Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Matt D]

9/14/87: Maeda vs Murdoch: This was great. They called Murdoch Super Rodeo Machine. How great is that. This was a real Matt D sort of match. Maeda attacked all out from the get go and really got Murdoch in the ear. Murdoch caught a kick and got a toehold but Maeda punched the ear to get out. Murdoch fired back with elbows and hit an awesome back brain kick (what the heck!). They traded armbars. And then Maeda started with the kicks to the arm. Murdoch caught it and put him in the figure four. They rolled to the floor. There was a great bit where Murdoch, now de facto babyface after his last stint, didn't want to fight on the outside and convinced Maeda to come back in and held the ropes for him and the crowd loved it. Maeda got an armbar. Murdoch turned it and lifted him up into a belly to back. They had a cool bit where they traded kicks but Murdoch got swept under. Maeda opened up with the kicks to take over and hit a jumping knee (!!!) and a body press and a sunset flip but Murdoch crushed him with a lariat. Murdoch started leaning heel, pulling him on the apron and hitting elbows and going for a ram into the post but Maeda turned it around and then nailed him with King of the Mountain kicks as he was trying to get back in. He finally made it and ended up in a cobra twist but nailed the ref and got some cheapshots in on Maeda. He put him in the tree of woe and when the ref tried to stop him, he nailed him to draw the DQ. Really good stuff overall.

9/14/87: Fujinami/SSM/Kobayashi vs Inoki/Takada/Muto: So Takada is with Inoki now. He lost his titles one after the other. Maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe Fujiwara was in the midst of a kayfabe injury from Maeda? Not sure. It was interesting to see him work with Muto though. There was a big Fujinami vs Inoki beef here but they really delayed it. Muto hit a killer dropkick on Fujinami to begin and he and he and Takada beat the crap out of Fujinami with escalating offense for the next five minutes. Including a spike pile driver and escalating suplexes. All the while, Inoki watched. It was only after Fujinami powered back and Super Strong Machine tagged in that Inoki fought and after they cycled back and forth and it was time for Inoki vs Fujinami, Inoki tagged out to Muto in such a dick move. There was a cool bit where Muto dodged a charging SSM in the corner (And his charges could be awesome; everything he did looked imposing) and then immediately came back the other way with the handspring elbow and the moonsault. Kobayashi was there to hit spinkicks repeatedly on people and that went ok right until it didn't and he got rolled up by takada on one. Fujinami and Inoki never fought!

[Matt D]

9/17/87: Inoki/Sakaguchi/Fujiwara/Saito/Murdoch vs Fujinami/Maeda/Takada/Super Strong Machine/Choshu: Another five on five elimination match. These are very hard to cover. First thing you need to know: it looked like Hoshino was going to be the fifth guy on the Inoki side but they replaced him with Murdoch. That made Choshu furious and somehow (I'm still not sure how) Murdoch and Choshu eliminated one another right from the get go making it 4 on 4.  In general that made it feel a little cheap, because Choshu is so good in these and Murdoch would have been so novel and because 4 on 4 is less special than 5 on 5 just on paper, but it still had a ton going for it. Also Takada was on NEW again which was super confusing to me since he was just on that tag a few days before and I have no idea what's going on there. 

Instead of covering everything, I had maybe three major takeaways here. First, this was an amazing Fujiwara defensive performance. He had something like six or seven major massive counters, be it turning Maeda stomping him in the NEW corner into a legpick and drag across the ring or a dropdown trip later on or just multiple Fujiwara Armbar cinches, including one when someone else had him in the hold and he turned it around. Eventually Maeda turned a roll up counter into a roll up of his own to beat him (At that point, Choshu struck and demolished the leg and quickly put on the jail lock; more on that in a second). The second is that Maeda, when in there against Inoki, really schooled him on the mat again. The overarching story seemed to have moved on from Maeda vs Inoki to Maeda vs Fujinami, and it'd move on again by the end of this.

And finally, after they took out Maeda, it became Inoki and Saito vs Fujinami. Saito immediately moved the corner pad and started slamming Fujinami's head in, opening him up while Inoki watched on stoically. I thought he'd get DQed but he didn't. It remained two on one. When Inoki came in, he just continued the damage, really being kind of a jerk about it but with Inoki it's sort of tough love, right? A kind of only the strong survive deal. Fujinami was just there swiping at nothing. Eventually he did get a burst of wind and locked a Scorpion on but the numbers game broke it up. Ultimately, you had Saito hitting multiple Saito suplexes and Fujinami kicking out again again. Finally, Inoki had enough, did a blind tag on Saito, came in as Saito hit yet another suplex, and then slapped him and just casually pinned Fujinami for the win. Saito was furious. Choshu was furious. It was wild stuff and so nebulous, right? We talk about Grumpy Jumbo and I think Gladiator Jumbo into Grumpy Jumbo with Tenryu there to show his hypocrisy is fascinating stuff, but this may surpass it. You had Inoki (in my mind) frustrated and insecure over Fujinami breaking up the Octopus on Maeda in a previous match (and he was shown up by Maeda in this match!) and going against him in general; the animosity with Saito which was going to blow off on the island; living a creed of the strong surviving and watching Fujinami swing at nothing and kick out of Saito Suplex after Saito Suplex, and etiher showing mercy because Saito just couldn't get the pin done or taking the glory or .. I don't even know what? It's fascinating. There's almost never been anything in wrestling quite like this, right? And it's Inoki so he carries with him so much baggage and shame and admiration and respect and I just don't get why he would agree to this or come up with this or... I mean, look. The ONLY option after this is a day long island battle, right? It's all gone on too far for normal pro wrestling solutions. But it's larger than life (in context) in ways that are hard to explain.

[Curt McGirt]

Where Inoki is concerned, "taking the glory" is probably always the strongest possibility 

[Matt D]

Here's that 5x5. Watch it with what I said in mind and marvel at Inoki's behavior:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FRcJ_TaZTxxXUhK0bnAmARX3YUlQEjub/view?usp=sharing

[username]

16 hours ago, Matt D said:

watching Fujinami swing at nothing and kick out of Saito Suplex after Saito Suplex, and etiher showing mercy because Saito just couldn't get the pin done or taking the glory or .. I don't even know what? It's fascinating.

I watched this (fun match BTW) and I half wonder if Saito was letting up on the pins in a perhaps too subtle manner? On most of those kickouts his bodyweight is coming off him quick and he's almost always pulling up on Fujinami's hair. It would explain both Inoki's behavior and the other team's reaction afterwards if Saito was in there taking liberties with a clearly defeated opponent.

[Matt D]

2 hours ago, username said:

I watched this (fun match BTW) and I half wonder if Saito was letting up on the pins in a perhaps too subtle manner? On most of those kickouts his bodyweight is coming off him quick and he's almost always pulling up on Fujinami's hair. It would explain both Inoki's behavior and the other team's reaction afterwards if Saito was in there taking liberties with a clearly defeated opponent.

I read it as Fujinami being legendary more so than Saito being lax. Saito seemed surprised at the kickouts but that’s certainly possible. 

[Matt D]

Brief programming note: I have a new set of NJ HHs to go through and plan on doing that next. A lot of 84 with a little 81. 8 discs. I want to see the new stuff and the not new stuff. It'll take me a while.

The very next thing I have in between these matches is the Island Death Match. Now that I have been living and breathing the context, I want to watch it again. But it's a big hill to climb.

9/14/87: Yamada vs Owen: This gets close to ten minutes and is basically a Juniors sprint. Both guys have headbands pre-match which is funny I guess. It feels a little alien to most of the stuff we've been seeing in the last year. Owen was maybe a bit more of the aggressor. Lots of counters and landing on their feet out of things, etc. Good fast action. I would have loved this as 18 but I kind of liked the Rocco tag where Owen got to show more personality better. Owen surprisingly won by going back and over on a suplex attempt in and hitting a German.

9/17/87: Owen vs Kobayashi: Title match. Clipped in the middle. We may get 4 mins. It starts strong with Owen dropkicking him out and hitting his cool body press tope. Kobayashi comes back in on a suplex attempt and knocks out Owen and baseball slides him and then teases a dive. Owen takes back over with some slick stuff the crowd likes and hits a tombstone. We come back after a cut with a diving headbutt and great belly to belly but Owen misses the elbow drop, sells the elbow big, eats a spin wheel kick and a fisherman's suplex for three. Pretty good looking stuff but maybe helped by the clip.

10/5/87: Fujinami vs Choshu: I think this is the first time they faced each other one on one in a few years. Because Saito and Inoki were facing off, they did a fan vote to see who from NOW would face Choshu and Fujinami and Maeda came neck and neck so they solve it with a coin flip. Fujinami wins and Choshu rushes right in. For the most part, however, Fujinami has his number and is able to wrestle his way back against every Choshu advantage. Choshu will power out or get to the ropes and Fujinami will just outwrestle him. Just methodological and gritty building to either big spots (belly to back, or an armdrag over the top and a superplex back in) or big holds (a fight between the figure four and Scorpions. They finally hit a double lariat flooring one another and end up outside and both go over the rail. Iconic but maybe unsatisfying.

[Matt D]

Ok on to HHs

6/5/84

Spoiler

Andre/Masked Superstar vs Saito/Yatsu: Fun stuff here. Andre and Superstar were faces and over, though the fans did chant for Saito when he had a clever comeback (more on that in a second). Andre was fun playing down the chants and waving them off. Saito was theatrical and knew how to work Andre and 84 Yatsu was a buzzing fly. Superstar looked and moved like an agile tank. Andre squashed Saito in the corner and Yatsu came in to try to stop it and Andre and Superstar both made the "is he crazy" hand expressions which was funny. Saito came back by getting a shot in as Andre was leaning forward to do the butt squash which was a clever bit. They did a bit of quicker stuff with Yatsu and Superstar before ending it with a huge suplex on Yatsu by Andre and the Boot/Butt drop.

Mighty John Quinn vs Inoki: Think we have this one already maybe proshot. Quinn was a canadian journeyman with size who had main evented against Bruno in the late 60s as the Kentucky Butcher and was most recently in the UK with some real success. Not much to this. Inoki fought his way back in, tossed Quinn around, Quinn tried to bully back but ate the dropkick/enzi/octopus.

Choshu vs Murdoch: Great match. God, Murdoch was always doing a thousand little things, even in just moving Choshu into position for the next bit of armwork or trying to fight out. First quarter of this was dueling armwork, but then Choshu went for the Scorpion and Murdoch freaked out and switched to the leg. It became chess then as Choshu used the arm to stay in it while Murdoch stayed on the leg. So much of this became a fight over whether Choshu would get the Scorpion or whether Murdoch might get a hold of his own or his brainbuster. He went flying for every Choshu chop. They built to nearfalls or teases of bombs down the stretch until Choshu hit a lariat and Murdoch goofy sold his way out of the ring and things spilled over the rail to end it unsatisfactorily, but I really liked this.

5/29/84

Spoiler

Kobayashi vs Kido: Very good. Starts with Kobayashi ambushing Kido, tossing him out, and whacking him in the gut with a block of wood (The bell?). All of the transitions here were basically shots after they worked up out of a hold. Kido's stuff looks so good. Just extra twist and torque and impact. They worked up and down and up and down, back and forth, 50-50 but with transitions and ebb and flow. It looked like Kido might have a shot to win after he tossed Kobayashi off the top but they ended up outside and spilled over the rail at high speed. Post match, there was a lot of posturing and Kobayashi getting a headbutt from Fujiwara and it led right into...

Fujiwara/Hoshino vs Teranishi/Hamaguchi: a lot of ground to cover here. This was really good until some kind of dubious dropping of selling of recent actions towards the end. Hoshino was plucky/fiery, really positioned like a smaller but dangerous underdog. Teranishi and Hamaguchi would bump big for him (including a great series with Teranishi and Hamaguchi going sailing over the top) but would take over using double teams as they were want to do. Whenever Fujiwara intervened and then ultimately got tagged in there was a real sense of "The mood is about to change." Teranishi deserved an award for the way he took Fujiwara's headbutts to the stomach off the ropes. Later in the match Hoshino got knocked out of the ring but made it to Fujiwara for a big comeback. Fujiwara kept getting bombs on Hamaguchi but Teranishi would break up the pin. Animal recovered a little too easily after a pile driver and they got over on Fujiwara by trapping him in the corner and pulling his legs so he got crotched for about half a minute as the ref was trying to stop Hoshino from intervening. Fujiwara recovered like it was nothing but was pissed and tied Teranishi in the ropes. The ref tried to stop him and got headbutted and everything broke down. Good stuff overall dragged down by some of the lack of at least one sort of consequence towards the end.

Hamaguchi/Teranishi vs Fujiwara/Hoshino

 

[Curt McGirt]

Forgot all about the NJ over-the-rail DQ rule. 

Downloaded the 5-on-5 to watch as it's just been sitting in a separate tab for days now. I don't know what's wrong with me. Now I got that AND the ZSJ/Makabe match that got posted sitting there staring a hole in me. 

[Matt D]

5/29/84 con't

Spoiler

Mighty John Quinn vs Otto Wanz: Wanz comes out with the most stereotypical old timey German hat. Quinn has a robe. This goes five minutes and they really lay it in with a ton of big meaty shots. It was some earthshattering stuff for as long as it lasted and they had an answer for everything the other did. Fans went nuts for a Wanz headscissors takeover. Eventually he got him down and hit the flipping senton/big splash combo for the win though.

Adonis/Murdoch vs Choshu/Saito: Think this is the only straight tag between these guys on tape. It had a little bit of a slow start but was pretty good once it got going. Adonis had some fun stuff, whether it was taking Choshu's head off with a swipe, doing a backflip bump on a back elbow, or when he and Murdoch started working over Saito's arm. They then took over on Murdoch's leg with a lot of iconic fighting over the Scorpion. It built to some really fun and hammy stuff between Murdoch and Choshu, including Murdoch getting a ton of response from the crowd playing to them and working him over in the corner to set up Calf Branding, but Choshu came back out of the corner with a lariat, set up the Scorpion (Adonis broke it up) and they all ended up on the floor for the match to get thrown out. The good (Adonis' moves and bumping, Murdoch being larger than life and having a special connection to the crowd, Saito and Choshu playing off of them) was very good.

Fujinami/Kimura vs Andre/Superstar: Argh, this is just glimpses. We get some Fujinami/Superstar to start, then leap to Andre... and literally all they catch is Andre holding Kimura by the tights, headbutting him, having him fall down, picking him back up by the tights and doing it again. Poor bastard. Poor us for not having this whole thing.

Inoki vs Patera.... we get a pretty heated lock up and that's it. End video.

 

Edited May 29, 2024 by Matt D

[Matt D]

5/27/84:

Spoiler

Otto Wanz/Mighty John Quinn vs Kurisu/Eigen: It's still weird to see Kurisu as a comedy guy. He's funnier than Eigen at this point. They got more on Otto and Quinn than I was expecting. Real trickster pest stuff with the beard and Otto taking that delayed bump to pop the crowd. That section in the middle where Kurisu and Quinn were just smacking each other as loudly as possible was something. I'd never seen anyone do a headbutt block Quinn did on Eigen to where he just put his own hand in front of his face. Kurisu had such a weird career. They obviously got crushed in the end.

Fujiwara/Kido/Kimura vs Kobayashi/Teranishi/Yatsu: Kind of long. I don't know if a match like this needs Choshu or Hamaguchi or what. Teranishi is super credible, even against Fujiwara but I really think Hamaguchi is the glue in these things maybe? It was very back and forth with a little bit of Fujiwara's team having superior technique and Teranishi's superior teamwork. A lot of guys coming in to break stuff up, though without rhyme or reason. Sometimes it really worked like Fujiwara eating a kick to turn a crab into a half crab before getting knocked off. Sometimes it didn't, like when they built towards Yatsu taking the Inazuma leg lariat towards the end and then just kicking out instead of having someone break it up. They went around a few too many times. Fireman carry lifts into the corner. Bodyslams to set up top rope kneesdrops. Fujiwara coming back with headbutts. Every individual exchange was fine but it never quite came together. Best part might have been Fujiwara escaping the heel corner on a tag, backpeddling into the ropes, bouncing off and then hitting the headbutt to the gut. So much better than rebound lariats.

Fujinami vs Patera: Some nice strength spots from Patera (including a huge slam). Some nice capitalizing on backwork to stay in control. Some good comeuppance shots (him getting a dropkick while posing). You sort of knew that Fujinami was going to win with a roll up. IT was just a matter of when and how. This was effective in having Fujinami seem like he could hang and triumph but somewhat middling overall. Competent. That's not a bad thing.

Andre vs Masked Superstar: This we had already so I rushed through it. Eadie was sharp enough to be able to move Andre around a bit and credibly get out of holds. He had a cobra clutch on for a bit. They had some clever stuff where Andre tried to move the turnbuckle pad away so he could butt crush Superstar in the corner but Superstar move and then hit a HUGE neckbreaker drop. Then he went for another one and ran into a boot and that was it. The match didn't need to be so clever but it was.

 

[Matt D]

5/27/84 con't:

Spoiler

Adonis/Murdoch vs Hamaguchi/Choshu: Another chance to see Choshu vs Murdoch and it's a great pairing. They bring out the best in each other. Lots of real struggle every time Choshu went for the scorpion for instance. On the other hand, Adonis made Choshu's armdrags look Steamboat esque. Overall very hold-based. Lots of both teams grabbing and arm and working it but it was good and competitive. Murdoch could do so much just by grabbing a headlock and punching. Hamaguchi would be pissed seeing it from the apron. The fans would respond. And when Murdoch and Choshu really went at it, it was electric.Eventually Adonis got Choshu out of the way and Murdoch hit the brainbuster for the win. Good but not over the top good.

Inoki vs Saito: This had already been out there so I moved through it quickly. Iconic stuff. Just mythic matwork where everything was larger than life even if nothing was too tricked out. It built to Inoki getting a bunch of stuff (enzi, cobra twist, octopus), and Saito coming back with suplexes until Inoki caught him out of the corner with a nice hooked roll up.

6/6/84:

Spoiler

Masked Superstar/John Quinn vs Kobayashi/Teranishi: Teranishi is very credible. He's almost like a Virus guy in that he's always good but doesn't always get opportunities. It was fun to see Superstar vs Kobayashi. Just a weird mismatch like watching Demolition Ax vs Marty Jannetty. At one point Kobayashi got to the top and Superstar had to retreat warily. Then he'd dodge back to avoid the spin kick. Quinn wasn't super impressive. He let Teranishi bully him despite the size difference. Superstar was solid as a rock (neckbreaker, jumping knee, big lariat, etc.). They came close on pulling an upset after Superstar accidentally clotheslined Quinn but they couldn't finish it in time and Superstar got the neckbreaker drop for the win.

Hamaguchi vs Fujiwara: Fun match but maybe not great. It was a lot of choking and nerve holds and they were all good and bestial but these two cancelled each other out in some ways. They'd probably both be more interesting against different opponents. Still lots of incredibly competent work by Fujiwara just in how he positions his legs or the way he escapes from a hold, but the animosity played out in ways that don't get featured well in a HH. Hamaguchi had a really cool step off top rope elbow drop though. This ended with Fujiwara tossing him out a couple of times and then one going over the rail.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Okay, I finally watched the 5-on-5 where Inoki steals the win. The reason is, it's mercy for Fujinami. Saito kept pulling him up on the pinfalls and was torturing the man, so Inoki stepped in and pinned him himself as a mercy killing. Of course this makes Inoki look good when just a minute ago he was cheating by pulling the corner barrier aside so Fujinami could get smashed bloody, but there's your underlying psychology/egotism. 

These matches are so good they need a comp made of them. You don't even need the backstory. Every individual performer shines on their own with their own specific style enough to be identifiable without it. And there's always a story you can read from them; this time it was Fujinami wasn't in and was protected the whole match so let's see if his freshness can match Saito, who's been in since the start. A blizzard of tags, and they push the pace so hard. And then there's the moment when Fujiwara has Maeda's number which is just perfect. 

EDIT: Two more things. 

1. Who knew Dick Murdoch was so freakin' over? Every single person stands when he stomps to ringside and loses it when he gets in the ring. There's got to be a great match with him and Choshu, which you might've already reviewed and I'm forgetting about. 

2. AEW should totally steal the 5-on-5 elimination gimmick. Forget Anarchy in the Arena, let's do this instead. 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

6/6/84 (It's cool to think this was 40 years ago almost exactly).

Spoiler

Choshu/Yatsu vs Sakaguchi/Hoshino: This was fairly back and forth. Some good struggle for the Scorpions, including Yatsu almost getting it on. Some good tit-for-tat stuff with Yatsu and Hoshino both hitting dropkicks followed by neckbreakers at various points in the match. Good fire at time including Sakaguchi beating up Choshu in the corner as he is want to do. Choshu was great at just hefting a guy up and dragging him across the ring for the double axe handle from Yatsu. I don't have big takeaways here overall. It ended with everything spilling to the floor and countouts. Best moment was Choshu hitting a lariat on Hoshino and then bursting forth to nail Sakaguchi who was trying to break up a late Scorpion.

Wanz vs Andre: Some great stuff here. Andre took a "lifter" bump over the top which was crazy. He had one bit where he stepped on Otto's foot in order to get positioning for a takedown. They had some hard shots over all. I don't think they were swiping at each other quite as well as the Wanz vs Quinn match but Andre brought a lot of timing and presence to the table. Wanz came out to The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow which was funny. Andre caught him with a foot and squashed him in the end.

Patera vs Saito: Very methodological, larger than life holds worked by heavyweights, basically. Patera would stooge a bit and bump a bit and cheat a bit but he's been kind of disappointing in this tour to be honest. Liked the finish a lot as Saito whipped him face first into the corner and hit the Saito suplex after the Bret bump. Just not a lot to say here. It was solid but not worldchanging.

Inoki/Fujinami vs Adonis/Murdoch: It was just ok but then it kind of kept going and ended up great. After some shine where Adonis went over big for these guys and Inoki got to chew scenery, they took over on Fujinami and it became three or four extended bits of heat, especially because once Inoki came in he had big comebacks that got cutoff. Then after Fujinami came back in they got back on him as well. These weren't what you get sometimes when they just kind of freely make tags but the "heels" stay in control. These were comebacks and hot tags and then cutoffs over time. And Adonis and Murdoch had a ton of big stuff. Murdoch had a running power slam and then calf branding on Fujinami. Adonis had a huge inverted atomic drop and elbow drop off the top and these cool knees. In tandem they had a knee drop decapitation and this awesome spike pile driver where Adonis jumped and slam dunked him basically. Adonis had this bulldog early in the heat where Fujinami tried to pull the hand off but still got driven down. Later on, he went for it again and got a huge suplex for his trouble. Things spilled to the outside after that and then back in and Inoki hit the enziguiri and Murdoch got taken out on the outside and the finish was Adonis trying to suplex Fujinami in but him going over, hitting a belly to back and Inoki flying off the top with the knee. Second best match in this set so far after Choshu vs Murdoch.

 

[Curt McGirt]

56 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Wanz came out to The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

I... I... uhhhhhhhh...

Huh? 

[Matt D]

Last couple of 84 matches, then I have a few 81 ones.

5/18/84

Spoiler

Otto Wanz vs. Big John Studd: These two matches are very blurry. It's fun to watch these guys just hammer at each other though. Wanz picks him up once for a bear hug which is wild. he also does a deal where he steps on the leg as he exits a hold which is great, and sort of a stutter stop as they're crashing into each other so he can take him down. Just some mean shots in this one but an inconclusive finish.
Seiji Sakaguchi, Kengo Kimura, & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Masa Saito, Animal Hamaguchi, & Yoshiaki Yatsu: Thankfully these guys are easy to tell apart due to gear or hair. Lots of Yatsu getting bullied. Lots of Saito's team using double or triple teams. Fujiwara actually gets swept under and takes a lot of offense. He'll comeback with a hold or escape only to get swept back under by the numbers game. He finally comes back with headbutts on Yatsu. Craziest thing here was a Sakaguchi chokeslam or urinage where he holds the tights and lifts Yatsu up. Probably five years before it was done anywhere else in the world. I'd never seen him do it before. It comes back down to Fujiwara and he actually gets pinned. Pretty good match even with the VQ issues though.

For 81, I have a Super Maquina singles match and a Fujinami vs Stan Lane match and some other stuff. I'll get to it later.

[Curt McGirt]

Is there gonna be an Otto Wanz deep dive on Segunda in the future? 

[No Point Stance]

IIRC, the December rematch between Inoki, Fujinami and the North-South Connection is pretty great too.

[Matt D]

5 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Is there gonna be an Otto Wanz deep dive on Segunda in the future? 

I already did it!

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/search/label/Otto Wanz

[Matt D]

Ok I finished things up with the 1981 TV/HHs

Spoiler

8/7/81 (taped 8/6): Fujinami vs NATURE BOY STANLEY LANE: This one may or may not have been out there. I'm not going to look but it's longer than the listing I have. Could be that they wrestled twice. Lane is still early in his career here obviously and he doesn't look amazing on the mat. Apparently he had a match with Takano around this time which was good along those lines. Basically, he gets outwrestled for a while but then drops Fujinami on the top rope mid match and takes over and it gets a lot more interesting from there. I wouldn't say it was a bad showing overall but not one of Fujinami's better matches.

7/17/81 (taped 7/16):

Kengo Kimura vs Les Thorton: Come in JIP here. Thorton is just a gritty dude in this one. Mostly hold based and Kimura at least looks like he's hanging pretty well. Once things get up he hits a brutal pile driver and a double arm suplex and gutwerench suplex and they all look good but then Thorton turns a tombstone attempt into a flip back with a bridge for the win.

Sakaguchi vs Masked Superstar: This was mostly on the mat too, with a lot of extended holds and control spots. These guys are big so it was fine as everything had weight and effort but it's not going to rock your world. When they started striking they were big whacks meant for the back row (and small close up cheating spots by Superstar). Superstar took over and hit a lot of his stuff (Cobra, double cross chop, neckbreaker) but ran into Sakaguchi's foot. Sakaguchi came back with some of his big stuff (like the jumping knee). They went around one more time back and forth and then ended up over the rail.

Abdullah/Bad News vs Inoki/Fujinami: Fujinami really hung in here despite the size disadvantage. Bad News worked most of this. He did best when he controlled in the corner so that Abby could get involved. That's generally what happened whenever Fujinami or Inoki started to fight back. They took over on Bad News's leg for a bit. But then Inoki got hung up in the tree of woe. Eventually it spilled out and got thrown out as you can imagine. Post match was amazing as they opened up Fujinami with double headbutts, took out the ref and inoki, and then hit this amazing Bad News jumping knee off the top to Fujinami's skull as Abby held him. He ended up a bandaged bloody mess. Great stuff.

12/8/81

These are HHs:

Super Maquina vs George Takano: Have you guys seen him? He had a football player gimmick with an 18 on his back and a helmet themed mask. He looked good here though, at times great. Takano looked really raw. It kind of worked because he just seemed to be organically grasping for stuff at times. Towards the end it got chippy. Maquina missed a top rope move and just shot up, like he wasn't supposed to miss it. Takano got a German and he was right up again for the finish. Kind of weird as it got going.

Choshu/Yatsu vs Kimura/Teranishi: A lot of things were still developing at this point. The difference between Yatsu and Choshu didn't seem all that huge. Kimura and Teranishi seemed more seasoned than them. Amusingly, Teranishi had the knee brace, not Kimura like one would be used to. This was very back and forth, just a lot of stuff, maybe a little formless, nothing that felt particularly signature. These were just guys wrestling for the most part. Kimura had fire. Yatsu had some. Choshu had less than you'd think though he did have a good strike exchange or two with Teranishi. Choshu and Yatsu maybe doubled better but Yatsu was too hesitant to actually jump off the top with the knee when he had the opportunity. It was weird. Then later when Teranishi tried it, he way overshot and the fans were baffled. Finish was just a belly to back off a headlock attempt. Post match they calmed things down and shook hands.

That was a journey. Island Death Match Time next.

[Matt D]

10/4/87: Inoki vs Saito (Island Death Match): 

I have some sort of bronchitis and have had it for weeks. It is likely viral because the antibiotics haven't cleared it up. I could be looking at a few more weeks of it. It means less running as you can imagine even if it's not hitting too hard. I'm just coughing up green stuff basically. 

I made a gif of this, just ten seconds of them on the grass mid-match and just really straining for holds. Saito had the hold on but he was portraying deep suffering and effort as he pressed his face into the ground. Wonderful stuff. It got DMCA'd because I was obviously damaging TV Asahi's intellectual property by capturing ten seconds of a 37 year old match and talking it up. I almost got spiteful enough to write an entire Segunda Caida article about this but I found a couple of other postings already online and I don't have a lot to add, even with my flowery overwriting. 

The match is fairly self-evident. Either you're going to get it or you're not going to get it and I can't make you not get it if you don't. You have to take a leap of faith, have to give in something of yourself, have to put in some level of effort, have to ride the wave and channel what they're feeling. The match is exhausting; it was for them it is for you as a viewer. If I understand the translation well enough, we come in at around the 30 minute mark and they'd just been posturing. There's a shot of Inoki groundhogging his head out of his tent as Saito waits in the ring. Once they get going, Saito goes for the Scorpion immediately and Inoki blocks it and tries for a UWF leglock. Saito is bloodied up from his mouth early and it adds a mood to everything almost from the get go. From there, things remain hotly contested but with simple, grinding holds. There are some patterns, such as Saito getting a hold and Inoki getting a reversal, again and again. There are times that Inoki escapes a hold by simply working his way around the ring. This is a battle of attrition, more so than probably any pro wrestling match since the 1930s. 

Time passes. Night falls. They light the torches. Everything is so grueling and every tiny advantage is made to mean so much over time. Whenever they build to a high moment, like Inoki pulling Saito over the ring or Saito trying to force Inoki into the fire and crashing into it himself instead, it's a huge deal. Saito gets a modified version of his prison lock on and Inoki charges him on the outside, desperate to make up the advantage. That leads to the moment I captured, where Saito takes advantage due to Inoki's desperation but he's putting so much into containing and stetching Inoki. It's almost like lucha matwork where they can hold on for as long as they can but if they can't get some sort of win (and the only way to win is to escape to a certain part of the island), then they have to let go. They escalate to suplexes, but slowly, steadily, one and then a long gap of holds again, but towards the end, Inoki starts to really gain an advantage with Knuckle Arrows and all the rest. Saito starts to backpeddle. It feels inevitable. But then he grabs a piece of wood from the ground and blasts Inoki and it's legitimately shocking because this has all been violence and battle but this is a different sort. It's beyond the pale. It's crossing a line. Inoki blades hard. The two of them are covered in dirt, covered in blood, and Saito is unrelenting. Inoki is Inoki however. He powers back, chokes Saito out, and marches his way to freedom as they put Saito on a stretcher and bring him back to his tent. 

I don't have the words to do it justice but it accomplishes so much with so little, with time, setting, and effort driving it all. 

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah I just couldn't do it. Watched it in probably 100x time with brief stops, back when you could still find NJ stuff on Youtube (or maybe it was on Dailymotion). 

There is just a psychological disconnect I have here that I cannot explain.

[Matt D]

10/17/87: Yamada vs Takada: Good pairing here. This is a HH and i really need to look to other sources to see if more matches from this show are out there. They took it to the mat pretty hard here. Takada had an answer for a lot of what Yamada tried: Yamada caught a kick, elbowed the knee, and Takada hit the enziguiri and spinning heelbutt, etc. Eventually, Yamada got an advantage working the leg. There was a great bit where Yamada had the half crab on and Takada kept whacking him in the back so Yamada broke the hold, pinned him down and slapped him in the face repeatedly. Takada snuck it out with a German though.

10/19/87: Inoki/Yamada vs Fujinami/Choshu: This was a really cool match/angle. The booking is just more on point and active than in the last year and a half and I wonder if Choshu being back has something to do with that. Inoki was all beat up due to the Island Death match, both his shoulder and his face. Yamada wanted to start and did valiantly, fighting both guys off, but eventually Fujinami held him while Choshu lariated him and the match just lasted less than two minutes. Shocking. Inoki demanded they go two-on-one though and while he put up a fight, they had a clear advantage on him. After a few minutes and successful double teaming Fujinami hit a German on the damaged shoulder and had Inoki beat. Choshu came out of nowhere and nailed his own partner and everything broke down in a fairly crazy way. This was leading to a "last time ever" sort of match later in the month but it was a shocking moment.

[No Point Stance]

Man, I'd never heard of that Inoki-Fujinami-Choshu angle before. It sounds pretty unique, and cool for that reason.
I love that the original jungle death match spawned at least two 'sequels' in the early-1990s; an FMW one pitting Atsushi Onita against Tiger Jeet Singh, and a second NJPW iteration with Singh again (did he somehow become synonymous with jungles somehow?), this time facing Hiroshi Hase. The former is easy to find online, albeit in highlight form, but I can't find the Hase match anywhere. I did see it once on VHS and remember enjoying the spectacle and the unique setting more than anything, but I'd love to see it again.
Even better is that New Japan produced an action figure set a few years ago to commemorate the '87 Jungle Death Match, comprised of figures of Inoki and Saito, plus a plastic fire brazier. You can still pick them up on Ebay, and one of these days I might just make that purchase. I do own an original Japanese retail VHS tape of the '87 match that I got off Ebay decades ago actually. 

[Matt D]

7 hours ago, No Point Stance said:

Man, I'd never heard of that Inoki-Fujinami-Choshu angle before. It sounds pretty unique, and cool for that reason.
I love that the original jungle death match spawned at least two 'sequels' in the early-1990s; an FMW one pitting Atsushi Onita against Tiger Jeet Singh, and a second NJPW iteration with Singh again (did he somehow become synonymous with jungles somehow?), this time facing Hiroshi Hase. The former is easy to find online, albeit in highlight form, but I can't find the Hase match anywhere. I did see it once on VHS and remember enjoying the spectacle and the unique setting more than anything, but I'd love to see it again.
Even better is that New Japan produced an action figure set a few years ago to commemorate the '87 Jungle Death Match, comprised of figures of Inoki and Saito, plus a plastic fire brazier. You can still pick them up on Ebay, and one of these days I might just make that purchase. I do own an original Japanese retail VHS tape of the '87 match that I got off Ebay decades ago actually. 

Inoki tag: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HHqqEkMmolknN53lrmFogY7UOeQd6d0X/view?usp=sharing

Hase vs Tiger: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZWH042DLSoadx9gnuGRHsYDNOVpSFSNP/view?usp=sharing