I find the general aesthetic of IWE charming, and it’s definitely a company I am excited about exploring much more since so much of it seems to be uncharted waters. This wasn’t something I think I’ll remember but it was a good match with a nice layout, and they kept the action going very well. Rose and Quinn are really good working like an American heel team with the cutting the ring in half and all of that. Inoue and Hamaguchi are the home country babyfaces and have a good amount of charisma. Inoue in particular has some nice offensive flurries. I really liked his sentons. The match is less than 15 minutes, but is worked like something much bigger and longer. I think the reason it feels that way is that the first half of the match has the Japanese team in heavy peril and they are equally dominant for the last half to make up for it. Hamaguchi is good at coming in and hitting his spots, but from a wrestling perspective, Inoue carried this for his side and looked damn good doing it. I didn’t care for the finish because it didn’t seem like it was very earned, but the body of the match makes up for it. ***

1980-10-11
IWE
Mighty Inoue & Animal Hamaguchi vs Big John Quinn & Randy Rose
Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan
★
Card

Wow, Randy Rose was bad. Everything he was involved in, plus the terrible finish, is what totally ruined what could have been a good match. Inoue and Hamaguchi were solid/good as usual. Quinn, matched up against smaller opponents rather than the larger Rusher Kimura,  did a much better job of projecting his size and he felt like a bigger deal and a more difficult obstacle to overcome.
I’m not going to run through all the things Rose did terribly, just know that I’m not sure there was one thing he did well at any point in this match. By the end Inoue and Hamaguchi were switching without tags, which the commentators were clearly confused about and felt they had to mention. Then while Inoue had a figure four locked on Rose, Quinn repeatedly came in to try and break the hold. Eventually he hit 3 consecutive elbow drops, and after the third had dislodged Inoue, Quinn for some reason just dropped down and pinned him for the win. Again the commentators were forced to mention how no tag had been made and Quinn wasn’t the legal man. A shit show all round really.