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[1984-04-19-NJPW] Sekigun (Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura) vs Ishingun (Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi) (Gauntlet Elimination)


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The most impressive thing about this match is that in 90 minutes there is literally no downtime at all. Even the Inoki vs. Choshu matwork was compelling. The crowd heat is insane and the fact that that level of heat was consistently maintained for 90 minutes is even more insane. I would say Fujinami was the MVP with Animal as a close second but everyone was great in it. Incredible match to say the least but one I have had trouble rating because it is difficult to distinguish the individual pairings from the overall story.

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  • paul sosnowski changed the title to [1984-04-19-NJPW] Sekigun vs Ishingun 10 Man Gauntlet Challenge Elimination Match
  • GSR changed the title to [1984-04-19-NJPW] Sekigun (Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami & Nobuhiko Takada & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura) vs Ishingun (Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Animal Hamaguchi & Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi) (Gauntlet Elimination)
  • 1 month later...

One of the hardest things a wrestler can do is try to keep the fans invested in a match that goes over 60 minutes long. Usually there is a lot of downtime in the beginning with an action packed ending to help keep the match for burning out towards the end of the match but there is very little downtime at all. Even given that most of the wrestlers don’t last very long, the pace the match goes at is still pretty extraordinary. The crowd is hot, and I mean hot, for all of the match. Constantly going wild for the wrestling whether no matter the pairing. There was great individual performances by Yatsu, Fujinami and Hamaguchi, very hot crowd and a great ending. It’s very highly regarded as one of the best New Japan matches of the 80’s and I would have to agree with that praise. One of the best gauntlet matches I’ve seen and, surprisingly given the run time, a very, very easy watch. ****3/4
 

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  • 4 years later...

This is widely considered best match of NJPW in the 1980’s, that’s what the people in Death Valley Driver said, this is the climax of the Choshu's Army vs New Japan Establishment rivalry and it delivered big time, every pairing was amazing and the crowd was always hot, that’s quite a feat considering that this match lasted around 75 minutes, having a crowd so involved in a plus one hour long match is very impressive, the crowd was rooting for the New Japan Establishment formed by Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura. It’s a gauntlet match like Burning vs Kensuke Office but much better, that match was a tag team gauntlet while this one is a singles gauntlet, if someone gets pinned or submits another member of his team will replace him, the heel team ( Choshu’s Army) is headed by Riki Choshu and the other members are Yoshiaki Yatsu, Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi & Kuniaki Kobayashi, the match is building towards a clash between Antonio Inoki and Riki Choshu. 

The first two pairings are Tatsumi Fujinami vs Kuniaki Kobayashi and Tatsumi Fujinami vs Isamu Teranishi, Fujinami beat both members of Choshu’s Army with ease, his next opponent Yoshiaki Yatsu was able to beat Fujinami mainly because Fujinami had been wrestling for around twenty minutes at that point while Yoshiaki Yatsu was fresh, Nobuhiko Takada enters the ring but Yoshiaki Yatsu is able to beat him pretty quickly, the match is tied, Kengo Kimura comes next, he run through Yoshiaki Yatsu to get the win and untie the match, now the match is 3-2 for the New Japan Establishment and the crowd loves it, Animal Hamaguchi enters the ring for Choshu’s Army and he beats Kengo Kimura without much problem, the match is tied again, Yoshiaki Fujiwara is next, they wrestled for a bit and then a double count out happens, which means that both Riki Choshu and Antonio Inoki will enter the ring at the same time, Inoki didn’t give Choshu a chance and Choshu submitted to a abdominal stretch. 

Fujinami was the best part of the match’s early moments and he contributed positively to this match’s legacy, an absolute blast, one of the best matches of all time and pretty easy to watch. I’d recommend this match to every wrestling fan, the only problem this match had was the finish but everything else was amazing.

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