I think the most impressive thing about these multi-man matches is how the pace basically never drops below a hundred miles an hour. And if that's not the most impressive thing then the most impressive thing is how it never feels like it's too much despite that pace. They never shirk on the selling just to get more stuff in, never let it feel rushed, never let it feel like overkill. If I've watched one Dragon Gate multi-man tag then I've watched a thousand (or maybe just one and it felt like a thousand) and those guys worked rapid quick and did ten million things over the course of a match, but none of them had the urgency and desperation of these. This had the feeling of a match where any move could result in an elimination, and not in the stupid way where you'd get wrestlers being eliminated by stuff that ordinarily wouldn't be enough to pin or submit them but the booking was such that those falls just...sort of happen. This had no Nikolai Volkoff being eliminated by a Sgt Slaughter elbow drop energy. It had holy shit Fujinami just body slammed Hoshino so hard he might've killed the wee fella energy. That people could be eliminated by leaving the ring added to that ever-present danger - fuckin UBIQUITOUS you might say - as it meant even the lowest in the pecking order could get rid of the highest with a quick shift of weight or a yank of rope. There's history for that too considering Maeda once got rolled by Umanosuke Ueda of all people. And of course, consistent with the very best of this stupid artform, the crowd being absolutely scorching doesn't hurt. Like the September match this was old guard v new generation, only with a few different faces, and in a bit of a twist we had the youngest of the whole lot on team Inoki. I'm not entirely sure why Mutoh was with the old-timers, maybe he just had some bloody respect for his elders, but either way his addition there was a fun wrinkle. Also like September this was amazing and every person involved pretty much ruled in one way or another. Hoshino was probably my MVP this time. His role wasn't necessarily a central one, but he was a pocket rocket of violence and had no problem leading the charge for the boss. I think everyone on the opposing team got potatoed and the first flurry he landed on Fujinami was spectacular, especially the uppercut that I rewound seventeen times. Inoki was going nuts on the apron as well, throwing imaginary hands like he was watching a title fight in his living room. The Hoshino/Kimura parts were almost all punches and once again taped fist Kimura is a sensation. Fujiwara was unbelievable as the wrecking ball. Yanking guys into armbars, trying to rip legs off, headbutting folk into next week, everything. There was one bit where Choshu was on the apron holding onto the rope and Fujiwara was peppering him with slaps and headbutts and the crowd was going bananas. Loved when the tables were then flipped and Fujiwara was on the apron, Fujinami ramming his head into the turnbuckle bolt for the big death blow, only for it to backfire and wake the old warrior up instead. Inoki did that thing again where he came in as the roof blew off the place, threw a slap to Maeda and tagged straight back out. It had to be a deliberate dick move because he pulled that too often for it to be anything else. His proper exchanges were molten though, and the double elimination with Maeda would've been the perfect setup to a singles match that would've drawn 80,000 people if Maeda hadn't wellied Choshu in the face. In the end you've got the young upstart staring down the barrel of Fujinami and Choshu, and you know and I know and everyone else knows it's basically inevitable, but I loved how Inoki got up on the apron, one arm around Mutoh, offering a few words before sending him into a battle he can't possibly win. "Take one of them with you if you can. We'll talk about that Kabuki idea if you make it back." A tremendous bit of pro wrestling.
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