Posted September 19, 200817 yr comment_5434690 Disc 14 June 08th & 15th 1984: Last two matches appear on Classics 169 1. Andre the Giant vs. Adrian Adonis - This was actually a good little match. Adonis showed he was a danger to Andre when in motion, so Andre slowed it down with a bear hug and some clubbing shots to the body. Eventually Adonis evaded an Andre butt thrust to the corner and hit him with three straight elbow drops. He then went to the top for the big elbow. To his credit, Adonis had the crowd believing he could beat Andre if he hit the move. But Andre got the boot up, knocked him silly and pinned him. It went maybe six minutes and I think it falls short of a nomination, but it was the right match for someone to be working with Andre at this stage in his career. 2. Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Sakaguchi vs. Riki Choshu/Yatsu/Masa Saito - I figured Ishin Gundan would just dominate this, and they did early with a long control segment on the weakest link, Kido. But Fujiwara showed a lot of fire, rallying his team with a bunch of headbutts (love his head thrust to the gut.) Sakaguchi also looked good, playing a kind of veteran enforcer for the faces. Eventually though, Fujiwara went to the well once too often with a headbutt. Saito caught him and quickly hit his wicked back suplex for the win. This wasn't a high-end six man for the period, but the Seikigun team was spunky enough that I'll throw it a low-end nomination and see what others think. 3. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch/Hulk Hogan - I'm bummed to see this didn't make Classics, because the body was really good, but they didn't show the ending. I never thought of Murdoch and Hogan as natural partners, but they did a hell of a job working over Fujinami's ribs. Hogan got it started with a bunch of knees to the body and suplexes, and of course, Murdoch had all kinds of nasty ways to attack the midsection. They showed unusual focus and used a great variety of moves during this long control section. Fujinami eventually made the hot tag but the match ended maybe 30 seconds after Inoki entered to kick some ass. A real let down. I'd like to nominate it but I can't. 4. Riki Choshu/Yatsu/Masa Saito vs. Patera/Adonis/Murdoch - Short clip here, but it's on Classics and looked like it might be pretty damn good. 5. Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki - I'm not sure what to make of this. It was the singles league final and they did a great job of establishing big-match feel, but it was way overbooked. They opened with mirror sections. Hogan had a wrap on his arm, so Inoki landed an enziguiri to the elbow and went for the armbar. Hogan fought out and went for an armbar of his own. Once they fought to a stalemate on the mat, they traded suplexes. Inoki then hit the enziguiri and Hogan sold it well as usual, rolling to the outside for a breather. Crowd was nuclear at this point. Hogan went on a run of offense and they fought to the outside, where he hit a vertical suplex. The ref seemed to count them both out, but no one seemed satisfied so they restarted it. Inoki then went after Hogan's leg with kicks and slapped on the figure four. They ended up in the ropes, where Inoki either couldn't or wouldn't break the hold. Again, the match seemed over. Again, they restarted it. This time, Hogan gained the upper hand with two pretty fierce looking lariats. He hit a third on the floor, which seemed to signal the end. But Inoki beat the count. They brawled to the outside and Hogan whipped Inoki into ... a lariat by Choshu. Don't worry, Hogan wasn't aligning with Ishin Gundan. Choshu hit him with the lariat as well. Inoki rolled back in with help from Sakaguchi. Hogan could not. So Inoki won. Neither man seemed very happy with the course of events. It was a good, not great match if you only consider the wrestling. But the stops and starts along with Choshu's interference created a lot of drama. And the fans seemed to see this as a showdown between the two greatest forces in the promotion. So I'll throw it on the block for consideration.
