Posted November 12, 200816 yr comment_5435684 DVD #5 March 16th: Okazaki Akira Maeda vs Steve Williams - Style clash. Maeda seemed uncomfortable really laying in his kicks against Doc, and Doc gave a somewhat listless performance. Seiji Sakaguchi & Antonio Inoki vs Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki - Lots of lying around. IWGP Tag throne decisive league game／George Takano & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Mutoh - This pirate guy who'd been bothering Mutoh came out pre-match and hurt Fujinami's arm. So Koshinaka and Mutoh spent most of the match going after the limb -- too much really as the work became pretty dreary. Oh, and Takano sucked. This one didn't rise above the pack. March 20th: The Korakuen hole (March 23rd broadcast) '87 Young lion cup victory game/ Shinya Hashimoto vs Masa Chono - I wanted to like this, but really, Hash just kicked Chono's ass a bunch and then Chono won with a roll-up. Without any foreshadowing, the ending seemed random, like a squash gone wrong. Antonio Inoki vs Kendo Nagasaki - De facto, pointless squash. IWGP Tag throne decisive game／Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka vs Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda - This has always received a lot of hype as a great match, but it struck me more as a solid one with excellent crowd heat. They never created the feeling that they were pushing each other to new levels of violence or creativity. I guess it furthered the story of Koshinaka as a guy who was outgunned by the top UWF players but who could win anyway because he was clever and opportunistic. I have no problem pushing it forward, but it won't finish near the top of my ballot.
