[1980-12-09-NJPW] Hulk Hogan vs Dusty Rhodes

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-12-09
NJPW
Hulk Hogan vs Dusty Rhodes
Kyuden Memorial Gymnasium, Fukuoka, Japan
★★
Card

Competent but forgettable is what this was. Other than some cat and mouse acting by Dusty around an early test of strength spot and a 5/10 on the fire scale bloody comeback from Dusty at the end there wasn’t much of note. Nothing bad, but nothing really good either.
I’ve found Dusty matches in Japan always supremely interesting. I can’t help but get distracted during them thinking about whether the audience are “getting” the Dusty experience or whether something is getting lost in translation. Sure he gets some reactions here and there, but he just doesn’t seem like somebody they’d really warm up to. I feel the same with Backlund. Does anybody have a list of Dusty’s best matches in Japan? Are there any really good ones? Does he have any particularly memorable tours there?