Posted February 14, 200916 yr comment_5437224 DVD #14 ---------------------------------------------------- September 22nd: Tsu city gymnasium Kobayashi vs Black Tiger - Solid juniors action, nothing more. Vader, Saito vs Gaspers - I hoped Vader would kill a Gasper. He didn't. Koshinaka, Fujinami vs Hase, Choshu - Both Koshinaka and Hase endured brutal in-peril sections in this one. I might have nominated it if the finish had been a little more fleshed out. Good combination of high-end offense and selling from Hase. October 7th: Korakuen Hall Fujinami, Inoki vs Casey, Bigelow - Highlights. October 10th: Korakuen Hall Fighting spirit revival 7th match 1st match / Inoki vs Bam Bam Bigelow - Highlights. November 11th: Korakuen hall Shinya Hashimoto, Masa Chono, Tatsumi Fujinami vs Tracy Smothers, Steve Armstrong, George Takano - Here we have our worthy Southern Boys match. It's hard to overstate how psyched I was when I realized that they were not only ending the year with a trios tournament but that all the matches would be contested elimination style. Lots of great interactions between the Southern Boys and Hash/Chono in the opening stanza. Smothers and Armstrong were as good on the apron as in the ring. In one great moment, Takano hit a sweet counter on Fujinami and Armstrong totally marked out on the apron. This devolved into a bit of a squash after the first elimination but was still a very fun match involving lots of guys who won't be heavily represented on the set. So it should move forward. Kantaro Hoshino, Riki Choshu, Antonio Inoki vs Osamu Kido, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura - This started with a fast and neatly set up elimination. Hoshino was always great in this setting as he could pop in to hit some guys in the face and then get killed without having to carry too much of the action. The match turned on an awesome sneak attack from Choshu on Fujiwara. I love these elimination matches, and this is another nomination from the genre.
