Posted December 30, 201014 yr comment_5461211 Naturally Hogan ambushes Saito during his pre-match salt ceremony to a massive pop. Funny to watch Saito scurry around in terror running away from Saito who is literally sliding across the floor he's moving so quick. Hogan decks him with a chair, rakes his back, rams him into the ring post and then struts around the ring like he's Jackie Fargo. Saito comes back into the ring and bows at Hogan but then pops up and immediately hits him with a bunch of sucker punches which Hogan no sells. Saito takes a big theatrical bump in the corner, but comes back with low blow and then argues with the ref (who looks like a young Jeff Jarrett kinda) about the placement of the punch. He ends up locking on the Scorpion right away and at the five minute mark the crowd is fucking exploding. Hogan pushes up out of the Scorpion sending Saito into the ropes, but sells his leg and can't stand up. Saito goes right back to the Scorpion after bashing Hogan's face into the mat, but this time when saito powers out his face hits the turnbuckle. Saito still beats Hogan to his feet and hits a double thrust but now Hogan is pissed. He starts to Hulk up and in a funny spot makes his comeback by stopping Saito's momentum with an eye rake. Hogan hits a big boot, a slam and a legdrop, but pulls up Saito on the nearfall. He hits an atomic drop but pulls up Saito again. He hits a vertical suplex but now David Shultz has hit the ring and is screaming some shit into the house mic. Hogan lunges at Shultz but in the process knocks the ref out. Saito's secon reaches into the ring and throws salt in Hogan's eyes. Shultz comes into the ring and they work over Hogan. The ref comes to and disqualifies Saito. I really liked this a lot for what it was and could see really going to bat for this if it had a real finish. Even still I'll toss it out there as something the rest of the committee should watch as I liked it better than the Andre v. Hogan match that made the NJPW set.
April 1, 201114 yr comment_5468786 Just curious, any reason for the Jewett-esque formatting? EDIT: Never mind, saw your comments in the tape thread. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Saito - Damn, Hogan is moving like a mother fucker in there. Huge lariat, jumping elbow drop, running Saito’s back into the ringpost. In desperation, Saito throws a low blow which allows him to hook in the Scorpion and the crowd is going nuts. Hogan powers out off a 2nd Scorpion and starts to channel the power of the pre-Hulkamaniacs. At the end, Hogan has the win but keeps pulling up Saito to inflict more damage. What a heel! Oh wait, he was a face. Then Dr. D starts mouthing off and Hogan cleans house on both of them until he gets some salt in his eyes. The heels double team a bloody Hulk post-match. Man, I can see people ranking this low in the grand scheme of things but it was fucking fun. Nomination.
October 12, 201113 yr comment_5484920 "Incredible" Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Saito (8/28/83) Saito does his salt ceremony before the match which Hogan breaks up to a volcanic pop. Hogan was so fucking over here it's not even funny Verne not giving him the AWA title is still one of the greatest mistakes ever in wrestling. Hogan is great as the super face but Saito is just as great as a chickenshit heel who just happens to be a tough motherfucker. Saito lowbridges Hogan and then breaks out the sasorigatame immediately but Hogan would spring him into the ropes to break the hold and they would repeat this sequence before Saito started going back to strikes. Hogan hulks up before hitting the big boot, bodyslam, and diving elbow before pulling him up on a pin attempt. Hogan wants to punish Saito until Dr. D shows up to shit talk with Hogan jacking his jaw and knocking down the referee so Shultz joins the action after Tiger Hattori throws salt in Hogan's eyes for the DQ finish. This was fun stuff but I'm not sure on a nomination.
