Posted September 19, 200817 yr comment_5434694 Disc 15 June 22nd & 29th 1984: First two matches also on Classics 170 1. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Adrian Adonis - I've seen this match rated highly elsewhere, and I'm not quite sure why. Adonis did a good job of controlling with attacks on Fujinami's sore ribs and back (though not as good as Hogan and Murdoch in the recent tag match.) Fujinami teased a comeback but missed a dropkick and crashed hard. Adonis quickly followed with a Boston crab. Good sequence. Adonis then went for the elbow off the top. Fujinami countered with a superplex, failing to sell Adonis' bodywork in either the execution or the aftermath. He rolled him up for the pin a few seconds later. I have no problem with Fujinami winning on a quick counter, but why did that counter have to crap on the story of the match? That pushed it out of nomination territory for me. 2. Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant - Like most good Andre opponents, Inoki proved that he could be dangerous early with hit-and-run offense. So the big man turned to holds that forced Inoki to fight against his tremendous mass (he even worked the leg for awhile.) Andre's mat control segment wasn't the most dynamic but it came across as a logical approach for a 450-pound man with no quickness. Andre tossed in a piledriver, which I've never seen him do. He also did a mocking dance in rhythm to the "Inoki, Inoki" chant. Nice touch. Inoki eventually rallied with kicks to Andre's legs. Again, very logical and nicely sold by the big guy. Inoki went to the top for a knee drop. Andre was supposed to get his boot up, but they mistimed the spot pretty badly. To their credit, they worked past it quickly as Andre missed a boot off the ropes and Inoki caught him with the enziguiri. Andre sold that he'd been knocked loopy and the crowd was totally ready to see Inoki land another enziguiri and pin the giant. But Andre managed to dump him outside and toss him over the rail for a DQ. Good heel copout that worked with the story of the match. This is one of the longer Andre matches I've seen and even if it wasn't technically great, it was smartly laid out and grabbed the crowd. I think it's at least worth discussing. 3. Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Davey Boy Smith - JIP. Kobayashi did his usual grounding of the more explosive wrestler. They were cruising along well when they fought to the outside and tumbled over the rail for a double DQ. Not enough shown to rate it as much of anything. 4. The Cobra vs. Dynamite Kid - So Cobra showed up wearing a mesh tank top under his white blazer. Weird. Anyway, he attacked Dynamite before the bell and did an excellent job working his back early. Given that, I'm not sure Dynamite should've begun his comeback with a snap suplex. But at least he sold his back soreness while he was on offense. Unfortunately, when Cobra rallied, he did so by attacking Dynamite's leg. So ... same old Cobra. They ultimately traded suplexes on the outside for the double countout. This was mostly a set-up for their next match and was at least more promising than their stuff from the previous tour. 5. Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Dr. D David Shultz - Easy win for Shultz, which kind of sucked because, well, Shultz kind of sucked. 6. Fujinami/Kantaro Hoshino/Antonio Inoki vs. Rip Oliver/Mike Davis/Bad News Allen - This started as an all-out brawl. As usual, fiery little Hoshino thrived in that setting. My disc went black well before the finish, though, so I can't say how good it was. It didn't seem headed for a nomination.
