[1987-09-17-NJPW] Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi

[Superstar Sleeze]

Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi - NJPW 9/17/87

Interesting that the August match had two posts about it, but this match has no thread. The August match finished at #11 in DVDVR voting and this finished at #14 so only three spots separate them. From the line up, I think I would like this one more on paper. Mutoh just didnt fit with the Old Guard, while I love Hoshino's punch combinations, Masa Saito and Dick Murdoch add a lot of star power. I think Captain Redneck as the sole gaijin in the feud. As for the New Generation, I think Takada is an upgrade over Kimura. I like Kimura just fine, but Takada has become underrated and he had a really good series with Koshinaka and already at this point has more star power to him. Stream of Consciousness again:

First Elimination: Inoki is taking Hoshino to the back...hmmmm...crowd to their feet. Inoki brings out Dick Murdoch is a big reaction. Ten years before the Monday Night Wars, Inoki is doing surprise debuts as the crowd is chanting "Holy Shit" ok thats what I assume they are saying. Theres a cut in the tape. It looks like Choshu may have been eliminated during the cut...boooooooooo! Looked it up on Cagematch, both Choshu and Murdoch were eliminated a little over a minute in! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Booo because I cant see it! Booooo because thats way too fast!

Third Elimination: Maeda vs Saito! Saito Lariat! Saito Suplex, Maeda belly to belly suplex. Maeda hiptoss. Spinning Heel Kick for two. Saito tags out to Fujiwara. SSM in. Fujiwara leaps into the lock up. Fujiwara body punches. SSM fights back. SSM bodyslam. Takada in. Fujiwara leg whip and tags in Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi knee lifts. Inoki in! Inoki vs Takada~! Inoki goads Takada into tagging in Fujinami! OOOO we didnt get INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! in the last match. Criss cross. Big tease as Inoki tags out to Fujiwara. Fujinami is not happy. Fujwiara /Fujinami works a great snapmare/bridge series. Fujinami gets a single leg pickup and Maeda applies a leg bar. Tags in SSM who drops the leg on Fujiwara's leg. SSM Spinning toehold into the Figure-4. Takada drops a kneedrop on Fujiwara while SSM still has the figure-4 in. Where is the Old Guard! Here comes the Takada kicks and he pounds away in the corner. Fujiwara has heel control and dumps him on his ass. Saito in. He slugs Takada. Misses lariat, Saito shrugs off dropkick. Takada gets a roundhouse kick. Saito Suplex! Eat that punk kid and your flashy kicks! Sakaguchi vs SSM. Sakaguchi High Knee! Tags in Saito. Double Clothesline by old timers. Sakaguchi single leg crab. Maeda saves. Big Kicks on Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi has had enough of this and a firefight breaks out! Maeda legally tags in. Maeda kicks hamstring and Sakaguchi collapses he picks the ankle wants the single leg crab but Maeda gets the ropes. Saito gets suplex, Inoki tags in! Abdominal Stretch on Maeda. Maeda converts into a cross-armbreaker. Inoki is trying to bridge out. MAEDA OCTOPUS STRETCH! Takada Saito Suplex on Inoki for two and Takada cross armbreaker on Inoki, Inoki gets ropes and tags in Fujiwara. Fujiwara unloads on Takada in corner but Takada SNAPS~! explodes back! They end up in ropes. Fujiwara rips a Fujiwara Armbar takedown. Tag out to Fujinami. Fujinami beats him into Old Guard corner. Sakaguchi in. Fujinami and Sakaguchi love working with each other. Fujianmi Enziguiri! Fujiinami small package for three as called by Japanese commentator. Cant put my finger on it, but I liked the August match beginning a little more. New Generation 4-3.    

Fourth Elimination: Saito rides Fujinami to the ground and gets a leg submission on him. In the ropes. Saito goes for the Scorpion Deathlock. He turns it over and Takada saves. Saito Throws him into corner. Fujinami works corner. FUJIWARA ARMBAR TAKEDOWN! Fujinami tags out to Takada Takada tries to work Fujiwara Armbar Takedown but cant get perfect positioning on the ground. Fujiwara switch to his own! He is the Man! Takada makes the ropes. Fujiwara headbutt. Saito tagged in and more headbutts. Takada kicks. Sato dragon leg screw. Single leg pickup by Takada, SSM Leg drop. SSM headbutts to midsection. SSM Lariat on Saito. Saito tags in Fujiwara. SSM Lariat to Fujiwara. Another one by SM. Third Time is the opposite of a charm as Fujiwara counters the Lariat into Fujiwara Armbar takedown that leads a submission to tie this thing up! Tied 3-3. 

Fifth Elimination: Maeda chases Fujiwara back to his corner. Maeda misses Enziguiri on Saito. Saito hooks up and suplexes. Saito holds him for the Bombs Away Knee drop. Saito bodyslam and Inoki Bombs Away Knee drop again. Inoki bodyslam. Inoki suplex. I think theres a Maeda Chant! Fujiwara straight knee bar on Maeda! Maeda just barely gets the ropes. Maeda big kicks to Fujiwara. Big Spinning Heel Kick catches Fujiwara on the jaw! Spinning Heel Kick caught into the straight kneebar. Maeda makes ropes again. Put him away Fujiwara! Maeda kicks. Fujiwara leg scissors into a straight kneebar middle of the ring this time. Maeda makes the ropes. Maeda hooks him up. Small package rolling around and Maeda ends up on top! Boooooo but this makes sense. I think Takada could have gone before Fujiwara but this is a reasonable down the stretch. Fujiwara had been the star of the show with Takada's performance dripping with effort. This run of footage has been making me turn the corner on Maeda who has star power and in this last segment looked like a huge star. New Generation 3-2. Dont count Inoki and Saito out yet!

Sixth Elimination: Smart money is on Takada getting eliminated next but after the Inoki/Maeda double elimination in August anything can happen. Saito attacks the knee of Maeda. Slamming the knee to the canvas as Maeda sells it well. Indian Deathlock by Saito on Maeda. MAEDA TAPPED OUT! HOLY SHIT! No wonder he Shoot Kicked Choshu in the face and started his own promotion. After that elimination he must have known the writing was on the wall. Tied 2-2. 

Seventh Elimination. There was a little protection in Maeda elimination given that Fujiwara worked three straight heel hooks/kneebars on his leg so you can say Saito just finished the job. It is Takada in. Takada dropkick on Saito. Takada pins for two and he is going for his patented Crossface Chickenwing but settles for a Boston Crab. Bodyslam towards Fujinami. Fujinami bombs away kneedrop and dropkick. Saito tags out to Inoki. Inoki Enziguiri! Butterfly Suplex for two! Tags in Saito. Saito sleeper on Fujinami. Fujinami tags out. Fujinami holds him as Takada nails a missile dropkick. Saito suplex. Takada kicks in the ropes. Saito dumps him on his ass. Saito suplex take over for two. Takada powerslam for two. Saito sidesteps the missle dropkick. He is winding up for Lariat. MACK TRUCK LARIAT FOR THREE! Old Guard 2-1.

Eighth Elimination: I smell a rat. Fujinami all by himself. INOKI VS FUJINAMI~! Fujinami dropkick, Inoki kangaroo kick. Inoki Boston Crab. Fujinami full mount ground & pound. Fist fight. Inoki tags out. Saito bashes Fujinami head into the exposed turnbuckle. Repeatedly. Saito throws the ref to the ground. This is brutal. Saito bites the head. Saito bashes the head again. Fujinami tapped a gusher. He sees red! He fires away! Saito gets his feet up and bashes the head again. Tags in Inoki. Fujiwara swings and miss. Inoki has no shame and he is attacking the cut with punches. Fujinami last stand with Scorpion Deathlock on Inoki. Saito clocks Fujinami. Inoki headbutt. Inoki slams Fujinami's head into the exposed buckle. Fujinami throws ref away/ Inoki headbutt to cut. Saito tagged in and he Saito suplex! TWO! MACK TRUCK LARIAT! TWO! Fujinami wild swings trying to make a last stand. Saito bites the cut. Saito punches. Saito Supelx! Is Saito picking him up? Saito Suplex and Fujinami kicked out of that one. Saito punches the cut! Stomps the cut! Inoki tags in. Saito Supelx but blocked by Fujinami. Inoki SLAPS Saito and pins Fujnami! CHOSHU IS RIPSHIT! Choshu throws out ref. 

I figured Saito was going to turn on Inoki but I didnt see Inoki slapping Saito and stealing the win. Weird booking in my opinion. This explains the 1988 finish between Fujinami and Saito with the roles reversed. I think this was my favorite Elimination match. Best body/finish combo. These are fun spotfests with massive superstars and every combination is super hot. ****1/2

[Mr JMML]

Everyone of New Japan’s multi-man matches of the 1980’s are amazing, now I can say that comfortably, this match in particular didn’t have any downtime whatsoever they went straight at it for around 30 minutes, the stipulation is the same as in the New Japan vs UWF match 5v5 and if get pinned, submitted or counted out you’re eliminated like in Survivor Series, this matches are the most exciting and emotional in 80’s New Japan because they always guarantee a clear result something that didn’t happen often in singles competition, the intensity of this contest is unmatched, everyone performed their role perfectly, I don’t mind the first two eliminations of the match because everything else is so good it doesn’t even matter, if you haven’t seen the match what happened was that Dick Murdoch and Riki Choshu eliminated themselves inmediately, that was strange but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s something that tends to happen in matches of this nature, Fujinami had an absolutely flawless performance in the match, he was there from beginning to end and that was a good call by New Japan’s creatives, the way he struggles to get an advantage combined with his bloody face made for an era-defining babyface performance, he was outnumbered during the finish stretch which resulted in him losing to Masa Saito and Antonio Inoki, it looked like they listened to me, they knew that another finish where Inoki is outnumbered and prevails anyways would be predictable, it just wouldn’t be as fun as it is if that was the finish, the team formed by Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi won, not without a fight, it isn’t the best multi-man they had to offer but it was in the same level as any other from that era.

I’d recommend this match to everyone who liked the first two multi-man matches, I know that there was another one in August but I couldn’t find that one if anyone reading this has it please put the link to it below.