Posted August 14, 200817 yr comment_5434050 New Japan Pro Wrestling TV (April 5th 1983) 1. Dynamite Kid vs Kuniaki Kobayashi (3/4) - I wanted to like this. They were very rough with each other, and I could imagine them having an excellent match. But this struck me as one of those matches in which no sequence related to the ones before it. I watched it last night and already, I have trouble remembering it. So I can't recommend it. 2. Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami (3/4) - They had been building to this all year, with Choshu and Fujinami brawling in singles and tags on almost every show. But when they finally met one on one, it wasn't a wild slugfest. Instead, they went for an intense, measured vibe. Every move looked contested, and neither wanted to make a mistake. The crowd was hot. They never did anything fancy, but when Choshu kicked out of two near falls and hit Fujinami with a lariat for the win, it felt like a big moment. The pinfall was cool as Choshu had to fight to keep Fujinami on the mat. Easy nomination for one of the highlight matches of a long feud. 3. Antonio Inoki vs Rusher Kimura (3/4) - I generally like matches that come down to old men slapping each other hard in the face. But Kimura just wasn't that good. I guess he was going for the vibe that Tenyru has perfected in recent years -- surly old dude who will take some serious punishment before stiffing you. But most of his stuff -- half-lariats, headbutts, a kneebar -- looked kind of shitty. Inoki was actually pretty cool in this, dropkicking Kimura before the ref was done with instructions and immediately slapping an armbar on him. Later, he got Kimura against the ropes and just slapped him into a sad heap. If Kimura had seemed like more of a threat, this might have been good instead of just mildly entertaining. 4. Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Killer Khan & Masa Saito (3/4) - It was fun to watch Saito and Khan beat on Kimura. Saito was like the Arn Anderson of Choshu's Army. But I just can't love a match in which Sakaguchi was the hot tag. He's my least favorite of the higher level guys, like a shitty version of young Akira Taue.
