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NOW vs. NEW - NJPW?


Smack2k

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Those Summer elimination matches were awesome, very heated. The one from 87' was August 19th at Sumo Hall and it featured Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda & Kengo Kimura & Super Strong Machine over Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Keiji Mutoh.

 

They gave Mutoh a little push by having him take a beating but hold on towards the end. It really elevated him in the fans eyes.

 

My favorite elimination match was their May 1986 UWF vs New Japan at Sumo Hall. Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada & Kazao Yamazaki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido beat Tatsumi Fujinami &Seiji Sakaguchi &Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka & Keiichi Yamada. The heat was off the charts for this match, a few months prior they had a 5 on 5 gauntlet match that was great too.

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Is this the same as the UWF vs. NJPW feud just a different name?

 

Time period seems the same

Nope, this is what came after that feud. NOW vs NEW had old UWF guys and NJPW guys teaming up. Other than Mutoh helping the old guys this was focused on young guys against the established older generation.

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Yea Mutoh was put in that Inoki young boy spot. And that's why he was in the old guys spot.

 

Just awesome heat. The latter was part of New Japan's Summer Night Fever. It was a two day event where both cards were held at Sumo Hall. It was released on commercial tape, and I bought it which was one of my favorite events for years.

 

The first night featured the 10 man elimination match and the IWGP Junior Title Tournament that included Nobuhiko Takada, Norio Honaga, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kazao Yamazaki, Keiichi Yamada, Hiro Saito and a very young Masakatsu Funaki with the finals came to Kobayashi going over Takada on the second night.

 

Also on the second day was Riki Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami beating Antonio Inoki & Keiji Mutoh. What made these events stand out was that there was no Gaijin talent on either cards.

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That year or so was one of my favorite periods for New Japan. Nearly every week the crowds were super hot, and the matches were great. They had a great crew of top guys, an awesome group of guys knocking on their doors. And one of the best ever group of young wrestlers breaking in.

 

I always wanted to see Akira Maeda have that major one on one match with Riki Choshu, who was one of my favorites or Antonio Inoki. Just look at the group of young wrestlers in New Japan. Nobuhiko Takada, Funaki, Muto, Liger, Hase, Chono, Hashimoto, Benoit, and so many more. Just super loaded cards. I doubt Japan will ever hit those levels again.

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This was New Japan's big feud storyline after Choshu jumped back in 1987.

 

New Leaders = Fujinami & Choshu & Maeda

Now Leaders = Inoki & Saito & Sak & Old Farts

 

Big match was the elimination tag in August.

Holy shit was that 10 man amazing.....

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