Another strong match between these teams though not as kinetic as the July match. Again, they established a contentious tone early and again, Takano and Nakano worked as the more physically dominant team and Footloose as the more clever, resilient team. I know Will mentioned the crowd not being into their Oct. match, but the fans were hot for this one. Neat finish, with Kawada slipping in to break up a double team move and giving Fuyuki the opening to beat Takano by roll-up yet again. I like tag matches that reward the more cohesive unit. Anyway, this is a yes.

Samurai Retro Classics #9 (Kawada Special)

Ricky Fuyuki/Toshiaki Kawada vs. Shunji Takano/Shinichi Nakano 9/15/88 (Retro 9)

- Oh shit, Fuyuki cut his hair. He looks very similar to Akira Taue. Nice nod to the last match… Takano and Fuyuki start off by having a slap contest. Kawada tags in shortly and the Akanos quickly take control. Nothing too high end or exciting but the crowd lights up when Kawada contorts and reverses a move into a Dragon Sleeper. Footloose take control of Nakano but Takano helps shift momentum with a legdrop on Fuyuki. Takano throws Fuyuki outside where Nakano whips him into the rail. The Akanos smell blood again and they start working on Fuyuki’s back again. Great nod to the earlier match. And Kawada is back in his role of kicking dudes really hard to break holds. Some of the same spots as the earlier match but this time, Kawada’s hot tag produces results and Fuyuki gives Takano a receipt outside by smashing him with a chair. Footloose take turns hitting moves and attempting pins. Takano turns the tide by knocking Fuyuki form the top rope and getting the hot tag. Inside the ring, they work on Fuyuki’s leg but they should have stuck with the back. Like the first match, the nondescript leg work slows the match down. The difference is that the dead zone was early on in the last match and this is late in the match when it should be picking up steam. Once that bit of business is over, the match picks up again and we get the typical hot action. The leg work did set up a cool spot where Nakano was holding Fuyuki’s leg, Kawada pushes him on Fuyuki as Takano lands with a knee drop on Nakano instead of This leads to a sloppy pin that will hurt this match compared to the first one but this was still fun enough to move forward. IT just isn’t quite the surefire nomination as the other match.

All-Asia Tag Titles: Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano © vs. Footloose (Ricky Fuyuki & Toshiaki Kawada) (9/15/88)

 

Footloose with the buzzcuts is great and these teams had a great match 2 months earlier at Korakuen. We start with a slapping contest between Fuyuki & Takano resuming their battle from July and it sets the tone for the match. The champs were the more aggressive of the teams here and they had some nice spots such as Takano turning a Dragon Sleeper into a bodyslam but Footloose would be the first to take it to the floor where Nakano would be launched into the railing. We would get more solid back and forth action with both teams looking good especially Footloose on double teams leading to the finish where they messed up but called an audible good enough to make it still pretty good. Very fun match and this moves forward.