Event: New Japan Pro Wrestling
Location: Tokyo Sumo Hall
Announced Attendance:  11,000

vs.

This is an elimination match, and a wrestler can be eliminated by pinfall, submission, or by being thrown out of the ring. Mutoh and Fujinami start things off, and Mutoh drops Fujinami with a dropkick. Snapmare by Mutoh and he applies the Scorpion Deathlock, but Fujinami quickly gets out of it. Mutoh tags in Hoshino and they trade strikes, Hoshino punches Fujinami back, Irish whip by Fujinami and he delivers a dropkick. Scoop slam by Fujinami and he tags in Choshu. Back elbow by Choshu onto Hoshino, and Hoshino tags in Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi pushes Choshu back into the corner and chops him in the chest before hitting a hiptoss and trying to throw Choshu out of the ring. Choshu slams on the breaks, snapmare by Sakaguchi and he tags in Fujiwara. Snapmare by Fujiwara and he applies a side headlock, but Choshu muscles back and tags in Maeda. Kicks by Maeda in the corner and he hits a suplex, cover, but it gets a two count. Capture suplex by Maeda but again it gets two. Maeda tries to throw Fujiwara out of the ring but Fujiwara hangs onto the ropes. Snapmare by Maeda and he tags in Machine. Stomps by Machine to Fujiwara and he hits a vertical suplex for a two count. Irish whip by Machine, Fujiwara goes for the Fujiwara Armbar but Machine quickly gets to the ropes. Back up, tie-up, Machine gets Fujiwara into the corner and gives him a headbutt. Fujiwara absorbs the blows and headbutts Machine back before tagging in Hoshino. Chops by Hoshino, Irish whip, and he dropkicks Machine. Machine tags in Kimura, punches by Kimura and he throws Hoshino into his corner. Hoshino tags in Sakaguchi, who kicks Kimura in the corner and hits a series of chops. Scoop slam by Sakaguchi and Mutoh comes off the top turnbuckle with a knee drop. Kimura manages to tag in Choshu, so Mutoh tags in Inoki. Inoki tags Mutoh back in when Choshu charges, Choshu goes for the Scorpion Deathlock but instead tags in Machine. Irish whip by Machine and he hits a back elbow onto Mutoh. Scoop slam by Machine and he applies a crab hold. Fujiwara breaks it up with a headbutt, and Machine tag in Meada. Hiptoss by Maeda and he lands the jumping heel kick, cover, but it gets at two count. German suplex hold by Maeda to Mutoh, but that gets a two count as well. Mid-kicks by Maeda and he tags in Kimura, who comes in the ring with a diving knee drop. Inazuma Leg Lariat by Kimura and he applies a single leg crab hold, but Mutoh manages to tag in Fujiwara. Fujiwara and Kimura trade slaps, and Fujiwara hits a vertical suplex. Fujiwara goes for a triangle choke but Kimura rolls to the ropes to force a break. Sakaguchi tags in as does Fujinami, tie-up, side headlock by Fujinami but Sakaguchi picks up Fujinami and puts him onto the top turnbuckle before throwing him off to the mat. Kicks by Fujinami but Sakaguchi catches one and shoves Fujinami down. Waistlock by Fujinami and he tags in Choshu, chops by Choshu and he kicks Sakaguchi in the leg. Scorpion Deathlock by Choshu and he tags in Meada. Double Irish whip to Sakaguchi and Meada delivers a heel kick, but Sakaguchi pushes him back and tags in Inoki. Inoki and Meada circle each other, tie-up, Inoki pushes Maeda to the mat and they struggle for position. They end up in the ropes, punches by Inoki but Meada returns fire. Dropkick by Meada and he throws Inoki into his corner. Kimura is tagged in, punches by Kimura but Inoki fights his way out and tags in Hoshino. Punches by Hoshino to Kimura and he tags in Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi picks up Kimura and punches him to the mat, back up, scoop slam by Sakaguchi and he applies the single leg crab hold. Kimura tries to get out of it but Sakaguchi gets it further locked in, but Kimura manages to tag in Fujinami. Side headlock by Fujinami but Sakaguchi picks up Fujinami and throws him to the mat. Sakaguchi goes for a backdrop suplex but Fujinami lands on his feet and lands an enzigieri. Fujinami tags in Choshu, and Choshu nails Sakaguchi with a lariat. Cover, and he picks up the three count. Seiji Sakaguchi is eliminated.

vs.

Mutoh comes in the ring as the legal man, but Choshu throws Mutoh into his corner and tags in Machine. Stomps by Machine to Mutoh, he picks him up, Irish whip by Mutoh but Machine shoulderblocks him down. Dropkick by Mutoh, he picks up Machine and delivers a vertical suplex. Cover, but it gets a two count. Machine pushes Mutoh back but Mutoh tags in Fujiwara, punches by Fujiwara and he slams Machine to the mat. Inoki comes in the ring with a diving knee drop and he applies the Octopus Hold to Machine, but Machine somehow makes it to the ropes. Enzigieri by Inoki and he re-applies it, and this time Machine has no choice but to submit. Super Strong Machine is eliminated.

vs.

Kimura comes in as the legal man, but Inoki knocks him back and tags in Fujiwara. Headbutt by Fujiwara but Kimura tags in Meada. Maeda tries to throw Fujiwara out of the ring but Fujiwara manages to hang on. Capture suplex by Maeda, cover, but it gets a two count. Meada tags in Kimura, kick by Kimura and he drops Fujiwara with a piledriver. Cover, but it gets a two count. Slaps by Kimura but Fujiwara catches one and slaps on the Fujiwara Armbar, but Kimura makes it to the ropes. Back up, kick by Kimura and he goes up to the top turnbuckle, delivering a diving knee drop. Kimura picks up Fujiwara and goes for a crab hold, but Fujiwara gets out of it and applies a knee lock, forcing Kimura to submit! Kengo Kimura is eliminated.

vs.

Choshu comes in as the legal man and stomps on Fujiwara, Choshu picks up Fujiwara and chops him in the corner. Fujiwara catches Choshu with a Fujiwara Armbar attempt but Choshu makes it to the ropes. Fujiwara stomps Choshu as he is on the apron but he can't knock him out, even after a headbutt. Another headbutt by Fujiwara and a chop, but Choshu fights back with a hard punch. Fujiwara tags in Mutoh and Choshu tags in Maeda. Back kick by Meada and he delivers a dropkick to Mutoh. Meada throws Mutoh into his corner and tells Inoki to tag in, which he does. Inoki goes for an enzigieri, Meada ducks it, but then Inoki ducks the jumping heel kick attempt by Maeda. Headscissors takedown by Inoki, he goes for a second one but Maeda catches him. He goes to dump Inoki over the top rope, but he goes out with him and both Akira Maeda and Antonio Inoki are eliminated.

vs.

Hoshino and Fujinami come in the ring, Hoshino goes for a crab hold but Fujinami gets him off. A pin attempt by Fujinami gets a two count, and he makes the tag to Choshu. Chops by Hoshino and he gives Choshu a headbutt before tagging in Fujiwara. Choshu tags Fujinami back in, Fujinami tries to get Fujiwara out of the ring but Fujiwara hangs on for dear life. Fujinami rams Fujiwara's head into the ring post, but he absorbs the blow and gets back in the ring. Uppercut by Fujiwara but Fujinami catches the next one and applies the backslide for the three count! Yoshiaki Fujiwara has been eliminated.

vs.

Mutoh runs in quickly as Fujinami tags in Choshu, tie-up, Choshu pushes Mutoh into the corner and he tags in Hoshino. Punches by Hoshino, Irish whip, but Choshu shoulderblocks him down. Powerslam by Choshu to Hoshino and he drops him with a lariat. Cover, and he picks up the three count. Kantaro Hoshino is eliminated.

vs.

As Mutoh gets in the ring, Inoki gets on the apron to give him a word of encouragement. Crowd is also solidly behind the young star as he faces a 2 on 1 situation against two of the top stars of New Japan. Tie-up, Choshu pushes Mutoh into the ropes, Irish whip, and Choshu knees Mutoh in the stomach. Snapmare by Choshu and he tags in Fujinami. Fujinami comes in the ring with a diving punch, and Fujinami applies the Scorpion Deathlock. Fujinami tags in Choshu, and then Choshu applies the Scorpion Deathlock. Mutoh makes it to the ropes to force a break, takedown by Choshu but Mutoh delivers an enzigieri. Mounted punches by Mutoh in the corner, Irish whip, and he delivers the Space Rolling Elbow. Backbreaker by Mutoh, he goes up to the top turnbuckle, Choshu rolls out of the way of the moonsault but Mutoh lands on his feet. Lariat by Choshu, and he makes the tag to Fujinami. Choshu is still in the ring also and he goes to the ropes to taunt Inoki as both teams are still at ringside. Irish whip by Mutoh to Fujinami, but Fujinami avoids the dropkick attempt. German suplex hold by Fujinami and he picks up the three count. Keiji Mutoh has been eliminated. Your winners: Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Akira Maeda, Kengo Kimura, and Super Strong Machine

Match Thoughts: I didn't mention this in the play by play as it was constant, but the crowd was absolutely on fire here, louder then I have heard in most other New Japan matches from before this. Just non-stop noise, the Inoki vs. Choshu feud was really heated and the style of match I think really made things interesting. Anyway, the first 22 or so minutes of this match was pretty much perfect. The teams both did a good job of hating each other and filling their roles in the match, and Meada celebrating eliminating Inoki even though he was also out just showed that he knew once Inoki was gone, his team was going to win the match. The eliminations were packed in tight but it never felt rushed, and the crowd was loving it. But the ending was really rough, of course Mutoh wasn't going to beat Fujinami and Choshu but I don't know why Choshu hit a lariat, 30 seconds passed, and Fujinami avoids a dropkick and gets the pin. The only time during the match the crowd deflated was in the last 15 seconds, as they thought either there would be brawl when Choshu went to the ropes, or that it would distract Fujinami so that Mutoh could mount a comeback and maybe toss someone over to get it back to 1 on 1. So the ending was noticeably flat, but before that the match was fantastic, so still definitely an entertaining match even if it ended on a downer. Score: 8.0

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