[1980-06-05-NJPW] Antonio Inoki vs Stan Hansen

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-06-05
NJPW
Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki 
MSG Series 1980 Final Match
Kuramae Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★★

Well this was unexpected. I said for their last match that I thought that was the best they could do, and here I was proved wrong. This didn’t last too long, and a large part of my enjoyment of it came from the post-match action, but this was a good performance from Inoki and perhaps Hansen’s best performance of the year to date.
Inoki knew he was up against a beast and he was deliberately aggressive in going after Hansen. Once in the ropes he got in a sick headbutt which opened up Hansen early and then he worked on keeping him grounded and under control. Even when they were tied up grappling over a leg hold, he was laying in some nasty looking kicks right in Hansen’s face.
Hansen always feels like a caged beast you need to make sure doesn’t break free, but here more than ever it felt like whenever he got some offense in it looked like curtains for Inoki. Hansen’s reputation is for stiff shots, but strangely I’ve found him somewhat light (at least compared against himself) so far this year. Here that certainly wasn’t the case. His knee drops were visibly jarring to Inoki and he was far more rough with the referee than I remember him being before. This foreshadowed the key moment of the match where he lined Inoki up for the Lariat but Inoki had enough time to duck and the referee behind him took the full force.
Now that the pesky referee wasn’t in the way any more, Hansen thought it was time to take Inoki for a stroll. They disappeared into the crowd, only to emerge with Inoki on Hulk Hogan’s back and Hansen’s bull rope tied around his neck. They got back into the ring and the double beatdown began. This wasn’t looking good for Inoki and a few young boys started crashing the ring to save their boss. Then Dusty made an appearance and lasted all of five seconds before he also was gushing blood. Hansen was just teeing up the young boys for Lariat after Lariat and these were absolutely crushing each one in turn and made him look like a complete animal. Finally Inoki was freed from the rope and all together they were able to repel Hansen and Hogan from the ring, all the while the fans were launching seat cushions into the ring. It was bedlam of the best kind.