Posted August 30, 200817 yr comment_5434305 New Japan Pro Wrestling TV (August 26th 1983) 1. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs Rusher Kimura & Isamu Teranishi - Another match built around the animosity between Hamaguchi and Kimura. But it had the bonus of Choshu running around, being a bastard. This is one of those matches that could well have made the WWF set but doesn't stick out enough in this company. It was plenty good but featured stuff that was done better in dozens of other matches. 2. Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki - A very short clip but maybe the first time this famous match-up appeared on tape. Yamazaki looked about 16. 3. Ron Hawk vs Osamu Kido - Another short clip and nothing too interesting. 4. Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ed Leslie & Dick Murdoch - Watching the future Brutus Beefcake square off with Akira Maeda was just ... weird. Anyway, this was entertaining almost entirely because of Murdoch. He nailed Fujimami with some sweet punches in the corner and looked quite at home working on the mat with Maeda. But as Murdochian showcases go, this was a lesser one and not worthy of a nomination. This disc also featured a show not listed by Dan that appeared to take place in an out door arena. It opened with footage of Inoki's big knockout loss to Hogan in June and then showed him in training. I guess this was the night of his first big singles match since then? Anyway, they showed two full matches: 5. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs Akira Maeda and Tatsumi Fujinami - Give these guys 20 minutes, as they did here, and you were bound to get something good. All four were sharp, and this encompassed all the major themes of the faction rivalry. You had a hot opening and middle sequence between Choshu and Fujinami. You had Maeda in peril but showing more maturity by never getting trapped for too long. You had Hamaguchi and Choshu as master double teamers. You had Fujinami continuing the momentum he had built against Choshu. It was all action and, though not the best match in the feud by any means, a solid nomination. 6. Antonio Inoki vs Rusher Kimura - This had the big match atmosphere and Inoki busted out some of his bigger offense. Kimura had a decent sequence early after Teranishi hit Inoki with a low blow from outside. But I don't think he had the stamina to work hard on the mat for 15 or 20 minutes, so there was a lot of lying around. Again, he didn't seem like enough of a threat to create much drama, so no nomination.
