IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title Match: Nobuhiko Takada (c) vs. Shiro Koshinaka
Wow the Jr Division in the mid to late 80s are rocking. Takada, Yamazaki, Koshinaka, etc (soon adding Kobayashi and Owen Hart in the mix). Most would either go Heavyweight or leave entirely for the 90s to succeed in their own right . I'd love to see what would happen if they just had the Juniors as the main events when called for. Just like the Heavyweights. But rather than dwell on what if, I'm going to praise this match as well. The Takada v Koshinaka pairing is controversial. The typical comments are either boring mat work or exciting. So divisive. I'm in the crowd that loves it. The hot crowd and fast pacing gave the match so much energy that I was hooked even during the downparts of the match. And even more so when they were striking and throwing suplexes at each other. Koshinaka has great slaps and punches but Takada’s kicks give him the edge so Koshinaka keeps coming up with neat reversals. It wasn't the cleanest match but they built the tension and competitiveness so well, making up for it. ****
IWGP Tag Team Title Match: Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami (c) vs. Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido - NJPW Burning Spirit In Summer - Day 26 05/08/1986
Kido did it!!!!!! Osamu Kido scoring the upset win surprised everyone and got a great pop. Fujinami is stunned. Kimura is stunned. Even Maeda. Fun match. Quickly paced with a lot of wild kicks being thrown by Maeda with Fujinami trying to dodge them, especially as we're not far away from Maeda busting his cheek open with the same kicks attempted in this match. Kimura and Fujinami dominate Kido, but Kido is able to stay in play with his skill on the mat and create some openings. This repeats until Kido scores the flash pin. Good tag match. ***1/2
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