Posted November 24, 200816 yr comment_5435907 DVD #19 November 30th: Oita Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine vs Kerry Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich - Short clip. The Japan cup contention tag league game／Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto - JIP. Entertaining match that began with a long section of Fujinami in peril. After he tagged out, a period of fast, chaotic action ensued, with Mutoh and Takada ultimately ducking back in before the 20 count to pull out an upset. It's one of those matches that, when you think about it in context of all the great tag wrestling in this promotion, didn't stand out enough. The Japan cup contention tag league game／Yosiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito vs Ron Ritchie & Ron Starr - I was surprised how much offense Fujiawara and Saito gave the gaijin. Pretty ordinary match all in all. The Japan cup contention tag league game／Dick Murdoch & Antonio Inoki vs Scott Hall & Seiji Sakaguchi - Hall and Sakaguchi made a weird pair. It was fun to see Murdoch punch the future clique member in the face a bunch. Hall had a good-looking backbreaker. Again, not a standout match given the competition. December 7th: Osaka The Japan cup contention tag league Victory Game advance decisive game / Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Yosiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito - Now this was pretty damn good. Saito and Fujiwara made a terrific team because they were both surly, violent bastards. They did a number on Kimura, who, for the umpteenth show in a row, bled for our pleasure. He also took a succession of neck-crunching piledrivers and suplexes. His rally to make the hot tag to Fujinami was excellent. He caught Fujiwara with a punch just as he was winding up for a big headbutt and then felled him with the leg lariat. Finish was excellent too as Fujinami appeared to have the momentum only for Fujiwara to cut him off with a lightning quick small package only for Fujinami to reverse the package for the win. Nomination. Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto vs Kerry Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich - We started with dueling '80s classics as the Von Erichs enetered to "Jump" while Mutoh and Takada favored "The Final Countdown." Kerry was rocking some glittery Jimmy Garvin style suspenders. The entrances were probably better than the match, though I enjoyed Kerry using the claw to block Mutoh from moonsaulting onto Kevin. No surprise that it ended in a countout. The Japan cup contention tag league Victory Game / Dick Murdoch & Antonio Inoki vs Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami - This spilled onto the next episode but was generally disappointing for a tag league final. They started slow and though Murdoch picked up the brutality in the second half, Inoki never appeared that into it. The ending didn't really pop either, as Fujinami rolled up Murdoch while Inoki was dealing with Kimura on the outside. It just didn't feel like the way to punctuate a great in-ring year for the promotion.
