DVD #11

May17：The Yokosuka city comprehensive gymnasium (aired 5/24/86)

PWFHeavyweight／Riki Choshu vs. Terry Gordy - They only showed the last few minutes. Gordy had Choshu in a figure four but Choshu escaped and caught Gordy with a lariat to set up the scorpion. Gordy fought his way to the ropes, went to the outside, grabbed a chair and hit both Choshu and the ref with it. Why would he do that when he was challenging for a title? Stupid finish that was all too typical of the times.

 

May24：Numazu city gymnasium (aired 5/24/86)

HARU SONADA/Tiger Mask vs. HIRO SAITO/MIL MASCARAS - JIP with Mascaras working lucha holds on Sonada and then Misawa. His stuff neither looked good nor created a sense of struggle. Then Saito came in for some mundane clubbering until Misawa rallied. Finally, Mascaras brought a merciful end to the match with a burst of his signature offense on Sonada.

　

Yoshiaki Yatsu/Riki Choshu vs. Shunji Takano/SUPER STRONG MACHINE - God, Choshu just would not cede any kind of advantage to these fucking midcarders. He'd take a move or two and then go immediately to his patented suplex counter. Takano and SSM finally got a real run of offense on Yatsu and SSM seemed to taunt Choshu by clamping the scorpion on Riki's partner. Then, out of nowhere, Khan came off the top rope and dropped a knee on Yatsu. Before Choshu could react, Khan attacked him too. I guess we know how the Khan/Choshu feud started now. This could be an extra because of the angle that set up one of the best matches on the set.

 

NWAInternational・Heavyweight／Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Harley Race - Race started quickly with punches to Jumbo's face at the bell, and they never really slowed down. Jumbo busted Harley open on the outside and warmed my heart by working the cut with some punches of his own. Harley, bless his soul, responded with a bunch of headbutts. Neither guy kept the advantage for long, and they didn't waste time with holds; they kept to strikes and high-impact moves. Late in the match, Jumbo appeared to leave Race for dead on the outside only for Harley to ascend the ropes, streamers still stuck to him, and nail a diving clothesline! I also liked the fight that Harley showed to prevent Jumbo from hitting his backdrop suplex. I didn't even feel cheated when Harley pulled the ref in the way of a Jumbo lariat to get the DQ. He had been doing dirty shit to avoid getting beaten all match, so it fit. This wasn't a classic or anything, but I enjoyed it from beginning to end, so I'll nominate it. The episode ended before the bell, but they showed the full conclusion on the next show.

 

May30：The Sapporo Nakajima physical education center (aired 5/31/86)

Jr.Heavyweight Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Hiro Saito - This was short and built around top-rope offense and a couple of nutty bumps by Kobayashi. Basically, he missed a dive and landed on his side, then let Saito blast him off the apron into the rail to set up the countout. No vote but at least they did some shit to catch my attention.

 

Isamu Teranishi/Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. RUSHER KIMURA/TIGER JEET SINGH - The crowd seemed really hot to watch Yatsu kick Singh's ass. Sadly, Singh turned the tide quickly with his low blows and choking. He and Kimura dominated most of the offense before finishing Teranishi easily.

 

Tenryu/JUMBO TSURUTA vs. Shunji Takano/SUPER STRONG MACHINE - This took awhile to get going, but the crowd seemed jazzed when Takano and SSM hit some big offense on Jumbo. Jumbo's lariat to cut off the rally was a thing of beauty, and he finished Takano quickly with a suplex. At least they didn't do the chairshot DQ ending.

 

ANIMAL HAMAGUCHI/Riki Choshu vs. The Road Warriors - They delivered a fun four minutes with everybody going 100 mph and exchanging lariats, press slams and double-team moves. I would've bet the future of humanity that Hamaguchi would take the loss and sure enough, he did. No vote but I liked it more than most Warriors stuff from Japan.

Yes we need the Khan turn as an extra.