Here's the final part of my 1980 NJPW cherry picking expedition. 

Kengo Kimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami 09/25: One of the longer matches. Classic Inoki Strong Style technical game-of-human-chess duels. Competitive, non-profit cooperative looking. Doesn't rely upon stiffness but instead counters, reversals, escapes and blocking of moves & holds. There's moments where at first you think they've made a flub but they transition into to capitalizing on the "flub" that it was either planned or there's some aspect to this match that it's gentleman's agreement semi-shoot. But that's where the brilliance of this match lies - a long time wrestling fans is questioning what's really going on. I'm sure it's all a work but to put that doubt in someone's head takes skill. And that's why I put this up as a classic example of Inoki Strong Style.

Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen 09/25: This was a little too short and lopsided for my taste but damn it was still very good. I popped when Inoki got Hansen up. Stan the Man was absolutely violent here so any opening Antonio could get was exciting. It felt like survival more than wrestling. To contrast this with the Kimura vs Fujinami match, this used stiffness and a brawling energy to convey realism.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ron Starr 09/30: A very good match that felt a little slow in the middle. When this was cooking, it was hot. But when Starr was working the arm in the middle, it didn't keep my interest. Re-reading SAMS 1980 yearbook entry, he liked Starr's armwork. So, take that into consideration. That sounds like the lynchpin between this being a very good or great match. I really liked the rest of Starr's offense. He and Fujinami have really good chemistry. He almost felt like the junior version of Stan Hansen...technical when he needs to be but a rough neck at heart. So, it's something I would recommend checking out

Antonio Inoki vs Ken Patera 09/30 gets a recommendation from SAMS but I had a hard time getting into it. I actually needed a little variety as its been a bit too much of Inoki or Fujinami vs someone, 1 vs 1. So, I opted for this instead:

Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu vs Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff 11/06: This was 2/3 falls and was a lot of fun. It very much scratched an itch for a lighter tag match. There's not much to it but it is fun to see Hogan in this setting and before he becomes a huge megastar.

Kengo Kimura vs Chavo Guerrero 11/03: Oh shoot this takes place before the tag! Well I'm leaving it here. I want to end with a legit selection. The version I watched is joined in progress. I'm not sure if there's a full version out there. There is and its about 15 seconds longer Anyways, this is a fantastic match! This is another technical struggle for supremacy. There was a segment where Chavo was in control and it seemed like every hold he did was chained into the next. And Kengo come through again. He's not the ace like Fujinami but damn he can hold his own and then some. He's really improved in my eyes from this little project. I think I'm comfortable calling this a classic match... I really dug this one!

I can't locate these '80 matches but they were one's I went looking for:
-Gran Hamada & George Takano vs Mando Guerrero & Baby Face 03/07
-Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami 05/30 
-Bob Backlund vs Tatsumi Fujinami 06/05
-Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen 06/05
-Riki Choshu vs Bret Hart 07/10
-Kantaro Hoshino & Riki Choshu vs Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami 12/05

For the sake of variety, I wanted to see both tags as well as Bret vs Choshu. If you find them somewhere, then I'd recommend checking 'em out. Feel free to post a comment of a quick review if you see one. That would help out others reading the blog.

As far as the matches I watched, everything was worth my time and then some. The Inoki/Patera match I couldn't get into but you should give it a go. I may not have been in the mood for the type of wrestling they were doing. If you're going to only want to watch a handful of this 1980 stuff and want kinda short & sweet along with variety then I'd recommend the following:

Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn 01/18
Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen 02/08
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Johnny Londos 09/19
Kengo Kimura vs Chavo Guerrero 11/03

That's a good craft brew sample 4 pack

If you're looking for top shelf stuff only regardless of length, I'd recommend these:

Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn 01/18
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Dynamite Kid 02/05:
Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen 02/08
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ashura Hara 04/03
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Chavo Guerrero 05/09
Kengo Kimura vs Tatsumi Fujinami 09/25
Kengo Kimura vs Chavo Guerrero 11/03

There's a lot of Tatsumi Fujinami but he's a boss in my book. I wasn't expecting him to be badass in 1980...thinking that came later in the 80's but nope...I was wrong. He was already great. To sum up this lil project I will quote my first post in this series, "This 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." 

If you're interested, definitely check some of this out!

Thanks for reading!