Posted June 26, 200817 yr comment_5432462 New Japan Classics 156 Riki Choshu & Higo Hamaguchi vs. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch (MSG Tag League '83) (12/7/83) - Whoa, Dick Murdoch does a kip-up. I love all of these guys but this match was a mess. Murdoch did some nice stuff but it did not look like him and Adonis were on the same page at all. Do we work the arm, the leg, the neck? Who knows. The wild Adonis brawling was a nice break but it didn't really fit in with the story they were telling. This wasn't a brawl and it wasn't a straight match. After the high of the last Choshu/Hamaguchi match, this was a real letdown. Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda (MSG Tag League '83) (12/7/83) - I was really enjoying the Maeda-Inoki exchanges. It foreshadowed the shoot-love that both guys would develop later on. For the first ten minutes, neither team gains a strong advantage. At one point, after some double teams, it looked like Fujinami and Maeda had Hogan weakened but he fought back shortly after. I have to admit that if these Hogan New Japan matches took place in a WWF ring, he would have fared much better in the WWF poll. During this match, Fujinami and Maeda work much better as a team and that helps them maintain an advantage despite the size and strength advatages of Inoki-Hogan. The end kind of sucked as Hogan easily disposes of Maeda after a clothesline. I am on the fence on this one. Everyone was working hard in this one but this needed another 5 minutes or so to build to the finish. December 30, 1983, Vancouver Antonio Inoki vs. Kerry Brown
