I'm currently reading Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling. I bought this on Kindle years ago but never got around to reading it. 

I really dig all of the information about 1970-1980's New Japan. The development of Fujinami & Choshu and their feud. Why the UWF split happened as well as Choshu and company moving to All Japan. Maybe this all feels like an extended Wikipedia article but I enjoy it. I like how the author keeps tying things back to Inoki and his dealings. From the pre-NJPW chapters, we can see that Inoki was always looking for something more. He was second fiddle to Baba in JWA and tried to branch out prior to NJ so, it's no surprise that he's always looking for a new angle to make money, increase his prestige, etc. This is really what caused the UWF & Choshu & co. departures. It seems everyone except Baba was sleazy in Japanese wrestling. Or maybe my standards are unrealistic.

I like how the author keeps NJPW in focus while still letting you know what's going on in the Japanese wrestling world. He clues you into the SWS/WAR exodus from AJPW and rise of the Four Pillars. He lets you know of the popularity of death matches and the hardcore wrestling scene in FMW,W*ING, IWA Japan, BJW and ECW. Certainly, he follows along the UWF story and how those wrestlers' careers inter-weave with NJ. That's an aspect of New Japan that I've always been interested in. It's the one bit of 80's NJPW that I was familiar with earlier on. I didn't know that much about the UWFi & NJPW's dealings in the mid 90's. I knew that they did business but not really the circumstances around it. Of course, WCW is always in the background with their working relationship with the company.

I was going to do a full book review but I think I have read enough to give you a good idea of how the book is written, the topics etc. In all honesty, it feels like an in-depth Wikipedia article. That's not a complaint. The book moves fairly briskly but likewise it never gets bogged down either. I definitely learned somethings I didn't know or more details were provided than I was previously as aware of. If you really want to know more about the history of NJPW, I think it's a great place to start. If this was at the library 20 years ago, I definitely would have taken it out a couple times or made photocopies of the pictures. I don't think I could recommend buying a physical copy but the Kindle version is $5 and is a definite recommended purchase especially if you're looking for some light reading for your lunch break, taking a bus, train, plane or before bedtime. Even if you're pretty familiar with the history of NJPW, I would still suggest you give it a read. 

Inspired by the topics covered in Lion's Pride, I thought I'd share some new & vintage (old) reviews from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990's. I should clarify that the book goes beyond this into the 2000's and early 2010's around when this came out. But I won't be going into that here Instead I want to use this to skim over some of the more historically interesting parts of NJPW's history. In no way is this even a good representation of what they produced during almost 30 years but, it's a very small sampling...to get a sense of what was going on at the time in the company. That said, I'm going to favor under 20 minute matches.

Antonio Inoki vs Ernie Ladd (03/21/74 NWF): This is a little too long for me but its on the 'tube for you. I wanted to mention it because early 70's Inoki matches are hard to come by for free. Plus it features Inoki in the U.S and in Cleveland, OH which is where my dad's family is from. He actually grew up watching NWF with the Sheik, Abby, Johnny Powers, Moose Cholak, Hans Schmidt etc. So I had to mention this match. But in terms of the book & NJPW - NWF and Powers were the one American promo the could do business with early on. Eventually Inoki would own NWF and it would be the "governing body" for its world title, NWF Heavyweight Title.

Tatsumi Fujinami & Riki Choshu vs Bob Backlund & Tony Garea (05/30/78): Thought this is a good match to include as it shows Riki & Fujinami as the top youngsters and as a team (reminds me of Misawa & Kawada 90-92). Also this is a good example of the WWWF's partnership with NJPW. This was very important for the success of NJPW as they really didn't have much access to foreign talent or any connection to the NWA. This was especially important because puroresu was still very focused on native vs foreigner in their booking. 2/3 falls match - come for the technical wrestling, stay for the poofy hair! Good match.

Antonio Inoki vs. Tiger Jeet Singh (10/02/79): I'm including this as an example of how important Tiger Jeet Singh was as Inoki's Sheik/Abdullah the Butcher. He needed a blood thirsty heel. One story from the book is that Singh publicly slapped Inoki's wife (kayfabe). That's absolutely wild! Of course I've seen a bunch of Singh in AJPW and in the early 90's W*ING/IWA Japan/FMW but this maybe my first time seeing him in NJPW. It's a fun match especially once Inoki gets on offense. Interestingly, Abby comes to NJPW in the first big talent grab. 

Stan Hansen vs Antonio Inoki (02/07/80): Including this one as it features Hansen who's essentially NJ's answer to Bruiser Brody. He and Inoki had a program and again I'm just watching the shortest one I've come across. That said, I dug the heck out of this! Inoki is spry like a panther and that's a neat dynamic vs Hansen. We really don't see that until Hansen vs Misawa. We get an 80's finish here but that doesn't diminish the coolness of this match. Very good stuff!

Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami (03/17/82): Handheld footage, including this since it's a ground breaking feud that is the first big money native vs native program in Japan. This is under or around 10 minutes long but you can see that these two are some the best wrestlers in the world. They are strong, fast, and technically excellent.

Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs Rusher Kimura & Animal Hamaguchi (09/03/82): I'm including this to represent the NJ vs IWE feud that was a relatively big deal. It's the first "invasion" angle ever (?). Truth be told IWE folded and got essentially absorbed by NJPW. But that mirrors what WWF/E would do with WCW & ECW 20 years later. Again, this was pretty ground breaking as it too pushed the idea of Japanese vs Japanese as commercially successful even before Choshu vs Fujinami as it began late 1981. This was good stuff for sure.Hamaguchi was the standout for his team. He and Fujinami were fantastic to watch. Inoki & Rusher played their parts. Honestly this feud is worth looking into on its own. It's got that scrappy feeling that just makes it easy to watch and enjoy.

Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami (11/04/82): Have seen this listed also as 11/05 but the 4th is correct. This is much more heated than the previous match. The feud has started in earnest. The intensity  really made this something special. The scoop slams looked violent enough to put someone away for a three count. This was the same show as one of the fantastic Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask matches... so NJPW really had a great thing going at this time especially in terms of high quality, intense wrestling. This was a great match...probably a near classic. I definitely need to see more of this chapter of their rivalry. 

Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada (02/03/83): This featured great matwork, agility, timing, counters and reversals. Much of this was on the mat and that's where Tiger is best despite being known as a flying innovator. These two are just amazing together. A classic encounter. - I had to include a Tiger Mask match. This seems like a great one to recommend.

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Riki Choshu (03/02/84): Really good under 10 minute match that is all about drama and atmosphere than work rate. Fujiwara is the man at conveying violence and malice without swinging things around and attacking fans. He is menacing. This is a fantastic example of that. Really glad I watched this one...almost didn't. I really wanted to include a Fujiwara match despite him not getting a lot of attention in the book.

Black Tiger vs Shiro Koshinaka (09/12/86): I wanted to include this just to show that the junior division was hanging on despite the departure of Tiger Mask. Although the company tried to replicate the Tiger Mask success with The Cobra, Koshinaka was more the foundation of the junior division. This was a really good match... lots of action and great moves. Black Tiger Rocco & Koshinaka worked very well together... they seem better matched than Sayama & Rocco were. Might have to keep my eye out for more of their encounters.

Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs Buzz & Brett Sawyer (01/16/87): This is included to signify that Inoki was moving out of the main picture (a little bit) as well as to introduce the new blood that would lead the company in the 90's. Muto like Fujinami was great right out of the gate. Here, based on his flashy jacket, Muto might be in his "Space Lone Wolf" gimmick. Another attempt to repeat the gimmick success of Tiger Mask. It's pretty toned down here. Anyway, this was a very good match... I really dug the heck outta this match. Not anything complex or fancy but damn! this is kinda perfect in terms of keeping it simple. Something like this is why I think mid to late 80's is my favorite period of wrestling.

Takada/Maeda vs Mutoh/Koshinaka (03/20/87): Oh my goodness! This match was Awesome! The UWF team was soooo stiff and the NJ team was just totally exciting yet looked good taking a beating. Maeda wasn't going to kick somebody unless he could kick them in the head. This seriously was bell to bell fun. There were moments where the excitement ebbed but then bam! It flowed right back to where it was. A true lesson in crowd control that frankly you only witness in the finest of wrestling matches. I don't want to give it 5 stars but, would feel comfortable with ****3/4 since you never knew what was coming & it was so remarkable in the stiffness & move department. This stuff is timeless. - I wanted to include this to share a perhaps forgotten classic as well as give an example of the UWF vs NJPW feud.

Takada/Yamazaki vs Yamada/Koshinaka (10/25/87) I strongly feel that the best showcase for the UWF guys in NJPW is against regular workers. It lets them work their submission against "trained" sellers so the drama and importance is really played up. Also the UWF guys are really good pro-wrestlers too so they have no problem taking the pro moves as well as incorporate some of their own. This really helps the variety of the match. In any case the best guys to face the shooters are Fujinami, Koshinaka & Yamada. I also liked Mutoh...anyhow...this was another really great match. -Another inclusion to represent a couple years long feud. There's a bunch so I am picking a couple tag matches that are representative of what I liked about this program. Here Yamada is as himself, pre-Liger. 

OK big jump in time! Interestingly, the book sorta skims over the WAR vs NJPW feud which something I'm interested in learning more about. So I'm going do that another time. We're onto the brief NJ vs UWFi feud.

Riki Choshu & Yuji Nagata vs Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (09/23/95): This is the first big match of the NJ vs UWFi program. What a doozy! Stiff as a starched shirt. Nagata gets a mouse/cut under his eye and a blood mouth. He re-pays the favor by repeatedly punch Anjo in the face and sealing his eye up (soon to a mother of a black eye). Choshu was intense and boss as hell. Nakano smartly played ball. This was organized chaos that while not a shoot, was more than just "stiff" or "chippy." Nagata looked great for being so young. Very good to great match! Definitely worth checking out

Jushin Liger vs Yuhi Sano (10/09/95): This is the big Tokyo Dome confrontation of NJ vs UWFi. Sano is the same Naoki Sano & Takuma Sano. So not only is this company vs company but it is old rivals meeting again. Surprisingly they wrestled this in a more NJPW Jrs. style than a shoot style. Or it was more like some of the Kobayashi vs Tiger Mask I matches. I really enjoyed this for what it was. Sano never lost anything by moving to SWS or UWFi (or BattlARTS later). 

Kensuke Sasaki vs Yoshihiro Takayama (10/28/95 UWFi): This was pretty good stuff! It definitely could have been longer and more developed but the chemistry was apparent. They just laid into each other for 7 minutes... Takayama hitting especially hard. This definitely harkens back to the UWF invasion stuff in the late 80's...Here UWFi needed the help financially to stay afloat. These shows did pretty well in both UWFi & NJPW but it was too little too late for them.

Masa Chono vs Yoji Anjo (10/28/95 UWFi): Whoa this was intense from beginning to end! This was pro wrestling done right. I'm sure these matches were under NJPW rules but yeah, the UWF style with traditional wrestling rules, psychology works best in my opinion. This is a great example of that. This is a legit great under the radar match. Another reason for inclusion is we get to see Chono's Team Lone Wolf with Tenzan & Hiro Saito...a precursor to the NWO's style and attitude.

Masahito Kakihara vs Shinjiro Otani (03/01/96 UWFi): Another really intense bout. Otani did some of his great selling which helped this feel more dramatic. Kakihara was technically excellent as always. This was very fast which helped differentiate it from the heavyweight style.

Nobuhiko Takada vs Shiro Koshinaka (03/01/96 UWFi): This is included because there's so much history and significance that can addressed in one match. Koshinaka is an AJPW dojo trained wrestler that left AJPW in the mid 80's to NJPW. Takada is an NJPW dojo wrestler that left NJPW at every chance to do UWF, UWF II and UWFi. He and Koshinaka had a notable feud in the mid/late 80's while juniors. Here they are roughly 10 years later fighting for the IWGP heavyweight belt that Takada won off of contemporary and NJ ace Keiji Muto. Furthermore Koshinaka wrestled for Tenryu WAR promotion prior to coming back to NJPW for a time. You really get to see how much NJPW was willing to work with smaller companies. And in effect, you see how isolationist AJPW was. Anyways, this is a good match. I think this would have benefited from more organization if it was going to be that mid gear heavyweight title pace. But at a little over 10 minutes and with all of the history baked in, I'm glad I saw it!

This was an impromptu match review post. A mini project that stemmed from reading the Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling book. And honestly, that's what it's best for - motivation to watch old NJPW. I definitely am going to watch more stuff from the 80's. There's no way I'm going to be a completionist or even cover all of the big matches. I'm going to try and watch more of the things that piqued my interest here. I definitely recommend you do the same and snag the Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling book on Kindle while you're at it.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully I gave you plenty to read/think about on my return to blog-land.