Posted June 18, 200916 yr comment_5440886 #279 12/30/97 1/11/88 Riki Choshu vs. Buzz Sawyer - I thought I would enjoy it more than I did. Buzz looks really out of shape and I just saw Choshu and Inoki have a helluva fight. This one had too much nonsense in it. Choshu rolls out of the ring to catch a breather after he was the one in control? The ref keeps pushing Buzz over out of pin attempts out of a Choshu sleeper that seemed sort of stupid. Buzz made a go out of it but ultimately he was treated like a mid-carder who did the clean job. This wouldn’t sniff my Top 200 at this point and does not represent the best of either man. 1/11/88 Antonio Inoki/Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Williams/Owen Hart - Really fun stuff between Owen and Takada to begin with. This is the most pumped up I have seen Doc in New Japan. After the silly amateur stance that seques into the ab stretch, Doc just abuses Inoki, acting like he was Bam Bam Bigelow or something. Inoki, and then Takada, fight back with enziguiris and shoot kicks and I am digging the mix of styles (styles clash but fun to watch). The second Takada-Owen exchange gets sloppy with a whiffed enziguiri kick and a sloppy roll up from Owen. Overall, fun stuff but not a nomination. Gaijin miscommunication ends with Inoki pinning Owen which is what I predicted before the match began. 1/25/88 Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Nobuhiko Takada - When Takada was in control early, I wasn’t feeling it. However, when Yamazaki took over, I felt like the math got some wings. Yanking the hell out of Takada’s arm, the strikes to the arm, constant armbar… all solid. Still, when Takada got the half crab on, that thing lasted forever, either tap or grab a rope or something. Hard shoot kicks, insane strikes… good stuff. Lame submissions that seem neither believeable or build drama… bad. I loved Yamazaki, disappointed in Takada.
