Man was this awesome, just a brutal fight the entire match with both guys throwing bombs, really as stiff as I have seen Inoki look. Hansen is a monster and he just decimates Inoki at the end getting DQ for throwing the ref and leaving him laying. Great stuff, and a Slam Dunk nomination.

 

New Japan Classics 85

Yeah, they beat the shit out of each other throughout. This was Hansen's match as he set the tone, but Inoki certainly did his part. Even during the slower stretches on the mat, they tossed in little punches and headbutts to maintain the generally nasty vibe. In one of my favorite sequences, Inoki hammered Hansen with two straight enzuigiris only for Hansen to fight his way off the mat with a sneaky straight right and a couple of headbutts. His finishing beatdown on Inoki was pretty great too. This should go on and could be one of the highest Inoki singles matches on my final ballot.

Early on, Hansen maintains control with the usual offense which is fine by me. I am a sucker for Hansen opponents working over the arm and Inoki does it as good as anyone. Except for bending INoki's foot in directions it shouldn't go, I was about to bitch about Hansen's leg work but he turns around and punches Inoki in the knee. NICE! However, it is a great little turnaround from Inoki working Hansen's arm with Hansen trying to lessen the blow of a future enziguiri. The end stretc hrun was pretty good but with most Inoki matches, unless he goes over clean, the ending sucked. This goes on but I was not as excited about it as you two.