. If you dont like Flair you can skip. I thought the Wendell Cooley Mid-South TV match from 1985 that I watched recently was even better but you cant wrong with this. The shine was Flair losing a Test of Strength and taking a hiptoss. He chops Gilbert a good bunch, throws him out of the ring, nice delayed vertical. Gilbert's only highspot seemed to be the dropkick. Flair hit the Belly to Back Suplex for two. Gilbert got in a dropkick, missed the second which wrenched his knee in a tree of woe. Figure-4->tapout. Before the match Flair cuts a promo on the Invader with a Spanish translator that was good shit. It is Flair touring TV studio wrestling and its in Puerto Rico, pretty cool. ***1/4

Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami - NJPW 9/7/87 This was during the brief shift in directions of New Japan booking in the Summer of 1987 as explained on Chris Jericho's podcast when they discussed the Inoki vs Saito Island Death Match and something also KinchStalker has discussed on here towards an Intergenerational feud. After Inoki won the inaugural IWGP Championship by beating Masa Saito, in the post-match Inoki aligned himself with the old guard of Saito, Sakaguchi and Fujiwara. While Maeda, Fujinami and Choshu became aligned. This led to some strange bedfellows and opponents. Typical Choshu & Saito would be aligned and Maeda would be aligned with his fellow UWF wrestler, Fujiwara. While Fujinami had serious issues with both Maeda and Choshu. The feud lasted it seemed about three months before it was dropped in favor of returning to Inoki vs Saito and Maeda shoot kicking Choshu in the Fall led to the second UWF exodus. A short sprint between these four as the main meat of this feud was in New Japan elimination matches. The highlight of the Fujiwara/Maeda segment in the beginning is the terrific Fujiwara hammerlock takedown and then hammerlock bridge. Inoki schools Fujinami on the mat with a rolling short arm scissors. The old guys have come to play. Fujiwara busts out his nifty get out of the Boston Crab trick. Fujiwara cracks Maeda hard across the face twice in the corner before tagging out to Inoki to the money pairing. Inoki absorbs some Maeda kicks and takes him down and applies an Inverted Deathlock. A fist fight breaks out in the Deathlock. Maeda shifts positions and full mounts Inoki and ground & pound. Inoki misses an Enizguiri and Maeda misses the Rainbow Spinning Heel Kick. Fujinami in and he snapmares Inoki into a sleeper. Maeda tags in and applies the Inverted Deathlock as a slap in the face to Inoki. Fujiwara cracks him with a slap to break the hold. Inoki tags out and Fujiwara vs Maeda is a brawl. Fujiwara kicks ass first, Maeda backs him in a corner and throws a wicked High Knee that Fujiwara sells like only Fujiwara can sell. Maeda pours it on with a Super Tiger like Kneedrop. Fujiwara tries to mount a comeback but Maeda quashes it with a kick to the injured side. Maeda lets Inoki tags in. Maeda hits first Spin Wheel Kick but Maeda ABSOLUTELY EATS IT ON A SPINNING HEEL KICK TO THE CORNER! He LAUNCHED himself into that INOKI ENZIGUIRI~! OCTOPUS STRETCH! Fujinami is forced to break it up. Fujinami in, but he misses a dropkick and an Enziguiri, but Inoki doesnt miss his! Ever since Maeda vs Fujiwara this match has been red-hot. Fujiwara vs Maeda. Maeda misses the Rainbow Spinning Heel kick again, but he kicks Fujiwara in his bad side and wins the match!?!? Man this had a high trajectory, it was just getting good, but that abrupt finish makes it feel incomplete. Always great to see these four guys ply their trade, even Maeda is growing on me. ***1/2

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Shiro Koshinaka vs Nobuhiko Takada - NJPW 2/5/87 The last of their trilogy which was pretty much panned by the DVDVR voters which is pretty shocking as this match and the first match are terrific and the second match is pretty good too. It is tentative start which made me feel like this match would be be more like the previous match than the first match but boy was I wrong as this one topped them all. There is a brief moment at the beginning of the match where Koshinaka slaps at Takada's hand he comes grimacing. He is wearing tape on two fingers. I didnt think much of it at the time, but it is crucial. In each match, there is an early slap exchange and that fires them. Takada pissed attacks Koshinaka in the ropes with kicks. Koshinaka barks back as if to say "I was in the fucking ropes, asshole!". They end a criss cross sequence with Takada going for a spinning heel kick and Koshinaka going for a dropkick after three matches I like the scouting/know each other spot. Weird spot as Takada goes to suplex out of the ring, Koshinak lands on the apron but loses his balance and falls ass first to the floor. He regains control and Tombstones Takada in the ring. I wonder if he was supposed to land on the apron and counter Takada from there. Takada BLASTS him in the face with a wicked kick coming up from that. The rest of the kicks miss by a mile in the flurry but that first one had me verbally exclaiming. Takada hits his own Tombstone and then missile dropkick. Takada is looking for the Crossface Chickenwing which was a staple of the last match. He misses an Enziguiri and Koshinaka appleis a single leg crab and then a German Suplex bridge. Koshinaka really wants the Rear View and Takada really wants the Crossface Chickenwing but neither gets what he wants. Takada SMASHES his face with a kick! That looked even more vicious than the last one I "OOOOHHH" for. Lo & Behold, Koshinaka has a bloody mouth. Takada works a lot of armbar takedowns and leglocks. Armbars looked great. Koshinaka was great again at working in the leglock first rolling to the floor and then engaging in a wicked slap exchange in the second. Takada looks to be in the driver's seat. Looks to finish the match with a Saito Suplex and when that doesnt work a Dragon Suplex. In a blink and you miss moment, Koshinaka breaks free of the Full Nelson and Takada is writhing in pain. I rewound and saw it was because Koshinaka went after the taped fingers. Interesting. Takada applies the Crossface Chickenwing but is too close to the ropes. Nails a fucking PICTURE PERFECT DRAGON SUPLEX! Look at his forehead! Takada applies the Crossface Chickenwing and I really thought Koshinaka was dead to rites and then he yanks at the busted fingers! FINGER MANIPULATION! Which I thought was illegal in traditional pro wrestling like how closed fists are. Ref lets it go. Koshinaka is relentless! Takada sells it like a million bucks. He throws the tape off and tries to regroup but Koshinaka wont stop! Takada gets some desperation head kicks as Koshinaka is still bleeding from the mouth. Takada is seated in the corner trying to regroup but Koshinaka keeps coming and armbar takedown with finger manipulation gets Takada, the UWF Fighter to submit! Huge victory! There are parts of the first match I like better, but I loved this finish. I like how they foreshadowed it and then really drove it home. Takada is clearly the better wrestler but Koshinaka is finding ways to win! Awesome match! ****1/2

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - NJPW 12/6/85 I believe this is an IWGP Tag League match as they had a rematch six days later which I think was the final. I remember liking that match a lot. First Twenty Minutes: Sakaguchi is a big mutha trucker and what I love about him is he wrestles like one. When Fujinami tries to take him over with a headlock he just throws him halfway across the ring. When Kimura is up top, he press slams him off. The initial Fujinami/Inoki stuff is not super hot. More just feeling stuff out. Fujinami seems to be on the losing end of both Inoki and Sakaguchi. There is a great fist fight that breaks out between Inoki and Kimura. That changes in the second go round with Inoki, he is able to counter into a Scorpion Deathlock and directs air traffic so that Kimura does a top rope Atomic stomp on Inoki. That was cool. I like how Fujinami got between Inoki and Sakaguchi on the attempted tag. They tried to focus on the leg but Inoki tagged out. They do the Kimura running leg lariat/Fujinami shouldertackle combination. Here they were much more successful working on Sakaguchi's leg. Lots of Figure-4s, Scorpion Deathlocks, kicks to the leg. I liked the leg work but was disappointed that the tag to Inoki was not built to more, it just sort of happened. Inoki and Fujinami traded abdominal stretches but then Kimura got involved and things didnt go well for him. First it was Indian Deathlocks and Bow and Arrows. Then Inoki was going for the KO kill with the Saito Suplex and Enziguiris and trying to get the ref count him out. Sakaguchi goes for the Argentine Backbreaker and the Boston Crab but Fujinami has had enough! He interrupts both...each tag out...leaving us with Inoki vs Fujinami. Last Ten Minutes: It is a slam bang home stretch! Fujinami executes a German Suplex with a bridge for two, but hurts his knee because I dont remember Fujinami being injured. Kimura tags back in too soon remember Inoki was just trying to KO him. Sakaguchi Backbreaker into Demolition Decapitation. That was sweet! Inoki applies to Octopus Stretches and on the second one just releases as Kimura crumples to the mat. Kimura kangaroo kicks Sakaguchi tags out. Fujinami and Sakaguchi have a heated exchange trading full mounts, slaps and chokes. Fujinami tags back out dont know how wise that is. Kimura running leg lariat on Sakaguchi but that knocks Sakaguchi into Inoki. Kimura tries the same thing on Inoki who just runs out of the way. Kimura has the presence of mind to tag out. Inoki bodyslams Fujinami and big Bombs Away Knee Drop. Nasty Saito Suplex by Sakaguchi and Kimura saves on the cover. Big Octopus Stretch by Sakaguchi. Fujinami tags out. Kimura doesnt have much in tank. Sakaguchi applies a Boston Crab too close to the ropes. He does it again and it doesnt look good. Kimura makes it to the ropes again. Inoki has his way with Kimura, dropkick, but misses the second one. Kimura RUNNING LEG LARIAT CONNECTS! German by Kimura but his shoulders were down too. Fujinami in and they tease Dragon Suplexes on both Inoki and Sakaguchi. Fujinami applies the Octopus Stretch on Sakaguchi as time is winding down! Too close to Inoki as Inoki its an Enziguiri and goes for a cover after tagging. He nails another one for two. Time expires. My recollection is the final is even better, but this was still a wonderful 30 minute draw. Just tight work that is always moving and interesting, but done with struggle and intensity to hook you in. ****

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Nobuhiko Takada vs Shiro Koshinaka - NJPW 9/19/86 I thought this was a clear step back from their awesome August encounter. I didnt think it was heated or uncooperative. I didnt Koshinaka struggles as hard in the leglocks and I didnt think Takada had as much of a killer instinct. They each tag each other with a slap in the beginning. I didnt think it was as goof as August. Takada throws a couple nice kicks but is mostly working single leg/back heel trips into leglocks or armbar takedowns. Koshinaka tries to work toeholds, but rides too high and Takada counters into an armbar. After a couple times around the merry-g-round, Koshinaka powders and in the next toehold just starts stomping Takada, a much better strategy. He makes his first in-roads with a Boston Crab and then a backbreaker. Koshinaka takes his foot off the gas with a Figure-4 around the head. Takada escapes easily into the leglock. On stand up, Takada will have the advantage. Single leg pick up right back to the leglock. Koshinaka is selling but this is not as great as the August match with all the scrambles and the crazy slap exchanges in the hold. Takada throws some nice swift kicks, big moment, Takada's enziguiri is blocked! Koshinaka nails a Tombstone for two and shows Takada a Rear View, but Takada gets his foot on the ropes! Koshinaka is building momentum after it looked like Takada was owning him in both stand-up and on the ground. Takada Saito Suplex after a big slap for two. Takada nails him with a left kick on the temple. Takada back in firm control. Koshinaka sells this well using the ropes to get back up only for Takada to rock him with another kick Koshinaka wont stay down so Takada hits a Tombstone of his own. Koshinaka backslide hope spot gets a big pop, bridging German gets a lot of heat. Koshinaka catches a kick, reverse waistlock, ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! I love that spot. Koshinaka makes the ropes. This was definitely a leglock-heavy Takada match but Koshinaka at least rolls out pretty quickly. Takada Dragon Suplex but too close to the ropes. Takada tries desperately for the Crossface Chickenwing. He applies but Koshinaka is still too close to the ropes. He tries again but Koshinaka drives him into the buckles. Takada flurry of kicks, Koshinaka SWEEPS THE PLANT LEG! MARK OUT CITY! Koshinaka catches a kick, spins him around, O'Connor Roll with a Back Bridge for Three! New Champion to a loud pop! I definitely preferred the August match but I still thought this was great. Takada is clearly dominant in every aspect of wrestling so Koshinaka has to use his guile to keep up. All of Koshinaka's offense were counters to Takada. The built to a heated finish. ****

Riki Choshu vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara - NJPW 06/29/87 They had a corker of a match about 20 days prior to this. This one is just as heated but the finish is so abrupt it makes the match feel incomplete. Fujiwara comes out of the gate red hot, slapping Big Match Riki down, stomping him and throwing those Fujiwara headbutts. Fujiwara really loved choking Choshu in this match. Riki fires up and starts giving as good as he gets. You know those silly stand there and eat shots that New Japan does all the time in 2010s this is how it ought to be done. These dudes are standing & banging! The crowd is going wild! Fujiwara is the one who finally takes it to the mat with a cross-armbreaker attempt. Everything in the match feels so gritty. They have to work for every inch. Choshu has his hands so tightly clasped. Fujiwara switches to the classic armbar attempt when that doesnt work he tries slaps the shit out of Choshu. Choshu had enough of this shit and tosses him out. Love the corner collar & elbow tieup fits in so well with the grit of the match. Choshu maniac back elbows to the head in the corner while the rest of his body pins Fujiwara to the buckles was sick! Ref peels him off Fujiwara and Fujiwara applies a leglace. Never count Fujiwara out of it. Choshu slaps Fujiwara in the hold, stomps him in the ropes, chokes him. This is ferocious! Fujiwara punch combination and headbutt! Chokes Choshu! Such a great performance by both men! Fujiwara lures him in the corner but the ref forces Choshu to the middle. Fujiwara has Choshu's long locks and is using it to throw headbutts and then CHOSHU DEMOLISHES HIM WITH A LARIAT! I LOVE BIG MATCH RIKI! Choshu Saito Suplex, Block, FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Mark Out City! Crowd went wild. Choshu drags Fujiwara to the floor. Choshy does the 'ol ricochet off the railing with a Lariat on Fujiwara. Fujiwara on the apron, INCOMING RIKI CRUSHES HIM WITH A MACK TRUCK LARIAT! Countout is declared as Choshu was ready to fire off another one. Awww man it was just getting good. I felt like they were on a trajectory to be an all time classic. Thank God we have the 6/9/87 match. Watch that match first, it is the classic and then when you are hankering for a midnight snack pop this in! ***3/4

Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu - NJPW 9/12/88 It is Team Choshu led by Big Match Riki vs Team New Japan led by Fujinami. Choshu & Masa Saito not to be confused with Hiro Saito returned in 1987. Inoki vs Saito was the major feud of 1987 climaxing with the infamous Island Death Match which may be the first instance of Cinematic Wrestling. Saito took a backseat after that match and introduced the world to VADER! Choshu became a prominent player again in 1988 with multiple big time matches against Inoki including a clean victory with two Lariats in July. Choshu and Fujinami also had two kickass battles over the IWGP Championships earlier in the year. I am surprised Inoki is not with Fujinami, but Fujinami has his buddy Kengo Kimura again, I guess they patched things up. Fujiwara feels like a substitute for Inoki, in the eyes of some, an upgrade. As much as I love Inoki, Fujiwara is in my ten favorite wrestlers of all time, so I am happy he is here. Each squad has two juniors on their team, Fujinami has the bigger star power there with Koshinaka and Yamada. While Choshu has Kobayashi and Hiro Saito. For the purposes of this review, I will use full names. I am more familiar with Kimura because his tag team and feud with Fujinami. Perhaps I am selling Super Strong Machine short when I say there is a clear dropoff in star power there. However, Super Strong Machine has a wild tag classic in 1989 with George Takano of all people against stablemates Choshu and Masa Saito so I shouldnt sell SSM short. I am expecting a lot of slam bang action, so I am going stream of consciousness. First Elimination: Masa Saito gets under Fujinami's skin during the introductions. Fujinami throws a kick. Hiro Saito and Yamada to start off for their teams. Yamada wins as shoulder tackle. Big back drop by Hiro Saito who tags in Kobayashi. Kobayashi big running knee and vertical suplex by Kobayashi. Choshu is in and massive kneelift! Big bump by Yamada. Chinlock tags in SSM. SSM headbutt. Four members of Team Choshu in and only one from Team Fujinami. Big Difference. SSM tries to eliminate Yamada via the floor. Great scramble. Masa Saito has tagged in and all of Team Choshu has taken turns on beating on Yamada. Hiro Saito big reverse elbow and suplex on Yamada. I like how this one is starting with a dramatic heel heat segment as opposed to the workrate each performer takes a turn to shine in the Juniors version. SSM Misses an elbow drop and Yamada tags in Fujiwara. Excellent choice! Fujiwara owns SSM with clubbing rights and headbutts. Fujiwara owns Kobayashi with his patented Boston Crab reversal and an excellent leg scissors takedown before tagging out to Koshinaka. Koshinaka squanders the advantage by being too fancy. Kobayashi spin kick and a big ol slap. Koshinaka gets an Enziguiri to tags in Kimura who kits his one move, the Running Leg Lariat, which doesnt bode well for his prospects of staying in the match. Kobayashi tags out to Choshu. Choshu ties him up and he and Masa Saito hit a double suplex. Only problem is they threw him into his own corner, Kimura tags out to Yamada. YAMADA VS MASA SAITO IS ELECTRIC! Yamada bumrushes him with kicks, ROLLING KOPPOU KICK! Mark out city! He is firing off a relentless onslaught of kicks...Kobayashi tries to save but nothing will stop Yamada well that is until Masa Saito HEADBUTTS him! Saito big hiptoss out of the corner. He tags out to Hiro Saito. ROLLING KOPPOU KICK BAILS LIGER OUT! Koshinaka and Hiro Saito do a nice criss cross sequence. Tag out to Fujinami and Choshu! The first time seeing Fujinami! Here we go! Not much happened to be honest. Just some tieups. Fujinami ended getting SSM in a full nelson and backing into his own corner to tag out to Fujiwara. Fujiwara Boston Crab on SSM. SSM makes the ropes. Fujiwara growling is amazing here. Kimura in now. Bodyslam. Kimura goes for piledriver but SSM deadweight shim and powers out. Kobayashi in. SSM lariat in the corner and Kobayashi goes for the cross-armbreaker but Kimura claspes his hands, great selling from Kimura. Fujiwara bodyslam on Kobayahsi. Double Dropkick by Fujinami's juniors. Double Suplex now by them. Owen style belly to belly suplex by Yamada. Fujinami dropkick but it backfires as he dropkicks Kobayashi into Choshu who tags in. Fujinami punches Choshu! Saito Suplex on Fujinami! Choshu/Masa Saito double team on Fujinami attacking the knees. Inverted Indian Deathlock by Choshu which Fujiwara breaks up with a headbutt but Masa Saito hangs on. Fujinami scoots over and tags in Fujiwara. Fujiwara vs Masa Saito is what I need in my life! Fujiwara pelting him with overhand chops! Saito punches him into his corner. That was a letdown. SSM in and he is choking Fujiwara with his boot in the corner. HIRO SAITO EXPLODES WITH A RUNNING REVERSE ELBOW IN THE CORNER! Fujiwara clubbing shots and headbutt. Hiro Saito Throws Koshinaka DOWN! Big Ol Senton! Bodyslam by Hiro Saito. Koshinaka Superplex for two! WOW! Not many nearfalls. Koshinaka catches the dropkick into a Boston Crab for our first elimination. Hiro Saito was probably lowest on the totem pole for star power so it makes sense. Tons of action, but it is not a very sticky match. The marquee matches are letting me down. Yamada is the MVP thus far. Team Fujinami 5-4. Second Elimination: Kobayashi jumps Koshinaka, NO TIME TO GRIEVE! Spin Heel kick. Yamada in! Kick to the gut! Fisherman Suplex to Yamada! Kobayashi tries to choke Yamada out, great selling by Yamada. They roll into the ropes and Kimura tags in. Kimura powerbomb out of a piledriver position for two, Tenryu takes notes. Single Leg Crab by Kimura, Kimura wriggles free. Choshu in. He stomps on Kimura. Punt kick to face! SSM in as Choshu holds Kimura. German Suplex on Kimura. Kimura tags out to Fujinami. SSM takes Fujinami to woodshed and hits dropkick for two. SSM Snapmare and tags in Masa Saito. Msas Saito tries for a Saito suplex great block by Fujinami so Saito settles for a Russian Legsweep. Kobayashi beats on Fujinami but misses a dropkick. Robinson backbreaker by Fujinami. Tilt a whirl backbreaker by Yamada. Tomboston Piledriver. Top Rope Diving Headbutt! Yamada on fire! Tiger Suplex but too close to the ropes. ROLLING KOPPOU KICK IN CORNER! YAMADA RULES! After all that Kobayashi schoolboy rolls him up to eliminate the best wrestler in the match. BOOOOOOOO! We need Choshu, Fujiwara, Fujinami and Saito to step it up now that Yamada is out! Tied 4-4. Third Elimination: Koshinaka comes in and immediately gets beat up because he sucks. SPIKE PILEDRIVER! Koshinaka tags out to Fujiwara. Big meaty shots by SSM. Bodyslam and middle elbow by SSM. FUJIWARA ARMBAR! Pop from the crowd and me! Tap him out! He never applies it fully. Fujiwara looing for the elimination via the ropes. SSM gets a kick to the gut, to stave off elimination. Boston Crab reversal blocked by SUPER STRONG MACHINE tries to pin Fujiwara but he reverses and Fujiwara pins him! Nice little segment. Team Fujinami 4-3. Fourth Elimination. Masa Saito attacks the fallen Fujiwara. Fujiwara Armbar! Takedown, but cant get it fully in! Fujiwara goes for lunging headbutt but Saito sidesteps him and Fujiwara ends up on the apron in pain and Saito stomps out his fire for the elimination. Koshinaka is still there, but Liger and Fujiwara are gone BOOOOOOO! Tied 3-3! Fifth Elimination: Kimura attacks Saito. Team Choshu double teams him. Kimura fires off some kicks to midsection of Kobayashi. He is making in-roads. Tag in by Fujinami. We needs some leadership! Great verbal selling by Kobayashi. Choshu tags in. Scorpion Deathlock attempt by Choshu who fights through the Fujinami slaps to turn him over! Choshu tags out to Saito. Saito Boston Crab on Fujinami. Not looking good for our hero. I was always more of a Big Match Riki guy honestly. Kobayashi drops the elbow on Fujinami, backslides gets two. He misses the rainbow spinning heel kick Robinson backbreaker and Dragon Sleeper and Fujinami forces Kobayashi to submit. Fujinami's team needed that. He still took an asskicking but that was a definitive strong elimination by their Captain. Team Fujinami 3-2. Sixth Elimination: Time for Koshinaka to go, methinks. Choshu is the one that takes charge. Kimura tags in and he stomps a mudhole in Choshu. Some wicked left uppercuts by Kimura who kits his running Leg Lariat, he almost knocks Choshu out the ring. He realizes it and tries desperately to kick Choshu out of the ring. He goes for it again when Choshu is on the apron but Choshu back drops him over the shoulder for the elimination. Interesting, I thought for sure they were going to do Fujinami & Kimura vs Choshu & Saito. Koshinaka makes it to the Final Four. Seventh Elimination. Koshinaka pounces on Choshu. Choshu demolishes the pipsqueak with a Saito Suplex. Saito tagged in. Saito drops him throat first on top rope. He does it again. Choshu tags in. Suplex by Choshu. Koshinaka gets a sunset lip for two. Bridging German for two. Choshu gets what he calls that the REAR VIEW! Koshinaka misses the top rope splash. MACK TRUCK LARIAT FOR TWO! ARE YOU SHITTING ME? CHOSHU DECAPITATES HIM WITH THAT ONE TO LEAVE NO DOUBT! It is Fujinami vs Choshu & Saito which was the most likely ending. Eighth Elimination: I dont like Saito chances here. Fujinami overwhelms him with strikes and then a big suplex as Saito bounces off the mat. Saito's trick knee acts up and kicks Fujinami's in the balls. Must have learned that one in America, :p Inverted Atomic Drop and tag out to Choshu. Choshu bowls Fujianmi over and Choshu holds onto the ropes as Fujinami dropkicks. Pair of Lariat as Fujinami stays on his feet. Fujinami on the apron. Can he stave off elimination? Choshu clubs him with closed fists. Fujinami HEADSCISSORS! Fujinami dropkicks Choshu off the apron to eliminate him! WOW didnt see that coming. It comes down to Fujinami vs Saito! Ninth Elimination: Choshu's corner's turnbuckles have been exposed and it backfires...Fujinami bashes Saito's head into the exposed turnbuckle. To quote the great Kal Rudman, THAT IS BLOOD! Saito gigged himself good. Fujinami is just teeing off as Saito is spewing blood mist and his body is drenched in blood. Saito tries to suplex Fujinami to the floor but gets suplexed back in which was a good highspot. Fujinami ripping into the cut with fists and kicks was awesome! Ref bump and the Robinson backbreaker gets Fujinami a visual pinfall, everyone and their mother now knows he is losing. Saito sidesteps him on a charge and Fujinami careens to the outside for the loss. I thought this was pretty great but suffered from similar issues as the Juniors Ten Man Elimination tag I just watched too much emphasis on workrate and not enough on character, narrative and build. Where this one succeeded and the other didnt was the beginning with Yamada was better here and the ending was far more memorable. I am shocked this finished #3 on the New Japan DVDVR while I thought it was great, I have definitely seen plenty better. ****1/4

Akira Nogami, Tatsutoshi Goto, Keiichi Yamada, Kantaro Hoshino & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Hase, Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki - NJPW 4/27/88 Elimination Match Thankfully Team Choshu are all wearing their black & gold track suits so that I know what sides are. This is a Junior Heavyweight 10-Man Elimination tag pitting Team Choshu led by Hase against Team New Japan for a lack of better term led by Koshinaka. This will be my first time seeing Yamada pre-Liger. The only person I dont think I have seen otherwise is Goto. I saw AKIRA enough that I did distinguish him from Goto. Kobayashi was a little tough without his red bellbottoms, but one you see him kick you know it is him. Saito I knew was a stocky dude and his bad bleach dye job helps. Honaga I recognized from the '91 Liger series. Then of course BABY KENSUKE~! First Elimination: Everybody gets a little time to shine. It is cool seeing Kensuke do all his standard stuff this young. He is wrenching people over his patented over the top armdrag and catching people mid-air with powerslams. Same with Yamada he is using the Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and a Mexican Surfboard. He is definitely someone that benefitted from being under a mask if you catch my drift. Otherwise only Hoshino and Kobayashi stuck out. Hoshino for his killer punch combinations and Kobayashi from his big kicks and good movement. It is a lot of workrate that doesnt really stick with you. AKIRA hits a crossbody for two for a nearfall and then Honaga hits the Baba-style neckbreaker drop for the first elimination. Going to do this the rest stream of consciousness style. Second Elimination: Koshinaka wastes no time bumrushing Honaga and hits a Saito Suplex for two. He tags in Goto who hits a cool bridging vertical suplex. Suplex struggle Honaga wins and suplexes him to heel corner and tags in Saito. Oh I forgot Hase got busted open. I think it was AKIRA who snapped in the midst of the first fall and just started beating the forehead and clawing at Hase until he bled. It was too much workrate that even that was not sticky. Goto breaks free with a dropkick. Yamada and Kobayashi tag in. Liger hits missile dropkick and sets him up top and Superplex! Yamada tags out to Koshinaka and he misses a dropkick b/c Kobayashi holds onto the ropes. Spinning Heel Kick, a beauty->Fisherman Suplex! Hoshino saves! Koshinaka calls that Rear View, muthafucka! Koshinaka tags out to Goto. Kobayashi tags out to Saito. Spinebuster by the stocky Saito. Saito suplex by Goto on Saito. Another one but Saito shifts his weight for two! Saito scores the elimination with a backslide on Goto. Team Choshu 5-3. Those were the expected first two eliminations from the Regular New Japan Squad, I am expecting Sasaki to go soon to give the babyfaces some hope. Third Elimination: Koshinaka wastes no time but Saito bullies him into the Choshu corner. Nice Sasaki powerslam into a Bostonn Crab but Kosh powers out. Honaga tags in. They beat Kosh in the Choshu corner. Hase/Kobayashi double team move on Kosh. Kobayahsi German on Kosh but Hoshino saves. Kosh hits a German Suplex bridge on Honaga for the elimination. Damn, Honaga was my next guess! Team Choshu 4-3. Fourth Elimination. Hoshino tags in and he is gonna punish the bloody Hase. Piston punches to the wound! Hoshino rules! I see why he got over because of this set! Hoshino is supe rover with the crowd. Yamada bites the cut! Yamada rakes Hase face across the ropes. This is the best part thus far! Hoshino headbutt to the cut. Things look bleak for Hase. Koshinaka throwing closed fists at Hase and Dragon Suplex! Hase collapses into the ropes! Hase Russian Legsweep tags in Hiro Saito. Saito back body drop. Dropkick by the chubbah wubbah. Tags in Hase who winds for the kick. Meat Windup Lariat! Kosh no sells and looks to throw Hase over the top, I get the distinct impression that would count as an elimination based on how the announcer and Hase' partners reacted. Hase tags out and double suplex on Koshinaka. Saito, Koshinaka Calls that the REAR VIEW~! Second rear view and Saito tries to throw him out, but he falls to the floor. Koshinaka falls too. I think that was a double elimination. I am not sure. Will update you as I learn more. Team Choshu 3-2. Sixth Elimination: Hoshino vs Hase, BABY! The best pairing thus far! Great punch drunk selling by Hase as Hoshino tees off! Hoshino back drops Hase over the top. HE TORPEDOS HIM OFF THE APRON AND HASE IS ELIMINATED! I have confirmation that Koshinaka and Saito were eliminated! Wow surprising final four of Yamada/Hoshino vs Kobayashi/Sasaki. Surprised Koshinaka and Hase already eliminated. Seventh Elimination: Hoshino vs Kobayashi has also been a great pairing. Kobayashi pins Hoshino! Flash rollup what the hell! Yamada vs Kobayashi & Sasaki! Eighth Elimination: Yamada piledrives him for two. Octopus Stretch! Nothing says New Japan like the Octopus Stretch! Tombstone by Yamada! Sasaki pushes him off the top rope which could have been an elimination. Kobayashi stomps at Yamada on the apron trying to eliminate him via the floor. Spike Piledriver on Yamada! Kensuke dropkick. Sasaki elbows Kobayashi. TWO ROLLING KOPPOU KICKS BY LIGER NAILS SASAKI! 1-2-3! It all comes down to this! First one really wiped out Sasaki. Ninth Elimination: Liger pounces with another Koppou Kick to Kobayashi! Fisherman Suplex for two! Liger pouring it on! Liger and Kobayashi tussle over a reverse waistlock of course leads to an O'Connor Roll, Liger two, but Kobayashi reverses and arches back to get three! Total workrate match! I like a more character work, narrative or stiffness/heat, but for those who love workrate and slam bang action this is for you. Hoshino, Hase, Yamada and Kobayashi make this worth watch and BABY KENSUKE~! was cool to see! ****