1970s New Japan

[ohtani's jacket]

Another foxhole:

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Jack Brisco (4/27/79)

This was billed as a dream match but there was no way you get getting an all-time classic. Not in a catchweight contest like this. It went less than 15 minutes but they made the most with the time they had. The finish was abrupt but I've seen bigger letdowns in dream matches. Not a bad exhibition match.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Masa Saito (5/25/79)

Holy crap was this awesome. We all know Masa Saito was a great worker but he could really go in his younger days. He was amazingly quick in this. Fujinami was such a beautiful worker. This period of his career was so graceful to watch. There were a few lulls in this but when they were active they went hard. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Tony Rocco (2/2/79)

Here we got to see Inoki take on the great Tony Rocco. Rocco was on a hiding to nothing here. He had no chance of winning but he wasn't going to die wondering and got as much offense in as he could. Which was great if you're a Tony Rocco fan. 

Antonio Inoki vs Tatsumi Fujinami (6/1/79)

I thought we were going to get a really cool early Inoki vs. Fujinami match here but Fujinami came to the ring with a leg injury and Inoki called the match off. Then he demanded a match with Andre. The end result was Andre and Inoki tumbling about until Hansen ran in and there was a threeway schmoz. That Inoki/Fujinami match would have been fascinating.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Kengo Kimura (12/13/79)

This was a beautiful match between these two great rivals. It was done in the 70s light heavyweight style so it was different from their later encounters. Pretty to watch.

Antonio Inoki vs. Chris Markoff (11/1/78)

Not memorable like their JWA bout but watchable. 

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ashura Hara (4/3/80)

Great match. Hara was such a good worker. Not only did he have a cool look, but he was tough as nails. This was technically excellent and a dogfight. Fujinami's face was covered in blood at the end.

[ohtani's jacket]

Antonio Inoki vs. Kintaro Oki (4/4/75)

These two had a really good match the year before. Here, Oki jumped Inoki at the start and won with a shock ring out. Disappointing that they went with an angle here instead of another proto shoot style bout but that's the downside to old-school Japanese wrestling. 

Animal Hamaguchi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (11/5/81)

A fine match between these two but of course it was never going to resolve anything. Breaks down toward the end. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (5/25/79)

This was all right. Hansen hadn't come into his own yet and Inoki wrestling foreign heels isn't my favorite kind of Inoki. Andre gets involved in the end and has a pull-apart brawl with Hansen. 

Strong Kobayashi vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (5/4/79)

This was a fun big man vs. little man bout. Fujinami was a right pest in this and Kobayashi made no bones about the little man being a pain in the ass.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Solitario (5/10/79)

Solitario has a reputation for being not that great but he was okay here. Fujinami was clearly better but Solitario was no slug. A few of their exchanges were awkward but other than that they gelled okay. Canek attacked Fujinami at the end.

Inoki & Fujinami vs. Saito & Ruska (7/17/79)

Fujinami and Saito were excellent again. That's a new favorite pairing of mine. This was a chance to see Ruska do pro-wrestling. He did some nice, uncooperative looking judo holds. He didn't have much of a clue about selling, though. The commentator kept mentioning Bock. I don't think you can underestimate the effect that the Bock match had on the wrestling public. Not much flow to this. The match didn't build well and it finished abruptly. 

Andre the Giant vs. Chuck Wepner (7/25/76)

Not really a New Japan match but it was on the feed. For the longest time, people have believed this was a legitimate shoot. I think it's pretty clearly a work. Fun match. Imagine a prime Andre working shoot-style matches like Vader. That would have been a blast.  

[aaeo_]

Cool thread. All of the Fujinami matches I've seen from this period are interesting, even that Hamaguchi match had some nice matwork in it. Will check out Saito/Fujinami, which I had missed somehow.

[ohtani's jacket]

Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (5/18/79)

Wildly disappointing compared to the classic we know and love.

Antoni Inoki vs. Crazy Leroy Brown (7/6/79)

This was bad. Really bad.

Antonio Inoki vs. Strong Kobayashi (5/16/75)

Strong Kobayashi was an interesting fella, wasn't he? You never hear anyone talk about him but he was a player in the early days of New Japan. From memory, these two had an interesting bout in '74 but Inoki dominated him here. Wasn't much of a contest. Don't know why.

Antonio Inoki vs. Killer Karl Krupp (5/16/75)

This was surprisingly good. I guess I have a soft spot for Nazi gimmicks, especially ones that extend into the 70s, but this was as straight forward as it gets. Krupp had his diving knee and his claw hold, and no matter how much he bled, he wouldn't stay down. He was maniacal and hell-bent on putting Inoki in the claw. This was the New Japan version of Fritz vs. Baba and I loved every second of it. 

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Bob Backlund (8/5/82)

People have always regarded this as a disappointment, I suppose because it doesn't really go anywhere. But I don't really have a problem watching 25 minutes of guys working holds that never really go anywhere. I saw this as a superior version of Brisco/Fujinami and would include it on a list of Fujinami matches you should watch. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Left Hook Dayton (4/3/79)

This is some Game of Death shit right here. Dayton is everything you want from a 1970s kickboxer/martial arts practitioner. Dude looks like he walked straight off the set of a kung fu flick. A little research tells me that he used to offer a course in Chi Mind Control where he demonstrated how he could break handcuffs and survive a hanging. He couldn't survive Inoki's headbutts though or his backdrop suplexes. Weird fight, but I'll take this shit over a regular match any day of the week. 

[Superstar Sleeze]

OJ, did you find Inoki vs Piper? it made TV and it is only 10 minutes. I did a cursory search and couldn't find it. I think it would be interesting. Going through Inoki's match listing, the other matchup that stood out to me was a one off against Pat Patterson. Have you seen that?

It is amazing how long he milked the Tiger Jeet Singh feud. I saw their first match and thought it was ok. Did they ever have a great one? 

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Greg Valentine - NJPW 4/12/79

One of the sad things about this world is that The Hammer didn't work Japan more. I just typed "Tatsumi Fujinami vs" into Google to see what cropped up and saw this and said Hell Yeah!

Dream Match totally lives up to the hype. Stiffness to the max. Tons of great cat & mouse spots. Both dudes are super motivated. Very energetic and urgent. Valentine brutalizes and works the leg. Fujinami dishes it out as good as he gets. Valentine does Timbahhh and isn't afraid to stooge. FUJINAMI DIVES ON VALENTINE!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!! And we get a clean finish! 

My only complaint is that this didn't go longer! Humdinger of a match! ****1/4

 

[WingedEagle]

13 hours ago, Superstar Sleeze said:

OJ, did you find Inoki vs Piper? it made TV and it is only 10 minutes. I did a cursory search and couldn't find it. I think it would be interesting. Going through Inoki's match listing, the other matchup that stood out to me was a one off against Pat Patterson. Have you seen that?

It is amazing how long he milked the Tiger Jeet Singh feud. I saw their first match and thought it was ok. Did they ever have a great one? 

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Greg Valentine - NJPW 4/12/79

One of the sad things about this world is that The Hammer didn't work Japan more. I just typed "Tatsumi Fujinami vs" into Google to see what cropped up and saw this and said Hell Yeah!

Dream Match totally lives up to the hype. Stiffness to the max. Tons of great cat & mouse spots. Both dudes are super motivated. Very energetic and urgent. Valentine brutalizes and works the leg. Fujinami dishes it out as good as he gets. Valentine does Timbahhh and isn't afraid to stooge. FUJINAMI DIVES ON VALENTINE!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!! And we get a clean finish! 

My only complaint is that this didn't go longer! Humdinger of a match! ****1/4

 

Is this on World?

[Superstar Sleeze]

It is not, but it is wicked easy to find on Google. 

[ohtani's jacket]

I haven't come across the Piper or Patterson match. I haven't watched a Singh match yet but I'm sure my curiosity will get the better of me.

Antonio Inoki vs. "The Monster Man" Everett Eddie (8/8/77)

This was supposedly one of Inoki's better mixed fights. I suppose that's because it was mostly stand-up fighting with a lot of action and movement. Inoki won after an awkward-looking powerbomb and a leg drop. It amuses me that this headlined Budokan.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Killer Khan (3/26/83)

If you've ever wanted to see Fujinami and Killer Khan have a long, hard-fought match, look no further. This was worth it just to see Khan work the mat with Fujinami. The long grueling battle afterward was the icing on the cake. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Hiro Matsuda (12/16/78)

This was either going to be mind-numbingly boring or fascinating. The latter prevailed and we got some really good work out of this, including one of the best arm breaker sequences I've seen in a long time. Saito and Ueda kept lurking about threatening to derail it, and they ran out of steam toward the end, but it was pretty much everything you could have hoped for from a unique encounter like this. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (3/19/83)

This was never going to live up to the expectations in my head but it was hard fought and intense. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Seji Sakaguchi vs. Killer Karl Krupp (5/8/74)

This was a three-way tournament final. Sakaguchi vs. Krupp was nothing special but set the tone for the carnage that would follow. Inoki's mutton chops were phenomenal in 1974. Inoki and Sakaguchi had amazing chemistry together. I bet that's something you didn't know. I might even go on record and call Sakaguchi Inoki's best native opponent. Krupp returns to bust Sakaguchi open and we get Krupp vs. Inoki, the Fritz vs. Baba of New Japan. It's not quite as good as their match from the following year but it's better than 90% of the Inoki vs. foreign dreck. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Hollywood Blondes vs. Antonio Inoki & Seji Sakaguchi (10/2/75)

This was an interesting styles clash. The Blondes wanted to work their bread and butter US heel style but of course Inoki wanted to keep things on the mat. I thought the Blondes did a decent job of adapting to a mat-based style. Eventually, they got to cut loose and there was all of the blood, violence and mayhem that you'd expect from American heels. Inoki was well-versed in that sort of thing so it worked fairly well, but as usual with his tags, the rhythm and pacing was uneven and the falls felt long and loosely connected. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Mr. X (2/6/79)

Inoki mixed martial arts fights had jumped the shark at this point. Beyond awful. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Seji Sakaguchi (4/21/78)

This was epic. These two were such a good match-up. I don't think I'm crazy for saying that. Sakaguchi didn't have a dazzling persona or a ton of charisma but I'll be damned if he wasn't a better worker than he was ever given credit for. He was a really great foil for Inoki as the number two native. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Antonio Inoki vs. Akira Maeda (5/27/83)

This is a match I've always wanted to see as it was Maeda's first real shot against Inoki. Nothing earth shattering, but Inoki let Maeda get in a few good licks. As usual, Inoki vs. native was a thousand times better than Inoki vs. a foreigner. If Maeda had stayed in New Japan we might have seen some bigger matches between these two so it was an interesting window into what might have been. Maeda gets a bad rap for his pre-UWF work, IMO. For a young heavyweight, I find him to be pretty solid both in Europe and Japan. Maybe a bit too much of the ol' bland, black tights, no personality for some, but he looked like a promising talent.

[ohtani's jacket]

Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba vs. Mil Mascaras & Spiros Arion (JWA 3/2/71)

Who would've thought Inoki vs. Mascaras was a match-up you'd want to see? I'm old enough to remember a time when that match-up would have been an absolute horror show for most people. There wasn't a hell of a lot else going on in this match. In fact, the entire time I kept wishing I was watching an Inoki/Mascaras singles match, but hey, at least it was an eye-opener. 

Antonio Inoki & Seji Sakaguchi vs. Johnny Powers & Pat Patterson (8/24/73)

This match was full of hot air. It was really just a bunch of jawing and posing and a whole lot of begging off. Inoki vs. Patterson was fun, but Patterson clearly came from the Gorgeous George School of Wrestling and didn't have a ton of offense. This was the first time it struck me that Sakaguchi was meant to be a stand-in for Baba. Why has that never occurred to me before? The best thing about this was probably Patterson's heel promo. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Antonio Inoki vs. Roddy Piper (9/22/77)

I'm not a fan of Inoki vs. foreigner matches, obviously, but this wasn't bad. I don't know how much of his persona Piper had developed in 1977, but his personality disappeared into the same vacuum that so many foreigner wrestlers' characters do in Japan. That left us with Piper the serious wrestler, however, which was an interesting take on a guy you think you know all about. He drew on his boxing background, which I thought was cool, and he was a much better fit than you would imagine for Inoki's MMA leanings. Just as it's getting good, Inoki wraps it up, but it wasn't as though Piper was meant to be a serious threat to Inoki, so it is what it is.

Marc Rocco vs. Isamu Teranishi (IWE 10/6/79)
Dynamite Kid vs. Isamu Teranishi (IWE 7/19/79)

Isamu Teranishi was one of the best workers in Japan at this time, IMO, but I haven't seen him have a match to rival the Fujinami match from the DVDVR set. This could have been great but they were from television and incomplete. The Dynamite Kid match was the better of the two but they kind of pegged things back instead of going full tilt. 

Dynamite Kid vs. Isamu Teranishi (1/6/84)

This was physical and had a lot of intensity. Kid had his killer, psychotic football hooligan look going on and looked like an absolute beast, but it looked like his roided frame had wrecked his conditioning a bit since he couldn't really pick up the pace when the match demanded it and instead kept setting for a breather. But they hit hard.

Riki Choshu & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Hiro Matsuda & Masa Saito (6/15/79)

This was nice. Really nice. Even an angle between Sakaguchi and Crazy Leroy Brown couldn't derail this bad boy. Masa Saito was a great pro-wrestler. I guess everyone knows that already, but man, what a worker. Everyone is well-versed in the Choshu style of wrestling but when he was young he did a lot more amateur shit, and you know who else did amateur shit? That's right, Mr. Saito.  I desperately need to see a Saito vs. Choshu singles match from this era. So good. But it wasn't just them. You also had the dangerous barefoot style of Hiro Matsuda, and the spry power wrestling of Big Sak, as we're told the Americans call him. Just a beautiful blend of wrestlers. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Marc Rocco vs. Ashura Hara (IWE 10/4/79)

Hara looks like Rudy Ray Moore in this match. Hara was such a fabulous talent. I don't think people appreciate how great he was in the early part of his career. Rocco was so timid in Japan. If you watch 1979 WoS Rocco, he is the most brash, loudmouthed wrestler imaginable, but he was a pussycat here. Match never reached any great heights but I feel as though Hara deserves his own thread.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid (8/17/79)

This was from Stampede and was a hell of a match. When I think about Dynamite Kid, I always imagine what it would have been like if he'd stayed in the UK and had great matches against Rocco, Jones and Finlay, and oddball matches in Germany, but you watch a match like this and you can understand the appeal of wrestling abroad. People still don't appreciate how phenomenal Fujinami was in the 70s. If you ask me, he's the greatest junior of all-time. Unquestionably. I honestly don't see an argument for anyone else. This was a killer match and had the best non-finish I've ever seen. It was so good that I actually think I prefer it over a legit finish. I've always thought the Marty Jones bout is Dynamite's best but this is the first bout I've seen since then that's given it a run for its money. Hot damn this was good.

Dynamite Kid vs. Ashura Hara (IWE 7/21/79)

This was a long title match worked with the British rounds system. It lasted for 7 four minute rounds and was another excellent bout. It was slower than the Fujinami bout but a superb title match. I've said time and time again that Dynamite Kid was one of the most talented teenage workers I've ever seen, and here he was at 20 years old delivering a stone cold classic on his first tour to Japan. Hara was a special worker too, but to me this was vindication that Dynamite was a sensational talent. Things went downhill quickly but at least we saw him deliver on his talent. For some reason, I keep thinking he's like the Randy Rhodes of wrestling even if that's not strictly speaking an accurate analogy. 

Dynamite Kid vs. Kantaro Hoshino (1/15/82)

This turns into a shoot. It's fun to watch how uncooperative they are and the way they keep reaching towards the eyes. Part of me wishes all wrestling was like this. 

Dynamite Kid vs. Kantaro Hoshino (4/7/83)

Here they are again. This is a match-up that has a lot of potential, and they do some nice things, but there is a marked difference between 1982 Dynamite Kid and 1983 Dynamite Kid. He starts to work this slow, methodical Bret Hart style pace. It's very stop/start compared to his earlier work. Tiger Mask is at ringside so it's glaring obvious that Hoshino is just fodder for Dynamite to send a message to Sayama, but still you can tell that this is not the same DK that impressed so much in the 1979 matches. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Gypsy Joe vs. Ashura Hara (IWE 11/7/79)
Gypsy Joe vs. Ashura Hara (IWE 1/16/80)

These were a pair of Texas Death matches inside a steel cage. The second match was more complete than the first and had a proper finish. They spent half the match working a clean bout, however, until Joe introduced a foreign object. My boy Hara could bleed but these were a bit slow and not as violent as I expected.

Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu & Masa Saito (2/3/83)

This was good but it reminded me more of the lead-in matches to an apuesta match than an all-time classic. The long Scorpion Deathlock sequence killed it for me. That was one of the worst sequences I've seen in a long time. It was kind of painful how long it lasted. On the plus side, this had some neat exchanges between Inoki and Saito.

Antonio Inoki vs. Gorilla Monsoon (JWA 4/16/69)

Jeez, Gorilla wasn't very good, was he? Gorilla the commentator would have shat all over Gorilla the wrestler.

Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba vs. The Destroyer and Bull Ramos (JWA 2/26/69)

Short clips. Most of the action is between Baba and The Destroyer.

Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba vs. Wilbur Snyder & Danny Hodge (JWA 2/11/69)

Like most people, I would have preferred to have seen Snyder and Hodge work the mat against Baba and Inoki instead of being brawling, American heels, especially since the legend of Danny Hodge is about as elusive as Ray Stevens, but I liked Snyder's work in the clips.

Antonio Inoki vs. Andre the Giant (12/15/74)

These guys worked so many matches together I forget which ones I've seen. This one was from Sao Paulo so I think I'd remember it if I saw it. It was all right. It was slow and in the end it was one giant stalemate (no pun intended), but if we're being honest a lot of Andre's work is like that. It's easy to marvel over his speed and agility during this period, but I'm not sure why his matches needed to be so long. 

Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (8/17/79)
Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (1/7/77)

These guys don't mesh the way that Hansen and Jumbo didn't mesh. Even in a short sprint like the one from Stampede, the pacing is uneven. The match from '77 is better but it suffers a little from "Have to work the mat against Inoki" syndrome (even if it's not your forte.) I'm pretty sure other people like the Hansen and Andre match-ups more than I do but they are two of my least favorite Inoki pairings.

 

[KinchStalker]

On 2/11/2020 at 1:02 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Dynamite Kid vs. Isamu Teranishi (IWE 7/19/79)

Isamu Teranishi was one of the best workers in Japan at this time, IMO, but I haven't seen him have a match to rival the Fujinami match from the DVDVR set. This could have been great but they were from television and incomplete. The Dynamite Kid match was the better of the two but they kind of pegged things back instead of going full tilt. 



FYI a somewhat more complete version of this match than the ten-minute clip you likely saw dropped a few month back. It's still just the latter two-thirds of a thirty-minute draw, and it may not change your opinion, but I figured it was worth mentioning. More satisfying as an introduction to Dynamite for the Japanese audience than as a showcase for Teranishi, but I enjoyed it.

[ohtani's jacket]

Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Mando Guerrero (6/9/78)

Another Fujinami gem from the70s. Junior title match from LA. Mostly worked on the mat. Very cool. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Don Leo Jonathan vs. Strong Kobayashi (IWE 5/2/1972)

So, Strong Kobayashi died the other day, and I was in the convenience store and I saw it made the front page of the sports newspaper, so I thought I should watch a Kobayashi match. This match isn't for the faint of heart as the crowd is practically mute. There are a lot of strength spots, as you'd imagine from this match-up, but they also use a lot of flips (Jonathan seems to like taking bumps off flips.) Kobayashi does some decent head scissors work, but he's not exact a mat wiz. The match picks up once Jonathan starts brawling, and I really liked his boxing spots. Jonathan is a guy we never talk about even though we should. There's a confusing restart in this, and Kobayashi wins against the run of play, but overall it was decent.  

[ohtani's jacket]

Strong Kobayashi c vs. Rusher Kimura IWA Heavyweight Title 2 of 3 Falls (7/9/73)

Nobody's going to confuse these two with the greats of Japanese professional wrestling, but they went out there and had their match. One thing I appreciated about it was that instead of lying in holds all day, which Kimura, in particular, didn't know how to work, they quickly started beating the shit out of each other and worked short falls with plenty of bomb throwing. Much better than the alternative.