[1977-11-30-IWE Japan] Mighty Inoue & Animal Hamaguchi vs Akihisa Takachio & Samson Kutsuwada

[Jetlag]

This is one of my favourite 70s tags.

 

Hell, it may be my very favourite. A long match that just flies by, because every section has some neat aspect to it. These stumpy legged IWE guys really knew how to hit the mat and get aggressive in entertaining fashion in between cool looking proto junior offense that doesn't look fruity. Takachio is the Great Kabuki, and he already had his great looking uppercut which is all I need. Kutsuwda is a big trollish looking dude and it was really cool to see Mighty and Hamaguchi use their skill on this brute. Another thing that I like is that these guys weren't afraid to lay it in, so you also get some stiff kicks to the chest etc. Every hold was really wrenched in too and my favourite thing is that the selling was really spot on, so the hold work doesn't feel like time killing.

 

In the 2nd fall we get more cool matwork where Hamaguchi and Mighty really twist the hell out of Takachio's leg. He does this really cool selling where is punching his own knee as if to stop it from popping out. Eventually he makes a comeback by throwing punches on one leg which was awesome. The nifty little touches kept coming and from now on it feels like all guys are trying to finish this all the time.

 

The 3rd fall is short but cool as hell too where they all really go at eachother, throwing wild punches and slaps, totally laying it in. I also like that all three falls ended in a flash. I would've really liked a bigger Inoue/Takachio showdown as these are two guys with the greatest punches but you can't have everything.

 

Great match.

[KinchStalker]

This is a defense of the AJPW All Asia tag titles, which the IWE's Hamaguchi and Inoue won from Motoshi Okuma and the Great Kojika three weeks earlier. I would go so far as to say that this, and not Jumbo/Kimura from 1976, is the best of the AJPW/IWE interpromotional matches that occurred throughout the decade, and it's not close. Now, I expected good things from the IWE contingent, as I really like what I've seen of both men in this era, but what I wasn't expecting was how much the AJPW guys brought it. The only other Kutsuwada match that appears to be in circulation (he failed a coup and was completely blacklisted from the industry by the next year*) is a July 1975 match against Killer Karl Kox, working under the gimmick of The Spirit, and while that's not a bad match at all it was merely a leadin to Spirit/Destroyer. And I've seen a decent amount of the future Great Kabuki during this phase of his career, but while I've never found it bad I never thought too much of it either. But this unlikely duo brought it here, and the result is a great, great match that earns all of its thirty-three minutes. Lots and lots of matwork and holds, but it's all done and sold excellently. Animal and Mighty are as good as I expected, and more, but Takachiho was a revelation here, particularly in his comeback during the second fall; from what I've seen this has to be a career highlight for him. I expected this to be good, but I didn't expect to be so thoroughly entertained throughout this entire match, and I certainly didn't expect this to become one of my favorite tag matches of the decade. But alas, that's what happened. This also has to be one of the best All Asia tag title matches on tape, at least until the likes of Kobashi/Kikuchi vs the Can-Am Express; they gave this midcard title match a main-event slot due to the interpromotional angle, and they got more than a main-event quality match for it. Highly recommended for fans of the period; this would definitely make my top 25 All Japan matches of the decade. ****1/4

*His plan was to start a new promotion, with funding from the guy who bankrolled the formation of the IWE, which would have run both AJPW and NJPW out of business by recruiting both Jumbo and Fujinami. Yes, the dude really thought he could pull this off, and Jumbo's implication in it is the reason why he consciously avoided company politics afterward (which almost drove him to retire in 1981).