Posted July 1, 200916 yr comment_5441372 Taped 7/13/89: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (IWGP Jr. Title) Already nominated. Great match. Big Van Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov This was super fun. Vader bullied Hashimikov, really pasting him with punches and short clotheslines. Surprisingly, the Russia played a great underdog. The crowd went apeshit when he dropped Vader with a lariat and hit a couple of big suplexes. Hashimikov was mighty expressive for a stocky Russian working an amateur gimmick and I loved how the Japanese fans got behind him here. The air literally went out of them as Vader smashed him with bigger and bigger moves during the finishing run. This went less than nine minutes, but I have no reservation nominating it. If it's too similar to the earlier one Phil nominated, we can drop one. Riki Choshu/Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine/George Takano (IWGP Tag Titles) I liked the previous day's Iikuza title challenge, but I loved this one. Iikuza gave another good effort as the spunky guy who fought back harder than the vets expected. Takano and SSM were really on with their offense. And Choshu ruled as the team captain cajoling a great performance out of his rookie mate. He actually kicked Iikuza at one point to fire him up. It paid off as Iikuza fought like a lunatic in the finishing stretch. He actually saved Choshu a bunch of times and literally threw his body between an SSM lariat and his partner. Lots of emotion in this one. It should go on the set. Taped August 1989: Masa Saito vs. Mike Hart Hart didn't bring much to the table here. Almost a squash. Dick Murdoch vs. ? (Russian Wrestler) Murdoch looked pretty smooth rolling on the mat with the Russian amateur and did a typically superb job selling. Nothing close to setworthy, however.
