[1980-03-31-IWE Japan] Nick Bockwinkel vs Kintaro Oki

[paul sosnowski]

This match is from Korakuen Hall, and takes place on an IWE show. Kintaro Oki is 51 years old at the time, Bockwinkel is 45. I don't know much about Oki, but he was also known as Kim Ill and was a member of the first class of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, along with Bockwinkel. Whoa....Lou Thesz is the special referee!!! I did not know that.

The AWA title belt looks majestic as always. This match is 2/3 falls. Handshake starts the match. Oki backs Bockwinkel into the ropes, gives him a clean break. Bockwinkel tries for a go-behind, but Oki takes him down with a sweet double wristlock. Bockwinkel gets back up, into the ropes again, but Oki takes him down once more. Bockwinkel struggles to get up, Oki holds onto his arm. Finally Bockwinkel escapes with an upkick. Bockwinkel clamps on a tight standing full nelson and eventually brings Oki down to the mat with it. Oki breaks it with a stomp and takes Bockwinkel down with a rear chinlock. Bockwinkel sits out and reverses it into a hammerlock. Oki whips Bockwinkel into the ropes and slams him down to the mat. Oki controls Nick's left arm and rolls around, punishing it from a variety of positions. Thesz says "Whatdayasay, Bockwinkel?" Nick tells him to forget it. Bockwinkel kicks Oki in the head, Oki whips him into the ropes, Bock comes back with a shoulderblock, but Oki hiptosses him and clamps on another armbar. Thesz is down there checking Nick's shoulder, but Nick bridges up and avoids the count. Bockwinkel attempts to roll Oki and holds the tights, but only gets a 2 count. Bockwinkel thrashes around on the canvas, but cannot escape Oki's grip. Bockwinkel finally gets the advantage by grinding his boot in Oki's face. Bock peppers him with elbows and Oki is down for a one count. Nick hits another big elbow in the corner and reverses a backslide to gain the first fall at 10:20

The second fall begins with Oki trying to take control of Nick's arm again,but Nick shoves him down, both men exchange side headlocks, before Bockwinkel takes him down with a drop toehold and turns it into an Indian deathlock. Oki struggles to reverse it, but Bockwinkel hammers down on the opposite leg as well. Thesz declares a stalemate and separates the two opponents. Bock grabs a leg and takes Oki down, but he is in the ropes. Thesz demands a break and when he does not get it, he grabs Bockwinkel by the throat and pulls him off. The two legends shove each other but Bock remains focused. He nails Oki with four big unanswered elbows in the corner, followed by three more up against the ropes. He whips Oki down to the mat and grabs a tight side headlock, but may have turned it into a choke. Now he is choking Oki on the ropes, but Oki counters with a back bodydrop and a massive chop to Bock's chest. He nails Bockwinkel with five huge headbutts and gently covers Bockwinkel for the pin at 6:34.

The third fall begins with Oki chasing Bockwinkel, whose head is now busted open from the headbutts!!! Oki meets him with three more and then whips Bock to the ropes and rams his head into Bock's abdomen. Bock is bleeding badly, and gets two more headbutts for a 2 count. Oki slams him and drops an elbow, but only gets a one count. Bockwinkel rolls to the floor, Oki comes out and throws him back in. Another headbutt for a 2 count. Oki charges at Bock, but Bock grabs the ropes and both men tumble to the outside. Oki slams Bockwinkel on the floor, but both men are counted out at 2:09. Oki hits a big suplex on Bockwinkel, but the bell has already rung and Thesz assures him the match is over. Bocikwinkel appears as a bloody and beaten man.

Total match time 19:03 Four stars ****

I love seeing Bockwinkel against a wide variety of opponents. This board needs more BOCK!!

[Jetlag]

Bock takes on the mysterious and handsome Kintaro Oki! The referee is Lou Thesz (didn't Thesz and Oki have a shoot incident at one point?). Some fine old school grappling in the first fall with Oki looking very game to work fast knucklelocks and cool takedowns. Bockwinkel starts roughing him up with nasty forearm smashes in the second building to Oki's comeback ramming Bock with oodles of headbutts. The 3^rd fall is sadly JIP as Bockwinkel is a bloody mess and Oki continues going at him before the inevitable finish. I always enjoy a good Oki match and while this wasn't exactly a genius Bockwinkel performance it was a solid take at this formula with a touring champion coming in roughing up the local guy only to end up on the brink of defeat by the end.

[SAMS]

1980-03-31
IWE
Nick Bockwinkel (c) vs. Kintaro Oki
AWA World Heavyweight Title Best Two Out Of Three Falls Match
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★

Definitely wouldn’t call this a great Bockwinkel match compared to his other stuff. He and Oki seemed quite content to sit in rest holds for the majority of the first fall with Oki locking a short arm scissor on Bock.I will give him credit for attempting to show struggle, either by trying to wriggle free or doing the hand slap spot to indicate it’s losing blood flow. The fall ended with a phantom three count by Thesz which threw everybody off as he clearly only counted two and only he and Bock seemed to think it was three.
I think the second half of the match was far superior as Oki started to visibly gain momentum and Bockwinkel did a great job of putting him over. A series of headbutts drew blood and eventually just knocked him out for the equalising fall. The third fall began with Oki continuing to dominate and it looked lights out for the champion, but as soon as Bock dived to the outside and Oki followed for a quick brawl outside I knew the countout was coming and Thesz literally couldn’t have counted any quicker.
Really drab first half with lots of lying around in holds and Oki was a charisma vacuum in general. When Bock kicked into overdrive on selling for Oki to present him as the star things got a lot better but I think it’s clearly not a high point for him.