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.

 

AJ TV 2/2/85

This starts off with a few nice sequences but nothing special until Jumbo and Choshu square off. When the crowd erupts, it reminds you that this is the feud the crowd is dying to see. I felt bad for Khan who had to play the victim every time he was in the ring. It just doesn't seem right after watching the Andre match where he truly looked like the underdog. Again, this had some good stuff but I think I prefer the previous six man more. I enjoyed this match but there wasn't really one signature momoent that stood out for me and the ending was weak once again when it didn't have to be. Maybe I am still burnt out on the Choshu's Army from the NJ set to become too emotionally invested. I am going to go no but won't fight to keep it off.

Killer Khan, Riki Choshu, & Masa Saito vs. Takashi Ishikawa, Genichiro Tenryu, & Jumbo Tsuruta (1/24/85)

 

Fans are mobbing Choshu's Army on their way to the ring which was cool. This had some good action to start but it didn't kick up a notch until Jumbo & Choshu squared off and then after that everyone else kicked their game up but there were some botches. Choshu & Tenryu relied a little too much on their formula which had already been established here but in their defense they were working in front of new fans every show so it was new to them. Choshu's Army dominated most of the match working over every guy on the other side for an extended period of time and they looked good in doing so. Ishikawa really was the key to this match as he looked fine on offense but his job was to take a pounding and he did that very well. Choshu would just nail him with a lariat which sent him to the floor to get counted out as the others had a wild brawl in the ring. Rusher coming out after the match wanting to fight everyone was great. I'm in the middle here between you two as I liked the other six-man a little better as far as the work but the atmosphere here was way better especially with the wild post-match and I think this should move forward.