Now here was your gem from the '87 tag league. They went to a 30-minute draw so the pace wasn't fast and furious. But they hardly spent a second lying around in holds. No, they methodically beat the shit out of each other for half an hour. Murdoch and Fujiwara produced a bunch of great stuff. There was the early exchange of punches. There was the great moment when Murdoch put a Fujiwara armbar onto Fujiwara, only to learn that dude knew how to counter the submission named after him. There was Fujiwara's rubbery-legged rally after Murdoch and Inoki had absolutley murdered him. Inoki was no slouch in this either. He and Fujiwara had a great headbutting contest. He and Saito had a fierce mid-ring exchange of punches. Oh and Saito came off super badass after he took the hot tag from Fujiwara near the end. Total slam dunk nomination. Phil, I think that as a Fujiwara nut, you'll particularly enjoy this one.

There was a short clip here, does this exist uncut? That being said, absolute slam dunk, would have liked to see a finish, but that is pretty much my only complaint. Everyone looked great, the headbut section Childs mentioned was awesome, Fujiwara's selling of a headbutt may be as great as his throwing of a headbutt. Loved Masa Saito in this too.

The Classics version of this seemed clipped by a minute or two (it went about 28 minutes of a supposed 30-minute draw) as well but it didn't seem to be missing anything vital. I sure wouldn't keep it off for that reason. Also, the date is 12/14/87 according to Classics.

I checked all three copies and it seems the shortest copy was the Sky A since they skip over the early Fujiwara-Murdoch mat stuff. I'll probably use the Regular Classics version if this goes on.

The early Murdoch-Fujiwara stuff was fun and I am bummed they clipped a chunk while I was enjoying it. Great counter by Murdoch to stop the Saito headbutts. Then Inoki controls with his headbutts, then Inoki and Fujiwara have a headbutt battle. Then Murdoch comes in abusing Saito with those bionic elbows. What a wierd match focused on hard heads. Murdoch and Fujiwara then pick up from the early clipped beginning and battle over control of an armbar. Really intense looking shit. Murdoch and Fujiwara continue to look good and I am enjoying them much more than Inoki-Saito. In fact, this really seems like four separate matches since neither team acts like a team. Thank god, Murdoch and Fujiwara get plenty of time to trade thier best stuff. The last 7 minutes or so were really hot and the crowd which seemed to be asleep really came alive. This match is really wierd for me. I enjoyed large parts but some parts I was lost. I kept thinking I would prefer a singles Murdoch vs. Saito or Murdoch vs. Fujiwara match. I'll back the nomination but it won't be high on my list.