Wednesday, August 13, 2008

New Japan TV 10/14/83

1) Big John Studd v. Killer Khan- 3
2) Paul Orndorff v. Akira Maeda- 4
3) Riki Choshu/ Yoshiaki Yatsu/ ? v. Kengo Kimura/ Tatsumi Fujinami/ Antonio Inoki- 5

To kick off this show, we have two big bruisers that would soon travel to New York to make more money. Khan seems out of sorts, stumbling a lot in his work and Studd has two left feet, so the match is kind of like two men rumbling around and throwing mean punches to the back. Khan has a nasty stomp and puts it all over Studd's face which he sells well. This ends in a no contest (didn't know New Japan had those?). Maeda is a huge babyface here; both men are still fairly new to the sport as there are several spots where neither man is really in control- they stick to ground armbars for most of this bout. Orndorff hasn't gained his bonafide mean streak yet and Maeda hasn't gained his technical expertise quite either. The main event 6 man tag is a large match filled with the best in the company at that time. Tats and Choshu continue their long standing rivalry almost every time they're both in, with loud leathery chops and muscle splintering versions of their sharpshooters. This stays in ring with Choshu's team being light on sells and Fujinami's team keeping the crowd into it with comebacks. The finish is pretty creative and makes sense. This is fun TV, loaded with ridiculous Japanese commercials from back in the day. I love their TV because it's all action.

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