I'm torn on nominating one of these Brody-Inoki matches. They were pretty clearly the biggest matches the promotion offered up in 1985. But I didn't totally enjoy any of them. This was probably the best of the three, though it lacked the big-event crackle of the first. They started out brawling wildly and then passed some time with fairly boring matwork. Brody had the first long control segment and methodically beat the hell out of Inoki, climaxing it with a nasty looking piledriver. But Inoki rallied, of course and busted Brody open with a piledriver on the floor. He showed great intensity in going after the cut with punches. His resilience frustrated Brody to the point that the big man grabbed his chain and choked Inoki out for the DQ. It had enough blood and intensity that it worked overall, despite some slow points. I'll throw it on the block to see what you guys think.

 

Match appears on NJ TV 11/1/85 and on NJ Classics 214

I kind of like this match up, I think Inoki is Brody's best opponent. You have to dig all of the blood, and Brody's offense looked pretty good, does Brody ever do a job? If we are putting one on, I kind of would like one with a better finish. Second this for now though

The pre-match was more interesting and exciting than the entire match I just watched. Inoki on the apron was laying in some nasty kicks to Brody's ghead and I like how Brody sold the enziguiri after blocking the 2nd one. So far, so good. It slowed down after that but they did some cool shit absent from the first match. I liked the way Brody broke out of the leg lock by using his other leg to push Inoki off after he grabbed Inoki's hair. Good stuff. Evem the transition from the headlock out on the floor looked good. Inoki's headlock really killed the momentum they were building but he picked it up again by choipping down the tree and attacking Brody's leg. The struggle for the bow and arrow kept me engaged but Brody shows no damage from the leg work which kind of sucks. The stretch run was pretty good though with Brody even breaking out a Big Swing and some mean looking shoulder tackles. I loved the entire run after Brody was busted open and didn't mind the chain finish since Brody was getting his ass kicked and acted out of desparation. This was world's ahead of the other one and was a pleasant surprise. There were seom shitty moments which you expect in a long Inoki/Brody match but there was so much to like in this one. Nomination.