[1980-03-31-IWE Japan] Ashura Hara vs Ryuma Go

[Jetlag]

This was a fun defensive, cagey bout where neither guy was willing to get thrown easily. This builds really nice into the second half where both guys have enough and start throwing stiff slaps and headbutts. Go was chasing Hara here, hitting a mean dropkick and dropping him on a table for a spot that was pretty crazy by 1980 standards. Match had good heat and tension and the uncooperativeness made this a cool encounter.

[SAMS]

1980-03-31
IWE
Ashura Hara (c) vs. Ryuma Go
WWU World Junior Heavyweight Title Match
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Card
★★★

Ashura looks like a star here. He’s got the long hair, the leather jacket, his entrance has him coming down through the crowd, and he has this amazing moustache. Moustaches can either make you look like a creep or look like the man, and Ashura looks like the man. 
Ryuma worked on top for a lot of this, keeping Ashura grounded in a headscissors or a leg lock and the impetus was on Ashura to get to the ropes or counter the move with one of his own. It wasn’t exactly amateur wrestling style, but there was a lot more struggle for position and attempting to get holds and leverage than I’ve seen elsewhere at this time.
As the match wore on Ryuma grew stronger and Ashura looked like he was fading. In their strike exchanges he came off second best and he took a real beating. I think they made a concerted effort to make Ryuma look really strong here as I can’t remember him properly selling any move Ashura laid on him all match.
In the end Ryuma dumped Ashura onto a table at ringside and was DQ’d for a pretty sad ending
Ryuma wasn’t bad by any means. His offense was solid and he was technically sound. It may have been intentional but I thought his lack of selling was a negative for both him individually and also the match as a whole, whereas I was really impressed with Ashura. He managed to go through the whole match as basically second best but through his selling, which I thought was extremely good, he generated sympathy from me and I thought that he came off as more tough than weak after everything was said and done.