Posted November 3, 200816 yr comment_5435523 DVD 19 10/13/86: Matches also appear on Classics 248 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Mutoh - Early showcase for Mutoh as Fujinami tried to slap him around like a punk but the young lion proved to have quite a bit of bite. Fujinami spent most of the match making Mutoh look good, but it didn't strike me as a great performance by the youngster. His execution was fine but he didn't convey much emotion in his quest for the upset. I liked the idea of the match but felt unmoved by it in practice. Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams - Only a few minutes made TV, so the Classics version needs a review. 10/9/86: Akira Maeda vs. Don Nielsen - I've always liked this match. The striker vs. grappler dynamic is tried and true and they made it work with extra notes of competitiveness and desperation. I found myself wondering if I'd be happy to see this match on an MMA show. And I decided that even though it wasn't a perfect representation of what MMA would become, it's a hell of a lot of fun. I'll be interested to see how people react to it in the midst of all the more classic wrestling. Antonio Inoki vs. Leon Spinks - This, on the other hand, sucked. Why would anyone want to see Inoki box with a former heavyweight champion? Does that seem even remotely rewarding? It was so obvious that Leon could've dropped him whenever, but that wasn't the job, so he clowned. Even the Inoki loving fans seemed kind of thrown off when he "won."
