This period of New Japan stuff is quickly becoming some of my favorite wrestling. I think it is more relatable to the modern wrestling fan than AJPW/NWA style. The tempo is faster and there's more action between holds. Or at least that is the case with this high quality stuff. And to be fair, most of the matches here are technically Junior matches whereas the top shelf stuff I'm thinking of in AJPW is heavyweight. Honestly, to me, it just seems like they wanted to separate Inoki from Fujinami. Anyhow, I'm watching some of the better known matches from 1980 and guided by SAMS 1980 Yearbook in The Microscope section of this very website. And on occasion I'll pick something to keep things interesting. Here's Part #1!

Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn 01/18: What a first fall! Kid & Keirn do a great job heeling but never get too far away from the junior action. I loved all the rope running and a great Greco Roman knuckle lock sequence! Nice 2nd fall with a call back to the finish of the first. Oh shit!! What a finish! Really good clubbering heel work and the Japanese team is trying to find an opening. Then when they find it, things pop off! And when you think that's the finish, they add a twist! Out of fear of over rating, I'll say this is a near classic tag bout. This is the type of simple all action tag wrestling I love.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid 02/05: Classic junior title fight! Dynamite was so aggressive here and Fujinami really had to dig deep to stay in this match. I believe both guys were bleeding... Fujinami from the forehead and Dynamite from his nose. If you'd want to compare, I would say this was up there with the last DK vs Tiger Mask matches. And I think this match by itself was superior in terms of intensity and competitive nature. This is one I've been interested in for a long time and am glad I finally got around to watching it.

Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen 02/08: What a fantastic title match! Hard hitting, technical wrestling. I enjoy Baba vs Stan but, this match is probably better than any of their encounters. Hansen didn't pull any punches and neither did Inoki. Their chemistry is similar to Stan vs Misawa. I'm not sure but, Inoki vs Hansen seems to be the best Japanese vs Hansen pairing (...although Stan vs Tenryu is pretty good too). They just seem so at home working with one another. I know that they face each other a bunch and perhaps I'll sour on them later. This was a near classic in my book. *Note: I watched their 02/07/80 match in the 70's, 80' & 90's post. It is different from this match. I thought that one was pretty good. So I'm more confident in calling this a near classic. 

Animal Hamaguchi & Mighty Inoue vs Haruka Eigen & Kengo Kimura 03/31 (IWE): Here's a bonus match from IWE. This starts out as your typical AJPW Jr. tag style match (not a typo) then around the half way point, Kengo & Mighty Inoue start slapping the shit out of each other. We get some more good action and Kengo does like a slingshot tope and kills(?) Animal Hamaguchi and what is happening!? (in the best way)...very good stuff especially if you like Mighty Inoue husky junior wrestling

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ashura Hara 04/03: Oh baby, I went into this thinking it was going to be technician vs brawler. But no! Hara is a lean mean wrestling machine. This was aggressive competitive wrestling throughout... well until Hara starts punching and headbutting. There's the Ashura Hara that I know & love. Like all of the matches reviewed so far, this never overstayed it's welcome. Beautifully paced and full of competitive, snug wrestling. I'm conservatively going to call this a classic match. Hara & Fujinami were nearly flawless.

A really great start to the project! This is definitely a "You Might Have Missed" series. I think many people's earliest peek into NJPW is Tiger Mask vs Dynamite Kid. Generally speaking, that was the case for me. 1980 top shelf NJPW is fantastic. Seeing as the matches aren't more than 20 minutes in most cases, this should be a fast & fun project

Thanks for reading!