DVD #2

1/18/86 (t. 1/14)

January14：Kagoshima prefectural gymnasium (aired 1/18/86)

 

HARU SONADA/Tiger Mask vs. Norio Honaga/Kuniaki Kobayashi - Sonada's headbutts were probably the highlight but when I compare this lower card stuff to the equivalents from 1989 with Kroffat/Furnas, etc., it' s a joke.

 

Fumihiro Niikura vs. Mil Mascaras - Squash.

 

Genichiro Tenryu/GIANT BABA vs. MIKE ROTUNDO/BARRY WINDHAM - Windham and Rotundo kept swarming Baba and driving him out of the ring. The action really picked up when Tenryu stepped in to defend the old boss. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Baba caught Windham with the big boot and I figured a pin would follow. But instead, they rolled outside to set up the double countout. I'm not sure why Windham needed to be so protected. Anyway, I enjoyed this well enough, but nothing about it screamed nomination.

 

Takashi Ishikawa/JUMBO TSURUTA vs. Isamu Teranishi/Yoshiaki Yatsu - Choshu actually started out as Teranishi's partner, but Jumbo jumped him at the bell and beat the ever-loving shit out of him to the point that Yatsu had to come down as a replacement. After they carted Riki off, Teranishi and Yatsu dominated Ishikawa for a few minutes until Ishikawa caught Teranishi with a roll-up for the sudden pin. The Choshu stuff was an excellent set-up for the coming tag showdowns between Jumbo/Tenryu and Choshu/Yatsu. So I could see this as an extra.

 

January25：Takasaki city central gymnasium (aired 1/25/86)

 

Tiger Mask/Genichiro Tenryu vs. Ashura Hara/THE GREAT KABUKI - JIP with a long control section on Tenryu during which Hara and Kabuki couldn't think of anything interesting to do. Despite some nifty highspots from Misawa and a couple of nasty exchanges between Tenryu and Hara, this dragged too often.

 

Mighty Inoue vs. Mil Mascaras - They looked decent working the mat, but Mil finished Inoue too easily for this to come off as much of a contest.

　

Takashi Ishikawa/JUMBO TSURUTA vs. ANIMAL HAMAGUCHI/Riki Choshu - Choshu, who came out with taped ribs because of the previous week's beating, went right after Jumbo at the bell. Then, he and Hamaguchi worked over Ishikawa with typical Choshu's Army double teams. Jumbo finally snapped and wailed on both of them with a chair. Yatsu and Tenryu joined the fray for a chaotic brawl that lasted more than five minutes. Again, this was a pretty good set-up for the big tag matches to come and a possible extra.

 

Isamu Teranishi/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. MIKE ROTUNDO/BARRY WINDHAM - The episode ended in the middle of this which was fine, because it didn't look that promising anyway,

Yeah we definitely need to include the tag brawls as the build to the Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Choshu/Yatsu matches.