Posted October 7, 200816 yr comment_5435061 DVD #2 1/18/85 (taped 1/18) - All matches also appear on Classics 181 Shunji Takano/The Cobra vs. Black Tiger/Hiro Saito - Good display of what the juniors had to offer at this stage. Tiger and Cobra brought the athletic touches, Saito the viciousness and Takano a kind of talented-but-green vibe (reminds me of a young Dustin Rhodes.) Of course, one could argue that the juniors didn't have anything great to offer, because this lacked a really propulsive story arc or the crowd heat of the Tiger Mask days. I'll at least throw it out for discussion because it was fun to watch. Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy - Tight, solid match that portrayed Bundy as a threat to the top natives. I was a bit surprised how cleanly he beat Sakaguchi. It would've needed more intensity to push it into nomination territory. Kengo Kimura/Tatsumi Fujinami/Inoki vs. Strong Machines - You know, I didn't hate this. Fujinami contributed an intense opening salvo. The Machines unveiled some new triple-team stuff in their control section on Kimura (catapulting him into clotheslines and such.) Inoki did fine with his asskicking routine at the finish. It just never rose to the level of the better trios main events from 1983 and 1984.
