[1998-04-04-NJPW-Inoki Retirement Show] Antonio Inoki vs Don Frye

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[soup23]

Muhammad Ali is here in a sad occasion as he has a torch and the permanent glaze is in his eyes of unawareness.

 

The match was pretty exciting for the four minutes it lasted and articulated Inoki's vision of what New Japan would become. Inoki wins with an octopus type submission. (*1/2)

 

Afterwards, we get the retirement ceremony which was fun to watch and Inoki was one of the giants of pro wrestling regardless of how great a "worker" he was. This felt like a fitting sendoff.

[Zenjo]

Getting to have your final wrestling match in front of 70,000 adoring fans is as good as it gets, and a worthy send off for such a legend. The match itself was too short, but I'm guessing Inoki didn't want to risk staying out there too long and looking bad.

[Loss]

Inoki's retirement match is over pretty quickly. I enjoyed it while it lasted. Frye did a great job convincingly putting him over. Nice ceremony after the match with every wrestler in the company wishing him well.

[PeteF3]

Muhammad Ali is brought out to recreate his moment with the Olympic torch which is a *tad* overwrought, but would you expect anything less for Inoki? Frye is fun with his heeling--there'd be many more good Inoki matches if they had spots where his opponent breaks the choke sleeper by raking his eyes--and this is nice and brisk and intense while it lasts. To Inoki's credit, when he said this was it, this was it.

[TravJ1979]

Ali has no clue, but I'm sure he got a handsome sum of money. Frye is once again jobber to the retirees, again probably getting a great pay day. Inoki getting smashed for four minutes until pulling out the win.

[Jetlag]

I'll watch Inoki destroying a legit guy in 5 minutes everyday. Inokis grappling looked great as usual. IIRC Frye commented that he broke Inokis ribs which is why the match was cut short. If that's try we can officially classify Inoki as the baddest dude to ever live because he completely nosells that, altough you can tell there might be something wrong when he gets up after the finish.

[MrMoonlight]

Amazing tremendous atmosphere in the Dome here. Inoki’s entrance and the whole post match stuff are really moving and the actual match is okay good in its genre. I wouldhave liked to see Frye trying to strike more and Inoki really having to get his takedowns. Some counter spots on the ground are pretty nice, but it’s too short to get a sense of progression that would lead to a potential great match. Must see for Inoki’s entrance and retirement but no rating would make sense for me here.