Super Strong Machine vs Akira Maeda, NJPW 8/20/1987
Pretty badass match. Machine is awesome here, facing an overwhelming challenge but trucking on and beating the shit out of Maeda with his straight forward pro-wrestling offense. Watching them wrestle here it’s hard not to think this late 80s New Japan/UWF influenced style is the best stuff ever. There’s intricate grappling, and a general caginess that makes everything really interesting. Great selling from Machine early on as he was quickly limping from Maedas attacks while Maeda was still strutting around confidently. Maeda would constantly get the better of Machine on the mat, and start to destroy him with kicks when standing, so watching Machine close the distance and trying to put Maeda through the wringer with punches, nasty short kicks and headbutts was pretty great. Maeda seemed to be holding back a little early on but once Machine really gets him fired up Maeda would just try to tear through him with spin kicks. Couple great moments including a few awesome counters down the stretch including Machine rolling out of an armbar and locking in a hammerlock to hit the Evil Windmill Suplex which totally ruled, and then we get Machine trying to gut it through his destroyed shoulder. Just really really good pro wrestling.
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/6/1985
30 minutes of great old school pro wrestling. This kind of chess match NJPW style which is not quite shootstyle but done with the same sense of seriousness and spontanity may just be my favourite style of wrestling. What they do is fairly basic without much flash save for one or two moves, but they do it all with such spirit and my god do all these guys make basic stuff look awesome. It never feels like they are just going through the motions. There’s also some cool creativity like Kimura coming down on Inoki with a flying stomp while Fujinami had him in a sharpshooter because why not, the goal is to crush them. First half was pretty much an exercise in all 4 guys always doing something interesting and keeping the crowd engaged. Did I mention the crowd is white hot for this and constantly catching fire just for Inoki or whoever tagging in? It’s the 80s baby. Sakaguchi is always really cool to watch as he comes across as such a monster. There’s a bit of legwork on him that feels slightly wasted but I really liked how he resisted the figure 4. Second half was peppered with a few epic standoffs including Inoki throwing punches at Fujinami and Fujinami spiking him with an awesome suplex, the crowd rallying big behind Kimura while Inoki kept locking in Octopus Holds with the precision of an expert grappler. Kimuras leg lariat may be my favourite piece of offense ever. Pretty great ebb and flow here, anytime it would seemingly die down they would bring the sparks back up with something big like Sakaguchi absolutely launching a guy with a backdrop suplex, Inoki hitting out of nowhere enzuigiris or trying to pry guys apart with Octopus Holds. The last few seconds was right on the money with Fujinami going for the kill with the Dragon Suplex on Inoki and Inoki resisting with all his might. Simply but highly effective pro wrestling.
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, NJPW 12/12/1985
More great wrestling very much in the same vein as the above match, and to think they did both these in less than a week is frankly ridiculous. Lots of more great exchanges here, exhilarating pace, still no-nonsense while constantly turning up the heat. I thought it was not *quite* the house of fire that the earlier match was but it’s not much less. However, this one does have an actual finish that is built to in pretty great fashion as Inoki gets caught in a figure 4 and when Sakaguchi tags in his bad leg gave out and Fujinami and Kimura, hungry to get the win did a number on his leg. You rarely see 2 guys working as a team to just destroy a guys leg like this. When Inoki tagged back in he seemed to be limping too and was desperately throwing punches. Really good build to a finish without just going through a bunch of nearfalls. All in all, there’s plenty of really good action to enjoy here and you want to see it just for the conclusion.
Keiichi Yamada vs. Tatsutoshi Goto, NJPW 3/26/1986
You would associate NJPW young lions stuff with black trunks and ultra simplistic wrestling, but they were both wearing bright blue tights here and doing lots of different stuff. With Goto its more of a fun oddity to see him fresh faced and busting out things like a crossbody or chest kicks – I would have thought he was simply born with a mustache and a shit stirrer. As we all know, young Yamada is yoked as hell and bristling with energy. The matwork here they do is really nice – really torturing each other with basic things like a facelock and moving through their holds swiftly without losing the competitive edge. Goto in control is a bit drawn out, though he does crown Yamada with an absolutely harrowing piledriver. He would also do things like hit a powerslam straight into an armbar because that was how things were done in 80s New Japan. You could tell Yamada was a boiling hot talent and the crowd was already buzzing for him even though he hadn’t quite hit his stride yet. It’s fascinating to think he might have joined UWF and become a peer of Tamura or something. His matwork was great obviously, and he also busted out a ridiculously backflipping flying chop. Really liked how Yamada seemingly couldn’t hit a comeback, then survived Gotos (already beautifully deadly) backdrop and was able to score a flash pin for the win. Is it a surprise the top of the cards of 80s New Japan was some of the most fierce and best stuff ever when even the lower card stuff was this good and competitive?
