Posted June 10, 200916 yr comment_5440491 #240 11/5/97 August 5,1986 Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka - (IWGP Junior Title) (8/5/86) - This was just brutal. Koshinaka was selling those kicks like death and each time he collapsed, I thought he was going to be knocked out. Koshinaka was just surviving the kicks. I love how Kosh tried to put Takada up for a superplex, gets knocked down and when he satdns up, gets a spinning kick for his troubles. Then later in the match, Takada goes to the top on his own and Koshinaka finally hits the superplex. Great match with a great stretch run that had the crowd bonkers for ten minutes. Easy nomination. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura - (IWGP Tag Title) (8/5/86) - I wasn’t expecting Maeda to be so tentative at first but then Osamu comes in and kicks Fujinami in the chest…hard… to remind me that the feud is in full effect. I guess Maeda was waiting for Kimura because he kicked the shit out of him and that left my jaw hurting. These guys just abused each other. You would get about 400 strikes and then they would throw in a wrestling move just to remind you it was still worked. I love how Maeda escapes the Figure 4 by tagging Osamu who jumps from the top rope with a knee to Fujinami’s face. I love the ending with the flash roll up as well. This may be the best 1-2 punch I have seen on these classics. Love it.
