Fujinami! Choshu! Fujiwara and Saito and six other guys! Panther and Atlantis! A couple very good wrestling matches!

Riki Choshu, Masa Saito, Super Strong Machine, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Hiro Saito v Tatsumi Fujinami, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kengo Kimura, Keiichi Yamada & Shiro Koshinaka (New Japan, 9/12/88)

I've said it probably three dozen times by now, on this nonsense blog of 15 years and any other message board I've posted drivel on, but the New Japan multi-man tag really is a can't-fail prospect. This was another killer iteration of it, you'll be shocked to hear. Yamada was like an enthusiastic younger brother from the start, holding the ropes open for his teammates to get in the ring pre-match then coming close to scoring the elimination on Kobayashi. He didn't quite manage it but maybe one day his time will come. Fujiwara wasn't as featured in this as he was in the previous couple years' iterations, which will always bum me out, but he did get to clonk someone with a headbutt and rip off a lethal armbar. I didn't think the body of this was as engaging as some of the real classic New Japan multi-mans - nothing grabbed me as a through line narratively the way a few of the others from this period did. All the same it's impossible for these guys with this much time not to produce plenty of individual moments. Then there's the final pairing with Fujinami and Saito, the latter slowly bleeding himself into a state of unconsciousness. You could see Saito had untied the turnbuckle padding while Fujinami and Choshu were still going at it. He doesn't need to do stuff like that, he's built like a small tank and dangerous enough as is, but I guess sometimes he can't help himself. That it backfired was pretty much justice, but then the beating he takes afterwards almost forces you into showing sympathy. His selling was obviously amazing and the blade job is nuts and then in the end his last gambit was practically to fall down and let momentum take its course. A hell of a match, if maybe only my sixth or seventh favourite version of it. 

Blue Panther v Atlantis (CMLL, 12/5/97)

Of course this is amazing, and having watched their 1991 match a couple months ago, still finding that one great too, I'd rank this one even higher. Maybe this sort of lucha matwork-heavy contest is the only thing that challenges the New Japan multi-man as the best match type ever. Even though six years had passed since the '91 title match there was still a sense here that Atlantis had and maybe would always have Panther's number. He needed to win two straight while Panther only needed one fall, as per the rules of this tournament? Didn't matter. Atlantis' use of wrist control at the start was awesome and even when Panther managed to work his way out and turn it into a full nelson, you kind of knew Atlantis would have him where he wanted him again pretty soon. The primera wasn't long but it was a tremendous example of why us nerds love the lucha grappling and the last minute of it set us up for the segunda, with Panther continually having to kick out of pin attempts or escape holds, Atlantis winning out in the end through attrition if nothing else. You could say Panther knew he had a bit of wiggle room in the first fall given that Atlantis needed to win both, but even if he did it didn't seem to do him any favours because Atlantis was still a force after that. Panther was determined to lock in that Gory Special and Atlantis would not allow it for more than five seconds, then I thought Panther might've cracked the code with the rolling surfboard. I loved the finish too. Panther gets up and celebrates after reversing a victory roll and almost pinning Atlantis, I guess thinking he's finally figured out how to beat the man, but Atlantis was one step ahead as always and yoinked him into La Atlantida. Just a fantastic match.