This was a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts match by two charismatic motherfuckers. The early feeling out was a little slow and they grappled for most of the first half. Choshu's flying headscisscors (a move I wish he had used more) was probably the highlight of that section. But when they opened it up and started brawling, they really drilled each other -- straight punches from Choshu and some of the stiffest enzuigiris I've seen from Inoki. The ending felt like a big, passing the torch kind of moment. Choshu survived the enzuigiris and the octopus and kept drilling the old man with lariat after lariat from different angles. When he beat Inoki clean, it seemed like he was officially The Man and Inoki moved to an emeritus role. That might be a misread or an overstatement, but that's how it struck me after watching a decade of NJ. So I think it should go on the set for sure.

 

NJ Classics 332

I thoughts this was absolutely stupendous, I had no problem with the early matwork, I thought it set the table nicely for the asskicking yet to come. Those punches were fucking boss, and this is really one of the best endings on the set. Great shit and a top 15ish match for me

Holy fuck, that ending was awesome. Phil and I were talking about matwork and this had great matwork to start off. Then they start trading vicious blows (with a sweet Choshu punch), building the match to the big ending with the super fucking lariats. Strong nomination.