Posted October 16, 200816 yr comment_5435237 DVD #16 7/19/85 (taped 7/19) Hiro Saito vs. Black Tiger - Looked pretty good, but they only showed about four minutes. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. SS Machine - Fujinami brought out the best in SS Machine, who tended to look sloppy against other opponents but tightened up his ground game and stiffened his power offense against Tatsumi. This had a false ending as Fujinami thought he got a three count on a backslide but the ref said he'd made a mistake and restarted it. A few minutes after that, the Machines interfered and attacked SSM, setting up a rescue from his former arch-rival, Fujinami. Good match, but I liked the previous one that I nominated more, so I'll leave this on the shelf. Inoki/Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy/Bruiser Brody - This was short and boring. 7/26/85 (taped 7/26) - Matches also on Classics 199 Shunji Takano/SS Machine vs. Strong Machines - SS Machine and his former partners produced another messy match. I hope we're about done with this feud because it was a real dog in the ring. Kimura vs. Snuka - Kimura played an effective underdog, but aside from a few athletic flourishes, Snuka wasn't any good. Inoki/Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody/King Kong Bundy - Plenty of action. Again, Brody no-sold all but Inoki's biggest offense (and he wouldn't even leave his feet for the enziguiri.) But at least he tossed in some decent offense this time. I guess part of the appeal with Brody was that you had this towering, wild-looking guy doing dropkicks and leapfrogs -- stuff you didn't normally see from monster heels. I enjoyed Fujinami chopping down Bundy who, of course, had to sell Inoki's big offense and take the pin. Though this was diverting, it was principally designed to pump up excitement for the next Inoki/Brody singles match. It failed on that front, so no nomination.
