New Japan in the 80's

[Red_And_Yellow]

Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen (9/23/1981)

HOLY SMOKES!!!!! This is definitely going in the Kimura/Fujinami class right here, and probably surpassed it.

I've seen some of the later work of Andre, and I have to say, this was the best match I've ever seen from him. He was phenomenal. Played the dominant heel about as well as he possibly could have. The crowd was responding to Hansen as a face, which I definitely was not expecting. This is a guy who has pretty much tried to destroy Inoki (their guy), and has beaten on officials, and security. Yet, he's getting very loud ovations. Strange.

Both guys fed off each other, and the crowd. Funny thing, if anyone wants to convince me that "Japanese crowds RESPECT what's going on inside the ring," I'll just show them this match. Simple, if you don't think these crowds get into their wrestling (when it's good), you are sadly mistaken.

This match originally ended in a double count out as both guys were just brawling with each other on the floor. Credit to Andre for keeping such a fast paced match. I really wonder how the Wrestling Media, and likewise the IWC (WHCIH WE ARE PART OF!@#!!) would respond to Andre the Giant now. He's a big man, a little slow, but in terms of getting a reaction for being a complete douche it's second to none. He's incredible.

As the match ended in a double count out, Hansen gets in the ring and is just shouting at the referee to restart it. The crowd really wants this to keep going as well. After some stalling, the NJ Commissioner/Ring Announcer (don't know the difference because I can't understand Japanese) comes in the ring and announces the match will continue.

They go right back where they left off, and it's just to the races. Andre's headbutts look so incredible with Hansen selling them like death shots. But this hectic pace goes back and forth as these guys are just laying into each other with strikes. Hansen gets Irish whipped and ducks a big boot from Andre, then hits him with a LARIATO!~!!! Andre falls to the floor, and it looks like he may get counted out.

However, he is able to regather himself and climb back inside the ring. This time though, he has an elbow pad, which wasn't on for the entire the match. The referee is trying to stop him to take a look at it, and Andre is having none of it. He just wants to pound on Stan. The ref gets in Andre's way one to many times, and then Andre just sends him into the ropes, and hits him with a clothesline of his own. This causes him to get disqualified, and STAN HANSEN IS YOUR WINNER.

MATCH RATING: 10/10

Letter Grades:

Stan Hansen - A
Andre the Giant - A

I tracked this down on YouTube, WATCH IT RIGHT NOW.

PART 1:


PART 2:

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Isamu Teranishi (10/8/1981)

I think this is a really fun match. The mat work looks good, and the strikes look just downright vicious at times. In particular there was one instance where they were just going off on each other's mugs. The crowd was pretty hot for that moment, as they were for most of the match.

Teranishi is a fun guy on this set. He doesn't do anything spectacular, however, his move set works well together, his mat wrestling is solid, and he has good looking strikes. I wouldn't consider him a top guy, but he's definitely a good mid card guy to have.

Fujinami was of course, Fujinami. He looks particularly good in this match. His struggle spots, especially on the mat were very easy on the eye. His strikes look even better than normal. The only real downside to this match is that you don't really buy Teranishi as a threat apart from one combination of moves.

After Teranishi is unable to put away Fujinami with a Backbreaker, Suplex, and Backdrop driver combination, the match starts to turn. Isamu gets frustrated and is a bit overzealous, and this gives Fujinami the chance to hit a back drop, and regain his breath. Fujinami ties up Isamu and heads for the ropes for a roll up, but instead of just sitting for the roll up, he rolls through and catches Teranishi with the German Suplex for the pin. Tatsumi Fujinami beats Isamu Teranishi!

MATCH RATING: 7/10

Letter Grades:

Tatsumi Fujinami - A
Isamu Teranishi - B

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs El Signo & Negro Navarro (11/6/1981)

Until Signo and Navarro start acting like cheating heels, this match really stinks. In fact, the heelish antics don't really help that much. There's no real flow, and Tiger Mask gets this huge reaction. My guess is he's still pretty fresh, and the crowd initially will enjoy the twists, twirls, cartwheels, and flips. My prediction is going to be that sometime in 1982/83 his reaction will substantially fall off. He just doesn't do anything interesting.

El Signo and Negro Navarro aren't bad, but they aren't anything special. Fun heels, but eh, nothing really to say.

Kengo Kimura was eh as well. It's pretty amazing that they can't even protect Tiger Mask in a Tag Match where he doesn't have to do all his flashy offense. At one spot, he has the chance to walk over and tag Kengo in, but instead he chooses to somersault backwards, and hop up, then tag in Kengo. He's just really goofy.

Sorry for the all the Tiger Mask bashing, but at this point in the set, it's pretty easy to tell they are protecting him in multi man matches earlier in his career.

Tiger Mask ends up getting the pin after a top rope sunset flip (because apparently a normal sunset flip doesn't do the job).

MATCH RATING: 3/10

Letter Grades:

Kengo Kimura - C
Tiger Mask - D
El Signo - C
Negro Navarro - C

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (11/6/1981)

This is certainly the best Tiger Mask match I have seen. Regardless, it's still not that good. Gran Hamada literally does everything he can to make Tiger Mask look good. He bumps well, the strikes both have are pretty good, and Gran Hamada just carries Tiger to an above average, passable match here.

Tiger Mask does a lot less of his flips, although, his offense is still all over the place. He would go from working on Hamada's leg for three minutes, to just abandoning it, and then moving to work on his back. There was a spot where Hamada had Tiger Mask controlled, and out of nowhere Tiger Mask hits a German Suplex which Hamada kicks out of. I have a problem with this, namely because that's Fujinami's finisher, and if it's kicked out of in other matches, it can make his stuff look less important.

Gran Hamada should get a standing ovation for what he did to Tiger Mask. He makes this match a lot better by just giving everything he has into making his opponent look good. Hamada gets an A, not just for being good, but for making Tiger Mask at least look competent.

The homestretch of this match is pretty good actually. After Hamada sends Tiger Mask to the floor he hits a suicide dive on him. Tiger Mask is about to get counted out, when Hamada drop kicks him back to the floor. This causes the ref to restart his count. This is where Hamada gets greedy. He goes to the top rope and attempts to hit a cross body, but Tiger Mask ducks out of the way. The ref gets up to 15...16..17, and Tiger Mask rolls back in. Gran Hamada looks like he won't be able to make it back in, 18....19...Hamada is climbing onto the apron, but the ref finishes his count, and Tiger Mask is your winner by count out.

MATCH RATING: 5/10

Letter Grades:

Gran Hamada - A
Tiger Mask - C

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask vs El Canek (12/8/1981)

This is an okay match. Really it's about as good as Tiger Mask's match with Gran Hamada. Maybe a little bit worse, but it's on that mediocre level for me.

This opening has a ton of botch-tastic stuff. All from Tiger Mask, as if you couldn't guess that for yourself at this point. Tiger Mask doesn't look incredibly bad here, but he doesn't look good. I don't if that's El Canek's fault, or Tiger Mask just being so overwhelmingly bad. I'd be more willing to guess the latter.

El Canek is an impressive looking athlete, and has a good looking physique as well. His overpowering stuff does bring out a slightly better than normal Tiger Mask. This is pretty unforgettable, and I'd love too see El Canek going up against someone with more talent. Would probably make him look a ton better as well.

The homestretch is alright, Tiger Mask does a plancha to the floor. He comes back in, and El Canek is still stirring on the outside. Tiger Mask goes outside to meet him, and they both end up getting counted out.

MATCH RATING: 5/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - C
El Canek - A

[Red_And_Yellow]

Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet (12/10/1981)

This is a really fun, short tag team match. The whole match is built around avoiding Andre, and double teaming him from Inoki and Fujinami. Neither wants to be in the ring with him too long, and who can blame them? Who wants to be in the ring with a 7'0'' 500+ lb individual.

Rene Goulet sees very little action in the match, he takes some abuse, and is the guy that Inoki & Fujinami attack the most. Mainly because he's the lesser of the two evils. In fact, he's getting it handed to him pretty well until Andre decides to be all tall and gigantic to break it up. His post match antics holding up trophies and just celebrating like he really contributed though makes me smile.

Tatsumi Fujinami and Inoki both look good here. I'd say Fujinami looks better, but maybe that's because I'm biased. I can't really pinpoint anything that makes me say he's definitively better in this match. It was just easier on my eyes to see him in there.

Andre the Giant is well, Andre the Giant. He's working a pace much more seen in his WWE days. Much slower, but the fear of Inoki/Fujinami whenever they come in contact with him shows how dominant he is.

The match breaks down, as Goulet/Inoki are battling on the floor, Fujinami is left all alone with Andre the Giant in the middle of the ring. UH OH. Fujinami goes to the top rope, but Andre meets him, and throws him like Phil Taylor throws a dart halfway across the ring. Andre picks up the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion and throws him into the ropes for a big boot. The crowd grows anxious as Andre hits the rope, and is going for a running splash. It connects, forget about that, 1-2-3. Fujinami has no chance, and Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet win this match by pin fall.

MATCH RATING: 8/10

Letter Grades:

Andre the Giant - A
Rene Goulet - C
Antonio Inoki - B
Tatsumi Fujinami - A

[Red_And_Yellow]

Ranking of matches through 1981 (soon to go into the top 25 after 1982):

1. Andre the Giant vs Stan Hansen (9/23/1981)
2. Kengo Kimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami (9/25/1980)
3. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Steve Keirn - 2 out of 3 falls (2/1/1980)
4. Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (9/11/1980)
5. Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki vs Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet (12/10/1981)
6. Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (5/9/1980)
7. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Tony Rocco (9/11/1980)
8. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Johnny Londos (9/19/1980)
9. Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (4/23/1981)
10. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid (2/5/1980)
11. Tatsumi Fujinami & Manataro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn - 2 out of 3 falls (1/18/1980)
12. Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen (2/8/1980)
13. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Isamu Taranishi (10/8/1981)
14. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Steve Keirn (11/6/1980)
15. Bob Backlund vs Stan Hansen (9/30/1980)
16. Chavo Guerrero vs Kengo Kimura (11/3/1980)
17. Chavo Guerrero vs Kengo Kimura (9/30/1980)
18. Gran Hamada vs Babyface (4/3/1980)
19. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ron Starr (9/30/1980)
20. Tiger Mask vs Gran Hamada (11/6/1981)
21. Tiger Mask vs El Canek (12/8/1981)
22. George Takano vs Stan Lane (7/24/1981)
23. Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Pete Roberts & El Solitario (9/4/1981)
24. Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs Negro Navarro & El Signo (10/30/1981)
25. Tatsumi Fujinami vs Chavo Guerrero (5/9/1980)
26. DYNAMITE KID VS TIGER MASK (4/23/1981) - Take that Dave Meltzer.

After 1982, I will post a top 25, instead of all the matches. Unfortunately I have a ton of Tiger Mask to look forward too. *Loads Revolver, with gun in mouth*

[towney007]

Keiichi Yamada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (1/25/88)

Whew. This is super boring. Koshinaka’s stuff doesn’t go anywhere and Yamada’s stuff, while it looks good,doesn’t really go anywhere. The ring bell spot and shenanigns is fun, but just like the matwork, it doesn’t really go anywhere. Koshinaka’s problem isn’t that he’s a BAD seller in the sense that he doesn’t sell. Its just that his selling isn’t very interesting. Kind of surprised this made the set considering how throw-away it felt.

Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Hase (2/4/88)

I thought this was kind of all over the place, too. Liger’s mat work is perfectly fine, but its just not very exciting. Hase’s comebacks have some good fire and his selling really carry the bulk of this. The high spots all seem really random, especially when none of them really go anywhere. Dropping Liger on the guardrail seems like a big deal and then there’s almost no follow up. I’m not wild about the pile driver spot on the outside, although at this point you kind of have to take what you get with New Japan and pile drivers in general. Overall a decent match, but nothing to eally write home about.

Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (2/4/88)

Much like their first match against each other, this didn’t do much for me, either. Choshu brings the heat early on but Inoki isn’t interesting at all on the sell. His comebacks have plenty of fire and he’s obviously putting a lot of effort into them, but there were just times where this seemed like Inoki wanted this laid out to get him over more than anything else. The backdrop spot is goofy, and there’s a spot where they’re looking for a back body drop that’s flat out botched. And the finish


Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiro Hase (3/11/88)

This match was a total shock to me and is a case in poit for why you really do need to give every match a shot. Takada’s been terrible on this set and is stiff competition for Tiger Mask in the ‘Guy everyone thinks is good, but is actually terrible’ category. But maybe this is what everyone was talking about. His selling is great here in the early going. Hase’s a guy who’s got really fantastic timing and the Takada comeback was built to really well. There’s a great sort of elongated transition in momentum here where Takada is slow to go on the offense which I actually really thought was a cool spot. The match gets entirely flipped on its head in the second half and Takada goes from sympathetic crowd favorite to bully babyface as the plucky and game Hase tries to make HIS comeback. Hase eating kicks down the stretch is also really phenomenal stuff. While it completely shocks me to say it, I’d say that this is easily one of the top 3 juniors matches up to this point.

Shiro Koshinaka & Antonio Inoki vs. Hiroshi Hase & Riki Choshu (4/11/88)

I liked the body of this a great deal, especially Koshinaka’s gusher. There are some really good cut offs in here – notably from Hase catching Koshinaka’s ass bump and turning it into a german suplex. Choshu and Koshinaka were even better, especially Choshu’s running lariats to the back of his head. It all built really well to the hot tag, but when it finally comes, this literally nose dives off a cliff. Inoki comes in, smooshes Hase and… uh… that’s it? I mean I get some of those southern style quick finishes, but this was built for such a strong payoff that you really feel cheated at the end. The finish totally kills this.

Akira Nogami, Tatsutoshi Goto, Keiichi Yamada, Kantaro Hoshino & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Hase, Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki (4/27/88)
This was the first match on the set I had a hard time getting through. This was just all over the place. Lots of miscued spots, some spots where a guy is visibly waiting in position so that another guy can get to where he needs to get to, etc. It’s a fun go-go-go style match, but its just a really large collection of spots. When Hase takes a spiked pile driver and then rolls to his corner and tags out I couldn’t believe it. Mindless fun for sure, but a good match? No way.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (4/27/88)

Fujinami is the ace of the company, but boy does he sure seem like an underdog here. Vader’s his usual intimidating, dominating self, viciously attacking – of all things – Fujinami’s throat. The military press onto the guard rail on the outside is just nasty looking and the collective choking and strikes to the wind pipe make you wince. Vader’s bumping I pretty solid here as well, with him taking a nice back body drop bump and a hard spill over the top rope. The only issues here is that it probably drags on a little longer than it needed to. They could’ve cut a good two minutes of Vader control out of this and tightened it up just a bit more. I’m kind of undecided about the finish. On one hand, Fujinami probably SHOULD be winning this match and a countout victory is perfect to protect both. But at the same time, given the preentation of the Vader character here, I can’t help but think, ‘A count out!? That’s all it takes!?’. Hard match for me to rate because there’ so much I like about it yet the flaws are really glaring.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (5/27/88)

Its pretty awesome to see that five years later these two can pick up and not lose a beat. Some really great stuff from both guys littered throughout the match. Fujinami constantly having answers for Choshu in the early on in a lot of ways is a big, fat callback spot to their ’83 feud together. It also features perhaps the most slick, undetectable blade job ever from Choshu. The transitions are exceptionally violent in this match, especially the spot where Choshu literally drives Fujinami through the mat on a suprirse back drop driver. We got form Choshu looking like a sympathetic figure to Fujinami sliding into that role thanks to his new bum ankle thanks to Riki. While this might not be their best match together, its perhaps the best display of how ridiculously talented both guys are and how they can seamlessly transition from one role to another with little to no effort.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (6/24/88)

This match reminds me A TON of a lot of modern day ‘big star’ Wrestlemania matches, where there’s lots of call back spots and big moments that come together for a really good, albeit flawed match. Given the way the last match ended, these two trading shitty mat holds for 5 minutes to kick this off really confused me. Once the kick assery gets going though, it really gets going. I love Choshu getting caught going to the well with the lariats one too many times and eating the dropkick. The roll up pin finish is even more awesome considering the ‘not this time’ finger wage from Choshu earlier in the match where he almost gets pinned with a backslide. A good, appropriate blow off to their feud. A good match, but flawed.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (6/26/88)

I really dug this. Up to this point, Vader had pretty much run through the roster, so the fact that Fujinami doesn’t bend as easily as the others makes him frustrated. He takes it out on his spine, smashing him on the guard rail, throwing him on the floor, smashing him with his hands, etc. It really makes everything interesting. Some people might not like the finish because of the backslide being used (after Fujinami’s back had been blown to bits), but then again – how else do you beat Vader? This has its flaws, but it’s a solid title match.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen (7/29/88)

Are you kidding me!? This is freaking awesome. I wasn’t really into Maeda-Nielsen as much largely due to the fact that Nielsen is constantly and frantically looking for rope breaks when Maeda takes him down. The result seemed to be roles that were TOO well defined. Nielsen here is punching on the breaks and trying to strike his way out of every hold. I’m fine with Fujiwara not getting in a lot of offense because he’s so fucking awesome on defense, that I could watch it all day. Nielsen is freaking brutal here laying in some absolute haymakes. This seems like a genuine fight. When Fujiwara does get ahold of him (a great takedown in Round 4 and a heel hook in Round 5), the crowd really pops. Fujiwara comes across looking plucky and tough in the face of an absolute massacre. The roundhouse kick Fujiwara eats in the mouth in round 6 that all but knocks him out is unbelievable. Great striking, great facial expression – I’d go as far as to say it’s the best ‘wrestler vs legit sports dude’ match I’ve ever seen by a long shot. Top 10 contender.

Antonio Inoki vs. Vader (7/29/88)

This was incredible. Easily Inoki’s best performance on the set so far. I’m a sucker for Giant vs Giant killer matches, and this was a really good one. During the initial brawl, Vader hurts his arm, and it serves as a great reference point for the rest of the match. Whenever Inoki need a comeback, he goes to the arm and it works to great effect. Sure, the injury is played off as a bit flukey, but hey, it super believable. Some of the visuals are flat out uncomfortable – especially when Inoki’s on his backside and getting waffled with Vader hammer fists to the face. Sure, Vader taps in thed end, but that’ after an INSANE arm bar counter after a whole match worth of work, a blade job on the arm, etc. Everyone looks like a killer here. Top 20 easily.

Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu (9/12/88)

For a lot of people, this was the discovery of the set and let me tell you – it’s a doozie. This is worked as a sprint, but there’s so much time in the opening before they hit eliminations, that everyone gets their stuff in without it ever feeling like some sort of a spotfest. Fujiwara and SSM are the two that probably grab me the most as their whole interaction is worth the price of admission alone. I’ve love to see these two in a singles match. Yamada looks especially stand out spraying kicks and working two great mini-babyface in peril spots.

Once we hit the eliminations though, that’s where this really shines. I love the ‘ring out’ rule where if you get knocked out of the ring, you’re eliminated. Its such a great way of getting rid of key players without having to have them look bad with a pin or submission and wouldn’t ya know – they use it to maximum effect. Choshu, Fujinami, Kimura and Fujiawara are all elminated going over, through and under the ropes and tumbling to the outside.

Of the big elimination tags, this is perhaps the most satisfying in the end. We get a great spot where Fujinami goes from being the sympathetic babyface to the ass kicking heel as Saito catches perhaps the biggest gusher on the set so far. Fujinami charges Saito in the corner at a moment of vulnerability and Saito side steps him and he goes clattering to the floor. While the editing in this match left a ton to be desired, the shot of the finish was excellent.

This does a have a few execution flaws like Fujinami and Choshu blowing the Choshu elimination and that shouldn’t be overlooked. But really in the big picture – its small grapes. This is one of those matches that have every kind of wrestler you can imagine and no matter who you talk to, they’ll find someone or something they really like about it.
Between the pacing, structure and hate in this match – combined with a totally satisfying finish on a set of totally unsatisfying ends to matches, this is going to score really, really high.

Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Perro Aguayo & El Canek (10/10/88)

This is a really fun tag match. Perro is really the star of the show all on his own. Between cat calls, strutting, the CONSTANT dialogue with the crowd, the most hilariously awesome chair shots on the outside, ever and then him randomly slipping and falling and getting laughed at on his way to the corner, this guy is a total one man stooging band. He takes a bump off the apron on the head, gets waffled with a chairshot to the head and then eats an exposed turnbuckle – all the span of like one minute. Yamada is fun as a FIP and Canek and Koshinaka, while they’re not setting the world on fire, are adequate, too. This is a total Perro Aguayo sampler though and if you ever want to get into him, this match would have to be on a siet at some point.

Tatsumi Fujinami, Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Chono vs. Tracy Smothers, Steve Armstrong & George Takano (11/11/88)

Kind of a match of first here. First time seeing the Wild Eyed Southern Boys and also a confederate flag in Japan. Hashimoto and Chono also makes their debuts here. Hashimoto looks like Jaoquin Phoenix from GLADIATOR. Unfortunately, I wasn’t wild about this. Chono and Hashimoto looks super green and don’t look like they quite know what to do with a southern US tag team. Translation is lots of oddly placed rest holds and what’s obviously a few miscomunications. There’s some good here. For one – Hashimoto’s and chono’s tools are obvious even despite the green ness. Hashimoto’s cartoony bumping is hysterical at this point in his career considering all things. Very fun match.

Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido (11/11/88)

This was OK stuff. The hierarchy is really on heavy display here wit hInoki being practically untouchable. This match actually had a lot of bizarre, kind of funny moments in it that I totally didn’t mind, especially Fujiwara getting pinned after two straight Choshu cheap shots. Kimura looks good here as easily the toughest out on his obviously overmatched team. OK, but nothing spectacular.


Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (11/17/88)

I enjoyed this. Hoshino is a ton of fun here as the plucky underdog without a chance. This is probably Murdoch’s best individual performance on the set, especially during the stretch run with Inoki. Goto and Hall are both pretty green and more or less ‘just there’, but they’re both perfectly acceptable. Bob Orton’s runs in the early going – especially with CHoshu are lots of fun. Fun six-man.


Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsutoshi Goto, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi (12/5/88)

Really fun match. There’s lots to like and dislike, but at the end of the day, I think this is pretty good. Goto eliminating Inoki is pretty awesome. It’s a great moment as it really ramps up the intensity in the match between Sakaguchi, Saito and Choshu. Hoshino’s elimination is awesome on his sprawling cross body whiff and subsequent crash to the floor. Fun stuff.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Grappler (12/5/88)

This never really drew me in that much. I always enjoyed Denton, but this isn’t too engaging. Fujinami is fine enough on the sell but Grappler’s offense is never overly interesting. Throw in a bunch of stalling on the outside that’s good in theory – but fails in practice thanks to a dead as a doornail crowd and the end result is a choppy, lackluster match.

Tatsutoshi Goto, Masa Saito, Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (12/7/88)

Fun match. Loved the Saito-Murdoch slug fest early on. The feeling out phase of this is more or less rushed, but man, the last five minutes is totally worth the price of admission. Goto looks every bit the equal of Murdoch and thanks to the ring-out elimination rule, there’s a whole bunch of nifty ways for him to tease the near falls. Even Orton and Hall get in on the action with their ‘what? Us cheat? We don’t know what you’re talking about!!’ save on Murdoch. While this could have used some more ‘meat’ to it from the other participants, its was still a lot of fun.

Keiichi Yamada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (12/9/88)

There's so much going on it's like some kind of masochistic flogging. Yamada hit Koshinaka non-stop in this match until it was time for Koshinaka to up the ante and rattle off the bigger moves. Not much in the way of variety or nuance and no switches in rhythm, but it wasn't a bad match. I guess it could be an adrenaline kick for some people.

[towney007]

Naoki Sano & Osamu Matsuda vs. El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso (1/6/89)

Lots and lots of fun. The Exoticos have phenomenal tights. Like out of this world. Sergio is the show straler here with his fun flighty step over’s on the criss crosses and some incredibly nutty bumping on the arms drags and one crazy face plant. Bello isn’t bad here, either taking what might have looked like the cleanest tope bump ever. Great stoogey team. The New Japan guys (Sano would eventually become Takuma Sano and Matsuda would becoe El Samurai), seem flat here though. Lots of spot calling so the hels can do their thing. Not bad, but a total one team show.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso (2/3/89)

Serious hats off to whoever booked this. Outsie of Maeda, Kimura and Fujiwara are probablyt the two most serious dudes in the company. Watching them react to two gay guys is pretty amazing stuff. Sergio’s chewing gum. That’s awesome. Kimura takes a bite out of Bello’s behind, and Sergio bends over to take a chomp out of Kimura’s heiney. Is this really happening? Sergio believes he can fly and then sends Fujiwara to cloud 9 by kissing him. Fujiwara goes to the outside to drink whiskey and comes back in looking like he’s going to throw up. Sergio tries to kiss him again only to get whiskey spat in his face. This is the most surreal experience on the set. Fujiwara starts throwing head butts and shit looks to be on before Fujiwara blows the referee a kiss. Such hijinx. Really fun comedy match. I’m going high on this out of spite.

Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (2/22/89)

Strange here, as I really didn’t go for this as much as I thought I would heading in. The first ten minutes of this is nothing time-killing. Everything just seemed to be built around the finish, which I thought was really good. The blow by blow finale is pretty great but even at that, the finish didn’t get the reaction I thought it would. Maybe I’m just a sour puss, and maybe this goes in my rewatch pile, but this didn’t do much for me at all besides Inoki getting beat.

Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase (3/16/89)
Yikes, this bored the living shit out of me. Some my turn-your turn mat work that never really went anywhere and then spot trading. Throw in some spotty selling and this match was like a vitual check list of all the shit I hate about juniors matches.

Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. George Takano & Super Strong Machine (3/16/89)

This takes about 5-7 minutes to get going, but once Takano is done with the first kind of crappy FIP sequence, this goes from a little meandering to flat out incredible. It’s almost like they hit a reset button. The faces issue a great initial barrage of offense until Takano again gets caught by a Saito Backdrop driver. The heat portion of the match is way freaking better this time, with some biting, cool double teams, taunting and what the heck – why not throw in a good blade job? Whenever there’s blood, Masa Saito is my man, because he’s as good catching a gusher as he is giving one. The missed hot tag is an awesome tease as is Choshu being, well – a tease. SSM’s hot tag is fucing swank here and him getting smashed to bits by two Riki-Lariats is even better Even better than that? GEORGE TAKANO SAVING THE MOTHERFUCKING DAY. The near falls are off the charts and Takano’s version of a fired up hot tage and wheel kick with the bloody face is some super memorable shit. To cap it off, he takes perhaps the most painful bump of the whole set, totally front-pancaking on the concrete attempting a tope. SSM hitting a jumping knee to save the day and then rush his partner into the ring to win the match in a HUGE upset might be the finish of he set so far. Holy crap Takano is bleeding. Take the first five minutes off this and this is a slam dunk for top three. With it, it still gets into my top five.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jerry Lawler (3/16/89)

Definitely a fun match here. While the feeling out process drags a bit, once they get down to buisness, this picks up. Fujinami goes for the leg and while the first round through the work isn’t particularly interesting, its good enough. Lawler eventually gets into this thing and starts caving Fujinami’s face in with rights and lefts. Fujinami gets sick of them and decides to break Lawler’s hand and then go back to twisting his leg off, this time with a great deal more viciousness and energy. The finish is kind of random and the crowd is dead as a doornail, but this is a well put together match.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (4/24/89)

Flat-out, this is probably Vader’s best match up to this point. It’s a true showcase of the sheer range of his abilities. This isn’t the kind of Vader match you’d usually expect where he’s bashing in the babyface’s skull and supplementing their well-timed comebacks with awesome big man selling and bumps. This is actually a match where Vader gets hugely surprised by just how effective and offensive Fujinami is. From eating drop kick bumps, to post bumps, to a wild supple spot, Vader’s a bumping machine and Fujinami comes off looking deceptively strong. For the most part, Fujinami’s offense revolves around workingo nthe arm and it’s pretty good stuff from wrapping it around a post, to grabbing arm bars left and right and even smashing it into the light stand above the ring, he keeps it interesting and engaging. Vader’s selling really makes you think Fujinami has a chance. The ending is really great with Fujinami actually catching a bit of bad luck and accidentially grabbing the WRONG arm. The mistake ends up costing him the match. Great story, awesome crowd and a total showcase of Vader from great offense, to awesome selling and bumping.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Victor Zangiev (4/24/89)

Holy fucking god, this might end up my #1. This is probably the best under ten minute match ever. I liked this the first time I saw it EONS ago, but this is so much better the second time through I almost don’t know what to do with myself. The grappling is mind blowingly intense an the suplexes just look insane. They really look like they hurt like a motherfucker and not just in wrestling way. Hashimoto gets freaking PISSED that his tubby ass is getting thrown around and out-grappled like crazy. So what does he do? He decides to do the only thing he really can do and that’ gets inside the guy’s head by coming back into the ring and SPITTING IN HIS FACE. Zangiev’s facial expression is just insane. After another wild belly to belly throw, Hashimoto catches Zangiev off guard and slaps on a quick figure four. TOP NOTCH selling job from Zangiev on this hold and it ends. This is only six to eight minutes long and it’s as intense and as full of tension as anything I’ve seen anywhere. Slam dunk top five pick for me. And yes, before you ask – this is the guy the based the Zangief character from Street Fighter II on.

Shinya Hashimoto vs. Vader (4/24/89)

I just loved this. Hashimoto comes into the tournament final as a young but obviously talented upstart facing the unstoppable monster Vader. That being said, Hashimoto has three things going for him. The first is that he’s the only dude in New Japan that can smash toe to toe with Vader, so unlike most, he’ll be able to do damage to Vader that others can’t. Second and more importantly, Vader’s working with a wounded wing from his match with Fujinami earlier in the night where he got a lot more from the ace than he bargained for. Third, while Hashimoto’s victory over Victor Zangiev was hard-fought, it was also considerably shorter. He’s well rested against a wounded and tired opponent. That should level the playing field and leave there to be a significant opportunity to pull off the upset.

Because of the good booking leading into this, it just gives Hashimoto’s already brilliant looking offense that much more oomph with the live crowd. This might be the stiffest match of the set with some absolutely brutal kicks and punches landed. Vader’s gain on his heels here, but it all feels totally believable and every second is interesting. Hashimoto looks like the future of Japanese wrestling in this, especially after kicking out of a cold cocking lariat from Vader. One more knocks Hashimoto out, but man – does he look like the next big thing coming down the pike while the company finally pulls the trigger on their new monster heel. Talk about effective booking and even better execution. Another top 10 contender.

Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader (6/27/89)

This is a pretty wild match. Choshu is not a man to be fucked with. Ulike most of Vader’s opponents who prefer the stick and move approach to dealing with Vader, Choshu wants to go directly at him, more or less mimicking the strategies of Fujinami and Hashimoto two months prior. Being Choshu and being a badass, he has more success tham ost would. He breaks Vader open something bad and the big guy goes from being scary to looking like a big, fat droning zombie. While Vader puts some heat on him with a really gnarly looking control segment, when Choshu makes his comeback, there’s some real gravitas and urgency to it with Vader losing as much blood as he has. The finish is really something awesome, especially for 1989. Choshu connects with a huge Riki Lariat and sends Vader rolling to the floor. He overreaches a bit and goes for a tope, only for Vader to catch him in mid air and spine buster him to the concrete for the count out win. Awesome match.

Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger (European Rounds) (7/12/89)

This really did nothing for me. Just a half-assed spot fest. I was fine with this when it wasa spot fest and the weren’t making to much effort to sell. If you’re going to do it, then do it. But don’t pretend like you’re going to work some traditional babyface-heel match from Stampede one minute and scrap it the next. The rounds didn’t play much into anything, either and seemed really forced. Black Tiger (Mike Rocco) doesn’t have an impressive track record.

Riki Choshu vs. Salman Hashimikov (7/12/89)

At this point, Hashimikov is obviously a guy with some great looking offense but still way too green to be able to make this translate into a good match. I love his overhead throws and suplexes, but there are times where it like he’ll tae a five minute break to figure out what to do next. The ending kind of came out of nowhere to boot. Nothing very special here.

Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (7/13/89)

Decent little set up match to what would be come a long feud. The selling is a little shaky here and thi ust kind of runs from spot to spot to spot without any real rhyme or reason. The good? The offense looks phenomenal, specially the monumentally deep arm drag at around 10 minutes into the mach. There’s a genuine sense of one guy killing the other guy, but just spaced out really well.

Big Van Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov (7/13/89)

This is a pretty good match. I know the DVDR voters didn’t dig it too much, but I’m with the panel on this and say this is a lot of fun. Vader goes right after the all-grappling Hashimikov and starts pounding the crap out of him on the mat. Th Russian learns quick that he’s in a fight and hits a lariat which is hugely out of character to a HUGE crowd reaction. He chases Vader to the outside and bull rushes him through the guardrail. Vader tries to reinforce his power advantage, but Hashmikov wants none of it and starts brginging th pain to Vader in the form of throws and suplexes. The deadlift german suplex is just one of the best moments of the set. When Vadr turn the page a bit, There’s some fun stuff down the home stretch, even though Hashmikov doesn’t sell very well in spots. Still, I’ll probably have this higher than most.

Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano (7/13/89) ***
Iizuka is a guy who I’ve freaking hated for a long time based mostly on how crappy his recent work is, but he’s a pretty plucky and compelling underdog here. The interactions with him and Choshu are a lot of fun, especially the slap to fire the youngster up for the title match. Iizuka even gets some licks inhere and there, although I’m not so sure how much I bought into any of his nearfall segments. SSM and Takano are a good team here and work well opposite these two, as SSM is great at sustained bumping for Choshu and some decent sustained offense over the youngster. Takano is good to bring in some high spots. Good mix, good match.

Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Naoki Sano & Akira Nogami (8/3/89)

This was really a nothing match to me. Cool – in fact crazy – dive to the floor at the end, but there was barely anything worth mentioning in this match at all.

Riki Choshu, Jushin Liger & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader, Manny Fernandez & Buzz Sawyer (8/3/89)

LIger kicking Vader before anyone locks up will get me fired up. Loved their interaction in the other 6-man. Early on, I actually liked the Buzz-Liger matchup and Buzz going through the ropes after the Liger dropkick looked nasty unlike MAnny's fatass unable to lift himself over the ropes after Kimura's dropkicks. I was hyped for Liger-Buzz then Vader-Liger happens and Vader destroys him with Choshu hitting the massive lariat to help out. So far, so good. The stuff with Liger-Vader-Choshu was all good. I wasn't really digging Manny or Kimura in this and may have enjoyed it if it was just a tag sans those two. I enjoyed it and have no problem moving it forward but this isn't as high end as some of the other 6-man tags and elimination tags.


Jushin Liger vs. Kantaro Hoshino (8/5/89)

Great chippy babyface performance from Hoshino here who catches Liger completely off guard. The work is really well done throughout, with Hoshino only giving up very brief comeback attempts. They really do a good job of getting that ‘Man, he’s ALMOST got him!’ feeling through the entirety of the match. Liger really seems in trouble from bell to bell. Finish worked fine, too. Good match.

Buzz Sawyer vs. Victor Zangiev (8/5/89)

Totally not what I expected from a Buzz Sawyer match. Loved the dueling head scissors spots to kick things off. Zangiev is pretty freaking awesome. I love how he sells his amateur-ish-ness by getting all excited over grabbing pro wrestling holds. The struggle to hit the one final suplex down the home stretch was awesome. Really cool match that shows a very different side to Buzz Sawyer and cements Zangiev as a really fun guy to watch in short matches.

Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Naoki Sano (8/8/89)

This might have been one of the better tag bouts on the set. Its really ore of an angle to set up Sano as a legit threat to Liger’s belt a few days later, but holy smokes, it’s a realy great match. Liger, oddly enough, doesn’t factor in much here. Nogami’s the star of the show here and takes some incredible bumps. The missed tope spot into the guardrail and the nasty thud he takes onto the floor on the Sano baseball slide drop kick are something else. Once Nogami blades, this is really almost entirely a southern-style tag except the hot tag never really comes, which I liked a lot. Hoshino kicking NOgami in the head to keep him from raching Liger is one of the best spots on the set. Really fun tag match.

Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (8/10/89)

This is probably one of the greatest juniors matches ever. Liger’s arm selling is just top-notch and it might be one of his best individual performances ever. He wrestles using the right arm, picks things up using the right and sells like death when the left arm gets hit. Sano’s offense is varied and intentful with a whole swath of spots with him going for the win. He goes back to the arm bar a number of times, but is usually just enough out of position so that it doesn’t get the job done. They tease the submission multiple times and Liger doesn’t give which is great. Sano takes some big bumps of his own, sailing head first into the guardrail in addition to taking a not so nice set of kicks to the head. Liger focuses on the cut, Sano on the arm. Really easy stuff to follow and executed brilliantly. I love juniors matches that are compact and focused and this may be the best example of what good juniors wrestling is all about.

Akira Nogami vs. Naoki Sano (8/31/89)

Well isn’t this something else? Nogami is quickly becoming the underrated guy of the juniors division of this time period and has totally crashed the set by installing himself in the upper third of my ballot three times in as many tries. He’s totally wreckless as fuck, taking some absolutely astonishing bumps including yet another meeting with the guardrail. He sells incredibly well, taking some nasty face washes from Sano in addition to having some genuine feats of strength during the early mat runs. This suffers a bit from being a little too ‘my turn, your turn’, but it’s a really well done match for the most part.

Jushin Liger, Kengo Kimura & Riki Choshu vs Pat Tanaka, Owen Hart & Bam Bam Bigelow (8/31/89)

This is one of those matches with a ton of fun parts, but has no flow to it. Bam Bam is a great matchup for like – everyone in this. I love the interactions with him and Choshu and the stuff with Liger.

Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (12/7/89)

Fun match to end the decade. In a weird way, this is almost a total Hashimoto rub-job minus him of course, winning. The finish was like a call back spot to the entire decade with Choshu pulling out his lariat, Inoki’s enzeguri and Fujinami’s dragon sleeper for the win Hash taking that much in order to be put on his back makes him look like a total stud in the making. While the early going is a little deliberate and choppy, the finish is really fulfilling. Overall, a good match.

[towney007]

Hunter's Top 80 Matches in New Japan in the, uh 80s~!


1. 5-on-5 Gauntlet Challenge, New Japan 4/19/84
2. Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Umanosuke Ueda/Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki , New Japan 3/26/86
3. Andre The Giant vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan, 9/23/81
4. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Victor Zangiev 4/24/89
5. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu, New Japan, 4/3/83
6. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. George Takano & Super Strong Machine 3/16/89
7. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu, New Japan, 4/21/83
8. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen (7/29/88)
9. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura, New Japan 9/25/80
10. Antonio Inoki vs. Vader (7/29/88)
11. Shinya Hashimoto vs. Vader 4/24/89
12. Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (8/10/89)
13. Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu 9/12/88
14. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader 4/24/89
15. Inoki/Fujiwara/Sakaguchi/Hoshino/Mutoh vs. Fujinami/Choshu/Maeda/Kimura/Super Strong Machine 8/19/87
16. Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi 9/17/87
17. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet, IWGP Tag League Finals, New Japan 12/10/81
18. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda, New Japan 6/12/86
19. Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan, New Japan 4/1/82
20. Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan 4/23/81
21. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco, New Japan 9/11/80
22. Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 6/9/87
23. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara 8/29/87
24. Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan 4/3/80
25. Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, New Japan 2/6/86
26. Dynamite Kid Vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, New Japan 2/15/80
27. The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa, New Japan 8/1/85
28. Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito 6/10/87
29. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu, New Japan 7/7/83
30. Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiro Hase (3/11/88)
31. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, New Japan 2/5/86
32. Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan 9/11/80
33. Riki Choshu vs. Vader 6/27/89
34. Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Naoki Sano (8/8/89)
35. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Steve Kearn & Dynamite Kid, New Japan 1/18/80
36. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jim Londos, New Japan 9/19/80
37. Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito 12/7/87
38. Shiro Koshinaka & Antonio Inoki vs. Hiroshi Hase & Riki Choshu 4/11/88
39. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu, New Japan 8/4/83
40. Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/29/87)
41. Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (5/25/87)
42. Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki, New Japan, IWGP League Final, 6/2/83
43. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (5/27/88)
44. Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara (12/27/87)
45. Akira Nogami vs. Naoki Sano (8/31/89)
46. Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr., New Japan 3/4/83
47. Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido New Japan 2/5/86
48. Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis, New Japan 12/7/84
49. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn, 2/3 Falls, New Japan 2/1/80
50. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn, New Japan 11/6/80
51. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Antonio Inoki vs. Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami (9/7/87)
52. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (6/26/88)
53. Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant, New Japan 6/11/84
54. Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Perro Aguayo & El Canek (10/10/88)
55. Akira Maeda vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen, New Japan 10/9/86
56. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan, New Japan 11/3/83
57. Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan New Japan, 12/9/82
58. Jushin Liger vs. Kantaro Hoshino (8/5/89)
59. Tiger Mask vs. Steven Wright, New Japan 4/1/82
60. Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan 9/20/80
61. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi, New Japan, 10/8/81
62. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Gran Hamada, New Japan 2/10/83
63. Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (12/7/89)
64. Kengo Kimura vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara New Japan 5/16/86
65. Dick Murdoch vs. Abdullah the Butcher, New Japan 7/7/83
66. Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka (3/20/87)
67. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (6/24/88)
68. Tatsumi Fujinami/Kengo Kimura/Kantaro Hoshino/George Takano/Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda/Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido/Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki, New Japan 9/16/86
69. Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, New Japan 1/10/86
70. Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu, New Japan 5/18/84
71. Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano (7/13/89)
72. Tiger Mask, Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Baby Face, Dynamite Kid & Abdullah the Butcher, New Japan 1/8/82
73. Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen, New Japan 5/9/80
74. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. El Bello Greco & El Hermoso 2/3/89
75. Buzz Sawyer vs. Victor Zangiev (8/5/89)
76. Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada, New Japan 11/6/81
77. Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov (7/13/89)
78. Chavo Guererro vs. Kengo Kimura, New Japan 11/3/80
79. Gran Hamada vs. Babyface, New Japan 4/3/80
80. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jerry Lawler 3/16/89

[Chrissy Benny Wah]

Andre in a top 5 match? Get out of here Hunter. I need to get me some 80s schoolin'.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Andre in a top 5 match? Get out of here Hunter. I need to get me some 80s schoolin'.

If you go into the VIP forum and click on the Awesome Match Thread, Andre vs Hansen is on there. Quite easily one of the best matches I have ever seen.

[towney007]

Andre vs Hansen was probably the easiest match to rank on the set. I don't stop there. I have him in three top 20 matches. The Killer Khan match is arguably as good and I know some people even preferred it. Khan's amazing there, and Andre's pretty swank.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask, Antonio Inoki, & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Babyface, Dynamite Kid, & Abdullah the Butcher (1/8/1982)

Of all the matches on the set, this is definitely the most different. I like this, but I'm not in love with it. It's very strike oriented which I like, and the intensity seems very high in this match (although you could probably say that for any Inoki match thus far). It's hard for me to grade guys on this match just because of how short it is.

This is Tiger Mask's best effort, but that isn't really saying a whole lot. He does very minimal, and still is no selling bumps. Inoki and Abdullah were clearly the muscle for each of their teams, and they did a decent job. Although I think Abdullah's strikes look weak. Fujinami sells pretty well here.

Babyface to me is the standout of this match. He's in it the most, sells/bumps really well, and has good looking offense. Abdullah does alright, and his recklessness is a fun aspect to this match. Dynamite Kid is hardly in this, and is just doing his intense looking strikes.

Fujinami gets the win with a brainbuster after the match breaks down, and everyone is beating each other on the outside.

MATCH RATING: 6/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - C
Tatsumi Fujinami - B
Antonio Inoki - B
Babyface - A
Dynamite Kid - C
Abdullah the Butcher - C

[Red_And_Yellow]

Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask (1/28/1982)

Ugh, I still have so much Tiger Mask to get through. It's gut check time for me, as I'm watching one of the most overly hyped wrestlers just suck the life out of not just myself, but the crowd he's working in front of. The crowd is slowly dying from him, and they only pop when he does something high flying, or head drop related. Tiger Mask's execution of a DDT has to be one of the dumbest bumps I've ever seen. He literally picked up Dynamite, and unprotectedly drops him on his head spiking him with it.

Dynamite Kid is the lesser of the two in terms of bad ability. At least he bumps decently, but these matches have no structure. It's just fast paced early, rest, fast paced middle, rest, fast paced end. That's not a structure. Both guys are flipping control, so you can't really get behind either to make a comeback. That's not really a problem, but after their second real fast paced spot fest in the match, they mat wrestle for about 5-7 minutes. Tiger Mask can't mat wrestle effectively, and it looks really lazy, and looks soft.

Tiger Mask eventually gets the win...I really don't care, but he hits Dynamite Kid with a German Suplex for the pin.

MATCH RATING: 1/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - F
Dynamite Kid - D

[Red_And_Yellow]

Bret Hart vs Tiger Mask (2/5/1982)

Tiger Mask is still just blatantly no selling offense. It's not even that he does it once a match, or once in a blue moon. He does it all the time, and just blows through stuff. Tiger Mask gets knocked off his feet by a Bret punch, and then kips up and does a spinning kick to the gut. Then near the end, he goes for a plancha to the floor, Bret moves out of the way, and Tiger Mask falls on the floor. The ref starts counting, and Tiger Mask is up before 9 (they count to 20 in Japan for those that didn't know). It's appalling.

Bret Hart isn't much better. Tiger Mask attempts some leg work, and Bret just blows right through it. His strikes look good, and he does execute his moves well. However, he just doesn't look good here, and I almost get put to sleep.

Sorry for not going through the homestretches of each of these matches, but it's hard to tell when they really start. The ending just kind of happens out of nowhere. Tiger Mask eventually gets the pin after a double under hook suplex.

MATCH RATING: 2/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - D
Bret Hart - D

[towney007]

Keep going R&Y... this will motivate you...

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask vs Steven Wright (4/1/1982)

This has been Tiger Mask's best match on the set, and I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed this. Tiger Mask didn't no sell anything at all, and the match was built around Steven Wright's submission/mat wrestling. Whenever Tiger Mask would counter something, it always seemed like Wright could get the better of him. Which added more tension to the match, and that is something that Tiger Mask singles matches don't have.

Steven Wright is good, not great. He does a good carry job here, but he does some really goofy stuff. Hunter mentioned something about him being on a Euro set, well I think he's the worst we've seen from the Europeans thus far. He isn't better than Rocco and Londos. His bumping is very much in the Curt Henning fold, over bumps a lot, but sells pretty well. Has good looking submissions, but his counters are really...odd. One time he countered a wrist lock with like 4 kip ups, 3 cartwheels, until he just finally reversed the hold. Looked goofy.

There is actually a homestretch to talk about here. Tiger Mask was unable to quicken the pace all match. However, after a Wright monkey flip, it appears that Tiger Mask just can't figure this guy out. Once Tiger Mask and Wright are back on their feet, Wright hits him with a shoulder block. Steven hits the other side, and goes for another one, but Mask counters into a gutwrench suplex which only draws a two count. Once Wright recovers he hits the ropes, and goes for a cross body, but Tiger Mask catches him and hits a fallaway slam. This gets Tiger Mask the three count and the victory!

MATCH RATING: 6/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - B
Steven Wright - B

[Red_And_Yellow]

Andre the Giant vs Killer Kahn (4/1/1982)

This is pretty good, and it's got some really good stuff in it. I see that some people liked this more than Andre/Hansen, which IMO, it's not. There is still an abundance of good stuff to see here, but all in all, Hansen/Andre was better.

Andre does an incredibly job at the start just stalking Kahn, and you can tell Kahn does not want to be sectioned off in a part of the ring with Andre lurking. At the point when the match turns in Kahn's favor, Andre's leg is worked over. He sells this like crazy, and makes him look really vulnerable. At the start, you didn't buy Kahn as a threat to Andre, but by the time the Giant was limping around, you did think Kahn could pull it out.

Killer Kahn is easily the worst of the two. He's a good seller, and more importantly, does well to put over Andre's offense, and emotes very well. However, I'm not a fan of his strikes, they just don't look that painful. However, he's still a pretty solid worker.

Finally a homestretch to write about!

Andre sends Kahn into the ropes and hits a big boot. He hits the ropes and is going for a big splash, but Kahn moves out of the way. When both men stagger to their feet Kahn just unloads with kicks to Andre's bad leg, and chops to the neck. Andre just covers up, and when he thinks Kahn is gone, he sees Kahn jumping off the second rope for some chops which bring the big man to one knee. Kahn goes to the top rope this time for another chop but Andre recovers and throws him like a dart half way across the ring. Then, he just does a standing Banzai Drop for the pin. You don't kick out when a 500 lb man just drops his weight on your chest.

MATCH RATING: 9/10

Letter Grades:

Andre the Giant - A
Killer Kahn - A

I tried to find this on YouTube to no avail. They do have a few matches up, and even though I haven't seen them, I'd give them a view. This is pretty good stuff, just not the 10/10 I've given to other matches.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Tiger Mask vs Black Tiger (4/1/1982)

I'm glad this was on April Fool's day, and maybe the maker of the set was just joking around with people when he put this match on here. This is terrible. I actually fell asleep during it, and this is after that Killer Kahn/Andre the Giant match had me energized.

They do absolutely nothing worth noting. I'd tell you who won, but that'd be an insult for me to go back and watch that abomination. Which I refuse to do. It was charades, in fact, I'd crave Dynamite Kid/Tiger Mask 10 before I see this garbage again. This is embarrassing.



MATCH RATING: 0/10

Letter Grades:

Tiger Mask - F
Black Tiger - F

This is awful, I found YouTube videos, but it'd be an insult to your bandwidth to even have to upload it from the Forum page. This is easily the worst match I've seen in some time.