Eddy is a PKA dork, so he's wearing fancy pants and will be throwing some fancy kicks. Rounds are in effect. The crowd is wild on this one but I didn't enjoy it as much as they did. Eddy just doesn't really know how to do any grappling, which is the prerequisite for a good Inoki match. He doesn't know to fall down when Inoki does the leg scissors takedown and he sits the wrong way in an armbar at one point. Some good strikes are thrown, though. But even then, Eddy throws a good enzuigiri a couple times and Inoki just no sells it. The ref is very active with the clinch breaks, which fucking sucks in pro boxing and kickboxing, and it sucks even more in this, a worked fight. Inoki wins by knockout after a leg drop (lol) in round 5.

Don't know where else to say this but the other Inoki vs. a PKA dork (Lefthook Dayton [ugh, horrible name]) match killed my interest in pro wrestling for 2 weeks or so. Not that that match is any worse than this, it's probably better, but both are very tedious.

Antonio Inoki vs THE MONSTER MAN - NJPW 8/2/77

After seeing this advertised as Inoki vs The Monster Man I had to watch it. Is ther anything more 1970s than Antonio Inoki doing a fixed MMA match against a black Kung Fu dude from Detroit? I like stylized Karate a lot and The Monster Man throws great kicks especially a good enziguiri and a couple good flying classic flying karate kicks. He is in boxing gloves so he can't takedown or wrestle. Inoki does his sliding leg kick Ali strategy and works a couple takedowns. Things get chippy here and there. The finish is a massive letdown. Monster Man takes a dive off a phantom strike. They tease the Ganso Bomb but it is just a sloppy Tenryu style powerbomb and then Inoki adds a leg drop for the hell of it. More surreal than entertaining. Monster Man actually would have been a great great gimmick stateside. I think they was a real missed opportunity for him and American pro wrestling.