Posted August 13, 200817 yr comment_5433985 Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada (1/3/86) This is as good as their best UWF 1 match ups, not as good as their 88 classic, but certainly something which should make a set. Some of the kicks didn’t connect the way they should have, but unlike some of the lesser UWF stuff, they didn’t sell the stuff that didn’t land. Finish was pretty nifty too, with Maeda catching the leg on a Takada kick, and turning it into the dreaded UWF half crab, Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (2/5/86) Pretty awesome as one might expect from this match up. Fujiwara is brilliant as always, I love how he tries to catch Maeda’s kicks but they still sneak through and hurt him. They do a great restart with both guys roll to the floor while kneebarring each other and get counted out, and I think it was a nomination even with that as a finish. Then they restart the match and go another 10 minutes or so and it was just great, I loved the finish too, with Fujiwara ankle picking Maeda while Maeda was choking him, and Fujiawara going out, including a drool sell. Awesome, awesome shit, Slam Dunk nomination, #1 match contender. Akira Maeda vs. Andre The Giant (4/29/86) I was really enjoying this until they stopped cooperating. Andre was actually pretty good at doing a worked shoot, as it was cool as fuck to watch him swat away Maeda’s kick attempts, and I loved all of the matwork, as Andre was using his strength to counter all of Maeda’s submissions, the struggle over the crossarmbreaker was especially neat. You have the famous finish, where Maeda kicks at Andre’s leg for a long time, while Andre just stands there. This actually felt like a nomination until the end, which was pretty dull. Seems more like an extra to me Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki (8/7/86) I absolutely hated this match up on the Other Japan set, and this match had some of the same problems those had, with no selling and your turn my turn stuff. The stuff her connected more then their lesser UWF match ups, and the finish was dramatic and the crowd was very into it. This isn’t my thing, but I am not going to fight it being on the discs. So consider this the most lukewarm nomination ever. Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Kantaro Hoshino/George Takano/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki (9/16/86) This isn’t the all time legendary classic the other 10 man elimination was, but this was damn awesome in it’s own rights. The Fujinami v. Maeda stuff was especially spectacular, and I love how they have ring outs as eliminations, with Hoshino doing the sacrifice and eliminating himself. Solid Nomination. Akira Maeda vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen (10/9/86) For what this was, this is about as good as it gets, crowd is going batshit. Lots of near falls as Maeda gets Nielsen to the ground but can’t finish him before the bell. Nielsen really tags him with shots. A lot of this kind of stuff looks bad post MMA boom, but this has to make a set.
