Posted August 20, 200817 yr comment_5434131 New Japan Pro Wrestling TV (April 22nd & 29th 1983) 1. Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid (21/4) - Well, this is one of those matches that almost has to be on the set. And I'd say it deserves to be, though it doesn't hold up as a Match of the Decade contender. I liked that Tiger Mask, confronted with an opponent who could go move for move with him, upped the violence quotient. His strieks really did look sudden and deadly in this match. The first segment featured some pretty pointless mat noodling (Dynamite was never very good on the mat as far as I can tell.) But the restart after they went hurdling into the crowd was pretty dramatic as was the image of Dynamite going after Tiger Mask with broken bottles. Nomination. 2. Akira Maeda vs Paul Orndorff (21/4) - Basically a squash for Maeda. 3. Antonio Inoki vs Masa Saito (21/4) - They stayed mostly on the mat and though Saito was solid there, it wasn't that interesting. It seemed ready to pick up when Saito hit a few big moves but in true Hulkamania fashion, Inoki just shook them off and hit the enziguiri and abdominal stretch for the formulaic, blah win. 4. Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami - Now this was a terriffic match. Fujinami came out hot to regain his title and slapped a figure four on Choshu. Riki fought his way out and went after Fujinami's wrapped knee, working to set up the scorpion deathlock. As in their last match, they kept it fairly simple but sold that they were fighting over every little move and shift in position. High drama at the end as Fujinami fought his way out of the scorpion twice and nearly pinned Choshu on a sunset flip from the apron after he survived a lariat on the floor. Choshu ultimately said the hell with it and slammed Fujinami's injured leg on the guardrail to get the countout. Postmatch was great too as a crippled Fujinami still tried to get at Choshu, and trainees had to stop Riki from destroying his knee even more. Dynamite-Tiger Mask is the more hyped match from the card, but I'd rather watch this one any day. Strong nomination. 5. Tiger Mask & Osamu Kido vs Kuniaki Kobayashi &? - This felt like a half-speed exhibition. Pure filler. 6. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs Paul Orndorff & Ed Leslie - Followed by this pointless squash. Orndorff really didn't show much on this tour.
