Post by Nordiques95 on Dec 31, 2004 1:14:12 GMT -5
I like the current scene in NJ, but in the past few months I’ve grown to love the 80s and 90s quite a bit. Here's the first part of a DVD set covering the historic invasion by the UWF into Inoki's land. Please give me some feedback on this, I may do more in the future.
We start on 12/6/85 with Akira Maeda coming to the ring with his UWF partners Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki and Nobuhiko Takada. Although Maeda speaks for a short time his speech seams to get a huge raise out of the crowd eating up whatever he’s saying. Inoki and Maeda shake hands to end this which has the place erupting. This is one of those times I wish I spoke fluent Japanese.
2/5/86 - The first match is interesting we have Inoki teamed with Liger! Well at least Keiichi Yamada as he was not yet the king of Jr. heavies, facing Kido & Takada. As for the match I’d say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Most of the work was with Yamada and Takada. I love the Osaka territory, the crowds there are always on and on this night they were rabid when Inoki would come in to save his spunky Jr. partner. Yamada gets a few licks in on Takada, but after successive kicks and a German suplex it was enough to put away Yamada that showed that he could battle with the big boys. The rub of working as Inoki’s tag partner was huge for him, if only there was someone like that around today for the young generation.
3/26/86 – We now move forward to the first 5 vs. 5 elimination match between team UWF & NJPW. This crowd is just electric and hyped for this one as are the wrestlers on the New Japan side who have trouble keeping Kengo Kimura back. The match goes for nearly 15 minutes before the first elimination and then everything seems to move into a fast forward speed with crap eliminations using the touch the floor gimmick to get rid of people. Fujiwara and Fujinami have a fun exchange where Fujiwara has Fujinami in a head lock which keeps getting flipped over until the third try where the flip takes them both out of the match. Kimura also had a good moment where he took one for the team by staying on the apron when he could have gotten back in easily, but as he tumbled he took Maeda with him. I haven’t seen much of him, but I enjoyed the small bits where Umanosuke Ueda came into the affair, quickly I think of Yano as I see Ueda right down to looks. As for the final result Inoki vanquished Kido to give the Shinichi Army the win in their first head on battle with the UWF.
5/1/86 – A slight variation on the 5 vs. 5 match here where someone would be eliminated then another from the team would come in. We start with Keiichi Yamada and Takada who have a pretty bland 15 minutes together before Takada finished him off. In comes Seiji Sakaguchi who takes it to Takada and finishes him rather quickly with a Canadian backbreaker. Kazuo Yamazaki is next for the UWF and he also gets dispatched by Sakaguchi rather quickly. Osamu Kido is next in and has a small back and forth before getting him with a small package to the crowd’s surprise. Shiro Koshinaka comes in next for a spirited few minutes, but gets himself DQ’d with all of his excitement. Kengo Kimura comes in next quickly getting rid of Kido, which brings in Fujiwara who eliminates Kimura who fought valiantly before succumbing to a wakigatame. Tatsumi Fujinami comes in as New Japan’s last hope. By this time Fujiwara is bleeding and by the time Fujinami gets the pin on a backslide he also is sporting the old crimson mask. Fujinami is a mess as Maeda comes into the match. Maeda unleashes a great assault on the Dragon, but he continues on for close to 8 minutes, but after a flurry of kicks and the ever flowing blood out of him, the referee stops the Dragon’s quest.
Overall this volume was great. The matches are historic, have awesome heat and the work rate is also there to appease almost any crowd.
Now onto part 2.
We start on 12/6/85 with Akira Maeda coming to the ring with his UWF partners Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Kazuo Yamazaki and Nobuhiko Takada. Although Maeda speaks for a short time his speech seams to get a huge raise out of the crowd eating up whatever he’s saying. Inoki and Maeda shake hands to end this which has the place erupting. This is one of those times I wish I spoke fluent Japanese.
2/5/86 - The first match is interesting we have Inoki teamed with Liger! Well at least Keiichi Yamada as he was not yet the king of Jr. heavies, facing Kido & Takada. As for the match I’d say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Most of the work was with Yamada and Takada. I love the Osaka territory, the crowds there are always on and on this night they were rabid when Inoki would come in to save his spunky Jr. partner. Yamada gets a few licks in on Takada, but after successive kicks and a German suplex it was enough to put away Yamada that showed that he could battle with the big boys. The rub of working as Inoki’s tag partner was huge for him, if only there was someone like that around today for the young generation.
3/26/86 – We now move forward to the first 5 vs. 5 elimination match between team UWF & NJPW. This crowd is just electric and hyped for this one as are the wrestlers on the New Japan side who have trouble keeping Kengo Kimura back. The match goes for nearly 15 minutes before the first elimination and then everything seems to move into a fast forward speed with crap eliminations using the touch the floor gimmick to get rid of people. Fujiwara and Fujinami have a fun exchange where Fujiwara has Fujinami in a head lock which keeps getting flipped over until the third try where the flip takes them both out of the match. Kimura also had a good moment where he took one for the team by staying on the apron when he could have gotten back in easily, but as he tumbled he took Maeda with him. I haven’t seen much of him, but I enjoyed the small bits where Umanosuke Ueda came into the affair, quickly I think of Yano as I see Ueda right down to looks. As for the final result Inoki vanquished Kido to give the Shinichi Army the win in their first head on battle with the UWF.
5/1/86 – A slight variation on the 5 vs. 5 match here where someone would be eliminated then another from the team would come in. We start with Keiichi Yamada and Takada who have a pretty bland 15 minutes together before Takada finished him off. In comes Seiji Sakaguchi who takes it to Takada and finishes him rather quickly with a Canadian backbreaker. Kazuo Yamazaki is next for the UWF and he also gets dispatched by Sakaguchi rather quickly. Osamu Kido is next in and has a small back and forth before getting him with a small package to the crowd’s surprise. Shiro Koshinaka comes in next for a spirited few minutes, but gets himself DQ’d with all of his excitement. Kengo Kimura comes in next quickly getting rid of Kido, which brings in Fujiwara who eliminates Kimura who fought valiantly before succumbing to a wakigatame. Tatsumi Fujinami comes in as New Japan’s last hope. By this time Fujiwara is bleeding and by the time Fujinami gets the pin on a backslide he also is sporting the old crimson mask. Fujinami is a mess as Maeda comes into the match. Maeda unleashes a great assault on the Dragon, but he continues on for close to 8 minutes, but after a flurry of kicks and the ever flowing blood out of him, the referee stops the Dragon’s quest.
Overall this volume was great. The matches are historic, have awesome heat and the work rate is also there to appease almost any crowd.
Now onto part 2.