Posted November 13, 200816 yr comment_5435712 DVD #6 March 26th: Osaka Kengo Kimura vs Kerry Wilson - Kickboxing match that felt like a shoot when Wilson was nailing Kimura in round one but more like a work when Kimura hit a back suplex and then knocked Wilson out with a punch in round two. Anyway, it was entertaining but brief. IWGPTag Championship／Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka vs Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda - You can pretty much guess that this was good. They traded all of their biggest stuff and had the crowd going nuts. Some might find the ending abrupt. Koshinaka ran off a bunch of nearfalls on Takada but then Takada reversed a roll-up into a leg submission. The crowd seemed caught off guard when Koshinaka tapped. But I took it as an affirmation of the UWF style wherein a shooter can always catch his opponent, even if he's taking bombs. Anyway, it's a nomination. Antonio Inoki vs Masa Saito - Hey, Saito's back. Cool. For about 25 minutes, this was an intense wrestling match, with methodical, hardfought ground sequences giving way to violent exchanges of strikes and suplexes. But then, the pirate dude in the hockey mask showed up and handcuffed himself to Saito. The match seemed to end in confusion as they stumbled down the aisle. But then Saito re-emerged, sans pirate. The re-start didn't last long however, as Saito repeatedly nailed Inoki with the broken handcuff to earn a DQ. A wild brawl followed, with both guys juicing. I don't know what to make of this. It felt important and intense, but I'm sure some will find the pirate weirdness and lack of a finish off-putting. It's at least worth more discussion. April 6th: Korakuen - This whole episode featured a cross-promotion with some variety show, which took away from the wrestling. Osamu Kido & Akira Maeda vs Ray Candy & Badnews Allen - Nothing much here. Shiro Koshinaka & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Matt Borne & Dick Murdoch - This had some good wrestling, and Murdoch grinning like a mad man through blood from his busted nose. But it didn't build into a setworthy match. Antonio Inoki vs Bam Bam Bigelow - Real disappointment as the ref disqualified Bigelow for no apparent reason less than 10 minutes in. Murdoch, of all people, came to Inoki's rescue.
