Posted January 28, 200916 yr comment_5436922 DVD #1 ---------------------------------------------------- January 4th: Korakuen Hall '88 top of the super junior league match / Koshinaka vs Goto - Clip. '88 top of the super junior league match / Takada vs Kobayashi - Clip. Inoki vs Vader - Solid match. Inoki tried to control the monster with armbars and other holds. Vader invariably powered his way out and tossed Inoki around. Choshu, of all people, helped Inoki with a lariat to Vader after the big man obliterated the ref. Match ended in chaos. I don't think it's a nomination, but they did an effective job of building Vader, years away from his vintage form, into the scariest guy in the company. '88 top of the super junior league match / Hase vs Hart - JIP. This never clicked for me. Hase controlled too much of the action and they seemed oddly out of sync for guys who had worked each other so much in Stampede. I remember their May match being a lot better. Hope I'm right. Fujinami vs Saito - Good, rugged match between two of the most solid pros in NJ. But it ended abruptly and we have gobs of better stuff from both guys. January 11th; Kumatani city gymnasium Kimura, Fujinami vs Vader, Saito - Damn, Vader was a specimen at this point -- almost no fat on him. It was fun to see him destroy Kimura, but again, this was more about building Vader as a monster than about producing a good match. So it was effective but not something that belongs on the set. Riki Choshu vs Buzz Sawyer - This was pretty short but I dug every minute. Early on, Buzz kept outmaneuvering Choshu on the mat and then yelping like a madman. Choshu responded with some great "What the fuck is this guy?" looks. Other Buzz highlights included him headbutting the metal rail while taking a powder and him breaking a Choshu hold by biting the inside of his thigh. Match didn't build into anything epic, but these are two of my favorite guys from the '80s so I'm nominating it. Takada, Inoki vs Hart, Williams - This had some nice-looking interactions between Takada and Owen, but the ending was cut off by the close of the episode and I don't think it was something that rose above the pack anyway.
