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.

Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW, 2/5/87)

This is a low-burning match turned to a blaze by the finish, with wild execution and an air of bitterness. The tension between the two is ever-present as they work to find an opening, bursting with slaps and kicks in moments of frustration. Offensively, they're all over the place, with suplexes and tombstones. Takada's kicks are especially on point but Koshinaka is able to take him down with the single leg crab, dragging him back to the middle when Takada gets too close to the ropes. He blocks the enziguri attempt and hits a backbreaker followed by a German suplex hold for two. The referee is ridiculous here, falling all over himself during the counts. Takada stays on the ground for a while, focusing on Koshinaka's arm. When Koshinaka doesn't give up, he fires off a great backdrop and the bridge on his dragon suplex hold is insane. I loved Koshinaka countering the chickenwing by attacking Takada's fingers and working the hand to the finish, ultimately forcing Takada to submit after enduring a barrage of kicks. The pacing is odd but it works for the most part. Koshinaka's selling was good throughout and while Takada blew off some of Shiro's offense, his selling at the end with the hand was great stuff.

HARASHIMA vs. Konosuke Takeshita (DDT, 3/20/17)

On first viewing, HARASHIMA vs. Takeshita was a pretty awesome match, with a good mix of psychology, selling, and high-impact offense. I'm a big fan of Takeshita, no doubt, but I thought he looked like the total package here, working with a little more 'tude against the old "ace of DDT" and building to his German suplex finish via his focused attacks on HARASHIMA. Some of the execution was off -- leave Croyt's Wrath to Kenny Omega (ditto Ishii). He seems to be the only one who can pull it off seamlessly. And while I'm nitpicking, some of the selling gets shelved on both sides for the sake of high spots...but Takeshita does a good job of bringing it full circle, especially in the final minutes. While he excels at the physical sell, HARASHIMA's facials were terrific as always. Alright, let's dig in.

Love Takeshita pursing his lips and shaking his head at HARASHIMA's handshake offer like a brat, After the initial touch-and-go, Takeshita pops HARASHIMA with an elbow, DDTs him onto the apron, then brainbusters him on the floor. He starts tenderizing the back of the head, neck, and back of the champ to prime his finisher. Likewise, HARASHIMA starts working the leg like usual to set-up the...Somato? Whatever his motive, it looked vicious, the way he stomps, kicks, and cranks away. When Takeshita tries to retaliate with a leg lariat, HARASHIMA slickly catches the leg and drops down into a kneebar. But after an overhead suplex counter, Takeshita dumps him right back onto his neck with a snap dragon suplex. The match picks up offensively from here on out, as the two start trading offense, working in some cool counter sequences here and there. There were some brutal spots from HARASHIMA, including a top rope reverse frankensteiner and a Canadian backbreaker-style reverse piledriver, but he ends up eating Takeshita's boots in a great counter spot to the swandive Somato.

After winning another round of reversals, a frustrated HARASHIMA stomps away at the "never say die"-attitude of Takeshita. Takeshita's selling of the exhaustion and desperation at this point in the match is so good. He collapses during the heated slap-a-thon only to be re-invigorated with punches and channeling the spirit of Dusty Rhodes via Antonio Honda with a Bionic Elbow! Awesome finish, with Takeshita catching HARASHIMA in a tilt-a-whirl into a Dudebuster into a German suplex hold! Shit! And as HARASHIMA, the champ, reaches in vain for the ropes, Takeshita traps the arm and finishes him off with the shutdown German. A strong victory for Takeshita in what I could be the promotion's answer to Omega/Okada, with Takeshita re-taking his rightful place as crown prince of DDT. Can't wait to re-watch this later in the year.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW, 3/19/17)

The rivalry between these two is one of the best in New Japan and going into a match, you already know what to expect: stiff strikes, bouts of no selling, pissing contests, and tons of suplexes. You see it plenty these days but no one can pull it off quite as well as Shibata and Ishii. After a pedestrian opening, with Ishii saying "fuck you" to Shibata's armwork and going straight to the strikes, the match picks up once the enmity kicks in. Like an angsty Shibata walking over and punting Ishii back or Ishii repeatedly chopping Shibata in the throat against Red Shoes' wishes. It wouldn't be a Shibata/Ishii match with a minute-long elbow exchange, with Ishii's nose getting busted open in the process.

I loved the spot with Shibata popping up after the lariat like a zombie only for Ishii to lariat him back down. This time, we get the Indian-style slap off, with Shibata really laying into Ishii once they've made it back to their feet. After they trade suplexes, Ishii catches a PK attempt and what what...armbar takedown! Ishii's selling in this match is terrific (no surprise there), especially toward the end as he's fighting the sleeper attempts, fading into the PK, with Shibata going right back to the sleeper to win in dominant fashion, and Ishii still not wanting to give up the fight as he crawls toward the victor. Awesome stuff. I think it's right up there with last year's battles, thanks to the strong second half, and I may have even liked it more than their WK match. We'll see upon rewatch later in the year. Definitely the best match of the New Japan Cup.

Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW, 1/28/86)

This match is incredible and my favorite tag match of the decade so far (the other being the Funks. vs. Hansen & Gordy from 1983). It has everything I love about professional wrestling, from great psychology and selling to the unruly nature of the match and the escalation of emotions and hostilities. Everyone plays their respective roles so well, to the point that grumpster Tenryu is more concerned about beating on an injured Choshu outside of the ring then what’s happening to his partner inside. Jumbo immediately goes after Choshu’s taped ribs and in one of the best moments of the match, he slaps Yatsu silly and throws him into his corner so he can tag Choshu back in. When Tenryu comes in, he’s double teamed at once -- actually, twice, taking an assisted piledriver. He’s able to put on the figure-four leglock but Choshu’s able to roll to his corner, where Yatsu flies in with a diving elbow drop to Tenryu while Tsuruta takes advantage and stomps at Choshu’s prone ribs.

Tsuruta and Tenryu continue targeting Riki’s ribs with Jumbo tearing away some of the protective tape and putting him in the cobra twist. Chaos unfolds as backdrops are…well, dropped, brutal lariats are thrown, and a chair is used against the recovering Choshu. Tenryu continues attacking Choshu while Yatsu works away on Jumbo, busting him open on the ringpost before unloading his offensive arsenal, hitting a piledriver, a backdrop, and a backbreaker before poorly applying the sansori-gatame, which is broken up by Tenryu’s nasty lariat. Choshu is the thorn in Tenryu’s side during the finishing stretch, thwarting his pin attempts on Yatsu, and while Yatsu is able to hit a big German suplex hold for a nearfall, Tenryu at last puts him down with the powerbomb to win it. I can’t recommend this match highly enough.

Nobuhiko Takada vs Shiro Koshinaka (NJPW, 8/5/86)

The young Shiro Koshinaka here looks strikingly like a present-day Isami Kodaka. Lost dad? This match was a blast. I love how he no sells Takada’s high kick early on so he can tie him up in the ropes and give him a good smack. They maneuver for leg control until Takada backs out and starts unloading with the kicks, catching Shiro with a foot to the face. Takada’s kicks look brutal and Koshinaka’s selling is terrific, at one point dropping like a bag of flour. There’s some sloppiness to the match, especially with some of the pin attempts, but it doesn’t take too much away from the total package. They fire off some bigger offense, Takada with his jumping tombstone and Koshinaka with a German suplex hold after landing some booty attacks. As Takada tries to submit Koshinaka, first with the arm, then the leg, tension starts to build. They start kicking at each other while Takada’s got the kneebar on and then they just explode into a maelstrom of vicious slaps. Koshinaka builds momentum heading into the finish but he misses the diving headbutt and Takada comes after him with those stiff kicks. After a full nelson suplex hold isn’t enough to put him away, Takada locks in the crossface chickenwing for the submission victory.

Mr. Gannosuke vs. Isami Kodaka (Mr. Gannosuke Produce, 3/7/17)

Hey, this match was really good and maybe 16 people will see it but that's okay because I'm telling you it was a really good match -- that is, if you like watching a 48-year old sake-guzzling dad with gross hair schooling a part-time bartender in professional rasslin'. Gannosuke's ring knowledge is refreshing, in that the little things he does come off as obvious but they're tricks that not a lot of guys employ. For example, trying to pin Isami while keeping a grounded headscissors applied. Or countering a sickle hold with a choke, a figure-four leglock attempt with a small package. When Isami is in non-deathmatch mode, he's pretty good. His kicks don't always land but neither do his dives. Gannosuke outveterans Isami early on, going back to his headscissors until Isami is able to counter out successfully with a bow and arrow hold. He continues working the leg, using a figure-four leglock, a spinning toehold, and an ankle hold. Gannosuke's limb of choice is the arm and he wrings and wrenches it, hits a couple of running armbreakers. When Isami struggles against a hold, Gannosuke is quick to either try a pin him or trap the flailing limb. The back-end of this match sees Gannosuke throwing some bombs, including a Falcon Arrow and a powerbomb, but also using Isami's injured arm as a way to shift the tide. The wily Isami is able to avoid the Fire Thunder Driver, dropping Gannosuke with a brainbuster and back-to-back diving knees. Gannosuke gets one last gasp with a Gannosuke Clutch but after a shitty superkick, Isami defeats Gannosuke with the Isami-ashi-zan. Mr. Gannosuke still rules.