Posted October 2, 200817 yr comment_5434979 Disc 24 October 26th & November 02nd 1984: Last three matches also appear on NJ Classics 176 1. The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito - Saito ranks just behind Kobayashi so far among wrestlers capable of forcing Cobra into a logical match. He controlled most of the way with punches to the throat, chokes and the occasional bigger move such as a vertical suplex -- your basic Masa Fuchi style of junior offense. They peppered Cobra's athletic spots throughout the match as little bursts to keep the crowd intrigued. Match ended with Saito hitting a good-looking plancha and tossing Cobra over the rail for the DQ. I thought about nominating this, but I'd be overreacting to the simple fact that the match made sense, unlike so many Cobra performances. It wasn't actually that interesting. 2. Kengo Kimura/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machines - The Machines basically stepped right into the hole left by Ishin Gundan's defection. But they lacked anyone with half the charisma of Choshu or half the wrestling ability of the top four or five guys in his faction. So it feels almost insulting to watch them do the same stuff. Match was OK with Kimura doing some good FIP work, but I'm finding this stretch of NJ a bit tedious and I'm worried about 1985, with no Choshu or UWF guys. 3. Antonio Inoki vs. Masked Superstar - Superstar really didn't do much here. 4. The Cobra vs. Black Tiger - Well, this was one of their better matches. They didn't botch the structure in any astounding ways or commit first-degree no-selling. They wrestled it more as a constant give-and-take, with each guy having a counter for the other guy's counter. They were athletic enough to make that kind of fun. Beginning was missing so we'll have to judge based on the Classics version. But it has a shot. 5. Tatsumi Fuijinami vs. Bob Orton Jr. - Disappointing. Orton just didn't have the energy or moveset to shine in singles as he did in tags. They wrestled like it was going to be long and grueling, but really, it went like 15 minutes, so the pace seemed incongruous. They picked it up in the last few minutes. Orton hit a nice atomic-drop/back suplex combo and did a good job of cutting off Fujinami's rallies with dirty tricks. But the match as a whole lacked umph and that was reflected by the crowd's indifference. 6. Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Machine - Inoki didn't respect the Machines enough to give them much offense or to bust out the best stuff from his own repertoire. If he didn't seem to care much, why should the audience?
