Posted April 3, 200817 yr comment_5430390 All Japan Classics 127 Ole Anderson v. Haru Sonoda (04/19/86) - Ole wins with the shoulder breaker after working on the arm most of the match. OK for what it was. Tiger Mask v. Kabuki (01/28/86) - They work the early part of the match out of a Kabuki armbar. Misawa tries to do a lucha arm drag but Kabuki hangs on. He tries to roll Kabuki up off the ropes but Kabuki holds on, kicks him in the chest and re-applies the armbar. The arm work went on a bit too long but the 2nd half picks up with Tiger Mask throwing out big moves but after 12 minutes of arm-work he could have sold the arm just a little more but there is tons of fun stuff going on. Misawa goes insane, beating on Kabuki with chairs on the outside and busting him open. I am not used to seeing Kabuki bleed or Misawa channel Abdullah the Butcher. Misawa attacks the cut, goes for a splash but lands on Kabuki’s legs. Kabuki sends Misawa running into the referee in another All Japan ref bump and gives Misawa the brainbuster a top-rope fist drop but no ref to make the count. However, when the ref recovers, Misawa hits the German Suplex for the pin but is b roken up by interference. In something I never thought I would see, Tiger Mask and Kabuki brawl after the match. At this point, I think matches like this stand out more than they would on another set. This is worth more discussion but some of the arm work in the beginning was really boring. The stretch run was really hot though. Jumbo Tsuruta/Tenyru/Tiger Mask v. Shunji Takano/Hiro Saito/Strong Machine (04/06/86) - This was pretty damn fun. Both teams looked up for the match. I expect it from Jumbo’s team but the others haven’t really impressed me overall. Later on, the Machine team take turns working over Tenryu’s leg but Jumbo gives a lariat as Strong Machine has him in a Sharpshooter. After this point, I expected a hot stretch run of big moves and near falls but after a Jumbo lariat takes out Takano, it turns into a pier-6 brawl with everyone fighting and ending up outside. This allows Jumbo to take Takano out with the back suplex and get the pin. I have to give this a nomination because I expected absolutely nothing coming into this match. Even though they could have stretched out the end run and given me some near falls, this far exceeded my expectations.
