[1980-12-10-NJPW] Hulk Hogan & Stan Hansen vs Bob Backlund & Antonio Inoki

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-12-10
NJPW
Antonio Inoki & Bob Backlund vs Hulk Hogan & Stan Hansen
MSG Tag League 1980 Final Match
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, Japan
★★
Card

This sadly was a disappointment for me. I was kind of expecting them to pull something fun out the bag for the tournament finale but this really felt lacklustre. These four couldn’t really point to any external factors either, the crowd were electric to start, so clearly they were engaged, and to his credit Inoki from the off was giving the requisite energy. My main issue I think is that it came across like both teams were really winging it. Neither had any clear defined plan of action or strategy and everything felt really haphazard. Backlund in Japan continues to bemuse and is beginning to irritate and Hogan was a peripheral figure, always merely following Hansen’s lead. Hansen displayed good viciousness, especially with those connective tissue moves like stomps or clubs, but he was never able to really put his stamp on this match at all. Inoki probably was the best of the bunch, again the energy he exhibited went a long way but he had another woof moment here, whiffing on a dropkick by a good bit, so 2 for 2 in consecutive matches with a botch like that, feels like it’s becoming a pattern.
This had a pretty heated final 2-3 minutes, but the ending felt premature, they certainly needed at least a couple more minutes to really get things primed for a finish. But at least that stretch was kicked off by the Lariat of the year on Inoki, they timed the sequence perfectly so that it kind of snuck up on me and the connection was just perfection. 
As I mentioned, the finish though felt anticlimactic, with Inoki sneaking a backslide on Hogan, and it was amusing to see Backlund celebrating the win during the post match interview while Inoki just looked like he wanted Bob as far from him as possible.

[tcg91]

Can't really call it dream match, but this was quite the attraction at the time. Inoki and Hansen are obviously the big pairing, Hogan is decent at supporting his team, while savvily Backlund takes most of the match, selling the heels' attacks for several minutes and getting the crowd hyped about Inoki finally getting the hot tag. So, while the fans were into it and the action was never boring, this failed to pick up and become special. The main reason is probably Backlund looking a bit awkward at times, the gaijins probably called it in the ring and you could see some miscommunications here and there. Thumbs up for the clean finish and for Hansen's sick lariat on Inoki
***