Posted October 5, 200816 yr comment_5435018 Disc 28 December 21st & 28th 1984: All matches appear on Classics 179 and 180 1. Kantaro Hoshino vs. Hiro Saito - I enjoyed this and I'm sorry they didn't show more Hoshino singles matches in general. He knew he was outgunned going into almost every match so whenever he found an opening, boy did he try to take advantage. Here, he duped Saito into missing a plancha on the floor and quickly followed with a perfect body press from the top and a piledriver on the outside. Just a great burst of energy. I always like his flurries of punches as well. Saito played an effective heel favorite with his deliberate but nasty offense. Hoshino earned a moral victory when Saito resorted to taking a DQ on the outside. This might not end up making the set, but I'll sure take it over most of those matches involving Cobra, Dynamite and Black Tiger. Worthy of discussion. 2. Kengo Kimura/Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Strong Machines - The Machines looked a little better here against a lower-tier opponent. Their execution improved and the crowd bought into their potency more than in their matches with Inoki and Fujinami. Not a nomination but not bad. 3. Toguchi/Fujinami/Antonio Inoki vs. Adonis/Murdoch/Andre the Giant - Fine trios with Andre as the dominant figure (Inoki actually turned tail and ran from him at one point) but nothing too exciting. 4. Adrian Adonis/Dick Murdoch vs. Kengo Kimura/Tatsumi Fujinami - This is from a WWF-promoted show in the Phillipines. Solid tag match featuring hard work from all four men. I liked Fujinami firing up and slugging it out with Murdoch. But the crowd didn't know how to react to a lot of what they did, and that hurt it. I can't say it stood out from the pack of Adonis/Murdoch tags enough to merit a nomination. 5. Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant - Also from the Phillipines show. Sluggish match with Andre trying to wear Inoki down and Inoki keeping it largely on the mat as well. I liked this match-up better when Inoki wrestled as the fighter jet to Andre's King Kong.
