DVD #1: Antonio Inoki vs Chris Markoff

[Loss]

Talk about it here when you get it.

[JHawk]

I couldn't get into this one at all. Great heat (Inoki was super over), but Markoff's offense was so cookie cutter that I simply didn't become all that enthralled with the contest.

 

Nice from a historical perspective, but now that I've seen it I'm not sure I'll ever bother with it again.

[Loss]

I really thought this was also a terrific match.

 

Inoki is obviously a major, major star in Japan. When Japanese wrestling from the 60s and 70s is watched and discussed by American fans, most of the focus usually goes on All Japan. All Japan had some classic matches in the 70s, many of which I'd consider among the best I've ever seen. But the more Inoki I watch, the more I enjoy him, and I don't think the gap between All Japan and New Japan (yes, I know this is a JWA match) in terms of match quality during the 70s is as big as is sometimes implied.

 

Inoki gave a really spirited underdog babyface performance here, and bled a gusher. He really came across as a superstar in the intros, the body of the match and especially the post-match celebration. Markoff I thought was just a terrific asshole here. He's basically working Inoki like they're working Memphis, playing hide the foreign object and just in general being loudmouthed and contemptible. I've seen exactly one Chris Markoff match, this one. I'm not sure if the guy is still alive or not. Whether he is or not, it's good that at least one high-profile match exists in good quality so his family can see it.

 

I also enjoy the novelty of seeing Inoki as a legend on the rise, as opposed to a cultural phenomenon. He wasn't quite at that level yet, and it's fun to watch and see what got him there.

[tim]

I liked some of the little things Markoff did, like how when he would follow Inoki outside the ring, he would come off the apron with a stomp on Inoki. Loved his selling of the dropkick from Inoki when he went over the ropes and ran through the crowd. Really fun just to see a classic old school Japanese Hero vs. Treacherous Caucasian match with great heat.

[Tim Cooke]

Watched this last night. We need more JWA footage and I plan on picking up the Rikidozen Comml DVD's and anything else I can get my hands on. This was also on Frank Jewett's Best of Japan 1969 DVD and is interesting when watching it against Destroyer/Baba as a promotion that could run different style matches and make each look as good as possible. Markoff really worked a pseudo UWF kicking / Memphis heel here and like Loss said, Inoki was great as a babyface.

 

The one thing I noticed was the nearfall section was a prototype of the New Japan and All Japan matches of the 1990's with the younger wrestler kicking out of bigger and bigger moves to bigger and bigger reactions from the crowd. Here, a body slam and knee drop substitute a german suplex and a brainbuster. I think the simpler formula could be brought back with some audience education as well.

 

And that dropkick and subsequent sell was terrific.

 

Tim

[Guest FlairPinnedMe]

It’s really interesting to see Inoki in this dynamic, as a guy on the rise. It was really cool to see this for the historical purpose, though it did take me a while to really get into it.

 

Markoff is a complete dickhead in this match. Constantly beating down on the good guy, and constantly throwing him outside and hitting his head off the table. Inoki doesn’t even get any offence in for the first couple of minutes. When he does it’s short-lived. He’s taken over by the stronger veteran.

 

Anytime Inoki got any strike in, though, the crowd went absolutely nuts. It’s really cool to see a crowd go wild for the small things. So after the 3rd or 4th time Inoki’s head is hit off the table, he’s bleeding. Soon enough he gets a fighting spirit~! Like comeback, but gets cut off. He doesn’t really overcome Markoff until he takes the brass knucks I think? He begins hitting him with that, then beats up on him, and eventually wins when Markoff is out cold.

 

I’m glad this match was on the dvd, while I didn’t think it was a great match or anything, it was very interesting to watch.

[Dylan Waco]

Okay, where the fuck is all the Chris Markoff footage? I mean the idea that this guy existed, is never ever talked about online and his one known appearance of signficance is this really heated match with upstart Inoki is really fucking annoying, espcially because the guys is really, really good. Honestly I can't even believe the notion of him having pedestrian offense is being entered into the discussion here as the guy is really not going to gain anything by doing butterfly suplexes and his punches, kicks and top rope knee are all really good (plus dude has a really realistic looking eyerake). He also manages to take a wonderfully awesome and theatrical over the top bump off of a Inoki comeback dropkick to the back, where he essentially eats the kick, flips over the ropes and then stumbles/runs a legit twenty yards or so, knocking over people in the process. Then he gets back in the ring and breaks up the Octopus with a fucking knucks shot. How more awesome does someone have to get?

 

I'm generally high on Inoki. In this match his timing is really, really good and that has really allways been his strong suit, as the guy is really good at working a realistic enough style, and timing his comebacks in really appropriate fashions. But this is not really Inokis show. No, the crowd woudn't give a shit if Markoff were just beating on some guy, but really this is all Markoff as he really excels at all the things heels should excel at plus things that you don't really expect them to excel at (his timing is nearly as good as Inokis in this match).

 

Anyhow, the match is really good up until the nearfall stretch Cooke talked about. It wasn't that the nearfalls weren't credible from a MOVES perspective. It was that the nearfalls really looked robotic and just way too choreographed. I mean if you are going to run that kind of sequence, at least waste time inbetween spots, throw an extra strike in before moves, show frustration, something.

 

Other than that match was very good. Given the parties involved, and the time fame it's hard to imagine much more. But god damn where is the Markoff footage?

[World's Worst Man]

Markoff was the shits for the first ten minutes or so. His offense appeared loose, sloppy and ineffective. His selling was uninspired and lazy. For whatever reason, this all changed around the halfway mark, when he started going to town on Inoki with heel tactics and roughhousing, which is when the match really took off. Inoki was good throughout, selling well, even though it initially didn't look like he was taking much of a beating. Late in the match is where he really shone, as he was the victim of Markoff's aforementioned onslaught, so his selling fit in a lot better to what was going on. His late match comebacks were excellent, as he never really blew off the fact that he was bloodied and hurt, which gave the match a nice dramatic effect. The match ended up being ok, which is more than I expected after the first few minutes. Inoki was impressive throughout, and Markoff managed to start working hard when the match needed it the most.

[kjh]

Overall I thought this was a lively, satisfying match. Markoff worked really hard, keeping up a fast pace throughout the match. His strikes looked stiff and he used the foreign object gimmick well. Both men did a good job of bumping and selling for the others simple offense to make it look suitably brutal and nasty.

 

I thought there was another Markoff match on Frank Jewett's Best of Japan 1969 DVD where he tagged with Bobo Brazil against Giant Baba and Kintaro Oki?

[Loss]

Yes, that match is there. It's not bad, but it's pretty clipped down.

[Tim Cooke]

Markoff has a match with Inoki in 1978-1979 that aired on New Japan Classics. Doubt that is worth checking out.

[Jingus]

We need more JWA footage and I plan on picking up the Rikidozen Comml DVD's and anything else I can get my hands on.

I've got IVPVideos' Rikidozan comp. It's only got three matches on it... but it's vs. Thesz, Destroyer, and the infamous "bloodbath" match with Blassie. The last one is pretty tame by today's standards, but the other two are very interesting. Riki was yet another one of those incredibly over megastars who really didn't do much in the ring; like everyone from Bruno to Cena, he relied mostly on just hitting the other guy for his hi-end offense. But somehow it worked, and the people loved him.

[CodySave]

This is my first time seeing Markoff in action - what a pleasant surprise. I'm a big fan of heels that are so intent on kicking your ass, they're literally do whatever it takes, even if it means prtically flinging their limbs at you. Even the stuff that other posters considered sloppy in this match, I thought more along the lines of "Man, he hates Inoki."

 

Regarding Markoff - is their just not much footage available of him? Because, if there is, I would imagine he would be spoken of much more on mesage boards than he is. His selling is great during this match.

[EricR]

Markoff has HANDS DOWN the greatest weapon-hiding techniques I have ever seen in wrestling, EVER. I was tickled pink. A couple of them were so sneaky that I had to rewind a few times to see what he did. All his slight of hand business hiding it in his baggy trunks was fucking awesome.

 

His bump when Inoki finally stole his weapon and popped him with it was tremendous. He just went down like he was shot, and then had the perfect dazed expression on his face. The bump over the rope, plowing through the young boy and on into the crowd was classic as well.

 

Wonderful match.

 

Eric