Loss Posted May 22, 2014 Report Share Posted May 22, 2014 Talk about it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAMS Posted July 20, 2023 Report Share Posted July 20, 2023 1980-09-25 NJPW Antonio Inoki (c) vs. Stan Hansen NWF Heavyweight Title Match Hiroshima Prefectural Gymnasium, Hiroshima, Japan Card ★★★ Not his best match of the year but perhaps Inoki’s best performance. Hansen came in with more of a standup attitude than you normally see, breaking clean from the ropes early on which drew a wry response from the crowd, but when he did get his offense in, Inoki showed glimpses of vulnerability that broadcast the notion that Hansen might be in with a real chance of overthrowing the champion tonight. Inoki himself had a couple big highlight spots on offense, first a nifty rebound off the middle rope to extricate himself from an arm hold and then rolled Hansen into an arm hold of his own that I popped out of my chair for. The second had Inoki meet Hansen’s Lariat attempt with a Lariat of his own. It didn’t take Hansen out for long, and in fact Hansen was the first on offense, but it negated Hansen’s biggest weapon and certainly surprised him. Oh, and finally Inoki laid in a nasty stiff chop right into Hansen’s throat that to his credit he ate like a champ and moved on, but it legitimately looked like he was discombobulated for a moment. In the end Inoki was able to use Hansen’s late aggression against him and grab a backslide for the win and then toppled Hansen out of the ring post match for the decisive victory. My feeling that this might be the (temporary) end to this pairing seems to be true as I think Inoki pivots to facing Hogan more as the year winds down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcg91 Posted May 7 Report Share Posted May 7 A really nice match, not the best of the series, but almost up there (only the one in April was better than this). They only got 10 minutes this time and they did their best in that time without getting blown up. We saw some evolution in Hansen, this time he didn't rely too much on the rope breaks and embraced the fight on the mat against Inoki too. On other instances, Inoki's work on Hansen hasn't always been great, so seeing the gaijin taking over was quite refreshing and it made the match more competitive. Inoki got a clean roll up pinfall to win and got a nice pop from the fans, but Hansen's lariat was protected as Inoki dodges it twice ***1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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