Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff vs Antonio Inoki & Riki Choshu

[Guest TheShawshankRudotion]

Slowly making my way through New Japan Classics: Hulk Hogan Special Vol. 1 that I d/l'd. I'll get to all these eventually.

 

Part 1:

Hulk Hogan/Paul Orndorff vs. Antonio Inoki/Riki Choshu - 2/3 Falls (11/6/80)

 

I dug this match a lot. Hogan is really basic here, but it's fun to see him play THE MONSTER and have him trash talking Inoki ("THIS IS YOU INOKI!"... even if he is as stiff as a tissue. Lots of body slams from him and Choshu does most of the bumping. Hogan does a really neat spot where he slams Choshu into the turnbuckle, lays him on top, and Orndorff drives in some elbows to the ribs. Orndorff tags in, Hogan is pulls Choshu off of the turnbuckle, Orndorff goes to one knee and Hogan dropss Choshu on to the other for a backbreaker. Orndorff bends Choshu over his knee and Hogan gives a shot to the ribs. Great tag spot. Orndorff then follows it up with a gutwrench suplex. Mr. Wonderful is a revelation in this match to me. I was never a fan of his, but this match had him really bust out some stuff that I never knew he could do, and it has me a lot more interested in his work. I liked the layout of this match, the big Americans w. Blassie managing them and the occasional comebacks from the Japanese team. I'll add more later.

 

 

Hulk Hogan/Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki/Bob Backlund (12/10/80)

Hulk Hogan/Stan Hansen vs. Riki Choshu/Dino Bravo (10/8/81)

Part 2:

 

Hulk Hogan/Stan Hansen vs. Antonio Inoki/Dusty Rhodes (5/26/81)

Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki (12/1/81)

Hulk Hogan/Buddy Rose vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Yoshiaki Yatsu (5/1/81)

Part 3:

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Abdullah The Butcher (5/26/82)

Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant (6/18/82)

Antonio Inoki/Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter/Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) (8/27/82)

[Loss]

Good review, Rudo. I actually thought Hogan was a pretty good worker at this point. He wasn't too athletic, but he had a good sense of what to do and when to do it. Check out his match with Inoki from 06/02/83 sometime, if you haven't already. Good stuff!

 

He also went nearly 30 minutes with Bob Backlund in Philadelphia earlier in the year (1980), but I have yet to see that match.

[Guest TheShawshankRudotion]

Do you look at film the same way? Is there a reason why Dramas tend to win out over comedies?

 

Michinoku Pro meshed all them together, I can recall a Sasuke/TAKA match that went from mat wrestling and submissions, to striking, to high spots and followed a certain formula... it lacked the "epic" storytelling though. I think a great wrestling _show_ should have all elements, but you would be extending yourself by trying to shoot the moon for all elements.

 

-------

 

Hogan/Orndorff vs. Choshu/Inoki 2/3 falls 'cont.

 

Hogan telegraphs most of his moves. Obviously because of the language barrier. Orndorff is less obvious. Mr Wonderful runs into a knee after whipping Choshu into the corner, Riki uses that to run over to Inoki for the tag. What I dug about that was Riki pulled Orndorff over as well and set up an advantage for Inoki when he tagged in. Big Evil Americans get DQ'd when Blassie takes his cane to the back of Choshus head several times. I love the camera angles here. Theres a lot more of a documentary feel to it, where theres missed action and confusion and it matches the feel of the match where everything is going out of control and BEA is taking it to Inoshu on the outside.

 

Orndorff hits a fantastic knee drop on Inoki at one part during the 2nd fall, but he takes the weirdest backdrops. Hogan does a suplex spot, holds Choshu up and while falling back yells out "IIIINOOOKIIII!!" Fuck Hogan rules. Follows it up with a big leg drop. Inoki tags in and kicks at Hogans legs, Hogans selling is pretty good as he hobbles over to Mr. Wonderful. Orndorff runs in and Inoki kicks at HIS legs and the selling is completely over-the-top. Awesome. They do ANOTHER missed elbow spot which had to be the 3rd or 4th in the match. Worlds Worst Dropkick gets the World Best Sell where Hogan spills out to the outside. 2 kneedrops off the top and Inoki/Choshu wins it.

 

I'd give it ***. They repeated a lot of spots and the work wasn't entirely natural, and in reality it'd get **1/2 tops, but I'm a Hogan mark and enjoyed everything he did in it, Mr Wonderful was great, Choshu sold well, and Inoki played his role.