[1970-12-01-JWA] Antonio Inoki & Giant Baba vs Gene Kiniski & Johnny Valentine

[soup23]

17 minutes of the first fall are clipped but this is one of the longer looks at Valentine we have. He looked pretty fantastic throughout.  The match had a brutalizing style as the foreign heels tried to cut the ring off and then the finish of each fall would end in a flourish.  Inoki/Baba complimented each other well and helped out showing continuity between them.  With the full match, this is possibly a MOTYC for 1970.  The final fall finish was predictably a lame count out with Inoki barely getting back in. The match worked to progress the upcoming Kiniski vs Baba matches but Valentine was the standout here to me just based on performance and scarcity of footage of him. ***1/2