[1969-12-02-JWA] Dory Funk Jr vs Antonio Inoki

[js50000]

12/2/69 Antonio Inoki vs. Dory Funk Jr. Inoki makes his 1st challenge for the NWA World Title. Harley Race riles the crowd up to the point where they're throwing stuff at the ring,

[El McKell]

This exceeded my expectations. Dory heeling it up was unique to see and i thought he did a good job of it. Inoki brought a pace to it that his matches often lack. Weird to have a two out of three falls match go an hour without a single fall though. ***3/4

[Jetlag]

Well, this was one old school epic you don't need to see. The opening grappling is a lot of fun with Dory working reverse Toe hold variations. Not a hold you can do a ton with but they find a few cool ways in and out of it. After a while Dory stops working the leg and starts working the arm a bit. Some blatant cheating from Dory's seconds going on too. Dory wrenching the fingers was interesting, but he just couldn't decide what to do that night. Couldn't decide if he wanted to work the arm or leg, couldn't decide if he wanted to work holds or brawl, if he wanted to wrestle clean or get heat. At one point Dory hits a really nice back suplex and doesn't even go for a cover. Another point Inoki is firing up and hitting big dropkicks but Dory cuts him off quickly. Later hits some dropkicks of his own. What were you thinking, Dory Funk Jr.? You can shit on Inoki for not theatratically selling the leg and arm work but atleast Inoki's facial expressions and body language told some kind of progression in the match. With Dory you have no idea if you are 55 minutes or 15 minutes into a match. I was yelling to just put on the Spinning Toe Hold when he started some opening match legwork in the last 10 minutes. This match was quite the mixed bag indeed. After the pretty drab 2nd third they move into some good nearfalls and I was popping for Inoki's surprise moves (Suplex, Airplane Spin outta nowhere) just cause I wanted him to end the damn match. Inoki can fire up the pace good and it's not rocket science to have a good match with him, but once again I ended up largely irritated with the Doryisms here.

[TheBestThereNeverWillBe]

re-up the link please!!!

[Jetlag]

It's still on Ditch's site.

[TheBestThereNeverWillBe]

forgive my ignorance, but what is Ditch's site?

[aaeo_]

There's some very weird cuts on the version on youtube but I think I got 90% of this. If I'm gonna watch a 60 minute draw, I'm happy with Dory and Inoki being in it since I can get into their grappling. There's certainly stalling but they do enough to keep it interesting through most of it. I really enjoyed how Inoki kept overpowering Dory to go back to the same holds. Inoki getting Dory on the boston crab was a great moment. It's when Dory turns to brawling and dumping Inoki out the ring that I start losing interest, but everything on the mat beforehand and afterwards was really effective for me. I really enjoy this style of JWA big match where every exchange is a struggle.

[War is Raw]

I have been binging JWA/AJPW from the beginning, watching the famous names. I could not believe the level of heat for this match.  Holy cow, I have never heard Japanese fans pop for submission holds, counters, and looks.

[Superstar Sleeze]

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr vs Antonio Inoki - JWA 12/2/69 Two Out of Three Falls

Junior has his dad and a very blond, dare I say handsome, Harley Race with him. I really enjoyed Inoki vs Jack from 1971 and I am excited to see how these two pair. 

First Fall: Great Championship Style Wrestling, which I think is my favorite style. Not as good as Jack vs Inoki, but few matches are. Jack vs Inoki had amazing takedowns and scrambles with unparalleled intensity and organic nature. This match does not have next level takedowns, but features really good action. I LOVED the early shouldertackles by Inoki. Watch how Junior fed those. He would charge and meet Inoki very close to the ropes maximizing how good they looked and the impact. He looked overly aggressive and not like a fool taking a bump in the middle of the ring with a thumb up his ass. Inoki worked a lot of great arm drags and arm bars. Nice Inoki reaction to the leapfrog to go back and get that arm drag. I liked how Junior finally combatted the shoulder tackles, he waited a little longer and met Inoki when he was in stride and dropped down into a wicked drop toehold and rolled right up into the calf slicer. Excellent psychology, he took more time for himself, let Inoki come to him and then executed the counter. Fundamentals. Junior works the calf-slicer, toehold really well, but eventually loses control. Upon stand up, he takes Inoki down and is thinking STF, he has the toehold applied and but as he looks to apply the facelock, Inoki grabs wrist control and is able to maneuver into a hammerlock when Junior tries to the alleviate the pressure. Nice chaining there. Some great hammerlock work, the staples, wrenching, trying to snapmare out, but Inoki maintains control, crotch hold, but Inoki maintains control, shit like that I just love. Junior finds most success with one of my favorite moves the drop toehold. He uses that twice to escape the hammerlock. Great moment when Senior is getting in Inoki's face about Junior scoring the Drop Toehold and the ref stomps at Senior's hand.  There is a 30 second clip to a stand up after a bundle of leg locks happens, I applaud this editorial decision. :p They work an awesome test of strength sequence. Some great bridges by Inoki to avoid pinfalls and loved the body scissors counters. There is a great sequence where Junior gets the monkey flip out of the knucklelock after Inoki failed but then Inoki turns that into a body scissors. I love how a big deal is made out of Junior clenching his fist as he was struggling to escape the body scissor. He uses a double axehandle to break and turns it into a deep toehold. Inoki makes the ropes, but Junior drives the knee into the back of the thigh in an unclean break. I like that Junior is ratcheting up the heel behavior. A very strong first twenty minutes.  We get a 30 second clip here. We come back to the hottest part of the match. Junior begins manipulating the fingers and the crowd goes apeshit. Throwing food and garbage into the ring as Inoki sells it for all its worth. Junior presents Inoki's hand for Harley to punch this really whips the crowd into a frenzy. Junior slams the head into the steel turnbuckle. All the while, Inoki is desperately trying to fight out with the great dramatic elbows to the head. He eventually breaks free and clamps on a headlock. They do my favorite headlock spot as Junior gets over the top rope onto the apron but Inoki yanks him back in. Some more good headlock tenacity spots until Junior nails a wicked back suplex. He stomps the bad hand, slams into hard, steel objects and works a good hammerlock. Inoki is able to stand up and reset the match. He finally goes for the abdominal stretch but they get tied up in the ropes. Junior tries for the Boston Crab, but Inoki uses his leg strength to send him flying. You have got to see the heat on Inoki's Boston Crab. The crowd was going wild. This being a 2/3 falls match I thought for sure this would be a finish. Junior scurried through the 5-hole and almost got a quick pin out of it. Inoki moved to another Sleeze favorite the short arm scissors. They end up in the ropes. Junior tries playing King of the Mountain. This time is just slamming Inoki's head into the steel. Inoki eventually breaks through his defense with a lunging shoulder tackle from the apron. A couple Irish Whips hard into the buckles and a pair of bodyslams. Inoki was rocking. Third Irish Whip, Senior does the ol Funk staple of laying out on the top rope to cushion the blow for his son. Here come the flying rotten tomatoes! 1960s Japanese crowds rule! Junior takes him down into a reverse chinlock. Lots of hair pulling and top wristlock tests of strength before Inoki wins the day with a top wristlock. I am continuing to love this. I think they had some really hot sequences especially the finger manipulation, Boston Crab and his Dad's interference. I still think the Jack match is better, but this is in my top handful of 1960s Japanese matches, 40 minutes in. Really strong stuff. 

Harley distracts the ref and Junior uses hair to get control of his own hammerlock. They go into the bomb throwing portion on an excellent criss cross. We see Junior eat an Inoki shouldertackle because he met Inoki too close to the ropes. On the next one, he lets Inoki come to him and BANG! Amazing jumping knee to the skull. That popped me. Great nearfall. They strung together some doozies. Junior got is mouth busted open hardway I believe on one of those criss cross noggin knocker spots. Inoki got a wicked hot backslide. Junior had hot nearfalls with the Butterfly Suplex and the Bombs Away Kneedrop. Inoki had a bodyslam and really hot nearfall on an Airplane Spin that worked me up into a lather. They did some great outside the ring brawling. At one point, Inoki ripped a phone off the hook and tried to nail Junior with it, but the ref intervened and Junior got a hold of it and nailed him with it. Sheer madness. Best spot of the entire match...Inoki floats over, down the back seamlessly into an ABDOMINAL STRETCH~! MARK OUT CITY! Crowd went nuts! Junior bucked him over the top rope. Inoki gets one more abdominal stretch on an whip into the ropes but Junior is saved by the bell. Sixty minute broadway with no falls but entertaining throughout. I think there is some editing I would do rearrange some of the spots but thats just picking nits this was a blast. The first twenty minutes is excellent grappling. The middle twenty minutes is really hot babyface/heel work that still maintains the sporting nature. I liked the bombing throwing finish stretch although I did think they ran out of things to do towards the end and they were just waiting for time to expire at points. The Japanese crowd was wild, throwing fruit and garbage when the heels cheated and popping like mad for all the Inoki nearfalls. This is an excellent Broadway. ****1/2

[squidlad]

Fantastic, hour long broadway in which I did not feel the time pass. Dory was a great, dirty bastard in this match, taking every chance to apply illegal holds and stomp on Inoki's fingers. The crowd was incensed in a way you don't often hear from Japanese crowds in this era, making their elation at Inoki's comebacks all the more delightful. ****1/2