Thought I'd post my ongoing ballots for DVDVR's best of the 1980's projects. This one is for the "Other Japan", meaning all men's promotions outside of AJPW and NJPW (they have their own categories). I've already started, so I've posted the current list. I'll also add short blurbs about the matches when I have something to say about them.

 

1. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (11/10/88 UWF)

2. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (8/13/88 UWF)

3. Akira Maeda vs Gerard Gourdeau (8/13/88 UWF)

4. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/11/85 UWF)

5. Nobuhiko Takada vs Bob Backlund (12/22/88 UWF)

6. Yoji Anjoh vs Masakatsu Funaki (6/14/89 UWF)

7. Masakatsu Funaki vs Tatsuo Nakano (7/24/89 UWF)

8. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (12/5/84 UWF)

9. Akira Maeda vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (8/13/89 UWF)

10. Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (10/25/89 UWF)

11. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/21/89 UWF)

12. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Yoji Anjoh (8/13/89 UWF)

13. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (5/4/89 UWF)

14. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (1/10/89 UWF)

15. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (10/25/89 UWF)

16. Super Tiger vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/6/85 UWF)

17. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (9/11/85 UWF)

18. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (5/12/88 UWF)

19. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (7/17/85 UWF)

20. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda (3/2/85 UWF)

21. Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda (9/11/84 UWF)

22. Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/8/85 UWF)

23. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (12/5/84 UWF)

24. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada (10/22/84 UWF)

25. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi (10/6/89 FMW)

26. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (1/7/85 UWF)

27. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (6/24/85 UWF)

28. Yoji Anjoh vs Minoru Suzuki (4/14/89 UWF)

29. Super Tiger vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (9/7/84 UWF)

30. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Masakatsu Funaki (5/4/89 UWF)

31. Nobuhiko Takada vs Marty Jones (2/18/85 UWF)

32. Yuko Miyato vs Minoru Suzuki (5/4/89 UWF)

33. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido (9/6/85 UWF)

34. Akira Maeda vs Super Tiger (1/7/85 UWF)

35. Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (2/21/85 JPW)

36. Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (7/21/85 UWF)

37. Super Tiger vs Nobuhiko Takada (7/21/85 UWF)

38. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (8/29/85 UWF)

39. Super Tiger vs Marty Jones (3/2/85 UWF)

40. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (2/18/85 UWF)

41. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (7/24/89 UWF)

42. Super Tiger/Joe Malenko vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara/Osamu Kido (5/25/85 UWF)

43. Masami Soronaka vs Scott McGhee (12/5/84 UWF)

44. Nobuhiko Takada vs Masami Soronaka (3/2/85 UWF)

45. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Osamu Kido (2/18/85 UWF)

46. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Yoji Anjoh (5/21/89 UWF)

47. Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (1/29/85 UWF)

48. Minoru Suzuki vs Johnny Barrett (10/1/89 UWF)

49. Ryuma Go vs Atsushi Onita (4/30/89 Pioneer)

50. Rusher Kimura vs Alexis Smirnoff (11/22/80 IWE)

51. Mighty Inoue/Higo Hamaguchi vs Carlos Plata/El Doberman (11/27/80 IWE)

52. Bob Backlund vs Masakatsu Funaki (5/21/89 UWF)

53. Carlos Plata/El Doberman/Goro Tsurumi vs Higo Hamaguchi/Isamu Teranishi/Mach Hayato (11/22/80 IWE)

54. Super Tiger/Akira Maeda vs Nobuhiko Takada/Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/23/84 UWF)

55. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Chris Dolman (11/29/89 UWF)

56. Riki Choshu/Yoshiaki Yatsu/Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Hiro Saito/Shunji Takano/Super Strong Machine (11/2/85 JPW)

57. Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (5/25/85 UWF)

58. Atsushi Onita vs Masashi Aoyagi (6/2/89 Ultimate Karate Ikki Kajiwara Memorial)

59. Shozo Kobayashi & Haruka Eigen vs Mighty Inoue & Isamu Teranishi (6/29/80 IWE)

60. El Gran Hamada vs Perro Aguayo (4/11/84 UWF)

61. Mighty Inoue/Higo Hamaguchi vs Spike Huber/Rocky Brewer (7/25/80 IWE)

62. Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Akira Maeda (7/13/85 UWF)

63. Tarzan Goto vs Mitsuhiro Matsunaga (12/4/89 FMW)

64. Higo Hamaguchi/Isamu Teranishi/Mach Hayato vs El Cobarde/Herodes/Goro Tsurumi (3/26/81 IWE)

65. Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (10/22/84 UWF)

66. Osamu Kido vs Super Tiger (7/8/85 UWF)

67. Kazuo Yamazaki vs Jack Snuka (9/11/84 UWF)

68. Osamu Kido vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/25/85 UWF)

69. Cuban Assassian/Phil Lafleur vs Super Tiger/Osamu Kido (10/22/84 UWF)

70. Carlos Plata/El Doberman vs Mighty Inoue/Mach Hayato (11/1/80 IWE)

71. Super Tiger vs Osamu Kido (8/29/85 UWF)

72. Atsushi Onita/Dick Murdoch vs Masanobu Kurisu/Jos LeDuc (12/4/89 FMW)

73. Jimmy Backlund vs Mitsuteru Tokuda (10/6/89 FMW)

74. Killer Khan vs Stan Hansen (??/??/86 JPW)

75. Pete Roberts/Akira Maeda vs Keith Hayward/Osamu Kido (12/5/84 UWF)

 

 

Rusher Kimura vs Alexis Smirnoff (11/22/80 IWE)

- I doubt this will be a popular pick, but I liked it. There was a lot of very, very basic and deliberate matwork, but it wasn't inactive matwork . Sometimes one hold would be held for 2 or 3 minutes at a time, but both guys would constantly try to fight their way out of those holds, and eventually, it turned into a solid and focused leg attack from Smirnoff. I'll take basic and deliberate combined with active and focused any day.

 

Super Tiger vs Akira Maeda (9/11/84 UWF)

- I loved the back and forth in this match. Great counters and great momentum swings made this really dramatic for me.

 

Masami Soronaka vs Scott McGhee (12/5/84 UWF)

- This was perhaps the most realistic match on the set so far. A lot of chain/amateur wrestling going on here, with both guys working for holds, and moving along in a realistic and smooth way. For how great of an amateur Kurt Angle was, these two seem to have a better grasp of how to translate that style into the pros.

 

Pete Roberts/Akira Maeda vs Keith Hayward/Osamu Kido (12/5/84 UWF)

- A complete bore for 25 of the 30 minutes this match went. Lifeless matches aren't a big deal when they're short, but when they're long, it's just painful. Maeda did nothing except kill one of the first exciting sequences of the match. The other three only picked up their game during the last 10 minutes or so. There was little or no direction, focus or action and it lasted 30 minutes.

 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Super Tiger (12/5/84 UWF)

- Absolutely brutal. The early portions of the match are peppered with some great mat sequences, with both guys working for holds, transitioning to other holds when those weren't working and just looking really believable in general. Then Tiger starts killing Fujiwara with kicks. For about seven minutes. This was actually good and bad in that it was silly that Tiger was allowed to kick the hell out of Fujiwara while he was down and supposedly taking a ten count. If a ten count is going to be used for knockdowns, the other guy can't be allowed continue beating his opponent after the opponent gets knocked down. It ruins the point and drama of the knockdown. The whole finishing sequence would have been better if Fujiwara was taking the beating on his feet, along with making a few more attempts at a comeback. But I can't complain too much, since this is still early UWF, and the workers were still perfecting the style.

 

Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (12/5/84 UWF)

- This was more or less a better version of Tiger vs. Maeda from 9/11/84. A great swing match, where both guys had their moments. Great, fluid matwork early, awesome transitions from one move attempt to the next and a fantastic back and forth stretch run where the outcome was very much in doubt.

 

Osamu Kido vs Akira Maeda (1/29/85 UWF)

- Maeda actually sold a bit. Early portions were very dull, as Maeda was in control for 95% of the first 10-15 minutes. Things picked up at various points, but the work was never more than good. Ends up being merely decent, which is a lot better than I thought it would be after the first few minutes.

 

Nobuhiko Takada vs Marty Jones (2/18/85 UWF)

- Good bit of fun here, with some clever reversals, great body language from both guys and a neat mini-story revolving around the headscissors. Not much drama, just a solidly worked, shoot-style wrestling match.

 

Akira Maeda vs Kazuo Yamazaki (2/18/85 UWF)

- Not such a great first 15 minutes, although it wasn't all bad. Things got really good when Yamazaki was allowed to make his comeback and get in some quality offense. Most of the match was mediocre, but the stretch run made it good enough to get a decent placement on the list.

 

Riki Choshu vs Genichiro Tenryu (2/21/85 JPW)

- This was one of those matches where they don't waste any time in moving the match along, as Tenryu tried to bomb Choshu out of there right at the start, which made the whole match seem like a stretch run. If the sort of work these guys did was at the end of 15-20 minutes of build, this would be a MOTYC. As it was, it's just merely good, but a lot of fun regardless.

 

Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (5/25/85 UWF)

- This was way too clipped, showing only six of nineteen minutes. What I saw was mostly good, and was enough to put it over some of the weaker matches, but I didn't see enough for this to really get a good placement.

 

Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara (7/8/85 UWF)

- The main point here was that Fujiwara is a prick, and that makes Takada angry. Angry Takada decides to kick the crap out of Fujiwara, but that doesn't really stop Fujiwara from being a prick. Short match, but it had a nifty story and it was a ton of fun.

 

Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Kazuo Yamazaki (8/29/85 UWF)

- There was some nifty matwork here which led to some bizarre positions, along with a couple of neat counters. The match never really got hot, and the ending was somewhat abrupt, but it was still a solid match due to how good the early portions were.

 

Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (9/11/85 UWF)

- Tough call between this match or their 12/5/84 match, but I went with this one. The early portions of this match were hit or miss and weren't as strong as their previous encounter, but the stretch run was a lot better. Only problem was that it may have gone on a little too long. In any case, this match seemed like a blueprint for UWF2, as this was worked much like the bigger UWF2 matches, with a lot of knockdowns, comebacks and tons of drama.

 

Kazuo Yamazaki vs Nobuhiko Takada (8/13/88 UWF)

- Takada was actually heeling it up here, twice kicking Yamazaki while he was down, along with punching him right in the face. The opening 5-10 minutes of this match was full of neat little spots and story sequences like that. Later, Takada started going after Yamazaki's leg but couldn't put him away. One complaint is that the dragon suplex wasn't treated well, as it didn't even get a close near-fall, and it wasn't sold very well either. Finishing sequence was incredible and the actual finish was incredibly hot. Excellent match.

 

Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda (11/10/88 UWF)

- Incredibly dramatic and epic match. Both guys were just whaling on each other by the end. Really great story, with Takada getting the worst of it early, and only being one knockdown away from losing, only to reverse the tide and storm back for the win. The finish was just beautiful, as they were drilling each other with their best shots, and it was only a matter of who would go down first. Maeda's selling was fantastic and it was the best performance of his that I've seen.