[1987-05-18-NJPW] Akira Maeda vs Masa Saito

[GOTNW]

I'm not sure how my taste in wrestling managed to change so quickly, maybe it's the insane GWE-related amounts of wrestling I've watched, but last time I watched this match wasn's so long ago, maybe a year or two ago. I thought it was good, this time I thought it was absolutely marvelous. Super Strong Machine trips Maeda as he's entering the ring and attacks him, that whole angle was so great and really puts into perspective how amateur a lot of angles even major promotions do cime off. Maeda does a disgusting blade job, so naturally you need a million people to hide it well, and the commotion a pre-match attack causes is the perfect opportunity for that. All you really see is Maeda eating shots and the ringpost and by the time he gets up he's just covered in blood, it's insane. Maeda falls down as he enters the ring and sets the stage for the match. Maeda is on the verge if defeat the entire match, as Masa Saito just nuked him with Suplexes and Lariats. They cool it off with a Boston Crab and while the crowd senses Maeda isn't losing to such a hold they use it to transition to Maeda's comeback, as Maeda pushes Saito off him by going backwards. From then on it'a a matter of life and death, and they pack so much neat stuff into the finishing stretch it feels kinda redundant to name every singLe thing done and why it worked. Saito's punches could've been better, but that's just nitpicking. ****

[superkix]

Maeda bled a whole lot here, it was crazy. Such a big moment when he collapses upon entering the ring, and then he's at the mercy at big grunt Saito. Good comeback story, great performance from Maeda, and Saito doing what Saito does, which works.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Masa Saito vs Akira Maeda - NJPW 5/18/87 IWGP Tournament

Insane bloody angle here! Super Strong Machine jumps Maeda before he enters the ring and takes him to the woodshed. Awesome, uncooperative beatdown here. Hirata slams Maeda from pillar to post. Maeda eats some nasty fucking shots to the post and railing. Maeda taps a huge gusher. I don't know if Super Strong Machine hated Maeda or was aligned with Saito, but this was a terrific hot angle. Per usual, I am woefully ignorant on New Japan booking & backstory, any suggestions?

Saito DEMOLISHES Maeda with a Saito Suplex. Maeda kicks out to a massive pop. Saito TRUCKS with a Lariat, another kick. Saito tries pouring it on. Scorpion Deathlock and Maeda does the proto-Austin with the push-up and the Crimson Mask! THIS IS SICK! Maeda powers out of a Boston Crab. WALKING TALL MAEDA! Maeda's best asset and in my opinion only asset is his tree trunk legs. He starts throwing kicks and that Rainbow Spinning Heel Kick gets a huge pop. They end up on the outside. Saito BASHES his head into the post and then ANNIHILATES him with a Saito Suplex to win by countout. This was a part of the tournament to determine the inaugural IWGP Champion. Super Strong Machine comes out and attacks again. Maybe the feud was personal rather than an alliance with Saito. Fujiwara runs him off without laying a finger on him which is a boss move. 

Match defies rating as it is just an ultra-hot ***** angle and I really dont even like Maeda. I still think he could have been more charismatic, but it is hard to fuck up being incredibly bloody, getting your shit wrecked and making a comeback. Even Maeda can pull that off. Saito is an offensive juggernaut. As an anti-Maeda fan, it was a lot of fun watching his shit get kicked in. Lets go ****, but like I said this is more of an angle and everyone needs to check it out!

[KB8]

Yeah, I guess this is more of an angle than a match, but if your angle is someone getting launched into a ring post and bleeding everywhere then I'm pretty much sold. Super Strong Machine (in his immaculate blue tracksuit) trips Maeda as he's getting into the ring at the start, rams him into the post a few times, and after about thirty seconds Maeda falls into the ring covered in blood. I mean he has absolutely massacred himself with the blade on this, good grief. Saito tries to put him away immediately with a couple Saito Suplexes and a lariat, but Maeda keeps kicking out with milliseconds to spare and the people are in bits. Maeda gets almost nothing in the way of offence but everything he does do is met with a monster pop. He also takes another three or four ludicrous postings on the floor and the fact Saito had to resort to that for a count out win is maybe a story in itself. Post-match all hell breaks loose and a shirtless Fujiwara runs off the bad bastards, practically by his presence alone. One of a kind.