Posted October 3, 200915 yr comment_5444801 DVD #6 3/9/85 Special Khan/Kurisu vs. Race/Wallas - Nice headbutt battle between Kurisu and Harley. Nothing setworthy, however. Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi - Good nip-and-tuck addition to their rivalry. The basic story was that neither guy could gain control for long. Misawa kept trying to break off strings of high-impact offense, but Kobayashi kept cutting him off and grounding him with nasty little shots and mat counters. Both guys took some crazy bumps off attempted dives, and the match had that crazy, ragged feel that I like from junior feuds. If we have to drop one of these in the final cut, this might be it but for now, a solid nomination. Inoue/Ishikawa/Baba vs. Tsurumi/Rusher Kimura/Ryuma Go - This was actually cruising for a nomination with the underlings setting a hot pace and building to tags from the aged stars. But it ended abruptly without Baba getting any kind of revenge in the finishing run for weeks of abuse. So they sort of killed my enthusiasm. Choshu/Yatsu vs. Brody/Brooks - This was a pure Choshu match -- short, not a ton of depth or selling but real intense, physical and never boring. The style played to Brody's strengths and the interactions between him and Choshu really fired up the crowd. I'm not sure they ever met again. Anyway, I'll throw it a low-level nomination. Road Warriors vs. Jumbo/Tenryu - This left a bad taste in my mouth because it started with great promise but offered no payoff. It was 2-out-of-3 falls, and the first fall was great, with the Warriors doing all kinds of stuff to show their power and Jumbo showing he could go toe-to-toe with them. Made sense for the natives to eat the first fall so the Warriors would seem even more bad ass. Second fall was a lot shorter and ended on a double pin, with Jumbo getting his shoulder up a tick before three. So the Warriors went nuts over the count and the ref threw the match out. This had so much potential as a clash-of-the titans. I wouldn't have minded a double countout ending. Heck, I expected it. But to kill it so abruptly? Fuck that.
