Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Matt D]

4/20/87: Maeda vs Bigelow: This had atmosphere. I'm not sure about the decision to have Bigelow do all these singles matches. He wins here with another cheap roll up (this time a small package out of nowhere after surviving the spin wheel kick). I get the dissonance of a monster having to win that way or even being able to win with a technical hold that way, and it protects Fujinami and Maeda to a degree, but he ends up giving a lot of the match and it takes away from whatever big loss he's going to do in the end. It's a bit "having cake and eating it too." Maeda took a chunk of this with shots to the leg. There's certainly a mythology in New Japan by this point that monsters can be felled that way but it's never quite as compelling as you'd want. Most of Bigelow's offense was just leaning on Maeda because what else can you do with him without him taking over on you?

4/20/87: Fujinami/Koshinaka vs Murdoch/Black Tiger: This wasn't a very long clip. Maybe 7 minutes? Kind of weird that Murdoch isn't teaming with the Japanese guys even if he was more of a sportsman now. It's just how the tour worked out I guess. Koshinaka does seem elevated after his tag title romp. He actually won this with a German on Tiger. Murdoch was able to take over on him pretty soundly when he was in though. We didn't see much of Tiger. I couldn't even tell you if it was Rocco really, except for a scoop tombstone.

4/20/87: Inoki vs Bad News: This was a prep match for Inoki for Saito the following week. Bad News' is dogged and persistent in beating Inoki down, especially in the corner, but none of his individual stuff stands out. The totality is more than the sum of the parts but not by a ton. It eventually backfired on him as Inoki was able to drag him out by the corner and slam his knee into the post. The commentators, during the beatdown, wondered if this warmup was a bad idea for Inoki so close to the big Saito match. Finish was fun as Inoki hit the back brain kick but then with Bad News slow to go down, locked in the flying octopus which was very rare from him at this point. 

[Matt D]

4/27/87: Inoki vs Saito II: Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye! Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye! Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye! 

No, seriously. I could just type that a hundred times and it'd basically be the review of the match. This was awesome. The first few minutes were atmospheric and weighty as they worked holds. Saito created a wedge by going to the leg and took over with the Scorpion Deathlock and his prison lock, opening Inoki up for Saito suplexes. Low, high, and low again. Inoki survived but he was starting to get swept under. It was just a one-sided massacre. Saito clotheslined his neck over the top rope a couple of times and finally crotched him on the top. Inoki found himself on the outside, humiliated, broken, battered...

and it lit a holy fire under him. This felt like Invader I or Hijo del Santo on the floor after a massive beating, finding their fortitude to rush the ring and try again. There are only a handful of babyfaces in wrestling history that could channel emotion like this and Inoki was certainly one of them. He did rush the ring and hit a wild rolling kappu kick style of attack. Then things got weird. I don't know if he knocked Saito into the ropes or just felt like they were in his way but he started to try to dismantle the ring and then demanded everyone do it for him. And he's Inoki so they took the ropes down leaving just the mat. That's when he started unloading on Saito, hitting Tenryu's front brain kick, and unloading a thousand punches ("Knuckle Arrow") and headbutts. Hase, who was seconding Saito, slipped him the handcuffs as a throwback to the March match and that let Saito get a temporary advantage, first using them as a weapon and then handcuffing Inoki to him, but that just meant that Saito couldn't get away when the punches started again. Saito ended up an absolutely bloody mess as Inoki rained shots down, first standing and then grounded. Hase finally threw in the towel.

It was the most Inoki thing to ever Inoki. Think of your favorite wrestler. On this night, Inoki was more deeply and directly tapped into the living, beating wellspring of pro wrestling than that wrestler likely ever was. He certainly wasn't always, but on this night? Holy crap.

I don't see this online at all. I'll get it for you guys later and put it on Drive.

Oh, last note. Choshu was there watching and he got chippy with people post match. 

 

[Curt McGirt]

YESSSSSSSSSS. This is the match I've wanted to see since I saw the clips before the Island death match.

[Matt D]

On 1/31/2024 at 11:30 AM, Curt McGirt said:

YESSSSSSSSSS. This is the match I've wanted to see since I saw the clips before the Island death match.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ExQgk-8SObWQ0cg9z1aOAXhRLoQ2m5_1/view?usp=sharing

4/27/87: Fujinami vs Bam Bam: This had some fun callbacks, with Bam Bam trying hard to avoid getting his leg kicked out or taking back over with roll ups. Fujinami was constantly with Bammer, constantly looking strong. He fought for the slam throughout the match and eventually got it. He got staggered but didn't fall by a Bam Bam clothesline just as he staggered Bam Bam. I don't know if he just worked very big or if Bam Bam worked a little small. Finish had Fujinami get him out and toss him into Sharpe for a definitive countout win. Murdoch celebrated with him after the match.

4/27/87: Maeda/Kido vs Kimura/Koshinaka: Kimura was going to get the win here, after using the Inazuma Leg Lariat to get Maeda out of the ring. So that's important. He was also the senior guy in the hierarchy in a match that he won against Maeda's team, so also important. He more or less hung with the UWF guys too, also important. But we didn't get a ton of this and I don't have a lot to say about the specifics. This is the first time where it seemed like he leveled up but past a few strikes you couldn't really put your finger on HOW he did.

5/11/87: Inoki vs Killer Brooks: New Month. New Foreigners (Brooks/Higgins/Konga/Tony St. Clair/Smirnoff, a step down from Murdoch/Borne/Bam Bam, etc.). I have to go back and capture Brooks' dragon robe beacuse it's amazing. It's like he had Marvel's Sauron on the back kind of. Close to that. He cut a promo in the back before the match about how he knew the Japanese boys and how they wrestled. He had advantage for a bit but this didn't go long. Inoki was using the "Knuckle Arrow" punch from underneath far more in 87 than in 86 unless i'm mistaken.

 

[Curt McGirt]

3 hours ago, Matt D said:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ExQgk-8SObWQ0cg9z1aOAXhRLoQ2m5_1/view?usp=sharing

#22 on the '80s set and boy does it belong there. I had to have seen it before; great to see it again! Thanks Matt. 

The story is simple. Saito hates Inoki and is willing to get underhanded to beat him by any means necessary. First he wrecks his back and tries to submit him. That doesn't work so he gets frustrated and starts using the ropes. Inoki gets pissed and has the ropes taken down. Saito is losing after getting opened up so he has one more trick up his sleeve, and that's the handcuffs, but Fired-Up Inoki just can't be stopped; he punches and elbows and forearms and headbutts him into unconsciousness, to where Hase has to throw in the towel and beg Peter Takahashi to stop Inoki and call the match. It's probably the best (only good, really) use of handcuffs in a match I've seen. And then Choshu, who's been watching in the crowd, tosses his aviators and tries to jump the rail and yells a bunch of stuff and it's chaos. Awesome. 

Edited February 3 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

5/11/87: Maeda vs Hacksaw Higgins: Higgins had some pretty solid stuff actually. He looked like a scuzzier Scott Norton sort of. Maeda controlled him early with the arm and a headlock but when he turned things around with a belly to back, it was really nice. He lifted Maeda up and turned his body away before coming back down with it. He had a very nice butterfly suplex too and kept Maeda at bay as he kept trying to come back. Eventually he missed a top rope splash and ate the spin wheel kick (which I think they called a "knee kick?"). Pretty effective 6 or 7 minute match here and it kind of makes me want to track down more Higgins.

5/11/87: Fujinami/Takano vs Saito/Scott Hall: Crowd was buzzing for Fujinami vs Saito to start. They worked some really nice Saito armdrags. I've said it before but Fujinami is the best ever at hitting the ropes. Hall was relatively huge. He knew what he was doing in there but something was probably still missing. He had these great jumping elbow drops I don't remember him using later. He also hit a jackhammer which may or may not have been intentional but it was still neat to see in 87. Hall and Saito controlled a good amount of this. It had a hot tag and some comeback but they were able to shut them down and Saito won with the prison lock, which is sort of a kneeling figure four with the opponent turned sieways and the back leg grapevined. The replay at the end was a Hall clothesline.

5/18/87: Inoki/Kimura vs St. Clair/Konga: FINALLY we get Kimura asserting himself with the new boxing skills. In this case, it's launching a barrage of shots to knock Konga around the ring. It's only when he punches him repeatedly too close into the corner that St. Clair gets a cheapshot and take over. We only had a few minutes of this overall but Kimura seems to have figured out how to make it click. Konga had his usual fun, if clunky, power stuff: a spinebuster and catching Kimura off the ropes (presumably as he tried to do the leg lariat but it was unclear) with the powerslam. Leg lariat to St. Clair led to the hot tag which is a great use of it. Nice finishing bit where St Clair held Inoki and he kicked up as Barbarian charged, then mule kicked to get St. Clair back, then Dropkicked to get Barbarian out, and then hit the enziguiri on St. Clair for the win.

5/18/87: Sakaguchi/Takano vs Higgins/Smirnoff: Smirnoff really was just a guy. He had relative size and would bump but yeah. Nice to see Sakaguchi as it's been a bit since he made TV. Early on they control on Smirnoff's arm. Higgins comes in and shuts things down with his very nice belly to back. He hits a pile driver too. Smirnoff hits Sakaguchi with a solid knee drop to the throat but misses on the second. That basically lets Sakaguchi take over on the knee (if you call an atomic drop doing that) and winning with a half crab. It's good to see a half crab finish things occasionally since it makes the move matter more in other matches.  

[Matt D]

@Curt McGirtCheck this one out. It's not long and it's a wild angle.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pxiTRkmCbk7Bjh44x0aSQsI29Bz5VaPj/view?usp=sharing

Will hopefully write about it tomorrow.

[Curt McGirt]

To keep my comments to myself until after you write, I'll just say HOLY SHIT THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD! and leave it at that. 

Hey, we got our treadmill out of the garage and in the dining room now! I watched the Trauma 1/Wotan mask match on my phone while I was on it for 20 minutes. It wasn't the most exciting match to pick, sadly, but that means it's time to experiment. 

[Matt D]

5/18/87: Maeda vs Saito: This was Super Strong Machine making a super strong impact. I have no idea if this was his debut out of nowhere or if he'd been in the crowd/interviews/etc., but he absolutely assaults Maeda before the match, leaving him a bloodied mess. This was shocking, one of the most shocking things I've seen in 86-87 NJPW, not just for the fact it comes out of nowhere, but also because Maeda was Maeda. He was presented as larger than life as one of the most dangerous people alive, tall and powerful and legitimate. He was incredibly good at portraying himself as dominant in matches. Obviously that led to the Andre situation a year before and left matches (like a singles with Inoki or, as I understand it, Choshu) on the table. But it meant he was protected and the crowd obviously believed in him and to see him absolutely demolished and tossed into the ring bloodied and battered was astonishing. Once Choshu got him in there he shifted between hitting the Saito Suplex and a lariat, tried for a pin, got two, went back to the well. He put on a Scorpion Deathlock and a crab and Maeda was just limp and helpless. All he could do was survive. This was an immense amount of blood. After Saito would hit a lariat, there'd be blood all over his arm. It was a wild scene. Eventually, Maeda started to fire back and the crowd went nuts. He staggered Saito, hit a rough spin wheel kick and then one that knocked him out. He rushed right after but Saito slammed him into the post a few times and hit the Saito suplex on the floor for the countout win. Post match, they attacked him but Fujiwara AND the NJPW mainstays like Sakaguchi (which was new) came out to stop it.

5/20/87: Sakaguchi vs Super Strong Machine: HH. Just a minute or two before Saito got involved and it became one of those massive gang war scrums that I picture in the years to come. I know intellectually we're heading to NOW vs NEW very very soon but I just don't get how we get there as opposed to having a year of NJPW (Inoki/Sakaguchi/Fujinami/Mutoh/Takano/etc.) vs UWF vs Choshu/Saito/SSM/Hase/maybe Kimura. I guess it'll make more sense as I get closer.

5/20/87: Hashimoto vs Yamazaki:  I don't want to invoke him right now, but young Hash really feels like early broke in WWE. He's slowly moving up the card but comes off as this force that I can only describe as unfair. He's too big. He's too quick. He hits too hard. He can go on the mat. He can counter your best stuff. He has bombs. Yamazaki had no shot against him early until he started to throw the kicks. Once he did, Hash caught them and shoved him down like Jumbo facing Kawada in 89. Eventually Yamazaki would get an edge here or there but Hash just had an answer. He basically missed a corner charge and slipped on a banana peel to lose due to hierarchy here. I do feel bad for Yamazaki that he hasn't advanced since 1/86 and he actually feels further behind due to some other people being pushed. I think he does have pushes in the future but he almost never makes TV now (This was a HH). Anyway, Hash is absolutely on his way.

5/25/87: Scott Hall vs Konga the Barbarian: Just a few minutes. Hall's stuff all looks fine but he is lacking something. Barb hit a pile driver on the floor, yikes. Hall hit a powerslam and got hyped up but Konga's foot was on the rope. Hall hit a big lariat after but got flipped over on the flying body press off the top. I'm not sure this was put together smartly but it did have a few good hossfight moments.

[Curt McGirt]

About the only thing you didn't hit with Maeda/Saito was about the final Saito suplex where I think the hard cam was shooting it and you see Maeda just get raised in the air and disappear behind the ring as he drops which is always the coolest, it's like someone's falling in a pit or something to never return. Total "well, he's dead" feeling from that. Fujiwara stomping out in his exercise trunks and Baby Hash as part of the reinforcements was really cool too. 

[Matt D]

5/20/87: INOKI VS FUJIWARA: Oof, I missed this. My primary source has most stuff I could possibly need but this one popped up in 2013 or so and then again a few years ago and yeah... 87 is not actually a big year for recent NJPW HHs but certain other years upcoming are (83-84 actually is for what it's worth). Anyway we're still in the IWGP Series so we get a bunch of weirdo singles matches. This was blurry and far off but you can mostly tell who is who and while Fujiwara will do neat close up stuff, Inoki won't, so you don't really need to see it in too great fidelity. The story of the match is that Inoki would have to do tricked out stuff that you would see from him more in 77 than 87 like a flying headscissors or some bridges and then Fujiwara would just shrug it off and dismantle him easily. Eventually after a cobra twist attempt that Fujiwara answered with a bunch of headbutts, Inoki hit an almost desperation grazing enzuigiri (which I will never spell correctly, but the internet says that's it) and took over for a bit but Fujiwara jammed him on a second suplex attempt with the armbar.  Eventually Inoki was outside and Fujiwara tried to suplex him only for Inoki to float over and hit a(nother) desperation belly to back for 2. He stomped him a few times and hit the enzuigiri again for the pin. This then led immediately to the Sakaguchi/SSM thing. I have to go back for a Hash/Koshinaka vs Takada/Yamazaki match from Feb too. That sounds interesting.

5/25/87: Inoki vs Sakaguchi: Another of these league matches. What's interesting about Inoki is that he's ALWAYS the main character of his story, so a lot of his major matches are about him dealing with the unique challenge of his specific opponent. With Fujiwara it was the skill and mastery. With Sakaguchi it's the size combined with technique and a fire out of the corner. They kept the matwork fairly basic but it meant that Sakaguchi had an overall advantage. Deeper in, Inoki hit that grazing enzuigiri again which let him take over a bit more, including some shots in the corner. Sakaguchi seemed a little reluctant the first time he had him in there in return, but then opened up the second time as they were giving it their all. Inoki tried for the leg including a figure four. Sakaguchi was able to come back and really worked the arm. Eventually, however, he went for the atomic drop and hurt his leg again. Inoki hit a bunch of enzuigiris, tried for the octopus, tried for the cobra twist, and finally put him down with one last back brain kick and a second octopus. Battle of the titans feel here.

[Matt D]

2/28/87: Koshinaka/Hashimo vs Takada/Yamazaki: This was a HH that I missed. It's cool to see Hashimoto in with these guys and he really does give his team an edge that they wouldn't have if it was just Koshinaka/Mutoh or Koshinaka/Takano. I've said it before, but he's a problem to be solved. He's too big, too strong, too fast, too technical. You could fill his stats out of this was a video game and he'd just start with too many points. Maeda does too, relatively, but he's not here. It sort of forces Koshinaka into a role where, hierarchy and experience against these guys be damned, he comes off like the lower guy on the totem pole. Yamazaki is just happy to be there and it's a lot of fun to watch him headbutt and kick Koshinaka. Takada wins this pretty definitively with the scorpion on Koshinaka actually.

5/25/87: Maeda/Takada (c) vs Fujiwara/Yamazaki: One cool thing about Maeda and Takada having the belts is that they'll take on all comers, even their fellow UWF buddies. This cycled a bit early with Takada vs Yamazaki and then Fujiwara and then Maeda in against Fujiwara and all of this was the UWF goodness you'd want with sharp kicks (Yamazaki and Takada) and tight holds and jointlocks. Maeda and Fujiwara felt like a big deal as always. Yamazaki could make a ton of headway with the kicks until he got caught. Then it didn't go so well. Still at any point he could sneak in a kick out of nowhere and turn the tide. Maeda was still bandaged from the SSM incident which helped rationalize why he might have been a step behind. Fujiwara certainly targeted the head when he got a chance, including a nasty beating in the corner as he is want to do. They escalated to some bombs (Suplexes, tombstones, Crossface  chicken wings, etc) down the stretch but Maeda finally drove Yamazaki back into the corner off of a German attempt and hit the spin wheel kick, a cradle suplex, and a body scissored chickenwing for the win. Good stuff though. This was 31 on the DVDVR set and I can see that.

[Matt D]

Just a quick update to anyone following along. I had to catch up on some current stuff to keep track. Then I ended up with a cold, which I have now. And now, I've just found out that NJPW is doing copyright strikes on youtube for things still in draft format, which I've never seen before. Usually you have to make them at least "unlisted" or "private" for that to happen but you can still upload them and watch them on your phone if they're in "draft" format. So that's going to hinder my watching most likely. I'll keep poking at it but I expect my burner account to go down shortly as two strikes popped up out of nowhere.

[Curt McGirt]

What in the actual fuck. That sounds like they've managed to flag you over time somehow. Otherwise... a mind reading machine? "WE ARE BUSHIROAD, WE SEE ALL, WE KNOW ALL. MATT YOU KNOW YOUR INCLINE IS POOR AND YOU NEED TO INCREASE SPEED FOR RESISTANCE, OTHERWISE YOU WILL NEVER ADVANCE IN YOUR WEEKLY GOALS."

[Octopus]

On 2/27/2024 at 12:11 PM, Matt D said:

Just a quick update to anyone following along. I had to catch up on some current stuff to keep track. Then I ended up with a cold, which I have now. And now, I've just found out that NJPW is doing copyright strikes on youtube for things still in draft format, which I've never seen before. Usually you have to make them at least "unlisted" or "private" for that to happen but you can still upload them and watch them on your phone if they're in "draft" format. So that's going to hinder my watching most likely. I'll keep poking at it but I expect my burner account to go down shortly as two strikes popped up out of nowhere.

Jump to a different company. If they mess with my Matt I’m done with them. Matt Derps NOAH of Osaka Pro or something.

 

[Matt D]

2 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Jump to a different company. If they mess with my Matt I’m done with them. Matt Derps NOAH of Osaka Pro or something.

 

SWS continuation would be next. I'm dying to get back to Tenryu; this is true. That said, I was kind of looking forward to Choshu and this NOW vs NEW stuff though. I'll figure it out next week when I'm back to 100%. I could theoretically shift things around so AEW watching is on the treadmill and NJPW is on the laptop for a bit. We shall see. I'll bury this here, but we've got a new SC project starting up on Weds too. All the watchable 70s Joshi that we know exists on tape. So that'll take up some time too. Regardless, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read. This does keep me inspired to stay in shape and while I am doing it for me, people checking in does help.

[Octopus]

2 minutes ago, Matt D said:

SWS continuation would be next. I'm dying to get back to Tenryu; this is true. That said, I was kind of looking forward to Choshu and this NOW vs NEW stuff though. I'll figure it out next week when I'm back to 100%. I could theoretically shift things around so AEW watching is on the treadmill and NJPW is on the laptop for a bit. We shall see. I'll bury this here, but we've got a new SC project starting up on Weds too. All the watchable 70s Joshi that we know exists on tape. So that'll take up some time too. Regardless, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read. This does keep me inspired to stay in shape and while I am doing it for me, people checking in does help.

Keep me updated. @Curt McGirt and I will fight (and lose) for you. 

[Curt McGirt]

I haven't been on the mill at all. I was taking the occasional walk when we had good weather for a couple days but then it went to shit again. I am truly the laziest prick in the world and in truth, it weighs heavily on me. As in, the weight, it weighs heavily. Ugh...

[Matt D]

Treadmill kicked my butt but I'm back in business.

6/1/87: Inoki/Fujiwara vs Choshu/Scott Hall: Pretty weird match! They're playing up Inoki and Fujiwara being aligned now and Saito on the other side. Hall was sort of a warm body for these guys to do things to (like Fujiwara headbutting him in the face) despite his size. Saito just got it so well. Knew exactly what to do to have the biggest most meaningful impact at any moment. He started the match by crowding out Fujiwara in the corner but later when Fujiwara took him down out of nowhere and almost got on the arm bar, he scooted out of the ring and sold it like the most momentous thing imaginable. This was building to an Inoki/Fujiwara win, most likely, but the PIRATE came out to cause trouble and beat the crap out of Fujiwara on the outside. Inoki and Fujiwara stood tall in the end though.

6/1/87: Takada/Kido vs Kevin Von Erich/Tony St. Clair: Still pretty weird! Kevin was as aggressive as ever, including hitting the Regal double knee lift which I'm not sure I've ever seen him do before. They bullied Takada pretty well actually. This is probably the best I've ever seen St. Clair look in one of these. Lots of killer European uppercuts and clotheslines. Kido was able to come in and shut things down and when Takada got back in, it was with kicks a'flying. Kevin could hit a dropkick out of nowhere but there was a pretty good chance it might hit someone in the stomach, so only so impressive. Finish was great as St. Clair went for the tombstone on Kido but Kido turned it into a cool cradle midway through. Never seen that before. As an aside, we're seeing some production changes due to the tanking ratings. There was a pre -match video setting this up and you can see bits of the hosting.

6/9/87: Inoki/Takada vs Saito/THE PIRATE: This was one that I couldn't post, which is especially frustrating as I could really use the translated subtitles here. Like it seemed like the Pirate was a surprise partner for Saito that he called out and everyone was shocked. Takada being Inoki's partner seems weird too. This had a ton of heat. Crowd was up for everything, especially Takada's comebacks and literally everything Inoki did. Early on Saito matched up with Inoki but Inoki tagged to Takada after avoiding the Saito suplex. They took over on him outside with the Pirate swarming and then controlled with chinlocks and sleepers (and mask shots). Before, the Pirate was Black Cat, but Black Cat was on the card earlier apparently and he does look a little taller than Saito so I honestly don't know. He's got a hockey mask (and came out with ANOTHER guy with one) but it's hard to tell from the working. Anyway, Takada came back by turning a headlock into a belly to back and hitting a bunch of other suplexes. He definitely feels elevated here.  Saito and Pirate would regain control and did have a bunch of the sort of doubleteams you'd expect out of Saito. He couldn't get the scorpion successfully on either Inoki or Takada though. His chinlocks sure were gritty though. His facial expressions while he has holds on are some of the best all time. There was a great moment towards the end where Inoki escaped from the Pirate with this really iconic grounded double kick to let Takada back in to hit all of his big stuff (huge kick, tombstone), but the heels took over for one more bit of heat, including this really cool belly to back/elbowdrop or clothesline type thing, before the Pirate hit a clumsy Thesz press to actually win. Some cool moments in here but more weird than anything else.

[Matt D]

6/9/87: Kevin Von Erich vs Kido: Past Kevin being super aggressive to start like he always is and one crazy missed charged into the corner, this was pretty technical and sportsmanlike. Oh and maybe one claw attempt towards the end but that's just to be expected with these guys. Kevin hung a little, though some of that felt like Kido making him look good to be honest. He had that cross armbreaker takedown where you hook the leg under the arm and flip the guy but he couldn't get a cross armbreaker out of it, just an armbar. The ending was pretty ugly as they stumbled around the ring for thirty seconds until Kevin could get a small package. Needed either more of Kevin being a jock jerk or Kido having someone stronger to roll around with.

6/9/87: Barbarian vs Ueda: Just 3 minutes here but they said we were 4 minutes JIP. Ueda was already bleeding which was dumb considering what was coming later in the card. Barbarian beat the crap out of him and then brought his second, Killer Brooks in and slammed Brooks onto Ueda which drew a DQ. Post match they destroyed him with the chain until he started firing back with a chair. I vaguely got the sense this was setting up a tag with Sakaguchi but if that was the case Sakaguchi should have made the save, so maybe not?

6/9/87: Fujiwara vs Choshu: Choshu's back! Finally! Let me double check. He's been wrestling since the start of June. We just don't have footage. A singles match vs Kimura in there too. Anyway, this was #5 in the 80s set and it's pretty awesome. It's in Way of the Blade too. They start brawling on the way down and Fujiwara takes an immediate advantage with headbutt after headbutt after headbutt, opening Choshu up. Choshu finally fires back in the ring and it's great because Fujiwara takes it and there's a sense of fighting spirit and a hard head but then Fujiwara just walks forward and goozles him! Like fine, do the fighting spirit stuff, sure, but then immediately there after, try to kill your opponent! That's so much better than chop fests. Choshu gets a belly to back out of nowhere shortly thereafter though and locks in the Scorpion. He presses the advantage even after Fujiwara makes it to the ropes but Fujiwara gets the armbar! Then Fujiwara tries to take off the corner buckle, but Choshu reverses a whip. Then he hits a lariat, but Fujiwara gets the armbar again on an attempt of a second one! Choshu rolls out and busts Fujiwara open huge on the outside. He comes in and hits lariats until Fujiwara gets knocked out. Just a great, measured, passionate, bloody, headbutt-laden war.

Here it is on dailymotion if you haven't seen it for a bit:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m34p8

EDIT: Oh yeah, I watched Harley Race/Marty Jannetty vs Choshu/Hamaguchi since I had a few minutes to kill. Race actually imposes on Choshu here because Jannetty wasn't going to be able to do it. It's the Race you want in Japan that you so rarely get.

Edited March 13 by Matt D

[Matt D]

The change is very interesting.

I just tried to put into draft form...

6/10/87: Kimura vs Saito
6/10/87: Inoki vs Barbarian
6/12/87: Inoki vs Saito
6/12/87: Chono/Kimura vs Von Erich/St. Clair
6/12/87: Choshu/Kobayashi/SSM vs Takada/Fujiwara/Kido

and two were "blocked" despite being in draft from but I can still watch them and the Inoki vs Barb match was just wiped but it wasn't my third copyright strike. I don't know if it's YouTube or NJPW that's coming down harder, but someone definitely is. I'll have to catch that Inoki match on the laptop.

[Matt D]

Very glad I stuck with it. This is great stuff. Go watch the matches down below before reading my stuff.

6/10/87: Masa Saito vs Kengo Kimura: Very, very good. Saito's amazing. He has this thing where he kicks his legs up when he does an armdrag as if he was a junior, and he moves so lithely going in and out of holds. But he's as thick as a wall. Kimura tried to hang with him on the mat early and did well enough. Mid match, he opened things up with the punches and Saito made them seem legit. He did more to get Kimura's new act over here in a few seconds than anything else has so far. He was able to snap a Saito suplex though. The match opened back up from there and went back and forth until Kimura's bandaged knee started giving him trouble and Saito honed in. Kimura survived a crab and hit the leg lariat but couldn't capitalized. He followed up with kicks instead of punches and that was a deadly mistake for Saito caught the third one and hit the dragon screw. He locked in the Scorpion but Kimura valiantly got to the ropes. Kimura ended up outside the ring, fought his way in and had a picture perfect near fall off of a sunset flip in, but he missed the knee off the top and Saito locked in a grisly prison lock. Kimura fought but to no avail. Really good stuff.

6/12/87: Choshu/Kobayashi/Super Strong Machine vs Takada/Fujiwara/Kido: This was fantastic too. One of my favorite matches in this project in forever. These guys were such a breath of fresh air for NJPW at this point and it was so cool to see them up against the UWF team. It felt like such a big deal. A lot of it was shot from ringside aimed up and it gave it this epic feel too. Fujiwara and Choshu were both bandaged up from their previous match and they started to a big buzz and just sort of postured up against one another as two giants could do. Kido came in and immediately asserted himself on Choshu. Kido is the most credible guy in the world. He might not be able to put people way all the time but he can open them up and take them down. Choshu and co have all the big teamwork moves and that helped Kobayashi come in. He, at this point, was this great mix of the old NJ juniors style and some All Japan grime to make it relevant again in 1987, so he was explosive but could back the style up with substance. Kido made it to Takada and the place exploded for the Jr. champ vs a guy who was Tiger Mask's rival. I wasn't expecting them to be so into this but it did make sense. Guys like Cobra (before the switch) and Black Tiger felt like relics after the UWF guys came in but Kobayashi immediately felt relevant. When SSM came in, again, he felt like something that didn't exist in the company except for maybe some outsiders like Masked Superstar or Murdoch. He was just weighty, a low point of gravity, big thudding shots and takedowns. Takada was finally able to get the kicks going against Choshu and Fujiwara came in hot with headbutts as the place came unglued. But Saito got under him and suplexed him over. SSM leaned on him a bit until Kobayashi tried a crab and Fujiwara did his signature crab attempt reversal witht he bridge and the twist and the flip and it's so good. I don't know if I pop for anything in pro wrestling like I pop for that. The match really went back and forth from there. We had Takada and Kobayashi go at it again and SSM and Kido. Choshu's team could take back over with their big double teams (spike piledriver, the belly to back/clothesline off the turnbuckles/a double suplex), but the UWF guys had too many counters and holds and bombs. They had a stretch of just running through Kobayashi (Takada tombstone, Fujiwara headbutts, Takada German, Takada chicken wing) but he made it to Choshu. Choshu ate a bunch of Takada's stuff but jammed him on a dropkick and hit a belly to back. He went for the Scorpion but was positioned to see Fujiwara coming in. He dropped the hold, hit the lariat, turned back around and crushed Takada with it for the definitive pin. Such good stuff. Choshu is so hard to describe. He has this presence that's almost unmatched, this confidence, this matter-of-fact inner strength. It's sort of subdued but somehow entirely different than Tenryu. Tenryu's easy to write about. Sometimes I have trouble explaining what I like about Randy Savage and Choshu sort of hits me that way as well.

Don't say I've never given you guys anything:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gqa9DYKEApV6nKZYHaS8QH_vkmsi7ktM/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OqYxDRZQOpOc3TEg1OnRqM40U_hJo8uA/view?usp=sharing

Edited March 16 by Matt D

[Curt McGirt]

Saito vs. Kimura: Masa Saito is a beastly, bulging man (as Randy Quaid was once referred to as). Kimura has one of his shins bandaged up to his knee. If I were a heel commentator like Brain or Jesse I would bemoan him not having put a shin pad over that leg too, because you could possibly fool Saito into going after the wrong one. This starts off with tight, realistic mat wrestling until Masa first goes after the arm, then the leg. Kimura boxes his way out with jabs and a nice right hook, but Saito busts out his namesake suplex to go back on control. He can make any move look extremely deadly. Even a basic body slam has some extra gravitas when he does it. There's a dragon screw on the good leg that is just evil. Anyway, Kimura is rather quick (he was a junior originally after all, which I didn't know until reading Blood and Thunder Vol. 2) but makes a big mistake by dropping a knee off the top -- with the bad leg! -- that Saito rolls away from, and after that it's in the books. Or whatever the term is I'm looking for. Nice short one. 

I'll review the next one in the morning.

[Curt McGirt]

UWF vs. Choshu's Army: This is awesome! If you need a six-man that lays out both the Choshu speed-style of in-ring work, and the cast of characters of both factions, here you go. There are a million tags and everybody gets a chance to shine. KIDO of all people even gets a big moment when, after he gets outmatched and cornered at the start, comes in like the Human Torch on fire and starts beating the crap out of people. I find it funny reading some of the old DVDVRs that Fujiwara had such a bad rep as old and crappy when he's a monster in all this stuff. The face he makes with the Scorpion locked in on I think Kobayashi (lotsa tags, sorry) after gesturing at Choshu to say "I stealing your move, punk" is great. Takada kicks people right in the head and face. Super Strong Machine has a mask so cool that Andre the Giant wore it too. We get devastating piledrivers and double teams and suplexes and rope running for days, and the heat from the crowd is through the roof the whole time. It's all smashed in to this 15 minute shot, so go hit the plunger. 

Edited March 16 by Curt McGirt

[Matt D]

6/10/87: Inoki vs Barbarian: watched this OFF the treadmill due to Youtube. If nothing else, it shows how Barbarian had come by this point in his career relative to what he'd been like even a year before. He had much more presence and focus. He press slammed Inoki right from the get go (which drew the Inoki chants from the crowd). He'd go down into the JYD all fours position to menace him. Inoki would try to pry away by kicking at a leg or pumphandling an arm. Things got heated on the outside as Brooks tried to get involved. Whenever Inoki got too close to the ropes, Brooks would be there with the chain and would help Barbarian temporarily turn the tide. Inoki had some longish holds; he'd tend to escape Barbarian's. My favorite was the leg nelson where he whacked the leg over the head. Barbarian even picked him up out of it which was a great visual. Finish had Brooks get involved and try to do a running chain shot, but Inoki got out of the way so it hit Barb. That let him knock Brooks out and hit the back brain kick. Solid Inoki vs foreign monster fare.