Posted May 18, 200916 yr comment_5439627 DVD #3 2/2/85 (taped 1/24) Bulldogs vs. Sato/Fuchi - JIP. This could've been good as Dynamite and Fuchi got pretty stiff and pissy with each other in the finishing stretch. But they only showed about five minutes. Tiger Mask/Magic Dragon vs. Kobayashi/Fumihiro Niikura - Plenty of action here but nothing that really pushed it to the "gotta see it again" level. The Misawa/Kobayashi feud didn't really pick up until their singles match the next week. Jumbo/Tenryu/Ishikawa vs. Choshu/Masa Saito/Khan - Ahhh, the heavy hitters division of Choshu's Army. Awesome. I had high expectations when I saw this match on the list and it mostly met them. When Tenryu and Jumbo worked in concert early on, they got the best of things. But as Choshu and his guys managed to isolate each native All-Japaner for longer stretches, they took over. They really punished Tenryu during one stretch. I much prefer Saito to Yatsu as Choshu's second, because he came off as a much greater ass-kicker. Nobody hit more brutal suplexes during this era of wrestling and Tenryu took a couple right on his neck. On the AJ side, Ishikawa was a good utility man. He looked decent on the mat, could fly a bit and most importantly, took a hell of a beating. Choshu and Co. trapped him in the corner and hit him with a bunch of nasty double-team stuff. Finally, they threw poor Ishikawa out of the ring. He was counted out, but that really became a side note to the brawl that broke out between a very surly Tenryu and Choshu. This match was all hard-hitting action and another excellent feud builder. It's one I'd like to see on the set, given the introduction of Saito to the festivities. 2/9/85 (taped 2/1) Tiger Mask vs. Kobayashi - Great opening as Misawa sprung to the top rope as part of his entrance, knocked Kobayashi out of the ring with a missile dropkick and then hit a wild looking tope. I think they based the match structure on Kobayashi's series with Sayama. Kobayashi controlled Misawa by slowing the pace and taking it to the mat. He heated things up with some mean-spirited mask ripping. But Misawa proved resilient and every so often, countered with a flurry of highspots. They traded a bunch of dives and big moves at the end, with each guy kicking out after some big stuff. The match ended with Kobayashi tearing a big chunk out of the mask on the outside and ducking back in to win by countout. Plenty of intense, purposeful action overall. There was a cut in the middle, but it didn't seem to deprive us of anything too vital. I'll throw this on the block. Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Choshu/Yatsu - I liked Choshu slapping Jumbo on the apron at the start of the match. And I dug the ending, with a bloodied Yatsu refusing to tag Choshu because he wanted to keep fighting Jumbo and Tenryu. But a lot of the wrestling in between seemed pedestrian and failed to bring anything new to the developing feud. Given the volume of quality matches between Choshu's Army and Jumbo/Tenryu, I'll leave this one on the shelf.
