June 1977

NWF World Heavyweight Champion Antonio Inoki vs Andre The Giant - NJPW 6/1/77 A really strange match. It was building really well and then just ground to a halt. It was like they both ran out of things to do and they were just killing time to the double countout finish. The first half was great. Andre working holds like the cobra clutch and a really impressive surfboard set up Inoki's explosive offense so well. Until Vader, nobody did wounded bear selling ad well as Andre. Inoki's dropkick is a big time weapon for him. Andre bumping and selling and the crowd is eating it up. Andre invents the Pedigree in the middle of the match and Inoki no sells it...eat it Hunter! …

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race vs Jumbo Tsuruta - AJPW 6/11/77 Two out of Three Falls Wow! Harley Race is a vast departure from Jack Brisco and even Terry Funk in his style of work. This is a total bomb throwing sprint. If you are going to have a bomb throwing sprint, Jumbo dishing it out and Harley eating the offense ain't too shabby of a pairing. The coolest spot was definitely hitting a backbreaker to get out of an armbar. Overall, it was a lot of slam trading with Jumbo mostly on top working the armbar and Harley creating that movement. Jumbo's armdrag is not as smooth as a Brisco or a Steamboat, but it seems more violent. Like you have no choice, but …

2/3 Falls, 16:25 Oh man, this one starts out fun! Andre lifts Strongbow into the ring (to not muss his headpiece?). Jay apparently has a major beef with Capt Lou and eventually chases the manager out of the ring and back to the locker room. I have never seen Strongbow this energized. From there, it's just awesome moment after awesome moment: Andre stealthily tagged in while Patera showboats. Strongbow coming off the ropes and sliding between Volkoff's legs to tag Andre. Patera and Volkoff fighting each other outside the ring, following the first fall. Patera does an extended sleeper, which could be boring as heck. But Volkoff does some stooging to distract th…

18:39 Graham cuts one of his classic promos before the match. Bruno looks great here with his 'fro and pornstache. He comes out guns blazing, and the crowd eats it up. He dominates for awhile, with Superstar doing a lot of cowardly heel schtick. Things slow down when they do an extended sequence of trading full nelsons. But even then it's not so bad because the crowd's excited about everything. It's been awhile since I watched any Superstar. I forgot how limited he really was - friggin Goldberg had a bigger move-set. Full nelson, bear-hug, test of strength, a few bumps. Not much even by 1970's WWWF standards. But this match really makes me appreciate the skil…