Posted June 30, 200916 yr comment_5441335 5/25/89 Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Wakla Evloev (Sky A 126) Bam Bam looked pretty decent rolling on the mat with Evloev for more than 10 minutes. Finally, the Russian made a mistake and got caught in a finishing powerslam. I like all of these matches with the Russians to some degree, but few of them rise to the highest level. 5/25/89 Victor Zangiev/Vladimir Berkovich vs. Riki Choshu/Tatsumi Fujinami (Sky A 126) - This featured a great sequence of Berkovich tossing Choshu around with amateur throws and suplexes. Choshu got totally flustered and drilled him with a lariat. Unfortunately, instead of building on that amateur vs. pro tension, the match ended a few moments later on a Fujinami dragon sleeper. I guess the quick ending was a nod to shootstyle, but really, it just felt like an abrupt close to a pro match. 5/25/89 Strong Machine/George Takano vs. Kengo Kimura/Osamu Kido (Sky A 126) Kimura was great at shifting from sympathetic guy taking a beating to offensive whirlwind winging punches and kicks. He made this match better than the other Machine/Takano defenses that have left me cold. Kido and his porn moustache were good as well. He unleashed some exquisite roll-ups for nearfalls down the stretch. The crowd seemed hyped at the possibility of a title change. The ending came a bit suddenly, but I dug this enough to throw it on the block. 5/25/89 Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Liger (Sky A 126) I think this was Liger's first title win. Hase came out fast with a dropkick, an awesome belly-to-back suplex and a dive to the outside. He seemed to build an attack on Liger's ribs, but the selling in this match wasn't good. And it ended suddenly after about eight minutes. Good action throughout, but I expected more from a title change designed to make a new star.
