Posted November 26, 200915 yr comment_5446017 DVD #13 6/8/85 Tenryu/Ishikawa vs. Choshu/Hamaguchi - Choshu and Tenryu took an unusual amount of punishment in this one, which was cool, because the spotlight stayed on them instead of the secondary guys. But the non-finish came before it could build into anything noteworthy. Magic Dragon vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi - This was hair vs. mask but lacked the sort of ferocity you might expect for that stip. Perfectly decent back and forth action but nothing more. Jumbo vs. Terry Gordy - I agree with Will on this one -- good but not special. The basic story was Gordy's ability to go toe-to-toe with the ace. I give Jumbo credit for eating some brutal shit and allowing Gordy to be the star of the match. He even took sort of a chickenshit win to show a hint of desperation. So it worked but lacked big-time memorable moments that would push it to the top of a ballot. Second the nomination though. 6/15/85 Tiger Mask/Kawada vs. Bulldogs - Dream match on paper, I suppose, but in reality, Kawada was a jobber at this stage and this didn't get beyond a few fun moments. Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Road Warriors - I enjoyed watching Jumbo and Tenryu take it to the Warriors with some hard chops and lariats. But the Warriors really weren't any good and of course, had to be protected with a crap non-finish (Ellering hit Jumbo with a chair.) I still think these teams could have a fun match if they just blasted each other for 10 minutes and got the hell out. But I doubt we'll see it. Choshu vs. Singh - My new favorite Tiger Jheet match. Choshu bladed big-time at the opening bell and that set up the simple but effective story of him trying to rally while Singh worked the cut, choked him and hit him with objects. Choshu, of course, fought back with fury and got the crowd hyped. I expected the non-finish. At least it involved Choshu refusing to stop choking Singh with an electrical cord. Cool post-match visual as well when Choshu got Singh in the scorpion, wiping blood from his eyes the whole time. This probably needed a few more minutes to be a slam dunk. But I liked it enough to throw it up for consideration.
