I am nominating this, Childs you need to rewatch it. First fall had your traditional match ups with everyone looking good, Dynamite is fine as a guy in a trios stiffing someone, Babyface eats everything awesome, jumping into all of Tiger Masks spots. Abby was just a wrecking machine in this, I loved how the second fall mixed up the matchups and we got to see Fujinami work with Baby Face and Abby work with Tiger Mask. Finish was an awesome clusterfuck with S.D. Jones and Bad News jumping Inoki and Wahoo runs in to clean house. I thought this was a great match and kind of a slam dunk.

 

New Japan Pro Wrestling TV (January 1st & January 8th, 1982)

First fall was really sweet. Baby Face matches up with Tiger Mask well. He eats all of Tiger Masks kicks in neat ways as he kind of splays in the air and then falls. Abby is just a machine just jumping in and out ring causing havoc, I really liked the hanging of Inoki. Tiger Mask trying to jump out of ring to save Inoki only to get tossed was fun too.

 

Second fall has less Inoki but the Babe Face/Fujiami match ups were cool and the Abby/Tiger Mask section with the Fujinami/Tiger Mask double dropkick to take out Abby were awesome.

 

Post match with Inoki fired up and Abby/Wahoo face off makes me want to buy a ticket to next weeks show.

Childs, I think you were still a little down after watching that Roland Bock match. This match was the bomb. The great thing about the first fall was the establishment of roles for each guy. Babyface was clearly the weak link for the gaijin while Inoki and Abby played ringleader. While TM may have saved Inoki in the hanging spot, Abby just abuses him for his efforts. Love it. Phil's irrational hatred of Dynamite is baffling but I guess we'll see how he reacts to Kevin Von Erich in World Class. One is British, the other is Texan. When DK teased the leap to the outside from the turnbuckle, I'll admit it, I was marking out. Phil and Tom covered the important points of the 2nd fall. It seemed like Abby was still pissed at Sayama for interfering with his torture of Inoki earlier on. I like how the 2nd fall ended but not the fact that it ended. DK just pushing Tiger Mask was pretty awesome. I don't know if this is slam dunk territory but it is a definite nomination.

 

Childs, rewatch it... no fault if you don't see the nomination but you gotta at least mention that Abby was in the match.

It wasn't like I disliked it. But it was one where the oddity of the combinations appealed to me more than a lot of the actual wrestling. Anyway, I rewatched it and have no problem with it going on, though I remain less enthusiastic than you guys. I did like the Abby/Tiger Mask match-up on rewatch.

 

BTW, they never paid off the Wahoo stuff the way I hoped.