[1988-07-29-NJPW] Antonio Inoki vs Big Van Vader

[Superstar Sleeze]

Antonio Inoki vs Vader - NJPW 7/29/88

Well this fucking rules! I watched this in 2017 I believe in an airport and never got around to writing a review but I remembered all the arm work, the gory bladejob and the fact that Vader sells his arm at least until April of 1989 as this is the Achilles Heel his opponent exploit for at least the next 9 months or so. It was no shock that this was fucking awesome! Vader is at his absolute best when he is doing his wounded bear selling and just hollering in pain. This match has that in spades. Oh just for some context, the win gets a crack at Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. 

Vader tries to be all intimidating early but spends too much time worshipping his steam-spewing elephant helmet and gets caught with an Enziguiri to the head. They brawl on the outside but Vader regain controls quickly against the railing. I rewound a bunch but I never saw where Vader actually hurt his arm, but back in the ring Vader is favoring his left arm. Inoki relentlessly kicks it and does the over the shoulder armbreaker. Vader try as he might to overwhelm Inoki with his girth, the splash in the corner and then the massive Vader Body Attack into an immediate pounce pin were brutal but Inoki keeps coming back. Inoki is laser-focused on that arm. Vader tries to slow things down with a Surfboard but Inoki counters that again into an over the shoulder arm breaker. Vader is one of the all-time great sellers. We talk a lot about his bumping, but Vader is a top ten seller of all time. Vader tries the bearhug, but ends up eating a dropkick, bodyslam, Bombs Away Kneedrop offensive rally that was awesome. Vader tries to hold Inoki in a sitting abdominal stretch and just mercilessly punch Inoki right in the fucking face, but nothing will stop Inoki on this night. It was disturbing watching Vader punch him right in the face unprotected. Inoki barely flinched. Insane! Crowd is going crazy for Inoki. Inoki goes right back to the over the shoulder arm breaker. Tried & true! Vader hollering is just the best. Vader slugs Inoki to get out. Inoki backdrops him over the top. Back where this all started on the floor. Vader tries to kill Inoki with his metal staff gimmick, but clangs it against the post. Inoki gets a hold of it and jabs Vader's bad arm with it and of course VADER BLADES HIS ARM! He is bleeding a gusher and selling it like his arm is paralyzed in a fucked up position. I love Vader. Vader gets in and in the ropes Inoki Enziguiris the bad arm! I LOVE Inoki! More kicks to the arm. A shitty Octopus Stretch because Vader is so big. Vader powers out but still selling his fucked up arm. Vader bodyslam and he is going up top. Inoki catches Vader into a straight armbar to get the submission victory! Bitchin' finish! There were some transitions that I would liked tightened up and some of Vader's holds dragged, but besides that this was FUCKING AWESOME! Vader selling like a wounded bear, Inoki's offense laser-focused, Vader comeback offense was brutal and awesome finish! ****3/4

[KB8]

This was the business. I remembered not a single thing about it, but it was my #31 on the DVDVR New Japan set so I must've thought highly of it back in the distant past (of 2009, which is fuckin DISTANT now, boys). I loved the start of it. Vader is a menace and before the bell he chucks Inoki out the ring, then does his pre-match ceremonial war dance with his huge mastodon helmet thing. He drops to one knee and roars, arms held aloft as this ridiculous helmet sprays steam into the air, so Inoki just enziguris him in the head because to hell with standing on ceremony. The story here was all about Inoki's persistence against Vader's dominance. Vader is inevitable, a thing whose advancement you can only divert if you're lucky, but never halt completely. He really walks that line amazingly between smothering an opponent and giving them just enough where it's plausible, largely because his selling is so good, and I thought his selling was sensational in this. He picks up a knock on his arm early and Inoki immediately hits it with an enziguri, because of course you would because you need to take advantage of every chink in the armour that presents itself. Whenever Inoki grabs one of those armbars Vader bellows to the heavens, so maybe every monster can be felled after all. It's just that Vader can swing momentum again with one big fist, or by flinging his entire body at Inoki like he's a small vehicle. There was one part where Vader had Inoki in a seated abdominal stretch, pulled Inoki's head back by the hair to expose his face, and just clubbed him with half a dozen hammer blows. The match finally turns when they end up on the floor again and Vader tries to bludgeon Inoki with some sort of sceptre, only Inoki moves and Vader jars his hand when he hits the post, so Inoki picks it up and stabs him in the bad arm. Vader comes up with a bloody arm and the close-up shot is properly gruesome. He's shrieking like a bear caught in a trap and it looks like Inoki full on stabbed him in the arm with this thing, a real nasty gash just streaming blood. Of course Inoki sticks with what brung him and hits another enziguri to the arm, and the vocal selling from Vader is legit some of the best I've ever seen (or heard). It was almost disturbing and if he was somewhat less monstrous you might even feel sympathy for him. The finish is also spectacular. If some predators like to play with their prey then the sight of his own blood hit Vader with some urgency, because he tried to finish things quickly after that. He slammed Inoki in the corner to set up the moonsault (or something else off the top if he wasn't using the moonsault yet), and even though Inoki retreated into the middle of the ring Vader was not for hanging about. He leaps off with a clothesline, but Inoki catches him upon landing and drags him to the mat with a Fujiwara armbar. Vader howling at the moon in agony afterwards, blood continuing to flow from his wound, while ring boys sheepishly try to usher him backstage was a pretty incredible bit of theatre.