Superstar Sleeze Posted April 10, 2016 Report Share Posted April 10, 2016 PWF World Heavyweight Champion Giant Baba vs Stan Hansen - AJPW 2/4/82 Huge fight feel to this one! Hansen had just debuted for the company about two months ago in one of the all-time great angles and instantly was the biggest gaijin star in the company. This is just the natural progression. I still have to mention Baba's body. It is so weird. The giant head and boxy torso with those weirdly skinny arms. He looks so fragile and I was scared with him going up against Hansen. This was a more reserved Hansen. But Hansen at 75% is still going to hit you fucking hard he is just not flying all over the place. He was also more willing to bump for Baba. The story of the match was simple: Baba wanted to take out the Lariat arm of Hansen and Hansen wanted to ground the Giant and set up for The Lariat. Opening Shine was great with Baba nailing some big boots and then a Russian Legsweep. Hansen did a great job making Baba feel like a Giant and so he kept him on the ground. He was working the leg in hopes of taking out his base. Baba was fucking awesome working the arm. He got Hansen into his really nasty predicaments. Baba also loved using the big overhand chop as the equalizer. Loved the finish run with them running all over the place with Hansen finally nailing the Lariat. Baba just gets steamrolled. The crowd lets out an audible gasp. The crowd was super into this. Baba was so over. They were popping for him. The brawl outside the ring post-Lariat was great as Hansen first overwhelms Baba and they go to double countout. He is nailing young boys with Lariats and then Baba sends him packing. Just a huge Clash of the Titans feel that does not overstay its welcome. Really sensible story with two huge, larger than life characters. I loved the tension of the Lariat. It was this cloud of impending doom that loomed over the match. When would it happen? BAM! He nails it. Really great big time match. ****1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted April 11, 2016 Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 Sleeze, you are my man. How great was Baba against Hansen and Race at this point? No qualms at all about putting Hansen (or anyone, for that matter) over strongly and didn't even need to lay down for it. He's Mr. All Japan and just getting rolled by this Texan beast shows he's a force to be reckoned with. He may not be quick or sudden enough to pull out offense with as much impact as the Lariat, but between his chops, legsweeps, boots and suplexes he could cut down any opponent and it was all super over. The very definition of an amazing limited worker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliott Posted April 11, 2016 Report Share Posted April 11, 2016 This is probably one of my 10 favorite matches ever. I first saw it on Lord Helmet's Hansen comp so it was right on the heels of the Hansen/Inoki feud and holy shit it took them about 30 seconds to surpass the entire Hansen/Inoki feud. Seriously one of the most fun matches of all time. I adore all of their 80s singles matches but this one especially has always stood out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clayton Jones Posted February 25, 2023 Report Share Posted February 25, 2023 I love the love this match got in the previous replies. This was seriously great and I wouldn't say either guy carried more of the load than the other. What Baba was able to get out of his body at this point is amazing, this was a super heavyweight clash that left you wanting nothing other than the ever elusive 80s clean finish. And even then they did everything possible to put a satisfying bow on the inevitable countout. I really liked watching Hansen trying to contain a larger opponent which you only get to see now and then. This was a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcg91 Posted August 14 Report Share Posted August 14 This had a great crowd and a big match feeling, which made it really special. And the action wasn't that bad too, Baba couldn't really go but he worked this match so smartly: pacing around the big guy, working on the arm and selling as much as he could. In comparison, this was as good as any Inoki/Hansen fight (maybe with the exception of one match only), despite the bigger limitations here. This was short and sweet. There was also a throwback at the Ace going out of the ring after Hansen's lariat, which lead to the predictable non-finish. Not a problem at all, as this needed to continue anyway ***1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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