Posted October 21, 200816 yr comment_5435305 DVD #23 10/25/85 (taped 10/25) - Matches also appear on Classics 213 Shinya Hashimoto/Black Cat vs. Giant Gustav - I doubt Hash endured many more humiliating moments on tape than having to bounce around for this freak in a handicap squash. Keiji Mutoh/The Cobra vs. Kosugi/Shiro Koshinaka - Lots of action. Young Mutoh is probably one of the five most impressive athletes I've ever seen in wrestling. With his build and explosiveness, he looked like an NFL free safety. Thankfully, he wrestled most of the match and kept Cobra and his sloppiness on the apron. I'm on the fence about nominating this. It didn't have a great story and the ending came out of nowhere. But it offered such nice doses of young Mutoh and young Koshinaka. I'll at least toss it out for discussion as a low-ender. Kimura/Inoki vs. Ray Candy/Bruiser Brody - Mostly a heel-in-peril match and I'm sure you can guess which heel was in peril. 11/1/85 (taped 10/31) - Match also appears on Classics 214 Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody - I'm torn on nominating one of these Brody-Inoki matches. They were pretty clearly the biggest matches the promotion offered up in 1985. But I didn't totally enjoy any of them. This was probably the best of the three, though it lacked the big-event crackle of the first. They started out brawling wildly and then passed some time with fairly boring matwork. Brody had the first long control segment and methodically beat the hell out of Inoki, climaxing it with a nasty looking piledriver. But Inoki rallied, of course and busted Brody open with a piledriver on the floor. He showed great intensity in going after the cut with punches. His resilience frustrated Brody to the point that the big man grabbed his chain and choked Inoki out for the DQ. It had enough blood and intensity that it worked overall, despite some slow points. I'll throw it on the block to see what you guys think.
