TAPE 602

Quality: EX (*MASTER*)

Length: 6.5 hrs (3 DVD)

HISTORY OF NEW JAPAN VS UWF SERIES 2 (The first 3-disc set was incredible, so now they've released another 3-disc set! More great, historic footage here that's an absolute must-have, including the infamous Andre/Maeda shoot. I've got a cloned copy of the DVD, so VQ is absolutely perfect.)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Akira Maeda, 1/3/86 (From a booking perspective, unless you're trying to kill off the UWF, why do you book this match so early after their invasion? To establish a pecking order in the UWF guys? I could live with that if not for...) Akira Maeda vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara, 2/5/86 (Here we've got Maeda - the face of the UWF, and its top star - cleanly submitting to Fujiwara. They do a double countout finish, then restart. This booking makes no sense to me whatsoever.) Akira Maeda vs Andre the Giant, 4/29/86 (Turns into a shoot! Looks like Andre is determined to embarrass Maeda, perhaps after being told to do so. He fails to cooperate, leading to Maeda throwing shoot kicks at Andre's legs and, eventually, Andre laying on his back either inviting Maeda to join him or to pin him. Really a wild scene. NOTE: The VQ on this match is much rougher than the others on this set. Still REALLY nice though.) Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki, 8/7/86 Nobuhiko Takada, Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kazuo Yamazaki & Osamu Kido vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Kantaro Hoshino, Shiro Koshinaka & George Takano, 9/16/86 (5 vs 5 elimination tag. This one was never shown on TV, unlike the other 5 vs 5s. Good match, but way too short - roughly 20 min - with no real flow.) Akira Maeda vs Don Nakaya Neilsen, 10/9/86 (Wrestler vs Kickboxer - Terrific match. Either a shoot or a well-done work) Akira Maeda & Osamu Kido vs Antonio Inoki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara, 12/10/86 (Kind of a weird finish - Fujiwara refuses to tag Inoki, seemingly turning on him. Then an instant later, he's assisting Inoki. WTF?) Akria Maeda & Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Seiji Sakaguchi & Umanosuke Ueda, 2/4/87 Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki, 5/25/87 (***1/2) Kevin Von Erich vs Osamu Kido, 6/9/87 (The style clash almost predictably leads to the botched finish by Von Erich) Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Riki Choshu, 6/9/87 (Wild, bloody match) Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Osamu Kido vs Riki Choshu, Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi, 6/12/87 Akira Maeda, Osamu Kido & Kengo Kimura vs Antonio Inoki, Masa Saito & Kantaro Hoshino, 7/7/87 Akira Maeda vs Bam Bam Bigelow, 7/18/87 Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki Kobayashi, 8/2/87 Nobuhiko Takada vs Kuniaki Kobayashi, 8/20/87 (Kobayashi wins IWGP jr title) Yoji Anjoh vs Tatsuo Nakano, 8/29/87 AKIRA MAEDA VS YOSHIAKI FUJIWARA, 8/29/87 (VERY stiff match - headbutts, full-on strikes, etc. Great stuff!) Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki, 9/1/87 (***1/2 - VICIOUS match that sees Fujiwara & Yamazaki win IWGP tag titles) Akira Maeda vs Dick Murdoch, 9/14/87 Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoji Anjoh vs Keichi Yamada & Masa Funaki, 3/3/88 (clipped) Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki vs Keichi Yamada & Masa Funaki, 3/14/88