#1 12/2/96
8/24/73 USA Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Johnny Valentine & Pat Patterson
#2 12/2/96
10/14/73 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Lou Thesz & Karl Gotch
#3 12/4/96
12/10/73 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym NWF World Heavyweight Title: Johnny Powers vs. Antonio Inoki
#4 12/5/96
3/19/74 Kuramae Kokugikan NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi
#5 12/6/96
3/21/74 Cleveland Sports Arena NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Ernie Ladd
3/19/74 Kuramae Kokugikan: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre the Giant
#6 12/9/96
4/26/74 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
#7 12/10/96
5/8/74 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
1st World League Match Three Way Championship Final Match 1: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Killer Karl Krupp
1st World League Match Three Way Championship Final Match 2: Antonio Inoki vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
1st World League Match Three Way Championship Final Match 3: Antonio Inoki vs. Killer Karl Krupp
#8 12/11/96
6/26/74 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#9 12/12/96
10/10/74 Kuramae Kokugikan NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Kintaro Oki
#10 12/13/96
12/12/74 Kuramae Kokugikan NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi
#11 12/16/96
1974 NWF World Heavyweight Title Digest
12/15/74 Sao Paulo Collinchan Stadium NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#12 12/17/96
2/4/75 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Brute Bernard
3/13/75 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#13 12/18/96 taped 4/4/75 Kuramae Kokugikan
2nd World League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Kintaro Oki
2nd World League Match: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Strong Kobayashi
#14 12/19/96 taped 5/16/75 Ryogoku Nihon University Auditorium
2nd World League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi
2nd World League Match: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Kintaro Oki
2nd World League Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Killer Karl Krupp
#15 12/20/96
3/20/75 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Antonio Inoki
5/19/75 Montreal: Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Antonio Inoki
#16 12/23/96
10/2/75 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Jerry Brown & Buddy Roberts
#17 12/24/96
10/9/75 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Lou Thesz
12/15/75 NY Madison Square Garden: Antonio Inoki vs. Frank Monte
#18 12/25/96
12/11/75 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Robinson part 1
#19 12/26/96
12/11/75 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Robinson part 2
#20 12/27/96
12/19/75 LA Olympic Auditorium: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Jerry Brown & Buddy Roberts
#21 12/30/96
1/6/76 Kyuden Memorial Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
1/29/76 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#22 1/3/97 taped 5/11/76 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Pedro Morales
Antonio Inoki vs. Victor Rivera
#23 1/6/97
2/5/76 Sapporo Nakajima Athletic Center: Antonio Inoki vs. Inferno #2
3/18/76 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Johnny Powers
#24 1/7/97
8/5/76 Nippon Budokan: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#25 1/8/97 taped 7/29/76 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki & Strong Kobayashi vs. The Mongols
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#26 1/9/97 taped 8/4/76 Miyagi-ken Sports Center
Antonio Inoki vs. Majid Akra
Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Gama Singh
#27 1/10/97
8/14/76 Brazil Ginasio do Ibirapuera: Antonio Inoki vs. Ricky Hunter
9/10/76 Shinagawa Sports Land: Antonio Inoki vs. Superstar Billy Graham
#28 1/13/97
10/10/76 Korea Jangchung Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Pak Song Nan
#29 1/14/97 taped 2/2/97 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda
#30 1/15/97
2/10/77 Nippon Budokan: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#31 1/16/77
3/31/77 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Johnny Powers
#32 1/17/97
4/1/77 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda
#33 1/20/97
6/1/77 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#34 1/21/97
6/10/77 Virginia: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda
5/30/77 Okayama Budokan: Antonio Inoki vs. Victor Rivera
#35 1/22/97 taped 6/29/77 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Asian Terror #1 (Black Gordman) & Asian Terror #2 (El Goliath)
Strong Kobayashi vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#36 1/23/97 taped 7/21/77 Miyagi Sports Center
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Black Gordman & El Goliath
Strong Kobayashi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#37 1/24/97
9/2/77 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#38 1/27/97
11/9/77 Muroran City Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
12/1/77 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Pat Patterson
#39 1/28/97 taped 12/8/77 Kuramae Kokugikan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Steve Wright & Pat Patterson
Antonio Inoki vs. Great Antonio
#35
12/1/77 Osaka Furitsu: Great Antonio vs. Riki Choshu
12/8/77 Kuramae Kokugikan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Shozo Kobayashi vs. Pat Patterson & Steve Wright Tag Title Match
3/30/78 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ivan Koloff
#36
1/13/78 Okayama Budokan: Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanoseke Ueda vs. Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu
5/30/78 Osaka Furitsu Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs. Bob Backlund & Tony Garea
#41 1/30/97
2/3/78 Sapporo Nakajima Athletic Center: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#42 1/31/97 taped 2/2/78 Sapporo Nakajima Athletic Center
Antonio Inoki vs. Jerry Brown
Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Umanosuke Ueda
#43 2/3/97 taped 3/30/78 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ivan Koloff
Antonio Inoki vs. Masked Superstar
#44 2/4/97
3/20/78 NY, NY Madison Square Garden WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Gypsy Rodriguez.
4/8/78 Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Gypsy Rodriguez
#45 2/5/97 taped 4/21/78 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Antonio Inoki vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
Wonderland Junior #2
3/20/78 NY, NY Madison Square Garden WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Gypsy Rodriguez. Rodriguez was an awkward, deliberate, overseller with terrible timing and no offense. In short, he showed no signs of skill. Fujinami couldn't come close to saving it. 1/2*
8/13/78 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes, 2/3 Falls WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Rey Mendoza 8:59, 3:31, 5:22. It was weird seeing Fujinami doing moves such as the flying headscissors and enzuigiri. He worked a more Lucha oriented style, but ultimately it was more his match than Mendoza's. A good, highly technical match where both men did a good job of working in and out of the holds that was much more interesting to me than mid 90's and beyond Fujinami. They started out using a simple hold such as an armbar as the basis of a series, working some athleticism in through their counters. Fujinami took the first fall, but Mendoza’s persistent stretching began to break the champion down. Fujinami’s left leg was injured in the second, a hobbling title holder giving the crowd some real hope their boy could outlast him. Mendoza worked the injury, setting up his Mendoza special (kind of a standing figure 4 where he splits his legs and squats forward) to take the second fall. Mendoza continued his leg attack in the third, but they inexplicably scrapped the injury when Fujinami came back with his Dragon missile (tope). The action was quite good from this point forward, but the failure to transition from Mendoza’s legwork to Fujinami’s finishing sequence in a remotely believable manner was a glaring liability. Fujinami crashed the turnbuckle trying a jumping tackle when Mendoza reentered, but although Mendoza had dominated the last fall and a half, the suplex this set up was his final hope spot with Fujinami running around as though his leg were fine during the finishing segment. The moves were nothing special by today's standards, and I felt let them down during the fast-paced running segments though that’s more a product of the times than a specific liability of the particular wrestlers whose offense was certainly above average. More importantly, they got pretty good mileage out of the moves and the leg injury greatly added to the drama and fan interest before they dropped the ball in scrapping it. ***1/2
Wonderland Junior #3
7/27/78 Tokyo Nippon Budokan WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go. I didn't realize that Go could actually do some wrestling at one point. He had a surprising amount of support too given this was before his days as a Shah type of fan favorite. Good technical match that the fans were in to. It was pretty basic, but they made the holds interesting by wrenching them and struggling desperately. Go didn't show too much ability, but Fujinami was at the top of his game so Go's desire was enough. Go was overmatched, but his run of offense made it exciting. ***1/2
8/11/78 LA, CA Olympic Auditorium WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mando Guerrero. This was one of the coolest matches I've ever seen that didn't go anywhere. Interesting takedowns and amateur wrestling. Lots of cool bridges and counters. Guerrero had great balance and body control. I liked how he got out of a headscissors by doing a headstand into a standing position. They basically did 21 interesting minutes without doing one "good wrestling move." I was all excited when they finally stood up expecting a segment that would live up to the high quality of the matwork, but all I got was a dropkick from each, a double dropkick, and a suplex from each to end it. Oh well. ***1/2
#46 2/6/97 taped 5/30/78 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs. Bob Backlund & Tony Garea
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#47 2/7/97
6/9/78 USA Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Carlos Mata
8/4/78 Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mando Guerrero
#48 2/10/97 & #49 2/11/97
7/27/78 Nippon Budokan WWWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund
7/27/78 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, 2/3 Falls WWWF Heavyweight Title: Bob Backlund vs. Antonio Inoki
5/30/78 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: 1st MSG Series Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
#50 2/12/97
7/27/78 Nippon Budokan WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go
8/3/78 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes, 2/3 Falls WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Rey Mendoza 8:59, 3:31, 5:22. It was weird seeing Fujinami doing moves such as the flying headscissors and enzuigiri. He worked a more Lucha oriented style, but ultimately it was more his match than Mendoza's. A good, highly technical match where both men did a good job of working in and out of the holds that was much more interesting to me than mid 90's and beyond Fujinami. They started out using a simple hold such as an armbar as the basis of a series, working some athleticism in through their counters. Fujinami took the first fall, but Mendoza’s persistent stretching began to break the champion down. Fujinami’s left leg was injured in the second, a hobbling title holder giving the crowd some real hope their boy could outlast him. Mendoza worked the injury, setting up his Mendoza special (kind of a standing figure 4 where he splits his legs and squats forward) to take the second fall. Mendoza continued his leg attack in the third, but they inexplicably scrapped the injury when Fujinami came back with his Dragon missile (tope). The action was quite good from this point forward, but the failure to transition from Mendoza’s legwork to Fujinami’s finishing sequence in a remotely believable manner was a glaring liability. Fujinami crashed the turnbuckle trying a jumping tackle when Mendoza reentered, but although Mendoza had dominated the last fall and a half, the suplex this set up was his final hope spot with Fujinami running around as though his leg were fine during the finishing segment. The moves were nothing special by today's standards, and I felt let them down during the fast-paced running segments though that’s more a product of the times than a specific liability of the particular wrestlers whose offense was certainly above average. More importantly, they got pretty good mileage out of the moves and the leg injury greatly added to the drama and fan interest before they dropped the ball in scrapping it. ***1/2
#51 2/13/97
9/19/78 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Umanosuke Ueda
#52 2/14/97
9/21/78 Shinagawa Prince Hotel Gold Hall NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
10/6/78 Niigata City Gym: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. The Executioner & Brute Bernard & Killer Karl Krupp
#53 2/17/97
10/6/78 Niigata Shi Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco 13:02. This match aged pretty well because Rocco's offense was crisp and believable. Even if the moves themselves weren't that interesting, a side suplex was one of the big highlights from Rocco, he at least made me believe they did some damage. They played the leverage game early, but although Fujinami began hobbling after escaping the Romero special, they never really developed any sort of storyline or body. The hold and counter hold was solid, and the finish was energetic with several dropkicks from Fujinami, but the match didn't really build and wasn't very dramatic. ***
10/30/78 Okayama Budokan: Antonio Inoki vs. The Executioner
#54 2/18/97
1978/10/30 Okayama Budokan NWA North American Tag Title: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Killer Karl Krupp & Brute Bernard
Wonderland #49
10/30/78 Okayama Budokan 2/3 Falls NWA International Tag Title Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Killer Karl Von Krupp & Brute Bernard. Really dull match between a bunch of slow unskilled guys. Killer & Brute were really talentless and unathletic to the point they didn't even fall well. Lots of exciting moves like the bear hug and ground claw, though the gaijins at least focused on Sakaguchi's knee. The heels were strictly brawlers, and the faces were without talent or fire. 17:32 & 3:27
4/5/79 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Perro Aguayo. These two worked well together, both being able to do the others style, though it was far more Fujinami working quicker sequences with more transitions and running to suit his opponent. Fujinami looked great, both skill wise and also in being fiery and exciting to make people care about his technical prowess. Perro did an admireable job of hanging with him. Though his selling was comical, and offensively he relied mostly on low impact and elevation sentons, the more important thing is the two were able to play off and counter one another well. Most of the quality came from Fujinami, who gave a really good performance that was different for him because he relied on his flying to keep it interesting. Fujinami was actually exciting, doing some nice sequences like a cartwheel to avoid Perro's monkey flip then 2 flying headscissors and a dropkick in rapid succession. Short match and Perro was still a dog though. ***1/2
#50
12/5/78 Fukuoka, 2/3 Falls NWA World Tag Title: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Thunder Sugiyama
6/15/79 Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco
#55 2/19/97
11/1/78 Aichi Prefectural Gym NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Chris Markoff
12/5/78 Fukuoka Kyuden Kinen Gym NWA North American Tag Title: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Thunder Sugiyama
#56 2/20/97
12/16/78 Kuramae Kokugikan Pre-Japan Championship Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Hiro Matsuda
#57 2/21/97 taped 12/14/78 Osaka Prefectural Gym
WWWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund
#58 2/24/97 taped 11/25/78 West Germany Stuttgart Millsberg Hall
European Championship Series Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Roland Bock
#59 2/25/97 taped 1/12/79 Kawasaki City Gym
NWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Roop
#60 2/26/97
1/26/79 Okayama Budokan: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Johnny Powers
4/5/79 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym: Gran Hamada vs. Baby Face
#61 2/27/97 taped 2/2/79 Sapporo Nakajima Athletic Center
Antonio Inoki vs. Tony Rocco
Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Bob Roop & Kurt von Hess
51
2/2/79 Sapporo Nakajima, NWA North American Tag Title Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Strong Kobayashi vs. Bob Roop & Kurt Von Hess
5/18/79 Niigata-shi Taiikukan, 2nd MSG Series League Match: Stan Hansen vs. Andre the Giant
#52
4/22/79 Mexico El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos, NWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. El Canek
6/15/79 Olympic Auditorium NWA North American Tag Title Match: Masa Saito & Hiro Matsuda vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu
#62 2/28/97 taped 4/5/79 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Perro Aguayo
Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#63 3/3/97 taped 4/22/79 Mexico City El Toreo de Quatro Caminos
Antonio Inoki vs. El Canek
#64 3/4/97
5/10/79 Fukuoka International Center: Antonio Inoki vs. Jack Brisco
5/18/79 Niigata City Gym: Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen
53
5/10/79 NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Jack Brisco
6/7/79 2nd MSG Series Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
54
6/7/79 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek
5/10/79 2/3 Falls: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mr Saito & Tiger Jeet Singh
#65 3/5/97 taped 6/7/79 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#66 3/6/97 taped 6/15/79 LA Olympic Auditorium
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco
Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. Hiro Matsuda & Masa Saito
Wonderland Junior #4
6/9/78 LA, CA Olympic Auditorium WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Carlos Mata. The first match in the series that was a "true" junior style match. Much faster paced than typical Fujinami and Lucha oriented because of Mata. Still very technical, but more standing and transitions and little sitting in the holds. Fujinami did this wicked backdrop where he had such amazing arch that Mata went into the canvas at an angle somewhere between 6-7 o'clock. Had some dull moments that sometimes had focus and meandered some, but had a lot of peaks as well. The actual wrestling was the most exciting up to this point in the series, but the crowd wasn't overly interested. Great near fall where Mata looked done for being caught in Fujinami's highly effective German suplex, but was able to get his foot on the rope. A nice long match, but that makes the cheesy over the top rope finish that much more annoying. ***3/4
4/5/79 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Perro Aguayo. Fujinami once again worked Lucha style to suit his opponent. Unfortunately, Perro did nothing to change my mind about him probably never being any good. His selling was comical, and offensively he relied totally on low impact and elevation sentons. All the quality came from Fujinami, who gave a really good performance that was different for him because he relied on his flying to keep it interesting. Fujinami was actually exciting, doing some nice sequences like a cartwheel to avoid Perro's monkey flip then 2 flying headscissors and a dropkick in rapid succession. Short match and Perro was still a dog though. **1/2
Wonderland Junior #5
6/7/79 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek. I can see where Canek's style would work well against a big foreign stiff. I expected a lot more from him against a talented opponent though, certainly more than test of strengths, rest holds, and shoulderblocks. Canek showed no technical skill here, just strength and slow sloppy flying. Fujinami ripped Canek's mask so he could bleed, while Canek undid Fujinami's boot for reasons known only to them. **
10/2/79 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go. Not as good or heated as their previous match, but it was once again a quality match where Go was more than carryable. Go does a cool swinging neckbreaker looking takedown from snapmare position. ***
Wonderland Junior #6
6/15/79 LA, CA Olympic Auditorium WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco. Solid technical match. Fujinami was much quicker, smoother, and more advanced than Rocco. I was surprised that Rocco was going to do a Tiger suplex, but he just rolled back into a pin from that position. **1/2
2/1/80 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center 2/3 falls WWF Junior Heavyweight & NWA World Junior Heavyweight International Double Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami (WWF champ) vs. Steve Keirn (NWA champ). Keirn didn't fight junior style at all. The match was basically Keirn beating Fujinami up with uninteresting brawling. Keirn was DQ'd in the 1st fall for repeatedly punching Fujinami in his previously wounded forehead to keep him from reentering the ring. *1/2
Wonderland Junior #7
12/4/79 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine. Fujinami worked much stiffer for Valentine & displayed more fire here. He showed his diversity here, while Valentine was just stiff. Fujinami did a victory flip called a Dragon roll out of nowhere for the win. It was excellent while it lasted, but it could have been developed a lot more and went a lot longer. ***1/2
12/19/79 Mexico Palacio de los Deportes 2/3 Falls WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Angel Blanco. Slow submission oriented match. Wasn't Lucha and wasn't Fujinami's mat style. Wasn't good either. It took 6 minutes into the third fall before it got interesting, and 2 minutes later there was a double pin so Fujinami retained without really winning. *1/2
#67 3/7/97 taped 7/6/79 Yokkaichi Gym
Kantaro Hoshino & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ultraman & Tony Rocco
Antonio Inoki vs. Leroy Brown
Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. Strong Kobayashi & Kengo Kimura
#68 3/10/97
8/2/79 Shinagawa Prince Hotel Gold Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
8/10/79 LA Olympic Auditorium: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
56
8/2/79 NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
9/28/79: Antonio Inoki vs. Masked Superstar
57
8/2/79 NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
8/31/79: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
9/6/79 NWA North American Heavyweight Title Match: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Masked Superstar
#69 3/11/97
8/31/79 Miyazaki Kyushu Gakuin Junior College Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
9/6/79 Fukuoka Sports Center: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Masa Saito
#70 3/12/97
9/6/79 Fukuoka Sports Center: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Masked Superstar
9/28/79 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Masked Superstar
#71 3/13/97 taped 10/2/79 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go
#72 3/14/97
10/4/79 Kuramae Kokugikan Indian Deathmatch NWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#73 3/17/97
11/1/79 Sapporo Nakajima Athletic Center NWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Dusty Rhodes
58
11/1/79 NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Dusty Rhodes
11/8/79 WWF North American Heavyweight Title Match: Pat Patterson vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
59
10/2/79 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ryuma Go
11/8/79 WWF Heavyweight Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Dusty Rhodes
60 taped 11/30/79
2/3 Falls: Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Kido vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Pedro Morales
WWF Heavyweight Title Match: Bob Backlund vs. Antonio Inoki
#61
10/2/79: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
12/6/79 WWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund
#74 3/18/97 taped 11/8/79 Otaru City Gym
North American Heavyweight Title: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Pat Patterson
WWF World Heavyweight Championship Challenger Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Dusty Rhodes
#75 3/19/97 taped 11/30/79 Tokushima City Gym
Osamu Kido & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Pedro Morales & Tiger Jeet Singh
WWWF World Heavyweight Title: Bob Backlund vs. Antonio Inoki
#76 3/20/97
12/6/79 Kuramae Kokugikan WWWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund
#62 taped 12/4/79 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Bob Backlund vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
NWF World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Pedro Morales
12/19/79 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes: Riki Choshu vs. El Canek
#63
12/4/79 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine. Fujinami worked much stiffer for Valentine. Fujinami showed his diversity here, while Valentine was just stiff. Fujinami displayed more fire here. Fujinami did a victory flip called a Dragon roll out of nowhere for the win. It was excellent while it lasted, but it could have been developed a lot more and went a lot longer. ***1/2
12/19/79 Mexico Palacio de los Deportes 2/3 Falls WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Angel Blanco. Slow submission oriented match. Wasn't Lucha and wasn't Fujinami's mat style. Wasn't good either. It took 6 minutes into the third fall before it got interesting, and 2 minutes later there was a double pin so Fujinami retained without really winning. *1/2
#77 3/21/97 taped 12/4/79 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Bob Backlund vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine
Antonio Inoki vs. Pedro Morales
#78 3/24/97 taped 12/19/79 Mexico City Palacio de los Deportes
Riki Choshu vs. El Canek
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Angel Blanco
#64 taped 2/1/80 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Stan Hansen & Bad News Allen
2/3 falls WWF Junior Heavyweight & NWA World Junior Heavyweight International Double Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami (WWF champ) vs. Steve Keirn (NWA champ). Keirn didn't fight junior style at all. The match was basically Keirn beating Fujinami up with uninteresting brawling. Keirn was DQ'd in the 1st fall for repeatedly punching Fujinami in his previously wounded forehead to keep him from reentering the ring. *1/2
#65
2/5/80 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid. Fujinami was greeted like a big star, while Dynamite flipped off the crowd because he got hit with a roll of toilet paper as soon as he entered the ring. Dynamite brings such intensity to everything he does. He just pounded on Fujinami, focusing on the right side of his forehead where Fujinami had a bandaid over that cut that wasn't healing. Fujinami was busted open before long, but Dynamite also got a bloody nose. Not much technical wrestling here since Dynamite set the stiff brawling tone early, but this match didn't need technical wrestling. It should have been a great match, but like many Fujinami matches from this period, it looked like it was going another 5-10 minutes but just ended. This was worse though because Dynamite went down to a leg trip into a Dragon leg roll clutch hold after whooping Fujinami almost the whole match. Dynamite tended to lose his junior title matches here in that kind of fashion, but at least Tiger Mask's German suplex has some impact so it's not all the "element of surprise" or whatever the supposed justification is for this kind of finish. But anyway Dynamite was awesome and Fujinami ran with what Dynamite was doing so well, unlike many other greats that won't recognize their equal or superior and impose their will for the worse of the match. ****1/2
2/8/80 Tokyo Taiikukan 2/3 Falls NWA World Junior Heavyweight International Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn. Unlike their previous double title debacle, Keirn actually wrestled here. His highlight was the 1st fall finish where he landed on his feet for Fujinami's vertical suplex and put him away with a German suplex hold. After 5 1/2 minutes that were totally technical, Fujinami screwed up the bump that Foley made famous where instead of going to the floor he gets his neck tied in between the top/middle rope. Keirn had to tie Fujinami up himself so he could "lose it" for no reason at all other than to avoid doing a real job in the 2nd fall. The third fall started with Keirn wrestling technically again. This was actually a good wrestling match, but the screw job in the middle made it kind of silly. Doing 3 falls in 11 minutes didn't help either, especially when the 2nd was illogical and the 3rd obviously coming too quickly. **3/4
#79 3/25/97 taped 2/1/80 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Khan
#80 3/26/97 taped 2/8/80 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Khan
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#81 3/27/97
2/5/80 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid
2/7/80 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#66
2/7/80 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
2/8/80 Tokyo Taiikukan NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
67
4/4/80 Kanagawa Kawasaki-shi Taiikukan: Kotetsu Yamamoto & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Goro Tsurumi & Katsumi Oiyama
4/3/80 Kuramae Kokugikan NWF Heavyweight Title Match: Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki
#82 3/28/97 taped 4/4/80 Kawasaki City Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
Mike Graham vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Kotetsu Yamamoto retirement: Kotetsu Yamamoto & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Goro Tsurumi & Katsuzo Oiyama
#83 3/31/97 taped 4/3/80 Kuramae Kokugikan
UWA World Light Heavyweight Title: Gran Hamada vs. Baby Face
NWA North American Tag Title: Seiji Sakaguchi & Riki Choshu vs. Super Destroyer & Iron Sheik
2/1/80 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Stan Hansen & Bad News Allen
#84 April 1/97 taped 4/3/80 Kuramae Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#85 4/2/97 taped 5/9/80 Fukuoka International Center
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#86 4/3/97 taped 6/5/80 Kuramae Kokugikan
5/16/80 Kariya City Gym: Dusty Rhodes vs. Stan Hansen
MSG Series 1980 Semifinal: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre the Giant
MSG Series 1980 Semifinal: Stan Hansen vs. Andre the Giant
MSG Series 1980 Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#87 4/4/97 taped 5/30/80 Takamatsu Citizens Culture Center
Hulk Hogan vs. Bob Backlund
Stan Hansen vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#88 4/7/97 taped 5/27/80 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Bob Backlund vs. Dusty Rhodes
#89 4/8/97 taped 7/17/80 Kuramae Kokugikan
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
#90 4/9/97 taped 8/9/80 New York Shea Stadium
Backland & Morales vs. The Wild Samoans 1 & 2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero
Antonio Inoki vs. Larry Sharpe
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
#91 4/10/97 taped 8/22/80 Shinagawa Prince Hotel Gold Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Stan Hansen
Antonio Inoki vs. Bob Backlund
#92 4/11/97 taped 9/11/80 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#93 4/14/97 taped 9/25/80 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym
Kengo Kimura vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#94 4/15/97 taped 9/30/80 Nippon Budokan
Kengo Kimura vs. Chavo Guerrero
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ron Starr
Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen
Antonio Inoki vs. Ken Patera
#95 4/16/97 taped 9/30/80 Nippon Budokan
WWF Heavyweight Title: Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen
Antonio Inoki vs. Ken Patera
4/17/81 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym NWF Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen 13:24
#96 4/17/97 taped 10/24/80 Okinawa Prefectural Onoyama Park Gym
UWA World Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
Yoshiaki Yatsu & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Carlos Estrada & Samoan #1
#97 4/18/97 taped 12/29/80 New York MSG
Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Carlos Estrada
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Wild Samoan #1
11/6/80 Tsu City Gym
Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn
#98 4/21/97 taped 12/10/80 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Tiger Jeet Singh vs. Dusty Rhodes
Antonio Inoki & Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen & Hulk Hogan
#99 4/22/97 taped 12/29/80 New York MSG
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dan Diamond
Bob Backlund vs. Killer Khan
Antonio Inoki vs. Bobby Duncum
#100 4/23/97 taped 2/9/81 Akita City Gym
Kengo Kimura & Riki Choshu vs. Samoans #1 & #2
WWF North American Heavyweight Title: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. The Enforcer
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tiger Jeet Singh & Bobby Duncum
#101 4/24/97 taped 4/23/81 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#102 4/25/97 taped 5/8/81 Kawasaki City Gym
Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum
5/26/81 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki & Dusty Rhodes vs. Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum
#103 4/28/97
6/4/81 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs. Chris Adams & Mike Masters
6/3/81 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Dusty Rhodes & Bob Backlund vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Bobby Duncum
#104 4/29/97 taped 6/4/81 Kuramae Kokugikan
4th MSG Series Semifinal: Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh
4th MSG Series Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
#105 4/30/97 taped 6/8/81 New York MSG
Killer Khan vs. Dusty Rhodes
WWF World Tag Title: Moondog Rex & Moondog Spot vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Yatsu
#106 May 1/97 taped 7/3/81 Korakuen Hall
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Les Thornton
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Bad News Allen
8/6/81 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Masked Superstar
#107 5/2/97 taped 8/14/81 Korakuen Hall
8/6/81 Kuramae Kokugikan WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Stan Lane
Tiger Mask vs. Scorpio
Riki Choshu vs. Roland Bock
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Antonio Inoki vs. Bad News Allen
#108 5/5/97 taped 9/18/81 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs. El Solitario & El Solar
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tiger Toguchi vs. Andre the Giant & Bad News Allen
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen
10/16/81 Oita Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Bad News Allen
#109 5/6/97 taped 9/23/81 Denen Coliseum
Tiger Mask vs. Solar
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Solitario
Stan Hansen vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Toguchi
#110 5/7/97 taped 10/8/81 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi
Tiger Mask vs. Masked Hurricane
Riki Choshu & Dino Bravo vs. Stan Hansen & Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
#111 5/8/97 taped 11/6/81 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Animal Hamaguchi
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
#112 5/9/97 taped 10/30/81 Anjo City Gym
11/6/81 Kuramae Kokugikan: Abdullah the Butcher vs. Dino Bravo
Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. El Signo & El Navarro
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Bad News Allen
#113 5/12/97 taped 12/10/81 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Tiger Toguchi vs. Roland Bock
2nd MSG Tag League Seimfinal: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Stan Hansen & Dick Murdoch
2nd MSG Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet
12/8/81 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tiger Mask vs. El Canek
#114 5/13/97 taped 12/8/81 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tiger Toguchi & Rusher Kimura vs. Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch
Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Stan Hansen & Roland Bock
12/1/81 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs. El Canek & Super Maquina
#115 5/14/97 taped 12/1/81 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Stan Hansen vs. Killer Khan
Tiger Toguchi vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
1/1/82 Korakuen Hall
Karl Gotch vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Riki Choshu vs. Animal Hamaguchi
#116 5/15/97 taped 1/1/82 Korakuen Hall
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
WWF World Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Backlund
Antonio Inoki vs. Roland Bock
#117 5/16/97 taped 1/28/82 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Rusher Kimura
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah the Butcher
#118 5/19/97 taped 2/9/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Martial Arts Match: Stewder Rosenblum vs. Haseem Mohammed
Dusty Rhodes vs. Abdullah the Butcher
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Baby Face
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
#119 5/20/97 UWA 7. Aniversario taped 2/14/82 Mexico City El Toreo de Quatro Caminos
Black Man & Enrique Vera & Mano Negra vs. Babe Face & Rudy Reyna & Scorpio
UWA World Middleweight Title: Centurion Negro vs. Gran Hamada
5/6/82 Fukuoka International Center: Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Buddy Rose
Wonderland Junior #14
2/9/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Baby Face. The thing you have to understand about Tiger is his athleticism and body control are unparalled. He could essentially find a way to land on his feet from any position, and this aspect was so spectacular that the traditional highspots (ie highspot=something that supposedly does a lot of damage) often took a back seat. The running portions were very impressive, especially a sweet segment where Tiger landed on his feet for a backdrop and did a jumping dropdown with Baby Face leaping over him with a somersault while Tiger was still in the air. The problem with the match is it just about stopped in between these highlights, with too many restmissions. Match lacked flow and direction. They should have essentially done a lucha match because that's the only aspect Baby showed proficiency in here, and Tiger made such an impression in Mexico that every Japanese guy that toured after was held to his standard. 12:43. ***
4/1/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Steve Wright. Wright is very flexible, but stylistically he's a better opponent for Fujinami. What I like about his technical game is how he uses leverage and his opponent's momentum. Wright grounded Tiger and had him selling for much of the match, so while Wright is proficient this was pretty dull by Tiger's standards. Even once it picked up it was more of a striking and submission match, but they mixed it up pretty well and it did have some nice athletic spots like Wright countering a headscissors with a cartwheel. 17:48. ***1/4
Wonderland Junior #15
1/28/82 Tokyo Taiikukan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. The opposite of their last match, as Dynamite was the one doing all the selling and Tiger was attacking his knee. Dynamite was taking some wild bumps where he'd jump/be propelled high and far, but even though Dynamite is the better seller, a Dynamite focused attack makes for a better match because his ferocity makes you buy into him wanting to hurt his opponent and Tiger has the better comeback offense plus is so over it'll surely get a big reaction. All that being said, what might have hurt this the most is that it was so much slower. Not that they can't have a high quality slow match, but their speed sequences are what separates them. Though this is probably their worst match available, it was still very good and had some serious highlights. Tiger did this wicked implant DDT where he lifted Dynamite so he was parallel to the mat then dropped down, with Dynamite's body being straight up and down when his head hit the mat. The finish was a crazy scramble with Dynamite landing on his feet (surprisingly sloppily) for a verticle suplex into the ring then 3 lightning go-behinds into a German suplex. The match really never took off though, and the added time was a negative if anything. 12:36. ***1/2
5/6/82 Fukuoka Sports Center WWF Junior Championship Decision Match: Black Tiger vs. Gran Hamada. This was similar to Tiger vs. Baby in that it was high quality when they were running, but bogged down by all kinds of unfocused restmissions (and in this case stomps) in between. Hamada was a very good athlete, but that didn't cut it when Tiger was around since the primary enjoyment of both was their athletic spots. This was kind of an odd match because it was picking up when they had a double count out. Though they restarted it because they needed to give someone the belt, these guys came closer to starting over than picking up where they left off. Hamada did a tope and missed a plancha, but probably the coolest spot was when Tiger tried to come off the top with an axe (probably), but Hamada fingertipped him over for a body slam. 11:30 & 6:34. **1/2
#120 5/21/97 UWA 7. Aniversario taped 2/14/82 Mexico City El Toreo de Quatro Caminos
El Canek vs. Don Corleone
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Perro Aguayo
#121 5/22/97 taped 3/19/82 Katsushima Prefectural Gym
Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Black Man & Colosso Colosetti
5th MSG League Match: Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant
5th MSG League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
4/2/82 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs. Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes
#122 5/23/97 taped 4/1/82 Kuramae Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki Greetings
Tiger Mask vs. Steve Wright
5th MSG League: Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan
#123 5/26/97 taped 5/6/82 Fukuoka Sports Center
Osamu Kido & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Carlos Jose Estrada & Perro Aguayo
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title:Gran Hamada vs. Black Tiger
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujitsumi vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Bad News Allen
#107 taped 5/6/82 Fukuoka Sports Center
Osamu Kido & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Carlos Jose Estrada & Perro Aguayo
"Playboy" Buddy Rose vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
WWF Junior Championship Decision Match: Black Tiger vs. Gran Hamada 11:30 & 6:34. This was similar to Tiger vs. Baby in that it was high quality when they were running, but bogged down by all kinds of unfocused restmissions (and in this case stomps) in between. Hamada was a very good athlete, but that didn't cut it when Tiger was around since the primary enjoyment of both was their athletic spots. This was kind of an odd match because it was picking up when they had a double count out. Though they restarted it because they needed to give someone the belt, these guys came closer to starting over than picking up where they left off. Hamada did a tope and missed a plancha, but probably the coolest spot was when Tiger tried to come off the top with an axe (probably), but Hamada fingertipped him over for a body slam. . **1/2
#108 taped 5/12/82 Okinawa
5/7/82 Fukuoka Sports Center: Bad News Allen & Abdullah The Butcher vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Seiji Sakaguchi
Abdullah The Butcher vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Hulk Hogan & Buddy Rose
#124 5/27/97 taped 5/12/82 Okinawa Naha Onoyama Park Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: Les Thornton vs. Kantaro Hoshino
Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Hulk Hogan & Buddy Rose
#125 5/28/97 taped 5/26/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki practice scene-interview
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bad News Allen & Perro Aguayo
Hulk Hogan vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Wonderland Junior #16
5/12/82 Okinawa NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Les Thornton vs. Kantaro Hoshino. An incredible bore. Hoshino just wanted to hold a standing side headlock the whole match, though eventually he got real aggressive and took Thornton over so he could do it on the mat. Thornton was more than willing to lay around, and just let Hoshino hold his arm. The highlight would have been Hoshino trying a tope at the start of the match, except he didn't get through the ropes cleanly. 13:29. *
5/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask. Started off with all the impressive arm bar/drag/whip counters. Tiger entered the ring with the gymnastics move that Muto later used often where he slingshots over and lands on his feet. Tiger did similar if not the same spots he did in the title match against Hamada, but they were much more impressive here because of the difference in athleticism between Tiger & Hamada. Similarly, what kept it down was that instead of building momentum, Black would kill it with a rest hold or some mediocre brawling. The match had Mask's best finishing sequence so far in the series starting when he missed a pescado, but Black still couldn't pin him with the suplex back into the ring. 14:15. ****
8/30/82 New York, NY MSG WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. This match really stood out to me when I first got into puroresu because many people that weren't overly into Japanese wrestling considered it a classic, perhaps the best ever in Madison Square Garden. The match was like a decade ahead of it's time in the U.S.; really not until the Liger vs. Pillman matches was there something so good and stylistically different than anything else that was being done here. What I really noticed about the match this time was the incredible reaction it got. The myth was always that no one wanted to see the little guys because they could never beat the big roiders. They certainly needed to win the fans over, it just didn't seem that way because the crowd was just in awe of the speed and the gymnastic style they'd never seen before, so they were reacting from the get go. The execution was extremely crisp execution and the moves had a lot of impact, but really the best part was the opening where they were just doing the amazing gymnatic counters. Match really flies by and is excellent at the very least. 6:35 of 9:36.
Wonderland Junior #17
8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. One of the reasons this is one of the couple best series of all time is they'd always do a different match. Most series just fall into a groove - especially the ones like this where the same guy wins every match - but getting to the same place didn't stop these two from doing a different scenario and experimenting along the way. It would take much longer to describe the sequences than it did for them to do them. They extended the match by combining the speed with the substance, mixing bursts of action between Tiger's knee attack. The big difference was the way they used the floor to allow for new and innovative spots/sequences. Tiger knocked Dynamite over the top to the floor with his rolling savate then ran the ropes to get up a head of steam for his dive. Dynamite immediately re-entered to avoid it, so Tiger simply high cross bodied him when he stood up. Tiger suplexed Dynamite over the top to the floor, but Dynamite held on enough to take Tiger over with him. Dynamite realized that instead of guys always jumping to the floor to set up the next move, he should just throw the guy there and do the move, in this case a suplex. Tiger realized that instead of doing the pescado like several guys, he could just run and leap over the top onto his opponent. It looked like Tiger was going to side suplex Dynamite back into the ring, but instead he dropped him for a new version of the piledriver. 15:57. *****
9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger. Unlike the previous match, the extra length wasn't beneficial. It seemed like they were holding back. The 1st 13 minutes were mainly submissions, strikes, and athletic counters. Those counters might have helped a lot, but Mask was off and couldn't land on his feet cleanly. Black was carrying the match as usual, and I think he might have reset Mask's comebacks after Mask didn't get the first counter right. In any case, this wasn't as exciting as usual. Black wound up attacking Mask's knee later in the match, which then gave Mask an excuse for not flying like usual. Black did a double axehandle to the floor like Savage made famous. After the match, he attacked Mask including a tombstone on the floor. 19:08. ***1/4
#109 taped 5/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
5/12/82 Okinawa NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Les Thornton vs. Kantaro Hoshino. An incredible bore. Hoshino just wanted to hold a standing side headlock the whole match, though eventually he got real aggressive and took Thornton over so he could do it on the mat. Thornton was more than willing to lay around, and just let Hoshino hold his arm. The highlight would have been Hoshino trying a tope at the start of the match, except he didn't get through the ropes cleanly. 13:29. *
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bad News Allen& Perro Aguayo
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask. Started off with all the impressive arm bar/drag/whip counters. Tiger entered the ring with the gymnastics move that Muto later used often where he slingshots over and lands on his feet. Tiger did similar if not the same spots he did in the title match against Hamada, but they were much more impressive here because of the difference in athleticism between Tiger & Hamada. Similarly, what kept it down was that instead of building momentum, Black would kill it with a rest hold or some mediocre brawling. The match had Mask's best finishing sequence so far in the series starting when he missed a pescado, but Black still couldn't pin him with the suplex back into the ring. 14:15. ****
#110 taped 6/18/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
5/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Hulk Hogan vs. Abdullah the Butcher
El Canek vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Scott McGhee
#118 5/28/82 taped 5/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask. Tiger Mask wins title. ****
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bad News Allen & Perro Aguayo. **1/4
Hulk Hogan vs. Abdullah The Butcher. DUD
#125 9/24/82 taped 9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Black Tiger & Villano III. ***
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Animal Hamaguchi. **
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Antonio Inoki. 1/2*
#126 5/29/97 taped 6/18/82 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Ultraman
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Scott McGhee
#127 5/30/97 taped 7/6/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Tiger Mask vs. Ultraman
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch
Antonio Inoki vs. El Canek
7/23/82 Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
#113
7/23/82 Ishikawa-ken: Dick Murdoch vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 21:42. They sum exceeded individual pieces because the match was never static. Murdock attacked Fujinami with his elbows before the bell when Fujinami ducked his head so the ref could check him, immediately giving reason for the fiery Fujinami who mixes it up to show up. The match was still more technical than not, and these portions tended to be rather random, but it was rarely stagnant, as they changed advantages often, or just went back to brawling. The unpredictability of the match, or rather the refusal to clump the technical wrestling & brawling into separate sections, made the match seem considerably shorter than it actually was. Unfortunately, the excitment of the unorthodox built was somewhat negated by the match just kind of ending with the typical non finish. ***1/4
8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. One of the reasons this is one of the couple best series of all time is they'd always do a different match. Most series just fall into a groove - especially the ones like this where the same guy wins every match - but getting to the same place didn't stop these two from doing a different scenario and experimenting along the way. It would take much longer to describe the sequences than it did for them to do them. They extended the match by combining the speed with the substance, mixing bursts of action between Tiger's knee attack. The big difference was the way they used the floor to allow for new and innovative spots/sequences. Tiger knocked Dynamite over the top to the floor with his rolling savate then ran the ropes to get up a head of steam for his dive. Dynamite immediately re-entered to avoid it, so Tiger simply high cross bodied him when he stood up. Tiger suplexed Dynamite over the top to the floor, but Dynamite held on enough to take Tiger over with him. Dynamite realized that instead of guys always jumping to the floor to set up the next move, he should just throw the guy there and do the move, in this case a suplex. Tiger realized that instead of doing the pescado like several guys, he could just run and leap over the top onto his opponent. It looked like Tiger was going to side suplex Dynamite back into the ring, but instead he dropped him for a new version of the piledriver. 15:57. *****
#114 taped 8/27/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi
Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Black Tiger & Pete Roberts 10:45. Some excellent stuff from the Tigers, both in terms of garnering heat for the rivalry &, of course, in state of the art junior wrestling. Black attacked Mask with the flowers they presented him before the match, with Mask soon returning the favor. They did some really fast, counter laden sequences, providing the pure action. Roberts was very fun as well with his leverage based British offense. There was a lot of potential for athletic counters there with Tiger, but he was mostly paired with Fujinami. Fujinami was actually the least interesting in the match, but the UK style was nonetheless a really good fit for him because it's a lot more based on athleticism & movement than the Japanese or American technical styles of the day. Fujinami wasn't a true junior or heavyweight stylist, but this could have been the perfect mix of the two. ***1/2
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) & Sgt. Slaughter
#128 6/2/97 taped 8/5/82 Kuramae Kokugikan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tiger Toguchi vs. Adrian Adonis & Greg Valentine
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
Bob Backlund vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#129 6/3/97 taped 8/27/82 Korakuen Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi
Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger & Pete Roberts
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Brutus Beefcake & Ed Leslie
#115
8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Bob Backlund vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 25:15. Slow paced, technical match. 80% of the match was Fujinami working Backlund's left arm. Backlund was staying in the locks forever, doing loads of oft corny overselling with the goofy faces & flailing arms. The match was, I suppose, good for what it was, but there just wasn't a whole lot of movement or countering or back and forth. Backlund worked the leg a little, but generally did very little the entire match then managed to win with a flash pin to retain. **
8/30/82 New York Madison Square Garden, WWF World International Heavyweight Title Match: Gino Brito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. Fujinami wins title. *1/2
#116 taped 8/30/82 New York Madison Square Garden
8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Greg Valentine & Adrian Adonis w & Freddie Blassie vs. Kim Duk & Seiji Sakaguchi
Bob Backlund vs. Buddy Rose
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. Excellent
#130 6/4/97 taped 8/30/82 New York MSG
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
Gino Brito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
Bob Backlund vs. Buddy Rose
#131 6/5/97 taped 9/24/82 Korakuen Hall
Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Black Tiger & Villano 3
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Animal Hamaguchi
Antonio Inoki vs. Sgt. Slaughter
10/21/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher
#124 originally aired 9/3/82 taped 8/30/82 New York Madison Square Garden
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid. Excellent
WWF World International Heavyweight Title Match: Gino Brito vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. Fujinami wins title. *1/2
WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Bob Backlund vs. Playboy Buddy Rose. *3/4
NJPW Wonderland #128 taped 11/4/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
Handicap Tag Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi
Wonderland #117 taped 9/19/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Black Tiger & Villano III 15:53. Good match, but one of Tiger's least memorable. Lots of good moves, but little that was spectacular. Both worked Lucha style with V3. They heated up the Tiger vs. Tiger fued with a post match fight on the outside. ***1/4
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Animal Hamaguchi 15:22. Hamaguchi didn't have to be a heel. In fact, he probably wasn't meant to be one because he was a pretty talented wrestler. The one thing he lacked was big moves. He was up for the task of enterting Fujinamit's world, and they delivered a good technical match. It kept getting better and better culminating with an impressive few minutes of junior style action. ***1/2
Antonio Inoki vs. Sgt. Slaughter 6:12. Slaughter couldn't do puroresu well, and wound up fighting like he was in the US with the ridiculous overexaggerated bumps, corny facials and goofy mannerisms. Match never got going much less hit any kind of stride. Slaughter was treated as though he was nothing special, never getting Inoki in trouble. *
#118 taped 9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
10/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah The Butcher
WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar
Rusher Kimura vs. Antonio Inoki
#132 6/6/97 taped 9/21/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
#133 6/9/97 taped 10/21/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
7/23/82 Ishikawa Industrial Exhibition Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi
Wonderland #118
10/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Abdullah The Butcher
9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan:
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
Wonderland #119
9/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger. Unlike the previous match, the extra length wasn't beneficial. It seemed like they were holding back. The 1st 13 minutes were mainly submissions, strikes, and athletic counters. Those counters might have helped a lot, but Mask was off and couldn't land on his feet cleanly. Black was carrying the match as usual, and I think he might have reset Mask's comebacks after Mask didn't get the first counter right. In any case, this wasn't as exciting as usual. Black wound up attacking Mask's knee later in the match, which then gave Mask an excuse for not flying like usual. Black did a double axehandle to the floor like Savage made famous. After the match, he attacked Mask including a tombstone on the floor. 19:08. ***1/4
10/21/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Wonderland Junior #18
10/26/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. This quality of match was determined more by how they did it than by what they did, especially early on. What they did was somewhat typical, but they were intense and struggling for everything to the point you could almost believe they weren't cooperating. They gave it purpose. Unfortunately, as the match progressed, they reverted back to the more standard way of doing things. The match also had its share of down time. The athletic sequences were very graceful though, and it was a nice mix of styles. Tiger did 2 elbow drops and a somersault senton within 4 seconds. He also did an impressive All Japan style backdrop. The highlight was when Kobayashi stopped Tiger's rounding body press by punching him to the floor because Tiger took the bump off the top straight to the floor instead of the requisite landing on the apron and rolling off. Kobayashi followed with a pescado then back in the ring he got inexplicably aggressive tying Tiger in the tree of woe and stomping him until well after he was DQ'd, as well as trying to rip his mask. Oddly, the opening was the best wrestled portion. 16:56. ****
11/4/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight & NWA World Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Tiger was extremely spectacular here, even by his own standards. His offense had evolved considerably, so now he was able to use his athleticism to sometimes do damage while gaining the advantage. He basically decided he was going to show off every chance he got. This wasn't an exhibition of spots though because Kobayashi was trying to ground Tiger, theoretically doing his best to keep it where he had the advantage and prevent Tiger from doing his thing. Also, Tiger used his aerial manuevers and suplexes to set up submissions. There were all kinds of highlights, many of which were well thought out. For instance, the great opening where Tiger jumped off the top as always, but this time he immediately jumped again, dropkicking a surprised Kobayashi to the floor then catching him with a suicida. It was one of the only times that it wasn't annoying that they didn't scrap the intros and keep fighting because the ref was holding Kobayashi back the whole time. Another smart spot saw Kobayashi retain the advantage even though Tiger landed on his feet for a back body drop because knowing what Tiger is capable of, Kobayashi immediately turned around and dropkicked him before Tiger could try a move. Tiger's backflip double kneedrop is one of the greatest athletic moves because you have to be a supreme athlete to do the backflip from the standing position and it's one of the rare aerial moves that would actually do noteworthy damage. This match continued where the 10/26 one left off with Kobayashi this time succeeding in ripping Tiger's mask, which changed the result from a probable Tiger count out to a Kobayashi DQ. Tiger was incensed at the mask ripping and "lost it, tying Kobayashi in the tree of woe and kicking him repeatedly. The post match was pretty amazing because one guy would kick the crap out of the other until he was restrained then the other would quickly recover and gain the advantage because he didn't have anyone in his way. Even though it was silly and not properly sold, it was very memorable and a major heat/hate generator. 13:38. ****3/4
Wonderland Junior #19
2/3/83 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada. Tiger's best matches come when the opponent is calling and setting him up, but Hamada is also a technico and not one to carry a match. Hamada still dictated more than Tiger, but he was going in dull direction rather than making it a battle of perhaps the two best athletes in the division. Poor development, a surprising amount of wear down locks, and Hamada not being that sharp resulted in one of Tiger's least memorable title matches. 17:19. **3/4
6/2/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Crown Decision Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Kobayashi believed in a big start before getting into the body of the match. I agree with this mentality when there actually is a body because it grabs the crowds attention and buys you some time to develop the match without them getting impatient. Kobayashi made it work for him the way few have though because having already done some damage made his submissions more credible. Though the match started as a sprint, the way they came out fired up and intense and kept the success rate low showed the urgency and importance. I mean, these guys were just dead set on not letting the other get the advantage. At the same time, the match was extremely well choreographed. There were new sequences like Tiger landing on his feet for a back body drop, avoiding a 360 kick, then hitting a rounding high kick. They knew when to use the moves and how to incorporate them. Kobayashi stopped Tiger's reverse diving body attack by sticking his knee out for a stomach breaker then followed with a traditional stomachbreaker and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. This was one of the few matches where you believed Tiger could lose. The fans were going nuts toward the end, especially when it appeared Kobayashi was 1 move away from victory. Unfortunately, after so much brilliance the finisher was real lame and slow, not to mention probably a bad call by the ref. 18:03. ****3/4
#134 6/10/97 taped 11/4/82 Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
#135 6/11/97 taped 12/10/82 Kuramae Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Killer Khan & Tiger Toguchi
#136 6/12/97 taped 12/9/82 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Killer Khan & Tiger Toguchi vs. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dino Bravo
Antonio Inoki vs. Adrian Adonis
#137 6/13/97 taped 1/6/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
Kengo Kimura vs. Jesse Ventura
Seiji Sakaguchi & Killer Khan vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
#122 12/9/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar vs. Killer Kahn & Tiger Toguchi (Kim Duk)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dino Bravo
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant
#123
12/10/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, 3rd MSG Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Killer Kahn & Tiger Toguchi
1/6/83 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Killer Kahn & Seiji Sakaguchi
#130
12/10/82 taped 12/10/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar vs. Andre The Giant & Dino Bravo
12/24/82 taped 12/9/82 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dino Bravo
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Adrian Adonis
Wonderland #132 taped 1/6/83 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kengo Kimura vs. Jesse Ventura
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
2/3/83 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Blackjack Mulligan & Killer Khan vs. Hulk Hogan & Seiji Sakaguchi
Heisei #29 taped 10/14/96
Osamu Kido & Junji Hirata vs. Lord Steven Regal & David Taylor
SG Tag League Match: Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima
SG Tag League Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka
NJPW Wonderland #124 taped 1/6/83 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. This wasn't quite as good as their previous matches because Kobayashi was more successful in grounding Tiger. It was probably the closest pre-UWF Tiger Mask match to what he'd go on to do as Super Tiger in the UWF, but it wasn't as intense as their last couple of matches. In between Kobayashi's judo and Tiger's kicks and submissions they'd still do the Lucha segments, with Kobayashi being the workman who set Tiger up for several explosive comebacks. The fighting out of the ring was articularly notable. Tiger jumped so far on his dive over the top that he cleared Kobayashi's head and landed on the guard rail. There was a great segment where Kobayashi hit a pescado, but Tiger reversed his whip into the bars. Kobayashi stopped Tiger from reentering though and suplexed him, but Tiger just slid back in at 19. Another cool sequence on the outside saw Tiger run Kobayashi into the ring post then German suplex him when he bounced off. Match wasn't as consistently good as some of their others since it went so long, but Kobayashi had a better chance of winning since it was more his style and thus he was in control more. 23:09. ****1/4
Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Rusher Kimura
Heisei #30
10/14/96: Norio Honaga & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Yutaka Yoshie
10/16/96
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Nishimura vs. Osamu Kido & Tadao Yasuda
Yuji Nagata & Junji Hirata vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima
Keiji Muto & Rick Steiner vs. Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki
Wonderland #126
1/6/83 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Kengo Kimura vs. Jessie Ventura
2/3/83 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Hulk Hogan & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Killer Khan & Blackjack Mulligan
4/21/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Akira Maeda vs. Paul Orndorff. Karl Gotch was in Maeda's corner. Started typically with moves out of the lock up and arm bar, but then Maeda did a front suplex, a lame knee kick, and pinned Orndorff in a bridging suplex. 3:33
4/21/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF International Heavyweight Title: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami. Crowd was extremely loud. Fast started leading to an early figure 4 by Fujinami. He kept on the knee leading to a sasorigatame attempt. Fujiname had a taped up knee that Choshu went after. Choshu got frustrated when Fujinami escaped a few sasorigatames, so he hung Fujinami over the guard rail for the screw job. A pity because the early portion was very good. Choshu attacked a hobbling Fujinami after the match. Fujinami would try to get up and take revenge, but he could hardly stand. 13:58. ***1/4
#138 6/16/97 taped 2/3/83 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Seiji Sakaguchi & Hulk Hogan vs. Killer Khan & Blackjack Mulligan
Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
#139 6/17/97 taped 4/21/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
1/6/83 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi
Akira Maeda vs. Paul Orndorff
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid
Heisei #29
10/14/96: Tadao Yasuda & Osamu Nishimura & Yuji Nagata vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara
10/25/96 Takasaki-shi Sogo Taiikukan: Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki & Junji Hirata vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara
10/16/96, SG Tag League Match: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka
#125 taped 2/3/83 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada. Tiger's best matches come when the opponent is calling and setting him up, but Hamada is also a technico and not one to carry a match. Hamada still dictated more than Tiger, but he was going in dull direction rather than making it a battle of perhaps the two best athletes in the division. Poor development, a surprising amount of wear down locks, and Hamada not being that sharp resulted in one of Tiger's least memorable title matches. 17:19. **3/4
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami. Choshu was really intense. He & Saito pretty much stomped and used dull lengthy submissions for the entire match. Inoki, who was actually the one beaten on here, finally came back without Fujinami's help and pinned Saito. 15:06. **1/4
#140 6/18/97 taped 4/21/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
5/6/83 Fukuoka Sports Center
Killer Khan vs. Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#141 6/19/97 taped 5/20/83 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Killer Khan vs. Akira Maeda
Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd
Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
Wonderland #32 taped 10/25/96 Takasaki-shi Sogo Taiikukan
Yugi Nagata & Shinjiro Otani vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai
Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Nishimura vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka
SG Tag League Match: Keiji Muto & Rick Steiner vs. Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi
NJPW Wonderland #127 taped 4/21/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
Wonderland #33 taped 10/28/96 Kagoshima Kenritsu Gym
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Norio Honaga
Yuji Nagata & Osamu Nishimura & Tadao Yasuda vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido & Takashi Iizuka
10/25/96 Takasaki-shi Sogo Taiikukan, SG Tag League Match: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton
Wonderland #128 taped 5/6/83 Fukuoka-shi Sports Center
Big John Studd & Enrique Vera vs. Akira Maeda & Seiji Sakaguchi
IWGP Decision League Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Killer Khan. Khan was not able to get anything out of Hogan, who was his typical deliberate and phony self. Aside from a few of Hogan's patented punchs of his own hand there was nothing embarrassing, but it was unskilled and dull. Hogan didn't Hulk up in these days, so he just stopped selling when he was finally successful in reentering the ring and put Khan away. 10:57. *1/2
IWGP Decision League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant. Inoki knocked Andre down withing 30 seconds with a missed enzuigiri. Inoki went full force when he had Andre down, but it quickly got slow and grew progressively slower. The coolest thing about Andre was how he'd kick out by heaving his opponent off him. I felt this really added to his aura as an unstoppable mass. Inoki did an enzuigiri style kick to Andre's arm and tried to start attacking that appendage, but Andre dumped him over the top for the typical screw job. Neither really got anywhere with one another. 11:54. 1/2*
Wonderland Heisei #34 taped 10/28/96 Kagoshima Kenritsu Gym
Hiro Saito vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
SG Tag League Match: Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Keiji Muto & Rick Steiner
Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata & Scott Norton vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi
#129 taped 5/19/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Akira Maeda vs. Killer Khan
IWGP Decision League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Big John Studd
IWGP Decision League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
Wonderland Heisei #35
10/28/96 Kagoshima Kenritsu Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs. Akira Maeda & Kengo Kimura
11/1/96 Hiroshima Green Arena
Kazuyuki Fujita Debut Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
SG Tag League Match: Shinya Hashimoto & Scott Norton vs. Keiji Muto & Rick Steiner
#130 taped 5/27/83 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Akira Maeda
6/1/83: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Rusher Kimura
#142 6/20/97 taped 5/27/83 Takamatsu Civic Culture Center
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Akira Maeda
#143 6/23/97 taped 6/2/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
IWGP Heavyweight Title Decision IWGP League 1983 Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
#144 6/24/97 taped 5/30/83 Chiba Park Gym
Killer Khan & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Rusher Kimura & Isamu Teranishi
Akira Maeda vs. Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Andre the Giant & Big John Studd & El Canek
#145 6/25/97 taped 6/1/83 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Rusher Kimura vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki & Akira Maeda vs. Hulk Hogan & Big John Studd
Wonderland Heisei #36 taped 11/1/96 Hiroshima Green Arena
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Norio Honaga
Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Junji Hirata
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami & Satoshi Kojima
NJPW Wonderland #131 taped 6/2/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
Andre The Giant vs. Killer Khan
1st IWGP Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
NJPW Wonderland Heisei #37 BATTLE FINAL '96 taped 11/26/96 Hirosaki Shimin Taiikukan
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Yutaka Yoshie 7:50. *
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr. 9:30. **1/4
Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara & Akitoshi Saito vs. Tadao Yasuda & Osamu Nishimura & Yuji Nagata 12:51. ***
Keiji Muto & Junji Hirata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Power Warrior & Animal Warrior & Hawk Warrior 6:50 *
#132
6/2/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Crown Decision Match: Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Kobayashi believed in a big start before getting into the body of the match. I agree with this mentality when there actually is a body because it grabs the crowds attention and buys you some time to develop the match without them getting impatient. Kobayashi made it work for him the way few have though because having already done some damage made his submissions more credible. Though the match started as a sprint, the way they came out fired up and intense and kept the success rate low showed the urgency and importance. I mean, these guys were just dead set on not letting the other get the advantage. At the same time, the match was extremely well choreographed. There were new sequences like Tiger landing on his feet for a back body drop, avoiding a 360 kick, then hitting a rounding high kick. They knew when to use the moves and how to incorporate them. Kobayashi stopped Tiger's reverse diving body attack by sticking his knee out for a stomach breaker then followed with a traditional stomachbreaker and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. This was one of the few matches where you believed Tiger could lose. The fans were going nuts toward the end, especially when it appeared Kobayashi was 1 move away from victory. Unfortunately, after so much brilliance the finisher was real lame and slow, not to mention probably a bad call by the ref. 18:03. ****3/4
5/30/83 Chiba Koen Taiikukan
Akira Maeda vs. Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Andre The Giant & El Canek & Big John Studd
NJPW Wonderland Heisei #38 BATTLE FINAL '96 taped 11/26/96 Hirosaki Shimin Taiikukan
12/1/96 Nagoya Rainbow Hall: Akitoshi Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara vs. Yuji Nagata & Osamu Kido & Yutaka Yoshie
Shinya Hashimoto & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Kido
#132
6/1/83 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Akira Maeda vs. Hulk Hogan & Big John Studd
6/12/83 Mexico El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos 2/3 Falls WWF Junior Heavyweight Crown Decision Match: Tiger Mask vs. Fishman. The match was good when Fishman utilized Tiger's ability to roll out of moves to their advantage. It's always good when Tiger is on offense, but Fishman doesn't do much so it's hard for Tiger to have much of a match with him. Fishman did do one interesting move where he set Tiger on the second and threw him past the center of the ring, kind of like a press slam. The big mistake of the match was the fall Fishman won was the shortest. I'll write this (and it being much more contrived) off to it being Mexico, but Tiger always withstands tons more and never loses, so it was very hard to take. The pacing was very awkward with the match basically stopping then starting again, and Fishman stalled too much. Tiger sometimes found interesting ways out of Fishman's submissions, but as a whole they did more harm than good. Had it's moments though not as many as usual and wasn't as good in any other area to make up for that, but barring a series of miscues Tiger is entertaining enough that his presence guarantees a good match. 11:03, 4:37, & 6:53. ***
NJPW Wonderland Heisei #39 BATTLE FINAL '96 taped 12/7/96 Okayama-ken Taiikukan
Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Osamu Kido & Black Cat
Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito
12/1/96 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
Jushin Thunder Liger & El Samurai vs. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto
The Road Warriors vs. Satoshi Kojima & Tadao Yasuda
#132
5/30/83 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Killer Kahn & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Rusher Kimura & Isamu Teranishi
6/12/83 Mexico El Torneo De Cuatro Caminos UWA Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek
NJPW Wonderland Heisei #40 BATTLE FINAL '96 taped 12/1/96 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Keiji Muto & Osamu Nishimura
Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata
Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Takashi Iizuka
#135
6/1/83 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Andre The Giant vs. Killer Kahn
7/7/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Dick Murdock vs. Abdullah The Butcher
8/4/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Rusher Kimura vs. Animal Hamaguchi
#146 6/26/97 taped 6/12/83 Mexico El Torneo De Cuatro Camino
Tiger Mask vs. Fishman
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek
#147 6/27/97 taped 7/7/83 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Dick Murdoch vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#136
7/7/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi. What was Teranishi doing here? He's not athletic, has no offense, and was too clumsy and awkward for Tiger to do his thing with. He was killing the match with rest holds and incompetence, though that was an improvement over nearly killing Tiger early when he lost his balance near the ropes as Tiger was trying to monkey flip him, with Tiger's weight sending both over the top to the floor. Tiger needed to step up here, but he wasn't doing as much of interest as usual. What he did do didn't come off as well because Teranishi's positioning was suspect and selling so exaggerated. Kobayashi was in the front row, and he and Tiger got into it after Kobayashi gave Teranishi a boost to help him reenter following Tiger's suicida. Kobayashi attacked Tiger after the match, destroying Tiger's mask so we got a glimpse of his face before they went to the long shot, and running off with the title belt. 15:58. **1/4
8/4/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi. Tiger didn't have much confidence in Teranishi after the last debacle and was basically trying to figure out how he could have a good match without relying on his opponent to help him pull the spots off. He did a lot of kicking and knee dropping, but the submission stuff was totally dull without the movement and counters. The second half was action packed, though Tiger was still hardly Tiger, but had some problems because Teranishi reacts slowly and sometimes Tiger would clearly be waiting for him. Tiger was better here than in their first match, and I can't fault the adjustments he tried to make, but Teranishi is a hopeless wrestler that makes everything look worse than it should so they didn't really work. 14:35. *3/4
#137
7/7/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
8/4/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#136
7/7/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi. What was Teranishi doing here? He's not athletic, has no offense, and was too clumsy and awkward for Tiger to do his thing with. He was killing the match with rest holds and incompetence, though that was an improvement over nearly killing Tiger early when he lost his balance near the ropes as Tiger was trying to monkey flip him, with Tiger's weight sending both over the top to the floor. Tiger needed to step up here, but he wasn't doing as much of interest as usual. What he did do didn't come off as well because Teranishi's positioning was suspect and selling so exaggerated. Kobayashi was in the front row, and he and Tiger got into it after Kobayashi gave Teranishi a boost to help him reenter following Tiger's suicida. Kobayashi attacked Tiger after the match, destroying Tiger's mask so we got a glimpse of his face before they went to the long shot, and running off with the title belt. 15:58. **1/4
8/4/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi. Tiger didn't have much confidence in Teranishi after the last debacle and was basically trying to figure out how he could have a good match without relying on his opponent to help him pull the spots off. He did a lot of kicking and knee dropping, but the submission stuff was totally dull without the movement and counters. The second half was action packed, though Tiger was still hardly Tiger, but had some problems because Teranishi reacts slowly and sometimes Tiger would clearly be waiting for him. Tiger was better here than in their first match, and I can't fault the adjustments he tried to make, but Teranishi is a hopeless wrestler that makes everything look worse than it should so they didn't really work. 14:35. *3/4
#137
7/7/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
8/4/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#148 6/30/97 taped 8/4/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
Animal Hamaguchi vs. Rusher Kimura
Tiger Mask vs. Isamu Teranishi
Riki Choshu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#149 7/1/97 taped 8/13/83 Edmonton Stampede Pavilion
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Athol Foley
Kuniaki Kobayashi & The Cobra vs. Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart
Animal Hamaguchi vs. Bret Hart
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Don Kolov
#150 7/2/97 taped 9/2/83 Fukuoka Sports Center
Akira Maeda vs. Killer Khan
Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdock
Animal Hamaguchi vs. Rusher Kimura
International Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#151 7/3/97 taped 9/21/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Akira Maeda vs. Dick Murduch & Tony St. Clair
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
#152 7/4/97 taped 10/14/83 Osaka-fu Rinkai Sports Center
Akira Maeda vs. Paul Orndorff
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
11/3/83 NWA Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Davey Boy Smith
#153 7/7/97 taped 11/3/83 Kuramae Kokugikan
New Japan Regular Army vs. Restoration Army 4vs4 Tug of War Match:
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Animal Hamaguchi
Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan
Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
#140 taped 9/21/83 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Akira Maeda vs. Dick Murduch & Tony St. Clair
Antonio Inoki vs. Rusher Kimura
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#141 taped 10/14/83 Osaka-fu Rinkai Sports Center
Big John Studd vs. Killer Kahn
Akira Maeda vs. Paul Orndorff
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
#154 7/8/97 taped 11/25/83 Takasaki City Central Gym
10/14/83 Osaka-fu Takaishi Rinkai Sports Center: Killer Khan vs. Big John Studd
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Andre the Giant & Swede Hanson
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch
#155 7/9/97 taped 12/2/83 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
NJPW Wonderland #144 taped 11/25/83
Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Animal Hamaguchi & Riki Choshu
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Andre The Giant & Swede Hanson
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis
#145 12/2/83 Kagoshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant. DUD
#156 7/10/97 taped 12/7/83 Takamatsu Civic Culture Center
Killer Khan vs. Andre the Giant
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda
12/30/83 Vancouver Agrodome: Antonio Inoki vs. Kerry Brown
#157 7/11/97 taped 1/6/84 Korakuen Hall
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Bad News Allen
Isamu Teranishi vs. Dynamite Kid
Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. The Cobra
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dusty Rhodes & Buddy Rose
NJPW Wonderland #146 taped 12/7/83 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center
Andre The Giant vs. Killer Khan
4th MSG Tag League Finalist Team Decision Match Yushosen Shinshutsu Team Ketteisen (team advance to final decision match): Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdock vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Antonio Inoki & Hulk Hogan. 1/2*
#147 taped 12/19/83 Vancouver Agro Dome
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiro Saito. Takada's execution was sharp, but he was still developing his offense. **3/4
The Cobra & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart. Solid 80's style match. **1/4
Antonio Inoki vs. Kerry Brown. 1/2*
NJPW Wonderland #148 taped 1/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Junior Heavyweight Champion Decision League Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Isamu Teranishi. Match was above *** when Dynamite was on offense kicking Teranishi's ass, but no better than * when Teranishi was putting me to sleep with his restmissions. **
Bad News Allen & Abdullah The Butcher vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dusty Rhodes & Buddy Rose
#149
1/6/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, Junior Heavyweight Champion Decision League Match: The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Intense, heated match with very good drama. Kobayashi bleeds. At one point Cobra sidesteps a suicida, sending Kobayashi right into the security rail. ***1/2
1/27/84 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: The Cobra vs. Dynamite Kid
2/23/84: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mike Sharpe & Hulk Hogan
#158 7/14/97 taped 1/27/84 Aichi Prefectural Gym
The Cobra vs. Dynamite Kid
Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bad News Allen
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan & Larry Sharpe
2/3/84 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#159 7/15/97 taped 2/3/84 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
12/30/83 Vancouver Agrodome: Tatsumi Fujinami & The Cobra vs. Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart
Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith
Antonio Inoki & Akira Maeda vs. Hulk Hogan & Larry Sharpe
NJPW Wonderland #150 taped 2/3/84 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Badnews Allen & Rusher Kimura vs. Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi
Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith
Hulk Hogan & Mike Sharp vs. Antonio Inoki & Akira Maeda
WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#151 taped 2/9/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Hulk Hogan vs. Rusher Kimura
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Antonio Inoki & Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Another excellent Kobayashi opening with Tiger entering with his backflip only to have Kobayashi knock him to the floor with a spinning high kick then follow with a suicida. He pulled Cobra's jacket off and tossed it into the crowd, but Cobra didn't react to any of this and just waited for the intros. Aside from the lack of fire, the other big difference was Cobra didn't react to/counter Kobayashi's stuff nearly as well as Tiger. He just kind of waited for his chance to go on offense, which really hurt Kobayashi's submissions since they didn't seem like anything to worry about. Kobayashi was Kobayashi, but Cobra didn't play off him and had some obvious flubs so it was nothing special. 14:29. ***
#160 7/16/97 taped 2/9/84 Osaka Prefectural Gym
The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Rusher Kimura vs. Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
#161 7/17/97 taped 3/16/84 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Ed Leslie
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
3/22/84 Amagasaki City Gym: Kantaro Hoshino & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi
NJPW Wonderland #152 taped 3/16/84 Kagoshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Adrian Adonis vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu
Dick Murdock & Ed Leslie vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura. *
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi. *1/4
#153 taped 3/22/84 Amagasaki-shi Taiikukan
Nobuhiko Takada & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis
Animal Hamaguchi & Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
#162 7/18/97 taped 3/22/84 Amagasaki City Gym
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
3/30/84 Korakuen Hall
Norio Honaga & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar & Don Muraco
#163 7/21/97 taped 3/16/84 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Ed Leslie
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi
3/22/84 Amagasaki City Gym: Kantaro Hoshino & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi
#164 7/22/97 taped 3/30/84 Korakuen Hall
3/22/84 Amagasaki City Gym: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
Nobuhiko Takada & Norio Honaga vs. Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar & Don Muraco
#165 7/23/97 taped 4/17/84 Tokushima City Gym
Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Elijah Akeem & Kareem Muhammad & Hercules Ayala
Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
5/11/84 Fukuoka International Sports Center
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Andre the Giant vs. Ken Patera
Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
NJPW Wonderland #154 taped 4/18/84 Ogaki-shi Sports Center
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Bruce Hart
Kengo Kimura & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi. *1/4
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masked Superstar & Hercules Ayala
5/11/84 Fukuoka Sports Center IWGP League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Ken Patera. DUD
#155 taped 5/11/84 Fukuoka Sports Center
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito. **1/2
IWGP League Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki
5/18/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Hulk Hogan & Masked Superstar vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis
NJPW Wonderland #156 taped 5/18/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
IWGP League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
IWGP League Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
5/24/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Andre The Giant vs. Seiji Sekaguchi
IWGP League Match: Dick Murduch vs. Adrian Adonis
#157
5/24/84: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
6/1/84 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu
IWGP League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Riki Choshu
#166 7/24/97 taped 5/18/84 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym
Hulk Hogan & Masked Superstar vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
5/24/84 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre the Giant
#167 7/25/97 taped 5/24/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP League Match: Dick Murduch vs. Adrian Adonis
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
6/1/84 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center: IWGP League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Riki Choshu
#168 7/28/97 taped 6/1/84 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu
Antonio Inoki vs. Adrian Adonis
8/2/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
#169 7/29/97 taped 6/14/84 Kuramae Kokugikan
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murduch & Ken Patera
'84 IWGP Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki
#170 7/30/97 taped 6/11/84 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Hulk Hogan & Masked Superstar
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Adrian Adonis
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#171 7/31/97 taped 8/24/84 Korakuen Hall
8/2/84 Kuramae Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. David Schultz
Riki Choshu vs. Bob Backlund
Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Roger Smith & Duke Myers
NJPW Wonderland #158
6/14/84 Kuramae Kokugikan: Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murduch & Ken Patera
8/2/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. David Schultz
Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
Wonderland #159 taped 6/11/84 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Hulk Hogan & Masked Superstar
IWGP League Match: Andre The Giant vs. Antonio Inoki
IWGP League Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Adrian Adonis
NJPW Wonderland #160
6/1/84 Takamatsu Shimin Bunka Center, IWGP League Match: Adrian Adonis vs. Antonio Inoki
6/14/84 Kuramae Kokugikan, IWGP League Final: Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki
#161
8/2/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Again, Cobra showed a lot of promise. He was much more aggressive here, attacking Kobayashi before the bell for revenge, including ripping his T-shirt up and choking him with it. Kobayashi didn't get into his submissions today, which was for the best given the opponent. Instead, they did a more out of control (in the good way) match, which made sense because the rivalry was escalating. I thought they really put a lot of heat on the program here, with the final minutes being very exciting and dramatic. The finish was totally stupid though. Why would the challenger suplex the champ into the crowd when he's so close to winning the title and knows they have the corniest of rules that the match ends when both guys are propelled into the crowd? I mean, how hard is it really to turn the guy 90 degrees and drop him on the floor, which does more damage anyway? 15:04. ***3/4
8/24/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Riki Choshu vs. Bob Backlund
8/2/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Roger Smith & Duke Myers
9/7/84 Fukuoka Sports Center
Riki Choshu vs. Greg Valentine
Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Machine
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Abdullah The Butcher
9/20/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Cronic
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine
Ishu Kakutogisen 3Min 10Rd: Antonio Inoki vs. Anoaro Atisanoe
#172 8/3/97 taped 9/7/84 Fukuoka International Center
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Abdullah the Butcher
Riki Choshu vs. Greg Valentine
Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Machine
#173 8/4/97
8/2/84 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
9/20/84 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Antonio Inoki vs. Anoaro Atisanoe
4/19/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
9/18/84 Aichi Konan Shimin Taiikukan
Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi vs. Tony St. Clair & Greg Valentine
Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Norio Honaga
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi
10/19/84 Region Plaza Indoor Stadium
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton. JIP
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 & Hiro Saito
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
Wonderland #167
8/3/84 taped 8/2/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Tatsumi Fujinami & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Roger Smith & Duke Myers
9/17/84 taped 9/7 Fukuoka Sports Center: Riki Choshu vs. Greg Valentine
Wonderland #168
8/24/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Riki Choshu vs. Bob Backlund
9/7/84 Fukuoka Sports Center
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Abdullah The Butcher
Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Machine
#174 8/5/97 taped 9/18/84 Konan City Gym
Kantaro Hoshino & Norio Honaga vs. The Strong Machine #1 & 2
Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Greg Valentine & Tony St. Clair
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi & Yoshiaki Yatsu
#175 8/6/97 taped 10/19/84 Joetsu Region Plaza Indoor Stadium
9/20/84 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Kantaro Hoshino & Kuroneko vs. The Strong Machines #1 & #2
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton Jr.
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Strong Machine #1 & #2 & Hiro Saito
Wonderland #169
9/18/84: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi
9/20/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan:
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine
Ishu Kakutogisen 3Min 10Rd: Antonio Inoki vs. Anoaro Atisanoe
NJPW Wonderland #170
9/20/84 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Cronic
9/18/84 Aichi Konan Shimin Taiikukan : Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi vs. Tony St. Clair & Greg Valentine
10/19/84:
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 & Hiro Saito
NJPW Wonderland #171
9/18/84: Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Norio Honaga
10/19/84 NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan, WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton
NJPW Wonderland #172
12/6/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdock 11:08. ***
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan:
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & No. 2 11:06. *
Wonderland Junior #26
10/19/84 NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger. Simplistic match. Started strong, but it was mainly highspots without sequences and they lack the firepower to keep this up for 14 minutes. There was really no interplay between the two, just switching control when someone missed. Why is it that the junors in the early to mid 80's did tombstone piledrivers so much more impressive than we've seen since the Underfaker adopted it? Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask, & Cobra all had totally wicked tombstones. Cobra, unfortunately, was not very creative at all. He did actually do a new move here that was like a huracanrana except he tried to hook his opponents back rather than their neck, but it looked really bad and despite winning with it he never did it in any of the other title matches. Good action, but you felt like it should have been better. 13:58. ***
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger. This time they did a lot more mat wrestling, inserting short spurts of action in between. On one hand this made more sense, but on the other they probably avoided the mat in the previous match more because neither are that strong there. If the mat didn't seem like rest holds and would have led to some damage accumulating this would have exceeded the 10/19 match, but it wasn't well thought out and kind of flat. Tiger attacked Cobra after the match then came back and broke his trophy. Cobra fought back and got some revenge, though is trophy was still ruined. If they did this before their first match it would have heated up this one, but instead you had a somewhat dull match building to a rematch (12/28) that wasn't helped by it since it was in America (perhaps that wasn't known at the time though?). 13:49. **3/4
2/19/85 Honolulu, Hawaii NBC Arena NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Ricky Magnet 5:58. Magnet was short enough to be a junior, but round enough to bounce. And all along I thought the only juniors announced as weighing 245 pounds were ones that shared their father's first name. This was the basic do moves until you miss style that Cobra reverted to when he wasn't familiar with the opponent or the opponent wasn't good enough to do most of the dirtywork for him. It was passable since it was so short, but Magnet had no business in any title match and Cobra doesn't raise the level of any opponent. *1/4
Wonderland Junior #27
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito. Hiro was fairly athletic in these days and even seemed liked he belonged in this division. It's weird to write, but it was faster-paced and more exciting because of him. The match was good, but suddenly it had this terrible DQ out of nowhere. This was perhaps designed to get heat back onto the junior title matches, which were growing increasingly deader, but in any case no one reacted to Hiro's long post match attack. 11:21. **3/4
5/31/85 Saitama Omiya Shimin Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiro Saito vs. Tony St. Claire. Danny Hodge was the ref and Cobra was watching from the front row. St. Claire was an old style technician that would have been a good opponent for Fujinami, but Hiro wasn't schooled in headlocks and headscissors. The crowd was dead and the match was a failure because of the style clash. Short and directionless. 8:48. *1/2
8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa. Arakawa was really over. It must have been one of those in jokes like with Ryuma Go because he was laugh out loud bad. Ironically, when he was trying to do comedy he was never nearly this funny. Arakawa had a good martial arts stance, but he hit like a fairy. It's even so much how bad Arakawa does things, but that he looks so ridiculous doing them even when they come out the way he wants. Arakawa took just about nothing and sold even less, but after hitting his German suplex Cobra for some reason popped up and did his own German suplex for the win. 9:57. *
#176 8/7/97 taped 11/1/84 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
WWF International Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton Jr.
Antonio Inoki vs. The Strong Machine #1
#177 8/10/97 taped 11/30/84 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Andre the Giant & Kerry Brown vs. Wild Samoan & Anoaro Atisanoe
Kengo Kimura vs. Adrian Adonis
MSG Tag League: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. The Strong Machines #1 & #2
11/30/84 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Adrian Adonis vs. Kengo Kimura
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan
WWF International Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Cowboy Bob Orton
Antonio Inoki & vs. Strong Machine No. 2
12/6/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
11/30/84 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Andre The Giant vs. The Strong Machines No. 1 & No. 2
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan: Kantaro Hoshino vs. Hiro Saito
12/6/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Antonio Inoki & Andre The Giant vs. The Strong Machines No. 1 & No. 2
Super Heavyweight Battle Royal
12/8/84 Philippines Quezon Araneta Coliseum: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tiger Toguchi (Chung Lee) vs. Jerry Morrow & Kerry Brown
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan
Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. The Strong Machines No. 1 & No. 2
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Toguchi vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis & Andre The Giant
#178 8/11/97 taped 12/6/84 Hiroshima Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch
Antonio Inoki & Andre the Giant vs. The Strong Machines #1 & #2
Battle Royal
#179 8/12/97 taped 12/3/84 Okayama Budokan
Kantaro Hoshino vs. Hiro Saito
Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. The Strong Machines #1 & #2
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Toguchi vs Andre the Giant & Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
#170 taped 12/8/84
WWF Tag Title: Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
Andre the Giant vs. Antonio Inoki
1/18/85: King Kong Bundy vs. Seiji Sekaguchi
#171 taped 1/18/85
The Cobra & Samson Fuyuki vs. Black Tiger Rocco & Norio Honaga
Super Strong Machines vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura
1/25/85: King Kong Bundy vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#180 8/13/97 taped 12/8/84 Philippines
Tiger Toguchi & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Kerry Brown & Gerry Morrow
WWF World Tag Title: Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#181 8/14/97 taped 1/16/85 Yachiyo City General Gym
The Cobra & Shunji Takano vs. Hiro Saito & Black Tiger
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machine #1 & 2 & 3
Wonderland #173
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan: Kantaro Hoshino vs. Hiro Saito
11/30/84 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Kengo Kimura vs. Adrian Adonis
12/6/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Super Heavyweight Battle Royal
11/1/84 Tokyo Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Machine No. 2
Wonderland #174
12/6/84 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Andre The Giant vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & Strong Machine No. 2
12/8/84 Philippines Quezon Araneta Coliseum: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tiger Toguchi (Chung Lee) vs. Jerry Morrow & Kerry Brown
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Tiger Toguchi vs. Andre The Giant & Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis
Wonderland #175
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & Strong Machine No. 2
12/28/84 Phillipines, WWF World Tag Title: Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura 18:17. US plotting with heels controlling the bulk of the match, keeping the face cut off from his corner and double teaming in their own. Fujinami & Kimura tended to wait until the last few minutes to deliver the action, so this worked well for them because they'd get a minute of hot offense when they were finally able to tag, spreading the action across the match rather than withholding it. Adonis & Murdock, aside from being smart tag wrestlers, also have much better offense than most of the faces of their day, so in spite of being heels the duo dominating the match actually helped the quality. Murdock & Fujinami were both very impressive, clearly outshining their partners. Fujinami was particularly fiery in stretches, which showed how great he could have been. He was NJ's best heavyweight of the decade because of his technical skill and diversity, but he actually had some of Choshu's fire in him, he just didn't show it often enough or with any consistency. ***1/2
1/18/85: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy
Wonderland #176 taped 1/18/85 Kumamoto
Shunji Takano & The Cobra vs. Black Tiger & Hiro Saito 12:09. Hiro's brawler push continues in this mixed bag. Black Tiger does by far the best wrestling, with Cobra having a good day with sharp execution for once and good chemistry with Tiger. Shunji is much taller than everyone else and not a junior, nor much of a worker, but he had a bad knee that they beat on to make his time passable. Hiro didn't have any chemistry with anyone, but Ueda was at ringside and eventually jumped in, causing a wild postmatch brawl where Shunji was beaten bloody and Fujinami eventually made the save. **3/4
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machines 15:41. Fans were into this, but I found it rather dull and run of the mill. Hard to get into the Machines when they are one in the same, they don't even bother giving them numbers or doing anything to distinguish one from the other. They did a lot of triple teaming. Fujinami was fired up and it went up several notches each time he came in. *3/4
1/25/85: Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah The Butcher
1/25/85 Tokuyama-shi Taiikukan
Kantaro Hoshino & The Cobra & Shunji Takano vs. The Strong Machines No. 1 & No. 2 & No. 3
Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah The Butcher
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Keiichi Yamada (Liger) & Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. The Strong Machine No. 1-4
The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito. Hiro was fairly athletic in these days and even seemed liked he belonged in this division. It's weird to write, but it was faster-paced and more exciting because of him. The match was good, but suddenly it had this terrible DQ out of nowhere. This was perhaps designed to get heat back onto the junior title matches, which were growing increasingly deader, but in any case no one reacted to Hiro's long post match attack. 11:21. **3/4
Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
King Kong Bundy vs. Antonio Inoki
NJPW Wonderland #175
12/3/84 Okayama Budokan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machine No. 1 & Strong Machine No. 2
12/28/84 Phillipines, WWF World Tag Title: Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura 18:17. US plotting with heels controlling the bulk of the match, keeping the face cut off from his corner and double teaming in their own. Fujinami & Kimura tended to wait until the last few minutes to deliver the action, so this worked well for them because they'd get a minute of hot offense when they were finally able to tag, spreading the action across the match rather than withholding it. Adonis & Murdock, aside from being smart tag wrestlers, also have much better offense than most of the faces of their day, so in spite of being heels the duo dominating the match actually helped the quality. Murdock & Fujinami were both very impressive, clearly outshining their partners. Fujinami was particularly fiery in stretches, which showed how great he could have been. He was NJ's best heavyweight of the decade because of his technical skill and diversity, but he actually had some of Choshu's fire in him, he just didn't show it often enough or with any consistency. ***1/2
1/18/85: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. King Kong Bundy
Wonderland #176 taped 1/18/85 Yatsushiro General Gym
Shunji Takano & The Cobra vs. Black Tiger & Hiro Saito 12:09. Hiro's brawler push continues in this mixed bag. Black Tiger does by far the best wrestling, with Cobra having a good day with sharp execution for once and good chemistry with Tiger. Shunji is much taller than everyone else and not a junior, nor much of a worker, but he had a bad knee that they beat on to make his time passable. Hiro didn't have any chemistry with anyone, but Ueda was at ringside and eventually jumped in, causing a wild postmatch brawl where Shunji was beaten bloody and Fujinami eventually made the save. **3/4
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Strong Machines 15:41. Fans were into this, but I found it rather dull and run of the mill. Hard to get into the Machines when they are one in the same, they don't even bother giving them numbers or doing anything to distinguish one from the other. They did a lot of triple teaming. Fujinami was fired up and it went up several notches each time he came in. *3/4
1/25/85 Tokuyama-shi Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah The Butcher
NJPW Wonderland #177 taped 1/25/85 Tokuyama-shi Taiikukan
Shunji Takano & Kantaro Hoshino & The Cobra vs. Strong Machines
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. King Kong Bundy
12/8/84 Phillipines: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
#179 taped 2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino & Shunji Takano vs. The Strong Machines No. 1 & No. 2 & No. 3
Antonio Inoki vs. King Kong Bundy
#182 8/17/97 taped 1/25/85 Tokushima City Gym
The Cobra & Shunji Takano & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Strong Machines #1 & #2 & #3
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. King Kong Bundy
Antonio Inoki vs. Abdullah the Butcher
#183 8/18/97 taped 2/5/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Kantaro Hoshino & Kengo Kimura & Shunji Takano vs. Strong Machines
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
Antonio Inoki vs. King Kong Bundy
#174 taped 2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan 13:24. Meeting of the "best" Japan and US had to offer during the 80's could predictably be described as comical. One is completely serious and a master of his craft, the other is an artificial fruitcake concerned with everything but what he's purportedly there to do. The sad thing about this match is Hogan actually tried. He's such an inept technical wrestler it's funny, one often wonders how someone so amatuerish even made it out of wrestling school until they remember most of the promoters didn't care about wrestling either. Hogan actually executed a handful of moves credibly, and at least when he's a heel his constant stalling can be slightly justified as being done to incite the crowd (though of course we know he roided away what stamina he might have had). Hogan even bladed at the end. But any "highlight" was overwhelmed by minutes of clumsy boredom. *1/4
Antonio Inoki vs. King Kong Bundy
#175
2/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino & Shunji Takano vs. Strong Machines No. 1-3
2/14/85 Honolulu, Hawaii NBC Arena NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Ricky Magnet 5:58. Magnet was short enough to be a junior, but round enough to bounce. And all along I thought the only juniors announced as weighing 245 pounds were ones that shared their father's first name. This was the basic do moves until you miss style that Cobra reverted to when he wasn't familiar with the opponent or the opponent wasn't good enough to do most of the dirtywork for him. It was passable since it was so short, but Magnet had no business in any title match and Cobra doesn't raise the level of any opponent. *1/4
2/14/85 Honolulu, Hawaii Neal Blaisdell Center
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Higgins
#184 8/19/97 taped 2/6/85 Osaka Prefectural Gym
WWF World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
15.000 Dollar Bodyslam Challenge: Antonio Inoki vs. King Kong Bundy
#185 8/20/97 taped 2/22/85 Hawaii MBC Arena
Polynesian Pacific Tag Title: Super Samoan Sakari & Super Fly Chu vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Anoaro Atisanoe
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Ritchie Magnet
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine #1
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Higgins
#186 8/21/97
9/20/84 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Greg Valentine
1/27/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino & Tatsutoshi Goto & Keiichi Yamada vs. Strong Machines
2/3/85 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
#187 8/22/97 taped 3/8/85 Yokohama Cultural Gym
Umanosuke Ueda & Hiro Saito vs. Strong Machines
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Bad News Allen & Leroy Brown
Antonio Inoki vs. David Schultz
#176
2/14/85 Honolulu, Hawaii Neal Blaisdell Center: Superfly Tui & Sakalia vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Anoaro Atisanoee
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Bad News Allen & Leroy Brown
Strong Machines 1 & 2 vs. Umanoseke Ueda & Hiro Saito 7:51. Out of control brawl. Ueda & Hiro can wreak some havoc, but they were overwhelmed by the Machine army, which was 4 plus manager Wakamatsu. Ueda bled early and Hiro bled heavily, his fake white hair colored red by the time the Machines were stopped. Not a good match, but it accomplished what it set out to do and was something different. **
Antoni Inoki vs. David Schultz 9:33. Atrocious and phony. Schultz was given every opportunity to display his awful cartoonish overselling as Inoki dominated the match. For some reason Inoki couldn't keep his temper under control. Schultz second had to make the save and they beat Inoki up, driving his head into a table. 1/2*
#177
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Hiroka Hara vs. Shunji Kosugi
3/15/85 Kagoshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Pat Kelly & Mike Kelly
4/18/85 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Billy Jack (Haynes)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Strong Machine #1
#178
3/8/85 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan: Keiji Muto vs. Masahiro Chono 14:22. 5 months into their career you could already see that at least Muto was going to be top notch. Solid well executed match. A bit dull, but they mixed things up pretty well and usually had something going on. Muto was such a great athlete that he was allowed to do some high spots, finishing Chono off with his space rolling elbow then moonsault. If they didn't have big plans for him he could already have been pushed in the junior division (granted it was at it's weakest). Chono was fine, but he didn't have an identity or a style yet, he seemed to be well trained but lack a direction. **
4/18/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody 26:16. These two worked extremely well together, and the match was elevated by the fans eating everything they did up. Just amazing heat. Inoki wore an athletic supporter under a mass of tape on his bum left arm, which Brody went right after, damaging it with a powerslam of all things. Inoki's rare offense knocked Brody back, but not off his feat. Even the first enzuigiri only staggered him. The second knocked him briefly onto one knee, but finally the third knocked him down onto both knees. Unfortunately they failed to capitalize on what they set up early, with the arm totally forgotten and Inoki having blown his best move to minimal effect. The fans stayed highly involved though, and get particularly excited when Inoki applies the manjigatame. They get something going again when some big spots lead to a Brody knee injury. Brody is one of the few no sellers that is actually a good seller and utilizes no selling to make it meaningful when he does indeed sell. As Inoki continued to attack the appendage Brody actually got a bloody knee. Brody is so tough that even beating on him takes something from the opponent, with Inoki being too spent to cover immediately on his backdrop allowing Brody to just kick out. They kept teasing every form of screw job, which was supposed to add to the drama, and did get reactions, but the problem was this was what you dreaded. The beginning was excellent, but didn't set up the match they did. The ending was excellent, but the egos prevent them from providing closure. The middle was somewhat wasted, but had enough good (for them) moves to keep things interesting. ***1/2
#179
4/18/85 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: 1st Young Lion Cup Final: Keiichi Yamada vs. Shunji Kosugi
5/10/85 Fukuoka Sports Center: Kantaro Hoshino & The Cobra vs. El Canek & Hiro Saito
4/12/85 Osaka: Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Jack
#188 8/25/97 taped 3/22/85 Amagasaki Gym
1st Young Lion Cup: Shunji Kosugi vs. Hirokazu Hata
1st Young Lion Cup: Masahiro Chono vs. Keiji Muto
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Kelly Twins
#189 8/26/97 taped 4/18/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan
1st Young Lion Cup Title Final: Shunji Kosugi vs. Keiichi Yamada
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Super Strong Machine
#190 8/27/97 taped 4/18/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Billy Jack
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#191 8/28/97 taped 4/17/85 Izumisano Citizens Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shunji Takano vs. The Machines
Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis vs. Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino
Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Jack
#192 8/29/97 taped 5/10/85 Fukuoka Sports Center
Hiro Saito & El Canek vs. The Cobra & Kantaro Hoshino
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Jimmy Snuka
#193 9/1/97 taped 5/24/85 Kobe World Memorial Hall
Super Strong Machine vs. Pedro Morales
WWF International Tag Title Final: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#180 taped 5/24/85 Kobe World Kinen Hall
5/10/85 Fukuoka Sports Center: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Masked Superstar
Pedro Morales vs. Super Strong Machine
WWF International Tag Title Decision Match: Adrian Adonis & Dick Murduch vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
#181 taped 4/12/85 Osaka
Shinji Kosugi vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
Strong Machines vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
5/10/85: Andre The Giant & Jimmy Snuka vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki
5/24/85 Kobe World Kinen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
#182 taped 5/31/85 Omiya Shimin Taiikukan
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Pedro Morales & El Canek
Andre The Giant vs. SS Machine
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiro Saito vs. Tony St. Clair
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis & King Kong Bundy
#183 taped 6/7/85 Matsumoto-shi Sogo Taiikukan
Adrian Adonis & Dick Murduch vs. The Cobra & Shunji Takano
Andre The Giant vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan, '85 IWGP Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
#194 9/2/97 taped 5/31/85 Omiya Civic Gym
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. El Canek & Pedro Morales
Super Strong Machine vs. Andre the Giant
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiro Saito vs. Tony St. Clair
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis & King Kong Bundy
#195 9/3/97 taped 6/7/85 Matsumoto City Gym
The Cobra & Shunji Takano vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
'85 IWGP Tournament Final: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Hulk Hogan & Iron Mike Sharpe
#184
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
6/13/85 Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Andre The Giant & Tony St. Clair vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino
6/13/85 IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
#185
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Shunji Takano vs. SS Machine
6/7/85 Matsumoto-shi Sogo Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Hulk Hogan & Mike Sharpe
6/28/85 Hoshikawa Prince Hotel Ice Arena: SS Machine vs. Strong Machine No. 2
#196 9/4/97 taped 6/11/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
WWF World Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
'85 IWGP Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#197 9/5/97 taped 6/13/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis
IWGP Heavyweight Title: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
#189 taped 6/7/85 Matsumoto-shi Sogo Taiikukan
Adrian Adonis & Dick Murduch vs. The Cobra & Shunji Takano
IWGP Heavyweight Tournament: Andre The Giant vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan, '85 IWGP Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Andre The Giant
#190
6/11/85 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF World Heavyweight Title Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
6/13/85 Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Andre The Giant & Tony St. Clair vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino
6/13/85 IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
#198 9/8/97 taped 6/28/85 Shinagawa Prince Hotel Ice Arena
Super Strong Machine vs. Strong Machine #2
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Hiro Saito vs. The Cobra
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody & Bad News Allen
#199 9/9/97 taped 7/26/85 Hirosaki City Gym
Shunji Takano & Super Strong Machines vs. Strong Machines
Kengo Kimura vs. Jimmy Snuka
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody & King Kong Bundy
#200 9/10/97
6/11/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym: Shunji Takano vs. Super Strong Machine
6/13/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Andre the Giant & Tony St. Clair
5/2/85 Osaka Castle Hall WWF Junior Heavyweight & NWA Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: Hiro Saito vs. The Cobra
#201 9/11/97 taped 7/28/85 Osaka Castle Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#202 9/14/97 taped 8/1/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan
NWA Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
#203 9/15/97
4/17/85 Izumisano Citizens Gym: Shunji Kosugi vs. Tatsutoshi Goto
8/1/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
LLPW FLASHBACK #47 3/31/98 taped 11/5/95 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Michiko Nagashima vs. Mizuki Endo 13:05 of 14:00.
Michiko Omukai vs. Jenn Yukari 5:32 of 13:58.
Rumi Kazama & Karula vs. Mikiko Futagami & Carol Midori 13:57. No finish
NJ Wonderland #193 7/26/85 taped 7/26/85 Hirosaki Shi Min Taiikukan
Shunji Takano & Super Strong Machine vs. Strong Machines. Basic match with a lot of punches and kicks. Takano and SS Machine had the expected break up, with Machine leaving Takano so it was 2-1. For some reason SS came back after the match and saved Takano from further beating. **1/4
Jimmy Snuka vs. Kengo Kimura. Uneventful. *
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody & King Kong Bundy. Good match when Brody was in, but Bundy was always horrible. *1/2
NJ Wonderland #194
8/16/85 taped 8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Jimmy Snuka vs. Larry Sharpe. 2 minute squash.
8/2/85 taped 7/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall
NWA Sekai & WWF Nintei Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: The Cobra (NWA champ) vs. Hiro Saito (WWF champ). Hiro showed nothing. Cobra tried hard, but had nothing to work with. The first match was really slow paced and rather dull with an awful screw job finish. They restarted the match and it was much faster paced and more exciting, but unfortunately this only lasted a couple minutes. Cobra unifies the titles. *1/2
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Brody totally dominated, with the fans cheering the whole time for Inoki to come back. The pace wasn't very fast, but they did do a lot of "big" moves in the last 4-5 minutes. Good match largely due to Brody, but the finish sucked. **1/2
NJ Wonderland #195
7/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
NJ Wonderland #196 taped 8/1/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jimmy Snuka
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
Wonderland #197 taped 8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Jerry Fulton & Gene Lewis
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Superfly Tui. Another short match with a finish out of nowhere. Tui, who was in the division by size rather than style, showed nothing. Too often they didn't know what the other guy was planning to do next and couldn't react. 7:15. *
King Kong Bundy & Mark Lewin & Kevin Sullivan vs. Andre The Giant & Steve "The Kid" Keirn & Angelo Mosca
8/30/85: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
Wonderland #198
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Matt Borne
8/30/85
Keiichi Yamada vs. Shunji Kosugi. A rematch from 4/18/85 when Kosugi defeated Yamada to capture the Young Lion Cup.
WWF International Tag Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kerry Brown & Hacksaw Higgins
9/6/85: Keiji Muto & Don Arakawa vs. Umanosuke Ueda & Tony St. Clair
#204 9/16/97
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
6/14/84 Kuramae Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Hulk Hogan
#205 9/17/97 taped 8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium
Jimmy Snuka vs. Larry Sharpe
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Gene Lewis & Gary Fulton
The Cobra vs. Superfly Chui
Andre the Giant & Angelo Mosca & Steve Collins vs. King Kong Bundy & Mark Lewin & Kevin Sullivan
Wonderland Junior #28
8/3/85 Hawaii Aloha Stadium WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Superfly Tui. Another short match with a finish out of nowhere. Tui, who was in the division by size rather than style, showed nothing. Too often they didn't know what the other guy was planning to do next and couldn't react. 7:15. *
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Fishman. The basic problems with Cobra are he doesn't string things together, isn't good at playing off much less to his opponent, and is sloppy. Though deliberate and lacking spontaneity, the match succeeded when they were running around. More often it was the slower more submission oriented Fishman stuff, which Cobra made no attempt to counter. What was good about the match is it had some nice moves that were uncommon at the time like Fishman doing the Ligerbomb, Cobra doing the 2 kaiten ebigatame (the Toyota move where she rolls up her standing opponents body and over into a sunset flip) and a Tiger suplex (though it was very sloppy). 16:44. **1/4
2/3/84 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Crown Decision League Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith. Kind of an odd match. It started out like it was going to be a classic, totally died in the middle with a bunch of pointless restmissions, then made a comeback but still never approached its stellar start. These two were obviously very familar with each other, and were able to put together excellent sequences with precise timing and execution. Unfortunately, they went away from this style and into something far more familiar, and thus less interesting and good. 14:08. ***1/2
Wonderland Junior #29
7/28/85 Osaka Jo Hall NWA & WWF Junior Heavyweight Double Title Match: The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito. Hiro not only kept the match moving, but his heel tactics got Cobra to be more aggressive. What hurt the match is Kotetsu Yamamoto actually DQing Hiro for not breaking by the 5 count. Of course they restarted it, but this portion was so short and slow. 12:30, 2:26. ***
10/31/85 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa. Arakawa had become more of a "wrestler" and less of a martial artist by ths point. The match was better due to this because Arakawa's martial arts was laughable and Cobra can't even put that style over. Arakawa wasn't over at all though. The fans did giggle at times, for instance when he hurt his head by German suplexing Cobra onto his face. Cobra had more offense here, which was an improvement even though Arakawa takes even worse. 13:30. *1/2
#206 9/18/97 taped 8/30/85 Yamagata Prefectural Gym
Shunji Kosugi vs. Keiichi Yamada
WWF International Tag Title: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Hacksaw Higgins & Kerry Brown
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
#207 9/19/97 taped 9/6/85 Aichi Hekinan City Gym
Umanosuke Ueda & Tony St. Clair vs. Makoto Arakawa & Keiji Muto
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Super Machine
Antonio Inoki vs. Giant Machine
Wonderland #199
9/19/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
9/6/85 Hekinan Seaside Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Super Machine
Antonio Inoki vs. Giant Machine
Wonderland #200
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Bad News Allen & Roger Smith
9/19/85 Tokyo Taiikukan: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#208 9/22/97 taped 9/19/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
#209 9/23/97 taped 9/16/85 Fukuoka Sports Center
Keiji Muto vs. Tony St. Clair
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Hacksaw Higgins & Kerry Brown
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
Wonderland #201
10/4/85 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Rambo Sakurada & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Rick Oliver. Sakurada, the future Kendo Nagasaki, & Goto form a team known as The Rising Suns.
9/18/85 Fukuoka Sports Center
Keiji Muto vs. Tony St. Clair
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Kerry Brown & Hacksaw Higgins
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
#202
10/11/85 Furukawa General Gym: Rambo Sakurada vs. Konga The Barbarian
10/25/85 Osaka Seaside Sports Center: Shinya Hashimoto & Black Cat vs. Giant Gustav
10/4/85 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Fishman
WWF International Tag Title: Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry Von Erich & Kevin Von Erich
#210 9/24/97 taped 10/4/85 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
The Cobra vs. Fishman
Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Bad News Allen & Davey Boy Smith
Rambo Sakurada & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Conga the Barbarian & Rick Oliver
#211 9/25/97 taped 10/4/85 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kevin von Erich & Kerry von Erich
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#212 9/26/97 taped 10/11/85 Furukawa City Gym
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto vs. The Cobra & Kantaro Hoshino
Rambo Sakurada vs. Conga the Barbarian
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Bruiser Brody & Bad News Allen & Davey Boy Smith
#213 9/29/97 taped 10/25/85 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center
Giant Gustav vs. Black Cat & Shinya Hashimoto
The Cobra & Keiji Muto vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Shunji Kosugi
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Bruiser Brody & Ray Candy
#203
10/25/85 Osaka Seaside Sports Center: Keiji Muto & The Cobra vs. Shunji Kosugi & Shiro Koshinaka
10/4/85 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#204 taped 10/11/85 Furukawa General Gym
Cobra & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka
10/31/85 Tokyo Taiikukan WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa
Kengo Kimura & Seiji Sakaguchi & Antonio Inoki vs. Rick Oliver & Bad News Allen & Bruiser Brody
#214 9/30/97 taped 10/31/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#215 10/1/97
9/19/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym: Seiji Sakaguchi & Kengo Kimura vs. Giant Machine & Super Machine
10/31/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym: The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa
#216 10/2/97 taped 11/29/85 Kitakyushu City Gym
Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Tatsutoshi Goto
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka
#217 10/3/97
12/6/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar
12/10/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym: Kengo Kimura vs. Jimmy Snuka
#218 10/6/97 taped 12/6/85 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
#219 10/7/97 taped 12/10/85 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch
# 207 taped 12/10/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Jimmy Snuka vs. Kengo Kimura
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
12/26/85 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka vs. Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
#209 taped 12/12/85 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center
'85 IWGP Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
#220 10/8/97 taped 12/12/85 Miyagi Sports Center
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
#221 10/8/97 taped 12/18/85 Hawaii NBC Arena
Kerry von Erich vs. Gino Fernandez
Antonio Inoki & Andre the Giant vs. Joel Deaton & David Deaton
#211 taped 12/18/85 Honolulu NBC Arena
Kerry von Erich vs. Gino Hernandez
Andre The Giant & Antonio Inoki vs. David Deaton & Joel Deaton
12/25/85 Dallas Reunion Arena
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. The Masked Demon 7:15
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
#212 taped 1/3/86 Korakuen
Johnny Mantell & Mike Miller vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Tatsutoshi Goto 10:43
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title League 1986 Match: The Cobra vs. Black Tiger 10:59
UWF League Match: Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada 11:19
#222 10/10/97 taped 12/25/85 Dallas Union Arena
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
#223 10/13/97 taped 1/3/86 Korakuen Hall
Kendo Nagasaki & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Johnny Mantel & Mike Miller
The Cobra vs. Black Tiger
Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada
#224 10/14/97 taped 1/3/86 Korakuen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Mad Max
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
2/5/86 Osaka Castle Hall: Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
#225 10/15/97 taped 2/5/86 Osaka Castle Hall
Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kerry von Erich & Kevin von Erich
NJ Wonderland #215 taped 2/6/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: The Cobra vs. Shiro Koshinaka 15:22
Kengo Kimura vs. Kevin Von Erich
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry Von Erich
Wonderland #216
3/14/86 Kagoshima Kenritsu Taiikukan: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Don Arakawa
2/6/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
#226 10/16/97 taped 2/6/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
The Cobra vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Kengo Kimura vs. Kevin von Erich
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry von Erich
#227 10/17/97
2/6/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
3/14/86 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Don Arakawa
#228 10/20/97 taped 3/14/86 Kagoshima Prefectural Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada
Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Jack
#229 10/21/97 taped 3/26/86 Tokyo Metropolitan Gym
New Japan vs. UWF 5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Antonio Inoki & Kantaro Hoshino & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido
Wonderland Takada #3 8/1/99 originally aired 3/28/86 taped 3/26/86 Tokyo Taiikukan
5 vs. 5 Jikan Museigen (unlimited time) Elimination Match: Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino. Incredible atmosphere because the crowd reactions were unreal. ****1/2
Wonderland Takada #6
8/5/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
8/7/86 Toyohashi Sports Center, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
#230 10/22/97 taped 5/1/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
New Japan vs. UWF Elimination Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido. Part 1
#231 10/23/97 taped 5/1/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
New Japan vs. UWF Elimination Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido. Part 2
Wonderland Takada #4
5/1/86 Shin Nihon vs. UWF 5 vs. 5 Single Kachinogisen: Seiji Sakaguchi & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki.
a) Yamada vs. Takada. Long very well worked UWF segment. Dull for Takada, but that made for a better match because it was more solid and believable with offense being hard to come by. As the match progressed, Takada, of course, found a few openings for his strikes. Once he put Yamada down he'd flurry on him as soon as he got up. Yamada was overmatched, but he showed a lot of heart and gained something despite the one-sided nature. 14:26
b) Sakaguchi vs. Takada. Sakaguchi wanted to work on the ground so his legs didn't get kicked out. After those token kicks by Takada at the outset, he was done for. Sakaguchi, of course, looked bad. His ground work was extremely fake because he has no flexibility. 4:41
c) Sakaguchi vs. Yamazaki. Waste of Yamazaki, who was real good in just making this watchable. He worked Sakaguchi's ankle, but Sakaguchi wanted to block everything so he didn't have to sell. Yamazaki was given one chance when he did a backdrop into udehishigigyakujujigatame. 5:26
d) Sakaguchi vs. Kido. Kido was fine, but Sakaguchi is a disaster. He has no energy, so he blew up here in spite of his first two "matches" being so easy on him. Kido kicked Sakaguchi when they went to lock up, then Sakaguchi just stood there hunched over jerking his head when Kido's subsequent kicks approached. Adding to the realism of the match, Kido didn't appear to hit Sakaguchi's knee when Sakaguchi atomic dropped him. 3:34
e) Koshinaka vs. Kido. Koshinaka brought the life back to the match right away, starting with a segment on the floor where he piledrove Kido. Had its ups and downs, but overall a good portion. They worked well together, mixing junior spots with more technical stuff. 8:11
Wonderland Takada #5
f) Kimura vs. Kido. Nothing portion. No energy. They didn't just lie around, but it was like they finished before they started. 4:42
g) Kimura vs. Fujiwara. Kimura attacked when Fujiwara was entering, throwing him to the floor and bloodying him. He attacked the cut, even digging into it to open it up more. Fujiwara came back with his headbutts anyway. Decent segment. The best stuff was early, then after a lull they did a dramatic finish with Kimura inching his way toward the ropes but having to succumb before he could quite reach them. 7:31
h) Fujinami vs. Fujiwara. Fujiwara got revenge, bloodying Fujinami with a piledriver on the floor. They were really laying it on thick with Fujinami supposedly verging on passing out from blood loss. Somehow when they finally reentered Fujinami managed to pull a backslide out of nowhere for the win. I thought Maeda was up next, but I guess that was it. The first portion was of the match was by far the best, but after that they wasted the talented guys and got away from what makes NJ vs. UWF good in favor of theatrics. 8:46
6/17/86 Nagoya Aichi-ken Gymnasium IWGP Junior Title: Takada vs. The Cobra. Great match. Takada's kicks were so stiff it was taking over the junior division by kicking Cobra right out. Takada was super over, and this had great heat. Cobra's best stuff was early in his tenure, but the gimmick was a failure and it was more than time for a change. Cobra was up for the match, which ironically was the best of his junior title bouts, even though is job was mainly getting the stuffing kicked out of him. 21:32. ****
#221 taped 5/16/86 Korakuen
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry Von Erich
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kengo Kimura
Antonio Inoki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Andre The Giant & Wild Samoan
NJ Wonderland #222 taped 6/6/86 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
4th IWGP Koshikisen: Akira Maeda vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre The Giant & Cuban Assassin
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Jimmy Snuka & Wild Samoan 17:59. My opinion of Snuka seems to show what I looked for in wrestling from different countries. The American wrestling of the time was so boring that Snuka and his few impressive flying moves really stood out. In Japan I expect good technical wrestling, so what stands out about Snuka is he's all rest holds. Still, Snuka carried his team and supplied the only quality on their end, though that's because it was incredibly Tame when Wild was in. Fujinami & Kimura were as always, a lot of generally uninspiring matwork and a few basic but very well done athletic spots before a hot minute or two at the finish. **1/4
#232 10/24/97 taped 5/16/86 Korakuen
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kerry Von Erich
Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kengo Kimura
Antonio Inoki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Andre The Giant & Wild Samoan
#233 10/27/97 taped 6/6/86 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center
IWGP League: Akira Maeda vs. Umanosuke Ueda
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Andre the Giant & Cuban Assassin
IWGP Tag Title: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Jimmy Snuka & Wild Samoan
NJ Wonderland #223
5/1/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Andre The Giant & Shogun KY Wakamatsu
6/12/86 Osaka Jo Hall, 4th IWGP Koshikisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Wonderland #224 taped 6/12/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Umanosuke Ueda & Kengo Kimura vs. Andre The Giant & Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
4th IWGP Koshikisen: Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 22:02. They pulled out all the stops to make this intense highly dramatic match one of the top NJ heavyweight matches of the decade. Largely UWF style, which given Fujinami was Maeda's opponent isn't too much different than NJ style anyway. In any case they established UWF right off the bat, so when they did a brief sequence of jumping kicks the fans exploded. The progression was very smart, especially early on. Fujinami's knee was injured from a kneebar and he had trouble getting back to his feet, so Maeda attacked the knee. Fujinami rope escaped a later kneebar, but when he got up Maeda was waiting with a series of high kicks. From here on Maeda tried to exploit Fujinami's bad knee more for its immobility, making him an easier target for the kicks, than for submission. Fujinami wised up to Maeda's kicks, caught one, tripped him up, and tried for a submission. From here on Fujinami would use Maeda's proclivity to strike against him, attempting to win with the sasorigatame. Adding to the drama, Fujinami got a wicked cut near the eye from a Maeda's kneel kick, which Maeda followed by trying to defeat Fujinami with his own Dragon suplex. The one problem with this match was the finish, which though they went long and hard just did not feel earned. It felt very sudden, especially on Maeda's part because he seemed to be on a bit of a role. ****1/2
#234 10/28/97
5/1/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Andre the Giant & KY Wakamatsu
6/12/86 Osaka Castle Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
#235 10/29/97 taped 6/12/86 Osaka Castle Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Umanosuke Ueda & Kengo Kimura vs. Andre the Giant & Masked Superstar & Dick Murdoch
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda
#236 10/30/97 taped 6/19/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
4th IWGP League Final: Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch
#237 10/31/97 taped 6/17/86 Aichi Prefectural Gym
6/19/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Jimmy Snuka Power & Wild Samoan
Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs Dick Murdoch & Wild Samoan & Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant
#238 November 3/97
6/19/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Nobuhiko Takada vs. The Cobra
7/25/86 Akita Prefectural Gym: Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Bad News Allen & Steve Williams
#239 November 4/97 taped 7/25/86 Akita Prefectural Gym
Antonio Inoki vs. Alex Smirnoff
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
#240 November 5/97 taped 8/5/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
#241 November 6/97 taped 8/22/86 Broadcast Hawaii Aloha Stadium
Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Johnny Mantel
Keiji Muto vs. Jerry Gray
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Higgins
9/5/86 Chiba Park Gym: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano
NJ Wonderland #229 taped 8/5/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka. Takada & Koshinaka were dominant in their own styles. However, though Koshinaka knew he couldn't beat Takada in a striking and submission game, he refused to back down to make a statement about his toughness. He wound up doing Takada's match because he was too proud to practice shoot style evasion. They worked most of the bout within the well known UWF limitations, with Koshinaka hitting a lariat. To my eyes, the problem is they didn't really develop or work the transition to Koshinaka's fast paced junior style. In fact, Takada initiated it, ascending to the top rope for no reason only to get superplexed, which ushered in a really exciting segment of Koshinaka's offense that was really out of place in the otherwise kick and submission match. Takada brought the match back to submissions quick enough, but despite the crowds roaring approval, the match would have been much better if they either scrapped this segment or took the time to show Koshinaka putting his ego aside and just concentrating on winning the match by any means necessary. As it stands, though well worked, the match mostly comes off as goofy. ***1/4
IWGP Tag Senshuken: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
Wonderland #230 taped 8/7/86 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 17:27. A junior title match that made no concessions to "junior" style. Okay, there was an attempt at a tombstone and a dropkick, the former blocked the later missed, but it was kick, submission, and suplex all the way. Yamazaki grew as a wrestler more than Takada did from this point, both were pretty equal workers here but Yamazaki didn't have the setup, timing, and transition of his peak. Thus in a way the match was a bit repet: itive because they didn't get as much out of the limited offense as they could have, but on the other hand, and I feel more importantly, it's arguably the most unique IWGP Jr. match because it's strictly technical. The fans certainly didn't feel it was too long, the biggest "Yamazaki" chants were for him to escape the hold he ultimately submitted to. ****
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Alexei Smirnoff 7:29. Disappointingly brief match. Fujinami comes in with a scab on his lower back, so Smirnoff works over the back. They didn't waste time and the work was solid. **1/4
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Steve Williams & Badnews Allen
#242 November 7/97 taped 8/7/86 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Sports Center
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Alex Smirnoff
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Steve Williams & Bad News Allen
#243 November 10/97
8/22/86 Mexico: Tatsumi F.ujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. El Canek & Fishman
9/16/86 Osaka Castle Hall New Japan vs. UWF 5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido
Wonderland #231 taped 8/17/86 Mexico El Toreo De Cuatro Caminos
2/3 Falls: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. El Canek & Fishman 13:04, 5:32, 4:42. Typical 80s match starting weak but building to a strong albeit frustrating finish. Everyone paced themselves for a long match, but Fujinami was very intense still acted like he was putting effort into his holds, while Kimura did everything with the minimum energy required. These two are as good as they want to be, and Kimura was good when he picked it up but there was too much wasted time, especially between falls. Up until the 3rd fall Fujinami's team wrestled technically while the Luchadores kicked and punched. Fishman picked it up in the third fall with his tope and regular highspots, and the third fall continued to be excellent. He seemed more into it than Canek, but Canek vs. Fujinami was really good down the stretch, going back and forth for a surprising amount of near finishes. Fujinami & Canek had swapped falls, and Kimura & Fishman fought outside for minutes letting them tease the decisive fall in a manner usually reserved for title matches. ***1/4
Wonderland #232 taped 9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody 44:29 of 60:00. Shockingly good match where they attempted to do a match of the year and effort overcame skill. The quantity was certainly there, but so was their best quality. One would think this would seem very long, but it didn't because the finish was always near moves wise, even if you figured neither would do the job. Lots of action, especially considering the length. Both men showed tremendous stamina, especially considering age and size. Both threw everything at their opponent, but neither would stay down long. Brody was highly motivated, putting thought, nuance, and timing into his performance. He did a good job of mixing his selling of his knee with his usual no selling, particularly when Inoki would strike him and he'd make it look like he was forced to sell the knee because it was just in such bad shape. Inoki was mediocre in the first half, trying a lot of jumping moves with suspect accuracy, but came on pretty strong in the 2nd half. He certainly put all he had into it, and though that often hasn't been enough, in this case the booking and the crowd elevated it to another level. If Brody's performance ever approached this level again, it's in a match I've yet to see. ****
NJPW Wonderland Takada #7
9/5/86 taped 9/5/86 Chiba Koen Taiikukan: Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka
10/6/86 taped 9/15/86 Osaka Jo Hall 5 vs. 5 Jikan Museigen Elimination Tag Match II NJ vs. UWF: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
NJPW Wonderland Takada #8
9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka 18:15. ****1/4
10/20/86: Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka 16:17. **1/2
11/3/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Shinya Hashimoto 9:55. ***
#244 11/11/97 taped 9/16/86 Osaka Castle Hall
9/16/86 Osaka Castle Hall New Japan vs. UWF 5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino vs Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody
#245 11/12/97 taped 9/16/86 Osaka Castle Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Continued
#246 11/13/97 taped 9/5/86 Chiba Park Gym
Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Mad Max & Super Max
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jerry Gray
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Kelly Kevin & Angel of Death
#247 11/14/97 taped 9/10/86 Fukuoka Sports Center
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Wonderland #233 taped 9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Digest
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Wonderland #234 taped 10/13/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
10/9/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kengo Kimura vs. Lance Von Erich
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Conga The Barbarian & The Jackal
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Wonderland #233 taped 9/19/86 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka
9/16/86 Osaka Jo Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody. Digest
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bruiser Brody
Antonio Inoki vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Wonderland #234 taped 10/13/86 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
10/9/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kengo Kimura vs. Lance Von Erich
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Conga The Barbarian & The Jackal
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
#248 11/17/97 taped 10/3/86 Korakuen Hall
10/9/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Kengo Kimura vs. Lance von Erich
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Conga the Barbarian & The Jackal
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
#249 11/18/97 taped 10/26/86 Yamato City Body Industry Gym
Antonio Inoki & George Takano vs. Conga the Barbarian & Super Mario Man
Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Keiji Muto
#250 11/19/97 taped 11/3/86 Korakuen Hall
Shiro Koshinaka & Shinya Hashimoto vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
Steve Williams vs. Conga the Barbarian
Antonio Inoki & Kevin von Erich vs. Kengo Kimura & Keiji Muto
#251 11/20/97 taped 12/8/86 Aichi Prefectural Gym
Shiro Koshinaka & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto
Wonderland #236 taped 12/10/86 Osaka Jo Hall
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshuken: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 21:50. Intense highly technical match with impressive movement on the mat largely due to Yamazaki. Koshinaka got off to a quick start with hip attacks then they took it to the mat and the match got progressively slower during the first 11 minutes. Yamazaki then teased a dive, one of many effective teases. Went back and forth with neither being able to sustain and advantage and both having legitimate chances to win. They weren't able to hurt each other either, so it seemed it would come down to whoever caught their opponent off guard or got lucky. In these days wrestlers still knew how to do a match to get over a finish, particularly one that wasn't with a finisher. This is a perfect example of how not winning with a finisher can be more exciting because by opening up other possibilities rather than the usual narrowing down to a few the intensity and drama can be increased and multiplied. When you can believe because they allow you to but you aren't sure because it's more based on being trapped or caught off guard than incapacitated there can be several edge of the seat moments. Fans were pro Shiro, but popped for all the near finishes. Yamazaki really brought a lot to this match, but Koshinaka also deserves a ton of credit for his ability to work the style of the UWF fighters. ****
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura 12:36. Big disappointment. Rather than develop the technical end they just sat in holds. Then it finally looked like it would get good with Kimura doing his big moves, but Fujinami flash pinned him out of nowhere. **
Wonderland #237 taped 12/10/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
'86 Japan Cup Sodatsu Tag League Winner Advances To Championship Match: Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Dick Murdock & Masked Superstar
'86 Japan Cup Sodatsu Tag League Yushosen: Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
#252 11/21/97 taped taped 12/10/86 Osaka Castle Hall
Kim Soo Hong vs. Tonga Kid
Keiji Muto & George Takano vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
#253 11/24/97 taped 12/10/86 Osaka Jo Hall
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura
#254 11/25/97 taped 12/11/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido
#255 11/26/97 taped 1/2/87 Korakuen Hall
12/11/86 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs Buzz Sawyer & Bret Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Conga the Barbarian & Black Bart
Wonderland #238 taped 1/2/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
12/10/86 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs. Buzz Sawyer & Bret Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Black Bart
#242 3/2/87 Soka City Sports Gym
Keiji Muto vs. & Jerry Grey
IWGP Tag Title: Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki
Steve Williams & Rick Steiner vs. Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami
#256 11/27/97
1/2/87 Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura
1/12/87 Gunma Prefecture Kiryu Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Conga the Barbarian
#257 11/28/97 taped 1/12/87 Kiryu City Gym
Keiji Muto vs. El Canek
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Buzz Sawyer & Black Bart
#239
1/2/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura 16:01
1/12/87 Kiryu City Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Konga The Barbarian 11:46
#240 taped 1/12/87 Kiryu City Gym
Keiji Muto vs. El Canek 12:11
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Black Bart & Buzz Sawyer 13:09
2/9/87: Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
#258 12/1/97 taped Kumamoto 1/23/87 Minamata City Gym
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Conga the Barbarian & Black Bart
Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Buzz Sawyer
2/4/87 Gifu Industry Hall: Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
#259 12/2/97 taped 2/4/87 Broadcast Gifu Industry Hall
Seiji Sakaguchi & Umanosuke Ueda vs. Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiji Muto vs. Conga the Barbarian
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Crusher Bam Bam Bigalow & Buzz Sawyer
#268 12/15/97 taped 10/19/87 Fuji City Yoshihara Gym
Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito
Keiji Muto vs. Steve Williams
Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu
#260 12/3/97 taped 3/2/87 Soka City Memorial Gym
Keiji Muto vs. Jerry Gray
Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Williams & Rick Steiner
#261 12/4/97 taped 3/9/87 Tokushima Prefecture Ikeda Gym
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs. Sheepherders
Tatsumi Fujinami & George Takano vs. Steve Williams & Rick Steiner
Antonio Inoki & Keiji Muto vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
#262 12/5/97 taped 3/16/87
Akira Maeda vs. Steve Williams
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
IWGP Tag Title Decision League: Tatsumi Fujinami & George Takano vs. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka
Wonderland #246 taped 3/20/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Kendo Nagasaki
3/26/87 Osaka Jo Hall IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada
#247 3/26/87 Osaka Jo Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
#263 12/8/97 taped 3/20/87 Korakuen Hall
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Masahiro Chono
Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada
#264 12/9/97
3/20/87 Korakuen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Kendo Nagasaki
3/26/87 Osaka Castle Hall: Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada
#265 12/10/97 taped 3/26/87 Osaka Castle Hall
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
#266 12/11/97
10/4/87 Ganryu Island: Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
10/5/87 Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
NJ Wonderland # 248 10/12/87 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center
Keiichi Yamada & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Manny Fernandez
Keiji Muto & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine
NJ Wonderland #249 taped 10/13/87
Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Super Strong Machine & Hiro Saito. Got off to a slow start, but was a solid match that kept getting better and better. The outcome became important as the match progressed and the wrestlers got psyched up and more desperate to win. 14:12. ***1/4
Keiji Muto vs. Steve Williams. They did very well running or off Irish whips, with Williams power vs. Muto's athleticism. It was pretty lame and pointless on the mat though. Still, I think it could have been quite good if they gave it some time and developed it, even though Williams was a far cry from 1993 form in these days. 7:35. **1/4
Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami. Yamada was all fired up, excited about showing a total lack of respect for his elders. He was using his speed and quickness to try to embarrass them, but then Fujinami held him and Choshi used his Riki lariat then another for the win. 1:12
Handicap Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu. They did a second match since Inoki never got into the first. Even Inoki wasn't good enough to take Fujinami & Choshu 2-1. However, Fujinami & Choshu couldn't get along for long enough to take him out since both wanted to be the one that went over Inoki. Each saved Inoki once then it broke down. 4:42
#267 12/12/97 taped 10/12/87 Osaka Rinkai Sports Center
Tatsutoshi Goto & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Manny Fernandez
Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine
#282 1/2/98 taped 2/1/88 Soka Sports and Health City Memorial Gym
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
2/4/88 Osaka Prefectural Gym: Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiroshi Hase
NJ Wonderland #250 taped 10/26/87 Osaka Furitsu Rinkai Sports Center
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine vs. Bad News Allen & Eli The Eliminator
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Keiji Muto vs. Conga The Barbarian & Manny Fernandez & Steve Cash
NJ Wonderland #251 taped 10/25/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshuken: Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
NJ Wonderland #253
10/4/87 Island Death Match: Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito
10/5/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
NJ Wonderland #254 taped 11/9/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
'87 Japan Cup Tag League Koshikisen: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu
#269 12/16/97 taped 10/26/87 Yonezawa Municipal Gym
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga
Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine vs. Bad News Allen & Eliminator
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Keiji Muto vs. Conga the Barbarian & Manny Fernandez & Steve Casey
#270 12/17/97 taped 10/25/87 Ryogoku Kokugikan
Antonio Inoki vs. Steve Williams
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#272 12/19/97 taped 11/9/87 Korakuen Hall
Revolutionary Warrior Riki Choshu 1987 Fierce Fight
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Riki Choshu
#271 12/18/97 taped 11/9/87 Korakuen Hall
10/25/87 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki
Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Kendo Nagasaki & Mr. Pogo
Keiji Muto vs. Dick Murdoch
#255 taped 12/7/87 Osaka Furitsu Taikukaikan
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiji Muto & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich
#256
12/7/87 Osaka Furitsu Taikukaikan, '87 Japan Cup Sodatsu Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
12/4/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Dick Murduch vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito
#274 12/23/97 taped
12/7/87 Osaka Prefectural Gym '87 Japan Cup Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch
vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
12/4/87 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
#273 12/22/97 taped 12/7/87 Osaka Prefectural Gym
Feature on "strange foreigners who make a fuss"
'87 Japan Cup Tag League Advance To Final: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Nobuhiko Takada & Keiji Muto vs. Kerry von Erich & Kevin von Erich
NJ Wonderland #257
12/3/87 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Shiro Koshinaka & Kazuo Yamazaki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki
6/9/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
12/4/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
NJ Wonderland #258
6/29/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
12/27/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Keiichi Yamada vs. Masakatsu Funaki
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Hiroshi Hase
#275 12/24/97 taped 12/27/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
6/29/87 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Keiichi Yamada vs. Masakatsu Funaki
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Hiroshi Hase
#276 12/25/97
12/3/87 Aichi-ken Gym: Shiro Koshinaka & Kazuo Yamazaki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki
6/9/87 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
12/4/87 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi
NJ Wonderland #259
12/27/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
1/4/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
NJ Wonderland #260 taped 1/4/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Owen Hart
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masa Saito
taped 1/11/88 Kumagaya-shi Taikukaikan
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
#277 12/26/97
12/27/87 Ryogoku Kokugikan: Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada
1/4/88 Korakuen Hall: Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
#278 12/29/97 taped 1/4/88 Korakuen Hall
Super Jr: Hiroshi Hase vs. Owen Hart
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masa Saito
1/11/88 Kumagaya Civic Gym: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
NJ Wonderland #261 taped 1/11/88 Kumagaya-shi Taikukaikan
Riki Choshu vs. Buzz Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Williams & Owen Hart
1/25/88 Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiichi Yamada
NJ Wonderland #262 taped 1/25/88 Gifu Sangyo Kaikan
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Handicap Match: Vader vs. George Takano & Kantaro Hoshino
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton
#279 12/30/97 taped 1/11/88 Kumagaya Civic Gym
Riki Choshu vs. Buzz Sawyer
Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Steve Williams & Owen Hart
1/25/88 Gifu Industry Hall Super Jr: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
#280 12/31/97 taped 1/25/88 Gifu Industry Hall
Super Jr: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Keiichi Yamada
Kantaro Hoshino & George Takano vs. Big Van Vader
Masa Saito & Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase vs. Steve Williams & Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
NJ Wonderland #263 taped 1/25/88 Gifu Sangyo Kaikan
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Hiroshi Hase vs. Steve Williams & Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
taped 2/1/88 Saitama Soka-shi Sogo Taiikukan
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase
Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
NJ Wonderland #264 taped 2/1/88 Saitama Soka-shi Sogo Taiikukan
Riki Choshu vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart
2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #265 taped 2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Keiichi Yamada
Handicap Match: Big Van Vader & Masa Saito vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido & Kazuo Yamazaki
2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #266 taped 2/4/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu
taped 2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Wonderland #267 taped 2/5/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Handicap Match: Big Van Vader vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino
taped 2/7/88 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Top Of The Super Junior Koshikisen: Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine
Wonderland #268 taped 2/7/88 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center
Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
taped 3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar
Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdock vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura
Wonderland #269 taped
3/11/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Buzz Sawyer
Wonderland #270
1/23/78 NY, NY Madison Square Garden WWWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Carlos Estrada
5/9/80 Fukuoka Sports Center WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero
2/6/85 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hulk Hogan
10/25/87 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
12/12/85 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center: Clip of Fujinami pinning Inoki in the IWGP Tag League Final
Wonderland Takada #13
1/25/88 Top of the Super Junior League Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 14:07. ***1/2
2/15/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, Top of the Super Junior League Match: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka 20:33. ****
Wonderland Takada #14
2/22/88 taped 2/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall Top Of The Super Junior Koshiksen: Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiroshi Hase
3/14/88 taped 3/11 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Nobuhiko Takada
Wonderland #271 taped 3/19/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito & Super Strong Machine
5/7/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Super Strong Machine vs. Steve Casey
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Hiroshi Hase vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Wonderland #272
Feature on Shiro Koshinaka coming back from a bizarre right ankle injury that occurs when all his weight comes down on it due to the way he falls putting over a Maeda high kick. They do a career retrospective, show highlights of the tournament for the IWGP junior title that Koshinaka was forced to vacate, have footage of Koshinaka training for his comeback and then highlights of his first matches back
Wonderland #273 taped 4/11/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Tatsumi Fujinami & Masaharu Funaki vs. Manny Fernandez & Steve Cash
Big Van Vader vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
Antonio Inoki & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu & Hiroshi Hase
Wonderland #274 taped 4/22/88 Okinawa Onoyama Taiikukan
Kengo Kimura vs. Super Strong Machine
Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiroshi Hase
Riki Choshu vs. Manny Fernandez
Wonderland #275 taped 4/22/88 Okinawa Onoyama Taiikukan
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
4/27/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Big Van Vader
Wonderland #276 taped 4/27/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Kengo Kimura & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Shiro Koshinaka & Kantaro Hoshino & Keiichi Yamada & Tatsutoshi Goto & Akira Nogami vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiro Saito & Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki
Wonderland #277 taped 6/10/88 Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan
Dick Murdock & Adrian Adonis vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar
IWGP Junior Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Owen Hart vs. Keiichi Yamada
IWGP Tag Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito
Wonderland #278 taped 6/17/88 Niigata Gosen Civic Center
Owen Hart vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi. Pretty much what you'd expect from these two except it was shorter and had a lame finish. ***
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdock. Their styles are very different, but both were willing to compromise. The match kept looking like it was going to end, which is good except most of the endings wouldn't have been satisfying. Actually, although it was a good match, the real ending wasn't satisfying. ***
Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar. The Gaspars subscribe to the Tiger Jeet Singh motto of don't speak and hit your opponent with the handle of your big sword. Unfortunately, it's not just the sword, their whole offense is as pathetic as Singh's. What makes this so sad is that Bob Orton had one of the better heel move sets. Anyway, Gaspars dominated this crappy brawl, with Masa bleeding like crazy around his right eye to the point that the whole right side of his face was covered. DUD
#298 1/26/98 taped 6/24/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
Big Van Vader & Masa Saito vs. Billy Gasper & Barry Gasper
Owen Hart vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu
#299 1/27/98 taped 6/26/88 Nagoya Rainbow Hall
Masa Saito & Riki Choshu vs. Billy Gasper & Barry Gasper
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi
Wonderland #283 taped 7/29/88 Tokyo Ariake Coliseum
IWGP Heavykyu Chosensha Kettei League Koshikisen: Riki Choshu vs. Masa Saito
IWGP Heavykyu Chosensha Kettei League Koshikisen: Antonio Inoki vs. Big Van Vader
Wonderland #284 taped 8/8/88 Kanagawa Yokohama Bunka Taiikukan
IWGP Heavykyu Senshukenjiai: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Antonio Inoki 35:59 of 60:00. Read Review
Wonderland #285 taped 8/4/88 Otsuki Shimin Sogo Taiikukan
Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Saito
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader & Masa Saito
Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi
#286 taped 8/26/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Kengo Kimura & George Takano vs. Scott Hall & Ron Starr
Masa Saito vs. Billy Gaspar
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Keiichi Yamada vs. Riki Choshu & Kuniaki Kobayashi
9/12/88 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Seiji Sakaguchi & George Takano vs. Billy Gaspar & Barry Gaspar
#287
8/26/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Big Van Vader & Black Tiger
9/12/88 Fukuoka Kokusai Center: Big Van Vader vs. Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow
10/7/88 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Tony St. Clair
#288 taped 9/12/88 Fukuoka Kokusai Center
5 vs. 5 Elimination Match: Masa Saito & Hiro Saito & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Riki Choshu & Super Strong Machine vs. Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
Wonderland #299 taped 12/7/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan
'88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament 1st Match: Seiji Sakaguchi & Masa Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Dick Murdock & Cowboy Bob Orton & Scott Hall
'88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament 2nd Match: Dick Murdock & Cowboy Bob Orton & Scott Hall vs. Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino
Wonderland #300
12/5/88 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono vs. Kevin Von Erich & Kerry Von Erich
12/7/88 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, '88 Japan Cup Elimination League Decision Tournament Final: Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto & Masahiro Chono
4/29/89 IWGP Heavyweight Title Tournament: Vader vs. Shinya Hashimoto
4/27/90: Vader & Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Riki Choshu & Koki Kitahara
1/17/91 IWGP Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader
1/4/96 INOKI FINAL COUNTDOWN 5th: Vader vs. Antonio Inoki
Wonderland Liger #1
4/24/89 Tokyo Dome: Jushin Liger vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 9:55. Liger made his debut about 6 weeks after Go Nagai's anime began on TV Asahi, with remarkable expectations as he was expected to not merely be a a flesh and blood incarnation of an imaginative super hero, but no less than the successor of the biggest star in the history of junior heavyweight wrestling, Tiger Mask. In order to follow in Tiger's footsteps, he changed his style considerably, focusing on speed, quickness, gymnastic based counters, and daring aerial manuevers. This is not to say Yamada by any means grounded before, but as he came up during the junior divisions UWF dominated era, kicks were a big part of his offense and flying was only one aspect of his well rounded game. Kobayashi was his opponent because he did the best job of carrying Tiger Mask. He was there to do all the dirtywork while being the afterthought, to set Liger up, provide a base for his flying, get some heat with a few questionable tactics, and give him a few breathers by momentarily grounding him. Kobayashi gave his typical unselfish performance, doing nothing to steal Liger's thunder. He got Liger crowd support by trying to rip his mask and giving him a low blow, standard rudo stuff, and Liger got Liger crowd support by awing them with his athleticism. Liger had a nice flashy start, but ultimately didn't do doing anything drastically different than he did as Yamada. He was simply performing the spots quicker and chaining them together in more rapid succession, which was good when it didn't cause mistakes. Kobayashi wrestled with confidence, and did everything that was expected of him, but the match wasn't awesome because it was rather short and Liger was understandable still trying to find himself. ***1/4
5/25/89 Osaka Jo Hall, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Hiroshi Hase vs. Jushin Liger 8:39. NJ wanted the title on Liger as soon as possible because he was the new sensation, yet they didn't seem to trust him, so Liger was pretty much protected in a short match that Hase totally carried. Hase surprised everyone charging at the bell with a dropkick and using a front suplex to set up a plancha, but soon showed it was going to be his style of diverse technical match rather than a Liger aerial assualt. Hase would have his way with Liger except when Liger would find an opening to use his speed and athleticism to counter, setting off a brief burst of flying before Hase countered back. Hase was precise and skilled as ever and Liger was all sorts of scrappy, so the match was fun, albeit not exactly developed or nearly as good as if Liger was simply Yamada. ***
7/12/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match 3Min 10Rd: Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger R5 2:53. Liger was the new ultra athletic superhero, so it was only natural that Tiger Mask's arch rival Black Tiger would be brought in to help get him over. Though Rocco is a talented wrestler, Sayama's matches with Rocco were bottom rung of his main rivals, largely because Rocco tends to spend too much time being a rudo and not enough time showing his actual wrestling skills. Once again, I thought Rocco was again making decisions that were neither adding to the match nor doing their job of getting the opposition over in the manner they were being promoted. Dives were so much rarer in these days that the entire crowd seemed to stand when Liger ascended to the top for his plancha, but while Tiger did get the crowd to react, it was largely to his rudo techniques, which set up Liger to fight fire with fire rather than to showcase his athleticism, which at this point was what made him special. Tiger did wrestle technically in the first and they got spot happy in the 5th, but in between Tiger was content to employ such deadly manuevers as choking Liger with his towel and attacking him with a plastic bucket of ice. The other aspect that seemed to hinder the match from reaching it's potential was the rounds style, which, more often than not, prevented flow and rendered the action that much more random. I'd say this is the best match of the three because it's the only one with any real length and substance, but minute for minute, it's the worst of the three. ***1/4
Wonderland Liger #2
7/28/89 Toda Shi Sports Center, Jushin 5 Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami 10:42. Nogami has passed the point of being a good athlete with a lot of desire, and is beginning to show a good deal of promise. Although they debuted in the same year, Nogami is just beginning to show up on TV, and gets a star vs. promising youngster match with Liger, who goes out of his way to give him credibility, selling for him quite a bit, although he does ultimately dispatch of him with ease. Nogami's offense is somewhat lacking, but he's beginning to develop a nice arsenal of bridging suplexes. I liked his doublearm suplex hold, but the follow up where Nogami fully extends for a diving body attack only to have Liger put out his knee is totally badass. ***
11/3/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Takayuki Iizuka 14:11. Sambo Iizuka puts his newfound skills on display, destroying Liger's knee in this well focused technical match that's a treat for the hardcore fans. I don't remember caring for this match all that much when I first got into Liger, but it's a nice change of pace, and a rare example of Iizuka within his element, giving us a good indication of just how technically good he was even at this early stage in his career. This is basically Liger reverting back to mid 80's Yamada: there's minimal flying, and the basis is a quasi UWF shoot style. Liger sells for the majority of the match, doing a champion job of putting over Iizuka's kneebars. Given Iizuka had recently held the tag titles with Riki Choshu, I expected him to be a tougher out, but once Liger woke up in a desperate effort to stop the blizzard suplex, he quickly dispatched of Iizuka. ***3/4
7/13/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Naoki Sano 13:55. Liger & Sano kicked off their legendary fued that first announced their arrival at the very top level and soon made them household names with this futuristic aerial war, an insane battle of one-upsmanship that always ultimately proved how evenly matched they were because neither could sustain an advantage no matter what risks they took or how much they disregarded their safety. The match was way ahead of its time for highspots, athleticism, and daring, but although admittedly more of a spectacle, it did have some depth because they were able to get across the idea they were so evenly matched they were pushing each other to previously unattained levels of excellent. The fued was so notable for its intensity, starting before the bell even rang as they wouldn't take their eyes off each other, their stone-faced stare unbroken even by a reluctant pre-match handshake. They matched each other's athleticism at the outset to pop the crowd then technical skill exchanging Romero specials. When the ordinary was not enough, they began raising the bar for daring further and further including Liger doing a rolling senton to the floor, Sano vaulting himself over the top rope Kamikaze style with a body press then following with a missile kick to the floor. There was a Sano huracanrana that didn't quite work and then Liger was too close after Sano's backflip out of the corner for Sano to do his rolling sole butt, but otherwise their chemistry was awesome and anything that didn't hit perfectly added to the recklessness factor. The fault of the match is the double knockout finish came out of nowhere because there was no selling to lead up to it. I understand the idea that this level of opposition called for them to do anything they could think of until they succeeded or their body gave out, but because they couldn't really gain an advantage it didn't make sense for them to both suddenly be unable to get up from Sano's avalanche backdrop. The finish drew gasps from the stunned audience that had been going nuts for quite a while; you could sense their disappointment but they soon gave both a good highly appreciative hand. ****1/2
Wonderland Liger #3
8/10/89 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano 15:38. A totally different match from 7/13/89, much more toward later (peak) Liger. Having shown no particular aptitude for selling since he donned the hood, Liger suddenly shows why he'd soon be known as the king of the junior sellers, doing a beautiful job of putting over the shoulder Kantaro Hoshino & Sano destroyed in a tag match two days earlier. Liger wears football shoulder pads, but they, like everything else, do little to aid his injured left wing, which Sano continues to attack mercilessly throughout. Liger can't seem to get out of his own way, injuring himself performing his own offense such as a shoulderblock. He winds up doing a lot of stomps because they are among the safest things he can do, but even with these, he's selling his shoulder between each and every one. Still, Liger manages to bust Sano open. One big change here is they are breaking each other down, so the match is much slower paced. It isn't nearly as high flying or insane as 7/13/89, it's more a traditional, even leaning toward a heavyweight match despite their athleticism, with crisp technical wrestling and badass hatred spots. They get a lot out of the flying they do use, and just about everything else for that matter, as we can see them not only knowing how to counter, but beginning to counter with reasoning and timing. I loved the spot where Liger countered a go behind, but Sano then dropped down into a wakigatame. Basic stuff, but it worked perfectly within the context of the match. I'm guessing the shoulder injury is all about NJ not having confidence in the fans willingness to accept Liger's mortality, but luckily the fans wouldn't demand he be essentially undefeatable as Tiger Mask was. They understood Liger gave all he had, and took it as a heroic showing even though only Sano got up from his avalanche backdrop this time. ****3/4
1/18/90 Yamaguchi Toyama Shi Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Hiro Saito 12:53. The 3rd generation of the Liger character with the red mask, red and white body suit, and Thunder as his middle name is the one that would stick (I suppose partly because Go Nagai's anime went off the air on 1/27/90). Hiro heels it up, introducing a chair, and Liger is more than happy to give it back to him, even piledriving Saito on a table. Hiro is not the least bit spectacular, but nonetheless effective on offense as he sometimes was in the early 90's, having enough impact on his suplexes and senton to be credible. He will never have a match of the year, but he's fine for minor matches, the thing is they should be minor heavyweight matches. The downside of Hiro is woefully apparent here, as he doesn't possess nearly enough athleticism for the junior division. He can't take a decent bump off the middle rope, and more importantly, he lacks the flexibility for even simple counters into basic pins, which by the way kills the finish of this match. Despite Liger having to dumb down and Hiro's girth getting in the way a few times, the match was both effective and entertaining. Unfortunately, it just kind of ended when you thought it was about to take off. **3/4
1/25/90 Hokkaido Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Akira Nogami 11:59. Nogami had the athleticism, and Liger was of the mindset to carry him. Nogami wasn't wrestling with a great deal of confidence, slowing down to make sure he knew the next spot, but he generally faired well. Liger sold a lot for him, especially early on to give him credibility. The fans weren't reacting, but I thought it was a fun little match. It was weird seeing Liger win with an Argentine backbreaker, as it was not only out of nowhere, but I don't recall him even using the move before. ***
Wonderland Liger #4
3/5/90: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Cheetah Kid (Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty) 9:24. It's nice to see Rocco before he got into grunge, but I have no idea why they included this match in the Liger series, as it's one of Liger's absolute worst. Cheetah had a way of making everything look at least a bit awkward. For such a good athlete, he was rather mechanical and, next to Liger, came off as nothing more than an imposter indy junior. The match was very much of the you do your spots and I do mine variety. Liger tried, but they had no chemistry. *3/4
1/30/90 Gifu Taiikukan, IWGP Junior Next Challenger Decision League Match: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Owen Hart 12:28. This match is, in a way, responsible for the greatest junior heavyweight match, as if Liger didn't win here to take the next challenger league, he wouldn't have faced Sano the next night. All the matches in the league that aired seemed to share the "we'll give 'em a good twelve minutes" mindset, so this wasn't the blowout match we hoped for. Liger was pretty much along for the ride, as this was clearly Owen's match, and Owen had the advantage most of the time. Hart has a tendency to make everything look easy because he's so exceptionally graceful. While this is often to his advantage, it can be a detriment as well. He never did a very good job of instilling a sense of urgency into his matches, particularly the openings, which were filled with great athletic counters, so they could still seem somewhat empty because there was no real sense of anything having been gained. Though Hart had more ability to deliver an entertaining opening than almost any junior of his era, and certainly once again did so tonight, you can see in a match such as this one that it can still come off very flat if we aren't given a reason to believe in it. The audience didn't react until he picked up the pace, not because the slower stuff wasn't well done, but because he wasn't moving us, so we didn't take that much notice until we identified some sort of manipulation, in this case reverting to our programming of equating quicker tempo to action of greater importance and enthusiasm. Anyway, they were both wrestling on a very high level and built the match up pretty well. A memorable match was a possibility, but they went home early and rather unconvincinglywith Liger just cutting Owen off on the top and taking him out with an avalanche brainbuster then a Ligerbomb rather than having a run of offense first. ***3/4
1/31/90 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Naoki Sano vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 20:00. The ultimate climactic battle, the greatest junior heavyweight match bringing perfect indecisive closure to the greatest junior heavyweight feud of all-time. Not merely a grudge match of epic purportions, but right up there with Akira Hokuto vs. Shinbobu Kandori 4/2/93 as the greatest ever. Not simply state of the art wrestling with awesome drama and great intensity, but the measuring stick. An extremely rich and deep match, with great single match story and psychology, but also playing off the entire brilliant feud in many ways. Heel Sano offers to put the past behind them at least long enough for a display of pre-match goodwill only to get embarrassed when Liger slaps him across the face. Liger roughs up his incited opponent, but Sano quickly exerts his will, proceeding to control 90% of the contest. Abusing and mauling Liger, Sano uses a piledriver on the floor and in-ring tombstone to set up embarrassing him by ripping his sacred mask. Posting Liger until he bleeds, Sano is soon at his cockiest, not wanting to settle for a simple pin, but wanting to prove a point and knock his opponent out. Their first singles meeting on 7/13/89 ended in a double KO, but this time Sano is going to drain his opponent of his lifeforce if not his blood and pummel him until he can no longer stand. Sano nearly succeeds with moves such as the superplex. Liger finally makes a hot comeback, introducing his flying into the match, but it’s suitably short lived. The match is about making the prospects of Liger’s victory look as bleak as humanly possible. At the same time, Liger’s refusal to surrender despite losing a bucket of blood subtly shifts Sano into deciding the victory is more important than the manner, as the belt is what proves he’s the best and will make the fans and promotion eventually see it. The selling is quite simply amazing, more toward Misawa & Kawada dominated All Japan heavyweights from a few years later than anything we'd expect from juniors before or since, with Liger down for lengthy periods as a good deal of drama is placed on each attempt to simply stand. In the best hope spot, Sano tries to take it to the next level with a superplex with both standing on the top, but Liger saves himself by shifting his weight to land on top, though he’s still unable to gain control. Liger’s inability to mount an offensive continues until the final seconds of the match when he counters Sano’s huracanrana with a Ligerbomb. Everything we are used to about pro wrestling tells us Liger will turn it on now, but the series is about making stars of both wrestlers, so even though it’s the blowoff Liger isn’t going to prove true superiority. He’s a beaten down man with nothing left, so he decides to go for broke, positioning Sano with a tombstone and pulling out the most spectacular move of the time period, the shooting star press. Liger wins because he has the greatest move and was able to will himself, or simply be lucky enough, to hang around long enough to execute it. *****
#5 Super Junior Special 1
2/7/88 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, TOP OF THE SUPER Jr. Final: Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase 12:18 of 16:43
4/30/91 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan, TOP OF THE SUPER Jr. II Final, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Norio Honaga vs. Jushin Thunder Liger 16:25 of 21:54
4/30/92 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan 3rd TOP OF THE SUPER Jr. Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. El Samurai 18:10 of 21:15
#6 Super Junior Special 2
6/13/94 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, 1st BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Super Delfin 18:27
6/12/96 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, BEST OF THE SUPER Jr. III Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Black Tiger (Eddy Guerrero) 18:44
#29 Best of the Super Jr. Special 3
6/9/00 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, 7th Best of the Super Junior Final: Tatsuhito Takaiwa vs. Shinjiro Otani 15:40 of 18:35
6/4/01 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, 8th Best of the Super Junior Final: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Minoru Tanaka 19:49 of 26:12
6/5/02 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, 9th Best of the Super Junior Final: Koji Kanemoto vs. Minoru Tanaka 14:07 of 14:12
#30 Tatsumi Fujinami Special 3
12/10/81 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, MSG Tag League: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Stan Hansen & Dick Murdoch 17:48 shown
12/10/81 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, MSG Tag League Final: Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet 8:05 shown
1/1/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Backlund 12:35 shown