[1978-11-25-IWE] Mighty Inoue vs Jumbo Tsuruta

[KinchStalker]

Although televised as part of an episode of All Japan TV, this was an IWE match held towards their World League tournament. While there were AJPW wrestlers who participated in the round-robin tournament itself, Jumbo was given a free pass to enter the quarterfinal without fighting his way through a block, and that quarterfinal is what we see here. If you've seen Inoue's singles work then you know what to expect from him, and this definitely feels like he's the one leading the way here. With all that said, this is definitely a good match, and one I wish I'd seen when I was doing my big 70s Jumbo viewing a little while back. This is mostly mat-based, but Inoue is good and aggressive on the mat, so it's compelling. As far as Jumbo vs IWE singles matches go, I'd say that the famous Rusher Kimura match from 1976 is the most essential if you're only going to watch one. That match showed how much the young Wakadaisho could get out of someone who was frankly always a somewhat limited worker. But this is a satisfying encounter that lets us see Jumbo work a singles match against somebody that I've grown to really like the more I've seen of him: someone who wouldn't get a singles match against Jumbo when IWE went under and he joined All Japan. After Inoue gets a nearfall on an O'Connor roll, he tries it again, but Jumbo holds on to the ropes, runs back, and hits the sunset flip for the pinfall. ***1/2

[Note: Jumbo would be disqualified three days later in the semifinal match against Professor Toru Tanaka, who would go on to lose the final against Rusher Kimura. Also, the 11/25 show ultimately spelled the end of the IWE's cooperation with AJPW; when two NJPW wrestlers - namely Kobayashis Strong and Kuniaki - were booked on the card without Baba's prior knowledge or consent.]