THE NEW JAPAN 175 Options

[goodhelmet]

Phil, Childs and I pounded out the remaining matches today and this is the list. The last two matches from 1987, we are not sure of the dates. If anyone has any information on when that Choshu-Fujiwara match took place and if someone can confirm the date of the six-man, that will be great. PM me for information on picking up a set.



Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn (1/18/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn (2/3 Falls) (2/1/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (2/5/80)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (2/8/80)
Gran Hamada vs. Babyface (4/3/80)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (4/3/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Chavo Guerrero (5/9/80)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (5/9/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Tony Rocco (9/11/80)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (9/11/80)


Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Johnny Londos (9/19/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (9/25/80)
Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (9/30/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ron Starr (9/30/80)
Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen (9/30/80)
Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (11/3/80)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn (11/6/80)
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (4/23/81)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (4/23/81)
George Takano vs. Stan Lane (7/24/81)


Tiger Mask/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Pete Roberts/El Solitario (9/4/81)
Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (9/23/81)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi (10/8/81)
Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. Negro Navarro & El Signo (10/30/81)
Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada (11/6/81)
Tiger Mask vs. El Canek (12/8/81)
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet (12/10/81)
Tiger Mask, Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Baby Face, Dynamite Kid & Abdullah the Butcher (1/8/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (1/28/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Bret Hart (2/5/82)


Tiger Mask vs. Steven Wright (4/1/82)
Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan (4/1/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger (5/26/82)
Hulk Hogan vs. Abdullah the Butcher (5/26/82)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch (7/6/82)
Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid (7/16/82)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dick Murdoch (7/23/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (8/5/82)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Hiro Hamaguchi (9/24/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (11/4/82)


Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan (12/9/82)
Tiger Mask vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (1/6/83)
Gran Hamada, Kantaro Hoshino & Tiger Mask vs. Missionaries De La Muerte (1/14/83)
Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Gran Hamada (2/10/83)
Antonio Inoki & Kengo Kimura vs. Adrian Adonis & Bob Orton Jr. (3/4/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (4/3/83)
Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (4/21/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (4/21/83)
Akira Maeda vs. Killer Khan (5/17/83)
Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki (IWGP League Final) (6/2/83)


Dick Murdoch vs. Abdullah the Butcher (7/7/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (7/7/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (8/4/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (9/21/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan (11/3/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Akira Maeda vs. Riki Choshu & Higo Hamaguchi (12/2/83)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Akira Maeda & Kengo Kimura vs. Riki Choshu, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi (12/8/83)
Antonio Inoki, Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi, (2/9/84)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (3/9/84)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Seiji Sakaguchi & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Riki Choshu, Yoshiaki Yatsu & Higo Hamaguchi (3/22/84)


5-on-5 Gauntlet Challenge (4/19/84)
Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (5/18/84)
Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant (6/11/84)
Bob Backlund vs. Riki Choshu (8/24/84)
Riki Choshu vs. Greg Valentine (9/7/84)
Antonio Inoki vs. Billy Crusher (9/17/84)
The Cobra vs. Hiro Saito (11/9/84)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis (12/7/84)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis (12/8/84)
Hulk Hogan vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (2/5/85)

Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch (3/29/85)
Keiichi Yamada vs. Shunji Kosugi (4/18/85)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis (5/24/85)
Andre the Giant & Tony St. Clair vs. Seiji Sakaguchi & Kantaro Hoshino (6/13/85)
The Cobra vs. Don Arakawa (8/1/85)
Keiji Mutoh, Keiichi Yamada & Kengo Kimura vs. Shinya Hashimoto, Shunji Kosugi & Kantaro Hoshino (9/13/85)
Antonio Inoki vs. Bruiser Brody (10/31/85)
Dick Murdoch vs. Bruiser Brody (11/22/85)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Masked Superstar & Dick Murdoch (11/29/85)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi (12/6/85)


Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch (12/10/85)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura vs. Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi (12/12/85)
Akira Maeda vs. Nobuhiko Takada (1/3/86)
Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (1/10/86)
Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (2/5/86)
Antonio Inoki & Keiichi Yamada vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido (2/5/86)
Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (2/6/86)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, & Yoshiaki Fujiwara (3/7/86)
Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki (3/26/86)
5-on-5 Challenge (5/1/86)


Kengo Kimura vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (5/16/86)
Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/12/86)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (6/12/86)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. The Cobra (6/17/86)
Antonio Inoki vs. Dick Murdoch (6/19/86)
Akira Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Bad News Allen & Steve Williams (7/25/86)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (8/5/86)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hoshino, George Takano & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki (9/16/86)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (9/19/86)
Akira Maeda vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen (10/9/86)


Tatsumi Fujinami & Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka (11/24/86)
Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Shiro Koshinaka (12/8/86)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (1/2/87)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (1/14/87)
Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda (2/2/87)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (2/5/87)
Keiji Mutoh & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Akira Maeda (2/5/87)
Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka (3/20/87)
Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Keiji Mutoh & Shiro Koshinaka (3/26/87)
Antonio Inoki vs. Masa Saito (4/27/87)


Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (5/25/87)
Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/9/87)
Kengo Kimura vs. Masa Saito (NJ TV 6/10/87)
Riki Choshu, Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido & Nobuhiko Takada (6/12/87)
Riki Choshu vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/29/87)
Masaharu Funaki & Akira Nogami vs. Yoji Anjo & Tatsuo Nakano (7/18/87)
Nobuhiko Takada & Akira Maeda vs. Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi (8/2/87)
Inoki/Fujiwara/Sakaguchi/Hoshino/Mutoh vs. Fujinami/Choshu/Maeda/Kimura/Super Strong Machine (8/19/87)
Akira Maeda vs. Super Strong Machine (8/20/87)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (8/20/87)


Akira Maeda vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara (8/29/87)
Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki (9/1/87)
Keiichi Yamada & Nobuhiko Takada vs. Mark Rocco & Owen Hart (9/7/87)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Antonio Inoki vs. Akira Maeda & Tatsumi Fujinami (9/7/87)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda & Super Strong Machine vs. Antonio Inoki, Dick Murdoch, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi (9/17/87)
Dick Murdoch & Antonio Inoki vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito (12/4/87)
Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Masa Saito (12/7/87)
Nobuhiko Takada & Osamu Kido vs. Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara (12/27/87)
Hiro Hase vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (12/27/87)
Keiichi Yamada vs. Masakazu Funaki (12/27/87)



Keiichi Yamada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (1/25/88)
Keiichi Yamada vs. Hiro Hase (2/4/88)
Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (2/4/88)
Nobuhiko Takada vs. Hiro Hase (3/11/88)
Shiro Koshinaka & Antonio Inoki vs. Hiroshi Hase & Riki Choshu (4/11/88)
Akira Nogami, Tatsutoshi Goto, Keiichi Yamada, Kantaro Hoshino & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Hase, Hiro Saito, Norio Honaga & Kensuke Sasaki (4/27/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (4/27/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (5/27/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu (6/24/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (6/26/88)


Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Don Nakaya Nielsen (7/29/88)
Antonio Inoki vs. Vader (7/29/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiichi Yamada, Shiro Koshinaka, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. Hiro Saito, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Super Strong Machine, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu (9/12/88)
Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Perro Aguayo & El Canek (10/10/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami, Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Chono vs. Tracy Smothers, Steve Armstrong & George Takano (11/11/88)
Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura & Osamu Kido (11/11/88)
Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (11/17/88)
Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Tatsutoshi Goto, Masa Saito & Seiji Sakaguchi (12/5/88)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Grappler (12/5/88)
Tatsutoshi Goto, Masa Saito, Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (12/7/88)


Keiichi Yamada vs. Shiro Koshinaka (12/9/88)
Naoki Sano & Osamu Matsuda vs. El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso (1/6/89)
Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura vs. El Bello Greco & Sergio El Hermoso (2/3/89)
Antonio Inoki vs. Riki Choshu (2/22/89)
Shiro Koshinaka vs. Hiroshi Hase (3/16/89)
Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. George Takano & Super Strong Machine (3/16/89)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jerry Lawler (3/16/89)
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Vader (4/24/89)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Victor Zangiev (4/24/89)
Shinya Hashimoto vs. Vader (4/24/89)


Riki Choshu vs. Big Van Vader (6/27/89)
Jushin Liger vs. Black Tiger (European Rounds) (7/12/89)
Riki Choshu vs. Salman Hashimikov (7/12/89)
Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (7/13/89)
Big Van Vader vs. Salman Hashimikov (7/13/89)
Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Super Strong Machine & George Takano (7/13/89)
Hiroshi Hase & Takayuki Iizuka vs. Naoki Sano & Akira Nogami (8/3/89)
Riki Choshu, Jushin Liger & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader, Manny Fernandez & Buzz Sawyer (8/3/89)
Jushin Liger vs. Kantaro Hoshino (8/5/89)
Buzz Sawyer vs. Victor Zangiev (8/5/89)


Jushin Liger & Akira Nogami vs. Kantaro Hoshino & Naoki Sano (8/8/89)
Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (8/10/89)
Akira Nogami vs. Naoki Sano (8/31/89)
Jushin Liger, Kengo Kimura & Riki Choshu vs Pat Tanaka, Owen Hart & Bam Bam Bigelow (8/31/89)
Riki Choshu vs. Shinya Hashimoto (12/7/89)

--------------------

[Tim Evans]

I should have the money in a couple days. I'm jacked up for this. Question, is the Famous Riot going to be part of the extras?

[PeteF3]

Oh, FUCK yes.

Those of you who remember the WWF set--do not get turned off by the 4/82 Andre vs. Khan. I can confidently say already that that match should easily make my top 10 and possibly top 5.

And interesting that after all the bluster about how overrated Tiger Mask was, that pretty much every big match of his got into the set. The anti-Dynamite sentiment did mostly hold up, though.

One bit of pedantry: that's Johnny Londos who opens up Disc 2 against Fujinami, not Tony (who AFAIK doesn't exist).

[goodhelmet]

The extras will be limited on this set. A few will pop up on the last disc but not many.

For Tiger Mask, and some other matches, we took into account historical perspective and notoriety. Some matches, we just held our nose and knew they had to be on the set. As far as DK goes, I think he shows up 8 times so it isn't like we snubbed him. I'll fix the Tony/Johnny deal. If not in the thread than in the menu.

[TheFlairMark]

And interesting that after all the bluster about how overrated Tiger Mask was, that pretty much every big match of his got into the set.

LOL, I was thinking exactly the same thing.

[Jamie Virtue]

18 discs?? (before extras)

[PeteF3]

18 discs?? (before extras)

I'm guessing the Extras is 1 disc, if even that (they could probably tack them onto the end of the match discs). How many can there be?

- The Maeda/Choshu shoot kick
- Vader vs. Inoki with the riot
- Probably should include the formation of Ishin Gundan (Choshu turning on Fujinami in a tag match, followed by Killer Khan turning on Sakaguchi)
- Maybe a compendium of the wackiest Japanese TV commercials

And...that's it? The first person to suggest Inoki vs. Saito in the Island Death Match deserves to be cockpunched.

[bigtotoro]

If you could just deliver that directly to the house, along with some pizza, I'll go ahead and call in sick for tomorrow.

[odessasteps]

I was wondering if the Maeda/Choshu shoot kick match was on there. I skimmed the list and didn't see it.

[Ditch]

Looking it over, matches I'm wondering about not being there...

Inoki vs Fujinami 9/19/85
Maeda vs Murdoch 9/14/87
Mutoh, Chono & Hashimoto vs Fujinami, Kimura & Koshinaka, 7/29/88
Inoki vs Fujinami 8/8/88
Sano vs Liger, September '89

I fully anticipate having a wildly variant ballot because I don't really dig a lot of the most widely beloved on this list. But then I haven't seen the majority of 'em so who knows!

[DylanWaco]

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (2/5/80)

This is the best Dynamite match I've ever seen and the best NJPW juniors match I've seen from the era. If people watch this next to the TM stuff and still conclude that TM had a match near this good I'll be shocked.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (6/12/86)

This is one of my twenty favorite matches ever.

[goodhelmet]

18 discs?? (before extras)

15 discs with extras on the last disc only

The Maeda/Choshu shoot kick
- Vader vs. Inoki with the riot
- Probably should include the formation of Ishin Gundan (Choshu turning on Fujinami in a tag match, followed by Killer Khan turning on Sakaguchi)

Should all make the extras set

And...that's it? The first person to suggest Inoki vs. Saito in the Island Death Match deserves to be cockpunched.

Prepare to cockpunch. This will be on.

Inoki vs Fujinami 9/19/85
Inoki vs Fujinami 8/8/88

Zzzzzzzzzz. We watched them. Better than Nyquil.

Maeda vs Murdoch 9/14/87

The panel thought we had better matches from both guys that whis would not be missed.

Mutoh, Chono & Hashimoto vs Fujinami, Kimura & Koshinaka, 7/29/88

- It didn't go very long for a six man and had a bad ending.

Sano vs Liger, September '89

Only found a clipped TV version. Add the fact that they botch some stuff. The two on the set will contend for the Top 10/20. The Sep. match was not comparable.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (2/5/80)

This is the best Dynamite match I've ever seen and the best NJPW juniors match I've seen from the era. If people watch this next to the TM stuff and still conclude that TM had a match near this good I'll be shocked.

Agreed. I already mentioned that there was an effort to put on more Tiger Mask matches than we wanted. A small handful will rank well for us. The majority will not.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (6/12/86)

This is a Top Ten match.

[Childs]

On the Tiger Mask issue, I'd say it's also a reflection of how many great guys they brought in to work with him. It's a treat to see Hamada, Navarro, Signo, Canek, Steven Wright etc. It's no huge credit to Sayama that he was the other guy in the ring.

[Resident Evil]

Where is Cobra vs the Dynamite Kid? I know there's a DK backlash but still.... there's no reason to leave out one of Cobra's best matches. It's easily one of the best New Japan matches of the 80s. Fantastic flow that builds excedingly well to a climax, terrific heat and the culmination of DK finally winning after losing against Tiger Mask so much. If I were to get this set, would I still be able to vote for that because it's top five for me.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (2/5/80)

This is the best Dynamite match I've ever seen and the best NJPW juniors match I've seen from the era. If people watch this next to the TM stuff and still conclude that TM had a match near this good I'll be shocked.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Akira Maeda (6/12/86)

This is one of my twenty favorite matches ever.

This is definitely one of the top DK matches but I prefer the excellent work against Bruce Hart and one of the Bret Hart matches as well. And yeah 4/21/83 is one of the best matches of all time so let's disagree one more time.

[J.H.]

I am so looking forward to this!

All the Fujinami has me so excited. I remember Lou Thesz rating Fujinami as the only guy for the modern era that was actually great by his standards. I've really only watched Fujinami from the 90's (not counting the Double KO match v. Maeda) so this set is a cornucopia of a guy I really want to watch. That doesn't happen a lot these days.

James

[Grimmas]

I was going to pass on this, but seeing the list. How much???

I wonder if anything can beat those Liger-Sano matches for me to get number 1?

[Childs]

Where is Cobra vs the Dynamite Kid? I know there's a DK backlash but still.... there's no reason to leave out one of Cobra's best matches. It's easily one of the best New Japan matches of the 80s. Fantastic flow that builds excedingly well to a climax, terrific heat and the culmination of DK finally winning after losing against Tiger Mask so much. If I were to get this set, would I still be able to vote for that because it's top five for me.

It's all chopped up to the point where you're basically just getting highlights and a stretch run. If that's a top 5 New Japan match for you, you need to watch more New Japan.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about the 7/5/84 match that Bowdren rated. If you're talking about one of their Feb. '84 matches, we just didn't like those that much. The title change featured some nice intensity from Dynamite, but again, it was only about seven minutes, and Cobra wasn't very good in it.

I'm not trying to be snarky. There was just way too much great shit on the table for that to make it.

[DocSarpolis]

So amped for this am I. And I'm glad to see the following match make the list:

Riki Choshu, Jushin Liger & Kengo Kimura vs. Big Van Vader, Manny Fernandez & Buzz Sawyer (8/3/89)

Anytime the debate comes up about great examples of 'David v. Goliath' battles I have recollections of Liger frustrating the hell out of Vader. This isn't Top 20 on the set or anything like that, but it's great fun.

[Ditch]

I was going to pass on this, but seeing the list. How much???

$45

Which, for 18 discs, is insane.

[Grimmas]

Is Bad News Allen & Steve Williams the toughest tag team of all-time?