Posted June 25, 200916 yr comment_5441124 Episode #305 2/4/98 8/4/88 Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito - Tough call here. Yamada jumped Saito from the bell and really laid in his shots early to set a grudge match tone. When Saito seized the advantage, he hit all of his nasty fat junior offense, including a nasty tope. The sudden roll-up finish seemed a little out of place given the tone of the match. And I happened to watch the 1/25/88 Koshinaka/Yamada match right after, which made this look ordinary. I'll call it a just miss, though I wouldn't be shocked if someone else digs it enough for a nomination. 8/4/88 Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito/Big Van Vader - Reviewed this elsewhere. No nomination. 8/4/88 Antonio Inoki/Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu/Strong Machine/Kuniaki Kobayashi - This featured a fun brawling section between Inoki and Choshu and generally fine work. But nothing pushed it into the class of all the great six-mans that will make this set.
July 9, 200916 yr comment_5441738 Episode #305 2/4/98 8/4/88 Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito (Sky A 106) - Holy shit, Yamada starts off quick with an insane dive outside. Not DK insane, but it looked pretty wild. I need to get it out of my mind that Saito should be an ass kicker because he is getting destroyed by Yamada here. Good solid back and forth action here but my least favorite of the good Yamada matches so far. 8/4/88 Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito/Big Van Vader (Sky A 106) - Really fun match. Fujinami going toe to toe with Vader really hammers home the point that he is on equal footing with the big boys now. Love the sequence where Kimura tries to escape outside only to be caught by Vader, whipped into a Saito lariat and then dropped throat first on the rail by Vader. Great stuff. Of course, Kimura isn’t on equal footing and he gets killed. However, the missed Vader splash into a pin sequence was neat and the finish looked pretty cool. A little short but Nomination. 8/4/88 Antonio Inoki/Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu/Strong Machine/Kuniaki Kobayashi (Sky A 107) - Man, this is going to be a mother trying to decide which six man tags get put on this set. Early on, good stuff with Koshinak a getting abused. Hell, Chooshu has him in a headlock and is staring at Inoki the entire time. Classic. Shit, Inoki punching Choshu in the had was a sight to behold. When these guys tangled up, I was digging how each guy looked like he wanted to rip the skin from the bone. Everyone else was fine in the match and there were some good sequences but it all took a backseat to the Choshu-Inoki feud which really burns this match into my memory. However, the match was criminally short. I was digging it but it didn’t last very long which might bump it off. Still, lets move it forward and see where it goes.
