Matt Watches 1989 AJPW/1986 NJPW on a Treadmill

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah, I presume they probably look for "Inoki" (and probably "Fujinami" too) as a term constantly. I just went ahead and downloaded it so as to not take up your space/time, thanks! 

[Matt D]

Ok, let's do some catch up.

8/26/88: Masa Saito vs Billy Gaspar: Saito worked from underneath here. Om commentary they tried to make it seem like this was a long building issue from Gaspar interfering in an Inoki vs Saito match the previous year. Gaspar got the offense early with the sword and Saito worked from underneath until he could finally get the suplex and start firing back as Gaspar stooged (bump in corner, bump over the top). They ended up counted out. This was good but not conclusive by any means.

8/26/88: Choshu/Kobayashi vs Fujiwara/Yamada: Nice pairings here. Let me look up when they lose Fujiwara. Huh. really not til March. That's good. Even though I am watching UWF 2.0 now too. Choshu and Fujiwara were gritty together. Kobayashi tried to put Fujiwara in a crab (you don't powerbomb kidman and...) Then Yamada came in and destroyed him and wanted Choshu which was a great star move right until Choshu thrashed him. Definitely a hierarchy match but very entertaining when Choshu or Fujiwara would have to take over (headbutts) and Kobayashi and Yamada have great fire.Nice finish where Yamada ducks the first lariat but eats the second at high speed.

8/26/88: Fujinami/Koshinaka vs Vader/Black Tiger (Rocco): I actually did a big thread on this on bsky just because I wanted to show people what they were missing on even a throwaway TV match. https://bsky.app/profile/mattd-sc.bsky.social/post/3llzozeqvic2l Anyway, The pairings were interesting here. Black Tiger was back in the first time in a year maybe. He seemed like he missed a step but it was nice to see him with Vader. At one point when Vader was hurt on the outside he went to comfort him. That was nice. He also hit some cool stuff (armless pedigree and scoop tombstone). Vader was scaring people on the way down, also nice. His shots look nastier every week and he's still bumping big. There were some great camera angles (Fujinami getting chucked out of the ring on a pin, Koshinaka running into Vader on the apron); in general Vader killing Koshinaka was as good as you'd expect. And the fans loved his comebacks. Vader got double teamed to get knocked out of the ring and Fujinami hit his finishing sequence on Tiger. Post match Vader and Tiger threw a hissy fit. Check out the thread.

9/5/88 (hh): Fujiwara/Sakaguchi vs Ron Starr/Scott Hall: I went real out of my way to get this HH and some was for this match. Unfortunately, we just get the end of it. Just a bit of Hall doing stuff before Fujiwara comes back. Starr really telegraphs the entry point to the Fujiwara arm bar and then, post match after they lost, does some shtick with the hurt arm as Hall tries to raise it. Fun stuff but I would have liked to see the whole match.

9/5/88 (hh): Takano/Kimura vs Billy and Gary Gaspar: This we get all of and it was ok. I struggle with this incarnation of the Gaspars (Jason the Terrible being the second with Orton) in just telling them apart even in the best of circumstances. I do think it was Jason who did the really fun stooging of crashing into the corner face first, getting kicked up onto the ropes so his belly was hanging down and then ending up crotched, dropkicked, and hitting the post on the way down. The Gaspars controlled this early with the sword shots on the outside but there were some comebacks as noted. Takano wrestles very confidently for a guy lost in the shuffle. Eventually they did isolate him, get Kimura out of the way and win (I think with a pile driver) though.

9/5/88 (hh): Bigelow vs Vader: Another great opening as Vader burst through the smoke. Cool to see it as a HH. Then Vader celebrated with the helmet after clotheslining Bigelow. They had their usual match of crashing into each other and missing charges, with Bigelow clearing the ring but then Vader fighting back on the floor, etc., before it all got thrown out. Bigelow had learned from Hogan however and made sure to come back into the ring post match to do the cartwheel to the fans' delight. 

 

I have the August UWF 2.0 show to double back to.

[Matt D]

UWF The Professional Bout

8/13/88: Katsumi Omura vs Ri Sogi: This and the next one were fairly brief kickboxing (shootboxing?) matches (with gloves) which may or may not have been worked. I lean towards yes. Omura destroyed Sogi with knees. He fell down. He got up. He got destroyed again.
8/13/88: Makoto Oe vs Hidekazu Mikake: Oe destroyed Mikake with punches. He fell down. He got up. He fell down again. It did set certain expectations for the night in a way that wasn't bad. You got a real sense of consequence. Anyway, these two are only in the German notes on Cagematch so I was very confused.

8/13/88: Shigeo Miyato vs Tatsuo Nakano: Love seeing these two face off. Miyato remains pretty tiny. Nakano remains pretty bulky. This went ~19. The first ten or so had a lot of Nakano ALMOST getting a hold as he bullied Miyato around and Miyato just barely prevented it. Eventually, Nakano got frustrated and started to go for strikes and got taken down and tossed around by the little guy for his trouble. That worked just until Nakano caught him. From there, they went back and forth a bit until a killer finishing sequence where Nakano couldn't keep a chicken wing, but was able to headbutt THROUGH Miyato's skull once he started in on him, sweat going everywhere, in an incredible visual. That opened Miyato up huge but he was able to get a desperate half crab on for a pretty unexpected win. Maybe a bit long but I was into it the whole way personally.

8/13/88: Yoji Anjo vs Norman Smiley: Smiley had a nice little interview on the video before this about how UWF was the best style and he hoped the wrestle more in Japan. How old was he here... let me see. He was maybe... 23, wow. Anyway, he was clearly the aggressor here, but Anjo had answers. This didn't have the stark contrast as the previous match and was much more even. It was maybe a little more theatrical in some of the broad strokes that they were trying with holds. Just more to the back row instead of tight up. It's a matter of nuance with these UWF matches. Anjo tried more kicks but they didn't serve him well. Finish had Anjo finally get a Northern Lights out of the corner only to immediately get caught with a leg gravevine armhold for a submission as he tried to go in for the kill. Clever bit.

The two top matches are on disc/side two so I have to find those later.

[Matt D]

UWF The Professional Bout

8/13/88: Takada vs Yamazaki: This was really good. Yamazaki was punching (kicking) up, but just a little bit really because he'd come so far. A lot of early rope breaks got Takada frustrated and he finally broke with a kick and Yamazaki called him out. Shortly thereafter, Yamazaki returned the favor. The big turning point was Yamazaki's kick getting caught and Takada taking out the knee in Fujiwara fashion. From there, it felt academic, as Takada really honed in. Yamazaki survived and survived and started getting a lucky shot here or there in. He finally beasted his way back to hit a German and then a killer KO kick for a surprise win. This was a starmaking for him.

It wasn't online so I put it on:  

8/13/88: Maeda vs Gerard Gordeau: Gordeau was a Dutch kickboxer and a pretty dubious character. And he absolutely crushed Maeda here. This was a different styles fight but he really dominated with knees and close up shots. Whenever Maeda really did suplex him over, he just no sold it and kicked Maeda's head in. I've never actually seen Maeda dominated like this. But he was paying the guy so... He was able to get a couple of leg folded anklelocks in and got a tap. It was pretty gripping stuff just for the trainwreck element.

9/5/88 (hh): Fujinami/Koshinaka vs Choshu/Saito: I'm writing this up for FFF tonight at SC as this was an uncovered classic so let me post that writeup for once:

After some opening title match feeling out between Saito and Fujinami (two of the most credible guys ever so it was good like you'd expect), Shiro wants to tag in against Choshu and we're off to the races. Koshinaka is a guy that I like a lot more in tags than singles. He (and Takano/Cobra) were really expected to be the heirs to Tiger Mask in having exciting, over the top Jr. Title matches and you really end up with a lot of noise. But he was a plucky underdog with a special connection with the crowd and a real sense of theatricality. Earlier in 88, he started being the only guy in the promotion (not even Inoki) who would sometimes "Hulk Up" and the fans couldn't get enough of it.

Here he quickly got outgunned by the superior hierarchical forces and what we ended up with was a tale of survival as he tried to punch his way out of first Saito's Prison Lock and then Choshu's Scorpion. There's probably nothing the fans in 88 New Japan would eat up more than someone fighting valiantly against holds like that and at one point they were clapping along to each valiant Koshinaka punch in a way that I'm not sure I've seen them do before. They cycled through this twice until, fighting a Scorpion attempt, Koshinaka was able to crawl over and make the tag.  

I thought things would go home shortly hereafter (once Koshinaka recovered enough to make it back in of course) and there was a bit of that, with Fujinami having to survive some of the holds Koshinaka fought out of as they targeted his knee. Shiro did come back in and they had the advantage for a while, but they were fighting from a deficit. It was Fujinami that got overwhelmed instead, posted on the outside by Saito and opened up to create a dramatic (and surprising) next act to the match as Saito bit the wound and Fujinami fought for his life.

Koshinaka tries to intervene and got trapped in the ropes just as Fujinami turned the tide, fighting off both Saito and Choshu until Choshu's lariat finally prevailed. Super dramatic stuff, the sort of which you can only get out of New Japan at its best. 

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

MD: Number 3 on the DVDVR set and i don't put it over NOW vs NEW or UWF vs NJPW I think. But it's still really great. I think Saito's blood down the stretch is why people rated it so highly honestly. That's a DVDVR thing to do. This was elimination rules, of course, and it had some great exchanges (after starting hot with Fujinami and Choshu) including the usual Fujiwara scrapping with SSM and Saito and fighting out of the corner. Hiro Saito got to look like a cruiserweight bully with a killer senton before Koshinaka took him out with a crab. Yamada looked like a world beater but Kobayashi got to roll him up. Fujiwara and SSM had a great bit with the crab escape where SSM tried to counter the counter only to get caught and pinned himself. Fujiwara gets knocked out of the ring after headbutting Saito in the gut (recoil). Fujinami survives an amazing Choshu Scorpion and Saito crab in order to hit his finishing combo (Robinson Backbreaker/Dragon Sleeper) on the remaining weakest link in Kobayashi. Kimura comes in for the first time we see and hits the Inazuma Leg Lariat on Choshu only to try it again in the ropes and get momentum tossed out.

That leaves it as 2x2 with Shiro and Fujinami vs Choshu and Saito. Shiro comes back from getting beaten on and has Choshu rocked but instead of tagging he goes for the top rope knee, misses it, eats a lariat, kicks out! and then eats another. Now it's 2 on 1. And Saito, to make it even worse, hits a rare, rare mule kick in the corner to nail Fujinami in the groin. After some beatings, Choshu gets him on the apron. Fujinami messes up the headscissors takeover that probably was supposed to take him over but that just helps things beacuse it makes it seem more of a struggle as he finally dropkicks him high and low to get him out. Saito vs Fujinami now, and Fujinami opens him up HUGE with an exposed turnbuckle. Bloody mess, but he survies and survives. They tease a suplex to the floor. There's a ref bump. Fujinami gets a phantom pin on the backbreaker. The ref recovers and Saito sidesteps him for a crash into the corner out to the floor. Just a little too much BS and not quite as much drama as some of the others for me. But like I said, still very good, with some great specific moments.

[Curt McGirt]

Strangely I don't remember blood from this match, but rather Fujiwara just being a mean, pissed off bastard, and very disappointed when he got knocked out of the match. We needed more! 

[Matt D]

6 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Strangely I don't remember blood from this match, but rather Fujiwara just being a mean, pissed off bastard, and very disappointed when he got knocked out of the match. We needed more! 

I just posted the pin there on bsky actually:

 

[Matt D]

9/12/88: Vader vs Bigelow: This was their third match in the series and it ended as inconclusively as the others. Vader keeps playing around with his pre-match ritual in ways that are very promising and show his development. Here, he did it on the second rope and made the smoke go from there. He dominated early but Bigelow fought back on the floor. Vader got him good with a corner avalanche and the second rope vader attack but everything led to a ref bump. Here a second ref came in as Vader was going after the eyes and using a claw. Vader ended up tossing him over the rail for the DQ. Then Vader leaped over the rail towards him and they had the "adults" (that's what the commentary said) being Hall/Starr/Black Tiger/Kokina break them up. Inconclusive.

9/22/88: Fujinami/Koshinaka vs Choshu/Hase: Pretty good stuff here. Koshinaka stood tall for a bit against Choshu until he got swept under (by a Hase Northern lights where he got his foot on the rope; it was used as a transition). this was less holds and more big moves (Spike pile driver/assisted belly to back, etc). He had a few moments of slapping back in strike exchanges because the crowd loves that. Hase charged in one too many times and got kicked in the leg. Then Fujinami and Koshinaka took over, including Koshinaka going for the ring bell at one point (the ref took it back out) and pulling the knee guard down, and just stepping on the ankle. He's come a long way in 88 honestly. He was my least favorite junior and now I think he's been a big beneficiary of the UWF guys leaving. Choshu interfered until he got back in though and he took Koshinaka's head off with a lariat. Fujinami was there to drag Choshu out and Hase, damaged leg, couldn't capitalize allowing Koshinaka to win with a German. Another good tag.

[Matt D]

Long week. ANYWAY,

9/22/88: Vader/Saito vs Gaspars: Gasparas now have different colored shirts with 13 at the back due to the scary American movie, though they're not sure how the number 13 will scare opponents (this is what the commentary told me). Theoretically this makes them easier to tell apart but Moffat is just good enough that he's harder to tell apart from Orton than the previous Gaspar was. Honestly, this feud (3 + matches now) went a long way in getting Vader over and is forgotten. It gave them other heels to fight (and the crowd naturally liked Saito) so they had a reason to get behind Vader. Here, Vader missed the post charge and they took over on his arm a bit til he press slammed one. They tried the numbers game on Saito but he kept fighting back. One finally missed a top rope flip senton and Vader came in to end it. Saito held him up for the meteorite Vader Attack.

9/22/88: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Black Tiger: Rocco is going to Rocco. He looked better here than before but this was a lot of hard hitting fluff. Nothing really mattered. the transitions were more or less nonexistant. Kobayashi was fiery as always but it was just stuff. Mean stuff but stuff. I love Rocco's no arm pedigree. I hate his figure four which is the wrong way to do a figure four. Leg over instead of in. Very weird. He has a great scoop tombstone though. See, I'm just listing moves. I bet Dave loved this. Anyway, Kobayashi won it with the fisherman's.

UWF 9/24/88 Yoji Anjo vs Shigeo Miyato: Anjo's fiery. Miyato is smaller but with incredible endurance. Anjo tries to slap him early but eats a tricked out takedown. They have some close up knees and kicks but are pretty even. Midfight Miyato gets a gutshot in, maybe a bit low, and Anjo comes out of it pissed, finally using his size to power Miyato around. He finally opens things up and goes from limb to limb just really dominating him, to the point where I think it's going on too long, but Miyato just has that endurance and is able to start firing back with kicks. He finally gets another gutshot and Anjo gets counted out. That's the second Miyato win i really didn't expect.

[Matt D]

UWF 9/24/88: Funaki vs Tsunehito Naito: A squash. Apparently this is Naito's only appearance. The fans are into him though, because they're into every plucky underdog. he gets a few shots in and gets a ropebreak or two, but this is basically a two minute mauling with Funaki having his way with him. It ends with the meanest half crab you'll ever see. They get out the cold spray after. Good to see Funaki really get to crush someone because it makes those first few minutes before his opponent can start to fight back all the more potent in other fights.

UWF 9/24/88: Takada vs Smiley: Fairly even fight (also sub ten minutes which was a surprise). Smiley had been unstoppable so far but Takada was higher in the hierarchy than his previous opponents. Cautious to start. Takada targeted the arm. Smiley got him over and worked a half crab for a while(a theme for this show). Then hit a suplex and used a chickenwing, but Takada got in a lucky spinning back heel kick and the legbar. Pretty good stuff though it felt like it could have gone even longer based on what we've seen so far. they could have built it even more since Smiley was formidable so far.

UWF 9/25/88: Maeda vs Yamazaki: Another fairly short fight, around ten-twelve minutes long. I don't know if they were trying something different here or just educating fans that the big matches didn't need to all go 20. Yamazaki tried with his kicks but Maeda manhandled him early, including catching kicks and driving him down into that folding ankle lock he'd won recently with. Yamazaki finally got some lucky knees in because he kept pressing but Maeda was able to recover and drop him down into a legbar. That's when they really paid off that half crab work through the night. Yamazaki turned a legbar into one with a reversal and grinded and grinded it out as the fans went nuts. But Maeda survived and you could see the disappointment in Yamazaki's face. Yamazaki tried a kick. Maeda caught it and then instead of hitting the capture suplex he just threw a headbutt and floored him with a kick. Yamazaki fought his way back up but it was basically over at that point. Valiant loss but a loss nonetheless.

10/10/88: Yamada/Koshinaka vs PERRO AGUAYO/El Canek: This was awesome but it's kind of hard to keep track of Yamada and Aguayo were made for each other. Just two guys with a chip on their shoulders with red tights. Yamada had an amazing dive into the crowd through Perro's face and a killer dropkick through the ropes. Perro just beat the crap out of both of them. Canek did a bunch of stuff with a press slam (pressing perro onto them, or them onto the top rope neck first, or just a press slam so Perro could hit a senton off the top). It was just wild back and forth stuff. Maybe it fell apart a little now and again but it was great fun while it lasted with both Yamada and Shiro really scrapping to keep up.

10/10/88: Fujiwara vs St. Clair: This was also great fun and I'm not sure it came together either but it was a bunch of great little vignettes of tight work and big counters and Fujiwara driving himd own into the armbar. In the middle, Fujiwara did his headbutt stuff to the post which he rarely did on televised shows in this era and St. Clair's reactions were lovely. This feels like the best I've ever seen St. Clair look maybe. He was just working on a different level than usual that almost made me imagine a Fujiwara vs Bockwinkel match in some ways. At one point you did get the sense that Fujiwara could win it whenever he wanted but at other points, St. Clair totally held his own. There was a great moment where Fujiwara went for a crab and then a folding press pin, St. Clair clapped the legs to break it up, and Fujiwara dropped right down into a legbar. It ended with a roll up out of nowhere but St. Clair begrudgingly accepted a handshake after the fact.

[Matt D]

10/10/88: Inoki vs Bigelow: Here's the deal with this Inoki run. He was back from vacation or touring or whatever and making a bit of a power play (just like Fujinami) and was going to headline all these shows while Fujinami was gone. So lots of Inoki singles matches. Unfortunately, we don't have some since the Emperor was sick and there was news coverage on that and there was a golf tournament too, but we have this. Remember, Bigelow was protected heavily through three Vader matches. Well guess what. Inoki knocks him out of the ring to start. Bigelow comes back in with a hammer or pliers or something. Inoki gets his arm after the ref tries to grab it and about a minute later Inoki hits a kneedrop off the top and beats him. Two minute win. Bigelow said it was just a two count but it really wasn't. Pretty ridiculous stuff and I tend to defend Inoki's positioning. If you were going to do this, at least let Vader beat him once!

10/19/88: Kimura/Koshinaka vs Canek/Perro: This was JIP and I don't think these guys matched up as well as Yamada and Perro did. We did have Canek press slams but the biggest thing here is that Kimura has taken as his finisher the Power Bomb. This is the first time I think I've ever seen it in New Japan. So that's exciting. 

10/19/88: Saito vs Bigelow. Unique match up here. Some great Saito faces and selling in bearhugs in what not. There was a really nice bit where he got both arms up almost flexing while in a bear hug before smashing down. Really working for it. You don't usually see a back focus like this in a NJPW match. It built to Saito slamming him though and getting real pumped up. Bigelow powered out of the Scorpion though but Saito got a huge Saito Suplex on him. Bigelow kept taking over, surviving all of Saito's stuff including a lariat that only staggered him but they ultimately went tumbling out and both went over the rail

10/19/88: Inoki vs Choshu: Honestly? This was amazing, and as iconic as can be. They started by fighting over every inch on holds like you'd expect. Choshu slapped Inoki on a lock up. Then he stomped him repeatedly on a break. That pissed Inoki off so he pulled down one of the corner guards on the posts. So Choshu pulled down one on the opposite of the ring. Just pure Inoki and Choshu alpha male bs. You love to see it. They worked the corner like it was Onita working an exploding cage, just really pressing up and putting off the first shot to it but Inoki got Choshu twice. Choshu was able to recover and hit Inoki with the hugest Saito suplex though. Little problem. Inoki had his blade in his tights and Saito cut his arm huge on it. He was able to smack Inoki's head in and Inoki managed to blade after all and we ended up with a grisly bloody spectacle. Inoki sort of went mad with his own blood and locked on a sleeper, refusing to break it even as Choshu got to the ropes. Just amazing images of a bloody Inoki basically hulking up while Choshu bled from the head and the arm. Inoki got DQed and then destroyed the ref and anyone else that got in his way as Choshu escaped to get medical attention. Just pure NJPW. Right into the veins.

[Curt McGirt]

On 5/2/2025 at 1:01 PM, Matt D said:

Yamada/Koshinaka vs PERRO AGUAYO/El Canek

I'm about 99% I've seen this. I was wondering if they were working heels because of Canek and that was a real stupid question because it's Perro, he absolutely gonna heel on the Japanese guys. Perro is a complete ass-stomper in this. It was on Youtube, or so I thought. 

[Matt D]

11 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

I'm about 99% I've seen this. I was wondering if they were working heels because of Canek and that was a real stupid question because it's Perro, he absolutely gonna heel on the Japanese guys. Perro is a complete ass-stomper in this. It was on Youtube, or so I thought. 

Is now.

https://youtu.be/E1qgLFIEgac?si=Ikhy-CYLVQ1vGvnd

[Curt McGirt]

I absolutely remember where I saw it; it was 103 out of 175 in the NJ '80s ballot. That was the particular disc I stuck in not long ago because of this thread. Fantastic match and Perro is maybe in my top three luchadors at this point. 

[Matt D]

21 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I absolutely remember where I saw it; it was 103 out of 175 in the NJ '80s ballot. That was the particular disc I stuck in not long ago because of this thread. Fantastic match and Perro is maybe in my top three luchadors at this point. 

I’ll post the Inoki vs Choshu match on drive later. That didn’t make the set and it’s iconic.

[Matt D]

Here's the match:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uYpaKOPExxrL7hZPCYDnxwT0D8qXQotX/view?usp=sharing

[Matt D]

Busy week but I have a bunch of catch up here. I don't remember as much as I'd like unfortunately, so we'll see how I do.

10/27/89: Fujiwara vs Williams: This was a lot of fun. I don't know if they went quite as hard on the mat as I wanted but Doc was a beast and Fujiwara could meet him. What sticks to me was the extended headbutt bs in the middle. It was a lot of fun and Fujiwara really didn't do it all that often. But Doc kept getting goaded in to slam Fujiwara's head into the post only for Fujiwara to make a big deal out of no selling it and smashing Doc who bumped to the floor. Fit Doc's character perfectly. They eventually went spilling out since this wasn't going to end clean. 

10/27/89: Inoki vs Bigelow: This was part of the Inoki series but it was a sub for something else and I'm not going back through the WONs to remember what. It was a big of a make good after the last very short Inoki vs Bigelow match. This time, Bigelow hit a top rope splash pretty early but Inoki's foot was under the ropes.Bigelow controlled for a bit. Inoki clapped up and fired back but missed a couple of Enzis as he was too cocky about all of it and Bigelow dropped him and goozled him. Bigelow tried to suplex him to the floor and I half thought they were going to do it for a second but Inoki dropped down for his sleeper choke. Bigelow was in the ropes. Inoki wouldn't break it. Bigelow passed out and was furious when he woke up. But he won it by DQ. 

10/27/89: Choshu/Super Strong Machine vs St. Clair/Casey: The auto translation said a bunch about England as these guys came out, including that Casey and St. Clair could call upon the power of 007 or something. Weirdly, they really controlled SSM. More so than I've seen elsewhere as he was usually a wrecking ball. Maybe he just really respected them or something. Choshu came in for a bit but they took right back over on SSM including a Hart attack. SSM got hope but missed a top rope elbow. When Choshu flinally got in obviously he came in hot and just lariated Casey to hell.

10/27/89: Hiro Saito/Kobayashi/Koshinaka vs Biff Wellington/Canek/Perro: Weird to me to have Koshinaka with Choshu's jrs. Biff had shaved his head to look like Dynamite before this and he moved like a Calgary guy. Almost like Benoit without the baggage in this old footage.Perro matched up well with Hiro Saito as you'd expect. Just two cruiserweight bullies basically. Likewise Perro and Kobayashi as two firebrands. Perro had a great seated senton off the apron on him. It peaked with a crazy chair war between the two before ending up with rope running and Koshinaka and Kobayashi working well together to win it. 

11/11/89: Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Fujiwara/Kimura/Kido (Elimination): Apparently they were doing some sort of six man elimination tournament in November of 89 and we have almost none of it. Just two TVs. Big shame. This was a lot of fun. Inoki and Choshu had just teamed on a special Taiwan show so now they wanted to try it here. The announcing billed the three as "The Knowledge Army, the Lightning Fighter, and the Lawyer of Underhanded Technique." Kido charged right in and menaced Choshu but Choshu picked him up brought him to the ropes and put him over so Hoshino could knock him off. Very clever spot/elimination to start the match. That set the tone as it was 3-on-2 for a lot of this. Fujiwara was immediately furious and drove Hoshino down with the armbar but he survived. He started paintbrushing him but Hoshino turned it around and survived and it was 3 on 2 for a while. Fujiwara and Kimura hung in there and Inoki only came in sparingly but it was not easy going for them. The damage they were doing was over more people really. That was it. Some exciting bits as it went on with Kimura almost getting Inoki out and Fujiwara finally driving Hoshino down with another armbar to even it up. But Choshu was just there to support Inoki and vice versa and Fujiwara and Kimura had been too worn down. Fujiwara got cheapshotted with a running-across-the-apron outside in Lariat by Choshu as he was fighting Inoki (and winning with the headbutts). He fell to an Enzi right after that. Finish had Kimura get Inoki with the Inazuma but Choshu was there. He hit a knee on Choshu but Inoki got him from behind with the sleeper. Good stuff. A smaller, less epic version of these with some clever eliminations.

Biggest thing in the WON was the Russians getting licensed by the government to come in sooner than later.

Here are the six man teams, btw:

• Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino
• Fujinami/Hashimoto/Chono
• Kimura/Fujiwara/Kido
• Sakaguchi/Saito/T.Goto
• Koshinaka/Kobayashi/H.Saito
• SSM/"The Tiger"/"The Jaguar" (will figure out later or not)
• Murdoch/Orton/Hall
• Buzz/Manny/Lance Idol
• Smothers/Steve Armstrong/Takano

Originally Inoki was to team with Chono and Hashimoto but Fujinami with Kimura and Kido but Fujinami vetoed that.

It's got a real Lethal Lottery feel.

Edited May 14, 2025 by Matt D

[Matt D]

11/11/89: Fujinami/Hashimoto/Chono vs George Takano/Steve Armstrong/Tracy Smothers: Chono wrestles like he has a chip on his shoulder but he doesn't have the physique I'm used to with him yet so it's a bit weird watching him. They had a moment early on where they hit a triple dropkick on Hash and ALMOST got him out but Chono blocked it by jumping to the floor and it was such a cheap, cheating move and it almost certainly cost them any chance they had at winning. Takano had an awesome, awesome exchange with Fujinami where he landed on his feet on a back body drop and just hefted him over in a Northern Lights type throw. Then he had this wild exchange with Hash where he got nailed from the outside of the ring and just slapped away at each other, but they were just hitting spots a minute later so I doubt it was really things boiling over (though Dave heard that). Hash just dumped him over the top after a block headscissors takeover attempt anyway. Finish had them 3-on-1 vs a Southern Boy and Fujinami hit his finishing sequence after a spike pile driver. This was fun and occasionally heated. 

11/17/89: Fujnami vs Buzz Sawyer: Buzz with an all time performance complaining about getting his arm worked over, begging off, begging the ref, doing anything in his power to let the world know it hurts and he wanted it to stop. And of course Fujinami can work on top with holds as well as anyone in this sort of setting. Midway through Buzz hits him with the great equalizer off the ropes, the best power slam in history. But he's still selling huge. He has some high impact offense but Fujinami can keep going back to the arm and survives it in order to use his finishing sequence. Buzz somehow survives that but Fujinami rolls him up for the win. This was a good ten minute Fujinami match. 

11/17/89: Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Murdoch/Orton/Hall: Hoshino is tiny compared to these guys. Looks like a baby in the Orton atomic drop. Kind of weird to have Orton unmasked after he spent all year as a Gaspar. He means a lot as Orton in general but he would have meant more as a Gaspar as he had been built up all year maybe? Hall at least looked like he belonged. Though at one point, Hoshino absolutely took him down with a hammerlock. Good for him. First fall had Hall and Choshu going lightning fast back and forth with dramatic rope running before Choshu nailed the Lariat. Then they destroyed Hoshino and after an assisted gutbuster, Murdoch called it out and brainbustered him. Choshu and Orton went sailing over on a lariat attempt and Inoki and Murdoch were having a really good exchange, including some gripping armwork by Inoki and Murdoch hitting calf branding before Orton got involved. Choshu distracted the ref in annoying and that let Orton drag Inoki out from the outside. Murdoch really knew him to milk elimination teases to high effect. Post match, Choshu and Hashimoto laid out attitude towards Inoki and Choshu had to hold him back which is a funny thought. Very good stuff. 

Couple of notes:

• Hase is out with a staph infection. 
• Niikura (who was one of the viet cong express with him) came back as either Tiger or Jaguar but had another heart issue and is back out).
• Lance Idol no showed so Kendo Nagasaki took his place on his team.

Edited May 19, 2025 by Matt D

[Matt D]

UWF 2.0 11/10/88: Yoji Anjo vs Mark Rush: I'd never even heard of Rush before but he's awesome. Like shootstyle Buzz Sawyer or something. Will just heft you over. Lots of fun escapes too. This had that early UFC feel in some ways where maybe the technique wasn't there quite as much but it made it more exciting since the guys were more wild. Anjo had some wild stuff too honestly. He'd fly across the ring with dropkicks that didn't hit aiming for the skull. But really this was about Rush tossing Anjo every which way. He won it by catching a kick and hitting a 'shoot' World's Strongest Slam before locking in a nasty Rear Naked Choke. He hangs around so I can't wait to see him more.

UWF 2.0 11/10/88: Kazuo Yamazaki vs Bart Vale: Hey Bart Vale. One of my first shootstyle matches I ever saw was him vs Fujiwara. What was interesting here was that he had really long legs relatively and could use them to smash Yamazaki even when he was in a hold. Yamazaki was able to stay in it with kicks and general technique but Vale was pretty overwhelming. All it takes is one move though and Yamazaki was able to absorb some kicks and knees to get behind him for a German and a deep legbar to win it.

UWF 2.0 11/10/88: Akira Maeda vs Nobuhito Takada: Big, big time match. A couple of different rules. Each of them got two rope breaks. They had four knockdowns. On the fifth they lost by TKO. After the two rope breaks, a subsequent rope break would count as a knock down. Got it? Winner has the honor of facing Bob Backlund. We all think of 93 Backlund coming back ten years after he lost the belt but this is more like five years and I can see how it would be different. This was quiet subdued early on as neither seemed to want to make a mistake. Maeda eventually opened it up though (even though Takada tried to swipe at him) and controlled for a while getting rope breaks and knockdowns. Pretty brutal stuff. Takada finally came back with a kick out of nowhere, really a miracle kick and then controlled and they went into a stretch where Maeda used his last rope break and was at 4 knockdowns and finally had to use one last one which counted as a knockdown and TKO. Felt like a huge moment.

12/5/88: Chono/Hashimoto vs Kerry/Kevin Von Erich: Chono and Hashimoto really came in with a chip on their shoulder for this run and it made for some compelling stuff. You wouldn't think they'd fit in with everything going on but they're making themselves fit in. Really fun Kerry vs Hash exchange to start with Hashimoto taking the discus punch really well (Kerry strut afterwards) but then lifting him up and putting him on the top turnbuckle like he was a child. You never see Kerry treated that way. Chono and Kevin wrestled and it was fine but not quite as electric. Then they doubleteamed Kerry including Hashimoto's giant spin wheel kick. That knocked Kerry out but as they were starting on Kevin, he pulled Chono out with the claw and went over the rail. Kevin got the claw on Hash in the ring but it didn't matter. Chono and Kerry brawled into the crowd as this got thrown out. Fun stuff actually. Very weird moment in time.

12/5/88: Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Saito/Sakaguchi/T.Goto: Choshu came in with cupping marks. Always weird to see those in the 80s. This started with Choshu vs Saito which was great. Fans always love to see that. Saito moved so much for each of Choshu's shots and Choshu barely moved for him. Saito always went out of his way to put Choshu over. Saito, like Murdoch, understood how to make the out of the ring teases (even off just an armdrag by Hoshino who he was otherwise squashing) seem dramatic. Eventually Saito did hulk up on Choshu and tagged Sakaguchi. This was Goto's match in a lot of ways though, whether it be Sakaguchi flinging him into a corner clothesline on Choshu, going fairly even with Inoki in chain wrestling, or his big heroic moment: He hefted Inoki up into a fireman's carry and sacrificed himself by flinging both of them over the top. Huge dramatic moment. By that point, Saito had already beaten Hoshino with the prison lock so now it was Choshu vs Sakaguchi and Saito. Choshu survived Sakaguchi's half crab, lured him into the corner where he missed a huge jumping knee, and hit the lariat, but Saito was fresher and after the lariated each other a few times, Saito finally triumphed with his suplex. Pretty fun, iconic stuff overall.

 

[Matt D]

I've got slightly more to catch up on than I thought.  Almost to the end of the year but there's this 12/9 show I haven't hit yet.

12/5/88: Fujinami vs Grappler: Just odd stuff with Grappler coming to Japan to try to get his PNW belt back. This was a perfectly fine ten minute Fujinami match. Grappler was doing ok until he missed a top rope kneedrop. Fujinami tossed him around a bit including a Scorpion. He came back after getting knocked out of the ring and hit a nice power slam and weirdly an atomic drop. Good gutwrench too. Eventually he went for an over the shoulder backbreaker and Fujinami ended up on the apron and then took his usual great bump to the guardrail. But he was able to rush back up and reverse a suplex into the Dragon Backbreaker/Sleeper combo. Grappler actually made it out only to end up in a grapevined grounded dragon sleeper. Ah well. He'd win it back five days later in Portland. Sadly this didn't open doors for him to come back in 89, but he did work a WING tour in 92! Poor Grappler.

Next we have the three match final series for the NJPW Six-Man Elimination Cup. Just from the way the ranking were, there was a playoff match to get to another playoff match (vs Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino) to see who would face Fujinami/Choshu/Hashimoto. 

12/7/88: Saito/Sakaguchi/T.Gogo vs Murdoch/Orton/Hall: This is an honestly amazing Murdoch performance. I'll tell you why in a second. Everyone matched up fairly well here. I think Hall was giving too much for his size (especially for Goto, though it's cool to see how fast Goto would get whipped into the corner on him). Meanwhile Orton was the height of confidence. He got dumped after Sakaguchi's atomic drop though (But Murdoch got Sakaguchi from behind at the same time). Orton would try to grab legs and things from the outside afterwards, and the ref would catch him sometimes. Hall eventually got caught by the saito suplex but Murodch immediately pounced on him and grabbed the ropes, leaving it as Goto vs Murdoch. That's when it got really great. Goto obviously had no chance but Murdoch spent five or six minutes giving him one bit of hope after the next with roll ups and slick quick shots and almost falling out. I don't know that Murdoch was really trying to "make" him here but he was raising his stock and getting the fans so behind him. It maybe went a little long or a little around in circles but every time Goto got a bit of hope it was great and the crowd went nuts. And yeah, he survived right until he didn't.

12/7/88: Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Murdoch/Orton/Hall: We come in mid-way here unfortunately but we get all the eliminations. Both Choshu and Murdoch were very good at milking the teases. Hoshino's punches were awesome. He tagged Murdoch at one point and Murdoch walked around with one eye for a bit. Orton and Murdoch had great punches too. Great punches all around (sorry Hall). Hoshino tried to roll up Murdoch but got kicked almost out. Choshu then dumped him right in the moment and ducked under a Hall lariat to hit one himself so that Inoki could pin Hall too (I really like when Choshu and Hall rope run though). Orton did damage to Inoki but no way was he beating both Inoki and Choshu, not even with help from the outside. Lariat > Inoki enziguiri > Inoki kneedrop. The end.

12/7/88: Inoki/Choshu/Hoshino vs Fujinami/Choshu/Hashimoto: This wasn't quite as iconic as some of the other matches. Lots of cycling through. Hashimoto was pretty formed (at least as the wrestler he'd be at this phase of his career) but Chono grew into himself more in this series. It was a big deal when Fujinami faced off against either Inoki or Choshu but Chono got to really press up against Inoki too. There was a little bit of exaggeration to how he took stuff that his peers didn't have. It helped him stand out.Hoshino looked great here. Just running through people and punching them. Great neckbreaker drop too. But he fell to the dragon sleeper with a bit more of an arch than usual. Chono and Hashimoto sort of went into business for themselves by bum rushing both Fujinami and Choshu (who were tied up together) out. that left Inoki to beat both Hash and Chono of course. Hash lost to an enziguiri where he kicked out but they counted it anyway. chono dominated for a bit until he missed a top rope kneedrop and Inoki started on the knee and then locked in the Octopus and rolled it into a grounded version. 

 

Edited June 4, 2025 by Matt D

[Matt D]

Let's finish 1988...Might take me a while to go through.

12/9/88: Murdoch/Orton vs Inoki/Choshu: Not a lot to say about these end of year matches. I half thought things would fall apart here and lead to another Inoki vs Choshu match and I have no idea what's coming in 89. Murdoch took some great punches and sold all over the place here. They beat on Choshu for a while. Inoki and Choshu are always a little funny because it should be Lariat > Top Rope Knee Drop but the guy is never in proper position and Inoki always has to leap down and do something else (enzi) and then hit it. We did come in JIP but I could have used just a couple more minutes here. Orton feels like he belongs, pirate mask or no and this is not a part of his career that's much talked about. I wonder if he's around in 89. Let me take a look. He's still there until March when he joins JCP/NWA. Murdoch's great. He really is.

12/9/88: Fujinami vs Kerry Von Erich (Title vs Title): This was clunky. Fujinami dominated early until Kerry put on the stomach claw. They rolled out and got counted out. They restarted the match anyway. It was still kind of clunky. Kerry ended up bleeding huge. Fujinami won with dragon sleepers and it became a contested title or something? Or both sides could claim victory. The WCCW title really didn't matter at this point anyway (like the PNW title). But I guess for a day or two until Grappler got it back (we just have the first few minutes of that on tape before they cut to a Carl Styles interview...) Fujinami was a belt collector. This had some spectacle but wasn't good. 

12/9/88: Koshinaka (c) vs Yamada: Need to edit this in later as I couldn't post it at all, but it had lots and lots of bombs, Yamada looking like an absolute killer, and a hot finishing stretch where Koshinaka won. Yamada put the belt on him post match.

12/22/88 UWF: Takano vs Anjo: Takano is generally bigger/stronger/more massive than his opponents and he just needs one opportunity to do big damage. Anjo is no one's favorite shoot guy (though I do like his facial expressions when he's getting stretched/stretching someone) but he was relatively tall and lanky and had reach. I'm used to seeing Takano wrestle Miyato who was much smaller and while he maybe didn't need to worry about getting gassed as much here against Anjo, he also really couldn't get any major advantage. Anjo was just able to push back against him or use the reach to stay alive. He took most of the fight against Takano honestly, and when he finally did get him with a German down the stretch, he tried a chicken wing, only to be able to not lock it in due to the lankiness of Anjo. When he tried again, Anjo dropped him into a Fujiwara and that was it.

12/22/88 UWF: Yamazaki vs Miyato: Miyato wasn't going to rope-a-dope Yamazaki. He was going to get his head kicked in and that's exactly what happened here. He survived admirably but all he could do was survive, until he couldn't. 

12/22/88 UWF: Maeda vs Smiley: This honestly might be one of my favorite 88 UWF 2.0 fights. IT was sub ten minutes but they were matched up quite well, constantly getting out of things and scrambling for position. Maeda would get on a hold and Smiley would have an answer. When Smiley wrenched on a half crab, he really wrenched. Some gnarly stuff from both guys, but once the Maeda kicks started coming, the tide turned and he took it home. Very fun while it lasted though.

12/22/88: UWF: Takada vs Backlund: More later on this, it's fascinating. 

[Matt D]

12/22/88 UWF: Takada vs Backlund: This has a great rep and it is a really good trainwreck with some excellent moments. And I think there might have been an amazing ten minute match in the 20+ minutes they got. Having watched UWF 2.0 from the beginning and complete, though, I don't think this worked. It was Backlund's first match in a few years and first match in Japan in even longer and the fans were into it. I did get the sense that Maeda let Takada beat him to face Backlund because he didn't want to deal with it maybe. 

It starts amazingly, as I said, with Backlund just eating Takada's kicks, catching one, taking him down, and doing his little hype taunt dance like a crazy man as the fans stomped (and Japanese fans never stomp, though they did for Goto vs Murdoch!). Then he went right in and took him down with amateur stuff and it really felt like a different styles sort of fight. It wasn't as tight as the UWF style but you got the sense this incredibly strong madman could just charge in a dominate. 

The problem was maybe three fold. The first is that when he did start to sell strikes and kicks, he did it in such a goofy recoiling manner. The second is that when he got a hold on, like a Fujiwara armbar, his technique just seemed weird. Just weird hand positionings, etc. And the third is that he insisted on doing some pro wrestling stuff like a seated chinlock, that the fans seemed to hate. You had maybe 30% of the fans really turning on it with 20% unsure. Because of that, 70% or so were really going for Takada, some because he was working from underneath and some because it'd somehow validate the realness of it all. If Takada beat this kind of fake looking guy, then UWF was real and legitimate and worth following. 

There were two moments where I thought there'd be a riot. The first is when they started into the short arm scissors, and I thought they were going to do the gotch lift, but Takada immediately let it go. The second was when Backlund got him up for a long time before dropping for a belly to back and I thought he was going to hit an atomic drop in a UWF match. What's crazy is that Backlund got opened up in a huge way on his nose/face and Takada got totally bruised up by forearms but it was worthless really. In some ways it's the opposite of what you want. It was a shoot style match where the only things that worked wasn't the working but the shooting and that's all wrong on some level. But it's not boring certainly. I get why people like it. I just think, in context, they're probably wrong. I don't often like something because it didn't work. (Observer only cared to talk about Backlund leaving post-match and not coming back because he said he got screwed somehow; he had been supposed to fight Maeda in January).

12/9/88: Koshinaka (c) vs Yamada: Yamada's a beast here. He just slaps the taste out of Koshinaka's mouth early. Koshinaka meets him halfway but Yamada's able to take back over turning a headscissors into a mutalock and then has this series of kicks and a kappo kick and a tombstone that is just brutal, before locking in a dragon sleeper. From there they moved on to dives, some nice. Koshinaka hit a power bomb which is still jarring since they are very new to NJPW. Yamada came back but finally fell to the dragon suplex and then graciously put the belt on Koshinaka. Yamada's off to Germany and I really should try to track down that footage.

Some year end thoughts coming later.

 

[Matt D]

I'm not going to write a lot about 88, I think. Just a few thoughts. First and foremost, 88 either starts in November, December, or February depending on how you look at it. November had the Choshu/Maeda incident which would have heated up the entire territory when it needed it most if only it was a work and not a shoot. December had the Sumo Hall riot with them trying to junk the biggest match they had (Choshu vs Inoki) and toss sports entertainment at everything which didn't really catch. And then February has the Takada incident which means that by March Maeda/Yamazaki/Takada are all gone. I wouldn't necessarily say anyone takes their place on the cards in a meaningful way though. 

Fujinami/Inoki/Choshu: Fujinami's the guy in 88, leveraging his contract situation to high benefit. He has great matches against Choshu, Vader, and the 60 minute match with Inoki. He is an elevated presence with the new Dragon Backbreaker/Sleeper combo. He shows more aggression. He has a fairly triumphant tour late in the year. Inoki is somewhat diminished, first by the Vader loss (and the fact he doesn't really win the title all year after that) and then by being out with another injury middle of the year. He comes back strong and then comes back from a "tour" even stronger with the series against a lot of key opponents. As we start 89, the Russians are his big hope to get back on top and he even declares he wants Jumbo/Yatsu/Maeda/Takada to come in to help face them which is nuts. Choshu seemingly starts off diminished as well after the Maeda incident but you don't see it from reactions. He's injured briefly and misses a big hometown win for the tag belts but they get them later in the year. He's essential to the promotion, always over, bulletproof, able to put people over. He makes peace with Inoki after the draw with Fujinami and then teams with him as a super team towards the end of the year. Saito is just about as essential to put guys over and look credible throughout the year, btw.

Vader/Pirates/Bigelow/Murdoch/Buzz Sawyer: Vader takes a little while to really get it but by mid year he does. The crowd loves the Saito/Vader vs Pirates matches because it gives them a chance to cheer for him as he crushes people. That does more for him than the handicap matches, I think. The pirates are a huge part of the first half of the year honestly and Orton holds his own in that role even if he seems stronger as himself at the end of the year. Murdoch isn't as big a player in 88 as he was in 87 but he's always entertaining and interesting and has a connection with the crowd. Bigelow comes in and the big deal is the series with Vader but it's never conclusive and then he just loses like nothing to Inoki later on after they had protected him so well. I really enjoyed Buzz in here as well. Just came off like a total star. Other foreigners (like Kerry and even Hall who was in the tag league at least) didn't make much of a splash though. Brief note here that if Adonis hadn't died, I think he'd make a mark, as the Adonis/Murdoch we have is such a blast.

Juniors: The division starts strong in 88 with Hase coming in and freshening everything up. Takada and Koshinaka kind of figure out a code where so long as someone ambushes and starts hot they can then build to a comeback and THEN do the hot back and forth instead of just starting with it annoyingly. Then Owen comes in and stinks everything up because nothing he does matters in the least. Just as he goes Hase gets injured which is a shame. Yamada is awesome throughout and he could have stayed Yamada and never become Liger and still been a big star. Koshinaka is one of the biggest beneficiaries of everyone leaving as he fits in well against heavyweights with his hulking up and attitude. Kobayashi remains a beast and he or Hiro Saito are always enjoyable to see. An obvious highlight was the 5x5 with Choshu's guys against the NJPW guys. 

Hashimoto/Chono: They come in from excursion in fall and make an impact quickly. There are a lot of stories about Hashimoto flexing and taking some liberties given his size and skill, but I think it was just to get him some buzz and they were just stories. Chono still needs to grow into his own frame but he has a lot of confidence even early. 

Others (Sakaguchi/Kido/Takano/Kimura/Fujiwara/Super Strong Machine): These guys get lost in the mix. I thought Takano was out injured but nope. Sometimes they're just fodder for Vader. Kimura gets to hold his own at times but he's back in the team with Fujinami and it's disappointing relative to what could have been. I don't have a lot to say about Fujiwara but he's still always a joy to see when he pops up but I do think there was some weirdness with him since UWF was in existence.  

Trios series: I enjoyed this. It doesn't have the rep of some other tag leagues and I wish we had some more footage from it and a few handhelds but it really stood out as fun and different with some weird pairings and partnerships and some great individual eliminations. Goto came off as a great plucky underdog here and it was a really solid way to end the year. 

Edited June 16, 2025 by Matt D

[Matt D]

So you might be wondering why I'm continuing on to 1989 instead of going back to AJPW/SWS. One, I want to catch up to the others chronologically. Two, in the last five years we've gotten 89 handhelds that people really haven't gone through so I want to do that. Three, NJPW is much more arcane/forbidden so there's more of a responsibility/joy to get a mastery. Plus I want to see how this stuff goes I guess. I want to see Hashimoto and Liger continue to develop. I want to see UWF 2.0 through. Once I hit 91, we'll see what I do, but that's probably a year off at least.

1/6/89: Inoki/Fujinami/Choshu vs Vader/Bigelow/Rip Morgan: First time since 82 that Inoki, Fujinami, and Choshu all teamed. Feels like a big deal and is treated as such. This is the first time we've seen Bigelow and Vader together too. Morgan is leaning hard into Brody-isms but he can't quite pull it off. He eats stuff here while Vader and Bigelow are far more protected. At one point Vader just hefts Inoki up to a press slam backbreaker like it's nothing. It's interesting to watch the interplay between the Japanese but we don't get a ton of time on this given the JIP. Inoki wins with the Octopus but the heels get their heat back post match.

1/6/89: Naoki Sano/Hirokazu Hata vs Sergio el Hermoso/El Bello Greco: Sano and Hata have been in Mexico. This is their first big match back. They brought the exoticos as familiar opponents with them and this felt fairly professional and rehearsed. I thought Hata maybe looked a little more explosive but it's hard to tell with one data point. Some of the comedy bits were excellent, whether it's falling right back into a hold after an escape or hefting up on shoulders for a miscommunication bit. Good mix of action and bits overall. They went mean in the middle but the comeback was big even if the finish was a little abrupt. This was definitely entertaining but too early to see what Sano would become (with Hata's career ending in 90).

1/6/89: Super Strong Machine/George Takano vs Koshinaka/Kobayashi: I have no idea why these teams are teaming. No clue. The Observer was no help. All they said that the finish (SSM/Takano winning) was an upset and I mean, I guess kind of, but SSM was pretty well established and Takano had moved up to a higher weight class in 86 so.... This was good at times but what I'd focus on the most was finishing stretch which just went on and on and on, especially consummate to the level of the match on the card. The only place you ever really saw bloat in 80s NJPW is post-tiger match Juniors matches and this had some of that feel. It was exciting but it was unearned and it was just too much. Honestly, part of me puts this on Takano and Koshinaka as it Cobra and Koshinaka did have bloated matches in 86 before Takano removed the mask. EDIT: Last thing to note here is that Takano does something like 4 Spin Wheel Kicks in this.Maeda left and he just figured he'd gobble that move up.

1/10/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow: I thought this was supposed to be a three match series but I guess not. This is a relatively short match. Not a ton to say about it. Fujinami bounces off of Bam Bam to start but then gets leaned on. Bam Bam hits a grounded headbutt but misses the top rope one. Fujinami can't fire back for long (he does hit a back body drop) as he tries to slam Bigelow. They end up on the ropes and he falls on Bigelow on an outside in suplex attempt for a surprising 3.

1/16/89: Fujinami vs Bigelow: This was for the title and went longer. Fujinami contained him early by going to the arm and then the leg and then the head. Bigelow fought back and knocked him off the apron multiple times including letting him hit his barricade bump with a Bigelow dropkick. He leaned on Fujinami again with holds. Fujinami came back and won with a huge Thesz press which is a rare move and they made a big deal out of it. Bigelow got some heat back post match.

I have two Minoru Suzuki matches (1/11 vs Iizuka and 1/13 vs Nogami) but they're less than 10 MB files and they're totally unwatchable. But I may try to scan through just to see. He was 20. 

Edited June 25, 2025 by Matt D

[Curt McGirt]

The Exoticos match with Fujiwara and... I wanna say Kimura? was utter hilarity. They do these fruity leaps over drop-downs and Fujiwara does one just like them, everybody falls out. 

[Matt D]

1/16/89: Choshu vs Vader: Vader has a big Vader flag now (with a little US flag on it). In some ways this is such a definitional Choshu match. He kicks over the helmet pre match screwing up Vader's ritual. Vader attacks him, knocks him out, controls for a bit in the corner but Choshu gets him down and rips his mask to shreds, which no one's even though of doing yet. Vader pulls it down the rest of the way so he can see. He brutalizes Choshu some more but they end up on the floor and Choshu gets him on the post repeatedly, first almost getting them both counted out and then rolling in and whacking him right in the wounded head/eye when he tries to come back in. Vader does make it back in and after a collision he gets the better of, splashes him for the win. That's part of the point, but not the whole point, because Choshu had done such an amazing job getting under his skin like only he could. No one else was operating at that level. He was playing chess when everyone else was playing checkers. 

1/20/89: Fujiwara/Kimura vs Choshu/Hase: We lost Hase for the back half of 88 so nice to see him active. This was to set up a Kimura/Fujiwara challenge early in February for Choshu/Saito's belts so that sort of let you know how the finish would shake out. We come in with Fujiwara getting beaten down and he does give Hase a lot, I think because he respected him or wanted him to succeed. That said, with some headbutts he does take over and they beat down Hase for a while. Kimura has a great simple stomp off the top onto his leg as Fujiwara holds it and they work over that. Hase does make it to Choshu who pummels Kimura until they start working over Fujiwara again. this lasts until they get into a stretch where Fujiwara gets the armbar on only for Choshu to break it up and then when Hase is pressing the attack and goes for the crab, he does his signature crab reversal to pin him for 3. Good stuff but i almost would have rather preferred Kimura to eat the offense the second time around instead of Fujiawara again.