Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki (NJPW, 3/26/86)

This was a riot. Everyone (mostly) was fired up, the exchanges were red hot, the atmosphere electric. Ueda was a peroxide turd but fortunately, he’s not in this much – I mean, he tags in only to tag in Inoki. But when Fujiwara and Maeda are in there shooting against Fujinami and Inoki, it’s fantastic. There’s a lot to love about this match but there’s also a lot going on. The aggressive jockeying between Fujiwara and Fujinami, Takada and Maeda murdering Team NJPW with kicks, suplexes everywhere. The apron drama during the elimination teases really translated well with the crowd. The double eliminations were awesome, especially Fujinami trying in vain to shake off Fujiwara’s sleeper hold until the only option is to spill over the ropes to the outside. Of course, Inoki is the hero of this particular story and the lone survivor of his team against the invaders. After submitting Takada with the sleeper, Inoki endures everything the fiery Kido throws at him and connects with the big enziguri to win it for New Japan. Tons of passion, intensity and non-stop action – highly recommended.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (NJPW, 12/13/79)

I’m loving the proto-shoot-style of these late 70’s junior heavyweight matches that feel like transition pieces into the 80’s mentality of “more is better”. Kengo Kimura is awesomely aggressive throughout, staying on Fujinami like salt on pretzels. He tries overwhelming him with offense right out of the gate and then works to keep him grounded, utilizing a great Indian deathlock and the grounded headscissors. Fujinami plays defense for much of the match but his reversals are slick per usual. They pick up the momentum midway through with a fun little snapmare exchange and Kimura starts tapping his cache, hitting a plancha to the outside, backdrop suplexes (including one on the floor), and what looked like a deadlift sheer-drop double arm suplex, but he can’t put the champ away. At one point, he tried to backdrop Fujinami into the corner but Fujinami hangs onto the ropes. The finish comes out of nowhere, as Fujinami counters a backdrop attempt with a German suplex hold and follows up with a piledriver for the win. Kimura ruled here if you like your early juniors bomb-tastic but this wasn’t Fujinami’s most captivating performance and the abrupt finish didn’t help.