Posted October 24, 200816 yr comment_5435353 DVD 1 12/25/85: I assume we're not watching this for the NJ set as it was in Dallas. Matches are severely clipped anyway. - American Tag Titles: The Dynamic Duo © vs. Kevin & Kerry Von Erich - Tatsumi Fujinami vs. The Masked Demon - Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams 1/3/86: Matches also appear on NJ Classics 223 and 224 The Cobra vs. Black Tiger - JIP, but it didn't look like either guy was at his best in this one. Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada - I agree with Phil that this didn't reach the level of their best matches but was plenty good enough to pull a nomination. It also carries some historical import as the first UWF match wrestled in an NJ ring. They introduced the style here and in the Maeda-Fujiwara match the following week before launching the big NJ-UWF feud. They were smart to run these "intro" matches because the crowd clearly did not know when to pop for a lot of what they did. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Madd Maxx & Super Maxx - The Maxx Brothers (two guys from the Bruiser's Indianapolis fed, I learned) were not a positive addition to NJ. They were musclebound stiffs who couldn't begin to keep up with Fujinami and KImura and didn't even bring good power offense. Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - Duggan seemed out of place in NJ. He didn't work like a gaijin monster, and there was no one around to brawl with him at this point (I could imagine him having a good match with Choshu, for instance.) He was wasted rolling around on the mat with Inoki. Episode cut out before this ended, but it's on Classics. 1/10/86: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Black Tiger - JIP and really short. They ended up brawling to a double countout on the outside. I wouldn't mind seeing them over a whole match as Koshinaka usually worked well with the athletic but structurally challenged. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara - Another excellent showing from these two. After some smooth opening matwork, they settled into the ruling dynamic of the match; Maeda tried to cave in Fujiwara's skull and ribs with kicks while Fujiwara tried to lure him into traps. If Fujiwara maneuvered Maeda to a corner, he unloaded with head butts and body punches. If he caught one of Maeda's kick's mid-ring, he took him to the mat. Would Maeda knock Fujiwara out before Fujiwara caught him in an unescapable predicament? It was a great question to build a match around, and the finish paid off the story perfectly. Fujiwara is the rare wrestler who seems a lot more impressive if you're a serious boxing and/or MMA fan. Anyway, easy nomination. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - Fujinami matched up with Duggan better than Inoki did as he seemed more willing to match his fire and slug with him. But they didn't really work to build a match so it never neared nomination territory. Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Madd Maxx & Super Maxx - More garbage from those Maxx guys.
